Hickory Smoked Turkey Breast

 You don't have to wait for Thanksgiving dinner to enjoy turkey. This hickory-smoked turkey breast is tender, juicy, and full of flavor. This bone-in smoked turkey breast makes a perfect Sunday dinner that your family and friends will enjoy.

I started with a 6.5 lbs. bone-in turkey breast; you can use boneless, but I prefer bone-in. This made a perfect meal for six people with just a little left over. 

I only used two ingredients to season my turkey breast. Tony Chachere's Injectable Butter, and Cuisinart Roasted Chipotle Garlic Seasoning.

When you buy this butter, it comes with an injector, so you don't have to worry about buying one. I injected the butter in two places on both sides of the turkey breast.

Then I rubbed the seasoning all over and under the turkey breast's skin. It is best to do this the night before, but if you can't, do it at least two hours before you are going to smoke it.

I prepared my fire box on my Char-Griller Smokin Champ with charcoal and hickory wood splits, then brought the temperature to 250 degrees.

I smoked my turkey breast at 225-250 degrees for 4 hours, until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees.

When I took it off the smoker, I covered it with tin foil and let it rest for about 30 minutes before slicing it.

This was a perfect Sunday family dinner; everyone loved this smoked turkey breast. It was so tender, juicy, and full of flavor. I will definitely use the injectable butter again on turkey or chicken. You can certainly make this in your oven, but you won't get that hickory-smoked flavor.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy it.

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Spicy Smoked Chicken Wings

 

I have been wanting to try my hand at smoked chicken wings. I picked up a package of wings at our local grocery store. These spicy smoked chicken wings were a hit with the family.

They turned out to be juicy and full of flavor with just the right amount of heat. I smoked these wings the same day that I smoked 2 racks of Honey Bourbon Smoked Ribs.

I used the 3-2-1 method for the ribs and added the wings to my Char-Griller Smokin Champ in the last 90 minutes of the smoke. While the ribs were smoking, I prepared the wings.

First, I made a marinade for the wings. I placed the wings in 2 one-gallon zip-lock bags, poured in the marinade, sealed the bags, and mixed. I placed these in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Spicy Smoked Chicken Wing Marinade: 

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon Penzeys Galena Street Rib and Chicken Rub (can be omitted)

I smoked the wings at 250-290 degrees for 90 minutes. I used hickory wood splits as my heat source. The wings' internal temperature was 165 to 170 degrees. These were whole wings; I could have split them, but I didn't bother. After they were smoked, they pulled apart easily.

Before serving, I made a hot sauce to toss them in.  In a large bowl, I melted 1/2 cup butter (one stick), then mixed it with 1 cup Frank's Hot Sauce and 1 teaspoon Cayenne pepper. I placed the wings in the bowl, covered them, and tossed them until they were coated.

These wings turned out great; they were spicy, juicy inside, and had just the right amount of heat. If you don't like medium or hot wings, just skip the last step.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed it.

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Honey Bourbon Smoked Ribs

 

These honey-bourbon-smoked ribs were fall-off-the-bone delicious. I also smoked some chicken legs and wings, but that will be another post.

I started with two racks of center-cut ribs that I picked up from our local grocery store. After removing the silver skin from the backside, I seasoned them with sugar-free Rib Rack BBQ Rub on both sides, then put them in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

I fired up my Char-Griller Smokin' Champ offset smoker and brought the temperature up to about 250 degrees. I used the 3-2-1 method to smoke these ribs. I find that this is the best method for juicy fall-off-the-bone ribs.

The 3-2-1 Rib Smoking Method:

I set the ribs in the smoker and monitored the temperature with my ThremoPro TP-20. Keeping the temperature between 225 and 290 degrees using charcoal and hickory wood splits as my heat source. They remained in the smoker for 3 hours, only opening the lid to spray apple juice every hour.

After 3 hours, I removed the ribs from the smoker to wrap them in tin foil. Tearing off two sheets of tin foil long enough to make sure there is plenty of room to wrap. I made a line in the center of the foil, with generous amounts of brown sugar, honey, butter, and last but not least, bourbon. I placed them meat-side down, then repeated the same ingredients on the back side of the ribs.

Carefully wrapping them to create a packet so the juice does not leak, I placed them back in the smoker, meat side down, for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, I removed them from the foil. Placed them back in the smoker, meat side up, for the last hour. I brushed on Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce twice in the last hour.

The results were amazing, the meat was juicy and fell off the bone, and that is just the way I like it. 

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy it!

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Charcoal Grilled Chicken Breasts

I treasure the times when our whole family can get together. It has been a difficult year for gatherings. This year, for Father's Day, we had everybody together.

So, it was time to celebrate with some charcoal-grilled chicken breasts. There is no doubt that the best grilling is done over charcoal. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

I picked up 8 large bone-in chicken breasts at our local grocery store. The first step was to marinate the chicken. We marinated the chicken breasts overnight in Chiavetta's Barbeque Marinade. This is a great marinade for both flavor and tenderizing the meat. 

Charcoal Grilled Chicken Breasts

We fired up the charcoal in the Weber Charcoal Chimney. To me, using the chimney is the best way to fire up your charcoal. There is no chance of getting that charcoal fluid aftertaste on your food.

 While the charcoal was heating up, I seasoned the chicken breasts with Penzeys Galena Street Rib and Chicken Rub. This is a traditional southern-style barbecue rub.

I seasoned the breast meat by lifting up the skin on the chicken breasts and pouring in the seasoning with a small spoon. Then I worked the seasoning onto the meat with my finger. 

Then, I rubbed the seasoning all over the top and bottom of the chicken breasts. As you can see, these beauties are now ready for the grill.

I grilled these for 7 to 8 minutes per side, flipping them twice, for a total of 30 minutes. Cooking time may vary depending on the size of the chicken breasts. These were large breasts with the ribs.

 I grilled them until the internal temperature was 165 degrees. It's best to have an instant-read thermometer on hand so you know when they are cooked.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy it!

You might also like these chicken recipes

Smoked Bone-in Chicken BreastsGrilled Southwestern Chicken Breasts

 

Grilling Snow Crab Legs

How to Grill Snow Crab Legs

There is no doubt about it, our family loves crab legs. If you like crab legs and give this method a try, you may never buy crab legs in a restaurant again.

Your local grocery store should have snow crab legs in the freezer section or seafood section of the store. Check to see if they are fully cooked, they should be, so all you really have to do is heat them up.

We started off with 5.5 lbs. of snow crab legs and let them thaw. Fran melted 1/2 stick of butter and I mixed in 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and lightly brushed the crab legs on both sides.

I fired up the charcoal chimney to get the coals nice and hot. You can also do this on a gas grill. I would use the medium setting for a gas grill.

 I set the hot coals about 5 or 6-inches from the cooking grates. Set the crab legs on the grill and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Caution: It's best to have a spray bottle handy for any flare-ups, you don't want to burn the crab legs. 

Grilling Snow Crab Legs:

4 tablespoons of butter melted.

1 teaspoon of garlic powder.

4 to 5 lbs. of crab legs (enough for 4 people) or you can adjust accordingly.

More melted butter for serving.

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy it 

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Long Smoke Pulled Pork

I have been having a blast with my new Char-Griller Off-Set Smoker. Last weekend I did a long smoke pulled pork, and it was so good.

I started by picking up a 5.5-pound Boston butt. I mixed my own rub using David Farrell's book The Old Fat Guy's Guide to Smoking Meat for Beginners.


David calls this Rub a "Do-Anything Rub," which you can find in his book or on his blog. I didn't use all of his ingredients for this, but I did add a few of my own.

Rub I used for this Long Smoke Pulled Pork:

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
2 tablespoons Sea Salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
3 tablespoons Carolina Seasoning (Rub Some Butt)

My Process for Long Smoke Pulled Pork:

After mixing the rub. I rubbed both sides of the pork butt, then covered it and set in the refrigerator overnight.

Early the next morning I fired up my smoker using charcoal, and then added oak and hickory wood splits. When the smoker temperature reached 250 degrees, I placed the pork butt in the smoker.

I kept the smoker temperature between 250 and 300 degrees by adding wood splits every 30 to 45 minutes.  After 3 and a half hours, I opened the smoker and inserted my probe to monitor the pork butt's internal temperature. The internal temperature was 160 degrees at his time.

This was the only time I opened the smoker throughout the whole process. I needed to reach an internal temperature of 205 degrees.

After 8 hours and 15 minutes, we finally reached 205 degrees. We removed the pork butt from the smoker, covered it to let it rest for about 40 minutes before shredding it.

The outside had a beautiful, tasty bark, while the inside was juicy and tender. The total cook time equaled 90 minutes per pound.

We made delicious sandwiches using my homemade barbecue sauce. You can find the recipe here. 
This pulled pork made the best game-day sandwiches. We had a house full of happy people.

Fran made this amazing Coleslaw from this Food Network Recipe.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy!

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Easy Homemade Barbecue Sauce Recipe

I smoked some ribs on my new offset smoker last weekend.  After I prepared everything and had them on the smoker, I realized that I didn't have barbecue sauce.

If you're looking for an easy homemade barbecue sauce recipe, this is it. I'm sure you'll have all of these ingredients in your pantry, as I did.

This sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce will work very well with beef, pork, and chicken. I added some hot sauce to give it a little kick. The hot sauce is optional if you don't want the heat.

Easy Homemade Barbecue Recipe Ingredients:

2 cups Ketchup
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Penzeys Galena Street Rib & Chicken Rub (Or Your Favorite Rub)
2 tablespoons Honey
2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
1 teaspoon Hot Sauce (Optional)

I mixed all of the ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Then, I poured the sauce into a large, wide-mouth Mason Jar and gave it a few good shakes.

This turned out to be a nice, sweet, and tangy barbecue sauce for my ribs. I have the remaining sauce in the refrigerator for the next time.

Here is a great method for Slow Smoked Ribs to try out this Barbecue Sauce

& 

Slow Smoke Pork Ribs

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy.

Smoked Bone in Chicken Breasts

When it comes to chicken, you mostly see skinless, boneless chicken breasts in the grocery stores. Since I got a new Char-Griller offset Smoker for Father's Day. I've been grilling and smoking a few different things. I wanted to try some Smoked bone-in chicken breasts.

Fran picked up two nice-sized bone-in chicken breasts so I could try my hand at smoking them. Wow!! I'm so glad we did. This was the juiciest chicken we have ever made.

The first thing we did was marinate the chicken in Italian salad dressing for a couple of hours in the refrigerator.

I fired up the charcoal in my Weber Charcoal Chimney. Then place it in the grill's smoker chamber. While I waited for the temperature to reach 230 degrees, I seasoned the chicken with a rub.

I placed the chicken breasts in the smoker, bone side down, for 15 minutes. Then added some applewood chunks, which raised the temperature to 250-300 degrees. I smoked them for another 30 minutes and checked the internal temperature of the meat. I was looking for 165 degrees in the meat.

I wasn't quite there yet, so I turned the chicken over, added some more applewood chunks, and smoked for another 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the internal temperature reached 165 degrees. I removed them to rest for 5 minutes.

Smoked Bone-in Chicken Breasts:

2 large bone-in chicken breasts
1 cup Italian salad dressing (For Marinating only)
4 tablespoons of your favorite rub (I rubbed both sides of the chicken breasts)

You can bake the same juicy chicken in your oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. You just won't have the smoked flavor by doing it in the oven.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy.

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Slow Smoke Pork Ribs

We had a house full of family and friends for the 4th of July week. This gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my new Char-Griller Offset Smoker. These Slow Smoke Pork Ribs were a perfect fit for the weekend.

My new grill is a combination of a charcoal grill and a smoker. On the 4th of July, we grilled two of our favorites. Grilled leg of lamb and Rosemary Ranch Chicken.

You'll find both of these delicious recipes below

& 

Grilled LambGrilled Rosemary Ranch Chicken

On Saturday, we made these slow-smoked pork ribs for the crowd. We picked out two racks of nice spare ribs. We then removed the silver skin from the backside of the ribs. Bobby and I seasoned the ribs with a combination of Penzeys Galena Street Rib & Chicken Rub and Carolina Seasoning Rub Some Butt.

 We then put them in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

We fired up the smoker using charcoal as the fuel and Hickory wood chunks for the smoke. We inserted the meat probes from our ThermoPro TP20 into the meaty part of the ribs and set it for 190 degrees internal temperature.  

We sprayed the ribs with apple juice every hour and brushed on barbecue sauce twice in the last hour of smoking.

After 5 hours maintaining a smoker temperature between 225 and 260 degrees, we reached the internal temperature of our ribs at 190 degrees.  

These Slow Smoke Pork Ribs were a real crowd-pleaser. They were seasoned just right and had a nice Hickory-smoked flavor.

This is my first smoke in my new offset smoker. I would not have succeeded if not for David Farrell and his book The Old Fat Guy's Guide to Smoking Meat For Beginners. He has been a true inspiration to me in getting started with smoking foods. I followed David's method for these ribs, outlined in his blog and his book, and I succeeded.  

If you're a beginner or have been smoking meats for a while, this book is for you.

This book is packed with information from David's years of experience.

The Old Fat Guy's Guide to Smoking Meat for Beginners

 

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy

Slow-Cooked Barbecue Ribs

There is just something wonderful about slow-cooked barbecue ribs in the summertime. I've made my fair share of ribs over the years, but this is the best method I've ever used.

If you like your ribs juicy, tender, and falling off the bone, this is the method you need. The best part is that you can make these in the oven, on the grill, or on the smoker.

Fran picked up a small rack of back ribs for our local grocery store. It weighed almost 1.5 pounds, which was perfect for both of us.

I prepared the ribs by removing the silver skin from the back. Then, I lightly rubbed olive oil on both sides. Next, I rubbed Penzeys Galena Street Rib & Chicken Rub generously on both sides.

The rub is a Traditional Southern-style barbecue rub and is great on ribs and chicken. We use many of the Penzeys Spices when we cook, but you can use whatever rub you prefer.

I used my gas grill and cooked these over indirect heat, meaning I lit only one side of the grill. Since my grill is not equipped with a thermometer, I had to test which setting kept the temperature at 230 degrees. I used this simple oven thermometer and marked my settings on the dial.

I also wanted to get that smoked flavor, so I used Western Style Apple Wood Chips. I used tin foil to make small packets with a handful of wood chips and poked holes in the top. I placed two packets at a time on the heated side of the grill and changed them out throughout the cooking process. This created enough smoke to get that smoky flavor.

I used the 3-2-1 method. After 3 hours on the grill, I wrapped the ribs in tin foil with butter, brown sugar, and honey. Placed them back on the grill for 2 hours. After that, remove the foil and cook for one more hour, brushing them with barbecue sauce.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy it!!

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Homemade Meat Marinade Recipe

Sometimes we just want a juicier and more flavorful cut of meat.

This is the time to use a marinade. When I'm grilling lamb on the rod, I like to use a simple Italian salad dressing as a marinade.

But, for steaks, roasts, chicken, and pork, I whip up this easy homemade meat marinade.



This homemade meat marinade recipe balances acids, oils, and spices. The acids tenderize the meat and make it juicy, while the oils and spices add flavor. I don't always use a marinade but when I do I like this recipe.

Here is the homemade meat marinade recipe:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Montreal Steak Seasoning or Italian Seasoning 

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Place your cut of meat in a one-gallon zip-lock bag or a baking dish. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 2 to 3 hours.

This should be enough for a large roast or 3 to 4 steaks. You can always cut the recipe down for smaller cuts of meat.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy.

How to Grill Beef Shoulder Steak

Well, we all know that grilling season has finally arrived. Last week, Fran came home from the grocery store with a beef shoulder tender.

This steak was already packaged and marinated with tangy vinegar, garlic, onion, and black pepper. All I had to do was grill this steak without ruining it.

The truth be known, I've never heard of this cut of beef before, so I looked it up. Here is what I discovered.

Beef tender is a cut from the shoulder and is one of the most tender cuts of beef. It is very similar to a Filet Mignon but less expensive.

Fran said this is the most tender steak that I have ever cooked on the grill. Who am I to argue with that? Here is how I grilled this petite tender beef shoulder.

I set my grill to high. The grill was ready in about 5 minutes.

1. I grilled the first side for exactly 4 minutes.
2. Turned the steak over and grilled the second side for 3 minutes.
3. I lowered the grill setting to medium after 3 minutes on the second side.
4. Turned the steak over again, closed the lid, and grilled for 10 minutes. Until the internal temperature reached 130 degrees. 
5. Then I let the steak rest for 5 minutes before cutting it.

This steak weighed a little less than one pound, so your grill time may vary depending on the size. As long as you keep an eye on the internal temperature, you'll be fine.

This method yielded a perfectly juicy, medium-rare, tender steak. I highly recommend this cut of beef; I know you won't be sorry.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy.

Whether you're cooking meat on the grill, in the oven, or on the stovetop, it's always a good idea to have a good meat thermometer. And, a good, sharp knife to cut the meat.

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