The Hatch and Guac Burger

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We have made a boatload of juicy and delicious burgers this Summer, and this Hatch and Guac Burger is among the best of them. 

It's a 6-ounce beef patty cooked on a coal-fired griddle to get the grilled taste but with a flavor-delivering crust of which Maillard himself would be proud. We put it on a bed of mixed greens and topped it with fire-roasted Hatch chiles, a slice of Grainger County tomato, homemade guacamole, and fried tortilla strips.

But a great burger isn't just about toppings and condiments. For me, a phenomenal burger patty starts with two factors - 

1. the freshness of the grind and 
2. the cuts used in the grind. 

We used brisket and sirloin for the ground beef that we used for these burgers. Let's talk about grinding before jumping into the recipe.

The Daily Grind

Reverse Seared Tri-Tip and Tri-Tip Cobb Salad

Three proteins?  That's my kind of salad!

Alexis and I made this Tri-Tip Cobb Salad for dinner this week.  It's not really an authentic Cobb salad...maybe Cobb-ish?  Whatever you want to call it, it's delicious.  It features:

• Reverse-seared beef tri-tip.
• Home-cured & smoked sorghum bacon (a recipe from our second book)
• Homemade yeast roll croutons
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Sliced tomato
• French fried onions
• Spring mix
• Homemade blue cheese dressing  

I had been craving beef tri-tip recently because Dan Phelps posted one that he cooked on his Kamado Joe at Learning To Smoke.  I mentioned to him that I hadn't seen tri-tip in the Knoxville area in quite a while and then BAM!  The very next week, I stumbled across a tri-tip!  The Baader-Meinhof effect for meat, perhaps? 

I have had a jar of Santa Maria tri-tip rub that I made at the Certified Angus Beef® Brand Culinary Center last year.

I lightly coated the tri-tip with avocado oil and then liberally applied the Santa Maria rub all over. A lot of people ask me about avocado oil.  It is a high-temperature cooking oil that's excellent for grilling.  It has a neutral flavor, much like olive oil doesn't taste like olives, and peanut oil doesn't taste like peanuts.

Shaved Smoked Prime Rib and Cheddar Sandwich

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This sandwich is killer.  (I know that no one says that anymore but I'm old and I figure that trends are cyclical and eventually it will be in fashion again so bear with me.)

It starts with thinly sliced, smoked ribeye and is topped with smoked cheddar, caramelized onions, and horseradish sauce on top of a sesame seed bun. 

The star of this sandwich is the leftovers from our holiday smoked prime rib roast. 

It all started with a whole USDA choice ribeye.  I trimmed it into a chunk for cheesesteak sandwiches, 4 steaks, and a rib roast.

 I tied the roast and dry-brined it using our NMT Umami Steak Seasoning recipe.  I didn't measure how much I used, but I would guess about a half-cup.  I put it on a rack, loosely covered it, and placed it in the fridge for 12 hours. 

Beef Back Ribs with Chimichurri on the Big Green Egg

[FTC Standard Disclosure]  I do not receive any compensation for this post; however, I will be paid for my book sales.

The gauchos of Argentina knew what they were doing when they paired grilled beef with chimichurri.  The pungent flavor combination makes my mouth water every time.

This past weekend I found a nice rack of beef back ribs and decided to make the Beef Back Ribs with Chimichurri from my new book, The Offset Smoker Cookbook (Ulysses Press).  The only difference was this time, I used a Big Green Egg instead of an offset smoker.  Everything in this book can be cooked just as easily on a kamado instead of an offset.  The full recipe details are in the book but you can probably figure everything out from the details given here.

Picture from The Offset Smoker Cookbook.

Types of Beef Ribs

I need to do an entire post about different types of beef ribs, but for today's purpose, I'll generalize and say there are two types of beef ribs (there are more). 

• Beef Short Ribs - Cut from the Plate or Chuck primals, beef short ribs eat like brisket - luscious and beefy.  We smoke them whole, but in the grocery store, you'll see them trimmed down to half-sized individual ribs or flanken-style (Korean).  They are big, take a long time to cook, and a single rib will feed 1 to 2 people.
• Beef Back Ribs - These are the rib bones that you see on a bone-in prime rib.   Beef back ribs are the leftovers once the butcher breaks a whole ribeye down into a boneless roast or ribeye steaks.  Naturally, these eat more like ribeye steak.  They LOOK big when you buy them, but they will shrink down quite a bit.  Back ribs are scrappy little things but still delicious.  Count on 2 bones per person.  

Flank Steak and Broccoli Stir Fry

[FTC Disclaimer]  We are proud to be sponsored by Certified Angus Beef® Brand; however, this is not a sponsored post. I am personal friends with Chad Romzek, the owner of Kick Ash Baskets.  I have no affiliation with the Ceramic Grill Store, the source of the wok and spider rig.  I am a student at Rouxbe Online Culinary School, but I am not an affiliate partner and receive no benefits from them. I have no affiliation with Thermoworks.

I've been trying to eat a bit more heart healthy and stir-frying is an excellent technique for doing that without sacrificing flavor.  Earlier this week we made this Flank Steak and Broccoli Stir Fry on one of our kamado grills.

Advantages of Stir-Frying

Stir-frying offers several benefits, even more so for stir-frying on a kamado style grill. 

• Stir-frying is low-fat because it utilizes leaner cuts of meat, such as flank steak, shrimp, flat iron steak, chicken breast, and skirt steak.
• Stir-frying is a balanced diet meal because it encourages the use of more vegetables, especially fresh seasonal ingredients.
• Stir-frying's high heat cooking retains more color and nutrients of the vegetables.
• Stir-frying is economical because it extends smaller portions of meat with more veggies.
• Stir-frying helps clean out some of those leftover ingredients in your fridge.

Stir-frying over the intense heat of a kamado style grill (Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, etc.) offers an advantage over stir-frying inside.  According to Rouxbe Online Culinary School, heat is one of the most essential elements of stir-frying.  Most home stovetop ranges are only rated at 15,000 but while a commercial wok burning can draw as much as 200,000 but.  A rocket hot kamado grill can out produce your stovetop any day of the week. 

That said, you can cook this inside.  Just use the hottest burner that your range top has.

Flank Steak Broccoli Stir Fry 

Ingredients

Shaved Tri-Tip Sliders with Bacon and Cheese Sauce

[FTC Disclosure]  I have received free samples from Flame Boss. However, I have also bought units from them at full price as well.  SABER is our infrared grill sponsor.

Shaved beef tri-tip sliders, why haven't I thought of that before?

Crispy toasted rolls, tender seasoned beef, homemade bacon, and a cheese sauce.  These were ideally suited for the Carolina/Tennessee basketball game this weekend.

We did a reverse sear and then let the tri-tip rest in the fridge overnight.  I used an almost 0 setting on a meat slicer to get the slices extra thin. We already had the bacon in the freezer.

The cheese sauce is a blend of Swiss, Gruyere, and cheddar cheeses.  What makes the sauce special is the roasted garlic, horseradish, and a little bacon fat.  It has got a depth of flavor going on.  This sauce would be fantastic on a dinner roll with a piece of leftover prime rib.

Horseradish and Roasted-Garlic Cheese Sauce for Beef Sliders

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon bacon fat
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tablespoon roasted garlic paste
• 2 cups half and half
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss
• 1/2 cup shredded Gruyère
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar blend
• 1 teaspoon horseradish
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Peppered Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Portobello Sauce

A beef tenderloin roast can be a meal that your guests remember for years to come.  Additionally, beef tenderloin roasts are faster cooking, smaller, leaner, and more tender than a rib roast. 

My December assignment for SABER Grills, our gas grill sponsor, was beef tenderloin for the holiday table.  I came up with this straightforward yet delicious Peppered Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Portobello Sauce.

I used a "reverse pan seared" technique.  In addition to the usual benefits of a reverse sear, the reverse pan searing has a few advantages.  

• Using cast iron gets an even crust when searing. 
• Using the cast iron as your indirect shield preheats it for the sear.  
• Best of all, you can use the sucs (brown bits in the pan) to create delicious pan sauces.

The reverse pan sear set up that I used on my SABER 1500 Elite SSE.  

You will find the full recipe for Peppered Beef Tenderloin with Red Wine Portobello Sauce on the SABER Grills website.

Reverse Seared Prime Rib on a Char-Broil Kamander

[FTC Disclaimer] We have appreciated having Char-Broil as a sponsor for the past three years.  This is our final sponsored post for them.  

It's time for the Grinch himself to carve the roast beast, right?  Rib roast season is here.

This is an easy recipe for Reverse Seared Prime Rib that I created for Char-Broil's website this year.  The full recipe is there.  These are just some additional pictures and notes.

I kept the seasonings simple, just black pepper, kosher salt, granulated garlic, cayenne pepper, and dried parsley.

The boneless beef rib roast that I bought was "lip on" so I sliced it off by cutting through along the fat line.  I superimposed the yellow line to show where to cut.  Save the lip.  Trim any red meat out for scraps and use the fat for making beef tallow.

Trimmed and tied to keep it in a more uniform shape.

Steak and Grilled Onion Tacos

[FTC Disclaimer:  We are proud to have Certified Angus Beef® Brand is a sponsor of Nibble Me This.]

Want to know why the beef in these fantastic Steak and Grilled Onion Tacos is so tender?

It's tender because I used beef tenderloin for the meat, specifically a Certified Angus Beef® Brand beef tenderloin from our Food City.  I trimmed this butt section of a tenderloin into:

• Left:  Tenderloin chunks from the "chain."
• Center:  tenderloin roast
• Right:  A mini-roast using the side meat (iliacus muscle).

The "chain" is a little strip of muscle (psoas minor) that is hidden in a bunch of connective tissue that runs along the side of a whole beef tenderloin. A lot of people might mistake that for scrap.  But a little knife-work and patience can produce delectable bits of steak that chefs often treasure for themselves. 

These "scraps" of filet mignon are just the thing for Fire Seared Beef Tips and Rice or in these Steak and Grilled Onion Tacos.

Trevor's girlfriend came over, and I wanted to make them something to eat while they studied.  I grabbed my beef tenderloin chunks, a few things I had in stock, and made them these tacos.

Steak and Grilled Onion Tacos

Ingredients

Reverse Seared Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

It stokes my coals to announce that Certified Angus Beef Brand® has renewed our sponsorship for another year.  Their support is what makes it possible for the Nibble Me This team to get out on the road to attend grilling festivals and BBQ contests.  

This recipe is based on one of the sample appetizers that we served to crowds this year at grilling festivals.  It's also what we turned in for our beef category at the Memphis In May World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest.

At those grilling events, we usually serve the beef shaved and served on roasted garlic crostini with arugula, capers, lemon zest, and the cream sauce.  

Here is the same beef and cream sauce served as a main course, served with pan roasted potatoes, blistered grape tomatoes, and bacon.

The Gorgonzola Cream Sauce is a variation of an Ina Garten recipe that we have used for years.  It's rich and brings a ton of flavor to the tender but mild filet.

Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

Published 11/18/2017

Fire Roasted Meatloaf with Honey Whiskey Glaze

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  We are proud to have Certified Angus Beef® as a sponsor of Nibble Me This. 

What is your favorite comfort food?

When Fall turns the Smoky Mountains red, yellow, and orange each year, I find myself craving one of my favorite comfort foods - meatloaf.  If you have never tried your favorite meatloaf recipe on a grill, you are missing out, friend.  Fire roasting meatloaf gives it a crisp, tasty exterior and another level of flavor.

To Pan or Not To Pan

I like to cook my meatloaf without a loaf pan, on a raised rack over a small sheet pan.  I do this for a few reasons.  

• Better Texture - Cooking meatloaf without a pan lets the rendered beef fat drip away from the meatloaf.  Cooking it with a loaf pan leaves the meatloaf languishing in the grease.
• More Flavor - Cooking meatloaf on a raised rack lets the entire exterior get the benefit of fire roasting.  A pan shields 5 of the 6 sides of a meatloaf and only lets the top get fire roasted.  

Here is a meatloaf that we cooked this weekend.  The recipe isn't anything radically different, but I do a few things to elevate the meatloaf.  

• I start with a fresh ground Certified Angus Beef® chuck roast from our Food City.  
• I add fire roasted red bell pepper and poblano chile to amplify the flavor.  
• Of course, I grill it as already mentioned.
• I use a delicious honey whiskey bbq sauce as the glaze instead of the typical ketchup glaze.

Enjoy!

Fire Roasted Meat Loaf with Honey Whiskey Glaze

Ingredients

Tex-Mex Brisket Benedict

This dish was inspired by a breakfast that Alexis and I had a few weeks ago at First Watch in the Bearden district of Knoxville.  Their Barbacoa Benedict was a summer special menu item that had braised barbacoa, 2 poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, and sliced avocado on a ciabatta roll.

First Watch's Barbacoa Benedict

Although I was inspired by First Watch's Barbacoa Benedict, I didn't want to just copycat it - I wanted to riff off of it.  

• Beef - Our waitress didn't know if their barbacoa was beef cheek or brisket but whichever, it was braised.  I used smoked brisket for my protein.
• Saucy - Although Hollandaise is traditional for Benedict, I borrowed a page from Croque Madame or Kentucky Hot Browns and used a Mornay sauce.
• Extras - I wanted to kick up the flavors a bit with fire roasted tomatoes and Hatch green chiles.

My Tex-Mex Brisket Benedict was a wee bit different.

Quick Fajitas on the Grill

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  I am sponsored by Char-Broil but this is not a sponsored post.

Sometimes I don't plan out my meals too well.

This was the case earlier this Summer when I had a flank steak and was craving fajitas.  I didn't have a long time for a marinade so I did a few things to work around that.

1. Boosted the acid in the marinade - Normally I do about 2-3 parts of oil to 1 part of acid but for shorter marinade times, I up that ratio to 1.5 parts oil to 1 part acid.  In this case, the acid was lime juice.
2. Increased the seasoning - Since the fajita seasoning wasn't going to have time to absorb into the meat much at all, I increased the seasoning by 50% to make it bolder.  This doesn't get any more flavor in faster, it just means a little more will cling to the meat.  
3. Scored the meat - I scored the meat a little deeper than I normally do.  I put a little more pressure when dragging a sharp knife across the raw flank steak, which opens more surface area up to the marinade.

If you have the time for a proper marinade, check out my recipes for

• steak fajitas, 
• chicken fajitas, 
• fajita steak salad, and 
• skillet pork fajitas. 

Quick Acting Fajita Marinade

Published 09/13/2017

Ingredients

Rotisserie Garlic Roast Beef Wraps

[FTC Standard Disclaimer]  I am proud to be sponsored by Certified Angus Beef.  This is a sponsored post but any opinions stated are my own.

Summer break is over and school is back in session.

For parents who have kids involved in after school extracurricular activities like sports or band, getting dinner on the table can be a challenge because of  the timing.  We never know exactly what time they will be home but they will be ravenous - ready to eat right away.

Trevor plays football for his school and has after school practice or workouts every school day. Two of the ways we deal with having food ready quickly once he does get home are:

• Cook once, eat twice - This is simply "leftovers on purpose".  For example, if I'm firing up a grill to cook a chicken, cook two chickens instead - one for dinner and one for leftovers.  For these wraps, we cooked a Certified Angus Beef whole beef eye round.  Half was for dinner with mashed potatoes, the other half was for lunch meat.
• Wraps/Burritos - These are a fast way to compile a bunch of leftovers and fridge finds into something that resembles a planned meal without much cooking.

These Rotisserie Garlic Roast Beef Wraps are a good example of that.  We slathered a Certified Angus Beef whole beef eye round with a garlic paste and fire roasted it on a rotisserie.  The crust adds intense flavor to an otherwise mild cut of beef.  We sliced it thin and then used it for a few meals this week.  Roast beef and mashed potatoes one night, sandwiches for lunch one day, and then these great wraps for dinner the next night.

The wrap is as simple as a fridge dive but here is how we made the Rottisserie Garlic Roast Beef.

Rotisserie Garlic Roast Beef

Ingredients

Beef Filet and Pineapple Skewers With Pepper and Onion Stir Fry

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] We are proud to be sponsored by Certified Angus Beef and this is a sponsored post.

Grilling food on a skewer is popular around the world and you can find examples of it in almost every culture.  Whether it is Middle Eastern shish kebabs, Japanese yakitori, Greek souvlaki, Brazilian rodizio, or African sosatie, grilling on skewers is fast, convenient, and tasty.

There are grills specifically made for skewer cooking but it is easy to build your own by using fire bricks to make a trough 10"w x 12"h x however long out of fire bricks.  For me, skewers are easy enough to do on any gas or charcoal grill, I don't think you need any special equipment other than a bag of bamboo skewers.

5 Tips for For Easier Skewer Grilling

1. If using bamboo skewers, soak them for 30 minutes before using them to keep them from burning.
2. If using metal skewers, buy the flat blade style instead of round.  It will hold the meat in place better.
3. When using round skewers, use 2 skewers parallel to each other through each kebab to keep the food from spinning.
4. Put your meat and veggies on different skewers so they can cook the appropriate length of time.  When you cook meat and veggies together, you'll often end up with under cooked veggies if the meat is cooked correctly or overcooked meat when the veggies are cooked right.
5. If using wooden skewers and a lot of excess skewer is sticking out, either wrap foil around the exposed wood or just trim it off closer to the food. 

Regardless of which flavor profile I choose or which grill I plan to use, I always start with quality beef, preferrably, Certified Angus Beef from my local Food City.  I think their quality control standards and grading make their beef consistently better than the other selections available to us.  

Here is a recipe that we made this week using the "scraps" from a whole beef tenderloin that I was trimming in to a center cut roasts.  At your butcher, they might sell these as "tenderloin tips".  

Beef Filet and Pineapple Skewers with Pepper and Onion Stir Fry featuring Certified Angus Beef.

The sweet, slightly earthy, and spicy glaze brings out the best in the pineapple and the beef.  Using tenderloin for kebabs is a little expensive but I promise you that these are some of the most tender kebabs you'll ever eat.

Beef Filet and Pineapple Skewers With Pepper and Onion Stir Fry

Smoked Beef Back Ribs with Chimichurri Sauce

[FTC Standard Disclosure]  I received my Grilla Grill and extended rack from Grilla Grills for no charge as thanks for cooking on their Memphis In May BBQ team.

These are the best beef back ribs I have ever tasted.

Types of Beef Ribs

There are two types of beef ribs - back ribs and short ribs.

• Short ribs can be either "chuck" or "plate" but either way, they are very meaty and have a taste/texture similar to chuck roast.  
• Beef back ribs come from the primal that gives us rib eye and prime rib.  In face, beef back ribs are basically just the bones removed from a prime rib.  
• Not as meaty - because it comes from that expensive cut, there usually isn't much meat left on back ribs.
• Steak on a stick - but because it is from that section, the meat is more like a steak than a roast.

Argentina loves beef so I put a Argentinian spin on these beef back ribs.  I made a simple seasoning that adds smoky chiles and a little bit of heat to a basic salt and pepper rub.  Next I smoked these hot and fast, they are thin and don't have a lot of connective tissue so they don't need the low and slow treatment.  Finally, I served them with a chimichurri sauce that was just over the top good.  

I should note that chimichurri sauce in South America is typically more thin and almost like a vinaigrette or Eastern Carolina BBQ sauce.  Mine isn't authentic because I add a secret ingredient to it that makes it a bit thicker and I added cilantro instead of just flat leaf parsley. So it's "chimichurri-ish".

The ribs are very good with the seasoning alone but the chimichurri sauce takes them over the top. Plan on 2-3 ribs per person.

Strip Loin Grilling Class at Mannix Pools and Grills

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] Certified Angus Beef is one of our favorite sponsors ever and we are proud to be on their influencer team

Earlier this month, I taught a strip class.

No! Not a stripping class - but a grilling class on how to use a whole beef strip loin like the dish below.   

The class was at Mannix Pools and Grills in Winter Haven, FL. When BJ asked me to do a class I thought I would talk about how to break down a Certified Angus Beef whole beef strip loin into 4 delicious recipes including:

Pepper Crusted Strip Loin Roast

-

NY Steak and Cheese Mini Subs with Smoked Chile Mayo

-

Umami Manhattan Filet with Shiitake Stir Fry

-

Reverse Pan Seared NY Strip Steak with Roasted Garlic and Bourbon Sauce

It was a whirlwind 48 hour trip that included a lot of fun and 20 hours of driving (not a lot of fun). Here are some pictures from our weekend trip and class.

The class was in Florida. Since it was the same week as July 4th, I was worried I might have a hard time finding enough strip loins for the class down there.   So before we left Knoxville, Jeremy at Food City #674 helped us get 3 Certified Angus Beef whole beef strip loins.

Does Certified Angus Beef really matter so much to go to that effort?  I mean, Walmart carries Angus now, why not just buy it at the Walmart down there? 

Because not all Angus is Certified Angus Beef.  It's not just a label that sets C.A.B. apart from other Angus programs, it's what is behind that label.  I am a big believer in their 10 quality specifications.  

These standards are on top of USDA grading and are why only 1 in 4 Angus qualify for the Certified Angus Beef program.  That's why I go out of my way for C.A.B. beef.

Friggin' Atlanta any time of the day.  This was 10:30 or 11am.  Exciting trip so far....

Pan Seared Ribeye Steak with Bourbon Sauce

[FTC Standard Disclaimer] We received no compensation for this post. Certified Angus Beef is a sponsor but this is not one of their sponsored posts.

Last weekend, we smoked 6 pork butts and 2 whole briskets for a friend's fundraiser dinner.  Doing all of that cooking makes one hungry, right?  So I made these steaks on one of our Big Green Eggs.

Pan Seared Steaks vs Grilled Steaks

When I posted this on Instagram last weekend, someone asked "Why the pan?" for grilling steaks.  You know I love grilled steaks, that's obvious, but a pan seared steak can be just as amazing.  Both have their strong points but the advantages of cooking steaks in a pan include:

• Pan searing steaks creates an even crust across the surface.
• Pan searing steaks allows you to use the basting technique that a lot of chef's utilize to add flavor.
• Pan searing steaks retains the brown bits (aka sucs) that are the foundation of great pan sauces.

Basting steaks is when you see a chef tilt a skillet and repeatedly spoon the butter and seasonings back over the steak.  This builds flavor and helps the formation of that great crust.  In this case, I had fresh tarragon growing in the front yard and tallow that we made from rendering down brisket trimmings, so that's what I used instead.  

Standard flambe warning - Fire is dangerous. Igniting alcohol can be dangerous. You should wear protective equipment, have extinguishing methods available nearby, and know what you are doing. Google "how to flambe safely" if you aren't experienced at this. 

Pan Seared Ribeye with Bourbon Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 10-ounce ribeye steaks, left out at room temperature for 1 hour
• NMT Beef Rub V.2
• 2 tablespoons beef tallow or other high temp oil
• 1-2 sprigs fresh tarragon
• 1 small shallot, finely diced
• 1 tablespoon roasted garlic paste
• 1 ounce bourbon
• 1/2 cup stock
• 1 tablespoon cold butter

How I Smoke Homemade Pastrami

[FTC Disclaimer] Certified Angus Beef is one of my sponsors and I receive compensation from them.  It's easy being a brand ambassador for a product that I already use and love.  

St Patty's Day is upon us and one of the most popular menu items is corned beef.  Making corned beef from scratch is a several day process so it's too late to do it this year but don't worry.

• Certified Angus Beef has a short cut method for Irish Braised Corn Beef that you can still pull off in time for dinner tomorrow.  
• Chef Michael Ollier also did a great Facebook Live video about corned beef last week as well.

Pastrami

But for me, I only make corned beef so that I can smoke it to make pastrami!  The Reuben sandwich is one of Alexis' all-time favorite sandwiches and it's even better when you make the pastrami from scratch.

The basic process is:

1. Start with a quality beef brisket "flat" from Certified Angus Beef.
2. Make a heavily seasoned brine with savory flavors and pickling spices.
3. Use the brine to wet cure the flat for several days.
4. Rinse off the brisket flat, dry it, and season with a black pepper and coriander based seasoning.
5. Smoke the brisket to 165°f-180°f.
6. Refrigerate overnight.
7. Steam the brisket to 200°f.
8. Slice and serve.

Yeah, it's a bit of a process but it's not that difficult and the results are worth it.  For this pastrami, I used elements of two recipes:

• Pastrami from Michael Symon's book, Carnivore, and 
• Montreal Smoked Mean from Andy Husband and Chris Hart's book, Pitmaster. 

I could just buy a brisket flat and start there, but I had a few whole briskets in the freezer and used that instead.  So I separated the flat (pictured left) from the point (in my hands) and trimmed off most of the fat. The fat pile was used to make beef tallow so it's not waste.

Prime Ribeye Steak with Shiitake Mushrooms and Asparagus with Hollandaise

Murphy's Laws of Grilling

1. The fire only flares up during the time that you went inside "just for a minute".
2. The cut of meat you go to the store to buy for the cook out is never the one on sale.
3. Trying to "grill before the storms hit" is a sure fire way to make it rain instantly.

Number 3 was the one that got me last night.  A major storm system was crossing Tennessee and I thought I had time to quickly grill a steak.  Of course, the grill is hardly preheated when the cold rain drops started pelting the deck so I pulled the grill back under the gazebo to hide out from the rain.

Alexis was at Food City and picked me up a prime Certified Angus Beef ribeye (they are a sponsor but this isn't a sponsored post).  I had some leftover shiitake mushrooms and a half a bundle of asparagus in the fridge.  I thought about doing those two together in a stir fry side dish but went this route instead.

Prime Ribeye Steak with Shiitake Mushrooms and Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

The main characters.

Today I was using the Char-Broil Kamander kamado grill.  They are a sponsor and this is the first kamado they have come out with since I partnered with them.  At a MSRP of $349 it's a low cost kamado and I expected to have performance issues but it actually works surprisingly well so far. I'll still be using all types and brands of kamados but I've added this one to the fold.