A friend of mine was up here visiting recently from the Virgin Islands. We grew up together and several yeas ago he moved to St. Croix
I had fed him a few different smoked foods I had in the freezer and in the fridge but wanted to smoke up some goodness for him fresh and hot before he left.
Finally the day before he left (well the night before) I got things going.
I do have to apologize for not having my normal detailed shots, it was a busy day so some were missed, then my camera died in the middle of everything. Luckily my Sister had her camera handy, but I didn't get all the shots I had wanted.
Now on with the show...
We started out with a spinach tomato salad and some crostinis, and some ABT's. ABTs were pretty normal, cream cheese, mexi-blend cheese, garlic powder, wrapped in bacon and sprinkled a little Stubb's rub on top. The salad was just fresh torn spinach, tomatoes and feta tossed with some CBP, garlic powder, Italian dressing and balsamic dressing.
I brined some chicken quarters overnight in a spicy brine
Brine Recipe (doubled because I had 10 quarters)
8C water
1/2C brown sugar
1/2C white sugar
1C kosher salt
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1T crushed red pepper
1/2T black pepper
1t paprika (plain, hot or smoked)
1/2t cayenne
2t hot chili oil
3t your favorite hot sauce
Combine water, sugars and salt in a large sauce pan. Heat until sugars and salt dissolve. Turn off heat, add remaining ingredients, stir and cool completely. Place chicken in a food safe container and add the brine.
Next were the fatties
The first one I have made before. Bold sausage stuffed with marinated mozzarella, parsley, sun dried tomatoes and garlic
Instead of rolling this one out I tried slitting it down the middle, adding the cheese and tomatoes, wrapping it back up and inserting the garlic cloves into the sides
Next was an Italian sausage with a hot pepper salad mix, mexi-blend cheese and Curley's hot and spicy BBQ sauce
Some of you may wonder why I didn't do the mozz with the Italian and the hot peppers with the bold. I didn't want the bold/heat from the sausage to interfere with or take away from the heat and flavor of the hot pepper salad.
Also soaked some ears of corn in sugar water for a few hours, brushed with olive oil, s&p, tied (well kind of) the husk back up and added them to the list.
Everything on the heat
As things finished I pulled them off. Around this time is when the camera died on me
(hate when the cheese doesn't want to melt)
(few of these were taken the next day)
Everything turned out really good. Also had store bought biscuits, and planned on beef ribs but had to return them cause they smelled a bit.
The hot pepper fattie with the sweet spicyness on the BBQ was absolutely amazing. I would highly recommend trying one out.
You know people really enjoyed themselves when there isn't really any conversation but rather a bunch of people making "Mmmm" and "Oh" noises and caveman type grunts.
I'm sure I sent my buddy back to the islands happy and full of smoke.
Thanks for checking out my (somewhat) unorganized post.
*edit
Almost forgot to add my first try at beef salami and pepperoni.
I ordered some tender quick and decided to give Morton's pepperoni and salami recipes a try.
salami
next day, cold pepperoni
I'll post more on those once I slice into and post my try at capicola.
I had fed him a few different smoked foods I had in the freezer and in the fridge but wanted to smoke up some goodness for him fresh and hot before he left.
Finally the day before he left (well the night before) I got things going.
I do have to apologize for not having my normal detailed shots, it was a busy day so some were missed, then my camera died in the middle of everything. Luckily my Sister had her camera handy, but I didn't get all the shots I had wanted.
Now on with the show...
We started out with a spinach tomato salad and some crostinis, and some ABT's. ABTs were pretty normal, cream cheese, mexi-blend cheese, garlic powder, wrapped in bacon and sprinkled a little Stubb's rub on top. The salad was just fresh torn spinach, tomatoes and feta tossed with some CBP, garlic powder, Italian dressing and balsamic dressing.
I brined some chicken quarters overnight in a spicy brine
Brine Recipe (doubled because I had 10 quarters)
8C water
1/2C brown sugar
1/2C white sugar
1C kosher salt
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1T crushed red pepper
1/2T black pepper
1t paprika (plain, hot or smoked)
1/2t cayenne
2t hot chili oil
3t your favorite hot sauce
Combine water, sugars and salt in a large sauce pan. Heat until sugars and salt dissolve. Turn off heat, add remaining ingredients, stir and cool completely. Place chicken in a food safe container and add the brine.
Next were the fatties
The first one I have made before. Bold sausage stuffed with marinated mozzarella, parsley, sun dried tomatoes and garlic
Instead of rolling this one out I tried slitting it down the middle, adding the cheese and tomatoes, wrapping it back up and inserting the garlic cloves into the sides
Next was an Italian sausage with a hot pepper salad mix, mexi-blend cheese and Curley's hot and spicy BBQ sauce
Some of you may wonder why I didn't do the mozz with the Italian and the hot peppers with the bold. I didn't want the bold/heat from the sausage to interfere with or take away from the heat and flavor of the hot pepper salad.
Also soaked some ears of corn in sugar water for a few hours, brushed with olive oil, s&p, tied (well kind of) the husk back up and added them to the list.
Everything on the heat
As things finished I pulled them off. Around this time is when the camera died on me
(hate when the cheese doesn't want to melt)
(few of these were taken the next day)
Everything turned out really good. Also had store bought biscuits, and planned on beef ribs but had to return them cause they smelled a bit.
The hot pepper fattie with the sweet spicyness on the BBQ was absolutely amazing. I would highly recommend trying one out.
You know people really enjoyed themselves when there isn't really any conversation but rather a bunch of people making "Mmmm" and "Oh" noises and caveman type grunts.
I'm sure I sent my buddy back to the islands happy and full of smoke.
Thanks for checking out my (somewhat) unorganized post.
*edit
Almost forgot to add my first try at beef salami and pepperoni.
I ordered some tender quick and decided to give Morton's pepperoni and salami recipes a try.
salami
next day, cold pepperoni
I'll post more on those once I slice into and post my try at capicola.