Hogwild BBQ

Monthly Roundup - February, 2008

2008-02-29T07:16:00.001-06:00

The best from cyberspace in the past month. It seemed to be a slow month in the food blogging world.

Sandy at Junkfood Science debunks the recent mercury in tuna scares scares. It pays to do your research, folks.

The nacho cheese fountain via Serious Eats. This is brilliant!!

Another hilarious hot sauce from the Hot Sauce Blog: Ass Murdering Hot Sauce!

The Paupered Chef goes on a bourbon tour. I do love me some bourbon and Woodford is one of my favorites.

Not Martha makes a bacon bowl. This is one of the best things I've seen in ages. My regular readers know that I believe bacon is a gift straight from God. I'll definitely be trying this sometime. They could even make a salad fun!!!

That's all I got, but I will leave you with this great photo from Carl Huber. If you ran accross something cool in the cybersoup this month that I missed, let me know.

Steak Toaster

2008-02-20T11:50:00.005-06:00

I was going to save this for the monthly roundup next week, but I just couldn't wait. What the hell is this world coming to? Officially, it's the Steakhouse Indoor Grill. Gizmodo has it right, though, it's a $220 steak toaster if I ever saw one. Oh, wait, I guess I've never seen one until now.

Jeez.

Smoked Cheese

2008-02-17T10:04:00.000-06:00

Here is another post I've been meaning to get up for awhile. We had a lot of company over thanksgiving and I wanted to have some snacks around for all the football we were going to watch. It had been awhile since I smoked some cheese and I thought that would be good to munch on. I couple days later I smoked a chub of bologna (sadly, no pics) and made the best bologna and cheese sammies.

You can smoke pretty much any cheese you want, as far as I know. I chose a block of extra sharp cheddar (my favorite), pepper jack (always a hit), and swiss. The cheddar and jack were from Sam's, so they were huge. I cut them in half to maximize the smoke flavor. I "borrowed" a cooling rack from Mrs. Hog (shhh, don't tell her) to get the cheese up off of the grate.

The most important thing when smoking cheese is to build a very, very small fire. Basically you don't want any heat, just the smoke. It was pretty easy this time because it was in the 20s outside. I burned down some charcoal, added 3 or 4 briquettes and one small piece of hickory to the firebox. The aluminum foil is just there to keep the stuff from falling through the basket as it burns down.

Simply add small pieces of wood when needed. I replaced the charcoal once as well. With a little practice you'll learn what works for you and how long you need to smoke the cheese to get the flavor you want. I like mine pretty smoky, so I went 2 hours or so on these. Mmmmmm, cheese.

Smoked Eggs

2008-02-03T08:33:00.000-06:00

I mentioned way back in my very first Monthly Roundup how I wanted to try some smoked eggs. I was cooking some pork butts overnight sometime last fall (that's how far behind I am getting stuff on the blog) and decided to do a fatty and eggs for breakfast. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning I put a fatty and three eggs on the smoker.

I didn't really know how long to cook them, so i just let them go until the fatty was done (160 degrees; a little over an hour). It was as simple as that.

If anything, the eggs were just a touch overdone, but not too bad. I just peeled the shell off of them and had smoked sausage and eggs for breakfast. It was fantastic. You can see where the smoke penetrated the egg shells and colored the white of the egg. they had good smoke flavor, but it wasn't overbearing. If you like hard boiled eggs, you'll definitely like the smoked eggs. If not...well, you probably won't like them. I'll be doing these again when cooking overnight. I'll do them again sometime to make egg salad, too. Oh, and smoked deviled eggs would be awesome, too. Yep, I'll definitely be doing the eggs again.

Monthly Roundup - January, 2008

2008-01-31T06:31:00.000-06:00

The Monthly Roundup is back after a brief hiatus. A few of these are from November and December.

Serious Eats tells us about the most expensive coffee in the world. I had heard of this stuff before and was taken aback because the beans are collected after they are ingested and crapped out by an Asian Palm Civet. I don't think I'd drink this stuff for 5 bucks a pound, but at 200 dollars a pound, forget about it. I think I'll stick with Folger's, thanks.

Four (or five) reasons why ribs totally rock!! This is a nice little website I read daily through Google Reader. From their website:
This is a blog devoted to lists on a wide variety of topics - usually offering four or five items/reasons, although we do reserve the right to do more if the mood strikes us.

Wired Magazine Online is one of my many geek websites that I like. They put Thanksgiving Dinner under the microscope in a really cool piece last November.

Whitetrash posts a survey from the National BBQ News about what BBQers use for fuel, sauces, etc. It's an interesting survey, and not surprisingly, BBQers cook a lot, make their own sauces, and use mostly charcoal/wood. The survey is skewed because the people frequenting the BBQ News are more serious about their cooking than your average weekend warrior, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Everything should taste like bacon!!! I couldn't agree more....so do these guys.

This is all over the web, but Serious Eats tells us that the FDA has approve meat from cloned animals for human consumption. A lot of people are up in arms over this. I'm not one of them. First, you're not going to be eating the clones anyway. They are way to expensive to be cutting into steaks. You're going to be eating their offspring (who won't be clones). Secondly, there is no reason to believe that the cloning process fundamentally alters the animal anyway. Much ado about nothing, in my opinion. I'm thinking of writing a full post on this subject sometime soon.

Ten ways to make a better burger via Men in Aprons. I'm a minimalist when it comes to my burgers. A little salt and pepper and a dash (seriously, just a dash) of wooshy-wooshy when I'm making the patties. Cook em' over medium-high heat, flip em' once, and melt some cheese on em' at the very end. mmmmm, good stuff.

Big Iron BBQ tells us how to unstick a stuck gas regulator. I didn't know this. If you'll recall I just got a gas grill in September after an 8 or 10 year stint without owning one. Learn something new every day, I guess.

The BBQ Guy shows us how to prepare and cook brisket. His method is pretty much how I do mine, with the exception of the Jaccard. I've never thought of puncturing the hell out of my brisket. It's definitely something I'll be looking into. Another think the BBQ Guy mentioned is that he prefers CAB briskets (a lot of people seem to). To me the meat grade (scroll down) is much more important. Unlike the BBQ Guy, I've had a lot of luck with briskets from Sam's. Both here in Nebraska and in Houston the Sam's sells choice beef (not all do). The reason folks like CAB is that nearly all of it is graded prime. Remember, CAB is a brand name, not a grade. I've cooked a select brisket once and there is definitely a difference between select and choice or prime. I've never cooked a prime brisket, but it's on my "to do" list.

Whatchagot Stew

2008-01-27T16:54:00.000-06:00

So, a little before Christmas, Mrs. Hog and I were sitting around on a Saturday morning and wondered what we would have for supper. It had gotten bitterly cold here in Nebraska. In fact it got cold right after Thanksgiving and has been that way since. We've had snow on the ground since the week after Turkeyday. So we thought something inside would be good. Stews and soups always go over well when it's cold outside. We decided on a "whatchagot" stew. What is a whatchagot stew, you ask? Well it's called that, because whatever ya got...throw it in the pot. A few weeks earlier I smoked a couple pork butts. One of them I threw in the fridge after it cooled a little because I didn't feel like pulling it, already had some pulled pork in the freezer, and wanted some cubed stuff for an occasion such as this. Here's what I used in the stew:

A couple pounds of pork butt, cubed; I had kept the shoulder blade with a good bit of meat on it (frozen, of course) and threw it in, too.
Surprisingly, we didn't have any canned tomatoes (we almost always have some around), but we did have a big can of chunky spaghetti sauce....so we threw it in the pot. See what I mean by "whatchagot" stew?
Ketchup
Frozen green beans, corn, and carrots. Use any vegetable you like and have on hand, frozen or fresh. Kidney bean, pintos, black beans, etc. would go well it it, too.
Fresh white onions, cut into good-sized chunks. That's a technical cooking term there, folks..."good-sized".
Potatoes, cubed
A big handful of my butt rub. Another technical term; "big-handful".
Sriracha ("Rooster") Sauce, to add some heat to it.

I think that's everything. Like I said, though, put anything in it you like. Put everything in to a pot sufficient to hold it all (this freezes well, by the way). Bring it to a boil, then simmer for a long, long time.

We got this on the stove about lunch time and ate it for supper at sixish. If you simmer it very slowly it'll be hard to cook it too long. Just come back every hour or so and give it a good stir. Mrs. Hog made some drop biscuits in a mini-muffin pan to go with them.

My Mom gave me a 9-quart dutch oven for Christmas, so I'll probably do this in the oven using the dutch oven when I do it again. I did a pork roast a couple weeks ago that I'll get up on the blog sometime. Obviously, a pot on the stove top works just fine for this. I've got some of it still frozen, and after writing this up I think I'll have to thaw some of it out soon.

Where did "Hogwild" Come from?

2008-01-24T22:06:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. In fact, I started it in May of last year (had a draft saved and timestamped on the blog). So, ummm, here ya go...better late than never, I guess.

No, I don't mean where did I come from. I mean where did the name "Hogwild" come from. Do a google search for "HogwildBBQ" and you'll see that it's a pretty popular name. I've used the name Hogwild for years, since college. My first login ID at NCState was Hawgsbreath. I worked with pigs in college (still do) and my buddies and I partied rather heavily...hence the Hog and Wild part, I guess. I changed my login to Hogwild during my Freshman year not only because it was "cooler", but because Hawgsbreath was just too darn long. I used it as my CB radio handle for many years. I still have the CB in the pickup, but don't use it as much as I used to. Hogwild, or some variation of it, has been my online "handle" for as long as I've been online. Hogw1ld (a one in place of the i) is my Xbox Live gamertag. My name at various websites and forums is Hogwild, Hogwild1, Hogwild60 (60 was my high school football #). All the variations are due to somebody having "Hogwild" on that website already. Hogwild (i, not 1) on Xbox Live never frickin' plays...I wish he would give up the name, already. Very infrequently does somebody think about BBQ when they see my name. I usually get one of two questions: 1)
"Where are you from... Did you go to Arkansas.... Go Hawgs!!" or 2) "What do you ride?" (as in Harley-Davidson). I usually reply, "huh?? Oh, no, I cook and eat pigs". :-D

Smoking in Cold Weather

2008-01-20T15:22:00.000-06:00

I told you that I would be smoking a couple pork butts last Thursday, so I thought I'd tell you about them. I did three things last week that I have never done before:

Cooked in 10 degree weather
Foiled pork butts, and
Finished pork butts off on the gas grill

I got home from work last Thursday and, as you can see in the pic above, had to shovel some snow to be able to cook. It was about 19 degrees when I started to cook and quickly fell to the low teens after dark. I burned through about 90 lbs of charcoal in about 4 and a half hours. I was pushing the ol' Chargriller pretty hard at 300-325 degrees (I didn't want to be up all night....some guys gotta work, you know). The key in this kind of weather is to keep a good bed of extremely hot coals.

Make sure you give you fire a lot of air and don't worry about how much charcoal/ wood you use. I used up about half a bag of hickory chunks (giving off the flames in the pic) in addition to the charcoal. That's what happens in cold weather, I guess. To give you an idea of how cold 10 degrees is, take a good look at my out of place grease trap (i.e. the coffee can).

The coffee can got knocked over and you can see where the pork fat running out of the smoker is solidifying right as it hits the can.

When the butts got to about 150 degrees I wrapped them and put them on the gas grill over indirect heat to finish them off to 195 degrees or so. I couldn't get the far end of the grill up to 300 deg, so I had to drape a quilted moving blanket over it to hold the heat in. I didn't think about it at the time, but I should have just wrapped the butts and put them in the oven. I just don't think "oven" when I'm cooking BBQ.....but, I don't really think "grill" either. It was 10:30 or so now and I went in for a catnap while Mrs. Hog kept an eye on the butts (she gets to sleep later than I do and these were for her party). She woke me up about 12:30 and I took the butts off the grill. We let them rest for 20 minutes or so and Mrs. Hog and I pulled the butts at 1:00 AM Friday morning. Six o'clock came might early for me.

So, I did the butts in a little over 6 hours, which is by far the fasted I've cooked one. I forgot to mention that these were good sized (9 and 10 pounds) butts, too. It was definitely a successful cook, despite the unorthodox (for me) cooking style. The butts didn't have quite the smoky flavor that I usually get. The smoke ring was normal, though, so I'm thinking that the juices that collected in the foil kinda "washed" the smoke off the butts...maybe. The bark was also compromised by the the foiling. It wasn't as flavorful and the consistency was way off compared to what I'm used to. Anyway, I'm calling it a win due to the time constraints and the extreme conditions....not to mention that they tasted great. Mrs. Hog and I got a lot of nice compliments at the party we took them to. I think I'll pick a day closer to freezing for my next cook, though.

I'm Still Alive!!!!

2008-01-16T19:56:00.000-06:00

It's been way too long since I've posted....way too long. Things got crazy at work after Thanksgiving and then Christmas rolled around. I've about caught my breath, but work has gotten hairy again for the next two or three weeks. I'm going to try to post some in the next little bit and then get back to normal towards the middle of February. I have a lot of stuff I want to get up on the blog. I'm actually cooking tomorrow for a function on Friday night....and it's frickin' cold here. I'll post pics of me smokin' in the snow.

Until then, I'll leave you with this picture of what a pork sandwich is supposed to look like (at least where I come from). Pulled with vinegar sauce on a cheap white bun with cheap white slaw on top. Tabasco or Texas Pete is purely optional.

How NOT to Inject a Pork Butt

2007-11-07T06:05:00.000-06:00

Not only do I tell you of my successes in my outdoor cooking, but I'll tell you about my failures as well. Failure may be a strong word in this case because the pork butt ended up very good, but the injection was surely a failure.

My buddy and I decided to "tailgate" at home before the NCSU/FSU football game last month. (Don't look now, but NCSU may get bowl eligible after a horrendous 1 and 5 start.) I had a couple pork butts in the freezer and moved them to the fridge on Wednesday night to be put on the smoker Friday night. The game was at 2:30 central time, so we want them done for lunch. If you remember from my last pork butt injection, I didn't really see a lot of difference with the injected butt. This time around I decided to use my Eastern NC vinegar sauce as a base, because I love the sauce. I strained the bits of pepper and stuff out of the sauce and mixed it 1:1 with apple juice. All is well at this point. I pull the butts out of the fridge and set one aside (uninjected, to compare). I start to inject the butt and realize to my dismay that the butt is still slightly frozen. It's not frozen hard. I can get the injection needle into it, but when I press on the syringe the liquid just runs out of the hole in the meat. I tried several different areas of the butt, but only got the injection to stay in the outer couple inches of meat. After messing with it a little while, I said "screw it" and just threw em' on the smoker. Slightly frozen meat does fine on the smoker, by the way. You'll actually get a bigger smoke ring.

So, the long and short of it is to never try to inject a semi-frozen pork butt. I should have checked it earlier in the evening. 30 minutes on the counter would have worked wonders. I was in a hurry the next day and didn't get pictures, but you can follow the links to beautiful pork butt pics.

Monthly Roundup, October, 2007

2007-11-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

Wow. I didn't post in the entire month of October. Life got in the way and I just didn't get it done. I did manage to get one smoke session in and I'll have a couple posts up in the next few days. I neglected my RSS feeds over the month, too. I went through them the other day and had over 400 food related posts to pour over. I picked out a few gems for you to enjoy.

Beyond Nose to Tail: More omnivorous Recipes for the Adventurous Cook. Serious Eats reviews this interesting new cook book. I haven't bought a cookbook in awhile, but this may be my next purchase.

A guide to pork. The Chef from Hell tells us all about pork cuts with short explanations on how to prepare them. If you're unsure where each cut of the pig comes from, this post is for you.

Get Your Grill On posted a couple recipes for reusing BBQ....pulled pork noodle bowl and brisket chili. Two things to note here. If you haven't tried Rooster Sauce (formally sriracha sauce, but I think "rooster" sauce sounds better) used for the noodle bowl, go get you some. It's a fantastic chili sauce. Secondly, try to think outside the box with your BBQ leftovers. They will be good in just about anything.

Men in Aprons ponders what they could not live without in the kitchen...and comes up with onions. I thought about this for awhile and it's a pretty tough question. I would probably choose bacon because everything tastes better with bacon added to it.

Pros and Cons of Frying your Turkey, also via Men in Aprons. I'll be frying a turkey this year. It's been awhile since I've done it, but they are oh so good. I'm considering smoking one as well for leftovers. I may do a pork shoulder or something, though. Be on the lookout for post Turkey day postings. They mention the fact the frying can be dangerous as a con of frying a turkey. It can, in fact, turn dangerous in a hurry, but if you're careful and don't do anything stupid you'll be OK.

World's Largest Fatty via Plowboy's BBQ. I don't know if this is really the world's largest fatty, but it sure is impressive.

Family's Eating Together via Serious Eats. I'm a firm believer that healthy families eat their meals together. My wife and I ate our meals in front of the TV 90% of the time until our daughter was old enough to eat in the high chair with us. Now, the four (daughter #2 is about to graduate to a booster seat from the high chair) of us are at the dinner table about 6 PM every day. It's an important part of the day to spend with your family, especially your kids.

Also from Serious Eats, It's Hog Killing Time! Actually they call it hog "butchering" time, but growing up we called the late fall chill in the air, "Hog Killing Weather", so I went with what I'm used to. This post brought back fond memories of killing hogs, putting up hams and fatback, and making sausage as a youngster. I don't do that anymore, but I am buying a whole hog this year and having it butchered at a local slaughterhouse. Come the first of December I'll have more pork than you can shake a stick at...and I can't wait!!

Give the Gift of a Homemade Cookbook, via Slashfood. A couple years ago, my wife compiled all my recipes (my own and some favorites of others) into a three ring binder. She personalized it with pictures and labels and stuff. It's great to have everything in one place and is one of my favorite gifts ever from the missus. Both my wife and my mom are fantastic cooks, and they love cooking for friends and families. Last Christmas my mom made a cookbook (another 3-ring binder) of all her favorite recipes and gave it my wife and my sister. I can tell you from the look on their faces that it was far and away the best present they received last year.

Monthly Roundup, September, 2007

2007-09-30T22:24:00.000-05:00

Time for another link roundup. Blogging has been light for the last week or so. I haven't cooked much and been super busy. Mrs. Hog and I have gotten busy with Church and biking (finally found a cheap trailer to haul the kids around) in the last couple weeks. When I've had free time I've been playing a little Halo 3 on the Xbox 360. Anyway, to the links!!!

Cupcake crackdown via Serious Eats. It really is a shame when political correctness gets out of hand like this. I mean, denying kids a cupcake to celebrate birthdays....come on.

Alaina from Serious Eats visited Wilbur's Barbecue in Goldsboro, NC this month. Wilbur's holds a special place in my heart. It's on the way to the beach from where I grew up (and we went to the beach a lot) and we stopped there to eat many, many times per year. It was especially fun when you were caravaning and had enough people for them to serve it family style....mmmmm, good!!

Whitetrash rediscovered his library this month. I often forget about the piles of cookbooks I have. I really need to start digging them out more.

Plowboys BBQ had the opportunity to participate in Operation BBQ. This was a great way to show appreciation for our men and women in service to our country. I would have loved to participate.

The HellChef tells us all about sausages. This was a very informative post for me.

The HellChef also tells us how he learned to love grits. I can't imagine why somebody wouldn't love grits in the first place!!!

Why the BBQGuy competes in contests. I wish more competition bloggers would make posts like this.

Men in Aprons defines "blackened" as it pertains to blackening foods. They then give us a recipe. I love me some blackened fish. I've cooked and eaten tons of blackened dolphin (mahi mahi) and tuna....fresh, like caught that day by me (or my Dad). It is fantastic. There is not much my Dad liked more than fishing and cooking his catch.

Learn about the CSREES via slashfood. Lots of good info from the CSREES.

My last link is not a blog. It's the Walmart product page for a Brinkmann stainless steel gas grill. Mrs. Hog and I celebrate five years of marriage on Friday. ***insert the "I can't believe she stuck with you that long jokes here*** She surprised me with the grill when I got home from work (no ahe didn't pay 600 bucks for it...almost half of that). That muther is huge. I've only cooked hot dogs and pork chops on it so far. After I get a few cooks under my belt I'll write up a little review for you. I've got to remember how to cook with gas...it's been 10 years or so.

Char-Broil/TEC burners defective??

2007-09-18T07:15:00.000-05:00

I just saw this post at about.com about possible problems with Char-Broils relatively new line of TEC infrared burners. I haven't had the opportunity to play with one of these, but I've read some about them and they've gotten good reviews from many industry folks, as well as bloggers. These defective burners could be a real problem for Char-Broil and TEC owners. Take a look at that post and make sure you check your grill for the broken screws.

UPDATE 9/21

Whitetrash was kind enough to post Charbroil's official response in the comments. I'll post it here. Thanks, Whitetrash.

Char-Broil has seen the messages posted on this and other forums regarding failing fasteners used in manufacturing of a limited number our TEC burners. We regret that a few TEC by Char-Broil Series owners have experienced burner performance issues.

Char-Broil wants to assure all TEC Series customers that we will take care of their individual issues and assist them in replacing the complete infra red burner assembly in their grill.
Char-Broil encourages TEC Series owners who have encountered a problem with the fasteners to call 1-888-430-7870 to receive a new TEC stainless steel burner assembly from Char-Broil.

Our TEC Consumer Services line will be open 7 days a week from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM EST. One of our customer service agents will be happy to assist you and a warranty service kit will be shipped out at no charge via priority 2nd day air shipping.

We stand behind the safety and performance of our products and make it a priority to respond to our consumer’s needs and concerns.

Good for Charbroil for making good on their product.

Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs)

2007-09-15T14:44:00.000-05:00

Here is another post I've been meaning to get up for a couple weeks. I posted about atomic buffalo turds one other time, but I didn't really give them their due. We had a pot-luck party a couple weeks ago and I offered to make the appetizer. ABTs were the obvious choice.

Start out by cutting the stem off and halving the peppers. Then I like to use a grapefruit spoon to scoop out the membranes and seeds. Just use the teeth of the spoon to cut through the pulp up near the stem. Then simply rake it down the length of the pepper to scoop everything out. If you want them to be hotter, take out the white pulp and seeds, but leave the thin membrane on the inside wall of the pepper. Give em a good rinse now to get extra seeds, pulp, etc. off of them.

Coring out the peppers is probably the biggest pain of doing ABTs. Once that is done I lay out the peppers and Mrs. Hog helps out with the rest of the process. An extra set of hands make it go a lot quicker.

Make sure your cream cheese is soft before you try to pipe it into the pepper. I let mine sit out for a while, but you can microwave it if you have to. Be careful, though....you want it soft, not melted. I like to add some cayenne pepper to the cream cheese. Just add the pepper to taste in a bowl and use the back of spoon or a spatula to mix it in. Mrs. Hog bakes cakes, so I use one of those fancy piping bags for the cream cheese. If you don't have any of those, just cut the corner out of a zip-lock bag.

Then simply add the lil' smokies on top of the cream cheese. Give them a little push and they'll kind of stick into the cream cheese.

Use a half of a strip of bacon to wrap around the pepper. When I just do a few of these I use toothpicks to secure the bacon, but when i do this many I use bamboo skewers. I put the skewers through the lil' smoky and not the pepper. It's enough to hold the whole thing together, but it's easier getting the ABT's on and off. It also makes it easier handling that many ABTs at once.

Unfortunately, we were running late for the party and I didn't get pics of the cooking or the finished product. Luckily I had old pictures from a Christmas party last year in TX. One hundred turds pretty much fills up the Chargriller. As you can see, this was before I figured out the skewer thing. You can cook these at whatever temp you want. If I do them by themselves I cook them at 275ish for about an hour and a half. They're done when the bacon is done to your liking, which is crispy for me.

These things are as beautiful as they are delicious!!

It's important to note that this recipe is really just a sample. Use your imagination and come up with other stuff to do with these. You can change the cheese, the spices, the kinds of peppers, etc. One of the best ones that I've done was to mince up some pork butt really fine and mix it in with the cream cheese. I believe I left out the smoky on that one. Anyway, you can do anything with these and they'll turn out great.

Grilled Pork Loin

2007-09-09T14:48:00.000-05:00

Better later than never, I guess. I actually cooked this on labor day. It was a pretty busy week and I didn't get a chance to put it up. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!!

We cook pork loin fairly often. Everytime I take a meat run I pick up a whole loin. I'll cut most of it into chops but I always leave a third to a half of it whole for a nice roast. I used to smoke these all the time (still do, occasionally), but I've found that I like to do them indirect on the kettle a little better. They're lean, so they cook better at a little bit higher heat, and they'll cook quicker on the kettle, too. I start by scoring the top of the loin and sprinkling with kosher salt and cracked pepper.

Like I said, loins are pretty lean, so I top them with bacon when I cook them. The bacon fat will render and kinda baste the loin as it cooks. Besides, smoked/grilled bacon is fantastic!!

We decided to cook some veggies in foil on the grill since it would take 45 minutes or so to cook the loin. In a bowl I added just enough Italian dressing, salt, and pepper to coat the veggies. Use whatever kind of veggies you like, but this time we used onions (red and white), mushrooms, squash, and zucchini. Make a boat out of foil and just wrap the veggies in there to cook.

You can see that I put the charcoal all on one side of the kettle this time (instead of on both sides; scroll down for example) I did this simply because I needed a little bit more room for the big pile of veggies. It will cook the same either way.

I cook my loins to 150 degrees, then pull them off the grill to rest. The temp will continue to rise a bit and will end up between 155 and 160 degrees. I let them rest at least 15 minutes before slicing. The bacon usually ends up a little better looking than this. It was pretty thin, so it curled up as it cooked. It was still mighty good, though.

In addition to veggies, we baked a couple potatoes. Instead of the usual butter, sour cream, etc. we went with cheese and salsa. It was some might fine eats, if I do say so myself.

A&P Lawsuit

2007-09-03T10:23:00.000-05:00

This is pretty ridiculous. I saw on Techdirt last week about the lawsuit. Then, today I saw more about it at WhitetrashBBQ. Whitetrash sent a letter to A&P, which I'll be doing right after I finish this post. I encourage you to send an email to apcustomerrel@aptea.com as well. Evidently they are suing these kids for a million bucks. Like Whitetrash said, you would not have even known this was an A&P if not for the lawsuit. What a bunch of idiots at A&P. The really funny thing is that the video isn't that funny. Nice editing though. Anyway, here's the video:

Monthly Roundup - August, 2007

2007-08-31T09:59:00.000-05:00

I'm starting a new thing here on the blog. At the end of each month I'm gong to to a little link roundup to interesting blog posts/articles I've read in the last month. They won't all be about BBQ (most will, though) and they will come from both commercial and private blogs/websites. They are linked here in chronological order (I think).

So, without further ado, here is the very first Hogwild BBQ Monthly Roundup.

How to delay herbal death via Serious Eats. I really hate losing fresh herbs after only using a small portion of them.

Better than Bad Sex BBQ Sauce via Hot Sauce Blog. While I'm not sure than any BBQ sauce is better than sex (even bad sex), this has got to be the best BBQ sauce name ever!! BTW, if you're a hot sauce junkie, the Hot Sauce Blog is must visit.

Turducken Review via MeatHenge. I've always wanted to try a turducken. This one looks fantastic.

How to Smoke Eggs via Howling Hog BBQ. I saw a post somewhere several months ago about smoking eggs (don't remember where) and forgot all about it. The next time I smoke overnight I'm gonna have smoked spam and eggs for breakfast.

Electronic Temperature Controllers via BBQguyblog. I've read a lot about using thermostats to control your pit temp lately and I agree with the BBQGuy...that would take a lot of the fun out of it for me.

The Bull Shot: A Meat Cocktail via MeatHenge. This thing sounds disgusting, but I like vodka and I'm intrigued. I will defiantly be trying this after my next suitable cook (probably not with the spam and eggs breakfast, though). I'll let you know how it goes.

Cooking at home vs. at a competition via Bucky's Barbecue. I don't compete, but I've talked with and read a lot from folks that do. Some say they cook the same way at a comp vs. at home, but I would think it would be different. This is an excellent post on the differences between cooking at home for the family and cooking at a competition.

Waiting for Service via Serious Eats. There is not much worse than getting sorry (or no) service when you're out to eat. This picture captures that frustration pretty well, I think.

There you go. If I missed an informative or funny article over the course of the month (I'm sure I did) feel free to leave a link to them in the comments.

Pork Steaks

2007-08-26T17:43:00.000-05:00

I realized today that I've only posted about pork steaks once, when I posted about my maple bourbon pork chops. I never saw pork steaks for sale until I move from Nebraska. You just don't seen them in North Carolina or South Texas. I guess all the shoulders there are cooked for pulled pork or cut as country style ribs. I usually cook these over direct heat for a couple minutes per side and then finish them indirectly, especially if they're cut thick. I used my all purpose BBQ sauce (bottom of the post) on one of these so I added two coats of the sauce at the end of the cook and cooked it over direct heat just long enough not to burn the sauce.

As you can see, I ate some of the sauced and nonsauced steaks and they were equally good. The missus made the corn and broccoli salad again (we do it a lot in the summer), but she also made a new squash casserole that was very good.

Squash Casserole

2 pounds yellow squash, sliced
1 onion shopped
1 cup water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounces sour cream
1/4 melted butter
1 box of chicken flavored stuffing mix

Boil the squash and onion until tender. Stir the squash and onion (including liquid) in with the remaining ingredients. If the mixture isn't very liquid you may not need a whole box of stuffing mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes ore so until the casserole is browned over.

Chuck Roast -- Pulled Beef Barbecue

2007-08-21T21:12:00.000-05:00

Like I said in an earlier post, I did more than smoke Spam last weekend. I picked up a couple of nice chuck roasts for pulled beef barbecue. Sometimes I'll use the point of a brisket for pulled beef, but I like the taste and texture of chuck roasts a little better.

I picked up two nice chuck roasts at Sam's over the weekend....one obviously a little nicer than the other. Go ahead and trim the fat off the outside edges. There is more than enough internal fat to keep the roasts moist.

I like to use my brisket rub for pulled beef barbecue. I rub the roast very generously making sure to get the sides as well. I use yellow mustard before I rub them to help make the rub stick.

Pulled Beef Barbecue Rub:

1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1/4 cup onion powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp cracked black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

I cooked the chuck roasts at about 225 (up to 250 at times) to an internal temperature of about 140 degrees. They'll look something like this at 140 degrees and it should take 3 to 5 hours depending on your cooking temp.

At 140 degrees I double wrap the chuck roasts and continue on the smoker at 225-250 to an internal temperature of 200 degrees. On a side note, I don't cook in foil very much. I don't necessarily have an aversion to it, I just seem to like my results without it. I do like to use it on the chuck roasts to collect the juices, though.

The chuck roasts are good and tender at this point. I immediately pour the juice off into a bowl and put it in the fridge. Make sure you let the meat rest like normal. I like to allow at least 20 minutes before I start pulling. If it's tender enough after resting you can just use two forks to shred it. It is kind of a pain and you can tell by the picture that I got tired of pulling and ended up cutting some of it with a knife. It was tender enough that I could cut it with the grain. It'll kinda fall apart when you reheat it. Once you have it pulled, take the juiced out of the fridge and scoop the congealed fat off the top. Add back enough of the juice to moisten up the meat good. You won't need all of it...you don't want it swimming in it. Here is the barbecue sauce that I like on pulled beef. This sauce is similar to a store bought sauce, but it's a lot less sweet with just enough kick to let you know you're eating it. I keep it around all the time for various things. I put just a light coating on the beef and have the sauce on the table to add more if needed.

Pulled Beef Barbecue Sauce:

2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

This stuff is fantastic on cheap white buns for sammies. I had one for lunch today. It freezes well, too. Just vacuum seal in single or double serving and it'll keep for several months.

Smoked Spam

2007-08-19T20:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, I said Spam.....

I'll put just about anything on the smoker to see how it turns out, and when a coworker brought up the Spam website (Warning: lost of flash and audio) last week at work....well, I decided I had to give it a try. They're really playing up the, "Hey look at us, we're Spam, haha" kinda thing. We got a good chuckle looking at the website. I haven't had Spam since I was a kid, so I thought I would just throw it on the smoker to see what happens. One of them I smoked naked and the other I rubbed generously with butt rub.

They were both pretty good. Only a slight smokey flavor because the smoke didn't really penetrate the meat. There is a crapload of salt in these things, so the one with the rub was a way too salty. If I ever do these again I'll rub it with either a very sweet or very spicy rub to counteract the salt a little bit. I fried a couple leftover pieces this morning for a spam and cheese sammie for breakfast. I could really taste the smoke after it sat overnight.

No, I didn't fire up the smoker just for some Spam yesterday. I cooked some pulled beef barbecue, too.

Country Style Ribs with Weber's Sweet and Tangy Rub

2007-08-13T19:06:00.000-05:00

Not to get on a Weber's rub kick or anything, but I followed up last weeks pork chops with some country style ribs using the same Weber's sweet and tangy rub. I wouldn't normally post this up, but the sweet and tangy rub went with the country style ribs much better than the pork chops. It took to the indirect grilling much better than the direct heat. In fact it was very, very good on the country style ribs. I'd try Lawry's or brining before I'd use the sweet and tangy rub again.

Of course I had to cook up some hot Italian sausages while I was at it.

Pork Chops with Weber's Sweet and Tangy Rub

2007-08-07T20:33:00.000-05:00

I hardly ever buy commercial rubs or spice blends anymore, but as you've read, I do keep Lawry's around and use it mainly on pork. Mrs. Hog and I were walking through our local Wally World (Wal-Mart) last week and I noticed the Weber spices in the spice isle. I've been wanting to try some new stuff and decided on the Sweet and Tangy seasoning. I just did some pork chops directly on the grill. Be careful grilling over direct heat when you use a rub with a lot of sugar in it (like this one). What I do is sear both sides of the chop and then finish them up with indirect heat. The rub was pretty good, but seemed to be lacking something. I like the sweet/tangy mix alot, though. I have a very spicy rib rub that I use with a super sweet glaze that I really like. Anyway, I may try to make a rub similar to this one....I just have to figure out how I want to tweak it.

Mrs. Hog made a corn and broccoli salad that was delicious. I think she got this base recipe from one cookbook or another, but she doesn't remember which one. She makes this fairly regularly and no two are quite the same. Just use whatever you have in the fridge/pantry and it'll turn out great.

Corn and Broccoli Salad recipe:

a head of broccoli
small red onion
a cup of corn (fresh or frozen)
1/3 cup of cheese
1/4 cup bacon bits
dressing:

1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Remember that all those amounts are approximate...use whatever you have. We've done a balsamic vinegar based (no mayo) dressing with this, also.

Portabella Mushroom "Burgers"

2007-07-31T21:03:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is as far from BBQ as you can get, but I thought I'd share anyway since it was pretty good. Mrs. Hog has had a portabella mushroom burger a couple times at a restaurant and when she saw the mushrooms on sale she just had to have one.

Alright, tangent time. How in the hell is one supposed to spell "portabella" anyway. I'm seeing portabella and portobello....anybody?

Anyway, we decided to grill them up with some zucchini and they were great. You might have noticed that I've cooked a lot of zucchini lately. They are coming into season in the the gardens of south central Nebraska right now and both my secretary and my boss are trying to unload them at work. I'll take all the free produce I can get.

We did a balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper marinade on the mushrooms. I'm using the term marinade loosely here. We only "marinated" them for about 10 minutes because you don't want them to get soggy.

We did the zucchini in Italian dressing like I've done before, except we cut them into wedges. That turned into a bad idea. They were hard to turn on the grill and the point of the wedge would get stuck down into the grill great. I'll be cutting them flat from now own. They were good, though.

Commenting and RSS Feeds

2007-07-27T00:15:00.000-05:00

I wanted to post a little something about commenting on my (and other's) blogs. The reason I decided to post about this was that I commented on another author's blog the other day and they still haven't gotten around to "approving" my comment. See, bloggers have the option to screen the comments on their blog. If you have commented here you know I don't do that....yet. One really good reason to moderate comments is comment spam. We all hate spam, and if it ever gets to be a problem here I will have to change the way I handle comments. Anyway, I highly encourage commenting on any of my posts with suggestions, criticisms, just to say Hi, or whatever.

And about RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it is technology that allows you to keep up with all the stuff you want to on the internet more easily. If you don't currently use an RSS reader, I highly recommend Google Reader. I use it to keep up with 163 feeds ranging from cooking to general news, to sports, to video games. Google reader is where my shared items come from in the side bar on the right. Here is a good Google Reader primer if you're interested. If you would like to subscribe to my feed, simply click on the link in the sidebar.

Pork Chops: Lemon Soy Marinade

2007-07-24T21:13:00.000-05:00

I tried out a new marinade on Saturday night. We pulled some chops out of the freezer on Saturday morning and I decided I needed to try something different. I had kinda gotten in a rut with my chops. The last several times I've cooked them I used some variation of these chops using Lowry's Seasoned Salt.

I scoured my cookbooks for something new and decided on a soy sauce/lemon juice marinade from Tarantino's book (link in sidebar).

Marinade:

1/3 cup soy sauce
zest and juice from one lemon

I added a little extra lemon juice (maybe a tbsp) because it didn't look like enough

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

I probably added a bit more than 2 teaspoons. I was at the end of a bottle and just added it without measuring.

1 clove of garlic
1/4 cup canola oil

Run everything through a blender or food processor.

I marinated these for about 5 hours turning them once during that time. The chops came out fantastic.

I cooked corn and zucchini on the kettle as well. The zucchini will not take long to cook, so put it on right as the chops are finishing. Slice the zucchini lengthwise, coat with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. It will only take a couple minutes per side on a hot fire.

Smoked Chicken Wings Update

2007-07-20T20:23:00.000-05:00

I cooked the smoked chicken wings again last Sunday and wanted to update you on a little observation I made. I had too many wings to fit into two aluminum pans, so I put a half a dozen or so directly on the grate. Those half a dozen ended up even better than the original. Yes they made a little mess in the smoker, but it was totally worth it. I think the biggest difference was that it took up a bit more smoke and, more importantly, none of the rub came off the wings when the fat rendered out of them. I'm going to do these again soon and I'll give you another update with pics. I doubt I'll ever use the pans again.

Piglet's 2nd Birthday

2007-07-20T19:15:00.000-05:00

Well, we had a little birthday gathering last Saturday for my oldest daughter's 2nd birthday and I thought I'd share. Man, she's growing up fast already. I didn't cook BBQ. I just did some dogs on the kettle, which I just realized I didn't have any pics of. I do have some other pictures to share, though.

My daughter is in love with fish, so my wife made her a fish cake. I think she did a helluva job. It looked fantastic and tasted even better.

The birthday girl!!!!!

The birthday girl and a couple of her pals.

Site Update

2007-07-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let you guys and gals know I have revamped the "labels" for my posts. Some of you may have noticed in your feed reeder or email an unfinished post that I accidentally posted....oops. I'll be finishing that one up in the near future and will repost it. I noticed recently that a lot of visitors actually click on those links on the right sidebar looking for posts on particular topics. I condensed my labels to 10 that i think will work (It was at 16, which is way too many, I think). They are:

appetizers
beef
brine
chicken
grilling
miscellaneous
pork
recipes
smoking
vegetables UPDATE: I did change vegetables to Side Dishes.

Am I missing something? I'm thinking about changing vegetables to "side dishes" and start posting some of Mrs. Hog's side dishes, too. While BBQ is really about the meat, the side dishes deserve some love too. You'll see it in the sidebar if I do it.

I also want to tell you that I'm leaving for San Antonio tomorrow for a week, so it will be next weekend before I'm able to cook or post anything. Have a great week next week.

Injecting a Pork Butt

2007-07-05T20:30:00.000-05:00

I have cooked a lot of pork barbecue in the past, from whole hog to country style ribs, and have never seen the need to inject it with anything. I know a lot of folks swear by it, so I thought I'd give it a try. Everybody raves about Bib Bob Gibson's shoulder injection (their white sauce is good, too), so I thought I would give it a try. I did one butt with the injection and the other without. I used the same rub for both butts and they were both cooked at 250ish degrees to an internal temp of 190 degrees.

The injection recipe:

3/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt

Note: I got this recipe from "Peace, Love, and BBQ" (Link in sidebar) and it says to finely grind the salt. I don't because it's going to dissolve anyway and once it's dissolved, well, it's as small as it's gonna get.

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

As you would expect the injection didn't affect the outside appearance of the butts. I wrapped them in aluminum foil after they were done because it was going to be a couple hours before supper. I just left them on the counter and they were still piping hot for supper. Sometimes I'll cook overnight and get the butts done even earlier. If so, I'll put the butts in a cooler after wrapping them and stuff a couple of towels in with them. The butts will stay hot for several hours (I've kept them for 5 hours before). This works well for brisket as well.

Now for the comparison. When I busted open the butts, I didn't immediately notice a difference. I was primarily looking for a difference in the juiciness of the butt and I didn't immediately find it. After looking into it a little further, I did notice that the meat right next to the bone was a little more juicy in the injected butt. This cannot be seen in the picture below. What can be seen is the color of the injected but on the right. It's a little darker, which I assume is because of the Worcestershire sauce in the injection. I'm not sure if this is normal or not, but I like the whiter butt better. As for taste, I couldn't really tell a difference, but I knew which was which. I had my wife and a friend do a blind taste test and they both could tell which was injected but said it was very subtle. They thought they were equally good, but just a little different. So, I doubt I'll be injecting any more butts because I don't think I gain anything from it. Now, a whole shoulder might be a little different. Darn, I guess I'll have to get me a couple shoulders and do another little experiment.

In the end pulled both butts and just combined them. It was some good eats, if I do say so myself.

Chicken Halves With White BBQ Sauce

2007-07-04T09:45:00.000-05:00

Well, I meant to have this and another post up late last week, but had some technical difficulties with my laptop where I had these pics stored. Better late than never, I guess.

I really like doing chicken indirectly on the kettle. Sometimes I like to do a white BBQ sauce with this chicken. A lot of folks haven't heard of white BBQ sauce, but it hails from Decatur, Alabama at Bib Bob Gibson's BBQ. I haven't had the pleasure of eating there, but it's on my to do list. Their family recipe is all over the internet, but I used a simple version that I actually like a little better. I need to make theirs again sometime and reduce the amount of lemon. Anyway here is my very simple white sauce recipe:

mayonaisse
apple cider vinegar

Add enough vinegar to cut the mayo. The sauce should just coat the back of a spoon

cracked black pepper (to taste)
cayenne pepper (to taste)

As you can see, this is a very simple recipe, but the family really likes it. Here is a pic of the sauce and the bird.

I understand that at Bib Bob's they dunk the chicken in a 5 gallon bucket of sauce. I obviously don't make that much at one time. I just spoon it over the chicken as I eat it. This way your guests can control the amount of sauce they use as well.

Smoked Chicken Wings

2007-06-26T20:37:00.000-05:00

I did quite a bit of cooking over the weekend so I'll have a few things to share this week. First up is the appetizer for Saturday's cook. I've been wanting to do some chicken wings for a while. I was trying to think up a recipe when I saw this post at Jason's BBQ Blog. His wings looked fantastic, so I thought I would give them a try. I had to deviate from his recipe some so I'll post what I did here.

The rub:

1 part kosher salt.
2 parts turbinado sugar

Jason used yellow sugar...I'm going to show my ignorance and say that I don't know what that is.

1 part paprika
1 part garlic powder
1 part onion powder
1 part dry mustard

Jason used ground black mustard...again, not sure what that is.

½ part coriander

Jason used cardomom, but it was outragously expensive, so I substitued.

The sauce:

2 cups smoked tomato halves

Two good sized tomatos, smoked on the Chargriller for about an hour at 250ish. I don't think I smoked them as long as Jason did.

1/2 to 3/4 cup dried dates.

Jason used fresh dates (I think), but I could find any.

1 clove garlic smashed
1 large red onion, quartered.
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 juice from ½ of a lemon
½ tablespoon rosemary
½ tablespoon thyme
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne

Put all of the sauce ingredients into a blender or food processor and liquify it.

I sprinkled the rub very liberally over the wings and let them sit for 15 or 20 minutes. Jason used a BBQ wok for his wings but I used a couple disposable aluminum pans. I put one layer of wings per pan and smoked for a total of about 2 hours or so. You can rip one open when you think it's close and take a look to make sure they are done. The fat really came out of the wings, so I drained the fat twice during the cook. Like Jason, I put the sauce on about a half an hour before the cook was over.

The sauce ended up kind of gooey, so I fired up the kettle and charred up the outside of about half the wings....you could see them on the left of the pic. The ones that I put on the kettle definitely had a slightly different taste, but they were equally good. These wings will definitely be made many more times. They were fantastic.

Update: make sure you check out my update on this recipe in a more recent post.

Spring Maintenance on the ol' Chargriller

2007-06-17T13:53:00.000-05:00

The weather in Houston was not kind to the Chargriller. It is so humid most of the year (like 10 out of 12 months) that it was constantly wet from condensation. Incidentally, this is not good for vehicles sitting in the driveway, either. Condensation would form even if I had a cover on the Chargriller...even if it was a breathable cover. For the cooking chamber it isn't a big deal because the paint stays on there pretty good. For the firebox, however, you can hear it rust because the heat of the fire takes the paint off over time. So, once or twice a year (I didn't get it done in the fall) I'll take a wire wheel to the rust and repaint the firebox. I also took the opportunity since I had it in the garage to add some bigger wheels so I can move it around a lot easier. Here is a pictorial of the process with some before and after pics.

The before shot...she's looked better.

Here is a shot of the firebox. Lots and lots of rust.

Firebox from the end....even more rust.

I'd say the firebox looks a little better, wouldn't you? It took me aboutan hour to brush the rust off, then I cleaned it with soap and water. I waited a day for it to dry before painting.

My fire baskets, and particularly the rods suspending them, have seen better days, too.

I just straighted out the rods in my vice and put them back in. I'll likely be replacing these next spring.

One of the worst things about the Chargriller are the crappy wheels they come with.

I've been wanting to upgrade for a while now. I thought about pneumatic tires, but decided on the hard plastic ones from Ace. I just used a length of steel rod for the axle...also from Ace.

The "after" pic!!! I'm really pleased with the result, especially the tires. You can see that I decided to move the old "crappy" wheels to the other side of the cooker. This kept me from having to cut some of the legs off to level the whole thing up and it makes it even easier to move around.

My Apologies

2007-06-12T19:03:00.000-05:00

I must apologize for my lack of posts in the last month or so. We've had a sudden illness and death in the family and I've been doing a lot of traveling since the first of May. My father was diagnosed with leukemia on the 4th of May and passed away on the 31st at the age of 58. He was a hell of a man and introduced me to the joys of outdoor cooking at a very young age. He was a man of faith and I know he is with the Lord.

I have several posts in various stages of completion, so I should be back to posting regularly. I did some spring cleaning on the smoker the weekend before Dad wad diagnosed so I'll be posting that soon. I should be doing a lot of cooking going forward, also. I did grill some country style ribs and sausages last night.

Cowboy Lump

2007-05-03T17:06:00.000-05:00

I have always heard very bad things about Cowboy Lump. I have had a seriously hard time finding lump charcoal here in south-central Nebraska. I thought Kingsford lump (which I hate) was my only option until a ran across Cowboy at the local Ace Hardware. I decided to give it a try. The NakedWhiz is a fantastic site where you can see reviews on most brands of charcoal. My opinion is similar to theirs, in that I think Cowboy is OK, but far from ideal. I used B&B when we lived in TX and it's much better than Cowboy. However, Cowboy will do in a pinch and it is better than Kingsford.

The fact that is made from construction scraps doesn't bother me at all. They use end pieces presumably from wood going into the flooring and cabinet making industries. I've used two bags of it now and occasionally you find a piece of tongue and groove wood. I have found one piece of wood that wasn't carbonized (in the picture below), but that isn't too bad out of two large bags. I didn't realize until now, but the picture I took underestimates the average size of the charcoal pieces. The average size is probably closer to the large piece in the picture. There was surprisingly little dust in the two bags that I've used. My biggest gripe, by far, is that it burns up so quickly. The best thing about it is that it produces very little ash.

Saturday Night Grilling 4-28-07

2007-05-01T19:12:00.000-05:00

I hadn't planned on posting about my supper on Saturday night, but I cooked the whole meal on the ol' kettle. That is always fun for me. On the menu was thick cut (one inch) boneless pork chops, corn on the cob, and asparagus. I went all minimalistic on the prep for the whole meal.

Corn: Rub with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

The corn will take the longest. Some people like to cook them in the husks or in foil, but I like to put them directly on the grill. I like to put them over the coals and turn every couple minutes to get a little char on it. Then I put them on the cooler side of the grill for 20-30 minutes depending on how big they are.

Chops: Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Garlic powder, and cracked black pepper; all to taste.

The chops will go on next and cook them like you always would. These were thick, so they took 4 or 5 minutes per side on the hot part of the grill. On a side note, I cook my boneless chops hot and fast to sear the outside. I don't measure the temps in mine, but I'm sure they end up at 150ish or so. The temp will rise a little when you take them off, so if you take them off at 160 they will be overdone by the time you eat them. Let them rest for 10 minutes or so before you cut into them. By the time you get inside, finish up with the drinks, set down and have the blessing, they'll be ready to go.

Asparagus: Coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, a little garlic powder, and some balsamic vinegar.

The asparagus won't take long and do burn easily, so I put them on last. Again, I like to put them over the coals to char them up a little, then put them on the cooler part of the grill. Cook them to whatever tenderness you like. We like ours a little crunchy, so 5 minutes is about right.

The finished product!!!

Charcoal vs. Gas Grilling

2007-04-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

I recently told you that I'm considering buying a new gas grill after many years of cooking exclusively over coals. I gave you a couple reasons why I'm thinking of adding a gasser to my arsenal, but I thought I would expand on it a little. Hopefully this will help some folks that are buying their first grill, or looking to expand their collection. It's odd for me to think of somebody buying their first grill. I grew up with tongs in hand since my Dad is an avid griller. He doesn't smoke a lot, but we did have an unmodified ECB and turned out some good food on it. I guess since I learned through observing my Dad that it just comes kinda natural to me. I do know folks that couldn't cook a decent hamburger or hotdog if their life depended on it....and I think that is a cryin' shame.

So, here are my pros and cons for Charcoal vs. Gas.

Gas

Pros

Convenience--Once you figure out the right settings for what you're cooking, it's almost set it and forget it. No charcoal to worry about. No real mess, although you should clean the grill grate after every use.

Inclimate weather--If it's nasty outside (cold, rainy), just crank up the gass and let it roll. You can definately spend more time inside where it's comfortable instead of outside tending the fire.

Time--You can get your grill up to temp super-fast. No lighting charcoal and coming back a half hour later to start heating up the grate.

Cons

Flavor-- I'll cover this more in the "Pros" for charcoal, but I don't think gas can match the flavor of charcoal.

No smoke!!-- This is the reason the flavor is different with gas.

Stigma-- Be real....how cool is it actually light a match and play with burning coals instead of just mashing a button to get your fire.

Charcoal

Pros

Flavor-- Again, I think food cooked on charcoal tastes better. Especially if it's cooked using lump charcoal. And it's easier to add wood to a charcoal fire compared to a gas fire, too. If you've read my brining posts up to this point you know that I add wood to my indirect cooks all the time. If I was doing it on a gas grill I would have to mess around with foil pouches and wood chips instead of just dropping a couple chunks of hickory onto the coals.

Versatile-- With a little experience you can easily cook anything on charcoal. it's easy to cook directly or indirectly and it's easy to add smoke or not.

"Manley"-- The opposite of the "stigma" of gas...uggg, me cook meat on fire..ugg. ;)

Cons

Messy-- Cooking with charcoal can be messy. You've got to deal with the charcoal and dust beforehand and you've got all that ash to deal with afterward. This is just something you have to get used to. If you use lump charcoal you'll cut down on the ash considerably.

Time consuming-- Like I said in my "wish list" post, this is my biggest thing right now. One thing I do during the week is light a chimney of charcoal as soon as I get home. By the time I go and change clothes and play with the girls for a minute the coals are getting close to being ready.

Fire management-- While playing with the fire is one of the most fun parts of cooking, it can be frustrating, especially for beginners. With experience, though, this becomes less of a "Con"

Well, now you know what I think about grilling with gas vs. charcoal. I really do think there is a place for both on your patio. I prefer charcoal, but can appreciate the benefits of a gas grill. But, if I had to choose only one, it would definitely be charcoal...hands down.

Maple Bourbon Brine, Part II

2007-04-23T21:14:00.000-05:00

I promised awhile back to follow up on my maple bourbon brine post. I had some brine from the previous cook that I didn't use, so I stuck it in the freezer for future use. I pulled it out last weekend and brined 4 2-inch boneless pork chops for about 6 hours. I cooked them like I did in the first post; indirect for 30 minutes or so and a minute or two on each side over hot coals to finish them off. They were fantastic....better than the thin chops from before, but about equal to the pork steak. In my admittedly limited experience with brining, it seems to me that thicker cuts do better.

Brisket, Sausage, and ABTs

2007-04-16T21:59:00.000-05:00

I did some atomic buffalo turds (ABTs) for appetizers this weekend. These are super-easy and they are fantastic. Just cut some jalepenos in half and scoop out the seeds. Add some cayenne pepper (to taste) to some pre-softened cream cheese and pipe it into the pepper. Top it with a lil' smokie and wrap in bacon. You can cook it at about any temp on the smoker. Once the bacon is done, they are ready to go. Make about twice as many as you think you'll need.

The in-laws are in town for a visit so I decided on an extended smoke session on Friday night/Saturday. I put the brisket on at about 12:30 AM on Saturday morning. I'm glad I did because it took longer than usual to get done....right at 17 hours. This was a strange brisket. It weighed in at 12.5 lbs, which is a little heavier than I like, but there was about twice as much external fat on it than I normally see. I trim the fat down to 1/8 to 1/4 inch, so what I put on the smoker was close to what I like. The brisket reached a plateau of 168 degrees sometime in the morning and then actually dropped in temp to 164 degrees. I'm chalking this up to some fat or connective tissue at the tip of the probe, 'cause that ain't supposed to happen. After 3 or 4 hours she started rising again. When it reached 190 deg internal I took the temp with a different thermometer. There was quite a bit of resistance in the meat so I kept on cooking. I did this a couple more times and finally pulled the brisket off at 205 degrees...by far the hottest I've ever had to cook one to get it tender.

Here is my brisket rub:

1/2 cup brown sugar
3Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1/4 cup onion powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp black pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

The Final Product!!!

Pork Butt

2007-04-11T21:26:00.000-05:00

Here is the pork butt recipe from my smoke last week.

Rub:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 Tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried basil

Sauce (this is authentic Eastern NC vinegar based sauce...they put this in our bottles as babies):

1/2 gallon apple cider vinegar
2 cup white vinegar
2 tsp cayenne pepper
5 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp red pepper flakes
5 Tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
5 tsp kosher salt

Bring this sauce to a simmer, but don't boil it.

A lot of folks rub their butts the night before and wrap them in saran wrap. I've done it that way, but can't tell any appreciable difference to doing it 30 minutes to an hour before I smoke. I usually coat the butt with cheap yellow mustard (you won't taste it; it just helps the rub to stick) and put a liberal coating of rub on the butt. Then I go fire up the smoker and when it gets to 200-225 I put the butt on.

Depending on when I need the butts done I cook them at anywhere from 225 to 275 degrees. I shoot for 190 degrees internal for my butts so they will pull well. You occasionally get one that needs 195-200 to be really tender. I assume this is due to the amount of connective tissue. With a little experience you can tell when you put a thermometer in the meat whether it is done or not.

For this cook I pulled one of the butts and chopped one of the butts. I add just a smidgen of my sauce when I pull the butt, then have it on the side for folks to add as they please.

Writing this post has given me a hankerin' for some pulled pork. Lucky for me I have some in the freezer I can pull out for lunch tomorrow. It freezes very well. If you vacuum seal it it'll keep for months, but mine usually doesn't last that long.

BBQ Linkage

2007-04-10T06:41:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the lack of posts in the last week. Things have gotten busy in real life. I went a week without looking at my blog feeds in google reader and there were several posts I thought I would share. Enjoy.

The BBQ Guy links to this article about aging beef. I've often thought about purchasing a small fridge for the garage and wet aging my briskets. I may have to pull the trigger.

Get Your Grill On talks about skinning ribs. I, too, have heard of restaurants leaving the membrane on ribs to hold everything together. I take it off every time. One thing the folks at Get Your Grill On left out was to use a dull knife (an oyster shucker works great, too) and work it under the membrane on the 2nd or 3rd rib. Then, like they said, grab it with a paper towel and pull. The membrane will come off very easily on baby backs, but the spares will take a little work sometimes.

Jason's BBQ Blog links to the gadget of the day. Some folks just have too much time on their hands.

Plowboy's BBQ talks about bamboo cutting boards. I've been using a variety of synthetic cutting boards for a long time, now. I've been thinking of buying a wooden one just for veggies to save the edge on my knives a bit. Frankly, I haven't wanted to spend the money on a quality end grain board, though. I may have to give one of these bamboo boards a try.

Speaking of cutting boards, Men in Aprons tells us how to take care of them.

I agree with WhiteTrashBBQ, calculating the time to cook a steak would just ruin it for me.

I haven't forgotten about getting some recipes up from my cook last weekend. I'll post up my butt rub, etc. in the next couple of days, but I wanted to get these links up today. My In-Laws are in town this weekend, so I'll be firing up the smoker again. I'll let you know how it goes.

To my email subscribers

2007-04-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let you know that I've been having issues with Feedblitz. I apologize if you've gotten multiple emails of the same posts. I think I have it worked out, but I would appreciate if you would email me to confirm you have received your feeds. Hogwild60 [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks

Dedication to BBQ

2007-04-01T20:09:00.000-05:00

Well, not really dedication, because if we weren't having folks over yesterday I would have just cooked today when the weather was nice. Early in the week I looked at the weather and it was going to be a nasty week, but Saturday was supposed to be beautiful. Evidently the front was slower than the weather folk thought, so it was windy and rainy all day yesterday.

I had to move the smoker around to the side of the house to get it out of the 35 mph gusts and I rigged up the umbrella to keep most of the rain off.

I smoked up two butts, 3 racks of baby backs, a stuffed fatty, and a stuffed onion for supper. I smoked up a few jala penos because I'm working on a brisket sauce. I'll post recipes later in the week when I have more time.

I also took the time to vacuum seal the loin, ground beef, and sausage from my meat run the other night. I froze the brisket in the original cryovac and cooked the rest.

Check in later this week for a few recipes.

Meat Run!!

2007-03-28T21:22:00.000-05:00

I made my first real meat run tonight since we move to Nebraska from Houston.

The Sam's was on my way home from work in TX, but now I have to go 25 miles out of the way, so I'll be doing fewer, bigger trips from here on. I picked up ground beef, hot italian sausages, two pork butts, 3 racks of BBs, a pork loin and a brisket. I also picked up some disposable aluminum trays and we were out of peppercorns and ketchup.

A lot of people prefer to get their meat from an old-fashioned butcher. If I could find a good one, maybe I would too, but I'll let you in on a little secret....a lot of regular butchers get old animals, especially cows. Sam's for the most part gets younger ones because they buy in bulk from larger slaughterhouses. This, of course, doesn't mean that some (probably most) butchers don't have quality products, but you should know what you're looking at and pick cuts that look good. I'm just saying that I've had good luck at Sam's.

Personally I've never gotten a bad brisket or a bad pork butt from Sam's. Their ribs, for some reason I can't figure out, are more variable than the other cuts, so I carefully pick through them until I find a satisfactory one (I do this for all cuts, actually). That's why I ended up with baby backs today...their spares didn't look great. Sam's sausage is not my favorite either...but they are decent, and relatively inexpensive. I rarely fire up the smoker without putting some sausages on, so I use these. If I have a hankering for some primo sausage, I get it elsewhere.

I'm firin' up the smoker on Saturday...stay tuned!!

Citrus-Brined Boneless Chicken Breasts

2007-03-25T15:27:00.000-05:00

Well, I decided to break away from Tarantino's cookbook a little on my next brining recipe. The results were mixed. Overall the chicken was good, but it was a little salty and not quite citrusy enough. I'll tell you what I did, then at the end I'll tell you what I plan to do to fix it.

The ingredients

Two quarts of water
1/2 cup of kosher salt
The zest and juice of two oranges, two lemons, and two limes. These made about a cup and a half of juice
1/4 cup of light brown sugar
3 spring onions (including greens)
handfull of cilantro

I forgot the salt until after I took the pic

This is a handy little zester that I stole from my wife. Only make one pass over the fruit. You want the oil out of the skin, not the white stuff underneath.

You can see that this made a lot of brine for the 6 big chicken breasts that I brined. You can cut the recipe or save some of it for later if you don't need it all. Bring the brine to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Cool to room temp, then move to the fridge and cool to 40 deg. I brined these breasts for about 5 and a half hours.

Set up your grill for direct cooking. For boneless breasts I usually put one thick layer of coals so I can cook em' hot and fast. After reading a post on The Smoke Ring I was worried about them being too salty, so I rinsed them, patted them dry, and added some fresh cracked pepper before putting them on the grill.

The finished product!! Like I said, they were good, but not great. They were a little two salty and the other ingredients didn't come thru as well as the other brines I have tried. They were extremely juicy. The texture was good, so I don't think I grossly over brined them.

The fix-- I'm going to try this again because I really like the flavors attached and I think they will work great for boneless chicken. Next time I'm going to add one each of the fruits and I'm going to double the onion, cilantro, and brown sugar. I'm also going to run all of the solid ingredients thru the food processor similar to the other chicken brine I used to release all those flavors better. Then I'm going to brine them a maximum of 3 hours to cut down on the saltiness. I'll let you know how it works.

El Cheapo Brinkmann (ECB)

2007-03-22T08:22:00.000-05:00

Ok, I promised to post about the the ECB, so here it is. The ECB is a very, very affordable way to get into smoking, and lots of folks start out with one. However, they can be extremely frustrating because they are not built very well. I smoked on an ECB straight out of the box for a long time and got some decent results. I wish I had known about the modifications it needed way back then.

I don't want to reinvent the wheel here, so I'm just going to point you to a post on The Smoke Ring written by Alien BBQ (lots of good Q knowledge, that one) and post a pic from his post here.

Here is a pic of Aliens mods. Make sure to read thru
that thread as several folks added good info about the ECB.

Here is a pic of my buddy's ECB in action. He cooks a
mean butt on it.

So, the ECB is a very good option for somebody just getting started. It's cheap and the mods make it manageable. It's still gonna be very, very hands on though. I've often thought about picking another one up. Mainly to do appetizers and cheese when my Chargriller is full of other stuff.

I'm beginning to like this brining thing: Brined Chicken Halves

2007-03-18T19:31:00.000-05:00

The maple bourbon pork chops were such a success I decided to try some brined chicken. This brine recipe also came from "Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures, and Glazes" by Jim Tarantino. I cooked them over indirect heat in the kettle like I always do.

The Ingredients

-2 quarts water
-1 cup chopped sweet onion
-6 cloves of garlic
-1/2 cup kosher salt
-1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
-1 tbsp thyme
-1 tbsp chopped rosemary
-1/4 cup fresh ground black pepper
-1 tsp paprika
-1 tsp cumin seeds
-3 bay leaves

For this recipe put the onion, garlic, and a cup of water into a blender or food processor and blend it until you've got a uniform texture (almost liquid). Add that to the rest of the water and ingredients and boil the entire mixture, then simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool to room temp then put it in the fridge to 40 degrees. Add the chicken and brine it for 8 to 10 hours.

For this I bought a whole chicken. I buy a lot of whole chickens because they are so cheap (This one was 4 bucks, I think). I guess a lot of folks don't know what to do with a whole chicken, so the grocery stores and butchers cut them up for you and charge a premium. Anyway, if you've never cut up a chicken, or anything else for that matter, just buy one and hack away at it. You're not gonna hurt it....it's already dead!!

I halved the chicken for two reasons: 1) I prefer to cook chicken halves over indirect heat (or sometimes smoked) as opposed to beer-butt chicken...this is just personal preference, and 2) It was easier to brine them in a shallow container. If you'd rather do brined beer-butt chicken, go for it. I'm sure it'll be great. Halving the chicken is easy to do with just a good pair of kitchen shears. Just cut out the backbone, then one cut on the other side to separate the breasts.

Set up your grill for indirect grilling. I used hickory again. Be careful with the wood. The chicken skin really takes in the smoke. I make sure my wood chunks are burning nicely before I cover the Kettle. Right before you're ready to cook, dab the brining solution off of the chicken with paper towels. I then put a light coating of peanut oil on the skin and sprinkled with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.

The Finished Product!! I've cooked a lot of chickens this way in the past, without the brine, and they have turned out fantastic. However, this chicken was probably the juiciest I've ever cooked and the skin was some of the best I've done, too...bite thru crunchy. I'm not sure if the skin was a direct result of the brine or not, because I've gotten crunchy skin in the past, but not consistently. Some investigation is in order......

I'm heading to beautiful Des Moines, Iowa bright and early in the morning on business for a few days. I'll be online some, but it'll be late in the week before I'm able to post anything. Have a great week!!

Tip O' The Hat

2007-03-17T18:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I got a tip O' the hat from one of my favorite BBQ Bloggers today...The BBQ Guy. To those of you visiting from his blog, I hope you find something useful here. Those of you who haven't seen his blog, check him out....lot's of good stuff.

My "BBQ" wish list

2007-03-16T19:21:00.000-05:00

Now that you've seen what I'm cooking on these days you may be wondering what I wish I was cooking on. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kettle and Chargriller, but I'd like to improve my equipment eventually. The Kettle, however, I will never be without. Right now, I have two different wants when it comes to my cooking: a gas grill and a trailer smoker.

Now, don't get yourself in a tizzy. Yes, I said gas grill. I know some folks think they're made by the Antichrist and it has been years since I owned one, but I'm reconsidered for two reasons. One, it is frickin' cold in Nebraska in the wintertime. With a gas burner I can go out and cook with a minimal time investment. I wouldn't have to mess with charcoal, etc....I can just go out and cook. Secondly, I really need something quick during the week. Mrs. Hog and I are trying to sit down for supper with our oldest daughter (20 months old) on most nights. She needs to eat between 5:30 and 6 so she can have her bath and wind down before her normal bed time (7-730). I get home between 5 and 5:30 most days, so that doesn't leave me a lot of time to do any cooking. With a gasser I could get home and cook up some chops or chicken breasts in no time. So, what do I want/need in a gas grill right now. Well, I'd love to have a super-duper massive stainless steel grill.....but I don't really need (and shouldn't really spend that kindof money) on one of those grills. I'm seriously considering this Brinkmann from Wal-Mart:

It's got the four burners so I could do some indirect stuff if I want too. Although I'll probably still use my kettle for most of that. It's got the side burner, which a lot of folks say they don't use much. I think I'll get my money's worth out of it, though. Mrs. Hog has threatened to force me into using my turkey fryer for some of my sauces and brines because they tend to smell up the house a bit. I don't really like the porcelain-coated cast iron grate that it comes with (Why on earth would you "coat" cast iron). I'd rather have just cast iron or stainless. With a $300ish pricetag, it's doable in the short term (months, not weeks). I'm going to do some more looking around, but I'll let you know when/if I pull the trigger.

Now, for what I'm really Jonesin' for...a trailer cooker. Specifically, I want the Fat50 from Diamond Plate Products:

There are many reasons why I want this particular cooker, not the least of which is that Travis posts occasionally on The Smoke Ring and is a genuinely nice guy. The folks that post on the Ring just rave about this cooker. I'll let you check out the site for info. Do I need that much space? Well, no. Do I need a trailer I can move around? Well, no. Would I enjoy something like this? Well, yes. Would I put something like this to good use? Hell, yes!!!

This is, of course, a significant investment and it won't happen for awhile. I'll probably pick up a Weber Smokey Mountain (as a compliment to the Chargriller, not a replacement) before I get the Fat50.

My first attempt at brining: Maple Bourbon Pork Chops

2007-03-14T18:02:00.000-05:00

I've cooked a lot of meat in my relatively short lifetime, but until a couple of weeks ago I had never brined anything. Sure, I've marinated lots of stuff, but those in the know, know that it is not the same thing. I've never really felt the need to brine because I've cooked practically all cuts of beef, pork, and poultry at one time or another and been satisfied with the results. But, boy, am I glad I decided to give it a try!! If you want the basics of brining, check out this excellent write-up. This Maple-Bourbon brine came out of the cookbook, "Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures, and Glazes", by Jim Tarantino (Link in sidebar). These turned out great and I'll do another brine or two straight out of the book. Then I'll start tinkering with recipes once I get the fundamentals down.

The Ingredients

-3 quarts of water
-1/2 cup kosher salt (I used Sea salt cause the G-store didn't have kosher)
-3/4 cup maple syrup (the only "maple" syrup I could find was only 25% maple)
-1/2 cup bourbon (gobble, gobble)
-1 tablespoon ground mustard
-1 bay leaf
-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-1 tablespoon chopped rosemary

Bring all the ingredients to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes or so. Let the brine cool to room temp and then refrigerate until 40ish degress before adding the meat to it. Never put something this large into your fridge hot or you'll raise the temperature of the fridge too much.

Completely cover the chops (and pork steak) with the brine. The fat in the pork steak made it float a little. I just turned the container over every couple of hours so the brine would penetrate evenly. Brine for a total of 5 to 6 hours.

Set your grill up for indirect grilling. I always add a couple chunks of hickory when I grill indirect (unsoaked--I never soak my wood). I used kingsford because I'm having a hard time finding Lump in South-Central Nebraska (we just moved here). These cooked about an hour indirect, then I cooked them over the coals for a minute or two on both sides.

The finished product! The bottom one was just grilled because Mrs. Hog wasn't sure she would like the bourbon brine...I can't believe she doubted me. They were delicious and Mrs. Hog love the brined ones. Especially the pork steak. The chops were good, but they were a little too thin (1/2 inch). I didn't need all the brine that I made, so I froze it. I'm going to buy a whole loin soon and try it on some thicker (1 inch +) boneless chops. I'll let you know how they turn out.

And just to show you that I eat vegetables, too (in moderation, of course), here is the final plate. Mrs. Hog made a new recipe for tater salad and some sautéed whole peas topped with cashews. It was a great meal.

What is BBQ?

2007-03-13T23:35:00.000-05:00

Growing up in rural North Carolina, BBQ to me was one thing: pork. It may have been from slow roasted shoulders or from a whole hog, but it was pork. It may have been pulled or chopped, but it was pork. It also had a vinegar-based sauce on it, but that's a whole other discussion. Now, BBQ to me is anything that is slow-cooked with real smoke. It could be a pork butt, a whole pork shoulder, a whole hog, a brisket, chickens of any persuasion...hell, even a fatty and atomic buffalo turds (ABTs) qualify...sorta. As long as it is slow-cooked using real smoke, it counts as BBQ to me. On a side note, if you don't know what a fatty or ABTs are, stick around, I'll post on them eventually.

Lots of folks will disagree with me on this, but that is the way I see it. Shoot, we can't even agree as to how to spell BBQ....barbeque, barbecue, Bar-B-Que, BBQ, etc. You know, some folks say they are cooking insert any meat here on the barbecue (barbie for our down-under friends) this weekend....or, let's have a barbecue this weekend. You won't here me using the term "BBQ" in that way, but to each his own. I don't let the semantics bother me much. I will spend an equal amount of time on this blog talking about grilling recipes, techniques, etc. that don't qualify as BBQ in my book. I've been trying some new (new to me anyway) things on the ol' Weber Kettle lately that I'll be posting up in the weeks to come.

So, in short, if it's cooked slowly with real smoke I call it BBQ. But if it is cooked outside using charcoal and/or wood, I'm all for it, whether I call it BBQ or not.

Pictures

2007-03-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

Just a quick word on pictures in my blog. I've decided to add "HogwildBBQ" to all the pictures that I have personally taken (starting now....not previous posts). I'm not trying to keep tabs on my pics or anything...I couldn't really care less. Feel free to photoshop "HogwildBBQ" out of my pics and use them for anything. This is just the easiest way for me to tell you (without actually typing it out) whether or not I actually took a pic that I'm posting. I will occasionally post pics that I have gotten elsewhere....they will not have "HogwildBBQ" on them.

This is just an example (and an excuse to post a pic of my girls).

The Arsenal

2007-03-12T20:45:00.000-05:00

As one of my first posts, I thought I would show you what I'm cooking on. I don't use the fanciest equipment, but you know what they say: "It ain't the pit that makes the BBQ, it's the pitmaster". You may have heard that saying put a little differently, but it's true. You can make fantastic Q in a hole in the ground. You don't have to have thousands of bucks work of equipment. Here is what I'm currently using:

WEBER KETTLE

Brined chops and a pork steak (I'll post the recipe soon)

Everybody should own a Weber Kettle, in my opinion. They are by far the most versatile grills there are. I guess that is why there are so many knockoffs on the market. Some of the knockoffs probably work as well (or close to it), but I don't want to go thru a few of them to find out. Right now I do most of my direct and indirect grilling on the Kettle. If I need more space I go with my bigger cooker....

THE CHARGRILLER SMOKIN' PRO

I have made lots of good Q on the Chargriller (go to Lowe's if you want to buy it...you'll save a little cash) and would recommend it to anybody. However, cookers in this price range tend to need some modifications to make them work properly, and the Chargriller is no exception. Here is a list of the mods that I have done.

Extend the smokestack--When new, the smoke stack only extends an inch or so into the cooking chamber. This doesn't allow the smoke and heat to circulate well in the chamber.
Add a good thermometer--The stock thermometer is junk. I added one from BBQ Galore.....unfortunately my "good" thermometer is not working right, so I'm using the Maverick remote thermometer now.
charcoal baskets--I bought two of these from Chargriller, but you could make your own or come up with a similar solution. The problem is that with the stock charcoal grate sets too low in the firebox. The ash generated from the charcoal/wood tends to snuff the fire out. By raising the coals a bit you get more airflow and a hotter fire.
Baffle--If you don't have some kind of baffle the end of the cooking chamber closest to the firebox gets way to hot while the other end is just about right. Some folks add a baffle made out of sheet metal to their Chargriller to deflect the heat out of the firebox. Because I like to grill on mine sometimes, I just turn the charcoal pan upside down and put in to the highest setting when I smoke.
Warmer Plate--Again, I bought it from Chargriller, but you could make your own if you wanted too. This isn't a must, but it's nice to have to heat up/cook sauces, beans, etc.

This was pre-mods (in 2004)

You can see the stack extension, warming plate, and upside down "baffle"

Charcoal baskets

You should be able to see the mods in the pics. If you have any questions about them, leave a comment.

THE ANCIENT ONE

This is an ancient electric grill that I ~~stole~~ borrowed from my Dad. I ripped the guts out of it and used charcoal to cook hundreds and hundreds of hamburgers and hotdogs on it when tailgating for NC State football games (GO STATE!!). Sadly, the grate is burned through and it's relegated to burning down charcoal from time to time.

THE ARKANSAS ASSASSIN

This is what my buddy, Junior, was cooking on until I gave him my old El Cheapo Brinkman (ECB).

That reminds me. I need to post about the ECB. Don't buy one until you've read my post about it or get in touch with me (comments). They are doable, but, again, need to be heavily modified (more so than the Chargriller).

Hello There

2007-03-12T09:39:00.000-05:00

This is my first (and probably only) attempt at blogging. One of my passions is cooking great food for my family and friends. I have a thread on Geezer Gamers where I usually post my recipes and photos. Lots of guys from the website enjoy that thread (at least I think they do), so I thought I'd start posting my stuff for the masses to see. Before I get started I want to make sure any readers here know one thing. The way I do things is just that: the way I do things. You can ask ten pitmasters the best way to cook a pork butt and you'll get ten different answers (with some lies thrown in for good measure ;) ). When I post a recipe or technique I'll try to give credit to where I found them, but I usually deviate from recipes I find in books or on the web and they are usually very different from what I started out with. I'm going to add a list of my favorite cookbooks and links on the sidebar, so be watching for those.

My hope is to post here once or twice a week, usually after I've tried something new on the grill or smoker. I'll occasionally do a cookbook review. During the week I mainly grill and I do my long smokes on the weekend. I'm sortof doing this on a whim, so you'll have to be patient with me as I find my bearings.

Thanks for reading! I hope you find something useful here.