10 chicken legs 2 tsp kosher salt 2 tsp black pepper 2 tsp garlic powder 1 tbsp BBQ seasoning 1 cup apple cider vinegar 1/2 bottle BBQ sauce 1 stick of butter
Note: With the BBQ sauce any kind will do, I lean toward the sweeter variety, and about 8 oz is what you need. BBQ seasoning I recommend to be sweet and not salty.
Begin by taking the chicken legs and cut about 3/4 down the leg toward the end of the bone, cutting all tendons. If you wish, scissors can be used to trim unwanted tendons. Scrape any skin or tendons toward the small end of the leg and cut off the tip of the bone. You want the leg to be fairly clean where it’s bare.
Sprinkle evenly with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and BBQ seasoning. Place in a cooking pan with five tablespoons of butter.
Place in a pre-heated 300 degree smoker and cook for one hour.
While chicken is cooking, in a small boiler, add apple cider vinegar, BBQ sauce, and rest of butter. To make thicker, if desired, add, 1/3 cup ketchup. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes until thick.
After one hour with the chicken, dip each leg in the BBQ sauce mixture and place on an elevated wire rack and cook for 15 minutes. Repeat process with sauce 2 more times. This should be a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes of total cook time. Remove from grill and let rest for about 5 to 10 minutes.
4 catfish fillets 1 package Zataran’s seasoned fish fry 1 cup all purpose flour 1/4 tsp kosher salt 3 eggs Vegetable oil
Mix one package of the Zataran’s fish fry (I used the seasoned 24 oz with lemon flavor) with the flour.
Whisk the eggs. Dredge the catfish in the eggs then into the dry mixture. Return to the egg mixture again then again in the dry mixture.
Heat vegetable oil to 350 degrees and cook catfish five to seven minutes or until the outside is golden and crispy. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt. Delish!
1 cup yellow corn meal 1 tsp kosher salt 1 tbsp sugar 3 egg yolks 3/4 cup whole milk 1/3 cup diced onion
Mix all ingredients together. It should form a thick paste. Not like dough, and not liquid. I used a cookie dough scoop to scoop each hush puppy and placed into a fryer at 320 degrees.
Cook until outside is golden brown.
These are simple and tasted great! You can play around with the recipe to make it the way you like it. Enjoy!
My wife introduced me to a new method of cooking hard boiled eggs…without even boiling them! So far they have turned out great and they have been fairly easy to peel.
First begin by taking however many eggs and place them in an air-fryer. I wouldn’t recommend more than 10 at a time, because it may add to your cooking time.
Cook on 260 degrees for 16 minutes. When they are done immediately place them in the ice water bath. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes.
Peel and enjoy! The texture was amazing, and the taste was great! Try this sometime!
2 lobster tails 1/2 cup cornstarch 3 eggs 1 cup panko salt pepper vegetable oil
I purchase two lobster tails at Wal-Mart and decided to do something a little different with them. This turned out great and was great in my sushi roll I made.
First, begin by removing the tails from the shells. This is best done with some scissors. Once removed, make sure the tails are clean and also patted dry with a power towel.
At this point fill vegetable oil in a pot that will be deep enough to submerge the lobster. Heat it between 300 and 320 degrees.
Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the tails. Dredge in the cornstarch and shake off excess. Dredge in eggs(that have been beaten) and then coat well in panko. For extra crunchy tails, dredge in egg and coat in panko a second time.
Place tails in grease and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, checking every minute or so. It is important to check closely, because the panko can burn and the lobster will not be done on the inside.
Remove from grease and place on a toweled plate.
Eat like it is with dip or make it into sushi! Very good!
1 package alligator fillets 1 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup water 2 egg whites 1 cup cornstarch salt pepper vegetable oil
For this recipe, I used the 16 oz bag of alligator fillets, of which I found at Wal-Mart:
When you thaw and take these fillets out of the package you will notice the pieces have “silver skin” and white string looking items that run in some of the meat. Try to as best as possible to remove the white skin from the fillets.
Cut the fillets in to long strips. Now this is a requirement but a recommendation: I used a Jiccard meat tenderizer to soften the meat.
Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.
Prepare a pot with vegetable oil. The oil needs to be deep enough that the fillets will submerge when they enter the grease. Heat the oil to around 350 degrees.
As the oil is heating, dredge the alligator strips in cornstarch and shake off access.
For the tempura batter, mix flour, water, and egg whites together. Dredge the alligator strips in the batter.
Cook the strips for 5 to 7 minutes or until the tempura begins to brown. Remove from grease and place on a paper towel layered plate.
Serve as is with dipping sauce or make with sushi! Try it sometime!
2-3 lbs pork belly 1 tbsp Kosher salt 1 tbsp black pepper 1/2 tbsp garlic powder Kingsford original smoke rub Vegetable oil
Other tools and ingredients Smoker, maintained at 225 degrees Wire rack with drip pan Apple juice in a sprayer bottle
Begin by patting down the pork belly on both sides with a paper towl to get all moisture off the top. Then take a sharp knife and slice the fat side diagonally in one direction, then in the opposite direction, creating a diamond pattern on the top. Make sure not to cut too much into the meat.
Flip the pork belly bell over to the meat side and season with salt, pepper, garlic, and Kingsford rub. With the Kingsford rub, be as light or as liberal as you like when applying. Flip the belly over and only season the fat side with Kosher salt, and only a light amount. I would say just enough to fill some of the diagonal lines that was cut with the knife.
Place the pork belly on a wire rack with a pan underneath and place on a preaheated smoker at 225 degrees. Allow the belly to smoke for 2 hours and then spritz the top, which should be the fat side. Allow the belly to cook for another 2 to 2 1/2 hours until the meat is tender and the fat has a good color.
Remove the pork belly from the grill and heat a skillet to medium. Add vegetable oil, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the pork belly, fat side down, and cook until desired crispiness.
This recipe was tender, crispy, moist, and delicious. Try this one sometime! Here are a few clips of the pork belly:
6 chicken thighs 2 tsp kosher salt 2 tsp black pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 3 tsp Kingsford all purpose seasoning aluminum cake pan 9×9 4 cups barbecue sauce wire cooking rack (elevated)
Chefs note: You can use any type of BBQ sauce you want. You can make this recipe your own with any tweaks you would like to do.
First, begin by removing the skin from each thigh. With a knife, trim any remaining fat on the thigh until it has almost a square shape. You will notice on the bone side there is a big cartilage end on the bone. Slightly scrape any meat away from this end. With a butcher knife or kitchen shears, remove the tip of this piece.
Now you should have removed skin and a slightly square thigh. One last step before seasoning and putting back together: Take the skin and place it top down (top down meaning the side facing up when cooking should be face down). With a knife, scrape any fat that may be on the underskin. This will remove the thicker fat and stretch the skin to wrap the thigh well.
Season both sides of the thigh evenly with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Kingsford all purpose seasoning. Also season the underskin of the skin.
Place the thigh bone side up and begin to wrap the thigh. Turn over and trim the skin, or tuck any remaining skin under the bottom. Do this for all six pieces.
Place thighs gently into aluminum pan. Sprinkle one more time with all purpose seasoning.
Place in a grill or smoker preheated at 300 degrees. Cook uncovered for one hour. After one hour, take aluminum foil and wrap the top of the foil pan. Cook for another 30 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking the last 30 minutes take the BBQ sauce of your choice and put in a small boiler. Heat to low.
Remove thighs from pan and dip into BBQ sauce. Place each thigh on wire race and place back on the grill or smoker and cook for another 20 minutes, or until the sauce has set and has caramelized.
I really enjoyed my first try on this style of thighs. I will continue to tweak and get it perfect!
-The Pastor Chef
P.S.-If you are having trouble visualizing the process, take a look at this YouTube video that goes through the process:
The Pastor Chef 