Red Shank Smoked Pork Sirloin & Bacon Chipotle Twice Baked Potatoes

Photo: Ken & Patti Fisher

Ingredients

Ingredients: For Grill

4 or 5 pork sirloin steaks

2 inches Mexican onions cut half

A handful of garlic cloves, fresh rosemary’

Olive oil spray or cooking spray

Ingredients: Potatoes

2 large baking potatoes

Bacon, cooked, crumbled (I do 6-8 slices)

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup of 4 cheese sauce

1/2 cup minced sweet onion

1 tablespoon Chipotle chili powder

Preparation

Directions: Potatoes I love these potatoes, and you can make them something different every time …

Wash, then rub the potatoes with olive oil. Pierce them with a knife or fork so that they will not explode in the microwave. Microwave them until they are almost done, about 6-8 minutes.

Let them cool. When you can handle them cut them in two and using a spoon scoop the meat out into a bowl. Mix all your ingredients together until smooth and spoon back into the potatoes. Pack em high and tight.

Put the potatoes, onions and garlic on the grill with medium indirect heat (around 300). They will take longer to cook than the meat and you want them to spend some time in the smoke. Hit the garlic and onions with a little olive oil spray to start, then maybe some of the Worcestershire sauce spray to keep things from drying out.

Preparing Grill: Low Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to low heat (250-300) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this.

Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Directions:

Grill the veggies until they are getting soft then add your meat over medium direct heat. Remember, the meat will go fast…

Preparing Grill: Medium Direct Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (350). Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

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About

Last week Patti and I went up to BBQ with my Dad. He doesn’t get moving around these days as he has in years past. I told him to pick something he was craving and we would “Q” it. He was a wantin’ Bacon Cheeseburgers and a cheesecake. So, we got some thick sliced pepper bacon and a few different cheeses along with all the fixings. We baked a strawberry cheesecake and headed up the mountain.

I did up some nice burgers with lots of hickory smoke. They were a real crowd pleaser.
One of the folks that showed up was an old cowboy. I mean a real working old cowboy. Now, myself, I have reached the status of semi-senior citizen. So, if I refer to this ol boy as old- he is old. I think he may have been with the first chuck wagon that came out here.

We got to talking about cooking with hickory and then to chuck wagon and camp cooking. He told me about a local wood they call “Red Shank” or “Ribbon Wood “and how it gives things a nice red finish with a rich, smoky flavor. The next morning when I got up and around there was a pile of this wood by my truck.

So, I had to give it a try. Look at my plate. See the red smoke finish on the meat and potatoes. The garlic and Mexican onions were nice too. The smoke flavor was different from anything that I have used before. But I will say this; I am going to get me a trailer load of this stuff.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to your taste.
Take it and run with it….
Enjoy,
Ken & Patti