Patio Daddio BBQ - Musings of barbecue, cooking, and life -- served hot, fresh and saucy

Ingredients
6 large (1 1/4" thick) Bone-in pork loin chops
1 package (6 oz) Stove Top® cornbread stuffing
8 sprigs Fresh thyme, stripped from the stem
3 sprigs Fresh tarragon, stripped from the stem
2 Fresh sage leaves, rough chopped
1 1/4 cup Water
1 cup Sweetened dried cranberries (you can use Craisins®)
3/4 cup Dry white wine
1/3 cup Kosher salt
1/2 cup Orange marmalade
2 Tbsp Honey
1 tsp Whole black peppercorns
1/4 tsp Freshly ground black pepper

Method
Mix the wine, 3/4 cup of the water, cranberries, and half of the ground pepper in a small sauce pan.

Bring the mixture just to a boil, remove from the heat, cover and set aside.

Grind the salt, sage, thyme, tarragon, and the peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or an electric coffee grinder dedicated to spices.

Prepare the stuffing according to the package directions and set aside to cool.

Puree the cranberry mixture in a food processor or blender until it has small chunks of cranberry left in it.

Add one cup of the cranberry puree to the stuffing and mix well.

Combine 1/2 cup of the cranberry puree, the marmalade, 1/2 cup of water, honey and the remaining ground pepper in a small sauce pan.

Bring the cranberry mixture to a gentle boil and reduce by 1/4 to create a glaze.

Remove the glaze from the heat and set aside to cool.

Gently cut a horizontal pocket in the center of each chop (all the way to the bone). You do not want to slice the chop -- just create a pocket.

Season each chop moderately inside and out with the ground herb and seasoning mixture, and let marinate 20-30 minutes.

Prepare your grill for two-zone cooking (direct and indirect) at medium-high heat (about 350º).

Gently stuff the pocket of each chop with the stuffing mixture. Compress the stuffing until the pocket is almost full (about 1/2 cup each).

Quickly grill each side of the chops over direct heat until they are seared and have grill marks.

Move the chops to the indirect part of the grill and cook until the center of the stuffing reaches 140º.

Remove the chops from the grill, drizzle with the glaze and let them rest for five minutes.

Drizzle each chop again with the glaze, serve with the remaining cranberry puree on the side and enjoy.

Ingredients
1 bag (14 oz) Cubed herb stuffing (I prefer Pepperidge Farm)
2 cups Chicken broth
2 stalks Celery, diced to about 1/4" (approximately 1 cup)
1/2 medium Onion, diced to about 1/4" (approximately 1/2 cup)
1 can (10 3/4 oz) Condensed cream of mushroom soup (Campbell's of course)
3 Tbsp Unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Garlic salt
1/2 tsp Ground poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp Ground white pepper

Method
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat.

Add the celery and saute five minutes.

Add the onion and saute five minutes more.

Put the soup, broth, garlic salt, poultry seasoning and pepper in a large mixing bowl.

Add the sauteed celery and onion to the bowl and mix well.

Preheat your oven to 375º.

Add the stuffing cubes to the bowl and mix very well.

Let the stuffing sit in the bowl 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Using your hands, gently form the stuffing into 2 1/2" balls (about eight) and place them on a large non-stick or lightly greased sheet pan. Make sure there is at least an inch between each ball.

Note: Compress the balls just enough to hold their shape.

Bake on the middle rack one hour or until the balls are nicely browned.

Remove the pan from the oven and lightly brush each ball with the melted butter.

Serve and enjoy! (Makes 8 servings)BG7PV5WP9AB7

You can think of FireCooker as a sort of "Facebook of backyard cooking". They showcase a lot of recipes and how-to information for anyone interested in outdoor fire cooking.

This is also one of the first grilling or barbecue sites that I've seen feature user-contributed videos. This really helps bring the content alive. The site also features professionally produced videos with Dr. BBQ. Here is an example of the videos you will find at the site.



So, if you're interested in sharing your barbecue exploits, or just want to learn how to get better at it, I encourage you to head over to FireCooker.com and get involved. It's a great site that I think you'll really enjoy.

Here are the questions that I posed to Mr. Markus.

Me: What was the inspiration to create the BBQ Pitmasters series, and what is the intended audience?

JM: Back in 2000, I was fortunate enough to meet legendary Paul Kirk, The Baron of Barbecue out of Kansas City, who agreed to let me cook on his team. At the time, all I knew was that I wanted to study the methods of making delicious brisket and pulled pork. I had no idea that competition bbq, a rich and varied subculture, existed. On the circuit competing, I met some of the legendary pitmasters, who not only shared cooking secrets, but also told me their personal histories, as each described their path to barbecue. One of them, three time world champion Myron Mixon, a true bbq legacy, had such a fascinating personal story that I just completed a documentary film about his family. Myron competes thirty six weekends a year, and that led to the idea of shooting a series about full time competition 'Q'r's-- a show that would accurately convey the rigors of the road and the challenges of this demanding lifestyle. TLC recognized the potential of the series and ordered BBQ Pitmasters. We hope the show appeals to men AND women interested in learning this truly American culinary art and intrigued by the life of competition barbecue.

Me: How is the BBQ Pitmasters series different from the other competitive barbecue series that have aired on other networks?

JM: BBQ Pitmasters shows in detail all the demands of cooking in competitions: the extreme weather, the allnighters, the hardships and unpredictabilities of the road. This show is also meant for the serious student of this food. After watching a few episodes, a viewer will actually know how to cook award winning 'Q. In addition, viewers will get to know these characters up close and personal. Their strengths, weaknesses, and most importantly, their humor. It is the first genuinely in depth look at this world.

Me: How did you select the competition teams that appear in the series?

JM: The pitmasters selected to appear on the series are true champions in the field. They have won dozens of Grand Championships and collectively earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. They are also comfortable with our cameras trailing them day and night for weeks at a time. We have all become one large family.

Me: Were all of the teams filmed at actual competitions, or are there also staged appearances?

JM: Of the eight episodes produced so far, seven were filmed at actual contests, where our pitmasters competed alongside each other and scores of teams from all across the country. Shooting at actual contests lends each episode a genuine reality, with our cast members challenged by real rules and deadlines. We want viewers to feel what these contests are actually like, the highs and lows of this demanding pursuit. We also created one contest in West Texas: The Johnny Trigg Shootout. There, it was just our seven cooks chasing several thousand in cash, but then we threw them a real curve. We selected a few tough master judges and filmed their judging session. Then, we encouraged these judges to speak freely about the entries after they scored them. Finally, we screened the tape of that session to our cast and filmed them watching. You can only imagine how raucous that viewing got!

Me: Do you envision the series continuing in the future, or is this a one-time project?

JM: I can imagine BBQ Pitmasters continuing for at least a hundred episodes. We have just scratched the surface of this complex world, and there are so many fascinating, funny folk involved in the sport. And it's not just the competition aspect. The skills and methods involved in turning out the perfect bite of smoked brisket or ribs makes for great television. I don't ever see us running out of fresh material.

I thank Mr. Markus and Dustin Smith, Director of Publicity at TLC, for their assistance with this post. It's great to have such an opportunity. I am really looking forward to this new series.

Episode Reviews/Comments:

Episode 1

Ingredients
2 Deep dish pie crusts
3 cups Barbecued sweet potatoes, mashed.
4 ounces Unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup Milk
3/4 cup Sweetened condensed milk
1 cup Granulated sugar
4 Eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/4 tsp Vanilla extract (the real deal, please)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350º.

Put the potatoes and the milk in a food processor and process until it is very smooth.

Add the butter, condensed milk, sugar, eggs and vanilla to the food processor and pulse a few times to combine.

Note: You need the mixture to be the consistency of a milkshake. If it's too thick, add more milk as needed.

Pour half of the filling into each pie shell.

Bake the pies on the middle rack for one hour, or until each is set in the center.

Cool and serve at room temperature, with whipped cream, of course.

Enjoy!

Ingredients
4 med Garnet "yams", peeled and cut into 2" pieces
1/4 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup Granulated sugar
2 Tbsp Kosher salt
2 tsp Black pepper, divided
1 tsp Pumpkin pie spice

Glaze
1/4 cup Maple syrup (the real deal, please)
2 Tbsp Orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/8 tsp Ground cayenne pepper

Method
Mix the sugar, pumpkin pie spice and half the black pepper in a small bowl.

Add the oil, salt and the remaining black pepper to a gallon size zip-top bag, seal, and slosh to combine.

Add the yams to the bag, remove the excess air, seal and leave at room temperature for an hour or two.

Start your fire and prepare for indirect cooking at 275º.

Add one small chunk of fruit wood (apple or cherry) to the fire about 10 minutes before you're ready to cook. Wood chips soaked for 30-60 minutes will work well, too. If you're using a gas grill, make a small smoker pouch.

Drain as much of the oil from the bag as you can, add the sugar mixture, re-seal and shake the bag to coat the yams as evenly as possible.

Arrange the yams in a single layer on your cooking grate and cook indirect for 20 minutes.

While the yams are cooking, mix the glaze in a small bowl.

Glaze the top of each piece of yam, turn each over and cook another 20 minutes.

Glaze and turn each piece again, and cook another 10 minutes.



Remove the yams to a serving bowl, drizzle lightly with the glaze and toss very gently.

Serve and enjoy!