Smoked Lemonade

Posted on by
By Sterling Davis, Slothstradamus BBQ

 

Sweet, smokey and satisfying … Make an impression with Smoked Lemonade.

Here’s how Sterling Davis of Slothstradamus BBQ does it on his YS640:  

SIMPLE SYRUP:

Set Yoder Smoker to 180 degrees

Pour 4 cups sugar to 4 cups filtered water in a 9X13 pan

Smoke for 2 hours, stirring occasionally

Set aside when complete

LEMONADE:

Set Yoder Smoker to 450

1 bag of lemons (usually 16-18 lemons)

Cut in half and dip in organic sugar

Place lemons face down on the grill, cook for 10-12 minutes (usually until grill marks show on the lemons)

Remove lemons from grill and let cool

Squeeze lemons into a bowl and then run the juice through a strainer to catch seeds

Mix 3 cups simple syrup with 3 cups of water and add the lemon juice

If you would like, add 1 cup of your favorite Vodka

Enjoy!

Chicken Lollipops Recipe

Posted on by

Recipe from Buttered Rollz BBQ Team
out of Pennsylvania

Normally you would need a good set of kitchen shears and a boning knife to trim the drumsticks up, but these arrived already trimmed up for us.

What you will need:

2 Packs of drumsticks (preferably with no water solution added)
1-1 1/2 cup(s) of your favorite bbq sauce at room temperature (not right out of the refrigerator or cooler)
2 small aluminum baking pans (1 for steam, 1 for chicken)
1 cross-hatched cooling rack that will fit into aluminum pan
A small amount of aluminum foil for the tops of the chicken bones
About 1-¼ cups of your favorite bbq rub for chicken
Kitchen shears and boning knife for trimming
Your favorite spray mixture (factors will determine if you need to use this or not)
Gloves

Ok … let’s set these up:

You will want to go around the drumsticks at least twice with a boning knife and use the shears to cut the small bone out that rides along the larger one.
Leave the skin on but try your best to trim them up nice and even near the bone. I am sure you can find tips on how to do this online.
At this point the chicken should be up to room temperature and you can apply your favorite chicken rub. In this recipe we used Code 3 Spices Sea Dog Cajun Rub. There are lots of tricks out there for getting crispy, good bite through chicken — you’re going to want to use those tricks here.
Let them sit at room temperature while you start the grill.
Start the Yoder Comp Cart and set to 215 degrees. Take the small aluminum pan and put in some liquid enough to fill the bottom of the pan. This can be water, beer, apple juice etc. ( since the smoker is running at such a low temp, this isn’t going to steam — yet.)
You are going to run smoke for 25-30 min (we used Southwest BBQ Pellets blend)
During this time you are just going to be adding smoke to the drumsticks, so we are not really worrying about the temperature of the chicken. Place the drumsticks with bone side up in the baking pan (Some people lay them flat on the grill grates, some lay them elevated on cooking sheets, some elevate on cooking rack above juices — think presentation here, cross hatches look cool on steaks, chicken lollipops not so much)

Set a timer for 30 min — have a beer or so;
check a few times to see if they need spray

At this point, take out the bbq sauce if you haven’t already. This needs to be room temperature. Take the drumsticks off the smoker after 30 min and turn the smoker up to 325 — make sure the smaller pan with the liquid is over the firebox and has enough water.

If you think the chicken needs a little more bbq rub for even color — add it here
Place the pan of lollipops to the right side of the liquid pan and wait for them to reach a temperature of 175. You can spray them during this time if they start to dry out.
Once they hit a temperature of 175 you can remove from the grill and turn off the Yoder — keep the lid closed because you are going to throw them right back on to setup the sauce.
Some people paint the sauce on, some apply right out of the container — Not here. Add the bbq sauce to a wide-mouth coffee mug or even a solo cup, and you want to “dunk” the lollipops in the bbq sauce.
Empty the pan that contained the steam liquid and place the crosshatched cooling rack inside the pan.
Dunk one at a time and place on the cooling rack. You can remove the aluminum foil from the bones at this point.
Place all of the lollipops back in the grill for 10 min

Take off the grill after 10 min … pour your favorite beverage and enjoy!

Memories and moments with Joe Giuffria

Posted on by

When Joe Giuffria was a teenager, he met someone who would be very influential in his life, starting him on a path that would eventually take his passion to YouTube. That person was Steve Lucchi. In his youth, Joe remembers his family going out to dinner with Steve to restaurants where they would be enjoying a fine meal or the perfect barbecue, and Steve would say, “Seize the moment, it’s all about the memories and the moments.”Joe Giuffria - Southern Coastal Cooking

A few years later, in 2002, Steve gave Joe a moment he would never forget. Steve invited Joe and his father to accompany him to Memphis in May. Joe had been experimenting with barbecue and grilling in college with his buddies as a hobby. But the invite to Memphis in May lit a spark. “They were so gracious and the presentation, the way they interacted with the judges, the whole experience was amazing,” said Joe.

And it couldn’t get any better when Steve’s team, The Southern Gentlemen’s Culinary Society, took 1st place in whole hog and 2nd in ribs among other calls. Joe and his father were invited up on stage with the team to accept the award. Joe vividly remembers the moment when his dad held the huge trophy and he looked out over the Mississippi river as the passing barges honked their approval.

Joe knew then, that his hobby was going to become a passion. He had deep roots in the love of food, his two grandmothers were exceptional cooks. One was Italian, the other cooked in the deep south tradition called soul food. Looking back, it seems only natural that those memories would lead Joe to pick up his own style of cooking. And his own type of barbecue, a combination of Memphis and Texas styles. So Joe set to work cooking for family and friends. Experimenting with styles and flavors influenced by the southern Gulf coast area. His flavor experiments kept coming back to barbecue.

A few years later, Joe was using Google to find recipes and stumbled upon the Louisiana Cajun Recipe channel on YouTube. The channel owner, JB Bond, always has a “Spring Fling” at his Southern Coastal Cookinghouse and invites everyone to come for boiled crawfish, barbecue and jambalaya. Joe went in 2009 and met JB in hopes of getting pointers to start his own YouTube channel. In that moment he found a mentor and a friend. The Southern Coastal Cooking YouTube channel was launched.

Next came the trial and error of finding the best cooking equipment. If you have followed Joe’s channel, you know he’s tried several types of cookers. And he spent quite a bit of time researching smokers. He visited online forums and Facebook groups, he watched what other YouTuber’s like Troy Smith were using for their cooks. He talked to manufacturers and even had some come demonstrate for him. He saw a photo of Malcom Reed and his YS480. Ultimately, all of Joe’s research lead him to the Yoder Smokers YS640. “I saved and saved for it” Joe recalls. On July 7, 2015, after a year of research, he finally ordered what he calls “an investment in a quality piece of equipment.”

Joe understands what it means to make a big purchase. He used to sell appliances and now he sells cars. Joe says there is a lot of emotion when it comes to making an important purchase. “There is something inside you, like butterflies in your stomach,” he said, “it became a spur of the moment decision but it was the right one.” He was so excited he made a video about the purchase before it arrived!

This is the grill for a lifetime.

YS640 Joe GiuffriaJoe cooks on the YS640 at least once a week. If he’s not shooting a video, he’s experimenting with new recipes. And he’s added a wood fired Kingman to his line up. His favorite thing to cook is brisket but says, “it does wonderful with anything you want to put on there.”

Aside from the excellent build quality, which Joe reviews in one of his videos, he says the great thing is you can set it and forget it. “A lot of people are so worried about all the probes and temperature,” said Joe, “Don’t fuss with it so much, trust the cooker. It’s meant to mimic a wood burning fire. It will get it done.” Now that Joe has really learned about his YS640, he prefers to cook to touch. “When I feel a brisket I can tell, when it jiggles, it’s soft to the touch and I can push a chopstick in it, it’s done,” said Joe.Kingman Comp - Guiffria

It’s been almost four years since he purchased his first Yoder Smokers pellet grill. He’s created many memorable meals and shared many special moments with his family over dinners he’s cooked. And now, his daughter expressed an interest in learning to cook, even trying to help in effort to be a part of the videos.  When asked to review the product and the company Joe says, “I’ve had a great experience with Yoder, I’ve never had any issues. This is a long-term investment you won’t have to replace.”