Smoked Chuck Roast

I smoked a chuck roast or chucky this past weekend for some BBQ beef.  I rubbed it down with some Plow Boys Bovine Bold and put it on the Yoder set to 225 degrees.

On the Yoder pellet grill taking on smoke.

During the slow smoke I occasionally sprayed it with a mixture of apple juice and worcestershire sauce.  Once the chucky reached 170 degrees, I foiled it with some of my spray and finished it to 195 degrees (I think I'll take it higher next time to make it easier to pull).

Here's the chucky ready for pulling

Chucky after pulling. Check out that smoke ring!

Smoked Chicken Enchiladas

I had some left over chicken breasts from the cordon-bleu so I cooked up some chicken enchiladas on the Yoder Smokers pellet grill.  This has been a very popular recipe with our family and the smoked chicken really took this dish to the next level.  Here's how it went together.

In a bowl combine:

3 chicken breasts, smoked and diced

2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded

1 can (2.25oz) sliced black olives, drained

2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Some of the chicken mixture.

Divide this mixture between eight flour (8) tortillas, roll, and place seam side down in a 9x13 baking dish.  Here they are rolled up.

Rolled up and ready for sauce.

Now lets move on to the sauce.

1/2 medium onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 tablespoon of cooking oil

1 can (4oz) chopped green chilies

1 can (15oz) tomato sauce

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Sauté the onion and pepper in the oil until tender.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.  Here it is mixed up on the stove.

Enchilada Sauce

Pour this mixture over the tortillas.  I baked this on the Yoder at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.  During the last 10 minutes I sprinkled on 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  Here's the grill loaded up with the enchiladas and the spoon bread.

Lookin' good already

Here's the enchiladas finished up.

Sweet Corn Spoon Bread

No Mexican Fiesta is complete without a side of sweet corn spoon bread, similar to what you would find as a side at Jose Pepper's Restaurant.  This baked up nicely on the Yoder as well.  Here is the recipe.

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1/3 cup Masa Harina

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed

1/4 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

In a medium bowl beat butter until creamy.  Add the masa harina and water and beat until well mixed.  Using a food processor, process thawed corn, but leave chunky.  Stir into the butter mixture.  In a separate bowl, mix corn meal, sugar, cream, salt, and baking powder.  Add to corn flour mixture and stir to combine.  Pour batter into ungreased 8x8 baking dish.  Smooth batter and cover with aluminum foil.  Place pan in a 9x13 baking dish filled a third of the way with water.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Use an ice cream scoop for easy removal from pan.  Here's how it looked.

Spoon Bread ready for eating.

Here it is plated up.

The State Fair

I took a break from BBQ'n today to check out the Kansas State Fair.  I made sure to stop by our friends at All Things BBQ to check out the production version of their new Yoder Smokers pellet grills.  Here's their set-up.

Yoder Smokers new line of pellet grills, YS480 in the front, YS640 in the back

Yoder Smokers line of offset smokers

The new Yoder YS640.  Pay no attention to the man behind the grill.

Inside of the YS640.  You can't beat the Yoder quality.

The new control board.  This is going to make my life easier than it already is.

I had a chance to put my hands on a variety of pellet grills being displayed at the fair.  This includes Traegers, Green Mountain Grills, and the Memphis Pro.  I sure am glad I'm going with the Yoder.  With build quality that's second to none coupled with the best customer service experience I've had makes the Yoder the best pellet grill out there.

Smoked Chicken Cordon Bleu

I had a chance to try a smoked version of Chicken Cordon Bleu this evening.  The recipe is courtesy of my friend, Rob Green, at Smokingpit.com.  He has some great recipes and techniques to share.  If you haven't been over to his site, be sure to check it out.

I started by laying out two slices of Black Forest Ham, overlapping slightly.  Apply a good squirt of Dijon Mustard and top with a long chunk of Swiss Cheese.  Here it is starting to come together.

Roll this up and set aside.  Then I cut a deep a hole in the end of some chicken breasts, deep enough for the ham rolls to fit inside.  Here they are stuffed and ready for smoking.

I smoked them on the Yoder at 225 until they were done with an internal temp of 165.  This took roughly 3 hours.  Here's one plated up with some mashed sweet potatoes, beer battered okra, and fresh peaches.  It was some good eating at our house tonight.

And here's what the inside looked like.

Labor Day Brisket

For the long weekend I wanted to give smoking brisket a go on the Yoder.  I've never smoked a brisket before, so I'm getting a lot of first time experience here.  I started by trimming some of the fat off of my 12lb brisket and injecting with a mixture of beef broth, worcestershire sauce, and some spices.  Then, I put on a generous rub of Plowboys Bovine Bold.  Here it is ready to go into the smoker.

After the long, over night smoke, it reached an internal temp of 170 in the flat.  The brisket was then foiled and finished off to an internal temp of 195.  From here, I separated the point from the flat.  The point was cubed and put back on the smoker for burnt ends and the flat was foiled and left in the cooler to rest.  Here's the results.

Burnt Ends from the Point

The Flat

In conclusion, the Yoder did a great job with the over night smoke.  I, on the other hand, struggled with the late night and managing the pit to keep the temperature locked in.  The brisket had a great flavor but was a little tougher than I would like.  There are definitely some things I can improve on.  That gives me a great excuse to throw some more meat on and keep practicing!

Breakfast Fatty

I wanted to start the Labor Day weekend off right, so I smoked a breakfast fatty on the Yoder this morning.  Here's how it went.

I scrambled four eggs with one quarter of a green pepper and one quarter of an onion, both diced.  Set this mixture aside to cool.  Then I started to assemble the fatty.

1 lb of Sausage, rolled out in a 1 Gallon Ziplock Bag

Cut open the bag, top with scrambled egg mixture

Top with shredded cheddar and pepper jack cheese, then roll it up tight

Bacon Weaving 101

Roll up the bacon weave around the sausage roll

Smoked at 225 till the internal temp was 170.  Finished in the broiler to crisp up the bacon

Slice and serve it on a hot biscuit for a great breakfast sandwich.  Check out that smoke ring!