Cowboy Keggin' My Way

[SigNate]

This is the most recent of the two "Beef Throwdown" contests I participated in and won. This one was the Ultimate Throwdown Championship.

This is a long post so I hope you understand why it took me so long to put it together. Everything was really cooked on the Keg.

I started of with making a Rustic Ranch Salsa in which about all of the ingredients were grilled on the Keg.

I did the red onions later and forgot to get a picture.

If you want the recipe I can post it later.

I actually made the Parsley Garlic Compound butter one night so the flavors could marry.

No pictures

Parsley Garlic Butter

Ingredients

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced shallot
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Purée all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

Time to make Mongo's Baked Beans and Ham.

Mongo’s Baked Beans and Ham

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 6 to 8 hours on low or 3 to 4 hours on high
Serves: 4 guys or 6 regular people
1 (15.5-oz.) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15.5-oz.) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15.5-oz.) can small white beans, drained and rinsed
(¾-lb.) smoked ham steak, chopped into ½-inch pieces
medium onion, peeled and chopped into ½-inch chunks
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup molasses
2 Tablespoons prepared mustard
½ cup ketchup
½ cup water
Pour all of the beans into a slow cooker. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

The Overstuffed Baked Potatoes.

Before baking the potatoes on the keg I washed them really good the night before and set them aside to dry. Before putting them onto the grill I rubbed them down well with smoky duck fat I rendered from a previous cook. Then I sprinkled them with Sea Salt.

When they were done I let them cool and then cut and scooped out the insde meat of the potatoes and put it all into a bowl. I had cooked an extra potato to ahve plenty to overstuff them.
In the bowl I coarsely chopped/smahed the potatoes and added sour cream, bacon(Pork Jowl bacon)drippings, cheddar cheesed black pepper. Mixed it up without mashing the potatoes too much and stuffed this mixture back into the potato skins/shells.
These were baked on the keg again until they were all ingredients melted and mixed ncely together.


When done each was adorned with a Pork Jowl bacon rainbow.

Cowboy Fry Bread

1 cup milk

1 package active dry yeast
2 Tb sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
3 1/2-4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
Vegetable oil
Heat the milk over the stove or in the microwave until warm but not hot. Pour into a large bowl and add yeast and sugar. Stir in beaten eggs and salt, then slowly mix in flour until mixture forms a smooth, elastic dough. Cover with a towel and allow to rise until double in size (30 minutes to one hour). Lightly flour work surface and divide dough into 12 pieces roughly the size of tennis balls, then flatten into discs. Let dough rise again, about 10 minutes.
Heat oil to 350 degrees in a deep fryer, large pot or skillet. Fry dough discs one or two at a time for three to five minutes, depending on size, turning once. Makes about 12 servings.

Now I'll be the first to tell someone NOT to fry on the Keg simply because of somewhat uncontrolable heat and the chance of a grease fire. I wanted to do all the cooking on the Keg so I came up with a way of doing it carefully on the Keg. I used a raised fire grate method with a small amount of lump charcoal and wood for the heat source.

Using a deep cast iron Dutch Oven with less oil than really required I was able to carefully fry the Cowboy Fry Bread.

Time for the Steaks
Having a little fun with this cook I actually cooked this as our Sunday meal.
Two of the Cowboy Ribeyes were right at about 1 3/4 inches thick and 23 oz. the other steaks were a lil thicker than an inch Cowboy ribeye and a Strip steak.

Plating!

[duckman1911]

That looks really awesome. lot of work in that meal and i'm glad its a winner for you. Have only cooked competitively twice. 3rd the first time and 2cnd the 2cnd time. They quit doing the gumbo cook off after that. It is fun when you love to cook and find that one thing you seem to have a knack for. To me there is almost nothing better than cooking a meal and seeing your family and friends enjoy it. Good job on your meal and your winning. Many more to you I hope. With plates like that it wont be hard to do

[calcutta37]

You have mad skills.

[mr crab]

talent dude. you are a beast on the pit

[BassAssasin]

Awesome!!! Also really like the railroad spike knife

[Matt G]

Awesome job Nate! I don't even eat beans, but I'll be dammned if they don't make my mouth water.

One question though; is a keg like a big green egg or something completely different?

[SigNate]

Originally Posted by Matt G

One question though; is a keg like a big green egg or something completely different?

Yes, it's basically a insulated steel version of a ceramic kamado cooker. The advantages are that it's lighter, little chance of breaking compared to ceramics and portable. I can hook it to a hitch attachment and carry it around on the back of my Expedition. I have what was the Bubba Keg(the first version of the link below. Now I did only pay $299.00 also. It really is a good grill/smoker.

http://www.broilkingbbq.com/grills/keg/landing.html

[jdog1908]

Been lookin hard at a keg cooker, where did you get the steak knives? that's cool as hell..Awesome looking meal, in a food coma just looking at the pics!