Sunday, September 27, 2009

New Chicken Recipe?

I've been thinking (and you know that's dangerous) about changing my chicken. Normally I don't marinade my chicken but I've come across a citrus 7UP marinade I'm thinking about trying.

We'll be cooking in Arthur IL October 9th & 10th. I may make two batches of chicken. One my regular way and the 7UP way with Wolfe Rub Citrus rub. The question is will it have the "WOW" factor that I need. Only time and tastes will tell.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Slide show



Yippie!

They put me on the CookShack web site Winner's Circle!

http://www.cookshack.com/burnt-food-dudes-smoke-a-1st-place-brisket--ranking-4-at-the-silver-lake-apple--bbq-festival

I'm excited! I guess the people at Cook Shack knows a quality cook! LOL ROFLMAO

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Silver Lake / Mears Mi.

Silver Lake Dunes Michigan is a pretty area. If you ever wanted to drive a dune buggy, in sand, this is the place to do it. Lots of sand, water and dune buggies. Being from the big city, Silver Lake / Mears seemed like a small Mayberryish tourist town.

There are several hotels with the name Sands in them and we stayed at one of them. It was right next the, are you ready for this, the Sands Restaurant. (BTW the pizza was very good there). The room was big and comfy.

Well anyway, we cooked in the Silver Lake Apple Festival near Mears Michigan. This was their 4th year and it seemed a bit disorganized on the side contests. Pat entered all the side contests. They were a apple salad, apple with pork dish, and apple dessert.

The BBQ contest portion was top notch. Jeff (the organizer) and crew did a great job. I guess 4 years of experience paid off there. Water and  electricity were near by. Trash pick up was timely. The only fault was ice. They were running / ran out Saturday morning. Then again, the weather was in the mid eighties Friday and Saturday and the vendors were selling food and drink like crazy. Jeff told us to expect crowds up to 1,000 people. I lost count at 276 (LOL) but I estimated the crowds to be 3,000. Streets were closed so spectators could walk to get food from the vendors. There were Ats & Crafts and apples for sale in booths set up in the streets.

OK, enough of the treavel info, you wanna know how we did. Well here are the stats..

Total team entries --  31
Chicken --  8th Place
Ribs --  9th Place
Pork --  19th Place
Brisket --  1st Place

Over all 4th Place

They didn't give a hand out for the side contests so we can only assume how Pat did on the other 2. They only gave out prizes for 1st Place.

Apple salad --  1st Place (Pat's creation)
Side Dish over all -- 1st Place

We figured Pat did pretty good in the other 2 categories to get the Over All win.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Just about ready...

Just got back from Jewel Food Store getting the last necessities for our trip to Mears / Silver Lake Michigan. All we have to do in the morning is pack the coolers and we'll be off.

We figure it'll take us 5 hours pulling the BBQ Mothership. We have to swing through Indiana. Yuck! The expressway at the border sucks. I know there will be traffic backups. Oh well, that's life on the barbecue trail. Next time you read this, hopefully, we'll have a grand championship under out belts.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Pig Candy?

What is "pig candy"?

Basically it is a slice of thick cut bacon covered in brown sugar and cooked in the oven (about 400 degrees) until the bacon is crispy. Simple, right? I learned about pig candy several years ago on a forum (I don't remember which one).

Now it seems to be the "in" thing on the FoodNetwork. In the last week Paula Deen, Sandra Lee and Brian Boitano has made variations of it.

It was made with pure maple syrup and Sugar in the Raw, light brown sugar only, light brown sugar and chili powder, light brown mixed with white sugar, cayenne pepper and brown sugar or a mixture of the previous variations.

Is it the new in thing?

Monday, September 7, 2009

Getting ready..

This past weekend (Labor Day Weekend) we pulled the trailer out, unloaded, cleaned and reloaded everything. We made sure our supply of essentials was stocked up and added a new chair to the trailer.

Pat was practicing apple desserts, apple / pork main dishes and apple salads. Yepper, we are going to the Silver Lake Michian Apple Festival and BBQ cook off 9/11 & 9/12. Go to http://www.thinkdunes.com/apple--bbq-cook-off-festival-42/ and check it out. Looks like its going to be a fun time. BTW they supply the apples.

I trimmed my brisket today. The brisket started out at a shade over 13 pounds. After trimming its about 11 pounds. Big drop due to fat. However, it looks like it has a bigger point and a smaller flat. We'll se how it cooks when the time comes.

Pat took the ribs and the last of the pork butts out of the freezer. I got a good deal at the beginning of the year on butts. They were 99cents a pound so I got 2 cases. When I buy spares, I buy them by the case for a better price. They come in 2 slab cryovac packages, 3 packages to a case. I cook 4 slabs and freeze 2 for later use.

This cook I'm going to cook 3 slabs of loin backs and 2 slabs of spares. Why? Because they were in the freezer and I didn't have to buy more. They'll get trimmed Tuesday evening.

The butts and chicken will get trimmed at the contest. It gives me something to do, to keep out of Pat's way while she does the side contests.

Da Dude

We are ready to kick butt... pork butt that is.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Da Jack!

3 of my BBQ friends made it to the Jack.

Scottie Johnson, - CancerSucksChicago.com
Randy & Marla Twyford, - Ulcer Acres (Twyford BBQ & Catering)
Alex & Kate Cothell, - Dr Porkenstein

I know there can be just one winner :-(

Good luck to all!