Bob Riley
Warning: If you are hungry, do not read this article.
Smokers & Grillers Pitmasters met again this month. The hosts for the June meeting of the BBQ Pitmasters – Smokers & Grillers were John and Marlene McNemar. John served up delicious beef and chicken fajitas. John has a new appreciation for fajita preparers. This was way more work than he ever wants to do again. He marinated and prepped the skirt steak and chicken overnight and then grilled them the next day. He also grilled vegetables and made, for the first time, pico de gallo from scratch, all served with either flour or corn tortillas. This was all served with outstanding jalapeño pineapple margaritas. Yes, please! Salud!
Paul Dorwaldt made charro pinto beans, aka “Cowboy Beans.” Paul gently boiled the pinto beans with onion and jalapeños and then combined brisket simmered in chicken broth with seasoning that had been smoked for around 45 minutes, which added a nice touch for the smokey flavor. Once the beans were ready, he added the brisket mix to the charro beans. We all said a “Yeehaw” for these Cowboy Beans.
Adding to this wonderful Mexican food feast, Cory Raynor made smoked stuffed jalapeños. Corey made two different flavors. One was stuffed with cooked chorizo, sauteed onions, and cream cheese, and the other was stuffed with cooked breakfast sausage, sauteed onions, and cream cheese. He cored the jalapeños (to prevent our mouths from catching on fire), stuffed each with the cream mixture, wrapped each stuffed jalapeño in bacon, and then smoked them for about two hours at 245 degrees, allowing the bacon to crisp up. These were definitely muy bueno!
Dr. Larry Lewis (the one and only) made smoked queso. In his dish, he used cubed Velveeta cheese, jalapeño pepper jack cheese, covered the bottom of the pan with onions, added cooked wagyu ground beef, chorizo and Rotel. He smoked all the ingredients on his Traeger smoker using oak pellets for two hours at 250 degrees. This recipe requires stirring frequently, about every 15 minutes. His tenacity and smoker skills produced an excelente appetizer.
To add to this feast, Bob Riley made Mexican street corn. He started with five pounds of thick-cut bacon, cut into small cubes and cooked on the Blackstone griddle, and 16 ears of fresh corn, seared and charred on the grill, coupled with an additional three pounds of frozen corn. Once the bacon was mostly cooked, he cut the corn off and dumped all the corn into the bacon and bacon grease. Then he added fresh lime juice, cilantro, cotija cheese, crema Mexicana, and, finally, cotija sauce and parmesan cheese. Aw, shucks, it was good!
Missing David and Susan Parker, John M. made two orange Dreamsicle pies, which finished the evening by taking us back to our youth with that old-fashioned taste of a frozen Dreamsicle ice cream bar.
What a dreamy ending to a perfect night of great food and friends! “BBQ you can’t find or buy anywhere!”