Thursday, September 13, 2012

Practice Chicken Thighs!


What's not to like about chicken thighs? Small, easy to prepare and full of that dark meat chicken goodness. In my fledgling quest to get better at BBQ and one day to perhaps compete I have been trying  each of the four main competition food groups. There is of course brisket, ribs, pulled pork and chicken.
Chicken Thighs were on the menu for this 'practice cook'. I started with a family pack of eight thighs which were on sale for 99 cents a pound. One thing I have been finding is that when you do score a good price on thighs, they are far from the best trimmed, so even at a low price you are paying for some waste.
The thighs were put in a plastic container and covered with a combination of a 12 ounce Lawry's Chile Lime marinade and 1 cup of Frank's hot sauce. Those sat in the fridge for about 5 hours. After marination the thighs were placed on a cutting board where I trimmed off any excess skin & fat. I also cut off the joints from the bones. This seems to help roll them into a more uniform shape.
After that it was a nice coating of Tango's Chik 'N Rib Rub.
Smoked these on the Weber Smokey Mountain at about 230 degrees.
After 90 minutes the chicken was coated with a glaze made from a 50/50 mixture of inexpensive bbq sauce and agave nectar. This combination is tangy and sweet and also sets up real nice.
After the first glazing the temps were checked and a little more of the sauce mixture was applied until they got to an internal temp of 165. The chicken was then taken off and covered for a few minutes to cool of just a bit.
The chicken came out really nice, very tender and juicy. Still not up to competition levels but getting there. The left over chicken made an amazing chicken salad as well.

As Always, Thank You For Reading!
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Regular Charcoal & Apple Wood

Getting The Coals Started

Coated & Ready

On The WSM - Let's Practice

Time To Sauce

Sauced!

Ready To Eat!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Beef Ribs!


I was walking through Restaurant Depot the other day and saw a good price on some beef ribs and knew I had to have me some!

These were cooked on the Sweet Home Pellet Smoker @ 220 for just over five hours.

To Foil Or Not To Foil - that was the question and I decided to try the foil method on the ribs. Not matter how ya Q if the food comes out tasting so darn great it's all good!

Before rubbin' the ribs with our Midnight Espresso I coated each rack with a 2 to 1 mixture of yellow mustard and Worcestershire Sauce.

After three hours at 220 I foiled the racks with a little pilsner beer and set them back on for 60 minutes. After that it was time to get out of the foil and back in the smoker.

One rack was then sauced twice with Pumpkin Patch Smokey Rib Sauce, while the other was just left with only the Midnight Espresso.

Darn happy with the way they turned out, tender and darned tasty. Even have some left over for a future meal. Smoked Beef Rib Dumplings?

As Always, Thank You For Reading!

Mustard & Wooster Sauce

Coated With Midnight Espresso
Hit The Pellet Smoker
One Hour Gone 
Three Hours & Ready For Foil
Foil & Beer
After 1 Hour Foiled - Back In The Smoker
Five Hours - Ready To Eat!
Can't Wait To Dig In!
Look At That Smoke Ring!
Nice Plate