• 12 large jalapenos
• 6 strips of bacon (applewood preferably)
• 1/2 pound pulled pork (let over or from your favorite joint)
• 1 pkg. ranch mix (only 1/2 T needed)
• ¼ C cream cheese
• ¼ C smoked gouda (shredded)
• 1 C havarti (shredded)
• 1 T honey
• 1/2 t onion powder
• (Optional: TGCC Sweet Spot BBQ sauce for brushing just at end)

RECIPE: The first thing you want to do is make the filling mixture, and this can be done a day or so in advance. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked pulled pork, ranch mix, cream cheese, smoked gouda, havarti, honey, onion powder and salt and pepper to taste. Mix ingredients together and set aside.

To make a popper simply remove the top of the pepper, just below the stem, and use the handle of a spoon to remove the seeds and membrane- discard to trash. To fill the poppers you can either use a pastry bag, with no nozzle fitting, or just use your fingers like we do. Fill the poppers up with the filling, stopping just before they overflow. Now take the strips of bacon and cut them in half, securing the bacon halves to the peppers with toothpicks, making sure to put the toothpicks through the overlapping seem in the bacon so they stay on the popper. You may want to use two toothpicks per pooper, just to be sure.

Now to grill the poppers we cover a large grill grate with heavy duty aluminum foil so that the entire grate is covered. Often we lift the grate and secure the foil under the edges. This way your grill won’t get all cheesy and you can even spoon overflowing cheese back into poppers. The bacon needs to crisp up a bit on these bad boys, so we grill on medium-low and keep the hood of the grill shut. They should be checked every 5 minutes and flipped when needed. They usually take about 15-30 minutes depending on how crowded the grill is.

You can serve these just like this but we always brush a bit of our Sweet Spot BBQ sauce on the outside of the poppers during the last 5 minutes of the grilling. This allows the sauce to caramelize slightly without burning. We usually serve these with buttermilk ranch for dipping. ENJOY. 

Black-Out Brisket with Blackberry BBQ Sauce

These Guys Can Cook are not shy about being devoted Kansas City Chiefs fans. As such we want to show our support for the Black Out Arrowhead Movement brought to us by SaveOurChiefs.com so without any further ado- we give you our Black Out Brisket. Join us in the Arrowhead parking lot on November 18, 2012 as we help do our part to Black Out Arrowhead. If you show your support by wearing a SaveOurChiefs.com shirt, or other black Chiefs apparel, we will feed you some brisket, pit beans, and cornbread… All for FREE. Hope to see everyone there!

 7-10 lb. Black Angus brisket

1 C TGCC BBQ Rub

3 C TGCC Blackberry BBQ sauce

Charcoal

Hickory and Apple wood chunks

RECIPE:

Get your smoker started at approx 275F. When the smoker is up to temperature add a water tray half full with beer and water and a few large hickory and apple chunks of wood, just touching the fire.

Start prepping the brisket by cutting off approx half the fat from the fat cap (top). Discard the fat and apply a liberal amount of TGCC’s rub, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons cracked pepper to both sides of the brisket and rub in thoroughly. You can use any quality BBQ rub, but we have spent years fine-tuning ours and the recipe follows. The additional brown sugar and cracked pepper will add to the Black Out appearance of the brisket.

Keep the smoker flute/stack completely open and manage the temperature so its remains steady at approx 275F. Keeping your temperature constant and a moist environment  will ensure the most tender brisket possible. Place the Brisket on the smoker, fat cap side up, and close the lid. Check after an hour or so for even heat, but you should not have to flip the brisket, like you would a steak. During this time you can mix up your Blackberry BBQ sauce (or just use one of your favorites and add some Blackberry preserves or jam.) After 3 hours of smoke the brisket should be looking dark, but not burned, and it has taken-in all the smoke possible. At this point its best to use what we in the BBQ circuit call a Texas Crutch. This means wrapping the entire brisket with multiple layers of heavy duty foil, so its air tight and all juices will remain inside.

Now, check your temperature so you have a good idea of how much longer the brisket should take. You want to get the brisket to an internal temperature of 190F on a meat thermometer. This should take approx 1-2 more hours inside the foil, depending on how big your brisket is. Once the internal temperature reads 190-195F remove it from the oven and let it rest, unwrapped, for around 30 minutes- this will allow all the juices to redistribute in the brisket. Once the brisket has cooled enough that you won’t burn yourself, begin to cut long, pencil-thick, slices of brisket ACROSS THE GRAIN of the meat. We always put our sliced brisket back into any au jus (or pan juices) left in the foil. This will keep the brisket warm and tender for serving. In our opinion, even if you have a great BBQ sauce like our Blackberry version here, always serve it on the side. ENJOY.