2013 Wando High School Big Bash

Wando High School Big Bash 

A couple weeks ago we cooked for the Annual Wando High School Big Bash PTSO fundraiser. The event was held at Harborside East, which is a great facility for a party! The night included fun, socializing, live music, good eats, good drinks and a silent auction. We fired up the grill on site to smoke our infamous dry-rubbed chicken wings, smoked until they reach the perfect crispiness.

We served up our smoked pulled pork, sausage red rice, parmesan snap bean casserole, sriracha cole slaw and finished up with homemade dirt pie in single serving cups.
Here are a few pictures to get your mouths drooling...is it dinner time yet?!

The Committee did a wonderful job decorating for a Mardi Gras-themed night. Beads, Mardi gras colors and New Orleans street signs filled the room. Hundreds of local businesses donated items to the silent raffle to help Wando raise money for the PTSO. Farm on Fire even donated a catered meal for up to 15 people, which drew a lot of silent bids before the auction closed and the winner happily accepted her prize. The Wando PTSO always throws a great party, and we were honored to cater it for the second year in a row! Here's to a great year for the school and the PTSO! 

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Pistachio Encrusted Pork Loin

This one goes out to my buddy Josh.  Inspired by a few internet searches for stuffed pork loin recipes, this pistachio, goat cheese, and cranberry stuffed loin turned out pretty great.

Many of you know that I pretty much avoid grains in my diet, so when I came across a recipe that used pistachios to form that crunch you can usually only get from breading, I had to give it a try. 

Here goes.  Buy yourself a big pork loin, about 4 lbs.  Resist the urge to shake the loin and jab it at other grocery shoppers.  When you get home, butterfly it into a large flat square.  This looks hard, but its pretty easy if you are careful not to slice your hands off.  Start by slicing it almost in half longways, leaving about 1/2 an inch uncut, then lay it open.  Using your previous cut as the line to define two halves, lay your blade parallel to the cutting surface and split each half nearly all the way through (see pic below) and lay those flaps open into a large square of swiney goodness.

Go ahead and give both sides of your large meat flap a heavy dose of salt and pepper.  As it sits, the salt will draw out moisture from the pork, dissolve into it, and then reabsorb into the pork as a strong brine, giving it a deep salted flavor.  While the pork is brining itself on your counter, throw about two handfuls of pistachios on a hot skillet, then into the food processor and chop 'em up. Or crush them up with your brass knuckles, whichever is handy.  Set them aside.

Get your coals going and your grill ready for medium heat (350 degrees direct).  Now either ninjee chop or food process another two handfuls, adding 3 cloves of minced garlic, a handful of dried cranberries, and 8 oz. of goat cheese (that's 2 little packets) to the mix.  Mix it all up into a smooth creamy dream.  Spread the mixture all over one side of the the now brined pork loin and ad some whole pistachios and dried cranberries for a little texture. 

Now roll it up into a big hog leg.  You can either tie it with butcher's twine or use those cool silicone silicone heat resistant bands to tie it together.  Katie's folks gave me a bunch of the bands and they are awesome, easy, and completely reusable. Once rolled, rub the chopped pistachios all over the loin and give the outside another sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Cook the loin, rotating a 1/4 turn, for about 7 minutes on each side.  This will vary depenging on the size of your loin and your grill set-up.  I always use a meat thermometer and cooked this guy to 150 degrees internal at the center.  After taking off the grill, put your fist in your mouth and wimper, because you are going to have to wait about ten minutes to let it rest before you can dig in.  Don't jump the gun or the meat will lose it's juciness if you cut too early.

 Now you can dig in.  I might try adding a little apple wood to the coals next time, and maybe a little brown sugar to the seasoning.  Let me know if any of you have any ideas to take it to the next level. 

a little eggsperiment

This might not technically be barbeque, but it has sausage and the sweet potatoes are sauteed in a bit of bacon drippings! After tending to butts all night, we woke up hungry this morning.  So Katie and I threw a little root vegetable hash into the cast iron skillet.  We mixed in some ground breakfast sausage, seasoned with some marjoram, fresh garlic, and red pepper, then topped with a few over easy eggs.  Breakfast of champions.  The eggs, sweet potatoes, turnips, and onions are local produce from Lagare Farms.
~Russ

Those were the days.

Russ Seamon

Field Trip: Bubbas BBQ

So, rated 3rd in NC, I had to stop and try Bubbas BBQ when I passed by exit 16 on interstate 77. The place is pretty cool with pig statues out front, a urinal mounted 10 feet high for "men" (meaning there is no choice but to use the "boys"), and cool photos of customers wearing bubbas t-shirts taken all over the world. The grub was pretty good. The bbq was chopped fine and had a pretty good smoke flavor and a bit of pink in the meat.

The pepper vinegar sauce was on the vinegary side, but hit the spot. Hush puppies just like lexington bbq. The slaw was a mustard slaw and I liked it a lot! Tangy, a little sweet, fine chopped, and tasty. I also ordered a chicken breast half. Great smoke flavor, but to me, the rub or sauce needed a good bit of salt and a healthy pinch if spicy. Great folks working there, who aren't afraid to come give you a hard time. Overall, better than Lexington, but a bit behind Mac's.

Russ Seamon

Beer files: Flyin Dog, Old Hickory

Just tried the flyin dog ragin bitch ipa. Smells great but has a weird
flavor at the beginning. It reminds me of unripened apples. Tried the
Old Hickory Death By Hops too. I love it. Great flavor strongs hops
but pleasantly drinkable. Mmm. Beers.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Russ Seamon
843-442-5342

Field Trip: Mac's BBQ in Cornelius NC

Made a quick lunch trip to a Charlotte based BBQ joint called Mac's Speedway.  Mac's BBQ brisket was phenomenal!  The ribs were great too.  The pulled pork was pretty good, but would have been better with a good rub and some bark mixed in.  The portions were huge!  Everything had a nice smoke ring a good flavor too it ecept for the chicken.  The chicken leg quarters need a little work, in my opinion.  All in all, I give it an 8 out of 10, and will be back to eat again soon!

Lemon Basil Flank with Garlic Bacon Kale

Sweet Jebus this was good.  And pretty cheap and easy too, considering it looks as if you have your fancy pants on when serving this layered dish.  I did this in a hurry so not a lot of pictures this time, so you are just going to have to use your imagination! So here goes:

Make your Marinade:
In a food processor combine a rough cut half of  red onion, 3 cloves of garlic, juice and zest of a lemon, a tablespoon and a half of dried basil, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of tabasco, and salt and black pepper to taste (MAKE IT SALTY...thats what draws the marinade in.) Pour the marinade over the flank in a ziplock bag and remove the air and marinade 3 hours or up to 24 hours.  P.s.  the longer the marinating time, the less salty you should make the marinade. 

Prep the Veggies:
Cut up 1/2 of a bunch of kale, the other half of the red onion, 2 more cloves of garlic, about 15 grape tomatoes, a 1/2 cup of cubed parsnip and 2 tablespoons of fresh parsley.  Set these aside.

Grill tha MEAT!
Set the cooker up for HOT direct cooking.  Take the meat out of the marinade, allow to come to room temp, and pat off the excess moisture with a paper towel.  I used the kamado to cook this and the lower grate that is real close to the hardwood charcoals. I cooked at 500 degrees and for about 2 minutes on each side, or until the meat hit 125 internal (for medium rare).  The meat was pulled and allowed to rest for 5 minutes while the internal temp climbed to 130.

Sautee tha Bacon! (and veggies)
 This is a two pan process that should be done while the grill is warming and the steak is cooking.  In one pan cook the bacon until crispy.  Then add the garlic and onion to the bacon grease and sautee until soft.  Add the kale a few minutes before serving and salt an pepper to taste. In the second pan, heat some EVOO and add the parsnips and cook for a few minutes.  Then add the tomatoes, a 1/4 cup of the marinade, a teaspoon of basil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the Meat and Build the Masterpiece:
Slice the flank steak on the bias (at a 45) in thin slices.  Place the slices on the bed of sauteed kale.  Top with the tomatoes, parsley, and bacon crumbles.  Serve this to your significant other, making sure that they take note of the fancy pants you put on for this meal, and kindly reminding them that fancy pants come off faster and easier than other types of pants. ; )

From Swamp to Smoker

After a few days of fruitlessly stalking the deep cypress swamps of Groton Plantation, my brother and I decided to take on a different strategy in hopes of harvesting a grill worthy hog.  The strategy was not of our own devise, but a strategy imparted to us by a pair of hunters whom our crew had dubbed as "having a horseshoe up their ass".  Steve and Asher had been returning to the cabin from almost every hunt with grins and game.  As I rode with them to the tract of land we had drawn for the last morning's hunt, I swallowed my pride and asked them how the hell they were finding so much game when the rest of the hunters were seeing so little.  "The secret", Steve said, "Is in the drive.  The game is bedded down in the cane in this cold weather.  One of you needs to slowly walk the cane ridge, and the other hang back in the adjacent slough.  Don't walk fast enough to scare them out in a full run, you just want to bump them out."

My brother and I hopped out of the truck, crossed a deep muddy slough, and began driving the first cane ridge we came to.  I took to driving the cane and Logan followed along behind in the open slough.  Sure enough we came upon a bedded sow within 5 minutes.  I walked within five feet of the pig in the heavy cane before I saw her, and she quickly crashed out of the cane.  Unfortunately, this pig went right instead of left.  After trying to track her for a while, we went back to driving the cane.
     
Within another 10 minutes I stumbled upon another bedded sow.  I about stepped on her (and she was not a small pig) and she darted out of the cane at full sprint into the slough that my brother was walking.  He drew and fired, making one hell of a shot to even hit this sprinting pig.

The Sow we brought down was about 160 lbs, and we had quite a bit of swamp to treck back through. We fashioned a gurney out of some fallen limbs and some rope we had in the bag.  Even with the gurney, it was one hell of a workout carrying this hog back to the truck.  Exhausted, we loaded it up and carried the pig back to the cabin for weigh in.

With a clean skinned carcass, we quartered the pig, taking special care to properly butcher the back straps and tenderloins.  Logan had to head back to Georgia, so I promised to smoke him some BBQ.  I knew that wild pig tends to be much tougher, leaner, and drier.  Especially pigs of this size.  I decided that I definitely wanted to inject the meat and would probably need to cook it on foil for a good part of the cook, if this BBQ was going to be anything other than the texture of cardboard.

I injected the shoulder with water, sugar, salt, wooster, and chili powder.  I used a pre-made rub this time, as my spice cabinet was in bad need of some attention.  I'm not even going to name the rub I used, since it left little impression on me.

I set the Kamado up for indirect cooking and added a few large chunks of hickory to the lump charcoal bed.  When the smoker hit 250 and the heavy smoke dwindled to thin blue whisps, I added the pork.

I smoked the shoulder to 150 degrees internal before foiling.  I added some of the injection to the foil wrap, sealed it up tight, and put it back on.  I let the meat ride to 190 degrees internal before moving the wrapped shoulder to a cooler to rest for a few hours.

Though it did not pull very well, probably due to the lack of fat in the meat, it was pretty moist and flavorful.  I chopped the shoulder and used a turkey baster to remove the pork broth from the pan and add it back to the chopped pork, adding flavor and moisture back to the lean meat.  I gave my brother the Q over Christmas and got a text back the following day that he loved it!  Of course, meat always tastes better when you harvest it yourself.