Baby Backs with Oakridge Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub

We've been slowly working our way though the Oakridge Rub variety pack we bought to try out.  This week, we tried the Secret Weapon Pork and Chicken Rub...

It passed the finger test.  The rub has a nice sweet taste up front, BBQ spice in the middle, with a bit of heat on the back end.  There was enough in the pack for 3 half racks of baby backs, so lets experiment!

Took the racks and removed the membrane from the back.  Rinsed and patted dry, then a liberal coat of rub on the top...

Heated the Baby up to 250 F and added some Apricot and Hickory splits into the ash pan.  Ribs went on the second rack down on a four rack Baby.  This was two hours into the cook when I rotated the racks on the ends...

After 3:40 minutes, I put a thin glaze of Piper's Pit Hickory Apple Butter BBQ sauce on the ribs...

Piper's Pit is a local company that donates a portion of their profits to local charities.  The sauce itself has a nice hickory taste, but not over powering.  On the back end, you do get a taste of the apple butter.  An overall well balanced sauce.  Not too sweet with the right amount of spice.  It is a house favorite around here.

After saucing, I let set for 20 more minutes on the Baby to set the glaze.  Then pulled and let rest for 5 minutes...

After resting, here is the sliced product...

Nice smoke ring.  Tender and juicy with that slight pull off the bone texture that I look for.

Served with a side of scratch made macaroni salad and we had a great meal during the game...

I didn't have enough buttermilk, or you would have seen some cornbread as well...  ;)

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Take Advantage of those Last Tomatoes of the Year

I don't know how the tomatoes were in your neck of the woods this year, but in Western Pennsylvania, they were excellent.  Juicy and full of flavor, we took full advantage of this years crop.

So, the neighbor dropped off some nice slicing tomatoes, so we decided to make what has become one of our favorite pizzas:  Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato Pizza.

First, we made some homemade dough in the bread maker and stretched over a pizza pan.  While the dough was rising, we took some fresh garlic, diced fine, and put in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, basil, and thyme.  This probably sat in the oil for about 30 minutes.  After the dough was stretched, we brushed the dough with the olive oil mixture, then layered on top some thin sliced fresh mozzarella cheese and thinly sliced tomatoes.  The tomatoes got a light brush with some olive oil as well...

We preheated the oven to 425 F, then put the pizza in for 20 minutes, or until the crust was brown and the cheese was bubbly and brown.  Here is the finished product...

Sliced it up and had a great dinner.  Quick, simple, delicious...

I like mine with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese and hot pepper flakes for some kick.

Time is short, so give this a try before your tomatoes are gone for the year.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Pork Sirloin Roast, Seared and Braised

I was at Costco last week and they had pork sirloin roasts on sale for $1.99 lb.  They came in 4 packs and looked really nice.   Real lean, high quality meat.  So, I picked one up for some experimentation in the future...

First, I seasoned both sides with onion power, garlic powder, celery salt, thyme, and fresh ground pepper, then I sprayed with some olive oil...

I then lit my charcoal and while it was getting hot, I diced some new red potatoes, onion, and carrot.  I coated the veggies with olive oil and the same seasoning blend from above...

After the grill was screaming hot, I seared both sides of the roast.  About 5 minutes a side...

I placed the veggies in a foil pan, then put the roast on the bed of veggies.  Then, I covered the pan with foil, placed on indirect heat, and closed the grill lid...

After 30 minutes, I rotated the pan 180 degrees and let cook for 30 more minutes.  Then, I pulled from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes.  The internal temp was about 180 F.

After resting, I sliced...

The meat was nice and tender, juicy and moist.  The veggies were perfectly cooked and the au jus brought it all together.  I'll be trying this again.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Perfect Grilled Tri-Tip

From time to time, my butcher has tri-tips for sale.  For those of you who don't know what a tri-tip is, it is the bottom sirloin roast.  Here is an explanation from Wikipedia. I think it is a very flavorful cut of beef.  The only problem is, it is hard to grill as it swells up like a basketball while grilling.  So, I have taken to smoking them.  But, I had one in the freezer and wanted to grill it up.  So, this past Sunday I decided to try one in the Pittsburgh Rare style.

What is Pittsburgh Rare?  It is a method of cooking a steak that we like around here.   You take a screaming hot grill and put a think cut steak on the hottest part of the grill (perfect for a tri-tip).  Once the first side on is starting the char, you flip it over until the second side chars.  The result?  A crispy outside and a red, juicy interior.

So, first, I seasoned both sides of the tri-tip with the following:

Granulated Garlic
Onion Powder
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper

Then, I placed the meat over the hottest part of the grill, then flipped when it was starting the char...(I threw a piece of oak in with the charcoal as well for some flavor.  Oak and beef are excellent together!)

I cooked to an internal temperature of 140 F, then removed from the grill and let rest for five minutes...

Then I sliced...

The thing I liked about this was that you get something for everyone:  medium-rare, medium, and medium well on the same piece of meat.

This was the best tri-tip I had ever grilled, hands down.  Tender and juicy.

I may still smoke them from time to time, but since I have the grilling technique down pat, I will grill more than I smoke for sure...

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

When Life Gives you Tomatoes, Can some Spaghetti Sauce

Every fall, Hope and I take a whole bunch of Plum Tomatoes and make a few batches of sauce in the canner.  Canning is one of those home activities that is a dying art.  My mother taught me how to do it and it really is a great way to save all those veggies you get in your garden.  It is not as hard as you think.  So, give it a try yourself...

First, we took a peck of Plum Tomatoes and rinsed in the sink with cold water...

Next, remove the stems, cut into quarters, and place into a 12 quart stock pot...

We drizzle some olive oil over the tomatoes to keep them from burning and give them a healthy grind of sea salt to help them break down.  Turn the heat on medium and cover the pot.  Every once in awhile, give them a good mash with a hand held potato masher to break them down.  Once you have a nice soupy mixture, run the liquid through a food mill with the coarse screen in place to separate the solids from the juice...

This is what it looks like once it has been through the mill...

You are now ready for spaghetti sauce.  Take one large sweet onion and dice...

Separate the cloves from one medium head of garlic, remove the skins, and mince...

Then, in a bowl I put in the following:

2 Tbsp granulated garlic
2 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Basil
2 Tsp Thyme
3 Bay Leaves

Saute your onion in a 12 quart stockpot with olive oil...

Once the onion starts to get translucent, add the spices to activate their oils.  Mix well...

Add your tomato juice to the top and bring to a boil.  Then, turn down heat and simmer for at least two hours...

While the sauce is reducing, I throw my quart canning jars in the dishwasher on the heated sanitize cycle.  Then, just before we are ready to can, we place the lids in a pot and boil for 20 minutes to sanitize...

The sauce gets ladled into a canning jar, the rim wiped clean, then sealed with a lid and a ring.  The jars go into a canner with boiling water.  Then, once the pot returns to a rolling boil, boil the jars for at least 20 minutes...

The jars then get removed from the bath and placed on a towel to cool down.  Now, for the important part.  Listen for your jars to seal.  You will hear a pop as the lids seal.  You can also push down on the lids the next morning to see if they have sealed.  If you can push them up and down with a clicking sound, they have not sealed and you should make sauce with that quart for dinner that night.  If they don't click, they have sealed and you can store them for at least one year.

When you use them, make sure the vacuum is still in place on each quart to be sure.  This canned sauce makes for a nice quick dinner throughout the year.  It is way better than the mass produced sauce you can buy at the grocery store.  We just saute some meat, add the sauce and paste, and simmer until reduced.

By the way, one peck (1/4 bushel) made 19 quarts of sauce.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Smoked Eye of Round

Over the weekend, I wanted to try some new brisket flavors on something cheaper than a brisket.  So, I picked up a nice eye of round and tried my new flavor profile...

First, I injected with 1/3 cup each of the following:

Moores Marinade

Beef Stock

Canola Oil

Then, I dusted the outside with Oakridge Santa Maria Rub...

Then, I heated up the Stretch to 350 F and put some hickory in the ash pan for some smoke.  The eye of round went on the top rack...

When the meat hit 100 F internal, I flipped over to crust up the other side.  Then, when the meat hit 145 F, I pulled and let rest for 5 minutes, then sliced.  Total cook time was about two hours...

Served with some red potatoes that I roasted with butter and garlic.  I placed on a cookie sheet and put on the bottom rack of the Stretch.  About 40 minutes of roast time...

Served with a side of horsey sauce for the beef...

I love the Santa Maria rub from Oakridge.  Nice garlic flavor with a bite.  There are also some other flavors that just go well with beef.  I think I have found a new brisket rub.  Everyone at work loved the slices on crusty bread with cheddar cheese and horsey sauce!

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Football is Here! Time for some Wings!

Well, real football is finally here.  Seems like the wait was forever.  So, to celebrate the start of another season, I fired up the Stretch and made some chicken wings two ways:  Salt, pepper and garlic seasoning and some with Quaker Steak and Lube Louisiana Licker Sauce...

First, Hope rinsed and patted dry some split wings.  Then, I lightly coated the wings with olive oil and pulled the wings for the garlic seasoning out onto a cookie sheet.  The got a healthy grind of sea salt, fresh pepper, and garlic powder.  The ones in the bowl just got the sea salt and pepper...

I fired up the Stretch and brought the internal temperature to 350 F.

Then, I placed the wings on the middle rack for 1 hour with some hickory in the ash pan...

Pulled out a bottle of my favorite wing sauce.  I like the Louisiana Licker sauce because it caters to any ones palette:  Slightly sweet, with a bit of a Cajun kick.  Perfect for anyone, regardless of spice tolerance...

After 1 hour, the wings destined for the sauce were put in a bowl and the sauce dumped on top.  I made sure the wings got a good coating and put them back in the Stretch for 15 minutes at 350 F to set the sauce.  Then, off the smoker and into my mouth...  ;)

The ones on the left are the sauced wings and the ones on the right are the garlic seasoned wings.  Hope loved the crispiness of the seasoned wings and Ty and I devoured the Louisiana Lickers.

A great start to the football season!

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Restaurant Review: Jim and Nick's BBQ - Plattville, Al

A friend of mine and I were down in Plattville, Alabama over Labor Day and had a chance to try and Jim and Nick's BBQ.  Let me tell you, it is worth the visit...

First off, I started with one of the local beers.  I started with a Naked Pig Pale Ale from Back Forty Brewing Co.  This was a nice, crisp ale that started smooth and finished clean on the palette with hints of citrus.  Perfect for BBQ in my opinion...

My friend Jamie had the Kudzu Porter.  He loved it.  Not too heavy, not too sweet.  Perfect for a porter in his opinion.

As we were waiting, we started sampling the sauces available for our feast.  Jamie was partial to the Habanaro BBQ Sauce and so was I.  It was a nice back end heat that was satisfying, without that heat that can come with Habanaro sauces that grabs you by the tongue and ruins your BBQ.  Someone did their homework with this sauce...

For dinner, we both had the Pick Three platters with brisket, pulled chicken, and pork hot links.  For sides we both had collards.  Jamie had the beans, I had the mac and cheese.

The brisket was nice, tender and tasty.  Could have used a bit more smoke, but why be picky when the brisket is fork tender.  The chicken was perfect.  Not dry and seasoned well.  I asked for a side of Alabama White Sauce to give it a try.  I loved it!  The perfect accompaniment to the chicken for sure.  I will be trying this at home.  The pork links were outstanding as well.  Moist on the outside.  Crisp skin on the outside.  Just the right amount of kick.  We both thought the collards were the best we had ever had.  You just can't get them like that up North.  The mac and cheese was good as well and that is coming from someone who is picky about their mac and cheese.  Jamie liked the beans as well.

Our bartender September was friendly and knowledgeable.  A treat to talk with.  The front end staff was great as well.

This was a great experience and one that I recommend.  If I am ever near a Jim and Nick's BBQ in the future, I will be making dinner plans.

Overall, 3.5 out of 4 stars...

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill