food MikeUSMC: "Bury Me in Smoke"

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đŸ”„FIREBALL SWINEAPPLE KEBABSđŸ”„

Soak the chopped pineapple overnight in Fireball whiskey, then rub it with a combination of brown sugar, turbinado sugar and cinnamon. Cube the pork belly (1.5” cubes) and hit with a BBQ rub then smoke them (on a wire rack) for about 3 hours at 250°F. Move pork belly to an aluminum foil pan, add a full stick of butter pads, sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, then drizzle with (roughly) 1/2 cup of honey. Cover with foil and return to smoker for another 2 hours (add pineapple [uncovered] to smoker for the last hour). Remove from smoker, uncover, drain the butter from the pan, then lightly toss in BBQ sauce. Return to smoker, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, then remove pork and pineapple. Assemble on toothpicks* (or skewers) and baste them with the drippings from the pan (or a BBQ sauce). Put assembled kebabs back on smoker for about 10 minutes for the sauce to get nice and tacky. From start to finish, this whole process takes about 6 hours. This flavor combination is out of this world. Enjoy!

Thanks for looking đŸ»

*optional: sometimes I’ll also wrap them with a slice of bacon
 
“ARMADILLO EGGS” đŸŒ¶đŸ”„

Cream cheese and shredded cheddar, stuffed inside of a jalapeño, wrapped in 1/3lb of ground sausage (I only had pork), wrapped in 2 or 3 slices of bacon. Dusted with Hook’s Spice Rubs’ “Smokin’ Sweetness” BBQ rub and glazed for the last 20 minutes of the cook

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I had a few leftover slices of bacon, so I made my daughter some bacon wrapped Oreos 😉

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Thanks for looking! đŸ»
 
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Absolutely love the color of those ribs Mike. Also cooked perfectly and bite clean - NICE!

By the way, I like how you're staying in shape using gloves with JALAPENOS. :D

Seriously, nice looking cook buddy!
 
Downriver said:
By the way, I like how you're staying in shape using gloves with JALAPENOS. :D
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That was mostly because of the raw pork I was about to be handling :rofl: That’s also why there’s a gap in “assembly” pics between cream cheese and them already rolled up. I figured there was no point in getting the capsaicin oil all over my hands, just to wash it off and put gloves on :lol:

Here’s some more Armadillo Egg porn for ya, smartass 😉 I made these for a party I’d catered a few months ago:
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And, here are the ones I turned in at the last (amateur) competition I did, back in September. Glazed with Blues Hog’s Raspberry Chipotle BBQ sauce at the end. Don’t even get me started on where these placed out of 7 total entries
 😡 :rolleyes:
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Cheers đŸ»
 
Tinkerbelle said:
what's an armadillo egg?

I know I'm going to regret asking this question
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😂😂😂

MikeUSMC said:
“ARMADILLO EGGS” đŸŒ¶đŸ”„

Cream cheese and shredded cheddar, stuffed inside of a jalapeño, wrapped in 1/3lb of ground sausage, wrapped in 2 or 3 slices of bacon. Dusted with Hook’s Spice Rubs’ “Smokin’ Sweetness” BBQ rub and glazed for the last 20 minutes of the cook
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I smoked them at 250°F (121°C) for about 2.5 hours đŸ»
 
I just ate, then I saw your ribs and eggs, now I’m hungry again 😜👍.
Now that you’re not working 1000 hrs a week ,that means more time for comps,eh. đŸ€”đŸ‘
 
PtMD989 said:
I just ate, then I saw your ribs and eggs, now I’m hungry again 😜👍.
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Haha, thanks, Bryan!

PtMD989 said:
Now that you’re not working 1000 hrs a week ,that means more time for comps,eh. đŸ€”đŸ‘
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Not sure that I’ll do any more comps than the “amateur” one I always do in September. I really enjoy competing in that one though. It’s really laid back, nobody takes it too seriously, and I’ve gotten to be pretty good friends with the rest of the competitors (it’s been the same 6 or 7 of us “teams” in the last 2 years that I’ve done it). As far as KCBS goes, there are only 2 events (that I know of) that are regularly hosted in Connecticut; “The Hartford Riboff” and the “Mohegan Sun BBQ Fest” (at a casino). Conflicting obligations have prevented me from ever having a chance to even attend the “Riboff” but, a few years ago (2016/17?), @The_NorthEast_ChileMan came down from Massachusetts to the one at the casino to hang out with me. We had a few beers, some great food, and had a great time! It’d be cool to try to make that happen again. Actually, @Downriver came up from Virginia and was judging at that event too, but we ended up missing each other. Maybe we can try again this year? 😏 Rick? Paul? Thoughts? I’ll have to see if they’ve posted a date yet for this year but, in years past, it’s always been right around Fourth of July.

What I can tell you though, is that my catering gigs are already starting to fill up my calendar this year, and I do an awful lot of catering for someone who doesn’t even have a catering business :lol: People are already trying to book me for events in April, May, August and a few September, lol.

Apparently, there’s been quite a “buzz” going around my town about my food over the last couple of years. Some from my Instagram account, but most of it is probably from doing the huge cook on Halloween at my house, where I cook for the whole neighborhood (and more). This past year, if I had to guesstimate, I’d say we probably had somewhere between 400-500 people come through my driveway 😳 Very stressful, but very rewarding!

People in my town have been begging me to open a restaurant or food truck for years now. I feel bad because, a guy did open up a small BBQ joint here, and he serves really good food. We’ve become pretty good friends too, and I make it a point to stop in and grab a bite to eat whenever I can, ya know? I was just in there the other day and he told me, “I can’t even tell you how many people come in here and ask me if I know you
 Oh, do you know ‘Iron Mike’? He lives in town and makes really good BBQ! You should hook up with him or get him to work here too!” Poor guy is probably sick and tired of hearing my name in his restaurant :lol:
 
MikeUSMC said:
...As far as KCBS goes, there are only 2 events (that I know of) that are regularly hosted in Connecticut; “The Hartford Riboff” and the “Mohegan Sun BBQ Fest” (at a casino),...
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Ahhh Grasshopper, the ability to expand one's passion is always present. Campground BBQ events, lol.

As far as Mohegan Sun goes, politics got in the way and they no longer are sanctioned by KCBS. Most BBQ comps benefit a charity or two. Mohegan Sun is definitely not a charity. It's a fun event, but it's nothing but a money grab for them.

Let me know if one of the campground events grab your attention. Maybe we'll come up if you decide to compete.
 
Downriver said:
Ahhh Grasshopper, the ability to expand one's passion is always present. Campground BBQ events, lol.
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Can’t thank you enough for showing me this, Rick! I had no idea about it! đŸ» One of those events is only 20 minutes from me!

Unfortunately (or not :lol: ), I’ll be down in Austin, TX eating BBQ that day! 😃 I’m spending that week in Austin, and heading down to Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, TX that Saturday. I’m really hoping to be able to meet “Ms. Tootsie” Tomanetz before she retires! This video is pretty old (when she was only 73 :lol: ), and she’s 87 years old now. She’s turning 88 in April, and she’s STILL the Pitmaster at Snow’s. Pulling all nighters on Friday nights, and shoveling the coals into the pits herself :shocked: Snow’s won Texas Monthly’s “Best BBQ in Texas” back in 2008, and they blew up after that. I’m sure you’re familiar ;) I’m definitely gonna hit Franklin’s too đŸ‘đŸ»


I highly, highly recommend checking out the Netflix series, “Chef’s Table: BBQ,” if you haven’t already. The whole series is great. I think it was four different Pitmasters, each with a 1 hour episode. Rodney Scott’s (world famous whole hog BBQ) was another episode, and another place I want to go see in person, in Charleston, SC (you hear me, @WarrantMan? ;) ). It’s impossible not to love Ms. Tootsie after watching it. Snow’s is only open on Saturday and, with my luck, the one Saturday I’m there in April will be her birthday and she’ll have the day off :rofl:
 
Driftwood, Lockhart and Taylor all have solid BBQ joints and are all surrounding cities of Austin. That’s where the best bbq will be imo not in the city limits. If you were going to be further up in North Texas I’d recommend Hutchins, Hurtados or Smoke secession. Great BBQ all over the state but I feel North Texas has the edge.😉 Popular bbq places from Austin like Terry Black’s and others have expanded into North Texas but I haven’t been too impressed by many. I grew up eating Hutchins and they set the bar so high it really my messed up my ability to enjoy other BBQ haha. I can’t hardly afford BBQ these days it’s gotten so expensive even Hutchins. Anyways if you make it up further north let me know. Just don’t go to Buccees (a popular gas station) and think you’re going to find good bbq like I see many do 😅
 
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