Spicy Braised Rib Tips

When I demonstrated how to trim pork spare ribs St. Louis style, I mentioned in the video that the trimmings would not go to waste. Actually there is nothing wrong with cooking the rib tips right along with the ribs.  But I prefer to use the trimmings for other things.

This recipe makes a bunch of spicy shredded pork that can be eaten by itself or used to make things like:

• tacos 
• quesadillas
  
• burritos
• beans and rice
• pork nachos 
• top with a fried egg for breakfast
• pizza
  

This weekend I used a batch and some of Alexis' leftover homemade rolls to make mini spicy pork subs.

Condiments were roasted red pepper mayo and a jalapeno/onion relish.

We typically freeze it in quart sized vacuum bags and then on a weeknight it can be ready in 15 minutes by putting it straight from the freezer into a pot of boiling water for just a few minutes.

It seems like a lot of ingredients but it is an “everything goes in at once” deal. 

I used a camp style Dutch oven but you could also do this by braising in your stove top/oven.

Spicy Braised Rib Tips

5 lbs pork spare rib trimmings (trimmings from 3 ribs)

1 white onion, peeled and sliced

¼ cup fresh oregano

¼ cup cilantro

4 cloves garlic, peeled

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 dried red chiles, chopped (deseeded if you want milder heat)

½ cup beer

¼ cup cider vinegar

¼ cup oil

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp paprika

1 Tbsp seasoned salt

1 tsp coarse black pepper

1 tsp hot sauce

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp dried lemon peel

3 cloves (whole not ground)

Put the pork and all fresh ingredients into the Dutch oven.

Whisk together the liquids and dry seasonings for your braising liquid. Pour over everything in the Dutch oven.

Braise for 2 hours. This is where I screwed up but it worked. Can you tell what I did wrong in this picture?

When using a camp Dutch oven like this the typical arrangement is 2/3rds of your briquettes on top and 1/3^rd on the bottom. My plan was 10 on bottom, 20 on top. As you can see, I reversed it - DOH! Every 15 minutes I turned the bottom 90 degrees counter clockwise and the lid 90 degrees clockwise. It wasn't until an hour in that I realized my mistake. It didn't seem to hurt anything and when I replenished the coals, I fixed it.

When the tips hit 195-200f they are done. That took right at the 2 hour mark for mine.  Remove from the coals and let rest for 10 minutes.

They will look butt ugly at this point, don't worry, they taste amazing.

Then use two large forks to shred the meat like pulled pork. 

Try not to eat it all while you are shredding it.....

It looks a little like pulled pork but the texture is a little more firm than pulled pork and because of the ingredients I used, it has a Latin flavor profile.   

 It was perfect in the black beans and rice that I made to go with the flank steak the other day.

Win a $500 Carivore Kit at Grilling.com

Kingsford is giving away a Carnivore Kit EACH WEEK just for signing up and showing where you are grilling on their interactive map [click to enter].  Each package includes -

• Snake River Farms meats
• Kingsford barrel grill
• Kingsford charcoal
• Grilling tools
• KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce

This is a very nice prize package.  I've had the Snake River Farms beef and it is fantastic, some of the best waygu beef around.  Tender and incredibly good.

I hope you all are having a great Labor Day! 

Brazilian Marinated Flank Steak with Chile Lime Sauce

This recipe is adapted from Rick Browne's 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes. 

Rick is the host of the PBS television show Barbecue America and the author of 8 books on barbecue. 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes features tried and true techniques, helpful hints, and key tips that is sure to make a grillmaster out of even the most inexperienced BBQ-er and I am giving away a copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher, Agate Surrey.

Brazilian Marinated Flank Steak with Chile Lime Sauce

adapted from 1,001 BestGrilling Recipes

1 flank steak, scored 1/8” deep at 1” intervals (drag a knife across in a criss-cross pattern)

Marinade

½ cup onion, diced

¼ cup lime juice

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

3 Tbsp oregano, fresh chopped

1 heaping tsp roasted garlic (substitute 3 cloves minced if you don't have roasted)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

Spicy Salsa Verde

2 jalapeno chiles, seeded and chopped

½ onion, chopped

1 heaping tsp roasted garlic

½ tsp Kosher salt

Make ahead: Place the Salsa Verde ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it becomes a smooth paste. Refrigerate until an hour before use. (Note: I honestly doubted this simple salsa but it had a great flavor.  Alexis ended up topping her black beans and rice with it too and she doesn't like a lot of spicy heat.)

Mix all marinade ingredients together and marinate the steak for 4-6 hours.

Remove the steak from the marinade and wipe off the excess. Set up your grill for direct heat and preheat to 450f.

Grill about 4-5 minutes per side until the steak reaches an internal temp of 130f. I like to rotate them 90 degrees on each side for cross hatch marks.

Rest for 10 minutes. Slice thin across the grain and serve with the spicy salsa verde. 

We served it with black beans & rice and Plain Chicken's Brazilian Cheese Bread puffs.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Rick Browne about this book and here's what he had to say.

NibbleMeThis: 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes is quite a body of work. Did the large number of recipes needed to complete the book put extra pressure on you to produce or did you see it as the freedom to explore?

Rick Browne: No pressure, after 7 years of hosting Barbecue America on PBS and having collected recipes from all over the US and from 26 countries for that series, and being a confirmed BBQ foodie loved the chance to share a whole bunch of recipes.

NibbleMeThis: One of the things I noticed about this book is how the difficulty of the recipes varies from simple to complex. How did you go about ensuring such a good balance of recipes for a wide audience ranging from beginner to enthusiast to pitmaster?

Rick Browne: I wanted to make sure the beginner (ie: kids in or just out of college, older folks who have never barbecued) as well as the BBQ pros who compete in the major BBQ contests (American Royal, Memphis in May, Blues-Brews & BBQ, and Jack Daniels) had some new ideas for barbecue meals.

NibbleMeThis: How did your six year, 30,000 mile road trip influence your approach to writing 1,001 Best Grilling Recipes? Was a lot of it written on the road?

Rick Browne: None was written on the road, only took notes and over 10,000 images - then when I went to write my various books referred to those notes and those pictures to remind me of the delicious bbq I had sampled, and watched folks cook.

NibbleMeThis: You and your wife seem to be quite the team.  How is Kathy involved in your recipe development?

Rick Browne: She is my sous chef, prepping and cleaning up after my cooking demos, my travel companion and guide, navigator, and proofs all my writings for me.

NibbleMeThis: What's next for you? Already working on recipe 1,002?

Rick Browne: A book called A Century of Restaurants due out next Summer - where I've visited 100 of America's oldest restaurants (between 100-300 yrs. old) to document the finest of American cuisine and its historic roots. Have driven and flown over 40,000 miles for this, traveling to 46 states. Fully illustrated book with all of my photography, again having shot thousands of images from coast to coast and border to border.

Giveaway

Each person can receive up to a total of 3 entries as follows:

1. leave a comment below (NOTE: If you use the "anonymous comment" option, be sure to leave an email or your screen name in the comment so I can contact you if you are the winner. Something like "EggerinFL from the Egg Forum" or "swibirun from the BBQ Brethren forum" is enough.)
2. Do a Twitter or Facebook post linking to this giveaway post and then leave a separate comment below.
3. Mention this giveaway and link to it in a post on your blog. Then leave a separate comment below with the URL of your post.
   

The Rules

1. Giveaway entry period begins 9pm September ,3 2011 and ends September 8, 2011 11:59pm. Winner will be announced September 9, 2011.
2. Comments will be numbered by order received and random.org will generate a random number for the winner.
3. Limited to residents of the continental US unless you wish to pay the extra shipping charges.
4. I am the final judge regarding any discrepancies, interpretations, grievances, etc about this drawing.
5. Agate Surrey is sponsoring the prize. They are not responsible for the drawing or the giveaway.
6. Winner must respond and claim the prize within one week of the winning announcement. If a winner does not claim the prize during the specified time, a reserve winner will be drawn from the original entries.
7. Employees, Board Members, pets, indentured servants, and family of Nibble Me This are not eligible to enter.
   

How To Trim St Louis Style Spare Ribs

When I smoke spare ribs, I like to trim them St Louis style.  (Actually it's more of a Kansas City style since I square the ends off too.)

I do this for a couple of reasons.

1. Even cooking - Spare ribs are irregularly shaped and unless trimmed, the tapered end will be more cooked than the wide end.
2. Even portions - Each rib will be the same size.
3. Faster cooking times - An untrimmed spare rib takes me about 6 hours to get smoked right.  A trimmed spare takes about 5.  

Here is how I trim mine.



Don't worry, the trimmed portions do NOT go to waste.  I have a great recipe for rip tips coming up this weekend.

If you need some ideas for firing up your grill this Labor Day weekend, check out Kingsford's Grilling.com.

Product Review: Fully Loaded Burger Stuffer

While “Jucy Lucy [sic]” style burgers have been around since the mid-50's, the trend of stuffed burgers has exploded in 2011. BurgerBusiness.com even declared 2011 as the year of the stuffed burger. 

Like with any food trend, there is a myriad of products trying to strike while the iron is hot and today I'm reviewing one of those – the Fully Loaded Burger Stuffer byHeadchefs.

I've used the Burger Stuffer a few times and here are my observations:

Upside

• They are very well manufactured. The silicone and plastic parts fit together well.
• The tapered cup design balances out the stuffing to the burger. The edges are thicker which ended up grilling perfectly with zero “cheese ruptures”.
• Easy to clean.

“Not so up” side

• I still ended up having to hand seal the edges to get a good closure. Despite the thicker edges noted above, they just didn't mix together in the tool.  Then again, no burger stuffer tool I have tried did not require some hand sealing at the end.
• Price point – it's a bit pricy for a uni-tasker tool that you might use a handful of times per year

Another thing is the 7 step process required per burger. On one hand, it is entertaining to use in a “playdough fun factory” kind of way. On the other hand it is a bit convoluted compared to just doing it by hand. 

Click for animation

The burgers I made tonight were stuffed with pepper jack cheese and 1 Tablespoon of homemade salsa. I grilled them on my Big Green Egg at 450f using GrillGrates. 

I served them with a roasted red pepper mayo (1 Tbsp diced roasted red pepper and ¼ cup mayo). 

The flavors were simple and less extravagant than some of the over the top “burger stuffed with Himalayan yak cheese, shaved fennel and sodium free kosher salt” kind of things I've seen. But you know what? It worked.

[Standard Disclaimer] I received the Fully Loaded Burger Stuffer as a free review sample. I received my GrillGrates free at Kingsford University earlier this year but I would totally buy a set if someone stole mine – don't get any ideas, stay off my deck!

Grilled Potato Salad

There was NO tailgating this morning for Trevor's game since we had to leave the house before dawn to be at his last pre-season bowl game this morning.  We had to be there at 7am. 

He is #50 and nailed this tackle.

But tailgating season is upon us and one of the common side dishes found at a tailgate is the ubiquitous potato salad. If you want to make your potato salad stand out as something special, try grilling it. Take your favorite potato salad recipe and grill some of the main components. This is a trick taught at Kingsford University. Grilling your potatoes and veggies will boost their flavor. 

Before you can have a side dish, you have to have a main dish so I smoked three racks of spare ribs.

Rubbed and on the Big Green Egg.  Used hickory & cherry wood.

Grilled Potato Salad

2 lb red bliss potatoes, halved

1 ear corn, shucked

1 ea jalapeno

2 ea green onion

1 stalk celery (trim leaves and reserve for the dressing, see below)

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper, ground

Dressing

3 oz Dukes mayonnaise

2 Tbsp coarse ground mustard

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 tsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp celery leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh cayenne pepper, seeded and finely chopped (sub ½ tsp red pepper flake)

½ tsp fresh sage, finely chopped

Toss potatoes in oil, salt and pepper. Place on skewers and microwave for 3 minutes. Flip and microwave another 3 minutes.

Whisk the dressing ingredients together.

Place the potato skewers, corn, and jalapeno on a 350f grill. Cook for 8 minutes, turning it all every 2 minutes. 

In the last 2 minutes add the green onion and celery.

Remove the potatoes from the skewers and cut in half (so they are now quartered). Cut the kernels off of the ear. Peel, seed, and dice the jalapeno. Chop the celery and green onion.

Toss all of this into a large bowl. Mix with the dressing. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed. Chill for at least one hour.

It's hard to make potato salad look awesome but ribs help!

Served with BBQ ribs and Bush Original Barbecue Beans.

[Standard Disclaimer] I am currently in a partnership with Bush Beans for some upcoming events but this post has nothing to do with that. Specific products named in this post are just because I like them. I wasn't compensated for this post.

On Our Grills August

It is time for the monthly On OurGrills – 4 Ingredient Challenge. 

It's a monthly challenge (not contest) in which a group of grilling/BBQ friends are presented with a list of 4 ingredients that they must use to create a meal from the grill. The challenge ingredients for August are:

Protein: Beef Short Ribs

Vegetable: Celery

Starch: Gluten Free Pasta

Fruit: Peaches

I cheated on this one. I had an ace up my sleeve and I consulted the Gluten Free Grillmeister himself, Dave of Food and Fire for advice. I decided to TRY to make the entire meal gluten free. 

Beef Short Ribs

Full of connective tissues, these are a prime candidate for low and slow and/or braising. I went with both and used this Chris Lilly recipe that you can find at Grilling.com. I smoked the ribs as directed and used a mix of Kingsford and peach wood that I got from Larry last year (BigDude's Eclectic Ramblings). The second part of the cook braises them where I did slip up on gluten free since I could not get gluten free soy sauce.

Celery

Does celery even COUNT as a vegetable? I mean, it's fiber and water. Outside of “ants on a log” or as a side to hot wings, whoever wants celery? Actually I like the flavor of celery, it's the texture that I dislike. I hate biting into dishes and getting a huge, raw chunk of celery. I solved that problem tonight by using very thin slices on a bias. Just look at the difference.

Gluten Free Pasta

This was my biggest surprise. I expected some chewy, gross pasta substitute. We used Notta Pasta Rice Spaghetti and we LOVED it. I made a veggie pasta side dish on the grill while the beef rested.

On Our Grills Challenge Made Me Make This But I Really Liked It Pasta

Serves 2

2 Tbsp butter

1 stalk celery, sliced thin on a sharp bias

1 leaf sage, sliced

¼ cup roasted red pepper, diced

1 green onion, sliced

¼ tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt (gluten free, don't ya know!)

4 oz Notta Pasta Rice Spaghetti, cooked according to directions

Preheat a skillet over high heat and then add the butter. Saute celery and sage for 2 minutes.

Add the pepper, onion, and season salt. Saute another 1-2 minutes.

Add cooked pasta and toss to coat.

Peaches

Once the meat had smoked, I grilled the peaches over the peach wood embers while Alexis made our basic home made ice cream. Grilling fruit concentrates the natural sugars. 

After peeling and dicing the peach halves, Alexis poured about 1 Tbsp of Agave nectar over them and tossed them. The warm peaches melted the ice cream before I could get a decent photograph but the taste was well worth it. 

 

Smoke Hollow

I used 3/4ths of my SmokeHollow grill/smoker combo cooker for this dish.

• Offset Smoker – smoked the beef ribs until the point they were foiled
• Charcoal Grill – grilled the peaches over the peach wood embers
• Gas Grill – finished cooking the ribs once foiled, sauteed the veggies

I love our two Big Green Eggs but the Smoke Hollow combo cooker is great because I can be using 3 cooking surfaces at once doing different things. I want to get it out on our deck with the Eggs but need to get a 7 foot long grill cover first.

The On Our Grills Troupe

Check out the creative meals that the rest of the gang came up with:

The Daily Dish – August Challenge Post

Kristina has been writing "The Daily Dish" for www.BetterRecipes.com for the past two years. The blog covers a wide variety of recipes, but firing up the grill truly lights up her passion for food! She was named "America's Next Pork Personality" by Guy Fieri for one of her grilled pork dishes, won the outdoor grilling division of the National Beef Cook-Off, and her winning grilled lamb-burger took her all the way to the land Down Under with Meat and Livestock Australia. The "4-Ingredient Challenge" is a fun and exciting way to get creative on the grill!

The BBQ Grail – August Challenge Post

The BBQ Grail website was created in 2007, initially to document the author’s quest to find the perfect backyard BBQ experience. Since that time The BBQ Grail has become one of the more popular BBQ blogs on the internet and is listed on Alltop.com as one of the top BBQ blogs.

No Excuses BBQ – August Challenge Post

The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author's goal of cooking outdoors at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world. Somewhere along the way things got out of control...

Oshawa Ogre's Views, News & BBQ's – August Challenge Post

Wilfred is somewhat of a newcomer to the BBQ scene having only done standard grilling for most of his 50 years, He found and became passionate about Low & Slow about 2 years ago. and that passion also morphed into a second hobby which is writing. Oshawa Ogre’s Views News & BBQ’s has been a project that has taken on a life of it’s own and blessed him with many many new friends in the BBQ community on Twitter, facebook and through the blog.

Grill Aventures – August Challenge Post

Grilladventures by broadcastmarc is started on march of 2010.I started the BBQ thing when I was 30,before that we eat a lot outside.have fun,but when the kids came in our life We start serious cooking.Most of it is realy healthy I think;-)The grill has a special place in my heart,We love to do things outside..Everything I make is an adventure,and sometimes we use the books.We try to grill as much as we can year round.

Jason's Barbecue Adventures – August Challenge Post

Jason’s BBQ Adventures was started in 2007 when Jason fell in love with real BBQ the first time and tried to smoked a pork shoulder and soon after started smoking ribs, brisket, and chicken. After a while he started to experiment with grilling and smoking just about anything and ultimately fell in love with the entire cooking process.

The Dutchess Cooks – August Challenge Post

After years of cooking, grilling, baking and reading other people’s blogs, I thought “why not start my own blog??” And I did, in 2010, but already after a short period of time, a blog wasn’t enough, and I started my own website. It’s not my goal to publish or come up with fancy and difficult recipes: just good and delicious food with an international twist! Straight from my plate to yours!

Reverse Seared Ribeye with Oyster Mushrooms

An oyster mushroom tries to get into an exclusive night club but the bouncer says, “Sorry little fella, this is a trendy place. I only let the most fun and hip people in.”

“Oh come on, people love me!” pleads the oyster mushroom, “Just ask anyone and they'll tell you that I'm a fungi!”

Sorry about that. I couldn't help myself!

Brewer's Mushrooms was at the newly opened Turkey Creek Public Markets yesterday. They sell gourmet mushrooms and grow your own mushroom kits, pretty cool stuff. 

Chef Amber Sue did a cooking demo on the grill with oyster mushrooms. 

These were much better than store bought mushrooms, even quality ones. The freshness makes a difference. They have a meaty texture, the earthy taste associated with mushrooms and just a hint of umami. I bought a ¼ pound, got some ideas from Chef and headed home with a plan.

I set my Big Green Egg up for indirect heat (plate setter in, legs up) at 250f. I rubbed a thick ribeye with Steven Raichlen's Lone Star rub and put it on the grill. 

It took 50 minutes to reach an internal temperature of 125f. I pulled it off to rest.

Next I switched the grill back to direct heat and cranked the temp of the grill to 550f. I used a spider rig (the wire looking thing) to drop my Craycort cast iron grate as close to the coals as I could. Then it was just a quick sear for 1 minute per side and it's done.

While the steak rested, I made the sauteed mushrooms. Sure this is nothing new but the ultra fresh mushrooms shine in this dish.

Oyster Mushroom Steak Topping

adapted from Chef Amber Sue

Makes enough for 1 or 2 steaks

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

¼ cup yellow onion, diced

4 ounces oyster mushrooms

1 tsp Draper'sAll-Purpose Rub (or other bbq rub)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp thyme

2 Tbsp butter, unsalted

Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat on the grill. Add the oil and let it heat up until it is shimmering.

Add the onion and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, season with the rub, and cook another 2-3 minutes.

Remove the cast iron skillet from heat and immediately add the garlic, butter, and thyme. The carryover heat of the skillet will saute the garlic and melt the butter.

Serve over steak.

The reverse sear gave me the wonderfully even medium rare from edge to edge.  

I've done sauteed mushrooms for steak plenty of times but these were the best I've ever had.  The freshness makes all the difference in the world.