The Pokey Smokers

Adapted from Jim Weller’s Macktown Chili.

Ingredients

• 3.4 lbs beef chuck shoulder steak (2 supermarket packs)
• 14 oz beef stock
• 14 oz turkey stock
• 1 8-ounce can Hunts tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon Tapatio mexican hot sauce (substitute Tabasco)
• salt
• spice mix, recipe follows

Chili Spice Mix

• 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) New Mexico chile powder
• 2 tablespoons Chipotle chile powder (Sizzler - substituted 1 heaping teaspoon de Arbol)
• 3 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon arrowroot

Note: the first time we made this chili recipe, as Jori remembers it was much better when using fresh garlic and onion instead of powdered. 1/5/07 — chili starts simmering at 12 noon.

Directions

Heat 4 1/2 quart dutch oven over turkey fryer flame. Add 1 tablespoon oil and brown cubed meat in batches. Remove meat and deglaze with stock. Return meat to dutch oven.

Add stock, tomato sauce, and three quarters of the chili spice mix. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer.

Simmer for two hours. Stir in hot sauce and remaining chili spice mix. If the chili is too thick, add a bit of water or beer.

Simmer for another 30 minutes or until tender. Season with salt.

Cool chili and fill 32 oz turn-in container and allow to mellow overnight. Consume remaining chili with gusto.

At 1PM, reheat chili for 2PM turnin.

Ingredients

• 1 lb fillets of striped bass or other similar fish
• 1 cup Lawry’s mesquite and lime marinade
• 1 1/2 limes
• Salt to taste
• 2 or more large flour tortillas
• 1/2 head cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon cumin, or more as desired
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder, or more as desired

Directions

Place fish fillets in shallow glass dish. Pour marinade over fillets, add juice of 1 lime. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Cut 3 small tortillas out of each large tortilla.

Soak 1/2 cup of shredded cabbage in remaining lime juice. Arrange remaining shredded cabbage on platter.

Combine sour cream, cumin and chipotle powder. Put mixture into squeeze bottle.

Preheat smoker to 200 degrees.

Transfer fillets to smoker, skin side down. Pour a little marinade over fillets. Smoke for 45-50 minutes or until flesh is opaque and flakes easily.

While fish is smoking, grill tortillas on separate heat source, over high heat. Leave tortillas on heat for just long enough to color.

Remove fish from smoker. Flake into bite-sized chunks with fork, discarding skin. Season fish chunks with salt as needed.

Line each tortilla with lime-soaked shredded cabbage, then fill with fish chunks. Top with a squiggle of sour cream mixture, then tuck in avocado chunks.

Arrange tacos on platter, mounding shredded cabbage for support and decoration.

Ingredients

• 1 packer beef brisket, previously frozen
• 1/2 cup brisket rub, recipe follows

Brisket Rub

• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon chipotle powder
• 1/8 cup + 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/8 cup onion powder
• 1/8 cup garlic powder
• 1/8 cup dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon cayenne

Directions

Trim away major fat from brisket. Cut out fat between flat and point, separating into two pieces. Rub both. Return to cooler.

7:00PM: Remove brisket from cooler. Go to cook’s meeting.

7:30PM: Start 20 briquettes, and dump onto charcoal bowl jam-packed with Wicked Good Competition lump. Add two chunks oak. Close top damper 1/3.

8:00PM: T-17:30 0:00 elapsed Add brisket on top rack, flat in center with fat side down. Lay point completely over flat. Smoke at 215 degrees, measured at top rack.

10:30PM: T-15:30 2:30 elapsed Lift entire middle section off. Add pork picnic on bottom rack. Add apple smoke wood. Baste with apple juice.

6:00AM: T-7:30 10:00 elapsed Check on brisket while starting ribs. Baste.

9:00AM: T-4:30 13:00 elapsed Begin checking flat for doneness when temp hits 180. When fork tender, pull flat, wrap in foil with beef stock, add to heated cooler. Continue cooking point.

1:25PM: T-5 17:30 elapsed Fill turn-in box - Fan from one corner of box - brush with remaining beef stock

BBQ pulled pork with vinegar sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 pork picnic, bone in
• 1 1/2 cups vinegar sauce, recipe follows
• 3/4 cups Perfect Picnic rub, recipe follows

Vinegar Sauce

Adapted from Smoke and Spice, p 292

Combine, dissolve, shake…

• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
• 1 tablespoon smoked kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1.5 teaspoons cayenne pepper (this was probably too much!)

Perfect Picnic Rub

Adapted from Smoke and Spice, p 62

• 5 tablespoons ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon wasabi powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked chipotle powder
• 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes, slightly ground

Directions

Trim away major fat from pork. Inject pork with 1 cup sauce. Dust with butt rub. Wrap and return to cooler for as long as possible.

8:00PM: Start smoking the beef brisket over oak wood smoke, at 215 degrees, measured at upper grate.

10:30PM: T-14:30 0:00 elapsed Add pork picnic on bottom rack, fat side down. Add apple wood.

6:00AM: T-7:00 7:30 elapsed Check on pork while starting ribs. Baste.

9:00AM: T-4:00 10:30 elapsed Begin checking for doneness when temp hits 180. When fork tender, wrap in foil and add to heated cooler.

12:30PM: T-30 14:00 elapsed Turn in ribs. Unwrap pork and begin pulling. Sauce with remaining vinegar sauce in squeeze bottle.

12:55PM: T-5 14:30 elapsed Fill turn-in box - A bunch of “torpedoes”

BBQ ribs with chipotle-tamarind sauce.  These came in dead-last at the Cape Cod Classic in 2006.  Nasty!

Ingredients

• 2 racks fresh pork spareribs, 3lbs each, trimmed St. Louis style
• 1/2 cup powderpuff rib rub, recipe follows
• 1/3 cup chipotle-tamarind sauce, recipe follows

Powderpuff Rib Rub (1/2 recipe)

Adapted from Raichlen’s Barbeque Bible - Sauces, Rubs & Marinades, p 25

• 1/8 cup celery seed
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1/8 cup paprika
• 1 tablespoon black pepper, coarse-ground in a molcajete

Chipotle-tamarind sauce

• 1 frozen chipotle pepper in adobo
• 1/4 cup tamarind extract
• 1 tablespoon honey

Directions

Trim ribs to St. Louis style if needed. Peel membrane. Cut out middle 8 bones (for turn-in). Dust with rub, cover with plastic wrap, put on ice.

5:30AM: T-7:00 Use a dry, foil-lined waterpan. Start a full chimney of Kingsford briquettes. Dump after 30 minutes, add 2 chunks apple wood. Target temp is 215 at upper grate, 230 lid.

6:00AM: T-6:30 Lay one slab flat, bone-side down, on the center of each grate, with extra bones kept away from edges.

11:30AM: T-1:00 5:30 elapsed Check for doneness. Baste with apple juice. If nowhere near done, foil and return to cooker.

12:15AM: T-15 6:15 elapsed Baste and taste one end-rib from each rack. Pick a winner.

12:20AM: T-10 6:20 elapsed Place ribs meat-side down on cutting board. Slice each rib with a single long, slow pull of the knife. Reassemble rack. Flip meat-side up and brush with chipotle-tamarind sauce.

12:25AM: T-5 6:25 elapsed Fill turn-in box - 6 bones back to front, angled slightly to show top and cut edge.

Adapted from Boy Meets Grill. Makes about 2 cups.

Bobby Flay uses this marinade for grilled rib-eye steak, which is quite tasty. But we use it more often to marinate flank steak or skirt steak for fajitas. Jori’s mother also used this marinade for lamb kebobs–to rave reviews–on the occasion of our engagement party.

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 jalapeno peppers, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup fresh or 2 tablespoons dried oregano leaves (fresh is better, but not always readily available)
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Directions

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

Ingredients

• Family pack chicken thighs
• Toothpicks
• Marinade:
  • 1/2 cup dijon mustard
  • 2 tablespoons dry mustard
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup white wine
  • 4 tablespoons fresh herbs (thyme, tarragon, sage), minced
• Rub:
  • 4 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
• Baste:
  • 1 stick butter
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup whiskey or bourbon

Directions

Trim chicken thighs. Run finger under skin of each thigh to separate skin from thigh as much as possible without completely detatching skin.

Combine marinade ingredients in blender and puree.

Rub a little marinade under the skin of each thigh, then put all thighs into a large ziploc bag and pour marinade over. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Combine rub ingredients. Place in container with a shaker top.

Remove chicken from marinade. Wipe herbal bits off with paper towel, including under skin. Place chicken skin side down.

Apply rub to underside of thighs, then turn over and apply to skin side and underneath the skin. Stretch skin over surface of thigh and secure with toothpick.

Smoke at 250 degrees until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, about one hour. While chicken is cooking, combine baste ingredients in saucepan and heat until butter is melted. Baste chicken at least once after the rub has set, about 1/2 hour.

If desired, remove toothpicks and carefully turn chicken skin-side down on smoker just before removing. Baste undersides and wait a minute or so (depending on heat of coals) for grill marks to form on skin, then remove to platter. If grill marks are not desired, baste undersides as pieces are removed to platter, holding carefully so as not to smear the rub.

Select six best pieces, plate and serve.

Ingredients

• 1 cup red wine
• 4 tablespoons butter, sliced
• 2 sirloin strip steaks, 6 to 8 oz each, 3/4 to 1 inch thick
• 1 large potato, sliced into matchsticks
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons white peppercorns

Directions

Heat red wine in saucepan. Reduce to about 1/4 cup, then whisk in butter slices.

While wine is reducing, prepare steaks: trim, pat dry, season with salt.

Grind peppercorns using molcajete or mortar and pestle. Make a thin layer of peppercorn mixture on a plate; press steaks into mixture to form crust.

Heat cast iron skillet over hot fire. Add vegetable oil to about 1/4 inch deep.

When oil is hot, add potato matchsticks. Fry for three minutes, drain on paper towels, then return to pan for 1 minute. Drain again and season with salt. Pour off excess oil from pan, leaving film on bottom.

Add steaks to pan. Sear for 3 minutes on one side, then turn and sear for 2-3 minutes on the other side, until internal temperature is 120 degrees. Remove to platter, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Slice into the less attractive of the steaks to confirm doneness. Plate the other steak, arranging potato matchsticks as desired. Top steak with wine sauce and serve.

These jerk chicken wings took 2nd place at the 2006 Cape Cod Classic, and 1st place at the 2007 Winter Sizzler.

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Meet Dan and Jori Foster, competing in NEBS barbecue contests as The Pokey Smokers.  Why the name?  When we first started barbecuing, the food consistantly finished two hours late.  Not good when contests have a strict 10 minute turn-in window!