Grilled Thick Pork Chops with Apple and Apricot Sauce

One of the friends I have made through online BBQ contacts is Lee, over on the West coast.  He sent us a generous package of his homemade sauces, jams, and jellies a while back.  But I have been saving Lee's stuff for special recipes like these pork chops that I made earlier this week.

I steal the technique and recipe idea from Chef Adam Perry Lang's BBQ 25 (great grilling resource for intermediate grillers wanting to up their game).  Shuttling the chops back and forth from the grates to a pan of goodness cooks layers of flavors onto the pork chops.  The sauce becomes a smoky, sweet syrup that makes the pork chop sing.  

Grilled Thick Pork Chops with Apple and Apricot Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 porterhouse pork chops, bone-in, 1" thick
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon black pepper (coarse ground Malabar, dustless)
• 2 gala apples, cored, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup apricot jam
• 3 tablespoons sweet BBQ seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon apple pie seasoning
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup chicken stock

Event: 2017 Lamar Johnson Classic - A BBQ Event Ooltewah, TN

Alexis and I judged the 2017 Lamar Johnson Classic Saturday in scenic Ooltewah, Tennessee.

The Lamar Johnson Classic is a regional BBQ competition held in the foothills town just a few miles North of Chattanooga. The contest is organized by our friend, Steve Ray.  Lamar Johnson was a legendary pitmaster in the area.  I'll let Steve's own words tell you more about the contest's namesake.

Around 1905 to 1910, when Ooltewah was the county seat of James County, a legendary man named Lamar Johnson smoked whole hog BBQ near Mineral Park just off the old hwy that connected Ooltewah to Cleveland. Travelers by train going and coming from Atlanta to Ooltewah to Chattanooga would stop over at the busy Ooltewah Train Depot and make the short trip east on what was then known as Fitzgerald Pass. It was there at Mineral Park where they stopped and sampled the whole hog BBQ of Lamar Johnson.

The Lamar Johnson Classic is a "non-sanctioned" contest meaning they have not gone through a sanctioning body like the Kansas City BBQ Society (KCBS), Memphis BBQ Network (MBN), World Food Championships (WFC) or other agency.  Sanctioning bodies provide a framework of rules, judging, and processes for consistency.  Here's how a non-sanctioned event like this one differs from the typical KCBS contests in which we normally compete.

• Meat Categories - KCBS events typically require the 4 main meats - chicken, pork ribs, pork, and brisket.  The Lamar Johnson Classic categories are burger, pork tenderloin, and pork ribs.
• Timing - Since the meats are all short cooks (no brisket or butts), these are usually single day contests rather than overnight.  Additionally, the turn in times in KCBS are pretty consistently (but not always) the tight time windows of 12, 12:30, 1, and 1:30.  The Lamar Johnson Classic had turn in times an hour apart.
• Judging - Sanctioning events prescribe specific judging procedures and often require certification for judges.  The Lamar Johnson Classic used a judging style similar to the E.A.T. Methodology used by the World Food Championships because about half of the judges were either E.A.T. certified, KCBS certified, or both.  

Neither style is better, they are just different.  Non-sanctioned events tend to allow for more creativity from the cook teams.  Non-sanctioned events are often more fan friendly since you can see more of the action with cook teams under tents instead of inside trailers.  Sanctioned events usually have more prize money and have consistency so you know what to expect from contest to contest.

Eppy's BBQ used a small black steel off-set pit.  Off-set steel pits are what most people envision when you mention a BBQ pit. They require constant attention but in the hands of a capable pitmaster, it's hard to beat the BBQ off of a wood fired pit.

Smoked Turkey Breast with Bourbon Orange Glaze on a Grilla Pellet Cooker

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  This is not a compensated post; however, I did receive my Grilla pellet grill as thank you for competing on Grilla's Pro Team at Memphis In May.

Alexis was craving good turkey for lunch meat so we smoked a turkey breast last weekend just for slicing.  It is also good to get some practice in before Thanksgiving, right? 

I opted to use my Grilla pellet cooker for a couple of reasons.  First, I like the color that it builds up on food.  Second and probably more importantly, I was juggling tasks and wanted the ease and reliability of using a pellet cooker.  

Breakfast Bowls with Goetta Sausage, Hatch Chile Cheese Grits, and Eggs

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] I have a agreement with Char-Broil® to provide content (recipes/tips/pictures) for their website and I received the pictured grill as part of that compensation package; however, this is not a sponsored post.

I just returned home from a food related business conference and every time you turned around, someone was giving you some delicious creation to eat. It was nice being catered to but the first thing I wanted to do when I got home was cook for myself.  

It was an absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning with warm sunshine and a pleasant early Fall breeze so it was a day for breakfast outside.  I scrambled through the fridge and found a few things.

• Hatch green chiles - Big Dude tells me these famous chiles are a regional variation of Big Jim chiles.
• Oaxaca cheese - A Mexican cheese that has a buttery flavor, semi-soft texture, and melts quite well.  We call it Mexican Mozzarella because it is similar, but we like Oaxaca better.
• Goetta sausage - a sausage with German heritage from Cinncinati that is pork sausage that contains oats.

I used those to create these fantastic breakfast bowls.

Steak & Lobster: Ribeyes with Gorgonzola Butter and Lobster Tails with IPA Butter

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  We are proud to be sponsored by Certified Angus Beef and received the Cattleman's package free of charge.  We also received the Dizzy Pig IPA Seasoning as a free sample.

Early fall is a perfect time of year for grilling in the evenings.  For starters, it's comfortably warm, not offensively hot.  Also, It hasn't started getting too dark, too early yet.  The chorus of cicadas and katydids is nature's soundtrack.  We took full advantage of this and grilled up a magnificent surf and turf last night.

The "surf" was lobster tails seasoned with IPA compound butter.  The "turf" was Certified Angus Beef ribeye steaks crowned with a Gorgonzola-Black Pepper compound butter.

This is more of an idea post than a recipe post, so here's what I did with the steak and lobster tails.

Ribeye Steak with Gorgonzola Butter

• Made the butter by mixing together 1 stick of softened unsalted butter, 1/4 cup of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, 1 teaspoon of 16 mesh black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of Hawaiian red clay salt.  I left it out at room temp because I wanted to keep it soft and easy to melt.
• Tempered the steak by leaving it out at room temperature for a little over an hour.
• Preheated a kamado grill with natural hardwood lump charcoal to 500°f.
• Seasoned the steaks.  Just before grilling, I patted them dry, put a light coat of high temp cooking oil and seasoned them with my Umami Steak Seasoning recipe.
• Grilled the steaks at 500°f for 4 minutes a side.
• Rested the steaks on a cooling rack when they came off the grill and then immediately 
• seasoned them with finely ground Umami Steak Seasoning and
• topped them with copious amounts of the Gorgonzola butter

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] This post is sponsored by Smithfield and their line of Fresh Marinated Fresh Pork.

This fusion sub sandwich is ideal for game day menus.  Loaded with double smoked bacon, smoked Gouda cheese, and thick sliced roasted pork on a crusty and light bolillo roll, you won't walk away hungry.  

This huge sandwich is based on the torta, a Mexican sandwich served on a crusty roll.   Tortas are usually large and stuffed with pork, chicken, or beef.  They are finished in a sandwich press and then served warm. We get tortas frequently from a little unnamed food truck near our office and came up with this idea when I noticed the bolillo roll resembles a football.

Torta from a local food truck.

We put our own spin on the torta by adding the red pepper mayo, bacon, and Gouda cheese, so it's not a traditional torta. Then we made it quick and easy by using Smithfield's Fresh Marinated Pork Golden Rotisserie Flavor Sirloin.

Smithfield Fresh Marinated Pork starts by using only 100% fresh pork and then carefully blends their seasonings to give you a quick, ready to cook item.  These handy pork sirloins, pork chops, tenderloins, fillets, and pork roasts come in a variety of flavors, including:

• Roasted Garlic and Cracked Black Pepper,
• Slow Roasted Golden Rotisserie Flavor, and
• Hardwood Smoked Bacon and Cracked Black Pepper.

If you have the space on your grill, you can cook bacon and pork at the same time to save time.  Or you can just pre-cook the bacon and pork sirloin and then just put the sandwich together and warm it up at the tailgate.  If you like, you can just use a panini press for the last part.  

Give this big sandwich a try.  It is so good and ideal for tailgates, it doesn't matter if you are watching football or fùtbol.

Touchdown Torta

Published 09/21/2017

Ingredients

Tex-Mex Brisket Benedict

This dish was inspired by a breakfast that Alexis and I had a few weeks ago at First Watch in the Bearden district of Knoxville.  Their Barbacoa Benedict was a summer special menu item that had braised barbacoa, 2 poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, and sliced avocado on a ciabatta roll.

First Watch's Barbacoa Benedict

Although I was inspired by First Watch's Barbacoa Benedict, I didn't want to just copycat it - I wanted to riff off of it.  

• Beef - Our waitress didn't know if their barbacoa was beef cheek or brisket but whichever, it was braised.  I used smoked brisket for my protein.
• Saucy - Although Hollandaise is traditional for Benedict, I borrowed a page from Croque Madame or Kentucky Hot Browns and used a Mornay sauce.
• Extras - I wanted to kick up the flavors a bit with fire roasted tomatoes and Hatch green chiles.

My Tex-Mex Brisket Benedict was a wee bit different.