Smoked Chicken

When you think of smoked meats, what comes to mind? Pork butt, brisket and ribs, right? Even at BBQ contests, chicken seems to be an also ran. I'm not really sure why that is, because when done properly, smoked chicken has a flavor and texture that can't be beat. Not to mention the leftovers are way more flexible. I mean, whoever heard of pork butt alfredo or a brisket salad sandwich?
This is our spin on smoked chicken. It borrows from several things I've learned over the years, including a brine, a mop, and fire control. This recipe is for 2 birds.

Brine
1 gallon water
3/4 c koser salt (not regular table salt)
1/2 c sugar
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
1 T cumin
1 T black pepper

Ask your butcher to cut the birds in half (or do it yourself like I do, removing the backbone entirely). Soak in the brine mixture for 4-8 hours. When ready to start cooking, remove from the brine and rinse the chicken well.

Rub
1 T chopped garlic
1 t black pepper
1 t kosher salt

Rub the chicken halves with the rub mix. Don't be bashful. I like to use latex gloves because....well because raw chicken just grosses me out.

Mop
1 c apple cider vinegar
1/2 c beer
1/2 c Kraft original BBQ sauce
1 oz Tabasco sauce
1.5 t ground pepper
1.5 t ground kosher salt
Whisk the mop ingredients together. I know...Kraft BBQ sauce? Isn't that a mail-in on my part? I learned this recipe from Bill Martin in 2001 when we first moved into this neighborhood and I've tried a few other commercial sauces. For some reason, perhaps nostalgia, only Kraft works for me in this ONE dish.

Place the 1/2 birds on a smoker or grill on indirect heat at 250f. For the Big Green Egg, this means using the plate setter with a drip pan. If you are using a grill, put the hot coals to one side, place a foil pan with liquid (apple juice, water, chicken broth, etc) on the other side and place the chicken over the pan. For this cook, I used cherry wood mixed with lump coal because chicken is very vulnerable to smoke flavors. Baste the chicken with the mop sauce.
The original recipe called for mopping or basting the chicken with the "mop sauce". This requires being very careful about swapping out brushes and working in small batches to avoid cross contamination. To skip that, I like to splash the sauce on using a cheap squirt bottle like this:Mop (squirt) the chicken every 30 minutes as it cooks to keep the skin moist.Pull the chicken off of the cooker when it hits 160 in the breast or 175f in the thigh. For me, this is usually about 3 hours, but go by your internal thermometer. Let rest for 10-15 minutes.To serve, cut each 1/2 in 1/2....that would be the standard "quarter chicken" you get on a chicken plate at most bbq joints. To do that, pull the thigh up and cut underneath it. At this point, you are really just cutting through the skin, the meat and bones are pretty much tender.I always make at least one extra bird so we can make the ultimate Smoked Chicken Salad. I'll post that recipe in a day or two.

For a printable version, click here:

Fire Roasted Smashed Tomatoes

Is there anything better than cooking outside on a warm spring night?

I made two new dishes tonight. One was a simple one I made up tonight and the other was Pecan Crusted Pork Tenderloin Pinwheels with Carolina Mustard Sauce from Chris Lilly's new book, Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book.

Fire Roasted Smashed Tomatoes

Ingredients
6 ea roma tomatoes

6 ea basil leaves, chopped

6 ea oregano leaves, chopped

kosher salt (to taste)

black pepper (to taste)

feta cheese (just enough to top each half)

Olive oil

Instructions

Halve the tomatoes and then score each mater so it can lay flat like this (use a very sharp knife and don't cut all the way through):

Sprinkle each tomato half with basil, salt, oregano, and pepper. Crumble feta cheese on top of the seasoned tomatoes. Drizzle with your favorite olive oil.

Place the tomato halves on a preheated pizza stone on a 500f grill, cover and cook approximately 5-7 minutes until the cheese starts to brown. (I was having a horrible time with lighting in the kitchen. That does it, I am getting a light tent set up!)

Oh man, I can tell you these things are aweome! Great appetizer or side dish. Just enough of a subtle smokiness came through in the feta cheese.

Pecan Crusted Pork Tenderloin Pinwheels with Carolina Mustard Sauce

I won't re-post the whole recipe since it can be found here or in Chris Lilly's new book. The book does a much better job explaining the assembly process. Basically, it is just rolled up strips of pork tenderloin and bacon, then grilled. It kicks ass.

TIP: To slice the pork tenderloins...Do this with a very sharp knife while they are still partially frozen. The tenderloin usually has a flat side. Place this side down on the cutting board.

First of all, pecans make me hurl, so they weren't an option. Secondly, I didn't have plain yellow mustard. We go through tons of plain mustard bbqing so all I had was stone ground mustard.

(If you don't know my sarcastic style, please know the serious look in the picture is just goofing off.)

The coarse mustard seed worked for texture, since I wasn't doing the pecans.

I cook the pinwheels on the Brinkmann Charcoal Grill using Kingsford Hickory Briquettes while the tomatoes cooked on the Egg using Full Circle Lump.

Despite my completely crappy pictures, the food came out incredibly great. The bacon helps keep the lean tenderloin from drying out during grilling and adds flavor.

These are great for a heavy appetizer serving or as a main dish. We got 20 single servings out of one twin pack of pork tenderloins.

Things I'd change next time:
Tomatoes
- Just take better pictures!

Pork
-Be careful of distance to coals. I was cooking too close (5-7") on the first side so I got that side a bit crispy. Next time either start checking for done-ness at around 5 minutes or raise the cooking great a few inches.

For printable recipe, click here:

Blount BBQ Bash 2009

The 2009 Blount BBQ Bash has come and gone. I had a great time volunteering at this event again. Sure it was long hours of checking in the teams, putting up signs, setting up trash cans, resolving small issues, emptying trash, sloshing in mud, spreading hay, setting up tents, you name it. But I got to work with great organizers, competition teams, and other volunteers. I loved every minute of it.

This will be my last year volunteering though. Robert B. (my martial arts instructor) and I are going to compete next year and possibly at the State Championship in Lenoir City in October in the Backyard Division. I had two offers to assist with existing teams but Robert and I want to make our own team.

The two most memorable things about this year? Obviously, the mud. Mud, mud, mud.

But the huge thing was that on Friday, I got to work with Chris Lilly for about 8 hours. He is a champion pitmaster, having won events like Memphis In May many times over. I got to help him and local BBQ ace, George Ewart of the Dead End Society BBQ team, prepare for a BBQ cooking class that was part of the event. I had fun, learned a ton, and appreciated how lucky I was to be there. What I learned wasn't secret ingredients or hidden techniques. The three main things I learned were:

1. It's all about fundamentals and basics, like fire/smoke control. Master those and the rest will come naturally.
2. Give yourself a break and stay calm. Wow....Chris and George run into some of the same problems I do occassionally. Ribs getting done too soon, forgetting to baste the bone side, whatever. I guess if they can slip up, I shouldn't get so upset when I mess up.
3. I'll be damned....Chris has great taste in music. His Ipod and mine have very similar content. I never heard any Linkin Park, but I'll let that slide;)
   

Saturday, Alexis, Trevor and I got to help Chris promote his new book that came out today. He was on the Today Show this morning promoting it too. It's called Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book-Recipes & Secrets From A Legendary Barbecue Joint. You can get it at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, you know, the usual outlets. You can also just click on the link and order it directly.

Chris was gracious enough to give us a signed copy. It's not just a cookbook. In my opinion, it is a perfect blend of BBQ recipies, technique, and history/stories. I helped him make and tasted five of the recipes in the book, so I can say the recipes work. It's an entertaining read and I think anyone from the casual backyard griller to the hard core BBQ enthusiast would enjoy. I highly recommend it.

I was thinking about doing a "cook the book" deal with it but Chris laughed and pointed out that it does have 5 different whole hog recipes. Ok, maybe I'll do a "cook MOST of the book" ;)

Blount BBQ Bash: Interim Report

I went to a BBQ contest yesterday and it turned into a tractor pull. After 7 straight days of rain (half a foot has fallen in some areas), I didn't expect much less. The ground was so soft that we had to use tractors to get the various teams' equipment in.But it didn't rain during the event today, we got all of the contestants settled in, and hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same. And on the bright side.....there was mud wrasslin' ! It wasn't intentional but it was entertaining. Let's just say the person who was involuntarily thrown into the mud is plotting her revenge against her villainous attacker. The canoe races should prove interesting tomorrow.
I have a lot to write about but it's before dawn Saturday morning and I'm about to head back down for another day of volunteering at the event. I need a Red Bull.

I'll do a real post later. Like tomorrow most likely.

Blount BBQ Bash This Weekend

This weekend it the Blount BBQ Bash charity event. If you are in the East Tennessee area, stop by on Saturday and enjoy a great BBQ contest, wacky canoe races, and live music. This event has raised $50,000 for charities in its first two years!Alexis and I are volunteering for this event so I won't be around for the next few days. We'll be helping with set up, check in, logistics, support, and vending. But I've also landed my choice assignment to assist a well known BBQ expert during the event. I'll blog about it later but I am excited (Shush Brandi! Don't tell who it is or I'll delete your comment:) ).

Sunshine International Supermarket

It was a wash out for grilling this weekend.....but the sun is shining on Knoxville! Well, more specifically, Sunshine Supermarket, a full service Asian market has opened. It is an 18,000 square foot store full of Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Korean, Indian, and Philippine products and ingredients. All kinds of things that I never thought I would have found in Knoxville. (Picture was taken early Sunday morning because there were too many cars in the way on Saturday. )They have aisle after aisle of things I have never used or heard of. We spent an hour browsing.
I came straight home and googled about 1/2 dozen ingredients.

You like fresh fish? Fine, pick one out of the tanks...they're still swimming!Exotic mushrooms? Take your pick off of a half aisle of them.Want a different kind of rice? Take your pick off of an aisle full of them. We picked a red rice. We walked through the store "just to look" today to get a feel on what kind of stuff they had. Of course I ended up an armful of "I'm just getting this one thing". I got a dried citrus powder, several varieties of noodles, red rice, dried red chili peppers, and a few other odds and ends. It's a great store and the staff are incredibly friendly.

But my favorite score? This!Sriracha sauce! It is a Thai chili sauce that is out of this world. It brings tons of heat but also has a rich flavor. Lord of The Wings danced with this devil when he was wanting to make excruciatingly hot wings. It's tasty good stuff (I think they teach that term at the Culinary Institute of America and Le Cordon Bleu, right?).

So last night I made a simple, quick stir fry noodle dish with a side of broccoli with oyster sauce.

Ingredients
3 ea chicken thighs, boneless, skinless diced into small 1/4 to 1/2" pieces
3 T honey
1 T sriracha sauce
1 T chili powder
1/2 T dried tangerine peel powder***
1/2 ea yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/3 ea green bell pepper (I'd add some red bell pepper too next time)
1 t ginger, minced
2 ea green onion, julienne cut into 1" pieces
4 ounces Chinese style dried egg noodles

Instructions
Cook noodles to directions, drain, and set aside.

Mix honey, sriracha sauce, chili powder and tangerine peel powder. Toss diced chicken into the mix.

Bring wok up to medium-high heat. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of peanut oil (I like to sneak in a few drops of seasame oil) and swirl around to coat the wok. Stir fry the chicken on the wok until done, I'd guess it was about 3-5 minutes. I always cut one of the fattest pieces in half just to make sure because outward appearances can be deceiving. Remove the meat and juices to a plate.

Add a few more drops of oil if you need to and bring the onion, green pepper, and ginger to the party, tossing them frequently. I only let mine go a few minutes because I like my veggies a bit crispy.

Now add the noodles and toss them around with the veggies. This may take a few minutes until they start to untangle. Pour the meat mixture and green onion in.

Serve.

I was surprised at how much heat the noodles picked up but it was a great dish for something I just threw together.

***You can just omit this stuff. Chef E was great in helping me try to make it work earlier in the day. I cooked 5 small batches of chicken trying to get the flavor right. I was going to make Orange Chicken but this tangerine peel powder just does not equate well to dried tangerine peel. In small quantities it didn't bring anything to the table and in larger quantities, it brought only bitter. I'd say it's about the same difference between fresh cilantro and dried cilantro. You just can't sub one out for the other just by adjusting quantity like you can with other herbs.

Mega Super Fantastic Recipe Free Episode

Wow, I haven't posted in 5 days. And none of you were concerned enough to send out a search party or even call to make sure I was okay?

What if I had accidentally super glued (I guess these days it's all about Mighty Putty) myself to the floor again or I had been surrounded by a vicious pack of fainting goats? I forgive you.....this time;)

So where the heck have I been all week?

First off, I spent much of the week laboring over tabulating the results from our Name That Chicken poll, validating the results, and then working with various graphic arts company to produce these spectacular official results. (BS....he spent 3 minutes using Excel.)As you can see, Little Bang! Cock was the recipe name of choice. That was my favorite too. But I have to give props to Dick of Opinions & Rectums, We All Got One and Mary of Rejected Truth for mounting very strong write in candidates.

BD made me laugh with "Mini Henny Penny- The Thai Is Falling".

Mary went cerebral on me and came up with Rakesh Saxena Chicken "because he was Thai and chicken". I had to google to get the pun behind that one as I do not have an intimate knowledge of fugitive Thai financiers like Mary does. Hmmmm that makes me wonder where she spent her formative years, who this Mary really is, and what international investigative branch she works for. (That or maybe she reads a paper every now and then.)

I have a confession. Those weren't REALLY cornish game hens in that recipe.....
JUST KIDDING! Sheesh, I posted some of the geese pictures on my photo blog and those folks all said how much they hated geese and wanted to see them burn;)

I also spent some time this week setting up the deck for summer grilling and BBQ mode. All that really is was just doing a spring clean of the Egg table and bringing out the Brinkmann's charcoal grill for additional cooking space. That way I can grill on it while I'm doing a long smoke on the Big Green Egg. I couldn't convince Alexis to let me put the offset smoker on the deck for the summer, too. Finally, I was also interviewed twice this week. First I was interviewed by the infamous Lord Of The Wings. Then I was interviewed by Mary Constantine of the NewsSentinel for an upcoming bit about grilling. It was fun having her and Saul Young over for a late lunch.It felt like we were just having neighbors over for a casual bite. I think I "interviewed" poor Saul about photography as much as Mary could interview me about grilling :)

Anyway, that's where I've been all week. What trouble have YOU been getting into?