smoked-mexican-turkey

Smoked Mexican Turkey with Orange Chile Oil Marinade

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

Here’s a double Mexican influence—turkeys as well as chiles are native to the Americas. This recipe will work with a breast as well as the legs. If using a whole turkey or breast, increase the amount of the marinade and inject the marinade in the bird as well as baste it when it’s smoking. Use any Mexican chiles such as ancho, pasilla, cascabel, or guajillo. Serve with avocado slices, beans, and grilled corn on the cob along with corn tortillas.

You can read Mark Masker’s article on smoking turkey on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

Orange Chile Oil Marinade:
6 cascabel chiles, stems and seeds removed, or substitute 2 of the chiles above
1/4 cup chopped onions
½ cup vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons achiote paste (available in Hispanic markets)
1 teaspoon dried oregano, Mexican preferred
Pinch ground cloves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

The Turkey:
4 turkey legs

Instructions

In a pan, saute the chiles and onion in the oil until softened. Add the garlic and cumin and continue to sauté for an additional minute. Remove from the heat.

Combine the chile mixture along with the oil, orange juice, lime juice, achiote paste, oregano, cloves, salt and pepper in a food processor or blender and puree until a smooth sauce.

Make slits in the turkey to allow the chile oil marinade to penetrate. Place the turkey and marinade in a large plastic bag and marinate overnight.

Prepare the smoker using hickory or pecan wood and smoke the legs in 200 degree smoke for 3 to 3 ½ hours or until the turkey is done to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F. If you wish to continue marinating, simmer the marinade in a pan for 20 minutes and brush it over the legs occasionally. When done, remove the turkey from the smoker and brush with the marinade.

To serve, slice the smoked turkey off the legs and serve with the sauce of your choice.

maple-smoked-pumpkin-pie

Maple Smoked Pumpkin Pie

Dave DeWitt Leave a Comment

Most pumpkin pies use canned solid-packed pumpkin, which gives the end product that nice smoothness we’ve all come to appreciate. The flesh you scrape out of a large pumpkin is more akin to wet pasta than what you find in a can. No one likes runny pumpkin pie. Luckily, my friend Sam had some experience dealing with scavenged pumpkin meat. On his advice, I strained the pumpkin through some cheese cloth and let it dry until it was damp but not wet, then pureed it until I had the 2 cups called for in the recipe.

You can read the entire article by Mark Masker on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

2 cups strained and pureed smoked pumpkin
2 eggs
1 cup evaporated milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
pastry for a 9-inch pie crust

Instructions

Start by straining the smoked pumpkin to get rid of excess liquid and let it dry a little bit. Puree it in small batches, then combine it with everything but the pie crust and blend it all until smooth. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until you can insert a knife into the pie one in from the edge and pull the knife out clean. Let it cool for an hour, then chill it in the refrigerator before serving.

Pork-with-pumpkin-salsa-254x300

Slow-Cooked Pork with Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

This recipe features Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa with Roasted Tomatillo, produced by Chef Rick Bayless’ Frontera Foods company. Serving the pulled pork over cooked spaghetti squash instead of on a bun makes this a low-carb meal. Read the entire article by Lois Manno on the Burn! Blog  here.

Ingredients

1 pork tenderloin, 1.5-2 pounds
1 jar Frontera Chipotle Pumpkin Salsa with Roasted Tomatillo
1/3 cup water
cooked spaghetti squash

Instructions

Wash the tenderloin and pat dry. Season lightly with salt and pepper. If you’re using a small crock pot like I did, cut the tenderloin into two halves and place it in the crock pot. Pour the entire jar of salsa over the meat, along with the water. Make sure the salsa gets around and under the meat. Set the crock pot on low and cook for the amount of time recommended for your slow cooker. Because tenderloin is lean and a fairly small volume of meat, mine was done pretty quickly (in 4 hours). It’s done when you can pull it apart easily with a fork. Remove the tenderloin onto a plate and shred it.

Take the cooking juice out of the crock pot and place it into a saucepan. Simmer until it has reduced by about half.

Serve the cooked spaghetti squash with the pulled pork on top, and cover with the pumpkin sauce reduction. I enjoyed some sliced dill pickle with mine. Of course, if you want to make a traditional pulled pork sandwich, forget the squash and use bread.

howlin hollar hot legs chicken drumsticks

Howlin’ Hollar Hot Legs Chicken Drumsticks

Dave DeWitt Recipes Leave a Comment

Howlin’ Hollar is a sweet heat whose fire kicks in shortly after the sweet. Read Mark Masker’s article about making these spicy drumsticks on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

1 bottle Sizzlin’ Sauces Howlin Hollar Hot Sauce with Pumpkin
6-12 chicken drumsticks
Sea Salt
Fresh crushed black pepper

Instructions

While your grill heats up to 350 degrees F., remove the skin and veins from the drumsticks. Once that’s done and the grill is hot enough, salt and pepper the chicken to taste and place it on the grill for indirect cooking. Close the lid.

Ten to fifteen minutes later, check on the birdies. Pour a little of the sauce on each piece and use a grill brush to spread it evenly over each piece. Flip the chicken, close the lid, and wait eight more minutes. Then pour a little sauce on each piece and spread it to cover this half. Close the lid again, wait two to five more minutes before removing the drummies from the grill.

At this point, I let the drumsticks rest then brushed a little more sauce into the gaps and thin points I missed during grilling.

dark-chocolate-cheesecake-with-red-chile-ganache

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Red Chile Ganache

Dave DeWitt Cooking with Chiles at the Holidays, Recipes, Sweet Heat Leave a Comment

Mary Jane’s recipe is based on one by the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten), but the shoeless TV cook wouldn’t dare to use red chile powder! You will need a springform pan for this cake since it would be difficult to get it out of a regular cake pan in one piece. If desired, you can use semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet in the filling, and the cake will be slightly sweeter.