Top
Search this site

Subscribe to email updates:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Search the Web's top BBQ site for grills and more

Powered by Squarespace

Entries in ABT (3)

Friday
May292009

The Long, Slow Burn

DateFriday, May 29, 2009 at 8:57PM

When I tell folks that the pulled pork they're enjoying cooked for 12+ hrs (or longer), I often hear comments like "Wow, how many times did you have to add charcoal?". People are amazed when I tell them that I didn't add any and that I got a good night's sleep besides. So here's an example to illustrate the burn times that can be achieved with the Big Green Egg.

Over the holiday weekend, I cooked pork butt on three consecutive nights. The last night, Saturday, I fired up the BGE at ~9:00pm for an all nighter. I filled the BGE with lump charcoal almost to the fire ring. The butts cooked until ~2:00pm the next day. At that time, we bumped the temps to 300 degree and put a load of ABT's on the cooker. At ~4:00pm, I removed the plate setter and continued to cook at 300-350 degrees while I put a couple of chicken breasts on.

All told, the cooker ran for ~20 hours on a single load of lump charcoal.  I accomplished this without the aid of an electronic draft device (i.e. a Stoker or BBQ Guru), just controlling temps with the vents and giving the coals a good stir when switching between smoking and grilling.

So how about it?  How long have you cooked a single load of fuel?  And gas doesn't count!  :)

Cheers,
Braddog

AuthorBraddog | CommentPost a Comment |
tagged , , , , , in ,
Saturday
Nov292008

Cold Weather Smoking

DateSaturday, November 29, 2008 at 1:47PM

How versatile a BBQ chef are you?  I got to find out this holiday weekend.  My brother-in-law asked me to "make some magic" (his words not mine) with his CharBroil H20 smoker.  Now it's been a good long while since I've cooked on one of these but we set out to give it a shot.

It was a cold and windy 25 degrees in Pittsburgh and I knew that keeping the temps up with this thin-walled smoker would be an issue.  I decided to forego the water in the water pan and instead filled it with some small gravel in hopes that it would hold more heat than water.

We started a full pan of charcoal and realized that we'd need to keep pouring the coals to it and keep it out of the wind to keep the temps up in a good
cooking range.  Unfortunately, my BIL didn't have a chimney starter but was able to fashion one out of a piece of stove pipe he had in the garage.  This worked out better than I had hoped.

In the end, we were able to serve up 3 dozen ABT's, 3 lbs of chicken wings, and a couple of salmon fillets.  They were very tasty and I'd say that in spite of a cooker with a few limitations, we proved that you can cook decent food if you're patient.

 

So don't let this cold weather stop you.  Get out there and get cooking!



Cheers,
Braddog

AuthorBraddog | Comment2 Comments |
tagged , , , , , , in
Sunday
Nov232008

ABT's or Jalapeno Poppers

DateSunday, November 23, 2008 at 12:56PM

When I started reading BBQ forums a few years ago, I stumbled upon an appetizer that seems to be very popular with the BBQ crowd.  They're called Atomic Buffalo Turds or ABT's.  It's basically a BBQer's version of stuffed jalapeno poppers prepared on the smoker.  For the longest time, I didn't even attempt the recipe because my family doesn't enjoy foods that are too spicy or hot.  That is, until this summer.  I started with sweet peppers and eventually tried jalapenos and all I can say is that I'm sorry I waited so long start cooking these.
Here's the recipe.


  • clean 18 jalapenos by cutting off the stem and slicing them lengthwise

  • remove the seeds and ribs from inside the peppers (the more of these you leave in the pepper, the hotter the ABT will be)

  • cut a package of regular bacon in half

  • 18 peppers and a package of bacon cut in half roughly equals the same number of pepper halves and bacon pieces.

  • fill each jalapeno boat with cream cheese and wrap with a half slice of bacon (note: some folks like to put a Little Smokey sausage in each popper or some pulled pork but we like 'em plain)

  • pin the ends of the bacon together by inserting a toothpick through them and into the pepper

  • I like to dust them with a BBQ rub before putting them on the cooker

  • you can cook these direct or indirect but you want to keep the temps below 300 degrees

  • they're done when the bacon is crisp.


Note:  I recommend using rubber gloves when handling the jalapenos.  If you don't have rubber gloves, just remember to keep your hands away from your face (or any other sensitive area if you know what I mean)




Try them, you won't regret it.  Heck, I'm gonna cook up a whole batch for Thanksgiving! :)

Cheers,
Braddog

[ad#ebay-bge]

AuthorBraddog | Comment7 Comments |
tagged , , , in ,