3 for 1

What's up fellas? It has been really crazy around the house the last couple weeks. For one, my dog had puppies, she's a German Shepherd and had a litter of 10 (8 survived). The temperature dropped, so work has been busy. And this is also my first year hosting the holidays at my house. Through all of that, I have been active on the grill, just not enough time to post until now. Because of this, here are 3 dishes I have done recently (after reading the previous posts, I had to do a pork loin the other night.

First off is my "Rib Rockin Roast". That would be the first pic below, whole rib eye roast marinaded in garlic, Kosher salt, black pepper, onion, Worcestershire sauce, and balsamic vinegar. Rubbed down with your favorite steak seasoning, cooked on top rack over lump hardwood charcoal direct heat, 1 and half hours for medium.

Second pic of my "3 Way Jalapeno Heat". This is actually 3 different types of stuffed jalapeno. First one is bacon dredged in paprika and brown sugar and wrapped around cream cheese filled jalapeno. Second one is Maple bacon cooked crisp and rough chopped mixed with cream cheese, garlic powder, and paprika to make a filling. The third one is the same as the second, just substituting Genoa salami for the bacon. All smoked over apple wood.

Third, fourth, and fifth pics are of my "Italian Cran-Pork Roll", a 4 pound pork loin filleted and pounded out, layered sliced parm, roasted red peppers, parsley, and garlic. Roll and tie with butcher's string. Then rubbed down with Italian seasonings and paprika. Grilled with indirect heat at 300 degrees for 2 hours over apple wood and lumphardwood. Served with fresh cranberry reduction.

ENJOY!

Chuck M's Sunday Dinner

Keeping with Geno's theme of pork tenderloin, here's Sunday Dinner at Chuck's:

Wanted to throw my 2 cents in on the "stuffing" bandwagon. Was going to make this on Saturday, but technical difficulties with Christmas lights (with some procrastination thrown in) delayed everything until today.

Butterflied a couple of pork tenderloins and put spinach, feta cheese, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes inside. Sauteed the garlic in the oil from the jar of tomatoes. Tied them up into a nice little package and Weberized them (indirect). Turned out great!

Next time I make something like this, the meat is going to be from Sam's Club. The loins were a little on the small side, and I seem to remember that the ones from Sam's seemed to be a little larger.

Stuffed Pork Loin Over Natural Gas

Sorry, big guy, had to get that dig in.... I think everyone in the club who's seen Geno's handywork and the few of us who've had the opportunity to taste his food will agree that whatever he smokes with, it works. Here's Geno K of Aurora:

These are pictures of a pork loin I stuffed with spinach, apple shavings, bacon, parmesan shavings, and spicy brown mustard. I sliced the loin almost all the way through and from end to end, then spread about a teaspoon of spicy brown mustard, I have done this with more mustard and we decided it was overpowering. I then laid the fresh baby spinach in about 3 layers. I thinly sliced 2 apples and laid them on top of the spinach, I leave the skin on the apples. Then shave the parmesan and layer it. Next, layer some bacon strips, already cooked, throughout the loin. Tie the loin with butcher's string and keep the gaps in the string at about 1". I smoked it at about 300 degrees over indirect heat for about 2 hr or until it is 160 degrees. This is the best way I have come across to make a whole pork loin. The best part is the loins are on sale at Sam's club for $1.48/LB.

Happy smoking to all!!!

Thanksgiving Day Recap - Around the Horn

Hey guys, sorry for the absence. Folks have been sending stuff (Geno) and I've been woefully behind on the posting.

How did Thanksgiving Day go for the group? Here a just a few, starting with Chuck M of Homewood:

Here are a few pics, nothing fancy but I think that everyone here will be happy! Brined turkey, you gotta try that sometime. Smoked it with sage and rosemary from my garden. The garlic sausage was smoked over applewood. Pretty darn good.
Next up is Chris W of LaGrange Highlands, IL:

OK, so I'm a rookie to this site, and I bow before the great smokers altar, but here are a few pics of my two 18 lb. brined birds that I cooked indirect on my kettle grills.

For starters, the brine consisted of water, kosher salt, bay leaves, smashed garlic, peppercorns, thinly sliced onions, lemon zest, cloves, and maple syrup. The birds brined overnight for 16 hours, and then were placed on the grills.

Cooking time was approximately 3 hours & 15 minutes, with 8-10 fresh coals being added to each side of the grills hourly, along with basting them with butter to provide a beautifully crispened skin.

To impart a smokey flavor, I topped the coals with soaked mesquite wood chunks.

Hope everyone that hosted pulled off a fantastic meal!

and lastly, my smoked bone-in breast over mesquite.... it supplemented my sister-in-law's bird and the rest of the delectable spread. The smoked turkey was a big hit. Notice the smoke ring on the edge of the meat...

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

A New Twist on an Old Pal

I'm back at the Brinkmann again today. Sure enough, the rain started right after match-drop. Thankfully, it ceased. I've got a 5 1/2-pound Mexican meatloaf cooking over two real nice hunks of apple wood.

How I changed it:

Crushed tortilla chips vs. bread crumbs
Ketchup + chopped chipotle in adobo vs. just ketchup/BBQ sauce
Poblano vs. green pepper

During the last half hour, I'll glaze it with my ketchup/chipotle sauce. I'll top it with cheddar and fresh cilantro and let the cheese melt. Then I'll spoon some of that kicky adobo sauce into some sour cream and whisk it to create a dipping sauce.

This is a first for me, so I'm all jacked up. A little comfort food atop the basement bar at halftime! Yeah, buddy!

Tim W.

P.S. Jeff H -- If you give the chowder another shot, try thickening it with more cheddar if it's too runny for your liking.

Damn You, Tim W

I've been eating REAAALLY well over the last three weeks, my weight loss in double digits. I even behaved myself (relatively speaking) yesterday. I'm fixing to piss all that away on Tim's Baked Potato Chowder today. Its all your fault.

....eh, we're also going to my brother-in-law's Italian Restaurant tonight, but I can't complain about that....

Have To Get This Off My Chest

Having issues getting a good fire going for the Turkey Breast this morning.

MEIJER CHARCOAL F***ING SUCKS

Spend the extra three bucks for Kingsford. Don't be a cheap ass. I'm learning the hardway, it stinks and lights horribly slow. Not happy right now!

Chowder Heads

I know it doesn't fall under the category of outdoor cooking, but Jeff H. asked me to share the recipe for the Baked Potato Chowder.

I'll double it. Here goes:

6 large baking potatoes
2 poblanos (diced)
1 pkg. bacon
8 oz. cream cheese
4 TB butter
6 green onions (chopped)
8 oz. cheddar cheese (grated)

Heat the potatoes until they're not quite fork tender, dice and put in stock pot or slow cooker. Soften the cream cheese and whisk it. Slowly add the milk and continue whisking until smooth. Cook up the bacon and coarsley chop it. Chop the poblano and green onions. Add bacon, peppers and onions to milky mixture and dump over potatoes. Heat on low, add butter and stir. Once butter is melted, slowly stir in the shredded cheese until melted.

Heat on low for as long as you want and eat whenever. You can garnish with more shredded cheddar, bacon and/or green onion.

Enjoy!

Tim W.

Steer Stompin' Blue Cheese Round Up:

Steer Stompin'What's up men? Am I the only one who goes to the local butcher/meat department and end up pacing back and forth for 30 mins+? Of course I have my regular "go-to" recipes, however, more and more often I find myself "coming to" in front of a random case of meat wondering "How long have I been here?" Usually, these "expeditions in the aisle of meat" wind up churning out some pretty good fare. The recipe and pictures below are the fruit of my most recent "expedition" yesterday at Dominicks. Please tell me I'm not alone, it drives the wife crazy when we go to the store. Also, as the title to this post suggests, I like to come up with what my family calls "cheesy" names to my dishes, they say I have too much time on my hands. Hope you guys like it!


3 5oz portions top round steak
4 oz crumbled blue cheese
4 cloves garlic
1 half lb bacon (I used apple wood smoked)
2 TBS of your favorite steak seasoning
Butcher's string


Cook bacon until crisp. While bacon is cooking, prep steaks. Using a meat tenderizer, pound steaks out to about 1/8in thick. Season both sides of steak with steak seasoning. Let bacon cool on a bed of paper towel. Rough chop bacon. Peel and mince garlic. Spread garlic, bacon, and blue cheese evenly over steak. Roll steaks making sure to tuck blue cheese mixture as you roll (sushi style). Secure and tie with butcher's string. Grill on top rack over direct heat (I use lump hardwood) 20 minutes turning only once. ENJOY!

ArmadilloPepper.com

Got an assortment box in the mail yesterday from Jeff at ArmadilloPepper.com. AP is the newest advertiser here at PSMGC and Jeff was kind enough to send me an assortment of his best sauces and rubs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with AP, they are an online merchant of bbq sauces, rubs and even honey and jelly, but with a twist: they specialize in things that bring "the heat"

When the box arrived, the timing couldn't have been any better - I was just getting ready to drop the match for a slab and a half of baby back ribs (surprised) when the box arrived. Byron W and I were in the mancave watching the FSU/Wake Forest Game at the time, so we both sampled a little of everything.

Of the sauces sent to me, I decided to use RP Hill Exotic Spice Co.'s Mango Rum BBQ sauce on the day's ribs. After a quick tenting the feast began: great, great sauce. There's something mysterious in the sauce that gives it a little edge... you can taste Mango and the Rum, but there's another ingredient that neither Byron nor I could put our finger on; this mystery ingredient gives it a richness I've never before tasted in a bbq sauce.

If you want to see what a good, exotic assortment of unique sauces and rubs looks like, check out Armadillopepper.com. Anyone can go to Jewel or Dominicks and get an off-the-shelf sauce. If you want something different, give AP a try.

Jeff H.

A New Webmaster is Knighted

PSMGC Members know Terrence S. of Homer Glen, Il well. The post immediately preceding this one is an example of his relentless pursuit of grilling excellence.

We've asked Terrence to join the ranks of PSMGC webmasters. We're grateful for his help, thanks Terrence!

Armenian Meat Pies

Tim W and I were bouncing emails back and forth earlier this week, both of us lamenting the slow down of postings here at PSMGC. We've all been too busy to share grilling creations. We're grateful to Terrence S of Homer Glen for being the reliable contributor here. Here he is without further delay....

These are usually made in the oven. My grandmother always called them "Armenian Meat Pies", however, they are traditionally called "Meat Borag". My step grandfather was Armenian, and even though she was of southern as well as Italian cooking background, she mastered these for him. I decided to give them a go on the grill, no smoke, over lump hardwood. Hope you guys give them a try as well!


Borgag Dough:
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup warm milk
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 yeast cake

Desolve yeast in warm milk, mix everything until a dough is formed. Form into ball and rub with 1 tsp of veg oil and cover with a towel and let sit for 20 mins (it won't rise much).

Filling:
2lbs hamburger
2 TBS dill dried
2 TBS basil dried
1 tsp mint dried
1 large onion chopped

Mix everything in skillet and cook until brown. Drain, take and form dough balls about the size of golf balls. Roll out flat and fill and seal like you would for a turnover. Bake in oven or grill at 350 for 30 mins or until dough is slightly brown on top.