The Night Before

Gonna make me some chicken tomorrow....

Nice use of English...huh?

Anyway, we have some family that is down for the week, and I wanted to cook a little. First thought was that I would smoke a nice Pork Butt...then I thought, "Hey, you just made a pork butt last week..."

So my attention turned to something else. How about something that I just might not screw up...and that is some chicken thighs. I am going to try and do them low and slow tomorrow. Normally I have leaned to making thighs on indirect heat on the Weber Kettle... gonna try the smoker tomorrow for about 5 hours, and get some nice smoke on them...

First thing to do is to trim all of the fat and excess skin off the the thighs...



Yup, I paid for all of that...nice. I am in the wrong business.

Then come the easiest part of the prep work. Put the trimmed thighs in a 2 gallon zip/lock bag.



(Don't worry about the apple juice, that will get used tomorrow).

The next step is almost as easy.....empty a bottle of Italian Dressing into the bag. Seal, and refrigerate over night....



See how easy this is so far. It is amazing how some people are impressed by all of this. Anyway, nothing left to do but sick back and wait for tomorrow.

Picamas Hot Sauce

Yum Yum!

Is that a good way to start out a blog about hot sauce? Well this stuff is just plain good. So good in fact I am on my third bottle of it. The sauce originates out of Guatemala, and reading on various places on the web it has quite the following. People harken back to when they were in Guatemala...me I have been to Guatemala and never had this, nor saw this sauce.

Sources say that it comes in two varieties...Green or Red. I have only seen the green myself. It was first purchased on a whim while at a Latino store across the bay. I am always attracted to the hot sauce isle, and saw this strange shaped bottle at a .99 cent price point. Who wouldn't buy a bottle? And then I come to find out on a couple of web sites DR. HOT and Amazon it costs $5.99 to $7.99...really?


If you are looking for a hot hot sauce, this is not it. But it is a sauce that has unbelievabe flavor, I am so happy I bought it, several times. It has a touch of heat, and a slight smokey flavor and a vinegar twinge. Good stuff....

Well....let me tell you something...if you see this buy it.

Sour Cream Chicken

Sometimes ya just gotta eat chicken. Oh well, I love chicken, so it is more than just sometimes. A couple of year ago purchased a BBQ Cookbook that looked interesting. Actually, it was released in the 70's, so I thought that it would be a good read if nothing else....

In its pages I found a recipe that called to marinate a chicken over night in sour cream. Now I thought that was strange....for those of you that know a little more about food than I do (which is most of you) it makes sense. So of course I had to try this...and play around with it a bit....




Guess what...yup ya start with a whole chicken that is broke down into 8 pieces...6 if you prefer...we always love the thighs and drummies separate here. Place in a zip lock type freezer bag. I love these bags, they are so versatile when it comes to marinading and such.



Then it is time to add the rest of the ingredients to the bag: Little tub of sour cream, garlic, paprika, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, salt and celery salt. Let this sit in fridge overnight...




Take out of the fridge about 15 minutes before it goes on the grill, just to take chill out of it, but not long enough for salmonella to run rampant (that is my disclaimer)



Place coals and one half of the grill...place chicken on side away from the coals and let alone for about an hour.... Then turn over onto coal side to crisp up a bit. Make sure to cook to an internal temp of 165....



Delicious goodness. Actually this is one of the most moist chicken recipes I have ever tasted...

The Village Pub

A sad sad night.

We have been to the Village Pub many times...from the Two for One Curry nights to after church lunch. For a little over year it would be one of the first restaurants that would come to mind when it was time to go out for dinner.

The staff was great...the food as wonderful. The atmosphere could not be better. Great curry, great fish and chips, decent beers. Who could ask for more. Our allegiance was even to the point that our eight year old (now ten) would request going there.

So a Friday night found us in Gulfport again. There is a art walk on the first and third Friday of every month. It is always fun to walk around, see the crafts and look at people (probably the best part).

Without a second thought we decided to go to The Village Pub for dinner....we were greeted at the door by the owner/waitress. She gave us hearty welcome of someone inviting old friends into ones home... we chose a table inside.

Where we witnessed people coming in after us getting service....owner making room for people at the bar and serving them (after we arrived). People that were put on the wait after we arrived...get sat and served...

Needless to say...we left. I am greatly saddened by this evening that we experienced at The Village Pub.

I hate to say it...no longer will this be a destination. There are too many decent restaurants that would be more than happy to take my dollars. Next time I walk into this door it will be an after thought....or a moment that I am severely outnumbered.

Smokin' Rib Shack

The sun was shining....My forehead was burned...a long day was had at the soccer fields watching my daughter's U12 team play in a tournament...um, they didn't do all that well, but all of the girls played their hearts out.

Next stop, ROCKFEST 2011 at Our Savior Lutheran Church East Bay Campus. As we pulled into the parking lot my eyes began to get wider and wider. What did I see?



You guessed it...something that I would love to have in my back yard. The smoker of all smokers. Well not really, just a real nice smoker that I would love to get closer to.

With the smoke wafting out of the stacks I had to make my way over to the wonderful piece of metal. When the doors were opened I stood in awe at its contents. I love the sight of smoked food. I love the smell of smoke. I just love it.



So of course we had to order some of this smoked goodness...



I got two of the three dishes that they were offering. On the Rib Shack menu were Ribs, Pulled Pork and Chicken. I of course had to get the Ribs, because that is the barometer that all BBQ should be measured by. I also ordered the Pulled Pork, just in the mood for pork.



The pulled pork was delicious. Or I should say that mine was. My 10 year old also got pulled pork that was filled with fat and a good portion was not eatable because of it. The flavor was very good though.

The Ribs,...well, not all that tender. I first was a little leery when the gent that was cutting the ribs had a huge meat cleaver and was smacking between the bones...and at times was having a hard time splitting them. They tasted good though, although on a scale of 1-10, I would say these ribs were a 5.

Now the highlight...THE SAUCE. I think that the sauce saved some mediocre ribs, and made the pulled pork wonderful. I would have liked to have a straw and drink the stuff, it was that good.

While this was not near the best Q I have ever had, I do realize that it was on location. The sauce makes me want to go and check this place out.

Getting My Grill On

Seasoned Crackers

Here is the first recipe of the St. Paul's Pantry Project....where to start? Oh, where to start? Well the beginning duh...

And here is the first selection in the book. Seasoned Crackers...nice snack, pop in you mouth saltiness (is that even a word?).



As you see the ingredients are easy enough:

2 Bags Oyster Crackers
Garlic Salt
Dry Ranch Dressing
Lemon Pepper Seasoning
Dill Weed

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl until all of the crackers are coated.



I transferred the crackers to a large plastic bag and let them sit in the refrigerator for several hours to let the flavors soak in...



These little guys are ready to snack attack. My 10 year old had a friend at the house for a sleep over...and this stuff wowed them. A thumbs up from the kids is good enough for me.