Despite our lack of snow, winter is here and I’ve wanted to make a hearty stew. I showed this Chile Verde recipe from Simple Recipes to my dear wife, and the next thing I knew we were on our way to our favorite mercado to pick up the ingredients.

2 pounds tomatillos
1 head garlic, whole
2 jalapenos
1 bunch cilantro leaves
5 pounds pork shoulder (aka pork butt)
2 large white onion
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 (7-ounce) can diced green chiles
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

This recipe boosts the flavor and adds some smoky goodness to the dish by fire-roasting all of the veggies first, so set your grill up for a direct cook at 500°F. While it is getting up to temp, prep the veggies by husking the tomatillos and cutting the onion in half, leaving the root end and skin on.

Put the tomatillos, onions, and jalapenos directly on the grill. They will cook at different rates, so use a pair of tongs to keep everything moving. Start the onions cut side down and flip when they get some nice grill marks, about 3 minutes. Let them finish cooking skin side down so they kind of roast in their own juices. Turn the tomatillos and peppers often so that they pick up a nice char. Remove the peppers when the skin is mostly blistered. Pull the tomatillos and onions when they start to soften. Put the garlic on just as you’re taking the smaller tomatillos off and cook for just a couple of minutes until the papery skin starts to char.

Once the veggies are done, you can move inside to the oven or set up the grill for an indirect cook. I opted for the “more fire = good” option and set the Big Green Egg up for a 350°F cook using the plate setter and a trivet to diffuse the heat.

While waiting for the veggies to get cool enough to handle, trim the excess fat from the pork butt and cut the meat into 2-inch chunks.

Load the meat into a large, oiled Dutch oven and season with a little salt and pepper. Move the uncovered Dutch oven to the grill and let the pork cook, stirring every 15 minutes, until the meat is browned and most of the fat has rendered out, about 2 hours.

While the meat is cooking, peel the garlic, skin and quarter the onions, and skin and seed the peppers. Load all the roasted veggies, cilantro, and half the chicken stock into the food processor for a whirl.

Pulse all of the ingredients until they are finely chopped and start to form a smooth sauce. Add more chicken stock if needed.

Once the pork is nicely browned and rendered, pour off all but a couple tablespoons of fat from the Dutch oven. Pour the verde sauce over the pork and add the cumin, green chiles, oregano, chile powder, and the rest of the chicken stock. Stir to combine. Add just enough water (about a cup) so that the meat is just floating in the sauce.

Put the lid on the Dutch oven, close the grill, and let everything simmer together for an hour, stirring about every 15 minutes. 

Add another cup of water to the Dutch oven and let it cook, uncovered, until the pork is falling apart and the chili has reduced to a thick stew (about 1 hour). Adjust the seasoning to taste with salt, pepper, and a maybe a little more chile powder.

Served as a stew with tortilla chips on the side. It’s also great with rice and beans (with plenty of corn toritilas for chasing the sauce) or cook it until it’s a little thicker for taco filling.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars This thick, meaty stew was wonderful. I left just enough fat in the pan so that the sauce was luscious and rich. The pork and cumin provided a meaty base while the peppers and the tomatillos added a nice green heat at the top.

The original recipes included some anaheim or poblano chiles, and I would add those next time to give the dish a little more “middle” heat.

The Nutrition: Lusciousness comes at a price – 439 calories per 2-cup serving and 11 Weight Watchers points. Drain off more of the oil and serve it over sauteed bell peppers and onions to make it a little healthier.

ONE YEAR AGO – STICKY HOG BARBECUE SAUCE
TWO YEARS AGO – COUNTRY-STYLE RIBS

It is astonishing that a company can throw a load of chemical crap together and still call it food.

Well, there’s no restructured meat product, ammonium sulfate, polysorbate 80, or azodicarbonamide here. Just some fine smoked rib meat picked off the bones from the Minimalist Rib cook, shredded a bit, loaded onto an Udi’s gluten-free bun, and topped with a little Honey Hog barbecue sauce.

Yummmmmm!

Every so often you just need to break a recipe down to the basics. I make some fine ribs (if I do say so myself), but I think I’m starting to get mired down in all the bells and whistles - mustard slather, spice rubs, misting, foiling, 3-2-1, saucing, blah, blah, blah…

In an attempt to pare down the ribs to their smoky/savory/tender essence, here’s my minimalist recipe:

3 racks of baby-back ribs
Fresh-ground sea salt
Fresh-ground back pepper

I set the Big Green Egg up for a raised direct cook at 300°F. I didn’t use a plate setter to diffuse the heat, but did use a Woo2 extender to raise the cooking grid up about 4 inches further from the heat.

While the Egg was getting up to temp, I seasoned both sides of the ribs with the salt and pepper. Yep – nothing but salt and pepper. And just a moderate coating, as you can see, they weren’t caked with seasoning.

I put in a good sized chunk of apple wood for smoke, and when the smoke changed from white (bad) to blue (good), I put the ribs on bone side down for an hour, then flipped them and let them go for another hour.

I figured it would take about 3 hours at 300°F, but when I flipped them at the 2 hour mark they were already showing signs of being done – the slabs started to crack when I picked up one end with a pair of tongs and the meat had also started to pull back from the bones. I left them on, bone side down, for another 30 minutes. By the time they hit the 2 1/2 hour mark they were so done that it was tough to take them off the grate in one piece.

I let the ribs rest for 10 minutes and served them dry with some Honey Hog Sauce on the side.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
I gotta admit, I was surprised at how good these ribs tasted right off the bone – no sauce or anything. They were smoky and tender and very flavorful. They even had a pretty good bark (that crispy crust on the outside) from just the salt and pepper.

Would the ribs have been better if I had slathered/rubbed/basted/foiled/glazed them? Sure, but not necessarily a whole lot better. The ribs and smoke are bringing the majority of the flavor to the party all by themselves. The rest is mostly window dressing. Tasty window dressing, true, but simple recipes like this sometimes show you just how little tweaking and fussing the basic ingredients really need.

I knocked off half a point because the doneness across the ribs was a little uneven – the leaner flat end was pretty crispy while the fatter curved end could have used another 30 minutes on the grill. This might have been from using raised direct heat, but it also might have been from using smaller ribs that showed a big difference in thickness from one end to the other.

The Nutrition:
While ribs won’t ever be diet food, these weren’t that bad – 460 calories for 8 ounces of meat (4 to 6 bones worth), 12 Weight Watchers points. Leaving out the sugary rubs and serving them dry with the sauce on the side helped to cut a lot of carbs. Rather than the traditional sides, we lightened it up with corn (frozen from this summer) and cauliflower fauxtatos – look for a pre-Thanksgiving post on this great (borrowed) idea.

This is my take on old-timey country bacon that’s made from the meatier pork shoulder roast (aka pork butt). It’s like a cross between country ham and traditional bacon – smoky, salty, and just a little sweet. I like to make up a big batch of this and freeze it off in breakfast-sized portions.

2 pork butts (pork shoulder roast), boned and trimmed
1 tablespoon Morton’s Sugar Cure per pound of meat
1 teaspoon white sugar per pound of meat
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons ground black pepper

The meat needs to cure before it gets smoked. This takes at least a week and preferably 10 days. These particular butts were both just under 8 pounds, so I cured them separately because I didn’t have a container big enough for both of them.

Place each butt in a large zip-top bag. Combine the black pepper with 1 tablespoon Morton’s Sugar Cure and 1 teaspoon white sugar per pound of meat (so each butt got 1 tablespoon pepper, 1/2 cup Morton’s cure, and 8 teaspoons sugar). Rub the cure all over the butt, making sure to cover all sides. Pour 1/4 cup of maple syrup over each butt, and turn to coat.

Seal the bags and store the butts in the fridge. Liquid will begin to collect to collect in the bags, indicating  that the cure is working. Cure for 7-10 days, flipping the meat over once a day.

After the butts are cured, remove them from the bag and soak in cold water for 3 hours to remove some of the salt. Let them drip dry on a rack while you fire up the grill.

Set your grill up for an indirect cook at 300°F. On the Big Green Egg this meant filling the firebox with lump charcoal and using a plate setter and drip pan to diffuse the heat. When the cooker is up to temp, add some chucks of wood for smoke. Apple or hickory work great here.

Smoke the butts until the internal temperature hits 140°F. That took about 5 hours for these butts. At this point the meat is cured, but not fully cooked. Stash the meat in the fridge to cool, and then slice to your desired thickness.

I ran the butts through my Chef’s Choice 610 Electric Food Slicer at about a 1/4 inch thick setting.  This is thin enough that the meat will fry up quickly but not so thin that it starts to fall apart.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
This batch of cottage bacon had some great flavor. I like the addition of maple syrup and how the sweetness plays off the saltiness and bits of pepper. Pork shoulder has a good amount of fat in it, but not nearly as much as the belly meat that bacon is usually made with, so it fried up nicely on the chewy side of crispy versus chewy.

These butts had had the bone removed when I bought them. That makes slicing them a lot easier, but the meat wasn’t as compact as I would have liked and some of the little bits that stuck out got overcooked during smoking. I would tie up the butts (oh, that sounds wrong) with butcher’s twine next time.

2 pounds ground pork
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 green onions
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 cup Asian sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons peanut butter

Put the garlic cloves in a food processor and pulse until minced. Add the ginger, green onions, oil, fish sauce, chili sauce, and peanut butter and give them a whirl until they are well-combined.

In a large bowl, combine the pork and the sauce mix. Work everything together with your hands. Form the meat mixture into 6 to 8 1/2 inch thick patties. Stash in the fridge so all of the ingredients can mingle and the burgers stiffen up a little.

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high (450°F) heat. Grill burgers about 5 minutes per side, or until the meat hits 160°F internal. Remove from grill and let rest 5 minutes before serving. Top with a dollop of sesame mayo if desired.

The Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars
“Meh,” that’s the sound Owen, our little gray cat, makes when he is unimpressed with my  attempts to entertain him. It’s his way of saying, “Look, nothing personal here. I’m sure it’s a fine stuffed mouse, and you’re doing a heck of a job waving it around, but it’s just not exciting enough for me to get up off my fury butt and bat it around. Sorry.”

That’s how I felt about these burgers. There’s a lot of good stuff in them and tons of flavors to enjoy, but the end result was something less than impressive. Not bad, just not memorable. I might make them again sometime, but it’ll be with a lot more garlic, ginger, and something crunchy like water chestnuts or ground peanuts.

Labor Day is pretty much the end of summer up around these parts. The air is turning light and cool and we’re getting a lot less daylight. I fire up the Big Green Egg mostly year-round, so I’ll still be out grilling, but the days of sitting out on the deck in shorts and t-shirts are numbered.

We were supposed to spend it hanging out with my family, but my dear wife came down with the crud and we were both out of commission for most of the weekend.  I didn’t figure I’d be doing any cooking, but she perked up a bit on Monday and out of the blue asked if I’d make her some ribs.

Sure thing, honey.

I tried a variation on my Express Ribs technique; cooking the ribs hotter and faster, then braising them in foil, and finally finishing them unwrapped. I set the Egg up for a raised, direct cook at 300°F with some apple wood for smoke.

I seasoned a couple of nice racks of baby back ribs with a heavy coat of Tasty Licks Ribit Rub. The ribs went on bone side down for an hour, then I flipped them ribs bone side up and let them go for another hour.

Then I removed the ribs to a sheet of heavy-duty foil and wrapped them up tightly. I did the same thing with a second layer of foil. The ribs then went back on, meat side down, for an hour.

After an hour of braising, I removed the ribs from the foil and tried to put them on the grill bone side down. I got one rack moved over intact, but the other was so done that it had started to fall apart before I even touched it.

I got both racks over to the grill as best I could and sauced them with the new version of my Sticky Hog sauce and let them cook for another 10 minutes. Since flipping them was not an option, I gave them a final coat of sauce and (carefully) moved them off the grill.

I let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
My dear wife LOVED these ribs. I was just happy that she was feeling better, so I sure wouldn’t argue with her. As done as they looked coming out of the foil, I was afraid they’d be mushy or soft. But going with a raised, direct cook meant that they were falling apart tender, but they still had a good bit of bark and some nice chew to them. Perfect way to say goodbye to summer.

The new sauce is a real winner too.

This is another take on the Cherry-Glazed Pork Chops that I “borrowed” from fellow blogger Chris over at Nibble Me This.  I really like mixing pork with fruit. This basting sauce is so easy to whip up but adds a lot of flavor and helps to keep the chops moist.

8 bone-in pork chops
1/4 cup whiskey or bourbon
1 (10.5-ounce jar) Apricot jam (I like Kozlowski Farms with no high-fructose corn syrup or other crap in it.)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder

Set up your grill for a direct cook at 400°F.

Combine everything but the chops in a 9×13 flame-proof pan (a disposable drip pan or old baking pan works great).

When the grill is ready, set the pan on the grate and heat just until it is warmed through and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, but keep warm nearby.

Season the chops with a little seasoned salt on each side and toss on the grill. Cook chops for 2 minutes and then flip. Let them go for another 2 minutes and then move them to the basting pan. Flip to coat both sides.

Return the chops to the grill and cook for another 2 minutes a side to start caramelizing the glaze. Move them back to the basting pan and flip to coat each side. Move the pan (chops and all) to the grill and let everything bubble, flipping often, until the chops hit 135°F internal, about another 2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat. Move the chops to a serving dish and drizzle with the left over glaze. Let them rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
Very tasty chops – moist with a ton of flavor. I like the apricot with the pork and the way the whiskey not only adds its own flavor, but also helps everything blend together.

I didn’t get as much of the sweet/sour thing going with this recipe and might consider adding a little cider vinegar and brown sugar to the next batch.

When we ordered our pig we got some truly tasty ground pork and I wanted to show it off with this rough adaptation of Adam Perry Lang’s Asian Pork Meatball Skewers from his book Serious Barbecue.

The Pork

1 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Sriracha Rooster sauce

Soak 4 flat, wooden skewers in water for an hour.

In a medium bowl, combine the pork, fish sauce, cilantro, garlic, hoisin, ginger, salt, pepper, and Sriracha. Work everything together by hand.

Divide the meat into 4 even portions. Form each portion into 4 or 5 meatball-ish lumps. Slide the lumps onto the skewer and then form them together into a long, thick kabob. Press the meat firmly onto the skewer.

Cover and stash in the fridge until you are ready to grill them.

The Sauce

1/2 cup fish sauce
Juice of 1 lime (about 1/4 cup)
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Sriracha Rooster sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil

Put the sugar 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. Set aside.

The Cook

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high (500°F) heat.

Remove from grill and drizzle with a bit of the sauce. Serve with more sauce on the side.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
I served this over rice with a side of wokked green beans and it was a big hit. Sweet and spicy with a good amount of tang from the lime juice, a huge umami boost from the fish sauce, and a rich pork flavor.

I scaled this recipe back a bit, complexity-wise, from the original recipe. I may have to try it with the full Adam Perry Lang treatment, but these sure didn’t seam to be missing anything on flavor.

Normally when I’m doing pulled pork I use Boston butt, but when we ordered our pig, I made sure ask for the picnic as well. Contrary to their names, these cuts come from the front leg of the pig. The butt is the shoulder and the picnic is the foreleg.

Because these cuts do the hard work of moving the pig around, they have big bones running through them and are full of connective tissue, fat, and multiple muscle groups. Doesn’t sound like anything that anybody in their right mind would want to eat, right? But that’s the joy of barbecue – taking something cheap and chewy and turning it into something tender and tasty.

I had a request from some friends to cook for a small party, so I went with 2 butts (on the right) and 2 picnics. I seasoned them with a healthy dusting of Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy Dust.

Normally when I do pulled pork it’s low ‘n’ slow – 225°F for 16-20 hours until the meat hits 210°F internal and starts to fall apart. But I’ve also had good luck cooking the butts at a higher temp and then finishing them in foil. Due to weather and logistics, I decided to go the hot and fast route this time. I set the Big Green Egg up for an indirect cook at 350°F. This meant filling the firebox with lump and using a plate setter and drip pan to diffuse the heat. When the cooker was up to temp, I added some chucks of apple wood for smoke.

I put the butts on the bottom grate and the picnics on top of the extended grid and let them cook for 5 hours at 350°F, until they had developed a nice dark bark on the outside and had hit 160°F on the inside.

At this point the meat was done, but it was nowhere near tender. To get to tender I needed to break down all of that connective tissue into melty collagen. That’s where the foil comes in.

I set the first hunk o’ pig in the middle of a large jelly roll pan and started to pull it apart using a pair of bear paws. As I do more of these multi-butt cooks, I’ve started to refine my pulling technique a bit. The first pass with the paws was just to remove the bones and any large pieces of fat, and to start to separate the muscle groups.

Then I set up a second pan and started working by hand to to remove all the inedible bits and move just the meat into the second pan. As I did this I started to open up the muscles and separate the meat fibers.

When all the butts and picnics were done (I kept them separate for pulling so that I could compare the difference between the two cuts) I put the meat into a large roaster with a bit of finishing sauce mixed with pan drippings and went through it one more time with the paws to finely shred the meat.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
I saved a bit of the picnic for me (testing purposes, of course) and sent the rest on with our friends. They reported that the reunion went well and everybody liked the pork.

The picnic was good, though a little drier than I would have liked. It had good smoke flavor with a decent amount of smoky, chewy bark. The picnic meat was noticeably different from the butt – darker with more and thicker stands of meat. It didn’t pull as finely as the butt, but seemed moister. I’d definitely try it again, although next time I’d like to try a picnic shoulder (a whole shoulder with the butt and picnic still attached to each other) and do it low n’ slow.

I’ve been wanting to cook ribs, but the weather has been so cool and stormy that it’s been tough to find the time to get them done without getting drenched or blown off the deck.

It looked like I had a good opportunity coming up on Saturday, but I wanted to shorten the the cooking time just in case we had the change plans.  So rather than my usual straight 5 hour cook, I decided to speed things up by going with the 3-2-1 method at a higher temperature.

The 3-2-1 (or in this case 1.5-1-.75) method it is a great way to cook ribs long enough so that they are tender without drying them out. The first number is how many hours the ribs are smoked over indirect heat unwrapped. The second number is how many hours they are cooked after being double wrapped in heavy-duty foil. The final number is how many hours they are finished unwrapped. This combination gives the ribs a smoky flavor, breaks down the toughness of the meat, and adds a final crispy bark.

I had 2 nice racks of baby back ribs that I seasoned heavily with Tasty Licks Ribit Rub courtesy of Fred’s Music & BBQ Supply.

I set up my Big Green Egg for an indirect cook at 350°F (that’s right, three-fifty) – 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 used a chunk of guava wood for smoke.

I arranged the ribs bone side down on the grate, then closed the lid and let the BGE do its magic for an hour. I flipped the ribs bone side up, and let them go for another 30 minutes. Then I removed the ribs to a sheet of heavy-duty foil and wrapped them up tightly. I did the same thing with a second layer. The ribs then went back on, meat side down, for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, I flipped the rib bundle over so it was bone side down and let it go for another 30 minutes.

After their braise in the foil you can see how the meat has really started to pull away from the bone.

After an hour of braising, I removed the ribs from the foil and put them on the grill bone side down. I let them cook for 30 minutes and then started checking for doneness. When ribs are done a slab will start to crack when you pick up one end with a pair of tongs. These were already at that point. All I had to do was look at them hard and the meat would start to pull away from the bone.

I sauced the meat side with Sticky Hog and let them cook for another 10 minutes. I flipped them carefully, sauced the bone side and let them go for another ten. Then I flipped them meat side up and gave them a final coat of sauce and let them cook for a final 5 minutes.

I removed the ribs from the grill and let them rest about 10 minutes before serving tearing into them.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
Despite the short 3 hour and 15 minute cook time, these were some of the most tender and tasty ribs I’ve ever made. The meat had a bit of chewy bark and pulled away from the bone easily, but didn’t fall off in a soggy mess. The Ribit Rub gave the ribs a nice paprika-laden warmth.

I was a little disappointed that the ribs didn’t have more bark and were a little light on smokiness. The smoke I understand – less time in the smoke equals less smokiness. But I thought that the temp would make up for the time on the bark.

Update – The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars: I had a chance to do these again this weekend and used oak and apple wood for smoke. The added wood really bumped up the smokiness. I also switched to Dizzy Pig’s Dizzy dust for the rub, which gave me better bark , but less heat .

I don’t know if I like all the futzing around with the foil, but it’s good to know that if I need to I can crank out some quality ribs in a limited amount of time.

Folks who know me know that I seldom follow a recipe exactly as written. But when fellow blogger Chris at Nibble Me This says that he had a winner of a pork chop recipe, I decided it was best to skip the improvisation and just to straight up copy it .

2 bone-in pork chops
1/4 cup bourbon
1/4 cup dried cherries, diced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme

Set up your grill for a direct cook at 450°F.

Combine everything but the chops in a 9×13 flame-proof pan (disposable drip pans work great here).

When the grill is ready, set the pan on the grate and heat just until it is warmed through and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, but keep warm nearby.

Season the chops with a little salt and pepper on each side and toss on the grill. Cook for 2 minutes (these were some thinner chops) and flip. Let them go for another 2 minutes and then move them to the basting pan. Flip to coat both sides.

Cook for another 2 minutes a side. Move them back to the basting pan and flip to coat each side. Do this one more time, then move the pan (chops and all) to the grill and let everything bubble, flipping often, until the chops hit 135°F internal.

Remove from the heat and let them rest for about 10 minutes.  Serve with the glaze spooned over the top.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
Chris was right – he nailed it. I take zero credit for this dish (other than being smart enough to know a great recipe when I borrow one). Even though the chops were thin, the glaze kept them moist and added that wonderful sweet/tart flavor that goes so well with pork.

I’d make this again with no hesitation, but maybe with a little mustard… Yeah, that’d be nice. And maybe apples instead of cherries? Hmmmm… Maybe a little garlic? And more bourbon for the cook? Why not?

We are lucky enough to have good friends who asked us to go in halvsies on a pastured, organic pig! Both my dear wife and I were raised on locally-grown meat, and we get a little nervous buying that stuff from the supermarket in styrofoam trays, so this was all very exciting for us.

We ended up with just over 100 pounds (2 coolers worth) of chops, roasts, ribs, ham, bacon, and ground pork. Here it is taking up a good portion of our 11 cubic-foot upright freezer.

I just had to fry up some of the bacon right away. I could tell almost instantly that this was real smokehouse bacon because as soon as the pan got warm the whole kitchen smelled like hickory. I cooked it just barely on the crispy side of the crispy/chewy line. Wow! Rich and tender with a substantial meaty taste and just the right amount of salty/smoky goodness.

I’m thinking chops this weekend. Can’t wait.

Now that the weather is nice enough that I actually want to be outside, it’s nice to throw as much of the meal as I can on the grill. This meal is a great example of how you can do both your meat and veggies on the grill and boost the flavor of both.

12 bratwurst
2 medium onions, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup beer
1 tablespoon olive oil
A couple of grinds of back pepper

Set your grill up for a direct cook over medium heat (350°F).

Toss the veggies, oil, and pepper together in a flame-safe pan (I used a foil 9×13 drip pan). Put the pan in the grill and cook, turning often, until the peppers have softened and the onions are getting nice and brown (about 10 minutes). Add the beer and let the veggies simmer in it for about 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the grill and keep warm nearby.

Bump the heat up to about 400°F and toss the brats on. Grill, flipping often, until brats are firm with a just a little char on the ends (about 15-20 minutes).

Remove the brats from the grill and load them into the veggie pan. Arrange so that the brats are partially submerged in the beer and veggie goodness.

Put the pan with the brats and veggies back on the grill and let simmer for a couple of minutes until everything is heat through. Serve with sauerkraut, brown mustard, and some baked beans or potato salad.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
How can you go wrong with brats? Just by themselves they are little porky wonders, but add the beer and roasted veggies and you’ve got a real winner. But the biggest plus was enjoying that for once the weather wasn’t trying to do me in.

This dish is way more Tex than Mex, but it was a lovely way to use up some leftover carnitas. I threw this together in a hurry, so some of the measurements may be approximations ;).

1 1/2 pounds carnitas
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (I used Pamela’s Gluten-Free Baking Mix)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 (4-ounce) can green chillies
1 big handful whole black olives, chopped
2-3 big handfuls shredded “Mexican” cheese (any Colby-Jack blend works fine)
1 handful of pickled jalapeño slices
Glug or 2 of salsa

Pre-heat oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 baking pan.

In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, chili powder, and cumin. Stir to combine. Add the milk, oil, egg, green chillies, and a handful of the cheese. Stir to combine.

Pour half of the batter into the baking pan. Distribute the carnitas in a more or less even layer on top of the batter.

Cover carnitas with the remaining batter. Top with olives, jalapeños, salsa, and the rest of the cheese.

Bake about 45 minutes,  or until the cheese is golden brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

I served it up with some sliced tomatoes and guacamole, and topped it with a little crema and Valentina Salsa Picante.

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
I had zero aspirations for this recipe, other than to use up the tasty carnitas and get a quick dinner on the table. This dish delivered in a hugely non-authentic way. The fat in the carnitas really crisped up the cornbread. Almost like Yorkshire pudding.

Hmmmm, Mexican Yorkshire pudding?!?

I finally got a chance to try out the lovely 4.2 qt Dutch oven that Emile Henry sent me on the Big Green Egg. For its maiden voyage, I decided to try a batch of carnitas. To make these tender, yet crispy bites of porky wonderfulness, you need to provide a nice, even heat while the fat is rendering from the meat. Then after the fat has rendered, you need to reduce the liquid and crisp up the meat.

4 pounds pork shoulder roast (aka Boston Butt)
Juice of 3 oranges (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Set your grill up for a 5 hour cook over indirect heat at 350°F. On the Big Green Egg I used an inverted plate setter with a trivet on it to diffuse the heat and keep the bottom from burning.

While the grill is heating up, cut the pork into big (4 to 6-inch) chunks, discarding any nasty pieces of connective tissue, but keeping all of the fat.

Combine all of the ingredients in a Dutch oven, and stir to combine. Cover the oven with a lid and set it on the grill. Let it simmer for an hour. The hot juice should have started to break down the fat in the meat.

Remove the lid and let it simmer for another hour. Keep checking and stirring once an hour until most of the liquid has evaporated and the pork has started to fry in its own fat (about another 2 hours).  Then check it every 15 minutes to make sure the meat is getting crispy, but not becoming dry or burned. Total cook time for this batch was just over 4 hours.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
I dearly love carnitas, and this batch was one of the better ones I’ve made. Making a smaller batch (just 4 pounds) and cutting the meat into larger pieces gave me a better crisp/tender ratio. There was lots of nice crunchiness, but the meat didn’t break down too much or dry out. Perfect.

The Emile Henry Dutch oven performed flawlessly. The lid sealed nice and tight to keep the heat and juices in for the braising part of the recipe, yet the pot is wide enough to let the liquid evaporate when I wanted to crisp the meat. This is part of their Flame-Top line, so even when the fire got a little too hot at one point, the pot handled being “flame-licked” just fine and provided nice, even heat.

I really like the design of the lugged handles and the knob on the lid. They really fit the hand and it’s easy to get a good grip on them, even while wearing grilling gloves. I’m sure looking forward to more cooks with this great Dutch oven.