Monday, November 10, 2014

November Monthly Specials

This month we decided to change it up a little on our food truck.
We wanted to introduce some superior bbq meats to our menu
for the Fall & Winter season. We had found that we had fallen into following the norm and trend of
other BBQ trucks in the area offering pulled pork & chicken with various toppings etc etc.
We want to keep your BBQ experience exciting & fun, I feel the only way to do this is by rotating our menu and continuing to change and grow our menu based on our customers feedback and continued loyalty and business.

I wanted to introduce our customers to one of the most tender cuts of pork I have ever had the pleasure to smoke, pork tenderloin.
For this months dry rub we started with a brown sugar, salt & cayenne mix, blending our spices together, we coat the 10-12 inch tenderloins with the dry rub and then rest them in the cooler overnight.
The pork is smoked the following day over cherry & pecan hardwoods for few hours. While we slice this fresh for private events and catering, we felt the best way to offer it from the food truck was in the form of a taco, hence our new item the smoked pork tenderloin taco or lettuce cup.


Flour tortillas, cheddar, smoked pork tenderloin, pickled red onions, chili lime sauce, fresh lime, coleslaw (not shown).

Lettuce cups, cheddar, smoked pork tenderloin, pickled red onions, chili lime sauce, fresh lime, coleslaw.

We wanted to provide our customers with a delicious but different bbq option with on the go mobility. The taco was a perfect way for us to get smoke, meat, cheese and coleslaw in one simple, easy to eat menu option.

We have also started offering a smoked chicken breast taco as well.
The complete truck menu for November/December can be seen below.


In October we travelled down to St Augustine to compete in the Food Truck Crazy (Orlando) Bacon Fest and Food Truck Wars at Francis Field.
Below was our turn in box for the judges (unfortunately we didn't place, not enough bacon).


Smoked Pork Tenderloin over BBQ Bacon smoked beans, house pickles, watermelon & cucumber salad and sweet potato salad with bacon, cranberries & candied walnuts.




It's been a great fall season of Food Truckin' and Catering and we're really looking forward to the holidays. 
Thanks for all of your support this year and we will see you all curbside !!!

Happy Holidays







Dry Rubbed & Wood Smoked Meats


Smoked Pork Taco’s –  2 for $8
Two of our smoked pork tenderloin tacos on flour tortillas, with pickled red onion, cheddar cheese, coleslaw, chili lime sauce and fresh lime.


Smoked Chicken Taco’s – 2 for $8
Two of our smoked chicken breast tacos on your choice of flour tortillas or lettuce cups, with colby jack cheese, pickle chow chow, coleslaw, gold BBQ sauce and fresh lime.


Loaded Baked Potato – $8.50
A large baked russet potato, stuffed with your choice of pork or chicken. Topped with coleslaw, pickled red onion, sour cream and colby jack cheese.
Top with BBQ Baked Beans or Chicken Chili - $2.50-3.00


Smoked Hot Sausage Sandwich – $7.50
Our house selection of smoked pork sausage, topped with house relish, spicy Dijon beer mustard, and your choice of either coleslaw or house pickled green cabbage.


Adult Beenie Weenies – $7.00
Sliced Smoked Polish Sausage smothered in our house made BBQ beans and served with a bread roll.


Don’t forget to place your order’s for smoked holiday turkeys, ducks, chickens and pork ribs. If your feeling adventurous and have enough guests to feed we can also smoke you a whole hog !!!


Side Dishes   $3

BBQ Beans – Three bean trio, bacon, onions & house sauce
Mac N CheeseMacaroni, cheddar cheese, egg & house cheese sauce
Chili Lime Coleslaw – Cabbage & carrot tossed in our chili lime sauce
House Pickles – A side of our house made cucumber pickles or pickled red onions

Drinks -

Water, AZ Arnold Palmer

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Why Wood is so Important !!!

Why is Wood so Important.

In the Meat Smoking Business, Wood is the Root of what we do !!!

                                                   Photo Credit to: LawnPatioBarn


At Smoke It Up BBQ we cook over hardwoods to create a balance of spice & wood smoked flavor on our meat products. The flavors that we infuse through fire, and the chemistry that takes place between smoke & spice in the cooking chamber all revolve around the sourcing of the best quality hardwoods for cooking (there's no charcoal or propane in our firebox).

Nothing beats the flavor from a naturally burning product. Properly dried and stored, each wood type lends its own aroma & flavors, whether it be mild, floral, strong, smoky, fruity, sweet, sour etc. Each one offers it own special qualities for cooking.

*** PS. Do not cook with or over woods such as: Pine, Fur, Spruce, Redwood, Cedar (burning), Cypress, Elm, Sycamore or Conifer - Many of these woods combust a poisonous gas or residue which can harm you.

While I enjoy experimenting with all different flavors of cooking wood, I have found three types of wood that I feel compliment both pork & poultry equally (Smoke it up's primary meats) and lend excellent individual qualities to both proteins. Cherry, Hickory & Pecan.
I use a blend of all three (when seasonally available) to create our unique flavor & smoke profile.

Cherry Hardwood - Mild, light in flavor & fruity, can be sweet or bitter depending on the tree. Great with pork, poultry or beef. Adds a beautiful color to pork & beef. Very high aroma content. Pairs well with other hardwoods. (Find some with some deliciously sweet cherry sap !!! mmm)




   Photo's: Smoke It Up BBQ


Hickory Hardwood - A very common smoking and cooking hardwood. Very strong in flavor (think bacon) and can be overwhelming if to much is used (think about drinking liquid smoke). Works great with pork & beef, and sparingly on poultry & eggs. If hickory burns to hot it can become slightly bitter on the meat (careful !!!).


Photo's: Smoke It Up BBQ


Pecan Hardwood - Limited & becoming hard to find.  Deliciously sweet with a mild nutty aroma, burns hot and quick. Can be used in place of hickory. Works great with pork, beef, poultry, cheese & seafood.




*** Extra ***
(Maple Hardwood) - Very smoky, sweet and mild. Earthy in aroma but has a maple syrup sweetness that pairs nicely with poultry, seafood (meatier fish) and pork (pork belly).




There are many other great cooking woods out there such as Apple, Citrus, Plum, Apricot, Peach, Mesquite, Walnut & Oak. These will be discussed at a later date (great for flavoring poultry & sausages !!!).

When it comes to cooking wood there are thousands of variables; wood chips, chunks, sticks, logs, split or whole? Dry wood or soak your wood? The possibilities are endless, so tryout whatever you can get your hands on, or whatever you can fit in your grill or smoker.
Keep records of your protein cooked, woods used, variables, temps & weather to help keep
consistent results & learn from your cooking experiences.

Happy Smoking !!!

Kelham


Monday, September 30, 2013

Why It's Worth The Wait.

"Good things take time, Great things take a long time". 


That's why we wake up at the break of dawn, starting the fire building process in our smoker. This is the heart of what we do everyday. Many people call us crazy, because we believe in true wood smoked, low and slow BBQ. In the commercial BBQ world that means some crazy hours over the pit, early mornings, late nights and a few good beers & zzz's in the hours in between. We LOVE it !!!

We cook on what is more commonly known as a "Stickburner", meaning our smoker is fired & heated purely using seasoned hardwoods, these are locally sourced, cherry, hickory & pecan woods, and they lend a sweeter nutty taste to our smoked products. 
Our meats are brined in a salt, sugar & spice solution for at least 12 hours, and are then hand rubbed with different combinations of salts, sugars & spices before being placed on the smoker. 

The smoking process can take anywhere from 2-14 hours depending on the cut of meat, brine & rub that are utilized. This allows for different levels of smoke penetration in the meat. We utilize a few little tricks during the cooking process (you'll learn along the way), but most importantly, we keep the doors closed & the fire held steady at 235 degrees for the length of the cooking process. (PS. The fire is the hard part !!!) (This also allows us some time to make some, from scratch veggie pickles)

With all of the new meat smoking devices & fancy cookers on the market these day's, anyone can toss some packaged seasoned meat on the smoker, plug it in, set the temp, toss in some wood chunks, fire up the propane and walk away, resulting in a satisfactory product, only to cover it in store bought BBQ sauce. We want to change the way you experience your BBQ.

As professional cooker's we are committing the time and dedication to our trade, ensuring we provide our clients with a superior smoked meat product; juicy, rich & infused with a natural spice crust & true wood smoked flavor. 

Thanks for reading our first post.
We look forward to sharing our passion for BBQ, Pickling & Beer with you !!!
(we love bicycles too!!!)

Cheers,

Kelham 



 Stay tuned for future posts on...
- Fire Building & Hardwoods
- Spices & Rubs
- Sauces & Mops
- BBQ Shenanigans
- Catering Endeavors
- Competition Results

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