It's not what, but how...

... you cook your meat that really matters in bbqing. In the past few days I have made two different kinds of chicken and prepared them in 2 very different ways. Both were prepared with very few ingredients. I have also been doing my homework and I have learned a lot!! In BBQ its not necessarily how you spice your meat that matters the most, or necessarily the meat itself... in BBQ its all about the smoke. So before coming up with a recipe... consider what kind of wood you plan on using. No matter what crazy rub, sauce or spice you flavor your meat with a large part of the meat will be flavored by the wood itself (remember this is specific to pellet and wood burning grills, not charcoal or propane).

I have been using my trusty traeger pellet chart to determine which type of pellets to use:

However... the big green egg has their own opinions on the subject as well:

As you can see Traeger and BGE don't share the same opinions on flavor. So I think its probably ok to experiment on this one... 

Also the amount of smokey flavor will have to do with how long the meat is on the grill. If you are cooking it at a higher temperature you aren't going to get as much of the smokey flavor for the simple fact that the meat will not be in the smoke as long as if you were cooking it at a lower temperature. Which is why the process of smoking meats takes much longer than a simple quick and easy high temp recipe. 

Chicken x 2

Traditional BBQ chicken (whole)

Time: 24 hours

Pellets: Pecan

1 whole fryer chicken

3-4 tbsp olive oil (you can also use flavored... I used lemon, but garlic would also be great!)

Pink Himalayan Sea Salt 

Your favorite BBQ sauce (I like Stubbs or Sweet Baby Rays)

The day before you cook this chicken take the fryer, wash it, and completely remove each side of the chicken from the cage of the bird. Most people would leave the bones but the only bones I like on the finished product are the legs and wings. Its an easy process and it leaves you most of the carcass to make chicken stock if you would like! Start at the breast bone and slice down the bone as close to the bone as you can. Slice all the way down through the back of the fryer leaving the wing and the leg still connected to the breast. Do the same on the opposite side. Lay the pieces flat side down and douse in olive oil, salt, and finally bbq sauce. Let sit overnight. 

The next evening... fire up the grill and set the temp to MEDIUM. This recipe isn't for smoked chicken, but we want to cook on the lower temp side so it will absorb up some of the smokey flavor from the wood pellets and also have it be more tender and juicy. Once the grill is fired up and warm (around 275 in temp)... bring out your chicken... and put it on the Q.

Let the bird cook for about 1.5 to 2 hours or until the meat gets to 175-180 degrees using a meat thermometer (I have a thermometer fork that is awesome!). Keep your eye on the temperature of the grill... if it gets too hot the bottom of your bird could burn. We will also not be turning them so its important to keep that lid closed as much as possible so that the heat circulates evenly and the chamber stays hot. 

Once the meat is finished... remove from grill and let cool. Most books say 15 minutes... but I think 7-10 is fine. 

Fool Proof Chicken Thighs

Time: 48 hours

Pellets: Pecan

1-2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs (as fresh as you can find... they will be marinating for 2 days)

Your favorite teriyaki sauce 

The majority of my BBQing side of the family is from hawaii, not texas or carolina. So you will be seeing some of the hawaiian influence in my bbqing- ergo cooking with a lot of soy and teriyaki sauce, especially in family recipes. No we do not put grilled pineapple on everything... in fact I can't say I have ever seen a family member actually grill a pineapple. When it comes to the budges, despite the fact that Great Grandpa Budge was the President of Dole... we believe that the pineapples place in this world is paired with rum. 

However I might have to experiment with the pineapple later on just to try something new and different!

Moving on with the recipe:

2 days before you plan on grilling, submerge the chicken thighs in teriyaki sauce. Don't brush it on, don't spoon some on each one... SUBMERGE. You might have to use the whole bottle of sauce depending on how much chicken you have. Let it sit for 2 days. 

On the third day fire up the grill on High. Let the meat cook for 15 minutes on each side and you will be set. THATS IT! 

Thighs are thin and they have been marinating for 2 days. The chicken will be moist even at high heat. Because of the wood chips working with the sauce you are going to get both the sweet from the sauce and the grill flavor from the wood. It will be very similar to the chicken you get at a traditional hawaiian bbq. 

Bbq Chicken Thighs served with smoked brie and spinach portobellos, and chili parmesan corn... all cooked on the traeger... those 2 recipes to follow!

This recipe is a prime example of how its really about the process of cooking the meat... with just teriyaki and chicken you can make the most delicious piece of meat through patience and the right amount of smoke. 

Thanks Everyone! Have a lovely rest of your weekend!

The Pit Mistress

This will be the first of many...

...BBQ follies.

Scroll to the bottom for the following recipes:
Carne Asada Steak
BBQ Pork Chops
Bastard Bitch Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos


 I understand that through this process I am going to screw up a lot. I know that to become an expert on anything you can't be scared of failure. Its going to happen. I just hope it happens to $5.00/LB ground beef and not a $100.00 Wangus brisket. Well it just so happens that on night one I had my first major screw up... and my face was on fire... well at least it felt that way...

I was so excited to start grilling. I decided to make:

Carne Asada Skirt Steak

BBQ Pork Chops

and Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

I decided I would develop my own recipe for the jalapenos and stick to chicken sausage and turkey bacon instead of the traditional cheese and bacon ones you normally see people make. Naturally I wouldn't need a cookbook or a recipe for this since I was developing it myself. Which is where the trouble started. 

I pulled the jalapenos out of the little bag and started slicing them in half and removing the seeds by hand... bare hand... bare hand with cuts on them from my puppy chewing on them. Well anyone who has ever worked with jalapenos knows that I in a few minutes I am going to be in serious agony. 

To make matters worse I also itch my chin, nose, and ear. Then the inevitable happened... my hands and face are on fire.

I dipped my entire face in milk thinking that it might snuff out the heat. NOPE, and I feel like a complete tool for thinking that will work... and now I am out of milk for the morning.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

I take to the internet and all of the ingredients suggested I don't have!!! Finally I notice that someone suggests ketchup. I applied it liberally to everywhere it burns...

INSTANT RELIEF. For the next two hours and while bbqing I was wearing what can only be described as a ketchup mask. I also don't have a back yard patio... I have a front yard patio and am 99% sure my neighbors think I am insane or at least had some creepy chemical peel or other type of radical topical treatment. Which wouldn't be speculated as a huge surprise to them since they all know I am turning 30 this year. Sheesh... and also NEVER! 

Anyway, the moral of the story is...

When you cut jalapenos... WEAR GLOVES!!!

Anyway, For those of you who have pulled this same dumb move... or happen to read this and then forget...

Here are the common household remedies for snuffing out jalapeno juice and oil from your hands, face, or anywhere else that happens to come in contact with jalapeno:

Lemons and baking soda (make a paste)
sour cream
ketchup
lime juice
milk and aloe vera (mixed to form a lotion)
washing hands with citrus based soap at a high temperature
Butter
for temporarily relief... rubbing alcohol. 

Now for the rest of what I prepared my first night of BBQing...

BBQ Pork Chops:

5- thin pork chops (about 3-4oz each)

1/2 Cup sweet baby rays bbq sauce

Traeger Level : High

Wood Chips: Maple

Heat up the bbq as I described in the burning process (start on smoke and then when a fire catches crank it to high). Make sure there are plenty of pellets in the hopper. Once the temp heats up to around 350...Spray the grill with oil and  put on the pork shops. I didnt marinate these over night. I simply brished them with bbq sauce heavily before putting them on the Q. It would have been MUCH better if I had marinated it the night before. So I recommend doing that instead of what I did.

Cook them for 3 minutes on each side and you are set! Since they are thin they cook very quick.

Left over suggestion: Grilled Cuban Sandwiches. Sub the ham in a traditional cuban for a chop. Since they are thin they are ideal for sandwiches.

"The Cheater" Carne Asada Skirt Steak:

1- 1-2lb skirt steak (in this case pre-marinated in carne asada seasoning)

You can look up any fabulous marinade on pinterest or a shelf marinade from your local grocery store

Traeger Level: High

Wood Chips: Maple

Heat up the Q, and make sure you have plenty of wood pellets in the hopper. Spray the grill with oil. Once the temp gets to around 350-400 put on the steak and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side. 

Leftover suggestion: Steak tacos

Bastard Bitch Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers 

(which is its official name now!) 

12 Jalapenos

Ground Chicken Sausage (uncooked)

24 strips of Bacon (turkey or regular)

LATEX GLOVES

Traeger Level: High

Wood Chips: maple

Step 1: PUT ON THOSE DAMN GLOVES. 

Then take each jalapeno and cut off the tops and slice down the middle. Then remove the seeds and center part of the pepper (the bit that is lighter in color). Stuff each pepper with chicken sausage. Place the pepper in the center of a slice of bacon. You should have enough of the bacon left on either side to wrap it around once on each side and tuck the ends in. If not, wrap it as best you can and use tooth picks to hold the bacon in place. 

Crank up the traeger. Set it to hight heat. Wait for the temperature to reach around 400 and spray the grate with oil. Place the jalapenos on the grill and cook on each side for 5-6 minutes or until the bacon is fully cooked and the jalapeno under is charred, by this time the sausage in the popper should also be cooked. However, cut one open before removing the rest to make sure they are completely cooked. 

Alright... off to pick ketchup out of my hairline. 

xoxo, 

The Pit Mistress

Bringing the new Q home...

...was a tricky task.
1. I had just come home from the Kentucky Derby and my car was full of hat boxes, my suitcase, a box of mint julep glasses, etc...I don't know why I didn't just empty my car before heading out there. I am apparently still recovering from the effects of drinking so much bourbon in such a small about of time.
2. I have an SUV that is much smaller that I thought it was.
3. The Traeger was much larger that I thought... and I bought it preassembled because I feared the daunting task of putting together such a nice piece of machinery by myself.
4. OH yah! I need to also purchase a giant bag of pellets, more than one bag actually... and a new sparkly belt apparently from the Western boutique inside Wilco. No regrets.

The wonderful man at Wilco, who unfortunately also had a bad back actually helped me rearrange the inside of my car so that the grill would fit. Bitsy was no help... (Bitsy is my 6 month old Pembroke Welsh Corgi who barks at strangers). Once we got the grill into my car I took it home to set it up. It was an ordeal in which I am happy that they didn't tell me that I was banned from the store for causing a raucous.

Back at the homestead...

...I unloaded my car... and by this time I also had about 20 pounds of meat and 10 pounds of vegetables in my car as obviously I was planning on getting started right away. I knew that it was going to be a while before I could actually use my grill as prepping it was going to take at least an hour and by this time it was about 5:00PM. So I bought 1 package of pre-seasoned meat and Sweet baby rays bbq sauce. I plan on developing my own recipe for BBQ sauce by mid summer, but for tonight... I am going to cheat.

Anyone who purchases a Traeger or a pellet grill will have to go through the same steps I did to get it prepped. However, in case someone out there gets a new one with out the instructions... I will go ahead and go through step by step how I prepped the pellet grill. First I needed an anatomy lesson and got familiar with my new friend...

Instructions on prepping the pellet grill:

1. Open the lid and remove the grate, ash catcher (the cookie sheet like piece below the grate), and the metal cover over the auto start fire pot.

2. Make sure your grill is in the off position. Plug in your grill, turn the dial to smoke, and turn it on. Make sure the Auger is turning. Put your hand over the fire pot and make sure you feel a little bit of air flowing and also feel if it is warming up. DONT TOUCH IT... unless you want your hand to be smoked with the pellets. It gets extremely hot!

3. Open the hopper and fill it with your wood pellets. I used maple pellets because I was cooking beef and pork that night and I wanted them to be a little sweeter. It is recommended to use alder wood pellets if you don't have a handle on what wood goes with what meat... Alder goes with everything... but we can talk about that later.

4. Open the lid and wait for the pellets to drop into the fire pot. Once a dozen or so are in the pot turn it to high heat and wait for the fire to start.. should take just a few minutes. As soon as it does. Turn it off, close the lid and let it cool down.

Burning the Grill:

1. Place the metal cover over the fire pot, then the ash catcher and finally the grill back in the Traeger.

2. Turn the dial to Smoke and wait for a fire to catch... you will know as soon as it starts smoking. Should be about 2-4 minutes.

3. Turn it to high and close the lid. Let it smoke for about 45 minutes.

The burning process is important because it gets rid of any oils or dust left over from the manufacturing process and basically tempers the grill... similar to seasoning a cast iron pan. 

After about an hour, you are all set! The instructions said to turn it off and let it cool, but I went ahead and just started grilling!

Also in case you noticed... this grill does not have a smoke stack as the one does in the above photo. This particular model is the Traeger Junior, I am feeding 2 people and a dog. For the amount of smoke I need for what I am cooking... this model was perfect. However if you are a larger family or feed the masses I recommend going with a larger grill.

Happy Grilling!

The Pit Mistress

For as long as I can remember...

...my family has been BBQing. In fact it wasn't until fall of my freshman year of college that I realized how much cooking in my family was actually done on a bbq. I was homesick and craving my fathers flank steak and caesar salad. I thought seriously about trying to recreate it, of course I had nothing but a microwave and a George Forman that was hidden illegally under my bed in the dorm...fire hazard shmire hazard. When I decided to recreate another family recipe, I couldn't come up with one that didnt require an outdoor grill. The dorms, and every place I lived after didn't allow bbqs and of course they were much harder to hide. Who could blame them, a 19 year old girl playing with propane, matches, and lighter fluid? Sounds like a recipe for disaster with or without the tequila.

Now that I have matured (slightly) or at least live in a home with a steady income, dog, long term boyfriend, and an actual dishwasher... I have decided to embark on the Budge family tradition of becoming a somewhat of a pit master (or in my case pit mistress) in my own right. I am jumping in with both feet. Forget the propane, and the mini weber grills... This is going to be all about my summer of smoking, grilling, slow cooking, and roasting on one of the finest outdoor cookers on the market... The Traeger.

Those of you who believe that bbqing is a mans game... you can either leave, or stay and learn a thing or two. BBQing is in my blood and besides that, everyone knows that women who play with fire... are hot.

The Pit Mistress