Recipe? Surely you jest. Recipes are for baking.

In all honesty, I really am not a recipe user. I'll tell you this, though:
it'll be 1lb ground pork to 2lb of ground chuck - maybe sirloin. depends what looks better for the price.
only one reg size can (15oz) of black beans.
One of the bigger cans of diced tomatoes
Cumin
smoked paprika
ground ancho
ground guajillo
ground pequin
ground arbol
chile garlic sauce
sweated onions
lightly sweated jalapeno, serrano, and habanero. Generally two of each, but one of each with seeds/membrane removed.
fresh garlic
toasted onion powder
a nice sized pepper from a can of chipotle in adobo, plus a little bit o the juice

The secret ingredient? No "chili powder." That stuff tastes like dirt. Makes everything else taste muddy too. Can't stand it. Omit it from chili, and it makes all of the flavors much brighter. So, anyway, I just eyeball everything. Of course, common sense would dictate how much of the spices to use. Ditto for the chile. Ancho is mild, guajillo is as well, pequin, and arbol are hot - use an amount of each that makes sense to you.

The ancho will give a slow lingering backbone of warmth, and will keep your whole mouth warm.

The guajillo will do much of the same, but add a backbone of a smokey element, and deepen the tomato flavor.

The arbol will add the heat that makes your insides warm

The pequin will sting you. It sizzles on your tounge. Like cayenne, but sneakier. by the time you figure out that it's hot, it's HOT.

The jalapeno will add fresh chile flavor, and add a popping heat that fades quickly.

The serrano will add a popping heat as well, but I find that it pops not only on your tongue, but kind of up near your nose as well.

And the habanero. Unmistakable flavor. Really fruity. I think it reminds me of Juicy Fruit gum without any sugar. The habanero can overpower, but it "pops" much less when cooked. It is also a lingering heat, but I use it more for the flavor of the flesh than the heat.

So, I usually do the whole "brown the meat / sweat the onion" thing but when the onions are almost done, I'll add the fresh chiles, when those are almost done, I'll add in the spices / garlic. from there it's every thing else, plus kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, lime juice, and a bunch of chopped cilantro on top. Cover it, low, low simmer it, and eat it when it smells too good to resist. (As always, it's better the next day.) The day after, the "over the top" initial popping heat should fade as well.
My serving method: I line a bowl with rice, and sour cream, then toss a ladle in. Starch and s cream kind of deaden the heat (for a while) without removing too much flavor.

What you posted is close enough to a recipe for me. Just curious to what your general approach was and, actually, it's not that far off what I do, except I use cubed meat or a combination of cubed and ground meat. I agree with you on the "chili powder." Vile stuff, unless you get a good brand and it hasn't been sitting around for ages. I usually don't add habanero and pequin, so next time out, I'll definitely add it to the chile mix. (Although I will sometimes use habanero at the table. It's hard enough as it is trying to make spicy dishes that my girlfriend will eat. I have a tendency to overshoot her tolerance.)

Smoked turkey enthusiasts:

I am planning to smoke a 16lb turkey for Thanksgiving. My plan is to quarter the turkey, for two reasons: first, the parts will cook a little quicker. I think I could put the pieces on around 8am and be ready to serve by 1pm. Second, separating the breast from legs will let me pull the breasts off and let the legs cook to a slightly higher temperature.

Fired up the smoker on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Babybacks, butterflied chicken, brats. I was happiest with the raw brats, and was pleased with the smoke ring, and taste, I am ready for the hot links or boudin I will be smoking for the Marseilles in may Event next month.

ribs with rub:



smoked ribs:



smoked brats:

Another warm Sunday SW of Chicago(low 60's and sunny). Fired up the smoker and smoked some babybacks, polish, and ABT's

Lighter rub on the ribs this time, decent polish, adn the ABT's were my first attempt. Filled with a cream cheese mixture with crab, green onions, monterey jack, some cumin, and a head of roasted garlic... brilliant.. these will be on my regular smoking rotation.

jimswside wrote:Another warm Sunday SW of Chicago(low 60's and sunny). Fired up the smoker and smoked some babybacks, polish, and ABT's

OK, what's an ABT, other than an appliance and electronics store in Glenview?

j r wrote:OK, what's an ABT, other than an appliance and electronics store in Glenview?

Atomic Buffalo Turd, aka Dragon Turd, aka Wolf Turd, aka a number of other sit around the smoker drink bourbon type names.

G Wiv wrote:

j r wrote:OK, what's an ABT, other than an appliance and electronics store in Glenview?

Atomic Buffalo Turd, aka Dragon Turd, aka Wolf Turd, aka a number of other sit around the smoker drink bourbon type names.

Which is???

j r wrote:

G Wiv wrote:

j r wrote:OK, what's an ABT, other than an appliance and electronics store in Glenview?

Atomic Buffalo Turd, aka Dragon Turd, aka Wolf Turd, aka a number of other sit around the smoker drink bourbon type names.

Which is???

Google knows

j r wrote:Which is???

Jim's version is..

jimswside wrote:Lighter rub on the ribs this time, decent polish, adn the ABT's were my first attempt. Filled with a cream cheese mixture with crab, green onions, monterey jack, some cumin, and a head of roasted garlic... brilliant.. these will be on my regular smoking rotation.

My basic version, I make a few different types, deeseeded cored jalapeno stuffed with chorizo wrapped in bacon and tossed on the smoker for a couple of hours. Link to recipe

Enjoy,
Gary

Jim's recipe is more of a Turd Rangoon, and sounds delicious.

stevez wrote:Jim's recipe is more of a Turd Rangoon, and sounds delicious.

turd rangoon, that made me chuckle.

stevez wrote:...Turd Rangoon, and sounds delicious.

As much as it surprises me to be saying this, Turd Rangoon does sound delicious. Jim, you may have invented something wonderful.

The only dragon turds that I've had a chance to sample were those served at the LTH Picnic this past summer. (I believe they were made by Jyoti.) Despite my high tolerance for spicy food, I found those to be out-of-control-hot-hot-hot. How hot were yours?

RAB wrote:As much as it surprises me to be saying this, Turd Rangoon does sound delicious.

Logo quote?

Reminds me of that wonderful Patricia Arquette movie, Beyond Turd Rangoon.

RAB wrote:

stevez wrote:...Turd Rangoon, and sounds delicious.

As much as it surprises me to be saying this, Turd Rangoon does sound delicious. Jim, you may have invented something wonderful.

The only dragon turds that I've had a chance to sample were those served at the LTH Picnic this past summer. (I believe they were made by Jyoti.) Despite my high tolerance for spicy food, I found those to be out-of-control-hot-hot-hot. How hot were yours?

these were actually quite mild, I made sure to seed, and take all the veins out of the peppers, I also think the bacon helps mellow them. I also got some tips on a meat smoking forum regarding placing the peppers right on the grill as opposed to in apan or on foil, and the longer you smoke them, the milder they become. They had a little heat, but more like the heat of a chili relleno to my tastes.

I am stopping out at Czimers in HOmer Glen on the way home to continue my search for sausage to smoke for Marseilles in May. I talked with a person that works there and he told me they have fresh boudin, alligator, crawfish, and other wild game sausages in stock, I am excited to check out their offerings. Of course I forgot my camera today..

I also plan on picking up some wild boar ribs to smoke, or goat to jerk this weekend.

http://www.czimers.com

RAB wrote:The only dragon turds that I've had a chance to sample were those served at the LTH Picnic this past summer. (I believe they were made by Jyoti.) Despite my high tolerance for spicy food, I found those to be out-of-control-hot-hot-hot.

They made fantastic hash though

Were those smoked for a good length of time though or just grilled? I don't recall. If it's true that they mellow more the longer they sit on the smoker, that might account for the spiciness.

A smoking story sure to shock the BBQ purists, recently my lovely wife took a pork butt that I had designs on and put it into a crockpot with worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. I discovered this several hours after the fact. I removed the butt and ended up finishing it in the smoker, using yellow mustard and a bastardized version of Gary's rub that I've been working on.

It ended up delicious, and with subsequent butts that I've smoked, I've tried to approximate the process by prepping the pork the night before with worcestershire and brown sugar, then rubbing and smoking in the morning like usual. So far pretty good, though I'm still working on the rub.

whats a "crock pot"?

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:Were those smoked for a good length of time though or just grilled? I don't recall. If it's true that they mellow more the longer they sit on the smoker, that might account for the spiciness.

They were smoked for a hour or more, it was just an abnormally spicy batch of Jalapenos. I'm a heat lover, but they were incendiary even for me. I wish I knew Jyoti's pepper picking secret.

damn looks like I am the only one smokin' lately..


Tomorrow another day of smokin'.

On the smoker tomorrow:

-Alligator boudin
-Wild Boar Spares
-Wild Boar St. Louis style ribs
-Armadillo eggs(stuffed olive inside a ball of Italian Sausage, then smoked)

I am going to trim the soft fat off the boar, and maybe marinate overnight in pineapple juice, other than that they will get the same rub, and coking method as pork.

Should be another interesting day, pics to follow.

Prepped the armadillo eggs this morning, rolled some jalapeno stuffed green olives in sweet italian sausage. I will smoke them for about 2 hours, probably the same ammount of time the alligator boudin will take.

the boar ribs are out of the pineapple juice marinade, and have a basic bbq rub on them. I have one nice size spare rib rack, and 2 small st. louis style racks. The ribs look very lean, and I trimmed off some of the "soft fat" to cut down on the possible gaminess. I will probabl;y start the spares 4 hours out, and the st. louis 3 hours before dinner. Smoked @ 250 degrees, and sprayed with apple juice/olive oil, and Capn' Morgans rum ever 30 45 minutes to make sure to keep this lean boar juicy. I will let the ribs "rest" wrapped in foil for about 30-45 minutes after they are done.

Anyone else smokin some meat on this beautiful day?

jimswside wrote:Prepped the armadillo eggs this morning, rolled some jalapeno stuffed green olives in sweet italian sausage. I will smoke them for about 2 hours, probably the same ammount of time the alligator boudin will take.

the boar ribs are out of the pineapple juice marinade, and have a basic bbq rub on them. I have one nice size spare rib rack, and 2 small st. louis style racks. The ribs look very lean, and I trimmed off some of the "soft fat" to cut down on the possible gaminess. I will probabl;y start the spares 4 hours out, and the st. louis 3 hours before dinner. Smoked @ 250 degrees, and sprayed with apple juice/olive oil, and Capn' Morgans rum ever 30 45 minutes to make sure to keep this lean boar juicy. I will let the ribs "rest" wrapped in foil for about 30-45 minutes after they are done.

Anyone else smokin some meat on this beautiful day?

I have a pathetic excuse for a grill, so I'm afraid I must live vicariously through this thread...those Boar Ribs and Armadillo Eggs sound amazing, Jimswide, I do hope you'll be posting pictures!

jimswside wrote:Anyone else smokin some meat on this beautiful day?

Not me, but Colleen (crrush) did 6 racks of ribs, hot links and home made Louisiana sausage.

Colleen - 2 levels of 3 racks of ribs

Squeeze bottle is Tart Wash (2/3 cranberry juice, 1/3 oil, 2-teaspoons BBQ rub), not BBQ sauce








Pretty girls like BBQ



As do the not quite so pretty.



Enjoy,
Gary

thanks for the pics Gary, it was a good day for smokin, and eatin some bbq.

It looks like Colleen has some bbq skill for sure.

My pics are downloading now, and it was another successfull smoke.

THe wild boar was porky in flavor, and really lean. I preferred the spares to the St. Louis ribs. The meat at times wwas a littel gamey, but its a wild animal so it was all good.

The alligator boudin was excellent, I think for MIM I will be doing kilbasa, it has performed the best for my recent smokes.

The armadillo eggs were my favorite of the day. Spicy Itlaina sausage wrapped around the jalapeno stuffed olives. Got a nice smoke ring, and great tasting.

pics in a bout 30 mins.

pics finally downloaded(darn slow flickr, I think this is the earliest my flickr account has been maxed in a month).

armadillo egg ingredients:



armadillo egg after 2.5 hours @ 235.



alligator boudin - 2 hours



wild boar ribs marinated in pineapple juice overnight



everyone on the smoker



finished spares



good eats all around. Back to basics next weekend - pork ribs.

Armadillo eggs are at the top of my list for the next smoke.

Saturday's smoke couldn't have gone better, the rain holding off until the very end. The ribs were delicious, if maybe slightly too tender, but I was confident enough to serve them to the handful of critical barbecue aficionados present, including G Wiv and ronnie_suburban. The hot links from Peoria Packing were an after-thought, thrown on the smoker after the ribs came off and all but forgotten while other vittles and drinks were consumed. For an after-dinner-and-dessert snack, they were incredibly good, proving one of my favorite Gary-isms: the secret to good barbecue is to leave it the hell alone.

Hi,

To deal with a crowded freezer, I have to take stuff out to cook before I can put anything in. In this merry bit of Dosado, I am smoking Monday two racks of beef ribs, making a fauxstrami from a corned beef tip and baked beans.

The two racks of beef allowed me to store a ham. The pastrami and beans will be eaten as well as some frozen. The big deal was offloading the beef ribs.

Regards,

I decided to brave the elements and smoke some Costco baby backs that had reached their 'cook or freeze by' date . . .


That $25 umbrella is one of the best purchases I've ever made.



3 slabs, ready to come off the smoker. I think they'd been on a little over 3 hours at this point.



One rib . . .



The coveted end piece which, in the Costco 3-packs, has a lot of meat above the bone.

=R=

nice lookin' ribs Ronnie.

I am looking forward to seeing a WSM in action, and trying some bbq from one in a couple of weeks.

Ill be doing another batch of bbq this weekend, one slab of babybacks like I have been doing: 5 hours in the smoke, and then one slab using the 2-2-1 method(2 hours on the smoker, 2 hours on the smoker wrapped in foil, and then 1 hour on the smoker unwrapped. ).