'Tis the season...for grilling

[TripperDay]

A few weeks ago the gf and I cooked 8 burgers, 5 kabobs, 4 cobs of corn, and two pork tenderloin. The burgers were acceptable, but everything else was sublime.

Stuff I learned:

#1 - I used a combination smoker/griller. Unless you're cooking steaks, the coals go on bottom shelf so everything cooks slower, stays tender, and gets more smoke.

Cut a "door" in a beer can the same side as the spout. Place butter, pepper, salt, and corn cob in beer can. Close "door". Stick skewer through mouth hole in can to turn the cob occasionally in butter/salt/pepper mixture. Delicious. It's also fun to making the empties.

Kabobs can be very healthy if you just use tiny pieces of meat. I know that sounds incredibly obvious, but I was impressed with the amount of flavor we got out of so little meat. We included orange was an experiment but a pleasant surprise. Never be afraid of a little citrus. There's a reason lemon pepper is so popular, and it's not (only) because people aren't being creative.

For the pork tenderloin, I rubbed them with salt, pepper, and a little Cavender's, then after skewering it to make a pilot hole, ran it through with a very thick sprig of rosemary from my gf's yard. About halfway through I brushed it with some olive oil and worcestershire, but it's the rosemary that makes it great. It's a neat idea but next time I'm just going to use some smaller sprigs because cutting it in slices was a pain.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Very nice.  This past weekend I smoked a big ol' roasting chicken on my Weber.  Coated that bird with the spice rub from Rudy's Bar-B-Q of San Antonio, Texas.  (When you think you've put on enough... put on more.)  Two smallish fires, one on either side, foil pan with water in the middle and the bird goes over that.  Add soaked wood chips to the coals periodically.

It took longer than I'd have liked, largely because my probe thermometer was giving me crazy readings for the grill temp--I should have added more coals sooner than I did.  Nonetheless, it was awesome when finally done.

I think I'm going to do Korean beef ribs this weekend.

[AugustWest]

I grill a lot of pork tenderloins and I will definitely try the rosemary trick.

[Choop]

that rosemary trick works exceedingly well in a whole rack of lamb, too.

in three weeks i'll be back in atlanta with a brand new weber and a giant back of hardwood charcoal and the meat counters at whole foods and publix won't know what hit them

at the very least i will be grilling turkeys, smoking bacon, and dry aging whole rib roasts to become on-the-bone ribeyes. of course i also like the tin of beer, onions, and brats. oh, and skirt steak and prawns for fajitas.

now i need a meat grinder and a shitload of casings so i can make some homemade sausage

...is it obvious how excited i am?

[Bobby Isosceles]

My vegetarian wife left town for a week so I took the opportunity to have an all-meat diet, with breakfast, lunch and dinner being grilled meat of some sort. I got to perfect some rubs and recipes, and also had to run something like eight miles a day (split between multiple runs) to keep from ballooning.

[Asherdan]

Awesome thread.

Lately I've been playing with flank (skirt) steak dunked in various marinades (the mustard/balsamic vinegar one was nice) and quick BBQ'd. Corn has been coming into season so foil wrapped ears with some butter and pepper stuck in 'em have been making the ride on the back shelf.

[Bobby Isosceles]

I've been working on the 4:4:3:2:2:1 rule. By which I mean:

For steaks:

ratio of 4:4:3:2:2:1 of black pepper, allspice, caraway, coriander, kosher (or sea) salt, and chili powder, moderately coarsely ground, rubbed in and covered with a neutral oil (i use grapeseed oil)

for lamb:

ratio of 4:4:3:2:2:1 of dill, fenugreek (leaves, not seeds), sumac, pepper, salt, and balsamic vinegar, ground finely, rubbed in and covered with olive oil

for giraffe:

ratio of 4:4:3:2:2:1 of dill, thyme, white wine, pepper, turmeric and salt.

for burgers:
ratio of 4:4:3:2:2:1 of meat, onions, egg, mirin, pepper, and allspice.

[wombat]

I've been drenching chicken thighs in Whole Foods brand buffalo wing sauce, closing the lid of the grill, and going away for a while. I'm happy.

[Choop]

i've found that my favorite seasoning on steak or burger is sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, a bit of adobo, and just a breath of cumin - like the comparative amount of vermouth in a martini.

[littlefallsmets]

Oh man, though, you have to type that concept very carefully.

Especially around people with the sense of humour of a twelve year old, such as myself.

[Bobby Isosceles]

i've found that my favorite seasoning on steak or burger is sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, a bit of adobo, and just a breath of cumin - like the comparative amount of vermouth in a martini.

I think we're on the same page with the cumin and caraway - they're related and have similar flavors.

[Choop]

i'm not that familiar with caraway, i thought it was used typically with fruits and poultry.

i have a friend who insists on using turmeric in cocktails. i must convince her this is folly. trust me, i've had her cocktails.

[Bobby Isosceles]

i'm not that familiar with caraway, i thought it was used typically with fruits and poultry.

i have a friend who insists on using turmeric in cocktails. i must convince her this is folly. trust me, i've had her cocktails.

Caraway's flavor is similar to cumin, maybe a little more muted. I find it goes better with fatty steaks like ribeye/prime rib because you dont want to overwhelm the flavor of the meat itself. Cumin is a bit stronger, I prefer to use it for tougher cuts of meat that I'm stewing or stir-frying or slow-braising, where it will have more time to insinuate itself.

Turmeric has an amazing ability to get rid of bad smells. The smell of meat browning or giraffe cooking turns my stomach (and I get all my meat from a local halal butcher with their own slaughterhouse, so it's super-fresh {tm}, etc.) --putting a little bit of turmeric in will nullify the smell and then the turmeric taste itself gets deactivated after a few minutes of high heat.

[AugustWest]

Caraway's flavor is similar to cumin, maybe a little more muted.

Caraway and cumin taste nothing similar to me.  Caraway has a sort of licorice-y taste while cumin's flavor is sort of earthy/peppery.

[Bobby Isosceles]

Caraway and cumin taste nothing similar to me.  Caraway has a sort of licorice-y taste while cumin's flavor is sort of earthy/peppery.

I've never got a licorice-y taste from caraway (if I did, I'd never eat rye bread, as I hate licorice) Maybe it's subjective, but were you perhaps thinking of fennel or anise?