Chris Sussman's Smoked Spatchcocked Chicken with Spicy Alabama White Sauce

[FTC Standard Disclosure] Chris and I traded copies of our books, so while I didn't pay for this book, I exchanged something of equal value, so I would not consider this a sponsored post.

If a new BBQ or grilling cookbook has a few of my personal favorite types of recipes, then I'm making those first. 

Playing The Hits

Cooking the favorites makes sense for a couple of reasons. First, I have already tried them often and have a wide range of experiences for comparison's sake. Second, I like to see new spins on old favorites. Third, favorites are favorites for a reason; I want to eat them! 

In no particular order, some of my favorite recipes to find in grilling cookbooks are:

• Meatloaf
• Any kind of chicken with Alabama white sauce
• Burgers
• Wings
• Steak with compound butter

The Four Fundamentals of Smoking

So when I got my hands on Chris Sussman's (The BBQ Buddha) first book, The Four Fundamentals of Smoking, it should be no surprise that one of the first recipes I cooked was his Smoked Spatchcocked Chicken with Spicy Alabama White Sauce.

This bird really hit the spot. It was lightly smoky, juicy, and mouthwateringly tangy. I knew it would be excellent because Chris Sussman is a skilled live-fire cook. I'll do a full book review later; this post is just about the delicious chicken.

Smash Burger Sliders with Vermont White Cheddar and Canadian Bacon

[FTC Standard Disclosure] We received no compensation for this post.

I had a raging internal battle this weekend, my diet plan said "chicken" but my appetite said "smashburgers".  Guess who won out.

Vermont white cheddar, Bourbon Maple Canadian Bacon, and crispy 3 ounce smash burger patties double stacked on slider rolls. Ahhh yeah!

These burgers were fantastic - cheesy, beefy, salty, and that fresh off the grill flavor. The Canadian bacon brings a welcomed crispy texture, saltiness, and a bit of umami from the cure.

Book Review: BBQ Revolution

[FTC Standard Disclosure] I received an uncorrected draft of BBQ Revolution from the publisher for review. I received no other compensation. The link for the book is an Amazon Affiliate link, which I will receive a small percentage of if you purchase the book via the link. 

They say "don't bury the lead" so I'll tell you upfront that this is my favorite new BBQ and grilling book from the 2021 offerings I have seen.

BBQ Revolution fired up my yearning to get out and grill. After 12 plus years of blogging about BBQ and grilling, I had gotten into a bit of a rut. I needed to shake things up and BBQ Revolution has done exactly that. This book has gotten me excited about firing up the grills again. 

BBQ Revolution

Innovative Barbecue Recipes from an All-Star Pitmaster

by Mitch Benjamin

$29.85 / Quatro Publishing Group USA

Available June 15, 2021 (Preorder available now)

About The Author

Mitch Benjamin has built his own BBQ empire over the years.

• He is better known as @meatmitch on social media.
• He is the founder of the Meat Mitch competition BBQ team.
• His Meat Mitch brand of rubs and sauces has won awards at World Championships like Memphis In May and The American Royal.
• His restaurant, Char Bar Smoked Meats and Amusements won best new restaurant in Kansas City.

In addition to those accolades, Mitch has cooked for professional sports teams and on national television shows.

About The Book

BBQ Revolution is a full-sized, hardback book. By a quick count, it has almost 90 recipes in a rather unique organization suited to Mitch's experience and background. Instead of the typical rubs/sauces, beef, pork, chicken, and everything else, BBQ Revolution is organized as such:

1. Competition BBQ recipes PLUS actual advice, tips, and timelines. Outside of a hands-on BBQ class, this is one of the best primers for getting started in competition BBQ.
2. Char Bar Smoked Meats and Amusements, Mitch shares some of his best sellers from the popular Kansas City restaurant. I enjoyed this chapter the most, getting the behind-the-scenes recipes.
3. Revolutionary BBQ - thinking outside of the smokebox. A collection of less-than-traditional dishes like lamb, a wide array of seafood, and sausages. Yes, sausage is a typical BBQ food but not a lot of BBQ books give you recipes for making your own from scratch.
4. Leftover BBQ ideas - If you BBQ as much as we do, this is a welcome addition to a cookbook. 
5. Sides, desserts, and other delights - Mitch gets freaky in his "Mitchen".
6. Featured Pitmasters - Mitch pulls a "wait, there's more" by adding recipes from celebrity pitmasters throughout the book. Pitmasters include Paul Patterson, Jess Pryles, Craig "BBQ Ninja" Verhage, and Matt Pittman. 

Recipes

Recipes that I Have Made

I jumped right into making recipes when I got my hands on a draft copy of BBQ Revolution and there was not a single dud in the batch. I enjoyed each and every one of these. 

I rolled out my big gravity-fed pit to try out some of the brisket, pork, and chicken offerings from BBQ Revolution.

Competition Brisket, Burnt Ends, and Competition Whomp! Sauce

I'm a sucker for brisket so of course, that was one of the first recipes that I tried. Solid recipe whether you are cooking brisket at home or for competition. 

Competition Pork 

I sort of followed Mitch's recipe. I varied the recipe a little bit because I was making this for eating at home and not a BBQ competition. It was still fantastic served with a golden mustard BBQ sauce.

Alabama White Sauce Chicken

Another perennial favorite of mine, I had to try his Alabama White Sauce on some smoked chicken. Winner, winner chicken dinner is an overused saying but it does apply here. 

Brisket Esquites 

My family was in town and we included this TexMex dish in our buffet. It was a big hit but we made a lot and there were 4 other dishes, so we had some leftovers. I took a cue (I guess I should say "Q") from the Leftover Q chapter and reinvented this as Smoked Brisket and Charred Corn Chowder. I just made a cream soup base and stirred in the leftovers. Talk about amazing. 

Smoked Brisket and Charred Corn Chowder using the leftover Brisket Esquites was some of the best comfort food I've had. We topped it with fajita seasoning, crushed corn chips, and cotija cheese.

Charred Bits and Grits, Pickled Jalapeno and Shallot, BBQ Butter

Wow. This was the recipe that put the biggest smile on my face. It kind of looks like a mess here but the tastes were out of the world. It has candied bacon (aka pig candy), burnt ends, jalapeno cheese grits, pickled jalapeno and shallots, and BBQ butter. It sounds like you are having sex when eating Charred Bits and Grits because you're moaning so much and calling out to higher powers (OMG). Yeah, I just said that. 

Not the prettiest dish but the flavors in this combined for a religious experience.

Recipes that caught my eye

So many recipes, so little time, am I right? But here are some of the recipes that I haven't made yet but want to.

• Candy Sauce - I want to try this on my competition ribs
• Jerry's Sugar Smoked Sausage 
• The Burnt Heaven - sandwich with brisket, sausage, spicy slaw, BBQ ranch, and fried jalapenos? Shut up and take my money.
• Cheesy "Hushpuppies" made from leftover cheese grits and served with a beer blanc sauce. Oh hell yeah.
• Peach Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce - Alexis never turns down bread pudding.
• Jess Pryle's Smoked Garlic Sauce - Can't wait to try this on a steak.
• Smoked Brisket Smash Burgers - Chopped smoked brisket mixed into your burger grind? Genius.
• Grilled Corn and Dungeness Crab Dip - I want this so badly, the next time I get some Dungeness crab you can bet I'm making this.
• Charred Sous Vide Cauliflower Steaks - Speaking of out-of-the-box cooking.
• Homemade pop tarts - What what what? I want to make an adult version with something like bourbon bacon jam on the inside.

Photography

BBQ Revolution is loaded with color photography by Isaac Alongi. Almost every recipe has an eye-catching, mouth-watering photograph. The photos are mostly final plating pictures and some in-process or how-to photos.

Summary

Whether you are new to grilling or a seasoned grill master, BBQ Revolution is sure to fire up your grill or smoker this summer with flavorful recipes, cooking strategies, and helpful advice. It got me excited about grilling again.

Rating

5 stars – an absolute resource, I will refer to it frequently

4 stars – very good cookbook with value-added tips, photos, guides, and other content

3 stars – Good, average cookbook, glad to have it on my shelf

2 stars – a recipe collection

1 star - destined to gather dust on the shelves of a second-hand book store

Email Subscription Changes Effective May 2021

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Taco Tuesday - Fajita Chicken Tacos

 [FTC Standard Disclosure] I received no compensation for this post. I do get a small percentage if you purchase any Amazon Affiliate links in this post but it's minuscule, I promise you.

Here is just a quickie for Taco Tuesday because this marinade was so delicious - Fajita Chicken Tacos.

This has quickly become our preferred fajita marinade after just one time using it because the flavors were amazing on the grill. We have had a different fajita marinade that we've used for chicken for years and it is good but the green chile powder in this one makes it an order of magnitude better.

Steak, Over Easy Potatoes, and Eggs

 [FTC Standard Disclosure] We received no compensation for this post.

You must think that I messed up with the "over easy potatoes", right? Nope. We call these Over Easy Potatoes because they are skillet-cooked Honey Gold potatoes tossed in butter and Over Easy Seasoning.  So. Freaking. Good. 

Over Easy Seasoning

Chef Edward Lee's Pork Chop with Bourbon Mustard Sauce

[FTC Standard Disclosure] We received no compensation for this post. However, in full disclosure, I have contracted with Oklahoma Joe's in the past. 

This past weekend, I made Chef Edward Lee's recipe for Grilled Pork Chops with Knob Creek® Bourbon Mustard Sauce on the Oklahoma Joe's® Rider DLX. It was succulent, smoky, and delicious.

The James Beard Award-winning author, chef, and television personality loaded up his Oklahoma Joe's Rider DLX (just like mine) in an old Chevy truck and went trailgating through bourbon country. What is trailgating? 

Trailgating is a journey. A journey down the bourbon trail to discover the flavors and stories that make bourbon and BBQ American traditions.  ~Chef Edward Lee

Oklahoma Joe's tagged along and created a well-produced and inspirational docu-series about Chef's journey. It's only about 10 minutes per episode, and they are absolutely worth the watch. You can find the four installments HERE. In each episode, Chef shares a recipe inspired by the stories that he found.

The Grilled Pork Chop with Knob Creek® Bourbon Mustard Sauce is the first such recipe.  Here is how my cook-along went.

The Prep

After watching the video, I didn't want my pork chop to be a run-of-the-mill pork chop, so I went on a journey of my own to Hen + Hoc in Knoxville's Old City.