By Posted on Posted in Recipes, Smoked Goodness No Comments

This past Saturday was a great day for a smoke, an all day smoke.  We were stripping and polishing up the boat, so why not do it with the tantalizing smell of hickory smoke and cooking meat. That is just what we did.  This was a great smoke because while I enjoy pulled pork bbq, its not one of those things that is like wow, but I made it wow, at least wow to me.  It all started with a good rub, a brown sugar and rosemary rub that gave it great bark and great flavor.

I again used my Slap Chop to chop up the fresh rosemary and speed up that job of making the rub, which like most rubs is not labor intensive. I then mixed the rub thoroughly as I could with a fork, crushing up clumps as they formed.

Rosemary and brown sugar pork rub

Once the rub was ready I slathered my bone-in pork loin with dijon mustard and then rubbed evenly, making sure to get all the surfaces with the rub.

After that is was onto my charcoal Brinkmann Gourmet for a long days cook at anywhere from 225°F to 250°F.  Usually I aim for a more precise temperature but with the wind (15-25 MPH all day) and the Gourmet‘s lack of control this was difficult to do.  Even with the wind and temperature my 5.25 lb loin hit 205°F after about 11 hours, none to soon by our clock, we were hungry.  We let the meat rest for about an hour and then pulled it using a pair of forks.

And then we ate it on a bun with some coleslaw and bbq sauce, the meat on its own was really good especially when you got a good chunk of the bark where you could really taste the rub.  Rosemary and pork go together better than cake and ice cream.  That was yesterday.  Today it made it to its pinnacle, I put some pork and Famous Dave’s bbq sauce in the crock pot this morning and came back a couple of hours later to find, an incredible pot of pulled pork bbq, so again I piled it high on a hoagie bun with some coleslaw and it was awesome.  I later found out this is even better with homemade bbq sauce .

A pulled pork bbq sandwich

After all of that I kinda find myself excited about pulled pork bbq and can’t wait to make it again.  If you want the recipe for the rub I used, a brown sugar and rosemary rub, I have included it below.  In the future I will probably use this rub on some regular smoked or grilled pork as it compliments the pork so well.

Brown Sugar and Rosemary Rub
Ingredients
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 c dark brown sugar
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Prepare meat by washing, drying and evenly coating in dijon mustard.  Rub meat evenly covering every inch with rub.  Grill or smoke low and slow until desired doneness.

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes 2 Comments

For some reason on the way home from work today I had an urge for some pineapple glazed grilled chicken, which was strange because I have never had pineapple glazed grilled chicken in my life.   Now I have had grilled pineapple, which I like and grilled chicken, which without variety is boring.  So I gave it a whirl and came out on the other side with a sweet, tasty and relatively quick recipe, I am going to be holding onto.

Pineapple Glazed Grilled Chicken and Pineapple on the grill

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 can of pineapple slices
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp ground dried ginger
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp brown sugar
1-2 tbsp corn starch

Instructions
Start by draining pineapple and reserving juice.  Combine juice, mustard, ginger, curry powder, cayenne, honey and brown sugar in a small pot and heat over medium to a boil, stirring constantly.  Slowly add in cornstarch until it thickens to a maple syrup consistency.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Get the grill ready, when it is at a medium/medium high temperature lube the grate with vegetable oil and start grilling the chicken.  When the chicken is about 5 minutes from done (use your own judgment), add pineapple to grill and brush with glaze.  Then brush chicken with a generous amount of glaze on both sides.  Flip pineapple and brush the other side with glaze.  Use the remaining glaze on the chicken remove both chicken and pineapple when done.  Eat chicken piled high with pineapple.

I ate mine with a healthy portion of spinach salad with mandarin oranges, grilled pineapple, bacon and raspberry vinaigrette.

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By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, Reviews No Comments

Tonight we marched onward with the chicken and with such nice weather it would have been a crime not to grill out, and grill out we did.  My wife scoured the internet and came back with a recipe she started with on Recipe Zaar for ‘Amazing Chicken Marinade’.  I don’t know that it was amazing but it was pretty good.  After a surprisingly strenuous medicine ball work out, I fired up the grill.  Well technically I got the charcoal chimney started.  Once the grill and charcoal were ready, I lubed up the rack with a paper towel and some cooking oil, threw a small handful of mesquite chips on the coals and put the chicken on.

Chicken Breast on the Grill

Ingredients
1/4 c cider vinegar
3 tbsp mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp olive oil
ground black pepper
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Instructions
Crush 1 tbsp of the mustard in a mortar and pestle.  Then in a large, non-reactive container, whisk together ingredients beginning with cider vinegar through salt.  Then whisk in olive oil and pepper.  Place chicken in the mixture.  Cover and marinate chicken in the fridge 8 hours or overnight.  Remove chicken from marinade and grill for about 10 minutes per side over medium high heat.

Even though the recipe wasn’t mine or Vanessa’s for that matter;  it was simple and with a little tweaking (mustard seeds over mustard) it was most tasty so I thought I would share it here.  Enjoy.

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By Posted on Posted in Recipes No Comments

Accompanying my Cajun battered and fried Lake Michigan Whitefish today was a mound of slightly spicy and extremely tasty, freshly made Cajun Tartar Sauce and it was easy, almost too easy to make.

Cajun Tartar Sauce with Cajun Battered Fish

Ingredients
1 c mayonnaise
1/4 c shredded dill pickle
1 tbsp cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp dried tarragon

Instructions
Now for the “tough” part putting it together.  Put all ingredients in a bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed, sever fresh or refrigerate until ready to use.

And that’s it, dress up fish with a slight spicy and very tasty rendition of plain old tartar sauce.  It would go very nicely on a fish sandwich, in fact, I will be making on of those as soon as I make it to the store to pick up some pepperjack cheese to top it with.

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

Well, yesterday we decided to grill Chuckie or rather a chuckie, more precisely a chuck roast from a happy cow and it was delicious.  Along the way I think there were a few learnings we picked up especially when our one hour cook time went to one and a half hours then two.  In spite of all of that what came off the grill was superb.  We started with a nearly 6 pound chuck roast we marinated overnight in Lawry’s Steak and Chop marinade in a zip lock in the fridge.  I turned the meat over several times.  Using my new hinged stainless cooking grate on my Weber 22.5″ charcoal grill with some Royal Oak lump charcoal and a couple of chunks of Hickory wood, we first attempted to sear the meat before placing it on the roasting rack suspended over a pan of beer, cracked black pepper,  a couple chopped onions and a couple cloves mashed garlic.  We cooked it this way on the opposite side of the grill, indirectly, for about an hour basting with a mixture of boiled left over marinade and a couple ounces of beer.  We turned the meat at 30 minutes.

Cooking a roast indirectly.

After about an hour and half of this we got well, really not that far, we got a lot of good smells and up to about 115ºF, when impatience set in and we decided to flop the roast of the roasting rack and onto the grate, at which time we grilled it for about 20 minutes rare until it was just shy of medium rare. We pulled it and dug in.  It was incredible, it was just like a giant steak and really quite tender.  Somehow we managed to make nearly six pounds of meat into a four serving dish.

Chuck roast drizzled with Au Jus and topped with onions

We devoured a steak drizzled with our beer, onions and drippings au jus and topped with the cooked onions and a potato on the side.  It was a tasty steak and an excellent learning experience.   Next time I do this I will either set aside more time to anticipate cooking if I want to use the indirect method of cook the entire duration of the cook directly on the grate but still indirectly and speed things up.

So for those of you who wanted to know how Chuckie fared, he fared well enough to have a Chuckie the second sooner or later on the grill and definitely in the smoker.

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