Chicken Pops

Chicken Pops are just fancy drum sticks - wrapped in bacon! Don't forget - everything is better wrapped in bacon. This recipe is simple - generously sprinkle the dry rub onto the chicken drum sticks. I use Trade Winds Grilled Chicken Seasoning - available at Smart & Final or another option is to use Draper's AP (all Purpose) Rub. It has the perfect blend of sweet and heat guaranteed to satisfy everyone! Slice the meat - at the point where the meat starts to get thicker - slice carefully all the way to the bone.

Scrape the meat from the cut point down around the knob of the bone. Slice thick cut bacon strips in half and wrap a 1/2 piece of bacon around the meat of the drum stick. Stretch the bacon as you wrap it around the chicken so when you release the bacon, it sticks to itself when it contracts - this way you won't have to use any tooth picks to keep the bacon in place. If the bacon doesn't stick to itself, feel free to use a toothpick to keep it in place.

I smoked the chicken at a grate temp of 275 for about 90 minutes. The bacon fat rendering will seep into the chicken adding flavor. Since the leg is dark meat and using thick cut bacon will give you some leeway on the time - you could cook up to 2 hours. Ensure the internal temp on the meat is at least 165F for safety reasons - and make sure the meat juice runs clear when you probe it.

I cooked some ABT's along with the chicken legs - the cook time is about the same and they seemed to go together very well.

There is nothing special about this recipe except it looks a little different - maybe even cool! AND it's meat wrapped in bacon! The kids seemed to like them even more too!

Enjoy!

Atomic Shrimp Boats

Most people have now heard of Atomic Buffalo Turds - here's a link in case you forgot. Another twist is the Atomic Shrimp Boat or ABT! Just as easy and just as tasty!

Simple ingredients:

• Quality Bacon
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Cream Cheese
• Medium size uncooked, tail / head off, peeled shrimp. I used 71 - 90 size (whatever that is).

Cut the jalapeno peppers in half and scoop out the seeds.

Spoon cream cheese into the peppers.



Cut the bacon strips in half. Place a still frozen shrimp on top of the cream cheese. I used still frozen shrimp because the cooking time is about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. I figured that if the shrimp were thawed, they might get over cooked. The frozen shrimp cooked up great and didn't taste over cooked or chewy using this method.

Wrap the cream cheese and shrimp stuffed peppers in a half slice of bacon. If you use quality bacon and stretch the piece when wrapping the pepper, the bacon will stick to itself when it contracts after you let go and you won't have to use tooth picks to keep the bacon in place. If your bacon won't stick to itself, feel free to use tooth picks to hold it in place.


Place on the smoker or grill at 250F grate temp. If you are using a gas grill or charcoal grill, make sure the heat is on one side of the grill and place the peppers on the opposite side - on indirect heat.



I cooked these for 90 minutes or until the bacon was completely cooked.

Atomic Shrimp Boats ready to eat!

Vista Smokin' Q Classic 2010

Vista Smokin' Q Classic 2010 California State BBQ Championship

This event was in our back yard which made it convenient for the whole team + some extra help show up. It was a great event and a ton of fun.

Team for this event included Colin, Ryan, Doug, Noe, Mike, Wendy, Michelle, Justin, and Aaron.

This was a vending event so we were able to sell samples of our BBQ to the crowd. THE crowd favorite is always Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABT's). We made 15 lbs of peppers this event and they were all sold out within a few hours.

Ken, Ron and some of the local friends came out to support us - and eat some chow!

Doug and Colin working hard prepping chicken. I think they actually like to prep chicken!

Ryan getting ready to wash some dishes. Such a hard worker!

Aaron and Wendy help Mike try on a Meat, Inc. tank top. I think it'll fit!

The new smoker has 4 shelves - we only needed two and still had plenty of room for comp meat and people's choice meat. Look at all that room! The new trailer is a monster with 50 square feet of cooking surface!

Morning - getting ready to make breakfast. Those butts are looking fantastic.

Steve M from All Hogs go to Heaven gently waking Aaron up. I think Steve wanted some breakfast!

Breakfast is on with some chowder and some baby fatties. Aaron also cured some buckboard bacon pork tenderloins for 9 days - smoked Canadian Bacon for breakfast - YES!!!

The Fatty - aka - Bacon Explosion - is fast becoming a standard for BBQ Comp breakfasts.


Breakfast is served. Besides Carne Asada Chowder, we had smoked Canadian Bacon and a Fatty. We are the best team to be around during breakfast time. Maybe not the best team to be around during "quiet time" but we make up for our excessive noise and carousing with breakfast for anyone who wants to join us.

ABT's on the grill. We smoke these for about 2 hours to get all the flavors to melt together.

Pulling pork butt for the People's Choice tasting. The new "Wolverine Claws" make short work of that butt!

Wendy and Mike are ready for the crowd. The Big Tex smoker looks tiny next to the new trailer. Aaron wants to know "who wants some chow?!?".

One of Meat, Inc.'s new fans sporting his new Official Meat, Inc. BBQ Team Tank Top. This shirt is normally preferred by the ladies but I think this young man is enjoying his purchase.

Chicken - 1st Place!!!!!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!! 1/45 teams. Fantastic Job.

Ribs - DAL 45/45. Not sure how that happened but what can you do? We'll try again next time.

Pork Butt - a respectable 14 / 45. Not too bad.

Brisket - 39 / 45. Not great but I think we are getting close to working out some kinks.

Doug, Noe, and Aaron with THE 1st Place Chicken Trophy. Great job boys!

Aaron lost his voice screaming at the chicken on top of the 1st Place Trophy. What a win!

The team accepting THE 1st Place Chicken Trophy.

Atomic Buffalo Turds - ABT's

Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABT's) are always a crowd favorite, easy to make, quick to assemble, and lots of variations available to match the tastes of your crowd! Also included in this recipe is the "secret" to making these tasty treats even easier to assemble!

The basic ingredients include jalapenos, cream cheese, bacon, and hard salami!

Per 1lb of fresh jalapenos:
1lb of jalapenos (usually about 12 peppers per lb)
1 - 8oz pack of cream cheese
1/2 lb of bacon
Small pack of hard salami


Lay the jalapeno on the cutting board and slit the top where the pepper seems to land and rest naturally.


Scoop out all the seeds from the inside. Try and leave the top and sides in tact - try not to break the pepper apart too much. You can see I'm not wearing any gloves in this picture - maybe you should!



Spoon 1 tablespoon of cream cheese into a slice of hard salami. This is the secret! If you try to spoon the cream cheese directly into the ABT it gets a bit messy. The hard salami folds into a taco and then slips right into the pepper!

Don't forget to get creative - add a slice of pineapple or ....?!?! into the pepper with the cream cheese and salami.

Wrap the pepper in a HALF SLICE of bacon - simple cut the entire lb of bacon in half to get the half slices.

NOTE: use quality bacon for this recipe - believe me, I've used all the brands and price points and it is not worth using cheap bacon to save a buck... I use Farmer John Maple Bacon. It is thick sliced, uniform shaped, and very flavorful. It doesn't string or fall apart.

Here's another key - if you use high quality bacon, stretch the bacon as you wrap the pepper. When you let the bacon go, it will contract and stick to itself and the pepper eliminating the need for tooth picks. When you are making a lot of these, the tooth picks stick out and reduce the grill space AND have to be picked out of each pepper - what a pain!

A perfectly bacon wrapped pepper!



Ready for the grill / smoker!

Only 2lbs of peppers left to go!


You can also use Anaheim chili peppers or yellow peppers or.....?!?! Use your imagination - the possibilities are endless. I do use more dry salami and cream cheese to stuff the larger peppers but that's not a bad thing - is it!?

I cook the peppers at 250 F grate temp for at least 1 hour but best results are 2 hours at 250F. The bacon gets a little more crisp and the pepper skin gets easier to bit through but is still crispy. About 15 minutes before you pull the peppers, you can dust them with some brown sugar to offset some of the heat or just to add another twist to the recipe.

Who's hungry?