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Thursday, February 28, 2013

How to Pick a Grill

When it  comes down to picking a grill there are numerous choices available to you. There is the choice between picking a gas grill or a charcoal grill. Charcoal grills are usually less expensive than gas grills.

The next decision for you to make is how big of a grill do you want or need? Do you just cook for yourself and a couple of friends or do you cook for large groups. The smaller the grill the cheaper it will be. Some large grills however are very affordable.

You will also want to try and figure out what types of food you are wanting to cook. Most grills can pretty much cook anything but some grills will be a lot better for certain foods.

Once you have decided on the food and size than you will want to go online and view the various grills available or go to Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart or a local store to view the various types of grills.

Convenience is also another factor that you will need to think about. Gas grills are much easier to cook something on at the spur of the moment such as hot dogs or hamburgers. You can also refill your propane tank easily just by taking the propane tank to the local convenience store and exchanging your empty for a full one.

Charcoal grills on the other hand take a while to get the fire started and get the grill up to temperature. You also have to buy charcoal and have to restart the fire over if you run out of charcoal.

Once you take these factors into consideration you should be able to make a great choice of a grill. You are also more than welcome to message me and I would like to help you make a great decision.

BBQGuys.com is a great website to check out various grills starting from $30 and up to the thousands of dollars.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

How to start a fire with a Charcoal Chimney

Lighter fluid is one of the easiest ways to start a charcoal fire. I used lighter fluid like crazy when I started out grilling. The problems I have with lighter fluid are that fluid isn't cheap and it also leaves a certain taste on the meat.

One day I heard about a chimney starter. A chimney starter is a cylindrical shaped metal structure with a small grate at the bottom. It allows you to start your charcoal quick and easy. You no longer have to spend any money on lighter fluid.

 


The way it works is as follows. Flip the chimney starter over. You will have a small space on the bottom that will allow you to fill it with rolled up newspaper. Get a sheet of newspaper and roll it up diagonally like you would a handkerchief and put the ends together to make a circle.



Now insert this circle in the bottom of the cylinder and repeat the process again. Once you have 2 sheets inside the cylinder then turn the cylinder right side up.

 

Place the cylinder on a surface that can take the high heat that the charcoal will produce. You may want to put it on the grill surface or a place that you won't mind possibly burning a mark into. Choose the place carefully as it will recieve a large amount of heat.

Fill the cylinder with the amount of charcoal you want to use. Light the newspaper and let it burn completely and it will then light the charcoal from the bottom up.



You do not want to wait until it is all ashed over as the charcoal at the bottom will be spent. Once you have some of the charcoals starting to ash over at the top then you may want to dump the charcoal into your grill.

Once you have dumped it then place your chimney starter in a safe place. It will be extremely hot and will take some time to cool down.

Now you have a way to start your charcoal easy and without having to buy fluid over and over.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Bacon Wrapped Tater Tots

This is a great recipe for a different kind of snack on the grill.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

1 large bag of tater tots
2 packages of bacon
1 box of toothpicks
1 salt shaker
1 pepper shaker
1 container of Ranch Dip your preferred choice


You will want to start your grill up. While your grill is getting up to temperature you can start perparing the tots for grilling. You will want to have a large container ready for your tater tots to hold as you prepare them. Hint it helps if you do this with a friend or two. The process goes so much faster.

You will pull out the bag of tater tots and let them sit out a little bit so that they are not completely frozen. You will also want to have yout toothpicks, bacon, salt, pepper, and a sharp knife setup.

Pull out your bacon and go ahead and cut the strips into 3 pieces each. You may do them individually or as a group of bacon slices. The bacon slices are a little easier to cut if the bacon is a little frozen.

Now wrap each slice of bacon around a tater tot and the insert a toothpick through each to hold the bacon in place. Frozen tots are hard to push a toothpick through so be sure to let them thaw a bit. Keep doing this until your bacon is all used up.

You should have all the bacon wrapped tater tots in the container now. Sprinkle each tater tot with a litte bit of salt and pepper. Be very careful with the salt as the bacon is already going to be a little salty. Once all the tots have been seasoned go ahead and place them on the grill.

You will want to space them out evenly. Watch them as they grill and rotate them as needed. Once the tater tots and bacon are nice and crisp then just pull them from the grill. Let them sit and cool down for a minute or two.

Serve them with a container of ranch and watch as they disappear one tater at a time.

BBQ Pitmasters

BBQ Pitmasters a show on Destination America is a pretty interesting show in its 4th season. I am watching some reruns right now from season 2 the "Up in Smoke" episode. This is the one where Kyle Laval gets eliminated and then flips off the judges after being told to turn his pit off.

The show is pretty good and has become better as the seasons progress. The new format is a good one with Myron Mixon, Aaron Franklin, and Tuffy Stone as the judges. I really like the blind judging at the end. The competitors are gathered together and get to watch the judges as they taste and evaluate each dish.

The episodes generally start out with an introduction of the judges. The competitors are then given a small introduction each. Once everyone is introduced then the competitors are informed about what dishes they are assigned for the contest.

The show then follows the teams as they prepare their dishes. Some episodes have some drama due to mistakes, the high heat causing medical issues and what not. The only real issue I have is that after every commercial break the show recaps the whole episode up to that point. It can sometimes be lengthy and waste valuable watching time.

My overall vote is 2 thumbs up! Some episodes are a lot better than others but its a pretty good show.

Here is a video showing all the judges from YouTube.



Here are a couple of links about the show.
BBQ Pitmasters Wikipedia page
BBQ Pitmasters Official page

Monday, February 25, 2013

BBQ with Franklin

Aaron Franklin of Pitmaster fame has just started a new series of videos on YouTube about BBQ. He has videos about wood, smoking, ribs, brisket, and many more other videos. His restaurant Franklin Barbecue in East Austin was named best BBQ in America in 2010 by Bon Appetit magazine.

Here are his videos for you to watch. Maybe he can give you some tips or at least provide you with some BBQ entertainment.

Video #1
Introducing BBQ with Franklin

 
Video #2
Introducing BBQ with Frankin- Episode 1 Outtakes
 

 

Video #3
BBQ with Franklin: The Brisket

 
Video #4
BBQ with Franklin: The Smoker
 
 
Video #5
BBQ with Franklin: The Wood
 

 
Video #6
BBQ with Franklin: Thanksgiving part 1
 

 
Video #7
BBQ with Franklin: Thanksgiving part 2
 

 
Video #8
BBQ with Franklin: Thanksgiving part 3
 

 
Video #9
BBQ with Franklin: The Cook
 

 
Video #10
BBQ with Franklin: The Payoff
 
 
Video #11
BBQ with Franklin: Ribs part 1
 
 
Video #12
BBQ with Franklin: Ribs part 2
 
 
 

Wecome to DirtyQng!!!

 


I would like to thank you all for visiting DirtyQng.Com! I created this blog to help share my love of BBQ with the world. I have been grilling and smoking for about 18 years now. I have cooked, and burned it all from wienies to briskets lol! I now plan to share all the knowledge I have gained to help you make the perfect steak instead of a black, burnt failure of  a steak.

I have numerous grills and smokers which I will introduce to you along this adventure. I have 6 different grills and smokers along with a disco as of today and I am sure this number will only increase.

I would also like to thank my fiance Serena for putting up with all my craziness. She has put up with me wandering the spice and meat market aisles for what probably seems like an eternity to her. I also like to take her iphone when mine dies to go to Craigslist and view: smokers, bbq, tank, propane and firewood haha. The poor girl puts up with all my BBQ craziness and still Loves me.

So to the BBQ world and to Serena, I dedicate this site to yall!