Hey guys, I need to come up with something for a cookoff in a few weeks. Usually when I enter these things there are specific categories. AND there are in this one BUT there is also a category for “cooks choice”. I can enter whatever I prepare on the pit. Now AFAIK this is limited to meat dishes that are typically served as a BBQ’d or grilled on a wood burning pit over open flame, coals or smoke. I don’t know this for certain but am reasonably sure that dishes that are not typically served at a BBQ aren’t included. Either way I am only considering foods that would be described as such. IOW no spaghetti, casseroles or pie.
So, what do y’all think? Oh…BTW the regular categories are chicken, ribs, brisket, chili, etc. I am enter a couple of of these as well and am tempted to just enter my ribs (I make a really good rack of ribs) in the special category. Although I did place first in chicken last time. I thought about chili even but …I don’t know. I gotta hell of a good chili recipe from an old mexican woman way down south of Chihuahua many years ago. I think it needs to be something a little different though. Maybe just a damned good steak cooked to perfection?
At this point I’m leaning towards…
I’m thinking maybe some large stuffed shrimp grilled with a wedge of bell-pepper, a bit of garlic, cheese and wrapped in bacon. I can’t decide :eek: so if you would please give me some ideas or whatever.
TK,
I had “cajun angels” a few years ago and they were awesome:
Half a Jalapeno pepper, deseed it and sliver it, take jumbo Shrimp and slice them along the back (not all the way through), cut a pound of Bacon into thirds (I do it right through the package, it cuts neater that way), have some toothpicks standing by, put a sliver of Jalapeno in the cut on the Shrimp and wrap with bacon, insert the toothpick to hold it together, dunk in BBQ sauce (I suggest Pete’s sauce from Pete’s Cajun BBQ House at what used to be the main gate to Ellington AFB, it’s vinegar based instead of sugary), grill and keep them away from me! (or they might have “some kind of accident”).
The judges are gonna get a taste of lots of stuff. One problem may be, how many folks are going to make them also? I think I’ll make two or three entrees and then get a spy to find out who’s entering what. I could take some stainless steel skewers and bob the shrimp with some mushrooms, pepper and onions. Perhaps slip a large scallop in there as well.
Maybe thicken some teriyaki or soy sauce or is the BBQ sauce better?
As a second entree I could prepare some babyback ribs.
If you want to do something different, try and get hold of some wild boar ribs. Very similar to regular pork in how they are cooked (they take a little longer) but sooooooo much flavour.
T/D wild boar huh? I actually prefer the females. The boar’s generally get kinda rank when they get really big. At About 150 lbs. they’re pretty good chow. Only thing is the wild pigs 'round here don’t have much meat on their ribs.
I have family not ten miles from here who own a wild boar ranch and take folks hunting for them. So I can get some no problem. Hell I could go out behind my place and kill one if I felt like it. My brother tried to hunt deer behind his place this year and the damned hogs were so bad they kept the deer ran off. Tore up his oat patch and ate all the corn he put out.
I like deer also but it’s not everybody’s favorite. Although I did BBQ a hindquarter last fall that was f***ing awesome. You know how venison is usually dry and not exactly great when most folks BBQ one. Well try wrapping it in some heavyfoil with a brisket against the fat side marinated in the refrigerator overnight with some onion, garlic, and bell pepper and rubbed down with a vinegar based sauce.
Get the pit hot about 350d. and cook the them together in foil for about four hours at 350d. Then let the heat drop to about 275d, slide the meat back from the hot end and split the top of the foil open and peel it back to cook for about three more hours. You should be able to easily push a fork all the way through by now. Pour the drippings off into a large bowl and separate the two pieces and allow them to firm up for another hour or so. Lay 'em out on a cutting board or whatever to cool a few minutes and slice the brisket…the deer should practically fall off the bone by now and it will be mmm…mmm…good.
Oh, damn I nearly for got. The bowl of drippings should be cool by now and the grease will have floated. dip the grease off and discard that. (You could pour it up into a jar or something and save it in the freezer I guess) Now with a spoon or brush use the drippings as a marinate or thicken for a sauce.
So that’s the best y’all can do? Okay then…shrimp kebobs with baby-back (wild pork) ribs as a backup I guess it’ll be. I’ll probably throw a deer ham on too just for the hell of it. A keg of ShinerBock and a couple of gallons of gold cuervo on ice. Maybe Willy can make it. If not that’s okay, somebody’ll be jamming. You can bet the farm on that. Best of all it’s a free cookoff. Entry fees for contestants not included of course, but there’s no cover for folks who just come to eat and party. Starts on Friday evening and ends sometime Sunday, but Saturday is the main event.
I might even enter the Margarita contest. I’ll damned sure be drinking some whether I enter or not.
Although this isn’t earthshatttering, I think it would bring your BBQ into the slightly more exotic and maybe score some points. I suggest Indonesian BBQ. The sauce is the key, it’s called bumbu. Bumbu can be used interchangeably on chicken, meat and fish. I think it is available commercially but might be hard to score in the states, unless you can find a really good oriental or specialty shop. Of course you can make it yourself, I’m sure you can google Bumbu and find a recipe. Here are a couple recipes that I have found that might fit well into your plans. Some of the ingredients seem fairly exotic, but I’m sure you could adjust them slightly or improvise.
This is a recipe for chinese shrimp balls I found. I figure, modify it by using lobster in place of the shrimp and stuffing a butterflyed shrimp with the mixture. I would suggest slitting the back end of the butterflied shrimp near the tail and pulling the tail through the slit inside out, so that the stuffed shrimp can sit “flat” and upright on the grill, plus it is decorative and looks good. Really large shrimp would probably work best.
BBQ the stuffed shrimp on the grill and slather with Bumbu periodically.
Shell lobster tail, and dry on paper towels. Mince finely. Place half the minced lobster at end of a large cutting board. Using flat side of a cleaver, draw lobster across board to smooth into a paste. Repeat with second half of mixture. (If you are using a utensil other than a cleaver, repeat the action.)
Put lobster in medium mixing bowl. Add water chestnuts and mix into a smooth paste. Make a well in the center. Put in egg and break up with a fork. Add minced scallions, ginger and salt. Stir to combine. Sprinkle in cornstarch and mix well.
After thinking about this recipe a little more, place the stuffed shrimp in an aluminum foil packet and coat well with the bumbu (sort of like a wet rub or paste). Seal the packet and grill for about 7 minutes to make sure the stuffing is “steamed” and cooked, then finish the last few minutes on the bare grill to caramelize and crust the shrimp and impart the flavor of the grill. You could also baste with a bit of the thinned out bumbu at this point.
Last year, I had the privilage of doing an extended article about the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Contest. I enterviewed the grillmasters of several teams, including the team from Big Bob Gibson’s Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama who went on to win the 2003 Grand Champion trophy. They were pretty tight-lipped, only discussing the general, open secrets of cooking like the use of low, indirect heat. But I also talked to a man named George Holder, who was the head cook of Pyropigmanaics–a team which had dominated the ribs competition for almost a decade and who had more grand champion trophies than anyone else. The Pyropigmaniacs were retiring from competition, so he was much more candid about specific techniques. Here are some of the things he told me:
Their primary heat source was always basic, unflavored charcoal which they found easier to control than an all-wood fire. The meat absorbs most of the smokey flavor when it is raw and cold–after only a short time on the grill, it is as smokey as it will get. Therefore, you should keep the heat low (around 230 F) and max out the smoke output when you add the meat to the grill. The night before the competition, one member of their team would find a pecan tree with the sap rising and cut off a good-sized limb. The limb would be added after the fire was well established and about fifteen minutes before the meat hit the grill. If you’re going to use a dry rub, add a thin layer of regular yellow mustard to the meat before applying the rub. The mustard will cook off and not add very much flavor but will ensure the rub sticks to the meat. They also used a mixture of brown and white sugar for their rubs, as well as cumin, cinnamon, garlic and onion salts. Cooking times upwards of 24 hours were common among the competitors.
Well, the results are in. We took four trophies home this weekend (out of six categories) at the cookoff. 1st in ribs, 2nd in cook’s choice, 3rd in margaritas, and 3rd in desserts.
Not bad if I say so myself. I finally decided to go with the shrimp kebobs. I used large gulf shrimp, butterflied and deveined stuffed with wedges of pepperjack cheese and quarter sized bay scallops, all wrapped with a thin piece of maple & hickory smoked bacon. The seafood was marinated for a couple of hours and then skewered onto presoaked bamboo sticks with some pearl onions, bell peppers, and button mushrooms. I grilled these shrimp-sicles over a low-med. flame for about 8-10 minutes, rolling them as the bacon was done.
When I took them off the flame, I set them onto foil in the warm end of the pit and added a few more pieces of pepperjack cheese and lightly brushed them with a spicy chipotle sauce.
Let me tell ya’…I bet I cooked a hundred of those suckers and they were going faster than I could get 'em out. I did manage to save the last one for myself.
I’m not complaining about 2nd place mind ya. But the guy who won first said he couldn’t even believe it. I’m afraid I got a judge who didn’t like seafood. I saw the scorecards afterwards and it was kinda obvious. Oh well, that’s the gamble you take. But, if you want a kick ass surprise for your next cookout. Try t-keela’s scallops & shrimp-sicles, they were the hit of the weekend. That’s what everybody told me anyway.
BTW- About the margaritas, we can’t seem to keep our bartender sober…(I’m makin the damned drinks next year.)
I invited Cecil but he just ignored me. See if I do that again.
