South of the Border, North of Hunger: Dub Shack BBQ Presents Smoked Chicken Enchilada Dip

I cannot believe I lost the contents to the post I planned on dropping this morning but here it is. Let's see how much I remember and how quickly this goes back viral to my satisfaction.

INGREDIENTS

Two 5 oz cans canned chicken*

12 oz enchilada sauce

15 oz golden corn, undrained 

15 oz black beans, undrained 

2 8 oz softened cream cheese blocks

8 oz Colby jack or Mexican cheese

Meat Church's Holy Cow barbecue rub**

*Because I'm lazy at times, I used canned chicken. The preferred move is grilling two chicken breasts and cubing them.

**Although you don't see the bottle, I really did use Holy Cow

STEP ONE. Grease the cast iron skillet and set aside. Mix together everything in a bowl reserving half of that bag of shredded cheese until they all look like they've played together outside all day. Once mixed to a consistency you're satisfied with, add it to the skillet and go outside.

STEP TWO. Give your grill a two-zone fire to work with and light it up! Once the temperature reaches 350 degrees, slide the skillet over and let the magic happen. Check for an internal temperature of 165 degrees after 25 to 30 minutes - even with melted cheese, an optimal temp is one where everything is melted and bubbly with a slight browning on the sides. If the dip is too thick, add more milk. If it is too thin, add cheese to thicken it up a touch.

STEP THREE. Pull after the cream cheese is fully melted. For some reason I really don't know why it has a higher melting point than regular cheddar and shredded cheese so stir thoroughly until it is fully melted in with the rest of the group. Add the remaining cheese, wait a few minutes and serve joyfully with a strong chip!

I lost the original content so if it feels a bit disjointed, please forgive me. Of course, make this your own: Don't like chicken? Use ground beef, chorizo, sausage, or whatever tickles your fancy. As always, thank you for reading this post. Be blessed, be safe, be good to each other, and tell everyone that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ! 

The Freaks Come Out At Night: Dub Shack BBQ Presents Grilled Chicken Wings

If you recall the mango wings I made earlier this year during Super Bowl week, this is a similar method but different taste. 

INGREDIENTS

Chicken wings

Fire and Smoke Society's Chicka Licka Bam Bam barbecue rub

STEP ONE. Using a wire rack, position all of the chicken wings that you think your party are going to eat and let them air dry overnight in the refrigerator. To aid the crispiness of those wings, you may add a bit of cornstarch before putting them to bed. One thing that absolutely does NOT need to happen is to let raw chicken sit outside with no regard because salmonella is a very real thing. 

STEP TWO. Light your grill in that two-zone fire we like so much. Since I haven't bought the compartment parts for my Weber Kettle yet, I used a few chunks of peach wood with charcoals on one side and the empty space to place the wings. In the meantime, season the wings with Chicka Licka Bam Bam on both sides allowing them to sweat it out for a spell. Once the temperature gets to 350, place those guys on the cooler side of the grill and let them work their magic.

STEP THREE. You don't have to stand over wings but be certain to check them for color after fifteen minutes with the Thermapen, and turn over for even color on both sides. Chicken is ready at 165 degrees but with this cut, they can go to 175 or 180 without any issue. 

STEP FOUR. Pull the wings from the grill, let them rest for about fifteen minutes, and enjoy!

You'd be amazed by what a different flavor profile does with wings. Since they turned out a bit spicier than I expected and my wife sent them away, I'll have to tone down the Cajun heat next time around. Y'all have to try them out - I put that on my Weber kettle - and tell me what they taste like. As always, thank you for your continued support of the movement. Be blessed, be safe, be good to each other, and tell everyone that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ! 

I Ain't Going Over There. God Made Me Show Up Anyway.

Nearly a year ago, I left the church for a number of reasons not limited to the terms in the letter my former pastor received detailing the circumstances leading to my season's end. If you really want to know, check the records. For everyone else, time was up thus setting up the next eleven months of spiritual free agency. When asked about what happened, I tried to deflect and redirect the question as much as possible as to prevent getting angry all over again. I had dedicated nine years to a neighborhood who didn't know me from the man on the moon to serving this congregation for four years in the diaconate as faithfully as a man working the graveyard shift loopy schedule and all was physically able to show up every other Sunday morning for 11 am service.

From the earliest part of free agency: Thanks to Pastor Kevin Cunningham and the New Jerusalem MBC for such a welcoming spirit 

Remember in the Book of Jonah where our protagonist refused to go to Nineveh? Unlike him, I didn't get whooped around or swallowed by a whale; consequently, my family's departure made corporate worship a tougher pill to ingest at the moment and location. To me, it was within my right to be a proverbial turd in the punchbowl by slandering the leadership team namely the executive committee and "angel of this house" on the way out since their compasses were broken not irretrievably rather needed to be recalibrated but thankfully cooler heads (and the luxury of time) prevailed.

We love because God loved us first.

1 John 4:19

We all need this reminder.

Now back to the Book of Jonah. 

After he hopped the ship from Joppa for Spain to avoid Nineveh, the sea raged all about and it scared the sailors to the point they prayed to their gods for their own safety...until it was discovered - and Jonah admitted that he was the cause of this severe storm (Jonah 1:9-12). The sailors continued to row their way back ashore yet the storm worsened. With one option remaining, they did what some consider the unimaginable and threw Jonah off the ship and as a result, the sea calmed down. Although no additional information is provided about the crew, they did indeed pray to God and offer all sorts of promises (v. 16). Then we found out about God sending a whale to swallow Jonah in the following verse. One lesson that is often missed in Chapter 1 is that when trouble arises in the church, we tend to look at everything but the source of the issue until it is almost too late and the collective soul of the group finds itself at a crossroads of losing its very identity to maintain comfort, power, etc. 

I always told members that if I am the problem, just go ahead and get me on down the road. I'd rather be part of the solution and as remaining strong in the faith and daily walk in the face of hot mess becoming more tenuous fraught with members who donned rose-colored glasses, I had to do something.

Honestly, I'd prefer earthly discomfort than to take the easy road to hell. Reread what I just said.

So why am I back?

God isn't done with Deacon Ced yet. 

Catching up with my bro Jack and Greater Galilee BC. I need to take pictures in different shirts 

John 9:37 serves as my own reminder that there is still a whole lot of work in the field and although the laborers are few, I best get after it as long as I am reasonably able to DO what thus saith the Lord. It means DO a whole lot more than just show up with a large check to lord (note the lowercase l) over the leadership as a way to hold sway and undue influence. Certainly I understand fully that we cannot work our way into heaven because doing so minimizes the mystery of the gospel held and puts the entire concept of faith in question.

He said to his disciples, “A large crop is in the fields, but there are only a few workers.

Matthew 9:37

Allow me to revert to Jonah avoiding Nineveh like the plague once again - or like Black folks staying out of Harrison or Cabot.

Once Jonah prays his prayer of desperation, the whale spits him out and as a result, that second chance is grace embodied. Since he didn't want to be there, God took him down through there and brought him out back to where he was supposed to be in the first place: Nineveh. In Chapter 3 he goes as commanded to the large city [population approx. 120K, about the size of Charleston, SC] sharing his message on foot which takes him three days to cross one side to the other side. At the end of the first day, Jonah declared that the city would be destroyed in forty days as a result of their sinfulness. 

Their response? See below.

After walking for a day, Jonah warned the people, “Forty days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed!” They believed God's message and set a time when they would go without eating to show their sorrow. Then everyone in the city, no matter who they were, dressed in sackcloth. When the king of Nineveh heard what was happening, he also dressed in sackcloth; he left the royal palace and sat in dust. Then he and his officials sent out an order for everyone in the city to obey. It said: None of you or your animals may eat or drink a thing. Each of you must wear sackcloth, and you must even put sackcloth on your animals. You must also pray to the Lord God with all your heart and stop being sinful and cruel. Maybe God will change his mind and have mercy on us, so we won't be destroyed. When God saw that the people had stopped doing evil things, he had pity and did not destroy them as he had planned.

Jonah 3:4‭-‬10

The citizens immediately turned away from their sinful ways, fasted for an unspecified period, dressed in sackcloth, and prayed to be spared. In verse 10, we learn that God saved them and did not destroy the city after all.

Was everyone pleased? No. 

Can't keep everyone happy all the time, y'know.

Jonah began throwing a hissy fit in Chapter 4 instead of being overjoyed about the 120K souls saved from a certain damnation. He walked out of the city through the east gate and made himself a shelter just to see what was going to happen to the people of Nineveh. The Lord made a vine for Jonah's comfort which greatly pleased him but the next day, a worm began to eat the leaves drying it out. Later that afternoon, the sun came out and beat him down further enraging the onetime escape artist until he shouted "I wish I was dead!" The Lord knew Jonah was more upset about the vine withering away than the 120K saved souls who previously did not know right from wrong (or even cared). As a result, God indicts Jonah's indifference in verse 11 citing that he should show equal  compassion over a big city as a little vine, here for a season and gone the next. 

How does this apply to my journey? 

I gave my nephew communion the last time I went home to Greater Friendship MBC. For some reason, this shade of blue has always looked good on me 

I specifically remember stating I wasn't setting foot off in that building again until some significant housecleaning happened. When I said housecleaning, I meant these few words: EVERYONE GOT TO GO. My spirit could no longer allow for me to be the cover for all of the baloney and simultaneously bear the stresses and strains alone while the remaining folks either had fun watching the foundation crack or blindly followed the Pied Piper to a wilderness they might not have been able to return home from. Together, they were too busy playing church without trying to be the Church. 

Here are the two I have to really do this godly walk for - and at Mount Zion MBC 

It took returning for Communion Sunday a few months ago as a visitor to realize this is where we belong as a family. With some trepidation and because I had some more churches to visit (see Spiritual Free Agency), I wasn't exactly raring to jump back into the fold with both feet running like Usain Bolt. In addition, I had used the past eleven months to study even deeper for myself and began to question three-day theology plus other traditions unmentioned in the Bible (Sidebar: I know Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose three days later yet I have an issue when pastors lazily specify Friday as His death and Resurrection two days later on Sunday.) In keeping with relevant teaching, simply state on the first day He died, and on the third day, He got up with all power in His hands. By repeatedly stating this bit of misinformation, preachers continue this lazy at best study destined to infantize Bible study attendants rather than get down into the roots of theology and question some of the things we were always told - or conveniently skipped over.

In this adventure, I'm praying for growth across the board plus a better understanding of what lies in His word. Though the mystery of faith is something that should elude all of us - and that we treat it as such (1 Timothy 3:9), help us to comprehend that faith in God and the promise of eternity are both intertwined with our ordered daily steps and continued studies. Also, I am petitioning for the courage to stand on the Word not only in knowing but also doing and applying in situations that like Jonah I could run away from. 

Thanks for welcoming us back. 

Now let's go to work. 

Hot to Tot: Dub Shack BBQ Presents Bacon Wrapped Tater Tots

Could this be the next great easy recipe?

This may be one of the very few moments this season where going outside to light the grill is untenable per time constraints but don't let me stop the pellet cooking bros and pros from dodging raindrops. Remember, T4E is for everyone and there are plenty of items from last season and this season to let the neighborhood know game day is here. 

Wanna see how I did it?

INGREDIENTS

Regular cut bacon

Tater tots

Barbecue rub of choice (I used Fire and Smoke Society's Cherry Cola)

Dipping sauce of choice (I used my Dub Shack BBQ's Pop Da Cherry sauce)

Instead of Sweet Preacher and The O.G. getting the call, Cherry Cola and Pop Da Cherry are the rub and sauce combo for this recipe. 

STEP ONE. Before I get started, the reason why we use regular cut bacon is that it takes too long for thick cut bacon to fully cook when wrapped around most items such as chicken, vegetables, or pork chops. Using the regular cut bacon found in the dairy section of the grocery store, slice each strip in half and count out an equal number of tater tots. To wrap, simply roll the tot to satisfaction and set it aside.

STEP TWO. Once all of the tots are wrapped in bacon, add the rub. You're going to want one that offsets the saltiness of bacon such as Fire and Smoke Society's Cherry Cola rub to prevent that horrible feeling of licking a salt block but use any rub you desire. Make enough of these for the party - they're going away faster than the Pac-12's odds of remaining a viable football league.

STEP THREE. This is where I veered from my normal path of smoking and grilling everything. How? I threw these guys in the oven for 30 minutes at 425 degrees. For the pellet loyalists, set up the GMG/Traegar/Pit Boss/etc. to 425 - whatever flavor profile makes you happy works. Either way, they should finish between 25-30 minutes per the instructions from the bag of tater tots.

STEP FOUR. Wait a few minutes and enjoy them in any way you like - with ranch dip, ketchup, sriacha, Dub Shack BBQ's Pop Da Cherry barbecue sauce, or with nothing. The umami indeed is strong with this one!

You're gonna want to make a whole bunch depending on the size of the party and how much bacon is in the refrigerator. In this application, I only did forty for a couple of reasons: I didn't plan this out enough to have a ton of bacon laying around, and with a 5 lb. bag of tots, I needed to do something else other than fry and add chili atop them. As always, thank you for your support and checking out this edition of Tailgating For Everyone. Be blessed, be safe, be good to each other, and tell everyone that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ! 

In Smoke We Trust: Dub Shack BBQ Presents Smoked Shotgun Shells

I ain't a killer but don't push me to smoking something killer for the next party - or another installment of Tailgating For Everyone from your friendly pitmaster. 

This week, I'm smoking shotgun shells!

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs. ground sausage

2 lbs. ground beef

2 lbs  shredded cheese

8 oz cream cheese, softened (ricotta is a good alternative)

2 (or 3) packages of unbroken manicotti noodles

3 lbs regular cut bacon 

Barbecue rub of your choice (I'm using Fire and Smoke Society's Pork Perfect)

Barbecue sauce (Of course, I used my Dub Shack BBQ's The O.G.)

STEP ONE. Of course, having a clean surface area is critical but also make sure you have enough good manicotti shells before you get started. Even if one or two shells break (I broke two), the bacon will do a good enough job of holding in the mixture. Speaking of which, find the largest mixing bowl in the cabinet and add the ground beef and pork and cheeses to the bowl. I tend to season my meat at every stage - and this is completely optional - so get your favorite BBQ rub and liberally spread it around and put those two hands to good use helping everything in the bowl play nice. 

STEP TWO. Once the crew in the bowl is mixed to satisfaction, it is time to stuff the shells. Some people may use a piping bag to fill the air with the meaty and cheesy mixture or even cut the corner of a freezer bag to do the deed, and as a word of advice: If you stuff your manicotti shells by hand, be careful not to break them. Once this step is completed, wrap each noodle with bacon to not only cover them but also because bacon makes everything taste better. The reason why regular cut bacon is recommended over the more popular thick cut bacon is that it crisps up quicker; in this experience, I used two strips of bacon per shell so plan accordingly.

STEP THREE. Here is an unusual step in the process: Refrigerate the shotgun shells at least four to six hours preferably overnight to soften the pasta. Go to bed, go to work, out to play with the kids, do yardwork, etc. but don't think about them. Whenever your miracle of time occurs, bring them outside to warm up to room temperature and light the smoker to 325 degrees. This time around, I am using applewood splits although any wood that plays nice with pork will work for this recipe. They should cook for about one hour but make sure the internal temperature of each shell is 160 degrees since we don't play around with ground beef like that. 

STEP FOUR. Once the shells hit 160, use the side burner from the offset grill to crisp up the bacon. Following this step, add your own favorite BBQ sauces such as Dub Shack BBQ's The O.G. and paint them on all sides until desired color is achieved. Remove from the smoker, plate them up, and serve immediately!

I finally got around to hopping on a new barbecue trend - or is a permanent member of the repertoire like the smoked cream cheese or queso from the past two summers? With some prep work and planning ahead, this could be a killer tailgate item. After all, this is Season 2 of the Tailgating For Everyone series: I promise toward the end of this season, I'll leave an link to each recipe for the pitmaster in your life to use as a bookmark to peruse when cooking in the backyard gets mundane. As always, thank you for reading this post and as your friendly pitmaster, I really hope you go wow the socks off the next tailgate party. Be blessed, be safe, be good to each other, and tell everyone that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ! 

Let's Call Those Hogs: Dub Shack BBQ Presents Peachy Pork Belly Burnt Ends

Let's call those Hogs. 

My local Walmart and Sam's Club have been blessings for having two of the key elements of this recipe - but it has meant that I needed to drive a little bit further for the peach rub than I did for the pork belly. Also, since my friends are bringing the Weird Beer party back for the first time in a while, they were looking for something fun and tasty from your friendly pitmaster: Well, here it is. 

INGREDIENTS

Pork belly 

Kinder's Bourbon Peach BBQ rub

Dub Shack BBQ's Peachin' Ain't Easy barbecue sauce

Before I go into the process, this post is dedicated to my friend Bill aka BK - a great man who God decided to bring home in January and although he is missed by all who knew him, one thing he did was bring people together and expand his own family to include a ton of us as his "kids" and later, "grandkids" as our own families were created and grown. Also shout out to anyone who can find a beer with my name on it like he and his wife Carol did in one adventure to Asheville.

STEP ONE. You don't have to do a whole lot of trimming to pork belly as it is where everyone's favorite part of the pig comes from: bacon. Feel free to smoke it whole but for this application, I am making 2"x2" cubes and smoking them to a melt-in-your-mouth tenderness paralleled by only brisket burnt ends (recipe coming later this season). Your cubes don't have to be perfect but as a tailgating snack the size is appreciated. The reason for the sizing at this step is that the fat renders as it smokes; as you've heard before, fat is flavor. 

To make it a bit easier since Walmart has really stepped up its meat game and starting making pork belly available to the masses, it would be wise to slather yellow mustard on all sides before slicing into those nice cubes and liberally shaking all of that Kinder's Bourbon Peach rub on all sides, giving them a toss in an aluminum pan or bowl before placing them on a wire rack for their smoke bath. 

STEP TWO. Light your grill! In true Arkansan mode - and because I always say shop local, eat local - the PK grill gets this assignment for today. In a two-zone fire and since I'm giving the smoker the day off, bank the lit charcoals to one side with unlit ones away from them and the water pan positioned for a day's work. Once lit, add a few peach wood chunks throughout the charcoals; after all, these are peach pork belly burnt ends. We're here for a good time beating up on Bobby Petrino and Missouri State; why not remind the former head Hog of what he's missing out on? 

STEP THREE. Let the burnt ends cooks for a couple of hours before checking their internal temperatures. Around 180 degrees, pull the off the grill and give them an initial shower of Dub Shack BBQ's Peachin' Ain't Easy barbecue sauce and butter before returning to the grill in a disposable pan to fully reach 203 degrees when they are wicked-tender. Give them one more dunk in warm sauce, let them set on the grates for about ten minutes before returning to the pan to rest before serving.

This is what you want, mane

If you're just OK with the same old hot dogs, hamburgers, and cold salsa with stale chips at the next tailgate party, then that is fine by me. For an unexpected elevation to the event - and what gets you remembered for years to come - try something unique as these peach pork belly burnt ends and make it not only super tender but also the perfect blend of sweet and savory. For a relatively average cost (for 2022 - everything costs way too much), this is a winner and could very well be my favorite recipe of the year. As always, thank you for reading this post. Be blessed, be safe, be good to each other, and tell everyone that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ! 

Finding Nemo and Coming Back Home

Fun fact about me: The very first movie date I took my wife to was Finding Nemo way back in 2003. We weren't officially together until a few years later and indeed one of the movies we used to stick in the car for Caeli to watch when she was a baby was Finding Nemo. I'm not going to spell out the plot of the story yet it parallels my own spiritual journey as a free agent over the past year and how Mount Zion became our church home again for the indefinite future - and hopefully, the place where not only my daughter is baptized and begins her Christian journey but also where my homegoing service is located.

Sunday. pic.twitter.com/8QYIExQ1k1

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) August 28, 2022

What does a clownfish have to do with my own spiritual free agency? More than you think.

More often than not, we fancy ourselves as Nemo - sweet, innocent, precocious - who happens to get separated from the larger group partly due to curiosity yet primarily from swimming out too far out of the local safety net into a literal fishing net! We may be able to come home yet the trials, twists, and turns have forever made an indelible imprint on our hearts and souls as those steps were reoriented from what we thought was a certain pathway to one a bit undefined.

In our spiritual lives, we touch the boat unaware of the consequences and how far away disobedience can take us from home pic.twitter.com/Nn72EBQ3Vb

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) August 29, 2022

 But Jesus would not let him. Instead, he said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how good he has been to you.”

Mark 5:19

God does say something about homecoming - and not just in the context of church anniversary weekend. Check out Mark 5:19 and a few other tweets sprinkled throughout the post:

Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you—I will do all I have promised.

Genesis 28:15

Uh-oh.

It was at this moment when Nemo realized it was time to go home. pic.twitter.com/cEi93Tr9or

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) August 29, 2022

The above text is something we typically associate with homecoming as it is remarkably relevant in this context. When we leave one house of worship for another due to moves, end of a spiritual season, a calling acknowledged, etc., and return to our stomping grounds, we find ourselves looking back wistfully at the memories made in earlier times. In more than one visit during my own spiritual free agency period, I was escorted around the church's property and shown the improvements, updates, and future plans should we unite with the particular band of believers that we may have a hand in such as building expansion and completing remodeling projects. While we physically view our legacies, homecoming is the time to look back briefly not revert fully to the growing pains [re: simpler times that weren't that simple] rather as a recognition of those ebenezers lain for the present assembly - and the future members and leaders. Like those elders who have kept up with our progressive growth since our departures, God has continued to watch over us and as we returned to the land, He provides proof that He has been there all along.

No matter what... pic.twitter.com/DmLCVBuL4v

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) August 29, 2022

Once we prayed and weighed all of our options, the next thing I had to do was write my letter of Christian experience (It's a lot harder this time around when I had to do it all by myself versus when Mom did it for me years ago. She's the secretary at my home church, BTW). Did I need to spell out the years of faithful service and varying roles, or would I be OK with just two words We're back just like Michael Jordan did when he unretired from the Bulls nearly thirty years ago? It took a little bit of time and while I won't spell out the contents, let's say I presented myself well. 

In the end, I did enjoy my time as a free agent visiting and worshipping with all we engaged with. Thanks to all of the congregations who had us (and the three who either tried to put me to work or compared notes regarding upgrades). As we land - and punch in our time cards - it in our prayers to grow, lead by example, and remain relevant in a world that seemingly values a sugarcoated Gospel that robs us all of the truth various authors spoke of throughout the Bible.

Let's go home. pic.twitter.com/ZuZdJJBeNU

— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) August 29, 2022

 It's one thing to say that we go to church. It's another to be the Church.