beefeater martini

Beefeater Martini, Straight Up

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This recipe appeared in the article “Retro-Grilling” by Dr. BBQ, Ray Lampe. Learn more about Dr. BBQ on his website here. This one’s for my Dad. Martinis will never go out of style.  And regardless whether you prefer gin or vodka as the liquor of choice, it’s difficult to just drink one.

Photo by Norman Johnson

Ingredients

2 ounces Beefeater gin
1/2 ounce dry vermouth (optional)
3 chile-stuffed olives

Instructions

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour the gin and vermouth over the ice. Shake well. Pour into a martini glass. Garnish with the olives on a skewer.

smoked-mexican-turkey

Smoked Mexican Turkey with Orange Chile Oil Marinade

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

Here’s a double Mexican influence—turkeys as well as chiles are native to the Americas. This recipe will work with a breast as well as the legs. If using a whole turkey or breast, increase the amount of the marinade and inject the marinade in the bird as well as baste it when it’s smoking. Use any Mexican chiles such as ancho, pasilla, cascabel, or guajillo. Serve with avocado slices, beans, and grilled corn on the cob along with corn tortillas.

You can read Mark Masker’s article on smoking turkey on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

Orange Chile Oil Marinade:
6 cascabel chiles, stems and seeds removed, or substitute 2 of the chiles above
1/4 cup chopped onions
½ cup vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons achiote paste (available in Hispanic markets)
1 teaspoon dried oregano, Mexican preferred
Pinch ground cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

The Turkey:
4 turkey legs

Instructions

In a pan, saute the chiles and onion in the oil until softened. Add the garlic and cumin and continue to sauté for an additional minute. Remove from the heat.

Combine the chile mixture along with the oil, orange juice, lime juice, achiote paste, oregano, cloves, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender and puree until a smooth sauce.

Make slits in the turkey to allow the chile oil marinade to penetrate. Place the turkey and marinade in a large plastic bag and marinate overnight.

Prepare the smoker using hickory or pecan wood and smoke the legs in 200 degree smoke for 3 to 3 ½ hours or until the turkey is done to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. If you wish to continue marinating, simmer the marinade in a pan for 20 minutes and brush it over the legs occasionally. When done, remove the turkey from the smoker and brush with the marinade.

To serve, slice the smoked turkey off the legs and serve with the sauce of your choice.

pasilla-peppers-with-habanero-chorizo-stuffing.jpg

Pasilla Peppers with Habanero Chorizo Stuffing

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This recipe by Mark Masker appears on the Burn! Blog here. The sausage recipe for this is one I found in Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing.

I tweaked their version a little bit with the habanero peppers. It’s the first thing I made in my grinder, and everyone agreed it was the best chorizo they’d ever tasted.

Ingredients

For the Patty-Style Habanero Chorizo
3.5-4 lbs diced boneless pork shoulder
1-3 finely chopped or minced habanero peppers (stems and guts removed; keep seeds for extra heat)
2 1/2 tablespoons sea salt
2 tablespoons ancho chile powder
1 tablespoon paprika or hot paprika
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper or chipotle powder (preferred)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon of cumin
3 tablespoons chilled tequila
3 tablespoons chilled red wine vinegar

For the stuffed pasilla chiles:
4 pasilla peppers, halved lengthwise and gutted
8 slices of Pepper Jack cheese
1 1/2 to 2 cups of guacamole

Instructions

Combine everything except the tequila and vinegar. Toss it to distribute the spices, then chill it until you’re ready to grind. Grind the mixture through the small die into a bowl set in ice. When that’s complete, mix in the vinegar and tequila into the ground meat using either a really sturdy spoon or a hand mixer with a paddle attachment. You know you’re done when the sausage has uniform color and a sticky consistency. It should take one minute on medium speed. Set aside two pounds for the stuffed peppers. Do whatever you want with the rest. Just bear in mind that this stuff is long on yummy, short on preservatives. Store it in your fridge or freezer appropriately if you don’t use it right away. I wouldn’t keep it in the freezer more than month or so, but I had a bad experience with some bad hamburger in college, so I’m psycho about freshness in my dead animals.

Heat your grill up to medium hot. Wrap two pounds of the chorizo in foil for grilling. Place the pepper halves inside-down on the grate. Cover, then check every 6 minutes until the color changes to a more olive green. Check the chorizo while you’re looking at the peppers. If it cooks faster than the pasillas, move the sausage to indirect heat to keep it warm while the peppers finish.

Flip the peppers over and repeat the process. Move them to indirect heat, fill them with scoops of the cooked sausage, then place a slice of cheese atop each one. Shut the lid and let the peppers be just long enough for the cheese to melt. Put them on a plate and top them with little dollops (or heaps, your choice) of guacamole.

horseradish pickled beets

Horseradish Pickled Beets

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This recipe appears in the article “Sidekicks: Three Fun Barbecue Side Dishes from Mike
Stines” on the Burn! Blog. Read the story here.

For this recipe, you could use fresh beets and prepared horseradish, but by making your own horseradish you can control the heat level. Canned beets make this a breeze to prepare.

Ingredients

For the horseradish:
1 (7- to 10-inch) horseradish root
White vinegar

For the relish:
2 (16-ounce) cans whole beets
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sliced red onion
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup well-drained horseradish

Instructions

Peel the horseradish and cut it into chunks. Use a food processor to grate the horseradish, being careful not to inhale the fumes. Allow the grated horseradish to rest. The longer it rests, the hotter it will become. When the horseradish reaches the desired heat level, cover it with white vinegar and pulse to combine. Drain the horseradish and transfer it to a resealable container. The horseradish will keep, refrigerated, for two weeks or frozen up to six months.

Drain the beets, reserving the liquid. Quarter them or leave them whole. In a medium saucepan combine the beet liquid, sugar, vinegar, onion, lemon juice and salt. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove the liquid from the heat and cool; when cooled pour it over the beets. Add the horseradish and stir to combine. Allow the beets to marinate for at least eight hours or up to three days.

pickled red onion

Pickled Red Onions

Dave DeWitt Leave a Comment

This recipe appears in the article “Sidekicks: Three Fun Barbecue Side Dishes from Mike
Stines” on the Burn! Blog. Read the story here.

This also works well as a topping for your favorite burgers.

Ingredients

2 large red onions
1 1/2 cups white vinegar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 Bay leaves
2 tablespoons pickling spice
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1 small chile (such a serrano), minced

Instructions

Peel the onions, cut them in half lengthwise and finely slice. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the vinegar, sugar, garlic, bay leaves, pickling spice and pepper. Stir this until the sugar dissolves. Add the onions and blanch for one minute. Drain the onions, reserving the liquid. When the liquid is cool, pour it over the onions and add the chile. Refrigerate the onions at least four hours to allow the flavors to combine.