Stuffed & Smoked Bologna

Not everone is a bolo fan - but I am. With the cost of food through the roof these days a hefty pack of good quality sandwich meat will set you back some change. I like deli meats like roast beef, turkey, ham and such but really bologna is good enough for me unless I'm going to roast that meat myself. Soooo, with that in mind I saw Cowgirls (see fav blogs in sidebar)stuffed bolo and had to try it myself. I felt I made a mess of it and didn't even try to stuff the second half of it I had but it turned out a lot better in appearence than I thought it would after setting in the fridge. Using a long thin bladed knife to spiral slice it, I used slices of Provalone, 3 kinds of Olives, and some Pickles then tied it with sting and smoked it for 90 min. Sure was a nice surprise to have it look good and taste great both.

Focaccia and Tri Tip

We love this bread and have it often so I had to try baking it. This is a no knead bread and the dough goes into the baking pan like a batter rather than a bread dough. Of course never having made it before I was surpised by that and pleased at the same time as it makes the task much easier. Another great thing about this bread is all the various topping you can apply to it. We used thin sliced sauteed red onion, coarse sea salt, and fennel seed. The batter had a good amount of Oregano leaf included. I think everyone should google a focaccia recipe and try it especially if you love Focaccia.

I am a red meat lover and I like it cooked to the doneness you see here which is what I call Medium or about 140 internal. The normal grilling method consisting of a very HOT fire and turning as many times as need was not used on this cook. Instead, I used a method I have heard being used by many that turned the heat down real low to about 225 and cooks until the internal meat temp is 120 or not far from the "rare" stage, then transfer it to a very hot fire for just a few min to sear the outside. This makes it very easy to sneak up on your perfect finish temp.

Enchaladas w/BBQ Pulled Pork

Always one to try and make the best use of good BBQ as possible, I made these Enchaladas. The Ancho Chili gravy adds a lot of home made flavor to the dish and makes it a lot better than using the canned variety of sauce. Ole El Paso is good - but not near this good. I was actually making another attempt and copying my favorite local salsa and got side tracted and put it away in a paste form for later use. It was made with comal grilled onion, garlic, and tomatillos and blended with broth and Ancho Chili powder. To make the gravy I fried the paste in a little Lard and added the broth.
Tamales are not really worth the effort for me personally when Enchaladas can be made this easy and good. I know they are not the same thing but I just love Enchaladas and you can make them so many ways using various sauces and meats.

Beef Stew w/Brisket

Couple of weeks ago (see blog post below) I made Tostadas with some Beef Brisket Burnt Ends and I thought at the time it was the best use of this meat I had found - not so sure now.Last night I made Beef Stew and added the already made Burnt Ends right at the last of the cook and this was some of the best stew I have ever had and I love beef stew. It's just so simple and down home good - all you need is plain loaf bread and a little Tobasco.

Pulled Pork @ 325

Everyone that knows anything about BBQ knows it's a low and slow thing - or is it? The fad, if I can call it that now days is cooking it hot and fast. Instead of the low 225 cooking temp a lot of cooks are raising that to 325 or even 350 and cutting the time to cook a large Boston Butt or Full Brisket in half or six hours max. Sure that smoke and long low and slow cook time adds to the meat, but folks that don't cook on grills and smokers need to know it's mostly the meat and you can turn the heat up and have a great pork roast.