Changing the Way America Cooks One Backyard at a Time

Americans are culinary wusses!

It’s true. America is the spice wimp capital of the world.  We produce the mildest, blandest, least interesting food in the world, and then try to disguise that fact by drowning our food in sugar. People swarm to Chinese, Japanese and Mexican restaurants in search of flavor, but even then, once Americans take ownership of these restaurants, the first thing they do is remove all the authentic flavor from the dishes.

You may think I exaggerate, but I recently went to an American “Mexican” restaurant and ordered the grilled fajita taco salad. I received a plate full of lettuce with some lightly seasoned beef, topped with tomatoes and bell peppers. Are you kidding me? I asked the waiter if I could at least get some jalapeno peppers — a Mexican staple and the most popular pepper in the world. The only thing they had was a jar of pickled jalapeno slices. This is for real. A Mexican restaurant that doesn’t have a single jalapeno in the store. Welcome to America.

So this brings me to my tip. When you first start barbecuing or smoking meat, you will likely turn to Google in search of recipes. Be forewarned, the vast majority of these recipes will have you using small quantities of generic spices and then disguise those flavors will large amounts of sugar. For the love of God, don’t go down this road.

Recommendation #1 — The three spices I can’t live without:

Now, you don’t have to use these brands, but for barbecue rubs or even chili seasonings, these flavors make an enormous difference. The dark chili powder has a deep rich, almost cocoa-like flavor. The Chipotle powder and Paprika are both very sweet and smoky flavored. Before you go out and buy the large quantities I’ve shown here, go to your local supermarket or international grocery and buy a small 2 oz. container and give them a try. I won’t have to sell you, I guarantee.

Recommendation #2 — Don’t follow the recipes:

Any recipe that calls for Cayenne pepper, I substitute Chipotle pepper. Try just sprinkling some of this on your deviled eggs. I’m telling you, there is no wrong way to use it. It’s especially true with barbecue rubs, where you are already trying to add smoky flavor to your food, right?

But here’s the curve ball: Almost all American barbecue recipes are written by confirmed spice wimps. I know you’ve seen these recipes. Your following a recipe to make a cup of chili seasoning and it calls for 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. What? This is going to season 2 gallons of chili. 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper in 2 gallons of chili is going to do what? You might as well just omit it. No one would know the difference.

So, yes… I sometime borrow other Americans wimpy recipes, but I always modify them for what I’m doing. Where it calls for chili powder, I’ll use dark chili powder, or I might use Ancho chili powder, depending on the flavor profile I’m looking for. When it calls for paprika, I used the smoked paprika, and when it calls for 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne I’ll substitute with something more reasonable, like 2 teaspoons of Chipotle powder.

Of course, you’ll need to experiment to find your own sweet spot, but don’t be afraid of spices. They are healthy and full of flavor. It’s all the sugar we consume that is extremely unhealthy. You may find that if you infuse your food with enough natural flavor to start with, you won’t find it necessary to add all that sugar, including the ubiquitous “barbecue sauce”. Folks, food doesn’t have to be drowned in liquid sugar to be delicious.

Let’s change the way America cooks, and let’s start in our own backyard.

Ruby Tuesday Dry Rub

This isn’t a “knock-off” recipe. This came directly from the Ruby Tuesday Cookbook. If you don’t already have a favorite dry rub recipe, you might want to give this one a try. Heck, you might want to give it a try anyway.

You can also download a printable PDF of this recipe.

• Servings: N/A
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons Chipotle chili flakes or red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sweet or hot smoked Spanish paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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Notes:

1. To make this a low-carb or “sugar-free” version, use 1 cup granulated Splenda plus 1 Tbsp molasses in place of the brown sugar.
2. I use Chipotle powder instead of Chipotle flakes
3. I usually quadruple the recipe so I don’t have to mix this up every time, but then I do a lot of barbecuing.  You can store this in airtight plastic jars and it will “keep” as long as any other dry spices.  I buy 20 oz. or 24 oz. jars of spices and then save the jars to re-use after they’re empty.
4. IMPORTANT: Dry rub isn’t meant to be sprinkled on gently like table salt.  You cover the meat with it like you would with breading and then rub it in.  I usually rub a little yellow mustard over the meat to help the rub stick and then after adding a thick coat of rub and spreading it out evenly, I cover it with cellophane and beat it with the palm of my hand to pound the spices into the meat.
5. After applying the dry rub, you can wrap in foil and leave in the fridge overnight to let the meat marinate in the rub.  The rub will liquefy like a barbecue sauce and absorb into the meat fibers.  If you’re pressed for time, then apply your rub before lighting the grill or smoker so it has at least 20-30 minutes to sit before going in the smoker.
6. When the meat is nearly done smoking you can start brushing barbecue sauce on during the last 30 minutes if you like, but personally I think adding barbecue sauce to an excellent dry rub just ruins the dry rub — but it’s your meat, do what you like.
7. One final, but important, tip:  If you don’t brine your meat overnight before smoking, you may need to baste it occasionally to keep it from drying out too much.  Of course, if you’re smoking it you don’t really want to be opening the smoker door at all during smoke time.  So what does that tell you?  Always brine your meat before smoking!  If you didn’t (or don’t have time), you may find that laying strips of bacon on the rack above your meat rack will help add flavor and moisture to your meat.

That’s it.  Enjoy! If you make any modifications that you are particularly happy with, let me know about them in the comments. Happy barbecuing.

Doug’s Basic Barbecue Brine

We’ve all been excited for our summer barbecues. We get our chicken or pork chops on the grill, but when they’re done we are less than thrilled. While they have that wonderful smoky grilled flavor, they tend to be dry and tough. The solution is to soak the meat in a brine solution overnight before cooking.

There are other options. If you’re really rushed for time, you can use something like the Cajun Injector to inject the brine solution into the meat. It isn’t quite as effective as an overnight soak in the brine, but it’s better than nothing. With larger cuts of meat such as brisket or pork shoulder, the injection method is probably more effective than the soak; but with chicken, pork chops, tenderloin, etc., nothing beats a good soak in a brine.

This recipe makes about a gallon of brine. You’ll want to adjust it for your particular need.  This isn’t something you make in bulk and store. If I’m cutting a full pork loin into 1 1/4″ thick chops (about 15 pork chops), it takes about a gallon to completely submerge them. If you’re only making a package of 5 or 6 chicken breasts or pork chops, you may only need a quart and a half, to a half-gallon.

You can also download a printable PDF of this recipe.

• Servings: 1 Gal.
• Time: 15 mins
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 15 cups water (1 cup shy of a gallon)
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup granulated Splenda
• 3/4 tbsp. molasses
• 3 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. Chipotle powder
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 3 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until the sugar and salt dissolve.
2. Put meat in a seal-able airtight plastic container or large Ziploc bags.
3. Pour brine solution until meat is completely covered.
4. Seal and refrigerate overnight.
5. After removing from the brine solution, thoroughly rinse the meat before cooking. (Hint: After rinsing the meat, this would be the time to apply your dry rub before taking to the smoker — you will use a dry rub, right?)
6. Use brine immediately after making.

Notes:

1. The vinegar in this recipe acts as a meat tenderizer. Don’t worry, the vinegar will cook out and will not leave any taste effect on the meat. If you prefer, you could use apple juice but it would eliminate the sugar-free “low carb” effect of this recipe.
2. If you don’t care about the “low carb” aspect, you could use omit the Splenda and molasses and use 3/4 cup brown sugar instead.
3. The salt is important. When meat soaks in this brine an osmosis take place and the sodium is absorbed into the meat. The effect of sodium is to retain water, so it’s this process that allows your meat to remain moist and juicy while cooking. Too little salt and this doesn’t happen. Too much salt and your meat tastes too salty. When/if you adjust this recipe try to maintain a ratio of 1/2 cup salt to 1 gallon of liquid.
4. Feel free to experiment with the flavor profile. Add some red or white wine in place of the cider vinegar — or beer or bourbon or lemon juice. The essentials are: 1) an acidic liquid for tenderizing, and 2) the salt for moisture retention. Everything else is a marinade ingredient to add flavor to the meat.
   

Handy Printable Meat & Veggie Cooking-Grilling Chart

For those of you interested in this sort of thing (and who isn’t), here’s a handy printable chart to make your summertime grilling a breeze.

Click photo for high-resolution image

The original image can be found here.  I just reformatted it so that it will better fit standard print formats.

Calculating Cooking/Heating Time Left on a Propane Tank

From the “For What It’s Worth” Department… I came up with this geeky but handy formula for determining how many hours of burning/cooking time you have left on your propane tank (assuming of course you know what your tank weighs empty and you know the BTU rating of your heating element).

( ( ( Current Weight – Empty Weight ) / 4.23 ) * 91500 ) / BTU Rating

You can try it out on my Google Drive Spreadsheet Calculator if you like.