Wild times were had in Sweetwater at the Annual Rattle Snake Round Up. Julie Richards, of Waco and Julie fame, was on the winning team. Midkiff Mafia BBQ had a great day. They place 1st in rattle snake, 2nd in brisket and 10th in chicken. That gave them just enough points for the Grand Champion call in this Lonestar Barbeque Society event. Julie was going to make a snake meatball using my Chipotle Bomber recipe as a guide, but they were thrown a curveball and had to change the recipe at the last-minute. This year the judges decided to make the teams turn in snake on the bone, so they could be sure it was indeed snake. So it’s a little tough serving meatballs with bones, so she changed at the last moment. I will try to get some pics up later of the winning team. Julie had to take off early because her and Waco were singing over in Midland. So she missed the awards. Check out the link from here to Waco and Julie’s site and go see them sometime if they are in the area. Congratulations to Bernie Phillips and the Midkiff Mafia BBQ team.
BBQ
Alpine Cowboy Gathering
West Texas Sunset
Libby and I headed out west to see the boy and enjoy time with friends. The drive was excellent, a beautiful day for the 350 miles out to Alpine. We hit town about 3:30 and went straight to the football field to catch some of the teams workout. When that was finished we greeted John, his friends and a couple of the coaches. We headed to check in at the motel and John headed home to clean up. We had reservations at The Reata for 5:30. now for y’all that have not heard of it is the claim to fame for Grady Spears. Grady is the author of a series of cookbooks on Cowboy Cooking, the most popular I would say is Cowboy in the Kitchen. Now last time we were there I was less than impressed, but this time it was excellent. Sorry for no pictures at the Reata, I was so excited about seeing the boy and celebrating his 21st, which was last Friday, I forgot all about it. The place was packed and we sat out on the patio. It is still a little cool out but with the help of a nice fire and some propane heaters we had a wonderful time. We started out our meal with some bacon wrapped shrimp, served with pico and onion jam. John ordered a New York strip with mashed potatoes and fresh green beans, Libby got the chicken fried chicken with he same sides and I got the carne asada and enchiladas served with rice and beans. The food and service were excellent and we had a wonderful time.
Jeff Gore and some of his family were in for the weekend also, Jeff was performing at the Cowboy Gathering. So we met up with them and had a great visit and we decided to meet at 7:30 the next morning for a chuckwagon breakfast. Saturday started with a beautiful sunrise and a cool temperature of 34 degrees. Jeff, Libby and I were the only ones to wake and make the breakfast. The chuckwagon folks were serving scrambled eggs, biscuits and sausage gravy along with some stout coffee.
One of our host with a big pot of coffee
Might not be gourmet but it's good
Jeff at the campfire getting a coffee refill
A couple of the dutch ovens our breakfast was cooked in
After breakfast Jeff headed to pick up his family and get ready for his performance, Libby and I headed downtown to the Grandada to look over the items in the auction, that was supporting the Museum of the Big Bend. There were many nice items but nothing that got us really excited so we headed down the street to some of the shops on the main drag of Alpine. After picking up John we headed to the Cowboy Grill a new place out on the Marfa highway for burgers. We had a nice meal, then headed to the campus of Sul Ross for some of the cowboy entertainment.
Jeff performing in the University Center
John wanted to have supper at his house instead of going out. So we headed to the grocery store and picked up some supplies for the evening meal. Libby grabbed items for baked potatoes and green bean casserole. John and I went to the meat section and picked up 10 T-bones and 4 New York strips. I had brought some stuffed jalepenos and roasted corn and poblano salsa with me. So we got to John’s and started cooking. Well actuallyl we started cleaning the kitchen so we could cook. John had invited a few of his friends, Jeff Gore brought his family over along with Robert Barge so we started the fires outside and the ladies got going in the kitchen.
Starting the fire in the Texas Hibachi, a barrel grill
The steaks seasoned up and waiting on the grill
Steak Rub
- Kosher Salt
- Course Ground Black Pepper
- Dark Brown Sugar
Steaks are ready and so is the crowd
Rob looks happy
Earnest with a full plate
John enjoying his birthday dinner with friends and family
Saturday finished great. Libby and I headed to the motel, so did Jeff and his family. Robert headed home and the boys laid back and rested a full belly. We will be up early Sunday for church then lunch and head back to Lytle before to late.
Hors d’oeuvres for an Open House
Roasted Corn Salsa
We had never had a Grand Opening for the new kitchen so I had an Open House during Career and Technology month. The kids prepared on Monday and Tuesday, then on Wednesday we entertained guest from 1:00 – 7:00.
We had a large array of guest show up. The superintendent of school, school board members, teacher, administrators, local restauranteurs, friends and parents of the students. A nice group from Ace Mart showed up as well as student chefs from St Philip’s College. It was my pleasure to have Chef John McGinty one of my chef instructors drop by also.
The menu was diverse and did not really follow a theme. I did not realize that it was Ash Wednesday until Monday so we had to add some vegetable dishes. On the grill and smoker we make ABT’s (stuffed jalepenos), Chipotle Bombers (recipe at bottom), various chicken breast skewers. We also smoked a brisket for BBQ sundaes and two pork butts for pulled pork sliders. We made some mozzarella crustinies, cucumber canapes and stuffed mushrooms. We made a roasted corn and poblano salsa and salsa quemada to serve with chips. Dessert was cherry cheese cakes, a mistake, and petit fours. I say the cheese cakes were a mistake because we had planned on serving mini cheese cakes with 4 different toppings. The young man making them did not read the whole recipe so when he saw cherry pie filling he just dumped a can of dark sweet cherries filling and a can of red tart cherry pie filling. We had enough cheese cake for 200 so I was not sure what would happen. The worry was it may not set up, but it did. Once we saw it was set up we topped it with a Chantilly cream. That was the only road bump that we ran into, so it was an excellent day once again.
I will drop in the pictures this evening so drop back by.
Chipotle Bombers
This is an easy recipe, although you can increase every difficulty by making everything from scratch.
- 10 lbs precooked 1 oz meatballs
- 80 slices bacon
- 1 Gal your favorite BBQ sauce
- 1 28oz can chipotle peppers in adobe, pureed
- 12 oz honey
- 1 btl red wine or 16 oz red wine vinegar
- TT fajita seasoning
- 160 tooth picks
Combine all ingredients and heat to a boil. defrost meatballs and wrap with 1/2 slice of bacon, secure with toothpick. Season meatballs with seasoning and cook 3/4 the way through, about 140 degrees. The time will depend if you are cooking them in the smoker or the oven. Remove meatballs and generously coat with the sauce. Return to oven to finish cooking through and candy the sauce.
BBQ Sundae
This is an excellent and fun dish that is simple to put together.
- shredded beef brisket
- pinto beans (I use borracho or ranchero)
- Coleslaw
- pickle spears
- 9 oz clear squat cups
In the bottom 1/3rd of the cup fill with the brisket then add the beans. When you are ready to serve add the coleslaw on top and the pickle spear stuck down the side. This is a great presentation that takes little time and people seem to love it.
Pulled Pork Slider with Creamy Coleslaw and a Stuffed Jalepeno
Founders Day Success
Clear Blue Smoke
I have had quite a week. The PTA had me cater their annual fund-raiser. Last year was not exactly a success, So they gave me and my kids a chance to provide the meal. We settled on a plate of brisket, sausage. rice, beans and potato salad for 450 people. Sorry but I did not get any pictures of us in action or any of the plates, but I did get a few of the briskets. I ran to Restaurant Depot Monday morning before school and picked up 267 lbs of superior Angus choice beef. The briskets looked excellent. I also got the fixings for 80 lbs of mexican rice, 75 lbs of ranchero beans and 150 lbs of potato salad. I also got the usual fixings to go along with the plate, jalapenos, onions. pickles, bbq sauce and ice tea.
I got the briskets back to school and showed the kids how to trim them up then we seasoned them with kosher salt, ground pepper and the Big Ron’s original after I did one I let the kids take over and do the rest. We wrapped them up and put them in the cooler for cooking the next day. Tuesday morning I got the pit to school about 4:30 and started the fire. The some of the kids got there about 6:30 and helped load the pit. I ran the fire a little hotter than usual and hotter than I like. We kept the pit somewhere between 275 and 300. The briskets were big and I did not want to spend the day and night up at school. Some of the smaller briskets were ready after about 9:00 hours, the others were ready about 2 hours later. We wrapped them up and put them in an ice bath to cool down, then into the frig. During the day when the pit was running we cooked the potatoes and diced them up. mixed them with my sauce and cooled them in ice baths and put them in the refrigerator. Wednesday we started off prepping the rice and slicing the briskets. The rice was browned and the onions and peppers were sautéed, seasonings were bagged and everything was placed in the cooler. We also prepped everything for the ranchero beans. This ended Wednesday and we were on schedule. Thursday started quickly, we got chaffing dishes ready all plates and cutlery packs, cups, sweet and unsweet tea was made. The beans went on at high noon, rice in th oven at 1:00, kiolbasa links went in the smoker at 3:oo. The briskets were wrapped in foil along with some broth and put in the oven for reheating. At 4:30 we started loading my cargo trailer and just after 5:00 we loaded the bus, headed to the Boggess Center for the Founders Day Banquette. After arriving we quickly unloaded and set up two serving lines on each side of the venue. We started serving at 6:15 and at 6:43 we had served everyone. Last year the place that catered it took over 2 hours to serve everyone, so they were extremely happy with us. Looks like we have a job for next year.
Fine looking briskets
Trimming up the first brisket
Adding the Big Ron's Original
The kids rubbing a brisket
Briskets loaded on the pit
Looking good and ready to come off
Texas Style Cuisine 