The San Juan Hot Shop & Flavor Emporium

The San Juan Hot Shop & Flavor Emporium
Spice Is Nice But It's Gotta Have Flavor

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Simple Christmas Ideas

Happy Post Thanksgiving Everyone, 

We have to share this wonderful picture of Deco (pronounced dee koh) from Kurt and Peggy Long who live on Brown Island and are frequent friends who visit the shop.  Occasionally they allow us to "doggie sit" while they run to the market and Deco is such a great dog we had to share this.  This was after a long day of shopping and a boat ride home.  We love Deco!

Home At Last!

Hopefully by now the turkey and stuffing has settled as we're getting back into daily life. This weekend at the shop was full of wonderful happy customers who were kind enough to stop in and taste some of our treats. We have Ghost Fudge (Yep, Genie's mother's dark fudge recipe but I've added a twist with the Ghost Pepper in it) and lots of new sauces in the shop. We got the Christmas decorations up and are now on to Christmas. We have had a lot of interest in our Custom Label program which allows you to put your own custom picture on a label and the caption of your choice. 1 label at a time or by the case (case discounts available on 12 or more bottles).  We work with you via e-mail to get the perfect label and we can offer approx. 15 different sauces of all heat levels. From very mild to extremely wild. It's lot of fun. We even have a couple of customers who are putting their family picture on a custom label and combining their Christmas Card as their present sent out to their friends and family. Inexpensive and personalized. And don't forget about the Hot Sauce of the Month Club. Each month you get 2  premium sauces (or we sometimes include a rub or seasoning) and recipe ideas. You also get signed up to receive our quarterly newsletter full of info. from the island, recipe ideas, health benefits and other info. we think our Chiliheads might be interested in. All prices include shipping anywhere in the United States. Check out the website at http://www.sanjuanhotshop.com for details. We can even include a special holiday flyer in the box for whatever occasion it may be. Christmas, birthday, anniversary, reunion or whatever! 

As we move into the hectic gift buying, errand running, Christmas card writing, cooking, office parties, family gatherings, gift wrapping, cookie baking, crazy time of year, please take time to slow down and make sure the ones you love the most know it.   One of the things we miss the most is having the kids in the house, sharing our daily happenings and the dinner table and watching our favorite holiday movies together snuggled by the fire. Although our family has grown with 5 kids and 7 grandkids, this is the time of year when we all cannot get together under one roof to share the joys of their company.  If you are lucky enough to have your family close, cherish it. 

Wishing you all a joyous and healthy holiday season and we look forward to seeing some of our favorite Chiliheads in the shop this holiday season.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Beer Can Thanksgiving Turkey on the BBQ???

OK, we're finally going to post this because so many of our customers have requested it. Next Thursday, Ed will be getting the propane BBQ ready for his famous, and most requested, beer can turkey on the grill.  Depending on the amount of people we have coming over we may end up doing 2 turkeys. A 10-12 lb. turkey works the best. Set the grates on the lowest level and preheat the grill to 350 degrees.  In the meantime prepare the turkey as you normally would by cleaning the gizzards out.

Ingredients:

  • 1 10-12 lb. turkey thawed (or fresh) 
  • 1 Fosters Lager (large can) 
  • 1/2 lb. butter
  • seasoning of your choice (Slap 'ya Mamma cajun seasoning is our favorite, but you can do any dry rub you like or make your own with a little garlic powder or salt, pepper and favorite spices) 
That's it for the ingredients. Open the Fosters Lager and pour out (yeah, right) approx 1/3 of the can. There is nothing that says you can't start drinkin' here. Shove the beer can up the large orifice of the bird.  Melt butter with your favorite seasoning or rub and thoroughly baste or rub down the bird. Be sure to get under the skin and let it drizzle down the bird.  Once grill has consistent heat at 350 degrees, place your bird can up (which will serve as the holder too!) on the end of the grill turning off the burner directly under the bird.  (If doing 2 birds, you will need a 3 burner bbq lighting the middle burner only during cooking) This way it doesn't burn the outside before the inside is done. Basting generously through the cooking process let cook approx. 15 minutes per lb. We have found for a 10 to 12 lb. bird cooking times are 2-3 hours.  CAREFULLY remove bird from grill and let stand 20 minutes before trying to remove the beer can. Place bird on platter and carve. We typically do this with whole chickens and it is the moistest bird ever.  All the hops in the beer help to baste the bird from the inside and it doesn't taste like beer at all.  Leftovers are moist too! For those who prefer to use a soda can, Dr. Pepper works well too. You just need to find the large can for a turkey. For chickens, regular 12 oz. cans are fine. A lot of people don't like the idea of not stuffing the actual bird but we find it is just fine to do the stuffing on the side baked in the oven.  It doesn't get the stuffing greasy.  

So there you have it. On Thanksgiving day no matter what the weather brings, we'll be cooking the bird on the bar-be-que.  Wishing you all a warm and joyous Thanksgiving holiday with the people you love the most.