Help Fight Breast Cancer

(I saw this on the news last night and wanted to pass it along.)

Colonel Littleton's has developed a hat for breast cancer awareness after the wife of an operations manager was diagnosed with the disease. Read more about Cindy.

"This Colonel Cap with the pink ribbon insignia on the back is dedicated to Cindy and all women worldwide who are fighting the good fight to regain their health. It is a constant reminder to all of us of the victory to be gained in overcoming obstacles, the joy to be found in the gift of each day, the power of love and the indomitable triumph of the God-given spirit."

Proceeds from the sale of the cap go to the Maury Regional Healthcare Foundation at Maury Regional Hospital in Columbia, Tennessee, where Cindy is employed. Among other good works, the Foundation provides mammograms for individuals who do not have financial resources or insurance.

How to Make Pig Candy

If you're looking for something sort of bbq oriented to make for a Christmas treat, try Pig Candy.  You can make it in the oven or in a bbq smoker. A vertical smoker like the Weber Smokey Mountain, Backwoods, Stumps, or Superior smoker would would work well. If you don't have a smoker, or it's too cold to get outside, Pig Candy also can be made in the oven.

How to Cook an Eye of Round Beef Roast

Linda and I are visiting family in Tennessee this weekend and this afternoon my mother-in-law is cooking a beef roast for supper. I thought I'd use the Sony Handycam to document the process.

Before beginning, it's best to pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. That way, everything is ready for cooking once the preparations below have been completed.

Mother-in-Law's Eye of Round Roast

1. Start with a 2 1/2 - 3 lb. eye of round roast. Ours was purchased from Wal-Mart and weighed 2.73 lbs. Total cost = $9.50.

2. In a roasting pan the roast was seasoned with Adolph's unseasoned meat tenderizer and a little salt and pepper.

3. We added three cans of Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup and an equal amount of water. Mother-in-law secret...."Golden" is better than "plain".

4. In the same pan, we added 3 - 4 cups of potatoes chopped in small pieces and 1 1/2 cups of carrots.

5. Before putting the roast in oven, we added enough additional water to fill the pan 1/3 full.

6. It's best to use a digital meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperatures. For well-done roast, cook to 165 degrees.

7. Before serving, keep the pan closed and let it rest on the oven top for 10 - 15 minutes. This allows the juices to re-absorb back into the roast and helps avoid a "dry" result.

Temperature Scale:

130°F to 140°F = medium rare
145°F to 150°F = medium
155°F to 165°F = well done

The Brisket Movie - How to BBQ Brisket Pictorial

I've been playing around with Windows Movie Maker tonight and came up with this little "movie" about preparing a bbq brisket.



More background:

I use Certified Angus Brisket weighing about 13 pounds and a cooker temperature ranging from 200 - 250 degrees. I start them cooking fat side up and flip them to fat side down after 3 hours. I wrap the brisket in aluminum foil after it reaches 165 degrees internal temperature, or after 5 hours (whichever comes first). I cook my brisket to 198 degrees and let it rest in an Igloo cooler for at least 1 hour prior to slicing and serving.

BBQ Pitmasters - Third Episode

A little birdie told me that it's finallly Tuffy's night to shine on the show. Spreadsheets anyone?

Butterball Indoor Turkey Fryer Test

The folks at Masterbuilt provided a Butterball Indoor Turkey Fryer for testing. I didn't have a turkey, but the user's manual that accompanied the unit had a steamed chicken dish that included ingredients we had in the refrigerator.  I know it's not bbq, but sometimes we've got to eat healthy, right?

This unit works well as a steamer. The chicken was tender and the vegetables were perfectly cooked. I promise you'll be seeing more of this unit in the future here on the bbq blog. I'll be testing it as a deep fryer soon.

Sorry if the video editing makes you dizzy. I was also testing my new Sony Handycam CX-100 tonight for the first time. I promise I'll get better with practice.

Masterbuilt 20010109 Butterball Professional Series Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer

December BBQ Pictures from Florida

Here are some pictures from yesterday's Christmas gift cook. For those from colder climates....it was in the mid-70's and sunshine.  It sure beats the 19 degrees when I was in Missouri last week.



Pork butts in McCullough insulated 2 x 2 vertical smoker


Brisket on WSM



Pulled pork butt steaming hot



Sliced brisket prior to sauce

BBQ for Christmas

Tonight I am sitting in for The BBQ Guy because he is busy on a very important duty assigned by his wife (me) and Santa. Last year we started giving barbecue and our favorite bbq sauce, Blues Hog, to those hard to buy for folks on our list.

While we were competing we purchased a vacuum sealer from Cabela’s to reduce the amount of waste we had during practice sessions, this is the perfect way to seal and freeze the bbq gifts. So what do I put under the tree? I take a picture of the final product and put the photo along with the barbecue sauce in a box under the tree.

The toughest part for us was sneaking the cooler into my mom’s house and hiding the Que in the freezer. It was a hit last year with my brother- in- law and father , so this year I expanded our list to include nephew, brother –in-law, father, and two more friends.

So as I type in the Lazy Boy the BBQ Guy is busy as a beaver in the kitchen preparing four pork butts, two packer briskets, and three racks of ribs for a long day with the smokers tomorrow .

There is more than 60 lbs of meat in the picture that will go on the smoker bright and early tomorrow.

BBQ Pitmasters 2nd Episode

Tune in to TLC at 10 p.m. Eastern.

BBQ Pitmasters

Tuffy, Trigg and Mixon are names familar to bbq contest competitors and spectators. These three men have been winning KCBS, FBA, and Memphis in May bbq contests far and wide and everything in between for years. They are just three of the competitors being featured in a new series from TLC titled BBQ Pitmasters. The series starts tonight at 10 p.m.

See the trailer here.