KCBS Competition Practice. Chicken, Part 1 of 4

Well everyone, I looked at the calendar this morning and guess what?  It is getting close to our first competition of the year, the Roc City Rib Fest in Rochester, NY.  Only 90 days to go, so it is time to start practicing and perfecting our recipes for the year.

For those who are new to competition BBQ, there are four categories for turn in: Chicken (regular or cornish game hen), Ribs (Pork only, baby backs or spares), Pulled Pork (Must be from whole shoulder five pounds or more in weight), Beef Brisket (point, flat, or both.  Cannot be corned beef).  Today we will focus on our first turn in, chicken.

Chicken is the first turn in of the day at high Noon.  You can turn your box in during a 10 minute window starting at 11:55 am.  Concentration on cooking chicken helps keep your mind off of the impending turn ins.  Your boxes are built with garnish and you are ready to roll.  Once you pull the cooked thighs off of the smoker, you pick our your best six (we cook 12), put them in the box, and run off to the judges tent to turn in your box.

Some say that chicken is the hardest category to cook.  We have done well with chicken at Three Dogs BBQ, scoring no less than 17th in the category, except for one aberration at Roc City last year when we tried a failed experiment with chicken legs...

I hate preparing for chicken.  You bone the thighs, trim to size, and scrape the back of the skin to remove the fat.  All in the search for the perfect moist piece of chicken with bite through skin that doesn't pull off in one big flap when you take a bite.  Here is a like to our prior efforts and the work that goes into preparing for this cut of meat: Competition Style Chicken

This year, we are looking to get a nice, uniform piece of chicken with a little less work.  So, here it goes...

First, we bought some leg quarters from our butcher and separated the thigh from the leg with a pair of poultry shears...

A side comment here.  If you have not ever used poultry shears, you don't know what you are missing. Cutting through bone was a snap.  Splurge and get yourself a pair.  But, I digress...

We removed the knuckle on each side of the thigh bone with the shears and trimmed the long, stringy pieces of skin off of the thigh so that we get a nice, uniform thigh.  

Next, we marinaded the chicken in a bottle of Italian salad dressing for about 6 hours.  After the marinade, we pulled out, drained away the marinade, and sprinkled a liberal coat of Butchers Honey Rub on all sides of the thigh.  I arranged nicely and place outside to keep cool until the smoker was ready.  We also snuck some wings into the mix for some variety...

This time around, we used a temperature of 275 F in the smoker with 50:50 hickory/peach in the ash pan.  Our hopes are that the higher heat will allow us to obtain perfect, bite through skin.

We placed the chicken on the smoker for 1 1/2 hours:  30 minutes skin side up, 30 minutes skin side down, 30 minutes skin side up after dunking in sauce.  For sauce, just use 1 cup of your favorite sauce mixed with 1/4 cup of honey.

Here is the final product:

Wings...

Thighs...

Before you say something, yes, they look ugly.  But, it was midnight and I wanted to go to bed.  My main objective was to test the flavor profile.  We passed the test for sure.  I like how the Italian dressing adds a layer of flavor to the overall profile.  A winner for sure.  Everyone at work scarfed them down in no time.

But, the skin was not bite through.  We will have a few more practices before May to perfect our method.  But, we were not successful in our first attempt with this new method.  If all else fails, we can go back to our old cooking method that we know works.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Homemade Pastrami

I love pastrami.  Sliced and piled high on rye bread with swiss cheese and spicy brown mustard.  Pastrami is a veritable taste treat.  For those who don't know what pastrami is, it is a corned beef that is covered in rub and slow smoked until cooked.

Last year, I tried making one from scratch.  I brined and cured a beef brisket from scratch, rubbed with spices and smoked.  While the result was ok, I was not 100% happy.  So, I scoured the Internet for a new recipe.  After lots of looking, the Amazing Ribs website came through again.  Here is their method for making pastrami: Amazing Ribs Pastrami Recipe.  They model their efforts after Katz's Deli in New York.

I didn't cure the brisket.  I had a corned beef in the freezer.  So, I thawed it out, and soaked in ice water overnight to remove as much brine as possible.  Then I rinsed, patted dry, and trimmed some of the excess fat off of the top...

Then, I liberally covered in rub and let sit out for an hour while I lit the smoker and brought to temperature, 190 F...

After one hour of happy time...

What is in the rub?  The exact recipe is in the link above, but the main ingredients are coriander, black pepper, and brown sugar.

Once the smoker was up to temperature, I place some oak in the ash pan for smoking and put the to be pastrami on the middle rack, closed the door and walked away...

About three hours into the smoke...

I cooked until the internal temperature of the pastrami was between 155-160 F.  Then wrapped in foil and cooled overnight.  The next morning, I sliced, and took into work for everyone to devour...

Devour they did.  Not a scrap was left to take home.  They loved the perfectly seasoned pastrami and how the light oak flavor mingled nicely with their taste buds.  I highly suggest giving this a try.  The brine recipe for the brisket to corned beef step looks very good as well.  I will be trying this the next time around.  Thanks to the Amazing Ribs people for another great recipe.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

P.S. We will be getting back into BBQ in the near future.  It is time to practice for the upcoming season!

A Great Use for your Smoked Bacon: Clam Chowder

As you may have determined by visiting here, I never take a recipe that I find and just follow "as is".  I tinker and try and mold to my tastes.  So, what I did here was take a great sounding recipe from the Neely's on Food Network and mold to our tastes.

For reference, here is the recipe on Food Network: Neely Food Network Clam Chowder Recipe

Here is our take on the recipe:

First, make your smoked bacon...

Home Cured Bacon, Step by Step

Then make your chowder.

3 Three 8-Ounce Canned Clams
3 8-Ounce Bottles Clam Juice
3 Thick End Pieces of Smoked Bacon Smoked Bacon, Diced
3 Cloves Garlic, Diced
2 Ribs Celery, Diced
2 Carrots, Peeled and Diced
1 Onion, Diced
2 tsp Chopped Fresh Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
Salt And Freshly Ground Pepper
5 Tbsp All-Purpose Flour
3 medium Idaho Potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and diced
1 cup Low Fat Half-And-Half
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Dash Of Hot Sauce
Dash Of Worcestershire Sauce

Our changes?

3 slightly smaller cans of clams ultimately leads to more clams in the final product.  
1 extra bottle of clam juice.  More of that good clam flavor. 
Idaho potatoes instead of the red potatoes.  We feel in leads to a creamier end product.
Addition of carrots.  We feel it adds a slightly sweet taste.
Low fat half and half instead of the real deal.  You really don't need it at all.  
Balsamic vinegar instead of cider.  We feel it adds more depth of flavor.  
5 Tbsp of flour instead of 3 Tbsp.  We like our chowder on the thicker side.
We also simmered longer to give the mix a chance to cook down and thicken.

As for method, we kept it the same as the recipe:

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat.

Drain the canned clams over a measuring cup and reserve the juice. You will need 3 cups reserved juice in total, so add the 3 bottles of clam juice to make a total of 3 cups.  (We did not drain.  We added the whole can at once.  Why dirty something?)

Add the bacon to the Dutch oven and saute long enough for the bacon to begin to render its fat but not begin to brown, about 3 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the garlic, celery, onions, thyme, bay leaf and some salt and pepper. Saute until tender and fragrant, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook until pasty and blonde. Stir in the clam juice, and then add the potatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are just tender, about 8 minutes.

Add the half-and-half and clams and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Season with the vinegar, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper. 

Here are the results...

Rendered bacon...

Veggies for saute...

Add the flour...

In goes the liquid and potatoes...

In goes the half and half and clams.  Let simmer and cook down to thicken.  

Full of great clammy goodness with a hint of the smoked bacon.  Serve with a salad and crusty bread and you have something that everyone will love.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Curing and Smoking Your Own Ham

If you haven't noticed, I have been on a bit of a home curing kick around the house lately.  Since I have learned that it is as easy as sprinkling some salt and adding some seasoning, I have been trying to perfect my technique.  My next subject was a nice, five pound, boneless, fresh ham...

My butcher boned it for me and tied together with some butcher string...

In a spice shaker, I added 1/4 cup of turbinado sugar and 1/4 cup of kosher salt and applied an even coat on all sides of the meat.  I even made sure to get come down inside the cavity formed from tying the piece of pork (at this point) together.  The sugar was added so that you get that hint of sweetness that all of us expect with a good piece of ham...

Every other day I would remove the pork from the refrigerator, drain the liquid, and reapply a coat of salt and sugar.  This picture is after two days.  As you can see, the salt is starting to do what it was meant to do, pull the water out of the meat and start the curing process...

After six days of cure, it was time to smoke the ham.  So, I filled my sink with ice water and let the ham (and a few slabs of bacon) soak for 2 hours to remove the excess salt.  After the soak, I rinsed thoroughly with fresh water and patted day.  While i was doing this, the smoker was coming up to 190 F.  Once the smoker was at temperature, I added hickory to the ash pan and loaded up the meat...

I wanted the try and hang the ham.  I had ordered some ham stockings, but they had not arrived yet.  Unfortunately, the string on the pork started to slip, so I had to put the ham to be on the rack with the bacon.  This picture is after about two hours...

I took the internal temperature of the ham to 150 F.  Total smoke time from refrigerator to 150 F was about five hours.  Here is a pic as I pulled off the smoker...

I plunged the ham into ice water to stop the cooking process, the put the ham in a plastic bag for dinner the next night.

Since we only took the ham to 150 F, it was not quite done.  So, the smoked partially, cooked ham went into our stoneware pan, then into a 350 F oven until the internal temperature came to 165 F.

Before...

After...

See the nice caramelized glaze the added sugar created on the outside of the ham.  It mingled perfectly with the cured ham flavors...

The Review:

As you can see, the internal part of the ham looks like your standard pork roast.  One reason why is that  I did not use any nitrates in the cure of the ham.  Nitrates help to add that pink color during the cooking process.  The other reason is because I did not get the salt/sugar mix into the middle of the pork as well as I thought I did.  Rest assured, it tasted like ham, 110%.

Hope is my biggest critic when it comes to cooking.  She is never afraid to voice her opinion: good, bad or indifferent.  Her opinion?  It was the best ham she had had.  Not too salty and just the right amount of sweet.  Perfect!

What will I try differently the next time?  I will dissolve some salt/sugar mix and inject into the middle of the meat in an attempt to get a more even cure.  I might also lengthen the cure time to eight days. Other than that, there is nothing to change at all.  I am happy at my first attempt at a home cured ham.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Bachelor Night: Six Cheese White Pizza and Penguin Hockey

A few weeks ago, Hope went out for the evening.  I was going to perhaps go out with some friends as well, but I saw an opportunity to make something for dinner that only I like:  Six Cheese White Pizza.  An added plus was that the Penguin game was on (thank you for ending the lockout!).  So, I decided to stay home, have a few Sam Adams Winterfest brews, make a pie, and watch the game...

Here are the starting ingredients:

Yes, I know, store bought crust.  Usually it is strictly homemade around here but the Boboli, if you have not tried, is a pretty good stand in for sure.  If you notice in the right hand corner, the first ingredient:  enough garlic to knock a buzzard off a manure wagon, a dash of oregano, basil, and thyme, and olive oil to mix it all up.  I let this mix sit for an hour for the flavors to mingle.

Next, I spread the olive oil/garlic/herb mix thoroughly and uniformly over the top of the pizza crust...

Next, top with the Kraft Five Cheese Italian and a generous sprinkling of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (this is why Hope does not care for this pie...).  Then, on top, a generous helping of hot banana rings...

Into the oven, 15 minutes at 425, or until brown and bubbly on top...

A nice twist on this pie is to drizzle a small amount of Four Cheese red sauce on top.  It adds a unique flavor.  I did this with one slice and added fresh grated Parmesan to both.

With a beer, this was a perfect hockey night meal.  Unfortunately, the Penguins lost, but it was a nice night, all to myself...

As for the pie, you really should give this a try.  It is a nice change of pace from the usual traditional red sauce pizza.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Last Minute Ideas for Super Bowl Eats

I was cruising around the internet yesterday browsing recipes for ideas as I am prone to do from time to time.  At one point, a thought entered my mind: why not pull the links from this site that pertain to the appetizer category into one handy link to help everyone looking for a recipe today.  So, as a public service announcement, Three Dogs BBQ gives you, Super Bowl Appetizer Central...

Caramelized Onion, Cheddar, and BBQ Sliders

Garlic Parmesan Wings

Mexican Style Fattie

Moink Balls

Redneck Eggrolls, Asian Style

Smoked Scotch Eggs

And for dessert, Pig Candy Hot Fudge Sundae

Enjoy the game, and don't eat too much.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

Beef Rib Steak Review

A few weeks ago I was at my butcher, Dave's Country Meats, and he had some nice beef rib steaks on hand.  I purchased two for dinner and started a conversation with Dave's trusty sidekick Neil.  They only have the rib steaks when someone orders a whole or half of a cow for one of their freezer packages.  We both thought the rib steak is an underrated cut of beef.  For some reason, people don't want the bone.  Let Neil and I let you in on a secret: a rib steak is a Delmonico with the bone still attached.  The bone adds so much flavor than a regular Delmonico.  As this was locally sourced beef, Neil asked me for a review.  So, here it is...

First, I seasoned the steaks front and back with fresh ground pepper, sea salt, and garlic powder.  Do you see the Delmonico in hiding?

Charcoal was lit and dumped into the grill when ready.  I closed the lid on my Stumps Backyarder and let the temperature of the grill come up to 400 F.

I threw the steaks on direct heat for five minutes a side.  Here is the final product...

The steaks were a perfect medium inside.  Juicy and tender.  I will buy these for dinner anytime for sure.  We liked the flavor of the local beef for sure.  Much better than the mass produced beef you buy at your local supermarket.

By the way, picking up the bone and cleaning it off at the end is where the best meat is for sure.  And, it is fun as well...

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill