There's just one week remaining before the Super Bowl. A lot of people, even if they are not avid football fans, enjoy a good Super Bowl party if for no other reason than the friends and food.
I'm a pretty big football fan, and I love throwing together a good meal, too. My wife and I don't invite the whole neighborhood over but we do have some close friends who've joined us the last couple years and we'll be having them over again this year.
For the main course I am going to be firing up my smoker and doing a pork shoulder. I'll probably have to start it this coming Friday night and it'll take me well into Saturday to finish it. I do mine Carolina style, with a vinegar based mop sauce that includes diced onions and jalapeños, as well as crush red pepper, sea salt, and brown sugar. It has a nice sweet and spicy flavor to it. Then I lay bacon strips over the top of the meat. Throughout the smoking process those diced onions and jalapeños pile up on the meat. I finish the last two or three hours in a foil pan, with any unused mop sauce and wrapped in foil on top. The result is when you pull the meat apart you get small bacon chunks as well as onions and jalapeños mixed in nicely with the meat.
As a side, I'll be doing stuffed jalapeños. Slice the stems off, then cut the pepper in half, down the length. Remove the white membrane and seeds to make room for the filling. The filling is cream cheese, shredded chicken breast (usually I just buy it canned) garlic powder and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. Typically 1 8 oz can, 1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese are enough for 20 or so peppers but this depends on the size of the peppers themselves so this isn't an exact science. Mix in the BBQ sauce and garlic until you achieve the taste you like. Stir until it's evenly mixed. Then take thick bacon strips, cutting them to the approximate lengths of your peppers and lay them on top of the filling. Smoke ~50 minutes over apple wood (I use apple exclusively!) or until your bacon is done to your liking. If you're worried about these being too spicy, fear not. When you remove the white membrane and seeds you remove most of the spiciness.
Another side I may do is grilled okra. This is a breeze: just pour olive oil on the okra pods and shake until evenly coated. Then grind pepper and sea salt and stir until evenly distributed. Use a veggie tray for grilling be sure to stir every few minutes. You want the edges of the okra pods to be charred, but not burnt. Larger pods need to grill longer.
I may be able to convince my wife to make mac-n-cheese (real stuff, not out of the box) as well.
As you can see, even though we're not from the south we're doing it southern BBQ style this year. I guess that means we'll be pulling for Atlanta in this year's game.
What are you planning on dialing up for the big game?
I'm a pretty big football fan, and I love throwing together a good meal, too. My wife and I don't invite the whole neighborhood over but we do have some close friends who've joined us the last couple years and we'll be having them over again this year.
For the main course I am going to be firing up my smoker and doing a pork shoulder. I'll probably have to start it this coming Friday night and it'll take me well into Saturday to finish it. I do mine Carolina style, with a vinegar based mop sauce that includes diced onions and jalapeños, as well as crush red pepper, sea salt, and brown sugar. It has a nice sweet and spicy flavor to it. Then I lay bacon strips over the top of the meat. Throughout the smoking process those diced onions and jalapeños pile up on the meat. I finish the last two or three hours in a foil pan, with any unused mop sauce and wrapped in foil on top. The result is when you pull the meat apart you get small bacon chunks as well as onions and jalapeños mixed in nicely with the meat.
As a side, I'll be doing stuffed jalapeños. Slice the stems off, then cut the pepper in half, down the length. Remove the white membrane and seeds to make room for the filling. The filling is cream cheese, shredded chicken breast (usually I just buy it canned) garlic powder and Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce. Typically 1 8 oz can, 1 1/2 blocks of cream cheese are enough for 20 or so peppers but this depends on the size of the peppers themselves so this isn't an exact science. Mix in the BBQ sauce and garlic until you achieve the taste you like. Stir until it's evenly mixed. Then take thick bacon strips, cutting them to the approximate lengths of your peppers and lay them on top of the filling. Smoke ~50 minutes over apple wood (I use apple exclusively!) or until your bacon is done to your liking. If you're worried about these being too spicy, fear not. When you remove the white membrane and seeds you remove most of the spiciness.
Another side I may do is grilled okra. This is a breeze: just pour olive oil on the okra pods and shake until evenly coated. Then grind pepper and sea salt and stir until evenly distributed. Use a veggie tray for grilling be sure to stir every few minutes. You want the edges of the okra pods to be charred, but not burnt. Larger pods need to grill longer.
I may be able to convince my wife to make mac-n-cheese (real stuff, not out of the box) as well.
As you can see, even though we're not from the south we're doing it southern BBQ style this year. I guess that means we'll be pulling for Atlanta in this year's game.
What are you planning on dialing up for the big game?
