Crispy Grilled Chicken with White BBQ Sauce

Ingredients for chicken

Either a whole spatchcocked chicken, or boneless skinless, or pretty much any chicken you would like to use. I used boneless skinless

    1  tablespoon  dried thyme

        1  tablespoon  dried oregano

        1  tablespoon  ground cumin

        1  tablespoon smoked paprika

       1  teaspoon  onion powder

       1/2  teaspoon  salt

EVOO

Directions

I learned a simple trick when grilling chicken to acquire more flavor. When I'm prepping my chicken, I make hash cuts about 1/8-1/4 into the chicken before I rub them, like so:

Now the rub I listed is just for measurement even though I hate using measurements, but I would make a lot being the rub is what makes it crispy. First I hit the chicken with some Olive Oil. After I have mixed the rub in a large bowl, I dup it all over the chicken and work it in real good. Work it into the hash cuts, and into the skin if you have skin. Then I refrigerate it for at least an hour to let the flavor really set it.

While it's in the fridge I whip up the White BBQ sauce. Now, you may ask "what the hell is white BBQ sauce?". Well unless your from North Alabama you probably don't know. In Alabama Barbecue traditional Sauce uses Mayonnaise as its base rather than tomato sauce, vinegar, or any of the other more typical barbecue sauce bases. It is clearly a region favorite. Bob Gibson of Decatur, Alabama is credited with the invention the white sauce back in 1925. Friends and family were first treated to this secret-recipe sauce on chicken and pork at weekend barbecues where boards were nailed to trees for tables. Today, this famous mayonnaise-based condiment is traditionally employed to baste chicken, seafood and pork.

White BBQ Sauce is as synonymous with the state with Alabama as the legendary “BAMA” football program. White BBQ Sauce’s intriguing flavor complements salads and is a superb baste for chicken, pork and turkey. You can also use White Sauce as an ingredient to add an extra kick to your favorite slaw or potato salad. However, because the racks of your local grocer are dominated by many incarnations of tomato-based sauces and white bbq sauce is such a regional anomaly, most people outside Alabama have not tested this concoction of flavor.

Like many barbecue sauces you want to apply this only at the very end of your grilling or smoking. It will breakdown and separate if it is heated too long. Use this sauce on chicken and turkey. It is also good on pork. Alabama White Barbecue Sauce has a tangy flavor that is a great addition to grilled foods.

White BBQ Sauce makes a unique experience. Use this recipe when grilling chicken; brush lightly over the chicken during the last few minutes of grilling. This sauce is also great for dipping; keep some sauce aside for passing at the table.

Ingredients

    1 1/2  cups  mayonnaise

        1/4  cup  white wine vinegar

        1  garlic clove, minced

        1  tablespoon  coarse ground pepper

        1  tablespoon  spicy brown mustard

        1  teaspoon  sugar

        1  teaspoon  salt

        2  teaspoons  horseradish

That's it. Mix it up and store it in a mason jar! Simple!

Now that everything is ready. I just toss my chicken on the grill and really sear them off until they are nice and brown on a very hot grill. You can even use a brick wrapped in foil to weigh it down. Especially if your doing a whole spatchcocked chicken.

After my chicken is super crispy, I let it finish off in the grill on indirect heat.

Some people like to dip their meat into the sauce, I prefer to just dump it all over!!!

Grilled Sweet Potato Fritters

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato
1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple

1/2 cup chopped cooked bacon

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

1 tbsp cinnamon 

Maple syrup

Directions

I love grilling sweet potatoes, and love coming up with new idea's for them. I threw this together last minute while we we're making the crispy chicken. So, I peeled a large sweet potato, cubed it up, put it in a Ziploc bag, and nuked the potato for about 9 minutes until it was soft.

In a bowl I mashed up the potato, then added all the ingredients together.

After that I just made patties them up like a hamburger.

I sprayed them with cooking spray, and seared them ff on the grill just to brown them. Then I moved them over to indirect heat to finish off. 

Once I plated, I drizzled on some Maple syrup.

Grilled Bacon wrapped Atomic Fireballs

Ingredients

Prilosec

Pablano Peppers

Jalapeno Peppers

Habanero Peppers

Cream Cheese

A Day off of work the following day!

Now! Me and my wife love hot food. If you said you would take me out and buy me beer for a night if I ate 2 ghost peppers. I would do it. We just love the heat!

For some odd reason on a Tuesday night. We put together the weirdest menu ever! I'm not sure how it came about, but I threw it out there and we both said "ya, that sounds great"!! 

First of all our protein was Jerk chicken kabobs. Which I always make the Jerk marinade from scratch :

If your curious! it's cinnamon, allspice, lime juice, soy sauce, chicken stock, habanero peppers, thyme, oregano, ton's of garlic, diced tomatoes, green onions, red onions, salt, pepper, vinegar, and olive oil. Don't ask me the measurements because I don't have a clue. I pour it in a blender, hit mix, do a shot of tequila, and dump into ziplocs with the chicken! It's hot!

So our sides we're grilled Atomic turds on a skewer which are these:

You know: Bacon wrapped Jalapeno's stuffed with cream cheese! Yum! Also you can adjust the heat by the amount of seeds you leave in the halved Jalapeno's. 

If that wasn't enough! I came up with the idea of all idea's! I said " lets stuff a Pablano with cream cheese, and stuff a Jalapeno inside of it also stuffed with cream cheese, and stuff a habanero stuffed with cream cheese inside of the Jalapeno. Wrap it in bacon, and grill it. We both agreed that this was a great idea. I would consider this a first next to the Turducken!! and boy was it fun.

So it went like this:

I halved the Pablano, Jalapeno, and Habanero

I then stuffed all the peppers with cream cheese but left an empty space for their  passenger peppers, lol

Dammit! why is the picture vertical!!!!! Oh well, computer mishap!

I then stuffed each pepper into it's awaiting pepper vessel. 

......and then filled the rest in with more cream cheese! Then came the almighty pork gift from heaven. Bacon!

1 or 2 toothpics for bacon support and they we're ready for the grill. BTW, the heat in this dish extremely depends on how many seeds you leave in each pepper. If you want to be able to eat the whole thing, remove all the seeds. If you want to shit fire for 2 day's and have to have surgery on your ass, leave them all in.

Anyways. Grilling is tricky. You obviously can't turn them over or the cheese will melt and fall out. So what I did was sear off the bottom. Then I moved them off of direct heat and smoked them for about 40 minutes, until the bacon was crispy!

and low and behold! they we're F'in great!!! I know it seems weird, but if your looking for a fun recipe with friends it's a conversation piece!

So overall here was our well balanced dinner:

......and naturally it's upside down!! Dammit! Oh well enjoy! Oh ya, almost forgot. Beer is the best choice of drinkage for this one!

Grilled Bacon wrapped Pork Chops stuffed with Apples, Blue Cheese, and Bacon with a Maple Glaze

Ingredients 

Boneless butterflied pork chops

bacon

1 red apple

blue cheese

1 Dr. Pepper

3/4 cup Maple syrup

Cayenne pepper 

S&P, EVOO

butchers twine

Directions

First chop up a 4 or 5 strips of bacon and cook it off. Then strain the grease and put bacon aside.

Finely dice up the apple and add right into the same pan as the bacon was. Cook until tender and deglaze with some kind of liquid like water, or apple juice, etc. Adding a little liquid will steam it and keep it from burning. 

After the apples are done, rinse them through a strainer with cold water so you don't burn your hands when handling. In a bowl mix apples, bacon, and blue cheese. Add in a little cayenne pepper and some allspice.

Lay 3 strands of butchers twine under your pork chops and put a couple of scoops on one side of the pork chop. Press it down real good. Also make sure you salt and pepper the inside of the pork chop as well as the outside.

Flip the one side of the pork chop over the other and press it down a little to pack in the filling. Then wrap a piece of bacon around the chop to hold the filling in place and you know add some bacon fatty deliciousness!

Wrap your twine around nice and snug and tie them off in a knot. Trim off the excess string with scissors.

Brush on a little EVOO to keep it from sticking to the grill, and salt and pepper to taste.

For the glaze

In a pot pour in can of Dr. Pepper, 3/4 cup of maple syrup, a little allspice, and 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper. Cook on Med-hi for about 45 minute until it is reduced down to about 1/2-3/4 cup.

Light your grill up and sear up both sides of the pork. Move the pork over to the cold side and continue cooking at about 250-350 for about an hour or so. Brush on the glaze while it's cooking. Determining how long yours is going to take depends on the size of your cut, gas grill, charcoal, etc. etc. I actually smoked ours with Pecan. We also have a thermometer on our grill which I kept right around 250 for the most part of the cooking. Obviously using a meat thermometer will ensure that your meat is done properly. 

That's pretty much it. My wife hates Blue Cheese but said this was her favorite recipe I've done on the blog yet. Having a nice Whiskey and coke would go perfect with this!!! Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Breast stuffed with Spinach and Feta

Ingredients

Boneless, skinless chicken breast

fresh spinach

feta cheese

salt, pepper, EVOO

Greek seasoning

Directions:

This recipe is pretty straight forward. The hardest part is stuffing the chicken. You need to trim all the fat off of the chicken, then flatten the chicken with a mallet. 

 Make sure you salt & pepper the inside as well as the outside. Let's talk about salt & pepper for a second. These are probably the two most important seasonings for anything. So you wan't to use generously. As a matter of fact I always use course salt, and course cracked pepper. It just helps so much with the overall flavor. I taste so much food that is under seasoned.
Anyways, once you have your chicken breast evenly pounded out. Take a hand full of spinach and feta and place it right in middle.

 The tricky part when you roll it up is folding in the sides. Basically fold it like you would a burrito, lol. To make things easier I always use 3 pieces of butchers twine to keep it snug and tight.

 Once that is finished, brush on some EVOO on your breasts. Chicken that is. Season with salt and pepper. I also added some greek seasoning that I bought at the store I find goes well with chicken. It's called Cavenders and it's amazing!

 Heat up your grill. Sear it off. Then finish cooking indirectly until you reach a safe temperature.

 Remember to cut off your butchers twine before you eat them. I served these with grilled Zucchini. Enjoy! Oh ya I almost forgot. Make sure you have a cocktail while cooking and after dinner.

Vacation, Food, Family & Friends

My wife has been on vacation for the last week. We did a lot of neat things while she was off. We also made a lot of good food. So, I'm going to blog about our wonderful week and inter twine some recipes in here that I made over the week. 

First off me and Angela rented a nice secluded Cabin in Missouri for our 5 year Anniversary. Kid Free! We we're more than ready! So we arrived last Friday to our love nest for 3 nights in Cherryville, MO

Our cabin was named Jude's Dream after the owner Judy, whoever Judy is! She must be rich though because her and her husband owned the 100 acres that our cabin was on along with about 7 other cabins. 

Anyway, here are some snaps of the inside:

Here is our porch where we sat a lot at night. That overlooked tree's. Ton's of trees! 

Now, with all of these great Amenities. Including satellite TV, central air, and a Jacuzzi, we didn't want to sit in the air all weekend because my wife is a very outdoors person. I like the best of both worlds, especially when the temperature is above 100 degrees which it was this weekend. But we opted to load up our cooler and drive a short way down to the spring fed creek for the day!

It was really nice to do absolutely nothing!! The water felt great! We drank some beer, and I did some fishing! Drank a little whiskey! and had great conversations. After 4 or 5 hours of sun though it was time to get back. Hit the Jacuzzi, and fire up the Grill. Tonight we we're having Coffee encrusted cowboy Rib eye's, with grilled fries and Chipotle ketchup!

Directions & Ingredients

I picked up two nice thick bone-in Rib eye's from my meat market. Now, for the coffee rub I ground up:

- 1 tbsp coffee

- 1 tbsp brown sugar

- 1 tsp all spice

- 1 tbsp kosher salt

- 1 tsp coarse black pepper

- 1/2 tsp smoke paprika

I made the rub a day before. Rubbed them really good, then refrigerated them in a zippy until  they we're ready for the grill! I like mine Med-Rare for best flavor. Make sure you have a nice HOT grill for searing and crusting that coffee rub. For my grill fries, I just put 2 Idaho potatoes in a bag and nuke them for 5 minutes. Remove them, let cool, then quarter them long way. Drizzle on a little EVOO, salt pepper, garlic and paprika. Crisp them on the grill. The ketchup is just 1/2 cup ketchup, 3 tbsp of Adobo sauce from canned chipotles, and a dash of honey.

So we got our bellies full the 1st night. Tied a pretty good one and stayed up late!!!! Fun!!!

Day 2 

 My wife would always wake up fairly early and make coffee. She loves coffee, but I only drink it on vacation. I could sleep all day if she would let me, but it's nice to get up and get moving at a decent hour. Back to the creek for the day. We we're pretty laid back on this day because we we're hurting a little from the night before, lol. Just sat in the creek and enjoyed the day. Once we got back I fired up the grill for our second night of dinner! Tonight I did, Bacon wrapped whiskey glazed pork chops with spiced apples.

Directions & Ingredients

- 2 thick pork chops

- 1 cup of Whiskey 

- 1/2 cup maple syrup

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 2 strips of bacon

- tbsp adobo sauce

Wrap your pork with the bacon, and put all other ingredients in a saucepan and reduce down by half for about 30 or 40 minutes on med-high. Let glaze cool then pour into a Tupperware dish. Brush on the glaze all throughout the grilling process. Sorry didn't have any pics.

For the spiced apples, I roughly chopped up 2 red apples, added a tbsp of butter, 1/4 cup of whiskey, 1/2 cup brown sugar, t tbsp cinnamon. Cooked them on medium for about 30 minutes until they we're soft.

We made some daiquiris and took it easy this night. My wife went to bed about 10, and I stayed up watching funny home videos till about 2. 

Day 3

Woke up to another beautiful Day! Decided to make my wife some Biscuits and bacon gravy. I generally make Sausage gravy. But I wanted to consolidate our food list to make it easier and cheaper so I went with bacon. I always use Pillsbury Grands butter flavor biscuits. For my gravy I simply browned up about 7 chopped pieced of bacon. added 3 tbsp of flour into the grease until it was a darker tan, then I poured in a little bit of whole milk and whisked while on med high heat until it started thickening up. Then I would add a little more until I had the amount I wanted. Then I hit it with a good amount of black pepper and some salt and mixed in the bacon pieces. Oh ya! You have to use a cast iron skillet too!!!

       Off to the creek we went after breakfast for our last day of fun & sun!! We loaded up our cooler with some rum, and more beer. This day was so fun. I caught a quick buzz drinking rum and diets. We came up with a game called flip flop races. We would each throw 1 flip flop upstream about 15ft, and whoever floated back first would win. Whoever lost had to do a shot, LOL Toward the end of the day we started collecting crawdads as I had decided if we get a half dozen, I'd cook them up. My wife was like an old pro at spotting these little guys. It was a blast though and we caught 6.

So after our last day of fun in the creek we returned to our cabin to make a dinner. I was a little tipsy. So for dinner I made 3/4 lb old fashioned bacon Cheeseburgers with more grill fries, chipotle ketchup and NOW, crawfish!

This was my grill area all weekend. they had a charcoal Weber. Perfect!

 If you want to make Crawfish it's really easy. Just keep them alive in water until it's time to eat them. Put them in a calender and wash them off. For my boil I did water, chipotle sauce, garlic, olive oil, salt, and smoked paprika. Got it boiling and dropped them in for about 5 or 6 minutes. They didn't take long at all. They turn a real nice red once they're finished. The only meat you going to get is the tail meat. So don't even waste your time with the claws, legs etc. You can suck the brain out but that's up to you. It was all delicious!! But we could only eat half of our burgers. They we're huge!!!! 

It was an amazing weekend!! It went too fast but we made some great memories!! Once returned home in Illinois my wife and son went to a water park on Thursday, and then on Friday we took our son Ty to Six Flags for the first time. For being 6 he amazed me how brave he was. He rode basically every ride he was tall enough for including the roller coasters. My wife is even crazier. She rode the Superman Tower of Power which takes you up 150 ft. on a cable then just drops you at 50 mph with no warning. She's the one covering her face after it was over, lol

Here are some more pics from Six Flags:

Another amazing day with the fam! 

Saturday we celebrated Independence Day by having a bonfire at my mothers house. It's an annual thing she does every year. It's really fun because all of our friends and family get together and eat, play guitars, and sit around a huge bonfire. They have a great setup with a couple acres in the county. This year they got a pony barrel of Bud Light, woot, woot!! As a matter of fact we we're doing Keg stands and shotgunning beer by midnight. Including my mother, LOL It was awesome!!!!

The fun part for me though was grilling and smoking all the food. We had a big pork shoulder, a big pork butt, chicken legs, chicken breasts, about 30 polish sausages, and a big slab of Ribs.  I used my special rub blend to rub the meat.

Ryno's Good Rub 

equal parts:

garlic powder

white pepper

kosher salt

coriander

smoked paprika

brown sugar

We had so much meat I had to use three grills. 

I had to build a divider out of foil and firewood to separate my blocks of Hickory. Everything turned out good though, and we had an amazing time.

So that's it! I'm sad this week had to end! I had such a wonderful time with my family all week. I'm pretty sure my wife enjoyed her time off from work too! I'll get back to the regular recipes soon! Thanks for letting me share this special week with you!!