Naked Cajun Wings

These wings are similar to dry Memphis style ribs - they use a highly seasoned dry rub and no sauce.  The recipe works whether you cook the wings low and slow on a stick burner - or - hot and fast on a kamado grill.  While I really enjoy grilled wings with a Buffalo sauce, I like these dry style wings for something different and you can always serve sauce on the side.

These were actually just an afterthought last weekend.  On the way home from our last BBQ contest last year, the door on "the Warthog" broke.  We had Curtis Mobile Welding (great service, reasonable prices if you're in the Knox/Blount area, shoot me an email if you need his number) come out and rehab the pit last week.

After he was done, I had to do some touch up paint and reseason those areas.  I figured that once I already had the cooker up and running from reseasoning, I might as well throw some wings into it.

It's simply wings seasoned with my Cajun rub.  I usually use this on beef but hadn't tried it on wings before.  Turns out it works well.  I thought these were quite spicy by my wife and adult son thought they were just slightly hot.  If you are heat adverse (what chile heads call "a big weenie"), I'd start with a half teaspoon each of the peppers and then increase to your tolerance. 

If you are smoking the wings low and slow, I like to use hickory wood.  When cooking them on a grill, I am usually happy with just the smoke from the coal, it is wood after all and poultry doesn't need a lot of smoke.  

Naked Cajun Wings

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken wings
• NMT Cajun rub
• spray butter

Instructions

1. Cut wings into drummettes and wingettes (discard or save the tips for stock).  Season liberally with the Cajun rub to cover all sides. Note:  The NMT Cajun rub recipe will give you a bit more than you need, you'll probably only use about 2-3 tablespoons of it. 
2. Low and Slow:  Place wings in your smoker at 225°F and cook for 2 hours.  Spritz the wings with the spray butter.  Flip them and spritz the other side. Continue cooking the wings until they reach an internal temperature of 180°F, about 1-2 hours.
3. Hot and fast:  Set up your grill for indirect cooking and preheat to 375°F.  Place the wings on your grill, cover and cook for 30 minutes.Spritz the wings with the spray butter.  Flip them and spritz the other side. Continue cooking the wings until they reach an internal temperature of 180°F, about 20-30 more minutes.
4. Remove and serve with your favorite accompaniments.  That's a fancy word for "other stuff". 

So why 180°F instead of 165°F?  I just like my dark meat cooked all of the way through and in my experience, a wing isn't going to dry out until North of 190°F. 

Like my fancy shaker?  They now sell lids with shaker holes already in them for Mason jars but in a pinch I'll go old school and just drill some holes in a metal lid. 

Seems weird having the stick burner fired up for just a handful of wings but like I said, it was already burning anyway.

Feel free to spritz more than once, especially in the 3-4 hour cook low and slow. 

Seasoned and ready to go on the Egg.  See? There is one of those bought shaker lids.

 

My indirect set up for the Egg was a spider rig, 13" stone, and a drip pan with an Adjustable Rig. You could do a plate setter instead with the same result. Or you could just do these indirect on a kettle style grill.

 

One of the advantages of dry style wings is you get a crispier skin.

I haven't tried this recipe cooking the wings over direct heat but since there is no sugar in this rub, that should work just fine as well.

A Quick Turkey Breast and the Adjustable Rig Multi-tiered Rack [Product Review]

There are many options for multi-tier rack systems for kamado grills (Big Green Egg, Grill Dome, Kamado Joe, etc).  From the simple, do it yourself raised grid to commercial options, they all do two basic functions - increase capacity and provide flexibility.  

In my opinion, the Adjustable Rig from Ceramic Grill Store is the most complete multi-tier set up.  I have wanted one for several years and I have finally pulled the trigger on buying one.  Well two, actually.

I bought one set up as a 3-tier rack with slide out trays for ribs and chicken at competitions and the other set up for the brisket and pork butts.   This theoretically will let you cook a KCBS competition with two kamado grills. These are just options of the basic unit which starts with a spider rig which holds a 13-inch pizza stone and a drip pan to create an indirect heat set up. 

This is the spider, pizza stone, and drip pan.  It creates the indirect heat without pushing the cooking grate up 3-4 inches like the plate setter does.

And then the basic Adjustable Rig core which holds any other options that you choose.  This set up takes more advantage of your existing cook space because if you used a plate setter legs up, your first cooking level is about 4 inches above the fire ring.  With this set up, you start right above the fire ring, using more of what you already have.

The "big meats" set up is two levels that will let me cook 4 pork butts at once, 2 briskets at once, or a brisket and two butts. 

The three tiered set up is even more flexible.  This can do my comp chicken and ribs but also works great for doing a lot of wings, smoked sausage, etc.

The rig rocked when my sister and I recently needed to cook a lot of pork but only had one large Big Green Egg at the time for an event that I'll post about later this week.  But it definitely made me a believer.

Excuse the cell phone picture, didn't have my camera with me.

In addition to the added capacity, these rigs also give you the flexibility of cooking direct at 4 different distances from the coals, so you can tailor how you want your direct cooks to go.

These units are made out of high quality 304 grade stainless steel.  They are built in the US and have quality workmanship that is evident in the welds.  My experience with them has been entirely positive and I would recommend these to anyone looking to use kamado grills for BBQ competition, catering, or just looking to get more out of their grill.  

The hardest part about buying an adjustable rig is figuring out what options you want or need, but don't panic.  Just give Tom and Terri Vogds a call and they will help you pick out the right set up without trying to "up sell" you.  In fact, they called me to make sure my order was right because they thought I might have ordered something that I did not need.

You can also use it in lieu of a plate setter even when you don't need multiple levels like I did for this quick and easy turkey breast that I made last weekend for the basketball playoffs.  You know, turkey isn't just for Thanksgiving.  Roast a breast on your kamado grill on the weekend and have sliced turkey for lunch meat for the week.  

This doesn't require a long brine or marinade, just a quick injection keeps the bird plenty moist.  The sweet and spicy seasonings balance out well and this is a great sliced turkey for general use like salads, sandwiches, or by itself.  I don't add any wood, the smoke from the lump coal was enough for me but if you cook this on a gas grill, I'd add some wood chips to a smoke box for flavor.

Quick and Easy Turkey Breast

Ingredients

• 5-7 pound fresh turkey breast
• 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon garlic pepper seasoning
• 1 tablespoon Lawry's Seasoned Pepper
• Meat Church Honey Hog Hot
• Spray butter

Instructions

1.  Set up your grill for indirect heat and preheat it to 325°F.
2. Inject the turkey with the chicken broth every few inches on both sides.  
3. Flatten the turkey breast by pressing down firmly on the breast bone.  
4. Mix together the garlic pepper seasoning and Lawry's Seasoned Pepper.  Season the backside of the breast heavily with this mixture and then lightly on the top side.
5. Seasoning the turkey breast liberally with the Meat Church Honey Hog Hot.  You want a nice even layer as shown in the picture.
6. Place the turkey breast on the grill, close the dome lid, and roast.  Spritz with spray butter about once every hour to keep the skin moist and to help meld the rubs together into a golden crust.
7. Cook until the turkey hits an internal temperature of 157°F, right about 3 hours, and then remove.  Let the turkey breast rest for 15 minutes.  The temp will rise to 165°F during this time.
8. Cut off two breast lobes and slice evenly.  Pull the remaining meat from the breast bone. 

I stopped midway to give you an idea of how much seasoning I sprinkled on.  I didn't measure it, just shake it on.

Cooked this on middle level of the Adjustable rig but you could also do with a plate setter. 

Close it up and let the kamado do the work.

The trusty ChefAlarm shows that it was 120°F  1 hour and 45 minutes into the cook.

If I'm not eating it right away, I like to slice the lobes off like this, chill them and then slice them later.  It's easier to slice thinly by hand when it's chilled thoroughly.

Like I said, this is a good turkey breast for slicing up and using as lunch meat.  Plus, it's quick and easy without a lot of fuss.   I think people forget about turkey on the grill during the Spring and Summer which is a shame because it is awesome on a sandwich with bacon, fresh sliced Summer tomatoes, and a dash of honey-mustard.

And if you're looking to expand the capacity of your kamado grill, check out the Ceramic Grill Store's Adjustable Rig.  I highly recommend them. If you've been on the fence about getting one, don't wait as long as I did.

[Standard FTC Disclaimer] We received no compensation for this post, paid full price for our rigs, and have no affiliation with Ceramic Grill Store.

Quick Grilled Pork Chops

Normally I'm a thick pork chop guy.  I like my chops 1.25" thick or more so you can get a nice outer crust but still have tender juicy meat.  To me, a perfectly grilled monster sized pork chop is every bit as good as a steak.

But sometimes I just pick up a pack of regular pork chops for a quick weeknight meal. These regular sized chops are thinner, cheaper, a little quicker cooking, and they are easier to eat with your hands.  You want to cook them hot and fast so they don't have time to dry out.  The first way that I learned to cook these thinner chops is a popular one.  Marinate them in Italian dressing, season them with garlic salt and black pepper, and then grill quickly over a hot fire.  That is a classic and still works pretty dang well.

This is a recipe that we did this week just for something quick to eat and it turned out really well.  It uses a simple quick brine so the salt is more concentrated, don't soak it for more than 2 hours.  It was just the three of us so we did three chops, but if you add more, just add a 1/2 teaspoon of the pepper blend and 1 teaspoon of BBQ rub per pork chop. 

I love that the late afternoon sunlight is getting later every day!

Quick Grilled Pork Chops
www.nibblemethis.com

Ingredients

• 3 bone in pork chops
• 1 quart water
• 5 tablespoons kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon Trade East Garlic Pepper Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Pepper
• 1 tablespoon NMT Barbecue rub or other BBQ seasoning
• 1.5 tablespoons squeeze butter

Instructions

1. In a large container, whisk the water, salt, and sugar together until dissolved.  Place the pork chops into this brine and refrigerate from one to three hours.
2. Set up your grill for direct heat and preheat at medium high heat (400-450°F).
3. Mix together the Garlic Pepper Seasoning and Lawry's Pepper Seasoning.
4. Remove chops from the grill and pat dry. Season lightly on both sides with the pepper blend (Step 3).  Then season with the BBQ rub.
5. Clean and lightly oil your cooking grates then grill the pork chops for 4 minutes. Flip and brush the cooked side of the pork chops with the butter. 
6. Cook another 4 minutes and then check the internal temperature in the middle of the pork chops with a instant read digital thermometer.  If they are under 140°F, move to an area of indirect heat and roast another few minutes until 140°F. Once they are 140°f, remove, rest them for 5 minutes and serve.

The quick brine has higher salt concentration.  Normally it is 2 tablespoons per quart for a 6-8 hour brine time.  Her I go with 5 tablespoons per quart for a 1-3 hour brine time.  You can adjust to your needs.

I set up the Char-Broil Kettleman for direct heat but left that one small section with no coals in case I needed a "safe zone" to place the chops to finish cooking.  I used the new Kingsford Lump Briquetes for this batch.

I found this seasoned pepper at Gordon Food Services.  I like it for a quick way to boost flavor, texture, and color to rubs and sauces.  If you can't find it or the Garlic Pepper Seasoning, you can just mix 1 teaspoon garlic salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flake to substitute for both the Seasoned Pepper and Garlic Pepper Seasoning. It won't be the same but it will give you the base flavors that you're looking for.

This layer of pepper seasoning gives it your base flavors of salt, heat, and savory.

The layer of NMT BBQ rub adds the sweet flavor and builds on the existing base flavors.  If you don't want to make up a batch of my rub, use a commercial BBQ rub that has a sweet profile with a good bit of sugars in it.

When the temps hit 400-450°F, we're ready to rock and roll.

I have been quite impressed with this kettle style grill from Char-Broil.  I'll post a review of it in the next few days.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

Keep the grill lid closed while grilling these chops.

The TRU-Infrared™ grates help insure even cooking and prevents flare ups.

The butter baste keeps the surface from drying out and helps the seasonings meld with the pork.

After the 8 minutes, the chops looked done but I always double check using an instant read thermometer. about 8 degrees away from when I want to pull them from the grill.

So I just shuttled the chops to the little "safe zone" that I had set up when arranging the coals and leaving a blank space. This lets them roast (lid closed) for another few minutes to get up to the temp I was looking for.

The resting rack keeps the chops from laying on a flat surface, which would trap the heat and result in more moisture loss.

This was just a quick weeknight dinner, as evident by the high quality "Dixie China" :)  But it sure was delicious!

The design of the Kettleman is not your ordinary kettle grill layout, particularly the back side which looks like this.  I kept thinking that this looked familiar to me but I just couldn't place it....

Then it dawned on me...Dark Helmet from the movie Space Balls!  Dark Helmet photo credit IMDB

Dopplegangers aside, I have really been enjoying this Kettleman kettle grill and it is a bargain at $129 at Lowe's.  I'll write up a full review and post it later this week.

If you want to cook this on a kamado grill (Grill Dome, Big Green Egg, Primo, Kamado Joe, etc) or a gas grill, you'd use the same times and temps.  For a kamado you'll want a partial indirect set up like a half moon.  For a gas grill you will just do an indirect set up where all burners are on except one.  

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  I received no compensation for this post. I have no affiliation with Trade East spices or Lawry's.  I am a member of the Char-Broil All Star team and received this grill as part of my sponsorship package.  However, that is for posting on their Char-Broil Live website (great grilling and recipe resource) and I'm under no obligation to post about them here.  I'm posting about this on my own volition because I like the grill.

Competition BBQ Class: Pork Choppers University

I attended Pork Choppers University this weekend in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  PCU is a high level, tell - all competition barbecue class presented by the Warren County Pork Choppers.  They are a fixture on the BBQ circuit and were the Grand Champions at our first solo competition last year.

Donny Bray at Rocky Top BBQ Cook-off in Knoxville, TN May 2014.

Don't feel bad that they beat us last year.  For the whole year, Warren County Pork Choppers pretty much beat everyone else like they were a brother-in-law's mule.  That's why they won Team of the Year for KCBS in 2014.

So I decided to learn from the best and moseyed up to "the holler" for their class.  This is just a review of the class - I'm not giving away any secrets here.  First, it's their content, not mine.  Second, I could tell you but you'd have to cut Warren County Pork Choppers a check first. 

In KCBS judging for BBQ, you get three scores from 0 to 9 for appearance, taste, and tenderness.  Since this is a BBQ competition class, I'm going to review it on that scale, just changing the categories a bit. I give Pork Choppers University competition BBQ class Triple 9's! 

Appearance (facilities, hospitality, learning environment) - 9

The class is held at their newly built barn located in the rolling hills of Western Kentucky.  There is no cell phone coverage in the holler which is a plus - no distractions. 

The barn was built specifically for conducting classes so it's a perfect fit and a great learning environment.  It may be a barn but it is completely outfitted with all of the creature comforts (heating/air, restrooms, etc).  It is an ideal set up because you go from inside class room to outdoor demonstrations with just the roll of a garage door.

Ours was just the 3rd class in the new barn.  Kitchen is on the left, the middle and right side are the class room.

The podium has an overhead mirror and an overhead projection screen so you can see everything going on in detail even if you are standing all the way at the back by the buffet tables.  The barn has a professional audio system. 

We had 30 or so in our class but the barn can handle more than that.

The team provided snacks, happy hour (open bar), and a full teppanyaki style dinner on Friday.  Saturday morning they put out a huge breakfast spread of biscuits and sawmill gravy, sausage, bacon, breakfast casserole, eggs, and more.  Then of course you sample all of the BBQ.  You won't go away hungry, I promise. 

Donny Bray (left) and Billy DoRag Carroll (right) whipping up veggies for the teppanyaki dinner.

Shot of the interior during happy hour.

It is an entertaining learning experience.  I really enjoyed meeting other BBQ people outside of my normal regional contests area.  There were people from Wisconsin, Connecticut, South Dakota, Kansas City, Alabama, South Carolina, and more.  The team makes it fun and uses a lot of humor.  Billy "DoRag" Carroll was a riot, Donny was full of quips (like the brother in law's mule one I stole), and the team members take light hearted jabs at each other.

It's not just Donny - it is a true team approach.  Each and every interaction I had with a team member was friendly, helpful, and I walked away with what I needed.

It is a comfortable, well designed set up for learning.

Taste (Content) - 9

The class is advertised as "tell all" and after taking it, I have no doubt that Donny gave us the full spectrum of his program.  Not once did I get the impression he was holding back or being coy.  He even told us things he is currently working on changing, even if it is still in the experimentation phase.  This is not just rubs and sauces - Donny is giving you a complete turnkey operation, everything you need to be successful. 

• Detailed techniques and processes for product selection, trimming, injecting, brining, seasoning, cooking, and presenting.  For example, he gives specifics for how much of 3 rubs to put on the bottom of chicken and different ratios for the top.  Yeah, that level of detail.
• Donny talks through equipment, suppliers, fuel, times/temps, and just about anything that could possibly related to winning at BBQ.
• There were plenty of eye opening surprises in the content.  But each time you might question a technique or suggestion, all you have to do is look at that Team of the Year trophy.  They scored higher and won more contests than any other team in the country.  They might know what they are talking about.  Examples -
• The type of ribs they use is NOT what I expected.
• When they apply smoke was suprising.
• You do what with your brisket!?!?
• A sharpie as a BBQ tool?  Like the permanent marker - sharpie? 
• Donny discusses how things are supposed to be judged (i.e. "only judge what is presented to you in the box") versus the reality ("it puts the burnt ends in, or else it gets the hose again").
• Despite his credentials, Donny is a very humble and approachable instructor.  He presented everything as just his opinion but he was absolutely confident in those opinions.  

Smokers rolling at 6 in the morning.

Tracy showed us how to build a lettuce blind box that actually looks good.  As a judge, most of the ones that I see look awful so we have always used parsley when we compete.  But parsley is time consuming and sticks to the sauce.

Any time I questioned anything Donny said, I just went into the kitchen and looked at the wall and his Team of the Year hardware.

They shared their no fail burnt ends technique.  Results spoke for themselves.

It was great being able to open the roll up door and walk straight from the class room to the cooking area.

Donny working through his chicken program.

Ribs ready for foiling.  He shared some ideas about sugar and toughness of the skin that I had not thought about.

These didn't have the appearance he wanted because we were cramming 9 in per pan since we needed so many.  That didn't give any room for air circulation so the edges weren't as pretty as normal.

These were the back up ribs after someone (cough, Donny, cough) got so excited about the taste/texture of the ribs and started passing them out before we built the blind box.  It proved the point he made several times about distractions and we got a good laugh from it.

A little blurrier than my other pork shots but I just loved the steam coming off in this pic.

They taught us great techniques for keeping pork warm and juicy during holding and while building your blind boxes.

Pork blind box. 

Brisket slices and burnt ends, always my favorite.

Tenderness (Takeaways) - 9
One funny lesson we learned is "Don't eat your turn in ribs before you build your turn in box".   Yeah, that happened....in class.

But my main takeaway without revealing secrets is this. I now have absolute confidence that I am going to have a much better year this BBQ competition season and I'm not talking just about scores.  I know that I am going to enjoy it more and have a better experience because I have the tools, knowledge, and processes to be more organized and focused on what needs to be done. Without a doubt, I got every penny of my money's worth from this class. 

Summary

If you have been thinking about taking a comp class, do it, you won't regret it.  It is educational and entertaining.  Specifically, the Pork Choppers University is excellent for

• Rookies wanting to get on the fast track and side step the mistakes,
• Teams looking to improve their scores and get more calls, and
• Veteran teams that just need to shake up their program.

I highly recommend it.

One side note:  If you do take the class - drive carefully down Jenkins Road on Saturday morning.  It was before dawn as I came over a hill and almost hit a black cow standing in the middle of the road. "Hey Donny! I brought two more briskets to class!"

To find out when the next Pork Choppers University session is, keep an eye on the Warren County Pork Choppers Facebook page or you can contact Tory via email.

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] I received no compensation for this post, have no affiliation with Warren County Pork Choppers, and paid full price for the class.