Chicken Nachos on the Big Green Egg.
By Casey | February 21, 2008
A few nights ago I decided that I was in the mood for some chicken nachos. After thinking about it for awhile I fired up the large egg to see if I could make my own corn chips inside the Big Green Egg. I placed a pizza stone in the egg, placed foil over the stone and lightly brushed some olive oil onto the foil. To make the chips I used El Maizal corn tortillas (6″ diameter) and cut them up into chip size pieces. After getting the egg up to 375 degrees I placed the tortillas onto the foil covered pizza stone. I kept a close eye on the baking chips to make sure that they were not getting over done and moved them around so they would cook evenly. After approx. 15 minutes the chips were starting to brown and were done. I thought that they turned out fantastic and with a little salt they were better than most you buy at the store. Next I cooked up some chicken breasts, then chopped them up and added some taco seasoning to the meat. Now I added all of my favorite ingredients including refried beans, cheese, taco sauce, the cooked chicken and sour cream to the top of my freshly made corn chips and back into the Big Green Egg until the cheese is melted to my liking. This was a very easy meal to make and turned out better than I thought it would.
Topics: 7. Recipes, 1. Food Topics, Poultry | 2 Comments »
Car Wash Mikes twice baked potatoes on the Big Green Egg!
By Casey | February 21, 2008
My good friend, the infamous Car Wash Mike, made some awesome twice baked potatoes over the last weekend so I thought I would add the recipe to my site. Car Wash Mike is an avid Big Green Egger like myself and you will find him smoking away on his Big Green Eggs year around.
Start out with 4 large bakers.
Wash and coat with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and Kosher Salt then pop into the Big Green Egg. Bake at 400 for approx 1 hour or until soft and then cut length wise and gut.
Mix the potatos with:
1-1 1/2 lb fried and crumbled bacon.
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
You can add Scallions as you like
Add Mayo or Miracle Whip, about 1/2 cup. I would start with less and add. You want these moist because when you bake again, they will dry out.
Add cheese (Colby/Jack) as you please.
Now mix all of the ingredients together and place back in the potato shell.
Now its back into the Big Green Egg again at 400 for 30 minutes.
You can add Dizzy Pig’s Raging River spice but this step is optional.
Topics: 7. Recipes, 1. Food Topics | 1 Comment »
My weekend quest for good BBQ.
By Casey | February 20, 2008
As a lover of BBQ, I went to Memphis, TN to try out some what I had hoped to be great BBQ. Anyone who knows about BBQ knows that Memphis has a rich history and tradition in BBQ as well as having legendary pit masters. Before I headed south I spent some time on the internet searching for highly rated BBQ joints in the Memphis area. With skepticism I Googled, in my past years of searching for great BBQ I have went on the word of another only to be dissapointed and this trip would be no exception. My first stop would take me out of the way a few miles to the town of Little Rock, AR. Many a reviewer had ranked Whole Hog Cafe (www.wholehogcafe.com) on the top of the list as a for sure stop. I had a slab of ribs that were some of the best I have had in a BBQ joint and I would highly recommend that if you are in the area to drop in. With tons of good reviews my next stop would be Corky’s (www.corkysbbq.com) in Memphis. Corky’s has great atmosphere and I had a slab of ribs that were once again as good as I have had in a BBQ joint, I would have to recommend Corky’s as a “must in Memphis”. With two good meals under my belt it was time to move on to Charles Vergo’s famous Rendezvous (www.pigsfly.com) for my first Memphis dissapointment. The Rendezvous, of the higher ranked joints in Memphis, had great atmosphere and a line of people waiting out the door and up onto the alleyway. Their signature style of dry ribs were just that very dry and very overcooked. I could not recommend Rendezvous as a “Must in Memphis” but I would be interested in the opinion of others. Next on the list was a stop in at the Blues City Cafe (www.bluescitycafe.com) on Beale St. Although I didn’t find lots of high ratings for the Blues City Cafe I decided to try it out and was quite surprised in the results. I was impressed enough with the ribs at Blues City that I went back for another slab and was just a pleased. I would recommend Blues City Cafe as a “Must in Memphis”. My last stop was once again on Beale St. at a joint called Pig on Beale (www.pigonbeale.com). Although the Pig on Beale has a nice website and the place looked nice they must have took those pictures a few years ago. I went in and sat down and for a second considered getting up and leaving. The dining room was very dirty and with my background in resturants I know that if the dining room is dirty it is never as bad as the kitchen. Anyway, I went ahead and ordered a half slab of ribs and could barely eat them. I would not recommend this place to anyone with eyesight or a good taste for ribs. The moral to this story is it is hard to take the opinion of one’s taste because we all have different likings.
Topics: 4. Product Reviews, Pork | 7 Comments »
Date has been confirmed for Cindy from CinChilli’s appearance on the VIEW!
By Casey | January 22, 2008
January 29th 2008 has bees set as the date that Cindy from CinChili will be appearing on ABC’s the VIEW. Once again I have to stress how much I like CinChili and it can be purchased inside Fisher Fixture or at www.CinChili.com, try it I think you will like it.
Topics: 4. Product Reviews, 3. Off Topic, 1. Food Topics, Beef | No Comments »
Awesome Breakfast Pizza
By Casey | January 14, 2008
Yesterday I was inspired to try to make my own version of a breakfast pizza because Rod from www.BusterDogBBQ.com left a comment that he tried to cook one with less than perfect results. I decided to take somewhat of a different aproach to my breakfast pizza using several ingredients that I enjoy having for breakfast. It was very easy to make and I started by smoking up some Center Cut bacon on the Big Green Egg. Next I scrambled up 3 eggs on the stove, and in an after thought I could have used my Lodge Caset Iron skillet and made them in the egg. I would also have scrambled at least 5 or 6 eggs as the pizza lacked the amount eggs that I would have liked to have had. While the eggs were cooking I browned up several cups of hash browns and these could have been made in the egg as well. Making some white gravy was my next step and I peppered it heavily but it could have used about twice as much pepper. I used a precooked Mama Marys pizza crust (I love these crusts) and spread a layer of white gravy onto it. Next I mixed the hash browns, eggs and bacon into a bowl then placed them onto the pizza crust topping that with some cheese and more gravy. By this time I had my large Big Green Egg, plate setter and pizza stone up to 450 degrees so I popped the pizza into the egg for 13 minutes and then it was chow time.
Topics: 7. Recipes, 1. Food Topics, Pork, 5. Uncategorized | No Comments »
Pizza on the Big Green Egg.
By Casey | January 10, 2008
I love cooking pizzas on the Big Green Egg and they are so easy to do to perfection. Click on the video link at the top of this page to watch a video that I put together on how to cook a taco pizza and below are a few pictures that I took of some of the other pizzas I have cooked. Feel free to email me with any questions on pizza cooking, good luck and have fun.
Topics: 7. Recipes, 1. Food Topics | 6 Comments »
Egghead Sopapillas!
By Casey | January 9, 2008
The Apple Sopapilla is a quick and fun desert that you can make on the Big Green Egg with ease and great results. First fire up the Egg and stabilize it at around 425 degrees allowing the plate setter and pizza stone to get up to temp as well. Next peel and dice up 4 medium Granny Smith apples and saute them in a sauce pan for 15 to 20 min adding 4 tbsp of butter, 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar, 1 tsp of ground cinnamon and 2 tbsp of water. While the apples are sauteing sift 2 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon together in a small bowl. Now take a couple of fajita size flour tortillas and brush a mixture of 1 tbsp vegetable oil and 3 tbsp of lightly melted butter. Next place the tortilla onto the pizza stone and after 6 min flip to the other side. After the tortilla has browned up nicely remove from the Egg and immediately sprinkle both sides with the sifted mixture of sugar and cinnamon. The last step is to break up the tortilla and place the sauted apples on top with your choice of ice cream or cool whip to top it off.
Topics: 7. Recipes, 1. Food Topics | 1 Comment »
The small Big Green Egg is not as small as some like to think.
By Casey | January 2, 2008
About 7 years ago I was talked into purchasing my first Big Green Egg, a size small and I am sure glad I did. In the last 7 years I have cooked on the small Big Green Egg somewhere in the neighborhood of a 1000 times often cooking 7 days a week on it. The small often gets a bad wrap from from those people who think that it lacks cooking capacity so I decided to do some cooks on the egg to show people that there is plenty of cooking room. The small can hold a nice size chicken, a large turkey breast, several large steaks, 8 nice size hamburgers, 6 chicken breasts and so on. The beauty of the small is how fast it heats up and what a charcoal miser it is and although the small weighs in at 70lbs I would still consider it very portable for a person of avarage strenght. In the pictures below I cooked two 1lb steaks with sevaral sweet potatoes in the small with room to spare. In a separate cook I cooked four half slabs using a small rib rack again with room to spare, with the right rib rack you could fit 6 half slabs in the small. I love cooking on my small and I look forward to using it for years to come.
Topics: 1. Food Topics, 4. Product Reviews, Ribs, Pork, Beef, Poultry, 5. Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Pork Butt Brining.
By Casey | December 11, 2007
Sunday night I cooked two pork butts (bone in) weighing 17lbs in one of my large Big Green Eggs. I have never used a brine with pork before but I have to say that it is very easy to do and seemed to work quite well. I cooked roast number one with just a rub on it and roast number two brined overnight and rubbed with a spice as well. After cooking for close to 14 hours at 240 degrees, I removed the roasts from the egg at 195 degrees (internal temp) and then wrapped in foil and towels for an hour and half. After I let the roast rest it was time to pull and sample. Roast number one was great and juicy with nice bark, I was happy with the results. Roast number two was more moist than roast number one and had the brine flavor through out the meat, I felt that it was better than roast number one. I am going to start to play around with other brines to see if I can fine tune it to my liking. Brining is very easy to do and here is the recipe that I used.
3/4 gallons of cold water.
1/2 cup of kosher salt.
1/4 cup of sugar.
1 tbl of dried thyme,
1/2 head of garlic.
1 to 2 whole allspice berries-crushed.
1 juniper berries-crushed.
Allow to soak over night or for at least 12 hours. Recipe will brine 1-8 lb roast.
Topics: 7. Recipes, 1. Food Topics, Pork | 5 Comments »
Southbend 500 series range
By Casey | December 6, 2007
The few time of the year that I was unable to cook on the Big Green Egg the Southbend 500 Series Range would not be half bad either. When I was at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago this year I fell in love and I will one day have one of these in my kitchen. You can find out more about Southbend restaurant equipment by clicking HERE.
Topics: 4. Product Reviews, 3. Off Topic, 5. Uncategorized | No Comments »
« Previous Entries