Smoked Stuffed Poblanos

Posted on by March 5, 2022

11/8/2021 – We had the new REC TEC going for Butt pieces and a pile of nice size poblano peppers from the garden. Found a good-sounding recipe by Malcolm Reed and used it as a go-by. They turned out very nice but could have been a little hotter.

Ingredients

Tiberon Poblano Peppers from the garden. About 10 cut in half from stem to tip to make 20 stuffed peppers.
1 pound Ground Beef
¼ pound South Alabama Speciality Meets’ Hot Sausage
½ red onion diced
1 pint of Mushrooms diced
½ cup of shredded Mexican blend Cheese
4 sandwich-sliced pepper jack cheese squares
1 bunch of Flat Leaf Parsley
4 cloves of fresh garlic minced
1 cup rice
1 cup of tomato/poblano relish made a few days ago
Note – Struck-out items were in Malcolm’s recipe.

What we did.

  1. Cut the peppers in half, remove the stems and seeds.
  2. Dice the onions.
  3. Brown the ground beef and sausage that had been removed from the casing and cube. The sausage cubes fell apart and that was good. Seasoned the meat with salt and pepper adding the onion and garlic. Once brown remove the grease.
  4. Combine the meat, tomato relish and cheese in a large bowl.
  5. Stuff the peppers by filling each Pepper cavity with the stuffing level with the top.
  6. Smoke in the REC TEC at 225° for 75 minutes.

Original Recipe – Just before the peppers are done, top with shredded cheese. As soon as the cheese melts, the stuffed peppers are ready to take off the cooker and serve.

First Pork Butt on the RecTec

Posted on by March 5, 2022

11/7/2021 – We had two small pieces of a pork butt that would not fit on the Kettle last spring so we vac-packed and froze them. They had been dry brined and rubbed with 6POGS in March of this year; i.e. 8 months ago. They turnedout great with the dark un-burnt bark being the best we ever achieved.

  1. Preheated recteq to 225ºF.
  2. The two pieces smoked for 4 hours
  3. Pulled, double wrapped in thin aluminum foil but first shook on more 6POGS and poured in ACV. Wraped tightly in the foil then put into the oven at 250°.
  4. Turned off about 2 hours later and went to get Mary’s new glasses.
  5. Back home about 4:45. Pulled, poured off a lot of juice, and they were very tender but not falling apart. Bark was tasty and not burned tasting. Great!!!

Very moist maybe due to the very long brine and seasoning in the vac pack in the freezer. Maybe also due to the tight, double layer, wrapping

Fire Roasted/Smoked Salsa

Posted on by November 7, 2021


11/5/2021 – Inspired by Chef Greg at REC TEC Grills here. We did not follow his recipe close enough as the veggies were smoked naked. But, the salsa is good with a lot of potential. Next time put the olive oil on the veggies with the 6POGS so the oil holds the seasoning and catches the smoke.

Ingredients:

Red onion was in the SS perforated bowl.
  1. 2 lbs. of Roma tomatoes. Recipe called for Campari tomatoes.
  2. 3 small Tiburon Poblano Peppers from the garden
  3. 1 red serrano and 1 Pepper Chile G76, both from the garden
  4. 1 avg size red onion
  5. 6POGS
  6. Olive oil
  7. Salt
  8. Pepper
  9. about 2 cups stemmed fresh cilantro
  10. Fresh lime
  11. Honey
  12. Hot sauce. Chrystal

Method:

  1. Cut tomatoes in half and removed seeds and pith
  2. Cut peppers into quarters and removed seeds
  3. Cut red onion into quarters, then cut them in half and broke into 2-3 layer pieces
  4. Should have “Mix ingredients 1-8 in bowl” but just put the veggies in the heated REC TEC
  5. Set grill to 350ºF
  6. Smoked for 30 minutes
  7. Place ingredients into food processor
  8. Add ingredients 9-12 into food processor, adding salt
  9. Pulse ingredients in food processor
  10. Let sit overnight

Dbl. Smoked Ham On New RecTec

Posted on by December 4, 2021

11/4/2021 – This is the second smoke today on our one-day-old RecTec 700. We removed the heavy fat and cleaned up a small ham partially splitting it open between muscles to get rub and smoke into the center. Rubbed it moderately with Stubb’s Hot Pork Rub we had mixed likely back in Houston. It has been in a glass jar with a tight lid.

Put the seasoned ham into the RECTEC that was set at 235°. There was more smoke than earlier today with the thighs when it was set at 350°.

Pulled the ham after 2.5 hours and it was great. The time in the Rectec made an average ham something special.

Smoked Chicken in New RecTec

Posted on by December 4, 2021

11/4/2021 – The RecTec RT-700 wood pellet grill arrived yesterday. Today we smoked chicken thighs and legs with the Ultimate Blend all-natural food-grade Red Oak, White Oak, and Hickory hardwood pellets that came with the smoker. The chicken was part of a 10 lb. bag that we had cleaned up a few days ago and dry brined. They have been waiting for this smoke so had a long time for the salt to work.

Set the PID to 375° and let it come to temperature. The ambient temperature was 60°.

  1. 10:15 – Placed the meat on the righthand half of the grate. Insert both probes into the two largest thighs. Closed the lid.
  2. 11:55 – Probe A was at 173° in the smaller thigh near the center of the grate. Probe B was at 166° in the back righmost position. Pulled them to rest about 15 minutes.

The thighs and the leg were very moist and had a light smoke flavor.

Next Time – Try the Extreme Smoke setting for the first 30-45 minutes then turn it up to 325°.

Leftover Country Style Ribs

Posted on by September 17, 2021

9/15/2021 – The dish was created by Mary to use the meat from bone-in, country-style pork ribs (CSRs) leftover from a large package we made a few days ago. This turned out great and will be made again as we will make sure there are leftover ribs with the next BBQ.

How the CSRs were made was an important part of the flavor profile of this dish. They were salted to dry brine and at the same time were covered well with 6POGS. After about 4 hours in the refer they were grilled on the gas grill to get that grilled flavor. Then laid in an aluminum foil wrap, seasoned with more 6POGS, some apple cider vinegar was added, and then the foil was folded over tightly and baked at 300° until tender. After a great meal of CSRs, the leftover ribs were refrigerated.

Directions after the CSRs are cooked:

  1. Prepare:
    1. Remove the bones and any heavy fat from the cold leftover ribs and thin slice the meat.
    2. 1 medium onion, sliced
    3. 1 medium green bell pepper sliced
    4. 3 large garlic cloves diced
  2. In a large castiron skillet add bacon grease and heat until warm.
  3. Add onions, bell peppers and saute until translucent.
  4. Add garlic and sliced meat.
  5. Add So Good BBQ sauce.
  6. Saute covered on low until tender.
  7. Serve over rice made with a flavorful broth.

Okra Fermented No.6 2021

Posted on by August 28, 2021

8/22/2021 – This ferment is a repeat of Okra Fermented No. 6, and the first okra ferment in 2021, because the one in 2019 turned out great.

Stuffed a half-gallon jar with large and small okra and added about 3 teaspoons of crushed peppers, 2 garlic cloves before the okra, then one with garlic at half full; then the last teaspoon of pepper, and the two last garlic cloves when full.

Filled the jar with a 5% brine made with canning salt and our well water. Topped the okra and garlic with the plastic keeper and continued to top off the brine as the air filtered out of the okra.

Pickled Refrigerator Okra

Posted on by August 19, 2021

This preparation was inspired by the one at The Ranch Kitchen although ours has a lot more spices.

Ingredients

Fresh okra from our garden
3 cups 5% white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Morton Canning and Pickling Salt
2 tablespoons sugar
6 average garlic cloves cut into large pieces
1/2 teaspoon Dill Weed per pint
1/2 teaspoon Celery Seed per pint
1 teaspoon of our Red Pepper Flakes per pint
1 teaspoon Yellow Mustard Seeds per pint
1/4 teaspoon Ball Pickle Crisp Granules per pint

Instructions

We had on hand inside a pint and a quart jar so used them and did not go to the grain bin for empty pints.

Packed okra pods tightly in each jar until you can barely squeeze another in.

On your stove bring your white vinegar, sugar, and salt to a boil stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Heat the filled capped jars under the hottest tap water to preheat the jars. Pour the almost boiling brine into the jars with okra pods and spices.

Place in the refrigerator for 2 weeks for optimal flavors to develop.

Note: The original recipe said the brine was enough for 4 packed pints. The amount we had leftover after filling the packed pint and quart was maybe enough to fill a packed pint. It would have been close.

Pickled Okra – 2021

Posted on by August 3, 2022

8/3 and 8/10 and 9/9/2021 – This post is for the three water-bath picklings that were done the same and based on what was done in July 2019 that was very good. On 9/6/2021 Kelley opened a pint made on 8/10/2021 (almost a month old) and liked it a lot. Besides being great pickled okra the recipes provide guidance on how much brine to make for jars of raw okra.

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