I’d like to thank the folks at Old Timer for sending me some of their Chili Seasoning to try.So you know how fresh their spices are, I can tell you that after opening the package I received iin the mail, I put the 2 packets of chili seasoning on my counter. For days, the kitche, smelled like chili seasoning – and no, the packages weren’t open. The deep, fresh, rich aroma of chili seasoning permeated the kitchen. I love that smell!

I made the chili pretty much per the directions, except it was a bit bigger batch than indicated on the directions. I used an extra can of tomatoes, threw in some kidney beans and other stuff too. Regardless, the chili turned out awesome. I was surprised that there was a little bit of heat in the chili, even with the “mild” seasoning packet. Flavors were fresh and bold. I didn’t add any other seasonings to the pot of chili and really, I didn’t need to. My wife and daughter commented (without prompting) about how good this particular batch of chili was.

From the Old Timer website:

America’s passion for chili can be traced to Texas in the 1820s, when local cooks simmered cubed beef with their special blends of chili peppers, herbs and spices. Today, our chili seasonings make it easy to create your signature version of this family-friendly favorite, whether yours features beef, chicken, turkey or is vegetarian or vegan.

Old Timer Chili seasonings are a blend of varieties of chili peppers and a unique blend of spices. Just add meat, tomatoes and beans if you like. It includes all the seasoning needed to make a bowl of our award winning chili. The chili recipe is printed on the label and is quick and easy with authentic Texas Flavor!

I’d highly recommend this seasoning mix. Stay tuned – I still have the “spicy” version to try! You can order the seasoning online here – it’s part of their February special: Old Timer Special

When I first started my blog, the folks at Uncle Dougie’s were kind enough to send me a whole bunch of their products to try. Subsequently, I did (positive!) reviews on a number of them. My absolute favorite product so far is their “Jalapeno Mustard” – that stuff is the bomb!

Anyway, the only item I had left was a lonely lil bottle of Chicago Style Chicken Wing Marinade – I rarely make my own wings, so this little guy got pushed to the back of the shelf. On Superbowl Sunday, I was poking around the kitchen, making some yummies for the family. No party, just us. I had purchased a bag of frozen, store-brand hot wings for the festivities. When I dumped those out onto the baking sheet, they looked weak! As I put them in the oven, it occured to me – Uncle Dougie’s!

Now – a caveat – this isn’t how Uncle Dougie’s recommends this sauce to be used. As the chicken wings were cooking, I basted with Uncle Dougie’s sauce, turned them and basted again. Those wings turned out kick-ass!!

I’m not an intense, burn your face off, chicken wing guy. I usually order them “Medium” when I have a choice. That being said, I’ve been craving something a little different. These wings rock, and this sauce is my new favorite! The wings were hot, but not unbearable. Lots of vinegary base and spices that made for a tangy, flavorful taste journey. Seriously, this sauce is awesome.

Uncle Dougie’s has been making our chicken wing marinade, barbecue sauces, hot sauces, seasoning rubs, bloody mary mix and other products for over 30 years.

How do we define Uncle Dougie’s…..

Un’cle Dougie’s adj. 1. sneaky heat. 2. bouquets of spice. 3. a kaleidoscopic kick

4. multi-dimensional flavor. 5. more sophisticated then mere hotness. 6. makes everything taste great.

By experimenting on close friends & family, and having a large supply of cold libations…a homemade recipe for the best oven baked spicy chicken wings was developing. After years of fine tuning and numerous chicken wing parties, Doug (Uncle Dougie) Tomek was asked (begged) to bottle this fantastic concoction.

Out of the family owned farmhouse kitchen, in a rural suburb of Chicago land…the Tomek Family developed the Uncle Dougie’s line of gourmet food products. Using the very finest ingredients available, a sense of humor and years of cooking experience, they set out to “spice up” everyone’s life a little. As time went on, more and more of the family recipes were bottled. The Uncle Dougie’s gourmet food line grew to 15 products.

Have a look at Uncle Dougie’s Other Products and if you like hot wings in any way, shape or form – order a bottle of their chicken wing marinade. You gotta.

RavensBark is no stranger to the Dry-Rubbed Rat, and so far, we have enjoyed all of their sauces! I had one more product to try, “The HIckory”

So, a couple of weeks ago, I got lazy for Sunday dinner. I had some stuff to get done around the house and frankly, just wasn’t in the mood to tend the smoker so here is what I did. I took a big boneless pork loin and rolled it really heavy with some Phoenix Competition Rub from local favorite Anthony’s Spices. I then put it into a crock pot dosed liberally with The Hickory barbeque sauce. About 6 hours later I shredded it and put some more RavensBark on. 8 hours later we were eating with more sauce on the side and it was awesome!

From the RavensBark website, ” Get delicious smoky BBQ flavor straight from the bottle! A mild smoky flavor for that just off the pit taste. This mid-western sauce is great with beef pork and poultry.”

The Hickory has a tart/tangy base and lots of big, bold hickory flavor and some vinegar in there too.The Hickory was a great choice for this meal, since I wasn’t actually using the smoker. There’s not really any heat in this sauce, just tangy, smoky goodness. RavensBark sauces are thinner than some – about a 5 on the DRR Thickness scale where 1 is water and 10 is peanut butter! Absolutely recommend The Hickory. All of RavensBark sauces have been a hit in my home, and my wife has declared “The Firehouse” her favorite – not just of the RavensBark products, but of everything I have reviewed to date.

About once per month or so, Brian Henderson from BBQ Sauce Reviews is going to send us his top pick. Brian has an awesome website, and reviews a ton of sauce. We’re going to learn about the best of the best! Brian does a lot of cool contests and sauce giveaways so I really encourage you to add his site to your favorites.

This month, Brian recommended Draper’s BBQ Sauce.Brian has this to say to me, when he recommended their sauce:

You’ve got to highlight Drapers… a really tasty sauce.

Shane Draper has a good thing going.

Instead of providing the world with yet another traditional KC style BBQ sauce, he’s added a few unusual spices (at BBQ Sauce Reviews unusual is good).

What I mean is that there’s a few additional spices in the sauce that most people don’t normally get exposed to at the grocery store BBQ aisle.

This includes cinnamon, nutmeg, ___, and ___ (I asked but promised not to tell).

This gives the sauce a more festive flavor, one that reminds you of the holiday season with it’s spiced coffees, cakes, and beers. This mystery flavor combination is reason alone to give the sauce a shot.
I really like this category of sauce – the whole festive flavor reminds me of a Harpoon Winter Warmer beer – which reminds me of the holidays. When a sauce can conjure up a sentimental feeling of the holiday season but also transport you into the summer at the same time – it’s an amazing thing. Drapers Smokin’ Sauce delivers a best in class example of this category.

Brian

Please take a look at the full review here: Draper’s BBQ Sauce Review. Brian does a very thorough review and they are always enjoyable and informative.

If you’re looking for something different, consider Drapers.

Well, if you haven’t yet done so, go ahead and read my review of the Queen Creek Olive Mill. The QCOM is a great operation and a cool place to visit for sure. While roaming the place last week, I was delighted to find that the coffee counter tucked into the back corner is operated by a local roaster – Superstition Coffee.

These folks were friendly and knowledgeable and had the roaster fired up right there where you could watch the process. I drink about a pot of coffee per day which doesn’t make me an expert but certainly provided a good enough reason for me to grab a cup while there. I don’t like dishwater, and I don’t like tar – I guess I lean towards more dark, but certainly the dark side of a medium roast. Thus, I ordered a cup of their Superstition Blend.

Here is how they describe this blend on their website:

“This is a blend of Costa Rican El Indio Tarrazu and Sumatra Aceh Gold. This is a medium to slightly darker roast. Flavor profile is deep, rich, full body, complex flavor with a satisfying aroma and nice finish”

It’s important in this economy to support local businesses as much as we can and I hope if you like coffee, you’ll check out Superstition’s hand-roasted small batch coffees. You won’t be disappointed. You can learn more about their products or order online here: Superstition Coffee Product Info. This is a cool, family-run business; the entire Mohrweis Family is involved. Check them out – the Superstition Blend at least, gets a thumbs-up from me!

My wife’s sister and niece were in town from Maine, and we were wondering what to do. They were only going to be here a couple of days, and the only tourist attraction they had requested was the Phoenix Zoo. We live in Queen Creek, about 35 miles southeast of Phoenix.My wife and I had never been to the Queen Creek Olive Mill and it’s only 5 minutes away, so we figured “What the heck, let’s go!”. What a great decision!

First off, spring the 5 bucks for the Olive Oil 101 Tour. Our tour guide Laurie was funny, friendly and very knowledgeable. It is clear that the staff don’t just memorize a script – they enjoy this stuff and like sharing some pretty darned interesting facts about olives and how they are made into oil. You get to see the trees, the processing equipment and taste lots of samples as well.

A very interesting part of the experience was “olive oil shots”. We were skeptical, but glad we tried. We were able to taste the subtle differences between Meyer Lemon Olive Oil, Chocolate, White Truffle, Blood Orange and Mexican Lime, for example. Of course, Chocolate was a hit, but I’m partial to the lemon and orange flavors.

The Olive Mill also has a full-blown lunch counter as well as a gift shop and a coffee counter operated by the folks from Superstition Coffee. We didn’t eat lunch but the gelato, coffees and prickly pear lemonade were all spot-on. The store really is quite amazing. More types of olive oil than you could ever imagine. Tapenades that will make you drool, stuffed olives of a variety of flavors, olive oil skin care products – you name it.

Seriously, if you’re an Arizonan I encourage you to take a trip to the Olive Mill in the southeast valley. This makes for an awesome family outing, it makes a great day trip for your visiting friends and relatives too. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Finally, if you’re particular about your ingredients and olive oil in particular – consider using the fine products from the Olive Mill. You can shop online and they ship anywhere in the world.

Tummy rumbling now and need some ideas? The Queen Creek Olive Mill offers great free recipes as well!

I can’t say enough about this sauce from Old Timer BBQ Rubs! This is the first mustard-based sauce that I have reviewed and I wasn’t disappointed! It’s not a real thick sauce, has an interesting color and tastes GOOD!

This sauce is an awesome taste adventure of savory, tangy, mustardy goodness with just the right amount of sweet. I have used it on chicken and pork and also as a glaze base for a ham I cooked. I’d highly recommend this sauce, for sure. Here is what Old Timer has to say, on their site:

We love Carolina Style Barbeque! Whether it is for roasting a whole hog, a pork shoulder, bbq ribs,chicken, a ham or a brisket, Our Gourmet barbecue sauce recipe “tickles your fancy” and you will discover just why this 400 year old tradition is alive and kickin’!

The old southern saying “the secret is in the sauce” seems to defy our motto “Barbecue is the Mystical Communion of Fire, Smoke and Meat”. But with barbeque southern style, basted periodically with a wonderful Gourmet barbecue sauce, we find both are true and we make the exception gladly.

Mustard Sauce- This yellowish brown barbecue sauce takes its color from the prepared yellow mustard base. Tangy, zippy, spicy, and smoky, this Gourmet barbeque sauce makes you salivate just to smell it.

The Carolina folk call their favorite Barbeque Sauce Recipe “finishing sauce”, as it is served after roasting the meat, in bowls at the feast, to be applied by the ravenous guests. Use Our barbeque sauce and Your barbeque fame is secure!

I have also enjoyed Old Timer’s rubs – they are always blended just right; the flavors all well-balanced and the sugars and salts are bright and fresh. I encourage you to visit their site, and check out their Special Offers

I was excited to receive one of these knives from my friends at Mad Cow Cutlery and let me tell you – as my 13-year old daughter would say, this thing is “beast”.

I must tell you, the grip on this knife is perfect. The angle to the blade is ideal, and the texture makes it easy to hold. Add to that, this knife is quite possibly the sharpest one I have ever owned.

My friend Daniel Clay from Mad Cow says “Regarding the Dexter Prodex 6” curved boning knife. We had originally being selling this mostly to commercial accounts, but have started promoting them on our store since we had positive feedback from our bbq teams that tried it. It is shaped to provide a more comfortable and natural slicing motion. It has virtually no finger guards to get in the way when doing serious work. The handle has awesome grip. This has been a popular slicing and trim knife.”

Read more about the knife here: Dexter Russell 6″ Prodex Boning Knife

Thanks to Pitmaster Dan Hixon for sending me some 3 Eyz Championship BBQ Rub to try.

I smoked a pork shoulder last weekend and am sure glad I tried the 3 Eyz Rub. This rub has a smooth, bold, flavor. There is a touch of heat, but just a touch. Nice, fresh even flavors throughout. Texture is spot-on.

I rub my pork the night before and wrap in Saran Wrap. I then rub a bit on before going into the smoker. Normally, I smoke at 225 until I hit 170ish, then foil til 195 or so. This day though, I ran out of charcoal (bad chef) so finished in the oven – a first for me. In site of deviating from my normal methods, this pulled pork came out great.

Awesome flavor, and some of the best “bark” I have made to date. As I mentioned in the previous post – my co-workers raved about the pork.

From their site:

3 Eyz BBQ’s first commercially-available BBQ spice rub. This mix of sweet and spicy offers a fantastic flavor boost for all of your grilling, smoking, and general cooking needs. Great on all types of meat, as well as in soups, chili, vegetables, baked potatoes, and anything else that needs a bit of a flavor kick. This spice rub took home a 1st and a 2nd place award at the Great American BBQ Contest and helped 3eyz rack up over 200 awards!

I’d definitely recommend this rub for your pulled pork – can’t wait to try it on something else! Stay tuned!!

First off, an apology to Matthew Hanna at Pigtail Brands. Matthew had sent me some goodies, including his kick-ass sauce – quite some time ago. Well, life happened as it often does and my blogs got neglected. Finally, last week I was able to start getting back on track a bit.

So, last weeked I threw a pork shoulder in the smoker and cooked up some pulled pork. When dinner time came around, out came the bottle of Big Ed’s Heirloom Sauce.

So to be fair, my wife and daughter were the first real tasters in this process. I was well into a sinus/upper respiratory infection and couldn’t reall taste anything. The next challenge was the viscosity of the sauce. It is thin! Remember, I’m an amateur when it comes to smoking and I hadn’t encountered such a thin sauce before! The girls liked it though and my wife remarked it might make for a rockin salad dressing too. Curiously, they say just that in their description! From the Pigtail Brands website:

Pigtail Brands flagship product, Big Ed’s Heirloom Barbecue Sauce did not get its moniker of “The Specialty Of The South” for no reason. This is a robust, tangy vinegar based heirloom barbecue sauce & marinade with just the perfect hint of pepper & a slight sweet undertone. A 30+ year family recipe to perfectly accent and bring out, not overpower, the flavor of your pork, steak, poultry, seafood, wild game and everything in between. It has even been used as a salad dressing. Gluten free, fat free, cholesterol free and preservative free. It’s just that good!

Whenever I have the smoker out on weekends, I’m obligated to haul leftovers to work. I shredded up all the pork, put it into tupperware, and loaded the container up with Big Ed’s. That’s when the magic really began! At work the next day, everyone raved about the pork, and the sauce! “Vinegary, tangy”, “not salty at all”, “Perfect!”, “Just the right flavor” – Big Ed’s was a hit! So, this ended up being a cool review. Even though my taste buds were out of commission, I had nearly a dozen other testers step up to the plate. Every single one loved Big Ed’s! Thanks again to Matthew and the folks over at Pigtail Brands.

On a final note, this is a real cool company! For lots of interesting stuff, visit their blog or even their recipe page.

I would happily recommend Big Ed’s to anyone looking for an awesome, flavorful sauce. If an amateur can make it a hit, imagine what someone who knew what they were doing could accomplish!