Meat and Potato!

I have been out of town a lot recently and I was getting the itch to throw some red meat on a fire and in a wonderful stroke of luck, my buddy who runs the blog Macon Dinner (www.macondinner.blogspot.com), posted his most recent cook of filet mignon and baked potato and it looked so good I was reminded that imitation is the best form of flattery. So filet and baked potato it was for me!

I bought two smallish filets from the store and came home and basically kept it pretty simple. I rubbed the steaks down with a little kosher salt, black pepper, and Tony C's for a little kick.



The next step is to fire up the Egg to 700+ degrees. Take it from me, you want to becareful of a flame this hot! Sear the steaks for about 2-3 minutes per side.



After you have seared both sides, it is time to shut down all vents and basically let the steaks bake in the trapped heat of the egg. I do that for about another 5 minutes or until the meat reaches approximately 140 degrees, which in my opinion is a very nice medium rare to medium. The steaks have a nice crisp exterior while still being wonderfully juicy. I like to put a little bit of garlic butter on top of the steak and let melt but I did not do that this time as we were in a hurry. This is more for presentation anyway, but isnt that a large part of the fun?

Beer Can Chicken

I have been out of town and missing the egg, so right on the heels of a big chicken wing lunch, I did a beer can chicken for dinner. This was my first beer can chicken and it was very easy and very tasty.

I used one whole chicken approx. 4lbs from Publix. I washed it and patted it dry prior to rubbing it down with EVOO. The next step was to rub the chicken down. You can use practically anything....or practically nothing depending on your tastes. It it all going to taste great. This time I used a liberal amount of John Henry's Texas Chicken Tickler rub.



I then used about 3/4 of a Yeungling Light (trying to get rid of some stuff people left in my beer fridge) in stand designed for beer can chickens. Then cooked the bird for about 2 hours, or until it reaches 175 degrees in the breast. It was an indirect cook at about 300 degrees. I used Cherry Wood for the smoke flavor. Remember to add more rub down the neck of the chicken once you have it set up so it spills down the cavity of the bird and into the beer. This just adds to the flavor!



That is about it...the only thing left to do is to carve the bird and enjoy!

Wing Sampler!

I was trying to figure out what type of chicken wings I wanted to cook for lunch and I could not decide, so I cooked three different kinds. I did Sweet Soy Wings (see last post), Traditional Buffalo Wings, and Spicy BBQ Wings.

I cooked the wings indirect at 300 degrees for approx. 45 min turning every 15 min or so. Then I removed the plate setter and cooked the wings direct increasing the temp to about 425 degrees for another 10 min or so just to crisp them up.

I had the Sweet Soy Sauce along with the other two sauces heating up on low during the cook and when the wings were done I let them go "swimming" in each sauce. The Buffalo wing sauce that I used was the mild Suck Creek Wings sauce (my favorite) and I also used the Suck Creek Wings Spicy BBQ sauce.

At the end of the day I had several of each type and they were all excellent. It was hard to pick a favorite. Great meal!

Sweet Soy Wings

I cooked some sweet soy wings tonight and they were very, very good. I saw this recipe on Evan's website and followed it to the T. Very nicely done....if I did anything different next time it would be to remove the plate setter and grill the wings direct the last 15 min or so of the cook to crisp them up. Check out the full recipe and video at www.evanspices.com/recipe-blog.

Baby Back Ribs!

I had the inlaws over to enjoy some baby back ribs prep for playoff Saturday! Baby Back Ribs are one of my favorite things to cook and my wife likes the variety you can do with them so we did three different types. I cooked 3 slabs of ribs total and did two slabs wet and one slab dry. Of the two wet slabs, I did one sweet and one spicy.

First, I removed the membrane from the backs of the ribs and cut each slab in half. Then I applied different dry rubs on all three slabs. On the slab that was going to remain dry, I used a liberal amount of Evans' Spice, which a buddy of mine makes and it is always excellent. On the two slabs that I would baste with BBQ sauce I used John Henrys dry rub (both the Alabama Butt Rub and the Pecan rub).

I used my BBQ guru for the first time and got the pit temp up to 220 degrees. I put the 6 half slabs in a v-rack for space and cooked indirect for 2 hours. I then pulled the ribs and wrapped them in aluminum foil. Prior to sealing up the aluminum foil, I poured apple juice in the bottom of the foil boat and sprinkled brown sugar and drizzed honey over the top of the ribs. I then put the six foil packets directly back on the grill grate to cook for another 2 hours at the same 220 degrees (gotta love not having to do anything with the temp thanks to the Guru....but watch for the dampeners and vents being too open and the temp rising!). After that, I unwrapped the ribs and put directly back on the grate for another 30-45 min and basted two of the slabs with BBQ sauce.

For the sweet ribs I used Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet BBQ sauce and for the spicy, I used Suck Creek Wings spicy BBQ. If you have not heard of Suck Creek Wings, go to www.suckcreekwings.com, they make amazing wing sauce and BBQ sauce.

Overall, they were excellent and best enjoyed with a couple nice Titan IPA's (Great Divide Brewery)!

BBQ Guru...

I ordered a BBQ guru DigiQdx and it just came in. I can not wait to try it out. No more 3am wake up sessions to check on a Boston Butt that is cooking overnight!

First Post

First let me say that I know nothing about blogging, which is ok because I knew nothing really about grilling and certainly nothing about grilling on a Big Green Egg when I got one this past November. It has been a basically two months, several great smokes, multiple pizza disasters, and 1 burnt gasket (on the second grill ever, which may be a record) and I finally think that I am begining to get the hang of it.

I am starting this blog simply to document what I am cooking on the BGE and to help me remember what I cooked and if it worked out.

I am a novice griller with delusions of grandeur, a short memory, and a soft spot for a burning fire and a cold beer.

Here are some pictures of things that I have done over the past two months on the BGE...