A very tasty appetizer for the big game, before a special event, or just because you are a fan of cheese. Smooth, smoky, cheesy, yum!
Start by frying up a pound or so of bacon, Degrease, crumble and reserve.
Combine the following in a casserole dish you can put on your smoker:
2 Cups shredded cheddar
2 ea 8oz packages of cream cheese
2T Dijon mustard
2t Garlic Salt
1/4C sour cream
1C IPA beer
Mix everything together, as well as 3/4 of the prepared bacon. Place dish in smoker at 225F. Cook for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. At the last stir, add 1/4C of heavy whipping cream to the cheese mix.
Garnish with chopped green onion and the remainder of the bacon. Serve with soft pretzels or chips and enjoy!
With bold flavors like roasted garlic and tomatoes, oregano and fresh basil, your will never go back to the bland store bought mix! The smoked flavor of this brunch favorite really makes it shine!
Start with 4 large beefsteak tomatoes. Trim the top and bottom, then cut into 1/2″ slices. Lay on top of a foil lined pan, sprinkle with fresh, chopped garlic and drizzle with olive oil.
Place the tray of tomatoes in your cold smoker and set it for 350F to get the maximum smoked flavor into the fruit. Once your smoker gets to 350, let it go for another 30 minutes before turning up the heat to 450. Let the tomatoes go another 10-20 minutes, until they begin to slightly brown.
While the tomatoes and garlic are roasting, mix in a saucepan 2C beef broth, 1/2C tomato sauce, 1/4C horseradish, 1/4C chopped basil leaves, 1T Worcestershire sauce, 1T dried oregano, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Add the roasted tomatoes and garlic and bring the whole mix to a simmer for 15 minutes.
Allow to cool before placing in a blender to puree the whole lot. Refrigerate to let the flavors meld. Serve over ice and vodka for the most tasty Bloody you’ll ever have!
Fresh lobster tail and jumbo shrimp are seasoned and smoked to perfection, while served on top of a bed of fettuccini in a rich, homemade alfredo sauce.
Preheat your smoker to 250F. Cut the shell side of each lobster tail and slightly separate the meat from the shell with your finger, but leave the meat in the shell. Optionally, you can skewer the meat as I have done here to prevent it from curling up while cooking. Prepare a basting sauce by melting 1 stick of butter and whisking in 2T of your favorite BBQ rub. Toss fresh peeled and deveined shrimp in olive oil, skewer, and sprinkle with the rub.
You want to get the lobster and shrimp to an internal temperature of 140F. It will take the lobster about an hour and the shrimp about 30 minutes, so start the lobster first. Every 15 minutes, baste the tails in a bit of the butter/rub sauce. After 30 minutes add the shrimp to the grill and just let them go until done.
Remove the tails from their shells and chop for the pasta. To make the alfredo sauce, melt one stick of butter in one cup of heavy cream. Bring to a simmer and add one cup of grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Stir until combined. Toss over fresh pasta. Plate the pasta and lay the lobster and shrimp on top. Drizzle with a bit more alfredo sauce and enjoy!
Nothing like a hot tasty bowl of chili on a cold winter’s day! You can use any combination of meats you want. For this one, I used ground beef, ground pork, stew beef and bacon (about 1# of each).
I start with 4 bell peppers, usually 2 green and 2 red, but you can mix up the colors. Split each in half, remove the seeds and ribs, place on a baking sheet, spray with cooking spray, and broil for 8-12 minutes until the skins blister and the peppers can be peeled.
Peel the peppers and chop into smaller pieces.
While the peppers are broiling, chop and cook the bacon into large bacon bits. Maximize the surface area of your ground meat and let smoke for 30 minutes, along with the stew beef.
After the meat is smoked, cook thoroughly on the stove while you smoke the vegies. In addition to the peppers, chop up 2 white onions. Smoke the whole medley for 30 minutes.
While the vegies are smoking, prepare the base. Start with 1 ea 28oz can of tomato sauce, 1 ea 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, and 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes. Place all in a Dutch oven and 1T garlic, 3T chili powder, 1T black pepper and 2t salt.
Stir in the prepared meats and veggies. Return to smoker in the Dutch oven, uncovered, and increase temperature to 250F. Cook for 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Remove from smoker and finish on the stove. Cover and bring chili to a simmer, allowing it to simmer for an hour before serving. Add cheese and sour cream as a garnish if desired.
Traditionally, I’m not a big fan of Salmon. Too much of a fishy taste for me. However, last week a coworker of mine prepared a smoked Salmon that was out of this world, so I went on a quest to recreate the recipe.
Had a nice chat with my local fishmarket guy and learned that ‘farm raised’ Salmon will have a less intense flavor than Salmon caught in the wild, so that’s the direction I went. Purchased a 6oz skin on fillet and squeezed 1/4 lemon over the fish to coat the entire piece. Rubbed it with garlic salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper and brown sugar.
Ran the smoker at 180F for an hour, before turning up to 250F to finish. Pulled Salmon at 140F internal. Skin pulled right off and I had the beautiful fillet you see here.
Made just like the smoked Cheeze-Its, start with plain ‘ol ordinary potato chips. A kettle cooked one will perform a best. Spray with cooking spray and toss with your favorite BBQ rub. Smoke for 60 minutes and enjoy. Smoked flavor will be stronger on day 2.
The smoke flavor on this snack is crazy rich! Make your Chex Mix according to the package directions, or add your own flair. I used 3 Cups each of Rice, Corn and Wheat Chex, 2 Cups of pretzels, 2 Cups of cashews and 2 Cups of pita chips. Tossed in a stick of melted butter with 2T Worcestershire Sauce, laid out on a screen on the grill, and sprinkled with equal amounts of garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
For an added kick, you can mix in 1/4C of Franks or another hot sauce of your choosing with the butter before tossing the mix.
Smoke on your grill for 45-60 minutes. I’m thinking the butter helps soak up the smoke, because this mix is crazy smoky and delicious!
Saw a version of this on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so had to give it a shot at home. Start with a 1/3# hamburger, season as you like. Smoke for about 30 minutes. While smoking, heat up a frying pan on medium-high heat. Fry the burger on one side. After flipping, sprinkle 1/3# of shredded cheddar over burger, allowing to generously flow over the sides. Cover skillet and let cook about 1 minute. Burger will be done and cheese will be nicely toasted. My cheesy daughters thought this was the best burger ever!
Bought some banana peppers for chili and had a few left over, so I added some hot Italian sausage and had a feast!
All you need are 4 banana peppers, 1/2 pound of hot Italian sausage, about 1 cup of marinara and some shredded parmesan.
Cut the top of the pepper off and hollow out the inside. Dived the sausage into quarters and stuff each quarter into a pepper. Place on a baking sheet and smoke at the lowest setting on your grill (about 165F) for about 2 hours. Heat the marinara to low simmer.
Move to direct heat on a BBQ grill and finish for about 8 minutes, flipping after 4 minutes. Move the sausage to a serving tray, cover in marinara, and sprinkle on cheese. Serve hot.
Stuffed banana peppers with a few Ribeyes on the side!
A great side dish for….anything! Hash brown potatoes tossed in a wonderful cheesy goodness makes this a hit every day. To make, you will need:
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup
2C sour cream
1t salt
1/4t pepper
4C shredded cheddar cheese
1/3C sliced green onions
30oz frozen shredded hash brown potatoes
2C crushed corn flakes
1/4C butter, melted
Setup smoker for maximum smoke at lowest temp possible, around 165F.
Spray a 13X9 pan with nonstick spray. Whisk together sour cream, soup, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in 3C cheese, green onions and hash brown potatoes until well mixed. Spoon evenly into the prepared baking dish.
Smoke for 1 hour, stirring after 30 minutes. After 1 hour, turn heat up to 350F. Mix crushed cereal and melted butter together in a medium bowl. Sprinkle evenly over the casserole, along with remaining 1 C of cheese.
Bake uncovered until hot and bubbly, 50-60 minutes. Remove from smoker and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with additional green onions if desired.
