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.

BBQ Contest Observation

I've been following a discussion over over on The BBQ Forum with quite a bit of interest. There were accusations made about the fairness and consistency of the selection of teams for an upcoming invitational bbq contest. The issue has been rectified, but it brings a few things to my mind that I have to get off my chest.

The internet has become such a large part of daily life that rather than pick up the telephone and call someone directly, or even communicate one-on-one via e-mail with direct questions people sometimes choose to post their grievances on a public discussion board.

I'm not against the internet or discussion boards, but I think the parties being accused should have been approached "off line" first and given a chance to provide a solution before accusations were made about a conspiracy and stirring the pot. In the future I hope that before complaints about bbq sanctioning organizations are posted on discussion boards, that those with authority to make changes are contacted first and given a chance to correct the issue(s). If a satisfactory answer is not given or an alternative provided, perhaps it's o.k. to air the issue publicly. Maybe it's just me, but I suspect there are others who feel the same way.

The same logic goes for product purchases. If I purchase a defective product from a retailer or directly from the manufacturer, I try to contact the manager or owner for a resolution. In 99% of the cases, a solution is given.

These types of petty squables only hurt (not help) the sport in the long run. I'm a pretty big NASCAR fan and I can't really imagine Jimmy Johnson or Dale Earnhardt, Jr. making their complaints known to NASCAR through an internet website. I'll bet they pick up the phone and go straight the source - someone who can actually address issues and solve problems.

Deep Fried Turkey

During the past five or so years, I've been using Shake's Honey Brine for deep fried turkey and don't think I'll ever cook a turkey in the oven again. If you don't have a spare refrigerator or room in your current refrigerator to brine the whole bird, you can also inject the honey brine the night before and obtain similar results.

Advantages of Deep Frying

• cook your turkey in less than an hour (3 1/2 minutes per pound)
• nice crisp bark on the outside and juicy meat on the inside
• you don't have to spend all day in the kitchen
• more time to visit with friends and family

Once you've had a deep fried turkey, you'll never want to eat an old fashioned roasted turkey again, especially if you're doing the cooking. However, there are some pre-cautions you should take when using this cooking method.

Safety Pre-Cautions

• keep small children and pets away from the fryer
• set up on a firm surface to prevent tipping
• don't leave the fryer unattended
• don't allow the grease to boil over, it will ignite
• keep a fire extinguisher close by
• wear gloves and long sleeves to prevent grease burns
• pre-measure the fill point with water before putting in the oil
• follow the manufacturer's instsructions for use

This article from Underwriters Laboratories (UL) outlines some additional safety considerations.
If you're thinking of purchasing a turkey fryer, Bayou Classic makes a nice 30-quart unit.

You can use your turkey fryer all-year round for fried fish, low country boils, making gumbo, cooking corn on the cob, chili, etc. The possibilities are only limited by by your own imagination. When cooking for large groups of guests, you can take the cooking outside and leave more room in the house to entertain.

Orion BBQ Cooker

I had a close up look at the Orion cookers a few years ago. They looked interesting, but weren't really my cup of tea so to speak. My opinion might be changing.

I was checking out Old Dave's bbq blog and things on the Po Farm are getting interesting. Check out Old Dave's review of the 70 minute spare ribs cooked on the Orion cooker. Nope...that's not a mis-print. He really did cook some pretty good looking spare ribs in 70 minutes. I'm sure the Blues Hog and honey helped things along pretty well, but Dave posted some very nice looking pictures.

I've already got 3 smokers...why not four? The more the merrier right?

Turkey Fryer Fire

Please don't let this happen to you. If you choose to use a turkey fryer, please be careful. I've fried two turkeys this year so far and I will be frying another one on Thanksgiving. This video is a good example of what can happen if you are not careful.

HomeSafetyCouncil.org provides some turkey fryer safety tips on their website to help reduce the chance of a turkey fryer fire.

My biggest tips include:

1. pick a location away from the house or garage

2. concrete is preferred versus a wooden deck

3. don't leave the turkey fryer unattended

4. use a thermometer to measure the oil temperature

5. turn off the fire before adding oil and before s-l-o-w-l-y adding the turkey

6. wear protective gloves

7. wear long sleeves and pants

The Good One on Facebook

O.k., I'll admit it...I'm not a Facebook user. I say that with a certain amount of shame because these days it seems like everyone I meet is on Facebook. I was surfing the web today looking at several bbq smoker sites (Stumps, Superior, and The Good One as examples). And low and behold I discovered that The Good One Smokers has a Facebook page.

Coleman Natural Foods

Is Coleman Natural meat the secret to the success of the Mr. Bobo's Traveling BBQ All-Stars? It could be a contributing factor for sure, but I'm sure they have a lot of other secrets that didn't make it into their bbq blog. Congratulations to Mr. Bobo's for 1st place in the Brisket category at the Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ contest. What a wonderful accomplishment!

Here's a description of the Coleman Natural products from their website:

Coleman is committed to providing premium products that nourish the health
and well-being of your family. We never add anything to our products that nature
did not create: no nitrates/nitrites or other chemical preservatives and no MSG.
We never use fillers. Coleman’s passion for natural and organic extends to the
ecosystem, focusing on sustainable land, water, and soil conservation for future
generations.

Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ Contest

Shigs in Pit competition bbq team broadcasted the awards ceremony live via Stickcam.com. Way to go guys! I had the opportunity to attend a few years ago, but couldn't make it back this year. The Stickcam made it "the next best thing to being there". I hope this can be done more in the future. Isn't technology amazing?

You can read more about the Jack Daniels Invitational here.

2009 Results

Grand Champion - I Que

Reserve Grand Champion - Jack's Old South

Chicken:

1st place - The Heat is On

Ribs:

1st place - Four Men and a Pig

Pork:

1st place - Swamp Boys

Brisket:

1st place - Mr. Bobo's Traveling BBQ

For a listing of the complete Jack Daniel's results, click here

Community Supported Agriculture

I was invited to attend a new member orientation at Gamble Creek Farm in Parrish, Florida this morning. We joined the farm membership program to ensure that we have a reliable source of locally grown vegetables.

The farm has a large variety of hydroponically grown vegetables with weekly harvests beginning within the next couple of weeks. It was eye opening to see the large quantity of strawberries, egg plant, lettuce, okra, squash, and so many others that are available.

There is also a sister farm - Geraldson Community Farm - located closer to Bradenton, Florida.

If you are concerned about the way your food is grown, then check out your local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms. Local Harvest.org provides a search function to help you locate a farm nearby your home.

Superior Smokers

I recently discovered a new bbq smoker manufacturer - Superior Smokers. I don't own one and haven't seen one up close, but based on research conducted via their website here's a run down of the basics:

• insulated
• vertical design
• gravity feed charcoal chute
• grease pan collector
• heat deflector
• D-ring tie downs

I believe Munchees Smokehouse uses one and is currently performing pretty well in FBA competitions.

BBQ Pork with Bad Byron's Butt Rub

Sunday I cooked some pork for sandwiches later in the week. I forgot to take a picture after we pulled these, but here is a picture from early in the cooking process.

I injected these the night prior to cooking with a mixture of apple juice (4 cups), bbq rub (4 tblsp), and 3/4 cup of honey. I applied a liberal coating of rub and refrigerated overnight.