Lollichops / other Stick Foods

This cook was done on the GMG Davy Crockett cooker and consisted of some Porksicles or as sometimes called Lollichops, some Slab Potatoes on a stick, and a block of Spam for some Spam Slyders.



I prepped the slab potatoes by washing the potatoes first, then cutting them into about 3/4” thick slices, and then putting each slice on a stick. Next, I brushed on a coat of Peanut oil and then added my herbs and spices which in this cook was some Garlic salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Other spices and herbs that can be used on this treat are Italian seasoning, thyme, rosemary, basil, chives, dill, oregano, and dried onions to name a few. I sometimes will sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese later into the cook for a different taste. 



Not much prep for my Spam...just added a light coat of my favorite rub and it was ready for the fire.



Rolled my little cooker around to the cooking patio and fired it up. Beautiful morning with a temp of about 55 degrees. I set the cooking temp to 365 degrees and let it come to temp and then loaded my food.



Used my raised cooking grid to get it all on the cooker.



While that was cooking, I prepped my Porksicles by cutting the pork loin into about 3/4” thick slices and then putting them on a stick. Sprinkled on a light coat of rub and they were ready for the fire. 



As soon as my first round was off the cooker, I loaded my Porksicles and later into the cook, I added some sauce and cooked them until done at about 145 degrees internal.

The results of the cook:



Slab potatoes came out great as usual...hard to beat this treat!



The Porksicles or Lollichops looked great as well just off the cooker.



Love that crispy skin on the Spam...just had to have a sandwich.



This is my Spam Slyder...put a little horsey sauce on the Slyder bun and then added some lettuce, tomato, and onion for my sandwich. Also added some slaw, a chunk of slab potato, and some fruit to complete the plate.

Gotta love “stick” food!!

Old Dave's Slyders

I am always looking for something unique to cook for friends and competitors on Thursday or Friday evening at a BBQ Contest. I think this one will be a winner. Much of the work can be done in advance to make it easier to prepare at a contest in the cooker. Everyone I know loves Slyders!!



There are a couple of my homemade cheeseburger slyders and one hamburger slyder on the plate.

I grew up eating these sandwiches on a Friday evenings after the ballgames and at that time, they were $.12 cents each. As a young man, I could put away about 12 of these in one meal.

All right, lets make slyders...



There are several things you can use for buns and I am lucky in that our local Kroger carries the very small Lewis Bake Shop sheet buns which come 24 per package and measure 3" X 3" which is the perfect size for a slyder. If you can't find something like that, you can use the small yeast rolls or maybe hotdog buns that you could cut in half or thirds.

The pickles need to be the very small and thin hamburger type dill pickles for best results.

Ingredients for 12 sandwiches

1 lb. ground beef
1 jar Gerbers beef baby food 2.5oz
2/3 cup of low sodium beef broth
1-1/2 cups of chopped dehydrated onions
3 cups of hot water
12 buns or rolls of some type
12 thin sliced dill pickles
Salt and Pepper at table
Condiments of your choice

Instructions for making the patties

Mix the hamburger, baby food, and the low sodium beef broth in a bowl with your hands.

Line a medium sized baking sheet (about 10X15") with plastic wrap. Place the meat on the sheet and spread it out with your hands or a spatula until it is fairly thin and then cover it with another sheet of plastic wrap and use a rolling pin to spread it out to the final size which will be slightly less than the full size of the sheet. Carefully remove the top sheet of the plastic wrap and score the flattened meat in about 3-1/4 to 3-1/2" squares all the way to the pan and then cover the meat back up with the plastic wrap. It now goes into the freezer to be frozen solid.



This is what it looks like just coming out of the freezer. You can see the way the meat has been scored and it will now just break off into the 12 pieces and be ready for the next step.



This is another picture of the meat just before I broke it up for the slyders and placed it back into the freezer until I was ready to do my sandwiches.

On cooking day, I fired up the smoker and brought it up to about 350 degrees. Using pecan for smoke.



The next step is to place the onions in a bowl and then add the water to get them ready for the cook. It will take about 15 minutes.

I wanted the buns steamed so I made up a pan for this.



I put a little water in this pan and then added a rack to the top of the pan.



I placed the buns on the rack and then covered the pan with another pan.



I then lined a larger cookie sheet with foil to make for an easy clean-up and then spread the wet onions out on the sheet.



The pan is ready for the frozen slyders.



I got the frozen meat out of the freezer and placed it on the onions.



I put the bun pan on about 30 minutes before I placed the slyders on the smoker to give the buns time to steam a little. I then placed the slyders on the smoker for a short cook of about 15-18 minutes although I didn't time it.



This shows them on the smoker just before I pulled the pan off the cooker.



This picture show the slyders right out of the cooker and just before I got them ready for the table.



This picture shows me getting the patties on the steamed buns and then adding the pickle on top of the meat.



Man, don't them things look great!! And they do taste like the real thing.



I prefer a slice of American cheese on my slyders.

I know many folks won't have a smoker that will run at the higher temps but I am sure these slyders will do fine at a lower temp of say about 250 degrees but will take longer to get them done.

You can do them in your kitchen oven as well for the folks that don't have a suitable cooker or smoker.

Spun and Kicked Chicken / Hasty Bake

This is one great dish and we do it often on our cookers and grills. I start out with a couple of nice Bell & Evans clean and non-injected whole chickens. I butterfly them by cutting the back out of the chickens and then breaking the breast bone so they will lay flat. In this crazy pc world, they now call it spatchcocking.



I arrange them in my spinner cage for cooking.



I sprinkle on a medium dose of Smokin’ Guns hot rub to both sides of the whole chickens.



Brought the cooker up to temp using Ozark Oak lump with some hickory chunks for the smoke wood. I then loaded my two butterflied whole chickens into my Gourmet.



I got it all spinning and smoking on the cooker.



In a little over an hour, things were looking good.



Took the meat off of the cooker as it was looking great.



Now that is a pretty piece of chicken.

The chicken is spun so now we will “kick it”.



I take one pound of bacon and cut it up into about 3/4” pieces and place it into a skillet. Cook it until is about crisp and strain the grease off and set aside. I then cut up about 4 hot peppers into small pieces and this time I used two Jalapeno and two hot banana peppers.



Hot peppers ready for my treat.



Next step is to pull all the skin off of the chicken.



Cut this skin up into small pieces.



Load the chicken skin into the bacon grease and cook it a little while and then add the peppers and cook them a little while and add the bacon. Strain off the grease again and it is ready to use.



Pull your chicken and place it into a bowl.



Add your “kickin” mixture.



Stir it all up and it is ready for the Slyder buns. You now have spun and kickin chicken which is real good for a number of treats.



How about a couple of my spun and kicked up pulled chicken Slyders?

As with most of my charcoal cooking, I always do some hot wings.



Hot wings on the rotisserie are great.



Good Stuff!

Scientifically Processed Animal Matter

I just finished up a Surf and Turf on the Cobb grill and still had a hot fire left so I did some "Scientifically Processed Animal Matter" to help use up the remaining charcoal in the grill. It came out wonderful as it usually does and made a fine lunch.

This was the first time I tried this meat on my Grill Grates and it came out quite well. 

Did you know??

This meat has been around for 80 years. 

In the US, it comes in about 20 flavors.

There are 12.8 cans of this meat served every second world wide.

If you were in the service before the "modern army", you damn sure would know what this meat tastes like. 

SPAM...you gotta love it!!!

My selection today was the Black Pepper Spam.

This is my Spam Slyder I had for lunch today...I added some lettuce, tomato, and some horsey sauce to my sandwich and oh my, it was great.

Now you folks have to quit making fun of this wonderful product.

Pork Steaks, Maple Bacon Beans, and more

This cook was done on my GMG Davy Crockett pellet grill running hickory pellets. 



I rubbed the five large pork steaks and the Spam block with my favorite rub and they were ready for the grill. I then fried up some bacon, chopped it up, and then made up my maple bacon beans. Next step was to rub some peanut oil all over my baking potatoes and then add some sea salt and that concludes the prep for this cook.

Rolled the cooker around to my cooking patio and fired it up. I set the temp to 160 degrees for some extra smoke for the first hour. 





I used my raised second grip for this large cook.



This picture was taken later into the cook.



The pork steaks came off first and looked great. 



The balance of the cook. Total time was about 4 hours for the cook. 





I added a hot bacon spinach and egg salad and some sliced tomatoes and had one great meal.

My Spam Slyder meal looked like this...





I cut a thick slab off of the Spam block for this meal and then dressed my sandwich with lettuce, tomato, onion, and some horsey sauce.