Chocolate Maple Popcorn

A delicious anytime treat that’s loaded full of sweet goodness.

Ingredients:

8 cups Popcorn, popped
½ cup Pecans, chopped
6 tablespoons Butter, unsalted
1 ½ cups Maple syrup, pure
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
6 ounces Milk chocolate

Method:

Toast the pecans and put them in a bowl over the (popped) popcorn.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add maple syrup and salt. Cook until 300°.

Pour the syrup mixture over the popcorn, stirring as you go. Spread it out on a lightly-greased cookie sheet.

While the popcorn is cooling, melt the chocolate in a double boiler.

Drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn.

Let it cool and serve.

Fresh Chipotle Salsa

Fresh salsa is always a favorite around the Doody house. Here are instructions and a video that demonstrate how I make my chipotle salsa.

Ingredients:

1 white onion
Tomatoes (2-3 times the amount of onion, in mass, keeping in mind you’ll be removing the seeds from the tomatoes
1 bunch fresh cilantro
2-4 dried chipotles (depending on desired heat level)
Juice from 1 1/2 to 2 fresh limes
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Method:

Grind the dried chipotles in a coffee grinder until you have a fine powder.

Run the leaves of the cilantro through the food processor. Discard the stems. Run the onions through the food processor until diced. Remove 1/2 of the onion/cilantro blend, and set aside in a mixing bowl.

Remove the seeds from all but about 1/5 of the tomatoes, and cut them into a size that travels well through your food processor.

Squeeze the limes into the food processor. Add the ground chipotles, a few pinches of kosher salt, and the cut tomatoes. Blend well.

Pour the tomato mixture into the bowl of onions, add fresh ground black pepper (to taste), stir, and refrigerate for a few hours.

Serve with fresh, hot tortilla chips.

Pulled Pork in Cookshack Smoker

Read the recipe or, better yet, watch the video. This is episode 1 of The Heavy Doody Show!

Ingredients:

Boston butt, bone-in
Your favorite BBQ rub (recipe for Boogie rub)
Yellow mustard
Cheap white bread
BBQ sauce (optional)

Method:

I use an electric Cookshack smoker for all my barbecuing, but use whatever you have available to you.

Apply a thin coating of mustard to one side of your butt. Get it on all 4 sides as well. Cover the mustard area with as much rub as you can pack on. Flip, and repeat the process on the other side of the meat.

Wrap the pork up in plastic wrap, and put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Unwrap, and place in the smoker, along with 5 oz of wood (I like to combine hickory and pecan). Insert your probe thermometer, close the door, and set the smoker to 225°. I set the probe thermometer temperature to 199°, but you might like it less or more done. It’s all a matter of personal taste.

Once your meat comes to temperature, remove from the smoker and double-wrap in foil immediately. If you’re going to be eating in an hour or so, you’re done. Let it sit for an hour. If you’re not eating for a while longer than that, wrap the foil-wrapped butt in a beach towel and toss it in a cooler.

Pull your pork.

Serve on cheap white bread. I like to offer a wide variety of BBQ sauces for people to choose from, as well as extra rub for people to use.