BBQ Craft

They turned out very nice! Juicy, tender, delicious! Cooked on a Weber Smokey Mountain, controlled by a Stoker.

Last weekends beer can chicken. Simple but tasty classic.

Burn box for making smoker coals. We cooked over 8000lbs of food in less than 24hrs!

We are packed and ready to go! Tomorrow morning we will be heading to the National BBQ Festival in Douglas, Georgia.  We are competing in the “Best of the Best” invitational and the Open on the Wiley’s Championship BBQ team.

Hope to see you there!

Smoked a couple racks of ribs today. Very tasty.

Well, I have seen it all now. For the BBQ geek that has everything and needs nothing, I present to you… the Sauce Pistol!

Your BBQ will shoot holes in the competition!

Fired up the smoker last night around midnight and hooked up the stoker. Here is a screen shot of the log this morning when I got up. Click the image for the full sized version. The stoker makes BBQ life easy.

Yes, I know it wasnt smoked. But it was so delicious…

Teaser for the upcoming review

Received my stoker from Rock’s Bar-B-Que. Ordered on Monday and received Wednesday! Great service. It looks like a very solid device. Will post my review soon.

Chimney starter at night. Very hot. During the day the flames are almost invisible. Now you know why you should always wear good gloves! The curls in the picture are the pops you always hear as it burns. The charcoal is Publix Greenwise Hardwood Lump. Good stuff.

It’s been a slow week for BBQ in our house. We were going to test a brisket recipe this weekend but our supplier ran out. So, my better half is in control of the recipes today. No competition recipes. That’s right, we’re cooking food we are going to eat as a meal! None of this- it needs more salt, the sauce should be sweeter, etc. She loves Adam Perry Lang’s book and found a fairly quick and easy recipe. We’re going old school- Beer Can Chicken!

Update:

Finished product. Cut the back out and crisped the skin in a convection oven. Was quite yummy.

How many ingredients or portions of ingredients do you have to change in a recipe to make it your own? I have modified a mustard sauce recipe and combined it with my habanero hot sauce to create an altogether original. I am unashamedly partial to mustard and vinegar sauces. This sauce would never fly in a KCBS competition, but you mustard and vinegar lovers might enjoy this original.

I believe in keeping it as simple as possible using the freshest ingredients you can find. If you know anything about chillies you know that the habanero is extremely hot. It also has a very nice sweet, fruity flavor that is often overlooked because people cant get past the heat. To help get to that flavor and reduce the heat, be sure to remove the white membrane and seeds. The habanero sauce is an ingredient in the BBQ sauce. The amount you add should be based on your personal preference. Enjoy!

BBQ Craft Habanero Sauce

6 fresh habanero peppers
.5 cup chopped carrots
.5 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves minced
.5 cup white vinegar
.25 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
.5 tbsp olive oil

Saute the onion in the oil until soft. Add the carrots, garlic  and  about 1/8 cup water. Simmer until the carrots are soft adding a little water if needed. While the carrots are simmering, cut your habaneros in half removing the white membranes, seeds and stems. Be sure to wear gloves! Rough chop the remaining pieces. Once the carrots are soft add the habaneros, vinegar and lime juice. Using a blender or if you have a stick blender, blend until you have a smooth consistency with no noticeable bits. I like the stick blender as you can keep it all in one pan. Pour in to a sanitized jar.

BBQ Craft BBQ Sauce

1.5 cups yellow mustard (I like French’s)
8 tbsp tomato paste
6 tbsp brown sugar
4 tsp BBQ Craft Habanero Sauce (adjust to your taste)
1.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
.75 tsp fresh ground black pepper
.5 tsp granulated garlic
2 tbsp water

Stir all ingredients together in a saucepan, medium heat, until sugar is disolved. Do not boil. Pour in to a sanitized jar.

So what do you do with leftover pulled pork? Not wanting to waste delicious Q and being hungry, I improvised a little.

Baked Potato
Salt
Your favorite BBQ sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese
Pulled pork

Cut a baked potato in half. Scoop out the middle. Salt the potato and stuff with the leftover pulled pork. Heat in a 400 degree oven to get the pork hot and crisp the potato edges a little. Top with BBQ sauce and shredded cheddar cheese.

What 4th of July wouldnt be complete without a little Q? I was just going through some of our 4th pictures and figured I would share a few that sum it up.

Adam Perry Lang’s Serious Barbecue potato recipe (highly recommended), our rib recipe, Wiley McCrary’s chicken recipe and on the lower grate, APL’s “Get a book” pork shoulder recipe.

We spent last weekend in Greenwood, SC sampling the Q and visiting some of the teams. It was a great event. Not too hot and plenty of interesting BBQ folk. While taking pictures of some of the teams during turn in prep, we were treated to a few samples of their turn in Q.  Based on those samples I am sure the judges had a great day tasting some really good Q. There was one slightly annoying aspect of the entire event- Food Network. They had at least six full camera crews setup and roaming around at the event. They were from the Food Network Challenge TV series. They had trip hazards everywhere. Between Bub-Ba-Q and Checkered Pig it was like a full TV studio setup (see pictures below). I guess that’s the price you pay for BBQ fame.

Google map of the teams: LINK

Competition results: LINK

All of our pictures from the contest: LINK

First habanero pick of the season from our mini garden. Time to make some sauce!

Welcome to my world of the “Q”. Hang on tight it might get a little smokey along the way.