Bacon, Garlic, Scallion, Pepper Jack Cheese, Hickory Smoked Pull Bread

Took longer to type the title of this post than it did to put the bread together. :D

Pull bread ingredients are so versatile, you can stuff the bread with any of your favorite things. Some of mine are bacon, bacon drippings, butter, onion and garlic. The spicy cheese is a nice addition and I like good ole mozzarella for the gooey factor.


I brown some bacon, add butter to the drippings and sautee minced garlic and scallions til tender...

I used a store bought loaf of bread. Home made is way better but I didn't have time.

Scored the bread and stuffed the slits with pepper jack, mozzarella and provolone cheeses..

Spooned the tender garlic, scallions into the slits...along with the bacon drippings and butter..

Into the drum with a bit of hickory.  I foiled the bread for the first 15 minutes, then removed the foil to crisp up the bread a bit.. about 15 more minutes or until hot.

Topped with the crisp bacon and a few more scallions..

The hot bread smells SO good!!!

I tear off a piece while it's hot and gooey..

A few slices of hot bread with a glass of wine, makes a full meal for me. :)


The pepper jack adds a nice bite to the bread and I like the way the bacon drippings and butter soak into the loaf. It's hard to go wrong with bacon and cheese.

Hope everyone had a nice week. I went to Bass Pro and Academy in Ok City yesterday. Really had a nice couple of days away from home. Hit Joe's Crab Shack. That's the only place I'll eat crab legs away from home. I just haven't found other places that cook it well.. but there are probably some awesome seafood places out there. I need to explore more options.

Summer is definitely here. Hope everyone is keeping cool and safe.
Thanks for stopping by!

My Flavored Game Hen Project, From Hoof to Plate.

I know they don't have hooves, just couldn't come up with a good title for this post. :)

Home grown meat is hard to beat, very tasty stuff. I've messed around with flavoring pork before butchering and wanted to give flavoring this batch of Cornish game hens a go.
Most flavor comes from the fat of an animal. Pork and beef meat is easy to flavor but chicken meat just doesn't have the same type of fat. Most of the fat is under the skin.  I wanted to experiment with adding more fat to the birds while adding flavor too, with the intent of cooking these "skin on".

This batch of birds received their usual grain and a heavy addition of corn, garlic, scallion and ginger. They were fed twice a day.
(If you've ever raised meat breed chickens, you know that they will eat themselves to death if given the opportunity. The feed needs to be monitored and limited.)

Game hens are Cornish Rock meat breed chickens that are processed at a young age. They usually weigh between one and two pounds when butchered.

some of the corn, garlic, onion, ginger feed blend...

I kept the birds separated from the rest of the flock, but let them eat bugs, grass and weed seed. Just moved their pen several times during the day.

The birds spent the day chasing bugs and foraging for goodies..

They grew fast and were ready to process at 5 weeks.

I used my homemade chicken plucker to process the birds . I love this thing, it really saves a lot of work and time.

After dispatching the birds, I dipped them in warm/hot water to loosen the feathers before placing in the plucker..

The bottom plate of the plucker spins while the sides are stationary..

I use the garden hose to spray water into the plucker while the bird is being plucked,  this washes the feathers out of the bottom of the barrel .
I stopped the plucker to snap a pic half way through on this one...

It just takes a few minutes to clean the bird...you can put more than one in at a time.

The birds weighed from 1 lb 11oz to 2 lbs 7oz. They averaged out at 1 lb 4oz.  Some birds are more aggressive than others, so they eat more. Some had more fat content than others. 

I chill the birds overnight before packaging them for the freezer..

double wrapped..

Now for the taste test...

Into the cooker, no salt, pepper, seasoning or smoking wood. Nothing but skin-on game hen and hot coals...

The meat was moist, tender and FULL of flavor.

It could have been my imagination but the thighs and legs had a mild garlic, onion flavor.
The breast meat had more of a ginger aftertaste. There was definitely a difference in these birds and other game hens I've raised in the past.

These were the most delicious game hens I've ever tasted, whether the feed mixture had anything to do with it or not... I don't know.
I was very happy with the outcome, so I guess that's all that matters. :)

I'll be doing this again!