Do you make a marinade or salsa with the Chile, or just crush it and sprinkle over the top? I've never been shown how to cook with dried chile and always default to cayenne powder like a typical gringo LOL.

 

Didn’t do any cooking this year thankfully. I did take advantage of some sales and bought a small Pit Boss pellet smoker. Was supposed to deliver yesterday but now Amazon said it’s “running late” so who knows when it’ll show up.

 

Got my Traeger, haven't tested out anything fun yet.

I always smoke a couple turkeys for Christmas so I'm really excited to use my new toy

 

My wife always has some. She boils the chiles in water, lets them cool a bit and then blend them and strain it. She also adds garlic, but that's it. She just adds a bit of water to make it a bit more sauce-y. I always tell her I'm going to do barbacoa to let her know in case she's low on it. She'll have it in the fridge, then warm it up in the microwave and slather on. So at room temperature it's a liquid. I can get you some specific quantities. Generally, I usually let the meat grill for about 2.5 hours, then add the chile and cover it with foil. Another 2.5 hours and it's done. Usually by hour 3 the meat is done, the liquid just reduces and becomes more rich.

Many years ago when I started making brisket I would add cayenne and guajillo in powder (but that's hard to find.) New Mexico chili powder is easier to source, with slightly different flavor. The liquid Guajillo is much better though and way cheaper. We always served it chopped to get a more homogenous lean/fan consistency and with tortillas, salsa verde and pico de gallo. I transitioned into barbacoa and made it out of brisket with the Chile guajillo, but I have honestly have to say that chuck roast is much better so that's what I use now: more uniform marbling, the fat renders out nicely and faster cook time (I trim most of the fat off brisket, so the $/lb needs adjustment and brisket is now usually more expensive unless it's on sale.) Spanish rice and frijoles puercos is the tradition to serve with barbacoa in the Southern Mexico cuisine. Adding bone makes the meat more "beefy." Not sure how to describe it, but very flavorful. For seasoning all I do is a regular all-purpose seasoning and a few bay leaves and add a whole diced onion. Dicing into 2"x2" roughly cubes in my mind is better since you get more surface area to season it. No marinate. I just season the meat before it goes into the fire; I have not been able to tell the difference if I season ahead of time. That's what I posted on #117. After it's done, chop it to smaller chunks if desired, and get some of the juices back into it. Wife and kids are always smiling when we make this. :-)

You can make it out of pork also, just substitute oregano for bay leaf. For turkey I did there I just used a poultry seasoning (no bay leaf or oregano.) And I didn't cover it. It's just a different way to make meat with different taste pallete. You should try any one of these sometime. I hope this helps.

 

Man, if you can get some specific quantities i'll try it. Does she remove veins and seeds or just soften it and grind it down? sounds like it would combine awesome with a chuck roast run through a pressure cooker. It would also give me something to do with the bone i've been holding onto from my last tomahawk ribeye.

For birds i like a simple salt/brown sugar brine and season with course pepper and kosher salt. Always a fruit wood with poultry for my taste (typically apple).

 

My turkeys are done in a very similar fashion.

Brine with apple juice, brown sugar, and spices.
Stuffed with apples.
Smoked with apple wood.

 

Venison back strap wrapped in bacon. Seasoned with meat church gospel seasoning. Grilled at 375* for 3mins a side for an internal temp of ~135*.

 

I'm coming down to Austin on Saturday, save me some.

 

There won’t be any of this left. But if you are in town let me know when and I’ll throw something on the pit. We’ve got nothing going on this weekend.

 

I'll give you a holler if I get some time this weekend!