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MGoBBQ: MGoQueso with Smoked Ruffles Comment Count

GoBlueBBQ October 21st, 2021 at 12:00 PM

Note from Seth: I’m sorry but there will be no Opponent Watch this wee—

Note from Readers: Booooooooooooooo /throwing of things oooooOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seth again: …k, but in its place we got Joe Pichey to bring back MGoBBQ, thanks to an incredible new sponsor who’s the kind of dude whose sponsorship calls are 95% about Big Ten basketball (he’s a Purdue f—

Readers: Boooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

Seth: …an). When not watching the Boilers knock off #2-ranked Big Ten contenders, Derrick crafts metal homegoods for college superfans. Gridiron Metal Works makes officially licensed grilling and decor products, where “makes” in this sentence actually means “CUTS HIGH-QUALITY STEEL WITH PRECISION LASERS,” so you can do your alma mater proud for years to come. Check out his stuff at gridironmetal.com, and maybe accidentally drop that link where people who buy you holiday gifts are looking.

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Holy Cow….It’s been awhile since I got to do this. Thanks to the great folks at GRIDIRONMETAL…We are back! We will go with our regular Thursday schedule postings right before lunch, because I remember how everybody loved that. HA. I hope everyone stayed healthy and safe and is enjoying this fun season. Now let’s get to cooking. Today, we are going with an old favorite and smoking some QUESO. This one can be done on the grill, in the oven or even the trusty crockpot.

Here is what you will need:

  • 1 brick of Velveeta (2 lbs)
  • 2 chubs of breakfast sausage (I went with HOT) Chorizo is also a solid choice.
  • 2 Cans of Rotel
  • 1 or 2 cans Diced Green Chilies
  • 1 can of Cream of Onion Soup (Any Cream Of will work)
  • 16 oz of Gouda
  • Cilantro
  • Ruffles
  • Duck fat spray or PAM

[After THE JUMP: And a cast iron pan, and some Maalox]

DIRECTIONS :

Fire up that smoker to 275 – 300 degrees. I’m using my KJ and lump charcoal for this one. This is a short cook, so you don’t really need much fuel.

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As your smoker is getting up to temp, get your ingredients ready. This is more of a “Dump everything in the pot” kinda recipe, so it won’t take long. I used the grapeseed oil to season my new grates with.

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You will need to cook your breakfast sausage first and crumble it up into small bits. You can do this ahead of time if it helps or do it on the grill. Let’s assume I did it on the grill and definitely not on the stove where it’s easy and more convenient the night prior.

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Once this is done, go ahead and dump it in a good sized cast iron pot or foil pan. I love my cast iron because it stays warm longer during the tailgate festivities.

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Add everything into the pot except for your cilantro and ruffles.

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Once everything is in the pot, give it a good mix. I’ll be honest, I had a few licks of the spoon at this point. Feel free to add some of your favorite rub as well. It doesn’t look like much yet, but we are only 30-45 mins away from ooey gooey cheesy goodness.

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Once your smoker reaches temp, toss in a few chunks of your favorite wood. I love pecan but only had cherry for this one. You really can't go wrong unless you over-smoke it with something like mesquite.

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After a few mins, you should have a nice steam of smoke and you are ready to add your cheesy pot to the smoker. Notice it’s not too smokey. We don’t want this tasting like an old ashtray from the 70s.

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Let this ride for 20-30 mins before stirring. After about 20 mins, you should see the cheese bits start to combine.

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After 45 mins, you should be able to combine into this sexy looking pot of gold. Some leftover brisket or pork wouldn’t go bad here either. Add your cilantro in the last few mins and top with additional jalapenos if needed.

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Once the queso is near done, grab those ruffles and give em a spritz with either Duck Fat spray or Pam. Then hit 'em with your favorite seasoning. I went with my buddy Kenny’s rub as he gave me this recipe a few years back. Trust me…Smoked ruffles are addicting. Toss them on the pit for about 20 mins or until they start to darken. Eat them HOT!

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These go so well together. You will not be able to put them down. Grab a few cold ones because the salt content is a bit high on these.

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I wish I had some tomatoes to throw on the top but forgot to grab them at the store. Oh well, next time. Hope you enjoy these for the big game on Saturday. I’m glad to be back and look forward to more fun recipes in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to check out www.gridironmetal.com when you get a chance. They have some great Michigan products we will be featuring over the next couple months. They really are some great people. Don’t forget to check me out on Instagram at @gobluebbq for more fun recipes. GO BLUE!!!

Comments

treetown

October 21st, 2021 at 4:35 PM ^

The recipes and cooking advice are appreciated.

Opponent Watch is a fun fixture on the site like UFR and FFFF. To help tide us over during our bye week, here is a home brew ersatz version with apologies to Seth and readers.

Games from Oct. 16, 2021. Opponents in the order of Michigan’s schedule

Western Michigan (5-2, 2-1) crushed Kent State (3-4, 2-1) 64-31. QB Kaleb Eleby three for 3 TD and ran for 1. The Broncos racked up 648 total offense (307 passing, 341 rushing)

Western is in a tight race chasing Northern Illinois, Ball State, and Central Michigan for the MAC West title. Kent State shares the MAC East lead with Miami (OH). The MAC East seems weak with none of the teams have a winning overall record. WMU is turning out to be a very good MAC team.

Washington (2-4, 1-2) lost to UCLA (5-2, 3-1) 17-24. UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson passed for 2 TD and ran for 1. Ex-UM RB Zach Charbonnet gained 131 yards on 21 carries.  Washington is ranked 40th in Total Defense giving up 342.5 yards per game. Currently Michigan is ranked 20 and Wisconsin is number 2 at 225.8 per game with Georgia at number 1 with 208.3. The Washington Total Offense is ranked down at 97 giving up 357.2 yards per game. These observations suggest that sometimes the stats are revealing and other times, the stats are highly skewed.

Northern Illinois (5-2, 3-0) over Bowling Green (2-5, 0-3) 36-24. Jay Ducker ran for 210 yards for the Huskies on 33 carries, and ex-MSU Rocky Lombardi went 4 for 8 for 38 yards and a QB rating of 24.3. Despite being winless in conference play, the Falcons of Bowling Green made their year by defeating Minnesota 14-10 back on Sept. 25, 2021. It looks like the Wolverines played two the best MAC teams this year.

Rutgers (3-4, 0-4) lost to Northwestern (3-3, 1-2) 7 -21. Despite seemingly a favorable match up on paper Rutgers was bad. Before the game, Rutgers seem to be able to run the ball and Northwestern seemed to have trouble running the ball; Northwestern was having problems running the ball and Rutgers seemed able to stop or at hinder the run. Northwestern solved their QB controversy by switching to Ryan Hilinski. He threw for 267 yards and 2 TD. RB Andrew Clair added 63 yards and a TD on 13 carries. The vaunted defense of Rutgers collapsed, giving up 402 yards total (267 passing, 135 rushing). Noah Vedral completed 18 of 30 passes and had a TD. Is this another example of (1) regression to the mean – and (2) teams getting up to play the Wolverines? 

Rutgers has a bye and Northwestern comes to Ann Arbor.

Wisconsin (3-3, 2-2) beat Army (4-1, 1-2) 20-14 in a throwback game. They wore modern jerseys but both teams used offenses from the 1950s. Graham Mertz, the QB who drove the prior starting QB away, was 8 for 15 for 112. Jabari Laws for Army hit on 5 of 6 for 87. Army gained 179 yards rushing, and Wisconsin countered with 198. Wisconsin was up 13-0 at halftime. Army drew close at 7-13 before the speedy Graham Mertz scored on a 1-yard run to put the Badgers up 20-7. A late Army TD (at 0.38 in the 4th) made the game closer. 

Wisconsin visits Purdue this week.

Nebraska (3-5, 1-4) lost to Minnesota (4-2, 2-1) 23-30. If Aaron Rodgers owns the Chicago Bears, then PJ Fleck clearly has rowed his boat over the Cornhuskers. Since arriving in Minnesota, his Gopher teams have won 4 of the 5 games including the past 3. Usually when a team wins the turnover battle they are heavy favorites to win the game. In the pro game, being down 2 turnovers often dooms a team. In this game Nebraska got two interceptions had several deep drives that got nothing.

  1. Minnesota is up 21-9 at half with Tanner Morgan looking completely unlike the QB who gave up a big man pick six in 2020.
  2. Nebraska mounts a 3rd quarter surge.
  3. At 2:12 in the 3rd Minnesota punts. Nebraska runs 5 plays down to the Minnesota 9 and settles for a FG attempt which is missed. Expected: 7 points, Got: 0 points.
  4. Minnesota runs 5 plays and punts back to Nebraska. 12 plays later at the Minnesota 34, a 5 yard run, a false start and 2 missed passes puts Scott Frost at 4th and 10; he goes for it and the ball goes over on another incomplete pass. Expected: 3 points, Got: 0 points.
  5. Minnesota runs 3 plays back to their 43 before punting to the Nebraska 11.
  6. Adrian Martinez who was clearly limited (and was not the usually slippery Teflon coated running QB) by some injury, drifts back to his own endzone where just as he was about to be sacked, throws a long ball towards PJ Fleck. Flagged for intentional grounding, this results in a safety. Expected: 3 points, Got: -2 points
  7. Three drives: -2 points, expectations 13 points – a swing of 15 points (!?).
  8. Minnesota then push the ball forward and Bryce Williams bursts through the Nebraska line for a 56-yard TD.
  9. Martinez was -17 yards rushing – so clearly he had something more than the usual aches and pains.

Nebraska has a bye, and Minnesota hosts Maryland.

Michigan State (7-0, 4-0) beat Indiana (2-4, 0-3) 20-15. It was a tight game with the first half ending with one MSU TD and three IU field goals. In the 3rd MSU added a TD and FG and IU sputtered. In the 4th, IU made the score close but the Spartans put it away with a FG. It was another game that statistically MSU did not win – rushing for only 100 yards with IU gaining 134; their defense however played well. Payton Thorne for MSU went 14 for 26 with 1 TD and 2 INT – normally enough to lose a game, but IU QB Jack Juttle went 28 for 52 and also added 2 INT. Penalties were bad: MSU had 12 for 134, and IU had 4 for 35. IU 3rd down conversion was 8/20 or 40% and somehow couldn’t convert that into point. Don't know which MSU team will show up. Michigan State has a bye week and Indiana hosts OSU.

Penn State – Bye, this week, hosting Illinois.

Maryland – Bye, this week, at Minnesota

OSU - Bye, this week, at Indiana

Go Blue! 

​​​​​​​[edited for typos]

Joined: 11/10/2010

MGoPoints: 6339

Creedence Tapes

October 21st, 2021 at 6:32 PM ^

Looks really good but it could be even better. I would add another brick or two of Valveeta, a tub or margarine and and a two liter of cola to balance it out. Maybe throw in a jug of Tabasco sauce too to add some heat.   

Joined: 01/23/2011

MGoPoints: 4211

philthy66

October 25th, 2021 at 5:42 PM ^

Just logged in to say that we did this recipe and it was awesome! I would’ve never thought of smoked queso, smoked Ruffles or Gouda in the queso. I shared the recipe with my wife the day this post went out. Every single day leading up to Saturday, one of us mentioned how excited we were for it. She does social media stuff and is one of your social media followers.

 We saw you were in McKinney now. We’re over in Tyler. Is cooking just a hobby or is there a restaurant in your life? We’re taking the kids to the aquarium in a couple weeks and would love to support your restaurant if that’s your livelihood. 
 

Always enjoy these posts! I’ve learned a lot through them. 

Joined: 07/29/2010

MGoPoints: 974