Big Fat Daddy's Sweet BBQ Pork Rub Recipe Let's talk Live

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1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tbs cumin
1/2 cup kosher salt
3 tbs smoked paprika
2 tbs white pepper
1 tbs mustard powder
2 tbs honey powder
2 tbs cinnamon
Stir gently

Whole Hog on the Myron Mixon Smoker MMS48

Whole Hog Slider pulled from the hog.

Whole Hog on the Myron Mixon Smoker

Well as you know when I got my Myron Mixon smoker this past winter and I did seven meals over the course of two weeks. I really tried to find something that the Smoker wasn't good at, and I failed. I'm being honest when I say this smoker you can't go wrong. I really think the water technology can save even the worst cook out there.   So far I've posted about Turkey,  Stuffed Lobster, and Myron's Bacon Wrapped Chicken  recipe.   My fourth meal was whole hog.

Now, I wasn't going for pretty and garnish, I wanted to process it and eat it.   This swine was from the local butcher shop. When ordering hogs, you can get skin or or off. Usually they need a week or so notice.  Additionally whole hog is sweet tasting and when you cook it fresh there is no comparison.  I pumped him full of injection before I smoked him, which kept him moist inside.

It held the hog perfectly.

                        

I put a new log on about every 45 minutes to maintain temps. The pig stops are a nice addition.

The ribs looked so good....almost ready.

Processing the hog is easy, the meat falls off the bones and is pink from smoking. Bark gives good flavor. I added some of my favorite BBQ sauce. 

I made Pork Nachos!

Fresh Hog BBQ Sandwiches

The hog literally started frozen weighing in about 70 lbs but yielded me much less actual pork, total yield about 20 pounds of pulled pork plus the ribs. I picked him clean.  Now, you can freeze your pork in air tight bags and it will keep the fresh flavor for months.

Now, I don't just eat barbecue and hogs. I try to balance my diet in many ways eating fresh fruits, salads and veggies along the way.  I even use My Yogurt Maker to make fresh yogurt.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Myron Mixon Smoker

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast Stuffed With Italian Sausage

As my previous posts indicated I put my Myron Mixon MMS-48 smoker to the test. I debated a long time before going with a "box smoker" when I have always used open pits, barrel smokers or drums. I've had a great time smoking all kinds of things on regular old charcoal pits and this is what I've made a living doing.  Well, I tested the Myron Mixon onto 7 meals in two weeks and a wide range of dishes. I have to say, I'm totally pleased.

Using dry rubs is key. See my dry rub guide.

I modified Myron's bacon wrapped smoked sausage recipe from his book "Smokin' With Myron" with my favorite Italian Sausage, and wow, I was impressed.  I went to the butcher in town to get some fresh bacon, not the store bought in packs. Country bacon from the butcher is larger, wider, and thicker. 

I have also made this same recipe on my Weber Kettle, and well, the chicken (even if wrapped) on most of pits would  come out dry. Here, it was just melting in your mouth with moisture thanks to the technology of the H20 Smoking Technology on the MMS-48 smoker. The recipe is easy, prep time is fast,  and as you can see I made sure to use a little of my got beef ? ® dry rub.

My original Big Fat Daddy's got beef ? ® dry rub

I tried three at a time, they were pretty large chicken breasts and large butcher bacon.

Well they came out moist and delicious on the first try.  Even the sausage had a smoke ring to it which surprised me, since it was tucked inside. Eating one of these bad boys will fill you up. And you get the best of pork and chicken in your mouth all at once. What's not to love? 

Can you say yummo? 

Want to see the other dishes I've made so far?  Start here at Myron Mixon Smoker Review and stay tuned.  

Make sure to check out our Lookbook of Got Beef ?  ® official designs for 2015 here: 

 Big Fat Daddy's Got Beef ? ® Lookbook for 2015

Pic:  gotbeef.com

Boneless Ribs Pumpkin Sauce Ten Minute Prep Meal

Boneless Ribs like this are often in family packs.

Boneless Ribs : Ten Minute Prep

Working long hours and traveling a lot leaves little time for dinner prep, so I try to eat healthy and cut out the prep time.  I Don't  you love dinners with a ten minute or less prep time? I'm going to tell you about a quick and easy meal I love.

Get all the cool foodie decals at MarkedCo on Etsy!

Boneless Ribs W/ Pumpkin Sauce

Somewhere in the pork section you'll often find these boneless ribs in a family pack. They are often a little fatty (and miscut) but suffice to say two racks of the above only cost $6.94, so for a family meal you can't ask for more.

Love this meal, it's a family favorite.

You'll need to prep two things: 
-My Zesty Marinade (recipe here)  Total time 2-4 minutes
-A Side Salad Total time 5-6 minutes or less.

You will need one additional item: 
- Pumpkin Butter

Cook in: 
Casserole, Preferably Non Stick. We're using Fiesta Ovenware.


If you're quick at salad, we're talking 8 minute prep or less.  Now I am a big fanatic about dry rubbing and pre-marinating, but in this case, I am not doing it. My zesty marinade is formulated to cook right in and make your tongue slap your brain.  It's got a zesty bite to it and that's where the cool pumpkin sauce comes in oh yeah.

 Throw them bad boys into a non stick pan and pour that marinade all over.

Step One: 
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and make your zesty marinade.  While your oven is heating up whip up your side salad.  Now you are about ten minutes in and your oven should be caught up.

Step Two: 
Lay your ribs in the casserole, you don't have to be neat, in fact you want to lay them up on edge so when you pour the marinade it goes around them and in between. If you were to layer them perfectly it would be hard getting the marinade down.

Yes, you are drowning them a little. Note how it's in between.

 Step Three: 
Drown them , using all the marinade you made and making sure it is down in between each rib.

As you cook the ribs will absorb the marinade. 

Step Four: 
Bake them on 400 degrees for 8 minutes ,then cut back your oven to 350 degrees, temping to see when they are done. Ribs should be 165 inner temperatures.  In my house I tend to want to bake them low and slow (as you do with grilling) but the wife hikes them up to 400 and roasts them, and to be honest the marinade keeps them moist and they don't come out half bad.

The top should be crispy, the inside well done but not tough.

So if you wanted to leave them on 400 they wouldn't be as tender, but more crispy, that's up to you. Usually these are done around 40 minutes if you do the 400/350 split.   The extra marinade in the bottom of the casserole (if any) can be used as an au' jus.

My secret hack: Pumpkin Butter

Step Five: 

Your favorite pumpkin butter will serve as a side dipping sauce. I choose pumpkin butter in this case because I recently visited the Flinchbaugh's Orchard up in Pennsylvania,(read more here - coming soon)  and due to the time of year they had lots of this in stock.  Of course you could mix this up and do Apple Butter if you prefer, but the pumpkin dipping sauce is out of this world.  Five star restaurants and top chefs often incorporate pumpkin dipping sauce in their short ribs or lamb, this is the quick hack for home.  You can warm the butter but we didn't. We like it as is. 

 Behold the pumpkin butter. 

Step Six:

Serve it up with a side salad and sit down for a spell. You deserve to enjoy your dinner, don't you think?  Leftovers can be reheated and eaten alone as an appetizer, too. Yum!

Dinner is always better with a salad or side of veggies.

Disclaimer: Sometimes I have sponsors who want me to talk about their products or services,  or link them in. It was my pleasure adding in Karen from MarkedCo on Etsy,who makes all kinds of cool decals, custom vinyl decals and lots for foodie lovers. It's important for me to personally tell you I have purchased her products and am very pleased. I am happy to endorse her for quality and hip design.  She has custom made me decals for my front door at my business, for some artifacts I donated to a museum, and cool labels for my jars. Love her.  As you know I support Etsy and small businesses. Buy handmade. 

Getting #hungry #OMG #food love it #Etsy https://t.co/pGAD16OYYB I ordered some decals fr her @BigFatDadys of course #gift #foodie #custom
— Wayne M. Schafer (@BigFatDaddys) December 13, 2014

You all know I teach cooking classes now?   Check them out  PitmasterSchool.com
This post last updated on 12.15.14

GOT BEEF STORE NOW OPEN AT WWW.GOTBEEF.COM

Pork Spare Ribs in the Oven Kampot Pepper Honey Mesquite

Oven Baked Spare Ribs?

I'm all snowed in.  I'm sure you know we've gotten a lot of snow. So much so I should have spent winter in Maine. Trying to un-bury the barbecue pits has been chaos. My wife decided she would oven bake some pork spare ribs.

Being a Pitmaster, I thought this at first to be a cardinal sin and I wondered just how she would get that melt in your mouth smokey taste. You can't argue with an Italian woman cooped up in the house for a week, so I let her go and do her thing.  I figured she's be pouring Liquid Smoke on them, but not so.   Much to my surprise, they turned out pretty darn good. I'm still somewhat in shock. So here's some pictures and a recipe.

Ribs:  From Whole Foods , Pork Spare Ribs , cost $19.40 for the slab ($5.69/lb)

Prep:  The ribs had been dry rubbed on both sides with a dry rub made of: 

Rub:
Horseradish Powder
Mesquite

Smoked Paprika
Garlic Powder

Glaze: 
Kampot Pepper (Kampot Pepper Red & Kampot Papper Black) Honey mixed with Dry Mustard


Cook Time:
Now, this was a thick slab and everything I read said a huge slab will take about four and a half to give hours on 275 to 325 degrees if you do them low and slow depending on the thickness of the pork spare ribs.  Baby backs take much less time.

Her Cook Time: 4.75 hours (WHAT!)

For whatever reason my wife cranked them on 350 degrees for two hours, and burnt up the sides. She then glazed them with her mix of Kampot Pepper, Honey and Dry Mustard.After that she cooked them another hour on 350.  This is where I was having a cow.  I thought for sure they'd burn to a crisp but I didn't say a word.

Once they obtained a good bark, she glazed them a second and last time with the same glaze mix covered them in foil and rode them on 265 degrees for another hour and forty five minutes. So she basically cooked them in total 4.75 hours. When they came out, I was in shock. I let them rest but they were so delicious I didn't even trim them. I cut them and left them long,  here's what we had:  Yum Yum Oven Baked Ribs.

The mesquite spice made them smokey, the honey mustard Kampot pepper glaze gave them a distinctive taste, yet the honey cooled the heat of the horsey powder.

I have to say they were pretty good. I really think the Kampot Pepper if replaced with regular black pepper wouldn't have cut it.  Kampot Pepper in red has strong flavors and the black has a floral note to it that can't be replaced. I can't wait to try using these in my rubs.

Here's a website for Kampot Pepper.

Here's a video explaining the 3 types of kampot pepper.

BBQ Competition Hogging Up Festival Photos

Hog-It-Up's mascot on top their Stump's Smoker made for interesting photography.

The wife and I are finally recuperating from the Hogging Up BBQ Festival.  For a first year event I was pleased that I could do some good for the community and the charity organizations we were working with and for; and was able to bring some new folks into the town of Winchester for the weekend. This included 26 professional BBQ teams and over 40 judges , KCBS reps, and volunteers from all over the map.  Not to mention a lot of folks from out of town came to visit.

Seeing the happiness on Pop Pop's Chicken and Pig's little girls' face made our day!

OVERALL:  With the community's help we were able to raise:

$2024 and counting for CancerCare.org.
$600 to the local Assembly of God Church
$400 for the  local Clear Brook Volunteer Fire Department
and give the beer/wine profits 100% to the Local Winchester Exchange Group.

It was a lot of work but we are please with the results.


KCBS COMPETITION:  We felt the KCBS competition went smoothly and we did the best we can to put on a first rate competition and please our competitors with a great styling breakfast, lunch, and awards ceremony.  We want to thank those competitors who gave back $420 in prizes which went to help CancerCare.org.  The wife had fun making the recycled bbq trophies with the recycle group kids back home.

Some kiddie activities were good for parents, too!

THE FESTIVAL:  The festival itself was small for a first year festival, having limited kids activities which included mini gas powered cars, free Cornhole, and the Monster Truck rides.  You could also see an antique Fire truck and Blue Angels plane (won't be seeing these for awhile.) We were very happy Col. Blevins dropped off the plane, which was actually flown up til the 60's.

Me and Col. Steve Blevins, retired from the military discussing the sequester.

You could walk around Fri and Sat and see the different BBQ Teams cooking it up, and shop with crafters, artists, book authors, and bbq sauce gurus. The admission charge got you in to hear some top notch bands, but the public was under the impression they would be eating or tasting samples of BBQ.   Even the Winchester Star stated you could NOT taste the BBQ from the teams, so we are not sure where the confusion was on that.  Each festival is different. Some barbecue festivals have a people's choice but ours did not.  That all depends on where you go and the competition itself. In Frederick County, the health department would have inspected and made each team giving samples to pay $40 health permit. Many teams were not interested in doing this when in fact they had to be on a strict competition schedule.

You could eat a nice country style dinner with Big Fat Daddy's from BBQ Chicken and Rib Platters to regular fair food.

 
FOOD:  Big Fat Daddy's food was offered primarily to recoup the expenses it took to put on a festival without major monetary sponsors.  There were several other food vendors present offering ice cream and kettle corn.   It wouldn't have made sense to bring in a ton of food on a first year festival because then, no one makes any money.  We were able to donate over $1400 from our Food Stands towards CancerCare !

Thanks to my family and friends for busting their butts all week to help with our festival!

FRI NIGHT JUDGING:  Some VIPs were invited to judge on Friday night's Dessert and Anything Butt contest.  This included Deputy County Administrator Jay Tibbs and County Commissioner Ellen Murphy. 

Hog-it-Up BBQ won the dessert contest!! They are from Bluemont! Michelle & Mike Lackey

COMMUNITY SUPPORT:    It was hard getting support --for six months people ignored out press releases and one newspaper even trashed it.  We were tied up in county meetings for 9 months about a vendor permit that would have required our vendors to pay the county a $500 Itinerant Merchant fee for a liscense to sell items at our festival. We fought to get it changed, and well, it was changed to $30 but only 8 weeks before our festival.   We received a lot of product donations which was great, but having to fund the whole festival ourselves hurt. Some of that money was recouped with the food and vendor fees, but not all.  


Here we are on the News.

Ken Cuccinelli stopped by on Saturday.

 
GOOD TURNOUT  For a first year festival we had a nice crowd on Friday but then a storm came and some of our vendor tents were wiped out. Ken Cuccinelli  (the Virginia Attorney General)  made it a stop on his tour and TV3 news showed up Saturday.  A magazine came and a few newspapers to interview us again.  We received positive kudos from local papers and media, but the hours were hard on our vendors. Another storm came in Saturday night and rains.  Sunday our vendors were tired and the crowd was light.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE  We know a first year festival is a learning experience. Some of the Festival goers were upset about paying $5 to get in on Friday or $8 Saturday.  Now keep in mind we were able to donate $1000 back to the Volunteer Fire Dept and Assembly of God Church!  I don't know where you can  go to hear great music like this for $5 or $8, and we had a full schedule of bands and great music on the website.
 

Here's me with Gary Smallwood, who rocked 'em on Sunday.

Many said they wanted to eat bbq samples from the teams (again, this is an issue with the health department we'd have to settle, and even if we did, we don't have the manpower to have someone run a sample tent.)   The beer had limited hours and that's because the Exchange Group could not commit to the hours of our festival.  No local wines were offered and again, that decision was based on the Winchester Exchange Group. So many of the gripes were out of our control.

Good bands were featured all weekend long. This is Stoney Creek Bluegrass.

HIGHLIGHTS:  Among certain highlights was a rare "BBQ TOUR" where 3EYZ BBQ and HOG-IT-UP BBQ Professional BBQ teams, gave out tips to the public and answered questions about how to prepare, trim and season your ribs. This is very cool that these teams actually wanted to do this and interact with the public.  You may know 3EYZ BBQ from the Season Two Pitmasters TV Show.

Hey, Marylanders won, what can I say? 3EYZBBQ, way to go guys.

WHO WON?  3EYZ BBQ was also our Grand Champion!  They are from my home town of Maryland, so I was glad to see them win. Even though I figured it would be anyone's guess who won since we had judges from all over the map and not just local judges.  Many contests pick the closest and most local judges to avoid no show issues but my wife was adamant about mixing it up and picking those who would come and visit Winchester, which was the point of bringing some out of town revenue.

Full list of results is here: Results

Delicious Food!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:  Will we do this next year?  That remains to be seen. We've been asked to do it in other locations or other states, but it was a lot of work (nine months of dedication to one festival) and of course, costs a lot of money to put on an event.  We did what we set out to do and we'd like to leave it at that.  We  would like to thank our family and friends for putting in the excruciating hours and supporting us. It was very sentimental to us to have a big festival and raise money for something that meant so much to us personally, since losing my wife's mom to Cancer.  There's not a lot of BBQ places around Winchester. Maybe you need to use Betamenu to trade buy or sell barbecue in the meantime. One of our competitors, Jordan Springs, has the Jordan Springs Market near the fairgrounds and sells bbq on weekends!

Just like this little pig on my BBQ pit, I needed a vacation.

VACATION:  After this festival we needed a vacation to relax and reflect on things.  Here's a vacation idea:  how about having a great vacation package which includes dining out, sleeping in and afternoon tea?  Best vacation packages and ideas on Les Routiers , covering all UK and Ireland. Nothing like getting out and seeing the world and exploring great places to eat!

Here's my hideout. Danforth, Maine

Pulled Pork Nachos The Ten Minute Recipe

These Pork nachos we made in about 6 minutes.

We've been so crazy busy lately running here and there, that we've relied on quick and simple dishes for dinner.  One of my favorites to serve quick is pulled pork nachos. I'm going to give you my recipe but nachos are pretty easy so you can variate if you'd like.  The first component of course, is a good smoked pork. 

Damn, that's purdy.

The pork part of is not quick and easy, that's something you smoke low and slow and prepare ahead of time.  Here is a mish mosh of pork shoulder and boneless cushion meat.  It's really all what you like. Some people prefer boston butts, others only use picnic--I really think it's up to you.  To me, some of my top secret spice and mish mosh of wood charcoals and hickory wood,  spritz with some apple juice now and again, and it all comes out tasting pretty damn good.  Lately I like to mix a few different cuts of pork for a great flavor.

The pork takes awhile to smoke on this old pit.

On this particular day it took all day to smoke the pork, so I found something else to do.  I decided it was time to take my old golf cart and spruce it up. Well, there was only so much I could do but a new paint job and some fiberglass putty had it looking nice again.

Better than it was. A little fiberglass and paint and stickers and this 1989 historic baby is looking good.

And of course, the pork was still cooking.  Boy that smells good.  I of course still use the old school smokers and pits, so I'm constantly turning my pork all day long and finding other things to do.

I don't use fancy fire boxes or electronic equipment, it's all old school smoking for me. Hey, to each his own...

So I cut out some pig signs for my wife to paint for the Hogging Up Festival.

The pork was still smoking.  The thing with pork is the longer you smoke it the better. You want it to fall off the bone.

Pork is almost done!

So when it is done and it falls off the bone, I let it cool and tub it like so...

This is a nice mix of shoulder, cushion, and boneless!

This is when you can take a bit and put it in ziploc bags and freeze it for easy meal making later. The regular sandwich size will give you a nice amount to use in nachos or to make two heaping sandwiches for dinner.   The good thing about pork is it freezes really well and thaws nicely too. I sometimes add some apple juice if I really want to sweeten it up on the thaw.

If you do your pork right for pulling, this is how your bones fall out. By the way, this is Hatfield.

This pork is flavorful and requires no sauce. It melts in your mouth and is moist and meaty.  So now, here's  my pork nacho recipe:

 Quick and Easy Pulled Pork Nachos

Ingredients:
Blue Corn Nachos
Three Shredded Cheese Blend 
Jalapenos
Pulled Pork
Sour Cream
Salsa
BBQ Sauce of Choice 
Slotted Spoon


Night Before: 
Thaw one sandwich bag of  previously cooked pork in the fridge the night before.

Day Of: (under 6 minutes prep time)

• Simmer your pulled pork and a small bit of water in a pan. 
•  Meanwhile, add your blue corn nachos in a microwave safe bowl, pile on some shredded cheese and zap for a minute. 
•  Remove the nachos when the cheese is melted and they look warm and toasty. Top with jalapenos and salsa. 
• Transfer the pulled pork with a slotted spoon removing juice onto the nachos and add your BBQ sauce of choice if desired. 
• Top with sour cream and you are good to go.

OPTIONAL: Still hungry? Add fresh cut lettuce, tomatoes and onions for a salad style dinner

Quick,
Easy.
Yummy.

Calling All Foodies!

Hey, do you like taking pictures of your favorite food like I do? Or your favorite places to eat? Why not check out this FoodieFlash-the hottest new app for food lovers! Share pictures of food, drink and your favorite places. Sign up, get free stuff, find out when we launch and make your life more fun! You are invited right here.  

You may also enjoy my other posts on Pork.

Such as:
Alston Bridges BBQ North Carolina
Liam O'Sullivans Electric Pork Smoking