Chris made the traditional egg roll made with an egg noodle dough wrapper (which are awesome!), but I prefer spring rolls that are made with rice based wrappers which have a thinner, crispier finish in my opinion.  You might need to search around a bit for the spring roll wrappers, so if you have an Asian food market nearby, that should be the first place you look.

Ingredients

Spring roll wrappers
Leftover pulled pork
Pre-made coleslaw mix
Sharp cheddar cheese
BBQ Sauce
1-2 eggs

Beat the eggs to make an egg wash.  Lay a spring roll wrapper with one of the corners facing you then brush the opposite corner and sides with the egg wash.  In the lower, middle-third of the wrapper, build out your spring roll with the pulled pork, coleslaw mix, cheese and then drizzle with some of your favorite BBQ sauce.  Take the corner and roll up the ingredients one turn, then tuck the two sides in and then finish rolling.  The egg wash on the opposite corner and sides will form a perfect seal.  Fry in vegetable oil at 350° for 2-3 minutes.  Set on a paper towel to let some of the oil drain off then serve with a side of the BBQ sauce for dipping.  Pic and video below.  Enjoy!!

This recipe is fairly straightforward.  The only thing that kinda drags this recipe out is the time it takes to Julianne the apples.  If you have a food processor that does that, count yourself lucky  Also…I cheat and buy the pre-made coleslaw mix. You can make your own mix….but that will also drag things out.  And really…the pre-made tastes perfectly fine, so why waste the time?  One last thing, I got the apple coleslaw recipe from my buddy Chris who has an kick-butt BBQ channel on YouTube called “Mother’s BBQ“.  Definitely go check his channel out and subscribe.  He’s got tons of epic recipes and I really like his laid-back style.

Apple Coleslaw

1 package of coleslaw mix
4 or 5 apples (I used Fuji apples)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tsp poppy seeds
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Julianne your apples then mix all ingredients together and sit in the fridge until it’s time to top the pulled pork sandwiches.  One thing to keep in mind here is that since Julianning the apples takes quite a while, they tend to turn brown pretty quick, so I just toss them in a bit of lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.

Apple BBQ Sauce

1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (I would recommend using an “Original” flavor as your base because the idea here is to really taste the apple flavors.)
1 cup apple jelly
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Whisk all ingredients together and sit in the fridge until it’s time to drizzle on top of your pulled pork sandwich.

And finally…pile up some freshly pulled pork and top with the apple coleslaw and apple BBQ sauce, preferably using the King’s Hawaiian Original Hawaiian Sweet Sandwich Buns.  You’re probably thinking I’m being biased here….but I can honestly tell you the sweetness of the King’s Hawaiian sandwich bun made this one of the best (if not the best) pulled pork sandwich I’ve ever had.  Try this recipe out and let me know what you think!!!  Happy Memorial Day!!!!

Here’s what Rick had to say:

The logos I did were a little complex so I had vinyl graphics done for the painting masks.  I saw the LSU Mini that used DupliColor Metalcast paint and decided to use that to get the anodized look.  I used red for the grill hardware and green for the pot.  The green is a little lighter than I wanted but I still think it looks pretty good.  The weather here in Minnesota has been pretty grey and rainy though so I didn’t have any sunlight to really show off the anodized look.

I drilled holes in the bottom using the steamer rack as a guide.  I figured if I don’t get enough heat this way I can cut the bottom out later but I don’t anticipate that happening.  I read on another site where he drilled larger holes on the outside to help the heat circulate up the sides.  The thermometer I bought required a 13/16″ hole so I had to get a step bit and used that to drill somewhat larger holes in the bottom.  I basically drilled the step bit all the way down on the outside and a few steps down for the rest of the holes.

Like I said previously I used 1-1/2″ bolts for the pie pan diffuser/drip pan and those bolts support the lip of the pan and not the bottom.  I don’t have another rack yet but when I add one it will be able to sit on the ridge in the pot for the steamer grate.

I like the idea of the adapter for the DigiQ but this is my introduction to smoking so I want to start simple and add more options as I gain experience.  Nice to know about piling the charcoal high and it lasting 6 hours.  That was one of the questions I had. I wasn’t sure if you need to keep adding charcoal throughout the day.  I figured that would be pretty easy though since you can just lift the pot off to add more charcoal.  With the way everything fits together it almost feels like Weber designed the Smokey Joe to be used this way too. The worlds most versatile $35 grill.

I am a fan of beef brisket so if the weather cooperates I hope to try that as my maiden voyage over Memorial weekend. I will again be using your instructions as a guide. I anticipate doing a day long happy dance as I drink/smoke/eat using my new toy.

First up, I attempted to copy the Domino’s “Fiery Hawaiian” pizza.  That has been one of my favorite pizzas from Domino’s lately and what I really like about it is the blend of both sweet and spicy flavors.  I also got to try out a pre-release sample of the Tango Spice Company ”Rome is Burning” Spicy Italian Blend.  As of writing this post it’s not release to the general public for sale yet, but keep your eye out for this one b/c it is hands down the tastiest spicy Italian blend I’ve ever had.  It will work with all kinds of foods, but one smell of this blend just screams “PIZZA!!!!”.

You can control the heat levels of this pizza with various hot sauces (I went with Sriracha) and/or you can use milder/hotter diced jalapeños   The ones I used came in a jar from the condiments isle at Publix and were pretty mild, so next time I think I’m going to use some fresh ones for more heat.  Pics and video below.  Enjoy!  :)

Toppings:

Red sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Sweet deli ham
Pineapple tidbits
Roasted red peppers
Diced jalapeños
Bacon crumbles
Hot sauce
Herb/spice blend

• Original Barbecue
• Smoked Herb & Garlic
• Chipotle
• Lemon Rosemary
• Sugar & Spice
• Bourbon Street
• Fire Rub
• Scarborough Fair

I had the chance to check out both the Original Barbecue and Smoked Herb & Garlic the other day and was stoked on the flavor profile of these rubs/spices.  I used the Original Barbecue on a nice rack of St. Louis style ribs and then tossed a couple grilled veggie sides with the Smoked Herb & Garlic.  The Original Barbecue is a milder BBQ rub that will go well especially with pork and beef.  I really liked the hints of cinnamon and brown sugar.  I left half of the ribs dry rubbed on the finish so I could really taste the rub, and man…it was goooooood!  Both my wife and I typically prefer sauced ribs, but both of us focused on the dry rubbed half until there were gone  This will be a great rub to use for a crowd b/c it has a ton of flavor with little kick/heat which is usually a safe bet when you’re dealing with larger crowds.

And let’s not forget the Smoked Herb & Garlic….  this is a blend that will rock on some poultry, but honestly, it’s so dang good on veggies that I’ve been tossing any veggies I cook in this stuff.  So incredibly good.  I’ll have to put it to work on some chicken soon, but for now, I’ve been using it out back on BBQ foods as well as in the kitchen on stove top meals.  The Lionheart guys say it’s their best seller and I can see why.  The smoky garlic flavor is unreal tasty.  Definitely check this one out!

I’ll be reviewing more of their rubs/spices as time permits, but in the meantime I had the chance to catch up with co-owner Luke Leonhardt and bounce a few questions off him.  Here’s what he had to say-

1.  Tell us about your background in BBQ - My business partner is my younger brother. We grew up in a cooking household, regularly helping out with dinners and Holiday meals. After I graduated from college I worked in several restaurants and got even more into cooking. I would steal ideas from work and try them at home. I bought my first grill about five years ago. It was a basic Weber kettle; nothing sexy, but it quickly became my favorite weekend escape. Every Sunday I’d make a new BBQ adventure project , including overnight cooks, where I was up every two hours spraying with apple or pineapple juice and fiddling with the vents to my Weber. My brother and I are just two guys who love to grill out, drink beer, and eat amazing food with family & friends.

2.  How did Lionheart come about and what do you guys pride yourselves on? - The first few products of our portfolio came from my attempts to make spice blends that were more interesting than those I found in stores. I wanted something that I could use in many different styles of dishes, and that would help my creativity. I got a lot of suggestions from friends that I should take these first few blends and sell them at farmers markets, and so I asked my brother to go into business with me(he’s the financial and technical end of the business). We picked the name Lionheart because it’s where our last name (Leonhardt) is derived from. We pride ourselves on spice blends that are original, versatile, and creative. Most of them can be used as rubs or as seasonings in other kinds of cooking.

3.  Tell us about your products and let us know what food pairings you recommend? -  Our current product line consists of eight blends:
1. Original BBQ dry rub – Sweet & moody with lots of attitude. Great with any low & slow cooked meats: ribs, chicken, brisket, pork shoulder. Boil with with fruit juice, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and cider vinegar to make an awesome homemade BBQ sauce!
2. Lemon & Rosemary – Soft, subtle, and aromatic. Use this one in roasted pork, seafood, and poultry dishes.
3. Smoked Herb & Garlic – Our top seller! Great on any meat, starch, or vegetable. If you like garlic, you’ve GOT to check this out!
4. Sugar & Spice – perfect in any baked goods (pies, cookies, cakes,), breakfast items (French toast, cinnamon rolls), or sweet meats
5. Chipotle – Smokey with a lime zip and ascending medium heat. I love this on chicken wings or Mexican style dishes.
6. Bourbon Street – Our spiciest product. a must have if you want to add that Cajun bite to meats, rice, jambalaya, or gumbo!
7. Scarborough Faire – a really versatile herb blend that has among its ingredients parsley, sage, rosemary, and time – Great with roast meats, soups, sautéed, and poached dishes
8. Scarborough Faire – low sodium – same great aromatics with no added salt

4.  Where can we purchase your products? - Our products are available in several retail stores in the Milwaukee area: Outpost Natural Foods, Bunzel’s Meat Market, The Riverwest Co-op, and Sweetwater Organics. Our products can also be purchased through our website: www.lionheartspices.com . We sell them in 5.5 oz pinch jars, and 3.5oz shaker bottles. We also can be found at local farmers markets during the summer!

I was traveling the other day and had the opportunity to read through a couple issues and was thoroughly impressed.  The magazine is full of high quality photos, in-depth BBQ stories and step-by-step recipes.  I wasn’t able to put it down until I finished reading each issue.  I have always considered myself a “backyard” or “back porch” BBQ fanatic and this is a magazine I can really relate to.  It’s chalked full of great advice and recipes for both the novice and the advanced BBQ’r.

As far as functionality, the magazine app navigates and zooms in/out smoothly and makes browsing the magazine a breeze.   Also, by briefly holding your finger down on any page, you’ll quickly be able to access printing and Evernote, Pinterest, Twitter, and email sharing of individual pages or partial pages.  Facebook sharing is slotted for the next update and possibly may even be available by the time you’re reading this

Pricing is as follows: the monthly subscription is $2.99, the regular monthly back issues are $4.99 each and the special issues are free to all app users.  Currently, they also offer a 30-day trial at the moment, but it could change in the future so make sure to check it out soon!

I had the chance to catch up with StoryQue editor Lavern Gingerich and chat with him on his outlook for the magazine and here’s what he had to say:

We have been selling barbecue equipment for Meadow Creek for over 5 years. Our sales site is at www.smokymtbarbecue.com.  Most of our customers are commercial users or serving crowds, but I am an avid backyarder and we have attracted lots of low budget backyarders and beginners by offering free recipes and tips on our site.  For a long time I’ve wanted to develop a paid info product for this crowd.  With my connections in online marketing and offline magazine publishing, it made sense to pursue a magazine for barbecue fanatics.

I feel the best barbecue is an experience, or a story.  I wanted my magazine to teach barbecue with an element of story, thus the name StoryQue.

We are looking for ways to make the mag remarkable.  Our focus is on building relationships with great contributors because content and readers are the life of this project.  We are working with NBBQA to give each of their members a free subscription to the mag.  We don’t have any big ad campaigns in mind, but we keep our minds open to ways to get in front of more and bigger audiences, such as followers of our contributors.

Check out more info on StoryQue at http://www.storyque.com.

I ripped through this easy read in a couple hours and it honestly reminds me of one of my favorite intro-BBQ books Smoke & Spice.  The main difference is that Smoke & Spice is a beginner’s book for how to make/cook all things BBQ, where this book is focused primarily on condiments/seasonings.  Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not downplaying how much knowledge can be picked up in this book.  It is jammed full of recipe after recipe of easy-to-follow sauce, marinade, rub and mop recipes that are going to be keeping me busy for months to come, guaranteed…, so be on the lookout for some of Kirk’s recipes in upcoming posts/videos of mine.

One thing I really like about the book is Kirk teaches the reader about basic ingredients, provides some of his “basic” recipes and then encourages the reader to experiment and just have fun with it.  One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that I can pretty much take a bunch of random ingredients laying around the kitchen pantry and in the fridge and experiment with my own homemade sauces, rubs and mops.  That is exactly what I got out of this book.  It shows you how you can make all kinds of amazing rubs, sauces, etc…by just learning what ingredients go well together.  Kirk also does a good job of providing detail on which region of the of U.S. (or other regions of the world) his recipes are inspired from.

For $10, I haven’t come across many (if any) books that have this much good info packed in 250 pages.  Grab a copy here on Amazon and let me know what you think.

This recipe is super straightforward and really doesn’t take that long to prep.  Let’s take a look:

First off, pick up a nice tri-tip from wherever you can find them and rub it down with your favorite beef rub.

For the goat cheese topping, take 12 oz of goat cheese, 2 Tbsp of olive or canola oil and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of your favorite aromatics (I used fresh parsley and thyme).  Mix together and set aside.

For the lemon honey mustard glaze, you’ll need:

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp ground mustard
1/2 cup honey (I used orange blossom)
Juice from 2 lemons

Mix all ingredients and set aside.

From here, all you do is direct grill or indirect smoke a tri-tip to an internal temp of about 135°-140°.  Once it hits temp, pull it and let rest for a few minutes.  While it’s resting, top with the goat cheese mixture and the lemon honey mustard glaze.  The flavor of the tri-tip with the goat cheese and glaze is unreal good.  I’m looking back down at the below pics as I type this and my mouth is watering all over again!  As usual, I’ve got a recipe video from start to finish at the bottom of the post.  Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!!

So there I was after having just annihilated my massive burger and while I was recovering I thought to myself…”What should I use the rest of the sauce on?”….Needless to say if you’ve already peeped the pics below…baby backs!  The next day was going to be a chill day for us and we hadn’t had ribs in a few weeks so it was a no-brainer at that point.  On top of that…I’ve recently received several viewer requests on my YouTube channel (please subscribe!!) to perform an indirect cook on my 2013 model Weber Jumbo Joe.  The Jumbo Joe (or “JJ”) is an 18.5″ portable charcoal kettle/grill which has quickly become my go-to portable charcoal setup (my Weber Smokey Joe hasn’t been too happy about that….).  It’s primary purpose is on-the-go portable charcoal grilling ideal for camping, tailgating, etc….but it is large enough to actually perform an indirect “low and slow” smoke on.

I have a video at the bottom of this post with step-by-step instructions from start to finish for making the sauce and setting up the JJ to smoke on, but here are the ingredients/instructions written out for ya:

Ancho-Cherry BBQ Sauce Recipe

2 large dried ancho chiles stemmed and seeded (Ancho chiles are dried poblano peppers and you may have to look around for them…)
3/4 cup dried tart cherries (I used the Sun-Maid brand that I picked up at Publix)
1 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp molasses
2 garlic cloves (minced)
Pinch of ground cloves

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the chiles and cherries begin to soften.  Next, pour the sauce into a blender or food processor and purée for 15-20 seconds.  At that point, if the sauce isn’t as thick as you would like you can put it back on the stove and simmer a bit more until desired consistency.  Set aside and use as a basting and finishing sauce for pork or beef ribs.

Enjoy the pictures!  I hope these entice you to try this sauce recipe out some time soon!

• Delivering flawless sear marks (see the marks on the ribeyes I cooked below!)
• Preventing flare ups which reduces over-charring
• Helping to keep meat tender and flavorful by catching fats and juices that drip down from the meat into the catch channels (“Valleys”) and therefore vaporizing them and sending that back up into the meat
• Creating an extremely hot, even cooking surface
• Providing a grilling surface that allows you to flip the meat without scraping/tearing the bottom of the meat

The GrillGrate comes in a variety of sizes that will fit pretty much any grill out there (check them out on Amazon) and takes about 15-20 seconds to install.  I tested out the large size kamado kit which fit my large model Grill Dome like a glove.  The ribeyes I cooked were not only the most gorgeous ribeyes I’ve ever cooked but also some of the tastiest.  I grilled the steaks around 400°-450° and at no point during the cook was there a single flare up and I swear these ribeyes were a couple of the most tender grilled ribeyes I’ve ever cooked.  I am very excited to begin experimenting with grilling other cuts of meat and veggies on this setup.

See below for detailed photos and descriptions.  I also have a complete video review at the bottom of this post which also features this ribeye cook.  Enjoy!

Check out more info at http://www.grillgrate.com/.

This is a close up of the interlocking grooves between the GrillGrate sections.  They take no time at all to snap together and place on your grill.

This is what the 3 pieces look like when all snapped together.  Notice the curved corners on this kit which were designed to fit kamado style cookers.

Close up of the raised rail design and valley sections below.

 Another close up of the rails and valleys.

 This is the Grate Tool that comes with the kit.  It is used for flipping meat without scraping or tearing and is also used to clean the GrillGrates.

 Here I’m showing how the Grate Tool slides up into the valleys in order to flip meat.

 The Grate Tool has angled tips which are meant for flipping the Grate Tool over and using to clean debris out of the valleys.

 You can see in this picture how perfectly the large model kamado kit fits my large model Grill Dome.

 I had my kamado running around 400°-450° and at no point during the cook did I ever have a single flare.  The sizzle coming off the GrillGrate was mesmerizing :)

 Close up of the perfect sear marks seconds after pulling the steaks off the kamado.

 Plated and ready to eat!