Smoked Pork Shoulder in West Chester, PA

"Nick" from West Chester, PA sent this one in. I'm jealous of how your pork turned out. Nick, keep the pictures and ideas coming!

"Just wanted to share some pics with you from yesterday. I smoked two 8 pound pork shoulders from Wegman's on my Weber Charcoal Kettle. Took about 7 1/2 hours total, with temps between 240 and 300.

I followed Steven Raichland's North Carolina Pulled Pork recipe from his "How to Grill" book. Used his basic bbq rub which is brown sugar, paprika, and some other ingrediants, applied that to the pork, then lit them sit over night. Started smoking yesterday morning at 7 am and they were done by 2:30. Used regular Kingsford Lump and Mesquite Chunks.

Pulled them off at 195 internally, then let them sit and cool. Then pulled the meat and bark, and put it into ziplock bags (freezing for a party in a few weeks). Of course I had to taste some for quality control - came out great! "

Grilled Zucchini Cheeseburgers

Every now and then, even I grill pre-made store bought hamburger patties. If you buy the rights ones they are actually pretty good. However, when I do them I do them right. This isn't rocket science but hopefully this post will give everyone some ideas on how to dress a cheeseburger.
This monster pictures below is topped with the following:

• Slice of American cheese
• A full slice of red onion
• Two thin slices of grilled zucinni
• Slice of tomato
• Two slices of pickled jalapenos (For the advanced eater)
• Two pickle slices

Who am I kidding, this is rocket science.

Double Smoked Salmon

Bookmark this one...

I grill a lot of salmon and I am always trying out new ideas and recipes. This is one of my better creations. To make this spicy glaze, put the following ingredients into your food processor it let it rip.

1. Half can of chilpotle peppers
2. 2 Tablespoons of tamarin paste
3. Half cup of brown sugar
4. 1 Tomato
5. Enough vinegar to liquify the concoction
6. Salt and Pepper to taste

The tamarin and the chipotle peppers can be a little difficult to find. Chipotle peppers are smoked jalepenos and can usually be found in the ethnic section of most grocery stores. Its the chipotle peppers that make up half of the "double smoked" salmon. Tamarin paste is a bit more difficult to find and I cna only find it in Indian grocery stores.

Spread the glaze over the salmon and let it sit for a while, 30-60 minutes should do. Since, I didn't want to char up the glaze, I grilled this piece of salmon, skin side down for about 15 minutes. You can keep the heat high because the skin will protect the flesh but pull it off the direct heat if you think it is burning too much. Though this is not for everyone, if charred correctly, I will actually eat the crispy salmon skin once its finished. Don't attempt unless you are an advanced eater like myself.
For a new side idea, I decided to sautee up some beet leaves. They can be a bit earthy, so make sure you cook them until soft and add plenty of garlic and onion.

I washed this ridiculously good meal down with a 2003 bottle of Burgess Zinfandel.

Back On Tap

Perhaps I have incredibly bad timing but seems that every time I went to the Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester this summer, they did not have their hefeweizen on tap. My timing finally improved last Monday night. I usually use Franziskaner as my gold medal standard for wheat beers and Iron Hill's hefeweizen is very comparable and always worth waiting for. Though I enjoy how Iron Hill does the "summer of wheat" campaign, they really ought to consider having their hefeweizen on tap during the entire summer. The other wheat beers that they sell are good but not nearly in the same ballpark as the heffe weizen. Their West Coast Wheat is probably their second best brew. The Belgium wit beer they serve is good as far as Belgium wit beers go but I tend to stay away from them.

There you have it.

Olympic Dry Rubbed Ribs

If you think the title of this post is bad you'd love to hear the other ones I was thinking of. Let's just say I spared you from "Gold Medal Dry Rubbed Ribs"

The secret to a good dry rub is that there isn't much a secret. The final outcome of your ribs really depends on the quality of your ribs and a dry rub that has the basic ingredients. A basic dry rib rub comes down to equal parts of chili powder/paprika, cumin, and slightly smaller parts of onion powder and garlic powder. Match that with plenty of salt and you'll have a winner. When it comes to picking out the ribs, I usually choose spare ribs over baby back but that is your choice. Try to pick the ribs with the most meat on them. The marbling does not matter since ribs are very fatty to begin with.

When applying the dry rub, feel free to really pack it on there. I usually cook my ribs over indrect heat for about 1.5 hours depending on how hot my grill gets. I then remove them from the grill and cover with aluminum foil for 10 minutes to let the juices settle.When you cut the ribs you should a reddish smoke ring around the edge of the rib. I usually warm up some barbecue rauce on the stove and then serve it along side the ribs.

A nice refreshing side idea for ribs is watermelon. I got this one at the West Chester Farmer's Market. It is actually difficult these day finding watermelons with seeds. Unfortunately stores have all switched to the less tasty seedless varieties.

Grilled Keta Salmon

My brother sent me the following about grilling some salmon.


I am not quite sure why but the guy behind the fish count at Whole Earth Foods was all excited about a fresh shipment of Keta Salmon from the Yukon River. He had not even put it ot yet. It was only $8.99/lb while the rest of the stuff he had was about $13.99/lb. So I bought a fillet..

I marinated it for 5 hours in

ground ginger,
a table spoon of soy sauce,
juice from one lemon,
juice from one lime,
salt and
pepper




Then I placed it skin side up on a hot gas grill for 5 minutes before flipping and grilling for about 8 more minutes. ITs a bit tricky because the thin portion of the fillet cooks much faster. But have faith, it turns out pretty darn good.

It came out pretty good. The only thing I'd do different next time is use a slightly stronger and saltier marinade.

Better With Bacon

Here is a really good recipe that you all need to try out: Bacon wrapped grilled pork tenderloin. We all know that pork tenderloin is great on the grill, but its even better wrapped in bacon.

The first thing I did was raid my garden for herbs. I don't exactly have a green thumb but I do typcially like to grow basil, thyme, parsely and mint every year. The mint usually gets consumed in mojitos but I do try to add it to meat as well some times. I first salted and peppered the tenderloins and then rolled them in the finely choped herbs. Next, I took several slices of bacon and wrapped them up. I did it without string but string would make is easier for the bacon to stay on.
To cook them, I got the grill nice and hot. I placed th tenderloins directly over the coals until the bacon fat start flaring up. You want to make sure and get the bacon a little crispy on all sides. After a few minutes on each side I transferred them to the other side of the grill, closed the top and let them cook for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Once cooked, take them off of the grill and cover them with aluminum foil and a towel for 15 minutes to let the juices settle.

I challenge you to find a better way to grill a pork tenderloin. I served these with a pesto pasta and a tomato, cucumber, red onion salad.

Workin' Fool

Well, once again, I've been a little delinquent in my blogging responsibilities. I'm afraid work has gotten the best of me and I have been on the road for the past weeks. I've been across the country several times, from PA to Illinois to Nashville to San Francisco to North Carolina to Wisconsin to... Anyways, I did get a couple of days off and climbed Half Dome in Yosemite. And above, to round things out, is another shot of Prince's Hot Chicken. You've seen me blog about Prince's before...it's an addiction. I can't go to Nashville without hitting them up. This time I ordered 1.5 chickens. Yes, that's right. I ordered one and half chickens. I ate half in one sitting and then doggy bagged the other chicken on the plane back to Philly. That Southwest airplane never smelled better. And yes, that is a can of Busch in the picture. I brown bagged two 22oz Busch pounders into Prince's to quell the fire in my mouth.
When I got back to West Chester at 1am, that chicken still smelled so good that I just had to eat another quarter chicken. That's .75 hot chickens in a 10 hour period. I'm not sure if that has ever been done before.
Now that I am back in town, I will fire my grill back up and bring some great food to the masses. Stay tuned for my dry rub ribs...

I'll leave this post with a wheat beer from Iron Hill.