Carpet Capitol Living

Beef Stew w/Brisket

2012-02-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

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

2012-02-05T15:57:00.001-08:00

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.

Chicken Pasta Shells

2012-01-29T17:17:00.001-08:00

Continuing my cooking inside rather than "everything has to be cooked on a grill" adventure, and having almost 2 lbs of chicken shredded and ready to use, I was very pleased with this dish.It truely was a dish that consisted of just what was in the fridge and cabinets and no recipe required typed dish.
A mirepoix or Cajun version of it with carrots and mushrooms was the base and then the chicken was added followed by a little of the cheese sauce. After the mixture cooled enough to handle and the pasta shells were ready the shells were stuffed and placed in a casserole dish with the remaining cheese sauce poured over.
Just heated through and the dish was ready to serve with yeast rolls and Cobb Salad.

Tostadas de Pollo

2012-01-27T14:07:00.000-08:00

O.K., so I get hung up on some things from time to time. I had planned to wrap these 3 boneless skinless chicken breast in bacon and give them a nice med heat cook in my Pellet Smoker till the bacon got crisp and chicken just right but plans changed. I have been feeling a little foolish about trotting out to the cooker with everything I want to cook and have decided to get back in the kitchen more. With a fresh supply of Toastadas shells on hand I planned to make Toastadas again and decided to poach the chicken with a little onion and garlic in broth. With all the condiments that go on our Tostadas, the smoke or even the bacon could not be missed. The results were as good as the pictures might suggest and I plan to stay inside more and see just what all I can cook in the comfort of our nice kitchen.

Tostasdas Made With Beef Brisket

2012-01-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

Let's talk Tostadas. I cook a lot of barbecue and often have some to vacuum seal for later use and brisket, particularly, the point or thick fatty end of a whole one is my favorite leftover bbq for use in all kind of ways. This portion of a brisket is normally cubed and cooked even longer than the rest to give you what we call "Burnt Ends". The best dish I have made with these Burnt Ends of Brisket however is this Tostadas dish. I did a rough dice on the meat and carmelized in a skillet with very little oil - you could say at that point it had been double carmelized. The assembly of the Tostadas consisted of the standard condiments of Refried Beans, Shredded Lettuce, Chopped Tomato and Onion, Cilantro, and Crumbling Cheese. I knew this was going to be a good dish so I made my sauce from scratch using dried Guajillios and Chipotles in Adobo.
The pictures here are terrible and were made with a phone (camera batteries died) but they look better when enlarged by clicking them.

Chili Glazed Pork Loin

2012-01-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

I ran up on a bone in Pork Loin and I liked the Prime Rib last week on the Pellet cooker so well, I decided to give it the same treatment. Lot different spices went on it though – I used about six seeded guajillo toasted and soaked in hot water in the blender along with several chopped cloves of garlic, cumin, oregano, two chipotles in adobo and made a paste. The roast was tied and covered with the paste about 1 hr before time to go in the cooker. Just before putting it on I scrapped the paste off and added a good amt of coarse sea salt and blk pepper and smeared the paste back on over the salt and pepper, then added about 2 cups of water to the pan. Cooked 1 hour at 350 and turned down to 325 and started basting every 15 min before covering with foil for the last 15 min and it took an additional hour to reach 135 before pulling it off for the rest where it rose to 142 before slicing. I could not cut through the bottom bone on the ribs and had to slice the ribs off before making the sliced portions of loin to serve and was disappointed that I didn’t realize that before hand and cut them off and tie them back on before starting the cook. Maybe I could have used a cleaver to cut through that bone but didn’t try it, maybe next time we’ll have the handles on the chops.

Rib Roast

2012-01-09T06:31:00.001-08:00

I have always believed that old saying “variety is the spice in life” was true, no pun intended, as in this case spice is one of the things we are talking about. Lately I have returned to the basics when cooking beef and that is a simple coating of coarse sea salt, coarse ground black pepper, and a sprinkling of garlic and onion powder. The old saying even goes for the type cooker and method I use to cook the meat on. When planning to cook this 4.89 lb boneless Rib Roast I was about to sear it in my Portable Kitchen and move inside to the stove to finish when it occurred to me that the Traeger Pellet grill was the perfect cooker for such a cook and there would be no need to sear. I seasoned the meat about 1 hour before the meat was to be put on the cooker and added a mixture of prepared horseradish mixed with olive oil on the fatty meat side then carefully tied it with a 1 inch slice cut off for the well done person in the house tied back on the whole roast. Since it was boneless (I prefer bone in), I placed it on a rack in a metal pan with one cup of fresh brewed coffee added to make an au jus and started the cook which took about 2 ½ hours to complete at 350 cooker temp. I used a Maverick remote probe placed in the center of the roast and watch some TV while it cooked totally unattended except for my watchful eye on the remote. The hardest part of cooking beef for me is the much needed rest after taking the meat off and I knew it was even more important for this nice roast so I forced myself to give it a full 30 min rest before slicing. Since I do have that person in the house that likes well done beef, the meat was cooked to 140 internal temp which is 5 to 10 degrees more than I normally would do, but I find that is not a big deal on this cut of meat because the outer muscle is so moist and tender even when cooked to 140. If it were not for the person that did not want their meat well done getting robbed of that outer portion in their slice you could provide the well-done person with the outer part, eliminating any additional steps in your cook. Prime Rib Roast are not cheap but I believe they are a perfect cut for both the Traeger Pellet grill and the perfect cut to satisfy both the well done meat person and those that like their meat rare or medium rare at the same time. Cooking in the oven instead of on a grill or smoker would not be a problem for a grill o maniac like myself either. The moral of the story – look for a managers special on one of these and try it yourself. This roast was 4 bucks a lb and I will probably never get as much out of 20 bucks again if I live to be a 100. Stick with USDA choice or better and you will be a happy camper.

Sun-Dried Tomato Sausage Making

2012-01-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

I have finally found a sausage recipe and executed it that turns out even better than I expected. Traditional Black Eyed Peas and Turnip Greens on New Years day could not be overlooked but we spent a good amount of our time in the kitchen grinding and stuffing sausage. I found the recipe here but on half of the batch I added 2 minced fresh jalapenos, seeds included. Still can't get over how good they are and for the person that does not like stuffing in casings this sausage makes the best meatloaf I've ever had - can't wait for the sandwiches. I used a stand mixer to mix the ingredients into the ground meat and that worked real good.

Police Stop at 2 a.m.

2011-12-30T12:05:00.000-08:00

An elderly man is stopped by the police around 2 a.m. and is asked where he is going at this time of night.

The man replies, "I am on my way to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body, as well as smoking and staying out late."

The officer then asks, "Really? Who is giving that lecture at this time of night?"

The man replies, "That would be my wife."

Note: "not many jokes on this blog, but the picture was so good I could not resist"

Beef Brisket

2011-12-26T05:17:00.001-08:00

Cooking brisket according to most - myself included - seems to be the hardest to master, but you "will" master it if you keep working at it. The single most important thing in my opinion is to know when the fork truly does go into the meat like butter to confirm the meat is tender enough. I have known that simple test and used it for years and have to admit that I never really benefited from it simply because I was too anxious to call it finished and could not force myself to continue cooking it any longer. The last few cooks I have been able to do that and the fork truly does go in like butter and only then can you find any chance to have cooked a great brisket as opposed to an average one.

THE PIT - It's the recipe and the person cooking the meat that gets the job done and not what type or brand cooker you use. When I cooked this 16 Lb brisket on the Traeger Pellet grill I was not at all confident in being able to produce a top quality piece of meat, but I was wrong. This brisket is the very best I have ever cooked, which leads me to my next point. Many of the users of this type cooker will be the first to tell you that it's hard to get enough smoke on the meat for bbq with this cooker but I think they assume too much about other peoples preferences. There is absolutely no way to convince me that a brisket that was cooked every minute with smoke surrounding it will not have sufficient smoke flavor no matter what cooker produced that smoke. If I had to cook a contest tomorrow, I would have not problem firing up this same little pellet cooker to do my brisket on.

THE FLAVOR - Rubs are no doubt an important part of BBQ, but I've always thought that just about everything else involved in cooking bbq was more important than the rub, or in other words - a ho hum rub would not ruin a good brisket near as quick as a brisket that was not tender enough when you pulled it. For this Christmas Eve Brisket for the family my goal was not a BBQ flavor profile as much as a nice tender brisket that would pair up well with a good Au Jus and Horseradish sauce, so I decided to use Fresh Ground Pepper, Coarse Sea Salt, Garlic and Onion Powders. The results have me wondering why I would ever use anything else for brisket, even for BBQ.

THE METHOD - Mr. Myron Mixon of Jack's Old South, is the undisputed King of Briskets and has always advocated a much higher temp and faster cook for brisket and I definitely can vouch for the fact that he practices what he preaches because I have witnessed him on several occasions not even fire up his cooker till the wee hours of the morning after most others have already had their meat on for hours. I never felt like hot and fast was a good thing for BBQ so have always ignored it and never tried it, but due to the need to have our family Christmas Eve dinner at 5p.m. I decided to give it a try and could not be more pleased. I think I know why Myron Mixon has done so well for so long with Brisket.

THE REWARDS - Serve a great Brisket for company and your guest will be happy and that will make you happy. If there happens to be any leftovers try it for breakfast. I made a nice dish of grits, added cheese, eggs, and butter then baked. Added this brisket to the plate along with some Raisin bread and Apple Butter and oh, did that make one fine breakfast fit for a king and this time it was served on a Kings Birthday (His name is Jesus). Here's more details including times:

· 6:30 partially separated brisket which had all the thick fat kernels removed and fat cap trimmed down to 1/4 inch was placed on the smoker with temp set on "smoke" for 1 hr, temp outside was 40 and the highest temp on cooker for the next hour was 100. Rub was fresh ground black pepper, coarse ground sea salt, onion and garlic powder applied with meat cold that had been in fridge after injecting with Kosmos 15 hrs earlier, meat was only out of fridge long enough to apply rub before going into cooker.

· 7:30 I turned cooker up to 350

· 8:00 Cooker was running 325 but set to 350

· 8:30 meat was at 100 and already getting a great looking bark, was surprised the pit was holding the 350 and turned temp down to 325 and sprayed with apple juice.

· 9:30 internal temp was 136, sprayed with apple juice

· 10:09 meat temp was 160 –170 judging from both the point and flat

· 10:26 meat was transferred to full pan and a bottle of Stubbs Beef Marinade was added and pan wrapped and returned to cooker.

· At 11:41 internal 195 – 200 but NOT tender to the probe test on the flat but point was very tender.

· 12:30 is an estimated time where the internal was at 208 and seemed tender and I removed from pan and broth, separated point from flat, cubed the point, wrapped flat and cubed point separately in foil and towels and placed in cooler for 2 hours.

· 2:00 I sliced the flat and returned to foil and heated in 350 oven for 30 - 45 min till very hot, opened foil to vent and let cool some then wrapped in towels and placed back in cooler.

· 4:30 broth from original pan was strained and refrigerated during the resting time above and I added some Worcestershire and water to the defatted broth and boiled for a few min for the au jus and made some horseradish sauce.

· 5:00 Served

Chorizo Cheese Meatballs

2011-12-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

A great idea for Chorizo even if I did make it up myself. It's really just any old cheese and meat meatball bound with biscuit mix, but that flavorful Chorizo and Chili sauce really makes this a nice dish to practice your sopping with. If your wondering why they are so dark in color - it's because I ground and made the Chorizo myself and used chili anchos which are DARK.

Easy Chicken Suppers

2011-12-07T18:48:00.000-08:00

Here's the deal! I am passionate about my food and eating and I refuse to eat mediocre food if I can help it. We get disappointed eating out when trying something or some place new occasionally but rarely ever disappoint ourselves when cooking at home. It's easy to do...just rule out frozen dinners or packaged entrees and put together your meals with good ingredients, add a little love to the preparation and that should do it. Like the Boneless Skinless chicken here that I would not be happy about on my plate as a meat by itself, no matter what sides you put with it, but I can grill them and use them to prepare any number of dishes that I do like. The fresh bread and avocados along with the sliced chicken and other condiments makes me happy every time. Or, PIZZA with sundried tomatoes, anchovies, onion, peppers along with the slices of chicken.

Trailer For Sale

2011-12-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

I have a 2002 Gooseneck Toyhauler built by Southwest Expressline that is 34ft long with one foot of that as the extended hitch (18ft living qtrs and 15 garage). The living qtrs has the sleeping area, kitchen sink, gas / elec water heater, microwave, gas / elec fridge - bath has the shower / toilet / lav combo - cabinets over the couch and the dining table including a tv cabinet with elec outlet and hook up to std tv disc on top of trailer, and cabinets all across the nose behind the sleeping area. It has two roof vents in the liv qtrs one in the sleeping area and one in the bath, the one in the bath is a power vent. More than sufficient heat and air with the heat being propane with central control. The garage has cabinets down each side to cover about 7 ft of the 15 ft area including across the back wall that separates the living area from the garage. It has 3 vents in the garage; two are 3 spd, reversible power vents positioned at the rear to be used for venting any smoke while cooking inside or on the ramp, the 3rd is in the center of the garage and could accomodate a 2nd air conditioning unit. The ramp has new tread plate and all exterior metal has been painted with rust prf paint (steps, gooseneck, rear bumper, etc). The trailer’s roof seal is two years old and the awning is two years old with only a handful of times being used since it was installed. Also has new spare tire. It has a new deep laundry sink that will be hooked up to the hot cold water in the living qtrs and a separate grey water tank installed for it unless it is sold first. Everything on this trailer works perfectly and the only two mods besides the sink I will make unless it is sold first will be an exhaust installed through the wall just above the smoker and new flooring for the garage. Price – 14,000.

Thanksgiving Tips 2011

2011-11-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

I'm sure most people put more into their cooking when preparing their holiday meals than any other time of the year just as we do. If you love food and love and cooking it your also going to continue finding new and improved methods, recipes, ingredients, etc all along the way. With that said, let me share what this Thanksgiving meal brought in the way new ideas and changes in some of the things we are doing with our Thanksgiving cooking.

First of all does the Turkey really need to be an expensive Free Range - All Natural bird that you spend hours brining, injecting, and basting? I know I have always gone to a lot of trouble pursuing the perfect turkey and it can be hard to even find the all natural birds sometimes and when you do find one you will normally pay up to 3 times as much for it, add the time and trouble with brining a 20lb turkey and it can be a more than a little difficult.

This year we picked up a 20lb Butterball with "Up to 2%" solution and the results were that we had as good, if not better Turkey than ever. The first step, and I highly recommend doing this with your chicken as well is, to air dry the bird overnight in the fridge after washing and the initial preparation to aid in a nice skin for presentation. I also injected the bird with almost the entire bottle of Tony Chatchers Creole Butter and used our Spitjack injector which is about 10 times better than what you normally find. In fact I will include this injector and how much better job you can do with it in the list of things that made our bird good. An example would be - with the longer needle I was able to inject all the way from one end of the breast to the other without punching holes in the skin. The next step in the process was room temp herb butter mixture (1 1/2 sticks) under the skin of the breast. I used Lowery's Seasoned Salt in the cavity and on the outside and decided to allow the basting alone to color the bird evenly rather than try to add anything before cooking. Onion, garlic, and celery in the cavity was used and other than that cooking at 325 in a V-rack over broth to an internal of 180 thighs and 170 breast or as close to it as possible with emphesis on the breast temp is all that was needed to provide a great turkey. I have included pics of the "must haves" for our Thanksgiving dinner but as usual a number casseroles showed up as well, like the famous green bean casserole with Frenches Onions. Creamy Potato salad, Sweet Potato Casserole, and Cornbread Dressing are always part of the dinner as well as ham. This year however we found that we had enough Pulled Pork on hand from our Competition BBQ Cooking for our crowd and it took the place of the Ham which is another must have and there were no complaints. It was served without sauce or additional seasonings to provide that ham like experience.

Philly Cheese Steak

2011-10-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

The simple method I use for Philly Cheese Steak is to buy either Flat Iron or Tri Tip and place in the freezer till nearly frozen to make slicing easier. Slice really thin, cook onions and mushrooms in olive oil till softened and remove from pan. Add more oil and place seasoned meat in hot pan (in batches if necessary) and cook till the red is gone which only takes a short few min with thin slices. Add the onion mushroom mixture back to pan and cook till all is heated through and layer white Velveeta over the meat in the pan and leave on low long enough to melt the cheese. Use tongs to remove meat to heated Italian loaf, wrap in foil a couple min to allow flavors to develop fully, slice and serve.

2011-10-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was our home town BBQ Contest and we did not do as well as we were hoping for and finish in 5th place out of 25 teams. Scottie Johnson's Cancer Sucks Chicago team (2006 Jack Daniels World Champion)along with Cool Smoke and Bub Ba Q, who both happen to be in the top 10 and top 20 respectively for team of the year were there along with many other winning teams. In case you are wondering, there are over 5,400 teams competing in these bbq contest. Our best entries were, Pulled Pork @ 3rd place and Brunswick Stew @ 2nd. We should be happy but will never be happy with less than the Grand Championship or at lest 2nd place. Some tell me that is the wrong attitude and I say, so be it. I want to win and that's that. My desire to compete just increases with each contest and while I thought last weekend finished up 2011 and we would not compete again till April or May of 2011, I was wrong. I have now signed up for The BBQ Cup in Cummings, Ga Nov 18 & 19 and can't wait.

NY Strip Schnitzel

2011-10-14T05:39:00.000-07:00

One of the best meals I ever had was Wiener Schnitzel at the Woodbridge Inn in Jasper, Ga and the restaurant is still open and serving the dish today. They have another dish with Veal Cutlets called Veal Oscar that is prepared about the same way except it includes Crab Meat and Hollandaise. Now on to my first time cooking Schnitzel. Substitute beef, pork, or even chicken for the veal as they are all good. Using beef makes this just an improved cubed steak, but the degree of improvement is dramatic. Anyone that has never had Schnitzel will be pleasantly surpised and I think in for a real treat if you ever try it. As so often happens cooking this came about when a thought about something I would like to cook is met by what's on hand, which was a couple of rather thin NY Strips. I started by trimming all fat off, and boy was that hard to do as I love it on a grilled steak. Then I used my poor man's Jacaard style meat tenderizer, which is a device to hold meat while you slice it that came with an electric knife that quit working. After trimming I pounded the meat between plastic and this is the secret to this recipe. You will have a much more authentic version of the dish if you pound it thin enough (or buy it sliced thin) which will make it cook in the pan much differently than the thicker cutlets. When you think it is thin enough just keep pounding as most likely it is still too thick. It needs to be much thinner than cube steak. Seasoned flour, eggwash, and bread crumbs to provide that delicious flavor on the cutlets that only take 3 or 4 min per side to cook (we like to use Pringle potato chips for the breading). Ours were fork tender which did not surpise me at all and they were even better than I thought they would be.

Basil Pine Nut Praline Ice Cream

2011-10-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

I scream You scream Everybody screams for Ice Cream has never been more true for anyone more than ME. I love it, and it has been decades ago since having that old timey hand cranked with rock salt ice cream that we use to have at my Grandma Rhudy's. I think our favorite back then was bananna. So, long story short, I have wondered for years now how those new on the counter electric makers work and just how good the ice cream would be. Here's the verdict... On our most recent visit to our good friends Vern and Helen in Maryville, Tn, they made this Basil Pine Nut Praline ice cream that totally blew me away. Being an ice cream lover all my life, I just could not get over Basil being so good in ice cream. Needless to say I was sold on buying myself one of those Cuisinart 2 quart freezers and you'll do the same if you ever have a chance to taste the remarkable difference in making your own ice cream. The ability to customize your ice cream recipes and make up your own specialty recipes is fun and easy. The downside is, I don't think you'll save any making it vs buying it and with the 2 qt your not making a huge amount at a time so you'll need to make in advance for a crowd and it takes at least six hours in the freezer for the bowl to be ready for another batch. Here's the recipe and I can't find it on line so I hope no one minds my reposting it here.

Basil Pine Nut Praline Ice Cream

2 cup whole milk
1 tbs plus 1 tsp cornstarch
1 1/2 oz creme cheese softened
1/4 tsp fine sea salt\\
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbs light corn syrup
1 lg handful fresh basil leaves cut to small pieces
1/2 cup honey nut pralines

PREP: Mix about 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornstarch ma small bowl to make a smooth slurry.Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water.COOK . Combine the remaining milk the cream sugar and corn syrup in a 4-quart saucepan, bring to a rolling boil over medium-high heat, and boil for 4 minutes, Remove from the heat and gradually whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Bring the mixture back to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring with a heatproof spatula, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove From the heat.CHILL Gradually whisk the hot milk into the cream cheese until smooth. Add the basil. Pour the mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc freezer bag and submerge the sealed bag in the ice bath. Let stand, adding more ice as necessary, until cold, about 30 minutes.FREEZE Strain out the basil. Pour the ice cream base into the frozen canister and spin until thick and creamy. Rack the ice cream into a storage container, folding in the honey pine nut pralines as you go. Press a sheet of parchment directly against the surface and seal with an airtight lid. Freeze in the coldest part of your freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.

Rib Tip Cooking

2011-10-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

This is a story about the best ribs I ever had…they are not Spare Ribs or Baby Backs, they are Rib Tips, that section attached to the whole rack of spare ribs. I’ve always cooked them and always liked them, but now I know when they are cooked and served the right way, they will be better than Spares or Baby Backs. What you do is this: you can cook them in whole pieces, rubbing them (I use Slabs Birds n Bones Rub) and cooking them just like you would full racks. I cook ribs at 225 with minimum smoke wood and I can’t taste smoke myself, so I don’t pay a lot of attention to the kind of wood I use. The standard cook time would be 3 hrs before foiling them for another 2 hrs but for Rib Tips, I cook them 5 hrs before continuing with the foil. The next step before continuing to that 2 hrs in the foil I believe is the KEY to the best ribs I ever tasted and that is to cut them into individual bone size strips. "That’s it in a nutshell"! Once they are cut into strips you can use pans to cook them in for the final 2 hrs with about ½ cup of apple juice poured over them. I like sauce on them, but not a lot of sauce so what I do is spread them out on a large foil lined sheet pan and lightly brush with BBQ sauce and into a 350-degree oven for another 30 min. The meat is always better closest to the bone and all that cartilage still provides plenty of that excellent rib meat in between. The breastbone at the bottom is the exception, you can separate it from the rest and cook it too, but you won’t be able to cut it in sections like the rest. You most likely will have a good bit of small thin boneless pieces like the flap meat that you just do not want to take up all that grill space to cook and I suggest just putting all that in an open pan and cook it right along with the rest and they will wind up cooking in their own fat so no juice is need in this pan. All I can tell you now is to never take those rib tips for granted again and try them this way the next time you have some available, or better yet try to find a source to buy just the tips and if you can find them they should be 2/3 cheaper than the whole spares.

Checking Carbon Monoxide Level

2011-10-03T11:44:00.000-07:00

The stove pipe in this video is temporary and provided a way for me to test the CO level and how well the fans we installed worked. At the end of the 1st video I pressed the top button and got a high reading, then at the beginning of the 2nd video I checked it using the bottom button and it was 28 which was just after loading the meat in the cooker. Having the door open for a long time increased the level but not over the danger zone of 30pps. A reading of 15 was constant throughout the cook. Even with the low reading of 15 for the most part, I would not recommend this setup unless you have a divided living quarters and then I wouldn't do it unless you had a 2nd co detector for the living qtrs. My trailer does not even have an entrace to the cooking part from the living qtrs and is sealed off with a solid wall. Not shown in the pic is a 2nd power vent just like the one over the smoker just to the right of it.

Chicken Tacos

2011-09-25T16:17:00.001-07:00

A little hung up on this boneless / skinless Chicken Kabob thing but we're just enjoying it so much we're finding more and more uses for it. I used Mojo Grillo marinade for 3 hours and I credit the marinade for keeping the meat moist. I cooked it on the grill at 425 for about 30 min turning a few times. We never ever order chicken tacos anywhere when eating out and considering that what we make at home almost always is better than the top restaurants, doing these tacos would be a good choice for us. I grilled the chicken to 165 and chopped it before frying it in a little olive oil. Cooking meat twice is common in Mexican cooking around here and it sure adds more flavor especially cooking with wood, as you might imagine. Something else we learned a long time ago is that lightly sautéed onions as opposed to chopped onion on your tacos is a nice change and you want them to still have a little crunch to them, so you need to start with hot skillet. These were served with Salsa Verde, Cilantro, avocado, and Lemon (we like it better than lime). A good crumbling cheese like Feta would have been a great addition.

Cheesy German Potato Casserole

2011-09-19T18:56:00.002-07:00

This is ABSOLUTELY the BEST potato dish I think I've ever had and that's coming from a long line of Potato Salad lovers. I like the flavor of German Potato Salad so I guess that's why I like this dish so much. You just can't beat a potato casserole with cheese, boiled eggs, onions, garlic, apple vinegar, and BACON! Here's how to make it: just boil potatoes the same as if your were going to make regular potato salad and instead of the ingredients you normally add use a large onion, 6 or 8 boiled eggs, 1 lb of bacon (fried, drained, and crunched up). Make your dressing with a cup and half of mayo (Krafts please - there is a reason it's called REAL Mayonaise), 3 or 4 tbs of apple vinegar, couple tbs of Worchestershire, splash of tabasco. Mix it all up and pour half into a casserole dish and add a layer of white Velvetta cubed or sliced (1/2 lb) then the rest of the potatoes, then another 1/2 of the cheese. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper where needed like I do sometimes and bake till heated through and browning a little on top. It's easy as can be and you don't have to chop celery. For the real recipe google German Potato Casserole.

Meat Loaf

2011-09-19T18:56:00.001-07:00

This was supposed to be the best meat loaf I ever cooked. Everyone experiences a disappointing cook sometimes I'm sure, as I was with this Meat Loaf. I was impressed with the results of Cook's Illustrated All Beef Meat Loaf and used their method. I rounded up the recipe by doing a search of copycat recipes, as Cook's Illustrated requires you to pay for membership to their site. What I liked about it and why I wanted to cook it this way was mostly the way they did their glaze. Instead of putting a thick layer on at the end of the cook that generally just sits there much the same as when you brushed it on, they started with a thin glaze when the meat first went in the oven and then several more glazes as it cooked which made it cook into the meat. The recipe also had a large amount of onions and used bread and eggs and they cooked the onions, I never do any of that with mine. I do use onions but don't cook them nor do I use bread or eggs. Bottom line is my next meat loaf will be MY meatloaf with the only difference being that I glaze throughout the cook.

Chicken Kabobs

2011-09-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know, I know, I'm hung up on the Mr Yoshika's Sauce / Marinade, but not really - it's a big bottle. Seriously I love the flavor on a lot of things and besides doing breast as Kabobs was a nice change. You get a lot more flavor that way and you know how hard it is to do that with boneless skinless chicken breast. Besides think of all the things that can be done with it - serve on speghetti, subs, salads, etc. The directions on this product suggest marinade time to be 30 min to 1 hour, I suggest 12 hours or overnight for anything I've used it on and with these Kabobs I also basted them with it while they were on the grill. Try it sometime.

Wings

2011-09-13T08:55:00.001-07:00

I've said it to myself many times and I'll say it here "I'd give up cooking on a grill / smoker at home if I didn't have a Traeger" (or some other Pellet cooker). I have always loved Hot Wings and they turn out so good in the pellet cooker. The method I use now is to let them sit out on the counter about 45 min then season them with any old bbq rub, and put them in the cooker indirect with the temp at about 350 for about 45 min. I actually checked these whole wings with the wiggle test to see how done they were based on how loose they were at the joint. A second test for doneness provided a treat for the cook when I pulled one off and tried it. When cooked to my liking, I then used half margarine and half Texas Pete heated enough to mix well and dipped the wings in the sauce and returned to the cooker for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Mr Yoshidas

2011-09-13T08:53:00.001-07:00

Here's a product I can recommend that will provide a unique flavor and a beautiful color to your grilled chicken, beef, pork, etc. These Tri Tip roasts were marinated in Mr Y for 12 hours, wiped off the excess, sprinkled with a steak rub and cooked on high (475 - 495) on the Traeger Pellet grill for about 25 min. Use one for Steak Night and refrigerate and shave the other one for the most wonderful steak sandwiches you will ever have. Note: I have found that simply refrigerating is not enough to facilitate shaving beef and about 15 min in the freezer makes all the difference in the world.

The Difference Between Class & Narcissism

2011-08-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

WHAT A DIFFERENCE

George W. Bush speech after capture of Saddam Hussein:
The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq .
The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the
dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by
a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many
dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and
freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the
nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate 'them.

Barack Hussein Obama speech, Sunday, May 1, 2011:
And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the
killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as I continued
our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network.
Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by my intelligence community, I was briefed on
a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread
to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information
about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of
Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that I had enough intelligence to take action, and
authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.
Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in
Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Brined & Smoked Chicken

2011-07-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

I cooked the best chicken I've ever cooked yesterday and I contribute the good results to a good brine and proper doneness. Whole chickens were used but I cut them in half before doing anything else. I used a simple brine that included pickling spices but added a couple of very aromatic herbs to it - both the pickling spices and the other two spices where whole and I ground them in a coffee grinder. I did not want the brine to make the chicken too salty so I limited the time in the brine to two hours. I roasted them in a pellet cooker set at 275 until the breast meat reached an internal temp of 170. A remote meat thermometer was used in the thickest part of the breast. The flavor from the brine was very pronouced and very good. Once they reached 160 I brushed on a light coat of Apricot BBQ Sauce and held them in a warm oven while the side dishes were prepared. Fried Green tomatoes, German Potato Casserole w/Benton Bacon, Carolina Vinegar Slaw, and rolls rounded out the meal.

Click On The Pics Below For Enlarged View

Memory Lane Restaurant Review

2011-07-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Ann's Place use to be no more than a mile from our office and we went there some but not so much. The food was always good but her old place was so small and well I my as well say it - she was "different" and was extra "saving" with everything from her napkins to her butter, if you needed an extra napkin or pat of butter you had to ask and if you did you'd always just get ONE more at a time. Any way she had to move way across town due to road construction and we hadn't been since. I always liked her and liked giving her my business because I felt she was not cut out for the job but tried her dead level best to put out good home cooking. Her and her husband make more of their stuff from scratch than any other meat and 3 in town, he makes the cakes and pies and she makes the rest. I have been wanting to visit and see how she is doing and found that today was the day to do that since my lunch partner was off today and she wasn't warming up to the idea even though she liked Ann too. I had Chicken and Dumplings, Turnip Greens, and Pinto Beans with Cornbread and Sweet Tea. No doubt the Dumplings were from scratch and just as good as you could ask for, as was everything else. I don't know how you tell for sure if Pinto Beans and Turnip Greens are made from scratch other than judging by how good they are and if that's the only way, these were definitely good enough to pass that test. As I would have guessed there was no pepper sauce setting around for the greens and I didn't ask for any but I found out I didn't need any, in fact if I didn't know better I would have sworn they had some pepper sauce cook in them - they were GREAT. The beans were actually cooked instead of the usual meat and 3 canned version just heated up a little. What I had was so good and I hadn't been to her place for so long, I went ahead and got a slice of that homemade Peanut Butter Pie. It wasn't as good as Edna's over in Chatsworth because he didn't put the mirange on top, but it was good with a light creamy filling on a graham cracker crust and very peanut buttery. Good Sweet Tea that was not too sweet and good cornbread muffins. She has plenty of help including a grill guy that will make you any one of the many grilled items on the menu from burgers and dogs to all kinds of sandwiches including breakfast sandwiches. If anybody ask me I'd tell em to check her place out as it is the real deal and she's good old gal to boot.

July 4th Rib Tibs

2011-07-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

So, everyone knows hamburgers, hotdogs, and watermelon is traditional July 4th food, but I kinda think anything cooked on a grill or smoker passes, or at least it does with me. I decided it was a good time to cook all those Rib Tips from the last couple of contest and I didn’t weigh them but let’s just say my little pellet cooker was FULL. In case you were not aware, Rib Tips were gaining in popularity even before the down economy was a factor and I’ve always thought they were good myself, just needing a little getting use to eating around all those little bones. I have even heard that some people cut them up into small pieces before cooking and I may try that next time I cook them as I always have some thin smaller pieces that dry out a little and that could help get them all done at the same time. Mine were rubbed and into the smoker right out of the fridge and cooked for 3 hours, then foiled and cooked another 3 ½ hours before slathering on a coat of Apricot BBQ Sauce and cooked another 30 min. I have a new favorite side dish that goes good with just about anything that we paired with it called “German Potato Casserole”.

Whole Pork Loin

2011-07-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone has always followed the U.S.D.A. instructions on when meat is cooked to a safe minimum doneness temperature, especially with pork (160), out of fear of a meat borne illness which I can't seem the think of the name of it at present but perhaps you know what I'm referring to. Now it has been changed and you can read about that and other facts about pork from the U.S.D.A on the link Well no one has ever accused me of always following all the rules and I've always cooked certain cuts like Loin and Tenderloin at quite a bit lower done temperature than 160 and have always been credited with them being better than average. So I'm telling everyone I know with confidence now, to please try these at a lower temp and see if you agree that they are far better that way. But that's not all - I have always like 1 1/2 thick center cut loin chops and a week ago I tried a new tool that gave even better results than before - it's called a Jaccard Tenderizer. Now I'm telling everyone I know to cook to the new 145 degree doneness AND use a Jaccard Tenderizer. One more thing...try a Whole Pork Loin with Souvlaki Seasoning and go heavy on the seasoning. I liberally covered mine and wrapped in plastic wrap for several hours and just before putting it in my Traeger Pellet Grill I liberally covered it again and cooked as I said to 145 degrees internally. Try it just as I've said and you may have found the best piece of pork you ever put in your mouth and I promise it will be moist and fork tender.

Visitation Day...

2011-06-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah I knew that would get your attention and noooo it wasn’t the jailhouse, it was the nursing home. I haven’t got any personal experience in either place but I have to think there would not be much difference in them. I haven’t ever visited anyone that had enough money to go into one of those “Retirement” homes, so all my visiting has been in a plan old nursing home and I don’t like them much. Anyway Sunday I visited my Aunt Neeber (on my Mom’s side) and my Aunt Mary Lou (Dad’s side) and the first visit was very sad, as Aunt Neeber is just not doing well. On the other hand Aunt Mary Lou seemed to be doing better than the last time and as a bonus Aunt Mildred made it down to visit while we were there which made it nice to get to see those three in the same day. While I was there Mary Lou noticed how bad my brogans needed polishing and told me about it and it reminded me of a long time ago when I was sixteen, what! 44 yrs ago! Wow. I guess she knew I really wanted some new shoes and she let me drive her new little yellow Mustang with her to Chattanooga to a big department store and look for shoes. I fell in love with some cordovan and black saddle oxfords and she wound up buying them for me. But not before she managed to get the price brought down a good bit by noticing a tiny little mark on the leather right down about where the uppers are sown to the sole. She was persistent as she always was and we got a good deal I’m sure. I don’t know if she was thinking about that day when she noticed Sunday how bad my shoes needed polishing but I hope she was and I need to go back by there and show her my new shoe shine.

Mothers Day 2011

2011-05-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

We always have my Mom come over and fix dinner for her and try to have something we haven't made for her before. We did just that today with a Shrimp Salad, Grilled Salmon, and a Creamy Risotto. The Shrimp Salad had boiled shrimp, minced onion and celery, chopped boiled eggs, pickle relish, and a mayo / vinegar sauce, tossed and served on leaf lettuce. The Grilled Salmon was wild caught and turned out to be some of the best I've ever grilled with only fine sea salt, brown sugar, and coarse ground pepper to season it with.

S.O.S.

2011-05-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows what that stands for and about everyone has tried it, but you'd be hard pressed to find it made this good very often. The great thing about left overs is they make great meals if you get just a little creative. Tri Tip roast always provides us with some left over for the freezer for everything from Tacos to Philly Cheese Steaks sandwiches, but this S.O.S. is just plain good food. The Wheat Bread is home made and the gravy has a little red wine, onions, and mushrooms to make that great steak even better.

Soldiers Final Inspection

2011-05-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

The Soldier stood and faced God, which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining, just as bright as his brass.

“Step forward you Soldier, How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek? To My Church, have you been true?

The Soldier squared his shoulders and said, “No, Lord, I guess I ain’t
Because those of us who carry guns, can’t always be a saint.

I’ve had to work most Sundays, and at times my talk was tough.
And sometimes I’ve been violent, because the world is awfully rough.

But, I never took a penny, that wasn’t mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime, when the bills just got too steep.

And I never passed a cry for help, though at times I shook with fear.
And sometimes, God forgive me, I’ve wept unmanly tears.

I know I don’t deserve a place among the people here.
They never wanted me around, except to calm their fears.

If you’ve a place for me here Lord, it needn’t be so grand.
I never expected or had too much. But if you don’t, I’ll understand.

There was silence all around the throne, where the saints had often trod.
As the Soldier waited quietly, for the judgment of his God.

“Step forward now, you soldier, you’ve borne your burden well
Walk peacefully on Heaven’s streets, you’ve done your time in Hell.”

Author Unknown

What Was In The Fridge

2011-05-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Someone made Stuffed Pablano Peppers kinda like this and I've made them myself in the past but having been reminded of them I just had to make them again. I had two pounds of Chorizo I made and vac sealed few months ago and this was already a "clean out the fridge day" so I thought I might do two dishes. The stuffing included more of just what was on hand - Chorizo, black beans, sautéed onions, minced jalapenos, crumbled and toasted left over cornbread, cheese, and spicy V-8 juice. I needed to do something with a little Easter Ham and it wound up in a Baked Ramekin dish with a stuffing covering the ham which included: bread crumbs, pineapple and it's juice, onions, celery, roasted red peppers, cheese, and an egg to bind. We made the Poplanos our dinner and I tasted the Ham dish and both turned out real good considering they were made with just what was on hand.

Easter Ham Dinner

2011-04-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

It was a very good Easter dinner and in fact every dish turned out just right. Tradition has our house having ham for Easter and we wanted a little left over ham for sandwiches, so I bought two 10 lb smoked ham shanks. I used Tony Chachere's Creaole marinade and used one whole jar to inject both hams. To use as little space as possible in the fridge I set them on the cut side and trimmed the wrap off two third the way down and trimmed the fat off then injected - any liquid ran down in the bottom of the original wrapping, then I wrapped in plastic wrap before refridgerating for 24 hrs. The cook was estimated to be roughly 3 hrs at 325 but I wanted them to have plenty of time to cool and needed the cooker freed up for our andouie and pineapple appetizers. Just before starting the hams to cook, I rubbed liberally with Slabs Birds n Bones and put them on. The night before we had already made a big bowl of Potato Salad (3 lbs of Potatoes), but there was still plenty left to get ready while the ham cooked. Sue always makes sure we have plenty of our garden green beans and corn so that made two of our side dishes. Everybody loves yeast rolls with this meal, so we had plenty of those and another side dish that has become very popular with our crown that we decided to include in the Easter dinner for the first time - Broccoli Casserole. We have one in the crowd that does not like pork of any kind, so I ran back to the office to get some of our vac sealed Brisket and I'm thinking I may have to replace the ham next year with a couple of briket as it seemed to be enjoyed as much as anything else. Someone brought deviled eggs and another a desert sandwich cookies. Almost forgot the Sweet Potato Casserole my Mom brought and the desert we made - Pretzel Strawberry Salad which is really a close cousin to a Lush type dish but the Pretzels take the place of the graham / crumb bottom layer and provides a nice crunch with just enough salt to make it noticeable and good. We love feeding the family but it must be an age thing because it does seem to take more and more out of us these days.

Tri Tip Birthday

2011-04-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

It was suppose to be a great get together for by son's Dennis & Davids birthday (well me too since mine is only 4 days later) - BUT they both felt a little under-the-weather and had to cancel. "And here I thought, I was the old man the crowd." I'm sure all that driving for their out of town jobs each weekend had something to do with it. By the time we knew we had already marinated the Tri Tips so we went ahead with the entire cook. The pics below only show the smallest one which I cooked to 160+ and the largest which I cooked to 135. I shaved the rest for sandwiches.

Be Careful Slicing Beef

2011-03-29T07:40:00.000-07:00

It is no secret I love beef the best, enjoy it the most, have it most often, and like foul mouthed Anthony Bourdin, “still want more”. So beginning with St Patrick’s Day, and a lucky score on a small store bought Corned Beef Brisket and then again this past weekend with one of my favorite and inexpensive steaks (the Tri Tip), I discovered just how important it is to slice these two cuts of beef properly once cooked. The problem was not with me knowing to slice across the grain but rather taking to time to look and actually do it. The lucky score on Corned Beef came about when my Step Son bought a Corned Beef (very small) and dropped it by for me to cook him some of my BBQ he and wife Anna loves so well – not knowing it’s not the same. At the last minute just before St Patrick’s day arrived, I hit a couple of stores and they were out – what to do? Simple, just pick up a real brisket for his BBQ, which is what he really wanted anyway and use his Corned Beef, which I rinsed off, and soaked overnight in water to provide a milder Corned Beef flavor. I had a short trip to make that afternoon and stopped by home to put it on to cook while I was gone and decided to go with a Dutch Oven cook with onions, potatoes, carrots, glazing the meat with a little garlic powder sprinkled on top, whole grain mustard, and brown sugar. With meat glazed and placed in the pan and surrounded by veggies, I poured a can of O’Doul’s non alcoholic beer and enough water to reach about half way up on the meat and cooked at 275 to and internal of 200, covered (about 3 hrs), added cabbage during the last 30 min and all was well till I forgot to slice ACROSS the grain. We have the Tri Tip quit often because, like the Corned Beef it serves a dual role in that, one Tri Tip provides enough for a steak dinner for two with enough left over for a Roast Beef sandwich Made In Heaven the next day. If your not familiar with this cut of beef, it is in a shape that will make you want to slice it based on it’s shape rather than check the grain of the beef first and once you do you’ll most likely find it runs just the opposite from what you would think. Thankfully I can end by saying, in just under two weeks time, I have redeemed myself on both counts and have probably made the scale creep up slightly as a result, but I don’t care. Click HERE and you will find some fine information about the subject and at the bottom of that page if your interest there is also some great info on cooking steaks.

BBQ Pork and Brisket

2011-03-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday afternoon I trimmed and injected a Boston Butt and Brisket, the brisket was cooked for Craig and Anna and I had a single butt in the freezer. It’s always nice to have both or at least something else in the cooker to take advantage of having it fired up for such a long amt of time. I learned or re-learned a few things beginning with – pulled pork is better slightly under cooked than overcooked or at least for bbq it is. Secondly that marvelous thing called Burnt Ends, which is the Point meat on a whole Brisket, is indeed my favorite BBQ Beef and these were by far the best I’ve ever cooked. I separated the Point from the Flat before cooking which I don’t always do and at 165 internal on the Flat the rub was not setting up very much but the point was looking real good in that respect so I continued cooking to get a better bark on the flat. When the flat looked like it had a good bark the internal was at or near 180 so I wrapped it but the surprise was that point was more like 195 and looked great and tender enough so I pulled it off and cubed it up only to find it was as I said my best Burnt Ends ever. I never sauced any of the meats yesterday but at a contest I would have held those Burnt Ends in the cambro and reheated in sauce being very careful not to cook anymore. The only other thing I thought would be useful in the future was after pulling the pork and separating the big muscles from the rest, I pulled the rest and then used a meat cleaver to chop it a little bit and I liked the result of doing it that way better than just pulled. I usually survey the meat after separating it and decide which way I’m going to go to build the box to present to the judges and sometimes it has pulled pork and sometime just chucks along with the money muscle, and at other time all three – it just seems to change with me and I’m not sure that’s good but so be it. First contest is 4/15 in Kings Mtn, N.C. and I’m anxious to get that first one behind me.

Gone Fishing

2011-02-14T05:18:00.000-08:00

I have limited time now and in the near future due to increased work load so I plan to put a hold on posting here for a while. I'll be back though.

Dillard Turn In Time 2010

2011-02-06T11:17:00.001-08:00

Making Speghetti

2011-01-31T05:32:00.000-08:00

I love pasta and found this cheap pasta machine at TJ Max for half price so I thought - why not. It seems to do a good job but this first trial did not go very well due to not mixing up the dough correctly and / or not letting it rest before starting. It was really good and tasted fresh and by the time I added a Shrimp and Homemade Summer Sausage with onion and garlic to some Homemade Bachamel Sauce it was pretty stellar.

Italian Spaghetti and French Bread

2011-01-17T06:20:00.000-08:00

I made this spaghetti using a pack of Johnsonville Hot Italian Sausage links and a handful of smokey Canadian Bacon I made and the smokey bacon really made the dish special. It also had the benefit of home grown canned tomatoes, and some fresh basil and was cooked real slow, man it was good. I made the pasta from scratch and that was a first for me but definitely won't be the last. Making it was easy except for cutting it out and I did a poor job of that and got them too big. We finally convinced ourselves that we needed a stand mixer enough to actually go ahead and buy one yesterday and I think that's the best purchase I've made in a long time. Think about it, baking bread makes your house smell soooo good, fresh baked bread is one of the pleasures of life especially for a bread lover, and it should pay for itself as high as bread is getting these days.

Homemade Summer Sausage

2011-01-10T06:43:00.001-08:00

Sooner or later people will start to know and appreciate the Traeger Pellet Grills. I have cooked with many different types of smoker grills and the one thing that stands out with this cooker is the EASE OF USE. Even with an experienced cook like me that never has a problem with operating various cookers, the EASE OF USE factor will definitely result in cooking more than you would without this pellet cooker. I did a double grind on 12 lbs of top round and 3 lbs of lean pork using the fine grind on the second pass. This meat was in steak form and thin so it was easy to cut into small cubes and I like putting the cure / seasoning on before grinding. Packed as tight as I could and smoked until an internal of 152. The taste test this morning says this is well worth the effort and I sure wish I could have got this done before Christmas for presents like I planned but I doubt the recipients will complain on getting theirs late.

Happy New Year

2011-01-02T07:34:00.000-08:00

Moo and Oink meet in the cooker at the same time. It's a little unusual to find bone in Chuck cut this way let alone finding a bone in Butt cut the same way on the same day. I knew what I was going to do as soon as I found that Butt the same thickness as the Chuck I already had and that was make two roast with them adding onions, potatoes, and carrots just like my Granny use to make. Yesterday's traditional New Years Peas and Greens were the best I have ever had and that's saying a lot! We took a plate to Aunt Mary Lou at the rest home and she ate like she was starved to death and when they brought her tray I could see why. Here's wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

CHUCK ON LEFT - PORK ON RIGHT

PORK

BEEF

SO GOOD.....

Fish Sandwich w/a Twist

2010-12-31T07:57:00.000-08:00

Battered and deep fried Flounder Fillets served on a nice roll with dill pickles, mayo, tomatoes, avocado, and Tapatio hot sauce. At least a 9!

Simply The Best Beef For A Crowd

2010-12-26T05:38:00.000-08:00

What would your choice of beef be if you were cooking for a crowd? The BEEF CHUCK SHOULDER CLOD is always what works for me and the good news is it usually only cost a couple bucks a pound and weighs in at around 20 lbs (38 bucks for this one). You just can't beat fork tender ROAST BEEF and plenty of it. Here's a step by step including times (I hardly ever succeed in making myself keep notes but this time I managed to jot it down on the "things we're out of" list on the fridge. I cook this just like a brisket and injected it with Kosmos beef marinade and rubbed it with Traeger Prime Rib Rub just before starting the cook. At 10:00am Christmas Eve I put it on the Traeger after a 30 min hot sear on the grill I have called the Portable Kitchen. The searing was just something I wanted to try and although this beef was the best so far I'm still not really sure if that sear is necessary. The cooker was set to 225 and I waited till 12:30 to insert the remote probe, the meat was at 104 at that time. The cooker cruised right around it's set temp until 6:45pm when it finally reached 165. I see no reason to burn pellets, charcoal, or wood when finishing meat wrapped in foil when I'm a few steps from them kitchen so after adding a couple of cups of beef broth and foiling it was into the oven to continue cooking at 225 until it reached 185 at 10:00pm. Rested for 3 hrs while I napped and then I separated it into parts that I thought would make nice slices and let it cool a little more before slicing. Btw the only thing I have found to worry about when slicing this is the flat iron which you can see on the left front of the first pic which needs to be separated once the roast is cooked and sliced cross wise. After getting it sliced and into a serving pan I strained the broth into a container and put that and the meat into the fridge till morning. A couple of hours before time to serve I skimmed the fat off the Au Jus and added worchester sauce and black pepper while heating, then drizzeled about a qtr cup over the meat reserving the rest for the table, re-covered the meat and heated at 275 till warm. In addition to the Au Jus I made some FLUFFY HORSERADDISH SAUCE with heavy whipping cream. The meat was so fork tender and beefy good you just did not want to stop eating it. I asked at the table if anyone would rather have it cooked more rare and it was unanimous that they preferred it just like it was.

Lamb & Shrimp Kabobs w/Cilantro Gremolata

2010-12-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

This is one of the very few times that I made something and didn't like it. I didn't like the Kabobs or the Gremolata. The lamb was a couple of thin shoulder steaks and that didn't lend well to cooking it rare and that's the way I like lamb. I like wrapping Pork Loins and Tenderloins in bacon but will never wrap Kabobs with bacon again, shrimp or lamb. Thankfully I only wrapped a portion of the lamb and shrimp. I think I could get into Gremolata but it would have to be with Parsley and not Cilantro as this just didn't do anything for me at all. I also rushed it off the grill and that did not help things either.

$5.37 (For all my friends in my age group)

2010-12-15T09:29:00.000-08:00

That's what the kid behind the counter at Taco Bell said to me. I dug into my pocket and pulled out some lint and two dimes and something that used to be a Jolly Rancher. Having already handed the kid a five-spot, I started to head back out to the truck to grab some change when the kid with the Elmo hairdo said the hardest thing anyone has ever said to me. He said, "It's OK. I'll just give you the senior citizen discount."

I turned to see who he was talking to and then heard the sound of change hitting the counter in front of me. "Only $4.68" he said cheerfully.

I stood there stupefied. I am 56, not even 60 yet? A mere child! Senior citizen?

I took my burrito and walked out to the truck wondering what was wrong with Elmo. Was he blind? As I sat in the truck, my blood began to boil. Old? Me?

I'll show him, I thought. I opened the door and headed back inside. I strode to the counter, and there he was waiting with a smile.

Before I could say a word, he held up something and jingled it in front of me, like I could be that easily distracted! What am I now? A toddler?

"Dude! Can't get too far without your car keys, eh?" I stared with utter disdain at the keys. I began to rationalize in my mind.

"Leaving keys behind hardly makes a man elderly! It could happen to anyone!"

I turned and headed back to the truck. I slipped the key into the ignition, but it wouldn't turn. What now? I checked my keys and tried another. Still nothing.

That's when I noticed the purple beads hanging from my rear view mirror. I had no purple beads hanging from my rear view mirror.

Then, a few other objects came into focus. The car seat in the back seat. Happy Meal toys spread all over the floorboard. A partially eaten doughnut on the dashboard.

Faster than you can say ginkgo biloba, I flew out of the alien vehicle.

Moments later I was speeding out of the parking lot, relieved to finally be leaving this nightmarish stop in my life. That is when I felt it, deep in the bowels of my stomach: hunger! My stomach growled and churned, and I reached to grab my burrito, only it was nowhere to be found.

I swung the truck around, gathered my courage, and strode back into the restaurant one final time. There Elmo stood, draped in youth and black nail polish. All I could think was, "What is the world coming to?"
All I could say was, "Did I leave my food and drink in here"? At this point I was ready to ask a Boy Scout to help me back to my vehicle, and then go straight home and apply for Social Security benefits.

Elmo had no clue. I walked back out to the truck, and suddenly a young lad came up and tugged on my jeans to get my attention. He was holding up a drink and a bag. His mother explained, "I think you left this in my truck by mistake."

I took the food and drink from the little boy and sheepishly apologized.

She offered these kind words: "It's OK. My grandfather does stuff like this all the time."

All of this is to explain how I got a ticket doing 85 in a 40. Yes, I was racing some punk kid in a Toyota Prius. And no, I told the officer, I'm not too old to be driving this fast.

As I walked in the front door, my wife met me halfway down the hall. I handed her a bag of cold food and a $300 speeding ticket. I promptly sat in my rocking chair and covered up my legs with a blankey.

The good news was I had successfully found my way home.

Pass this on to the other old fogies on your list.

Notice the larger type? That's for those of us who have trouble reading.

P.S. Save the earth...... It's the only planet with chocolate!!!--

Homemade Speagetti Sauce

2010-12-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

I made this from home grown and canned tomatoes and I plan to try to remember during the hieght of tomato season next year to make large batches to cold pack. I had forgotten how easy making your own can be and how much better it is than store bought. We used some of the fantastic Benton's smoked bacon and several anchovie fillets. With fresh from the garden tomatoes and fresh rather than dried herbs, plenty of onion and garlic it should be so good you could put some on a piece of bread and be happy. OBTW ths brussel sprouts are fresh from the garden and we just added them to the pasta pot - just didn't want them to go bad.

Moochers

2010-12-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

Put me in charge ....

Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.

Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.

Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your "home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.

In addition you need to work for entitlements. You will either present a check stub from a job each week (and a drug test) or you will report to a "government" job (and take a drug test). It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, serve or cook soup in a soup kitchen or whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good."

Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules.. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.

If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards people for continuing to make bad choices.

Put me in charge and I would make some changes.

Alfred W. Evans, Gatesville

The SPARROW at Starbucks - The Song That Silenced The Cappuccino Machine

2010-12-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

It was chilly in Manhattan but warm inside the Starbucks shop on 51st Street and Broadway, just a skip up from Times Square . Early November weather in New York City holds only the slightest hint of the bitter chill of late December and January, but it's enough to send the masses crowding indoors to vie for available space and warmth.

For a musician, it's the most lucrative Starbucks location in the world, I'm told, and consequently, the tips can be substantial if you play your tunes right. Apparently, we were striking all the right chords that night, because our basket was almost overflowing. It was a fun, low-pressure gig - I was playing keyboard and singing backup for my friend who also added rhythm with an arsenal of percussion instruments. We mostly did pop songs from the '40s to the '90s with a few original tunes thrown in. During our emotional rendition of the classic, "If You Don't Know Me by Now," I noticed a lady sitting in one of the lounge chairs across from me. She was swaying to the beat and singing along.

After the tune was over, she approached me. "I apologize for singing along on that song. Did it bother you?" she asked. "No," I replied. "We love it when the audience joins in. Would you like to sing up front on the next selection?" To my delight, she accepted my invitation. "You choose," I said. "What are you in the mood to sing?" "Well. ... do you know any hymns?" Hymns? This woman didn't know who she was dealing with. I cut my teeth on hymns. Before I was even born, I was going to church. I gave our guest singer a knowing look. "Name one." "Oh, I don't know. There are so many good ones. You pick one." "Okay," I replied. "How about 'His Eye is on the Sparrow'?" My new friend was silent, her eyes averted. Then she fixed her eyes on mine again and said, "Yeah. Let's do that one." She slowly nodded her head, put down her purse, straightened her jacket and faced the center of the shop. With my two-bar setup, she began to sing. Why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows come?

The audience of coffee drinkers was transfixed. Even the gurgling noises of the cappuccino machine ceased as the employees stopped what they were doing to listen. The song rose to its conclusion. I sing because I'm happy; I sing because I'm free. For His eye is on the sparrow And I know He watches
me.

When the last note was sung, the applause crescendoed to a deafening roar that would have rivaled a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall. Embarrassed, the woman tried to shout over the din, "Oh, y'all go back to your coffee! I didn't come in here to do a concert! I just came in here to get somethin' to drink, just like you!" But the ovation continued. I embraced my new friend. "You, my dear, have made my whole year! That was beautiful!" "Well, it's funny that you picked that particular hymn," she said. "Why
is that?" "Well . .." she hesitated again, "that was my daughter's favorite song." "Really!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," she said, and then grabbed my hands. By this time, the applause had subsided and it was business as usual.. "She was 16. She died of a brain tumor last week." I said the first thing that found its way through my stunned silence. "Are you going to be okay?"

She smiled through tear-filled eyes and squeezed my hands. "I'm gonna be okay. I've just got to keep trusting the Lord and singing his songs, and everything's gonna be just fine." She picked up her bag, gave me her card, and then she was gone.

Was it just a coincidence that we happened to be singing in that particular coffee shop on that particular November night? Coincidence that this wonderful lady just happened to walk into that particular shop? Coincidence that of all the hymns to choose from, I just happened to pick the very hymn that was the favorite of her daughter, who had died just the week before? I refuse to believe it.

God has been arranging encounters in human history since the beginning of time, and it's no stretch for me to imagine that God could reach into a coffee shop in midtown Manhattan and turn an ordinary gig into a revival. It was a great reminder that if we keep trusting God and singing the songs, everything's gonna be okay.

The next time you feel like GOD can't use YOU, just remember...
Noah was a
drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a
liar
Leah was
ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was
afraid
Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a
prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was
a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was
a widow
Job went bankrupt
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter
denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha
worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than
once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an
ulcer...
AND Lazarus was dead!

No more
excuses now!! God can use you to your full potential. Besides you aren't the
message, you are just the messenger.

God bless
you by passing this on to someone else, if you'd like.

There is NO
LUCK attached.

Author: John Thomas Oaks

New To Me Fish Sandwich

2010-12-09T05:43:00.000-08:00

I'm always looking for something easy to fix for supper that I have not tried and this certainly fit the bill and it was real tasty. I don't know why but just having fish at home anytime is unusual for us, and a fish sandwich even more so, and a baked fish sandwich even more so still. I can blame the Haystack Onions for all this because a few days ago I saw some kind of sandwich served with those on top and I knew I would be fixing some kind of sandwich with those on top but never thought it would be fish. Home made tarter sauce with sweet pickle, onion, capers, and lemon and those addictive onions made this sandwich kinda special.

Now I want another one. Click the pic for full screen view.

Chili Stuffed Peppers

2010-12-06T13:10:00.000-08:00

I decided to take some leftover brisket and make chili with it then mix it with rice and stuff a couple of bell peppers that were about to go to waste. I baked the peppers in a pan of water and let them cool first, while they were cooling I put the meat in a non stick pan and got some browning on them before pouring a cup of expresso in the pan to cook the meat till it was very tender. Added the usual chili ingredients (always include several chipotles in adobo) and let simmer while the rice was cooking then mixed in the rice and stuffed the peppers and topped each pepper with pepper jack cheese. Since it was time for breakfast and not a thing in the kitchen for breakfast, I decided to take some of that chili and rice and add an egg on top and call that breakfast and it worked just fine for me.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloins

2010-12-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

This was what I was asked to cook for the hen party, I mean baby shower the other day. They must like it a lot cuz I think this is the third time I've done these for them. I take some home made dried apples and spice em with some cinnamon, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar and lemmon juice first and use Pepper Jack for the cheese and then wrap with bacon. Smoked them at 325 for about an hour till they hit 155. Easy peasy.

Stuffed Chicken Breast

2010-12-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

Sue's niece Samantha (Sam) is having a baby shower tomorrow so Sue's sister Joanne visited from Alabama and spent the night. I thought these boneless skinless breast would be good and it would be something she had not tried before. I had some good cheese on hand and fresh spinach and smoked ham and that was what went inside then I wrapped in bacon and used tooth pics to hold together. I grilled them with pecan wood in the Traeger at 350 to 375 for about 45 min to one hour turning occasionally. Served it with baked potato, yeast rolls and a nice salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

The Rolling Store - 1950's

2010-12-01T05:30:00.000-08:00

Maybe it was the cold and wet day yesterday making these bones ache that made me think of the Rolling Store that came by my grandma Rhudy's every week. It really doesn't matter why, I'm just glad I got to take the trip back down that particular memory lane. I couldn't have been more than six at the time and it was kinda incredible to be able to step up into a truck to find most everything you would in an actual store. Of course all I was looking for was candy and all my grandma was looking for was the Bruton's snuff. Thinking about all of this was intriguing to say the least and it of course prompted an internet search to which I found a little information but not as much as I would have thought. One nice writing about it focused on a road just on the other side of the county we lived in and it is great reading. Click Here. Here's another fun read on the Rolling Store days. Click Here.

So Industrious

2010-11-30T11:59:00.000-08:00

Sue gets things done. A lot of mornings when I leave early she has plans to can some things before time for her to go in to work if it's garden season and I'm told most of this is this years and last years with a little left from the year before. The boxes all have this years in them and it's mostly green beans and maters. She gets mad if I forget and grab a store bought can of something instead of hers. Also the freezers have a lot of corn okra in them as well.

Thanksgiving Stuffed Onions

2010-11-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

These are really good and you won't even realize your eating your leftovers. Not at all hard to do except using the melon baller to hollow out the onions. The recipe only calls for the onion but I wanted to try one or two with the onion inside a bell pepper and those were good too. Not having any mashed potatoes we decided to use rice and although it was just as good it did take away from the visual effect since you could not shape it or brown it like you can potatoes. Click Here for the recipe.

Thanksgiving Cooking

2010-11-26T06:13:00.000-08:00

I really like cutting up the turkey to cook it. Just never liked carving at the table with 40 or 50 mouths to feed and this way you can carve ahead of time and cook the white and dark meat both to their proper doneness without a problem. No more shaking hands with Mr Turkey, unless you just want to. A big bonus with doing it this way is being able to take the bone out of the thigh meat and with some string tie it up to cook - beautiful slices and cooked evenly. This bird got a 3 to 4 hour brine after I got it cut up in a couple of 2 gal zip lock bags with some of Jose's Apple Sqeezens,lemon,and herbs - it then air dried overnight in the fridge. Bringing the bird to room temp before cooking is important to me and then just before going in the smoker I gave it a handful of herb butter under the skin of the breast. The double smoked ham came out better than usual just because the glaze was a last minute on the fly concoction that I made up and it turned out as good as any I've ever had on a ham. I had planned to make the coffee infused glaze that comes with the famous Dr Chicken's Double Smoked Ham recipe but forgot a few ingredients and didn't think about making it till it was too late so I had to come up with something quick. It was a simple mixture of No Sugar Raspberry Jam, Fresh Lemon Juice, Maple Syrup, Honey, and Cider Vinegar. Nice thing about this glaze is, if I add some crushed red pepper and a little more vinegar it might just make some really good bbq sauce. Maybe something in here will make you want to try something new for Thanksgiving next year.

Two Soups In One

2010-11-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

Well this is about the dangedest thing I ever done. I made pork Posole the other day out of some left over spare rib trimmings and seriously miss judged the broth vs how much meat I had and we wound up with a big pot of nice chili broth which consisted of about 5 bucks worth of dried guajillos and no meat. We saved the broth not knowing what we were saving it for and next day the thought came to mind that all I had to do was add more meat. Since we just needed enough for one meal I headed to the nearest meat counter that I could just buy one or two chicken breast, took them home trimmed all the fat and added to the pot along with another can of hominy and a few minutes later we had Chicken Posole. I cut the chicken into large pieces so you could have a Chicken Taco with your Posole.

Top Sirloin On The Cheap

2010-11-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

I've always had good luck with this inexpensive cut of meat and it was on sale for 2.99 and that means I got plenty for 2 for less than 5 bucks. I used the 30 min marinade you see here and boy is this a good product.

Philly Cheese Steak Omelette

2010-11-06T08:10:00.000-07:00

Grilled Sirloin Tip Roast sliced thin and chopped for Philly Cheese Steaks last night turned into one big ole Omelette for two this morning. You can bet the bank there ain't no place in town that can beat it.

French Dip Sandwich

2010-11-02T08:05:00.001-07:00

Knorr French Onion Soup and a nice roast beef sandwich makes me smile. No dipping here either, submerged the whole sandwich in the soup and served. And you don't really have to have enough sandwiches to soak up all your soup, just have a bowl with the sandwich.

Birthday Surf n Turf

2010-11-01T05:56:00.000-07:00

Mom kinda likes steak and shrimp and these NY Strips were real good and all turned out great. She did kinda over do it a bit on the shrimp consummin though - guess it had been a while since she had grilled shrimp. Just turned 79 years young so guess she was entitled to ever how many shrimps she wanted.

Really Bad Chicken Deal

2010-10-28T14:45:00.000-07:00

Here's one for the record books. You know how hard it is to trim thighs for competition especially if your scraping the fat off the skin on 16 of em. Last week I went to the local meat counter that acts like an old style meat market but it really ain't to get my thighs for the contest and they didn't have any but had plenty of leg quarters. The gal said "I can cut you some if you want" and I said "sure, I'll be back in a minute". She had all of em cut in about 3 min and they looked perfect and fresh as could be. Problem was she left the rib cage partly on making them look just the right size but way too small by the time you removed it. I went ahead and did my best to trim and scrape and etc only to wind up with quail thighs, which I vac sealed and was thinking about using but decided to get some more cuz them wuz too small. I FORGOT ABOUT HAVING EM IN THE FRIDGE TILL TODAY AND THEY WERE TOO OLD AND HAD TO THROW EM OUT. SUKS BIG TIME. Just because some one say's they are a butcher does not mean they really are is what I say.

Liberty Tree Contest - Dalton, Ga

2010-10-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

Our contest started I guess you could say with my having our trailer pulling into Selvidge St at 5pm friday. I unloaded the two little cookers and set the trailer up but went back home instead of sleeping in the trailer since we were about 5 min away. Now that last part sounds real good doesn't it? Not so - I think between the two of us we made about 7 extra trips back to get things that we would have never left out when we loaded up if we were going to be away from home. Also we were a bit more exhausted than normal because we cleaned and organized everything back into the trailer before pulling out which took a good two hours of serious cleaning and work. Feeling kinda like host since we were from Dalton we wanted to cook a little something for our friends on the bbq trail, so we made a Bread-Sausage-Cheese Breakfast Casserole with Eggs on top. I mixed up the casserole at home and took a carton on eggs with me to the cooking site and cooked it there on one of my smokers. This casserole is about the best breakfast casserole you'll ever hope to find and we'll probably do it again for the day after Christmas or the day after New Years or both. It was made extra special by having some of my good friend Vern's home made Smoked Sausage for the meat. We also went home to cook our Brunswick Stew for the Auxiliary category in the contest and managed to win it. We had a bad cook overall with some bad luck on our primary cooker giving us problems through the night that caused us to bomb out in ribs which in turn gave us a bad overall finish. Any way like a friend of mine says, it was a good time, good friends, and good food, so I say that's good enough for me.

Big BBQ Bash

2010-10-17T06:40:00.000-07:00

"it was a festive time for sure" - Most contest are centered around a festival of some sort for the community and this one just seemed to be special in a way that I can only describe as a "one on one personal type thing that just kept getting more so as neighbor got to know neighbor". I know all contest are that way but since this one was as small as it was I think it was more so. Big John Molloy and his boys took the Grand Championship with some excellent Pulled Pork, Ribs, and Chicken and I know because we all tasted each others final product after each turn in and that was really fun and I learned that all 3 were very good. My friend Vern was close behind with 3rd Overall and a first in Ribs. John was our neigbor on one side and the other guy you see was the neigbor on the other side and he my friends treated everyone to some of the most awesome 2 in T-Bone you ever had in your life.

Vern's Homemade Smoked Sausage for the Anything But entry. I'm not just saying this and I told him the same thing "this is the best Smoked Sausage I every tasted bar none.

Me and Verns "Better half's"

Our neighbors that cooked that awesome T-Bone just right.

John Molloy, the Grand Champion and very happy camper.

Time For A Hot Dog

2010-10-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

I love a good hot dog and decided to make a Hot Dog Plate like they do at the Cremo Drive In. The Cremo has been in business here since I was little, probably over 50 years. Mr Poag became a large property owner and a millionaire opening new ones all over two or three counties and selling them or leasing them to folks that wanted to get into the restaurant business. When you order your Hot Dog or Hamburger as a Plate you get Fries and Slaw with it. I never get the Plates but since we're just playing with our food here, I thought it would be fun to have em that way just once in honor of Mr Poag.

Ham Dumplings

2010-10-02T03:51:00.001-07:00

Still enjoying the benefits of last weekends freezer diving. These HAM DUMPLINGS could make Chicken Dumplings obsolete.

Bologna & Bacon Sandwich

2010-09-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

A quick google for Bologna & Bacon Sandwich shows a couple of breakfast sandwiches with egg and that's it! I guess this is about as original as I get and to me it was a no brainer. If you think about that lucious creamy texture of N. Ga. Round Steak combined with that crispy fried bacon piled high along with all your favorite sandwich fixens, you'll see what I mean. But if your fortunate enough to own a smoker / grill you can kick it up a whole bunch of notches (and no I have not watched Emeril or the Food Network for several years now). This Bologna was slathered in Emerils Mellow Yellow Mustard though (I love this product) and coated with Cajun Rub then smoked with Pecan wood in my Traeger Pellet Smoker / Grill. Just Look!

Better Than The Royal or Jack Championships

2010-09-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

After work yesterday I got to experience something for the very first time and it was awesome. I was pleasantly surprised to walk into the house when I got home and find Aubry (Grand baby) still at our house. Sue keeps her every Tuesday just to get the chance to spend time with her but the babies Mom usually picks her up around 5 before I get home. She gave me a huge smile when I let her know how glad I was to see her still there and went about her business playing with her toys which pretty much covers the entire living room floor while she is there. In a little while she got up in my lap and sat for a long time playing with my watch, taking it off and putting it first on her arm, then on her leg until finally it was time to go home and her Mom nominated her Dad as the one to take her from me as she usually always has to do it. Well before he took her I turned her to face me and give me a hug and when he took her the absolute most heart breaking expression came over her face as she began to pitch a little fit while reaching for me as if I had to save her from some dire fate. My hard heart just melted and I will never forget that moment. Not suppose to be a big deal you say - boy it was for me, and from now own we're going to take her to the car and see if that remedies the situation cause I don't think I could handle that one again.

Freezer Diving Done Right

2010-09-27T05:41:00.001-07:00

First thing you have to understand about FREEZER DIVING is that the stuff you put in the freezer had to have been good to start with for it to be good on your second go around. I started Saturday morning by throwing some flap meat off the spare ribs and a ham bone in a big pot on a slow simmer for some soup Sunday. That took a few hours and another few to cool enough to pick the meat off that ham bone, then I strained the broth and let it cool enough to slide in the fridge till Sunday to get that fat off the top. It still seemed like the broth would be too rich so didn't use it all. Onions, garlic, carrot, celery, roasted and peeled hatch green chili peppers, chayote squash, pasta, and cilantro and lemon to serve with crusty bread. Chayote squash is one of my favorite things to go into a pot of soup, I highly recommend giving it a try if you have never had it before. Steak can be a little boring but not this time for me because it was Ribeye and a couple little Lamb Chops, Lamb and Beef, what could be better - life is good. I had never taken the time to par boiled the little new potatoes first before roasting and from now own that little step will not be skipped. Those lil suckers were getting crisp before they were brown - a few dried herbs, one being chives and these were dang near as good as the meat. Sunday morning breakfast was a couple of BONELESS PORK CHOPS that were frozen in a tupper ware container along with the cabbage and onions they were smothered with, Sue just took the meat out and scrapped off the cabbage and heated those in a skillet and made gravy with them still in the skillet and we served that over hard toast with hot pickled eggs and some of those leftover taters. We still got some more freezer diving to do but if it all turns out this good I can't complain.

Smoked Then Fried Ribs

2010-09-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well not exactly fried but rather simmered real low n slo in enough lard to cover. It's a wonderful way to do pork. We just did ribs tips like these the traditional way a couple of weeks ago and these were our favorite by a good margine.

Chilaquiles

2010-09-20T08:02:00.001-07:00

I love this dish and have from the moment I smelled something above everything else that was cooking at Benjamin Espinoza's restaurant on 5th Ave about 10 years ago. It smelled like the best pop corn ever and if you can imagine that smell taking over the whole restuarant - well it was just amazing and the first thought was "I gotta have some of that stuff". The dish was not on the menu and in fact an Aunt had come by to cook this for Benjamin and those that worked with him that day. They could tell how much I wanted to try this and gave both Sue and I a huge helping each and boy was it good. Here's how to fix it: use stale corn tortillas cut into 8ths and if they don't seem stale enough you can put em into a 350 degree oven for a few min. Pour veggie oil into a small deep pan and cook them till they are chewy but not crisp. Add a little of that oil to a large HOT frying pan and add the tortillas, and imediately add a cup or two of salsa. The salsa can be any kind you like but preferably homemade and fried, like salsa verde. I made mine with a few fresh jalapenos, can of tomatoes, chopped onion, garlic all blended together with some cilantro and then fried in a HOT & DEEP pot in a couple of tbs of oil. Just keep the tortillas and sauce moving around in the pan to prevent it popping out and long enough for the tortillas to absorb the sauce. Top with cheese and serve with any thing you like and you can also have some meat to go into the pan on that last step.

First Fall Chili

2010-09-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

It rained a tad yesterday and got a little cool out so next thing you know I'm being sent home early to make a pot of Chili. I love Chili myself and my favorite way to eat it is with a good Pimento Cheese sandwich, but alas I had to settle for a bowl with a little cheese on top and some hot Tortillas. I wanted this to be some really good Chili so I left that little pack of ground beef in the freezer and went for that 1 1/2 lb pack of BBQ Brisket Burnt Ends. Being perfectly cooked and vac sealed they didn't need anything done to them but heated up but I cooked them a good while longer right in the bag in boiling water. So with that wonderful meat to make the Chili with, I'm trying to think of anything else I can do to make it better than average, and I happen to remember an assortment of Dried Chili Pepper I bought not long ago and decided to make my own Chili Powder with those. I used only one Guajillo and 3 Anchos and about 3 Canned Chili Chipotles in Sauce that I pureed and that mixture just about made the Chili too hot. I even seeded those dried ones before roasting and grinding in the coffee grinder, so I guess I just used too much. It had a whole large onion chopped and four or 5 gloves of garlic into the pan to sweat down good to start the cook, then I added the meat, Chili Powder, and a jar of Tomatoes, and finally a can of drained and rinse Great Northern Beans. Why white beans in Chile? you ask? Because that's all I had, and they worked great and I just don't make Chili without beans in it like some do out on the left coast. Anyway you sure wouldn't know that it had BBQ beef in it.

Lunch At Home

2010-09-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

We got lunch on Wednesday down pat. Sue keeps Aubrey and stops by the office after picking her up and makes the deposit on the way home. I close for lunch about 5 min early to get a little head start on the hour lunch at home with Aubrey. Today we had a pretty good sandwich but as you can see there was a lot more to go home for than just that old sandwich.

Albondigas en Chipotle (Mexican Meatballs)

2010-09-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a recipe I keep going back to cuz it's very good. Started this with grinding my own chuck and used the whole 2 lbs for the recipe omitting the 1 lb of ground pork. I don't know that I've ever included the one lb pork or not but I'm sure it's good, it's just easier this way. I would like to try it and maybe even make it with ground lamb once too. You can find this recipe in my online recipe file along with about 600 other hand picked recipes here. I made up the meat balls first and used pickled eggs instead of just plain boiled eggs to stuff in the center of each meatball. Then I made my Chipotle Sauce using the canned Chipotles Adobados and I just love this product and never made real good Chile till I started using this in it. Everything in the sauce gets ground and I just used a food processer. So with the sauce made and cooked down a bit and the meatballs ready it was out to the smoker where I used a holy veggie stir fry pan to hold the meatballs over the sauce and cooked directly over the charcoal till the meat was cooking and almost done. At this point I removed the pot of sauce and browned up the meatballs directly over the coals to add a bit more flavor, then back in the sauce they went. Served on some nice rolls, but these are equally good and maybe even better served with hot tortillas. I made this recipe and took to the Mobile, Al contest once and everybody loved it and it wasn't hard to do since I made up everything at home before leaving for the contest.

Boneless Beef Rib Omelet

2010-09-11T08:32:00.001-07:00

A lil sauteed bell pepper and shreeded beef in the middle of an Omelete is a wonderful thing. Add another Rib on the side and you got a real good breakfast.

Slopper

2010-09-10T06:40:00.001-07:00

So...I've done the Slopper thing now and they are good but I think I'll keep my Sauce for another use from now on. That sauce is just to good to put on good burger, for me it's just not a match. The harder I try making good pics the worst they get, I gotta get my lil Samsung fixed.

Labor Day

2010-09-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

I know blogs are not just for trivial things like cooking and taking pics of what you cooked and believe you me much more important matters like current events the political land scape weigh on my mind as much as anything, but this seems to provide a way to kinda get away from all that for me. So here's what went on at the house Labor Day and the day before...

I've never had Bang Bang Shrimp at the restaurant but this was the 3rd or fourth time we've had em at home and this sauce is really good. All you need is some mayo (Kraft - there is a reason it says on the bottle REAL MAYONNAISE), some Sweet Chili Sauce, and Hot Chili Oil mixed together putting the Hot Chili oil to taste. Oh man, there is just something about that creamy, sweet, and hot all at the same time on a deep fried shrimp. You can also Google for Copycat Bang Bang Shrimp. The salad was avocado, red onion, tomato, oil and vinegar.

It was Rib Tips yesterday and I hit the floor early and made the decision to do the cook at the office rather than try to wrestle any of the larger cookers in and out of the truck by myself. I happened to think about some rib racks that I use to use some and found that with one of those I could get the entire load into the Traeger and boy was that a relief - you just don't know how much easier it is using one of these Pellet cookers. After getting the ribs on I headed back to the house (less than 5 min drive) to put the baked beans together. Everybody really loves the Baked Bean Quintet recipe so that's what I cook but this time it was just a quartet (1 can ea, Navy, Garbozo, Kidney, and Black Beans) as we didn't need so much with the small crowd. I always like some meat of some kind in the beans and it's usually pulled pork, but I had a real small pack of burnt ends and I do believe this was the best I've ever made and that's what everyone was saying. Sue made a chocolate cake and it happened to be setting there when I pulled the beans out of the oven. Looking at the cake and the beans both reminds me of a fella I worked with years ago from Onieta, Tn and what he said about eating a piece of Chocolate cake along with your beans to sweeten the music - I don't know what he could have meant by that but considering where he was from, it could have been anything.

Since I was doing the cook at the office / store I didn't do the finish in Lard as I had planned and just stuck with adding a little broth to each of 3 half pans and jacked the heat up to 325 (cooked em at 250 for about 3 hours first) and that higher temp really helped get the meat to the falling off the bone stage. After removing from the cooker I pulled the meat from the bones and removed those little cartilages, placed back under a real hot broiler a couple times and you had to love this Pulled Rib Meat. All it had for flavoring was the flavor from the Mojo marinade and Salt and that Cinnamon tasting rub Johnny Trigg uses a lot.

Finally if your wondering what that cat is doing in those pics on the kitchen counter, this baby we got to keep all day has taken a liking to that thing and we had to take it away from her for fear she was going to drop it on the tile floor.

Country Style Beef Ribs

2010-09-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Nothing more than chuck roast sliced into strips but cooking them that way sure makes for some good stuff. No way to top this supper - Cracklin Corn Bread, Cream Corn, Fried Okra, Mashed Taters, and Stewed Squash. Man was that meat good.

Things Are Looking UP

2010-09-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

O.K. golf day with all the other old men yesterday and as usual I didn't fare well in the blind draw and didn't make it on a winning team. But I did manage to eagle # 7 and was 3rd closest to the hole on the par 3 10th worth 14 bucks. So let's see last week I think I was 3 down and this week 3 up after coughing up the 11 bucks each time to play, so next week I'm starting over. All that pales in comparison though to what was waiting on me when I got back to the office - feast your eyes on this:

Tuesday is not my favorite day to attend a practice round at the Masters but just being there is worth the trip. Man I can't wait. I think we're going to go the stationary route this time and not wonder around - what's the best spot to stay put?

Best Cook Ever

2010-09-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Sue rarely uses a recipe and one reason is, she stays in her element, just cooking what she knows and that is why she is one of the best cooks ever. This is a fine example - Biscuits, Gravy, Pork Chops, Fried Okra, Green Beans, Whole Kernel Corn. Wow! Just good old southern cooking at it's best.

Jambalaya

2010-08-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

Had this 1 1/2 lb bag of thigh meat from trimming thighs for a contest and about that much of homemade sausage (hot) and rounded up a pound of shrimps and made this big pot of Jambalaya. It's sooo easy and you can feed an army with this one dish meal (in our case an army of 2). I didn't measure the rice and got too much and then didn't take the time to add hot broth to it to correct that but none of that mattered - it tasted just about right.

Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have good fun on the bayou

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a file gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Instrumental Verse (Country Fiddle solo)

Thibodeaux, Fontainbleau, the place is buzzin'
Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen
Dress in style, go hog wild, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Jambalaya, a-crawfish pie and-a fillet gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-oh
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Something New

2010-08-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

did something I never dreamed of doing thanks to Sue. She has been saving up for a yard sale for ever and one of our customers said she would get Sue a table at the flea market under the shed right by her for 6 bucks and that would be the way to go. I delivered the truck to the table and unloaded it for her and headed to the office for some QB's catching up.. At 1 I went back and she sold 43 bucks worth of stuff we didn't want but spent 3 bucks on some detergent from the guy next door. I told her not to get too excited cuz at this rate we'd have to go every week for a year to get rid of all that junk. Next stop is the dump, but we're 34 dollars ahead, just hope they don't charge at the dump.

A Good Feeling Of Accomplishment

2010-08-27T05:39:00.000-07:00

Amazing how starting your day with a round of golf and shooting a 2 over par 74 with 2 penalty strokes and finishing the last hole with a long birdie, breezing by work and getting a few things done, then going home early and get the big ol yard mowed, and finally ending up with a Ground Brisket Burger can do for you.

Here's something I doubt very many know how good it is simply because they never tried it before. If you like Fried Green Tomatoes or Fried Okra either one, your bound to like em mixed. We cut the maters to a size about the same as the okra. Served these as you can see with Kraut & Weinners. The Kraut was homemade by my showoff bro n law.

Fresh Ground Brisket Steaks

2010-08-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

I did something that will probably be repeated at as many future contest as possible and that was to trim my briskets at home and grind the trimmings to take to the contest for burgers, etc. We wound up eating out at the contest and bringing the 3+ lbs of ground brisket back home for these Gr Brisket Steaks last night and boy were these babies good. Had planned on making a bunch of small sliders using some good English Muffins at the contest...still got some left, so we might just do that later.

Pigs n Peaches BBQ Contest

2010-08-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

You just never know what scores to expect judges to give you and this was a contest that stands above all others in being a huge disappointment in where we wound up. I make it a habit to never predict how well I think I might do prior to the scores being announced but I definitely was thinking we were in great shape and was looking for a few calls at awards but it was not to be. Not only did we not get those few calls, we fell down below average. So, I'm just going to hold onto the fact that I am still proud of how well I managed the cook without my cooking partner this weekend and try a little harder next time. Congrates to Craig Cardell and wife of The Right Stuff bbq team that won this contest using my old Backwoods Fatboy cooker (I knew I shouldn't have sold that smoker), and a big congrates to Charles from SC for 2nd place and to all the other teams that got called to the stage.

Smoked Pot Roast

2010-08-16T07:51:00.000-07:00

I really like the way the thin cut bone in Chuck Roast cooks for a Pot Roast. This one was cooked in my Primo ceramic cooker which is seldom used anymore. All my other cookers were loaded up in the trailer for the Kennesaw Pigs n Peaches contest this coming weekend and I really wanted to test some new food and pitt probes on my Stoker. The little Primo did a great job and the Stoker held the temp about as steady as your kitchen stove. I kept this simple and only used a little kosher salt, fresh ground blk pepper, and garlic powder for the seasoning on the meat and 0 smoking wood in the cooker. After the meat hit 170 or so I transfered it to the water pan below and added the carrots, onions, celery, and tiny potatoes. Good food and one of my fav meals.

LOOKING OUT MY BACK DOOR IN DILLARD, GA

2010-08-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

We now have our first BBQ Contest under our belt “no pun intended”, and this is one of our favorite contest. We always liked this one as it is only a few miles from Clayton which is where we’ve spent several nice weekends at Kingwood Golf Club & Resort. Sue would let me get in an early morning round of golf and I’d tag along with her to all those Gift shops and antique stores they have.

The first pic is looking right out of my pop up cook site behind me and you can see Wooley Booley BBQ Mafia, his team did very well with a 16th overall finish (2 better than my own - there were 65 teams).

The folks you see here in the second pic were right next to us and the head cook is the one bent over his cooker.

This pic is of Big Bob Gibson and Chris Lilly was cooking and had a couple guys helping him. Chris was 5th overall and I’m betting he knew up front he would face a tough field and probably left pretty happy with that finish.

This is Wicked Q’s site and he just had not put up his Team Banner yet. You also get a better look at Big Bob Gibson’s big old rotisserie cookers. Wicked Q finished 7th overall and is in the top on about all contest he cooks.

The trailer on the left that you can’t read the entire team name is Firehouse BBQ Team and they finished 17th overall. The other one is Southern Paradise and I really like their banner and logo. Also in the background and to the right you see The Best Of British BBQ and they must have really wanted to cook this contest to have came from so far away and they sure got a lot of attention all weekend.

The City Hall building is where we were served one of the finest breakfasts you could ask for. The white truck in the foreground belongs to Jeff of Primo Ceramic Grills and I tried to find out if the rack was for snow skiing in Aspen with all the money he must make selling those cookers but I never did find out for sure.

Looking out the main entrance - this contest is very successful and a lot of people went through those gates and paid to visit this festival with it’s Blue Grass music and other attractions such as our BBQ.

Fatboyz, Wild Bunch Butt Burners, and of course Bad Byron and his Buttrub.com team are all pictured here. Wild Bunch was 4th overall just behind Joe and Voncile of Smoky Mountain Smokers all of which we count as friends out there.

This big guy working at the red checkered table is Sam Grogan from McDonough, Ga and he and his wife Dianne are the Jus-Fer-Fun cooking team and they too are friends to us when we are out there and we are praying for Diane to pull through her battle with cancer.

Pulled Pork and Brisket Tostadas

2010-08-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

We had just a lil bit of meat from our big birthday party Saturday decided to make Tostadas with it. I keep inching closer to hitting that magic formulation in the homemade Salsa Rojo with the smoky flavor and the thing I think helped on this yesterday was using about 3 kinds of dried peppers. I heated both meats up with a little bit of this sauce and the pork mixture got some potatoes added while the beef did not. Both got a first layer of refried beans.

Zucchini & Chicken Parmesan

2010-07-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

Like a man on a mission my goal it seems lately is to use every zucchini out of our garden no matter what I have to come up with recipe wise to do it. Eggplant and not zucchini was suppose to be in this recipe but I'm satisfied how the little switch turned out. Let's see here, it has a large zuke that I sliced in 1/4 inch rounds and oiled both side and seasoned with salt and pepper then baked on a sheet pan till browned, turning once. Single layer of the baked zukes in bottom of baking dish, layer of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, fresh whole basil leaves, and boneless skinless breast that had been browned on each side and sliced. A second layer of the same and then ending with a third layer without the chicken. I was out of garlic but this recipe did not call for garlic and I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't miss it at all - this dish taste great. I did have one little glitch making this - I thought it would be a good idea to take the stick blender to a jar of tomatoes and that stick got away from me and made tomato juice before I knew what happened and I went ahead and made the dish with the juice and wound up having to dip some out at the end.

Too Much Learning To Do

2010-07-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

When I bought my Blackberry I thought about the 30-year business I ran
with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes
videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed
up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their
spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me
in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as
Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree,
Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific Tweetdeck, Twitpix and
something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other
program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything
except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not
ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf
bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get
lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I
keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red]
phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was
standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in
the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid
out to use it, and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady
inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into
in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say,
"Re-calc-ul-ating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was
like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh
and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a
right turn instead…well, it was not a good relationship.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the
cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as
Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the
cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still
haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have
run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the
dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up
every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle
on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or Plastic?" every time
I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth
reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take
them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I
just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their
turn to stare at me with a blank look.

I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do toot a lot."

PS I know some of you are not over 50. I sent it to you to allow you
to forward it to those who are.
PPS This is not entirely factual as pertaining to me personally but is pretty dang funny.

Herb Omelet

2010-07-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

Not a big omelet fan but I guess they will do in a pinch. Fresh thyme, basil, cilantro, onions, garlic makes it better. Thick sliced Wrights bacon don't hurt either. Add a piece of hard toast and I ain't complaining.

Rip Tips

2010-07-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

Taking advantage of the fresh garden veggies and still getting BBQ in there is very NICE (no sauce though). You know the old timers didn't have a problem with boiling these and having them just like you see here - these were boiled (in the bag after they were smoked). Gotta think these are a leg up on the other way.

2010-07-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

These are the professionally made pics of David's wedding. Very nice to have been able to be there and I am very thankful.

Slide Pics

Hot Link & Veggie Pasta

2010-07-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

This was one of those "whatever you got in the kitchen goes in the pan" deals. I had stew in mind when I started and planned to serve it with a timbale of rice but someone came along and got a pot of pasta to cooking so I had to switch gears. Sauteed the homemade Texas Hot Links and removed from pan and sauteed the bell pepper, yellow squash, onion, garlic, fresh basil, and tomatoes. After cooking those down just a lil bit I added 1/2 cup white wine. Added the sausage back to the pan and simmered 20 min, mixed this in a big bowl with the pasta and added parmesean.

BLT's Jack Up A Lil

2010-07-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

What??? You never baked your bacon? And you never put brown sugar and red pepper flakes on it either? Our Walmart carries Wright Thick Sliced Bacon and it's good bacon. Bacon will burn fast in the oven once it gets the fat rendered out of it, so you really have to watch it at the end.