About Us

Joined by our passion for meat, beer, cards and meat, we created a compitition bbq team to partake in just that.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Hot Wing Fatty

Hot Wing Fatty.








There are all kinds of ways to make a fatty. A fatty - or Bacon Explosion - is basically:
  • A basket weave of bacon.
  • A layer of sausage meat.
  • Stuffing - whatever you want.
  • Roll it up as tight as possible and then smoke / cook until the internal temp is 165 F.
This time I made a Hot Wing Fatty.


Ingredients:
  • 2lbs of thick cut bacon. Don't go cheap - get good quality thick cut bacon. It makes the weave better and helps ensure the fatty doesn't blow out or spring a leak during the cook.
  • Pre-cooked boneless chicken wings - about half of a 25oz bag.
  • Sausage Chub x 2 - I used Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage - seemed to go good.
  • Shredded Cheese - about 1 cup.
  • Franks Hot Sauce - the ONLY hot wing sauce to use!
  • Dry Rub - your favorite - I use Sweet Mesquite from Costco.


Make your basket weave of bacon - here's some more specific instructions. Sprinkle a heavy amount of dry rub / seasonings for some flavor and to make sure the sausage doesn't stick to the bacon when you roll your fatty.





Empty two chubs of the sausage into a 1 gallon zip lock bag. This trick is one of the most useful tricks I have seen. You can also use 5 - 6 uncooked sausage instead of sausage chubs if they are not available. Roll the sausage flat inside the bag.



Cut the bag open on three sides and you can easily flop the flat sausage on top of the basket weave bacon.



Dice up about 1/2 of the bag of boneless hot wings.



Add in about 1 cup of shredded cheese. Pour in about 6oz of Franks Hot Sauce to act as a binding agent.



Use your fatty piston to pack the ingredients into a solid core of goodness. How do you make a fatty piston? See this post.



Extrude the stuffing log onto the layer of sausage and then pour a healthy dose of Franks Hot Sauce over the stuffing.



Add any extra spices or sauce you want to boost that flavor up!



Roll the fatty up as tight as possible.


A simple trick to make the fatty tighter or to store the fatty for cooking later is to wrap it in saran wrap. Wrapping the fatty in Saran wrap will cause the fatty to form up better and it will hold up better on the grate when you are cooking it.


Smoke on the grate at 225F or in the oven at 225F. Cook until internal temp is 165F. This typically takes about 2 hours.


Slice and serve - you can get about 7 - 10 slices out of fatty this size. One slice per person is a great appetizer or side dish serving - or just a snack. You can also slice and the half the slices too.


Serve with a little blue cheese to dip in - Sooooo good! Let's eat!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

East v. West 2011 California State Championship

East v. West II California State Championship BBQ Competition - held in Wildomar, CA. This comp was a really well run event by Henry S. The weather seemed to hang out for a while on Saturday morning over the highly superior BBQ Team field that descended on this competition. All the big guns from the South West United States were present and accounted for.

Meat, Inc. had the fine opportunity to host the men from San Jose's Smoke Slayers present to assist. Thanks to Johnny Cakes (C-a-k-e-s) and Chad Quarrey. For some reason these kids thought Meat, Inc. would be a great source of information for their future BBQ comps. They washed a LOT of dishes!


No one said we didn't know how to make breakfast!


ALL Firemen LOVE atomic buffalo turds!


Chad and Johnny scrape chicken skins - my favorite!


Making ABT's - me and Nate having a disagreement on how to core peppers!



R - L - Chad (Smoke Slayers), Neil (Big Mista), Aaron (Meat, Inc.), John (Brazen BBQ), Johnny (Smoke Slayers and Lot Lizard) = getting our dance moves on.


Breakfast of champions - carne asada chowder with breakfast fatty. Horrible breakfast - low fat and tasteless! Or was it?!?!?

Clown patrol - Brad, John, Dave, and Steve!


Louie and J-Lo checking on the ABT's! Looking great!
Looking like another beautiful southern California Day - Meat, Inc. sponsored by Oakridge BBQ!

Chad giving Johnny some BBQ tips!

Chicken turn in:
999 999 878 988 978 879 - 5/54

Ribs -
888 898 877 788 899 676 9/54

Pork Butt -
777 987 877 788 899 676 16/55

Brisket - this was THE poor entry we had - it was a rough turn in - according to the Stoker it was over temp... according to the probe test it was over temp... When I sliced it the meat seemed under cooked. It was really weird!
976 866 766 767 766 866 - 53/55

Beef Ribs side comp:
887 889 766 767 787 878 11/24

Chad, Aaron, and Johnny showing off. Thanks for the assist Smoke Slayers!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Stuffed Pork Loin

Stuffed Pork Loin

This recipe looks much more difficult than it actually is. The hardest part is butterflying the loin. You can do the same thing with a tenderloin but it is much harder to butterfly the meat. The nice thing about this recipe is you can cook it on a smoker, in the oven or in a modified indirect gas grill. It also looks REALLY impressive when sliced. Your guests will be impressed - and full - when dinner is done!

This picture is from the Havasu 2011 BBQ Comp - Anything Butt Competition. Looks great! Tastes better!
Ingredients:
Pork Loin
Baby Spinach - about 8oz
Pepper jack Cheese - shredded or sliced - about 1lb.
Hard Salami - about 1/2lb.
Dry Rub - I like Sweet Mesquite Dry Rub from Costco

Butterflying the loin is the hardest. You can see that this loin is triangle shaped instead of rectangular. The meat will dictate the shape. Try and find a loin that is the same thickness throughout the entire piece. Feel free to dig in the meat cooler - they won't mind!

I made one slice right down the middle and then about 1" from the bottom started slicing sideways. Use a really sharp knife and go slow - it isn't a race! Make as many slices as you need to create a flat, even piece of meat when finished. The time you take will be worth the time. Be careful not to cut too thin so the meat blows out (creates holes).

Note - I like to add a heavy layer of dry rub on the inside of the meat.
Lay down a heavy layer of baby spinach. Don't worry - it'll squish down.

Next the layer of hard salami. Why hard salami - don't know - seems to fit. The hard salami adds a little bit of fat without making the loin greasy and now there is two types of meat per bite! Don't be afraid to go thick - overlap and lay a heavy layer!

Next and final layer is the cheese. You can use sliced or grated pepper jack. You can see both in the following pictures. I didn't notice a difference between the two. Sliced is easier - I'd go with sliced.

Roll the loin up as tight as possible and then tie in at least three places with butcher's twine - as tight as possible. The meat won't feel it - get that twine tight!
Dust the outside of the loin on all sides with a heavy dose of your favorite dry rub. The Sweet Smokey Mesquite dry rub from Costco is really awesome!
This is the loin from Havasu - you can see they are much more square - and will look better when sliced. I also used sliced cheese instead of shredded. You can also see the heavy dose of dry rub under the stuffing ingredients.

Rolling up the loin as tight as possible.

Stuffed pork loin on the grate.

Make sure you cut all the butcher's twine off the meat before slicing or eating.

Pork Loin sliced up. The loin was cooked up to 150F internal. USDA rules have changed - old rules say the loin had to be cooked up to 165F internal. New rules say 150F. I also recommend resting the loin - wrap the loin in heavy duty foil and then in an old towel and placed on the counter - or even better - in a clean dry cooler - for an hour or so. This resting allows the juices in the meat to redistribute - making the meat more juicy.

Here's the stuffed loin plated with some smoked mac & cheese along with a Tapenade Stuffed Loin.
Here's the Stuffed Loin plated for the Havasu BBQ Anything Butt competition - along with Smoked Mashed Potatoes, Stone Ground Mustard, BBQ Sauce, and Raspberry Chili Powder Reduction. It was good for 3rd place!
Let's eat!