Sweet Potato Skins With Pulled Pork and rQ Ivory Slaw

This is an awesome take on the ultimate bar food… Potato Skins! The tender sweet potato makes the perfect vessel for some delicious pulled pork, smoked cheddar cheese and a side of creamy BBQ flavored slaw.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. Pulled Pork chopped in bite size chunks w/BBQ sauce mixed in

½ cup of a BBQ Sauce with a nice vinegar bite(EAT IPO works well)

4-6 medium size sweet potatoes, not too large since we’re using them for skins. Think single serving size when sliced in half lengthwise.

1 cup shredded smoked cheddar cheese

1 package apple smoked bacon

Oakridge BBQ Secret Weapon rub for seasoning

SLAW:

1 bag slaw mix

½ cup rQ Ivory BBQ Sauce

2 tbls. Nakano Garlic Infused Rice Wine Vinegar

½ cup finely chopped Sweet Red Pepper

Directions:

1. Either par-boil or pre-bake your sweet potatoes. Make sure they’re NOT over cooked. Let them rest and come to room temperature.
2. Slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the insides leaving a good ¼ inch of flesh inside the skins.
3. Apply a light dusting of your favorite BBQ rub to the inside of the skins.
4. Mix in ½ cup of BBQ sauce(EAT IPO) with the pulled pork.
5. Spoon the pork into the sweet potato skins and top with shredded smoked cheddar cheese.
6. Arrange the skins inside a foil pan and put into your grill/smoker using indirect heat at about 300 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Do NOT place the pan over direct heat… you don’t want the bottoms of the skins to get burnt.
7. Take the skins out of the grill/smoker and apply a spoonful of the rQ slaw mix on top, lightly dust with BBQ rub and serve. Or, serve the slaw on the side and sprinkle bacon bits on top.

BBQ Italian Style Onion Bombs

This recipe is WAY too much fun and absolutely delicious! You basically end up with a grilled onion filled with an italian sausage meatball wrapped in bacon and glazed with BBQ sauce! It really doesn’t get any better for a great tailgate item or backyard BBQ!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large sweet onions, each 9 to 10 ounces
• 1 ½ lbs. Sweet Italian sausage
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large egg, beaten with a fork
• 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 1/2 tsp John Henry Mojave Garlic Pepper
• 18 slices thin bacon
• Your favorite barbecue sauce

Step 1: Slice the root and stem ends off the onions. Cut each onion in half lengthwise and remove the papery outer skin and any blemished layers. Separate the onions into layers, keeping the matched pairs together. Reserve the three largest pairs from each onion. Save the remaining onion for another use.

Step 2: In a large mixing bowl, gently combine the ground beef, sausage, garlic, egg, bread crumbs, Parmesan, fresh herbs, Mojave Garlic Pepper

Step 3: Assemble the onion bombs: Place two matching onion layers on your work surface, rounded side down. Mound a portion of the meat mixture (3 to 4 ounces, depending on the size of the onion) in one half. Top with the matching half. (The meat should fill the rejoined onion halves.) Wrap each onion bomb in three slices of bacon, securing with toothpicks. Repeat until you have six onion bombs.

Step 4: Set your grill or smoker up for indirect cooking at 350 degrees. Place the bombs directly on the grill surface and cook through until bacon crisps up and internal temp on the meat is at least 165 degrees.

Step 5 Optional: Baste the bombs with your favorite BBQ sauce and let carmelize before serving.

Bacon Wrapped Pineapple With Burnt Finger Smokey Kansas City Spicy Honey Glaze

Bacon Wrapped Pineapple With Burnt Finger Smokey Kansas City Spicy Honey Glaze

This is a crowd favorite created by none other than 2015 Food Network Chopped Grill Master Champion Stan Hays of County Line Smokers. Who doesn’t like bacon and pineapple then glazed with some spicy sweetness?

 

Ingredients:

1 Whole Pineapple

1 Package thick sliced low sodium bacon

1 bottle honey

1 bottle Smokey Kansas City Spicy BBQ Sauce from Burnt Finger BBQ

1 Package Oakridge BBQ Dominator Sweet Rub

OPTION:  Add grilled jalapenos or cerrano chili strips to the inside of the bacon when wrapping for an extra Kick!

 

 

Directions:

Core the pineapple and cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks. Cut bacon in half. Dust the pineapple chunks with the Oakridge BBQ Dominator sweet rub. Use a half piece of bacon wrap it around the pineapple chunks and use a tooth pick to hold it in place. Dust the outside of the bacon wrapped pineapple chunks with Oakridge BBQ Dominator Sweet seasoning. Put in fridge while you make the glaze.

For tailgating, use a foil loaf pan to heat up one cup of the Smokey Kansas City Spicy BBQ sauce from Burnt Finger BBQ with two tablespoons of honey. This will be the glaze applied to the bacon wrapped pineapple chunks at the end of grilling.

Set up your grill for direct grilling over medium high heat. Or grill indirect over high heat to make sure the bacon gets crispy. Grill the pineapple chunks until the bacon is crispy on the outside and finish by glazing them with the Smokey Kansas City Spicy Honey glaze.

Bacon Wrapped Pickled Watermelon Rinds

If any food can handle the moniker “trendy”, it’s most definitely Bacon! Bacon has become all the rage as a versatile ingredient in just about everything from savory BBQ dishes to desserts! Here is a delicious appetizer for the next time you fire up your grill for your friends and family!

 

Ingredients

1 jar pickled watermelon rinds

1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ rub or spicy seasoning

1 lb. bacon

Simply cut your bacon strips into thirds or fourths so they will fit the watermelon rinds. Dust each watermelon rind with seasoning and then wrap each rind and secure with a toothpick. Sprinkle more rub on each bacon wrapped watermelon rind and grill on medium high heat. Preferred temperature would be 350 degrees. Grill until the bacon is browned and crispy. Watch them closely because the fat from the bacon and the sugar from the rub can cause flare-ups and burning.

The tartness of the pickled watermelon rinds makes a great combination with a sugar based BBQ rub such as Oakridge BBQ’s Secret Weapon, Plowboys BBQ Yarbird, or Fast Eddy’s All Purpose BBQ Seasoning.

 

Stuffed Hamburgers

Stuffed burgers are all the rage today and when they are grilled it gives them an even tastier blast of flavor. By stuffing your burger patties with everything from cheese and bacon to mushrooms and onions, you can make a delicious burger that is sure to impress anyone. You can use any of your favorite ingredients to make stuffed burgers. Stuff them with bacon and cheese, sauteed onions and garlic, blue cheese, mushrooms, jalapenos, etc.

Make sure and pick out a good 80/20 ground beef. If you try and use beef that is too lean, you’ll risk the meat falling apart on the grill. Ground turkey or chicken could be used if you prepare it with an egg and bread crumbs as a binder. The trick is to make two very thin patties, place your stuffing on one and top it with another patty. If formed right, using a good quality ground meat and grilled to perfection, your burgers will be the talk of the neighborhood.

The stuffing can be practically anything you want depending on what flavor profile you are looking for. One solid tip for the stuffing is to remember that if you are choosing another meat such as bacon, cook the bacon ahead of time. Same goes with chicken or turkey. Also sauté veggies ahead of time since they are loaded with water that releases during the grilling of the burger and would create quite a mess if you tried grilling stuffed burgers with raw veggies.

Place your stuffing on one of the thin burger patties. Do not overstuff the burgers keeping your stuffing around 2-3 tablespoons. Then, place another of the thin patties on top of the patties with stuffing and crimp the edges. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the two patties and make sure you have a good seal.

These burgers are thick and stuffed. So, grill over medium high heat and you really only want to turn these once. Too much flipping and turning and you’ll end up with melted filling all over the place! It’s a good idea to have a quality instant read meat thermometer to check the inside of the burgers. They are ready to go at about 175 degrees internal.

Grilled Thai Chicken Pizza

At the Kansas City BBQ Source’s recent grilled pizza class on February 22nd, 2014, this Thai Chicken pizza was a huge hit. The class was hosted and taught by Craig Jones, The 2012 Food Network Grill Mayor and featured fifteen different pizza recipes, a wonderful dough made from Antimo Caputa ’00’ pizzaria flour, and some delicious calzones!

The pizzas were all grilled on The Big Green Egg ceramic grills and a Weber Kettle grill utilizing the Kettle Pizza extension kit as reviewed in this blog.

Here is the recipe for the Thai Chicken Pizza.

Ingredients 1 batch of cold fermented pizza dough ½ cup Sweet Asian Chilli Sauce, Plus extra to finish 1 shallot, thinly sliced ½ zucchini, sliced ½ or 1 teaspoon red chili flakes depending on your heat tolerance level 1 cup shredded smoked chicken ⅔ cups shredded mozzarella cheese ¼ cup chopped Savory Addictions Nuts 2 Tablespoons cilantro 2 Tablespoons basil (optional)

Instructions: Set up the grill for indirect cooking and preheat to 500 degrees with a pizza stone. Stone should heat for about 20 – 30 minutes.Press out dough into rough 8-inch circle, leaving outer 1-inch higher than the rest. Gently stretch dough by draping over knuckles into a 12 to 14-inch circle about 1/4-inch thick. Transfer to a pizza peel covered with parchment paper Place the dough on a pizza peel covered with parchment paper. Evenly spread the Asian chili sauce on the surface of the dough. Add the sliced shallots and zucchini. Top with the red chili flakes and shredded chicken. Top with the cheese. Using the pizza peel, place the pizza onto pizza stone and cook for about 10 – 12 minutes, turning once or twice during the process. Remove the pizza from the grill once the pizza dough is golden around the edges and the cheese is nice and bubbly. Use the bottom of the crust to decide when to remove.  Do not let the bottom burn. Let the pizza rest for 5 minutes on a wire rack. While the pizza is resting, drizzle more of the chilli sauce over the top, top with the chopped Savory Addictions smoked nuts, and fresh cilantro. Top with fresh basil if available.

Mac-n-Cheese Cheetos Pie

Just because it’s crazy and the Gremlin Grill BBQ Team always has a hankering for Cheetos the Saturday night after a contest!!!

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 cup uncooked macaroni
2 1/4 cups milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup Bisquick
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce
1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
!/2 cup crushed Cheetos

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease pie plate 10 x 1 1/2 inches. Mix 2 cups cheese and the macaroni. Sprinkle in plate. Beat remaining ingredients except 1/4 cup cheese until smooth, 15 seconds in blender on high or 1 minute with hand beater. Pour into plate. Bake until knife inserted in center comes out clean about 40 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup cheese and Cheetos. Bake until cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.