A couple things I learned from this experiment worth noting:  1)  I slow cooked these on my Weber One Touch Gold kettle with indirect heat and tossed a chunk of pear wood on that was probably too big and I think they came out too smoky.  They were good, don’t get me wrong, but really, really smoky… so next time I’m going to use either a very small chunk of wood of just a handful of wood chips.  2)  As I mentioned above, the zucchinis were HUGE, probably too big for this and neither my wife or I were a big fan of how thick the zucchini part was on the end product.  Next time I’ll scoop more out the insides out when I’m making the boats and leave only like 1/4″.  These were easily 1/2″ or even bigger and it was just too much.  Regardless, I still consider it a success and will be doing these again soon.

Ingredients:  1 lb of ground sausage (I used mild, but you can get spicy for an extra kick), 2 medium size zucchinis, 1 red bell pepper, shredded mozzarella cheese, 1/2 cup – 3/4 cup of bread crumbs, paprika/salt/pepper/garlic

Chop the red bell pepper up and mix in to the ground sausage.  Also add the bread crumbs, salt, pepper and garlic.  Cut the zucchinis in half then use an ice cream scoop and dig the middle out.  Lightly coat them with olive oil then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Here they are all stuffed.

I slow cooked them for about 1 1/2 hrs at about 225°.  This is towards the end of the cook just before I covered them with cheese.

Here they are covered with mozzarella cheese and sprinkled with some paprika.

All done and ready to eat!

For dry rub ribs, I like to go fairly heavy on the rub b/c I like to have a nice bark on the outside to complement the flavor of the meat.  When I cook wet ribs I go lighter on the rub b/c the sauce is going to mask so much of the rub flavor.  Try experimenting on your own, but generally speaking, I’ve found that approach to work well.  The ribs came out amazing and really worked well with the cherry rub.  I also used cherry smokewood during the cook which made them that much better.  Thanks for looking and enjoy!

I’ve provided a ton of pics below that will walk you through the entire process, but before we get to the steps, I wanted to point out a couple things.  1)  Not all 32 qt pots fit well for this project.  Feel free to do a little research online to see which pot other people are using, but the two pots that seem to fit the best are either the IMUSA 32-qt tamale/seafood steamer or the Vasconia 32-qt steamer.  2)  For this project, you definitely want to use the Smokey Joe Gold versus the Smokey Joe Silver.  Here’s why:  the Silver has a bottom damper which can EASILY get clogged, so a lot of guys drill holes in a small, stainless steel bowl (like a pet food bowl or something similar) then mount in over the bottom damper to protect it from all the inevitable ash build up.  The better alternative is to go with the Gold model that has a damper on each side and does not have one on the bottom.  It saves a lot of headache and makes it easier to dial in your temp since you have a damper on each side of the smoker.  3)  Spend a few extra dollars and get all stainless steel hardware.  You’ll be cooking in this bad boy a lot so you don’t want to go low budget and save a couple dollars and have junk hardware securing your grates, heat diffuser and pit thermometer.  OK, now for the pics.  I’ve put a brief description above each one to let you know what’s going on in each pic.  Feel free to hit me up in the Comments section if you have any questions.

Parts list

Weber Smokey Joe Gold
32 qt IMUSA tamale/seafood steamer
1 can of black high heat black auto enamel paint
1 can of orange auto enamel paint (this is option…you can just put on 2-3 coats of the black high heat paint…)
12″ terracotta base
1/4″, 3″ long stainless steel bolts (3)
1/4″, 1 and 1/2″ long stainless steel bolts (3)
1/4″, stainless steel lock washers (8)
1/4″, stainless steel nuts (11)
1/4″, stainless steel lock nut (4)
1/4″, 5″-6″ carriage bolt (doesn’t matter if stainless or not, just find the longest you can up to 6″ for the handle)
Masking tape

Please note:  One of the steps I failed to take a picture of below is when we drilled all of the holes for the heat diffuser, the rack and the pit thermometer.  Do this before you paint so you don’t mess up your paint job.

Here is everything set out just before we got started.  There’s really not a whole lot to this.

Installing a 1/4″ x 5″ carriage bolt.  That’s a small piece of a broom handle on the end that we cut.  This provides a quick and east solution for adjusting the top damper without having to put a glove on.

Drilling the holes.  We used a 1/4″ bit, but if you have a 1/2″ bit, or better yet, a step bit, you can drill bigger holes so you won’t have to drill as many as we did.

Still drilling.  I’ve seen some guys that use ultra precision when drilling the holes out.  We just eyeballed it and drilled them all over the place.  I mean really, all I care about is air flow, not looks.  No one’s ever gonna see the bottom anyways…so who cares right?

Yep, still drilling.  Be sure to clean up all the little metal shards when you’re done b/c if you have young kids like I do they can be quite a hazard if just left lying around…

OK, I live in Gator Nation and bleed orange and blue.  Was I going to make a Mini WSM without a Florida logo of some sorts?  Of course not.  All I did was print out the Florida Gators “F”, carefully cut the F out, then taped the template down with cheap ol’ masking tape.  The trick here is to make sure you have at least 2-3 layers of tape over your logo.  You want a thick layer so it’s easy to cut out with a razor blade and also so when you paint over it there’s no way the paint will bleed through.

Cutting the “F” out with a razor blade.

This is what the “F” looked like when we were done.  Hopefully you get the idea by now…

Now we’re taping the lip of the tamale pot.  We’ll be attaching plastic grocery bags to the tape to protect the inside of the pot during the painting process.

All you really need to do is tear off some long pieces of your masking tape and attach it to the outside, bottom edge of the lip.

 Adjust the tape so it’s sticking up and slightly angled in towards the inside of the pot.  If you look closely, you can also see where we taped the handles.  This is totally up to you, but I wanted to the handles to remain a nice shiny silver color to match well with the silver “F” on the final product…

Take some plastic grocery bags and attached them to the tape.

 Spraying the first coat of the high heat black auto paint.  The trick here is to spray from about 1′-1 1/2′ away so it goes on nice and even.  If you get to close and too much paint hits the pot in one area there’s a chance the paint will run and you do NOT want that happen.  Just spray it on nice and light from a good distance and it will go on perfectly.

Here’s the first coat drying.  It should go without saying, but pick and nice and warm/hot day (no rain…) to paint.  On this day it was like 90° so the various coats of paint were drying in only 10 min or so.

After 2 or 3 coats of the high heat paint (I think I did 3…), it was time for orange auto enamel paint.  Here’s is a shot of the first coat drying.

This is right after we removed the tape over the “F” and were in the process of removing the tape from the lip and the handles.

To mount the grill rack, we used stainless steel 1/4″ x 1 1/2″ hex bolts, stainless steel hex nuts, stainless steel lock washers and stainless steel lock (acorn) nuts.  The lock nut goes on the outside then washer and hex nut are on the inside.  You can see in the pic how the grill rack will sit on the head of the nuts.

For the terracotta pan (that will be used as a heat diffuser) rack, we used 1/4″ x 3″ hex bolts, stainless steel hex nuts, stainless steel lock washers.

Here is the rack from the Smokey Joe  setting nicely on the 1 1/2″ bolts.

And here’s the finished Mini WSM, minus the Tel-Tru thermometer that I’m waiting to come in (that will go where the extra hole is to the right of the “F”).  I’ll post another pic once I get that mounted.

Welp, I knew right away after that cook what I wanted to do to help with temperature control:  I ordered an adapter for my BBQ Guru DigiQ DX temperature controller that mounts to Weber kettles.  It was really quite easy to install.  My buddy Josh came over with a 1″ hole saw and drilled the hole into the bottom of the kettle, then I mounted the adapter and taped over the small gaps with the high temperature tape provided with the kit (check the kit out here).  I’ve got a video of it here if you want to check it out.  Now all I have to do is mount the fan, close the bottom dampers and let the DigiQ take care of everything!  So…for my first cook with my new setup, I wanted to attempt a Boston butt.  The video below walks you through the entire process, from prepping the butt all the way to the end where I pull it for some amazing sandwiches

I was stoked about slow cooking on the kettle with the DigiQ, so I’ll most likely be using that setup in the future when I’m only cooking a little bit, versus busting out “Big Bertha” (my 22″ WSM)  :)  If you already have a a kettle but are interested in doing a lot of slow cooking, then the Weber Smokey Mountains (WSM) are probably best for you, but if you’re thinking all you’ll be doing is an occasional “low and slow” cook, then start with trying it on your kettle before you go buy a WSM.

Hope you enjoy the video!  Make sure to subscribe to the BBQ Bros YouTube Channel to check out all my other videos.  Thanks for looking!

Ingredients

4 sweet potatoes
6 Tbsp vegetable oil
6 tsp pure maple syrup (use the good stuff if you have it, but it will still taste good if you use the cheap stuff)
1 tsp cinnamon
Salt & Pepper

Instructions

Get a pot of salted water boiling.  While waiting on the water to boil, peel the 4 sweet potatoes, then cut into thick wedges (think thick cut french fries, but even bigger…).  Once the water is boiling, toss the potato wedges in a boil for 4-5 mins.  Don’t boil longer than this b/c you just want them slightly soft.  Next time I cook these I’m actually only going to let them boil for more like 3 1/2 min.  While they’re boiling, get a large bowl of cold water ready in the sink.  Once the timer goes off, dump the wedges into a strainer, let them drain for just 15 seconds or so then get them straight into the cold water.  The cold water stops the cooking process and you want that to happen b/c if not the wedges will be too mushy.  At some point during all of this you will want to mix together the vegetable oil, maple syrup and cinnamon into a small bowl.  After the wedges have sat in the cold water bath for 3-4 min, dump then in a strainer to drain for a bit then return them to a large bowl and toss w/ the maple – cinnamon glaze.  Throw them on a hot grill (most likely need to use a vegetable grill basket like I do in my video below) for 7-10 minutes.  It doesn’t take much to get a nice char on them.  Once they look good, pull them and serve them immediately b/c they will cool down very fast.

Finished product right off the grill.

Here’s the video from start to finish.

Pecan Crusted Pork Tenderloins

Ingredients

Two, 1-1.5 lb tenderloins.
1 bag of pecan “pieces” (make sure to get the “pieces” so you don’t have to spend any additional time grinding them down…)
1-2 cups of panko crumbs or bread crumbs (I used panko.  You don’t have to use either, it just adds a bit more texture.)
3/4 – 1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
Salt, pepper, or any other seasoning you want (I used a bit of the Simply Marvelous “Sweet Seduction” rub which has dehydrated peach and honey powder in it which was perfect for this)

Directions

Beat the 2 eggs and set aside.  Combine the pecans, brown sugar, optional panko or bread crumbs and your spices and mix in a bowl then spread into a thin, even layer in another tray or glass pan.  Lay the tenderloins down in a tray and pore the egg all over them and flip them over to make sure they’re as covered with the egg as possible.  Transfer them to the tray with the pecan toppings and roll around until completely covered.  Sit in the fridge for at least a couple hours.

Get your kettle ready and get the temp up to anywhere between 325° – 400° (I cooked mine at 350°).  Here’s the main thing to keep in mind with tenderloins:  though they are quite thick, they cook extremely fast and you only want to cook them to about 160° – 165°.  Use a remote food probe if you have one to keep a constant eye on them, if not, plan on drinking a beer near the grill and checking the temp 10-15 minutes into it and every few minutes after that.  No need to turn them, unless you just want to, but I never do and they also cook evenly enough for my tastes.  Pull em’ off when they’re done, slice immediately and serve.

Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce

I borrowed this recipe from this blog, but I tweaked it a little, leaving out the rum b/c I didn’t have any and did 1/2 with chipotles and 1/2 without them.

Ingredients

1 1/2 – 2 cups raspberry preserves
Anywhere between 2-5 chipotles (in abodo sauce)
3 cups ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp yellow mustard
1 Tbsp pure chili powder
2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tsp garlic powder
1 Tsp ground allspice
1/4 Tsp ground cloves

Directions

Mix all the ingredients except the ketchup and chipotles into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer until everything is mixed well and dissolved.  At this point, add the ketchup and bring to a boil.  Once it starts boiling, drop the heat way down to just a simmer and add the finely chopped chipotles.  CAUTION:  the chipotles pack quite a kick, so be careful, especially if you think you might have some people trying the sauce that aren’t big heat fans.  I took the recipe and split it into 2 sauce pans and only add 2 chipotles into one of them.  It had a nice kick, but since I like hot stuff, next time I’ll use more  :)  The one without them was super good too though and still had a bit of kick (according to my wife).  Simmer for 30 minutes, let cool, then jar.  It will keep in the fridge for a few months (but it will be gone before that…..guaranteed…).

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

 Here they are after they sat in the fridge for a few hours covered in the pecans, panko, Simply Marvelous rub and brown sugar.

Sliced just seconds after I pulled them off the Weber kettle.

Drizzled with the homemade raspberry chipotle BBQ sauce.

 Here’s the video from start to finish.

Here’s a pic of the ingredients:

Here’s a pic of them all mixed up before hitting the smoker:

And here they are after they finished are about to be served:

Here’s the video where I walk you through it all in more detail.  Enjoy!

When we went it was just the second day after they opened and they seemed to be running smoothly.  When you walk in, there are 3 main stations you’ll work your way through.  The first station is where you order what size burger you want and specify any grilled items you want like grilled onions or peppers, bacon, cheese or even egg.  You also pay at that station.  The second station is where the fun is.  Glancing at the Relish menu, you’ll quickly see why they call themselves that.  They have 8 different awesome relishes to choose from!  The one I got was their Mango Habanero and it was really good.  They also have many other sauces, practically anything I could think of putting on a burger…and then many fresh toppings.  Lastly, the final station is where you pick up your order.  We waited all of 5-7 minutes, grabbed our drinks (free refills) and then were sitting outside in their patio area annihilating the goodness that was in front of us

The burger was AMAZING!  The thought that kept crossing my mind before, during and after our visit there was Five Guys.  I may have to take cover from some of you when I say what I’m about to say…but…it was better than Five Guys in my opinion  The quality of the meat, bun and fries was just as good as Five Guys (if not better), but the many different relishes and sauces is what really gives them a notch about Five Guys to me.  In additional, the people were friendly, the place was clean and they had great music playing too.  They also serve beer (though I couldn’t indulge since I was on my lunch break…) with an option to join their “Mug Club”, which gets you a 32 oz mug that you can bring in for one year and get endless domestic refills for $3 or import refills for $5.  For all you beer drinkers, it’s worth mentioning they have Swamphead on draft.  So do the math…$5 for a 32 oz Swamphead beer is probably the best you’ll find in G-ville!!!

Better yet, they even have a food challenge called the “Big Tasty Challenge” which consists of the following:

• $20 to attempt it
• 1 hamburger consisting of 8 patties (total of 2 lbs), 8 slices of cheese, 8 strips of bacon, 1 fried egg, grilled onions & peppers and your choice of any 1 relish
• 1 1/2 lbs of fries
• 32 oz beverage of choice (beer or soda)
• You have 15 minutes to finish the entire meal and down the beverage
• If you win….your meal is free, you get a free T-shirt, your photo on their “Big Tasty Challenge Wall” and a free 32 oz mug for the Mug Club
• If you loose….you pay $20  :)

Welp, that’s all for now.  Can’t wait to go again!  Preferably after work so I can enjoy a cold Swamphead brew along with my massive burger!  I took a couple pics with my phone that I’ve posted below too!

My burger!

One of their hotdogs!

 Update 5/2/12 – I’ve been 3 times since they opened last week ( I know…not healthy living…) and it has been awesome every time.  They easily beat out Five Guys.  I’ve now tried almost all of their relishes and the burger below that I got today had 3 of them on there!  It had the tomato relish, the tangy relish and the mango habanero relish.  SOOOOoooo good!

Pics are below.  For this recipe I used the Simply Marvelous Apple BBQ Rub and Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce.  They will be an instant hit with any crowd.  Guaranteed.  :)