Memorial Day Is Grilling Day

For whatever reasons Memorial Day has always meant cookouts! Growing up we called them BBQs even though it was HOT coals on a grill cooking....no CHARRING burger meat over about 600 degrees of heat. I recall the summer air wrapping you like a blanket while playing baseball and feeling the first summer sweat beads roll down the forehead. Returning home from the field to the smell of freshly oiled leather from the baseball glove, flowers and trees in bloom and yes the fluid and coals burning black smoke while to coals caught fire and worked to a smolder. Looking back I have fond memories but at the same time I can honestly say we have come a long way. What was always charred burgers and hot dogs has turned into smoked meats, ribs, and beer can chicken.

This weekend even though we will be camping, the Weber will be in tow and the delights that will come off of it will bring new smells of memories and moments that my kids will think about in their future. It makes me wonder what they will do to one up me when they are older and prepping for their Memorial Day festivities. I will be going with the pork...yes the same pork that was made with the last blog. It is a crowd favorite and since it was requested, I cannot disappoint! I must make the pork! In order to change it up a little though I will also smoke some chicken wings over apple wood (my wood of choice). This one is an easy one!

Smoked Hot Wings
Chicken Wings (drumettes if you can find them)
William Sonoma Smoke House Rub
EVOO
Butter
Franks Original Red Hot hot-sauce

Spread out your chicken wings. Drizzle them with olive oil and then sprinkle the rub over the chicken wings. Use a moderate amount of rub but not to much! Put the chicken in a large zip-lock bag and squeeze out the extra air when sealing the bag. Put that bag in the fridge because we are not cooking these till tomorrow!
The next day take your wings out of the fridge about an hour before you cook them, soak your apple wood chips and set up the grill for indirect cooking. You want all the coals on one side of the grill so that you can get to about 300 degrees of heat. While the grill is getting to the proper heat, make the sauce. This is simple, equal parts of butter and hot-sauce. Bring it to a simmer and let it thicken just a bit stirring often. Back to the grill. Place all your chicken wings on the opposite side of the grill away from the heat. Add the apple wood chips to the coals and cover the Weber (top vent just over 1/2 closed, bottom vent wide open). Cook for 30 minutes. When done put the wings in a large bowl and pour the hot-sauce mixture over the chicken wings. Toss the wings to coat evenly and serve. These wings are very good. A spicy, tangy summer time kick-off treat!

So go out and grill, BBQ, smoke something this weekend! There is nothing more American than cooking over open fire outside. Thank a soldier that we can continue to cook like this....or any other way we want to!

Happy Memorial Day!!

Beat the Clouds By Makin' Smoke!

Today was a blue day. A cloudy, dark, downer of a day. It took everything out of me to just function today. There was no special reason for it, just one of those days. I knew there was only one way to beat it...WITH SOME BBQ!! I created my own blue clouds of smoke....billowing out of the grill! As an FYI, blue smoke, white smoke is good when BBQing. Darker colors are not good....they mean soot and soot means bitter hunks of all kinds of nasty when you are done!

One of my favorite recipes is taken from Steve Raichlen, the creator of BBQ-U...which by the way I am starting to take donations so that I can save tuition money to go for a week to the BBQ-U classes....so send me your money!! :). Anyway, the recipe has a decent amount of setup time. I am going to post Steve Raichlen's recipe for you today. I have made a few changes but they are solely based on personal choice of what flavors I like to stand out. When I make this recipe I actually start the night before so that I can get a good layer of rub on the pork and let it really sink into the meat. Another great trick is to get a layer of mustard on the pork to work as an adhesive for the rub. The yellow mustard will not only help the rub adhere to the meat, the vinegar in the mustard will tenderize the meat as it sits. Once you have the mustard and the rub on the meat, wrap it in Saran and Foil and put it in the fridge over night. One warning I will give you on this recipe is that I find it to be very salty as it is listed so I cut the salt in half. I also have tweaked the BBQ sauce a bit but this is the basis for the sauce that I use in competition BBQs.

Here are a few pics of today's feast:
1. This is the bacon wrapped pork ready to hit the grill

2. Here the pork has it's first glazing

3. And here is the meal plated with the homemade BBQ sauce, sweet potato and coleslaw

Now here is the recipe....You can actually put this completely together the day before you cook it and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Pull it out of the fridge an hour before it goes on the grill so that it gets to a good cooking temperature before it hits the grill.


Adapted from: BBQ USA
Method: indirect grilling
Serves: 6

• 1 center-cut piece or pork loin (2-1/2 to 3 pounds)
• (I like to use a 1/2 of the giant pork loin you can get from COSCO)
• 3 tablespoons Tennessee whiskey
• 2 tablespoons of Cold Mountain Rub (see below), or your favorite barbecue rub
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 4 slices bacon 
• 4 slices nothing!! I use a whole pound!!!
• Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce (recipe follows)
• Butcher's string
• 2 cups of wood chips or chunks (preferably hickory), soaked for 1 hour in water to cover, then drained 
• I prefer the apple wood to smoke with over the hickory

for the Cold Mountain Rub:
Yield: 2 cups

• 1/2 cup coarse salt (kosher or sea)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup sweet paprika

for the Glaze:

• 3 tablespoons salted butter
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons Tennessee whiskey

1. Make the rub: Place the salt, sugar, pepper, and paprika in a bowl and stir to mix. (Actually, your fingers work better for mixing a rub than a spoon or whisk.) Store the rub in an airtight jar away from heat or light; it will keep for at least 6 months.
2. Make the glaze: Combine the butter, brown sugar, mustard, and whiskey in a saucepan and boil until syrupy, 4 to 6 minutes. Set the glaze aside.
3. Using a very sharp knife, cut the roast almost in half lengthwise through one side (stop about 1 inch from the opposite side). Open the roast up as you would a book. (here is where I use the yellow mustard as an adhesive) Sprinkle the inside of the roast with 1 tablespoon of the whiskey and let it marinate for 5 minutes. Sprinkle a third of the rub over the inside of the roast. Spread the mustard on top with a spatula, then sprinkle the brown sugar on top of the mustard. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of whiskey on top of the brown sugar. Fold the roast back together (like closing a book) and sprinkle the remaining rub over the outside.
4. Cut four 12-inch pieces of butcher's string. Position the pieces of string on the work surface so that they are parallel and roughly 2 inches apart. Place a slice of bacon across the strings so that it is perpendicular to and in the center of them. Set the roast on top of the bacon, positioning its long side parallel to the bacon. Place a slice of bacon on top of the roast. Press the remaining 2 slices against the long sides of the roast. Tie each piece of string together around the roast so that they hold the slices of bacon against it. (To temporarily hold the bacon slices in place until you can secure them with string, you can pin them with toothpicks. Remove the toothpicks once the roast is tied.) Set the pork roast aside.
5. Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium (about 300-325 degrees). If using a gas grill (don't use a gas grill...it is so much better over coals), place all of the wood chips or chunks in the smoker box or in a smoker pouch, and run the grill on high until you see smoke; then reduce the heat to medium. If using a charcoal grill, place a large drip pan in the center, preheat the grill to medium, then toss all of the wood chips or chunks on the coals.
6. When ready to cook, place the pork roast on the hot grate, over the drip pan and away from the heat, and cover the grill. Cook the roast until cooked through, 1 to 1-1/2 hours. To test for doneness, insert an instant-read meat thermometer into the center of the roast: The internal temperature should be about 160 degrees F. Start basting the roast with the glaze after 30 minutes, and continue basting every 15 minutes. If you are using a charcoal grill and the pork is not done after 1 hour, you'll need to add 12 fresh coals to each side.
7. Transfer the cooked roast to a cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes (I let it rest 10 minutes as I think the juices redistribute better), then remove and discard the strings. Slice the roast crosswise and drizzle any remaining glaze over it. Serve Nashville Sweet Barbecue Sauce on the side.

Ok and now for the sauce recipe! I use Hunts because it does not have high fructose corn syrup in it! If you get the small bottle you can pretty much just dump the sauce back in the bottle after the sauce cools and you have and easy sauce delivery system!! Draw pictures on the side so you know it is BBQ Sauce....you will be able to tell by the color anyway.

Yield: 3 cups

• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 6 to 8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 3 to 4 lemons)
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (I never use this....to much work! LOL!)
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1-1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 
• I use a 1/4 tsp black pepper and a 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Combine the ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice and zest, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, mustard, onion powder, and pepper in a nonreactive saucepan and whisk to mix. Let the sauce gradually come to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until thick and flavorful, 8 to 10 minutes. 2. If not serving the sauce immediately, let cool to room temperature. Transfer to clean glass jars and refrigerate until serving; the sauce will keep for several weeks. Bring to room temperature before using.

OK EVERYONE!! Give it a smoke! Let me know how it works out! If you ever have any questions, please post them here so that all can see the answers....AND....talk up the blog! I need the followers if I am ever going to get my own show on the Food Network!