A One Smoker Meal

Like a one pot or skillet meal, I wanted to do one meal all on the smoker. I chose pork chops, baby gold potatoes, corn cut from the cob, I had vacuum sealed & frozen, and some jalapeno poppers.

I browned up some of my chorizo to use in the poppers & cooled in the fridge. With the chorizo, I blended in some Philly cooking sauce, tomato basil flavor, and some cornmeal. I cut the stem ends off the peppers, cored & seeded then in some milk to soak for ½ hour.
I stuffed the peppers, wrapped w/bacon, and secured with a couple of toothpicks. A little Penzey’s Cajun seasoning sprinkled over top. In the fridge until cook time.

I got an idea from Cowgirl for my chops, a 2 hour quick cure w/Morton’s Tender Quick & raw sugar. I had 3 nice bone in center cut pork chops with some tenderloin on from my butcher. I would have liked them a little thicker. I got them curing & covered w/saran wrap and in the fridge. After the 2 hours I rinsed well & seasoned with some Penzey’s Pork Chop seasoning.

I rinsed my potatoes & trimmed ends & bad spots, placed them in a bowl. I drizzled olive oil over and seasoned with some Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle, it is a good all around seasoning with salt, garlic, pepper, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram.

I preheated my Traeger to 225 deg. Potatoes went in a wire basket & on the grill along with the 3 chops. I placed the 3 poppers above the chops on an upper rack. I figured the bacon fat would help flavor the chops. After ½ hour I went to 300 deg & figured another hour. I placed my corn in a small skillet w/4 pats of butter & a little salt & pepper, placed on the upper rack w/50 minutes to go. With a total cook time of 1 ½ hours I pulled everything & served. The pork chops were delicious with great flavor but were way too dry; I should have wrapped in foil with 30 minutes left & might have been better. I think I will stay with a wet brine for my chops. The poppers were good but just a little overdone. Not a perfect meal but it all looked pretty!

Chorizo Browned

Jalapenos & note my new ceramic paring knife

Popper Stuffing

3 Poppers 3 Stages

Poppers ready for the smoker

Chops ready for the smoker

All on but the corn

All done

My Plate

Smokin Don

Cajun White Beans, Ham & Cornbread

I made Cajun White Beans & Ham with help from Mary at her Deep South Dish blogspot. Check out her blog, link under My Favorite blogs, for many great recipes. I could eat her cooking 24/7! I used her recipe for Southern Creamy Butterbeans, the ingredients just sounded good to me. I substituted 2 cans of Bush’s cannellini white beans and 2 cans of Great Northern instead of butterbeans.

I love beans & could have them 2 times a week but my wife does not like them. You just cannot make a small batch of beans, at least to me. She would be gone most of Fri. the 4th so a good time for me to have some beans. I have read a lot about soaking dry beans overnight verses the quick method. I have never had very good luck with the quick method, always have trouble getting the beans soft & tender.

This time I would use a quicker method & used canned beans. I had a large slab of my butcher Kah’s smoked ham to use. Other than changing the beans, using 1 tsp. of Penzey’s Cajun seasoning, I followed Mary’s recipe pretty close. I had read where you need 4 – 14oz cans of beans to replace 1 lb. of dry beans in a recipe.

The ham was frozen so I threw it on the smoker at 180 deg & in ten minutes it was thawed, upped the heat to 350 for a half hour, turning the ham half way through. I sautéed the onions, garlic, carrots, & celery added to a Crockpot, a quart of chicken broth, the cut up ham, and seasonings. I let that simmer on low for a couple of hours while I made the cornbread.

For my cornbread I used Miracle Maize’s Sweet Style. It is as good as any I can mix on my own & gives the texture & sweetness us Northern people like. They also make a country style that is coarser & more like Southern people like. I preheated the Traeger to 350 deg. Mixed up the cornbread & in a preheated cast iron skillet, sprayed with some olive oil, & on the smoker. In 35 min the edges were getting brown & center was set.

I added my 4 cans of beans, a couple Tbs. of parsley flakes, and two large pats of butter to the Crockpot & turned to high. It would be about 2 hours before I was ready to eat. Supper time I chopped up some onion, made some white rice. I sliced a big piece of cornbread & smeared butter inside, a bowl of the beans topped with the onion & some rice, made for a might tasty supper. I even had a second bowl.

Bean Fixins

Onions, garlic, carrots, & celery

Ham on the Smoker

Ham, veggies, & broth simmering

Cornbread Done

Beans Done

My Bowl

Smokin Don

Cheddar Chili Dogs

Yesterday, Fri. the 4th I made some Cajun White Beans for myself along with cornbread and some chili sauce to have today with hot dogs. My wife belongs to a local program, Big Sisters. She is paired with a 10 year old girl and has contact with her 2 or 3 times a month. She is a nice little girl & she said she liked chili dogs. My wife had planned on eating lunch here, then taking her to a rock garden and then downtown Wapakoneta to ride a horse & carriage. I said we would have chili dogs.

In between cooking the beans & cornbread I smoked the 1 ½ lbs of ground chuck for about an hour & went to 225 deg the last ½ hour to render out some of the fat, then cooked up the sauce inside so it would be ready for today. I had fine shredded cheddar to top the chili dogs and some Ore Ida fast food fries to do in the oven.

I had bought a pack of hot dogs from my butcher. To my surprise they were cheese hot dogs so it would be double cheese. Put them on the Traeger at 225 deg for a half hour. I did the fries in the oven & the wife made root beer floats for her & her little sister. It was a pretty good lunch and our little guest enjoyed it.

After lunch we all went to the rock garden, Temple of Tolerance. For a view of this Ultimate Rock Garden just google “Temple of Tolerance Wapakoneta Ohio”

I’ll post my bean cook later.

Printable Chili Sauce Recipe

Ground Chuck Smokin

Browning veggies & ground chuck

The chili sauce

Cheddar dogs ready

My Plate

Smokin Don

Lunch & Snack Time

Every Thursday night local musicians that have been playing together for over 20 years gather to play some old time, country, and blue grass. During the summer months they gather at a place called the rock garden, (Temple of Tolerance), in Wapakoneta. Guests are welcome to listen to the music & share an evening of fun. In the fall & winter they gather at an appliance repair shop. I thought I would take some appetizers tonight to share. I think they play better when you feed them!

Yesterday I bought some crackers to make my Cajun smoked crackers & got them made to sit overnight. For my lunch I had bought a hunk of Kah’s pan pudding to smoke and I had two hot sausages to do at the same time. I love that pan pudding on the Cajun crackers. I smoked them at 180 deg for two hours then went to 300 deg for a half hour. The sausages were my Wed. lunch & the pan pudding would be my lunch Thurs. after a night in the fridge & sliced.

I had also bought two rings of Kah’s ring bologna to take along tonight. I got my crackers & the bologna on smoking. I cut some ½ inch deep slits in the top of the bologna. I left the crackers on at 180 deg. for one hour fifteen minutes. The bologna was on for two hours then went to 300 deg for one half hour.

About two dozen of the Cajun crackers I added a slice of Swiss cheese & in the microwave for 20 seconds to melt. So I had Cajun crackers plain & some with cheese and the smoked bologna to take along to the music fest tonight.

My Lunch for Wed. & Thurs.

All Done

Cajun Crackers & Bologna

Bologna done

My Thurs. Lunch

Smokin Don

Mohunken & Memphis Dry Rub Ribs

Early in my trials of smoking ribs I have favored dry rubbed ribs over the ones slathered with BBQ sauce. Most smoker cooks slather the ribs with mustard for the glue to hold the rub, rub in the rub, wrap, & in the fridge overnight. I found my favorite was to wet down the ribs with just enough red wine vinegar to make them damp, add the rub, wrap in saran wrap, & in the fridge overnight. I don’t usually rub in the rub, just sprinkle on heavily. My favorite rub has been Penzey’s Galena Street Chicken & Rib Rub. It’s not heavy on salt, just good flavor. I have usually done them at 225 deg for 3 to 4 hours.

After joining pelletheads forum about 2 years ago I have looked at many methods, rubs, & sauces for ribs. One that stood out was Savannah Smokers Mohunken Rib Rub; many members used the recipe & liked it. Like many cooks; when you have a recipe you like you hate to change. I finally decided to try Savannah’s rub. I also found a recipe at Saveur.com for Memphis Dry Ribs that I wanted to try. I decided I would do up two slabs of baby back ribs to try both rubs. I knew how mine tasted & could compare the two to mine.

I have been getting good baby back ribs from Sam’s Club, 3 slabs in a kyropac. My wife said I am going to Sam’s & will get them for you. I said make sure you get them in the kyropac, buy the cheapest since they will be the smallest by weight. She came home with one slab on Styrofoam wrapped with saran wrap. Oh well decided to just cut them in half so I could still try the two rubs. They are good ribs from a local butcher that does Sam’s fresh meats.

This evening I removed the membrane, & cut the slab in half, slathered up one half with mustard & rubbed in Savannah’s Mohunken rub. The other half I rubbed in the Memphis dry rub, the recipe did not call for any glue, just the rub. Tomorrow night will be smokin time & I will update with photos & my thoughts.

Two Rubs Mixed

Two textures

My Kyropac Ribs :)

Mohunken Ribs

Memphis Dry Ribs

Wrapped to Marinate Overnight

Update after smoking ribs
I smoked my Mohunken & Memphis dry ribs today. I mixed 2 Tbs. Memphis dry rub & 1 Tbs. kosher salt in ¾ cup apple juice for mop sauce. I could not put 4 Tbs. salt in per the recipe & wish I had left out the 1 Tbs. and I am a salt lover. I had some plain apple juice for the Mohunken ribs if they needed it.

I put them on, meat side up, at 225 deg. I mopped the Memphis ribs after ½ hour. After that I mopped both every hour. At the 1 hour mark I turned them meat side down for the next hour, then meat side up for the last two hours. Total cook time was 4 hours and I went to 300 deg for the last half hour to finish.

I did our favorite baked potatoes with an aluminum heat rod inserted, in the oven at 350 deg. for 1 ½ hours. They come out crispy like potato skins. Large potatoes need 2 hours.
I nuked some asparagus I had drizzled with olive oil & salt and pepper for 8 min. Topped with some Philly cooking cream, tomato basil flavor. The ribs sat foil covered while cooking the asparagus.

We both liked the SS Mohunken ribs the best. I did cut the white sugar and the black & cayenne pepper in half from Savannah’s recipe. I also did not cover with orange slices for the overnight marinade like Savannah usually does. If you try the Memphis dry recipe I would recommend mopping with just plain apple juice. I also put too much rub on them, I used most of the recipe & it was really for two slabs, so just use half on one slab.

Sorry Savannah, I did not like your rub as well as my usual Penzey’s Galena Street Rub.
To be fare though it may shine more when paired with a good sauce. This was not the best rack of back ribs I have had so didn’t compliment either rub. I held 225 deg pretty close through the cook and this would translate to about 245 deg at grill level on my Traeger.

After overnight marinade

At 3 hours

Ready for a rest

Sliced

My Plate

Smokin Don

Smothered BBQ Chicken over Cheesy Mush

I ask my wife if she wanted BBQ chicken today, we were both getting a little tired of pork & beef. I remembered some BBQ chicken from years ago. I took my son, when he was about 8 or 9 to a primitive black powder meat in Southern Indiana & we camped overnight. That was about 30 years ago! A guy there was selling BBQ chicken halves; he had two pots set up on gas burners. One pot was boiling water & one was BBQ sauce. He was continually adding & changing the chicken. It was delicious, fall off the bone, & some good sauce.

I wanted to duplicate this on my pellet grill, I knew it would not be the same but wanted to come close. I had some Red Pig Inn BBQ sauce I wanted to try, a 16 oz. bottle. The Red Pig Inn is a BBQ place in Ottawa, Ohio & has been in business 33 years, winning many awards, for their ribs, in NW Ohio BBQ events. The last time I ate there was at least 15 years ago. I opened the sauce & tasted, heavy on vinegar, probably close to a Western N. Carolina sauce. I let the wife taste it & we decided I would add some brown sugar.

I had a split fryer to use. A cut up one was $3 more & I can cut it up for $3. I knew my 9 inch skillet was too small so I got my 12 inch from the shed, it looked too big & shallow. So off to WalMart to see if they had a chicken fryer, they carry Lodge Cast Iron Ware. They had one, 10 ¼ inches, with a lid so that was perfect. I had been wanting one anyway, & this was an early Christmas present. I would initiate it with my BBQ chicken.

I skinned the chicken, to cut down on the fat, rinsed & dried. In a dish, added salt & pepper drizzled olive oil over, some chopped garlic and mixed to coat well. I placed it on the grill, smoke mode at 180 deg. for a half hour. Upped the temp to 350 deg for another half hour & turned the chicken after 15 min. I preheated the chicken fryer, sprayed on a little olive oil then added the chicken. I put about 2 Tbs of brown sugar over the chicken, poured in a half can of beer, then enough BBQ sauce to just about cover. Dark beer would have been better but all I had on hand was my faithful Keystone so the had to do.I placed the lid on, back on the smoker, & turned the smoker back to 250 deg I left it there with lid on for two hours then removed the lid for another ½ hour. Total cook time 3 ½ hours.

I was going to serve the chicken over some cheesy corn meal mush and I had a bag of frozen peas in a steamer bag for on the side. I brought the chicken in & on a med low burner while I made the mush & steamed the peas. For the mush I followed the directions on the box, Quaker brand, & it thickened up faster than I thought it would. I added a little heavy cream, a cup of shredded sharp cheddar & stirred to melt & blend. I served it up with some bread & butter. Very tasty & made a pretty serving. This is a recipe I will use again & I did like the BBQ sauce too.

Chicken seasoned

On the smoker

In the skillet

Beer & sauce added

About ready

Ready to serve

My Bowl

My Supper

Smokin Don

Beef Pot Roast & Cheesy Cabbage Head

Awhile back I spotted a cabbage recipe over at Tango Joes blog. I love cabbage & this was one I had to try soon. Cabbage goes best with beef, at least to me. The cabbage had to cook over 3 hours at 250 deg. I thought a slow cooked pot roast would be good to cook it with. At the grocery I picked up, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, a jar of garlic, mozzarella cheese, and beef broth. At my butchers I picked out an arm roast just over 2 lbs.

I figured on 5 hours for the total cook, 5 hours for the pot roast and 4 hours for the cabbage. Our usual supper time is 6 PM so I needed to get the roast on at 1:00. At noon I sprayed the roast with a little olive oil and rubbed some Penzey’s Beef Roast seasoning on & back in the fridge. I fired up the Traeger on smoke mode & it settled down to about 185 deg. I got the roast on at 1:00 & would smoke for one hour. I paired out the core of the cabbage, some salt & pepper, added about 4 tsp of the canned garlic, 3 slices of onions, 4 pats of butter, and double wrapped in foil. I made a ring from foil to hold the cabbage upright on the grill. I sprayed a deep foil roasting pan with some olive oil & added 3 thick slices of onion to lay the roast on. At 2:00 I upped the temp to 225 deg, this would give me about 250 deg at grill level on my Traeger. I added the cabbage to the grill & placed the roast in the roaster pan.

I then prepared the potatoes, carrots, & parsnips, added them to the foil pan & added enough beef broth to almost cover the roast, covered the pan with foil & all was ready to cook for 3 hours before I needed to do anymore. This time I used to do some fall chores.
I removed the window screens to store for the winter, changed the screen to glass in the front screen door.

When I put the roast on & covered I had inserted a temp probe, & by 4:00 it was up to 170 deg. I checked the cabbage & it felt soft so I told the wife it may be ready just after 5:00. A little before 5 I removed the cabbage; opened & turned the foil down around the cabbage & back on the grill. I mounded up some shredded mozzarella cheese in the center. At 5:10 I took the roaster pan inside, placed it on a med high burner, removed the meat. I trimmed the fat & sliced then back in the roaster pan. I placed some leftover crusty bread in foil & in a 200 deg oven to refresh. At 5:25 I brought the cabbage in & sliced. Plated it all up on trays & we went in to watch a little TV while we ate. After I took the photo of my plate I mashed up my veggies & topped with some butter & broth.
The carrots & cabbage was just a tad underdone. I should have stuck to my 6:00 time!
It was really tasty & wasn’t worth trying to nuke to cook more. Loved that cabbage, thanks for the recipe Tango Joe! The beef was tender & had a little smoke ring, but a standard chuck roast is hard to beat for pot roast.

Arm roast

Seasoned

Cabbage cored

Garlic added

Ready to foil

Carrots & parsnips

On the grill

Pot Roast ready

Cabbage ready

Cabbage sliced

My Plate

Smokin Don