Homemade Chorizo Sausage

This Christmas I received the grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. This has opened up a world of possibilities for me and my smoker when paired with Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing. I'm going to have a lot of fun and good eats.

I made my first batch of sausage to try it and made a chorizo using a recipe from Charcuterie. It turned out pretty good.

Interview: Rocky Top Smokies

Team: Rocky Top BBQ Co. LLC
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Web Page: http://www.rockytopsmokies.com/

I met Rocky Top Smokies at the Charlotte Blues, Brews & BBQ in 2012 when I was an onsite judge. They cooked a great pork shoulder and the hog looked delectable. Since then I have followed them on Twitter (add link) and Facebook (add link).

They cater in the Charlotte area and have been on the Wilson Show on Fox in the morning sharing the BBQ love. Jonathan and his team are fun to talk to and make a great product.

Res-Qing the Rescue Squad

My wife is the admin for the Fort Mill Rescue Squad and earlier this year they had me cook some BBQ for them. They loved it. They invited me back to cook for them for their Christmas party. They needed some rescuing from previous, not so good, party food.

I was happy to do it for them. I struggled over the menu for awhile and originally planned brisket, burnt ends, turkey, MOINK balls, mac n cheese, salad and dessert. The brisket fell through as I was having trouble finding it in the area. I ended up doing pulled pork. It all turned out great.

Interview: Redneck Scientific

Team:Redneck Scientific
Location: Clayton, North Carolina
Web Page:http://rednecksci.com/

I had the pleasure of meeting the Head Pitmaster behind Redneck Scientific at the Q-City Charlotte BBQ Championship. I have followed Redneck Scientific on Twitter for a while and wanted to meet them in person. Jerry is a lot of fun to hang out with and talk to. He knows his way around a pit and pig and enjoys what he does. They make their own sauces and rubs that they use when they cook on their homemade UDSes (Ugly Drum Smokers) or as Jerry calls them Redneck Convection Ovens™.

Since 2011, Redneck Scientific has:

• won 3 Grand Championships
• had 2 Reserve Grand Championships
• earned 3 perfect 180 scores in KCBS (We are the only team to ever earn a perfect score in Ribs and have 2 separate  180 scores in NC contest since 2009)
• finished Top 10 Overall  16 times
• won first place in a category 12 times
• had 7 top ten Chicken calls
• had 12 top ten Rib Calls
• had 16 top ten Pork Calls
• had 16 top ten calls in Brisket

Below is a short interview and some tips for cooking that Christmas turkey. 

Interview: Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ

Each month I’m going to try to do a short interview with various BBQ teams, aficionados and purveyors of BBQ equipment. I’ll be looking for some small insights from the teams about their cooking, how they started and maybe get some cooking tips. If you have a team you would like me to interview, shoot me an email and I’ll see if they will be willing to do it.

To kick off the interviews, I asked Ranucci’s Big Butt BBQ be my first interview.

Team: Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ
Location: Belmont, NC
Web Page: www.bigbuttbbq.com

I met them a few years ago cooking at a competition in Shelby, NC when I was competing. I have watched them as they have started to win more and more in the area. Alex and his dad run a great rig and do a great job with help from the rest of his family.

Most recently they won Grand Champion for the Charlotte Q-City BBQ Championship, taking first in ribs and shoulder and second in whole hog.

Grand Champion for the Charlotte Q-City BBQ Championship