This recipe is based on the worst recipe from my book, The Kamado Smoker and Grill Cookbook. 

Actually, the real recipe is delicious, a sinful way to have cobbler for breakfast.  But I decided to upsize the recipe from a small skillet to a Dutch oven and somewhere in the writing process, the milk and flour did not get doubled while everything else did.  Ugh! 

That recipe was more for breakfast, a sort of cross between cobbler and cheese Danish.  This one is a dessert – sweet with sultry notes of smoke and bourbon mixed in.

Bourbon Cherry Cobbler with Smoked Ice Cream

Ingredients

• Premium vanilla ice cream

For the filling

• 3 cups cherry pie filling (about 1.5 cans)
• 1 cup premium cherries, drained
• 1 ounce bourbon

Smoky Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

I know it is a bit early in Spring to be talking about ice cream but we just made the BEST chocolate chip ice cream this week.

I can't really take credit for it since it is just the basic no cook vanilla ice cream recipe we always use and the addition of one premium ingredient.

On Our Grills July

Each month, a group of bbq/grill enthusiasts participates in the “On Our Grills Challenge”. The challenge is to make a meal with a list of 4 random ingredients and at least the protein has to be cooked by some form of live fire.

Typically the ingredient list presents a difficult obstacle for us. This month's On Our Grills 4-Ingredient Challenge was mercifully easy:

hot dogs

baked beans

dill pickles

blueberries

We focused our efforts on the blueberries. I thought about doing odd things with the dogs, beans, and pickles but no matter what I did, it was going to distract from the essence of those items – their simplicity.  So I let those items be what they are. 

Hot dogs

The only thing creative I did here was that I grilled these beef franks direct over the gaps in the plate setter (Big Green Egg divider) while the beans cooked indirect at the same time.

Baked Beans

I did the basic doctored version of canned beans. I added the usual suspects: red bell pepper, green bell pepper, onion, bbq sauce, mustard, brown sugar and BBQ rub. Baked on the grill for 1 hour.

Dill Pickles

I thought about frying them, but nah. They are good enough on their own.  I can't wait to see what the others did because I know those guys came up with something whacky.

Blueberries

Alexis made a version of my mom's camp site cobbler. Biting into the crispy crust and sweet filling reminds me of camping in rustic Cades Cove with my parents several years ago, when I first had this dessert.

Dutch Oven Cobbler

½ stick butter, unsalted, melted

1 c sugar

½ c self rising flour

½ c milk

1 can blueberry pie filling

Start one half chimney of coal (about 30 briquettes). 

Mix together the butter, sugar, flour and milk.

Line the bottom of a #12 cast iron dutch oven with parchment paper. (Not a must but helps) Pour in the blueberry pie filling and spread evenly.

Pour the topping over the pie filling, covering as evenly as you can.

Put about 10 briquettes in a circle below your dutch oven.

And about 20 briquettes on the lid.

Bake for about 45 minutes until the top is golden brown. Rotate the bottom ¼ turn clockwise and the top ¼ turn counterclockwise every 15 minutes for even cooking.

Serve with confectioners sugar on top. 

Guaranteed camp site winner!

The On Our Grills group has grown a bit and I don't have the “bios” or “intros” for all the participants so this month, I will just list the links. Please stop by these other sites and see their spin on this month's 4 ingredient challenge. While I think this month is pretty straightforward, these folks always come up with something interesting!

Smoke-n-Brew 

The Dutchess Cooks 

Oshawa Ogre's Views News & BBQ 

The BBQ Grail 

No Excuses BBQ 

Jason's BBQ Adventures 

BBQ Rib Class at Dead End BBQ

We're fortunate to have Dead End BBQ in Knoxville, TN.  Not only do they make fabulous bbq and the best brisket in Tennessee, each year Dead End BBQ presents a series of barbecue and grilling classes.  They bring in the established names with world champion pedigrees like Mike Davis and Chris Lilly.  But they also include equally talented local gurus like Billy Bob Billy of Holy Smokers Too.  This year they have added grilling dynamo, Robyn Lindars of GrillGrrrl.com and Grilling.com to conduct one of her women's grilling clinics that Alexis will be attending.

The classes are first rate.  They are taught in the comfortable covered patio area at Dead End BBQ.  It seats 32 so it's the perfect size for a class.  Big enough to accommodate you but small enough to ask questions without having to shout.   The exceptional staff wait on you the entire class, a notable difference.  Your drinks are kept full and the tables bussed constantly.  One of my favorite amenities is the overhead camera and large screen TV so everyone can see what the instructor is doing when prepping something on the table.  

Yesterday I took the rib class taught by co-owner George Ewart.   George is a funny guy - when I walked in, he kidded around and asked if I was going to be able to learn anything from the class since I'd just been to Kingsford University.  Learn I did!  Here are some of the highlights of the day.

First off, we got to try a new appetizer they are going to offer - Pond Gap Pups, named after the local part of town.  They are de-friggin-licious, seriously.   From what I could tell, Pond Gap Pups are small hush puppies with some bbq rub and a little pulled pork in them.  In flavor, they are kind of like a cross between a hush puppy and those sausage cheese balls.  Perfect bite size flavor bombs.  I'm going to have to kidnap the rooster and pig mascots from the patio until George tells me how they make them.

George discussed strategies behind making a good bbq rub.  If making a rub with brown sugar,  spread it on a tray dry it out in a 150f oven to get the moisture out of it first, before adding to the rub.  I hadn't heard that before but I will definitely be using that tip from now on.  Then we each made a batch of dry rub.

On of the most hands on classes I've had, loved it.

Next, George compared and contrasted the types of pork ribs, discussed sourcing options, and showed how to cut a St. Louis style rib. I picked up a tip on using the 4th rib as a guide, I always just went by feel.

 

George playing a loin back harmonica!  Kidding - juxtaposition.

Then it was time for us all to practice removing the membrane. 

 

Time to rub our ribs.  Here's a simple tip, yet it is the biggest thing I walked away with because this little step helped me make a sweet rib that I like.  Normally I don't like sweet ribs.  Before putting the rub on, dust the rib with black pepper.  I've always just let the pepper in the rub suffice.  But this helped contrast the sweet at the end.  This one tiny detail made a big difference for me.

 

Rubbed up and ready to go into the smoker.

 

While our ribs smoked, George talked about smoking pork.  One thing I didn't know is that there is a vein that should be trimmed out because it is tough and won't render.  It is above the bone on the non-fat cap side.  Here George demonstrates how tough it is by holding up the 8lb butt with it.

 

Then we got to have some pulled pork.  There is no better bbq than pork right off of the cutting board will still hot.  

 

Ever reheat pork and it dries out?  Warm a little honey to get it less thick, add a little BBQ rub to it and stir it into the pork.  

Next we all pledged allegiance to the brisket....

Just kidding, George was talking about where it comes from.  Brisket is George's specialty and he gave us the "up and downs" of brisket.  An "up" comes from a cow that was in excess of 1000 lbs, a "down" is less.  They have found the "downs" have worked better for them and have more marbling.  Another thing I learned is that I need to be more aggressive in my trimming on my next brisket.   Then we sampled one of the smoked briskets, dipping in the mouth watering au jus that was juiced up with George's secret.  What?  I can't tell you.  Go take the class :)

Finally it was time to foil the ribs.  I haven't foiled ribs in over a year, I've been smoking them naked with good results.  But yesterday we used a version of the butter/margarine-honey-brown sugar method that a lot of comp teams have used.  

Apparently, the stress of teaching the class was too much because George went bananas.  

 

He shared a dessert recipe with a highly technical name - Banana Thing.  He smoked a mix of bananas, brown sugar, and cinnamon until they were syrupy like this. (15-20 minutes at 275f...ok Howard, it was 274, ha ha)

Then he put them in pieces of puff pastry, brushed them with butter and put them back in the cooker until the pastry has cooked.  Then a simple drizzle of chocolate sauce.  

 

I don't eat sweets so I relied on Howard Pollock to be my Taste Correspondent.  After he finished groaning in approval and licking his fingers, he said that they were excellent.

We each made a glaze for our ribs.  You want me to put HOW MUCH of that sweet stuff in my glaze?  Really?  Oooookay.  Then we painted our ribs with the glaze.

 

.

Finally they were done around 2pm.  

 

I bit into my rib and was surprised at how much I liked the flavor profile.  It is a sweet rib that I actually enjoy.  This is good because I have always cooked ribs differently for my family (they like sweet) than I did for myself.  Now I have one that can make the whole family happy.

I had a great day at Dead End BBQ and even this old dog learned a few new tricks (actually 3 pages worth, I didn't share all or most of them here).  Thanks to George, Robert, and the staff at Dead End BBQ for a fun and educational Saturday.  It is well worth the cost of the class, I recommend them to anyone interested in BBQ, whether you are a competition cook or just a back yard enthusiast.

Register for upcoming classes at Dead End BBQ

May 22, 2011 - Mike Davis of Team Lotta Bull.  George said registering for this class gets you entered to win a Yoder smoker.  

June 18, 2011 - Robyn Medlin-Lindars of GrillGrrrl.com will teach a LADIES ONLY grilling class. 

[Standard Disclaimer] - I have no affiliation with nor do I receive compensation from Dead End BBQ.  Although I do plan to extort the Pond Gap Pup's recipe from George and Robert.

Quick Easy Dessert Grilled Peaches

So the burgers, chicken, and dogs are all done. But the grill is still hot and you need an easy dessert.

Here's a cheating one I made tonight using a store bought Angel food cake.

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 ea peaches, pitted and cut into sixths
4 slices angel food cake

Make a simple syrup by mixing the sugar and water together in a small sauce pan. Heat over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to simmer. Remove from heat.

Toss the sliced peaches with 2-3 Tbsp of the simple syrup.

Then place on a preheated 350f grill. Cook for 1 minute and then flip.


Cook for another minute and remove to a bowl. Toss with the remaining simple syrup and allow to rest.

Place the slices of angel food cake on the hot grill grate and cook just long enough to get sear marks. This took about 15 seconds a side for us. (NOTE: Make sure your grill is very clean before doing this. You don't want "greasy grate marks" on your cake. You want to see bare hot metal searing the sugars in the cake.)

Serve the cake topped with the peach and syrup mixture.

The grilling brings out the best of the natural sugars in the peaches. Resting the grilled peaches in the simple syrup create a peach nectar that drips with flavor.

Ever notice that I don't do a lot of desserts on here? That's because I don't care for them and rarely eat them. I don't like peaches either. But guess what. I LIKED THIS!

Finally something I can't make on the Big Green Egg

When I was a kid, homemade ice cream was a treat but also an endurance event similar to a triathlon. Instead of swim, bike, run, it was more like ice, salt, and churn. The family would shuttle ice and salt into the old ice cream maker while we took turns hand cranking the machine for what seemed like hours.

These days I can't believe how easy making homemade ice cream is. My parents gave us a Cuisanart ice cream maker (Model Ice 20) two years ago and it is so easy to use even a caveman could do it....providing he had electricity of course. No salt. No ice. No hand cranking.
Alexis made Toll House chocolate chip pan cookies (recipe on their bag) and then this super easy vanilla bean ice cream.

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups half & half
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
1 vanilla bean

Mix the first three ingredients. Split the vanilla bean, scrape out the vanilla into the mix and discard the bean casing. Pour the mix into the pre-chilled machine and turn it on. She ran it in the ice cream mixer for about 30 minutes.

I don't eat much dessert at all, I just would rather have seconds or a heavy beer like Newcastle Brown (what I call dessert beer). But this was easy and oh so good.

The fork dives right through the ice cream and then drives into the cookie base...yum! The ice cream was light and creamy with that real vanilla pow in the kisser.

Don't worry, I'm still alive and aliens haven't kidnapped me. Grill programming to return in the next post ;)

Creme Brulee

I think Spring is really here, my Big Green Egg is more of a yellowish green thanks to a layer of pollen. Yesterday afternoon, I heard an affirmation that winter is over. It was the "chsk-chsk-chsk-chsk - ta-ta-ta-ta-ta" of a pulsating lawn sprinkler.

Another sound I love to hear is the crunch of a spoon breaking through the sugary top of a creme brulee. I don't don't eat a lot of desserts but the other day Mary at Deep South Dishes posted how to make this strawberry garnish. Driscoll strawberries arrived this week and our mint is growing fast so I thought I'd make the garnish. Now all I needed was a dessert to go under the garnish and creme brulee seemed the perfect choice.

Creme Brulee
Source: Rouxbe Online Cooking School (click link for their video recipe)

2 cups heavy cream
1 each vanilla bean
2 tsp orange liqueur (may substitute orange zest)
6 each egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 325f.

Heat the cream over medium low heat. Add the liqueur. Slice the vanilla bean open and scrape out the contents with the back of the knife blade.

Add the vanilla to the pot and whisk in to mix. Bring mix to a simmer for one minute. Strain through a sieve into a large measuring cup.

Set up your ramekins or dishes in a 13 x 9 casserole dish for a bain marie. If you really like the custard part of creme brulee and less crust, use a ramekin. If you are like me and prefer more crusty sugar goodness, use a shallower but wider dish the the two on the left.

Put this whole set up into the middle rack of your oven and CAREFULLY pour almost boiling water into the casserole. Do NOT get any in your dishes. Fill until the water level is at least 1/2 way up the sides.

Cook for 20-25 minutes. They are done when you gently shake a ramekin with tongs and only get a slight, uniform wiggle (go back up top and click on the video link for a good example). This time it took me 25 minutes. Last time it was 45 minutes, but my water in the bain marie was only hot tap water. Put on a cooling rack for a few minutes and then store in a refrigerator for 4 or more hours.

To serve, put a liberal coating of sugar on top of the custard and brown with a gas torch.

Let it harden for 2-3 minutes, garnish and serve.

Crunch.