Outdoor Cooking Fun with Raceyb

Curing Bacon

2011-11-06T15:00:00.000-05:00

Hello friends,

I've let my school work interfere with my blogging as most of you have noticed. I kid of course, an education is important. Lately I've had a hankering for trying my hand at curing some bacon. The lowest price locally for pork belly is about $3.79 a pound. I've been looking for it elsewhere, but everyone online is higher.

I Hope to be able to blog about bacon very shortly. the process takes about 7-9 days.

Memorial Day

2011-05-29T10:16:00.000-04:00

I'd like to take a brief moment to thank our armed forces service men and women and our veterans for risking their lives to protect us all. I would also like to reflect upon what it means to be an American, and thank those that gave the ultimate sacrifice, so that I may be free.

Memorial Day is a time when we look back at our wars and remember those that died while fighting them. Many people travel to visit with family or to vacation, and many barbecue and entertain friends. This year, I smoked a 12 lb picnic that came out pretty tasty. I hope everyone has a safe holiday.

Have fun, be safe

2011-05-08T19:16:00.000-04:00

he new summer is quickly approaching and I'm experiencing temperatures in the mid nineties. I planted some raised gardens and the harvests are just beginning to come in. Memorial day is quickly approaching and many of us will be grilling outdoors and entertaining family, friends, and neighbors. I certainly intend to grill or smoke something up for our neighborhood cookout. Today I want to share something a little different; cooking inside....

I recently harvested 3 nice looking crooked neck squash that I had been wanting to cook. I looked around for some ideas online, but nothing excited me, and I didn't want to fire up the grill just for a single side dish. I saw a recipe that looked easy enough for squash and onions that was done in a 10" skillet. It looked boring, so I kicked it up a few degrees. It went something like this....

3 med summer squash

1 med onion

4 pieces of bacon

salt

pepper

1/2 cup apple juice

Prepare the squash and onion and then slice them up. Cook the bacon until crispy, remove and drain bacon while leaving drippings in pan. With heat at medium-high, begin layering slices of squash and onions; salt and pepper the top of each layer. Cover the pan and let cook a few minutes, before turning over the bottom layer up onto the top and rearranging the contents of the pan. Add about half of the apple juice and immediately cover the pan. Continue to simmer on medium to med-high heat, occasionally stirring; for about 20 minutes. When you are ready to remove it from the heat, add the last half of the apple juice and stir it into the pan, making sure to mix it in with the pan drippings. crumble bacon and add back to the pan.

This was the best summer squash I have ever eaten. The onions were perfectly caramelized and the apple juice added a lot of flavor. I usually always get seconds on vegetables, but they were all gone when I went for more. :)

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-27T21:01:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that it has been since July since I last updated this blog. I have been working hard in school and am now working a full time job. I still love to cook outdoors and I have every intention of returning to contributing something at least once a week, even if it is just a tip, a comment, observation about cooking, etc.

God Bless America & Merry Christmas!!

Smoked Baked Beans

2010-07-08T14:54:00.002-04:00

Happy Belated 4th of July!

I had a wonderful time with my neighbors on our fourth of July celebration, held this past Sunday on the 4th. Everyone in our immediate area usually brings a dish to share or a meat to cook on the grill and the adults bring their beverage of choice, from iced tea to cocktails. I think everyone had a good time, I sure did. One of the guys brought his propane tank and stand and we did a country boil consisting of Old Bay seasoning, shrimp, corn on the cob, baby red potatoes, and country red sausage. It was a hit.

My dishes were Baked Beans, which I prepped outside and cooked on the grill. I did absolutely everything outside on my patio table near my grills and smokers. With a trash can and liner beside me and sanitary gloves, clean up was a breeze. I also had 3 racks of ribs to smoke, but I'll write about doing those tomorrow. Be sure to check back, they were awesome and the compliments from neighbors was continuous. I am proud of how they turned out and will share with my readers tomorrow. Let's get to those beans shall we?

I brought all of my ingredients outside to the patio and prepared to make the beans. As you can see from the photo, we are going to doctor up a huge can of Bush Beans. I had the following ingredients on hand:

Apple Juice
Apple Cider Vinegar
2 medium onions
2 tablespoons of grated garlic
1 can of roasted Hunt's Tomatoes
1 very large can of beans
BBQ sauce of choice
BBQ rub
small jar pimientos
1lb package of bacon
dark brown sugar

I started a chimney starter of charcoal and while that was heating up, I diced up my onions. I had placed bacon in the garage freezer for about 20 minutes to firm it up before dicing it. That makes handling it so much easier. Toss the onions and bacon into a 6 quart dutch oven. Mine is enameled cast iron that was given to me last Christmas. What a wonderful gift!!

When the charcoal was ready, I dumped it onto only one side of the grill. The idea was to use the hot side to saute the onions, garlic and bacon and then slowly simmer and smoke the beans on the indirect heat side. I also had two rubbed spare rib tips that I wanted to slowly smoke and dice to add to the beans later.

Once I had the grill set up for high indirect heat, I placed the dutch oven directly over the coals and began to stir the onions, garlic and bacon. I added about 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar to kick up the flavor and add some moisture to the pot. Once the bacon had began to brown, I added the can of roasted tomatoes. I wanted to use the high heat to help break them down somewhat. Once the mixture looked like it was breaking down and mixing together well, I removed the dutch oven from the heat and added the can of beans, the pimientos, a generous dash of brown sugar, about 1 cup BBQ sauce, and a few dashes of my favorite BBQ rub. I kept some apple juice nearby in case the beans needed moisture later.

Return the dutch oven to the grill and place partially over the coals. You'll be leaving the top off the entire time to allow smoke into the pot. sprinkle some hickory chips over your hot coals and close the lid and allow to smoke for about 30 minutes. When the smoke begins to subside, open the grill and rotate the pot so that the cooler side is now over the coals. Stir the mixture extremely well. It should be very hot and easy to stir. Add some more wood chips and smoke for about an hour.

At this point the beans are technically "cooked", but I like to kick it up a few and smoke it for a few hours. I added a few coals, some big chunks of hickory and placed the pot on the side of the grill with no coals. From here on out, I will not stir the beans. I want them to simmer and bring liquids to top which will then caramelize when the sugars bake in. The smoke will also add a nice dark rich color to the beans that I want to be there when I present the dish. I prefer to think of it as art.

The beans came out great. I did add smoked rib tips, which is kinda optional. Not everyone wants meat in their beans. If that is the case, either make a small crock on the side with no meat, or eliminate the meat entirely. These beans can be easily spiced up if you like, simply add more rub, some cayenne pepper and cracked pepper. Heck, add cracked pepper anyways, I did and forgot to mention it above.

The great thing about doing this all outdoors was my kitchen was only used to wash dishes I dirtied. Other than that, it was clean and ready for some other use, like prepping ribs. Tune in tomorrow for more on that.

Thanks for reading!!

Charcoal Sale at Home Depot

2010-07-01T19:39:00.001-04:00

Starting today and through the July 4th weekend, Home Depot has the best price going on 20lb bags of Kingsford Charcoal. They have the double packs of 40 total lbs for $9.97. That is about $0.25 per lb of charcoal.

You won't find a better price; however, Lowes also has charcoal on sale, buy one 18.6 lb and get one free. My ad said to see store for details, so charcoal pricing may vary due to regions, and each customer is limited to two free bags.

Two great deals on charcoal this week. Stock up. I'll be heading to Walmart tomorrow for 4 racks of baby backs to smoke for July 4th. Only $2.97 a lb. Thats more than half off!.

Memorial Day is On the Way

2010-05-10T05:52:00.005-04:00

emorial Day is on the way and I couldn't be more excited. The neighborhood will be getting together and grilling some great stuff while enjoying ice cold beverages. It's nice to have neighbors with ice machines.

This time of the year is a great time to keep your eye out for BBQ meat sales. I'm sure you'll see hotdogs and hamburger on your stores ad, but dig deeper and look for Boston Butts, Picnics, ribs, chicken, etc. Not too long ago, I ran into a no limit sale at Food Lion of pork spares for only $0.99 a lb. A sale like that will convince you to buy a chest freezer if you don't already own one.

If your deep freezer is full and you haven't seen the bottom in awhile, it may be time to go through and Spring clean it, making room for some of the BBQ sales that will be coming up. Memorial Day usually brings out some great grocery store sale ads. You don't want to miss out on a great meat sale because your freezer is full of stale buns or iced up bags of old french fries. Discard that stuff now and make room.

Food Lion was just offering Hunts BBQ sauces buy one get one, or BOGO as it's known among serious shoppers. The regular flavor bottle was a bonus size with 55% more, so the BOGO was more like two free bottles.

Avoid name brand buns if you plan on serving dogs and burgers this year. the prices on an 8 pack of hotdog or hamburger buns is near $2.69 for national brands, while your local store brand can be had for around $1.19. There is no sense in paying more than double for a bun when it is the meat that makes them drool.

For those following my college story, I just finished the Spring term with 4 A's! Not bad considering Algebra and english were included. Summer term starts today, not much of a break between classes huh?

Zagg.com discount codes

2010-04-14T14:36:00.000-04:00

DISCOUNT CODES!!

I don't have much to offer in the grilling world today, I'm studying for finals and completing Spring term course work. I did however receive 2 discount codes from Zagg.com. The are retailers that make screen protectors of iPhones, iTouches, iPads, and the make body skins, and some awesome iPod and cell phone accessories.

These are good for 25% off and expire in 7 days. Visit www.zagg.com and browse and see if you could use any of their wonderful products. I have the full skin on my touch and love it. their skin shields are guaranteed for life. Use either of the codes below.

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2010-03-11T01:15:00.001-05:00

With spring quickly approaching, I am looking forward to grilling outdoors once again Just think, long ago, man did all of his cooking outdoors because the stove hadn't been invented yet. I find grilling outdoors to be useful and I enjoy its advantages such as convenience and the flavor and appearance of grilled foods. Let's take a look at some of the benefits of grilling our food outside by choice and see if you don’t agree that cooking outdoors is convenient.

In today's fast paced world, we can all appreciate the need for conveniences, like easy-clean ovens and instant oatmeal. While cooking outdoors isn’t instant, firing up the grill is a great way to avoid having to clean the oven or stove altogether. Also, by using foil and foil pans, you can minimize or do away with dirty dishes altogether. Consider also that when grilling outside, we aren't heating up the kitchen only to have to run the AC to cool it back down. Those of you in the south will appreciate the cool kitchen in the middle of the summer. Also, food that has been grilled properly looks inviting.

Grilling your food outdoors is a great way to prepare great looking food, which makes it look as if it was professionally cooked. Grill marks on sliced pineapple for example, look great and it makes an excellent side dish for chicken or pork. You can also grill veggies, such as asparagus and squash with expert looking results. Chicken that has been slow cooked on a grill will have that nice color of a juicy roasted bird that makes for a perfect backdrop for your carefully placed grill marks. You will never get the beautiful colors and markings on your food while using the oven or stove top. And speaking of results, wait until you taste it.

Nothing beats the flavor of grilled food. A nice steak seared over a hot grill and then cooked to perfection can't be beat for flavor. Searing the meat quickly allows the juices to be locked in, retaining the moisture and flavor of the meat. Grilling also enhances the flavor of vegetables and fruits. Imagine a grilled skewer of banana chunks and pineapple with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or spears of asparagus wrapped in bacon strips and then grilled until crispy. You can also sprinkle soaked wood chips onto the hot briquettes to add a smoked flavor to the food. Smoke enhances the taste of all meats and fish and is used by many professional chefs. You certainly couldn't smoke foods inside the house very well without creating a mess or a fire.

So the next time you are asking yourself what to make for dinner, consider cooking outdoors. Grilling out can be a great excuse to invite guests over for dinner as well and it can be very relaxing. You'll appreciate the clean kitchen, the hassle-free clean up and your food will look and taste great. Besides, nothing tastes better then a nice juicy steak that's been grilled to perfection. I am so looking forward to this spring season.

The Tuttles & Habermans

2010-02-15T06:40:00.001-05:00

et me start by apologizing for the recent lack of any new content. As most of you know, we have not had our average winter here in Florida. In January, we broke records with a 16 day consecutive period of overnight freezing, some of them hard freezes. Half way through February, and it is again freezing overnight. The day temps haven't been good or conducive to cooking outdoors either.

I will be blogging on a regular basis again as soon as the weather cooperates. I thought I'd try something new today in my blog. I'm currently going to college and one of my required courses is English Composition. So to work on my writing skills, I'm going to open the blog up to other subjects as well. Those of you that have registered to follow me solely for outdoor cooking, may wish to reset their alert or email preferences.

Today I want to introduce my readers to a great family. Let's start with a quick intro, from left to right in the photo we have Andrew Tuttle, Mary Tuttle, Jan Harrison Haberman & Mike Haberman. Mary Tuttle is the mom. Several years ago my entrance into the USMC was ruined by a lack of a waiver. Suddenly I had no where live, as the Marines was my path to the future and there was no going back then.

Mary and her kids took me in. I had known Jan for probably about a year before then, and she introduced me to her mom and told her my plight. After talking to Mary for awhile, she told me if I would help out around the house, I had a place to call home. This was a great chance for me to get back on my feet and get on with my life. She took me in when I had nothing but what I was wearing. I'll always remain grateful to her and to the kids. They were my family.

I recently got to kind of catch up with them on Facebook. That is kind of the reason I choose to write about them this early in the morning. I was up doing college algebra for a few hours to get a head start on my week. It was 2:30 am when I was calculating the area of a parallelogram that was my imaginary back yard. Next I needed to subtract the area of my circular pool that had a radius of 10' and the result was the square number of feet of sod I needed to plant my lawn.

Now I can appreciate the fact that I may use algebra in my lifetime. If I ever need to plant sod or figure out how many gallons of paint are needed for a rectangular room, 12' x 23' with 7' from floor to ceilings and one gallon covers 450sq' and it needs two coats.

As you can see from the above, I needed a break and decided to write an entry in my blog since it has been awhile. I hope you enjoyed my little story and my insight on intermediate algebra.

Smoked Pork BBQ

2010-01-24T10:47:00.001-05:00

Today is a beautiful day to BBQ. I've rubbed down butts with McCormick's BBQ rub. They really make some great rubs for grilling and smoking. I've also lightly dusted the pork with brown sugar, to help establish a bark that will be sweet and hot. I'm estimating that the pork will be ready to pull by 4 pm, however, always go by temp, not time. My goal is 195 degrees. The pork will be edible at 165 for slicing, but I'm looking for fall apart style BBQ.

I'll post more when it happens. Right now I just have a thin blue wisp of smoke emanating from my Brinkmann and everything is lookin fine.

I have to apologize. I have had a severe sinus cold for the last two days and this evening it is really kicking in strong. I feel miserable. I forgot to take pictures, I forgot all about finishing up this blog. I apologize. Nyquil and 10 hours of sleep has been prescribed.

2010-01-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update. The graphic above is my weather forecast for this weekend. AS you can see, there is no excuse for me not to cook outdoors this weekend. I plan on doing up an 8 lb Boston Butt and hope you can join me.

Feeding the Masses

2010-01-11T07:29:00.000-05:00

Brrrrrr. Florida has been quite cold lately. So cold in fact, that we have had a hard freeze for 10 out of 11 days with more in sight. I've been living in Florida since 1999, and I do not recall it being that cold here before. I want to apologize to my loyal readers for lack of new content. Since I specifically write about cooking outdoors, and since our high temperatures have only been in the 40's, I have avoided the thought of going outside for any extended period of time. Call me Floridian, lol.

I do have 2 nice looking cryovaced Pork butts in my spare fridge that are just dying for a nice day to cook. I'm hoping to get those going soon. The Spring session of college is coming up as well, so I'll be a bit busy, but since I will still need to eat, I'll do my best to cook it outdoors and share it with you!

Please pray for sunny and warm weather for Florida. If this keeps up, I may have to move to Ecuador.

Carmalized Sweet Potatoes

2010-01-05T15:51:00.000-05:00

Thanks again to everyone that has commented on my blog articles or have sent me email. I also want to thank the readers that take the time to visit my blog. You guys and gals make it all worthwhile. I have now been unemployed for two solid months and depression was beginning to set in. I have sent applications and resumes all over town, and in some cases, out of town for consideration in working at home. I've finally decided to become a full time student and pursue an Associates Science degree in Computer Information Technology with a core focus on database administration and development. I hope to start on February the 8th.

Today's guest is a sweet potato that has absolutely little to no prep time involved. This is a great side dish served straight from the grill. To prepare, simply wash sweet potatoes and skin them. Lay them out on a cutting board and lightly brush with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with ocean salt.

The grill should be medium - hot. The sweet potato has natural sugars that will caramelize and add a deep rich flavor to the grilled potatoes. Just make sure you keep a close eye on these so the sugar doesn't burn. It takes about 7-9 minutes per side. If you wish, you may brush with melted butter and lightly sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg when these come off of the grill. I prefer pepper, for a sweet and hot flavor.

These are very easy to make and the cost is very low. Even kids that will avoid veggies will eat these, so give them a try on your next cookout and let me know what you think! As always, feel free to leave a comment or click on my signature and send me an email.

Until next time, Keep on smokin!

Grilled Asparagus Spears with bacon

2009-12-31T02:51:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. I certainly did. Santa brought me an awesome blogging tool, a new 12 Mega pixel camera with awesome zooming. From here on out, all pictures will be taken with the new camera for better quality.

I didn't do much cooking outdoors over the Holidays, which would kind of explain my absence. Something that I did for Christmas was grilled asparagus. I have to admit, I am NOT a fan of asparagus. It is a very fibrous vegetable which can sometimes seem like you are chewing on a thick stalk of weeds. However, if you prepare and cook it right, it can become your new best friend. And with this preparation, who doesn't like bacon? (You can use turkey bacon in case your Doc would not approve of this)

The trick to great grilled asparagus is freshness. When purchasing your asparagus spears, buy them no more then 24 hours in advance of grilling. Carefully check the base of the stalks and avoid discolorations or open buds at the top. Those are signs that the asparagus is not fresh. About an hour before grill time, tap the bottom of the stalks on your cutting board and cut about 1/2" off. Then soak the spears in a bowl of cold water, while standing up. This is easy if you leave the big rubber band they come bundled in on. Soak for about 30 minutes then remove.

Take one pound of a good quality bacon and slice the entire package in half, cross cut. Now take each piece of bacon and twist wrap it around the stalks from bottom to top, tightly. If you are careful, you can avoid tooth picks, however if you klutz around like me, use tooth pics to secure bacon at end of wrap. This will prevent accidental unwrapping while grilling. Click on the picture above for the full sized detailed shot. You'll notice I did not use tooth picks. A few pieces came unwrapped while turning over on the grill. Once the bacon crisps, you are alright. Grill over medium high heat. You may want to keep the lid and a water sprayer nearby, as the bacon fat will flare up briefly. Grill until bacon is well done and crispy.

This will become a favorite on your dinner table. You'll be surprised at how good these come out. Again I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday. Tomorrow, I'll share with you caramelized sweet potatoes on the grill and later in the week, we'll be making a bean soup with smoked ham bone and later we'll be smoking some hawg for slicin and pullin. Please come back and check it out.

Pineapple and Mango Salsa

2009-12-24T20:02:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas. Today I'm going to share a simple recipe that goes well with fish, pork or chicken with a Cuban or tropical accent. As you can tell from the picture, this salsa is very colorful and makes a great relish or chutney side dish. Click on the picture for a full size high resolution shot of that tropical goodness. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New year.

Pineapple & Mango Salsa

1/2 cup finely diced pineapple (use grilled or smoked if possible)
1/2 cup finely diced mango
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
2 small finely diced tomatoes (de seeded)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
juice of half lemon
2 tbsp EVOO

If you can, grill or smoke the pineapple for this salsa first. It will make this salsa pop even more. Combine the first 5 ingredients and then toss. Drizzle with olive oil and squeeze in lemon juice and toss. Let sit 30 minutes before serving, toss right before serving.

This salsa goes great with fish and pork. For those that like sweet and hot, you can make this a warmer dish by finely dicing a medium heat pepper or two. I prefer it just like this myself.

Cast Iron Grilling Grate

2009-12-21T17:04:00.002-05:00

Today I want to share a grill accessory that I picked up at Home Depot. Pictured above is a solid cast iron sear grate. The purpose of this grill grate is to draw the heat from your fire and concentrate it onto the sear grids. This is non stick, however I did season it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees and then coated it with a non stick spray as it cooled.

Besides quickly searing meats, you can flip this over for smaller grill marks if you wish. The reverse side has grids that are similar in width to the average chrome plated grill rack. The grilling marks this device leaves on your food are absolutely fantastic.

The price of this was kind of high in my mind, however this is solid cast iron and will be around for quite some time. Before tax it was $27.80. I plan to use it on just about every grilling session. Keep your eye out for it, as I'm sure it'll be showing up in a lot more pictures.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Glaze

2009-12-20T20:32:00.001-05:00

I have been looking forward to today for a few days. There had been a couple of forum threads regarding pork tenderloins and various ways to smoke or grill them over at the SMF and that got me wanting to grill some pork. With the holidays coming up, I already had ideas about plating that included using fruit. I thought, "what goes better with pork then pineapple and mango? And besides, pineapple was a couple of dollars off on sale at my local Food Lion.

I prepared several side dishes to go with today's meal and I'll keep those brief and cover them in more depth later this upcoming week right here on the blog. The menu was cooked on two grills that I had running simultaneously. Next time they will be within one step of each other.

To start with the pork, I trimmed excess fat and placed the large loin in a 2 gallon zip loc bag. I added a large bottle of Mojo which is an orange based marinade that is popular with Cuban and Mexican pork recipes. It has a nice ambiance about it. You can find a recipe online for Mojo or visit your Mexican or ethnic aisle in the grocery story. I allowed the pork to marinate for 6 hours.

I got the Cowboy's Lump Charcoal started in my Weber charcoal chimney and pulled the loin out of the fridge, then rinsed and patted it dry. I rubbed it very lightly with a BBQ rub from the McCormick Grillmates line. My plan was to sear the pork on a hot sear grate and then bring the internal temp up to 140 degrees using an indirect grilling method. I basically seared on one side, and then moved to the cool side of the grill and placed the top on, with the vent over the meat. This directs the heat to be drawn across the meat before it exits through the vents.

My dual probe remote thermometer indicated that for the hour it took to bring the temp to 140 degrees F, the Weber air temp was 325 degrees. I also used a couple of soaked hickory chunks for flavor and had a nice smoke. I had made a quick and simple pineapple juice glaze and kept the meat mopped with the glaze. When the internal temperature reached 142 degrees F, I removed from the Weber and wrapped in heavy duty foil and allowed to sit for 20 minutes. If desired, reserve liquid in foil to drizzle over meat.

Here is the final presentation. I used the pineapple crown for decoration. In the back of the platter is a pineapple and mango chutney that goes great with pork or fish. I'll write about making it later this week. Also on the platter is grilled pineapple, caramelized sweet potatoes and asparagus spears wrapped in bacon.

Closeup of pineapple and mango salsa

Grilled London Broil and Baby red Potatoes

2009-12-18T04:00:00.001-05:00

oday I was going through some old things and I found a 16MB memory card that I had taken out of my camera some time ago. When i went to see what was on it, I was surprised to find shots of a cook out that I did at least a year ago on my old Aussie grill. Apparently, I had been thinking about blogging about BBQ for some time before actually sitting down and just doing it. I'm proud to present to you, a cook out I did in the summer of 2008.

The menu called for grilled London Broil and grilled baby red potatoes. Steak and potatoes, the two ingredients on a man's food pyramid. London broil is similar to a marinated flank steak, only a bit cheaper. It is best served at medium rare and sliced in thin angular cuts against the grain. With a good medium-high heat charcoal fire, it should take about 7-9 minutes per side.

I wanted to inject and rub the meat while the charcoal was coming to life in it's charcoal starter kettle. I wanted to keep this simple, as it was summer and hot out. I injected the meat with a standard beef marinade, store brand as you can see in the picture. I used a standard seasoned salt, garlic powder and cracked black pepper for the rub. I sprinkled liberally and rubbed into both sides of the meat.

I prepared the grill, poured the hot coals and wiped the grill rack with olive oil. At this time, the grill is very hot, the coals have barely ashed over and we are going to sear the meat and set up some grill marks. Since the coal will cool some by the time we flip the meat over, the presentation grill marks are the first ones you'll make so be careful.

I do it like this. Place both pieces of meat on the grill racks at an angle. Let the meat sit for about 4-5 minutes and gently lift with tongs from one end and see if the meat lifts. Once the meat easily separates from the grill racks, we are going to turn it by 4 hours. What i mean by that is look at how the meat runs along the straight grill racks. Pretend one end is the hour hand on a clock and rotate the meat without flipping to a position about 4 hours from the first sear. I let it cook an additional 4-5 minutes before flipping the meat and repeating the process again.

I used a digital thermometer to make sure that the temp of my meat did not exceed 120. I removed it from the grill and let it sit while I cooked the potatoes. these are simple. Just par boil some baby reds and leave the skins on. Slice the potatoes about 1/2" thick and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoned salt, parsley or basil and Parmesan cheese. Once you make these, your family won't let you fix potatoes any other way. Just brown on the grill and serve.

As you can see, not a lot of prep time involved in this meal. I kept it simple and fun. Stick around this week as the holidays approach, I'll be kicking it into a higher gear with holiday meal ideas from the grill. We are going to grill some pineapple, mango and mojo Pork Tenderloin! We'll also be making a tropical fruit chutney, caramelized sweet potatoes and bacon spears, all on the grill. The presentation and colors will be fantastic, so please make sure to check back for that on Sunday.

As always, until next time - Keep Smokin!!

Feel free to click on the sig below to contact me via email or leave a comment on the blog.

Missing Comments

2009-12-13T19:14:00.000-05:00

I just became aware that my links for posting comments is missing. I have checked my settings and they are turned on. This appears to be another blogger issue. I have reported it in Blogger Help. If anyone knows of an html tweak I can make to resolve this, please let me know. I'm also missing the "interesting" check boxes and the quick edit pencil, all of which have been enabled. I can be reached at ray@raceyb.com or simply click on my signature below.

Christmas Party

2009-12-13T18:18:00.001-05:00

ast night our neighborhood held it's annual Christmas party and ornament swap. It was a blast. What we do is ask every family to bring a desert or a dish and one gift bagged brand new tree ornament for each child or adult that wishes to play our ornament swap game. I'll explain how it works in just a moment.

First I wanted to share with my readers, I awoke at 8 am with smoking on my mind. I had 3 racks of pork spare ribs that I needed to trim and rub and get ready for my smoker. The temperature outside was a very comfortable low to mid 60's and there was little to no rain/mist. The forecast had called for an 80% chance of rain all day. Knowing that, I wanted an 8 hour window to smoke the ribs, in case something went wrong.

I trimmed the ribs to a St Louis perfection. If you have never done it before, here is a quick video from Youtube that demonstrates it.

I also tried a new rub from McCormick Grillmates called Barbecue. It has some wonderful ingredients in it and from now til December 31st, there is an instant savings of $3 at BJ's Wholesale club, bringing the price to $5.95, plus an additional BJ's coupon for any McCormick spice at $1.75 off, bringing my cost for a restaurant sized spice to $4.25. I bought 5 of them!. On the web they are $12.95.

After rubbing the ribs, I place them bone sized up and packed on some brown sugar and let that begin to melt in before sprinkling some rub on them again. I smoked them for 7.5 hours at an average of 220 degrees with hickory wood. I hope you enjoy the pictures. As always, click on a small picture for the full sized version.

Beer Can Chicken

2009-12-06T19:13:00.001-05:00

oday was the day I have been looking forward to all week. I had promised that I was going to do beer can chicken and the day had finally arrived. I love chicken and there is no better chicken then roasted in the smoker after a long brine bath. I started off with 3 chickens, averaging about 6-7 lbs each. I soaked them in a brine bath for approximately 12 hours. The brine recipe is below.

2 gallons purified drinking water

2 cups kosher salt

11/2 cups of brown sugar

4 sprigs rosemary

6 sprigs thyme

20 pepper corns

Bring one gallon of the water to a slight boil and reduce heat to simmer. Add herbs and pepper corns and simmer for 10 minutes to steep some aroma from them. Turn off the heat and add the salt and sugar slowly, stirring as you pour. When the water turns clear, add 8 cups of ice cubes to begin a quick cool down of the brine. Transfer your brine from the stock pot to a plastic bucket or cooler that you are going to use to brine with and add the other gallon of water. I buy 2 one gallon containers of drinking water and place one in the fridge the night before making my brine. I want to add cold water to my brine to ensure the poultry doesn't sit at a warm temperature for too long. I also leave the top loose so cold air can easily enter.

I place my 5 gallon brine bucket into my fridge and let it sit there overnight, for at least 12 hours. One hour prior to smoking your chicken, remove the bucket from the fridge and crack the lid. This will take some of the chill off of the chicken. At this point, you can clean your smoker if needed, soak a few big chunks of your favorite wood (I used Hickory) and get your chimney starter going. For this cook I used both Cowboy brands of wood chunks and lump coal.

Once the chimney was started, I removed the chickens from the brine and patted dry. I inserted beer can chicken racks into the birds' cavities and rubbed them down good with Magic BBQ rub, which is available for mail shipping on the left navbar. I swear by this rub for all of my BBQ! Once the coals were ready, I poured them into my modified charcoal pan and placed the chickens on the lower smoker rack. I would need the room on the top soon.

I par boiled some red potatoes meanwhile and mixed some mayo, basil and Parmesan cheese to mix in with them. I mixed em all together and placed the foil pan on the top rack of the smoker once the chicken breasts hit 155 degrees. I was only looking to brown the potatoes a little bit, as they were mostly cooked.

When the chicken breasts reached 170 degrees, I pulled them and the potatoes. The chicken had a wonderful aroma. I let it set for about the longest 15 minutes of my life. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I cut into the chicken to see some of the most juiciest meat ever. I got to tell ya, I'll ALWAYS brine my chicken. The potatoes came out great, but next time I'm going to add a bit more mayo.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure today. If you have any questions please feel free to ask in comments or click on my signature below and email me.

As always, until next time - Keep Smokin!

My Amazon Store for Grilling and Smoking is open for business

2009-12-04T04:27:00.001-05:00

appy Holidays! This is the time of year to that we get to travel to see our loved ones, or entertain friends and family in our homes. The celebration of the holidays is a special time of year for us all and we can get caught up in all of the preparation and the shopping, the travel plans and gift lists. I would like to take this time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year, I hope it is full of love and fond memories for you.

Amazon has recently started a new feature that permits me to suggest gifts of interest to your BBQ fan or maybe for yourself. I've selected grills and smokers as well as tools and accessories that any outdoor cooker would love to own. I have linked the store on the left navbar or you can visit it here. A small portion of the proceeds, just as with donations, return back to the blog. We still need a baker's stone and a dutch oven so we can explore some very unique ideas about cooking outdoors.

Please take a moment and browse the store. There are a lot of great gift ideas and shipping is currently free and in time for the holidays if you order now and spend $25 or more. You got to love free shipping. And Amazon has a great ratings and review system so you know what others who have bought the product think of it.

The weekend is coming up and we'll be smoking a few beer can chickens. If you have never seen this done before, you are in for a treat. I'm talking about mouth watering, succulent barbecue chicken that has been smoked at 225 degrees for about 4-5 hours. The meat will literally fall off the bone if we aren't careful.

Also in the coming weeks, we'll be preparing some gifts for neighbors and friends from the smoker. We'll be smoking cheeses, salts, and nuts and presenting them in a holiday gift tradition. Smoked nuts and cheeses make excellent gifts that are economical and easy to make. We'll show you how to use your grill or smoker for cold smoking and how to wrap them up for gift giving.

We have a lot of great things planned to ring out the year and welcome the new. We'll also be preparing some smoked foods for our annual neighborhood Christmas party! Please make sure you subscribe to the blog if you haven't already and come back and visit for some mouth watering ideas and treats.

As Always, until next time - Keep Smokin!

If you would like to contact me via email, simply click on my signature above.

Outdoor Cooking Guild

2009-11-29T21:40:00.001-05:00

want to thank Curt and the great group of writers for accepting me into the Outdoor Cooking Guild. The Outdoor Cooking Guild is a group of bloggers that concentrate on outdoor cooking in many forms, whether grilling, barbecuing, Cuban pig roasts, outdoor bread ovens or dutch oven campfire cooking. Please take a moment to visit the OCG home page by clicking on the OCG badge on my right nav bar.You can read about the group and visit other member's blogs!

From time to time we have a challenge and will showcase our different methods and techniques to answer up to the challenge. Whether it be by grilling, smoking, cooking over an open fire in a dutch oven, you name it. Before I became a member, the last challenge was apples and there were some wonderful results. Seeing the different ways apples were cooked on the grill or smoker as part of a dish or a desert inspired me to start this blog and share some of the fun I have while cooking outdoors.

Whether you have a gas or charcoal grill, a hibachi, a smoker or a fire pit, you can benefit by subscribing to my blog for tips, tricks and techniques. If you are a master griller, you can certainly participate as well, feel free to send me any tips or techniques you use that you feel are beneficial and I'll feature them here and offer you credit.

I also want to take this time to encourage the readers to send in any questions they may have, or to please comment on my articles as I blog and share. Any critiques, suggestions or any comment of any kind are welcome and encouraged. To contact me, simply click on my signature below or email me manually @ Ray@raceyb.com

Thanks for reading and until next time - Keep Smokin!

Turkey on the Grill

2009-11-27T03:20:00.002-05:00

Turkey on the Grill

ere is the way you can cook your holiday turkey on the grill - While your double burner gas grill is preheating on high, slip pats of margarine to equal about 1/4-cup under the bird’s skin (about a 12 - 14-lb-er) all around. I also put ground thyme sprinklings everywhere I put the margarine. Then salt and pepper to taste and stuff the bird’s body cavity with sliced carrots and a sliced onion, some celery and a couple of apple slices and a couple of whole cloves of garlic. Pour about half a cup of water into bird cavity. These aromatics will seep into bird and add another depth of flavor.

Now place a foil pan filled with water directly on the lava rocks on one side of the grill and turn off that side of the grill. Adjust the other side to medium-high and place the bird on a rack over the water side (that is turned off). If you have a wood chip iron box or some foil, place soaked wood chips over the flame side to create smoke. Close the lid on the grill and do not open it for about 5 hours. At that time, using an instant read thermometer, check the temperature of the thickest part of the breast. The temperature we want is 165 degrees in the breast and 170 in the thigh. The bird will be done and very tender and juicy. Now you have time to do all of your “oven stuff” without the turkey being in the way. If necessary, put the bird in the indoor oven on broil for about 5-7 minutes or until the skin browns and crisps. Brushing a little olive oil or butter over it before this process will help with the browning. Allow the bird to rest for about 20 minutes before carving.

If you wish to brine your turkey for optimum flavor and juiciness, you'll need to do that the day before you cook the turkey. The instructions can be found here.

Until next time - Keep Smokin!!

As always, feel free to comment or contact me by clicking on the signature above.