Things to make outdoor cooking more enjoyable this spring
ONE RIB SHORT of a SLAB
By Carlene Phelps
National Barbecue News Editor
editor@barbecuenews.com
We are getting a few more new products on the market now, and we gave one of them a test run here at Phelps Paradise — the National Barbecue News grilling/smoking headquarters. The product reviewed this month comes from Grill Innovations — the Gas Grill Oven Plate. Once I read the materials accompanying the grill plate I was anxious to give it a try for one BIG reason. South Georgia summers are scorching hot and the more we can cook outside on our ever increasing supply of grills the better.
This is a baking plate that can be used on our gas grill to put all of our baking outside as well. And, since we do most of our baking before we start meals on the grill, I was even more enthusiastic. The delay for testing came when I realized our grill would need a good clean-up before using the grill plate. It is used a lot and well seasoned, if you know what I mean. Along, with the gas burners, we usually add wood chips to get our favorite smoke flavor so there is probably more residue than found in most gas grills. While I was running a few errands one afternoon, Joe even volunteered to do some baking. He loves to cook, so following a little brushing and cleaning, he began by baking a pan of peanut butter cookies. They turned out super except for the fact that he left them on the grill a few minutes too long as he was busy making an apple pie! When I arrived home, Joe had already removed one cookie from the pan for his personal taste test and the picture gives proof of this fact.
After finishing the batch of peanut butter cookies, Joe had the pie ready to hit the grill oven and we heated the grill to about 25 degrees less than our conventional oven. This allowed for the convection-type oven created with the Gas Grill Oven Plate. In fact, we even put the tin foil around the edges to keep from burning the crust. And, again we had a successful cook! The apple pie was delicious and we now see no reason for lighting the oven on a hot day in 2013. The pan and pie plate were smoked up a little because we use our grill so much for smoking. However, I would really like another small gas grill, with no smoke residue, to use just for baking! The grill plate is adequate enough in size to use with larger pans and dishes, 16 X 12 inches, and heavily constructed of 1 inch thick aluminum. I can see where this would also come in handy for baking casseroles, biscuits, etc. Get more information at www.grillinnovations.com.
Looking for a gift for Mom next month? The Gas Grill Oven Plate would make a great gift — and would get the baking out of the kitchen and outside on the grill. Oh my, I like that idea!
.jpg)
Photo by Carlene Phelps
.jpg)
Photo by Carlene Phelps
.jpg)
Photo by Carlene Phelps
Photo by Carlene Phelps
Pigchaser BBQ Sauce
THINK SMOKE
By George Hensler
Who are those guys? BBQ Team
gwhensler@gmail.com
“WOW!” was all I could say when I received the carton from Ron Slawek from Grayslake, IL, containing five bottles of his Pigchaser BBQ sauces. I was really looking forward to the “work” of giving them all a try and putting them through their paces. Of course, I am using the word “work” very loosely here.
With five different flavors to try, I admit that at first I was wondering if I would be able to discern a difference between the offerings. So what I did was pour a little of each sauce into a bowl marked on the bottom with the flavor. The goal here was to be able to taste the unidentified sauces to determine if the advertised flavors could be detected.
While certainly not considered scientific, accurate, reliable, or even creditable, the results surprised even one of the world’s biggest skeptics — yours truly. Most people were able to detect the flavor differences, including me. A lot of folks correctly identified the particular flavor profile of the sauce tasted. “Pretty cool,” I thought.
The flavors tested
Bacon, Original, Garlic, Habanero & Pineapple/Mango
The next part of my job was what I considered my personal favorite, the pairing of the sauces with food and then the dining on said food. Well, I had all those bottles of sauce open, what else was I supposed to do, I threw a party. I cooked up several different kinds of meats, veggies and fruits and let the guests decide which sauce they wanted to pair with which food. I have to tell you, some of the pairings were darn tasty. I also have to tell you, we had a ball. Every time someone would hit on what they thought was the winner, others would sample and say “man, that’s great, but you need to try this…”
When it was all said and done, my hands were sticky, my belly was full, and there was a smile on my face along with a few sauce smudges on my chin and spots on my shirt, I was in BBQ heaven. My guests were happy too. What I will tell you is my favorites were Habanero and Original. I have included below a basic recipe I used with the Hab sauce and some grilled pineapple, it makes a great appetizer.
Ron tells me his Habanero Sauce won 1st place at the 2013 Scovie Awards while the Bacon BBQ sauce placed 3rd in the unique category. (An interesting footnote, this sauce contains REAL bacon, not just bacon flavoring.) After tasting them, it is easy to see why. The sauces are available on their website www.pigchaser.com.
My suggestion would be to give some (if not all) of these sauces a try. It is also very good to know that Pigchaser Sauces are gluten free, contain no HFCS, are all low sodium and are made with all natural ingredients. Another interesting nugget of information was located on the label of the Bacon BBQ sauce where the words “low fat” appears. Bacon AND low fat? Please, Ron, send me some more!
Pigchaser Pineapple Parts
(Try saying that one ten times fast!)
1 fresh pineapple (peeled and cored)
2 cups Pigchaser Habanero BBQ Sauce
1/3 cup of beer
Preheat your grill to a medium high heat. Wisk sauce together with the beer of your choice in a small bowl, drink remaining beer from bottle, then open another. (You don’t want to go thirsty do you?)
Slice the pineapple length ways into 1/2 inch slices. Carefully grill pineapple until starting to soften and some charring is visible, turning only once if possible.
When finished, dunk pineapple pieces into sauce/beer combo then return to grill to allow sauce to set. (1-2 minutes)
Remove from grill, cut into bit sized pieces, place on platter with toothpicks inserted for easy of eating.
Stand out of the way and keep hands and fingers clear, your guest will love them.
The New G2 Series Cookers from Backwoods
TRAVELING DOWN ROCKY’S BARBECUE ROAD
By Rocky Danner
World Barbecue Organizer
rocbbq1@wildblue.net
I just received my new G2 Party Smoker, one of the two G2 series that Mike McGowan of Backwoods Smokers has developed. He also has a G2 Chubby. The newly designed smokers are built out of a new metal and both will accommodate a full-size pan, with room left for the smoke to circulate around the product. The inside dimensions on the G2 Party and the G2 Chubby are 23” deep, 15-1/2” wide and 25” tall with six heavy duty shelves.
The new skin of the G2 Backwoods Smokers is not only heavier, but it is made of corrosion resistance steel. Galvanneal steel is the result from the combined process of galvanizing and annealing to produce specialized sheets of steel. The galvanization is made through the hot dipping (HOT-DIP GALVANIZING) process and gives a very fine grayish matte finish. Galvanneal does not flake off its galvanized coating when formed, stamped, and bent. The very fine matte finish acts like a primer, allowing paint to adhere easily. It is also very rustproof, only white to dark grey marks appear if it comes in contact with water. Galvanneal sheets present good paint ability, weld ability, form ability, and is corrosion resistant. It is extensively used in the automotive industry, signage companies, electrical equipment, and other industries requiring a metal with good paint ability and long reliable service life. This new skin will stop any rust from forming and the 20 gauge metal will not bend up as easy. All of Mike’s future smokers will be made of Galvanneal and will be powder-coated.
When Mike came out with the first Party model, I was amazed as how well it cooked ribs. When I wrote my review, I called it the “Rib Cooker” and was happy with the results. But Mike has out done himself. The new G2 Series has out done all my expectations. There is room for the largest racks of ribs or brisket and will accommodate a full hotel pan, with room to spare.
Danny Montgomery of the Tuscumbia River Bottom Barbequers and I cooked the briskets on the G2 Party Smoker. The briskets weighed a little over 12 pounds before we trimmed them. We started the fire off with Ranger Lump Charcoal Coals, all natural brick coals from South Africa. After the cooker reached 235 degrees, we placed the brisket on the second shelf from the top. Then we pushed all the coals to the back of the fire pan. We added more Ranger Charcoal and placed a little hickory wood on one side of the coals and a piece of pecan wood on the other side. I did not use the BBQ Guru Digital Q, as I wanted to see how the new G2 would hold its temperature. When the fire settled down, I opened the two vents to 3/4-inch on each side to hold the temperature at 235 degrees. Then we added a little more hickory and pecan along to keep a little smoke in the smoker. We smoked the brisket open in the smoker until it reached 165 degrees internal temperature. Then we placed it in a pan, poured the remaining injection around it, covered it and placed back on the smoker on the same rack. We cooked it until the internal temperature reached 200 degrees. We let some of the steam out of the pan and let it sit out with the cover off for about 10 minutes. After we re-covered the brisket with foil and we placed the brisket in the cambro for one hour. We took the brisket from the pan and placed it back on the smoker to caramelize the sauce that we had brushed on to finish the bark. This took about 20-30 minutes to do; thus, this whole cooking time was about 8 to 9 hours. The brisket cooked for about five hours before we panned it; then it cooked for about two more hours before we placed it in the cambro.
The new G2 Party cooked one of the best briskets we have ever cooked. It put a great smoke ring into the brisket. Also the temperature ran about 10 to 15 degrees different from the top to the bottom. The temperature on the rack that we used ran the same as the thermometer on the door. And yes, Mike, I did cook with the water pan three-quarters full.
The grill racks are made of heavy duty stainless steel and built to hold a ton of meat. The other addition is the redesigned firebox. It, along with the ash pan are also made of heavy duty steel and either one can be removed separately or as a unit, eliminating the ash spill on the floor; and they come standard with a heat diverter.
We were very please with the Party G2. After a preburn, we started the cook and we were pleasantly surprised with the outcome! This is a newly designed cooker from Mike at Backwoods. This is a “must have cooker” that you will want in your arsenal.
The new G2 series comes with a boatload of options. Mike can and will build any cooker to fill your needs. Mike now offers 15 sizes of cookers with the addition of the G2 series. Contact Mike or Kathy through email at mjmcgowan2@aol.com, call them at 318-220-0380, or check out his website for a complete selection of his smokers at www.backwoods—smoker.com.
Photo by Rocky Danner
G2 Party has six heavy duty stainless racks.
Photo by Rocky Danner
The new G2 Party has a new heavy duty fire box and ash tray.
Photo by Rocky Danner
G2 Chubby with newly designed firebox.
Photo by Rocky Danner
G2 Chubby
|
SUBSCRIBE NOW TO OUR ONLINE VERSION
