The Best BBQ Chicken…EVER!

I have fallen in love….with a BBQ sauce.  Yes I have.  While strolling the Appleton market I came upon the Jimmy J’s sauce stand and he had samples (admit it you are a sucker for samples too!).  At first I was like whatever…then he waved a meatball on a stick under my nose.  I caved in.  I went with the XXX it was tasty but the after burn kind of took over and I figured it would be too much for company if indeed I bought a bottle.  So I went a step down and tried the Hot.  Perfect!  Seriously good flavor, good heat (but not too much) and for $4 a bottle, why not.  So I thanked the kind man for the samples and went on my way.

Here is what my $4 got me…

When they say you will lick your fingers, they aren’t joking.  You want to lick the plate too, but I digress… hehe.

I had some drumsticks in the refrigerator that I wanted to put on the grill and figured it would be the perfect vehicle to try this sauce out.  Making BBQ chicken isn’t rocket science, but a lot of people seem to struggle with it. Either it’s burned on the outside and raw on the inside or just overcooked period.  I found the key ingredients to perfect chicken on the grill are low heat and patience.  No par boiling necessary.

I put my gas grill on the lowest setting possible and kept turning the chicken every five minutes.  When the skin started to get brown, I started to baste the chicken with Jimmy J’s sauce.  It took me about 35 minutes to cook the drummies fully.  The chicken was perfectly cooked  (the juices ran clear. If the juices are pinkish…keep cooking) and the sauce was finger-licking sticky. MmmMMmm!

I paid $4 for a 21 oz bottle at the market.    For my Milwaukee (and non-Wisconsin) readers, they do have a website http://jimmyjsauces.com.  They do charge a little bit more on their website, but it’s sooooo worth it.  Shipping is at a fair price as well.  I implore you to order a bottle and defy you to tell me this isn’t some good sauce!

Happy grilling!

 

Dill Pickles

I took a trip up to Appleton to see how their farmer’s market was.  It’s AMAZING!  I would have taken pictures of all the awesome that was in my bag, but I didn’t get home until late.  Anyways, part of my loot was some pickling cucumbers and red spring onions. They were $3 for a nice bunch. I figured I’d chop them up and eat them with my lunch if I didn’t have all my canning supplies.

The lady who sold me the cucumbers told me not to worry if I didn’t have all my canning supplies, that I could make dill pickles that would last in the refrigerator for about a month without “all that canning fuss.”  Sold!

Seriously, everything you need for this recipe is pictured above.  Pickling cucumbers, onion (I used the red spring onions from the market), garlic and dill seed.  The vender lady made it very clear to used dill seed NOT dill weed.  You can pick up dill seed at Pick N Save if you are in Wisconsin.  You will also need some vinegar, kosher salt, water (to make the brine) and clean jars with clean lids.  That’s it.

I used a 1 part vinegar/1 part water method.  For about 5-6 cumbers use 1 c vinegar/1 c water and 2 tablespoons of salt.  Brink the mixture to a boil and let cool to room temp.

In the mean time slice your cucumbers.  For the most part I did spears.  Then I remembered I had a fancy pants cutting tool so I made some hamburger dill cuts as well.

Again, for 5-6 cucumbers 2 spring onions (white/red parts only.  The green parts tend to get soggy and that’s just gross), 2 cloves of garlic (chopped, whole..whatever you want) and 2 tablespoons of dill seed.  More or less depending on your taste.

Put the dill seed, garlic and onion on the bottom of a clean jar.  Add your cucumber slices.  Pack them in the jar nicely, but not to the point where you are forcing them into the jar.

Fill jar with cooled brine.  Leave about 1/2-1/4 inch space at the top. Put lid on tightly and give the jar a little shake to distribute the dill seed.  You should have something that looks like this:

Put in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before enjoying them. I’m pretty excited to put the hamburger cut pickles on my burgers this week.

Note:  These are not canned in a water bath.  They cannot be stored unrefrigerated.  They will last about a month refrigerated, but please do not leave them on the counter over night.