Pulled Pork Shortcut (April 16, 2010) – a year ago I was trying to figure out exactly how I was going to get 8 pork butts cooked for an upcoming graduation party. This first attempt wasn’t bad, but I eventually went with a hotter & faster cooking method that let me get all the cooking done in one weekend.
Gluten-Free Egg Rolls (April 12, 2009) – two years ago my dear wife helped me make up these treats. They were tasty, but a bit putzy and didn’t freeze well. I’d like to try them again, but fry them this time and then freeze off the extras.
Bacon – Buckboard and Canadian-style (April 15, 2008) – three years ago I took my first shot at curing my own bacon. It was such a hit that nowadays I regularly make 15 pound batches and freeze it off for later.
This morning I shot six holes in my freezer.
I think I got cabin fever…
I gotta go where it’s warm!
BOAT DRINKS, Jimmy Buffett
We’ve had continuous snow cover for over 120 days, 78.7 inches this season, and another 4 inches expected within the next couple of days. I’ve given up trying to clear the deck and have had to satisfy myself with shoveling a path to the Big Green Egg. Continue reading “What Do You Call It?”
Just one big unsolicited plug here for Dizzy Pig Barbecue Company. Over the years I have had nothing but good luck and tasty results using their barbecue rubs and it’s about time I told everybody out there how good they are.
Dizzy Dust is my “go-to” rub for ribs and butts.
Raging River is a huge hit on salmon.
Spicy Swamp Venom is great on wings.
Shaking the Tree is a better-than-lemon-pepper rub for chicken and pork.
Red Eye Express, Raising the Steaks, and Cowlick are all in my rotation for steak and burger seasoning.
Jamaican Firewalk is the jerk king, mon.
Pineapple Head rocks on sweet potatoes.
They have a new newsletter out this month and they’re in the running for About.com’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Award for Barbecue Rub (vote early and vote often). They’ve also just moved into a new production facility and have great plans in the works.
Thanks to Chris and the gang for producing some of the best fresh, hand-blended rubs out there!
While it has been awfully freakin’ cold outside, and I feel myself called by the siren song of our new pans, I have not forsaken my BGE. During a brief break from the cold, I fired up these barbecued thighs.
As any grillmeister worth their kosher salt knows, barbecue is a style of cooking, not a sauce. To make these barbecued thighs, I went with a low ‘n’ slow cook to give them that rich, smoky flavor and bite-through skin.
8 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
2-3 tablespoons of your favorite barbecue rub (I used Tasty Licks Original BBQ Rub)
1/2 cup Sticky Hog barbecue sauce
At least 2 hours before cooking, dust the thighs with the rub, lay them out in a single layer on a sheet pan, and let them sit uncovered in the fridge. This step seasons the thighs and also helps to dry out the skin a bit to keep it crispy.
Set the grill up for a raised direct cook at 250°. On the BGE I didn’t use a heat diffuser or drip pan, but I did set my grate on a Woo 2 rig to give me another 8 inches of clearance above the firebox. So the thighs would smoke and not get too crispy, I filled my firebox about 1/2 of the way up and made sure I had a uniform layer of well-packed lump charcoal. I added a chunk of apple wood for smoke.
Put the thighs on the grill skin side down, close the lid, and let them cook for 30 minutes. Flip them and let them go another 30 minutes.
Check to make sure that there aren’t any hot spots and that none of the thighs are cooking too fast. Rearrange them on the grid if needed. Leave them on skin side up for another 30 minutes.
Check for doneness – when the juices run clear and the internal temperature in the largest thigh hits 180°F (after 2 hours total in this case), brush the thighs on both sides with the barbecue sauce. Let them cook 10 minutes more and brush them again. Let them cook 5 more minutes, brush one last time, remove them to a warm plate, and let sit 10 minutes before serving.
The Verdict:
This wasn’t just grilled chicken with some sauce slapped on it. This was proper barbecue – smoky, sweet, spicy, and tangy. The thighs were very juicy, and while the skin wasn’t as crisp as I would have liked, it wasn’t rubbery either. Just a little longer cook once the sauce was on, or maybe a longer rest uncovered in the fridge, and they would have been perfect.
When I first decided to cook ribs for the weekend, it was a balmy 19°F and I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. By Saturday an arctic airmass had dropped in. When I took the ribs off the Egg for dinner it was 2°F and I was wearing my barbecue gloves more to protect against freezing than flames.
But I was dying to try out my new Sticky Hog barbecue sauce, so I turned the other frostbitten cheek to my wife’s concern, bundled up, and treated it as one of those “character building” experiences.
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 another 8 inches of clearance above the firebox. So the ribs wouldn’t get too crispy, filled my firebox about 3/4 of the way up and made sure I had a uniform layer of well- packed lump charcoal.
While the Egg was heating up, I seasoned the ribs with a generous coating of Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust into both sides.
Once the fire was well-established across the entire firebox – giving me a low, even heat – I added a couple of chunks of smoking wood (guava and apple 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 flipped them meat side down. I let them cook for another hour. I flipped them again so they were meat side up and let them cook until they had been on 4-1/2 hours total.
I started checking for doneness. Doneness with ribs is determined more by feel than it is by time or temp. A slab of ribs that are done will “break” or almost fold in half and start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. The meat should also have pulled back from the bone at least half an inch from the end of the bones and tugging on a bone should show that it’s ready to come apart.
One of the racks was done at 4 1/2 hours, but the other two where lagging behind, so I slid the larger racks together, stacked the little one on top to protect it from the heat, and let them cook for another 30 minutes.
All of the racks where done at about 5 hours. I flipped them bone side up and brushed them with Sticky Hog barbecue sauce and let them cook for another 15 minutes. I flipped them meat side up sauced them again and let them cook for another 15 minutes. I gave them one last light coat of sauce, removed them from the smoker, and let them sit 10 minutes before serving.
The Verdict:
My dear wife proclaimed these to be the best ribs I’ve ever made. I thought they were just a touch dry, but who am I to argue with her ;). Doing them raised over direct heat makes them more crisp than tender. They didn’t fall off the bone, but they did surrender gracefully to the bite.
The sauce was pretty remarkable on the meat as well. It stuck (froze?) right to the racks and tightened up into a nice glaze. The tangy sweetness really complimented the meat. This is definitely a keeper sauce.
We get some really nice beef from my brother-in-law and you’ll see it featured a lot on this site. When we ordered up this last quarter of a beef from him, the butcher asked if I wanted the ribs. Of course I did. So when I started loading meat into the freezer, I expected to come across a big ol’ pack of dino-ribs. Nope, just a half dozen little packs labeled “Ribs.”
Hmmmm… must be short ribs. Now I’ve eaten short ribs, but never cooked them before. I quizzed the fine folks at the Egghead Forum and Fearlesskitchen pointed me to his version of Adam Perry Lang’s short ribs. They looked so promising that I decided to use it as a starting point for my own version.
Mustard Rub
8 pounds bone-in beef short ribs
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Your favorite brisket rub (I went with Tasty Licks Black Bart’s Brisket Rub courtesy of Fred’s Music & BBQ Suppy)
Combine the mustard, Worcestershire, and vinegar. Moisten all sides of the ribs with the mustard mixture, then dust the ribs heavily with the rub. You can do this right before the cook, but I like to do it the night before to let the rub melt into the ribs.
Set your smoker up for at least a 6 hour indirect cook at 300°F. On the Big Green Egg this means filling the firebox with lump charcoal and using an inverted plate setter to diffuse the heat and a drip pan with a little water in it to catch the fat. You are going to smoke the ribs first to give them that wonderful flavor and render out a lot of the fat, and then braise them in aluminum foil to make them tender.
Once the smoker is up to temp, toss in your smoking wood (I used pecan), and arrange the ribs bone side down on the grate. Close the lid and let the smoker do its magic for 4 to 5 hours, or until the ribs reach 160°F internal.
Wrapping Mixture
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 tablespoon butter
This is for the braise. While the ribs are cooking, prepare the wrapping mixture. Start by pouring the beef broth into a small saucepan and bringing it to a boil. Let boil for about 10 minutes, or until the broth has reduced to about 1/2 cup. Reduce the heat to low and add the sugar, honey, Worcestershire, vinegar, and butter. Stir and cook just until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat.
When the ribs are ready, lay down a sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil in a 9×13 baking pan. Add the ribs, meat side down, pour the wrapping mixture over them. Put another sheet of aluminum foil on top of the ribs and crimp to seal the two sheets together.
Put the pan full of ribs back on the smoker for an hour, or until the ribs reach 190°f internal. Remove the meat from the smoker, and allow to rest in foil for 15-30 minutes.
Serve drizzled with pan juices or your favorite barbecue sauce.
The Verdict:
These were some very tasty ribs – rich and peppery with plenty of smoke. The Black Bart’s added a bit of background heat from the cayenne and a good bit of back pepper spiciness up front. This is a great beef rub.
The 3 stars are my fault. I ran short of time and didn’t leave the ribs on the smoker long enough and didn’t return them to the smoker after the braise like Lang suggests. As a result – I didn’t render out as much fat as I should have and didn’t cook the ribs long enough to make them really tender. They were good, but if I had done them right they should have just melted on the plate. Better luck next time.
Fred, of Fred’s Music & BBQ Supply, was kind enough to send me some of his Tasty Licks rubs for me to try out. Since I was dying for wings (when am I not dying for wings?) I decided to try a batch with his Original Rub.
I usually cook wings in the medium-high range (350°F or so) without any added wood smoke, but this time I decided to slow smoke them for a couple of hours over apple wood before cranking the heat up to crisp the skin.
6 fresh chicken wings
Olive oil
1-2 tablespoons Tasty Licks BBQ Company “Original” All Purpose BBQ Rub and Seasoning
In medium bowl, lightly coat wings with olive oil. Dust the wings with some of the rub and give them a toss. Dust and toss again, making sure that all of the wings are covered with the rub.
Set a cooling rack on a cookie sheet or jellyroll pan. Lay wings out on a rack and let them sit uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, and preferably overnight.
Set the grill up for an indirect cook at 250°. Once the grill is up to temperature, add your smoking wood and arrange the wings on the grate top side up. Close the lid and smoke for an hour. Flip the wings and smoke for another hour. Now bump the heat up to 350°F and cook for 15 minutes. Flip the wings and cook for another 15, or until they are brown and crispy.
The Verdict: This is a great rub! I tasted it right out of the bottle and it was a lovely blend of heat and sweetness. You could really taste the chili powder, but it wasn’t overwhelming – kind of a nice, long, low burn. The sugar and salt hit you right up front and really helped balance the spice in the rub.
The wings were very tasty done low and slow. The skin stayed crisp while the meat was melty and tender. I loved the smoky flavor and the rub really complemented that. You could call them barbecue wings, but not in that just-slap-a-sauce-on-them kind of way. They had that true barbecue taste that you can only get from the blending of spices and smoke over low heat.
We got some great looking rump roasts with our last order of beef. I wanted to do a saucy falling-apart dish like my Italian Beef, but with more of a smoky, barbecue base. So I decided to smoke the roasts first before braising them.
Barbecue Beef
2 boneless rump roasts (3-4 pounds each)
2-3 tablespoons barbecue rub (I used Dizzy Pig’s Cowlick)
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (12 ounce) bottle of beer
1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I used John Henry’s Honey Barbecue)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Dust the roasts heavily with the rub. Use your hands to work it into all the sides.
Set your grill up for an indirect cook for at least 4 hours at low (250°F) heat with a drip pan under the meat. I set the Big Green Egg up with an inverted plate setter to diffuse the heat, a trivet on the plate setter, and the roasts in a v-rack roasting pan on top of that. Pour the beer into the roaster pan.
Add some wood chunks for smoke (I used pecan) and smoke the roasts for about 3 hours, or until they reach 160°F internal temperature.
Remove the roasts to a large dutch oven. Deglaze the roaster with a little water to loosen up all the brown bits. Pour the pan sauce over the meat. Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, barbecue sauce, and enough water to come half way up the roasts.
Put the lid on the dutch oven and move to the grill. Cook for an hour at 250°F. Remove the lid and flip the meat over in the dutch oven. Cook for another hour with the dutch oven lid off.
After an hour, check the roasts for doneness. They should be 200+°F internal and have started to fall apart. Remove the dutch oven from the grill. Cut or pull the meat apart into serving sizes. Serve as a main dish, or atop a crusty french roll as a sandwich. Top with additional barbecue sauce if desired.
The Verdict:
Very tender and a great, rich, smoky taste. Could use a more vinegary sauce. The meat stayed very moist, but I’d like to try it with a chuck roast that has more internal fat and will fall apart more.
Much of what I know about making ribs I owe to “Car Wash Mike” McKernan and his postings on the Big Green Egg forum. Mike recently passed away, and while I never met the man, I thought it fitting to join the rest of the Eggheads in smoking a batch of baby backs in his honor.
I started with 3 racks of baby back ribs. These were a little smaller than the ones I usually get from Costco, and looked to already have had the membrane removed. I rubbed both sides of each rack with Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust about 2 hours before they went on the smoker.
I set up my Big Green Egg for an indirect cook at 250°F – filling the firebox with lump charcoal and using an inverted plate setter to diffuse the heat and a drip pan with a little water in it to catch the fat.
I lit the charcoal just in the center, and once the temperature hit 300°F in the dome, I tossed in a a couple of chunks of crab apple for smoke. I added the plate setter, drip pan and grate, then adjusted the vents until the temperature settled at 250°F.
I arranged the ribs bone side down on the grate, then closed the lid and let the BGE do it’s magic for an hour. I flipped the ribs bone side up, and let them go for another hour. I flipped them back bone side down and let them go for another 2 hours.
After the ribs had been on 4 hours total, I started checking for doneness. Ribs are generally done when a full slab will almost fold in half and start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. These weren’t there yet, but the meat had really started to pull back from the end of the bones and it looked like it wouldn’t take much to pull a bone right out of the ribs.
Hmmmm…
I flipped a rack over and discovered that the bone side was covered with that membrane that I’d thought had been removed. Oops. It was all brown and crispy now. I grabbed one corner with the tongs and pulled it off – underneath was the juiciest rib meat I’ve ever seen.
I lifted the end of the slab and it almost fell apart. These ribs were well done and it had only been the membrane that was holding them together. I quickly removed the membrane from the other 2 racks and moved all of them off the Egg and onto a jelly roll pan. I sauced them on both sides with a little Sticky Pig Barbecue Sauce and told our guests we’d be eating a little sooner than expected.
The lesson? There are a lot of great teachers out there. Take their advice, but don’t be afraid to make your own mistakes and then pass the experience along.
Ah, carnitas – those melty, tender, bits of pig cooked in its own juices. I do love them and continue to refine my recipe. This version uses slightly larger chunks of pork shoulder than I normally use, then simmered in citrus juice until the fat renders and the meat starts to get all brown and crispy. The pickled onions are a common Mexican garnish and really add a tangy compliment to the meat.
Carnitas
2 boneless pork shoulder roasts (aka Boston Butt), about 14 pounds
Juice of 3 oranges (about 1 cup)
Juice of 2 limes (about 4 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground cumin
I set my Big Green Egg up for an 8 hour cook over indirect heat at 300°F. I used the plate setter with a trivet on it to diffuse the heat and keep the bottom from burning.
While the BGE was heating up, I cut the pork into big (4-inch) chunks, discarding any nasty pieces of connective tissue, but keeping all of the fat.
I combined all of the ingredients into a 12-quart Dutch oven, put the oven on the grill and let it simmer for an hour. I gave it a stir and then let it go for another hour. I kept checking and stirring once an hour until most of the liquid had evaporated and the pork had started to fry in its own fat (about 5 hours). Then I checked it every 15 minutes to make sure it was getting crispy, but not becoming dry or burned. Total cook time was just over 6 hours.
Pickled Onions
1 red onion, halved lengthwise, ends removed, and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
Salt and pepper to taste
I put the onions in a saucepan, added just enough water to cover, and boiled until tender (about 1 minute). I remove them from heat, rinsed with cold water, and drained.
I put the onions in a plastic container, added the lime juice and vinegar, and seasoned to taste with a couple of grinds of black pepper and about a teaspoon of kosher salt. I sealed the container and stored it in the fridge for about an hour before serving.
