January 2, 2010 · 4:39 PM

Dizzy Dean once said, “It ain’t braggin’ if ya can back it up.”

New Year’s Day we had the best pork we can remember, and I made it (does anyone remember the “Shake ‘n Bake” commercials from 70’s?)! How that’s for braggin’? Well…was it really me, or was it the brine? “We” made a brined pork loin which was absolutely fantastic, and highlighted by great flavoring, incredible moistness and a very evident smoke ring (more later).

As an admitted “brinaholic” I have already dedicated two posts to the process; one on brined turkey and another on brined pork chops. Brining is the process of soaking meat or vegetables in a saltwater and/or seasoned water bath, and has been around for centuries to preserve meats when refrigeration wasn’t available. Brining is best for lean meats such as poultry (chicken, Cornish hens, turkey), pork (roasts, tenderloin, chops) and shrimp that tend to be mild flavored, more easily over-cooked and prone to drying out.

I concocted a “best of” brine New Years’s Eve morning in my new dedicated brining cooler (perfectly sized for a 15 lbs. turkey). The brine included:

2 gallons water
1 12 oz. UFO Hefeweizen (wheat) beer
1 cup kosher salt
3 TBSP molasses
3 TBSP Malabar Table Grind Black Pepper (store brand will work too)
1 TBSP crushed red pepper
4 bay leaves
Ice cubes

A 3 lbs. pork loin was put in the brine for 24 hours. The next afternoon I fired up the trusty Weber kettle grill. The pork was placed center grill at 2:00 with charcoal and coffee wood burning in the side rails. The vents were opened about half way.

I basted the pork at one hour with olive oil. At 1 and 1/2 hours I put the pork in a throw away pan with a 12 oz UFO Hefeweizen. The pan was sealed with aluminum foil and the vents were closed. In another hour I brought the pan inside to allow the meat to rest, as they say. The meat was still warm and moist when I carved and served it at 5:45.

So what is a smoke ring? A smoke ring is a pink discoloration of meat just under the surface crust (called bark). It can be just a thin line of pink or a rather thick layer. The smoke rings is caused by nitric acid building up in the surface of meat, absorbed from the surface. This nitric acid is formed when nitrogen dioxide from wood combustion in smoke mixes with water in the meat. Basically it is a chemical reaction between the smoke and the meat.

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November 26, 2009 · 5:15 PM

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday, primarily due to the absence of commercialism. Granted the “Black Friday” phenomena has recently become a big deal in our consumer-spending driven economy, but each of us has the option to ignore it, without the consequence of being considered a friggin’ scrooge! Plus, we don’t have the bickering over what originated from Christian truths vs. which pagan holidays have had evil influence (where is the Church Lady when needed most?).

Faith, family, friends and food are my focus, and in that order! Consider the Psalms and other scriptures which point to our faithful Creator’s provision. Consider too that family and community are His gifts to us for organization, structure and protection, based solely on unconditional love and sacrifice.

Our immediate families are on the east coast, Chicago and Germany, so we generally holiday together with friends like the Henderson’s (BBQ buddy Lee) right here in plain ole Plano, Texas. Hearing our kids bantering and catching up, and seeing the flow of their friends in and out of the house is really cool, not to mention the aromas associated with cooking, baking and smoking all sorts of food! We start off Thanksgiving Day with sausage gravy and biscuits (fodder for another post), skip lunch and then gorge late afternoon/early evening on turkeys prepared several ways, smoked ham and all the other major food groups.

Lee Henderson’s specialty is smoked ham (previous post) while mine is brined and smoked turkey. The web has many variations of brines posted, but I really like just a few. This year I am doing a modified version of one submitted to “Saveur” magazine. Trust me on this and do the following:

CREATE THE BRINE:
1 cup kosher salt
1 lemon, halved
1 orange, halved
1 onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. ground black pepper
4 juniper berries, crushed
4 allspice berries, crushed

Combine dry ingredients in a 12-qt. pot, or large brining bag. Add 1 1/2 gallons cold water and stir. Squeeze lemons and oranges into the brine and add the squeezed halves. Submerge turkey in brine, breast down. (Weight the turkey down with dinner plates if necessary.) Cover pot with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or store in a cooler with ice. Remove turkey from brine, pat dry with paper towels, and let come to room temperature.

Load up the smoker with a heap of Kingsford charcoal (burns best evenly for extended periods). Once the coals are gray, open the vents all the way, put the bird on the grate over the water pan, add hickory chunks, close her up and get a cup of coffee.

About every hour or so baste the turkey with a mixture consisting of a splash of red wine mixed with olive oil. About eight hours later you have smoked a beautiful bird with absolutely moist, tender and flavorful meat. Enjoy while giving thanks.

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November 14, 2009 · 7:32 PM

Lee’s Ginger Ale Ham

Lee Henderson is my bestest BBQ buddy. We met 15 years ago when our daughters played recreational soccer together in the PYSA, and live five blocks apart in our neighborhood, the Highlands of Plano Prestonridge. Born and reared in Pittsburgh, Lee spends his Sunday’s worshiping and watching the Steelers with fellow fans at The Venue, in Fairview, TX. He is quite handy around the house, in the yard and on the grill. His backyard is known as “Lee World” and he has the cleanest epoxy coated garage floor in the ‘hood.

We traditionally do Thanksgiving dinner at the Henderson house and Christmas dinner at our house. Lee always does a ginger ale ham, while I do a brined turkey. I will chronicle my brined bird in the next update of King of the Que.

Lee starts off with a ten lbs. bone-in butt ham. In a large pot he simmers four two-liter bottles of ginger ale, one cup of brown sugar and a quarter cup of worchestershire sauce. After allowing the mixture to cool, he puts the ham in the mix, and refrigerates it overnight.

The next day he cooks the ham over low, indirect heat on his gas grill for eight, or so, hours. The ham is placed on a grate over top a throw-away serving pan filled with the ginger ale solution (see picture), which also serves as a baste.
lee ham

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October 18, 2009 · 4:23 PM

Chicken Value Meal???

Ah yes! Two young hens from Sam’s or Costco for nine bucks, two oranges, one onion, olive oil, salt, pepper and John Henry’s Pecan Rub are all it takes. Fire up the trusty Weber kettle grill with coals in the side rails, add some hickory chips along the way, and you are in for a real tasty, yet inexpensive, treat!

It took just a few moments to clean out the birds, cube the oranges and cut the onions. I put the birds in a small throw-away roasting pan and stuffed a cubed orange into each one. In between the orange and the breast bone I stuffed in the onion pieces. Next I coated the birds in olive oil, then added salt, pepper and the Pecan Rub.

The birds went on the grill at 2:00 PM, and the top vents open about 1/4 of inch each. It’s about 5:00 PM now and time to retrieve the birds.
IMG_3292IMG_3298

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October 6, 2009 · 6:21 PM

Dean Fearing Steak Redux–this time with Buffalo tenderloin!

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October 4, 2009 · 7:32 PM

Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is the primary ingredient in a “Barbecue Sandwich”, as it were, in the south from Virginia to Mississippi, including Arkansas and Tennessee. Most times the pork is served covered with cole slaw, on a basic hamburger bun. Along with a splash of BBQ sauce you have a killer sandwich! I ate my first barbecue sandwich in the early 60’s at Chip’s Barbecue in Little Rock, Arkansas, which is located on Markham Street next to the now defunct Ben Franklin Five and Dime. While in college we frequented Bill’s BBQ on Broad Street in Richmond for great BBQ sandwiches

Last weekend we attended the “Bikes, Blues and BBQ” festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas following our daughter Ashleigh’s soccer game at John Brown University in Siloam Springs. Fayetteville is usually a thirty-minute trip, but the 45,000 plus motorcycles around and near our destination made it a little longer, not to mention the rednecks in the ‘hemi Dodge with a twelve pack of cheap beer in the bed (that’s a whole ‘nuther story).

After fighting through the crowds on Dickson Street and an extended wait at a greasy steak joint where we enjoyed a couple of cold beers in plastic cups, we headed to the food garden just a few blocks down the hill. There we found pulled pork served on the ubiquitous hamburger bun, next to a heapin’ pile of ‘slaw! Across the midway we purchased home-made potato chips. We washed the whole mess down with bottled water and then moved on to funnel cakes.

Still inspired, yesterday I got a 10 lbs. piece of Boston Butt at Sam’s Club. Upon arriving home at the house, I rubbed it with a mixture which includes:

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

1 1/2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons mustard powder

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

This morning I put the slab of pork in a throw-away pan and covered it with Reynold’s Aluminum wrap. It went in the oven at 250 degrees ten minutes before eleven as we headed out to church. We got home around 1:45 after lunch with friends. I immediately fired up the Weber kettle grill. The pork was placed center grill at 2:30 with charcoal and hickory burning in the side rails. I doused the pork twice a little bit later in the cooking process with Wicker’s Marinade.pulled pork

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September 12, 2009 · 8:54 PM

Wheat Beer Brined Pork Chops

This recipe yields exceptionally moist and tender pork chops, with incredible taste! I learned about brining several years ago during the holidays. Just about every turkey I have made since then was prepared in some variation of a brine.

I used butterflied pork chops for this barbeque endeavor, and chose Wheat Beer instead of the Stout Beer called for in the original recipe. Wheat Beer is my favorite summer evening beverage, especially when poured cold in the right glass, with a slice of lemon. My roots trace back to Scotland, but the Stout Beer just isn’t my bag–too chewy and blehhh.

So let’s go…

Beer Brine
2 cups water
2 cups wheat beer
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 Tb packed brown sugar
3 Tb molasses
1 cup ice cubes
1 lb thick cut pork chops

Garlic Rub
7 cloves minced garlic
3 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt
2 tsp chopped cilantro

Combine water, beer, salt, sugar, and molasses in large bowl. Stir until salt and sugar dissolve. Add ice. Marinate the pork chops in the mix for 4 hours in the fridge. Remove pork chops from beer brine and pat dry. Mix garlic, pepper, salt, and cilantro in small bowl. Rub garlic mixture over both sides of pork chops. Grill pork chops for 10 minutes on each side until cooked through. Let stand 5 minutes.

The garlic may be too much for some palates. I will omit it in the next iteration of this recipe.
pork chopsbeer

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September 7, 2009 · 9:18 PM

Best steak I have ever eaten!!!

I had this steak dish at Dean Fearing’s restaurant a few weeks ago. I tried it at home last Monday, searing and then cooking the steaks on my Perfect Flame gas grill for 15-17 minutes. Although Dean does it better, my son Matt and I agree these steaks are beyond awesome for home cooked food! Don’t shorten the time in the marinade! It works better to cut the meat into portion sizes before marinading–more flavor is imparted in each piece.

Maple Black Peppercorn Filet Mignon

Serves 4

1 cup Maple Syrup

2 tablespoons Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

2 cloves Garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 large Shallot, peeled and finely chopped

1 teaspoon Fresh Sage, finely chopped

1 teaspoon Fresh Thyme, finely chopped

1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

2 pounds Beef Filet trimmed of all fat and silver skin, center-cut

In a small bowl, combine maple, black pepper, garlic, shallot, sage, thyme and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine and pour over the beef filets. Allow the beef filets to soak in this liquid for a minimum of 24 hours. Remove the beef filet from the maple mixture and cut into 8 ounce filets.

Season each filet with salt.

Perfectly pink with crusted, sweet carmelization

Perfectly pink with crusted, sweet carmelization

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September 7, 2009 · 7:32 PM

First try at smoked ribs with Salt Lick dry rub…

Ribs with Salt Lick rub

The Salt Lick is a well known Austin BBQ joint. I bought their tasty dry rub a few weeks ago at our new Market Street store in Plano.

I hit the ribs twice: the night before, and right before grill time. The ribs were cooked over indirect heat on my Weber kettle grill in a coiled configuration for four+ hours. Kingsford charcoal faithfully provided sustained, even heat from the side-rail boxes of the grill, and 10 pieces of hickory were used early on for the smoky flavor.

I learned about the coil configuration on one of Emeril’s early, and cheesy, grill shows. He was drinking homemade lemonade while grilling. What??? No beer or country music while the ribs were cooking??? No wonder he sold out to Martha!

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September 7, 2009 · 2:58 PM

Hello world!

This BLOG is all about barbeque!

bar·be·cue [ brbə ky ] (plural bar·be·cues) or bar·be·que [ brbə ky ] (plural bar·be·ques)

noun
Definition:

1. outdoor party with food cooked outdoors: an outdoor party where people eat food cooked on a grill

2. food cooked on grill: food, especially meat, poultry, and fish, cooked on a grill

3. equipment for cooking outdoors: an apparatus, including a grill and fuel, used for cooking food outdoors

Have fun!

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