A BBQ’ers review of Gary’s Seasonings and Q•Knots
By Carlene Phelps
thesquealer@nationalbbqfestival.com
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Photo by Carlene Phelps
Chicken breasts rubbed with Gary’s Original Blend and Gary’s Too Hot for Mama and ready for the grill. |
It's spring here in South Georgia and has been for quite some time! There are several items that have been sent for testing, and I'll try to get most of them in before summer is over.
One of the items we tested this month was a couple of rub seasonings from Gary's Seasoning of Oak Hills, CA. Kell brought these back, via his suitcase, from the National Barbecue Association Annual Convention in San Diego. There is the Original Blend and another one labeled Too Hot for Mama — and you're right — the second blend is too hot for this Mama! Kell tried both on some chicken breasts for his family, rubbing half with regular and the remainder with the hot. His son Bailey puts hot sauce on his fried chicken, so it probably doesn't get too hot for him, and Kell doesn't eat his wings with 'wimpy' sauce, so they loved the 'Too Hot for Mama' blend, and the girls loved the regular blend. I managed to get a photo before they hit the pit but Kell forgot to get one at the table — a little too late unless you want to get a picture of the smiles when the meal was finished! (See photo.)
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Photo by Carlele Phelps
Chicken breasts with Gary’s Original Blend and Gary’s Too Hot for Mama after grilling. |
Joe and I did the same thing about a week later on some chicken legs with basically the same results. Although the hot blend chicken legs were not too hot for me to consume, they went down with a lot less heat when dipped in some ranch dressing! We also cooked a stuffed pork loin to take to a church outing and selected the regular blend, which gave the pork some good flavor. The choice of seasonings in the regular blends is virtually one you can pick up and use on anything and add some delicious flavor. I would definitely suggest Gary's Seasoning, especially since they advertise no MSG and use Sea Salt, at garysseasoning.com. After checking out the website, I noticed a 'Hot for Mama' and would also like to check it out as it might be just right for this Mama.
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Photo by Carlene Phelps
Q•Knot Original |
Another little handy item we received is the Q•knot Original, a reusable tie, by UT Wire. Of course, my first thoughts were to see how they could be used by the majority of our readers, who are, without a doubt, barbecuers. These are actually made of rubber, instead of the plastic ties which have been on the market for years. The fact that they are reusable made an impression on me since others are cut and thrown away. It did not take me long to start looking around and find lots of places to use them: 1) the cord to my scanner that was always in the way on my desk; 2) several food thermometers from the drawer in the kitchen with lots of other stuff; and 3) to secure the long cord to an electric knife in the cook trailer. It wasn't long before the large pack had been used to make things a lot neater around here. (See photos.)
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Photo by Carlene Phelps
Q•Knot Original keeping my scanner cord from getting in the way. |
The ties are a little bulkier than the plastic ties, but when I considered the fact that they could be reused, it was worth a little more bulk. There are three different sizes, but in a couple of instances, the longest was not long enough, so they might consider adding a longer tie to the mix. One thing about barbecuers, we have lots of “stuff” and Q•knots allow us to organize it better. For more information on the original and pro versions, visit www.Ut-wire.com.
Next month we'll be looking at a new recipe book (always room for one more) and a new song entitled “Living in a BBQ World.” (Check it out on the National Barbecue News’ Facebook and let us know how you like it.) Don't miss it ... and don't miss out on any good barbecue during the month of April! |
