Jalapeno Cilantro Pork Steak Bacon Burger

Recipe by Bob Trudnak with The BBQ Guru

• 1 Pork Butt Roast (appx. 3 lbs)
• 1 pack of onion buns
• 1 package of bacon (Bob suggests Jalapeno & Cilantro bacon from http://www.bespokebacon.com)
• 1 medium fresh jalapeno pepper (seeds removed)
• Fresh cilantro
• 1 medium Vidalia onion
• 4 oz. sour cream
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Garlic powder
• 3 tsp Olive Oil

1. Set up your smoker and pre-heat to 275° F.
2. Coat pork roast with olive oil and season liberally with kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder
3. Cook the pork roast in the smoker until it reaches an internal temperature of 175°F.  Once the internal temperature is reached, let rest for 20 minutes.
4. In a medium sized skillet, fry up the bacon until crispy.  Set aside on paper towels.
5. Slice the onion into thick rings.  Using the grease from the fried bacon, caramelize the onion rings and set aside.
6. Finely chop cilantro and jalapeno pepper and combine with the sour cream in a bowl.  Mix lightly and set aside.
7. Once pork roast has rested for 20 minutes, slice into 1 1/2” thick slices.
8. Assemble burgers by smearing jalapeno/cilantro sour cream on both bun slices.  Place pork steak on bun and top with caramelized onions and bacon. 
9. Serve to happy guests!

As the sun sets on another Memphis in May, I’ve run into a bit of a conundrum as to how to approach this.  There’s so much to talk about regarding the BBQ orgy fest known as Memphis in May!  With events this grand in scale, sometimes it’s hard to find a good place to start.  This time around, I think I’ll start with some random, scattered, unorganized observations and pictures sprinkled in…

I always keep forgetting just how expansive the competition site is!

And the booth decorations never fail to amaze me!

And, quite frankly, there was amazing food everywhere!  This is why you need to be part of a team…

The featured country for this year’s event was Sweden…

The guys from Too Sauced to Pork know how to have a great time!!

This trip turned into an impromptu blogger convention.  I had a blast hanging out with Chris from NibbleMeThis, Robyn from GrillGrrrl, and Robyn’s dad Eddie.  Mr. Eddie knows EVERYONE!  I swear he’s the papa familia of BBQ!
 

It was also really really cool to hang out with the crew from the National Pork Board all weekend as well!  Robyn was doing interviews with several teams there, and I got to tag along!

And the people – amazing as always!  The crew from The Shed were such a blast to hang out with!!  And a huge congratulations to them for their win in whole hog!!

And the hospitality from Ubon’s and Big Bob Gibson was second to none!

I’ll come back later with more random thoughts.  In the meantime, if you want to see more pictures from Memphis in May, check out the Facebook page for Big Wayner’s BBQ Blog.

I met the team from The Shizzle at the 2012 Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Festival in Charlotte.  While I usually don’t do much in the way of jerk marinades, I had to make an exception for this stuff.  And while it took me quite a while to finally open up the product and try it out, it was well worth it!

The Story

For those who don’t know what jerk is, it’s a style of cooking originating from Jamaica where the meat is flavored (either through a dry rub or a wet marinade) using a combination of spices known as a Jamaican jerk spice.  While it is traditionally used in pork and chicken, more and more recipes are available for all types of protein – fish, shrimp, beef, and even tofu!  The Jamaican jerk spice has two highlighting components – allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers.  Other ingredients can be added to the spice mixture as well (cloves, cinnamon, etc.).

The Shizzle Jerk Marinade is produced by the folks at Big & Fine Food Co. out of Raleigh, NC.  Their goal with The Shizzle is to offer a unique marinade that pays homage to traditional Jamaican jerk flavors while offering up one-of-a-kind taste profiles in as natural a manner as possible. The product touts itself as being free of high fructose corn syrup, MSG, artificial preservatives, and artificial colorings.

The Goods

Ingredients: pineapple mash, soy sauce, traditional jerk spices, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, cane sugar, sea salt, habanero peppers, xanthan gum.
Appearance: muddy brown in color; very thick and chunky
Aroma: hints of sweet are picked up on top of soy sauce, peppers, cloves, and maybe a touch of cinnamon
A Taste: the jerk spices are the star here, with the soy flavoring in the background; not much sweetness here; fairly spicy (if you have a low tolerance for heat, this will push your limits)

The Results

Normally I’d try this out on two or three different types of meat before reviewing.  And I still have intentions of doing so.  But I was so happy with the results that I had to go ahead and write about it.  Two pork chops (between 1 and 1 1/2” in thickness) were tenderized thoroughly using a jaccard style meat tenderizer.  They went into a zip top plastic bag along with about one-half of the marinade.  After about three hours sitting in the marinade, they went directly on the grill where they were cooked to an internal temperature of approximately 145 degrees.

Juicy… tender… tasty… definitely one of the better pork chops I’ve cooked recently!  I can tell that this would work great on poultry as well – I’m thinking jerk wings.  This product is a must-have for you marinade lovers!

Website: http://www.theshizzlesauce.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheShizzleSauce?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheShizzleSauce

As a blogger, I often get solicitations for blog ideas and content.  And quite honestly, I toss most of them out, as they don’t seem to always fit in with the theme of the blog.  However, I get some real gems that are worth sharing.  This is one of them.  And with the Wells Fargo Championship having been played here in Charlotte just last week, it seemed like an appropriate time to publish this.  A huge thank you to Roger, an editor with cable.tv, for sharing this and for providing the graphics!

So apparently some of the world’s best golfers are also fans of BBQ.  Each year, the past champions of the Masters gather together for a huge party and dinner.  The most recent winner foots the bill for this dinner, but he also gets to choose the menu for the shindig.  The menus have ranged from down-to-earth (the grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and mac & cheese served by 2012 winner Bubba Watson) to extravagant (the seafood tom kah, chicken panang curry, sea scallops, and more served by 2000 winner Vijay Singh).  There are a couple of dishes that really stand out.

Charl Schwartzel, the 2011 winner of the Masters, served up a South African style of BBQ called “braii”.  This style consists primarily of lamb chops, steaks, and various sausages.  We all know that there are multitudes of ways to cook each of those meats.  One way is to marinade your rack of lamb in a mixture of Italian dressing and garlic (ratios can vary according to tastes – I like garlic, so I’d go heavy on that).  Then cook to the desired temperature and finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon to add a touch of acidity.

The 2003 winner, Mike Weir, paid thorough homage to his native Canada by serving up elk, wild boar, Arctic char, and (of course) Canadian beer.  As someone who has eaten elk and wild boar, I thoroughly stand behind the gaminess of both meats.  Elk has a texture similar to a blend of beef and venison, and it makes for some very tasty burgers (feel free to cook these towards the medium-rare side of things).  If you find it to be too gamey, blend in some 80/20 ground beef to not only reduce the gaminess, but add in some juiciness from the fat.  If you do that, I’d probably cook these closer to medium doneness.

And wild boar?  Absolutely tasty! If you can get a bone-in leg cut, go for it!  The tenderloin is also very delicious as well!  Flavor as you’d like – one way is to add some spice with a chipotle-based rub.

With Adam Scott winning this year’s Masters, it’ll be interesting to see what gets served at next year’s meal.  Please let it be kangaroo… If you’d like a full list of the Masters Champion Dinners from the last 20 years, you can find it here.

So what did you think of this?  Is this a piece that you enjoyed reading?  Let me know if you’d like to see more articles like this.  Leave a comment, send me an email at bigwaynerbbq@gmail.com, or you can send me a note via the contact page of this site.

I love to buy local products when possible especially bbq related items.  It doesn’t get any more local for me than Smokin’ Dave’s BBQ Rubs which are made right in my backyard here in St Louis MO.  Created by a couple of competition bbq cooks, Dave Burchardt (Smokin’ Dave) and Matt Dieckhaus, these rubs offer up a little something for every palette.

Dave and Matt used their trio of rubs at bbq competitions in the St Louis area.  After having quite a bit of success, they decided to package their products making them available to everyone.

The trio…Salt Steak Seasoning, Gourmet Rub (Sweet & Zesty) and Gourmet Rub (Original).

Salt Steak Seasoning – Bursting with salty, savory flavor that will enhance not just steak but any hearty meat such as brisket or beef ribs. I liked this on so much I even tried it on veggies..and it works!

Gourmet Rub (Sweet & Zesty) – What appears to be a salt and paprika base enhanced with chili powder and rounded out with herbs and other spices. There is a nice sweetness and a slight kick on the back end. This would be good on pretty much anything that needs a little boost…chicken, pork or maybe salmon.

Gourmet Rub (Original) – A good, quality, all-around rub that is neither too sweet nor too spicy.  Little green bits of herbs are visible disbursed throughout.  This just looks darn good!

While all three rubs are excellent, my favorite of the trio was Salt Steak Seasoning. I tried it on burgers, steaks and even popcorn! It enhanced the flavor of everything it touched without overpowering the primary flavor profiles.

Check out Dave and Matt’s website www.SmokinDavesbbqSTL.com and get yourself a bottle.

I’ve had the honor of meeting the folks from The Shed briefly last year at Memphis in May, and I hope to do so again this year.  In the past, I’ve reviewed their Kinky Asian Marinade and had their Spicy Orange Sunset Sauce as part of a spicy wing throwdown on HotSauceDaily.  I also had the chance to check out their Ocean Springs location prior to it burning down and being rebuilt.  So I was looking forward to trying this out!

The Sauce

Ingredients: brown sugar, water, tomato paste, molasses, vinegar, salt, spices, garlic powder, onion powder, hot sauce, citric acid, mustard, jalapeno pepper, natural smoke flavor, lemon juice concentrate, turmeric, spice extractives, habanero pepper, carrot powder.  Gluten-free and apparently HFCS-free.  Definitely positives for people who look for that sort of thing.

As usual, I evaluate the sauce against my three A’s: Appearance, Aroma, and A Taste.

Appearance: maroon red in color, very thick texture but pours out pretty quickly, fairly smooth consistency
Aroma: sweetness and a bit of spice on the nose, very rich smell
A Taste: sweetness… buttery rich sweetness, heat (but not too much heat), hints of chili powder, natural smoke flavor is present but not overpowering

The Results

Chris at NibbleMeThis also has a great review of this sauce, so I would suggest checking it out!  For this review, I stuck to the basics – grilled chicken.  I used the sauce in two different ways – as a dipping sauce and as a finishing sauce.  This sauce works very nicely as a finishing sauce on chicken, and I suspect it would do the same on pork chops and ribs as well.  The sauce thickened up very nicely when used as a finishing sauce, giving the chicken a great color.  The heat was definitely more noticeable when the sauce was used as a dipping sauce, and the heat level toned down a bit when the sauce was used as a finishing sauce.  I could use this as my ketchup replacement for French fries.  It’s that tasty!

The Giveaway

Wait, what!?!  There’s a giveaway??  Sure is!!  Since I have a second bottle of this sauce, let’s do a contest.  The winner will get two bottles of sauce from The Shed – one bottle of Spicy Sweet and one bottle of Spicy Mustard.

I’m going to keep this giveaway simple – simply leave a comment on this blog post.  Bonus points if you say nice things about me   The contest will start today and end on Tuesday at 11:59pm EST.  The winner will be picked at random  using Random.org and announced on the Facebook page for Big Wayner’s BBQ Blog the following day.  The winner will have 72 hours to contact me with shipping info, or I’ll draw again.  And sadly, because I’m on a budget, I’ve got to limit this contest to US entrants only. 

Good luck!

I had the privilege of judging at this contest again for the third straight year.  It’s one of my favorite contests for a few reasons.  It holds sentimental value for me as it was the first contest I ever judged 2 years ago.  It’s also practically a hometown contest for me, only being about a 45 minute drive from the Charlotte suburbs.  And finally it’s the first contest in this area of the season, and with it the annual “family reunion” of judges and teams.  It’s akin to coming out of hibernation for the winter. 

As in judging any contest, sometimes you get great entries, and sometimes the entries are not so great.  For me that day, the chicken and ribs were especially good.  The pork and brisket, well… not so much.  But as sworn to do, I evaluated each BBQ meat as it was presented to my eyes, my nose, and my palate. 

In the end, it was a very good day for Two Old Men and a Grill.  The team won 3 of the 4 categories (a 13th place in pork prevented a clean sweep) en route to repeating as Grand Champion by a 13+ point margin over Carolina BBQ Co (full results can be found on the KCBS website).  Not only did Two Old Men and a Grill win the contest in dominating fashion, their overall score was 704.5718, putting them in an elite club of teams who have managed to score 700+ points in a contest.  Redneck Scientific placed 6th overall, with 3 Eyz BBQ placing 7th.

The following weekend brought 71 teams to one of the cradles of ‘cue in America – Lexington, NC – for the 2013 BBQ Capital Cook-Off.  In its third year of existence, the contest is quickly becoming one of the premier contests in the region.  Last year, the season 3 finale of BBQ Pitmasters was filmed there.  The level of competition for this contest was insane!  While I was not a judge there this year, I did get to go around and chat with some of the teams.  I was even able to get some pictures during the all-crucial turn-in times.  A huge thank you goes out to the guys at Pork Barrel BBQ, Redneck Scientific, Smokin’ Skullies, and Rocky Top Smokies for letting me grab pictures during turn-in prep!  If you’re interested in seeing all of the pictures, you can view them here.

Also appearing at this contest to promote all things grilling, BBQ, and outdoor cooking was Mike and Christine Peters of the Great American BBQ Tour.  They entertained the crowd with cooking demos and tasty treats all throughout the day on Saturday.

The competition at Lexington in 2013 was extremely fierce and close.  But in the end, it was back-to-back wins for Two Old Men and a Grill.  Their finishes of 17th in chicken, 4th in ribs, 22nd in pork, and 2nd in brisket were enough to edge out the reigning KCBS team of the year by just under .6 points.  Redneck Scientific finished 19th, Smokin’ Skillies finished 31st, and Rocky Top Smokies finished 50th.

The 2013 season ushers in two new initiatives.  The first is the inclusion of North Carolina as a member of the Mid Atlantic BBQ Association (which already includes Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia as members).  This membership means that contests held in North Carolina that fall under KCBS, MABA, and/or BBQ Brethren jurisdiction will accrue points for the MABA Team of the Year award.  The second is the creation of the Old North State series.  This series consists of four KCBS contests along the I-85 corridor in North Carolina – Kings Mountain, Lexington, Kannapolis, and Salisbury.  The best 3 overall scores from these contests are tallied.  The highest cumulative score receives a $3,500 cash prize, with the second highest receiving $1,500. 

The Story

Fox Bros. got its start in 2000 in the same way a lot of BBQ ventures begin – not finding anything that met expectations.  After getting fed up with not finding any good BBQ in the Atlanta area, Jonathan Fox turned to cooking it.  In 2001, he, along with his brother Justin, started what would be a yearly tradition of an all-you-can-eat BBQ party with friends.  By 2004, the yearly party was elaborate, prompting the brothers to turn to catering.  The BBQ catering eventually turned to a seven-day-a-week affair slinging ‘que at Smith’s Olde Bar, the accolades and press started to roll in, and the brothers teamed up with Dan Nolen, Beau Nolen, and Mike Reeves to open up a standalone BBQ joint. 

The Sauce

Ingredients: water, tomato paste, sugar, vinegar, molasses, spices, salt, onion, garlic, xanthan gum, corn syrup, caramel color, anchovy paste, natural flavorings, citric acid

Appearance: Clean, simple label; deep dark red color; pours out on the thin side
Aroma: Combination of vinegar, tomato, and pepper – you immediately get the notion that vinegar plays a prominent part
A Taste: Smooth texture; tangy, sweet, and peppery all rolled into one

The Results

Honestly, I was ready to write this sauce off.  I tried it on chicken in a few different combinations – as a finishing sauce, as a marinade, and as a condiment.  Out of those three, I was happiest with it used as a condiment, and even then it was just okay.  It gave great color when used as a finishing sauce, but I just wasn’t thrilled with the flavors it added.

I decided to give it one more try though, and I’m sure glad that I did.  I used it as a cooking sauce/finishing sauce on some turkey sausages.  But instead of adding just a finishing glaze at the end, The sausages got a thin coating of the sauce at the beginning of the cook and two additional times approximately 2-3 minutes apart.  Then after flipping, I repeated the process (3 thin coatings approximately 2-3 minutes apart).  Needless to say, these were delicious!  The sauce thickened up quite nicely on the meat and added great flavor!  The sweet aspects came out much more when cooked, whereas the vinegar flavor was more dominant as a finishing sauce. 

If you’re a fan of sweet & tangy sauces, give this one a try! 

Website: http://www.foxbrosbbq.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/foxbrosbarbq
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FoxBrosBarBQ

And a special thank you to Snazzy Gourmet for sending me the sauce to review!  You can purchase the sauce from Snazzy Gourmet’s website.  The direct link to the product is here.

Website: http://www.snazzygourmet.com

The Story

I could spend days and days and days on the story of Ubon’s and still not do it justice, so I’ll give it my best.  Restaurant… competition team… sauce maker… Ubon’s does it all and has done it all for well over 30 years.  Ubon’s Barbeque of Yazoo (and pitmaster Garry Roark) is featured year after year at the Big Apple Barbeque Block Party and has received numerous accolades.  Ubon’s is a regular on the competition circuit (and especially at Memphis in May).  Garry’s daughter Leslie is a partner in the restaurant/catering/sauce business as well as the rib & chicken cook for the competition team.  And having the pleasure of meeting the entire Ubon’s family at Memphis in May last year, I can say with 100% confidence that they are some of the nicest people I know!

The sauce recipe came from Leslie’s grandfather Ubon Roark and goes back an estimated five generations.  It touts itself as having Memphis flair with a nod to Kansas City.  I highly suggest reading more about the history of Ubon’s here and here. 

The Sauce

Ingredients: ketchup, brown and white sugar, distilled vinegar, hot sauce, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce, chopped onion, sodium benzoate, citric acid, spices.

Appearance: dark shade of red with spices visible, slightly chunky texture (from the chopped onion)
Aroma: immediate aromas of tomato, hot sauce, and vinegar
A Taste: a natural sweetness that isn’t overpowering with a tang from the vinegar and a bite from the hot sauce; not spicy at all

The Results

I’ve had this as a condiment on pulled pork sandwiches, which I really really like.  But the one experience I want to talk about in trying out this sauce – BBQ sloppy joes!  This came as a result of working from home one day and trying to figure out what to have for lunch one day.  In the refrigerator was some leftover brisket slices and burnt ends.  These were given a chop and put in a cast iron skillet over medium heat with 1/4 cup of beef broth to essentially rehydrate the meat. 

After 5-10 minutes, I added 1 1/2 cups of Ubon’s sauce and allowed to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  In one word: deliciousness!!  A word of caution, though… use a nice dense bread for this.  White bread just won’t cut it!

For more info on Ubon’s, visit their website at http://www.ubons.net, where you can also order their sauces as well as their Bloody Mary mix.  You can also find Ubon’s on Facebook and Twitter.