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.

Wazzup?!! Dub Shack BBQ Presents Smoked White Queso

I know, there is a smoked queso recipe that I could have easily subbed in the place of this recipe but hear me out: Sometimes you need a lighter dip without the weight of ground beef or sausage, chopped brisket or pulled pork or a strong vegetable such as mushrooms at a tailgating event. Even then, this dip surely has a few star performers around it that can handle the cheapest quality tortilla chips.

Wanna see another one of Da Dips? Here ya go!

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs white Velveeta cheese, block

8 oz pepper jack cheese 

1 lb white cheddar cheese 

8 oz softened cream cheese 

16 oz diced tomatoes, drained

3/4 cup milk  

Meat Church's Holy Cow barbecue rub 

STEP ONE. Like the other smoked queso recipe from June 2020, this is a dump and go. Cube all of the cheeses and add to a disposable pan (or cast iron pot) and add the tomatoes. Pour in the milk and give the cheeses a nice eyeballing of Holy Cow before mixing it enough to all of the ingredients to play together. In the meantime, light your grill to 350 and bank the coals off to one side as this is a two-zone fire. 

STEP TWO. Once lit, place the cheese away from the coals and let 'er rip stirring every thirty minutes. Smoked white queso dip doesn't need a specific temperature as much as it needs to be thoroughly melted. Grab a beer or a couple bottles of water and post up; this cook won't take too long. 

STEP THREE.  In the miracle of time, the smoked white queso is ready. Bring it in and let it cool down before getting into this tailgating staple so you don't burn your mouth. Enjoy! 

All I can say is man! Smoked queso is generally good for four or five days if it makes it that far at home and is something all of us can gladly endorse - except those who don't like cheese. Of course, I empathize with the lactose intolerant of us and as we move along through the season, I'll post more of Da Dips to get into as something for everyone. As always, be safe, be blessed, be good to each other, and tell everyone that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ! 

Chick Magnet: Dub Shack BBQ Presents Chicken Bacon Grinders

Years ago when I worked for a certain environmental science program in New England, I would find myself at a pizza restaurant that made the best grinder sandwiches fairly frequently; no comment of the dive bar a mile further west. It also doubled as a nice date night spot when my pockets were light before payday. In tribute to Kent Pizza of Winsted and the eggplant grinders I used to order with pizza and draft beer from Berkshire Brewery, this is my version of a Connecticut classic.

Yeah, I said eggplant grinders. Once upon a time, I briefly embraced vegetarianism - and may try it again one of these days - just not today because I'm making chicken bacon grinders instead. I'll share another story of how I was labeled the world's worst vegetarian one day.

What exactly is a grinder? See what Wikipedia tells us below.

A common term in New England is grinder, but its origin has several possibilities. One theory has the name coming from Italian-American slang for a dock worker, among whom the sandwich was popular. Others say that it was called a grinder because the bread's hard crust required much chewing. In addition, grinders are served hot unlike sub sandwiches which are often cold.

But really, here are the basic ingredients.

Just a big ole hot sub sandwich loaded with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, olive oil, vinegar, and roasted peppers.

For the purpose of this cook, we're doing the TikTok phenomenon only 1)better and the )DSB way. 

INGREDIENTS

French bread

Chicken breast 

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Onion

Bacon (because, why not?)

Olive oil

Basalmic vinegar

Provolone cheese 

Red pepper, if desired

Minced garlic

1/2 stick butter 

Fire and Smoke Society's The Usual barbecue rub

STEP ONE. In the pursuit of making it better, season the chicken! There is a special place in hell for people who don't season the meat before cooking it, and doubly for passing off anything less than safely cooked bird as rare - we don't like salmonella around these parts. Apply The Usual on both sides of the chicken and light the grill. During this time of waiting for 325-350 degrees on the PK, begin sandwich prep by melting the butter and mixing in the minced garlic since the bread is going to be toasted. Once the grill comes up to temperature, cook your chicken breasts to 165 and set aside. Bacon cooks really well in the grill; just keep an eye on flare-ups and turn to satisfaction. 

Grilled bacon is a treat, lemme tell ya.

Remember the French bread? Don't forget to split it, slather it with the aforementioned garlic butter on the inside, and grill it to the crispiness desired. As the remaining homies in the 860 and 203 reminded me, grinders aren't the easiest thing to eat due to how the hot ones are made so please do not burn the bread! The balance here is crunchy outside, soft inside. Once it is finished, let's go inside to put it all together.

STEP TWO. In the miracle of time, the chicken bacon grinder is ready except... it's time to build it. In the traditional Dub Shack BBQ way, building sandwiches - and evangelizing the gospel of great barbecue -  better is how we do things. This monstrosity gets provolone cheese, the chopped up chicken and bacon (so every bite makes you want to slap your mama or hug the chef), more provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, red peppers, olive oil, and basalmic vinegar.

Say ahh and enjoy!

I should have taken a picture before I sliced up the sandwich but I got hungry. Sorry. 

Grinders are a part of what makes America in a culinary sense: Man working hard toting only a sandwich and something to drink for his lunch at work. Yeah, I did it better than Subway but I would stop short of calling it a sub sandwich courtesy of the bread itself. One of the ways you can make this recipe your own is combining all of the vegetables with mayonnaise and setting that mixture in the refrigerator for an hour or however long it takes for everything else to come together for a uniquely balanced taste; I would recommend my Dat White barbecue sauce (local only - I don't trust shipping that one nationwide yet) as a bottom layer on the toasted bits.

As always, thank you for reading this post. If and when you get the chance, go outside and cook something awesome for your family! Y'all be blessed, be safe, be good to each other, and tell everyone that every day is a GREAT day for Dub Shack BBQ!