Cooking For The Pros

[queball]

Dig it my brothers. This weekend, Peyton and Eli Manning host their annual quarterback camp in my hometown and I have been invited to cook at the private dinner for the many professional athletes who volunteer at the camp. Rumor is that Favre and Brady will be in attendance this year. Cooking starts on Friday. Serving appx. 100 people alligator sauce picante, fried alligator, boiled shrimp, chicken fricasse,' and pork, chicken and sausage jambalaya. I am a successful, competitive jambalaya cook so that's my main focus. I agreed conditioned on them allowing me to serve some brisket. I cant wait.

[tommykendall]

That's awesome man. Have a blast.

[Kirk]

Sweet! Sounds like a great time qb!

[ronnyballgame]

I hope that some of your 'bonus' will be an autographed football to commorate the event.....

[queball]

Actually, no cameras, no autographs. This is supposed to be a let down night for the guys. I attended last year and it was a hoot. Those guys are freaking hugh and eat like killer whales.

[jgh1204]

Smoke them some fatties. Although being pro athletes, some might do that on their own.

Do well and they may be asking you for your autograph.

[kcquer]

If you get close enough, kick Peyton Manning right in the nuts.

Thanks,
A serious Chiefs fan.

[thirdeye]

Smoke them some fatties. Although being pro athletes, some might do that on their own.

Do well and they may be asking you for your autograph.

I thought about fatties myself.......

Hey queball, If you think the crowd may be a little upscale for fatties, do what I do in that situation: Call them Porque Fa-Tays and tell them they are French. :lol:

[racer_81]

If you get close enough, kick Peyton Manning right in the nuts.

Thanks,
A serious Chiefs fan.


Ditto.

Regards,

Houston Texans fan.

[stan]

sounds like a blast! let us know how it goes. I say go for the fatty's!

[The_Kapn]

Actually, no cameras, no autographs. This is supposed to be a let down night for the guys. I attended last year and it was a hoot. Those guys are freaking hugh and eat like killer whales.

I'll betcha' .
I would take every "serving size" recommendation out there and quadruple it :lol:

Have fun!

TIM

[Q_Egg]

... seems like that special jambalaya will tone down those big appetites after a couple big bowls! Put some extra heat in it to get a couple of those guys butts in gear this year ...

Congrats .... you should have a great and memorable night!

[jt]

Sounds like a good time. Have fun!

[bbqbull]

QB, Your gonna have a farkin blast........and like the others said, slip in a couple of fatties along w/the brisket......You will be a farkin hero.
Good luck and enjoy.
Mike

[big brother smoke]

Que,

Kick some arse!

[Yakfishingfool]

Fatty's = Texas footballs for the night anyway. Scott

[BBQ_MAFIA]

It sounds like a great time. Enjoy.

[capnamerca]

"If you get close enough, kick Peyton Manning right in the nuts."

Ok, THAT'S funny.

Queball - do you have a jambalaya recipie that you can share? My mom makes a good one, but I'm always up for trying new things, especially ones with a little kick to them.

[Neil]

Way to go Qball. Toss em few ABT's while your at it.

[queball]

this is my ingredient list
MEAT
□ 10 lbs Boneless Boston Butt (cubed)
□ 2 packages of Bacon
□ 3 packs chicken thighs (stripped)
□ 1 large Vernon’s andouille (cubed)
□ 3-4 lbs Rouse’s Garlic Ring sausage (sliced 1/4 inch slices)


SEASONING & VEGETABLES
□ 1 bunch fresh parsley
□ 2 bunches of fresh green onions
□ 4 large yellow onions
□ 1 bunch fresh celery
□ 4 bell peppers
□ 1 jar chopped garlic
□ whole Bay Leaf


SEASONING & VEGETABLES
□ 6 bags Zataran’s Extra Long Grain
□ 4 cartons Swanson chicken stock
□ salt
□ Cayenne pepper
□ Kitchen Bouquet

Preparation
Render the bacon until real crispy. Remove, chop and reserve bacon
In the bacon fat fry the pork until thoroughly cooked with lots of "gradoo" on the pot. Remove and reserve (there is a trick here. You have have to cook the water out of the pork you can tell that you have done so when the meat quits producing foam and runs clear. Anything short of that is a disaster as it messes with fluid to raw rice ratios and the meat aint tender.)
In the bacon fat fry the sausage until well browned. Remove and reserve
In the bacon fat fry the chicken until well browned. Remove and reserve
Sautee onions to deglaze the pot and then add peppers, garlic, celery until onions start to caramelize
At all meat back to the pot and slowly cook out as much water as you can. this is kind of a feel thing.
Add chicken stock, salt and pepper to taste, a little kitchen bouqet for color, and bring to rolling boil. Boil for about 10 minutes and taste for seasoning.
Add green onions, parsley and rice and allow to return to boil. Reduce to simmer and check for doness at 15 minutes and then 5 minute intervals thereafter.

[ModelMaker]

What a sport to share your competition recipie!! I saved it and will give it a try when cooler weather returns.
ModelMaker
Have fun by the way...

[queball]

In follow up, the party was great. We boiled 500 lbs of shrimp, made 15 gallons of pork, chicken & andoullie jambalaya, 15 gallons of alligator sauce picante, 25 lbs of boudin, about 10-15 lbs of fried alligator tail meat. Time and weather dictated that we do ribs rather than brisket. We did 17 racks of BBs using a commercial rotisserie smoker (first time lots of fun). Those guys ate every piece of edible food available and drained a Budweiser keg truck. I had the pleasure of sitting and talking with John Elway, Archie Manning, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Jamarcus Russell. Perhaps that highlight of the evening was spending time with legendary Jim Hanifan who coached the HOG offensive line for the campion Redskins in the 91? Superbowl and coached the St. Louis offensive line in there Superbowl victory. Those 2 gigantic rings were something to behold. Capnamerica, I am sorry to say that I was close enought to Peyton to kick him in the nuts; however, he had all of his brothers and his dad there and they are some incredibly large humans. All in all a good night in a community stills struggling from Katrina.

[queball]

What a sport to share your competition recipie!! I saved it and will give it a try when cooler weather returns.
ModelMaker
Have fun by the way...
Not a big thing to share. Competition jambalaya cooking is a lot like competitive bbq, a bunch of guys cooking the same thing with small variations in technique and seasoning. At a competitive level most bbq participants produce excellent results. The winners are the guys who know how to manage heat and time and who have their finished product peak appropriately. With jambalaya, it is all about moisture control or having the necessary liquid in the pot to cook the rice to the perfect consistency. Of course everything that you throw into the pot with the exception of rice adds liquid which rice absorbs. Cooking 6 lbs of rice with 20lbs of seasoning in a 6 gallon pot on an open fire can be real tricky. Championship level jambalaya cooks are masters of fire/heat management. Basically you get one shot at getting it right. Adding liquid produces mush. Falling short results in crunchy uncooked rice.

[Q_Egg]

.. hard to really get a feel for the great experience you describe, but it has to be a truly unique set of memories! Those specific individuals, together on that specific night, with all that great food ...... maybe actually better then going to the Superbowl !! It must have been a hoot.

Congrats on the successful jambalaya.

[thillin]

Have any home size portion recipes? Only 2.5 of us in the house. :mrgreen:

[queball]

Have any home size portion recipes? Only 2.5 of us in the house. :mrgreen:
Yea. I have a small pot recipe sowhere that I will post. I also have a user friendly technique using par-boiled rice that I will post.

[queball]

.. hard to really get a feel for the great experience you describe, but it has to be a truly unique set of memories! Those specific individuals, together on that specific night, with all that great food ...... maybe actually better then going to the Superbowl !! It must have been a hoot.

Congrats on the successful jambalaya.
Absolutely a hoot and if you are a football fan just unbelievable. Great food, great fellowship. The list of celebrity QBs who show up at this event is always fluid. There are always big names in town, but Elway. When he strolled into the backyard you could have heard a pin drop. Even Peyton seemed in awe.

[bbqbull]

Q-Ball, never tried jambalya or any of those other dishes you described. Sure sounds good though. I would love to try some of your recipes. Trust me Im not headed down south to compete. The heat/humidity would probably lay me out hard/fast. Sure would have been nice to meet some ex pro football guys. Glad you had a great time. Sounds like you really need some good r/r now. Thanks for the reports.

[thillin]

The heat/humidity would probably lay me out hard/fast.

I'm use to the heat here in TX, but just got back from Gulport, MS. Damn humidity was killing me. A day or so of rain didn't help either.

And I failed to pick up some gator sausage before I left. Might have to get some shipped to me. Might be a good addition to the pot.

[queball]

BBQ Bull & Thillin: Yep. Hot and humid. We had misting fans going till early in the AM. Wasnt too bad when the sun went down, but standing over those giant iron pots and hugh stainless boilers in the early afternoon was brutal. Of course you get 4 or 5 people who love to cook and put em on a project like this and its just a blast. Didnt really feel it until this morning. As far as the recipe, I am not sharing anything thats double secret. My competition days are gone. I cook cause I like it and because the people I like like what I cook. Let me know if you are coming this way and we'll cook one up together.

[thillin]

I bet those misting fans really helped. I plan on installing them on my back porch when I move. At least I'll run the misters aroung the perimeter.

I look forward to that small pot recipe.