Jerk Chicken, Potato Bombs, and ABT's

This cook was done on my Weber Jumbo Joe kettle running a split fire (direct & indirect)  using lump charcoal with a fist sized chunk of hickory for my smoke wood. 



I prepped 4 chicken legs, 3 chicken thighs, and one chicken breast which I cut into 2 pieces with my favorite jerk chicken marinade recipe and placed them into the fridge for an overnight stay.

The potato bombs were prepped by using and apple corer to take a plug out of the middle of the potato. I then used the same corer to take some plugs out of a couple of cheese blocks for my filling. Placed the cheese inside the potatoes, cut the plug I removed from the potato down to about 1/2” long to plug the bottom of the potato and then brushed on some peanut oil. Next step was to sprinkle on some sea salt, granulated garlic, and some black pepper and then wrapped them in bacon and used a toothpick to hold the bacon in place.

I prepped about 14 ABT’s with some smoked shredded chuck roast, cream cheese, SGH rub, and a bacon wrap. I figured I would be short on room so I had the Wife do most of them in the oven. I did get 4 of them into the kettle later into my cook. 







Poured in a full chimney of lump and got my fire ready for the meat.

I started my chicken pieces over a very hot direct fire to give them some char marks and blacken them up a little. I then placed them on the indirect part of the cooker to finish them up. 





I took the Wife’s chicken off the cooker when it was done and I started my very hot jerk glaze to my pieces to finish them up.





The results of my cook looked good. 







Plated for serving....made a nice meal. I used that very hot 3 alarm cheese from Sam’s Club in my potato bomb and it was great.

Turkey Ribs / Cobb Grill

Always looking for some more heart healthy items to cook on the grills and smokers and came across something called “Turkey Ribs” or “Gobblem Ribbz” as they are listed on the box. 

I found these turkey ribs at GFS and had to purchase a case as that was the only way they would sell them. The case weighed 20.84 pounds and had 28 ribs packaged in sealed bags. Of course to be ribs, they do have some of the scapula bones in each piece. They are precooked and can be fixed in a number of ways and there is some information on the web site on their preparation. 

The cost of the case of meat was $3.19 a pound to many would seem expensive.  However, they are cooked and this makes them more of a bargain in my book. If I purchase a whole turkey at say $.99 cents a pound, and then cook it, I will get a yield of about 35 percent of the original weight. So my 20.84 pound whole turkey might net me about 35% or roughly 7.3 pounds. My whole bird will cost $20.63 and divide this by my yield of 7.3 pounds and I get $2.82 a pound so this isn’t too bad a deal compared against the pre-cooked turkey ribs. 

Let’s cook something...



Ok, to keep my heart healthy theme, I decided to do some low calorie veggies to go with my heart healthy and low calorie turkey ribs. I cut up a potato, some celery, bell pepper, and carrots. I forgot the onions! I also made up a little poultry broth from a low salt  bouillon cube for my veggies. Since I planned to do this cook on the Cobb Grill in the moat, I wrapped three packets of the veggies in foil along with a couple of tablespoons of broth in each packet. 



I cut my 13oz turkey rib out of the bag and sprinkled on a very light coat of SGH rub and it was ready for the smoker.



Fired up the grill and when it was ready, I added a small chunk of hickory and placed my packets of veggies around the fire in the moat for cooking. 



Placed my ribs on the cooking rack in the cooker and just ran the cooker at about 250-275 degrees for the cook. Heck, all I am doing is adding a little smoke and heating up the ribs. 



After a short cook, including glazing the ribs with a light sauce, I took the ribs off the cooker. I decided to let the veggies go a little longer as I didn’t think they were done.



This is what my meal looked like coming off the cooker. I pulled the ribs into three pieces for serving.

I wanted a low calorie gravy of some type for my meal so I took the half cup of the left over bouillon cube broth, added another cube, about one more cup of water, about 1-1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch, a pinch of thyme, a pinch of white pepper and thru it all in a pan and made the gravy for the meal. 





The turkey ribs were pretty good and did come out somewhat moist and tender but I think it needed something else. It was kinda bland in the taste department so I will try something different on the next cook. The veggies and gravy were fine. 

Real Country Ribs and Smoked Potato Salad

This cook is about some REAL country ribs which are cut out of the loin of the hog and are so much better than what most folks can find in their local stores and labeled either country ribs or Western ribs. Those ribs are cut out of a standard pork shoulder or pork butt and in my opinion, not as good as the real thing. 





This is 10 pounds of this wonderful real country rib treat.

Now, I will post a picture of the country ribs that are cut out of pork shoulder or pork butt.



I think you can see the difference.

The second thing I will cook is my Hot Smoked Potato Salad and I will also make a standard dressing for this as well as my bride doesn’t like the hot German salad type of dressing. Kinda a duel purpose treat with both dressings!



I got about 5 pounds of the country ribs ready and then gave them a coat of my favorite rub.

I also cut up my potatoes and rolled them in some bacon grease and the added some salt and pepper. 





I also fired up the tube for some additional smoke and then loaded the ribs and potatoes on the smoker and got it underway at my smoke temp for the first hour. 



A beautiful morning in Indiana and the Green Mountain smoker doing its thing. 



While the potatoes were getting done, I made up my Hot German and my standard dressings for the potato salad base. 





I followed the potatoes with my bell peppers, than my celery, and then my red onions. Everything that goes into the salad except the dressing was smoked on the cooker. 



The potatoes just off the cooker. I cut each piece into 3-4 pieces for the salad. 



This is the celery and the bell peppers just off the cooker. I forget to get a picture of my red onions. 



I placed all the ingredients including about a half pound of cooked bacon in a wire basket. This is my base for the salad and I put it back on the cooker to keep it hot. 



Bout this time, the ribs are getting done and I added a little sauce to them. 





I decided to add about 8 burgers to this cook since I had a fire going. 



Burgers looked good. 





I added some of my hot potato salad base to the plate and then poured some of my German dressing over the top. Next was a nice real country rib and a slice of cornbread and by golly, I had a meal. 





For the brides meal, I cooled off some of the potato base and then folded in my standard dressing and put it into the fridge for about 15 minutes and then served it up.

Both dressings were very good and I am not sure which one I liked the best.

Spinnin & Kickin Chicken / Green Mountain Grill

This is my first cook in my GMG Daniel Boone cooker using a couple of my just completed  rotisserie setups. I picked a nice 22 degree day here in Central Indiana.



Wife had to shovel a fresh 2” snow to get the cooker to my cooking patio.

I started with two rather large whole fryers which weighed about 5-1/2 pounds each and after washing them out, I added a light sprinkle of my low carb rub. 



I placed the two whole chickens in my EZ-Que 6” cradle and got them locked down.



Brought the cooker up to 325 degrees and loaded the cradle into the cooker and installed the rotisserie motor. I run about 40 minutes and then started mopping the two chickens. 



For the mop or marinade, I was using the “Roadside Chicken Recipe” and after the first mop, I mopped about every 10 minutes until the chicken was done. 



The two chickens looked good coming off the cooker.

Next step was to slab a coupe of big baker potatoes with a knife. I rubbed these with peanut oil, added some garlic salt and then cracked on some fresh black pepper. I then sprinkled on some Italian spices and placed them in my favorite standard rotisserie basket setup and got them locked down. 



I installed this rotisserie setup into the cooker and raised the temp up to 350 degrees. 



As soon as the potatoes start to brown up, I start spraying them with some canned butter spray about every 10-15 minutes until done.



I cut one of the chickens in half and plated it with the slab potatoes and it was ready to go to the table. 



With a few veggies and some cheese, this made a fine very tasty meal.

I removed the skin from the balance of the chicken as it will be used for my “Kicked Up” pulled chicken recipe. Next step was to pull the chicken. I did set aside about 1/2 pound of the pulled chicken for some chicken salad.



I start the Kicked Up chicken recipe by cutting a full pound of bacon into 3/4” pieces and   frying it up in an iron skillet. I then drain the bacon  onto paper towels. Next step is to cut all the skin into small pieces and place it into the hot bacon grease. I then add about a cup of chopped up Jalapeno peppers to the skillet. I cook this a few short minutes and then pour the contents of skin and peppers thru a strainer to remove the bacon fat. I then add my fried and chopped up bacon to the strainer, stir it up and add it to my meat. 



I mix it it well and it is ready to go for many different treats. 



Now, that is chicken with an attitude! We usually freeze some of this when we have extra. 



A couple of my “Kicked Up” pulled chicken slyders.

I think I can call my rotisserie setup for this new cooker a success.