Lil’Iron’s May Flowers

We are in the middle of shooting rest of the Brinkmann video that will include, proper seasoning before first use and smoking a great meal. 

In the mean-time, I present a photo essay of Lil’ Iron’s Flowers that are growing around the BigIron.

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Whisky River Chicken Breasts

Hey folks!  One of the readers here at the BigIron sent me this recipe after I posted this video .   This is a great take-off on the pork….except with good ol’ yardbird. 

 

My thanks to Big Joe for this one

 

Whisky River Chicken Breasts (with apologies to Willie Nelson)

(aka Whisky Stuffed; Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breasts)

 

Ingredients—

Four boneless chicken breasts (two boneless whole breasts sliced in half)

1 lb. bacon

Salt

Pepper

 

1 Medium onion (fine chop)

6 ounces coarse chopped baby (porta)bella  aka (crimini) mushrooms

3-4 cloves garlic (minced)

¼ to ½ cup chopped black olives

¼ tsp. Ground cumin

1-2 Chipolte peppers (in adobo sauce)

2-3 Tablespoons brown sugar

3-4 Tablespoons Bourbon whisky (Jim Beam/Knob Creek)

Olive oil

 

1.) In a heated medium skillet, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and cook onions until translucent. Add chopped mushrooms, olives and garlic. Salt and pepper to tasted and add cumin. Cook until all water from the mushrooms has evaporated. Cool mixture.

 

2.) Chop 1-2 chipolte peppers fine (depending on how hot you like it), add to the cooled mixture with 2-3 tablespoons of brown sugar and between 3 and four tablespoons of good bourbon whisky. Mix thoroughly.

 

3.) Butterfly your chicken breasts and fill with the cooled stuffing mixture. Close the chicken breast , lightly brush with olive oil and lightly salt and pepper each breast, place on 4-5 strips of bacon and wrap the breast. Use toothpicks to keep bacon from coming away from the chicken. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

 

4.) Heat grill to 275o, smoke chicken over some dry apple wood chips for about 45 minutes to 1 hour (or internal temp of 165o, turning every 15 minutes to evenly brown the bacon. Usually, when the bacon is browned, the chicken is ready (check temps just to be safe).

 

5.) Take off grill and rest for 5 – 10 minutes.  Serve with your favorite sides and a nice cool sweet tea.

 

6.) Enjoy!

 

Recipe by Big Joe

Strong storms rocked the BigIron

What a night.  We had some pretty strong storms that came through this area.  Thank God we didn’t have any major damage but the winds did wreak havoc.

We will not be doing a follow up video today because we will be pretty busy picking up branches and debris from the storm.  In contrast, the weather is beautiful for Mother’s day.

Winds are still high and would not be too great for audio anyway.  Now I know in the big scheme of things, doing a BBQ video is not high on the priority list…….but I wanted to explain non-the-less.

God Bless and Happy Mother’s day.

This Weekend

Well folk’s if the rain holds out, I will be doing the second part of the Brinkmann series.  This will take some effort seeing as I have not used this certain model ever ( I have used an older one )…………..

on top of that, there are some things that don’t look that easy that I overlooked last week.  I will share these with you.

 

Stay tuned for curse words later………………………

Brinkmann Smoke and Grill - The Pros and Cons

OK, before anyone says anything, I misspelled Brinkmann on the video.  I left out an extra “n”.  Oh Well.

My vintage 1974 Brinkmann was getting a little long in the tooth. I went down to home depot and got a new one today.

There are some things I like and some things I don’t

 

 

 Things I Love:

I love the price - $30 - $35
I love the size - Compact and can go anywhere.
It’s cute and does not take up much space.
Perfect for small patios and folks in apartments (where allowed )
It is perfect for people wanting to experiment seeing if they like the whole smoking food experience without paying big bucks.

 Things I dislike

I don’t like the charcoal and water pans.  They are flimsy
(Shame on you Brinkmann)
There is no draft hole in the charcoal pan anymore
It’s not easy to add charcoal or empty burnt ashes

Is it functional?  Yes!
Will it cook good food? Yes

Is it really worth the money?

Heck yeah! Once you learn to work one of these little workhorses, the sky is the limit. I used one for years and all-in-all, they’re not a bad little smoker Charlie Brown.

It’s easy to look down your nose at one of these, but remember, we all start somewhere.  Whether you are a beginner or a pro, this little guy has something to offer.

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