This Week's Special

Sounds pretty good to me.

Another good use for leftover pulled pork,that works well in warm weather is

CHALUPA

2 c. dried pinto beans
3 lbs. boneless pork
1 lg. onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
8 oz. dried green chilies
Salt & pepper
Tortilla chips
Lettuce, onions, cheese, tomatoes, olives & sour cream for toppings

Soak beans overnight. Cut meat into 2 inch chunks. Brown pork in large pot. Add onion and garlic and cook until limp. Add 6 cups of water, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and green chilies. Drain beans and add to pork. Cover and simmer 2 to 3 hours until beans are tender. Remove meat and let cool. Shred meat at this time and return to beans. Add salt and pepper. Heat and serve. Place tortilla chips on plate topped with chalupa and then lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, onions, sour cream and olives.

Also for the ladies ,or folks looking for lighter fare in hot weather,our local bbq restaurants do a chefs salad,with leftover pulled pork.

They make a dressing of Ranch dressing,with a little salsa blended in.

Tortilla chips,instead of crackers.

The ingredients can be assembled in the morning

and then just plated to order.

Use the pulled pork and make enchilada's. simple, easy and the pork is perfect. Simple enchilada sauce and season up the pork with mexican seasonings.

Hey Kate,

Tacos are awesome using pulled pork. I make 'em Baja style: fresh salsa and a tiny dollop of sour cream, a sprinkle of fresh cilantro. They are just like the ones I used to eat in Baja and people love 'em. Cost is low too....

Good idea Kate.
I've made them for myself. Only never tried the sour cream deal.

And, like Kinsman said, its lower cost. It might be a good idea for those who want an inexpensive way to try your pork for the 1st time without paying full price for your normal plate.

It's also be good for parents to get their younger kids, who they know cant eat a whole sammich. Plus, kids will probably find it fun to eat!

If you buy the low carb variety of wraps, you can advertise it for the dieters.

Good luck!

Hi.

I do the same Flea Market each week on Friday and Saturday, so I like to keep them guessing as to what I will add as a special each weekend. I feed most of the vendors, so repition may become a problem, figure I have nipped that in the bud!

I tried a lot of variations on the tacos and this one tased good to me and was super simple. It is also inexpensive to make and while I would as soon sell my higher profit sandwiches and dinners, I have a hot dog and hamburger guy to compete with there. He has 2 dollar and three dollar items, so in order to keep the $$'s at my window I try to throw in some tasty and creative options that appeal to the ones that might wander over for the cheaper fare.

I do Peggy and Jack's Brisket on a Biscuit for Breakfast now and they sell fast. My competition sells donuts and muffins from a bakery. Any more ideas for breakfast items, fast and easy ones?

Thank you for the ideas! They all sound delicious and doable. I will use them!

I have made from the pulled pork a western version of what we called Pates in the Caribbean (they make them with ground meat, conch, salt fish, even lobster). Mine is a dough crust filled with chopped pork, onions, peppers and I use bbq seasonings. It is usually deep fryed, but I am considering making a Pasty version, baked instead. It is a bit more work intensive with the crust, but very tasty. They make Pork Pies in England, way more work than I am willing to do, but a variation of these three will maybe make a nice special one weekend. I don't have a deep fryer onboard, so that is out, but I can cook em in the FEC !

Thanks for all the input!

Kate

kate,
peg has started doing an item that we had to scale back down from my original 50 serving size but it has also been doing well but not to sure how it would do up there.
at any rate here's the recipe. she bakes it in standard hotel 1/3 pans and gets 8 servings to the pan. sales price is 4 bucks if i remember right.
baked cheese grits
1 c grits
2 c water
1 c milk,whole
4 oz cheese
1 TBS hot sauce
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
combine water and grits in a pan and skim chaff. she uses grits that bill grinds at the market. if you are using commercial then you could skip the skimming.
bring to a boil
stir and reduce to a simmer for about 10 mins.
refrigerate.
when cool mix in the other ingredients.
bake in a greased 1/3rd pan, uncovered, 1 hour at 350f.
plating
lay a piece of green leaf lettuce in the box.
place the grit slice on that.
surround with cheap seasonal fruit till it looks nice to your eye.

the recipe i developed working at the conference center years a go as a way to maximize profit. funny part was some groups wouldn't eat grits (can't really blame them) but they hogged these things down. i just had to make sure i had a one day gap between the grits and the baked ones. my original recipe ccalled for pickapeppa sauce and seeded jalapenos and for some groups i went as radical as habaneros so you can jack the heat up as you see fit.

jack
ps. this will also freeze well for use within 60 days

ok,
here is the lunch special i am working on tomorrow. a joint in villano beach is getting 8 bucks for this and his is fried. mine is going to be smoked. thinking is since i don't know which will see the best going to do 1/2 cold and 1/2 warm. sales price will be 4 bucks per sandwich.
taking 40 ounce roll of "byrant's" balogna 4" diameter by 9" long. this is the closest to the stuff i grew up with in indy. has pig snouts and all the good stuff. going to make a spiral cut 1/4" deep 45 degree angle going the length and then turning it and coming back the same way to make a diamond score.while the picnics are under heavy smoke (using cherry smoke stixs this time) they will go in for about 90 mins. after that they will come out onto commercial film. coating them with dark brown sugar and a squirt of honey and sealing in foil and refrigerating. going to reheat 1/2 at the market. sales price will be 4 bucks. going on a small bun with lettuce and tomato. slice will be 1" thick. will let you know how those sell. it still isn't hot enough to do my red neck pate but by july i will be adding that again since some have been asking for it. it's served cold. if you would like the recipe just email peg. that one is not out for public consumption.
the 40 ounce cost is 5 bucks and can get 9 servings selling at 4 bucks which meets my food cost goals.
jack
ps. if it don't sell just going to make balogny salad. ez to do and is the only thing my mom could cook. grind it up with yellow cheese,add pickle relish and some mayo to bind. darn good white trash eatting it is!!!

We have regular customers who want their pulled pork or brisket sandwiches on a flour tortilla something like a wrap. Brisket, thinly sliced sweet onions, thinly sliced fresh jalapenos, and hot bbq sauce. Same thing with pulled pork but with slaw and dill pickels. We charge the same price as a sandwich. If you heat the tortilla in a microwave for 12 seconds. Keep stokin and smokin.

Hi.

We had some kind of total communications black out today. I have been without cell phone, long distance land line and no net most of the day! Just came back on and I am due to get up at 5 am but had to come take a look here.

Jack, Peggy gave me the grits recipe, heh heh, bad girls again! I made it today and tasted it. I like it! Course I used inferior grits , but it is good. It is in the reefer ready to serve tomorrow. Not sure how grits will go over but we will give it a go! Never know how way up north here things will go over. Still trying to tell people brisket is beef not pork. Really!

Holy Smokin Bologna Batman! Sounds interesting. I am intrigued. I'd like to hear more about it and I will email Peggy! Thanks!

I am using your mustard recipe too. Snagged that off the forums. I am calling it Jackalope Mustard ! Hope you approve. People are liking it very much! I keep it on the side and offer it up as if it is for special people! IT has a good twang to it!

Better hit the hay. Have to sleep fast and be ready to go make BBQ tomorrow!

Thanks!

Kate

HI.

Pecos Tacos Were a big hit. Cheesy Grits were a Sensation.

Patrick took little portion cups around as samples and wouldn't tell them what they were. After tasting they still couldn't guess. When told they were grits they were very surprised. I must have cooked them right! Good directions were given though!

Once again, Thank you Peggy and Jack!

Thank you everyone. I will be trying all your ideas out !

Kate

I am not a vendor,but wish to be one of these days.I was reading this post and upon seeing the ideas here was reminded of sloppy tacos as I called them when I cooked and tried them on my neices and nephews while babysitting them.Just made up some Manwich BBQ Sloppy joe from the can and put it in taco shells with cole slaw as a topping.Its good for kids and inexpensive to keep in a crock pot or whatever.

sounds like you are doing real good, kate. we were doing some specials for a while, but had to stop them cause we just plain too tired. each weekend, we would do something different, like meatloaf, or country fried steak, pasta dish, rice dish, just any ole home-made thing, you would eat at home. mashed taters, macaroni, different veggies. we even did chicken skewers, and pork bbq skewers. i would cut thick steaks from a smoked butt, and make fingers out of them, and run them through with skewers. then, serve them in a cup, with 'q' sauce in the bottom....hhmm
but a good brunswick stew, is hard to beat. we sell out, even when its 105 degrees outside!
stuffed spuds, is a good one if you can bake taters. just fill em with bbq meat, and sauted peppers n onions, and cheddar cheese.
have fun, and keep on 'q'ing....

kate,
so glad the grits did well for you. as far as what you call the mustard sauce i don't care as long as it is making you a buck.
the balogna opened up just like i thought it would.
had a spot of bad luck. nother darn nail in the tire. nice part is we were able to immediately chill all foods down in the freezer so will try again next week which we hope will be good due to the race.
at any rate my lucky charm will be working with us this weekend. kat our daughter is helpping well really getting back into training. she worked with me when i was an executive chef but wants to get her chops back together before the 2 day october bumbpy road event that peg is doing. should be fun and she always brought me luck. i just wonder what new tattoo she has
jack

Hi !

I called them " Cheezy Gitty Up Grits". Seems I have a penchant for silly names! Adds some fun to the menu. Brown Gargle is coffee. I am into the Cowboy theme stuff. The tacos were Pecos Tacos. And it goes on and on ...

I want to try making the Brunswick Stew. I have seen it mentioned on the forums a number of times but I have never tasted or tried to make it.

I did find that the tacos were a bit slower to make than the regular sandwiches. I like to pop the soft shells in the smoker to warm them, which works well and is fine if I am making a sandwich too, but just tacos seems like I am waiting too long for the shells to warm. In reality it is only a short time, but it seems long. They did sell nicely.

On the Grits, I had to laugh, one of my best customers for them was the mother of the guy with the other food concession at the market! She came both days and ordered grits. The other thing I noted was that we do have Vegg-o's. Didn't know it until the grits appeared on the menu! And boy are they excited when they read about them, but no half so much as when they see them. These are some good looking, good tasting grits!

I have a question on the bologna Jack: You know how bologna gets a bit salty tasting when you fry it ... does that happen when you smoke it too? I am going to shoot Peggy an email and ask her the particulars on it, but I was just wondering about the salty flavor.

We had a tire thing going on this weekend too, on the truck. A real slow leak on one of the back tires. No nail that I know of, not sure what caused it, but it is annoying. Ours was heard rather than seen, we could hear a hiss. Patrick hasn't had a chance to change it yet, but not from a lack of trying! Fortunately it is VERY slow, we carry a compressor and it will finally get changed tonight. I feel for you Jack! I seem to recall reading that you have had a few of them lately?

Pork on a stick. I am liking that! Sounds easy and reminds me of something I had in Greece many years ago. Great for the walking crowd! I am going to have to look into that one.

Thanks!

Kate

I did pulled pork quesadillas last year when I was set up at a bar and I tell you what, I still have people calling me to come do events, only if I do the pulled pork quesadillas. The way that I did them was:
8 or 12 inch tortilla shells
butter the side that will go on the grill, I had a shaker and sprinkled the buttered side with the rub that I use. Inside I would use peperjack cheese, then some pulled pork, then a little more peperjack cheese. Fold over, once it starts to get brown and crispy flip over, and when browned/crispy pull off, cut into 4 sections, serve with a side of sweet bbq sauce. I sold them at 6 dollars each, cost is less than 1.50 each.

man guys i forgot to follow this thread!!!
kinsman---
thanks ain't above stealing a recipe and guess what?? your's is it!!!!
kate-- nope the saltiness doesn't come up the same.
everyone here's a freebie. goes good in hot weather. we call it rednck pate'
1 lb ground beef
1 egg,whole
flat leaf parsley,good handfull and chop it fine.
8 oz pack of cheese. i like the sargento bistro with dried tomato.
method
mix it up good
pack into disposable mini loaf pans
place those into a hotel pan and add boilong water to about an inch below the top of the mini pans (hey standard french procedure hench the name redneck pate)
put into smoker and cook to internal of 185f,take out and refrigerate.
makes a good cold sandwich. we serve ours on a bun with lettuce and tomato and sell at 5 bucks per.
just didn't feel right taking an idea without leaving one.
man i love the pro's section
jack

So Jack,

What ever happened to/with the bologna sandwiches? It may not be redneck pate, but it sure is something for the working man? Hot or cold or da' bomb?

PS: The redneck pate' also sounds like a winner!

Hi.

The bologna was good! But, I couldn't sell it up here. Must be too far north. My other problem was finding cheap bologna. Darned pulled pork and brisket seem to steal all the glory here. Like I said, good though!

I have all the stuff to make the Redneck Pate. Trying that today. Patrick is onsite now selling and I am still at home. I will explain my being at home under a new thread " It pays to ..."

Let you know how the Pate goes!

Thanks Jack.

Kate

RedNeck Pate ... Tastes Great!

Thanks Jack.

Kate

Ps I am going to email you something

rendezvousq,
they went well. to be honest i do a special just to keep from getting bored. with my runup notes everything eldeis just by the numbers although the heat wave did make me back off 2 degrees on the sm with the hood. the bolonga gotta be hot tho!!!!!
kate,
glad ya liked it. use it in good health!!!
jack
ps. since peg is having surgery august 11th we are going to be closed for the 3 weeks she will have to be off. i was thinking about doing an onion tart with smoked gouda since i will have a little time to play (and to be honest i have been really missing doing some of the classics) if anyone has a quiche recipe they like and don't mind sharing i sure would like to see it.