Shotgun shells - questions, the build, and the smoke

[gmc2003]

The soak was short so shells were firm but slippery as long as they were wet.

Jim when you say short, are we talking an hour or less?

Tried once but not a big pasta fan. My wife is not a pasta either. Luckily she really loves the heat.

I love pig shots. I use a piping bag to fill
My last batch was dry cured low sodium slab bacon. I loved them, but not the wife. Slab bacon got overly smoked for her taste.

Appreciate it John, both my wife and I like pasta so that's why I decided to give it a go. Well that and SGS do look good when made correctly. Now pork short that's a different story. Those little beauties are my all-time favorite smoked appetizer. I'm not a fan of cream cheese so I use cheddar in it's place.

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

I still have a box sitting in my pantry. I was fired up when I first heard about it but other things took over.

Basically the same thing happened here. I bought the shell a while ago, but never used them for some reason. Then it dawned on me to try making the SGS.

I a huge Kent Rollins fan. Learned so much from him and a great guy. He the one that that finally got me to make great Catfish.

That's 3 votes I believe for Kent. I guess I'll break down and give his video a look.

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

Looks like you got the info you're lookin for so far. I did them once. They were pretty good, I'll do them again sometime, they are a good bit of work. I also soaked the noodles while I made the stuffing. Make sure you cover the entire noodle with bacon. Anything left uncovered gets hard.

Thanks NG, I think I'm gonna give a couple of them a soak. About how long?

Sounds like @SmokinAl trick of pounding out thick bacon would work here to give complete coverage of shell.

Appreciate it Brian. That's the reason I bought thick cut bacon I'm planning on using my rolling pin to flatten and stretch the bacon out if needed.

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

Ok well might as well keep this thread going instead of starting anew.

The process has started.
First up the mixture: 1lb of sweet sausage, 1 lb+ of 90/10 burger, 8 oz of both freshly shredded smoked cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. A little over a tablespoon of Kinders Roasted garlic, a shake or two of each Onion powder, and Garlic powder. A few shakes of Worcester sauce.

All mixed up getting to know each other:

The first seven stuffed: seven more to go.

After stuffing all 14. Here's what I have left of the mixture. What to do with it. I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Taking a rest now. I'll be wrapping these up in bacon shortly.

First observation. These seem to be on the smaller side. I'm not sure if they come in different sizes. After stuffing the first one I found out that my thumb makes for the perfect plunger. I can stuff a little more than 3/4 of the noodle from one side. Then I run out of thumb length, and finish the noodle from the other side.

Second observation: I made way to much mixture. Next time I'll cut it in half and only stuff as many noodles as I can.

Third observation: The noodles aren't circular like I originally thought. They're more oval. Which worked out perfectly for using my thumb as the plunger.

Thanks for the advice.

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

...and they're wrapped snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug.

Taping my hockey sticks in my youth for all those years made these a snap. Similar principle. Now off to the fridge for an overnight rest.


Chris

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I'm in Chris...

 

[gmc2003]

I'm in Chris...

Thanks Charles, tomorrow I'll season the bacon with some more rub and then onto the kettle. Still deciding on the temp I want to cook these at.

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

Thanks jaxgatorz pc farmer for the like

Chris

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Thanks Charles, tomorrow I'll season the bacon with some more rub and then onto the kettle. Still deciding on the temp I want to cook these at.

Chris

Get it done as soon as you can because Debby is headed your way and bringing some friends...

 

[gmc2003]

Get it done as soon as you can because Debby is headed your way and bringing some friends...

They saying what's left of Debbie will hit here on Friday into Saturday. Weds. is supposed to be sunny and dry Thurs. cloudy. The central and north east parts of VT are already hurting from an overdose of Mother Nature. Luckily I've been lucky here in the North Western part. You stay safe yourself Charles. We're worried about my daughter in Georgia.

Chris

 

[912smoker]

Off and running Chris. Anxious to see the finish line!
And daughter is in Chamblee area?

Keith

 

[gmc2003]

Off and running Chris. Anxious to see the finish line!
And daughter is in Chamblee area?

Keith

My daughter lives in Social Circle. So I think she's safe. She works at UGA in the animal hospital, and her husband works in Atlanta for Delta. Her inlaws are in Savannah, and if I read the weather reports correctly they could see some nasty stuff. There's a ton of travel time between the two of them.

Chris

 

[clifish]

Get it done as soon as you can because Debby is headed your way and bringing some friends...

We got dumped on heavily all over today here in NY, not sure it was Debbie or not, but ruined my daily evening swim/drinks (OK don't really swim much).

Chris in for the ride on these!

 

[912smoker]

My daughter lives in Social Circle. So I think she's safe. She works at UGA in the animal hospital, and her husband works in Atlanta for Delta. Her inlaws are in Savannah, and if I read the weather reports correctly they could see some nasty stuff. There's a ton of travel time between the two of them.

Chris

Yep I'm 40 minutes west of Savannah and they have a good bit of flooding.

Keith

 

[gmc2003]

We got dumped on heavily all over today here in NY, not sure it was Debbie or not, but ruined my daily evening swim/drinks (OK don't really swim much).

Chris in for the ride on these!

Thanks Cliff It probably was part of Debbie that ruined your routine.

Yep I'm 40 minutes east of Savannah and they have a good bit of flooding.

Keith

I think the closest I've been to your part of the world Keith is Macon. When we travel down there most of our time is spent in SC, Athens and Atlanta. I've seen some crazy a$$ drivers on the road between SC and Atlanta. Makes me nervous.

Chris

 

[jaxgatorz]

Yep I'm 40 minutes east of Savannah and they have a good bit of flooding.

Keith

It should be flooded 40 miles EAST of Savannah.

 

[912smoker]

It should be flooded 40 miles EAST of Savannah.

Thought about that in the middle of the night and now corrected.
Savannah is actually 40 minutes EAST of ME

Keith

 

[gmc2003]

It should be flooded 40 miles EAST of Savannah.

Hay good eye Mike

Thought about that in the middle of the night and now corrected.
Savannah is actually 40 minutes EAST of ME

Keith

That's not what I'd be thinking about in the middle of the night Keith LOL. So 40 mins east. What's that 10 miles with Georgia traffic.

Chris

 

[gmc2003]

OK today is the day. They are finally smoked.

First I have a doctors appointment in the early morning hours. So the Beer-pole was asked to expand it's repertoire.

What's more fitting to get prepped for a doctors appointment then a Dr. Pepper.

Onto the 22" kettle with a charcoal basket. Using B&B oak briquettes and a chunk of apple wood.

After about a half hour to forty five minutes:

And they're just about there

These babies got into the sauce:

and they're done: Can you tell I was excited

Clearer shot:

The sliced shot:

Overall these tasted pretty darn good. They aren't to hard to make, but they are time consuming. Letting them sit overnight in the fridge I think really helped with the noodles. We didn't get any of the hard spots. Even where the bacon pulled away from the noodle. Will I make them again. Probably but it would have to be for a party or gathering. Oh I almost forgot. I ran my kettle in the 275* range, and they took about an hour and a half/ two hours to cook.

Thanks for the read.

Chris

 

[JIMSMOKES]

Thanks Cliff It probably was part of Debbie that ruined your routine.

I think the closest I've been to your part of the world Keith is Macon. When we travel down there most of our time is spent in SC, Athens and Atlanta. I've seen some crazy a$$ drivers on the road between SC and Atlanta. Makes me nervous.

Chris

I travel 85 daily need to stay 10-20 over and be able to move around in traffic. That's why I drive small truck!