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Much leaner than pork and beef ribs, yet still plenty of juice, the Bison Back Rib was a huge hit at dinner with both young and old!

I started with 3 racks of ribs purchased from Blackwing Meats outside of Chicago (yes, a lot of Bison must roam the streets of Chicago). Here’s a link to their site as of November, 2024 https://www.blackwing.com/bison-back-ribs-1-pkg-of-2-slabs.html

Peeling off the silver skin on the back of the ribs was super easy. Got it started between ribs and grabbed it with a paper towel. Peeled off in one long sheet. Seasoned one rack with Traeger Prime Rib Rub, the other with a mix of salt, pepper and garlic. Both were very good and not noticeably different in taste. The Traeger rub gave the rack a bit more color.

Since these are leaner than pork ribs, they don’t take quite as long on the grill. A tweak to the 3-2-1 method works great. Smoked at 225F for 2 hours.

Wrapped in foil with squeezable Parkay (4T), honey(2T) and Worcestershire sauce(2T).

Finished on the grill for about an hour, until the IT got to 200F.

With a nice combination of zing and sweet, this barbecue sauce is outstanding!

• 1C Hogsbreath BBQ Sauce, or your favorite BBQ Sauce
• 3/4C Mango Juice
• 4 Habanero Peppers
• 1 Mango

Peel and chop the mango. Place in sauce pan with your favorite BBQ sauce and mango juice. Clean and seed Habanero Peppers. No need to chop up, just add to the sauce pan.

Bring mix to a simmer and let cook for about an hour, or until the mango is soft. Move mixture to blender and puree until reasonably smooth. Return to the stove and simmer another 30 minutes to meld flavors.

Mango Brined Chicken

Mix 64oz (less 3/4C for above) of Mango juice with 1/2C Kosher salt. Soak chicken in brine for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Season chicken with your favorite rub, smoke for 30 minutes, finish over direct heat. Sauce in the last 2 minutes, 1 minute/side.

I love my traditional Hogsbreath BBQ sauce, but wanted to find a sweeter sauce for a lasagna I was making. This worked great!

• 3/4C dark brown sugar
• 1C cider vinegar
• 1/2C molasses
• 1/2C hot honey
• 1/2C Worcestershire
• 4T dark rum
• 4T yellow mustarard
• 2T liquid smoke
• 2T chili powder
• 1T black pepper
• 1T garlic powder
• 2t ground allspice
• 1/2t ground cloves
• 8C ketchup

Combine everything except ketchup in a large pan. Bring to a simmer and cook until everything is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Stir in ketchup and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes uncovered. Makes about 10 cups

So I’m watching Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Guy walks into some joint where the specialty of the house is BBQ lasagna. So you know I’ve got to give this a try.

The lasagna prepared on the show uses pulled pork, chicken and spicy sausage, though I would suggest any combination of meats would work. Great idea on how to recreate leftovers! For this platter, I used the following:

• 1.5# pulled pork
• 1.5# pulled chicken
• 1.5# andouille sausage
• Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce– about 3 cups
• Lasagna noodles
• Shredded cheese- I used a mix of Monterey jack/cheddar and mozzarella, about 4#
• Though I didn’t use it, some Italian seasoning would probably be good sprinkled throughout

For this beast, I had a 12×17″ pan. Spread a light layer of BBQ sauce on the bottom, followed by a layer of noodles, pulled pork, cheese and more BBQ sauce. Repeat with a layer of noodles, pulled chicken, cheese and BBQ sauce. Add a third layer of noodles, andouille sausage, cheese and BBQ sauce. Top with layer of noodles, cheese and a BBQ sauce drizzle. Or, if you are preparing your lasagna for a bunch of guys going to Canada in 2 weeks, you can try your artistic skills out on a Maple leaf.

Smoke for 30 minutes, then cover and bake at 350 for about 90 minutes. Let set for 10 and enjoy!

When you just have to have an Old Fashioned, but you run out of simple syrup, make your own! Start with 4C of sugar. Dissolve in 2C hot water. Place on smoker at lowest setting for 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so.

When you’re done, make your Old Fashioned!

First make the meatballs:

• 1/2# mild Italian sausage
• 1/2# hamburger
• 1 egg- beaten
• 1/8C milk or cream
• 1/4C panko breadcrumbs
• 1t Italian seasoning
• 1/4C shredded Parmigiano
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2t onion powder
• 1/2t pepper

Mix everything together and roll into 1″ balls. Smoke on your smoker at it’s lowest temp for 45 minutes. Then, turn the heat up to 300F and let go another 15 minutes, or until meatballs get to 165F.

While the meatballs are smoking, prepare the soup:

• 1/4C olive oil
• 3C diced carrots (about 6 carrots)
• 3 stalks celery diced
• 1 sweet onion diced
• 3 quarts chicken broth
• 1T beef bouillon or soup base
• 1/2C dry white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1C ancici de pepe pasta
• 3C fresh baby spinach
• Parmigiano for serving

Sauté the trilogy on med/high heat in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add broth, bouillon, wine and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and add the meatballs into the soup. Cook for 10 minutes, then add pasta and cook for another 10 minutes. Toss the spinach into the pot during the last 5 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmigiano when served.

These are basically hard boiled eggs, but with a touch of smoke.

I let these go for 3 hours on smoke, flipping the eggs every hour, and then 30 minutes at 225.

Remove from the smoker and dunk in a bowl of ice water for 15 minutes. Peel and eat. That simple.

A very flavorful, smoked chipotle hot sauce where you can control the heat based on the style and amount of peppers you use. Complements all Mexican and eggs by adding flavor, with a touch of heat that grows on you after tasting. This recipe will easily make 1 quart of hot sauce.

Start with about 1# of hot peppers after removing the seeds and the stems. These can be anything you choose, but one suggestion is the following:

• 1 sweet, red bell pepper (about 1/2#)
• 1/4 pound of habenero peppers
• 1/4 pound of jalapeno peppers
• 1/4 pound of cayenne peppers

Using gloves, slice the peppers in half and remove the stem and seeds. The white veins can remain. Rinse them inside and out. Smoke for 30 minutes. Chop into smaller pieces and drop into a food processor with 1/3C of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce. Puree the crap out of the mix until slushy, about 3 minutes.

Place the pepper/sauce concoction in a pot and add 1C white vinegar, 1/8C balsamic vinegar and 1/4C of triple sec. Set this aside.

Back to the food processor, puree the following:

• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 small onion
• 1 ea 4oz can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce (include the sauce)
• 1T grated ginger
• 1/2T black pepper
• 2t kosher salt
• 1t dried oregeno
• 1/4t mustard powder
• 1/2C pineapple juice
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1/2t of vanilla

Once pureed, add the above mix to the pepper mix and cook over medium heat. Cover, bring to a boil, and let simmer while covered for 30 minutes. Once it cools off a bit, enjoy what may be the best hot sauce you’ve ever had!

When you just need a delicious pulled pork option, start with a fresh ham (pig leg).

If you brine a fresh ham, it becomes ham. That recipe is here, and it is delicious. But if you like the idea of a pig roast but don’t have the room or patience for it, this is the next best thing.

A fresh ham will typically be about 20-22 pounds. When you get it home from the butcher, there is nothing you need to do to it. Just leave the fat and skin on as-is. Rub it with equal parts of salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.

Place in your smoker at 250F until the internal temp reaches 200F, usually about 8-10 hours. You don’t need to do a damn thing to it while cooking, but if you feel adventurous, spritz the skin with apple cider vinegar ever hour after the third. This can lead to a golden brown, crisp skin you can serve on it’s own.

When done, separate the fat, skin and bones from the meat. Pull the meat hit with some additional rub from above. Simply wonderful!

Big ‘ol onions stuffed with hamburger, bacon and cheese, wrapped in more bacon, and sauced to perfection. Yum yum!

Start with 3 of the largest sweet onions you can find. Peel them and half them. Dig out all the rings except the 2 most out rings.

Mix 1# hamburger, 1/2# chopped bacon (uncooked), 1/4C Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Fill each onion half, making a dimple in the center of each half and dropping in 3 mozzarella balls.

Place the two halves together and wrap with 4 slices of bacon, positioning them on the cutting board in an asterisk pattern. Fold up each side to the top center and pin with a tooth pick or two. Sprinkle with your favorite BBQ rub.

Put on your smoker at 275F for 2 hours. Turn the heat up to 350 and go another 20-30 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp. Hit it with your favorite BBQ sauce, let it go for another 10 minutes then rest for 10 minutes. Delicious!