4th of July Relaxing and Cooking

Around 10:30pm on the 4th of July, I settled in my backyard to get ready to smoke a pork shoulder. The gentle refreshing breeze and crackle of fireworks in the background was surprisingly calming. A glass of wine added to my sense of peace.

While the smoker was coming up to temp and stabilizing, Ziggy swarmed all over the yard in response to the fireworks and other dogs barking in the neighborhood.

Just my little Ziggy keeping watch on everything going on.

Tamales - Soul Fusion Style

Last year I was fortunate to be able to attend a tamale party. I swore that for 2007 I would start a new tradition and make tamales for my family and friends a holiday event.

There is so much love, friendship and holiday cheer exemplified by the simple task of wrapping tamales. Sure all the work is in the prep but when you are in the company of people you enjoy being around, it doesn't seem burdensome. Even more satisying is that there is a bounty of tamales to share with others at work, neighbors, friends and family.

I spent a few hours on the internet checking recipes, prep, ingredients and techniques. What were my conclusions? Well, there is a diversity of styles and the only limiting step is your own creativity. There is no wrong way to make a tamales as long as the end result is what you like. I decided to combine what I know with what I like. You don't have to look far to figure out what that might be.

I decided to make a traditional tamales using smoked pork butt versus braised pork with seasonings and spices. The rest of my post documents my venture into the world of tamales done Soul Fusion style. The smokey flavor of the pork combined with the rich traditional red chile sauce and masa harina prep made for a very good tamales which did result in a successful must repeat, dang that taste great tamales.

Smoking pork butt

Pork butts have reached temp

Pork ready to pull and chop



Corn husks soaking

Pork seasoning and spices
Pork ready for tamales



Masa prep

Big Mista making tamales

Yum!

Viejas 2007 Competition Results

It was a wonderful weekend and good time had by all at the 2007 Viejas, 3rd Annual "Smokin' In the Park" BBQ Competition. 37 seven teams competed. Some new, some experienced and some on their way to the top.

Four Q did finish 15th overall out of 37 which is pretty darn good considering the competition. It seems all the teams hit or missed in each category which resulted in some surprises for the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champrions.

Four Q Results:
8th Pork
9th Chicken
21st Ribs
24th Brisket

See my Flickr site for photos of the event

BBQ Junkie's Photos

Big Mista's Photos

Big Brother Smokes Pictures

Official Overall Results:


Yea, I know this print is very small. Click on results photo to view a larger. picture.

I Taught Him All He Knows About BBQ

My son just turned 23. Instead of someone cooking for him, he chose to cook for his friends.

He smoked 2 pork butts, 2 racks of ribs, grilled chicken wings, hot links and hamburgers. He also made potato salad, coleslaw, salsa and macaroni and cheese casserole. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I tried to give him some directional assistance, but he wanted to do this all himself.

His Own Recipe For Mac and Cheese
Pulled Pork

Potato Salad (His Recipe)

Cole Slaw


Tony Grilling


Smoked Spare Ribs St Louis cut

He learned most of this by watching me, participating with Four Q BBQ Team at two competitions and experience gained as a Navy cook and currently as a student at the Culinary Institute of America.

Not bad for a first attempt at backyard BBQ'ing on his own.

Father's Day Weekend 2007

Saturday- BBQ At Ron's

Ron put together a BBQ contest featuring three of us preparing varying meats.
I did ribs and pork butt. Bill did brisket and chicken, Bernie did a meat platter featuring smoked turkey and sausage. Judging by an unbiased threesome who fell in love with my ribs prepared using the technique of my Four Q BBQ team member Professor.

Ron prepared a smoked salmon platter with grilled shrimp, mango and deconstructed guacamole as the centerpiece of this bbq extravaganza. The whole salmon is layered with cream cheese, dill and cucumber.

Grilled Shrimp
Bill's Rotisserie Chicken
Bernie's Meat
Platter Featuring Smoked Turkey and Special Blended Sausage
Sylvie's Pork Butt
Sylvie's # 1 voted Spare Rib












On Sunday, I cooked a Father's Day Seafood Feast For G


Shrimp, scallops, clams, crabs, zucchini and green salad
Steamed Crabs
Zucchini

Shrimp and Scallops in garlic Butter Sauce

Clams

April 14th, 2007 BBQ'n At the Autry

Less than a week away and we are all biting at the bit in anticipation of competing once again.

Four Q BBQ Team team members include:

BBQ Junkie, Survival Gourmet and Professor Salt












My spcialty is "pork butt". The pictures are from our first place pork butt at the Imperial Beach competition in October 2006. I aim to repeat this award winning presentation next week.






See this link for more information on the 2007 BBQ'n At The Autry Event. If you can make, please come on by our site and say hello.