Steak Toaster

I was going to save this for the monthly roundup next week, but I just couldn't wait. What the hell is this world coming to? Officially, it's the Steakhouse Indoor Grill. Gizmodo has it right, though, it's a $220 steak toaster if I ever saw one. Oh, wait, I guess I've never seen one until now.

Jeez.

Char-Broil/TEC burners defective??

I just saw this post at about.com about possible problems with Char-Broils relatively new line of TEC infrared burners. I haven't had the opportunity to play with one of these, but I've read some about them and they've gotten good reviews from many industry folks, as well as bloggers. These defective burners could be a real problem for Char-Broil and TEC owners. Take a look at that post and make sure you check your grill for the broken screws.

UPDATE 9/21

Whitetrash was kind enough to post Charbroil's official response in the comments. I'll post it here. Thanks, Whitetrash.

Char-Broil has seen the messages posted on this and other forums regarding failing fasteners used in manufacturing of a limited number our TEC burners. We regret that a few TEC by Char-Broil Series owners have experienced burner performance issues.

Char-Broil wants to assure all TEC Series customers that we will take care of their individual issues and assist them in replacing the complete infra red burner assembly in their grill.
Char-Broil encourages TEC Series owners who have encountered a problem with the fasteners to call 1-888-430-7870 to receive a new TEC stainless steel burner assembly from Char-Broil.

Our TEC Consumer Services line will be open 7 days a week from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM EST. One of our customer service agents will be happy to assist you and a warranty service kit will be shipped out at no charge via priority 2nd day air shipping.

We stand behind the safety and performance of our products and make it a priority to respond to our consumer’s needs and concerns.

Good for Charbroil for making good on their product.

Grilled Pork Loin

Better later than never, I guess. I actually cooked this on labor day. It was a pretty busy week and I didn't get a chance to put it up. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!!

We cook pork loin fairly often. Everytime I take a meat run I pick up a whole loin. I'll cut most of it into chops but I always leave a third to a half of it whole for a nice roast. I used to smoke these all the time (still do, occasionally), but I've found that I like to do them indirect on the kettle a little better. They're lean, so they cook better at a little bit higher heat, and they'll cook quicker on the kettle, too. I start by scoring the top of the loin and sprinkling with kosher salt and cracked pepper.

Like I said, loins are pretty lean, so I top them with bacon when I cook them. The bacon fat will render and kinda baste the loin as it cooks. Besides, smoked/grilled bacon is fantastic!!

We decided to cook some veggies in foil on the grill since it would take 45 minutes or so to cook the loin. In a bowl I added just enough Italian dressing, salt, and pepper to coat the veggies. Use whatever kind of veggies you like, but this time we used onions (red and white), mushrooms, squash, and zucchini. Make a boat out of foil and just wrap the veggies in there to cook.


You can see that I put the charcoal all on one side of the kettle this time (instead of on both sides; scroll down for example) I did this simply because I needed a little bit more room for the big pile of veggies. It will cook the same either way.


I cook my loins to 150 degrees, then pull them off the grill to rest. The temp will continue to rise a bit and will end up between 155 and 160 degrees. I let them rest at least 15 minutes before slicing. The bacon usually ends up a little better looking than this. It was pretty thin, so it curled up as it cooked. It was still mighty good, though.


In addition to veggies, we baked a couple potatoes. Instead of the usual butter, sour cream, etc. we went with cheese and salsa. It was some might fine eats, if I do say so myself.

Pork Steaks

I realized today that I've only posted about pork steaks once, when I posted about my maple bourbon pork chops. I never saw pork steaks for sale until I move from Nebraska. You just don't seen them in North Carolina or South Texas. I guess all the shoulders there are cooked for pulled pork or cut as country style ribs. I usually cook these over direct heat for a couple minutes per side and then finish them indirectly, especially if they're cut thick. I used my all purpose BBQ sauce (bottom of the post) on one of these so I added two coats of the sauce at the end of the cook and cooked it over direct heat just long enough not to burn the sauce.


As you can see, I ate some of the sauced and nonsauced steaks and they were equally good. The missus made the corn and broccoli salad again (we do it a lot in the summer), but she also made a new squash casserole that was very good.

Squash Casserole

• 2 pounds yellow squash, sliced
  
• 1 onion shopped
• 1 cup water
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 8 ounces sour cream
• 1/4 melted butter
• 1 box of chicken flavored stuffing mix

Boil the squash and onion until tender. Stir the squash and onion (including liquid) in with the remaining ingredients. If the mixture isn't very liquid you may not need a whole box of stuffing mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes ore so until the casserole is browned over.

Country Style Ribs with Weber's Sweet and Tangy Rub

Not to get on a Weber's rub kick or anything, but I followed up last weeks pork chops with some country style ribs using the same Weber's sweet and tangy rub. I wouldn't normally post this up, but the sweet and tangy rub went with the country style ribs much better than the pork chops. It took to the indirect grilling much better than the direct heat. In fact it was very, very good on the country style ribs. I'd try Lawry's or brining before I'd use the sweet and tangy rub again.

Of course I had to cook up some hot Italian sausages while I was at it.

Pork Chops with Weber's Sweet and Tangy Rub

I hardly ever buy commercial rubs or spice blends anymore, but as you've read, I do keep Lawry's around and use it mainly on pork. Mrs. Hog and I were walking through our local Wally World (Wal-Mart) last week and I noticed the Weber spices in the spice isle. I've been wanting to try some new stuff and decided on the Sweet and Tangy seasoning. I just did some pork chops directly on the grill. Be careful grilling over direct heat when you use a rub with a lot of sugar in it (like this one). What I do is sear both sides of the chop and then finish them up with indirect heat. The rub was pretty good, but seemed to be lacking something. I like the sweet/tangy mix alot, though. I have a very spicy rib rub that I use with a super sweet glaze that I really like. Anyway, I may try to make a rub similar to this one....I just have to figure out how I want to tweak it.

Mrs. Hog made a corn and broccoli salad that was delicious. I think she got this base recipe from one cookbook or another, but she doesn't remember which one. She makes this fairly regularly and no two are quite the same. Just use whatever you have in the fridge/pantry and it'll turn out great.

Corn and Broccoli Salad recipe:

• a head of broccoli
• small red onion
• a cup of corn (fresh or frozen)
• 1/3 cup of cheese
• 1/4 cup bacon bits
• dressing:
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  

Remember that all those amounts are approximate...use whatever you have. We've done a balsamic vinegar based (no mayo) dressing with this, also.

Portabella Mushroom "Burgers"

Ok, this is as far from BBQ as you can get, but I thought I'd share anyway since it was pretty good. Mrs. Hog has had a portabella mushroom burger a couple times at a restaurant and when she saw the mushrooms on sale she just had to have one.

Alright, tangent time. How in the hell is one supposed to spell "portabella" anyway. I'm seeing portabella and portobello....anybody?

Anyway, we decided to grill them up with some zucchini and they were great. You might have noticed that I've cooked a lot of zucchini lately. They are coming into season in the the gardens of south central Nebraska right now and both my secretary and my boss are trying to unload them at work. I'll take all the free produce I can get.

We did a balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper marinade on the mushrooms. I'm using the term marinade loosely here. We only "marinated" them for about 10 minutes because you don't want them to get soggy.


We did the zucchini in Italian dressing like I've done before, except we cut them into wedges. That turned into a bad idea. They were hard to turn on the grill and the point of the wedge would get stuck down into the grill great. I'll be cutting them flat from now own. They were good, though.

Pork Chops: Lemon Soy Marinade

I tried out a new marinade on Saturday night. We pulled some chops out of the freezer on Saturday morning and I decided I needed to try something different. I had kinda gotten in a rut with my chops. The last several times I've cooked them I used some variation of these chops using Lowry's Seasoned Salt.

I scoured my cookbooks for something new and decided on a soy sauce/lemon juice marinade from Tarantino's book (link in sidebar).

Marinade:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• zest and juice from one lemon
• I added a little extra lemon juice (maybe a tbsp) because it didn't look like enough
  
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• I probably added a bit more than 2 teaspoons. I was at the end of a bottle and just added it without measuring.
  
• 1 clove of garlic
  
• 1/4 cup canola oil
  

Run everything through a blender or food processor.

I marinated these for about 5 hours turning them once during that time. The chops came out fantastic.


I cooked corn and zucchini on the kettle as well. The zucchini will not take long to cook, so put it on right as the chops are finishing. Slice the zucchini lengthwise, coat with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. It will only take a couple minutes per side on a hot fire.

Chicken Halves With White BBQ Sauce

Well, I meant to have this and another post up late last week, but had some technical difficulties with my laptop where I had these pics stored. Better late than never, I guess.

I really like doing chicken indirectly on the kettle. Sometimes I like to do a white BBQ sauce with this chicken. A lot of folks haven't heard of white BBQ sauce, but it hails from Decatur, Alabama at Bib Bob Gibson's BBQ. I haven't had the pleasure of eating there, but it's on my to do list. Their family recipe is all over the internet, but I used a simple version that I actually like a little better. I need to make theirs again sometime and reduce the amount of lemon. Anyway here is my very simple white sauce recipe:

• mayonaisse
• apple cider vinegar
• Add enough vinegar to cut the mayo. The sauce should just coat the back of a spoon
• cracked black pepper (to taste)
• cayenne pepper (to taste)

As you can see, this is a very simple recipe, but the family really likes it. Here is a pic of the sauce and the bird.



I understand that at Bib Bob's they dunk the chicken in a 5 gallon bucket of sauce. I obviously don't make that much at one time. I just spoon it over the chicken as I eat it. This way your guests can control the amount of sauce they use as well.

My Apologies

I must apologize for my lack of posts in the last month or so. We've had a sudden illness and death in the family and I've been doing a lot of traveling since the first of May. My father was diagnosed with leukemia on the 4th of May and passed away on the 31st at the age of 58. He was a hell of a man and introduced me to the joys of outdoor cooking at a very young age. He was a man of faith and I know he is with the Lord.

I have several posts in various stages of completion, so I should be back to posting regularly. I did some spring cleaning on the smoker the weekend before Dad wad diagnosed so I'll be posting that soon. I should be doing a lot of cooking going forward, also. I did grill some country style ribs and sausages last night.

Cowboy Lump

I have always heard very bad things about Cowboy Lump. I have had a seriously hard time finding lump charcoal here in south-central Nebraska. I thought Kingsford lump (which I hate) was my only option until a ran across Cowboy at the local Ace Hardware. I decided to give it a try. The NakedWhiz is a fantastic site where you can see reviews on most brands of charcoal. My opinion is similar to theirs, in that I think Cowboy is OK, but far from ideal. I used B&B when we lived in TX and it's much better than Cowboy. However, Cowboy will do in a pinch and it is better than Kingsford.

The fact that is made from construction scraps doesn't bother me at all. They use end pieces presumably from wood going into the flooring and cabinet making industries. I've used two bags of it now and occasionally you find a piece of tongue and groove wood. I have found one piece of wood that wasn't carbonized (in the picture below), but that isn't too bad out of two large bags. I didn't realize until now, but the picture I took underestimates the average size of the charcoal pieces. The average size is probably closer to the large piece in the picture. There was surprisingly little dust in the two bags that I've used. My biggest gripe, by far, is that it burns up so quickly. The best thing about it is that it produces very little ash.

Saturday Night Grilling 4-28-07

I hadn't planned on posting about my supper on Saturday night, but I cooked the whole meal on the ol' kettle. That is always fun for me. On the menu was thick cut (one inch) boneless pork chops, corn on the cob, and asparagus. I went all minimalistic on the prep for the whole meal.

Corn: Rub with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

The corn will take the longest. Some people like to cook them in the husks or in foil, but I like to put them directly on the grill. I like to put them over the coals and turn every couple minutes to get a little char on it. Then I put them on the cooler side of the grill for 20-30 minutes depending on how big they are.

Chops: Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Garlic powder, and cracked black pepper; all to taste.

The chops will go on next and cook them like you always would. These were thick, so they took 4 or 5 minutes per side on the hot part of the grill. On a side note, I cook my boneless chops hot and fast to sear the outside. I don't measure the temps in mine, but I'm sure they end up at 150ish or so. The temp will rise a little when you take them off, so if you take them off at 160 they will be overdone by the time you eat them. Let them rest for 10 minutes or so before you cut into them. By the time you get inside, finish up with the drinks, set down and have the blessing, they'll be ready to go.

Asparagus: Coat with olive oil, salt, pepper, a little garlic powder, and some balsamic vinegar.

The asparagus won't take long and do burn easily, so I put them on last. Again, I like to put them over the coals to char them up a little, then put them on the cooler part of the grill. Cook them to whatever tenderness you like. We like ours a little crunchy, so 5 minutes is about right.


The finished product!!!

Charcoal vs. Gas Grilling

I recently told you that I'm considering buying a new gas grill after many years of cooking exclusively over coals. I gave you a couple reasons why I'm thinking of adding a gasser to my arsenal, but I thought I would expand on it a little. Hopefully this will help some folks that are buying their first grill, or looking to expand their collection. It's odd for me to think of somebody buying their first grill. I grew up with tongs in hand since my Dad is an avid griller. He doesn't smoke a lot, but we did have an unmodified ECB and turned out some good food on it. I guess since I learned through observing my Dad that it just comes kinda natural to me. I do know folks that couldn't cook a decent hamburger or hotdog if their life depended on it....and I think that is a cryin' shame.

So, here are my pros and cons for Charcoal vs. Gas.

Gas

• Pros
• Convenience--Once you figure out the right settings for what you're cooking, it's almost set it and forget it. No charcoal to worry about. No real mess, although you should clean the grill grate after every use.

• Inclimate weather--If it's nasty outside (cold, rainy), just crank up the gass and let it roll. You can definately spend more time inside where it's comfortable instead of outside tending the fire.

• Time--You can get your grill up to temp super-fast. No lighting charcoal and coming back a half hour later to start heating up the grate.

• Cons
• Flavor-- I'll cover this more in the "Pros" for charcoal, but I don't think gas can match the flavor of charcoal.
  

• No smoke!!-- This is the reason the flavor is different with gas.
  

• Stigma-- Be real....how cool is it actually light a match and play with burning coals instead of just mashing a button to get your fire.
  

Charcoal

• Pros
• Flavor-- Again, I think food cooked on charcoal tastes better. Especially if it's cooked using lump charcoal. And it's easier to add wood to a charcoal fire compared to a gas fire, too. If you've read my brining posts up to this point you know that I add wood to my indirect cooks all the time. If I was doing it on a gas grill I would have to mess around with foil pouches and wood chips instead of just dropping a couple chunks of hickory onto the coals.
  

• Versatile-- With a little experience you can easily cook anything on charcoal. it's easy to cook directly or indirectly and it's easy to add smoke or not.
  

• "Manley"-- The opposite of the "stigma" of gas...uggg, me cook meat on fire..ugg. ;)
  

• Cons
• Messy-- Cooking with charcoal can be messy. You've got to deal with the charcoal and dust beforehand and you've got all that ash to deal with afterward. This is just something you have to get used to. If you use lump charcoal you'll cut down on the ash considerably.
  

• Time consuming-- Like I said in my "wish list" post, this is my biggest thing right now. One thing I do during the week is light a chimney of charcoal as soon as I get home. By the time I go and change clothes and play with the girls for a minute the coals are getting close to being ready.
  

• Fire management-- While playing with the fire is one of the most fun parts of cooking, it can be frustrating, especially for beginners. With experience, though, this becomes less of a "Con"
  

Well, now you know what I think about grilling with gas vs. charcoal. I really do think there is a place for both on your patio. I prefer charcoal, but can appreciate the benefits of a gas grill. But, if I had to choose only one, it would definitely be charcoal...hands down.

Maple Bourbon Brine, Part II

I promised awhile back to follow up on my maple bourbon brine post. I had some brine from the previous cook that I didn't use, so I stuck it in the freezer for future use. I pulled it out last weekend and brined 4 2-inch boneless pork chops for about 6 hours. I cooked them like I did in the first post; indirect for 30 minutes or so and a minute or two on each side over hot coals to finish them off. They were fantastic....better than the thin chops from before, but about equal to the pork steak. In my admittedly limited experience with brining, it seems to me that thicker cuts do better.

Citrus-Brined Boneless Chicken Breasts

Well, I decided to break away from Tarantino's cookbook a little on my next brining recipe. The results were mixed. Overall the chicken was good, but it was a little salty and not quite citrusy enough. I'll tell you what I did, then at the end I'll tell you what I plan to do to fix it.


The ingredients

• Two quarts of water
• 1/2 cup of kosher salt
• The zest and juice of two oranges, two lemons, and two limes. These made about a cup and a half of juice
• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
• 3 spring onions (including greens)
• handfull of cilantro
  

I forgot the salt until after I took the pic

This is a handy little zester that I stole from my wife. Only make one pass over the fruit. You want the oil out of the skin, not the white stuff underneath.

You can see that this made a lot of brine for the 6 big chicken breasts that I brined. You can cut the recipe or save some of it for later if you don't need it all. Bring the brine to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Cool to room temp, then move to the fridge and cool to 40 deg. I brined these breasts for about 5 and a half hours.


Set up your grill for direct cooking. For boneless breasts I usually put one thick layer of coals so I can cook em' hot and fast. After reading a post on The Smoke Ring I was worried about them being too salty, so I rinsed them, patted them dry, and added some fresh cracked pepper before putting them on the grill.


The finished product!! Like I said, they were good, but not great. They were a little two salty and the other ingredients didn't come thru as well as the other brines I have tried. They were extremely juicy. The texture was good, so I don't think I grossly over brined them.



The fix-- I'm going to try this again because I really like the flavors attached and I think they will work great for boneless chicken. Next time I'm going to add one each of the fruits and I'm going to double the onion, cilantro, and brown sugar. I'm also going to run all of the solid ingredients thru the food processor similar to the other chicken brine I used to release all those flavors better. Then I'm going to brine them a maximum of 3 hours to cut down on the saltiness. I'll let you know how it works.

I'm beginning to like this brining thing: Brined Chicken Halves

The maple bourbon pork chops were such a success I decided to try some brined chicken. This brine recipe also came from "Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures, and Glazes" by Jim Tarantino. I cooked them over indirect heat in the kettle like I always do.


The Ingredients


-2 quarts water
-1 cup chopped sweet onion
-6 cloves of garlic
-1/2 cup kosher salt
-1/2 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
-1 tbsp thyme
-1 tbsp chopped rosemary
-1/4 cup fresh ground black pepper
-1 tsp paprika
-1 tsp cumin seeds
-3 bay leaves

For this recipe put the onion, garlic, and a cup of water into a blender or food processor and blend it until you've got a uniform texture (almost liquid). Add that to the rest of the water and ingredients and boil the entire mixture, then simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Cool to room temp then put it in the fridge to 40 degrees. Add the chicken and brine it for 8 to 10 hours.

For this I bought a whole chicken. I buy a lot of whole chickens because they are so cheap (This one was 4 bucks, I think). I guess a lot of folks don't know what to do with a whole chicken, so the grocery stores and butchers cut them up for you and charge a premium. Anyway, if you've never cut up a chicken, or anything else for that matter, just buy one and hack away at it. You're not gonna hurt it....it's already dead!!

I halved the chicken for two reasons: 1) I prefer to cook chicken halves over indirect heat (or sometimes smoked) as opposed to beer-butt chicken...this is just personal preference, and 2) It was easier to brine them in a shallow container. If you'd rather do brined beer-butt chicken, go for it. I'm sure it'll be great. Halving the chicken is easy to do with just a good pair of kitchen shears. Just cut out the backbone, then one cut on the other side to separate the breasts.


Set up your grill for indirect grilling. I used hickory again. Be careful with the wood. The chicken skin really takes in the smoke. I make sure my wood chunks are burning nicely before I cover the Kettle. Right before you're ready to cook, dab the brining solution off of the chicken with paper towels. I then put a light coating of peanut oil on the skin and sprinkled with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.


The Finished Product!! I've cooked a lot of chickens this way in the past, without the brine, and they have turned out fantastic. However, this chicken was probably the juiciest I've ever cooked and the skin was some of the best I've done, too...bite thru crunchy. I'm not sure if the skin was a direct result of the brine or not, because I've gotten crunchy skin in the past, but not consistently. Some investigation is in order......




I'm heading to beautiful Des Moines, Iowa bright and early in the morning on business for a few days. I'll be online some, but it'll be late in the week before I'm able to post anything. Have a great week!!

My "BBQ" wish list

Now that you've seen what I'm cooking on these days you may be wondering what I wish I was cooking on. Don't get me wrong, I love my Kettle and Chargriller, but I'd like to improve my equipment eventually. The Kettle, however, I will never be without. Right now, I have two different wants when it comes to my cooking: a gas grill and a trailer smoker.

Now, don't get yourself in a tizzy. Yes, I said gas grill. I know some folks think they're made by the Antichrist and it has been years since I owned one, but I'm reconsidered for two reasons. One, it is frickin' cold in Nebraska in the wintertime. With a gas burner I can go out and cook with a minimal time investment. I wouldn't have to mess with charcoal, etc....I can just go out and cook. Secondly, I really need something quick during the week. Mrs. Hog and I are trying to sit down for supper with our oldest daughter (20 months old) on most nights. She needs to eat between 5:30 and 6 so she can have her bath and wind down before her normal bed time (7-730). I get home between 5 and 5:30 most days, so that doesn't leave me a lot of time to do any cooking. With a gasser I could get home and cook up some chops or chicken breasts in no time. So, what do I want/need in a gas grill right now. Well, I'd love to have a super-duper massive stainless steel grill.....but I don't really need (and shouldn't really spend that kindof money) on one of those grills. I'm seriously considering this Brinkmann from Wal-Mart:



It's got the four burners so I could do some indirect stuff if I want too. Although I'll probably still use my kettle for most of that. It's got the side burner, which a lot of folks say they don't use much. I think I'll get my money's worth out of it, though. Mrs. Hog has threatened to force me into using my turkey fryer for some of my sauces and brines because they tend to smell up the house a bit. I don't really like the porcelain-coated cast iron grate that it comes with (Why on earth would you "coat" cast iron). I'd rather have just cast iron or stainless. With a $300ish pricetag, it's doable in the short term (months, not weeks). I'm going to do some more looking around, but I'll let you know when/if I pull the trigger.

Now, for what I'm really Jonesin' for...a trailer cooker. Specifically, I want the Fat50 from Diamond Plate Products:


There are many reasons why I want this particular cooker, not the least of which is that Travis posts occasionally on The Smoke Ring and is a genuinely nice guy. The folks that post on the Ring just rave about this cooker. I'll let you check out the site for info. Do I need that much space? Well, no. Do I need a trailer I can move around? Well, no. Would I enjoy something like this? Well, yes. Would I put something like this to good use? Hell, yes!!!

This is, of course, a significant investment and it won't happen for awhile. I'll probably pick up a Weber Smokey Mountain (as a compliment to the Chargriller, not a replacement) before I get the Fat50.

My first attempt at brining: Maple Bourbon Pork Chops

I've cooked a lot of meat in my relatively short lifetime, but until a couple of weeks ago I had never brined anything. Sure, I've marinated lots of stuff, but those in the know, know that it is not the same thing. I've never really felt the need to brine because I've cooked practically all cuts of beef, pork, and poultry at one time or another and been satisfied with the results. But, boy, am I glad I decided to give it a try!! If you want the basics of brining, check out this excellent write-up. This Maple-Bourbon brine came out of the cookbook, "Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures, and Glazes", by Jim Tarantino (Link in sidebar). These turned out great and I'll do another brine or two straight out of the book. Then I'll start tinkering with recipes once I get the fundamentals down.


The Ingredients

-3 quarts of water
-1/2 cup kosher salt (I used Sea salt cause the G-store didn't have kosher)
-3/4 cup maple syrup (the only "maple" syrup I could find was only 25% maple)
-1/2 cup bourbon (gobble, gobble)
-1 tablespoon ground mustard
-1 bay leaf
-1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-1 tablespoon chopped rosemary


Bring all the ingredients to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes or so. Let the brine cool to room temp and then refrigerate until 40ish degress before adding the meat to it. Never put something this large into your fridge hot or you'll raise the temperature of the fridge too much.


Completely cover the chops (and pork steak) with the brine. The fat in the pork steak made it float a little. I just turned the container over every couple of hours so the brine would penetrate evenly. Brine for a total of 5 to 6 hours.


Set your grill up for indirect grilling. I always add a couple chunks of hickory when I grill indirect (unsoaked--I never soak my wood). I used kingsford because I'm having a hard time finding Lump in South-Central Nebraska (we just moved here). These cooked about an hour indirect, then I cooked them over the coals for a minute or two on both sides.


The finished product! The bottom one was just grilled because Mrs. Hog wasn't sure she would like the bourbon brine...I can't believe she doubted me. They were delicious and Mrs. Hog love the brined ones. Especially the pork steak. The chops were good, but they were a little too thin (1/2 inch). I didn't need all the brine that I made, so I froze it. I'm going to buy a whole loin soon and try it on some thicker (1 inch +) boneless chops. I'll let you know how they turn out.


And just to show you that I eat vegetables, too (in moderation, of course), here is the final plate. Mrs. Hog made a new recipe for tater salad and some sautéed whole peas topped with cashews. It was a great meal.

What is BBQ?

Growing up in rural North Carolina, BBQ to me was one thing: pork. It may have been from slow roasted shoulders or from a whole hog, but it was pork. It may have been pulled or chopped, but it was pork. It also had a vinegar-based sauce on it, but that's a whole other discussion. Now, BBQ to me is anything that is slow-cooked with real smoke. It could be a pork butt, a whole pork shoulder, a whole hog, a brisket, chickens of any persuasion...hell, even a fatty and atomic buffalo turds (ABTs) qualify...sorta. As long as it is slow-cooked using real smoke, it counts as BBQ to me. On a side note, if you don't know what a fatty or ABTs are, stick around, I'll post on them eventually.

Lots of folks will disagree with me on this, but that is the way I see it. Shoot, we can't even agree as to how to spell BBQ....barbeque, barbecue, Bar-B-Que, BBQ, etc. You know, some folks say they are cooking insert any meat here on the barbecue (barbie for our down-under friends) this weekend....or, let's have a barbecue this weekend. You won't here me using the term "BBQ" in that way, but to each his own. I don't let the semantics bother me much. I will spend an equal amount of time on this blog talking about grilling recipes, techniques, etc. that don't qualify as BBQ in my book. I've been trying some new (new to me anyway) things on the ol' Weber Kettle lately that I'll be posting up in the weeks to come.

So, in short, if it's cooked slowly with real smoke I call it BBQ. But if it is cooked outside using charcoal and/or wood, I'm all for it, whether I call it BBQ or not.

The Arsenal

As one of my first posts, I thought I would show you what I'm cooking on. I don't use the fanciest equipment, but you know what they say: "It ain't the pit that makes the BBQ, it's the pitmaster". You may have heard that saying put a little differently, but it's true. You can make fantastic Q in a hole in the ground. You don't have to have thousands of bucks work of equipment. Here is what I'm currently using:

WEBER KETTLE

Brined chops and a pork steak (I'll post the recipe soon)

Everybody should own a Weber Kettle, in my opinion. They are by far the most versatile grills there are. I guess that is why there are so many knockoffs on the market. Some of the knockoffs probably work as well (or close to it), but I don't want to go thru a few of them to find out. Right now I do most of my direct and indirect grilling on the Kettle. If I need more space I go with my bigger cooker....

THE CHARGRILLER SMOKIN' PRO

I have made lots of good Q on the Chargriller (go to Lowe's if you want to buy it...you'll save a little cash) and would recommend it to anybody. However, cookers in this price range tend to need some modifications to make them work properly, and the Chargriller is no exception. Here is a list of the mods that I have done.

• Extend the smokestack--When new, the smoke stack only extends an inch or so into the cooking chamber. This doesn't allow the smoke and heat to circulate well in the chamber.
  
• Add a good thermometer--The stock thermometer is junk. I added one from BBQ Galore.....unfortunately my "good" thermometer is not working right, so I'm using the Maverick remote thermometer now.
• charcoal baskets--I bought two of these from Chargriller, but you could make your own or come up with a similar solution. The problem is that with the stock charcoal grate sets too low in the firebox. The ash generated from the charcoal/wood tends to snuff the fire out. By raising the coals a bit you get more airflow and a hotter fire.
  
• Baffle--If you don't have some kind of baffle the end of the cooking chamber closest to the firebox gets way to hot while the other end is just about right. Some folks add a baffle made out of sheet metal to their Chargriller to deflect the heat out of the firebox. Because I like to grill on mine sometimes, I just turn the charcoal pan upside down and put in to the highest setting when I smoke.
• Warmer Plate--Again, I bought it from Chargriller, but you could make your own if you wanted too. This isn't a must, but it's nice to have to heat up/cook sauces, beans, etc.

This was pre-mods (in 2004)

You can see the stack extension, warming plate, and upside down "baffle"

Charcoal baskets

You should be able to see the mods in the pics. If you have any questions about them, leave a comment.

THE ANCIENT ONE

This is an ancient electric grill that I stole borrowed from my Dad. I ripped the guts out of it and used charcoal to cook hundreds and hundreds of hamburgers and hotdogs on it when tailgating for NC State football games (GO STATE!!). Sadly, the grate is burned through and it's relegated to burning down charcoal from time to time.



THE ARKANSAS ASSASSIN

This is what my buddy, Junior, was cooking on until I gave him my old El Cheapo Brinkman (ECB).



That reminds me. I need to post about the ECB. Don't buy one until you've read my post about it or get in touch with me (comments). They are doable, but, again, need to be heavily modified (more so than the Chargriller).