Pulled Pork Sandwich
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By Tom Jackson
- Jan 19, 2016
Chef Tom breaks down our method of preparing competition chicken thighs. This is the recipe we use in KCBS competitions and incorporates tips, techniques and methods we have learned from competition barbecue pitmasters like Andy Groneman of Smoke on Wheels Competition BBQ (Kansas City) and “BBQ Brian” Misko of House of Q (British Columbia, Canada).
You may be familiar with the turducken; a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey. It’s become quite popular as a holiday dinner centerpiece in the last several years. Well, it turns out that the idea translates pretty well to the squash world. So, we’re stuffing a zucchini inside a butternut squash inside a spaghetti squash. Unfortunately, spag-but-chini doesn’t have the same ring as turducken, so we present to you the Squash-ducken! This savory vegetarian dish has all of those Thanksgiving flavors you’re familiar with and works great as a side or main dish alternative for your friends and family who aren’t meat eaters.
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.
Sous vide has taken a jump in popularity lately with the introduction of more and more affordable sous vide units on the market. This has brought the cost of home sous vide down and has introduced the technique to those who had never heard of it mere months ago. Chef Tom takes an amazing Creekstone Farms Master Chef Choice Cowboy Ribeye and sous vides it in the VacMaster SV1 at 49°C and cooks it for an hour and a half. After that he quickly sears it off for flavor on our Yoder Smokers YS640 Pellet Cooker setup for direct grilling.
Here at All Things BBQ, we’re constantly interacting with folks who are passionate about grilling, smoking and cooking in general, and folks who are hungry for knowledge and looking to improve their craft. If you’re reading this, there is a good chance that you are one of these folks. You’re awesome. One of the questions we get a lot is, “What is the best way to cook a whole bird?” Whether it’s chicken or turkey our answer is always the same. Spatchcock. If you’re tired of drying out the breasts while waiting for the thighs and legs to finish cooking, it’s time to employ the spatchcock technique.
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.
Backyard cooks, competition pit masters and BBQ enthusiasts often have an opinion on which method is better, and we frequently find that it’s fairly evenly divided. Both methods have their advantages, and both should be celebrated. Today we’ll cover the simple process of dry smoking ribs, so you can discover for yourself your opinion and perhaps your preference.