Kielbasa Stuffed Cabbage

Kielbasa Stuffed Cabbage
1 medium-size head of cabbage
3 T unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 oz. kielbasa (about 3 inches), cut into 1/4 inch dice
1/4 C of your favorite BBQ sauce
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups wood chips or chunks (preferably hickory or pecan), soaked for an hour in cold water to cover, then drained

Crumple a 12 inch long piece of aluminum foil and shape it into a ring about three inches in diameter. Use this ring as a base to hold the cabbage upright while stuffing and cooking.

Set the cabbage on a cutting board on its crown. Cut out the core by angling your knife about 3 inches down toward the center of the cabbage and cutting in a circle about 3 inches in diameter. Pull out the core and discard it. The piece you've removed should look like a cone. Prop the cabbage upright on the aluminum-foil ring, cavity facing up.

Melt 2 T of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Brush a little melted butter (about 1/2 tablespoon) over the outside of the cabbage. Add the onion, garlic, and kielbasa to the skillet and cook over medium heat until lightly browned...3 to 5 minutes. Spoon the kielbasa mixture into the cavity of the cabbage. Pour the barbecue sauce on top and top with the remaining 1/2 T butter. Season the outside of the cabbage with salt and pepper.

Set up for indirect grilling. Place a large drip pan in the center of the grill with the coals ringing the outside.

When the coals are ashy grey, toss all the wood chips or chunks on the coals. Place the cabbage on its aluminum foil ring in the center of the hot grate, away from the heat and cover the grill.

Cook the cabbage until very tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours; when done, it will be easy to pierce with a skewer.

To serve, peel off any dried-out or charred outside leaves and discard. Present the cabbage on its ring to your guests, then cut in wedges and serve.

Armadillo Eggs

Ingredients
4 lbs Jimmy Dean Regular or Hot sausage
15 -18 Jalapeno peppers
2 white onions
1 bulb garlic
1 8oz tub of whipped cream cheese
1 8oz bar of pepper jack cheese
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
yellow food coloring
favorite BBQ rub



Finely chop the onions, 3 or 4 jalapenos, and garlic. Oversized vegetables will significantly alter the texture of the finished product. Let the cream cheese soften as needed. Shred the Pepper Jack cheese. Slice the remaining whole jalapeno peppers in half vertically and clear out all of the seeds and pith. Keep the matched pepper halves together.

In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese with the pepper jack cheese. Mix in enough yellow food coloring to approximate the color of egg yolk. The food coloring will not effect the taste but adds a little something special to the presentation.

Saute the onions and diced peppers in vegetable oil or butter over medium heat. I like the flavor of carmelized vegetables and this will minimize the water content of the vegetables. Add the garlic to the saute about 2 minutes prior to completion. Drain and mix the saute with the cheeses. Thouroughly mix to avoid any concentrated pockets of ingredients.



Spoon some of the newly created armadillo yolk into the sliced peppers. Fill each pepper half and then stick two matched halves together. It's okay if some of the stuffing squeezes out of the sides of the peppers. Refrigerate the stuffed peppers when done.



Use another bowl and mix together the sausage, egg, bread crumbs, and a couple of tablespoons of your favorite BBQ rub. Thoroughly mix these ingredients to avoid any concentrated flavor pockets. The egg will help hold the meat mixture together and the bread crumbs will actually retain moisture. Place this sausage mixture in the refrigerator when done. It's difficult at best to work with warm sausage when doing the stuffing.

Take the stuffed jalapenos out of the fridge along with the sausage mixture. Grab a handfull of the sausage and mold it around one of the stuffed peppers. You want to make sure the sausage completely covers the pepper. The final product should take on the shape of the pepper and thus have an egg shape to it. The easiest way to accomplish this shaping process is to use plastic gloves and shape each egg by hand. Try and get an even layer of sausage around each pepper.



Next, sprinkle some of your favorite BBQ rub on the eggs.

Heat the smoker up to 250F and toss in a couple of chunks of wood for flavor before throwing the eggs on the cooker. Sausage doesn't really benefit from low and slow cooking but make sure and choose a temperature that will cook the center without overcooking the outside (anywhere between 200F-300F will work nicely). Cook until the internal temperature reaches 170F-175F.

Bacon Explosion: The BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes

Behold, BACON EXPLOSION!!! Here’s what you’ll need…


2 pounds thick cut bacon
2 pounds Italian sausage
1 jar of your favorite barbeque sauce
1 jar of your favorite barbeque rub



To kick off the construction of this pork medley you’ll need to create a 5×5 bacon weave. If the strips you’re using aren’t as wide as the ones pictured, then you may need to use a few extra slices to fill out the pattern. Just make sure your weave is tight and that you end up with a nice square shape to work with.



The next step is to add some barbeque seasoning on top of your bacon weave. Being the barbeque addict that I am, I whipped up a batch of Burnt Finger BBQ’s competition pork rub for this special occasion. Seeing as not everyone has the time, or the expertise, to create a tasty rub of their own, I would recommend trying Bad Byron�s Butt Rub, Rendezvous Famous Seasoning, or Steven Raichlen�s All-Purpose Rub.



Now that you’re pork is well seasoned, it’s time to add more pork. Take two pounds of Italian sausage and layer it directly on top of your bacon weave. Be sure to press the sausage to the outer edges of the bacon creating a patty that is the same thickness all the way across. Most grocery stores carry loose sausage, so just pick out one you like. I chose to go with a mild sausage, but spicy would work just the same. If you really want to get crazy, take a stab at making your own homemade sausage.



Next up is bacon layer number two. Take the remaining bacon slices and fry them up the same way you would for breakfast (or lunch, or dinner, or a midnight snack). If you like soft bacon, make it soft. If you like crunchy bacon, make it crunchy. If you like your bacon burnt to hell so the smoke detectors go off, then burn it to hell so the smoke detectors go off. These pieces are going to be a major part of the inner flavor of our sausage fatty, so cook them your favorite way. Personally, I like my bacon right at the point when it starts to get crispy, but hasn’t quite lost all of the softness yet. Regardless of how well done you like yours, you’ll need to crumble or chop the cooked strips into bite size pieces and place on top of the sausage layer. (Note-It’s okay, and encouraged, to snack on these pieces while your chopping/crumbling. But keep in mind that once those bacon morsels touch the raw sausage, you’ll need to resist all temptations to nibble. This can and will be difficult, but hospital trips are no fun, so stay strong.)



Since this is a barbeque recipe, we need to add another layer of barbeque flavor. Take your favorite sauce and drizzle it all over the top of the bacon pieces. Personally, I prefer to use Burnt Finger BBQ’s homemade competition sauce, but if you’re torn on what brand to use I recommend Cowtown, Blues Hog, and Fiorella’s Jack Stack. Once you’ve sauced the bacon, sprinkle on some more of the barbeque seasoning you used on the bacon weave.




Now comes the fun part. Very carefully separate the front edge of the sausage layer from the bacon weave and begin rolling backwards. You want to include all layers EXCEPT the bacon weave in your roll. Try and keep the sausage as tight as possible and be sure to release any air pockets that may have formed. Once the sausage is fully rolled up, pinch together the seams and ends to seal all of the bacon goodness inside.



At this point we can start to see the final shape of our Bacon Explosion, but we’re missing one key item. To complte the constuction process, roll the sausage forward completely wrapping it in the bacon weave. Make sure it sits with the seam facing downward to help keep it all sealed up.




Sprinkle some barbeque seasoning on the outside of the bacon weave, and now this bad boy is ready for the smoker. Cook your Bacon Explosion at 225 degrees in a constant cloud of hickory smoke until your Thermapen gives an internal temperature reading of 165 degrees. Normally this will take about 1 hour for each inch of thickness, but that could vary depending on how well you maintain your fire and also how many times you open the smoker to take a peek. Mine took about 2.5 hours, which was right on target with its 2.5 inch diameter.



Now that our Bacon Explosion is fully cooked, we need to add some finishing flavors. Remember that barbecue sauce we used for inner flavor? We’ll be using that same sauce to glaze the cooked bacon weave. Using a basting brush, coat the entire surface with a thin layer of sauce. Sweet sauces are loaded with sugars, so they’ll give your fatty a nice glossy finish. Spicy and vinegar based sauces don’t contain as much, so they won’t set up as well. If you’re dead set on using those sauces, just cut them with a bit of honey and you’ll get the same effect.



Slice the Bacon Explosion into quarter to half inch rounds to serve. If your roll was good and tight, you should now see a nice bacon pinwheel pattern throughout the sausage. Obviously pork is best served by itself, but if you feel the need to make this meat monster into a sandwich, try placing a couple Bacon Explosion slices on a warm Pillsbury’s Grands Biscuit. You’ll reach pork Nirvana is no time flat!

ABT's

The Basics of ABT’s

ABT’s or Atomic Buffalo Turds as they are also known are considered BBQ Crack in the barbecuing world. They have received this dubious title because they are addicting. If you put a tray of these out at your next party, don’t think that there will be any left when you return because your guest will eat these as fast as they are made.

ABT’s are easy to make and very tough to put down. Now personally, I am not a big jalapeno fan. However, when you de-vein and smoke a jalapeno, most of the heat normally associated with the pepper is gone. What is left is a very rich flavor in a small little package. Every bite in an ABT is a symphony of flavors in your mouth. You start with the smoked bacon flavor; move to the jalapeno, then to the cream cheese / onion and finish up with a cheddar flavored smoked sausage.

Here is a list of ingredients to make approximately 20 ABT’s.

20 Fresh Jalapenos (Pick the straighter ones when you choose)
20 Cheddar Lit’l Smokies (1 package contains approximately 36 sausages)
1 Pkg. Cream Cheese (8 oz.)
2 Lbs. Bacon ½ or 1 strip per ABT
1/8 Med. Mexican Sweet Onion (Diced)
1 Tblspn. Turbinado Sugar



Start by putting on cellophane or latex gloves. The juices from the jalapenos are very potent and will still be in your skin days after you handle them without gloves.

Using a sharp knife, remove the stem end of the jalapeno.



You will notice that the inside of the pepper not only has seeds, but also a membrane (called the vein) that acts as internal support for the pepper.




To get to the seeds and vein, slice the pepper lengthwise to the end.



Make sure that you keep track of both sides of the pepper, you will want to mate both sides again after they are stuffed.

As you can see, the vein and seeds remain intact. You will need to remove both before you proceed. While there are tools for this, I find a tea spoon to be quite effective in removing both.



Once the insides are clean, you are ready to fill the ABTs with cheese and sausage.




Inside this batch I am going to add 1 tablespoon of turbinado sugar and 1/8 of a finely diced, medium size, Mexican Sweet onion to take a bit of the bite off the pepper and add another layer of flavor.




Once you have mixed your onion, sugar and cream cheese together into a paste, spread a small amount into each ½ shell of the pepper.




Next, place one smokie in each pair of peppers. *** some people like to just do ½ of a smokie with ½ a slice of bacon, the choice is yours.





With the smokies inserted in the ABT’s, sandwich the smokie in between both sides of the pepper and wrap tightly with ½ to 1 full piece of bacon.

After the ABT has been wrapped, place 2 toothpicks through the ABT. Make sure you hit both the pepper and smokie to secure the bacon on the ABT




Place the ABT’s on a preheated smoker at 250 degrees and cook for approximately 2 hours until done.



Don’t worry about the cream cheese coming out of the ABT. The smoke forms a skin that acts as a temporary plug in the pepper.



When the pepper is done, remove from the smoker and stand back. Some people try to remove the toothpicks from the ABT’s but I don’t. I find that they act as a handle and keep the sausage from squirting out with the cheese when you bite into one.



As you can see, the cheese is still creamy in the center. Two of these prior to a meal is a great way to prepare your guest for the main course. The problem is that many guests can’t stop at two!