Category: Grilled Goodness

By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, Smoked Goodness, Sous Vide, What's for dinner No Comments

This weekend I got rained out from typical outdoor activities, so I took some time to clean out the older items in the root cellar, but earlier in the week I had done some exploring in the chest freezer and found some freezer fossils.  Now these weren’t bad, just roasts left from a couple years ago, but one was freezer burned and the other pristine.  I thawed them out and gave them a quick rub on Friday with a Mexican inspired rub.  I used two parts onion powder to one part of each of the following garlic powder, cumin, chipotle powder, black pepper, salt and oregano.  I let them rest in the fridge overnight and then gave them a quick smoke on the old Weber that I fear is nearing its final day.  I went to remove the lid and was left with a handle in my handle.  This is a very fire themed post, I used my propane torch to get some hickory and mesquite chunks going and then just threw the meat on the grate and let it go.

Once it was smoked I brought it back in the house, vacuum sealed each roast individually with a couple smashed cloves of garlic and dropped them in their waiting 135°F water bath – for the next 29 hours.  Fast forward to today, 29 hours later and time to finish them, time for the weed burning torch and the video below.  Just a quick sear on both sides and done, they were still sizzling when I got in the house but still fork tender.

And after a short rest it was time to carve and eat, slicing it open revealed what I had hoped – tender, juicy and solid meat.  The first bite did not disappoint, nor did the subsequent bites.  We ate it alongside a black bean and corn relish made nearly entirely from produce grown on premises.

I used my Anova Sous Vide Stick to redeem these freezer fossils and it did not disappoint.  What are you cooking?

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Smoked Goodness 2 Comments

Wow, its been that long since my last post?!  I have been sorely neglecting my poor blog and almost as much my taste for food!  Well alot has happened since September, for one, last December we packed up all of our stuff and put it in a storage unit (or three) and that includes my beloved smokers – so I have been without my arsenal for nearly 7 full months now and it has been difficult.  We find ourselves living with my in-laws while we are in limbo between our condo and our future home (which we are still looking for) and our stuff is far away.  But, lucky for me my father in law has a nice gas smoker, unlucky for me today’s weather calls for severe storms and strong winds all day.

But let me back up, what in the world do I even need a smoker for today?  Well as it turns out my brother is getting married next weekend (congratulations Dan) and I being ever so thoughtful forgot he may need a stag party before he enters into wedlock and so we find ourselves in need of some grub.  So I find myself up against the wall we are out with friends tonight and then tomorrow its stag party time.  Dan is pretty simple in his tastes but ribs are one thing he likes and one thing I like to make.  So ribs it is, nothing special, usual rub and smoked using the 2-2-1 method (they are baby backs, for regular ribs the 3-2-1 method) but with the stinking gale happening outside my window using the gasser was out of the question, I would spend more time relighting the burner than actually cooking.  So that left me with the charcoal, which would take more care than I could give it today or the gas grill…winner winner chicken pork dinner.

Now I have heard that some of you (you know who you are) will take a rack of ribs and put it into a crock pot and turn it into gray mush and then top with some sauce, the words I have are not kind.  Well no more!  There are no longer excuses, today we will learn how to make ribs on the grill that are just a fuzz less awesome than those off a smoker, after all the one on the smoker get cool points.

Before we can figure out how to cook them on a grill we need to know what makes ribs so special in a smoker, there are a couple of things they are low heat for a long period of time, moisture from the water pan (personal opinion here) and smoke – after all it is a smoker.  These are the things we will need to replicate in the grill.

Ribs on a gas grill, smoked

The first and arguably the most important, or at least a close second piece of the equation to replicate is the low heat for long periods of time – I can hear you now, “…in a crockpot…” Gross!  Anyways so to do that we will only be using one burner (your grill may be different), you will notice in the picture above that the two burners closest to the camera are turned off and just the one is on.  Doing this I am able to maintain a nice 225-250°F cooking temperature (stinking wind, it would be easier without the gales) without much effort.  So that was easy figure out where the grill can happily hold our temperature and leave it there, or at least until you are positive you need to adjust and KEEP THE LID CLOSED!

Grill smoked ribs, water pan and chips

Next there is the smoke and well the water, they are pretty similar so I will cover them together.  The first thing you will need are a couple of foil pans that will fit in your grill, unless you want use your good pans then by all means cast iron would be better.  Take the grate out of your grill if it has the little under grate, sometimes called flavor bars, and set the foil pans directly over the burner you will be cooking with – fill one with water and line the bottom of the other with wood chips soaked in water.

Finally add ribs and cook as if it were on a smoker.  Just like a smoker you will have to refill the water and the smoker chips as needed.  Cook and enjoy, use your crockpot for soup and taking things to potlucks, where with any luck someone will steal it.

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, What's for dinner No Comments

Well, its been a while but things have finally started to slow down around here to the point where we can creatively cook again, just in the nick of time too.  Our annual fourth of July camping trip is coming up quickly and just like years past we are in charge of one meal.  In preparation for this year I thought I would get ahead of the game and actually try cooking something at home before we head out.  In addition to the meat and dessert, which you will likely find on here at the end of the week I am making Bacon Cheddar Cheese Scones on the fire, nothing like tending an all day fire for the meat in 100°F weather.  So to practice I got a bag of lump charcoal and fired up the grill.  If you were making these at home in the oven you could form the scones by hand and bake them on a cookie sheet, but in trying to keep it as real as possible to our trip I broke out the Lodge Cornbread Wedge Pan, cleaned it up and dried it out.  Because I was cooking over a fire (on the grill) I did grease the pan with some leftover bacon grease, which I think was a must.

To get started I cooked my bacon, chopped it up finely with my Pampered Chef Chopper, its like the Slap Chop but way better, it allows me to easily chop the bacon extremely fine.  Once my bacon was ready, I got a chimney of lump charcoal fired up and completed the recipe as outlined below.  I then formed the scones into the wedges in the pan, brushed the top with cream and finished getting the grill ready.  Then it was onto the grill on the cooler side, the side away from the coals.

Scones on the grill

While the scones were cooking, being the meat eater I am, I plopped a steak on there as well.  It took about 15 minutes for the scones to cook, which I judged by when the tops began to brown, once they were browned, using heavy gloves, I removed the skillet and promptly removed the scones.

Bacon Cheddar Cheese Scones ready to be eaten

Then came the taste test, now I am not experienced in the likes of scones but what resulted was delicious, they we tasty and well rounded.  No one taste jumped out more than another, the outside was a bit crispy on the bottom but the inside as flaky and delicious.  I have had two since pulling them off and will likely get a third once I am done writing this.

[dc_getRecipe id=”22″]

In keeping with the camping theme the recipe calls for the dough to be turned out onto a floured surface, well I don’t foresee myself using the picnic table so I practiced doing it all in the bowl and it worked out quite well.  I can’t wait to make these later this week at camp, nothing quite like a little campfire gourmet to take a break from hobo pies and burgers.  Happy Independence Day and eat well!

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, What's for dinner No Comments

Its been a while since I have been able to really cook, like really break down and cook something.  We have been way to busy.  So finally this week I broke down and decided that no matter what I was going to make these tacos tonight.  They have been on my radar for a while and was looking forward to making them.  Its been a long week knowing this is what I had to look forward to on Thursday.  Well today was Thursday and my stomach is full, almost too full after my repeat visits up to the counter.

chipotle pork tacos with grilled pineapple salsa

I must caution that even though they may look delicious, and they are; they do take quite a while to make, I wish I had thought of that prior to starting them that they would take longer than I thought, by you live and learn I guess.  With that one caution here is the recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb pork tenderloin
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp ancho chile poder
1/2 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
4 slices of fresh pineapple, 1/2″ thick
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
3 tbsp thinly sliced red onion
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp ground chipotle pepper
soft corn tortillas

Instructions
Begin by mincing chipotle, then combine with olive oil and rub evenly over pork.  In another bowl combine oregano, chile powder, cumin, 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper.  Sprinkle spice mixture over both sides of pork and let pork stand for 30 minutes.  Prepare the grill for a hot fire.  Once the grill is ready oil the grate with vegetable oil or cooking spray.  Once the grate is good and hot throw pineapple on over indirect heat, cook 5 minutes per side.  Once pineapple is cooked chop roughly and combine with ground chipotle pepper, remaining salt, cilantro, lime juice and onions in a medium bowl.  Set aside.  Grill pork over indirect heat until an instant read thermometer reads 145°F.  Remove from grill and let rest for 5 minutes on the counter.  Roughly chop, prepare tortillas according to their instructions.  Pack each with equal parts pork and pineapple salsa.  Enjoy

Its sweet, its spicy and delicious.  This is a recipe I think that will make its way into the rotation, this was a good dinner and will make an excellent lunch tomorrow.

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, What's for dinner 1 Comment

If that isn’t a mouthful, Korean BBQ Beef Short Rib tacos, I am not sure what is but figuratively and literally there were a mouthful and they were something special.  This was not an original creation but rather a stab at the KogiBBQ shortrib beef tacos they sell our of food trucks in LA.  I was lucky enough to get to sample one of these this past spring on a trip out there and it left such an impression I thought I would like to recreate it at home.  Well I failed to recreate it but I still came up with something amazing that had a flavor and texture set unlike anything I have cooked before.

We started out with the beef shortribs this was perhaps the easiest part.  It was providential almost, I recently began to subscribe to Bon Appetit magazine and the July 2011 edition had a recipe for a Korean BBQ Marinade.  The recipe was good, actually it was really good we tried it a couple of weeks ago on some shortribs just for fun and I think I would be evicted by my wife if I don’t make it again.  It was really good.  We did let our shortribs soak in this marinade for about 16 hours, and the flavor was good, it permeated all the way through but was not too strong.

Next came the condiments, I started by tossing some shredded romaine and cabbage with a Korean Soy Vinaigrette, arriving what was affectionately known as dirty lettuce.  This was really easy to make and I made the vinaigrette the morning of so it had some time to meld and mature.  You can find the recipe below.

Ingredients
2 c shredded napa cabbage
4 c shredded romaine lettuce
1/4 c soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
1 clove garlic (finely minced)
2 tsp rice vinegar
3 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp ancho chile powder
generous squeeze of lime juice
dash of sesame oil
a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds

Instructions
Combine all but lettuce and cabbage in a bowl and let sit refrigerated at least 8 hours.  Just prior to serving shred cabbage and romaine and toss with vinaigrette.  Only toss as much as you need otherwise it will get soggy.

The last condiment that needed assembly was the Cilantro-onion-lime relish and it was something crazy it was easy to assemble but added such depth to the overall combination of flavors it would be tragic to leave it off.  You can find its recipe below.

Ingredients
1/2 red onion minced
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lime
pinch of salt

Instructions
Mince onion and combine in a bowl with vinegars, allow to set for 5 minutes.  After five minutes drain, rinse and allow onion to thoroughly drain.  Add remaining ingredients to a bowl with onion, stir to combine.

There was one final condiment we topped these babies with to give them a bit more of a kick, a little bit of a punch in the side of the face, it was a little Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, you know the stuff in the clear bottle with the green top that is absolutely incredible.

So once the short ribs were grilled, de-boned and shredded, it was assembly time.  We heated up a skillet with little heat in it and warmed our tortillas in there the then piled on the meat and condiments and enjoyed.  These are pretty good, they are worth the effort and are on the menu again soon.

If I pulled one learning from this it would be that corn tortillas may be a bit better than the flour ones for this.  So next time we know.

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