Right now there is a recipe making the rounds on the bbq/smoking message boards that people are calling “pork shots” or “pork candy.” It basically consists of taking a slice of sausage, like kielbasa, and wrapping a strip of thick bacon around it to form a little pork cup and then filling it with some kind of spice mixture. It’s a pretty awesome idea. I am going to be experimenting with this idea trying different spice/filling ideas. Here is the basic sweet and spicy version that has been pretty popular so far. (Thanks to a thread on smokingmeatforums from poster solaryellow for the spice formula)

Bacon-Sausage Bites, Sweet and Spicy

• Kielbasa
• Thick cut bacon
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tsp homemade chipotle powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
• toothpicks

1. Slice sausage into rounds about 1/2 thick or about half the width of your bacon
2. Cut bacon strips to size to wrap around sausage round with a little overlap
3. Wrap bacon around sausage round and stick toothpick at overlap going through sausage to hold bacon to it
4. In a bowl combine and mix spices thoroughly
5. Fill each pork cup with 1 to 1/2 spice mixture
6. a)If you have a smoker, toss on at 230 degrees and smoke until bacon is crisp
   b)If you have a grill, cook over indirect heat by leaving burner under pork cups unlit, on low to medium heat until bacon is crisp

Tips

• the best bacon to use slab bacon that you slice thick yourself
• If using store sliced bacon, buy the thickest possible
• You may need to paper towel the bacon a bit if it is overly slippery
• these are spicy, you can cut down on the chipolte and paprika if needed
• The key is to cook them low and slow so as not to burn the brown sugar but to caramelize it while crisping the bacon.
• An oven at 250 can be used as well
• The smoker using some wood chunks would be the best option if possible

TGJoe started out much like your ordinary tailgate. Before the trailer, the 6 ft commercial grill, the kegs, their was a handful of friends, 4-10 on any given day. The first tailgate toy purchased for these game day get togethers was the Coleman PerfectFlow Grill. At the time, the PerfectFlow was really all Coleman offered as far as portable grills. Since then they have followed up with a Whole lineup of “tailgate grills.” I have had the chance to get in front of a few of these grills, and even with all the bells and whistles of the new ones, I still think there is no better small grill than the PerfectFlow.

Some of the things I like about the PerfectFlow:

1) Most importantly, I like that it has a grate and an actual fire poking underneath. A lot of the newer tailgate grills kind of seal the top, with the burners heating a griddle plate from underneath. I find this leaves a large amount of cold space on the cooktop and leads to slower cooking, especially in the colder weather.

2) 11,000 btus, not a lot of heat compared to the 159,000 btu behemoth we use today, but plenty of heat for this small grill.

3) It will fit in any car, no suv needed.

4) The perfect size for small groups of 2-10. The grate is the perfect size to grill up 4 large burgers, a bunch of dogs, or a thin Italian sausage ring. We never found capacity to be an issue for our small group.

5) Compact fuel cannisters. No need to lug a bag of charcoal, lighter fluid, a chimney starter, newspaper and lighter fluid, or large home bbq propane tanks. Two or three of the compact Coleman fuel cans is all you need.

And here are specs from the Coleman site:
•    •  Open-flame grilling on a Family Sized – 180 square inch cooking surface area
•    •  BTU: 11,000 BTU tube burner
•    •  PerfectFlow™: Pressure-control system
•    •  WindBlock™: Wind shielding system for maximum heat
•    •  Spacious 180-square-inch cooking surface
•    •  Easty to clean, removable porcelain coated grill grate
•    •  Grease-management system with removable dishwasher-safe tray
•    •  Color: Black
•    •  Dimensions: 21″L X 12.5″W X 5.6″H

Now don’t get me wrong, this is not the grill to throw huge thick steaks on, and if you are regularly larger than 8 people I would suggest something bigger, but for its intended purpose, there isn’t a better mini tailgate grill, and for the price it can’t be beat.

You can take a look at the Perfectflow on amazon here!

We don’t have the final schedule for 2012 yet, but we do know the opponents.

Home — Buffalo, Miami, New England, Houston, Indianapolis, San Diego, Arizona, San Francisco.

Away — Buffalo, Miami, New England, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Seattle.

Of course we will be at every home game in 2012 like we always are. As far as away games, all of the games except Tennesee, St Louis, and Seattle are possible full on TGJ road trips. Leave some comments on what your thoughts are for where we should be for road games in 2012.

From Jetnation.com

Fox 5 called us this week and asked for help with an on-air piece they were putting together.  They wanted to know who had the best tailgate each week and the answer was easy, Tailgate Joe.  So they invited us both to be a part of the Good Day New York show on Friday morning.

Tune in to Fox 5 on Friday morning and watch JetNation.com and Tailgate Joe get a jump start on the tailgating action, live from MetLife Stadium.  Word on the street is there may be a few Giants fans present as well.

Here is a discussion thread about this in our New York Jets forum.

Pulled pork Sliders with Blue Cheese Slaw

Ok, I am not gonna lie to you, to get the absolute best pulled pork you need a smoker, using charcoal and wood. Other than the obvious smoke flavor the wood imparts during the long process, there is science behind the charcoal being best suited for low and slow bbq cooking (things like dry heat and moisture in gas cooking, etc). BUT, all is not lost folks! We can definitely get close enough, and create some very tasty pork-goodness with the tools we have on hand.

The pork:

• 3 tablespoon paprika (the smoked version would be great but not mandatory)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 3 tablespoon kosher/coarse salt
• 1 5-7 lb hunk-o-pork boston butt or shoulder
• bbq sauce
• some nice soft rolls, like the fresh baked wholesale club dinner rolls, sweet Hawaiian dinner rolls, or Martins potato rolls

The slaw:
see our coleslaw recipe and just add a bunch of blue cheese

• The slaw can be made while the pork is in the oven
• Mix the dry ingredients together to create the spice rub
• Pull out your pork, and pat it dry
• Sprinkle the spice and rub your pork. Wearing rubber gloves will help the rub stick to your pork and not your hands!
• If you have any rub left, feel free to leave it to the side to sprinkle later.
• Put the pork in a roasting pan, covered, and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
• Put the pork, uncovered, into an oven set to 225 degrees
• Don’t even bother to check it for a few hours, it will take between 1-1.5 hours per lb to get to the desired internal temp, 200-205 degrees
• Once you get a thermometer into the thickest portion of the meat and hit 200-205 degrees, pull it out of the oven and cover with foil and rest for 30 minutes.
• Grab 2 decent sized forks, one in each hand, and start ripping into the pork, it should pull apart with little effort. This is where you can optionally sprinkle in some leftover rub seasoning.
• pour in the desired amount of bbq sauce and toss together, keeping in mind we aren’t making soup here!!!
• Construct the sandwiches with the pork and slaw and dig in!!

Suggestions and tips:

• oven temp is extremely important, I have oven thermometers in each of my ovens, you would be surprised how off your oven may be.
• Invest in a nice instant read thermometer, I use the thermapen and can’t recommend it high enough.
• Open Pit with its sweet tangy flavor is our store bought bbq sauce of choice. If you prefer a mustard based sauce (Carolina style), check out Cattlemen’s Master’s Reserve Carolina Tangy Gold BBQ Sauce.
• Sometimes I sprinkle in some extra brown sugar when pulling the pork apart.

photos:

About 120lbs of boneless pork butts, just rubbed. Prep for a TailgateJoe Jets tailgate party

2 Nice hunks of pork butt, after chilling in the oven at 225 for around 12 hours. Look at the "bark" on these beauties!

Pullin' my pork like a madman!

Finished sandwich topped with our blue cheese slaw

Plating some up for a Jets Tailgatejoe tailgate party

What can I say, my pork is a hit with the ladies!

TailgateJoe has their own exclusive beer for the 2011 season!

Kelly and the gang over at microbrewery Kelso of Brooklyn got a hold of some small batch barrels last summer and decided to come up with something special for us this season. He knows I like their IPA, so he created a special “Belgianish” spicy pale ale.  It was crafted to be easy to drink and go well with the grill items we serve at our parties. This beer was created using their small batch barrels and as such we have 12 kegs for the season. The beer was kegged on 10/6/11, so it is nice and fresh, as all of the beer I get directly from the Kelso brewery is. We will be serving TailgateJoe IPA at our parties throughout the season. This beer is exclusive to us, so stop by and have one!

About Kelso of Brooklyn:

New York Cork Report

Edible Manhattan

Baltimore was the site of TailgateJoe’s first away game tailgate, and we really couldn’t ask for a better way to kick off our road trips. Baltimore has some great nightlife, great food, and great sports fans. The Ravens fans were courteous and gracious for he most part, outside of a handful of mostly female fans. The one thing I have noticed in my years traveling to other stadiums is that it is usually a female fan who is be big mouth, go figure.

Anywho, Chef Sal and I arrived early Saturday evening, and hit up Chap’s Pit Beef for dinner. Pit beef is a big thing in Baltimore, and Chaps is the best. They were even featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, although the fact that Chaps is in front of maybe the most ghetto strip club in Baltimore was not mentioned in the show. The beef was delicious, and the people watching at 12am was a nice bonus as one cracked out stripper after another walked in and was bathed in the lovely fluorescent lighting. YIKES!! After dinner we headed down near the Inner Harbor, and wondered around some of the bars and clubs in the Power Plant Live nightlife complex.

The next morning we ran some last minute errands then headed over to the parking lot to set up for the tailgate party. This was a decent turnout, as we had 40 Jets fans show up to rally together and enjoy some great food and watch the Yankees playoff on our HD Directv setup. Unfortunately this is where the fun really ended, as we then went into the game and watched a trainwreck as the Jets just couldn’t get it done on the field.

Anyway, here’s a few pics from the day….

Fresh off our week 1 home opener victory, everyone was pumped to keep the streak going in week 2 against Jones-Drew and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Well, gang green didn’t disappoint as the New York Jets took to the field and destroyed them! The tailgate party was one of the best we have ever had, with great weather, the guys from the World Pong Tour stopping by for a tournament and Theresa and a few of her Bar Top Bandits, and some great food! With 182 die hard Jets (and a handful of Jax) fans coming by, it was a great day with fellow fans.

Here are a few pics from the day.

Well, after a football-starved summer with the lockout, people were ready to come out for the week 1 home opener as the New York Jets hosted the Dallas Cowboys. Between it being week 1, a marquee opponent, a late game, and of course the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, we had an all time record with over 305 people rocking out and enjoying some great food and camaraderie at the tailgate party. We had some great stuff on the tables, as our week 1 menu is always a Mexican theme.

Here are a few pics from the day.

Join Tailgate Joe as we welcome the World Pong Tour and host a satellite tournament this Sunday, September 18, 2011. This tournament is free to enter for TGJ attendees. The guys from the World Pong Tour will be on hand to runthe contest and award the winning team an entry into their championship with $10,000 prize pool in Atlantic City. Registration will begin at 9am, and the tourney will start at 10am.

About the World Pong Tour:

History of the World Pong Tour

Started in the Fall of 2006, the tour, then known as the ‘New York Beer Pong Tour’, originally began as a six-city stint through New York State giving out small cash prizes. The company started with the goal of legitimizing the sport of beer pong by hosting professional tournaments in local bars with a standardized set of rules. Instead of concentrating in one area, the WPT concept was to create a ‘tour’, traveling around to different cities, hosting tournaments, and awarding prizes.

Since its inception, the company has grown immensely, now spanning the country. To date, over $500,000 in cash and prizes has been awarded to the winners of our tournaments including our $25,000 2009 Atlantic City Tournament, $50,000 2010 Atlantic City Tournament, and many more to come!