We’re less than a week away from Fat Tuesday, so why not whip up a Cajun favorite in celebration of Mardi Gras?! Certainly, there are plenty of culinary traditions to choose from, but when a sandwich is an option, you can bet I’m picking the sandwich. The Po’ Boy is a classic with so many variations that it’s hard to choose just one. That’s how we ended up with the Fried Oyster AND Hot Link Po’ Boy! And the beauty is, by utilizing the versatility of the Napoleon Prestige, you can do it all on the grill. And we did.
If you like spicy and you like fried chicken, then Nashville Hot Chicken should be right up your alley. Despite its popularity in the Music City, there is much left to the imagination when it comes to creating it yourself. There doesn’t seem to be a hot chicken joint in town that’s willing to part with its recipes or signature techniques. Lucky for you guys, we’re not in the habit of keeping secrets. After some research and tweaking, we’ve come up with a recipe and technique adapted to the grill that, at the very least, is likely going to make you sweat.
We use chile peppers year round. Anaheims, Poblanos and Jalapeños are staples in the test kitchen here at All Things BBQ. But this is a special time of year. Hatch chiles and Pueblos offer wonderful flavor and varying levels of heat, and they’re currently flowing out of the Southwest. Their harvest season doesn’t last all year, due to their specific geographic location, so it’s a good idea to process and preserve the chiles in some way so that you can enjoy them for months to come.
Our cheese sauce isn’t far from the nacho cheese you occasionally indulge in at the ballpark or movie theater, but it’s made from scratch (so you actually know what’s in it) and it’s slightly sweeter with a little spice, thanks to those delicious bread and butter jalapeños.
Though the sous-vide technique was first developed over 40 years ago, it has only recently made its mainstream debut. Chefs in quality restaurants have long used this technique, and now sous-vide machines are becoming much more available to the general public. The idea is simple, really. Food is vacuum sealed in a bag and submerged in circulating water in which the temperature is precisely controlled.
By
Tom Jackson
