Practiced some brisket this weekend for this season’s BBQ competitions.  First contest is an early one in West Bend, KS next weekend. The creation above was made with Texas toast, brisket, sauce, potatoes, and gravy made by the aus jus of the brisket.  I like using the back part of the flat below the point of the brisket for sandwiches like this.  It is super tender and has a ton of flavor from the point and fat cap marinating as the brisket cooks.

These were part of our Superbowl party this past weekend.  Superbowl Sunday has also been Michael’s family birthday party.  This year, he turned five.  I was impressed with my mother in law… she actually ate one!

To prepare, slice jalapeno peppers lengthwise.  Remove seeds and veins from the peppers.  Add your favorite rub.

Spread cream cheese into the peppers and add more run.  THe stuffing for the peppers can be anything from cream cheese to pulled pork, chicken, crab, diced mushrooms, or shredded cheese.  Really, the stuffing can be anything you can dream of.

Wrap in bacon and grill or smoke until bacon is crispy.

We learned today that we’ve been extended a special invite to the 2009 Butt to Butt contest in Shannon, IL.  The “pork only” contest is held in conjunction with the Illinois State BBQ Championship.  Along with the 2008 KCBS Pork Team of the Year, nine 2008 pork champions from select contests are invited to compete head to head.

Great American Invitational
American Royal Open
Jack Daniels World Championships
Butt to Butt 2008
Hammond, LA
Jefferson City, MO
Marshalltown, IA
Illinois State Championship 2008
Lebannon, TN

We were neither the Pork Team of the Year nor one of the winners of the nine contests.  We won pork at the GAB and the American Royal… however, we won the Open at the GAB and the Invitational at the American Royal.  Right weekends, wrong contests.  The Butt to Butt officials must have taken this rare occurance to win the opposite contests on the same weekends.

The other special invitation was Candy Weaver of BBQers Delight.  Candy was the winner of the Butt to Butt Tournament of Champions held last year with the winners from the previous ten years.

The contest is held July 10.  Our bags are already packed.

(Pictured above are our pork awards from 2008.)

Homegrown and down home… now that’s a breakfast!  For those less hip, the title of this entry is an homage to Van Halen’s single from their early 90’s album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge: Pound Cake.

Pound cake french toast with real butter, real maple syrup and real pecans. (are there fake pecans?) I call it Pound Cake Explosion. Ha!

By now, most Americans have heard of the Bacon Explosion.  It is a recipe inspired by the BBQ Brethren but made into a national phenomenon by the guys at BBQ Addicts.

The Bacon Explosion first made its path through the blogosphere where a few foodie sites picked it up.  It was social networks like Facebook and Twitter that took the recipe “viral”.  The New York Times this week featured the Bacon Explosion on the front page of their dining section.  At that point, it went from famous to infamous.  Local and national media picked up the story and the creators where off to fly around the country doing local and national shows.  Local chefs from different parts of the country were called in to local morning shows to make a live version of the Bacon Explosion.  The sensation will carry over to the Super Bowl this weekend in Tampa, Florida.  Jason and Aaron will prepare a Bacon Explosion for the Super Bowl crew and John Madden.

In this day and age, you can measure fame by Google.  Yesterday, the number one search on Google…Bacon Explosion.  At 5000 calories and 500 grams of fat, as one wine pairing blogger put it, the only thing you could successfully pair with this would be a nice tall glass of velveeta cheese.

Plowboys BBQ got in on the action with a segment in the local KMBC news.  Jason and Aaron used Plowboys BBQ Yardbird Rub during the Channel 9 interview.

Many Yardbird Rub followers who just can’t get enough have begun using it on Popcorn.  Just sprinkle immediately while the popcorn is still hot.  The salts and sugars will melt and meld with the popcorn while the chili peppers and other seasonings ride along for the party.  Yardbird popcorn ROCKS!!!

A few left over ingredients from meals over the holidays made a rich and delicious pot pie. Onions and baby portabellas were sauteed IN BACON GREASE with freshly pressed garlic. Trimmings from our holiday beef tenderloin was then added along with a couple pats of butter. Once the browning process was well underway, raw spinach was tossed in to wilt.

Once everything was browned, wilted and fully cooked through, flour and heavy cream were added to make the rue. Pre-blanched carrots and diced potatoes were folded in at the end, off of heat. The stuffed went into a Pilsbury premade pie crust in the oven at 375 on the middle rack until the top crust was brown.

Growing up in Iowa we had these seasoned, ground beef sandwiches called MaidRites. MaidRite was and still is a chain decades and decades old. The sandwich goes by different names depending on where you grew up. We didn’t have MaidRite restaurants in NW Iowa, so sometimes they were called Taverns or Loose Meats. From what I understand, they are a Midwest thing, but they were/are very popular in Iowa.

My wife, who grew up East of Kansas City in Missouri had never heard of them until she came home with me to Iowa. Now she loves them. We made a big batch this weekend here at home. A slice of American cheese is acceptable, but the only true condiment for a MaidRite is yellow mustard. Having some CheeseWiz still around from making Philly Cheese Steaks, I made my own version of the Iowa Cheese Steak.

Like bacon, Cheese Wiz makes everything better.  No one beats the Wiz!!

French toast made from croissants with half/half, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, dash of sugar and pinch of salt. Loaded with peanut butter, pecans, mini-chocolate chips, real maple syrup, and a dusting of powdered sugar.

It was as good as it looks. Yum-oh!

This Christmas was spent with just the four of us at home.  The boys hauled in several “dirt diggers” and Transformers, so all was right with the world with them.  For me, a holiday is a good one when I get to cook.  When you have time, it is fun to try new and challenging dishes.  For me, this was it.

• Chateaubriand stuffed with caramelized onion, mushrooms and spinach
• Creamed Spinach with Parmigiano Regiano
• Wild Mushroom Risotto with Carnaroli rice and cremini mushrooms
• Candied baby carrots with ginger and cinnamon
• A fine California Cab to finish

Chateaubriand is an old French dish using the center cut of the beef tenderloin.  The cut itself has become known as the same name.  The piece above was trimmed from a whole packer beef tenderloin.  This is the same cut that the famous filet mignon comes from.  This could have been cut into steaks instead of used as a roast.

With a sharp knife, the roast was butterflied open into thirds by making two cuts.

The caramelized onions and mushrooms were prepared the day before and left to cool.  The stuffing was spread evenly across the roast with spinach, Kosher salt, and fresh cracked black pepper.

Rolled and seasoned with more Kosher salt and black pepper, the roast is rolled and tied.  It was quickly seared in basil infused grapeseed oil and real butter.  Then off to the Big Green Egg to finish to 125 degrees internal temperature.

Took me three hours of non-stop cooking and stirring, but the comments from my wife was worth it.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a great bite!!!