Spices have little resins in them which will release when marinating with meat, when allowed to blend with the food it can make the world of difference from the average tasting BBQ to that which separates itself from the rest and is worthy of being an award winning BBQ meat!

  When you find a product that makes such a big difference in aroma and taste of not only BBQ meats, but sides and deserts you have to share it and let others experience it. THAT is what this article is about, that one product that can make a big difference in taste, flavor and aroma.

 A lot of individuals on the west coast have not heard or experienced Maple Pepper®, but if you have ever been in a kitchen in the morning and woke up to the smell of maple smoked bacon being fried in the kitchen, you can only imagine what maple flavoring can do to meats that are smoked!

 Highland Foods Maple Pepper® was first made in a country kitchen in Northern New England over 20 years ago. This family owned business uses only the finest natural ingredients, combining the age-old flavor of maple sugar, the zest of black pepper, and ocean fresh sea salt to bring you a deliciously versatile seasoning. There seasonings are pure and simple. Highland Foods, LLC is a family owned and operated business, offering its customers the personal attention you would expect and deserve.

 One of the most popular side dishes we make for both competition BBQ and catering is smoked beans. For this article we decided to include a recipe for smoked beans including the addition of Highland Foods Maple Pepper®.

 To make the best smoked beans known to man I would highly recommend the following recipe. This is my personal version of a popular recipe commonly found on BBQ forums. My wife and I have won a few awards with this recipe, and were sure you will be happy with it!

 Bossman’s Smoked Apple Beans

3 or 4 slices bacon, diced
2  28-oz cans Bush’s Baked Beans – see note below)
1/2 c. Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce (or other sweet-spicy favorite)
1 lb. leftover smoked pulled pork or 1 lb crumbled cooked pork sausage
1 can apple pie filling (chop up the big chunks some)

1 Tbsp.Highland Foods Maple Pepper® (or more to taste J)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. Mustard (prepared)
1 Tbsp barbecue rub
Brown bacon, and sauté onion and green pepper in bacon grease. Mix in remaining ingredients. Smoke for 1 hour-2 hours or until the beans begins to bubble and a nice crust has built on the surface of the beans. Serves .15-20 people

I know once you try this recipe with Highland Foods Maple Pepper® you will be hooked! For those with adventurous taste they also produce a Habanaro Maple Pepper® and a Garlic Maple Pepper® which is just as good as the original Maple Pepper®!

 A link will be established on our website in the next couple of days (our webmaster is out of the country..) but until then please click on this link to order directly from Highland Foods. http://www.maplepepper.com  The cost for a 3oz bottle is $5.50 ea for the original Maple Pepper® and Garlic Maple Pepper® and $6.65 for the Habanero Maple Pepper®

Please let Highland Foods know you read the article here and that the Bossman referred you! Until next time Smoke On!!

We’ve had alot of emails as of late, asking us about the best way to carve a Thanksgiving Turkey. Well this is the way we have done it, and how we teach others to carve it as well at our Holiday Cooking School.
Hope you enjoy the video and it helps with the carving of your Thanksgiving Turkey! Please click on the link below to go directly to the video! Happy Thanksgiving!

Our results, 1st in the World BBQ Sauce, 7th in the World pork and 30th overall in the contest! This was a great experience and an honor to attend and help Mike and his team! Bossman Bar-B-Que is hoping to get our own call in the future to attend the Jack. This was the photo of the Wild Hogs BBQ Team accepting the first place award in sauce! I’m the guy holding the check!

How to Build A Brick BBQ Pit

Joe York does an incrediable job with his videos If any of you out their know how to contact him, please send me an email, I would love to interview him and post that interview right here on the Bossman Blog. I would encourage you to visit http://vimeo.com for his other videos.

I LOVE whole hog BBQ and thought this was a well done video with the history of the Skylight Inn and how they prepare and serve their BBQ.

I hope you enjoy the video as well, please feel free to share the link with others who would enjoy this as well. Smoke On!!

CAPITOL Q from Joe York on Vimeo.

If you follow the KCBS stats then you already know or have heard of the Pork Pullin Plowboys who are in the top 25 teams in the KCBS this season. I’ve never met Randy Hinck or Todd Johns but I have been active in talking to them on the BBQ Brethren website. This is also where I first learned of their BBQ rubs “Plowboys Yardbird” and “Plowboys Bovine Bold”

I learned along time ago to talk with the competitors and those who BBQ on a regular basis to find out what the best rubs, sauces and techniques are. In doing this I was consistently hearing and reading about these two rubs and how good they were. I contacted Todd Johns and asked where I could get my hands on these rubs since I couldn’t find them in Colorado. Within a couple of days I received a UPS package with both rubs.

With everything I was reading and hearing about these rubs I decided to put them to the test, using both of them when I went to Worland Wyoming State BBQ and Bluegrass competition.

When I opened and tasted the Yardbird rub I could easily tell how good this rub was. It had the perfect flavor and balance for poultry. You could see the different elements in the rub and the smell alone was awesome.

 I prepared my chicken as I have in the past but used the Yardbird rub instead of my usual choice in rubs. The color of the chicken was great. When preparing to turn in our chicken we did as we always do and have a sample taste to see if we need to change anything prior to preparing the box. Unlike past times we were perfectly satisfied and anxious to see how our chicken would do.

 I did the same process as above for our brisket, replacing our usual rub with Plowboy’s Bovine Bold. As with the Yardbird rub, the Bovine Bold also had an awesome flavor and aroma. We seasoned and smoked our brisket and hoped for the best with all the rain and drop of temperatures we experienced during this contest weekend. Below is a picture of our brisket prior to turn in.

 Well our results, Our Brisket took 5^th place and our Chicken came in 10^th! Our overall placing in this contest was 9^th out of 32 competition teams. This was the first contest this season that we walked and received a ribbon for our brisket!

Now your results may vary with these rubs, but I have to tell you, both Todd and Randy know what their doing when it comes to BBQ, their results speak for them self just check out their stats at the pickledpigbbq.com power rankings!

 To order their products they have a number of distributors. I would recommend you contact our friends at-

 Great Lakes BBQ Supplies-http://www.greatlakesbbqsupply.com/category.sc?categoryId=2

 Or our friends the BBQ Addicts at

-http://www.bbqaddicts.com/rubs-sauces/plowboys-rub/

 Both places will hook you up with this award winning rub and get it out to you in no time. The Bossman wants to wish both Randy and Todd continued success and thanks for all they and their families contribute to this wonderful sport! Until next time Smoke ON!!

So with much eagerness and with a mission to prove my innocence, I opened the package to discover a find that would only later become a regular purchase for the foreseeable future, BIGS Bacon Salt Sizzlin’Bacon Sunflower Seeds! It took a couple of minutes before I realized that there were more Sunflower seeds other then the Bacon Salt. But the impact it made was sure genius in and of itself.

I had to do a double take and wonder to myself why I hadn’t thought of this! So of course I had to try these. In my home bacon is its own food group and one we enjoy a lot!

Now I’ve had other brands of Sunflower seeds and love the flavored seeds, especially the Dill pickled flavored. So with eager anticipation I put a few in my mouth. I was not disappointed at all, as the product Bacon Salt has very good flavor and adds to any dish, so it did with Bigs Sunflower Seeds. I had to let the whole family experience this very unique and awesome flavor of sunflower seeds.

 Over the next few days my family and I tried the other flavored sunflower seeds which included: Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sunflower Seeds,  Vlasic Dill Pickle flavored Sunflower Seeds, Zesty Ranch, and regular Salted and Roasted Sunflower Seeds with equal results, Bigs Sunflower Seeds deliver big in flavor and taste and add depth to a quality product.

Words alone can not describe these great products. I would encourage you to be on the look out for Bigs Bacon Salt Flavored Sunflower Seeds . IF you cannot find them in your local stores, order them on line at: http://www.bigs.com/ or contact my friends at Bacon Salt for information on purchasing the BIGS Bacon Salt Sizzlin’Bacon Sunflower Seeds or any of the other AWESOME products they make at www.baconsalt.com. Until next time Smoke ON!

This video from Joe York documents the long time tradition of whole hog BBQ. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I have. This is the kind of history that is not always shared or known. This is also a tradition that if not documented and shared may be lost forever. Please enjoy the video and share with everyone!

Whole Hog from Joe York on Vimeo.