Happy Labor Day weekend to my fellow bloggers, I jumped the gun a little bit and put some ribs and chicken in before the official holiday. Nothing fancy, just some McCormick's rub and apple and hickory smoke. It's been a long year, looking forward to 2014 and hopefully grilling and getting a good buzz around the campfire with The Captain and Gunney. I'm going to enjoy the hospitality and all the beer I can drink at the Red Dog Lodge next year if I have to f**king walk to Michigan.

. Can't wait to see you next year Brother's in Smoke...

Spring Snow

Not too long ago we had a spring storm blow through and leave us with a couple of inches of snow. While it wasn't much, it was enough to put me in the mood for some smoked meat and good brew to pass the day. I've often heard of the "East VS West" style of BBQ, and while I've tasted many varieties of Western tomato-based BBQ sauce, I've yet to have a chance to try the eastern style. A quick Google search, and then I found myself locking the Chevy K1500 in 4 Hi and heading to the grocery store and the liquor store. The simple recipe is below, and you've got to try it. At first bite, it's an odd flavor, certainly something you're probably not accustomed to if you're used to "KC BBQ Sauce." But after that it becomes more and more delicious and you have to wonder if maybe those Eastern fellas aren't on to something. It's a simple tang that really lets the smoked flavor of the pork-butt shine through. Spring's not far off, time for the gang to reassemble and post more recipes. Look forward to hearing from all of you again !

Ingredients :

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup cider vinegar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™), or to taste

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine the white vinegar, cider vinegar, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper in a jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days before using so that the flavors will blend. Shake occasionally, and store for up to 2 months in the refrigerator. Baste liberally on the finished meat to taste.

Brew selection : I'm not sophisticated enough to pair my brews with my dinners, I wish I was that worldly. That said, I had a few Boulder Beer Brewing "Buffalo Gold Premium Ale" with my shredded pork sandwiches. The reviews on www.beeradvocate.com run mostly pretty average, I thought it was a good light beer. From one of their reviews :

A: The beer is slightly hazy yellowish amber in color and poured with a finger
high white head that quickly died down and left intermittent lacing. A light
amount of carbonation is visible.S: The smell is quite sweet and also has
some aromas of floral hops.T: Like the smell, the taste is dominated by a
moderate amount of malty sweetness and also has some fruity flavors.M: It
feels light- to medium-bodied and clean on the palate with a moderate amount of
carbonation.D: The beer is easy to drink and refreshing; it would be a good
selection on a hot summer day.

Applewood Smoked Pie

Feast your eyes on the first pizza of my grilling career. A handful of places offer such tasty treats, in my neck of the woods. I went with a deep dish crust brushed with olive oil and a slight dusting of garlic.




Last Saturday when I smoked the brisket for taco's, I wanted to perfect my charcoal management skills so I threw a whole chicken in there when the beef was done.




After 2 1/2-3 hours of wood smoldered excellence, here was the finished product.


This pie is coated in a BBQ sauce that I picked up when I visited Memphis, in July, sliced Red Peppers, Baby Bella mushrooms, onions and pulled smoked chicken. How bout that shit???











Rolling Rock is good with anything. I know you seasoned fellas like to drink that shit that is so thick it leaves residue on the glass, but I'm not man enough yet to roll with you guys.









I had Fat Tire when I was in Denver, does that count?

"Blanco Diablo" Brisket Tacos

I have made brisket a handful of times, but never for this purpose. The idea came from a block party my neighborhood had a few weeks ago. My neighbor served the shredded brisket with pico de gallo and flour tortilla's. When ever I use a recipe, it is only a guide line, not gospel. I did a little research to see what spices are used in real carne asada tacos and came up with my own little recipe. This is a 5 lb brisket that I actually cut off from an over sized 14 pounder that I bought from the local butcher about a month ago. A perfect size for a sacrificial lamb. I smoked it hard for about 3 hours, then cheated and put it in the crock pot. She fell apart just looking at her.










While that was cooking, I made up some fresh pico de gallo to smother the corn tortilla wrapped, lime splashed, queso embedded shredded goodness. ¡dios mío. Any beer served with a lime goes well, if you didn't catch on to the theme.


Pico de Pollice

-1/2 white onion
-9 Roma tomatoes (remove all guts)
-2-3 green onions
-3 Serrano chilies
-1 tsp fresh ground pepper
-2 tbsp lime juice





Growing up in Little Mexico has it's benefits, poco o nada.

King Brisket

This last weekend I broke rank and did not smoke a pork butt, but the mighty beef brisket. I saw on here recently Capt Kingsford posted his brisket, so that got me thinking brisket it is. My confidential source at McCormick's gave me the yet to be released "Cowboy Rub". I have to tell you after tasting it, all you would need would be a set of chaps and a Stetson(Saunders has a set of chaps for you) and you'd feel right at home on the range. Seriously, it was good tasting shit.

Note: The custom engineered cutting board. I saw a guy on triple DDD that had one like this, and it looked like a must have.

First at bat...

I have been plotting on the time to jump in and show the goods. The problem is if I wait til I have comparable cooking accessories I will sit in the backseat for a few years and let some great chunks of meat go by without due attention. Charcoal is King around here and that is how I smoked this bad bitch. This was a 9 lb brisket rubbed with honey mustard and some goodness I have been working on for awhile.




I smoked with mesquite wood (normally I use apple), in my battle field tested barrel smoker for about 15 hrs. Upon it's completion I wrapped it in tin foil and let it sit for an hour or so. This is what perfection looks like.





Check out that smoke ring! I am an amateur when it comes to blogging, so I don't have a presentation picture with the whole spread, I will be sure to hone in my skills for the follow up!

Pizza from a trailer? WTF

This dude came in for service last week. The rear of his Denali couldn't keep up with the tonque weight of his trailer. I told him to bring in the vehicle and trailer for inspection.....
This is what he showed up with.
Turns out, this is his business. He gets hired to show up to parties and events and make f-ing pizza. How cool. This oven gets up to 800 degrees and can make a large pizza in 90 seconds.
I know where this guy lives. He better make sure this thing is locked down.

American Made

Notice anything different on the face of my grill? Yes indeed. A new placard.
Read it carefully......Any of you have your own line of grills? Don't think so. jk.
I have been wanting to put a temp indicator on my grill, but needed a real good reason to drill holes in the lid of a 2K grill.
This placard was fabricated in Colorado Springs by the fabrication leg of Team Hardcore. Its of the finest quality CNC aluminum, and I am proud to have it mounted on my pride and joy.
Thank you Mark!


If my BBQ skills are ever questioned, I am gonna refer you back to these pictures.

Steak Alaska AKA "Panty Remover"

Yes. Infared.

I cant think of a better meal. And, if you would like to impress a date, this combination is guaranteed to deliver. The beauty part is that you will be working off the calories immediately after.....if you know what i mean.

12oz Ribeye. Bone or not. Does matter
4 King Crab legs. Remove all meat.
Holandaise sauce-Use powder package.
4 Large Carrots-sliced and sauteed in cast iron pan.
Garlic Bread. Home made if possible.
*You can substitute Corn on the cob in place of carrots.

Pile the cold crab on top of the steak and drizzle sauce over everything. Crack a beer or glass of wine and enjoy.

Camping on the coast.

Lake trophy trout* caught the same day in a pristine fresh lake* near Bodega bay right on the coast. We fished all day, grilled them just like you see them (soy sauce, butter, garlic and other misc items such as sierra nevada). We had 16 in total and they went fast.

And yes, you do see pork ribs and potstickers in the background.

We don't f- around.


* Trophy trout = 10 inches max. haha
*Pristine Fresh Lake = Trout farm.

InfaRed Ribeye Sear

If this doesn't put a smile on your face, I just feel sorry for you!

The infared area of the grill makes grilling awesome steaks look easy.
Bring it bloggers!

Phase II. Outdoor bar with canopy

A while back I had decided in order to complete my dream outdoor kitchen, it would require the presence of a bar to top it off. So now that Phase I is done (Smoker, pizza oven, sink, island w/refer, and a roof) it was time to complete this already over the top project. The bar is 14' long, and is five blocks high. The bar top itself is oak planking that came from the floor of a semi trailer. With some sanding, routering and sealing it promises to hold dozens if not hundreds of bottles and cans of whatever the adult flavor of the day might be. For this project I plan to do a technique I have never done, and that is to stucco the bar front and sides. With the kitchen assembly and island veneered with brick, this time out I wanted to push the edge of my creative being. So, we will see how that one turns out.

Footnote: Since I have not posted much lately, I will just say that we have utilized every aspect of the kitchen. be it a pizza night...or beef briskets...pork butts... or my newest fave think to do is grilled chicken over wood fired coals. Suffice to say my bills and the butcher shop have gone through the roof.

First effort to blog

I figure that I better start out small with my first post. Ain't that apron a beauty! It's amazing what you'll find in basement storage when you do some long awaited cleaning.

4th of July Pizza

We decided to fore go the standard 4Th of July BBQ tradition of burgers, dogs, (tri-tips). A few days prior to the weekend I received my new pizza peel, so that mandated the pizza cooker be fired up. As I am of the school of thought that one must be able to crawl, before they can walk I cut corners and had the pizza place in town make us prebakes. Once I have mastered the baking part I will expand to making my own dough....The fire was started two hrs before the 1st pizza hit the bricks. That thing can easily maintain 500 degrees with out going gonzo on how much wood you put in it. I was turning out pizzas on the average of 7 1/2 mins a piece. I suppose you could aspire for quicker turn around times, but WTF...we are in WhiteCloud and who the hell is in that big of a hurry. On a serious note, the shit was good.

Great Wall of China Chicken

The past week the fence on the east side of my property, which is next to the orchards and stables, blew down. After 2 of my Arabians got out I knew I had to get that fence up ASAP. With a full day of work ahead of me, I marinated a broiler chicken the night before in a mixture of water, soy sauce, cooking sherry, green onions, garlic and Chinese 5-spice powder. While I busted my a** on the Great Wall of Jones the next day, I put the chicken in the grill, sitting on a can of Mountain Dew, and let it cook for about 2 hours @ 350 deg. The last ten minutes of grill time I brushed on some honey and then removed the bird and let it stand 10 minutes before carving and serving with fresh vegetables. The crispy skin was to die for. I am sorry to say that the chicken wasn't served with a fine micro-brew, but instead a couple of 16 oz. cans of "Contractor's Gatorade." Yes, a few ice-cold tall-boys of Natural Ice, while neither adding nor subtracting flavor from this delicous bird, replenished much needed potassium and nutrients while at the same time rehydrating me from my long-days work in the sun. While "beer-can chicken" or "drunken chicken" is sooo 2 years ago, the slow-roasting method was an easy way to prepare dinner while working away on the Jones estate.

They call him "The Captain"

Progress Report

Our oven is coming along nicely. The basic internal structure part is complete, minus the chimney. The plan is to tie the stack from the smoker and the pizza oven together and stub them through the roof as one vent. Originally my plan was to just vent them under the canopy, but after only a few smokes the underside is turning a dingy color (not to mention on a windless day you are over come by hovering smoke).

As the picture shows we have started what will be a series of small fires to dry out the mortar and perlite that insulates the sides and top of the oven. And yes that is a television set mounted up in the corner. Who doesn't want to catch the race while grilling?? Yup that's what I thought. Although I will admit it is a bit over the top!!

Starting Simple

The first BBQ occurred when a caveman held some meat and tubers on a stick over a fire. Thousands of years later, I continue that paleolithic tradition with some shrimp and steak kabobs. Turn a few times on medium heat, careful not to overcook them, and then serve on a bed of rice. Bloggers take note, every good BBQ should be partnered with an equally good craft brew, so don't forget to include the details in your posts ! Featured here is a fine pale ale from Full Sail brewery in Hood River, Oregon. A simple recipe, an outstanding beer, so easy a caveman could do it !

Looks like a winner

I have been tossing around the idea about smoking salmon in the smoker. With a stroke of luck we will be out on Lake Michigan catching some kings in June. So until then I will make a trip to Costco to get a couple fillets to experiment on. Heres the one I picked:

This hot smoked salmon is loaded with 10 cloves of garlic. While that might sound like a lot, once you've tried it you'll probably want to add more.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours, 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 large (2 pounds or so) salmon fillet
10 cloves of garlic, minced
4 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon oregano
Preparation:
Prepare smoker for a 4 to 5 hour smoke. Rinse salmon thoroughly. Combine remaining ingredients and cover the top side of the salmon. Place in smoker for 4 hours. Salmon is done when it flakes easily and has a consistent color all they way through the middle. When done remove from smoker and rest for 5 to ten minutes covered

What a Sunday dinner should be......

This old barrel smoker is has been know to produce some killer ribs and chicken, and that's exactly what it did again yesterday. I put everything on the grill at the end to get a little char. (30mins).

(Cleanest this grill has been since i purchased it)

This was an eight beer smoke. The ribs in the title came out of this crude device and i got a hell of a tan during the event.