Leftovers and Cheeseburgers

Just a short one here. The other day I had my applebutter BBQ chicken for lunch. A sandwich on brown bread, the chicken, some of the applebutter sauce topped with some of my smoked provolone cheese, melted under the broiler. I had some Greek potato salad my daughter-in-law made as a side.

For our evening supper I made cheese burgers served on a slim brown bun with Tennessee tomato and romaine lettuce. I grilled some extra romaine lettuce for my veggie d-i-l, she just had a lettuce tomato sandwich. For a side I made some black beans & corn, for that I sauteed some onions in olive oil then added a can of chopped mild green chiles, a can of Green Giant Mexican corn, a can of Bush's seasoned black beans, some Cajun seasoning & some cumin. All tasted good.

My Lunch



Lettuce & tomatoes



Here I had melted the cheese & was topping with the buns to warm some.



My Plate



Smokin Don

Applewood Smoked Goetta and Grits

Now we are talking pork grits & not corn grits. On the pellethead forum we got into a big discussion about corn grits when I cooked this once before.

Looking up about why a meat would be called grits I found it was probably because of the steel cut oats used in it as a binder. I also found that a Cincinnati Co., Griers, makes Goetta & looks like the Kah’s grits with similar ingredients. It is mostly an area thing but now Krogers does sell it & I bought a tube of it the other day to try. Griers calls it a breakfast sausage. I like Kah’s grits fried crisp with eggs for breakfast but also like it cold on crackers. After getting my smoker I found I liked it smoked.

I found where Griers is now offering their Goetta in hot dog and brat size. They have a yearly Goetta festivle in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Goetta, grits, scrapple, pon haus, pan pudding, head cheese all were made from scraps of meat & organ meat like heart & tongue cooked in it’s own fat & juices cooled into a loaf to slice & fry later. It was a way of using up all the meat from butchering. They were brought to America by immigrants from Europe.

While goetta comes in a variety of forms, all goetta is based around ground meat combined with pin head or steel cut oats. Usually goetta is made from pork shoulder or "Cali", but occasionally contains equal parts pork and beef. Goetta is typically flavored with bay leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper, and thyme. It contains onions and sometimes other vegetables.

While similar to scrapple in that it contains a grain product and meat for the purpose of stretching out the meat over several days, goetta looks very different. Scrapple is made with meal while goetta uses steel-cut or chopped oats. The oats in goetta are much coarser than the fine powder used in scrapple and add texture to the dish.

Using BBQ Select apple wood pellets I wanted to do a long slow smoke & get it to 160 deg IT. I did it on smoke 175 deg. for two hours then went to 180 deg. It was running closer to 190 deg. It took 3 ½ hours for the Goetta & another 20 min. for Kah’s grits. It is pretty fragile & you have to be gentle taking it off so I find a grill pan works best. Then after cooling in the fridge over night to set up before slicing & frying.

Griers Goetta and Kah's Grits



Before smoking



About done



Cooling



My breakfast today, Kah's grits, Goetta, applewood bacon, egg, cheesy corn grits, toast & butter. The cheesy grits I made with some of my smoked sharp cheddar. I like Kah's grits better than the Goetta. Both had a light smoky taste.



Snokin Don

Apple Wood Smoked Apple Butter Chicken

Continuing my cooking with BBQ Selects pellets for my view on them I did apple butter chicken with their apple wood pellets yesterday.

What a change in weather from last week-end. Last Sunday my digital hit 99 deg. for awhile, it was just 60 yesterday. It was 55 when I started to cook at 4 PM.

I had two organic broilers I spatchcocked & brined for about 6 hours. I then rinsed & dried then marinated in some apple butter sauce I made up, for about 1 ½ hours.

I got my chicken on at 4 PM on smoke for 40 minutes. It held good at 175 deg.; then went to 325 deg. At 5:30 went to 350 deg. I brushed twice with the apple butter sauce & they were done a little after 6 PM. I should have just brushed the last 20 minutes; they were on the verge of being burnt. You would think at 70 I would know how to do chicken by now!

I held them in a 190 deg. oven while I browned up the spaetzel I had already cooked. We had a mixed green salad w/some Tennessee tomatoes, and some good bread w/garlic butter. I carved up the best looking of the two, the other I will remove the skin & pull for sandwiches.

Chicken was good in spite of being a little brown. I thought it came through with a mild sweet smoke taste and was very moist. I did like my apple butter sauce too. It would be good on a sandwich.

Printable Apple butter sauce recipe

The Chicken

The bread, Ecce Pene take home and bake

Chicken after marinating

After 40 minutes of smoke

Chickens done

The spaetzel

Best of the two

Cut up

My Plate my Supper

Smokin Don

Applewood Smoked Popper Pizza & Apple Tart

Yesterday May 30th, was the true Memorial Day, and my son’s 40th birthday. We celebrated them both last Sunday. For last night’s supper we had pizza.

I was done with the bourbon pellets from BBQ Select; those pellets were growing on me.
I opened the bag of applewood pellets Adam had sent me to try. They are a mix of applewood & oak. I emptied the hopper down to the auger tube and loaded it with the applewood.

I have wanted to try a popper pizza since I seen it on a fellow blogger's site. Bacon wrapped poppers sliced & used on a pizza. For dessert I did an apple tart with cheddar cheese.

I first did up the poppers, stuffed with onion & garlic Philly cream cheese and wrapped in applewood smoked bacon. I did them on smoke 175 deg for 30 minutes then went to 325 deg. I did them about 30 more minutes turning half way through. I let them cool then in the fridge until pizza time.

Jalapenos & Cream Cheese

Ready for the Smoker

Poppers are done

After lunch I chopped my apples & cooked for the tart filling. I adapted a recipe from Saveur for the tart to do on the smoker. It called for cheddar cheese mixed in the dough. I used a store bought pie dough & just pressed some shredded cheddar into the dough before adding the filling & topped with a sprinkling of more cheese. I did the tart on smoke for 30 minutes then went to 325 deg to finish. I did it until the crust was starting to brown up 30 to 40 more minutes.

Apples

Crust with cheese

Tart is done

Printable Apple Tart Recipe

About 4:00 we had some shrimp cocktail for an appetizer. At 5:30 we ordered a pizza from Beer & Wine Depot, not all like jalapenos. I sliced up the poppers for the pizza and assembled it. Store bought thin crust, sorry about that, I am lazy. For my sauce I used Philly cream cheese cooking sauce, Santa Fe flavor, a layer of shredded cheddar & mozzarella mix; then topped with the sliced poppers.

I started my smoker about 5:05 then went to high, hoping it would be up to at least 400 deg at 5:30 for the pizza. It was at 440 deg. when I stuck the pizza in. I did it on a stainless cooking sheet for 20 minutes & just peeked quickly to see when it was done. I should have been looking closer, I burnt the crust some. It was edible but I was glad we also had the pizza from Sandman. The apple tart was good with some ice cream & I thought had a mild smokey taste.

The shrimp cocktail

Pizza ready for the smoker

Pizza is done, well a little over done!

My Plate

My dessert

Smokin Don

Memorial Day Dinner & Son's 40th Birthday

Yesterday we had a party for Memorial Day & my son Jason’s birthday, May 30th, 40 years old! Tonya’s parents came down from Toledo; along with her Grandmother & two of her Nephews. I would be feeding 11, plus two dogs underfoot!

I took the easy way out & ordered 24 pieces of broasted chicken from Beer & Wine Depot. A good price at $19.99 and it is very tasty. I bought 4 lbs. of local made potato salad and would smoke 8 brats from my butcher Kah Meats. I put on a pot of Bush’s grillin beans along with the brats. I did them on smoke for 1 hour & one hour at 225 deg. I sautéed some onions, garlic, & peppers added beer to cover then the brats to hold until time to eat.

For appetizers we had some of my Cajun crackers, smoked and plain cheddar & provolone and some veggies w/dip. For dessert Tonya baked Jason some brownies on a rimmed cookie sheet & chocolate icing, some had Dairy Queen with them. The brownies were delicious. We had local strawberries my wife made some dip for.

I used up the last of BBQ Select’s bourbon pellets to do the brats & beans. I made sure I would get some bourbon taste; I bought my son a bottle of Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage Bourbon, 10 years old; for his birthday. I made sure he understood I got to have some too! My wife & I toured the distillery, Heaven Hills near Bardstown, KY several years ago where Evan Williams is made.

We all enjoyed the food and had fun visiting. Tonya’s father is a Marine Corps Vet who did several tours in Viet Nam; we told some war stories! After dinner we opened the bourbon. The best bourbon I have had in a long time. I think I drank more than my share; I slept pretty good last night!

The Bourbon

The wife & Grandson did the deco

Grillin beans & Tennessee tomatoes

Beans & Brats are done

Peppers & onions sauteed & beer added

Brats added, ones w/toothpicks were hot Cajun

Beans are ready

Beer & Wine Depot's broasted chicken

Close up of the chicken

My Plate

Smokin Don

Starting the Memorial Day Week-end

Celebrating Memorial Day has always been a day to also celebrate our son’s birthday. He was born on Memorial Day, May 30th, 40 years ago this year. All three children are now over 40! Makes me feel old!

We will have a family party for him Sunday. Our daughter came home from the Chicago area and our d-i-l’s parents are coming down from Toledo. I am taking the easy way out for cooking. Getting broasted chicken from Beer & Wine carry out, I will do up some fresh brats on the smoker, some good locally made potato salad, and Bush’s grillin beans from the can. I am also having a cheese plate using some cheese I smoked a month ago. Our dessert will be local strawberries and brownies with Dairy Queen.

This week a local veggie stand opened with their strawberries and fresh tomatoes they bring in from Tennessee. The first taste of fresh garden tomatoes I get every summer.

Our daughter would be here in time for supper. Early in the day I smoked a batch of Cajun crackers to serve with the cheese Sunday. My recipe has evolved into a cup of ELOO, extra light olive oil, a package of Hidden Valley’s ranch dressing mix, 1 to 2 Tbs. of crushed red pepper, mixed well and poured over 3 sleeves of saltine crackers. Let marinate over night to soak up the olive oil. Stir several times. Smoke for 1 ½ hours on smoke setting. This time I used 2 Tbs. of Penzey’s Cajun seasoning in place of the crushed red pepper, and they turned out great.

My supper would be Bourbon smoked butter & garlic marinated chicken breasts, with a slice of bacon on top. Both came from my butcher Kah Meats. I know I did these before with BBQ Delight’s bourbon pellets. I was going to empty them out & start with their applewood pellets but I am loving those bourbon pellets so decided to use them up. I should use them up on the brats Sunday.

I did the chicken breasts for 1 hour, 20 min. on smoke and 40 min. at 325 deg. Melted some Swiss cheese over and served with the fresh tomatoes and grilled romaine lettuce. We all had sandwiches on some slim whole wheat buns and our side was Ore Ida’s fast food fries with cheddar cheese sauce.

Hope all have a safe week-end and I know all will have some great cooks!

Thanks to all our Veterans, past and present and all those who serve to keep us safe!

Cajun Crackers on the smoker

Crackers are done

Tennessee Tomatoes

Kah's Bacon

Kah's Chicken

Chickens about done, I added cheese to all the chicken

My Plate, my sandwich was the chicken w/bacon & cheese. grilled lettuce, slice of tomato, & Dijon mustard.

Smokin Don

Bourbon Baby Back Ribs

For my third cook with BBQ Selects bourbon pellets I decided on baby back ribs. I had decided on using my RSI, from Smok’n Spice. I loaded it with the bourbon pellets & did an hour cold smoke.

Since Adam said their bourbon pellets were made from white oak staves from used bourbon barrels I understand the taste now. I can’t say that in a blind taste I could say I tasted bourbon or not. I do like the taste & it is different from my usual oak pellets. They burn well in my Traeger; ash is comparable with any other pellet I have used or maybe a little less. Sawdust left in the bottom of the bags is about equal to other pellets.

One benefit I am getting is a darker mahogany color. I thought the beef I did was darker than usual, and after the ribs & ring bologna I know it is. I noted it first in the bologna; it was darker than usual & tasted great. If I could pick out the bourbon taste it would be in the bologna. I would definitely buy & use these pellets again.

I had two racks of ribs, one whole & two halves. The whole rack the glue was a little red wine vinegar, in one half I used Dijon mustard & the other was no glue. I used my favorite rub, Penzey’s rib rub on them all. No marinade time I got them ready & on the smoker for the cold smoke.

I did them for one hour on the cold smoke, then a half hour at 180 deg. I then went to 225 deg. for the rest of the cook. I put the ring bologna on just after the ribs. Total cook time was 5 hours. After 2 ½ hrs; I foiled the full rack for 1 ½ hours. I coated the full rack with some of my butchers BBQ sauce for the last hour.

I put on two sweet potatoes, split with butter & brown sugar, and wrapped in foil for my veggie d-i-l. She made a Garden Orzo salad with herb dressing for our other side. It calls for cherry tomatoes added but we serve them on the side, not all like tomatoes. I had a dollop of basil pesto on mine.

All but my d-i-l ate & loved the ribs. We also had some good bread with olive oil dip. I liked the sauced ribs I foiled best, they were moister. That could have been the ribs since they were from two sources. I did sprits with some water I added a little red wine vinegar to twice during the cook.

Ashes after a 5 1/4 hour cook

Ribs ready for the Smoker

On for the cold smoke

Bologna is done

Ribs done & ready to slice

Sliced & ready to serve

My Plate

Smokin Don