No comments

Pellet Smoked Scalloped Potatoes

  By , ,


Pellet Smoked Scalloped Potatoes

Cheese, bacon and potatoes. So what part of that is not delicious? This recipe brings a ton of flavor from your pellet smoker or stick burner and compliments every meat that you smoke. No lie there is a bit of effort involved for this recipe, but it can be split into multiple days if needed.

Ingredients

  • 4 russet potatoes (about 3 pounds)
  • 12 oz bacon
  • 1 white onion
  • 1 jalapeno pepper
  • ½ pint heavy whipping cream
  • ½ pint regular whipping cream
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 16 oz (block not shredded) cheddar cheese
  • ¼ cup all purpose flour

First, remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature. While this is in progress, slice the bacon into bits and fry it a skillet on medium heat. While the bacon is cooking, dice the onion and jalapeno pepper. After the bacon has cooked for about 8 minutes, drain most of the grease and leave about 2 – 3 tablespoons in the skillet. Add onion and jalapeno, then continue to cook until the onion becomes translucent. Next add the flour and stir for several minutes. Next, slowly add the heavy whipping cream followed by the regular cream. Continue to stir on a medium heat, and add a few slices of cream cheese. Stir until it melts into the sauce, then continue to add more until all is incorporated into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally as you work on the potatoes.

Wash the potatoes then use a mandolin with a thin blade and slice the potatoes. Add the slices to a large bowl filled with water to prevent them from turning brown. When the potatoes are all sliced up, use a stick of butter or vegetable shortening to grease up a 12 inch cast iron skillet. Next, remove the sauce from the burner and lightly cover the bottom of the 12 inch skillet with a layer of sauce. Add a layer of potatoes to the skillet until the skillet is fully covered. Next cover the potatoes with some of the sauce mixture followed by shredded cheese. Repeat these steps until all the ingredients are used. Smoke at 275 for 3 hours (do not stir) then cover the skillet with heavy foil and cook for another 30 minutes. Check the potatoes for tenderness using a toothpick and continue to cook if needed. The toothpick should pierce through the potatoes with little resistance. If the potatoes are still too firm, cover and cook another 30 minutes.

No comments

Smoked Grilled Turkey Breast

  By ,


Smoked Grilled Turkey Breast

Smoked grilled turkey breast is a great weekend meal and you don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to make it. But if you are looking for a small easy holiday meal idea this can be your delicious meaty main course. For this recipe we are using a pellet smoker but you can definitely adapt this to cook on your stick burner or drum smoker.

Ingredients

  • 6 pounds turkey breast
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 2 sprigs sage
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 8 tablespoons salted butter
  • 4 tablespoons Plowboys Yardbird

For this recipe, we are making an injection and skipping a brine. You can always do a brine but we found that the injection is enough to keep this turkey breast very juicy. To prepare the injection, start with 4 cloves of garlic and give them a rough chop. Next add 1 – 2 sprigs of fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary. Next, add 1 teaspoon of Plowboys Yardbird BBQ rub. Finally, add 1 stick of salted butter. Cook this mixture on a medium heat for at least 10 minutes then allow it to cool down. Next, heavily coat all sides of the turkey breast with Plowboys Yardbird BBQ rub (or you can use the rub of your choice). It’s also a good idea to loosen up and pull back the skin around the neck area. After you do that, apply some rub directly to the exposed breast meat. Next use an injector to draw in the melted butter and inject it into various areas on the turkey breast. Use up all the butter leaving behind the garlic and herbs. Allow the turkey to rest on the counter for 20 minutes while you fire up the smoker.

For this cook, use pecan wood pellets and set the temp to 250 F. When the smoker reaches temperature, add the turkey breast to the smoker and insert temperature probes if you have them. The target temperature for the smoking phase will be between 150 F and 155 F. This should take around 3 to 5 hours depending on the weight of your turkey breast. When the temperatures are close to the target range, it’s time to fire up the grill. Let your grill warm up then set it to low 300 F – 350 F. Transfer the turkey breast to the grill and place it skin side down. Cook the turkey breast with the lid closed for 10 to 15 minutes minutes then flip it to skin side up. Continue cooking with the lid closed for another 10 to 20 minutes until the meat reaches 165 F in the thick areas of the breast. Pull the turkey from the grill and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving. Slice up and enjoy!

No comments

Smoked Grilled Dry Rub Wings

  By , ,


Smoked Grilled Dry Rub Wings

Smoked grilled chicken wings are by far the best tasting wings you can make in your back yard. When you combine smoke flavor along with the fire of your grill it’s truly heaven. People that hate grilled wings have eaten these and love them. If you have a pellet smoker and a grill, give this recipe a try and you might never go back to plain old grilled wings again!

Ingredients

  • 8 pounds chicken wings
  • 1 qt apple juice
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon sage powder
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon Lawry’s Lemon pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Goya Adobo
  • 1 tablespoon Killer Hogs AP Rub
  • 1 tablespoon Plowboys Yardbird
  • 1 tablespoon JCS Caribbean chicken
  • 1 tablespoon JCS Boston dry jerk
  • 1 tablespoon Everglades Heat
  • 1 tablespoon Badia sazon caliente

First thing to do is to separate the flats from the drums. If you need to save space on the smoker or the grill, go ahead and remove the wing tips from the flats. The next thing to do is to brine the chicken wings at least 8 hours or overnight so that they stay moist during the smoking process. So to keep things simple, add the chicken to a 1 gallon zip seal bag (1 bag per 4 pounds of chicken). For the brine we are going to use apple juice as the base liquid, and this will add a nice background flavor to the chicken meat. Start by pouring roughly 2 cups (more if needed) of apple juice into each bag. Next add 1 -2 tablespoons of kosher salt, then optionally 1/2 teaspoon of powdered sage, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary. The herbs are optional but they also add a nice background flavor directly into the chicken meat.

When the brine is complete and it is time to cook, you should wash off the herbs from the wings. The next thing to do is to lay out the wings on cooling racks for seasoning and cooking. If you are not familiar with cooling racks, they are an inexpensive way to move your food from the kitchen to the smoker and back again. And when you are dealing with a bunch of chicken wings their usefulness becomes obvious. So the next thing to do is to apply a coating of dry rub on all sides of each wing. Here are 4 recipes that we recommend you to try.

Flavor ~ Lemon pepper
Lawry’s lemon pepper
Goya adobo

Flavor ~ BBQ
Plowboys yardbird
Killer Hogs AP rub

Flavor ~ Carribean
JCS Caribbean chicken seasoning
JCS Boston dry jerk

Flavor ~ Miami Heat
Everglades Heat
Badia sazon caliente

After the wings are seasoned, fire up the smoker at 175 with hickory or pecan pellets. You can also use a pellet tube with hickory or pecan pellets to add more smoke flavor. When the smoker reaches temp, place the cooling racks of wings into the smoker. Smoke for 1 hour then remove the racks and flip the wings. Place the racks back in the smoker in different positions so that wings in a hot zone move to a cooler zone. This step is not required but it can enhance your cooking process. Continue to smoke the wings for 1 more hour then check the temperature of several flats and drums. Because we will finish these wings on the grill, the target temp will come in about 15 degrees less than 165F. So shoot for 150F as your done temp on the smoker. When the wings are getting close to 150F, fire up the grill and get it preheated on low 300 – 350F. When the wings reach the target temperature, transfer them to the grill and cook them roughly 5 minutes per side. Pull the wings when they reach at least 165F. If you have made several flavors you can wrap each flavor in a sheet of foil to keep them seperate and warm.

No comments

Grilled Rotisserie Picanha

  By


Grilled Rotisserie Picanha

Picanha is known as the king of meats in Brazil as it is the most popular and highest quality cut of meat. The meat is usually lean and capped with a thick layer of fat that adds a ton of flavor when cooked over a flame. In the United States, picanha is not widely known but it can be enjoyed at a Brazillian steakhouse such as Chima, Texas de Brazil, and Fogo De Chão. Outside of Brazil you may find picanha goes by other names such as sirloin cap or the rump cap, or culotte. If your local buthcer or grocery store does not carry picanha, you can always have it delivered to your door from a number of online retailers such as Snake River Farms.

This recipe is simple and all you need is meat, salt and fire! It does help to have an electric rotisserie for your grill however this is not required. The rotisserie method is a common way of cooking picanha and it self bastes the meat while the fat cap melts down. Eating the fat cap is up to you as it is less than healthy but can be absolutely delicious. Some people trim the fat cap to get an even thickness while others prefer to leave it as is. Salt is the only seasoning you need and do not be afraid by the amount used on picahna. The meat will not be ruined or over salty.

Ingredients

  • 2 lb top sirloin cap
  • ¼ cup BBQ salt

First you should trim away any silver skin on the meat side of the picanha. Remove any hanging bits on the sides to give the meat a nice edge. Next, as an optional step, use a sharp knife and trim away any excess fat from the fat cap. Try to leave behind an even amount of fat (about ½ inch) on top of the meat. Traditionally the fat cap should be left alone but some people do prefer to trim down the thicker areas. Next find the direction of the grain of meat and cut a shallow slice along with the grain. Turn the picanha so that the slice with the meat grain is running parallel with your cutting board. From one end of the picanha, measure a three finger width then slice off the first piece. Be sure to cut in a direction 90 degrees of the grain slice. Continue to slice the meat at a three finger width until it is fully sliced. Next season all sides of the picanha with a very coarse BBQ churrasco salt such as Sal Lebre. You can substitute with kosher salt however the grain is not large enough and the results will be different. Traditionally churrasco salt is the only seasoning required however if you are up for breaking tradition, add your favorite steak seasoning. Next curl up a slice lengthwise with the fat cap facing outward. Push the meat onto the rotisserie spit through the center. Continue with the remaining slices keeping them in a uniform direction. Next preheat your grill with all burners on low. Place the rotisserie spit on the grill and adjust the counterbalance weight. Start the rotisserie motor and close the lid. The rotisserie cook will take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes depending on your grill and how done you prefer your steak. Stay close to the grill with this cook and be ready to deal with any fire issues caused by the rendering down of the fat cap. Ideally your rotisserie spit will be high enough from the flames to avoid flare ups. Use a thermometer to check the temperatures on the outer edges and also in the thick center. For a nice medium rare center, pull when temps reach 135 F in the center and the outer edges will be around 140 F. Rest the meat for 5 minutes then slice thinly down the spit and enjoy.