Entries Tagged 'Barbecue' ↓

These “ribs” are really cut from a pork shoulder roast (a.k.a. Boston butt). There’s a lot of meat on them along with enough fat to keep them tender when you cook them low and slow. I like to cut them into 2-3  inch chunks and serve them as appetizers.

3-5 pounds of country-style ribs, boneless if possible
2-3 tablespoons barbecue rub (I used Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust)
Barbecue sauce (I used Carnivore Robust)

Trim the ribs to size and remove any excess fat or gristle. Coat generously with  rub, working it into all sides of the meat.

Set your grill up for an indirect cook that will burn for at least 5 hours at 250°F. Use a drip pan under the ribs to catch the fat. I added some hickory for smoke.

Once the grill is up to temperature,  put the ribs on the grill and close the lid. Give the ribs a flip after they have been on the grill for 1 hour. At 2 hours, give the ribs a flip again and start checking internal temperature. Continue cooking until they reach 160°F internal (about 2-3 hours, depending on thickness). Now it’s time to sauce.

Flip the ribs and baste them with barbecue sauce. Cook for 20 minutes, flip and baste. Cook for another 20 minutes, flip and baste a final time. Check the internal temperature – it should be right around 180°F. If not, flip them again and cook until they reach 180°F.

Serve the ribs as finger food with a couple of dipping sauces.

Jerk is probably the original barbecue of the Americas -  the smokey meeting of West Indian spices and Spanish livestock. The marinade ensures that meat is not only wonderfully spiced, but moist and tender as well.

The Marinade

6 green onions
4 to 6 Habanero or Scotch Bonnet peppers (4 were plenty for this northerner)
4 gloves garlic
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dark rum
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Wearing gloves, seed and devein the peppers. Put the salt and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the remaining ingredients and give them a whirl until they are well-combined. Store in the fridge for up to a month. Makes about 3/4 cup.

The Cook

8 chicken thighs (1-1/2 to 2 pounds)
1/2 cup jerk marinade

Put the chicken in a Ziploc bag and coat with the jerk marinade. Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, overnight is best.

Set your grill up for an indirect cook over medium (300°F) heat. Put the thighs on the grill skin side up. Close the lid and cook for 15 minutes. Flip and cook skin side down for another 15 minutes. Flip again and cook  until the internal temperature has reached 180°F in the thickest part of the thighs, about another 30 minutes.

When the chicken is done, remove it to a warm plate and let it rest for 10 minutes.

I’ve been waiting to try out Carnivore BBQ’s Robust sauce, and these baby back ribs were the perfect opportunity.

Preparation

These are minimalist ribs. I did little to prepare them except to remove the membrane on the back side of the ribs and rub a generous coating of Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust into both sides of them about an hour before they went on the smoker.

The Cook

I set up my Big Green Egg for a direct cook at 225 to 250°F. I didn’t use a heat diffuser or drip pan, but I did set my grate on a Woo 2 to give me 8 inches of clearance above the firebox. Still, I wanted a low, even fire so I only filled my firebox about 3/4 of the way up and made sure I had a uniform layer of well- packed lump charcoal.

I lit the charcoal and once the fire was well-established across the entire firebox, I added a couple of chunks of smoking wood (guava, this time) and adjusted the vents to bring the temperature at the grate down to 225°F

I arranged the ribs bone side down on the grate, closed the lid, and let them smoke undisturbed for an hour. I misted the ribs with a 50/50 mixture of cider vinegar and Licor 43 (rum or bourbon would work just fine, too) and flipped them meat side down. I let them cook for another hour, flipped and misted. At hour 4, I just misted the ribs, but left them meat side up.

After the ribs had been on 4 1/2 hours total,  I started checking for doneness. Ribs are done when a full slab will “break” or almost fold in half and start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. At this point the meat should also have pulled back from the bone at least half an inch from the end of the bones and a gentle tug on a couple of adjacent bones shows that they will come apart easily.

These racks of ribs where done at about 4 hours and 45 minutes. At that point I brushed on a thick coating of  Carnivore BBQ’s Robust sauce and let them cook for another 15 minutes. I sauced them lightly again, removed them from the smoker, and let them sit 10 minutes before serving.

Results

I gotta say, these are the best ribs I’ve ever made, period. They were smokey and tender with a good bark and they pulled apart with little effort. The Carnivore BBQ’s Robust sauce provides a lot of flavor and heat. It hits you right up front, and then the heat lingers for quite a while. Not an overly hot sauce, but not too sweet or tangy either.  It really worked to bring all of the other flavors together and rounded them out nicely.

This is my take on the Pork Chops in Brandied BBQ Peach Sauce recipe from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse.

The folks at Dinosaur start with grilled, center-cut pork chops. I went with  brined and smoked 2-inch thick chops that I cut from the rib end of a pork loin. While they’re not quite as tender as center cut chops, they have plenty of flavor and the brining keeps them very moist.

Brined
4-5 thick-cut pork chops
4 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup molasses
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Bring the water to a boil and add the salt, molasses, vinegar, and peppercorns. Reduce heat and stir until salt is dissolved. Remove from heat and let cool. Arrange the chops in a lidded plastic container or zip-top bag. Cover with the brine, making sure all of the chops are submerged. Seal and let the chops sit in the brine in the refrigerator for no more than 2 hours.

Smoked
While the chops are brining, set up the grill for an indirect cook that will burn for at least 2 hours at 225 to 250°F. Use a drip pan under the grid to catch the fat. Once the grill is up to temperature, add the smoking wood. I like apple word for pork chops. If using a gas grill, place 2-4 cups of soaked wood chunks in the smoker box. If using a charcoal grill, toss a fist-sized lump right into the coals.

Remove the chops from the brine and arrange them on the grill. Close the lid and cook for 30 minutes. Flip the chops and continue to cook until the chops reach and internal temperature of 145°F, about another 30 to 45 minutes. Remove chops to a plate and keep warm.

Brandied
1 pound fresh peaches
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel peaches by cutting an “x” into flesh on the bottom of of each peach and submerging them in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove from water and the skins should peel right off. Pit peaches and cut them into medium slices.

In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter and saute ginger until soft. Add peach slices and brown sugar. Stir until everything is well combined and the peaches have begun to soften. Add the 1/4 c. of brandy and very carefull ignite. Cook until flame dies. Add BBQ sauce, cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste. Ladle sauce over pork chops and serve with Dinosaur’s potato salad.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse by John Stage & Nancy Radke

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is a small chain of NY rib joints. Their new cookbook does an excellent job of capturing not just the food, but also the look and feel of the classic blues and barbecue roadhouses.

This is not strictly a barbecue cookbook. It’s more a celebration of all things honky-tonk. The focus is recipes, but it is also full of cooking tips, bold photos, and bathroom graffiti.

There are a lot of recipes for pit-smoked barbecue classics like ribs and brisket that have been adapted to work on your backyard grill. There are many non-traditional recipes like Drunken Spicy Shameless Shrimp and Vaca Frita, as well as a good collection of tasty sides and desserts. I particularly enjoyed their techniques and tips sections that do nice job of walking you through the hows and whys of good barbecue.

So far I’ve made my versions of their Grilled Pork Chops in Brandied BBQ Peach Sauce and Asparagus, Red Pepper Potato Salad. Both were excellent. I’m looking forward to cooking up quite a few dishes from this book this summer.

I adapted Alton Brown’s molasses brine to make one of the most tender and moist batches of pulled pork to ever come out of my Big Green Egg.

Ingredients
2 quarts water
12 ounces kosher salt
1 cup molasses
1 tablespoon chili powder
Basic Pig Rub (or your favorite barbecue rub)

6 to 8 pound pork shoulder roast (Boston butt)

The Brine

Combine molasses, salt, chili powder, 1 tablespoon of the rub, and water in 6 quart stockpot over medium heat. Stir and cook only until the salt has dissolved and everything is well-combined. Remove from heat and let cool.

Trim excess fat from pork shoulder. Make shallow cuts through the remaining fat cap every half inch or so.

Put the roast in a big Ziploc bag and add the brine. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. I like to put the bagged roast right back in the stockpot and arrange it so that the meat is fully covered by the brine.  Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, overnight is better yet.

The Cook

Remove the roast from brine and pat dry. Dust heavily with barbecue rub, working it in with your hands to get a good coating. Wrap the roast in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to cook.

Set up your cooker for an indirect cook of at least 18 hours at 225°F. Add some chucks of pecan or hickory for smoke. Use a drip pan to catch the fat as it renders off.  Pork butts take about 2 hours per pound to cook at this temperature, so this is really a job for a smoker or ceramic cooker.  I like to set it up as an overnight cook starting at 6pm so I can plan on serving pulled pork for lunch the next day.

Begin checking butt for doneness after about 10 hours of cooking. Pork butts are done when the collagen and connective tissue has melted into tasty gelatin and the meat literally starts to fall apart. I like to get mine to about 190°F internal, and then wrap it in a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil and put it back on the cooker for another hour or so until it reaches 210F internal.

When the butt is done, remove it from the cooker and let it rest in the foil for an hour. When it has cooled a little,  pull the meat apart using a couple of forks (or better yet, a pair of these bear paws) to separate the fibers. The idea is to remove all the remaining inedible bits, break the meat down into bite-sized pieces, and ensure an even distribution of the chewy bark.

I like to serve it on cheap white buns with dill pickles, sweet potato chips and an assortment of barbecue sauces.

If I had to pick a cut of meat that benefits the most from the art of barbecue, it would be the lowly rib. It’s amazing what the proper application of smoke, spice, and a low flame does to this otherwise tough and fatty piece of pig.

I’m partial to baby backs, the ribs that come from closest to the backbone, underneath the loin muscle. They are generally leaner, more tender, very tasty, and a quicker cook than their spare rib cousins. While there are a lot of good rib recipes out there,  this is my sure-fire, simple, no-frills recipe that consistently produces good results with a minimum of fuss.

Preparation

The night before the cook, prepare the ribs by removing the membrane on the back side of the ribs and trimming any large amounts of fat or stray flaps of meat. Slather both sides of the ribs with a thin coating of yellow ballpark-style mustard. This acts as a marinade. The vinegar in the mustard helps make the ribs moist and tender, and it gives the rub something to hold on to.

Apply a generous coating of your favorite rib rub. This basic rub works great. The rub adds not only a whole medley of flavors, but helps to form a nice bark – a dark brown crust on the meat.  Start on the back side and apply a medium-heavy coating, actually working it into the ribs with your fingers. Turn the ribs over and put a heavier coating on the top side, also working it in.

Wrap the slabs in plastic wrap and store them overnight in the fridge. By morning the mustard will have almost disappeared, melting into the rub and forming a glaze on the ribs.

The Cook

Set up your grill for an indirect cook that will burn for at least 6 hours at between 225 to 250°F. Use a drip pan under the ribs to catch the fat.

Once the grill is up to temperature, add your smoking wood. If using a gas grill, place 2-4 cups of soaked wood chunks in the smoker box. If using a charcoal grill, toss a fist-sized lump right into the coals.

Take the ribs straight from the fridge, unwrap, and arrange bone side down on the grate. Use a rib rack if you need more room. Close the lid and for the first 2 hour of the cook, do nothing – no peaking, no looking, no touching, no nothing. The more often the lid gets opened the less actual cooking is going on and the greater the chance that they’ll dry out.

After the ribs have been on for 2 hours, flip the slabs. Cook for another hour and flip one more time.  Again, no peeking. Continue cooking bone side down until the ribs have been on about 4 hours total, then start checking for doneness.

When they are done, a full slab will “break” or almost fold in half and start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. At this point the meat should also have pulled back from the bone at least half and inch from the end of the bones and a gentle tug on a couple of adjacent bones shows that they will come apart easily.  Expect around 5 to 6 hours of total cooking time to get to this point.

Once the ribs are done it’s time to sauce. Purists will skip this step, but I like a little sweetness added at to the ribs at the end of the cook. I think it helps to balance the flavors and keeps the bark a little chewy. For a commercial sauce, I like Bone Suckin’ BBQ sauce. If you want to make your own, my Thick & Tangy BBQ Sauce – v2.0 is particularly good on ribs. Sauce both sides with a light coating, put the ribs back on for 15 minutes, then sauce them again just on top.

Remove the ribs from the grill and let them stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Fine for almost any swine – rub this into the meat generously the day before you cook it.

Ingredients

4 tablespoon brown or turbinado sugar
4 tablespoon Smoked Spanish paprika
2 tablespoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoon cumin seed, ground
2 tablespoon chile powder
2 tablespoon black pepper, fresh cracked
1 tablespoon sage, ground
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon rubbed thyme

Preparation

Combine all ingredients together and transfer to an air tight container. Makes about 1 cup.

This is an adaptation of Sally Schneider’s Lacquered Baby Back Ribs recipe from her book  A New Way to Cook. The rich and spicy sauce is used both as a marinade and to baste the ribs when they are just about done to give them a nice caramelized finish.

I often do this recipe with country-style ribs instead of baby-backs. Country-style ribs aren’t really ribs. They’re cut from the shoulder roast (a.k.a. Boston butt). There’s a good amount of meat there, along with enough fat to keep them tender when they’re cooked low and slow.

3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons dark rum
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3-5 pounds of country-style ribs, boneless if possible Continue reading →

After buying our last half of a beef, I discovered that our butcher had unhelpfully labeled all of the roasts as “Roast.” Since now I’m never sure what I’m getting when I take one out of the deep freeze, I needed a roast recipe that would work as well for a top sirloin as it would for a chuck.

I decided to try making pulled beef. This low-and-slow barbecue approach is similar to the one used to make pulled pork, but because of the (relative) lack of fat and connective tissue in some beef roasts, this recipes adds a braising step to ensure that the meat is moist and tender. Continue reading →