Last week was the big game. I was really excited that the Saints won. Mostly because of my hatred for Peyton Manning. Besides that, I loved the game because I got to make my Super Chili. I recreate this awesome recipe once a year on a Super Sunday! Last Sunday was the big day. The chili is full of meat, beans and has a tad bit of heat. Served with a dollop of sour cream, it is amazing!
I like to serve the chili over freshly baked corn bread. The combination is to die for!
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Every wednesday I review a cookbook to help weed out the good the bad and the ugly. This week I am reviewing 25 essential techniques for smoking by Ardie A. Davis. I love barbecuing and this seemed right up my alley. |
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Artie A. Davis
Artie is an award winning expert with his own barbecue university. Artie founded the Greasehouse University. The degree program at the Greasehouse University is is a doctor of barbecue philosophy and is overseen by the Kasas City Barbecue Society. Artie is now a famed judge on the barbecue circuit. Story short, Artie knows barbecue.Artie starts the book off like every good barbecue book going over the basics of smoking. He goes over the tools required, the methods needed and basics of starting to smoke. His essentials include the basics of choosing wood. As you know the wood gives the unique flavor of each dish. Artie suggests wood for each meat and further goes on to suggest woods to stay away from. For instance, mesquite on chicken would be too bitter and alder on beef would be too mild. As a barbecue expert you may already know this and brush it off, but as a newbie, this information is awesome. The 25 techniques for smoking Artie list many ways to smoke. Low and slow, hot and fast an paper bag smoking. Low and slow is used for thicker cuts of meat, but hot and fast is used for fish and less fatty cuts of meat. The section that I really enjoyed was paper bag smoking. When smoking a pork butt, the meat is so thick that sometimes you get too much smoke flavor. Artie suggests that halfway through smoking you place the pork butt in a paper bag to catch the juices and to limit access to the smoke. He says that the pork that comes out fo the bag is amazing. Overall This book is definitely for a novice barbecuer. The recipes are great, the methods are listed in an easy to read fashion, and the pictures are amazing. Artie has recipes for all of the classic barbecue foods, such as ribs, pork butt and brisket. Artie also has methods and recipes for foods that you wouldn’t quite associate with barbecue. Such as, Smoked-baked barbecue chile pie, smoked duck and whole smoked garlic. If you are just starting out I would definitely recommend this book as it goes through everything that you need to start barbecuing. |
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I have been getting a few emails regarding the French Bacon Sandwich that I posted on my about page. It is really tasty. I first heard about the French Bacon Sandwich when I was in college. My old roommate Nate and I were watching the South Park DVDs and the intro for Season 2. The intro consisted of a fake cooking segment called Bakin Bacon with Macon. In the cooking segment Trey Parker and Matt Stone teach the finer points of the French Bacon Sandwich. It can be a little hard to watch as they feed bacon to a pig named macon. So if you are a PETA fan or don’t like animal cruelty you may want to skip the link. You can watch it here.
It might be the simplest and greatest sandwich ever.
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Nothing says summer more than firing up your smoker, sitting in the sun and drinking some beer. Last sunday it was 65 degrees and sunny so I decided that I wanted to make some pulled pork. I went to the butcher and of course, he was on vacation. So I had to choose from the meat in the case. They had a pretty good selection including full picnic shoulders, 9 pound briskets and boston butts. I chose a small 6 pound boston butt as I was only feeding myself. I know 6 pounds is a lot. But on the other hand it is still better than barbecuing a 14 pound picnic shoulder for myself. Although, I probably would have eaten it all. Pork is amazing!
Above is some freshly shredded pork, you can see the nice pink smoke ring. Doesn’t it look delicious.
As you can see I am prepping this week for barbecue. Yesterday was some awesome potato salad. Today we are making cowboy baked beans. I wanted to make beans from scratch. Just a word of warning. Making beans from scratch takes longer than barbecueing a whole hog. The end result, was totally worth it. And to my frequent reader Bond, yes, there is bacon and beer in this recipe.
The baked beans were soft, tender and delicious. As you can see from the picture above the beans are laced with smokey bacon and some of the trimmings from my pulled pork. Pork and beans is the best combination in the world.
When I started BBQ’n and making sausage I had no idea where to find good meat. I started by going to the Safeway grocery store by my house and picked up prepackaged Pork Butts and Briskets. Then I went to a specialty butcher which cost two to three times as much. I decided to call the butcher up at the Safeway and order the best cuts from him.
It has finally reached 60 degrees out here in DC and yes, it is time to BBQ. This winter I have made a few modification to Old Bessie (Yes I named my BBQ). I was searching all over the internet for good mods to make to the Char Griller Smokin Pro and I have found a great website DeeJaysSmokePit.net. Over on the forums there you can find a great PDF document by Phil Lee that has great mods for the Smokin Pro.
After scrolling through the mods I found a few that were easy to do and did not require too many tools.
