The World’s 1st EVER “Kosher EggFest” Scheduled for August 16, 2015!!!

Hot Spot Pools, Hot Tubs & BBQ is sponsoring the very first “Kosher EggFest” at the Kansas City Kosher BBQ Festival on August 16, 2015 at the Ritz Charles in Overland Park, KS.

As part of the 4th Annual Kansas City Kosher BBQ Festival, Hot Spot Pools, Hot Tubs & BBQ has teamed up with Rabbi Mendel Segal of Vaad Hakashruth of Kansas City, home to the Kansas City Kosher BBQ Festival. For more information on The Kansas City Kosher BBQ Festival, click here: KCKBBQ

An EggFest Egg is a package that you pre-purchase prior to the EggFest. The brand new Big Green Egg will be cooked on the day of EggFest by one of our registered cooking teams, and then you will pick it up at the end of the day!

This is a great opportunity to buy your first Big Green Egg or add to your EGG family! All EggFest EGGs carry the full Big Green Egg warranty, include a Rolling Nest, and are available in Large size only. EggFest EGGs are available to PURCHASE ONLINE or IN-STORE at our Liberty and Overland Park Locations.

Large EggFest Egg Package – $825

Large Egg ($899 retail)

Egg Nest ($163 retail)

10% Off BGE Accessories

Comes Fully Assembled ($50 value)

Original Full BGE Lifetime Warranty

RETAIL VALUE OVER $1,142

This package is available for a limited time, and in very limited quantity. All additional Big Green Egg products will be 10% OFF during EggFest!

EGGFEST EGG’s MUST BE PICKED UP AUGUST 16TH AFTER THE EVENT HAS ENDED. NO EXCEPTIONS WILL BE MADE, SO PLAN ACCORDINGLY.

Tequila Lime Oakridge “Crucible” Flank Steak

At a recent class we focused totally on recipes for the grill and smoker using beef. We smoked brisket, meat loaf, grilled steaks and came up with one of our favorite recipes using The Limited Edition Ghost Pepper Chili rub, “Crucible”, from Oakridge BBQ Seasonings. Unlike jalapeno and habanero peppers that have an instant heat, the ghost pepper tends to go to the back of the tongue and create a slow burning heat. Which makes it a perfect addition to any marinade or glaze when you want strong heat, but not piercing heat. Add a little honey to this recipe to take some bite out of the Crucible and Tequila.

 

Ingredients

1 cup roughly chopped garlic (about 3 bulbs)
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 8 large limes)
1/2 cup clear tequila
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 bunch roughly chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and stems

1 teaspoon Oakridge Crucible Ghost Pepper Rub
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 1/2 to 2 pounds flank steak
12 corn tortillas, wrapped in foil

Combine the garlic, lime juice, tequila, soy sauce, cilantro, Oakridge “Crucible” Ghost Pepper Rub, cumin and black pepper in a sealable container. Add the steak and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours up to overnight. Remove from the refrigerator, and let marinate at room temperature another 30 to 45 minutes.

Prepare a grill to medium-high heat. Remove the steak from the marinade.

Put the tortillas on the corner of the grill and flip the package a few times to heat through while the steak is cooking.

Place the steak on the grill. Cook for 4 minutes, turn 180 degrees, and cook for 3 minutes more (to create cross grill marks). Flip over and finish cooking for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on desired doneness.

NOTE-FLANK STEAK IS MOST TENDER WHEN COOKED MEDIUM RARE.

Grilled Stuffed Pork Loin Roulade With Pineapple Ham, Onions, Apples & Cheese

This is an outstanding recipe developed for a BBQ Cooking Class called “Porkapalooza”. I love when the local grocery store has the whole pork loins on sale. It’s a great time to stock up and fill the freezer with at least a half a dozen meals. This particular stuffed loin was cooked at 275 degrees first on a Good One Marshall and then finished over direct heat on a Big Green Egg.

 

Pork

Start with an 8″ to 10″ pork loin roast. To butterfly, put pork loin on a work surface with short end facing you. Holding a long, thin sharp knife parallel to work surface and beginning along one long side, cut 1/2″ above underside of roast. Continue slicing inward, pulling back the meat with your free hand and unrolling the roast like a carpet, until the entire loin is flat. Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet, pound to an even thickness.

Filling

Ham, good quality sliced deli ham(I used pineapple for this recipe)

1 large yellow onion, sliced and grilled

2 heads garlic, roasted

R Butts R Smokin Ozark Heat BBQ Rub

2 medium Granny Smith apple, sliced & grilled

Sliced swiss sheese

Sliced havarti cheese

Process

Layer the fillings on top of the pounded out pork loin in this order:

1.Roasted garlic spread

 

 

2.Ham

 

3.Sliced swiss cheese

 

4.Grilled Onions

 

5.Another layer of ham

 

6.Grilled Apple Slices

 

7.Sliced havarti cheese

 

Dust each layer of ham with R Butts R Smokin’ Ozark Heat BBQ Rub.

 

Use The Food Loop silicone trussing tool to roll up the pork roulade and secure.

 

 

Cook in your grill or smoker on medium/high heat indirectly at 275 degrees until the internal temperature of the pork loin reads 160 degrees. Rest for 15 minutes, slice and totally enjoy!

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.

 

Smoked Chicken Italian Fatty

This recipe is a twist on the ever popular “Bacon Explosion” featuring a bacon weave wrapped around sausage and smoked/grilled. I love taking the basic premise of this recipe and adding a couple of tasty and unique ingredients. The great thing about these “explosions” or “fattys” as they’re called, is that they slice up so beautiful and fit perfectly on a toasted bun! This particular version uses pounded marinated chicken breasts and has a touch of Italian to it!

 

What you’ll need:

• 2 Large Boneless/skinless breasts
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage- ground
• 1 package thick sliced bacon
• ¼ Grated Provolone Cheese
• Oakridge BBQ Santa Maria Rub
• Roasted red peppers
• Fresh basil
• Grated Provolone Cheese
• 1 16 oz. bottle of Smoke On Wheels BBQ Marinade

Preparation:

• 1. Split the chicken breasts in half lengthwise. Pound the breasts out with a meat tenderizer to about ¼ inch thickness.
• 2. Place the breasts in a doubled up freezer bag and pour in the Smoke On Wheels BBQ Marinade. Marinade the breasts for at least 3 hours and up to 6 hours.
• 3. Assemble your bacon weave using the “8 Strip” process.
• 4. Take the Italian sausage and put it into a 2 lb. zip lock bag. Lay the bag flat and use a rolling pin to roll the sausage out flat from corner to corner.

 

• 5. With a knife or kitchen shears, cut along each edge of the zip lock bag from the opening so you can peel back the top of the bag.
• 6. Gently lay the sausage on top of the bacon.
• 7. Dust the sausage with Oakridge Santa Maria rub and lay the chicken breasts on top of the sausage.
• 8. Lay strips of roasted red pepper and basil along one half of the chicken.

 

 

• 9. Sprinkle the grated provolone cheese on top of the peppers and basil.

 

• 10. From the end of the bacon weave where the peppers and cheese are… tightly roll the entire weave into a roll.

 

• 11. Place roll into half foil pan and transfer onto grill at 325 degrees.
• 12. Cook for about 15-20 minutes in the foil pan so the roll can “set”.
• 13. Remove the roll from the pan and finish directly on the grill until internal temperature reads 165 degrees.
• 14. Let the roll rest for fifteen minutes and slice into medallions for serving.

 

Absolutely Gorgeous!!!

Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with rQ Ivory BBQ Sauce

If you haven’t tried rQ Ivory BBQ sauce yet, you’re missing some great opportunities to make some delicious BBQ sides! There are several “white” BBQ sauces on the market, but the rQ Ivory is the absolute bomb! The smooth and creamy texture with the perfect combination of BBQ seasonings make it fantastic in this grilled sweet potato salad!

 

Ingredients

• 3 sweet potatoes or jewel yams, each about 1 pound, peeled
• 1 medium sized red onion
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• ¾ cup rQ Ivory BBQ Sauce
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
  

  Instructions

  1.  Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium-low heat (about 350°F) and preheat a perforated grill pan for about 10 minutes.

  2.  Cut each sweet potato lengthwise in half, and then cut each half into ¾-inch slices. Peel and quarter the red onion. In a bowl whisk the oil, salt, pepper, cumin and add the potato slices and onion quarters. Toss to combine.

  3.  Spread the potatoes and onions in a single layer on the grill pan and grill over direct medium-low heat, with the lid closed, until quite tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 20 to 25 minutes, turning once or twice. Remove from the grill and cool to room temperature.

  4.  Dice the red onions.

  5.  Add the cooled potatoes and onions to the bowl with the rQ Ivory BBQ Sauce. Gently stir to combine. Sprinkle the chives on top as garnish. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve chilled.

Honey Soy Glazed Chicken Wings with Crucible Ghost Pepper Rub from Oakridge BBQ

When Oakridge BBQ Seasonings in Kearney, Missouri came out with the Limited Edition run of “Crucible” Ghost Pepper Rub, I had to take a shot at a kicked up chicken wing recipe. We had a Yard Bird Extravaganza BBQ Class scheduled and since Mike Trump of Oakridge BBQ was going to be a guest instructor, it was the perfect time to heat things up a bit!

The Crucible rub is definitely NOT for the faint of heart. It does not attack immediately with vengeance the way habanero peppers do. It gets to the back of the tongue and slowly builds and builds more heat until your entire head is smoldering! Take care when handling the rub to use gloves and try to keep the rub from getting airborne. It’ll clean out your sinuses in a heart beat!

So, how do you incorporate a delicious tasting rub into a chicken wing recipe so that you can enjoy the subtle taste of the ghost pepper? Add some sweetness, and use very little of the rub.

 

Honey Soy Glazed Wings with “Crucible”

Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken wings

1 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup garlic infused rice vinegar

3 tablespoons honey

3 cloves garlic- finely diced and “smashed” with salt

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon Crucible Ghost Pepper Rub from Oakridge BBQ

Directions:

1.Heat the sesame oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.

2.Add the garlic and “sweat” it until you start smelling the aroma of both. Don’t brown that garlic!

3.Add the soy sauce, honey and vinegar then reduce your heat to low and add the Crucible seasoning.

4.Let the glaze slowly simmer for a few minutes, stirring often, and then kill the heat.

5.Light your grill for medium heat.

6.Grill the chicken wings over medium heat with the lid closed for about 4 minutes per side. These times always vary. What you are looking for is nice golden brown skin on all sides of the wings.

7.Once the wings are nice, brown and crispy it’s time to apply the glaze. We DON’T want to glaze over an open flame. The glaze has honey and we all know honey and sugar burn, so keep the wings away from the flame! The glaze should be applied while the wings are on INDIRECT heat.

8.Now we glaze! Continually brush the wings with the glaze, closing the lid in between brushings until you create a great sticky glaze all over those beautiful wings.

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.

Brining 101- The Secret to Moist Meat

Brining 101

The brining of meats is an old process used for food preservation. Before refrigeration, heavy amounts of salt were used to preserve meats for long periods of time.  Now, we use much smaller quantities of salt, mixed with other spices and herbs, achieving increased flavor in the meat as well as other benefits. Our poultry and pork have much less fat than they used to, which means they tend to dry out more quickly when cooked and to be less flavorful than in the past.

Brining is chemistry in action. The chemistry behind brining is actually pretty simple.

Osmosis:

Meat already contains salt water. By immersing meats into a liquid with a higher concentration of salt the liquid is absorbed into the meat. Any flavoring added to the brine will be carried into the meat with the saltwater mixture. And because the meat is now loaded with extra moisture it will stay that way longer while it cooks.

Protein modification:

Brining alters the chemical structure of proteins by breaking some of the bonds that give proteins their shape. The salt denatures the meat proteins, causing them to unwind and form a matrix that traps the water. Those bonds are sensitive to changes in temperature, acidity and salinity, causing the proteins themselves to break down a bit in brines and allowing the salt, sugar, and other flavoring agents to permeate the food’s flesh.

Salt:

Salt has a couple of efforts for poultry, it dissolves protein in muscle causing the tissue to change and trap more moisture. Combine Protein Modification and Salt and you get a reduced moisture loss during smoking.

Basic Poultry Brine

1 gallon cold water
3/4 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup light brown sugar

For added flavor:

My “Go To” additions to this basic brine recipe would be:

1/3 cup flavored vinegar- I prefer a garlic infused rice wine vinegar

1/3 cup of your favorite BBQ rub

You can add so much flavor from a variety of sources once your basic brine is made. Fresh herbs, spices, onions, garlic, just about anything will seep into the meat during the brining process.

Grilled Breakfast… Avacado Egg Cups

This recipe is so simple, yet so delicious. The nice thing about it is you can cook this breakfast on ANY grill or smoker. Big Green Egg, Weber Kettle or Smokey Mountain, Good One Cookers, any of them will work fine.

We’re seeing more and more breakfast recipes with the avocado and egg combo, and this recipe makes it possible to enjoy the two together, grilled. The avocado is given an extra dose of flavor from barbecue seasoning, and then serves as a protective, and delicious, shell for the egg to cook in.

Add chopped onion, or any other grilled condiment that will make your breakfast sing with flavor. For your BBQ rub, I suggest a quality brisket rub such as Plowboy’s Bovine Bold, Slab’s Wow Your Cow, or Cook Shack’s Brisket Rub.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 ripe avocado
• Pinch of barbecue rub
• 2 eggs
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 red jalapeño, finely diced (optional)
• 1 tomato, chopped

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the grill to high heat, about 450 degrees.

Run a knife blade around the circumference of the pit of the avocado lengthwise and remove the pit. Scoop out enough of the green flesh to make room for an egg. Coat the inside of each avocado with a pinch of the barbecue seasoning. Crack an egg into each half.

Place the avocado halves on the grill for about 5 minutes, or until the egg whites are firm and the yolk is still runny. Remove from the grill, plate and top with a little seasoning, diced pepper, and tomato.