Smoked Turkey Legs and Mashed Potatoes!

    Hi, I hope everybody is doing well. I recently smoked some turkey legs and potatoes. I had been wanting to smoke turkey legs and found some on sale one day. I froze them until I had time to smoke them  and then thawed them in the fridge. The seasonings were kept simple, salt, pepper, and paprika. The legs were smoked for about 2 and a half to 3 hours at 300 degrees. The ends were foiled about half way through cooking to keep them from getting burnt. 

      We have come to love smoked mashed potatoes lately. This time I made the potatoes in two batches. I have made them again since all in one batch. When I made them with the turkey legs, I did them 4 at a time on the BBQ Vegetable Rack. Then half way through, I wrapped the first batch in foil to stay warm and soften more. Once they were nice and soft and dinner was almost ready it was time to mash. All the potatoes went in a bowl with butter, salt, and pepper. I mashed them a little before adding a splash of milk. I mashed them until they were a consistency I liked. The butter and milk amounts are really personal preference. I kept all the skins on, but you could certainly peel them after smoking if you like.  

Turkey legs and potatoes smoking.

After foiling the legs

Finished product

     The whole meal was great. The turkey legs had the right balance of spice, smoke, and turkey flavor. The skin was crispy and the meat tender. I dipped some of my turkey in Big Butz Cranberry BBQ sauce. The potatoes had nice mild smokey flavor and were very tasty. I gave my bone to my daughter when I was done with it. She enjoyed posing for pictures with it. 

Isabella posing with the turkey leg.

      We loved the turkey legs so much that we already have more in the freezer ready to smoke. We definitely will be making them again. Have you ever enjoyed a smoked turkey leg? Feel free to leave me a comment and share this post with your friends. Have a great week and happy grillin'. 

Tweet

Wings and Sauce!

       I know it has been awhile. I hope everybody is doing well. Is everybody looking forward to the Super Bowl? I look forward to the food and commercials. Speaking of food, I recently took a class at one of the local shops called NonEssentials about cooking wings. I have never done wings before and was excited to get some first hand experience. The class was taught by a local guy named OB who makes various sauces at his place in Eagle River, Alaska. He showed us his technique for wings and we tried his various sauces. Everything was fantastic. The wings were super crispy and full of robust flavor. The sauce wasn't too vinegary or too spicy like a lot of buffalo sauces can be. It was the right balance of flavor. The only thing I was slightly disappointed with was the fact that the wings are fried. To get that incredible crunch they almost have to be fried. Steven Raichlen suggests in his latest Barbecue Bible post to grill wings indirect with a little wood for smoke flavor. The skin is supposed to stay crispy that way. The temp needs to be in the 350 range. I am planning on trying OB's method and indirect grilling the wings. I'll let you know what happens.
         You can see all of OB's products on his website OB's Sauce and Spice Company. His recipe is there also. He uses a dry mixture for his wings. The wings are coated then left in the fridge for at least an hour and up to overnight. Then they get rolled in the mixture again and then fried. He said the dry mixture works well for other foods you want a nice coating on, like chicken fried steak, pork chops, or just plain fried chicken. The time and temp of the chicken is important too. The oil needs to be at 375 degrees and the chicken in the oil for 13 minutes.
      Here is his recipe on his website:

Printable Recipe

OB's Crispy Buffalo Wings
2 hours : 1/2 hours prep time

1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp white pepper
20 chicken wings1 Jar of OB's Alaskan Wing Sauce

1. Combine flour, salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, and white pepper in bowl.
2. Coat chicken wings in dry mixture
3. Reserve leftover mixture. Will be used for a second coating.
4. Refrigerate coated chicken wings at least 1 hour. Coating should be pasty.
5. Preheat oil to 375 degrees to fry chicken wings.
6. Prepare OB's Alaskan Wing Sauce per directions on jar.
7. Coat chicken wings in remaining dry mixture.
8. Deep fry chicken wings (10 pieces at a time) for 13 mins.
9. Drain chicken wings on paper towels then place in a bowl.
10. Pour a portion of OB's Alaskan Wing Sauce over chicken wings and toss till covered.
11. Repeat steps 6-9 with second batch.
Note: Wings can be frozen and reheated in 400 degree oven for 10 min.

Sauces that I bought.

        I purchased a few of the sauces that OB had available.  I bought the wing sauce of course, to go with wings I hope to make soon. The white sauce had good flavor and pairs well with fish, chicken, and other meats. People even use it as a salad dressing. The bbq sauce is the first sauce that OB started with.  It has a nice flavor of various spices, but none of it is overpowering. It won't outshine the meat, instead it adds a complementing flavor profile. I also tasted his hot bbq sauce, however I couldn't buy them all. The hot bbq sauce wasn't overpowering either. It had a spicy, but not mouth burning flavor on the back of your tongue. I am looking forward to trying these sauces on various foods.
       So what are you looking forward to eating Super Bowl Sunday? What is your favorite way to have wings? Have you found a local bbq sauce that you are excited about? Feel free to leave me a comment.
     Justplanebbq is on Facebook, Google +, Pinterest, and Twitter. You can follow me for blog updates, fun bbq related posts, and good conversation. I have many boards on Pinterest that are not just bbq related. 
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Justplanebbq
Google+ plus.google.com/u/1/+matthewschneider31/posts
Twitter: @Justplanebbq
Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/justplanebbq/

I look forward to interacting with you on my various social media. Also, if you haven't already, please subscribe to get the blog in your email every time I post. Have a great week and happy grillin'.

Tweet

Summer fun

       This is a quick non BBQ, but still outdoor related post. This is another post I wanted to get done this summer. We had a busy summer and had fun outside. We found a play grill on sale for our daughter. She loved playing with it and grilled lots of pretend food for us. 

       We also bought a fire pit. We had several fires in it. Each time we cooked dinner with it. We roasted hot dogs one time. Isabella loved that part. Another time, I cooked hobo stew in the coals. I put pork cutlets, onion, carrots, and potatoes with a little seasoning in foil packets. They cooked for about an hour. We ate them on the porch. Here are few pictures of our times. 

Hamburger or hot dog?

How's the food coming?

Taste Test

Got to wash my hands! There is a pretend sink on the other side.

Roasting hot dogs over the fire

   I hope you enjoyed the peek at some of our summer fun. Now that winter is almost here do you have plans started for next summer? Have a good week and happy grillin'.

Tweet

French Toast and Sausage On the Grill

     I hope everybody is doing well. This is a post that was supposed to be done this summer. Due to a heavy work schedule it didn't and I just found the pictures the other day. I whipped up a big batch of French toast for dinner one night when my mom was visiting from Oregon.  We also had blueberry birch syrup flavored sausages from a local butcher.  Making french toast on the grill is one of my new favorite ways to do it. I did a previous post about it where I did it directly on the grates. That was a little messy though. You can see that post here.

        This time I put my griddle on the grill and used that. My griddle is a Lodge cast iron double sided griddle. It works great on the grill or the stove. You can get your own from Amazon here. I made the egg mixture ahead of time. Everybody has their own favorite recipe for French toast, so just use your own recipe. Then when it was time for dinner, I preheated my griddle on medium heat. Working in batches, I dipped the bread then let it sit to drip and soak on a wire rack for a minute. I took them out to the grill and put them on the heated griddle. After a few minutes and the lid closed, I flipped them over. I alternated between lid open and closed to regulate the heat. If it was cold out, I would have kept the lid closed almost the whole time.  While the toast was grilling, I direct grilled the sausages.  The French toast and sausages were really good. The sausages had an incredible flavor. 

MMmm, looking good!

closeup!

    French toast is not the only breakfast food you can do on the grill. With the right tools almost any breakfast food could be done on the grill. What is your favorite breakfast food to do on the grill? Have a great week and happy grillin'.

Tweet

Mexican Lasagna

This is a non BBQ recipe post. The other night I made what we are calling "Mexican lasagna." It came out really good and so I decided to share it with you. It was even good reheated a few nights later. Sorry the pictures are lame, I forgot to take a picture till it was almost gone. I came up with the recipe off the top of my head and some of the measurements may not be exact but are approximates. Feel free to substitute ground beef for the ground turkey. We have a beef allergy in our house, so ground turkey is our go to substitute. 

Mexican Lasagna

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

6 flour tortillas (We used whole wheat)

1 can refried beans

1 large can diced green chilies

1 pound ground turkey

8 ounces sour cream

1 cup salsa (divided)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon taco seasoning

1 to 2 cups shredded cheese (depends on how much cheese you want)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cook ground turkey and add 1 teaspoon of taco seasoning to meat.
3. In a 13x9 pan add 1/2 cup of salsa and spread to cover the bottom.
4. Place 2 of the tortillas on the salsa.
5. Mix the refried beans, green chilies (drain the chilies if you don't want as much heat), and 1 Tablespoon taco seasoning. Add the mix to the pan and spread to coat the tortillas.
6. Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top.
7. Layer in 2 more tortillas.
8. Next mix sour cream with cooked turkey meat and taco seasoning. Spread the mixture on top of the last layer.
9. Top with 2 more tortillas, then the rest of the salsa and a nice coat of shredded cheese.
10. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes until it is bubbling and the cheese is nicely browned.
11. Remove from oven and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing. It will firm up a little.
12. Refrigerate any leftovers in the pan. To reheat, place in the oven covered with foil for about 20 until warmed through.

MMM, Yummy! 

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we did. Please pin it to Pinterest or share on Facebook. I also made it so you can just print the recipe. Just click where it says printable recipe here. Have a great week and happy grillin'.

Tweet

Stuffed Smoked Pork Loin

    I hope everybody is doing well. I possibly have an extended time off from work. So, I am going to try and get caught up on all the blogs I have been meaning to get out. I have multiple recipes to post. I am also going to be trying a few new things to make recipes easier. I think you will notice the picture clarity is better too. I got a new phone over the summer that has a way better camera than my previous one. As always feel free to comment and share my blog with others. The recipe today is one that came out really good. I had been wanting to make a stuffed pork loin for a while and I finally made one not that long ago. 

 Smoked Stuffed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

Pork loin

apple cider

salt and pepper

garlic powder

sweet onion

garlic cloves

apple

carrot

apple cider vinegar (or more apple cider/ apple juice)  for spritzing

1.  Trim any silver skin from pork loin and butterfly loin.
2. Inject pork loin with a mixture of apple cider, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Save any leftover injection.
3. Salt and pepper the inside of the pork loin.
4. Stuff inside with sliced onion and cut garlic cloves.
5. Tie the loin together with butchers string.
6. Rub outside of loin with olive oil and salt and pepper.
7. Put loin in a metal or foil pan.
8. Add sliced carrots, onion, and diced apple to the pan around the loin.
9. Drizzle olive oil and leftover injection on the veggies.
10. Tent with foil and poke a few holes in the top of the foil to vent it.   
11. Smoke the pork at 300 degrees indirect heat until it reaches 165 internal temp. It took about an hour and a half for mine to reach temp. I used alder with a little apple wood as my wood. I also had a few hickory briquettes mixed in.
12. Spritz meat and veggies a few times with apple cider vinegar or apple juice.
13. Remove the meat from the pan and let rest.
14. Spread the veggies out in the pan and roast over direct heat for an extra 15 minutes.
15. Remove the string and slice the pork before serving.

Pork on the grill

Nice view of pork cooking

Veggies all done.

Pork up close after slicing

The pork was super moist and very flavorful. The veggies had an incredible smokey flavor to them. We really enjoyed it. Have a good week and happy grillin'. 

Tweet

Grilled Fruit Crisp!

I hope everybody is doing well. I want to apologize for not getting any blogs out all summer. My work as an aircraft mechanic has kept me busy with lots of overtime. Also we have been busy enjoying the summer in Alaska. I will try to catch you up on some of the things I did this summer in another blog. I am going to give you a recipe for a crisp that I made up. I used peaches, nectarines, and pears, but feel free to try other fruits as well. All measurements are approximates, so sorry if you like to be exact.

for the filling:
cut up 3 peaches, 1 pear and one nectarine
mix in:
 1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
juice and zest of 1 lemon
splash of vanilla extract (or about a couple teaspoons)
a few shakes of cinnamon (or about 1 teaspoon)
a sprinkle of old fashioned oats

topping:
mix:
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
1 tablespoon flour
Set aside:
2 tablespoons of butter thinly sliced

To assemble:
Prep the filling
Prep the topping
Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a cast iron skillet
Add the filling
sprinkle with topping
add the sliced butter cut earlier on top
indirect grill at about 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour until it is bubbling and the top is golden.
(Note: you could also cook it at 350 for the same amount of time in your oven)

Crisp cooking on the grill. I had some alder wood in my smoker box,

We loved the crisp. I have made it twice now and have added it to my favorite recipes. I hope you enjoy it. I have other fun recipes to share with you from the summer too, so look forward to more blogs soon. Have a great time till next time and happy grillin'.

Tweet