Deano Jalapeno Burger

Last week I received a surprise care package from Brian and Marilyn Meagher from the Hot Sauce Daily blog.  One of the first things that caught my eye was this package...

Crispy fried jalapeno slices from Deano's Jalapenos.  I knew exactly what I was going to do with them.  

Grilled burgers with monterey jack cheese, the jalapeno slices, lettuce and a homemade avocado/cilantro ranch spread to cool off the heat.  

For the full recipe, check out my Fire Day Friday post over at Our Krazy Kitchen. 

Fire Day Friday and an Idea for Your Easter Ham

Fire Day Friday

It was my turn to post Fire Day Friday over at Our Krazy Kitchen today.  Click over there to find a quick marinated flank steak that was delicious.

Easter Ham 

One of the downsides to reading food blogs is that AFTER food related holidays, you see ideas that you wish you had seen BEFORE the holiday so you could have tried it.  I've been looking at some ideas for next weekend's Easter ham and I think I have settled on trying a version of this one from Chris Lilly.  I love cherry with ham so I'll swap out cherry preserves for the apricot.

Spiral Sliced Ham with Spicy Apricot Glaze
Makes: 8 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours

You’ll Need:
8 pound spiral sliced bone-in cured ham

Spicy Apricot Glaze
½ cup apricot preserves
¼ cup honey
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/16 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the glaze ingredients and mix well.
2. Double a large piece of aluminum foil and place the ham, flat side down, in the center of the doubled foil. Pour ½ cup of the glaze mix on top of the ham and spread it evenly over the entire ham. Wrap the aluminum foil tight over the ham and seal it.
3. Prepare an outdoor charcoal grill for indirect cooking by situating the coals on only one side of the grill, leaving the other side void. When the grill reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit, place the wrapped ham on the void side of the grill and close the lid. Cook for three hours or until the internal temperature of the ham reaches 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Remove the ham from the cooker, unwrap the foil, and place the ham in the center of a baking pan. Pour the remaining glaze over the top of the ham and spread it evenly. Place the ham back on the grill, close the lid, and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the glaze firms. Remove the ham from the grill and serve.

Recipe created by champion pitmaster, Chris Lilly, on behalf of Kingsford® charcoal.  Reprinted with permission from Kingsford charcoal.

Do you do anything special for Easter weekend?  Have any menu ideas already in place?

Heavy rains are hitting Knoxville tonight so I'm cooking indoors tonight and planning out my weekend of grilling.  Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Island Beach Chicken

It's my turn to post Fire Day Friday over at Our Krazy Kitchen.  Hope over there to see this recipe and an embarrassingly funny picture of me in the 80's.

March Giveaway Winner

I collected all of the entries and did a random drawing via Random.org and the winner of The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches is Kevin from The BBQ Smoker Site.  Congrats to Kevin and thanks to Author Susan Russo and the folks from Quirk Books!

Podcasts, Pineapple Jalapeno Chutney, and a Giveaway

Right now I am smoking a pork butt on my Big Green Egg. It has just entered his stall point at 175f ....


So I'm guessing I have another 2 hours before it's time to pull from the cooker and rest it. That's enough time to knock out this quick post.

Hot Sauce Weekly Podcast

The Hot Sauce Daily blog is having it's second annual Week of Wings. On Tuesday, I participated in their Hot Sauce Weekly podcast in a Hot Wing Roundtable with some of my favorite food bloggers.


CLICK HERE TO LISTEN IN. You'll pick up some good wing tips from the panel. Ha ha....I said "wing tips".

Fire Day Friday
I also posted my Vegetable Burritos this week at Our Krazy Kitchen where I co-host Fire Day Friday with Jenn from Jenn's Food Journey.


Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Jalapeno Chutney
Speaking of Hot Sauce Daily, that is where I first found out about Tropical Island Gourmet Company and my now favorite Fire Ant Juice. I bought another shipment this week (3 bottles of Fire Ant Juice and 1 of his Chipotle Garlic Sauce) and Chef Wayne tossed in an extra jar of Hobo Howey's Pineapple Jalapeno Chutney.

This chutney is an interesting thing. It hits you up front with a nice sweet flavor and just as you think it is mild, a heat kicks in on the back side. I thought it would get along nicely with a grilled pork tenderloin.

My Big Green Egg was busy kicking butt on the pork butt, so I fired Alexis' Egg up to 350f with indirect heat. I was using straight lump coal - no wood chunks.

Since tenderloins typically come in two packs, I took a calculated risk. I marinated one in some of the pineapple jalapeno chutney and rubbed one with Dizzy Pig Jamaican Firewalk rub. I thought the chutney might burn given the natural sugars from the pineapple and apricots. Then I grilled them both for 21 minutes, turning every 6-7 minutes.


The chutney marinated one did char a little from the burned sugars but that's on me. It is a chutney, not a marinade. It didn't taste bad at all, it just looked very dark.

Next time I'll just glaze it on in the last 5 minutes of cooking of an already rubbed tenderloin. Regardless, it ROCKED when served across the sliced pork tenderloin (the way it is intended to be used....I'm not good at following directions).


Why yes, that IS a black bean and rice volcano. I came up with it tonight as a spin on my double timbale technique and thought it looked cool. I'll be using this again.


Brett had a friend over and between the 5 of us, both tenderloins disappeared with second and third helpings. No leftovers.

January Giveaway
Since Chef Wayne Howey has been so gracious in adding free samples in with my orders, I am going to pay it forward with my January Giveaway. I am going to give one lucky winner a jar of Hobo Howey's Pineapple Jalapeno Chutney and a bottle of Fire Ant Juice from my personal stock. To enter, go to the Tropical Island Gourmet site and leave a comment below stating which product would be your favorite.

I'll draw the winner from qualifying entries on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 7 PM est.

[Standard Disclaimer] I pay full price & shipping for the products I buy from Tropical Island Gourmet and have no affiliation with them other than enjoying Chef Wayne's products. I receive no compensation for this post although they do throw in a freebie sample here and there when I place an order of several jars.

Fire Day Friday Post: Smoked Cheese

Today is my weekly Fire Day Friday post when I guest post over at Our Krazy Kitchen. You know that you want to know the story behind this contraption, don't you?

The local news is calling for snow starting 1am Christmas morning and lasting through the morning. We are getting our first White Christmas ever!!! I probably won't post until after that so I want to genuinely wish each of you and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Travel safe, be well, and may your stocking be full of natural hardwood lump coal!

Fire Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

Today is my weekly Fire Day Friday guest post over at Our Krazy Kitchen and I wrote about the Fire Roasted Acorn Squash Soup (click to see that link) that we made yesterday.


Thanksgiving dinner was excellent and I hope yours was as well. I didn't take any pictures except of the cooking turkey and the soup appetizer because it was busy enough already.


Here is the brine recipe I used for 13 hours (1 hour per pound):
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup bourbon
2 Tbsp whole peppercorns
5-6 bay leaves
1 Tbsp fennel seeds
enough water and ice to cover the turkey

Rub was Bill and Cheryl Jamison's Poultry Perfect Rub from the book Smoke and Spice. I mixed it with butter too and smeared on the breast.

Baste was a 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup wine, 2 garlic cloves mince, and 3 sprigs of fresh thyme.
Technically it wasn't "smoked" because I cooked it at a higher temp but the cherry wood still gave it a nice light smoke flavor, deep skin color, and a smoke ring.

Here's the cooking log for the turkey for all of you BBQ geeks like me. (Click the picture to view larger.) If you want the template in an Excel spreadsheet, here: NMT Cooking Log

Fire Day Friday: Alexis Guest Posts

Alexis handled my Fire Day Friday post for me this week at Our Krazy Kitchen.

Hop over there to check it out: Honey Wheat Sunflower Dinner Rolls

Fried Artichoke Hearts

I cheated on my Fire Day Friday guest post over at Our Krazy Kitchen this week.


I didn't use live fire but I did cook these babies "on a grill".

Update: here's the copy and paste from that guest post.

But technically, this was cooked outside on a grill.


I refuse to use our deep fryer inside the house because I hate the lingering greasy smell. My fire pit was the closest stable surface to hold my deep fryer.

Deep Fried Artichoke Hearts with Gorgonzola Dipping Sauce
Source: NibbleMeThis
Servings: 4-6

24 each artichoke hearts (preferably not the marinated kind)
6 ounces beer
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt

Dipping sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese
1 tablespoon white balsamic fig vinegar (sub any light flavored vinegar)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon black pepper ground
1/2 teaspoon Fire Ant Juice (or your favorite hot sauce)

Mix together the dipping sauce and rest in the fridge for at least one hour.

Whisk the beer, salt, and egg together in a bowl. Mix the flour, panko bread crumbs, paprika, and salt together on a plate.

One by one, dip the artichoke hearts in the egg wash and then roll in the flour mix.

Deep fry them in small batches (8 or less) at 375f for 4 minutes.

Remove from the fryer and rest on a cooling rack, seasoning with a pinch of salt immediately.

Dust with finely grated pecorino romano cheese and serve with the dipping sauce.

Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic and Parsley

Chicken pancetta.

That phrase came to me tonight while I was grilling this recipe that I adapted from Wolfgang Puck's Live, Love, Eat.

Sure you can find boneless, skinless chicken breasts anywhere and they are more healthy and blah, blah, blah, blah.

I see your boneless, skinless chicken breasts and raise you chicken pancetta.

Chicken pancetta is what happens when you grill a chicken breast with skin on, skin side down. The natural fats in and under the skin renders down and crisps the skin....like cooked pancetta. You have a problem with that? Run an extra mile or two.

And yeah, you'll notice I'm not using the Big Green Egg to cook these. We are finishing staining our deck so I had to roll the old Brinkmann Charcoal Grill out into the driveway.


Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic and Parsley
adapted from Live, Love, Eat by Wolfgang Puck

12 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
salt
pepper
4 chicken breasts, boneless SKIN ON
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp white wine
1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

Blanch the garlic cloves in boiling water for 1 minute. Dice the garlic and mix with the 1/4 c parsley, salt and pepper. The book didn't give an amount for the salt and pepper. I used about 1/2 tsp of each and that worked. Divide the mix in half. You'll use one half for a rub and one half for the finishing sauce.

Work about 2 tsp of the mix under the skin of each chicken breast. If you haven't done this before, just work a finger under one edge of the skin and make an opening. Then you can stuff the mix in and push it around under the skin. This is one of the best techniques you can learn for grilling chicken because as the fat renders down, it "self bastes" the meat with the seasonings and skin.

Fire up your grill to medium high heat. I used 1 chimney full of Kingsford briquettes and 2 splits of cherry wood.

While the cooking times are too short and the temps too high for smoking, the wood does still add some color and flavor in my opinion.

Grill skin side down for 6-7 minutes.

Flip and grill skin side up for about 8 minutes....see that chicken pancetta forming?

Or until the internal temp reaches 160 f. For us tonight, that was right at 8 minutes but use your meat thermometer.

Loosely tent the chicken with foil to keep warm and then melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a sauce pan. Add the other half of the garlic, parsley mix and saute over low heat until the garlic just starts to brown. Add the wine and simmer another 2-3 minutes until reduced. Add the lemon juice and simmer for about 1 minute.

Slice the breasts into medallions. Place on a bed of pasta and spoon some of the sauce over it all.

This was a good one. The only two things I would change the next time are

1. Double the amount of sauce (pasta needs love too).
2. Season the backsides of the breasts.

UPDATE:
A few people mentioned not being able to find skin on, boneless breasts. I just get split bone in, skin on breast and de-bone them myself. Here's a video from Rouxbe that shows how:

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

Guest Post Heads Up
Alexis and I are heading to the Eggtoberfest in just a few days, where a couple of thousand of Big Green Egg owners get together to exchange ideas, lies, and recipes. You can count on a full report. Until then....

• If you are a burglar getting ideas, we have a security system and my two boys will be here. The 21 y/o is a crack shot with his .30-06 and shotgun. Come on over, he needs target practice.
  
• But more importantly, I have a great guest post coming on Fire Day Friday from Jenn at Jenn's Food Journey. If you haven't seen her grilling blog, you are missing out. I'm honored to have her fill in for me.
  

Apple & Sage Grilled Pork Chops

I have been enjoying my copy of Adam Perry Lang's BBQ25 since I won it in a giveaway from White Trash BBQ earlier this year.


Speaking of great giveaways, check out this one from Robyn at Grill Grrrl. Get over there and enter because she is giving away an autographed copy of a Michael Symon's book Live To Cook and all of this great stuff next week:


So anyway, with temps being in the 40's this week, I finally caved in and made a fall dish. To me, apples scream "FALL" so I thought I'd try Adam's techniques/recipe for pork chops (1" or thicker). They were porkalicious.

I adapted the recipe in the following video but there are a few things that made this pork chop a huge hit for us. The brine was very similar to the one I already used but the compote worked flawlessly. The combination of alternating direct heat with indirect heat is genius because it grills the compote onto the pork chops. It creates a natural, sweet bbq sauce (and with no corn syrup or liquid smoke!) that just wraps flavor and texture all over your chops.

Here are my thoughts about BBQ25 after using it for several cooks.

• It is nails the concept and execution of it's mission of "A collection of the 25 recipes that we cook 95 percent of the time, using accessible, not too pricey, quality ingredients."
  
• The recipes are solid. We've made a few of them and every one was good.
• The book is rich in technique content, not just recipes and uses the techniques across the various recipes, so you build on what you learn.
• The physical book itself is designed for being useful while cooking with it's splash resistant pages that won't blow in the wind, hinged spine, and compact size.
• It is probably the best book I think you could get for someone just starting off in the world of grilling BUT ......
• It will also teach an old dog like me a few new tricks. I have used at least two techniques that I learned from BBQ25 when cooking unrelated recipes so far. To me that is a sign a of great cook book.
  

You won't regret getting a copy of BBQ25, whether you are new to grilling or if your first time grilling was grilled stegosaurus. (I heard it tastes like chicken.)

So don't forget to enter Robyn's giveaway. Also, if you feel like it, check out my Fire Day Friday post over at Our Krazy Kitchen. I made Stuffed Bell Pepper Italiano on the Big Green Egg.


Have a great weekend, everyone!

Any Rub Glaze

Fall arrived this week.

That changes the types of things I cook, how about you? For me it means more soups and roasts. And on the first evening of Fall, that is what I made, a pork loin roast.

One of the rubs I received in the free sampler pack from McCormicks at the beginning of the summer was their new Grill Mates Applewood Rub.

It was good back then when I made pork chops....

But the "appleness" of it really made me hold onto this one until after summer. I guess that is because I use apple wood for smoke more in the Fall. Not sure why I do that, apples are seasonal but apple wood is available all year.

I rubbed a pork loin roast with the Applewood Rub. After a quick sear of the roast, I set up my grill for an indirect cook. In a half steam pan under the roast rack, I added some sliced carrots, quartered onions and half a head of garlic. I poured about a 1/2 cup of white wine and 1/2 cup of chicken stock over that and sprinkled tarragon over the carrots. I added 4 potatoes wrapped in foil over the hottest spots.

I roasted all of that for about an hour at 350f. The temps rose up a bit on me but I think that was from all the food coming up in temp and the opening of the Egg to glaze the meat let in more air.

While that was going, I made my "any rub glaze". This is the simple "go to" glaze that I use for poultry and pork roasts. I like it because the honey, wine, butter mixture works with just about any rub. This is an easy way to add another complementary layer of flavor.

Any Rub Glaze
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup honey
1-2 tsp of whatever dry rub you are using

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan and blend in the other ingredients.

See? Easy. Then just apply the glaze 2-3 times in the last 30 minutes of cooking.

This was a great dinner, it disappeared quickly. The thin sliced pork was moist and flavorful and the potatoes were perfectly baked. The tarragon carrots tasted wonderful and were good enough for seconds, but I like mine more tender. Honestly, I like my carrots overcooked to where they give a fork no resistance. So for me, next time I'd parboil them for a few minutes before throwing them in the roast pan.

The McCormick's rub is perfect for a pork loin roast. I am wary about any "wood" flavoring from anything other than real smoke, but this rub works. [Standard Disclaimer] You could even do this easy roast in your oven.

I didn't intend for this to be a McCormick's post but that reminds me, they have two new products that I am having a love affair with right now. While shopping two weeks ago, Alexis picked up a bottle each of their Roasted Cumin and Roasted Saigon Cinnamon. Talk about upgrade! Cumin and cinnamon are flavor powerhouses already but these two take it further. I used the cumin in fajitas a few weeks ago and the cinnamon in a rub from Smoke and Spice. Wow, they both sing.

Fire Day Friday
Not that I didn't already take up enough of your time, but my Fire Day Friday post over at Our Krazy Kitchen was Grilled Garlic Chicken with Sherry Butter Sauce.

So how does Fall alter your cooking?
What Fall dishes are you really looking forward to?
What Summer recipes are you sad to see go for the year?

Fire Day Friday: Grilled Sloppy Joes

I made sloppy joes on the grill for my Fire Day Friday post over at Our Krazy Kitchen this week. Hop over there for the recipe and a dorky video. You know you are just dying to know how I kept the sloppy joe mix from falling through the grill grates.
It's not just a sloppy joe, it has chorizo, fire roasted peppers, and homemade chili pepper.

Update: Here's the recipe for future reference.

Sloppy Chorizo Joes

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 lb Mexican Chorizo sausage

2 Anaheim peppers

1 sweet red bell pepper

1 small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

6 oz can tomato paste

2 cups water

1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper, ground (I used my home made chili pepper blend)

1/2 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp turbinado sugar

salt and pepper to taste

8 hamburger buns

Instructions

Char the peppers over a hot grill, burner, or broiler a few minutes a side. Remove when charred and blistered, resting in a zip lock bag for 5 minutes.

Peel the charred skin, slice open and de-seed the peppers (see video). Dice.

Preheat a dutch oven over medium heat on the grill. Brown the ground beef and chorizo, then remove and drain.

Add the onions to the dutch oven with 1 Tbsp of the reserved meat drippings and saute for 5-7 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes longer.

Return the meat mixture to the dutch oven. Add the roasted chili peppers. Mix the water, tomato paste, pepper, cumin, and sugar together and then add to the dutch oven. Once this comes to a simmer, cover and kill the grill heat (shut the vents or gas).

After 5 minutes, stir, season with salt and pepper to taste and remove to rest (covered) for another 5 minutes.

Serve with plain white hamburger buns.

Fire Roasted Cordon Bleu

It's time for my weekly Fire Day Friday post over at Our Krazy Kitchen...

This week my post is about making cordon bleu on the grill. I fire roasted them on the Big Green Egg for 35 minutes at 375f.


It turned out really well, hop over there to check out the details.

Burger Throwdown: Spicy Cheddar Stuffed Burgers

Do you remember the scene in Liar! Liar! when Jim Carey's character is having to injure himself to get out of court? He's in the bathroom hitting himself when someone walks in and asks what he is doing. In a deranged state, he yells, "I'm kicking my own ASS!"

That's kind of what this post is. I did a burger throwdown against myself last night. The July issue of Southern Living had a Top Rated Burgers article. I decided to make two of them and try them head to head. Either way I win. Either way I lose. I'm kicking my own ass!

I cooked the Editors Choice recipe, Fig Glazed Burgers with Red Onion Jam, for my post over at Our Krazy Kitchen. Click on over there.

Here is the challenger...


Spicy Cheddar Stuffed Burgers
Source: Southern Living July 2010

1 can chipolte peppers in adobo sauce
2 lb ground beef (80/20)
2 tsp Montreal steak seasoning
6 thick slices sharp cheddar cheese
6 buns

Tex-Mex Secret Sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup ketchup
4.5 ounce can green chiles, chopped
1 tbsp cilantro, fresh chopped

Mix the secret sauce together and let rest in the fridge.

Puree the chipolte and adobo sauce in a blender. (Note: You will only use 3-4 teaspoons for this recipe, save the rest for something else.)

Mix together the beef, seasoning, and chipolte puree. I had to add an egg as a binder because it wasn't wanting to hold together.

Divide into 12 thin patties about 4" in diameter. Top 6 of them with cheese and then top with the remaining six patties. Seal the cheese in between the two patties by pressing the edges together, like a Juicy Lucy burger. Chill for 30 minutes to 8 hours.

Grill on a 350-400f grill for 6-7 minutes per side or until no longer pink in the center. Next time I'll go back to my normal cooking times and temps instead. They were done at this temp/time, but I like more searing on the outside (4 min per side at 450-500f w/ two minute flips).

Serve on a cheddar bun, Tex-Mex Secret Sauce, and desired toppings.

Where the fig burgers were a bit too sweet for me, these Spicy burgers were almost a bit "too heat" for me. I like spicy but I went a little too heavy on the adobo sauce. The Tex-Mex sauce was surprisingly not hot, it was sweet and helped offset the spicy burger.

Results
The burger fight went the distance, with neither scoring a knock out. The reigning champ's sweet style was countered by the strikingly different spicy punch of the challenger. Let's go to the score cards.

Round 1 - Creativity/Presentation
Figs on a burger edge out a cheese stuffed burger, but a close round. 10-9 Fig Burger.

Round 2 - Taste
Two contrasting styles, but the fig was too sweet for me. I have to go with the Spicy Cheddar. 10-8 Spicy Cheddar.

Round 3 - Texture
Almost too close to call. The onion jam was a great burger topping. But biting through the Spicy burger and into the cheese was a pleasure. 10-9 Spicy Cheddar.

The winner by majority decision - Spicy Cheddar Stuffed Burger.

What's going on your grill this 4th of July weekend?

Blackened Pork Chops

Dave at My Year On The Grill (who is currently temporarily exiled grill-less in the Virgin Islands) has taunted me a few times with his blackened pork chops. While "blackened" does sound like a euphemism for "burned", Dave has explained that it the meat is not burned but rather it has a crust of charred spices.

I grabbed this recipe from Big Oven for a blackening spice. Then read a little bit more on blackened meat and fish at Dave's blog and a few other sources. They were all very similar so I gave it a shot.

Blackened Pork Chops
Blatantly stolen from...errrr....inspired by My Year On The Grill

3 ea pork chop, 1" thick, boneless, trimmed
1/2 Tbsp paprika
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp thyme, ground
1/4 tsp oregano, ground
1/4 tsp celery seed

Almost every source I read mentioned the use of a searing hot cast iron pan for cooking these. I knew this was a job for my Craycort cast iron griddle insert.

I let the griddle get very hot in a 400f Egg that had already been burning for 2 hours. I then brushed each chop with hot melted butter (heat is the key) and then layered heavily with the rub. I placed them on the searing griddle, topped with a splash of more butter, and let them go for 2-3 minutes.

I flipped them and repeated the butter splash. The article did warn about possible flame ups from the butter...
I'll be honest, the flare up was much smaller. I did this one on purpose for effect and the camera :)

After two more minutes these chops had a perfectly charred crust on both sides. I quickly converted the grill to indirect heat by putting a grid extender over a 1/2 steam pan. I roasted them at 350f until they hit 145f internal.

I was worried how that crust was going to taste. I like a little char on my steaks, burgers and thinly sliced flank steaks, but this was something else. If it was all just char it was going to be bitter. But I trusted what Dave said.

I was so surprised when I tasted my first slice. There was nothing that resembled burned meat about the texture or taste. It was like Dave said it was, an intensely flavorful crust of spices wrapped around juicy, tender meat. I just wanted to eat the whole thing right there at the cutting board.

But that would have been overlooking the perfect side dish that I prepared for my FIRE DAY FRIDAY post over at Our Krazy Kitchen, red beans and rice.

This was a definite favorite dinner of mine, even if we did eat at 10pm last night.

Don't forget, Sunday is the deadline for entering my June giveaway, an autographed copy of Chris Lilly's book (see the side bar for details and to enter).