Grillin

I needed to grill up some meat for the rest of the week and I also wanted to try a new brine for my competition chicken thighs so this is the results of this cook. This cook was done on the Char-Broil CB 500X cooker with Wicked Good all hardwood brickettes. I also used a little hickory for my smoke wood. I used about 2/3rd full of my smaller charcoal chimney for this cook and poured them in when they were all ashed over. The setup used on the cooker was both direct and indirect with a tin foil half pan on the left side for drippings and to keep that side indirect and then nothing on the right side which was the fire side or direct side
.

 Was a pretty day outside with the temp around 50 degrees.
 The chicken was trimmed up and then brined for about 3 hours.  
I started the chicken thighs on the direct side with a good sear to help with the skin and then they were
placed on the indirect side to finish.

 While the chicken was finishing up, I put four 1/3 pound fat burgers on the direct side for their short
cook.

 Fat burgers looking good and sucking up that hickory smoke.
 Next were my Allen Brothers 1/4 pound all beef steak dogs. Very pricy but also very good.
Steak dogs about done. Gota be very careful not to split the skin so that when you bite into one of these
things, the juice will squirt all over your mouth.

 Next were the all purpose chops and these were kinda ratty looking but they did cook up well.
More chops.

Here are the results of the cook.


.



 What a slick little grill.......

Black Iron Beef Po-Boy on the Char-Broil 500X

Nice cool morning with a heavy frost and the temperature at about 24 degrees. Suppose to warm up a little later in the day. Just one great day to be outside and cooking.

This is another cook inspired by my hero's....The BBQ Pit Boys.

Got the Char-Broil CB-500X out of the garage at about daylight. I set it up for both indirect and direct cooking. I used a half pan on one side to keep that side indirect and then used the other side for my direct cooking over the coals. I put about 32 of the great Stubb’s charcoal brickettes in a charcoal chimney and lit it off.



Went back inside to prep my meat.



The ingredients for this cook were as follows:

About 1-1/2 pounds of chuck roast
Small onion diced
About 4 large cloves of garlic sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Box of beef broth plus one can
2 tsp corn starch
olive oil
Bottle of Gravy Master



I cut about 1-1/2 pound off of this 4 pound chuck roast. I then rubbed it good on all sides with olive oil. Added the salt and fresh cracked pepper to all sides of the meat and it was ready to go on the cooker.

I poured the charcoal into the cooker and put the grid back in. I then placed the meat on the direct side of the CB500X as I wanted to sear it well.



After the sear, the meat went into my black iron pot on the indirect side of the cooker. I then added a little butter and poured in the onions and garlic slices.



I cooked the onions and garlic for about 10 minutes and then added the box of beef broth and the balance of the spices.



I cooked this about 4 hours keeping the cooker at about 300-325 degrees and I did add about 10-12 more brickettes each hour.



This is the meat at the four hour mark into the cook.



At this point into the cook, I pulled out about a half cup of the liquid in the pot and added the corn starch to the bowl, mixed it up good and poured it back into the pot to thicken it up some. I also added about 2/3rd of the bottle of the Gravy Master. I the let it cook about another 20 minutes and pulled it off.



I had made up some of my famous crusty hoogie rolls and I sliced it right down the middle for my sandwich.

I then added mayo to both pieces of the bread.



Next up was the tomato.



Add some shredded lettuce.



I added a very generous portion of the meat to the roll.



Put the sandwich together.



Went back on the grill to crisp it up a little as we like it crunchy.




Now, that is some good eating....

I just never get tired of using this slick little cooker.

Sausage Tutorial

While I am not any kind of expert in making sausage, I do make it several times a year. We use my super spicy Italian in many different dishes and I probably make over 60 pounds a year of this great treat. We also like a good sage breakfast sausage, my home made brats, and my Texas Hot Links. This article is about all but the Italian as I have plenty of it in the freezer.

I will make this as simple and easy as I can and maybe we can get some new folks interested in this fun hobby. It sure goes good with BBQ!

Equipment

You will need a grinder of some type and they can be as simple as a hand grinder which starts at about $40 dollars to a larger electric grinder that will start at about $100 dollars. Many of the better electric grinders will also work for stuffing sausage.
A heavy duty food processor might work and a simple Kitchen-Aid mixer with the grinding attachment will do a fine job with the smaller amounts (5-20 lbs) of meat. The Kitchen-Aid is nice in that you can use the mixer to blend all your meat with the spices in the mixing bowl. However, the sausage stuffing attachment for this mixer is not very good. It will work but it’s a two person operation.



For this batch, I will use my larger electric grinder.

The next piece of equipment you will need is a sausage stuffer. There are many types and sizes out there from about 40 dollars to well over $400 depending on the size. A good sausage stuffer makes this hobby mucho fun. A lousy stuffer will have you talking to yourself and pulling your hair out. If you decide to spend any money on this hobby, start with a good stuffer.



I prefer a tin can stuffer and this one will do 5 pounds at a time. That is about right in that many recipes will call for 4-5 pounds of meat. This fine stuffer runs about $100 dollars.

You will need some kind of scale to weigh your meat for the recipes.



I use a small electronic scale that works up to about 22 pounds.

Nuff introduction...lets make some sausage.

Old Dave’s Breakfast Sausage

4 pounds of ground pork butt
1 TBL red pepper flakes
4 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp splenda
2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 cup cooking wine or water
medium natural hog casings
grind thru a 1/4 inch plate



These are two pork butts from Sam’s Club that weighed 17.4 pounds.



My grinder has a throat that will take meat up to about 1-1/2 by 1-1/2 so I kinda start slabbing the meat off of the butt.



Then I cut the slabs down to fit my grinder.



This is both of the butts ready for the grinder. (TIP) Place the meat into the freezer for about 30 minutes or the fridge for an hour or two before you run it thru the grinder for best results. You want the meat cold but not frozen.




This is the ground pork butt all weighed out into bowls for my three recipes. I netted 15-3/4 pounds of meat from the 17.4 pound of butts.

(TIP) Any pork sausage recipe that uses pork butts can be improved by adding about 20% more pork fat as the butts are really too lean for the best sausage. If you can get it, pork back fat is best if you can find it.



Measure out your wine or water or beer in a bowl or large cup and then add your spices to it and mix it up about an hour before you mix up the recipe. Let this mixture soak and dissolve.



If using the Kitchen-Aid, put the meat into the bowl and then add the spice mixture and mix it up. Usually for a small amount, I just use a larger bowl and put all the ingredients in it and have the old woman mix it up as I don’t want to get my hands dirty.




It is now ready to stuff in casings.

You need to wash your gut well and I find the best way for this is to lay it out in the sink and then hook it up to the faucet and run some hot water thru it.



Slide the gut onto the hog casing stuffing tube and tie off the end. We are now ready to stuff the casings.



I usually let my lady drive the stuffer (turn the crank) and I run the tube end of the operation.



The plate of the left is my 4 pounds of breakfast sausage, the other plate is my 5 pounds of brats all ready to be linked. I didn’t get any pictures of the linking process but you just use your thumb and forefinger and pinch off the length you want and turn it a couple of times to seal it up.



This is a picture of the links from a previous round.



This is a picture of Jan mixing my Hot Links...notice the dark red color on the meat. This come from all the hot and spicy stuff that we put into the meat. If you like hot, this is to die for!



This is 8 pounds of my Texas hot sausage ready to be linked.

This is the recipe for my brats and it is a mild flavor and the best I have ever eaten. It is a work in process with my friend Jim Ferguson.

Old Dave’s & Jim’s Mild Brat Recipe

4 pounds ground pork butt
1 pound ground chuck roast or just ground beef
3 TBL salt
1 tsp mace
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 cup non-fat dry milk
1 cup wine or water
grind thru a 1/4 inch plate.

This is the hot link recipe that I use and it comes from a fellow in Texas.

Bigwheel’s World Famous Genuine Texas Hotlinks (version Nov 2002)

6-7 pounds of ground pork butt
1 bottle of beer
2 TBL course ground black pepper
2 TBL crushed red pepper
2 TBL ground cayenne pepper
2 TBL Hungarian paprika
1 TBL Morton Tender Quick
2 TBL Kosher salt
2 TBL whole mustard seed
1/4 cup minced fresh garlic
1 TBL granulated garlic
! TBL MSG
1 tsp ground bay leaves
1 tbs whole anise seeds
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp ground thyme
grind thru a 1/4 inch plate

Use the same method as above for the breakfast sausage to make the other two recipes.

Making sausage is a lot of fun and you can make a better product that you can buy in my opinion. Give it a try!

Sizzle on the Grill Fall Gathering

Early last Spring, the folks on the SOTG forum (Char-Broil) started talking about putting together a get together or fall gathering and after many posts on the subject about where, when, and how, decided to take the advice of fellow forum member Dee Stafford and use the Central Christian Recreation Association facility which is just North of Augusta, Georgia and right on the Clark's Hill Lake. This lake is a part of the much larger J. Strom Thurmond Lake, Dam, and Rec area.

This is just one beautiful place and would be perfect for many different uses including our fall gathering.



The property is easy to find and about 20 miles North of Augusta.



This is the main building which contains a full commercial type of kitchen, a large mess hall, a porch with several swings, and a couple of bathrooms. Upstairs contains bunks and bathrooms with showers for many people. I am sure it is used for a Summer camp for several churches and probably Scouts.



The mess hall.





The big kitchen.



This is the front porch.



Another porch on the building.



It also has a nice place right outside the kitchen door to set up some cookers.



Some of the upstairs bunks.



The property has two of these cabins which are doubles and each side will sleep 6 people.



A shower house and bath near the cabins.



Looking down at the lake.



Another lake picture.



The property covers quite a few acres and is wooded with many places for camping with tents and also has about 5 camper spots with 30 amp electric and water. It has many more spots with just water. It also has a dump site on the property for the trailers.



This is the open theater overlooking the lake.



This is a big outside cooking pit for hogs or whatever.

Like I said, this place is perfect for the Fall Gathering. Was also pretty close to motels, stores, and shopping.

Dee had secured the facility from Sept 30 thru Oct 3rd for the event. The cost was to be a donation from everyone that attended.

We decided after seeing the pictures and getting some information to go to the event. It would mean missing our favorite bbq contest in Owensboro, Kentucky but we wanted to give it a go. The folks on the SOTG forum are just so real and easy to get along with and we just wanted to meet some of them.

We left from home about 3:00am on a Thursday morning and drove about 510 miles to a KOA just North of Atlanta. Just hate to drive thru this city!!! Anyway, stayed over until about 3:30 am and left to get thru Atlanta before the morning rush hour. West out of Atlanta to the turnoff to the facility and got there about 8:30 am on Friday morning. Dee was ready for us and we were the first to arrive. The total trip down was about 720 miles.

We had our pick of the rv sites and selected a great site facing the lake. Got the trailer turned around and backed into the spot.



We spent most of the morning getting setup for the event.




I brought 3 cookers to the event including my Char-Broil 940X, my Char-Broil 500X, and a Backwoods Party for my Saturday evening rib cook. These cookers run on charcoal with chunks of wood for smoke.

Many other folks came in on Friday and got setup for the event.







Many great food items were cooked over this 3 day period in many different style of cookers including gas, electric, infrared, and charcoal. Of course, most of the cookers were the Char-Broil brand.

Barry Martin, a Char-Broil rep, got the Compart Duroc Family Farms in Minnesota to donate a 218 pound box of mixed cuts of premium pork and we had this to cook on top of what everybody brought to the event. You talk about eating, we just were fixing and eating 24 hours a day.

From here I will just put in some random pictures and list some of the items cooked when I know what they were.



Busy in the kitchen.




Sausage of some type.



I think this was ice cream cake.




Kabobs



Pizza



Real busy in the kitchen.




Might have been doing sausage for the low country boil.



Getting the pot ready for the low country boil.



Results of the low country boil and it was "killer".



Pork butt.

I didn't get pictures of all the items cooked but I can tell you that the group also cooked brisket, pork tenderloins, abt's, steak, pork chops, chicken, brunswick stew, and several items out of the Compart Pork donation.

Now, what did we cook and serve you might ask?

We started out on Friday evening with some "kicked up" pulled chicken sliders.



I butterflied the chickens and used some Smokin' Guns hot rub and then cooked them on the classic Char-Broil 940X charcoal cooker.



They come off the cooker looking good.



As it might be served...Doesn't that look good?

Saturday was our big cook day and we started out with a large plate of my smoked and mixed cheeses with crackers. This great appetizer had gouda, Swiss, cheddar, 3 alarm hot, and a couple more different cheeses. I didn't get a picture.

About 10:00am, we started with about a 7-8 pound piece of pork from Compart Duroc Farms. I am not sure of the cut but it was like a whole bone in non-Frenched pork rib roast. Just a beautiful piece of meat.





Now, that is one great looking piece of meat. Looked like a row of pork chops!



I trimmed some of the fat off of the roast.



Pulled the membrane off.



Put a little sweet rub on that baby.



Cooked the roast on the CB940X over lump charcoal with hickory for smoke until the internal was at 135 degrees. I glazed it later into the cook. Took it off the grill and foiled it and let it rest for about 20 minutes.



Cut it up for serving and we sent it up to the main building so everyone could taste it. It was very juicy and tender and the flavor was as good as it can get. Probably be a while before I cook another piece of pork that is as good as this one. Many thanks go out to the Compart Farms.

About noon, we started on our big meal. I had promised to cook some competition type ribs along with some pit beans for the entire group for the Saturday evening meal.



We brought both St. Louis cut and also loin back ribs and I think we had a total of 9 slabs.



Stripped the membrane of the backs and rubbed them up with some Smokin' Guns hot rub and placed them into the Backwoods Party cooker.

We also prepped our pit beans in a large hotel pan and got them on the cooker.

Foiled the ribs using the same method I would use for competition and then glazed the ribs later into the cook and got them ready for serving.



A picture of the ribs at the serving table. I didn't get a picture of the beans but you can see them on the video.

Some more random pictures from I think Saturday.








Everyone was having a great time.

There were several folks that attended this event from the Char-Broil HQ and it was interesting talking to them. My interest is in charcoal and wood cooking but it was nice to see some of the other cookers out there and how well they cook. Char-Broil is a leader in several types of grills, cookers, and smokers.

They did a bonfire down by the lake on Saturday evening. These are some of the pictures from this event.







We missed this great part of the event as we were just dead tired and went to bed very early Saturday evening.

We did two large pans of our breakfast casserole for the Sunday morning breakfast. The casserole is made up of hot sausage, hash brown potatoes,onions, bell peppers,eggs, spices and Cresent rolls.





I didn't get a picture down there but this is some pictures from home of the casserole.

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we had a very nice service in the theater down by the lake.



I think that all of the folks that were on site attended this service.



We had much food left over and just served it up again on Sunday. There were several folks still cooking new food and of course, we had to try it all! I am sure I gained 5 pounds at this event. We spent most of Sunday afternoon packing up and getting ready to go home.



There were a bunch of T-shirts laid out on the tables and everyone signed them so we had a very nice gift to take home to remind us of this first SOTG Fall Gathering.

We had a wonderful time at this event. I had never met any of these people although I did get to know some of them from using the SOTG forum. These folks are just so laid back and easy to get along with and we felt like family being around this group.
While we have tons of fun doing bbq contests, it was sure nice to do this Fall Gathering without all the pressure of a contest. These folks just made us feel at home and couldn't do enough for us. Thanks so much for making us a part of your life.

There were two video's made of this event and they can be found here. They do show some of the items we cooked where we didn't get any pictures.

Video 1. http://youtu.be/bRghotv7AKg
Video 2. http://youtu.be/pRTfzOdDpTA

It's gonna be bigger and better next year....can't wait! You folks that don't own a Char-Broil product better get yourself one and get on the SOTG forum to get all of the details.