And The Practice Begins!!!!!

Sunday was a hot day....with lots to do including practice for the upcoming BBQ competition. So this Sunday I started with chicken. I will definitely have to smoke the chicken again since the only thing I accomplished was that I learning that I need more practice.

The smoked chicken recipe is a brand new one for me. I am scrapping the old Raspberry Glazed Smoked Chicken for a more traditional BBQ flavored smoked chicken. Here is how I did it:

1. Washed the chicken thighs in cold water
2. Removed the skin from the chicken (do not discard)
3. Remove the thigh bone from the thigh
4. Trim all the chicken into uniformed sizes
5. Placed chicken in a zip-lock bag with a Zesty Italian Marinade (I used a different marinade for this smoking but I have to save that secret - oh and store in the fridge)
6. Scrape the chicken skins (this part is NASTY! But a must.)
1. Place skin flat on the cutting board, the outside facing down
2. With a sharp knife start dragging the blade across the skin, sideways. 
3. Little by little apply more pressure until the "stuff" starts coming off the inside of the skin...it will look like a white nasty hunk of pure fat....the skin should be thin enough to see a lime through
1. Reserve the skins to apply back onto the chicken (store in fridge)
7. After you are done marinading, (I like to marinade for 24 hours) remove the chicken from the marinade and skins from the fridge.
8. Apply the rub to all sides of the chicken (recipe below)
9. Roll the chicken up so that it looks like a thigh again, cover with the skin
1. You may have to stretch the skin over the chicken to get it all around the thigh.
10. Take the chicken to the smoker - smoke at about 220 for 2 hours.

Now I like to use apple wood for chicken. It smells wonderful and it is a mild smoke flavor. I only use 2 chunks, right at the beginning and that is it. I do not use anymore smoke after that first burn is done. I like to start the thighs in a pool of melted butter for about 30 minutes. Then I move them to the smoker rack. I also like to glaze 30 minutes before they are done and then again 10 minutes before they are done. Your favorite BBQ Sauce mixed with a little honey will make a nice glaze that will shine. Normally 3 parts BBQ sauce / 1 part honey will do it. The finished product is a beautiful mahogany color. The flavor is sweet, tangy and a little spicy.

Sorry for the picture...it is a little blurry but here is the finished product followed by the recipe for the chicken:

Smoked Chicken

Rub: Mix together thoroughly the following:

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar (packed). We prefer "turbinado sugar" for ease of use, but either one works fine.
• 1/4 cup sweet paprika (Hungarian, if you can get it)
• 3 tblsp kosher salt
• 1 tblsp ground pepper (fresh peppercorns recently ground!)
• 1 tblsp garlic powder or 2 tblsp granulated (not garlic salt)
• 1 tblsp onion powder
• 1 tblsp cayenne powder

Directions:

Apply rub to the chicken at least a couple hours before cooking and preferably a couple days before cooking.

Soak 2 chunks of Apple wood and 2 chunks of Hickory wood for at least 1 hour before cooking

Set up smoker to reach a temperature of 220 - 225o F

Place chicken in a disposable pan with melted butter for the first ½ hour.

Remove from pan and place on smoker rack

Hit with a finishing sauce in the last 30 minutes

Total time is about 2 – 3  hours at 220F

Now just enjoy!!!!

I Suck at Blogging

Yep, it is true. The one takeaway that I have from creating my own Blog is that I suck at blogging! I do not post enough. Recognizing the problem is half the battle though! So I am recommitting myself to this!! My goal will be to post a blog every Sunday night. I do not think that is to much to ask of myself. I have to start practicing for the BBQ so I should have plenty to write about!

Sorry for sucking...but I will get better! Practicing smoked chicken this weekend!!

The Red, White, and Blue Cheese Butter

It is Fourth of July weekend so of course the grill is getting a workout. When I look back at my childhood, I recall the smells of a half gallon of lighter fluid on burning coals just before the smell of burning meats and corn filling the air with a blanket of smoke. Towards the end of the night those fragrances changed to "punks" that were used to light the different explosive objects letting loose the final smell of burnt gun powder. I have not had many explosives since we moved to Georgia but I do cook more leading me to cook more than just hockey pucks on buns during the summer holiday season.

I found something this year, a recipe, that I believe was sent to me from heaven. It is a simple recipe that delivers a condiment of sorts that I am sure will be available in my house for a long time....Blue Cheese Butter. I made a Filet Mignon which I medallioned before I dropped pats of Blue Cheese Butter on them. It was wonderful. The Steak was simply seasoned with only some EVOO, salt and pepper. They did cook a little long for my liking. They cooked to medium well.....I am more of a medium rare guy. However the BCButter flavor with the grilled meat was perfect. The butter is a mixture of butter, blue cheese, garlic and pepper. I think the butter cut the taste of the Blue Cheese just enough to allow the distinct taste of Blue Cheese without it being overpowering. I loved it so much that the next night I made burgers (not hockey pucks!) that were topped with Blue Cheese Butter and grilled onions. It did not disappoint!

So now that I have rambled about the butter, I have to give the recipe!!

Blue Cheese Butter

Best used as a topping for steaks

• 1/4cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2ounces (about 1/3 cup) crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/4teaspoon ground black pepper

In a small bowl combine all the butter ingredients. With the back of a fork mash the butter mixture until evenly distributed.

More than I loved the Blue Cheese Butter, I love that I live in a country that allows me to be able to do things like cook what I want and then write about it freely. That is something that we tend to take for granted. I thank God that I was born an American. I thank God for all the sacrifice that have been made to give this country our freedom. So Happy Birthday America!! God Bless the Red, White, and Blue (cheese butter!!).

 

Scottzilla Eats Chicago

We took our annual summer trip to Chicago to visit family and friends at the beginning of this month. It started out with me breaking off to hang with my old high school buddies...yes the Four Horsemen were reunited....I then met back with the family as we spent some time with both sides of our family. Every year I go back I make a food hit list. Every time I complete my hit list I cannot wait to get back to Georgia to shake off the lethargy that follows completing the hit list. It is my own fault really. I could get up and do something while I am there, but that gets harder and harder to do when everyone around me is just sitting around eating and drinking all day/night!

So I started my quest in downtown Chicago with my 3 best buds from Bremen High Class of '87. In two days I not only drank an obnoxious amount of beer but I managed to pour in:

• Hooters - Hot Chicken Sando
• Lou Malnati's - both thin and deep dish versions
• Portillo's Beef Sando
• An Italian Sausage Sando from Comiskey Park
• A gourmet pizza from a little Italian side walk cafe...the name of the place escapes me right now.
• Beer

The Hooters, I do not understand why we went there. I mean I can get that here in the A-T-L! I just went with the flow. Lou's? I just think they are the best Chicago Style Pizza out there and I ALWAYS make sure it is on my hit list when I return to Chicago. Same with Portillo's! They make one of the best beef sandwiches you can get! The Italian at Comiskey? Well what can I say? We were raisin some hell at the Cell and I needed to eat! The rest was just wingin it in Chi-town. I loved every bit of it while I ate it!

I then rejoined the family for some family fun and yes...more eating. Not as bad as when I was with the guys but still...not good! I managed to find my way to The Submarine Port. Anyone that is from the Midlothian, Illinois area knows about this place. It was where we would go just before 4 am to get a sub and some garlic fries...of course this was on the way home to immediately fall asleep into a grizzly bear like slumber...sometimes in the food that was purchased and not quite finished before the urge to snooze hit you!

I was then on a quest for a Chicago Style Hotdog. This brought me to Mickey's Gyro in Tinley Park. Another classic grease trap BUT not a great place to find a Chicago Style dog! It was not on a poppy-seed bun and it did not have all the great veggies and sport peppers that come normally on a hotdog from that area. So, in any event my quest continued.....to Pop's. There I got a Chicago Style Dog.....that my mom ate instead of her not so Chicago Style dog that just had tomato and cukes on it. This was shocking because my mom hates onion...which my dog had plenty on it and she did not notice. Still I considered my hit list complete. I knew that night we would go to Granite City in Orland and have a good meal and then hit the road the next day.

During my last night of sleep in Chicago I got to thinking as I choked down the inferno of acid reflux burning deep inside of my throat. I started thinking about Georgia and my new home. I started thinking about why I come to Chicago, eat like I am going to the chair, and then feel like crap all fat and tired for the entire first week I am back in Georgia. Shit I was to tired to even create this blog post until today! Still I do not understand it, but I can see how easy it is to get caught in that trap of sedentary binging and partial depression while in the Midwest. Now I am sure it is not the Midwest's fault! It is my own fault in not recognizing that a person predisposed to obesity cannot live in an environment like that. This revelation made me happier than ever to be back in Georgia.

In Georgia, because the weather is always pretty decent, you start to feel guilty when you are not doing something, so of course...you start to do something! So I am back at the gym. Only three days this week but it is a start that I will build on. I have lost the 10 lbs I gained while in Chicago and I am out of my funk! Yes I will miss family and friends....but I sure love living in Georgia for so many reasons!

Memorial Day Is Grilling Day

For whatever reasons Memorial Day has always meant cookouts! Growing up we called them BBQs even though it was HOT coals on a grill cooking....no CHARRING burger meat over about 600 degrees of heat. I recall the summer air wrapping you like a blanket while playing baseball and feeling the first summer sweat beads roll down the forehead. Returning home from the field to the smell of freshly oiled leather from the baseball glove, flowers and trees in bloom and yes the fluid and coals burning black smoke while to coals caught fire and worked to a smolder. Looking back I have fond memories but at the same time I can honestly say we have come a long way. What was always charred burgers and hot dogs has turned into smoked meats, ribs, and beer can chicken.

This weekend even though we will be camping, the Weber will be in tow and the delights that will come off of it will bring new smells of memories and moments that my kids will think about in their future. It makes me wonder what they will do to one up me when they are older and prepping for their Memorial Day festivities. I will be going with the pork...yes the same pork that was made with the last blog. It is a crowd favorite and since it was requested, I cannot disappoint! I must make the pork! In order to change it up a little though I will also smoke some chicken wings over apple wood (my wood of choice). This one is an easy one!

Smoked Hot Wings
Chicken Wings (drumettes if you can find them)
William Sonoma Smoke House Rub
EVOO
Butter
Franks Original Red Hot hot-sauce

Spread out your chicken wings. Drizzle them with olive oil and then sprinkle the rub over the chicken wings. Use a moderate amount of rub but not to much! Put the chicken in a large zip-lock bag and squeeze out the extra air when sealing the bag. Put that bag in the fridge because we are not cooking these till tomorrow!
The next day take your wings out of the fridge about an hour before you cook them, soak your apple wood chips and set up the grill for indirect cooking. You want all the coals on one side of the grill so that you can get to about 300 degrees of heat. While the grill is getting to the proper heat, make the sauce. This is simple, equal parts of butter and hot-sauce. Bring it to a simmer and let it thicken just a bit stirring often. Back to the grill. Place all your chicken wings on the opposite side of the grill away from the heat. Add the apple wood chips to the coals and cover the Weber (top vent just over 1/2 closed, bottom vent wide open). Cook for 30 minutes. When done put the wings in a large bowl and pour the hot-sauce mixture over the chicken wings. Toss the wings to coat evenly and serve. These wings are very good. A spicy, tangy summer time kick-off treat!

So go out and grill, BBQ, smoke something this weekend! There is nothing more American than cooking over open fire outside. Thank a soldier that we can continue to cook like this....or any other way we want to!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Beat the Clouds By Makin' Smoke!

Today was a blue day. A cloudy, dark, downer of a day. It took everything out of me to just function today. There was no special reason for it, just one of those days. I knew there was only one way to beat it...WITH SOME BBQ!! I created my own blue clouds of smoke....billowing out of the grill! As an FYI, blue smoke, white smoke is good when BBQing. Darker colors are not good....they mean soot and soot means bitter hunks of all kinds of nasty when you are done!

One of my favorite recipes is taken from Steve Raichlen, the creator of BBQ-U...which by the way I am starting to take donations so that I can save tuition money to go for a week to the BBQ-U classes....so send me your money!! :). Anyway, the recipe has a decent amount of setup time. I am going to post Steve Raichlen's recipe for you today. I have made a few changes but they are solely based on personal choice of what flavors I like to stand out. When I make this recipe I actually start the night before so that I can get a good layer of rub on the pork and let it really sink into the meat. Another great trick is to get a layer of mustard on the pork to work as an adhesive for the rub. The yellow mustard will not only help the rub adhere to the meat, the vinegar in the mustard will tenderize the meat as it sits. Once you have the mustard and the rub on the meat, wrap it in Saran and Foil and put it in the fridge over night. One warning I will give you on this recipe is that I find it to be very salty as it is listed so I cut the salt in half. I also have tweaked the BBQ sauce a bit but this is the basis for the sauce that I use in competition BBQs.

Here are a few pics of today's feast:
1. This is the bacon wrapped pork ready to hit the grill

2. Here the pork has it's first glazing

3. And here is the meal plated with the homemade BBQ sauce, sweet potato and coleslaw

Now here is the recipe....You can actually put this completely together the day before you cook it and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Pull it out of the fridge an hour before it goes on the grill so that it gets to a good cooking temperature before it hits the grill.


Adapted from: BBQ USA
Method: indirect grilling
Serves: 6

• 1 center-cut piece or pork loin (2-1/2 to 3 pounds)
• (I like to use a 1/2 of the giant pork loin you can get from COSCO)
• 3 tablespoons Tennessee whiskey
• 2 tablespoons of Cold Mountain Rub (see below), or your favorite barbecue rub
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 slices bacon 
• 4 slices nothing!! I use a whole pound!!!
• Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce (recipe follows)
• Butcher's string
• 2 cups of wood chips or chunks (preferably hickory), soaked for 1 hour in water to cover, then drained 
• I prefer the apple wood to smoke with over the hickory

for the Cold Mountain Rub:
Yield: 2 cups

• 1/2 cup coarse salt (kosher or sea)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup sweet paprika

for the Glaze:

• 3 tablespoons salted butter
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons Tennessee whiskey

1. Make the rub: Place the salt, sugar, pepper, and paprika in a bowl and stir to mix. (Actually, your fingers work better for mixing a rub than a spoon or whisk.) Store the rub in an airtight jar away from heat or light; it will keep for at least 6 months.
2. Make the glaze: Combine the butter, brown sugar, mustard, and whiskey in a saucepan and boil until syrupy, 4 to 6 minutes. Set the glaze aside.
3. Using a very sharp knife, cut the roast almost in half lengthwise through one side (stop about 1 inch from the opposite side). Open the roast up as you would a book. (here is where I use the yellow mustard as an adhesive) Sprinkle the inside of the roast with 1 tablespoon of the whiskey and let it marinate for 5 minutes. Sprinkle a third of the rub over the inside of the roast. Spread the mustard on top with a spatula, then sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the mustard. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of whiskey on top of the brown sugar. Fold the roast back together (like closing a book) and sprinkle the remaining rub over the outside.
4. Cut four 12-inch pieces of butcher's string. Position the pieces of string on the work surface so that they are parallel and roughly 2 inches apart. Place a slice of bacon across the strings so that it is perpendicular to and in the center of them. Set the roast on top of the bacon, positioning its long side parallel to the bacon. Place a slice of bacon on top of the roast. Press the remaining 2 slices against the long sides of the roast. Tie each piece of string together around the roast so that they hold the slices of bacon against it. (To temporarily hold the bacon slices in place until you can secure them with string, you can pin them with toothpicks. Remove the toothpicks once the roast is tied.) Set the pork roast aside.
5. Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium (about 300-325 degrees). If using a gas grill (don't use a gas grill...it is so much better over coals), place all of the wood chips or chunks in the smoker box or in a smoker pouch, and run the grill on high until you see smoke; then reduce the heat to medium. If using a charcoal grill, place a large drip pan in the center, preheat the grill to medium, then toss all of the wood chips or chunks on the coals.
6. When ready to cook, place the pork roast on the hot grate, over the drip pan and away from the heat, and cover the grill. Cook the roast until cooked through, 1 to 1-1/2 hours. To test for doneness, insert an instant-read meat thermometer into the center of the roast: The internal temperature should be about 160 degrees F. Start basting the roast with the glaze after 30 minutes, and continue basting every 15 minutes. If you are using a charcoal grill and the pork is not done after 1 hour, you'll need to add 12 fresh coals to each side.
7. Transfer the cooked roast to a cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes (I let it rest 10 minutes as I think the juices redistribute better), then remove and discard the strings. Slice the roast crosswise and drizzle any remaining glaze over it. Serve Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce on the side.

Ok and now for the sauce recipe! I use Hunts because it does not have high fructose corn syrup in it! If you get the small bottle you can pretty much just dump the sauce back in the bottle after the sauce cools and you have and easy sauce delivery system!! Draw pictures on the side so you know it is BBQ Sauce....you will be able to tell by the color anyway.

Yield: 3 cups

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 6 to 8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 3 to 4 lemons)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I never use this....to much work! LOL!)
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1-1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 
• I use a 1/4 tsp black pepper and a 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Combine the ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice and zest, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, mustard, onion powder, and pepper in a nonreactive saucepan and whisk to mix. Let the sauce gradually come to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until thick and flavorful, 8 to 10 minutes. 2. If not serving the sauce immediately, let cool to room temperature. Transfer to clean glass jars and refrigerate until serving; the sauce will keep for several weeks. Bring to room temperature before using.

OK EVERYONE!! Give it a smoke! Let me know how it works out! If you ever have any questions, please post them here so that all can see the answers....AND....talk up the blog! I need the followers if I am ever going to get my own show on the Food Network!

The Good and Bad of Savannah

I will start out by saying that I absolutely LOVE Savannah! It it a great place to visit. I am not sure how I would feel about it in the middle of the summer when it is 95 and humid, but for the month of April, it is great. The weather was in the mid 70's with a light breeze. It was sunny, with deep blue skies. The trees were already fully grown in providing a great source of shade.

Savannah is a great place to visit if you like history, sidewalk cafes with good drink and some good eating. It is what I describe as New Orleans Light. Savannah has a good but calmer night life than what I have heard about New Orleans and there is a whole lot of effort put into working the ghost angle around the town. There is a seedy element to it as well. I will admit that I make this judgment blindly because I have never been to New Orleans. I am going only on what I have heard and read. With that said, lets get into the good and bad of Savannah.

First the bad. There is a River Walk section of Savannah that has a nice feel to it, however, from what I gathered it is just a tourist trap. It is still worth seeing. There was an old boat docked that allowed people to walk on and "tour". It took about 10 minutes and they made sure to have something on board for sale. After the boat tour we walked to a restaurant called Shuckers. It was HORRIBLE. We were victims of our second trap...we were 2 for 2! I had an oyster po' boy which came with Ruffles. My wife had a crab salad that tasted of freezer burn. Our first clue that it was bad was the parsley sprinkled all over the plate...food camouflage is always a bad sign! We continued to walk the River Walk area. It has charm. Old cobble stone streets and some really cool steep staircases that look like they have been around for hundreds of years. The stair cases were made of stone and rock. They took you from the lower River Walk to the main streets.

Our walk and hike up the stairs took us to a row of bars and cafes that were a little better than the River Walk. Our first stop was Moon River Micro Brew. Our first impression was good. We sat and had a few beers. They were ok and the food looked ok but it was just bar food....we found out it was worse than bar food the following night when we ate there. It sucked. A shrimp salad that came out with 3 of the smallest shrimp I have ever seen in my life and a burger that was raw. I did order it as medium rare so I take some fault. I do however think that a professional cook should be able to cook a burger medium rare. I sent it back...they threw the same burger on the grill and re-dressed it trying to pass it as new to me...that sickened me.

That is enough bad...now for the good! There is a ton of walking and that just feels good! Especially when you are allowed to walk with a "go cup". The squares are beautiful. There is history and a story everywhere you look. There are also some great restaurants once you know where to look.

We stayed at The Marshall House. It is the oldest hotel in Savannah...and like most of Savannah it is haunted. It is also very charming and I would recommend it to anyone going to Savannah. It was great for a romantic get-away but there were also full families staying. The staff was nice. The rooms were clean. Just a great place to stay.

Broughton and Bull was the first decent restaurant we ate at. It was a little trendy for my liking and it was empty...it was also a Wednesday so maybe it picked up later in the week. The food was good, the help was adequate...but it kept us searching for something better. When we found it, we knew it!

The Old Pink House was fabulous! A gourmet twist on traditional Southern cooking. The venue itself was literally an old pink house. Apparently it was a red brick house that a long time ago, the owners tried to plaster over with white plaster but the red from the brick bled through coloring the house pink.  The downstairs (street level) was a tavern of sorts with french doors all along one wall that completely opened to let the out side in. And yes...it is also haunted. We had an appetizer of cheese and Italian meats with some sliced crostini bread. Included in the platter was a date spread and some stone ground mustard. There was Blue Cheese and sopressata salami. It was a perfect appy! I then had a Southern Chicken Fried Chicken with mashed potato and collard greens. It was possibly the best fired chicken I have ever had. The whole atmosphere was perfect.

For night life, we found a spot outside of a Wild WIngs Cafe that had a one man band playing southern blues. He was very good. Jeff Beasley was his name. The night was cool, the music was good and the $15 buckets were perfect.

My only real regret in Savannah was that I was only there for 3 days. I want to go back and hit a few more places that I found out about to late. Again, I highly recommend Savannah for a good place to visit, explore the history, eat some of the southern cooking, and have some drinks while taking it all in.