Pappy's BBQ Sauce!

A friend recently went to St. Louis. he visited Pappy's Smokehouse and really liked the ribs and sauces. Since he knows how much I like BBQ he brought back one of each of their sauces for me.

Pappy's Sweet Baby Jane BBQ Sauce is named in honor of the owner's granddaughter. This one Annie is  really wanting to try.

Holly's Hot Sauce is a Texas style hot sauce.

Pappy's Original is a classic tangy sauce with a pepper kick.

I haven't had a chance to try these yet, but I am looking forward to the tasting!

IED Chili

Today was wet and chilly. I didn't feel like firing up the grill or smoker so I made a batch of my award winning IED Chili. Yes, I said award winning. This recipe won first place in a company chili cook-off. And yes, those are beans you see in there, three different kinds in fact. I don't want to hear anything from you no-bean chili purists. I cook for taste, not abstract ideals.

Start to finish it takes about five hours but it's worth every minute of it. And it gives me a chance to bring out my ginormous cast iron Dutch oven.

I start out with three pounds of pink slime, er, ground beef and brown it in the pot. Then I add in some chopped onion and peppers (usually jalapeno and serrano peppers) and cook them until they're soft. Then in goes my special chili spice mixture, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chilies,  a bottle of beer, and a few other things. Then I cover it and let it cook for three to four hours.

I add beans the last hour (in this case red kidney beans, black beans, and pinto beans). I take the lid off for the last half hour or so to let it cook down a bit.

This chili is great hot out of the pot but it tastes even better the next day.

My First Guest Post!

Brian Henderson over at BBQ Sauce Reviews has been after me to write a guest post on his blog for awhile. My Saint Patrick's Day corned beef was a perfect opportunity. Go check out Traditional St. Patrick's Day. With Fire. right now. It's all about my smoked corned beef with grill cabbage and potatoes.

I considered titling it "The Interrupted Brisket" for reasons which will be obvious when you read it.

"This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now." Navin R. Johnson

Chili! Why not?

The weather doesn't look good for outdoor cooking this weekend. So I'm thinking I'll do my award winning IED Chili instead. Stay tuned!

Poll Results: How Many Grills and/or Smokers Do You Have?

The results are in. Drum rolll...

So, 50% of respondents claim to have four or more grills/smokers. The other 50% have three, no more, no less.

What this really tells me is that I need to have more than six votes in a poll to learn anything.

I'll have a new poll up in a few days.

Saint Patrick's Day and the Day After

Here's what I did on Saint Patrick's Day.

It's smoked corned beef with grilled cabbage and grilled potatoes. There will be more on this soon.

And what do you make the next day? After a great deal of thought I decided on a Reuben with homemade Russian dressing. The grilled cabbage is a good substitute for sauerkraut.

Baconized Beer Butt Chicken

How do you make beer butt chicken -- or any chicken --  even better? Add bacon! It's really simple. Just slip slices of bacon under the skin then season and cook the way you normally do.

The bacon fat renders into the chicken meat, keeping it moist and adding flavor. The bacon itself "becomes one" with the skin. Everyone knows the skin is the best part. Baconized chicken skin amps it up to 11.

 I usually make beer butt chicken with Cavender's Greek Seasoning. Always rinse the chicken with cold water and pat dry first. Add the bacon under the skin, then brush with melted butter (unsalted) and rub in the Greek seasoning.

The shy four pounder on the left took about an hour to cook on indirect heat.

You can just barely see the bacon under the skin on the finished product. For the most part the bacon cooks into the skin and you can't really tell them apart.

Bottom line: Bacon makes everything better. Except maybe chicken livers.

Poll: How Many Grills and/or Smokers do you have?

I just added a new poll to the sidebar on the right. Tell us how many grills and or smokers you have. Leave a comment with the details on this post!

Poll closes at 1:00 PM on March 20th.

Triple Treat

Behold the incredible, the amazing, the delicious Triple Treat.

It's pulled pork, Black Forest smoked ham, and peppered bacon with Mad Dog Chipotle BBQ Sauce on a toasted onion roll. With dill pickles on the side.

A word about the bacon. I oven baked the bacon (baked bacon!) after covering it with fresh cracked pepper. I use a cookie pan with a non stick drying rack.

Put the bacon slices on the rack and coat with fresh cracked pepper. The more pepper the better. Bake on the center rack in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Watch closely because the bacon can over cook and burn. Put aluminum foil in the pan for easier cleanup (although you should be able to rinse out the bacon grease with hot water).

A big shout out to Bobby K's Roadside Cafe for inspiring this creation.

And a big thanks to BBQ Sauce Reviews for introducing me to Mad Dog BBQ sauces!

Water Volcano

 It's silly I know. But I just had to record this when I was making the brine for some corned beef.

How to butcher a pig

This is good to know.

Via BBQ Junkie.

Pork Chops on the Grill

Today was a good day to grill bone-in pork chops.

I used my standard pork rub and brushed the chops with a melted butter and lemon juice and garlic sauce. And smoke: hickory, mesquite, and apple wood smoke.

The pic is a little out of focus but the chops were right on.

Some Things Even Bacon Can't Help

The BBQ Grail discovers even bacon can't make chicken livers taste good.

Recipe: Jacked Jerk Chicken

This recipe is based on Diana's Kitchen's version of Jamaican jerk chicken. But it's jacked up with a ghost pepper.

Ingredients

• 1 T ground allspice
• 1 T dried thyme
• 1 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 t freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 t ground sage
• 3/4 t ground nutmeg
• 3/4 t ground cinnamon
• 2 T garlic powder
• 1 T sugar

• 1/2 C olive oil
• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 3/4 C white vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• 1/2 C orange juice
• 1 lime juice

• 1 habanero, finely chopped
• 1 ghost pepper, finely chopped
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 4 - 6 chicken breast (not chopped)

Directions

1. Combine the spices in a bowl.
2. With a wire whisk, slowly add the liquids to the spices.
3. Add the peppers and onions and mix well.
4. Add the chicken breasts and marinate for at least an hour.
5. When ready to cook, preheat the grill to high.
6. Cook the chicken breasts until done, turning as needed and brush with the marinade.
7. Bring the leftover marinade to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes. You want it to cook long enough to kill any bad germs (salmonella) before you reuse it. Serve the marinade on the side as a dipping sauce.

Comments
The original recipe from Diana's Kitchen did not include the ghost pepper. If you're afraid of ghosts but want a really flavorful  jerk chicken with a little bite leave it out. But the ghost pepper adds more than just a ratchet on the heat. Ghost peppers have a unique flavor profile that really enhances any dish. Especially jerks.

Hot Peppers May Kill Cancer

BBC News reports on research that indicates the component in peppers that makes them spicy, capsaicin, may kill cancer cells. At least in petri dishes.

Apparently capsaicin attacks the mitochondria in cancer cells but doesn't affect normal cells (the main function of mitochondria is to produce energy for cells). Researchers tested it in cultures of lung cancer and pancreatic cancer cells.

While the research doesn't indicate that eating spicy food will cure or prevent cancer, it couldn't hurt. Relatively speaking.

That reminds me. It's time to plant my Ghost Pepper and Trinidad Moruga Scorpion seeds. [Link]