Saturday, February 14, 2009

Chicken Wings, Steaks and Ribs, oh my!

Critic #1, came down with a case of the stomach flu on Thursday night. The thought of putting a flu bound 8 year old in a car for 4 hours was much more than I cared to handle, thus no trip home to the farm. Dis-Interested Critic #2 was pissed. She suggested leaving Critic #1 behind. Little sisters know best.

The upside, I did all the laundry and cleaning on Thursday night. I will enjoy an entire weekend at home with no household chores and since my kiddo is not feeling well, it will be a weekend at home. What to do? Smoke meat. On the agenda: a three pound bag of chicken wings I have in the freezer, two K.C. strips that are begging for smoke, and the usual, two slabs of baby backs.

The chicken wings:

Three pounds of wings, sold in a bag at the grocery store. They had been in the freezer for about a month. I pulled them out and let them thaw. This morning, I washed them and let them dry off, before applying a liberal dose of the magic dust. I fired up the BGE and added a layer of the pecan wood chips when things got nice and heated. The smoke was spectacular. The wings went on at 200 degrees for a couple of hours. They were very nice when I pulled them off. I ate one and my taste buds danced for some time. I decided to go ahead and deep-fry half the wings, to see what that treatment gave me. I was very happy with the layer of flavor provided by El’ Magic Dust-o, but thought I would attempt to “sauce” at least a few of the deep fried wings.

After the first batch was fried and sauced, it was overly apparent that this was going to be the way to go, so I continued deep frying four at a time until I was through all three pounds. If I were cooking for a crowd, three pounds would not do it. I committed the Mueller’s wing sauce to memory during my days as a bartender and occasional cook. I’d hate to share it here, but it was pretty basic, a mustard base with some semi-solid dairy fat and hot sauce with a few other “secret” ingredients to round things out and keep people guessing. I’ve never been a fan of this style sauce so I opt for a honey bbq wing. One half cup of KC Masterpiece did the trick. These were great wings. I worried that the bbq sauce would cover my Magic Dust, but was happy to find a nice wave of flavor at the finish that lingered on the palate until it was washed away by a swill from my pint. Ha…I should have learned to evaluate fermented grape juice. Back to point, these were good wings. I’d like to take about 30 pounds to my dad’s smoke house and smoke the whole lot, then freeze and deep fry as necessary. That would be the only efficient way to serve them beyond myself, Critic #1 and Dis-Interested Critic #2.

The KC Strips:

I trimmed two KC Strips of their fat and gave them a nice coating with the Dust. The fat made Maggie, Critic #0, very happy. Fired the Egg, added pecan chips, and brought temperature to 200 degrees. I had a hard time keeping the temp down. After an hour and a half, the steaks registered 140 degrees. I pulled them off and cut into one. There was no pink in the middle, which made me sad. I wonder if there is a way to slow cook and still keep the pink. There was a pronounced ¼ inch smoke ring and the rub added a nice flavor. It was over done for my liking, but not bad. The kids and I split one steak and I’ll save the other to slice for sandwiches. I think it will make a nice lunch on a toasted bun with either a little blue cheese sauce or some horseradish.

I’ll do the ribs tomorrow it is time for the Critics and I to find something to do.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Bacon Explosion--make one for the fun of it

I made a min-Bacon Explosion tonight for shits and giggles. Wow. You should make one. Here are the directions:

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/

The Best Ribs EVER

I've already written about the preparation of these ribs, but they deserve another post. My basic process with two slabs of baby backs. I did use the Magic Dust, which I am very pleased with. I smoked the ribs with pecan chips. I was very happy with this mellow flavor. I also dropped the temperature down to 200 degrees. So three hours in-direct and then an hour at the same temp wrapped in industrial aluminum foil. This was a heaver sheet of foil. It was midnight when I pulled them off, so I put them in the fridge to finish another time. Two evenings later it was really windy and I didn't feel like firing up the BGE so I put them in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. Man these were good ribs. Lots of variables changes, so I'll have to keep playing and see how the results continue. Henry had a couple ribs and declared them better than Hap's which is saying something big. He is the only critic that matters. If Henry likes them, I'm happy. We are traveling this weekend, so no big cooks.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Magic Dust rocks

I mixed the rub recipe listed in the last post. I swapped turbinado sugar, for regular sugar, as I’ve read it reacts better to heat. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I had a big bag of turbinado sugar staring at me in the spice cabinet.

I rubbed four pork tenderloins with the magic dust and put them in the fridge for about eight hours. I pulled them out and let them return to room temperature before putting them on the egg, indirect heat at 300 degrees. This time I flipped them at 20 minutes and took them off at 40 minutes. They rested under a tent of aluminum foil for 20 minutes before slicing. The crowd seemed very pleased.

At 8:15 p.m., I threw on a couple slabs of baby backs, rubbed with my magic dust, and smoked over a mixed fruit wood bed of chips. After three hours, I removed, wrapped in industrial aluminum foil and returned for an hour. These four hours were at 200 degrees. I wanted to try things a bit cooler, just for kicks. I’ll stick them back on for an hour, half direct/half indirect, this evening.

That is all for this week…

Friday, February 6, 2009

2nd ribs using the new method

The kids wanted ribs again and the local grocery store was having a sale on spare ribs. We bought the last packet, so we also picked up a packet of baby backs. I did four slabs, two of each, in the method listed below. I was quite happy. I gave the spare ribs away. My department chair gave me a nice bottle of whiskey barrel aged porter and another colleague helped me score a side of pork. I received rave review from both consumers.

Will this week bring another round of rib smoking? The grocery has baby backs on sale, so...

I'm also interested in trying some country ribs on the smoker. I'm just about out of my rub #1, which I REALLY enjoy (see way below). I'm contemplating mixing up this recipe, called magic dust. It has been a few years since I have experimented with anything called "magic dust," so we shall see...

"There's a big shaker of Magic Dust next to the salt and pepper in my own kitchen and at all my restaurants. I wish I could figure out a way to attach the bottle to the restaurant tables because, at my restaurants, it's the most frequently stolen item! To make it a little more hot and spicy, increase the mustard powder and black pepper to 1/4 cup each.


1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt, finely ground
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons mustard powder
1/4 cup chili powder
1/4 cup ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1/4 cup granulated garlic
2 tablespoons cayenne

Mix all ingredients and store in a tightly covered container. "

recipe borrowed from:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/magic-dust.html

This morning I received an email indicating that it is/would have been Bob Marley's birthday today. In that realization, it might be important to smoke something tonight. I wonder if I should invent some smoked meat product and name it the "spliff?" I guess we could do this and just call it a fattie:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html?_r=2

Happy birthday Bob.