Page 27 - FEB 2021 Digial Edition

bbq 2021
BBQ
2021
Mother nature has given us some cool weather to start off the America eat way to much red meat, so she plans to regulate
Dana “big papa” Hillis
BBQ From Florida
lighthousepointe@ hotmail.com
year and we are enjoying every minute of it! We went to Callahan and cooked in the last SCA event of the year, and had a great time while doing it. We were hoping for a good finish and a golden ticket to Texas, but it was not in the cards. Despite this, we did finish in a tie with Mr. John Pendray, so we had something to be proud of for sure. The fun of compet- ing and cooking is still there, and the great bunch of people in the SCA make it a blast.
We had a BBQ class on a Sunday morning. It was 44 degrees when we fired up the cookers. I got my Team Unknown fire pit out and had my 8 year old pick up sticks and wood to ensure the fire would be going so we could all warm up. Everyone had a blast and my yard is clean of sticks and branches!
Jason makes an awesome chimney fire pit and I have had mine for years. Look up Team Unknown.com and check out the cool stuff he makes!
We then stuffed some pork loins and cleaned out the refriger- ator with all kinds of peppers, onions, and cheeses. I don't think there is anything easier or better tasting then a good old stuffed pork loin! It is ideal for feeding a large group and the leftovers serve up well.
In the days following, we picked up some ribs from Costco and cooked a bunch for a vending event we had going on. I took my sweet time cooking these ribs, low and slow, with my old competition recipe. I kept thinking of Damon Wooley and some of our winning sauces we created. We truly had so much fun at any competition we went to. Damon threw some cut off ribs on the grill, and I swear, they were so good instead of eat- ing them I should have turned them in! We always ate good at competitions.
I then picked up a bunch of briskets from Restaurant Depot and they had one case from a farm I had never seen before. They were a choice brisket and cleaned up very nice and even cooked up even nicer. I saved the label off the box and at the moment can't remember where I placed it. I will let everyone know when I find it cause these briskets were the real deal!
I am concerned about the things going on in this country, like many others. There is one thing I just can't understand. A speech the soon to be new Vice President made was people in
how much red meat we will be allowed to have. Tell me a sin- gle BBQ person that could ever vote for someone who be- lieves this!
We did not get to cook events as often as we would have liked, and really wanted to go to Dallas Fort Worth this year. The first year we were able to go, we had one of the best times of our life. We also have some close friends that moved from Naples to Dallas. A trip back to see them would make our year! Well it turns out to be our good fortune had us in line to get a golden ticket because of points we accumulated! We were contacted to let us know we got an invite and now we are in the process of seeing what it will take to get there.
We picked up a used PK grill and I plan to cook on it until I win something. Just something about paying 50 bucks for an old grill and actually winning something would be so cool.
I love to cook wings and have tried just about every cooker! I have mastered each cooker to turn out tender juicy and crisp wings and I am thinking my favorite are the Meadowcreek chicken flipper wings. The chicken flipper is easy to load, cooks over charcoal and wood chips, and you can get that smoky charcoal flavor that I really like. The best part is it only takes about 20 minutes cooking time and you are ready to eat. The whole rack flips at one time and it is just extremely fast and easy. We always recommend our students and friends buy their wings at GFS. They sell a regular size wing for around $13 that has about 52 wings in the bag. These are perfect for feeding a lot of people or kids. They sell a jumbo wing that is my favorite- big juicy wings that are the same price but there are only 27 in a bag. These are for impressing your friends with some serious good wings!
I hope we get to see a bunch of the BBQ family in the next few months. If we can get this virus under control, keep fuel prices from going thru the roof, get our hands on enough toi- let paper and paper towels to keep everyone happy, deal with the meat shortages, and get these meat prices to go down or at least not get any higher, that would be perfect. If we can all just cook a lot, feed a bunch, and keep a smile on our face, we will get thru 2021 in good shape! Hope to see y'all putting smoke in the air! Feed people BBQ, it makes them happy!
Dana "Big Papa" Hillis
FEBRUARY 2021
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