Archive for April 2011

We’ve just added some new photo galleries to help you explore these revolutionary barbecue smokers from Meadow Creek.

We’re not done adding photos, but you can browse a separate photo gallery for each cooker in the Barbecue Smokers category.

Here ya go: Barbeque Smoker Photos

Or you can hop over to the smoker pages in my store:

PR36 Barbecue Smoker
SQ36 Offset Barbecue Smoker
TS60 Offset Barbecue Smoker
TS120P Push-Around BBQ Smoker
TS120 Barbecue Smoker Trailer
TS250 Barbecue Smoker Trailer
TS500 Barbecue Smoker Trailer

Also check out the main Barbecue Smokers page.

I have so much other stuff to share with you, like recipes, how tos on grilling and smoking, pics of what we’ve cooked, and a few “good” reasons why you should not buy one of these awesome Meadow Creek cookers from us, ever.

Maybe you are curious what is all to come. Sign up to my email list using the form in the sidebar or subscribe to my RSS feed.

Lavern

Now you can learn how simple it is to grill juicy chicken breasts that attack your taste buds on your first bite. Today’s recipe comes from a special guest and friend, Michael Pitre. He has developed a tasty line of barbecue seasonings under the name Heaven Made Products. Click here to check out his amazing stuff.

Tell him I sent you, and he’ll include a free gift when you order a 16 oz. shaker ($2.50 value).

This recipe shows you how to grill bacon-wrapped, skinless boneless chicken breasts—”Heaven Made” style. These instructions are for using a gas grill, so if you are using charcoal, you’ll just need to know how to fire your grill and the time it takes to cook will vary. But I dare say your bacon-wrapped grilled chicken will be a bit more heavenly yet.  🙂

Enjoy the recipe and have fun!

Lavern Gingerich

In this recipe, we are using boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can also use thighs or drumsticks. Thaw the meat and bring it to room temperature.

Tip: If your meat comes with skin, leave the skin on for more flavor. I would add an additional minute of cooking on the skin side to crisp the skin and render more of the fat.

Trim excess fat off the meat. This reduces flare ups and the amount of calories in the dish.

Season the chicken with Heaven Made Products Extra Spicy All Purpose Seasoning. This seasoning is a Cajun-based seasoning with extra Cayenne Pepper in it, but this Cayenne Pepper is big on the flavor scale and low on the heat scale like Popeye’s Fried Chicken. Popeye’s uses cayenne pepper to add to the distinct flavor of their Famous Fried Chicken. This seasoning will not burn your mouth.

Next, season the chicken with Heaven Made Products Steak Seasoning. This seasoning has lots of garlic flavor in it along with black pepper, onion, and my famous base ingredient that really helps increase the natural flavors of the dish being cooked.

Above: Heaven Made Products Extra Spicy Seasoning and Steak Seasoning.

Wrap the seasoned chicken in thin cut bacon and secure it with toothpicks that have been soaked in water for at least 10 minutes.

I heat the grill on high for 10 minutes, then turn off all of the burners. Next, I spray a small area of the grill with cooking oil and place a piece of chicken on that spot and repeat till all pieces are on the grill. Once the chicken is on the grill, I turn the burners back on high for one minute to sear the bacon and chicken. Next, I turn the burners down to medium flame to reduce flare-ups.

I use my handy Pam spray lid to prop my grill lid open a crack, so I can watch for flare ups and either blow them out or spray them with water. I cook the chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side. The time it takes to cook your chicken might differ depending on your own grill.

By this time the chicken is looking good. Flip it back over using a pig-tailed meat turner and grill them for another five minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 150-160 degrees F.

Now doesn’t that look good? 🙂  The chicken is done, but still juicy and the bacon is semi-crispy. Sides pictured above are Maple Flavored Baked Beans and Broccoli and Cheese Rice.

(Don’t forget to remove all of the toothpicks before diving into this dish.)

To step it up a notch, top the bacon-wrapped chicken with your favorite cheese right before removing from the grill and give the cheese time to melt. We use Pepper Jack Cheese.

Thanks for reading and God bless!

Michael Pitre
Heaven Made Products

PS. Lavern here again. I’d like to say I’ve used Michael’s rubs and his steak seasoning is simply amazing on grilled chicken. My wife claimed it was some of the best chicken she ever had. And by the way, Michael just told me that he will include a free gift with your order of a 16 oz. shaker if you tell him I sent you.  🙂

Do you have a good barbecue sauce to share? Today I’ve got two exciting outlets for your sauce creations!

2011 Sauces of Honor

Here is your chance to see how your sauce compares with the best of the best. National Barbecue News is hosting their first Sauces of Honor barbecue sauce contest.

Kell of NBBQN says, “This will be the most unique sauce competition in the world.” He says anyone is welcome to enter. The goal of this sauce contest is to honor the best barbecue sauces that accompany different cuts of smoked meat.

If you have a sauce you feel great about, read the rules and fire your sample(s) off to National Barbecue News now.

The deadline to enter is this coming Friday at 5 PM (April 15, 2011).

Download the rules and application. (PDF format)

If you have a slow connection, you might want to right click on the link and choose “Save Link As…” or something like that and save it to your Desktop.

My Barbecue Sauce Recipe Book

Maybe you have a barbecue sauce recipe that you want to share with everyone. Some of my subscribers want to learn how to make amazing barbecue sauces.

I’d like to compile a bunch of BBQ sauce recipes into one big “saucy” recipe book. So I need you, my subscribers and blog readers, to help me out.

Click here to submit your recipe, and it’s very likely I’ll put it in my book. Also, I’ll be sure to send you a copy once it’s done. 🙂

Without the help of my readers, it won’t happen. So I look forward to hearing from you.

Have fun!

Lavern Gingerich

PS. What good is sauce without a good BBQ smoker or grill? Check out Meadow Creek’s revolutionary barbecue cookers and trailers.

Now Famous Dave himself owns a Meadow Creek Chicken Cooker. Watch what he has to say about Meadow Creek cookers.

I hope all this great weather is making you really itchy to fire up and make some ‘que.

If your barbecue has gone to the birds, don’t let that keep you from grilling up some burgers for dinner or smoking some good old butts this weekend.

It would be great if a brand new cooker would keep looking like new, but it’s certainly not the case. Paint peels, metal rusts, stainless steel turns nasty looking, and grates get cruddy. A dirty grill or smoker can be depressing. If yours is in a mess, you know what I mean.

Thankfully, a little scrubbing and polishing and painting can make a real difference. Even then, you might need some inspiration.

Here is a collection of pictures from picnics and cooks we pulled off in the last year. I am running behind in publishing them, so I packed some of the best ones into a photo gallery for you to enjoy.

Be inspired.  🙂

Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Lavern

Click on a photo to enlarge it and start the slideshow.

I had a birthday on March 6, and my wife and family gave me some really nice gifts. Today I want to share a list of those gifts and a few photos, but beyond that, I’ve turned it into my “BBQ Gear List (part 1)” because all these things help fire up the “fun and easy” part of barbecue.

You might be surprised to find out that I just got this stuff. Well, Marlin and I cook together a lot and I’ve been borrowing his torch etc., when I cook on my own. Sure is nice to have my own. 🙂

Here is the BBQ gear I got for my birthday this month:

I set up an Amazon Store with most of these items in case you want a place to buy this stuff online. Some of the items in the store are different from what I have personally, but I picked out similar items that I thought were a good choice.

Click here to visit our Amazon Store.

Electric Charcoal Lighter
Is lighting charcoal a pain? Do it the fun and easy way. I had no idea there was such a thing as an electric charcoal lighter until Marlin brought one to our family vacation last year. It’s got a handle, short cord, and a looped heating element. All you need is an extension cord with 110 v. Perfect for traveling or tight storage spaces. Bury it under some charcoal and within 10-15 minutes the charcoal will be ready to spread out.

Propane Weed Burner Torch
I don’t know of an easier, faster way to light charcoal than with a propane torch. It’s about all I use to light charcoal in my SQ36 Smoker. The torch is especially helpful for large tank smokers, such as the TS250 Smoker. The torch quickly brings the entire smoker up to 225 degrees, ready to roll. The torch makes firing an offset smoker a breeze.

Visit my aStore for a torch like I have.

Folding Table
If you are cooking close to a picnic table or a stationary work space, that’s great. Otherwise, get yourself a 4′ folding table at Lowe’s or something of that sort. You really need some space for your meat and equipment. Sometimes I even season my meat outside on the table instead of messing up the kitchen.

Hand-Pump Garden Sprayer
Spray apple juice on your meat about every hour to help keep it tender and juicy. At the right time of the year, you can pick up a small hand-pump sprayer at Lowe’s or even Dollar General. Or check out my aStore.

Accurate Thermometers
How long have you been cooking with cheapo thermometers that are deceiving you? It’s time to invest in accuracy if you want to enjoy fun and easy barbecues. You need at least two accurate thermometers: One to give you a reading in the cooking area, above the grate where your meat is, and one to measure the internal temperature of the meat.

My wife just gave me the ET-732 Wireless Thermometer (new model) from Maverick for my birthday. I haven’t used it yet, but it has great reviews on Amazon and Meathead recommends it too, plus I trust her judgment.

The thermometer has two probes; one for the meat and one for the smoker. And it’s wireless up to 300 feet away. It alarms you when the temperature falls outside a set range and even has a timer.

I would also recommend a simple digital probe thermometer, such as the RT600 from ThermoWorks. Again, spend a little money for quality and accuracy. Those cheap ones from Wal-Mart might be okay, but why not spend $25 for one with a thin tip that will give you a reading in 6 seconds?

Visit my aStore to take a look.

Catfish Skinner
Do you find it’s tough to remove the membrane on the back side of ribs? A catfish skinner makes the job quite a bit easier. Not a must-have, but one of those nice things that doesn’t cost much.

Chef’s Knife
Trimming ribs, brisket, and that sort of thing. A chef’s knife works a lot better than a paring knife. Get a knife sharpener to go with it and keep it super sharp.

Steak Knives
Steak knives? Plop steak on plate, cut it up, and eat it. Having said that, I think I must have the fanciest steak knife set around, with the Meadow Creek logo engraved on each knife! Nice gift from Marlin. What a brother. 🙂

Ro-Man Pork Puller
Hold on—this is a really cool invention. This gadget can pull pork like you’ve never seen. Mostly recommended if you have more to pull than you want to do by hand.

Visit www.porkpuller.com to watch a video and find out more.

Small Ash Shovel
Get one with a straight front edge to scoop all the ashes out of your firebox. Helps make clean-up a little more fun.

How did you like it?

I’d love to hear what you think. Was it helpful?

Besides choosing the right equipment, it’s important to have the right gear. Without the right tools and accessories, barbecue is frustrating and not so fun. And if you have any gear you’d like to recommend, let me know. I’ll consider it for a future Gear List. I think we can help each other learn and grow in the great big world of fun and easy barbecues.

Thanks for reading.  🙂

Lavern