tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92200049778025475982024-03-18T05:48:21.338-04:00Q 4 FunA blog about my hobby of BBQ, BBQ competition adventures, reviews of grilling and BBQ foods, restaurants, rubs, sauces and recipes I like.sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-68567851306697380092020-08-24T11:32:00.005-04:002020-08-24T11:33:08.462-04:00Mexican street corn - My wayMexican street cornDuring the summer we love to eat corn on the cob and we really enjoy Mexican street corn. We often have my mom eating with us and she can't eat corn on the cob anymore, but enjoys the corn. This is how I make our Mexican street corn so she can enjoy it too. You can make it on the stove top or the grill. The grill adds a bit more smokey flavor to it. Ingredients:Frozen cornsgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-3158478634292275662018-08-08T15:24:00.001-04:002018-08-08T15:25:46.824-04:00Review: Kingsford 100% Pure Premium Hardwood PelletsProduct: Kingsford 100% Pure Premium Hardwood Pellets
Company: Kingsford
Price: 10lb bag $11.99 | 20lb bag $18.99
Kingsford contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing their new wood pellets they are bringing to market. Of course, I said yes. I use a Louisiana Grill for most of my cooking now and have competed with it. It's a great cooker and I love that I sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-53166443863273616342017-05-04T08:51:00.002-04:002017-05-04T08:51:42.687-04:00Review: Grill Pinz
Creator: Dan Cranston
Facebook
Kickstarter
Price: $13+
Grill Pinz are a cool new grilling product from Dan Cranston. He is kicking of a Kickstarter this month to be able to produce these stainless steel cooking Pinz. They are ideally built for grilling but can be used in the oven or where ever you need to hold food together while cooking it. They take the place of toothpicks.
Whether sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-82581599500534418712017-05-02T10:24:00.000-04:002017-05-02T10:24:18.487-04:00iGrill Mini Review
Product: iGrill Mini
Company: Weber
Price: @$50
About two years ago I purchased an iGrill mini. This past Christmas I revived another as a gift. . The igrill mini is a little Bluetooth thermometer that talks directly to your mobile devices and lets you track your cook my temperatures from anywhere on the house. I love them.
The igrill mini uses Bluetooth technology to sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-51440196102137558462016-12-08T10:26:00.001-05:002016-12-12T10:02:38.918-05:00Review: The Beast
Name: The Beast
Location: Paris, France
Price: $$$
Hours: Closed Monday and Sunday; Tuesday- Saturday 12:00PM - 2:30PM, 7:00PM - 11:00PM
In May I had the opportunity to go to Paris, France for work. While I was there I took advantage of the opportunity to see if there were any BBQ joints there. I found two and was able to go to one and try it. It was worth the walk.
The Beast is sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-48339632260549818532016-06-14T14:29:00.002-04:002016-06-14T14:29:51.485-04:00Review: More BBQ and Grilling for the Big Green Egg & other Kamado-style cookers
More BBQ and Grilling is written by Eric Mitchell an award winning pitmaster who has been cooking on the Big Green Egg since 2000. He and his wife started the team, Yabba Dabba Que!, and compete in competitions throughout the North East. They have competed in both the Jack Daniel
s World Championship Invitational and the American Royal where they earned a perfect score for their crème brûlée.sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com359tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-37336812826001247712016-05-27T11:29:00.001-04:002016-05-27T11:29:57.202-04:00Wayfair's Simply Summer Cookbook!
A few Months back Wayfair.com contacted me about including one of my recipes in their Simply Summer Cookbook. I was happy to oblige and sent them my recipe for Grilled Bruschetta. You can download the book from Wayfair.com for free and enjoy this recipe (pg 15) and others.
Have a great summer and enjoy some great grilled food.
sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-17574939915969038842016-04-29T10:27:00.001-04:002016-04-29T10:27:06.935-04:00Review: The Smoking Bacon & Hog CookbookThe Smoking Bacon & Hog Cookbook – The Whole Pig & Nothing but the Pig BBQ Recipes is written by championship pitmaster Bill Gillespie. He started cooking competitive BBQ in 2005 and won the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue in 2011 and in 2014 he won the American Royal Invitational, probably the two most coveted titles in the world of competitive BBQ. Bill knows what sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-26019284597365616082016-03-02T15:06:00.001-05:002016-03-02T15:08:53.156-05:00Review: Midwood Smokehouse
Name: Midwood Smokehouse
Location: Charlotte, NC
Price: $$ - $6-$34 (that's for the Pig Out)
Hours: Sun - Wed • 11am - 10pm
Thurs - Sat • 11am - 11pm
Charlotte has a bad rap for BBQ joints. It's located in the center of the Carolina's, so you'd think they would have some great BBQ places. Well, over the last 10 years that has started to change. and it is AWESOME!
Recently my wife and Isgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-55431261555323958172015-12-18T11:06:00.000-05:002015-12-18T11:06:24.208-05:00A Trifle of Dessert Fun
While I love BBQ it's not the only thing I cook. I like to try out various things and especially desserts. I like to find new things I can feed my friends and family.
This time of year I like to make and play with desserts. One dessert I make every year is biscotti, the recipe is from The Joy of Cooking pg 834 (in my edition). This year I received some 3.4oz dessert cups from Cambro to do sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-9959272225219674232015-12-18T10:26:00.002-05:002015-12-18T10:26:38.446-05:00Homemade Andouille Sausage
One of the things I like to make with left over turkey is turkey gumbo so this year I decided to make the sausage for it too. I used a recipe from the cook book Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing (Revised and Updated). It is a great book all about curing and smoking meat. Defiantly worth the investment. This time I also decided to use real hog-casings, which I hadn't sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-48601676099770573512015-11-19T14:41:00.001-05:002015-11-19T14:42:59.146-05:00BBQ 101 - SaucesThis is a topic I have been avoiding. It is very personal and can be very divisive as we have seen in NC. The state is split into two camps, Eastern Carolina Sauce and Western Carolina Sauce, and woe be unto you if you choose either or neither when asked. I will be trying to avoid choosing one over the other but just sharing the differences of our great country's sauces with you.
I know we cansgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-36892893010490765992015-09-11T09:56:00.000-04:002015-09-11T09:58:05.142-04:00Kansas City BBQ Tour
I finally got to go to Kansas City where I heard the streets are paved with brisket and the faucets run with BBQ sauce. Ok, not quite. It is a city known for its jazz, BBQ and the head of the Santa Fe trail. It is a city with roots that go back the the US's expansion West, where cattle was sold to head East. Due to its ties to cattle it is also a haven for BBQ and said to be the birth place of sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-35414054493397544422015-08-07T09:02:00.000-04:002015-08-07T09:02:46.472-04:00Birthday Cook
July 4 is my birthday. I'm a firecracker. Each year we have a party and invite over a bunch of friends. I smoke some meat and make some cake and our friends bring side dishes. We eat, drink and watch fireworks in the neighborhood. It's fun.
This year was no different. I cooked pork, brisket and hot dogs,made a batch of baked black beans and two birthday cakes.
I got up early to a threat of sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-77967299643566093602015-06-26T10:42:00.000-04:002015-06-26T10:42:23.550-04:00Review - Grilled Pizza The Right Way
Title: Grilled Pizza the Right Way: The Best Technique for Cooking Incredible Tasting Pizza & Flatbread on Your Barbecue Perfectly Chewy & Crispy Every Time
Author: John Delpha
Price: $19.99
This is one of the three books I was sent to review back in April. It's been a little hectic lately with end of school and work so I haven't had a chance to review it until now.
The book is sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-43973402373704024812015-06-24T11:04:00.000-04:002015-06-24T11:04:24.912-04:00Review - RockyTop Swine Shine and Carolina Q Rub
Company: Rocky Top BBQ Co. LLC
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
WebSite: http://www.rockytopsmokies.com/
Carolina Swine Shine: $6.25 + Shipping and Handeling
Carolina Q Rub: $7.95 + Shipping and Handling
It's been a while since my last post. Life and work have been busy, but I haven't stopped cooking, tasting and testing. You might recognize the name Rocky Top BBQ Co. sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-11172385363873219412015-04-14T13:36:00.000-04:002015-04-14T13:36:28.914-04:00Review - Ultimate Book of BBQ
I received an email a couple weeks ago asking if I would be interested in reviewing a BBQ cook book. My initial response was, "Is this a trick question?" I'm always looking for new recipes, tips on cooking and just improving my BBQ skills in general.
I agreed to review Southern Living Ultimate Book of BBQ - the complete year-round guide to grilling & smoking. A couple days later I received sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-42076102021253466812015-01-28T00:00:00.000-05:002015-01-30T08:58:40.733-05:00Review - Triple Whammy Sauces
Name: Triple Whammy Sauces
Location: Charlotte, NC
Price: $8
Link: http://www.triplewhammysauces.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Triple-Whammy-Sauces
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TriWhammySauce
Instagram: http://instagram.com/triplewhammysauces
At the 2014 Q City BBQ Championship I came across Triple Whammy Sauces selling their sauces. The sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-29543997785450098942015-01-26T11:00:00.000-05:002015-01-28T10:24:34.036-05:00Review - 521 BBQ
Name: 521 BBQ
Location: Fort Mill, SC
Price: $$
Link: http://www.521bbq.com/
In my town it can be difficult to find good BBQ. It shouldn't be hard in SC, but if you want to go out for it, it can be. One of my favorite BBQ places opened up a second location closer to me and I was finally able to try it out. I was happy I did.
I took my family out to give it a try andsgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-1687582788264707532014-12-01T13:10:00.001-05:002014-12-01T13:10:49.420-05:00Thanksgiving Day [Part 3]
Thanksgiving came and it was a success due to the preparation I had done previously, including my planning and test cook. I was glad I did a test cook trying the spatchcocking and dry brining of the turkey. I was able to adjust a few things and had a great bird and the venison I cooked was great.
We had a great time with family and they all enjoyed the turkey and the venison. All the sides sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-90555149881776326912014-11-24T15:34:00.002-05:002014-11-24T15:34:59.553-05:00Thanksgiving Preparation - Test Cooking [Part 2]With Thanksgiving this Thursday I figured it would be a good idea to test a new recipe I want to try before hand. Turkeys are priced to sell this time of year so we usually get a few to have in the freezer for over the next few months. I used one of our smaller birds we purchased for my test cook. I'm glad I did.
I decided I was going to dry brine and spatchcock it. Cook it at 350º with chicken sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-85645508451917790042014-11-24T14:34:00.001-05:002014-11-24T14:34:10.526-05:00Interview: Tommy Houston of the Checkered Pig Team: Checkered Pig
Location: Martinsville, VA
Website: www.checkeredpig.com
Twitter: @checkeredpig
Facebook: Checkered Pig
I met Tommy Houston of Checkered Pig two years ago at the Grill'n & Chill'n BBQ Cook-Off in Waxhaw, NC. I saw him again this year, in Waxhaw, and asked if he would be willing to do an interview with me for my blog. He graciously said he would. Tommy sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-16332029160953053292014-11-18T12:53:00.000-05:002014-11-24T14:36:36.452-05:00Preparing for Thanksgiving [Part 1]
The leaves have changed and the air has gotten colder. Fall has arrived and Thanksgiving is on its way (or past if you're in Canada). It's time to start thinking about giving the family the bird. Wait... that didn't sound right (like so many things in BBQ). Time to start thinking about cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving. I used to roast the bird in the oven, but no more. I now smoke it. Smoked sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-41368252761216627882014-09-29T12:27:00.001-04:002014-09-29T12:36:58.898-04:00NC BBQ Association
Last year at the Q-City Charlotte BBQ Festival I started to hear rumors of a new BBQ sanctioning committee being born. It was started by a group of competitors, caterers and restauranteurs that is interested in preserving the art of NC BBQ. They came together to form competitions that highlight the best of NC BBQ by focusing on the meat.
In August of 2014 I became a NC BBQ Association member sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9220004977802547598.post-63764400397324903122014-08-25T11:05:00.000-04:002014-08-25T11:05:11.237-04:00Interview: Kosher Q? Find out from the RaBBi-Q.
Team: Rabbi-Q
Location: Kansas City, Kansas
Website: RabbiQ.com
Twitter: @BBQRabbi
I met Mendel of Rabbi-Q through Twitter. I found the idea of kosher BBQ fascinating because when I think of BBQ I think pork. I know beef and chicken and other meats can be BBQed but it isn't everyday you hear of kosher BBQ in KCBS. Through talking with Mendel I have discovered kosher BBQ and kosher BBQ sgibbsdesignhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02308597562753544594noreply@blogger.com0