6/3/2023 – This Q turned out very good. It differed from the recent ones as it used a slower pre-smoke and a spicer sauce. The additional smoke time due to a lower temp start followed by a sauce with 6POGS made a really good Q. The spice was about right for Alabama although it was weak for Texas.
Trimmed thighs quarters of fat and excess skin. Salted both sides lightly to dry brine, sprinkled on Creole Poultry Seasoning under and over the skin. Put back into the refrigerator for about 3 hours.
Premixed 1 cup of So-Good BBQ sauce with 1 tbsp of 6POGS Rub and 1/4 cup of ACV.
Preheated Recteq to 255°F.
Placed chicken in Recteq and smoked to an internal temp of 155 in the largest leg.
Painted on the blend of So-Good BBQ sauce and increased Recteq to 300°F.
Painted on the sauce 2 times as the IT rose.
Cooked for about 30 minutes until it reached an internal temp of 185°F in the largest leg.
Removed chicken from Recteq, covered tightly with aluminum foil, and allowed it to rest for about 20 minutes.
FWIW – Recteq’s recipe calls for the Recteq to be at 350° and the final IT of 195°.
We have made this several times since the cook above. The important part is letting them get to at least 185°. We now make the sauce blend with Creole seasoning instead of 6POGS.
9/26?/2023 – This was an easy prep that turned out great. The meat bites were tender even though it was not a high-quality cut. That was surely helped by the steak having been dry brined and seasoned with black pepper before it was vac-packed and frozen. This was inspired by the post here.
Ingredients
1 pound sirloin, cut into 1-inch cubes 1 tablespoon olive oil ¼ teaspoon kosher salt ? teaspoon ground black pepper ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon garlic powder 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Directions
Preheat the air fryer to 400°F.
Toss cubed steak with oil, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl.
Lightly brush the air fryer basket with oil. Add the steak, spreading it out in an even layer, and cook 7 minutes.
Combine the butter, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Add the hot steak bites and toss to coat. Serve with chopped green onions.
10/3/2023 – This very good dish was inspired by the recipe by the Mediterranean Dish, Suzy Karadsheh, here.
Ingredients
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails attached
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons of our homegrown red pepper flakes made it far too hot. See the instructions below.
olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
5 garlic cloves chopped fine
1 cup dry white wine
1 15-ounce can diced manzano tomatoes. She used fire roasted.
¼ cup tomato paste
Black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
Pat the shrimp dry and season with kosher salt and 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the shrimp and cook for 45 seconds to 1 minute over medium heat until they are mostly pink. Move the shrimp and its juices into a small bowl.
In the same skillet, heat another 1/4 cup olive oil over medium-high until shimmering. Reduce the heat to medium then add the onions and garlic. Cook tossing regularly until the onions have softened and turned a light golden brown and the garlic does not burn. Add the white wine and cook until reduced by half.
Stir in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Season with kosher salt, black pepper, the oregano, and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Bring to boil, then lower the heat so the sauce to simmers for 10 minutes or so until thickened.
Return the shrimp to the skillet and mix into the sauce. Cook until the shrimp is just all pink. Serve over rice with bread to clean the plate.
7/11/2023 – We made this with thighs and our homegrown tomatoes and basil. Inspired by the recipe by Brenda Venable. See her other recipes that look great here. The grilling was on the ridged cast iron grill inside. We liked it a lot and will make this often.
7/9/2023 – Smoked Salmon & Mahi Mahi on the Recteq with mesquite pellets. The salmon was done the same as on 11/26/2022 and the Mahi Mahi was similar but included Kit’s Creole Seasoning.
Instructions
Preheatedthe smoker to 225 degrees using Recteq’s Mesquite pellets.
Seasoned the flesh side and edges of the salmon filets with Dijon mustard, kosher salt, and coarse ground pepper.
Seasoned the Mahi Mahi fillets the same then added creole seasoning moderately.
Placed salmon skin-side down on a mat in the smoker and Mahi Mahi beside them. Smoked for a little more than an hour until the internal temperature of the much thicker salmon reached 135° (F).
The salmon was good. The Mahi Mahi seemed overcooked as with it then than the salmon it reached temp sooner then could have overcooked.
7/2/2023 – We made cajun marinara like last year and froze it in quart and pint containers for easy meals in the winter. Started with a 25 lb. box of canning tomatoes from Sessions Farm Market (only $15) as our tomatoes are not producing this year. We also got the bell peppers there as our bells are still too small.
06/18/2023 – Jeff gave me a Meat Church 4-pack of rubs for Father’s Day and we tried two of them today on ribs and chicken smoked on the Recteq at 250°. The meat turned out good although the ribs had a tough bark likely due to being in the smoker too long and too hot. It was in there maybe 4 hours.
Prepare your Smoker Prepare your smoker at a temperature of 275 degrees. I recommend medium smoke wood for this cook such as hickory or pecan.
Pork butt prep Remove all excess fat from the pork butt. Only leave minimal on the bottom, although this is less important as you can remove it after the cook. Optional – butcher the area around the money muscle to expose it. You only want to leave it connected by an inch or so for easy removal near the end of the cooking process.
Optional Injection Mix Meat Church Hog Injection with a high quality juice (e.g., Martinelli’s apple juice, Welch’s White Peach Grape). Inject in a 1” x 1” grid pattern until the pork butt is nice and plump.
Season the pork butt Slater the pork butt in yellow mustard to act as a binder for the seasoning. This will not affect the flavor. Rather, it allows the seasoning to adhere more quickly.
Season all sides of the pork liberally with Honey Hog (The Gospel, Holy Gospel, Deez Nuts or other rubs work as well). Allow the pork butt to “sweat out” which just means let the season fully adhere.
Smoking the pork butt This cook should take around 8 hours or so depending on weight. Plan on an hour per pound at most. Place the butt directly on the grate, fat side down.
Spritz every hour with apple juice or cider vinegr. We are targeting a beautiful mahogany color. This will occur just before the butt starts to turn really dark. This should be around the 6 hour mark with an internal temp near 165.
At this point remove the butt and place it in a half steam pan. Apply a liberal coating of Honey Hog Hot. Then top with the brown sugar and the pats of butter. sometimes I like to add 1/2 can of a good fruit juice. Jumex juices work great. Using leftover injection or that juice you mixed with is also a good call.
Cover the pan tightly with foil and return to the smoker. If you want to separate the money muscle you will want to do that when it is between 190 – 195 degrees internal temperature.
Continue smoking the butt until it reaches 205 degrees internal temperature.
Finishing Simply allow this butt to rest for 30 – 45 mins. Then shred or pull the butt, continually tossing in its own au jus. In the video at the top of this recipes we show you how to use a fat separator for this step.
I typically add a little more seasoning of choice after the shred for added flavor. Enjoy!
