Grilled Piggy Tenderloin

We haven't had Pork Tenderloin in a while, and the last time I grilled one it was amazing, so I suggested that for dinner the other night. 

This is a very simple and quick dish to make for a knockout dinner.

For the full recipe click here.

Mix the garlic, pepper, salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a bowl and then put a good layer over the tenderloin. Now, you could probably put it in a sealed bag and let it marinate for an hour or two before you decide to cook it. It has a decent amount of salt in the mix, so I wouldn't recommend sitting it for an extended period of time. 

I had the grill between 400-425 for most of the cook. It jumped up to 450 for a period of time, but that was ok, because I ended up running out of gas and that extra heat helped continue to cook it.

I had just enough heat to get it up to 160 internal temperature and pulled it off. 

Dawn made some of her amazing mashed potatoes to go with the pork.

This pork was juicy as could be, heck, it was still juicy for lunch 3 days later. Get a scoop of potatoes and piece of pork ... mmmmm perfect bite. 

BBQ Competitions Near You

If you've never been to one, BBQ competitions are a blast. Well, maybe I should say, they're a blast if that's your kind of thing. If you enjoy being outside with music, friends, beer, checking out peoples rigs and pits, and the smell of delicious food ... then you'd have a great time at a BBQ comp. If you enjoy winter sports and cave diving ... maybe BBQ comps aren't your thing ...

The catch, however, is that not all comps are the same. Most will have live music, contests, vendors with free samples, and some even have a variation of the "fans favorite". Fans favorite is what it sounds like, it's what the fans pick as their favorite. You, as a fan, can register with the event people and become a fan judge. You go around to the teams that participate and sample and grade. Some events have gone away from this, because the health departments claim people participating in a cooking championship may or may not know how to cook, and they don't want them to serve the fans raw food. Other comps may only have the comp itself, and nothing more. 

I've taken the time to go through and make a list of the areas BBQ Comps this year ... mostly, so I can see which I can attend, but also so you can as well if you'd like to.

Here's a list of BBQ competitions in South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina.

March

22-23 – Hub City Hog Fest – Spartanburg, SC

29-30 – Horsin & Hoggin BBQ Cookoff – Aiken, SC

April

5-6 – Pickens Pig Pickin’ – Easley, SC

Big Brothers & Big Sisters BBQ Festival – Florence, SC
Smoking on the River - Summerville, GA

Grande Creek Pig Jam – Swainsboro, GA

Newport 35^th Annual Pig Cookin’ Contest – Newport, NC

12-13 – Smokin Pork N Butts – Jackson, GA

19-20 – Hejaz Shriners Cook-off – Mauldin, SC

Come See Me BBQ Cook Off – Rock Hill, SC

The South Carolina – Georgia Border Cook-off – Hardeeville, SC
Pork in the Park - Newberry, SC (The one I'll be helping)

Cornelia Apple Blossom BBQ Festival – Cornelia, GA

17^th Annual Firehouse BBQ Cookoff – Kings Mountain, NC

26-27 – Project Host Annual BBQ Cook-off – Greenville, SC

Old Friends Barbeque Cookoff – Bamber, SC

Char-Broil Pig Bowl – Columbus, GA

BBQ Capital Cookoff – Lexington, NC

May

3-4 – Hog on the Hill – Chester, SC
Picking and Pigging in the Park - Irmo, SC

10-11 – Boss Hog Cook-Off – Waynesboro, GA

Smoke on the Lake – Acworth, GA

Jiggy With The Piggy BBQ Challenge – Kannapolis, NC

^7th Annual Hogfest in Historic Edenton – Edenton, NC

11 – Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival – Charlotte, NC

17-18 Pig in the Park – Williamston, SC

Hawgin’ on Lanier – Gainesville, GA

 NCBS PIEDMONT BBQ BOOT CAMP & JUDGES SCHOOL – Clemmons, NC

June

7-8 – High on the Hog – Beaufort, SC

6-7-8-9 – 9^th Annual Texas Pete Ribfest – Winston-Salem, NC

14-15 – Hog Jam – Blairsville, GA

Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival – Tryon, NC (BBQ Pitmasters Season 5 filming)

July

6 – The 48^th Annual Roasting of the Pig – Beech Mountain, NC

12-13 – The SC Peach Festival – Gaffney, SC

The Pig N Swig – Newnan, GA

Carolina Mountain Ribfest – Fletcher, NC

13 – SCBA JUDGING SEMINAR – Columbia, SC

19-20 - NCBS MOUNTAIN BBQ BOOT CAMP & JUDGES SCHOOL – Sugar Mountain, NC

August

2-3 Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival – Cary, NC

9-10 Mountain High BBQ and Music Festival – Franklin, NC

16-17 – Classic City BBQ Festival – Athens, GA

23-24 – Sooie Relief Benefit Fest - Greer, SC
Pigs & Peaches BBQ Festival – Kennesaw, GA

September

19-20 Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues & BBQ Rally – Salisbury, NC

20 – Smoke on the Water – Columbia, SC

October

11-12 Eastern Carolina BBQ Throw Down – Rocky Mount, NC

18-19 – Swine and Dandy Charity Cook-Off – Duluth, GA

Time Warner Cable BBQ & Blues – Charlotte, NC

10^th Annual Vander Pig Cook-Off – Fayetteville, NC

24 – 84^th Annual Mallard Creek BBQ – Charlotte, NC

26 – 30^th Annual Lexington Barbecue Festival – Lexington, NC

November

1-2 – Big Pig Jig – Vienna, GA

Pig on the Ridge – Ridgeway, SC

2 – Hog Happenin’ – Shelby, NC

15-16 – St. Nicholas Winterfest “Best Q in Conway” – Conway, SC

The National BBQ Cup – Cumming, GA

"1st Annual Hub City Hog Fest" - Spartanburg, SC

This past weekend was the 1st BBQ competition in Spartanburg. I have a buddy that competed along with a coworker of my brother in laws, so we decided to go check it out, and say hey to some folks. 

For a first time competition they had a pretty good turn out. There was about 30-40 teams and a decent little crowd with the live music they had going on. There were a few things they could have improved on, but hey, it's their first time. 

We got there and met up with Jamie and Brandon of Berry Patch BBQ. This is the team I'll be helping with in April, so I walked around the site with Jamie and talked about how they have their set up and all, while Dawn and Brandon sat in the warmth of the trailer watching Death Race 3. 

After we hung out there for a little while, I wanted to tour the event and see if I recognized anyone and meet my bil's coworker. We got over to Big Red's Barbecue and met up with Josh, who's an awesome guy, and spoke with him for a solid 15-20 minutes. Just remember those two names, because he might be becoming a big shot soon. You heard it here first ... 

As I mentioned, I'll be helping Berry Patch in April, but Josh also extended an invitation to help him out with Big Red's, so I might be doing a few other competitions this season ... after the wedding. 

I was hoping to get back out there on Saturday, if for nothing else, to see the awards banquet, but we had a few errands to run before our wedding shower that night. 

While we were out I checked Facebook and found out that Jame and Brandon not only won 1st place in Ribs, but they won their first ever Grand Championship. 

Congrats to Berry Patch BBQ!!!!!

To follow these two teams, like their Facebook pages at Big Reds Barbecue and Berry Patch BBQ. 

Tex-Mex Sloppy Joses

I've never been a huge fan of Sloppy Joes, because most people like to fill them with tons of onions. Dawn found this recipe and pitched it to me that it had beer and bacon. I'm sure after that I stopped paying attention, so I don't know everything else that goes into these.

If you'd like to make these for yourself, here's the full recipe here.

For some reason, it felt like I was killing the bacon having to prechop it. 

Once the bacon was cooked, I scooped it out and then added the ground beef to the bacon grease.

Once the beef has browned, we added the dry ingredients and bacon back to the mix.

Cooked those for 5 minutes, and then added the beer to cook in. 

Added the sauce and let it reduce. 

Since these are the first Sloppy Joses I've ever had ... it's safe to say ... these are the best haha. The Jalapeno Bacon rub I added to fries went great with the jalapeno and bacon of the burgers. 

A Day Off Smokin' Butts

As the wedding approaches we need every nickle and dime we can get, so I decided to do another pulled pork sell. I originally started with 3, but on my way home from work the day before, I thought I'd go ahead and get a 4th to be on the safe side. 

I took Thursday and Friday off last week (had to burn 2 days before the end of the month or I'd lose them), so I woke up when Dawn did for work, and got everything going. 

The big 10+ pounder on the far left we'll nickname Joe Frazier ... no reason, just naming for fun.

Had some of my injection left over from my last cook, so injected the butts with it and then opened up my 5lb bag of Plowboys I got fro Christmas and went to work. 

The smoker gets up to temp, and it's time to get to work. I get the first butt (Joe Frazier) and 

DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!!!! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!!!! DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!!!!

If for some reason you do not know that reference ... click here.

I have no clue what went wrong. I was coming down the back step and it just went ... 

I couldn't sell pork I dropped on the ground, so I tossed the butt. Of course once I texted Dawn the picture she asked if I just washed it off and cooked it for us ... uuuhhhhh, of course I didn't do that, because I was heartbroken over the fact that I just dropped it and wasn't thinking straight. 

Delicious, wonderful BBQ ... wasted.

Well, the other 3 made it to the smoker just fine, and cooked away. After about 3 hours, I snapped a couple of pictures. 

The weather started off in the 30s and the wind was gusting all day, so the temperature was all over the place. These ended up taking nearly 12 hours before reaching 200 degrees, and then sat for a little over another hour before I pulled them. 

When it was all said and done, after Frazier went down, I had enough to fill every order and have 1 bag left over for us to eat ... whoops.

The Outside In Burger

This week's Throwdown is "Your Signature Dish". I thought this may be a TD that I'd skip, because I really didn't know of a dish that is my "signature" ... honestly, I still don't. 

Anyway, my first (and so far only) TD victory on The Brethren was with my EVERYTHING American Burger, and the center of that burger was one of "my" (I'll use that loosely since I'm sure it's been done before) creations ... the "Outside In" burger. 

Dawn has been asking/begging for burgers for a while, so it all kind of just worked out.

Dice some green peppers and onions (we ended up doing a little too much for the amount of meat we had).

While Dawn was doing the dicing ... I did the bacon cooking. I did some of the Honey BBQ Bacon that came in the Bacon gift bag she got me for my Birthday last year (remember, I couldn't chew for a while, so don't ask why I still have bacon in my house from then).

The easiest way to mix the ingredients, is to flatten the meat out and then add the seasoning and ingredients to the top. Again, as you can see, WAY too much pepper and onion. 

Then pat out an even number of patties. On one patty, add your cheese and bacon, or whatever other toppings you want to try, to the center and then take another patty and lay it on top. Press the outside of the patties together to make one large, stuffed burger.

She then sauteed some more peppers and onions for her top, and I just did another batch of bacon. Of course we both also went for an extra piece of pepperjack cheese on top as well.

Thanks to the wedding shower that Dawn had the day before, we had some new plates for pictures. 

Winner(s) Of Contest #2 Are ...

In honor of my 100th post, I offered another free rub sample to someone that liked/commented and shared the post on the Facebook Fan Page. 

4 people (outside of family) ended up spreading the word of One Nine 3, so for the help that they've done, each will win a free rub sample.

The big winners are ... 

Heather Hannon, Robin Whitaker, Jimmy Sparks, and Kevin Crocker

Bucky's BBQ Cooking Class - 100th Post

I was at work a few weeks ago, and a friend of mine sent me a message on Facebook. It was a link to a Groupon for a beginners BBQ cooking class at Bucky's BBQ.

I've never eaten at Bucky's before, so I really didn't even know if they had decent Q or not, but was interested in what the class might be. I talked it over with Dawn, and she said she'd like to join too. So me, her, and friends of mine Jimmy, Josh, and Chris all attended the class.

Now, I don't consider myself a beginner, but I wouldn't call myself a pro either, so I thought it could be something worth the time and money. Plus, it said in the text that it'd go over how to make rubs and sauces from scratch, and that has been peaking my interest as of late.

We get there, most of us are are time (I'm looking at you Mr. 5 minutes late), and they have tables set up for everyone with tin foil, latex gloves, bowls, whisk, thermometers, and a notebook. The notebook is more for you to look at once you get home. The class itself, is hands on and not note taking.

The class starts by making your own rub and applying it to whichever piece of meat you're given. The students are set up in 2's, so one person gets a piece of chicken and the other a pork tenderloin.

Once everyone has their meat ready, he takes you out back to his smoke room. The smoke room has their 2 commercial sized smokers, and a few backyard style smokers. He explains the difference in the smokers and also different types of coal/wood/heat sources you can cook with.

As everyone's meat is cooking away, the class then turns to basic food prep. Wayne shows you how to trim fat off of food, and how to remove the membrane of ribs. Throughout the night, he brings out different types of Q and allows the students to study and, most importantly, taste it to have a better understanding of what you're really doing while you're smoking the food.

Just before the food is done in the smoker, everyone mixes up their sauce and gets ready to pig out (no pun intended).

At the end of the 3 hour class, he leaves a little room for Q&A. Our class seemed to have a few people in there before that had done some smoking, so the Q&A was about 2 questions ... either the people knew what they were doing, or they were too full to ask questions.

If you're in the Greenville area, and have ever been interested in BBQ, I would HIGHLY recommend this class. There's a difference in someone telling you how to do something, and someone teaching you out to do something. Wayne, teaches you how to get started in the BBQ world, and for $50-$100 for a 3 hour class. It's worth every penny.

He mentioned doing more advanced classes in the future, and if he does, I/we will be there.

Baked Coconut Chicken

This is an easy, quick(ish) meal to make that can also lead to some delicious leftovers for work. 

For the full recipe go to Budget Bytes.

The original recipe calls for frying, but we bake them instead to make it a little healthier.

The set up is pretty simple, get 3 trays/bowls/whatever and put flour in one, coconut milk and egg in another, and mix of coconut, bread crumbs, and pepper in the last. 

We normally cook this when the grocery store has the fresh chicken on sale, and pick up a pack of 12 boneless, skinless tenders. 

Take a piece of chicken and start it in the flour. You don't need to cake it on, but make sure you cover the only piece of chicken. Then dip it into the egg (try to use one hand for your dry ingredients and one for the egg) and flip to the other side to cover both sides. Take the chicken out and lay it in the crust mix and add as much as your little heart desires. 

Also note the Reynolds nonstick wrap ... it's so nonstick, it's slippery. We've started putting down a layer over our trays to obviously, make sure our food doesn't stick, but to also help with cleanup. 

Throw them in the oven at 350 for 12-13 minutes, flip each tender over, and then cook for another 12-13 minutes. 

I forgot to get a picture of the sauce but it's Thai Kitchen brand Sweet Red Chili.

3-4 pieces to go with your side is what we normally do, and then you're left with 4 more for leftovers tomorrow. The left overs will be just as good the next day, and will make a coworker or two jealous. 

Pizza Fatty

Yes, this is another crazy food idea of mine. Yes, this is thanks to the Brethren. Yes, this is for another Throwdown. No, I had no clue how this would actually work or turn out.

I know I know, this looks like a pizza and we just did pizza a week or so ago. However, it's not just a pizza, it's a Pizza Fatty. 

Now, I understand you're not all Brethren, so you might not understand what a fatty is, so I'll give you a brief explanation. A fatty is basically taking a thin "layer" of meat and stacking your toppings/goodies on top of it. Then, you roll it all up and cook it. Once you finish the cook and slice it, you have a log of deliciousness. 

I've had this idea in my mind for a while, but ever since day 1 the part that has worried me is, how will the dough that gets rolled up on the inside cook? 

Since I had a feeling this would be a bit of a tough cook. We cheated and just picked up some Pillsbury Thin Crust pizza dough (I thought the thin would be better and easier to cook on the inside). 

Dawn did her thing and put down a thin layer of sauce and seasoning.

Then we added on the goodies.

The rolling up process ended up being a 2 person job, so we weren't able to get any pictures of it. Anyway, we rolled it up and put it on a cookie sheet. Dawn wanted to make it look all fancy like, so she sprinkled some Parmesan and Mozzarella on top. 

I wasn't exactly sure how to cook it with the dough rolled up inside itself, so I did 20-25 minutes around 360 with some foil tented over the top to give it time to cook without cooking the outside. Then I took the foil off and did another 10ish minutes with it around 400 so the outside would then cook. The bottom was dark, but not burnt. I think if I would have left it on for another minute it would have been burnt, so I got lucky and pulled it at the perfect time.

I also put it in the middle of my 4 burner grill and turn the 2 middle burners all the way down as low as it'd go and adjusted my temperature with the outside burners to try to cook the bottom as slowly as possible. 

The inside didn't turn out how I had it envisioned (I was thinking the dough on the inside would plump up a little as well, and you'd be able to clearly see the layers). You can still see the layers, but you can't see a heavy separation from the dough like I thought you would. I guess a mix of the dough being really thin, and the sauce made it moist and not really puff up. 

To turn a crazy idea into something that actually worked was a blast ... to have that crazy idea turn into something that tasted so good, just made the fight of a cook, all that worth it.