Page 39 - July 2020 Barbecue News Magazine

bbq obstacles
WHAT ARE WE COOKING NEXT?
Dana “big papa” Hillis
BBQ From Florida
lighthousepointe@ hotmail.com
Prices have gone through the roof on all the meats we cook, and it is getting hard to shop and find reasonably priced food to sell to our customers. We tried to stock up on supplies to hold us over for a while and got a fair price on some danish baby backs. We cook these babies low and slow, and they come out fall off the bone tender and have become a favorite on the menu. I can't wait until the next contest I do because I am going to put about 60 little baby backs in the box and make some judges happy!
If you like pizza cooking pizzas on the Big Green is a great way to cook a fast and affordable meal these days. You can pick up premade dough, and there are many doughs pre-packaged if you are not so good at tossing fresh dough in the air. You can make several different pizzas to let everyone have their favorite top- pings, and most of the ingredients are reasonably priced. Fire up the Green Egg with some flavorful lump charcoal and a good bit of wood chips, hit around 600 degrees, and you will have your- self crispy crust and an excellent fresh pizza in about 5 to 6 minutes.
We found some large pork loins that were still reasonably priced, and these loins can be cooked in several different ways. We inject the loins and smoke them to an internal temperature of 135 degrees and pull them off and let them rest for a half- hour covered. I can get 100 slices out of one pork loin, and they are tender and delicious. We also like to fillet out the pork loin and stuff it full of good stuff, roll it back up and tie it and cook it to 135 just like a regular loin. We call it cleaning out the refrig- erator because we take anything leftover - lunch meat, mush- rooms, peppers, onions, any kind of cheese, or anything else that sounds good. The results are delicious. Maybe our favorite recipe for pork loins is to cut one up into 24 chops and marinate them for a few hours. We like to use teriyaki and cook them on the chicken flipper. You can fit all 24 on one rack on the bx 26 model, and with some wood chunks on forest lumps charcoal, these pork chops will be done in about 15 minutes and have been rated as the best pork we have cooked in our classes.
Pork butts have gotten over 3 dollars a pound and need to come back down soon. Briskets have gotten into the 6 to 7 dol- lar range, and we won't be selling many brisket sandwiches for a while. Ribs have gone up, but we have still been able to find some reasonably priced St. Louis, but we have to run all over town to find some.
I have been craving chicken wings, and my favorite wings are cooked on the chicken flipper. We like to marinate them in Ital- ian dressing and season them with half Big Papa’s All Purpose Rub and Big Papas Honeymoon Rub. We make several different spicy wing sauces, including a cajun ranch that is off the charts. We have also cooked some great wings on the Ole Hickory. We throw pecan wood in for a nice smoke flavor, and I have always loved the food that comes off that cooker.
We cook wings on the Orion cooker at one of my buddies' shops, and the Orion is a fantastic cooker that everyone should have in their arsenal. If you have never cooked on an Orion, find someone who has one and check it out. You can put juices in the bottom drip pan, then add pellets or wood chips around the in- side pan. You can get a nice smoky flavor on whatever you're cooking. The Orion can hang six slabs of ribs, a whole turkey, or several pork butts. It most certainly is a great little cooker!
My son Vonn does a lot of cooking on a small ceramic grill and has developed a flavor profile using Big Papas Mustard Sauce and a combination of rubs that tastes awesome. He does a fan- tastic job on chicken thighs and takes his flavors pretty seri- ously.
My son Shane and his wife, Coleen, have a recipe for chicken wings, and they let me eat them, but still won't give me their se- cret. My son has a Davy Crockett pellet cooker, and I think they start the wings in the cooker for a great smoky flavor. I think Coleen finishes them in a hot oven for good crispiness. These wings just might be the best wings I have ever had. I wish they cooked them more often!
Right now, we are currently cooking some beef tenderloins for an event next week and, a tasty beef tenderloin may be the best thing you can cook. My good friend, Ford Allison, used to cook tenderloins for breakfast at many contests we attended to- gether. He taught me his top-secret recipe, and I have prepared the same recipe ever since he taught me. We lost Ford a while back, and every time I cook beef tenderloin, I think of Ford. I miss you, my friend.
Go shopping and look for the best prices on meats. Find a rea- sonable price, and that can help you decide on what you are cooking next. Hope to see everyone out cooking again soon. Feed folks some BBQ. It always makes them happy!
JULY 2020
BarbecueNews.com - 39