I couldn't find any McCormick Hickory Smoked Salt at the store the other day.  Just checked their website, and it turns out they discontinued it last year.  That's a bummer.

I'll have to order some other brand online.  I've already found two that look good, I just need to try and research some customer opinions on them.

I use this stuff in my jerky.

Still afflicted by blogging ennui, so not much activity here lately.  I've also been having a problem with my right shoulder for the past several days which makes sitting in certain positions (like at the computer) very painful.  I was going to put something up last night but between the pain and being very sleepy I just went to bed.

But I'm taking advantage of the cool weather to enjoy cooking and later eating some homemade chili.  Here's the recipe, recycled from about this time last year.

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2 lbs. ground beef (I prefer the "chili cut" from H.E.B.--a coarser grind than "hamburger")
1 whole white onion (not too big)
1 clove garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
4 tbs chili powder
1 1/2 tbs paprika
3 tsp salt
28 oz tomato puree (use sauce if you want it less thick)
14 oz water (or more, some of it will cook away)
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes w/ green chili pepper)

Chop up all the vegetables and throw them into the sauce. The meat should be browned before going into the pot. Slow cook until ready.

Alternatively, I sometimes use a big pot on the stove, with which I bring to a boil and then cook on 1/4 heat for an hour, then simmer to keep warm.

If I were making this only for myself, I would also add 3 tsp El Yucateca habanero sauce. As it is, I will probably just add a couple of drops of Vicious Viper to my own bowl. For Texans, El Yucateca can be found in the "ethnic foods" section at H.E.B. Vicious Viper can be ordered online, just follow the link.

Oh yeah, I always cook the beans separately.

Serve with tortillas.

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Sometimes I just use a little garlic powder in place of the clove for convenience.

I only told my wife I'd smoke the roast tomorrow.

Now it seems I will also be barbecuing four chicken breasts and smoking two sausage links.

I have a New Braunfels Smoker, which is an offset smoker so that the fire is not directly underneath the meat.  To do different meats like this, I put the roast on the "cool" end of the box, just underneath the smokestack, for several hours.  The chicken will go on the "hot" end of the box, right next to the fire so it gets more of a grilling barbecue effect.  The sausage links go on the cool end for a little while after I take the roast off.  It doesn't take much to cook the sausage.

Oh well.  It's something that I enjoy, and can do quite well.  It gives me a good reason to be outside, get some reading done while monitoring the thermometer, and smoke a pipe or two.  Lately I've been slowly re-reading Robinson Crusoe, a book I first read at about the age of 10 or so, and haven't read since then. The roast is already in the refrigerator covered with brisket rub, and I sprinkled some on the chicken also, just for good measure.

I don't ever bother with barbecue sauce.  I consider barbecue sauce sort of an insult, the way a chef might view ketchup.  Barbecue sauce is good for covering up inferior or poorly smoked meat.  Meat that has been well smoked is beyond the need for barbecue sauce.

My favorite wood recipe is about 2/3 mesquite and 1/3 hickory.  I'll usually load the hickory in greater proportions early on, because the majority of the smoke flavoring occurs in the beginning.  Sometimes just for variety I'll use pecan instead of mesquite, which has a distinctly different flavor--a little smoother and less obvious.  Tomorrow I'll be using mesquite.

Another way I like to prepare chicken is to get boneless breasts and marinade them overnight in fresh lime juice and black pepper.  Then I'll make up some new marinade to splash on the meat now and then as it cooks.  When they're done, I put a very light dusting of powdered cayenne pepper on top.

The holiday season officialy began at our house yesterday, when my wife came home with three dozen tamales.  One dozen each of regular, spicey, and bean.  Bean, as in, tamales stuffed with beans instead of meat.  There are a couple of different families in our small town who churn out enormous quantities of excellent tamales during this time of year, and these were very good.


Quite some time ago, I got my hands on a jar of Billy Beans I Scream Hot Salsa.  This is a jalapeño salsa, not habanero, but unlike most store-bought salsas, it actually has some heat.  It also has excellent flavor.  For lunch today I had some of the "spicey" tamales slathered with this salsa.

I think the most popular tamales in San Antonio are made by Reuben's at the corner of Rigsby and Roland.  During Thanksgiving week, there will be a line of people halfway down the block waiting to get some of their tamales.  My uncle always gets several dozen from there for our annual holiday gatherings.

...is like candy to me.

Just in case anyone was wondering.

The first 4-ounce pack is now on eBay.

So far one free sample has been claimed and the other has been put on hold pending receipt of the smail-mail address.

UPDATE:  As expected, my toils produced 16 ounces of jerky.  So I have three 4-ounce vacuum-sealed packages ready.  Two further ounces were eaten by myself and the family for quality control, so I have two 1-ounce vacuum-sealed samples left.

The first two people who email me their snail-mail address will receive one of the one-ounce samples each.  Now I'll see if anyone actually reads this stuff or not.  This batch is not as hot as I wanted it, but it's still spicy.  It has been a while and I couldn't remember exactly how "spiked" my hot sauce had to be.  I need to spike it more.

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Okay, this time I'm serious.  I have two pounds (pre-dried weight) on the dehydrator right now, and two more pounds to make tomorrow.  This will give me roughly 2 pounds (dried weight) of jerky, which be listed on eBay.

I'm starting this up again after a long time because I know it will sell and easily cover my internet expenses.  I'll probably make another 4 pounds or so next week.

This is jerky made from 90% lean ground sirloin.  The recipe is my own concoction, and is fairly hot from habanero but also slightly sweet.  Some people say it isn't real jerky if it's made from ground meat.  So far everyone who's eaten it says it's great, except for a couple of wimps who can't take the heat.  My son eats it, although it turns his face red.  My daughter eats it like candy without ever slowing down, but then she was eating nacho-sliced jalapeños out of the can when she was 2 years old.

The version currently in progress is only the standard version.  I have made it much hotter.  I'll probably make at least one batch extra-hot next time.

I'm considering offering some small free samples of it, but I haven't decided on that yet.

Angier, NC:

This ice cream comes with an unusual stipulation - customers must sign a waiver before tasting it because it's so hot.

Cold Sweat, a flavor sold at ice cream shop Sunni Sky's, is made with three kinds of pepper and two kinds of hot sauce.

"It tastes like fire - with a side of fire," said Scott McCallum, a regular customer, who was eating the more sedate butter pecan flavor.

"I thought it was a cool idea, but I didn't think he'd make it that hot," McCallum said of proprietor Scott Wilson.

Wilson started out experimenting with jalapenos in vanilla ice cream to appeal to Hispanic customers [that's kind of a racist stereotype, isn't it?--ed.] - which was unsuccessful - and worked his way up to Cold Sweat.

The waiver for the fiery mixture has dozens of signatures. Pregnant women and people with health problems are not supposed to eat it. Anyone younger than 18 needs the consent of a guardian.

Among the first to try Cold Sweat was Justin Smith, 22, an Angier woodworker. He went to the restroom and vomited after a spoonful.

He's had about five samples since, and wants to go for the record of 14 ounces in a sitting.

"It's got a good flavor," Smith said. "As someone who really likes hot stuff and doesn't mind being scorched, I can taste the difference, and it really does taste good."

If he doesn't get the record soon, he might not get a chance. Wilson isn't sure he'll make another batch after the current supply runs out.

Hmmm...I don't think hot sauce is good for everything.  But still, I could just see it:  Vanilla Viper.

Fugger Nutter has posted on a subject dear to my heart:  barbecuing.

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows that every now and then I'll spend an entire Saturday barbecuing.

I prefer the low-heat, high-smoke, takes-several-hours-to-finish method.

Well, I have decided to get back into jerky making.

At the place where I had my longest-term job (10 years), I sold lots of jerky to other employees.  I have several recipes that I've developed and even posted a few of them on the old blog, although I later deleted it.  I have also sold it on eBay.

The meat has gone up in price since the last time I made it.  I think it was about $2.90/lb back then.  Today it was $3.28/lb.  It has been a while.

I use 90% lean ground sirloin and a jerky shooter to squirt out a long strip of meat, then I cut it into pieces about 3-4 inches long after it has dried.  I have developed several recipes from scratch and imagination--I don't use any of those prefab jerky flavor envelopes that some places sell.

I figure if nothing else, I can always sell enough jerky on eBay to pay for the blog.  Plus, I like to eat it myself.  There will be more news on this topic as I get geared up and back into the swing of making it.  Today I'm just making my first original recipe, which is slightly spicy but not hot.  Except I accidentally put twice as much black pepper as my recipe called for.  Heh, it won't matter.  It's starting to smell pretty good in here now, about an hour after I started up the dehydrator.  This recipe also includes a tiny pinch of sage, which really brightens up the spiciness.

My most popular and best seller on eBay is my habanero jerky.  I have one rule for this kind of food:  If it didn't actually kill you, it wasn't too hot.

Tomorrow I'm going to barbecue, also.  I got a brisket this morning and smothered it in brisket rub.  It's curing in the refrigerator right now.  Tomorrow morning, after a good 24 hours it will be ready for the smoker.

Back on jerky, the meat I use is from H.E.B. and is the stuff packaged in the one-pound capsule-shaped packages (which I think in butcher parlance is called a "chub").  It's a lot more convenient and easier for me to work with when it's exactly one pound at a time and not some weird fraction.  Also, the cut of this meat seems to be the best for this particular application.  I've tried Walmart ground beef, and it doesn't work nearly as well.  H.E.B. beef is superior.

UPDATE:  The first batch came out a little too dry.  I couldn't remember exactly how long I used to dry it.  I could only remember that it was either 5 or 6 hours.  Turns out six hours is too long.  It's still good, but not up to snuff.