One of the first events I had the pleasure of participating in was the Char-Broil Celebrity Grill-Off.  The contest featured several local Memphis radio and television personalities who were paired up with one of Char-Broils guest chefs.  The participants were:

• Steve Conley, Host of “Conley & Karen” on Classic Hits 94.1 WKQK
• Jay Young, Host of “The Young and Elder Show” on Kix 106 WGKX
• Earle Augustus, Host of “Love Songs” on Soul Classics 103.5 WRBO
• Ernie Freeman, Anchor of Fox 13’s Good Morning Memphis
• Joey Sulipeck, Chief Meteorologist at Fox 13 Weather Authority

I was teamed up with Jay Young for the cooking contest.  Each team was given about 3 pounds pork loin and two Char-Broil Big Easy Smoker, Roaster & Grill for cook their meat.  The idea was to cut a couple of nice chops from the loin and grill those while smoke roasting the rest of the loin.

The first step was to meet and get our pork plans all laid out.  Jay came prepared with his own secret seasoning mix and it sure had a “kick” to it.

Here Jay and I are prepping the pork.  I’m getting chops ready while Jay gives the loin a little spritz with his pineapple mixture.  Check out the loin stuffed with a Johnsonville Cheddar and Jalapeno Bratwurst.  This technique helps to keep the loin from drying out and provides a nice flavor on the inside of the loin.

One aspect of being a Char-Broil Guest Chef was being able to put aside my deep seeded shyness to do commentary on the various cooking events taking place at the Char-Broil exhibit.

I also had a chance to combine my “serious look” with my best Vanna White imitation.

Checking the temperature of the pork loin with my trusty Red Thermapen.  Everyone knows that the RED Thermapen is the fastest and most accurate of all Thermapens.  In my opinion an instant read thermometer is one of the most important tools an outdoor cooking enthusiast can own.

Took the pork loin out at 145 degrees and let it rest for 10 minutes.  It was perfect.  And check out how great it looks with the brat in the middle.  You can read more about this technique in a previous post I did on the Internally Self-basting Pork Loin.

And last, and certainly best is the picture of Jay Young, Kyshel Tew and myself with the $250.00 check we won for Special Olympics by winning 2nd Place in the grilling contest.

© 2010, The BBQ Grail. All rights reserved. On republishing this post you must provide link to original post.

Here are a few pictures of food from Memphis In May.  More to come…

I had the chance to interview Chris Lilly for a future blog post and was blown away when he offered me some of his ribs.

A picture of the Johnsville Jalapeno Cheddar Brat stuffed pork loin for the Char-Broil Celebrity Grill-Off

First "Celebrity All-Star" Pork Showdown was pork loin chops. Check out the grill marks from the Char-Broil Smoker, Roaster, Grill.

Glazing my loin chops with bbq sauce and grape jelly.

A perfectly cooked and glazed pork loin chop

The winning Pork Loin from the 2nd Pork Showdown. Seasoned with a "citrus and savory" rub, spritz with coke and finished with a pinch of cinnamon/sugar.

Jule "She-Smoke" Reinhardt with her famous Island Slaw.

© 2010, The BBQ Grail. All rights reserved. On republishing this post you must provide link to original post.

Last night I posted a review of the Char-Broil Big Easy Oil-less Fryer.  The chicken came out fabulous.  It is close to the best piece of chicken I have ever cooked.  Certainly the Big Easy was a huge part of the process.  But the brine I used also produced an incredible flavor and helped to make the chicken very moist. 

Ingredients:

• 2 Gallons of water
• 2 cups Kosher Salt
• 2 cups Brown Sugar (the darker the better as far as I’m concerned)
• 1/2 cup Tone’s Rosemary Garlic Seasoning

Instructions:

Heat the water in a non-reactive, stainless steel or anodized, pan on the stove.  When water is hot add salt and sugar to the water and stir until desolved.  Once the sugar and salt has disolved and the mixture has cooled to almost room temperature add the Rosemary Garlic Seasoning.  Stir and let the whole mixture cool to at least room temperature.

In another non-reactive container, a zip lock bag works well, cover your chicken, turkey or pork loin in the brine and refrigerate.  Use the guidelines below for how long to brine.

  When the brining is complete make sure you rinse the meat well otherwise the salt taste will be overpowering and your meat will possibly be inedible.

Give it a try.  Thanksgiving is coming up and if you’re cooking your turkey outdoors then brining it is a good idea.

 Brining Times:

• Whole Chicken (4 lbs):  4 to 8 hours
• Whole Turkey:  24 hours
• Whole Pork Loins:  6 to 8 hours

© 2009, The BBQ Grail. All rights reserved. On republishing this post you must provide link to original post.

Cooked a pork loin tonight, but first for all you cold weather folks…It’s the end of October and I’ve got another new crop of tomatoes coming in. It’s nice to live here…

Nice little center cut pork loin with a nice sear on high heat.  Moved it to indirect with some guava wood.

Nice and slow until internal reached 155 degrees.

Some nice little guava smoke on the kettle

Used Wolfe Original Rub and then when it reached 135 degrees started glazing with a new sauce I picked up.

Glazed and almost ready…

Check out the close-up. Bits of chipotle and bacon. What better to go on a pork loin.

Now for the internally self basting part. Stuffed the pork loin with a couple of mild italian sausage. Man, did that make for a juicy and flavorful bite of pork…

Dang this was good…

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