20,000 Views BBQ Gift Pack

Just a reminder to everyone out there. In honor of hitting 20,000 views, I am giving away a BBQ Gift Pack. 

It's as easy as 1,2,3 to enter. 

1. Go "like" the One Nine 3 Facebook page

2. Share one of the Gift Pack Give-A-Way posts

3. Like or comment on any other post here or there for bonus entries. 

Movie Review: We're The Millers

Let me start by saying, this movie is freaking hilarious. I'm not one of those to bust out laughing in the theater. I'll smile during a funny joke, maybe chuckle to myself, or if it's really funny, throw in a leg kick while covering my face laughing to myself. However, there are always a few movies or one liners that I just can't control it. This movie had me laughing out loud (ah, I sound like a 13 year old HS girl now) on more than one occasion. 

If you've seen the trailer, you pretty much know the whole story line of the movie. Jason Sudeikis' character, David Clark (not to be confused with David Clark from the Revenge TV show), starts out as a small time drug dealer and through some misfortune ends up having to help his boss out by going to Mexico and picking up this "smidge" of weed ... ok, a smidge and a half.  

The movie takes an interesting twist when the "Millers", a family of misfits, meet fellow RVers, the Fitzgeralds, a straight laced by the book family. As completely opposite as these two groups of people are, they both find themselves leaning on the other for help through challenging moments in their lives. 

One of the other major story lines of the movie is Jennifer Aniston, Rose, being a stripper (ducks frying pan thrown by wife). She's taken to these "dirty girl" roles and ran with them. She played the naughty dentist in Horrible Bosses (another great movie), and was great. The part that makes this character so good is that you're used to her playing the good girl/girl next door. It just further proves how great her "acting skills" are. (we have a joke that if someone is attractive we say their acting skills, dancing skills, singing skills etc etc are good)

This isn't a very family friendly movie, but I'm sure you knew that already. If you need a good laugh, and want to chance kicking the guy in the back of the head in front of you, do yourself a favor and go see this movie.

Make sure to watch the bloopers immediately following the movie. They're before the actual credits, so you don't have to waste 10 minutes of your life. We both agreed that the nod to Jennifer Aniston and her "Friends" days was the best one. 

How To Make Grits, For All The Yankees Out There

When I posted my cook for the T-Bone and Seafood Throwdown I had a couple of guys ask about the grits. Then a new thread was started to tell some of them how to make grits. Great idea, but the first post said "follow the instructions on the box." Uummm, what? Grits are like BBQ, you may be able to get pulled pork out of a crockpot but it's not BBQ,and you may be able to get something out of a box, but it AIN'T grits. 

Dawn is the grit maker of the house, so I let her be the star of this post (just wanted to mention that before I got a "I like your fingernails" comment. 

For the cheese grits with the T-Bone post. She actually did half water and half chicken stock, but for regular ol' breakfast grits she just uses water. 

This is our "recipe" to make grits for 2. 

Start off with 2/3 cup of corn meal and 2 cups of water. She does 1 part corn meal to 3 parts water. I've heard you can do milk instead of water, but this is how we make them. 

Pour the water in a pot and bring it to a boil.

She went ahead and added a little salt ... call it a teaspoon. 

Then added the corn meal while continuously stirring. 

I used this picture, because I thought the whisk looked cool.

Once it's all in and you've stirred it just enough to have it mixed, reduce the heat to Low-Medium. We have to physically move them since we have an electric stove. 

She let them sit for a minute and then added about a 1/2 of a cup of water to the pot. She said she does this to add the water back that might have evaporated during the boiling.

Every few minutes or so she would stir them up to keep them from clumping together.

Once it sat on Low-Medium for 12-14 minutes or so, it was time to pull them off. This is about the stage you will get them at a restaurant. They're grits, but they taste like blah (and probably why most non-Southerners don't like Grits). 

While it's hot add butter and pepper to your liking (remember, you've already added salt). 

They should be solid enough to hold together (not runny like water), but not clumpy and hard.

And that's how a breakfast in the South should look (of course you could have country ham, biscuits and gravy, etc etc). 

Now, there's no more excuses for our Northern and West Coast friends. Add sugar to your tea and grits to your breakfast and start to enjoy the greater things in life. 

First Spares To St. Louis Ribs For A Myron Mixon Contest

Myron Mixon/Jack's Old South is doing a competition during the month of July to send in a picture and a brief description of your favorite BBQ meal. The grand prize (supposedly selected by Myron himself) wins a free cooking class for 2 with Myron at his new restaurant in NY, Pride And Joy. 

I hadn't done ribs in a while, so thought this would be the perfect excuse. BiLo suckered me in with a .99 per pound sale, but once I got there it was Baby Backs. I went over to the St. Louis and they were $2+, but I looked over and the whole Spare Ribs were actually .99 per pound too. I've never cut Spares down before but wanted to step up to the plate and picked up 2 racks. 

My sister and her husband went to Savannah for their anniversary and stopped by Southern Soul BBQ. I got about 30 pictures sent to my phone while they were there and a jar of rub ... it wasn't a lost cause for me. I figured this would be the perfect use for them too. A South Georgia rub to go on ribs for a contest for a South Georgia man. 

Thanks to the weather, I had to wait weeks before I could do this cook. The news still showed a chance of scatter thunderstorms for the afternoon, but it looked great outside and I was willing to take my chances. I hadn't done ribs in months, so I was jonesing for them.

I started trimming some of the huge chunks of fat off.  

And then cut them down to St. Louis cut. I think I was closer to Carolina Cut (includes the joints) than St. Louis though. We had to throw them in the freezer over time, and they weren't completely thawed. Of course the area that was the least thawed was right at the top of the bones, so I had to guess where it was and cut. For those that don't know, to get St. Louis cut, you find the top of the longest bone and cut straight across at that level. 

The ribs are trimmed down, and still need a little love to get ready. The extra meat I'm going to put in my meat grinder (finally), and use later for meatballs or something else. 

I tried not to do a huge coat of the rub so I wouldn't use it all, but these bad boys were so big it didn't work. There's still a little in there, but it'll have to be on a tenderloin or something smaller. 

I have to give credit on the dessert to Dawn. I've done peaches on the grill before, but she questioned how they'd do in the smoker. We threw them on a tray, sprinkled some brown sugar and cinnamon on top, and threw them in for the last hour or so. 

Dawn made her jalapeno sweet cornbread and baked beans to go with it. For my entry picture I have the ribs, jalapeno sweet cornbread, and baked beans. With smoked peaches and ice cream for dessert. All capped off with an after dinner drink. 

Both racks were a little over (a little more fall off the bone than I strive for). If you got them at a restaurant it would have been what you would expect "fall off the bone" to be. I prefer mine to have a little bite to them. They were still really good, but as Dawn says, I'm a rib snob and they didn't meet my standards haha. 

As for the rub, the ribs tasted great. They didn't get as dark as other rubs tend to get, so there isn't a large amount of brown sugar in it. It was a good, classic BBQ flavor. 

If you're wondering, smoked peaches are AMAZING. Even when I did them on the grill, they were still a little tough to eat. I hit them on the head in the smoker, and they were soft and juicy and you could get just a hint of the smoke flavor. I'm not a huge peach fan (I don't hate them either), but this could be one of my favorite desserts now. 

T-Bone & Shrimp Throwdown

It's been a few weeks since my last Throwdown, so I jumped at the T-Bone and Seafood TD this week. Now, I'm not a big Seafood fan, but I can stand shrimp every now and then. I asked Dawn what she thought about doing some Shrimp and Grits, but adding steak to it. She wasn't too thrilled about that idea, but came up with the idea to do a T-Bone with Shrimp and a side of Cheese Grits. 

There's actually a difference between a T-Bone and a Porterhouse, if you didn't know. The Filet Mignon of a Porterhouse is a lot larger than that of a regular T-Bone. They're actually from the same cut from the cow, but one is on one side and the other is on the other. Don't worry, I had to watch a YouTube video to know that too. 

This steak is one of those in betweeners. Actually, I picked this one up and another that looked almost identical. The other said T-Bone and this said Porterhouse, but the T-bone one was $2 more and again, looked identical, so I went with the Porterhouse one (although, this still doesn't look like a true Porterhouse). 

We did our usual Steak set up ... Whorshirshsirehsierhesrere, Balsamic Vinegar, and The Rub Co.'s Santa Maria seasoning. 

Dawn worked on the Shrimp and gave them a coat of butter, parsley, and garlic.

First the T-Bone went on the grill while Dawn was inside making the grits. 

I pulled the steak to let it rest and then threw the shrimp on for a couple of minutes on both sides.

The steak ended up being a little further than I wanted. It was still pink in the middle but closer to medium-well than medium like I prefer it. Either way, the steak was awesome, the shrimp were awesome, and the cheese grits were AMAZING. This may be a dish we replicate in the future. 

20,000 Views Give-A-Way

My goal at the beginning of the year was to reach 20,000 views by the end of this year. I started the year off around 7,000 views, and thought if I could just almost double that for this year I'd be more than happy. Well, we're (when I say we, I mean YOU) about to hit 20,000 views a little over half way through the year. I don't even know where to set the bar for the second half of the year now. Maybe 30k? Maybe 35k? Maybe be brave and shoot to double this and reach for 40k?

I don't do this blog to make millions (I've made like $10 from having those annoying ads on here). I don't do it to become famous or any of that mess. I do it because I enjoy cooking and eating (and most recently added, movies), and I know there are a ton of other people out there that are like that too. It also gives me a hobby that allows me to spend more time with my amazing wife/proof reader/photographer/head chef/sous chef.

One of the other reasons I do this blog is for all of my friends and family and readers. I'm more happy to hear someone say "I saw your post and it looked so good, so we're going to make it tonight" than to look and see that I got however many views.

With all that said, to say thank you, I am putting together a BBQ Gift Bag (or whatever you want to call it) and will send it to one of you. It currently includes, a Pit Bulls Mean Green Injector (the same one you've seen me use), 1lb of Pit Bulls rub, 5.8 oz Bone Suckin' Sauce Rub, and 7 oz Plowboys Yardbird Rub (you should really recognize that one). I may add more to it as time goes.

To enter all you have to do is like One Nine 3's Facebook Page. For bonus entries, like, share, or comment on any One Nine 3 post (make sure it's on that page and not on a shared post so I'll be able to see it), or comment on any post on this blog. This contest will take place the whole month of August, so like, share, and comment away. 

Noodles And Smoked Balls

Since I got the new Myron Mixon "Everyday Barbecue" book we've been wanting to replicate the Spaghetti and Smoked Meatballs recipe. It's a little different but simple meatball recipe and sounded delicious. 

1lb Lean Ground Beef (calls for 80%, but we did 93%)

1lb Ground Pork 

1/2 Sleeve Ritz Crackers

1 Egg (beaten)

1/4 Cup Ketchup

2 Slices White Bread, lightly moistened with water and torn (had to use a bun since we didn't have bread)

1 Medium Onion (or a half and dice the crap out of it if you hate onions like myself)

Salt and Pepper to preference

The next step is the most complicated, so get ready ... 

Ready? 

Put it all in a bowl and mix it together.

Ok, now I get to say balls a lot and not get smacked for it. 

To try to make as even of balls as possible we've came up with a little trick. I'll lay out a cutting board and spread the mixture out as evenly as possible. Then, take a knife or pizza cutter and cut into evenish sections. After that you can just pick that little section up and roll it up into balls. It's a lot quicker and easier than just pinching pieces off or even using an ice cream scooper. If you don't make perfect cuts, it's ok. On some of the big balls, tear a little piece off and add it to the smaller balls to make them a little more evenly. 

And here is my new Weber charcoal chimney. No, I didn't have to have a new fancy smancy Weber chimney to go with my WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain). My other chimney is about to rust out, and I like the extra handle of the Weber one ... and, yeah, I needed a new fancy smancy one. 

For the balls o' meat, it called to smoke them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. It was raining, once again, so I had to take Bullet Bill to the front porch again (loving the newest addition to the family and the fact I can move him wherever, whenever I need to), so I was having some issues getting him up to 350 from the lack of air flow up there. However, I realized if I left the door open for a little while that the extra oxygen that way would help get the fire roaring. 

The balls went on before I reached the 350 mark so I just extended the cook time a little. 

After 30 minutes or so I flipped the balls over, and wasn't ready for a picture but they definitely deserved one of their own. 

The recipe calls for spaghetti, but we went with this spirally noodle instead. I'm sure it has a fancy name, but Dawn is out of town on business right now and can't tell me what it is.

This picture was actually the wife's idea. While I was taking a picture of the plate she said "oh my gosh, it actually has a smoke ring. You have to get a picture." 

I have to say, this is probably the best meatball I've ever had. These balls might have been small, but they were filling. I ate most of my plate and was miserably fool for the next few hours. I didn't even want to move I was so full. 

While I was eating, I did suggest that we try this recipe with the cheese from the other meatball recipe we've been doing ... cheesy Myron Mixon balls mmmmmmmmm sounds delish.