BBQ Billy's Grumblings

i love barbecue, and that's just the start.

Fetta Sau Rubbed Rib Eye Steak

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The last time I was at Fetta Sau up in Williamsburg Bklyn, I picked up this stylish mason jar of their rub. They use ground coffee amongst more traditional rub seasonings, and I've always loved the flavor on their smoked boneless beef ribs. The jar has been sitting in my cupboard for a couple months, but last night I remembered it was there and used it on a thick rib eye steak I picked up for dinner.

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Cedar Planked Salmon

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I've read about cedar planked salmon for at least a decade. And I've had a stack of cedar planks in my grilling closet for just as long. Every time I open that closet I see them sitting there, and everytime I grab what I need and close the door leaving the neglected planks of wood behind. But tonight i decided to actually throw them on the grill, and the results were delicious. Read on for more details. 

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Cookin' ribs for my parents

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We headed to Maine this past weekend to visit my parents and my sisters. And while picking up a few things at their local butcher I noticed a few racks of big honkin' loin back ribs and figured I should make some barbecue for dinner. My folks are not exposed to a ton of barbecue, so I thought it'd be fun to serve up a few slabs of ribs on saturday night. I "smoked" these on my father's weber gas grill with a few foil packets of wood chips (a hickory, oak, and apple blend from Stubb's), and I was really suprised by how well they turned out. 

I have a weber gas grill circa 2004 which I love, but man have they made improvements in the past few years. My pop's grill had four burners running north-south, compared to mine which has three running east-west. The north-south configuration allowed me to have one burner on the far side lit with wood chips smoldering on top, and the ribs nicely lined up on the far end of the grill soaking up the smoke and cooking over indirect heat. I set that one burner on medium high, and it maintained a perfect 215 degree temp for hours and hours and hours. I've never been able to keep such a low temp setting on my gas... so now I have gas-grill-envy. 

Anyway, I started to thinking that this really isn't much different from some of the big boy professional pits out there that run on gas with larger logs of wood burning to create smoke. And if they can produce killer (KILLER!) ribs, than I think this backyard grill could as well. This time around the ribs weren't quite tender enough for a barbecue snob such as myself to totally rave about. When I took the ribs out they had come to temp, but could have gone another hour or even two... but I wasn't going to make mom and dad stay up til midnight to eat dinner! So we had some tasty ribs, but the larger ones tended toward more of a pork chop texture. Still though, my BBQB Shake made for a great rub, and I made up some of Mike Mills' "Apple City Barbecue" sauce which was a huge crowd pleaser at the dinner table. Sweet, vinegary, a tiny kick... huge hit! The ribs had a substantial smoke falvor, and the rub and souce combination was teriffic. 

That next morning my mom told me that as my dad was drifting off to sleep he says, "Those ribs were really great... wish i could buy some of those around here."

I might have just found my first customer. 

Red Oak Grill-Smoked Rib Eyes

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Its amazing what a little wood can do in a kettle grill. I picked up some red oak a while back because I'd heard it is less intense than hickory, while more flavorful than apple wood. And tonight I thought I'd give it a shot on some rib eye steaks. Bert and I were brainstorming how we could have done better in the Grillin on the Bay beef category last weekend, and he recalled a steak he seared and then smoked over mesquite. Sounded good to me, so I set to work on a similar version. Here's the lowdown: 

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Grill-Smoked Chili

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This here is your 2011 Super Bowl Sunday Chili. Get cookin'. 

I am a big barbecue fan, and a big chili fan. Making a pot of chili is one of my favorite weekend rituals. Like slow-smoked barbecue, making chili is an all-day event unto itself for me. I love to crack open a few beers, have family and friends around the whole day, and gather around the table (er, couch and floor) for a chili feast. 

This recipe takes the best of the barbecue and chili worlds to create a kicked up batch of beef and bean chili with a rich smokey flavor. In this recipe I’ve described how to “smoke-grill” on a standard gas-grill, but if you have experience smoking over charcoal or in a smoker then please go right ahead and cook the beef as you normally would. You want as much smoke flavor as possible in here, and a gas-grill can only provide so much regardless of how many chips you use. That said, even if the smoke flavor is subtle, the charring and melting of the rub into the meat that happens in a grill/smoke environment is something you can’t really replicate indoors. The Gallery above shows the general process, but for step by step, here you go: 


Ingredients:

For grill-smoking the meat:

  • 3 lb Chuck Roast
  • 2 lbs Ground Chuck
  • 6 Tablespoons Chili Powder
  • 3 Tablespoons Adobo sauce from a can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo.
  • 2 Cups Hickory Wood Chips
  • A grill

For the rest of the Chili:
  • 3 Poblano Peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
  • 3 Anaheim Peppers, cored, seeded, and chopped
  • 3 Jalapeno Peppers, cored, seeded, and finely chopped
  • 3 Medium Yellow Onions, peeled, cored, and chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely minced
  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 28 oz Can Diced Tomatoes
  • 8 oz can plain tomato sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder
  • 4 Tablespoons Chili Powder
  • 3 Tablespoons Smoked Paprika
  • 2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano
  • 1 Tablespoon Dried Basil
  • 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
  • 2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, seeded and minced
  • 1 Tablespoon of Adobo sauce from Chipotle Peppers
  • 2 shots Bourbon
  • 3 Beers (ales are best)
  • 5 15 oz cans of Dark Red Kidney beans, drained and washed thoroughly
  • 3 15 oz cans of Pinto beans, drained and washed thoroughly
  • 1-2 Teaspoons Salt

Process:
  • The night before you plan to make your chili, shape the ground meat into a meatloaf type form, and place it on a foil-wrapped small cookie sheet (it will need to fit on your grill... I use the tray from our toaster oven).  Then coat it with 1 Tablespoon of the chiptole’s adobo sauce and evenly sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder on the meat, pressing it in gently with your hands.
  • Do the same to the chuck roast (omitting the cookie sheet as the roast will go directly on the grill grates), using 2 Tablespoons of adobo and 4 Tablespoons of Chili Powder.
  • Wrap each of the meats snugly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
  • The next day, soak 2 cups of hickory wood chips in water for an hour.
  • Preheat your grill to very hot, and take the meats out of the fridge to bring to room temperature.
  • While the grill is heating, make two “pouches” out of foil and place the drained hickory chips into each pouch. To do this, lay out two pieces of  tinfoil in 2 foot segments. Place 1 cup of hickory chips in the center of each piece of foil. Seal the pouch by bringing the two long ends of foil over the chips, and crinkling the now touching ends of the foil together. Then roll up the open sides to form a tight pouch about 10 inches long by 5 inches wide. Then poke 6 penny-sized holes in the top of each pouch. Smoke will escape through these holes.
  • When the grill is real hot, place the foil pouches, holes facing upwards, directly on the vaporizer bars or lava rocks of your gas grill (You will need to remove the cooking grates to do this). Keep the grill on high for 10 minutes or so until you see smoke beginning to generate.
  • Once there is proof of smoke, reduce the heat of the grill to very low, and wait for the temperature to settle between 225-275. In my gas grill, I only have 2 of the 3 burners going on the lowest setting to achieve a 250 degree temp.
  • Remove the plastic from the meats.
  • Place the chuck roast directly on the cleaned grates of your grill, with the fattier side facing up. Place the Foil-wrapped cookie sheet with the ground chuck on the gill as well.
  • Close the grill, and grill-smoke the meats for 3 hours.  
  • After 3 hours, remove the ground chuck, and loosely cover with foil. Let stand for 1 hour.
  • Meanwhile, continue grill smoking the chuck roast for another hour or until the meat reads 150-160 degrees with an instant-read thermometer. Remove the chuck roast, cover loosely with foil and let stand for 15 minutes.
  • While the meats are resting, start up the chili.
  • In a large stock pot with a heavy bottom, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions, poblanos, anahiems, and jalapenos, and saute for 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
  • Add the garlic, and saute for 2 more minutes.
  • Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), plain tomato sauce, 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder, 4 Tablespoons Chili Powder, 3 Tablespoons Smoked Paprika, 2 Tablespoon Dried Oregano, 1 Tablespoon Dried Basil, 1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder, 2 Chipotle Peppers in Adobo, seeded and minced, 1 Tablespoon of Adobo sauce from Chipotle Peppers, 2 shots Bourbon, and 3 Beers.
  • Cook covered for 20 minutes, once it starts to bubble, reduce heat to very low.
  • Meanwhile, its time to prepare the meat.
  • Slice the ground chuck meatloaf in half along its length, keeping the knife parallel to the cutting surface (think layer cake). Then cube the two layers of beef into 1-inch or ½-inch cubes.
  • Pull the chuck roast apart along the fat lines, this should yield 2-4 large chunks of beef. Trim away any large pieces of fat and discard (eat). A little fat is ok, but you don’t want to sink your teeth into a large chuck of fat in a spoonful of chili. Then cut the meat into ½ inch cubes. You want to keep as much of the darkened rub as possible intact. It will add a ton of flavor to your chili!
  • Stir in both piles of smoked, cubed, and delicious meat into the pot of chili. Once well mixed, add all cans of rinsed beans and stir thoroughly.
  • Take a taste, and add salt to your liking. Start with 1 teaspoon, mix thoroughly, and taste again. I usually let it cook for a while before adding more. I will typically add another ½ teaspoon or maybe as much as another full teaspoon (so 1.5 - 2 teaspoons total), but its up to the chef!
  • Cook covered on ultra low for 2 hrs, stirring every 15 minutes.
  • Taste for salt again, and add if need be. Continue to cook for 2 more hours, uncovered, or until the consistency is to your liking. I prefer a a moderately thick chili, but its ready to eat after the first two hours of cooking if you like your chili more on the soupy side.
  • Serve in warmed bowls with the toppings of your choice. Shredded cheddar cheese and diced red onions go perfectly.

 

 

Grill-Smoked Buffalo Wings

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I love a good buffalo chicken wing. The combination of vinegar and hot sauce on top of a super crispy wing is perhaps one of my top 10 favorite foods to eat. A few restaurants get it right, many do not, but I even love the bad ones. True love I tell you. I've been making variations at home for years, from deep fried, to baked, to grilled, to smoked. The version I made last week was a good combination of subtle smokey flavors with the traditional bang and tang of a classic buffalo wing. I made these on our gas grill down in Brooklyn a day after a snow storm, and was pleased with the results. Gas grills can really shine sometimes. A recipe is at the bottom of the post, but here is a long-winded version of what i did: 

First up was to make a smoker pack. I soaked a big handful of apple wood chips in water for about an hour. I then pulled out a 18-inch long sheet of tin foil, and piled the drained wood chips in the center. I folded the long ends of the foil over the wood and crinkled them together. Then folded up the open sides to make a sealed packet, and poked 5 penny-sized holes in the top. I removed one cooking grate from the grill, and tossed the packet directly on the "vaporizer" bars to get as close to the heat as possible:

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I set the grill to high, and heated it up for a good 15-20 minutes until I saw smoke coming from the vents. While the grill was heating I rubbed the chicken with an equal part mix of smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, and fresh cracked pepper. I then cleaned and oiled the remaining cooking grate, placed my wings skin-side down, and reduced all three burners to low:
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 I closed the lid, and grill-smoked for 15 minutes, checking after 10 minutes to confirm I wasn't scorching anything. Afer the 15 minutes I flipped the wings over and found nice browning happening:  
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I then mopped the cooked side of the wings with an equal part mix of beer (Labatt's) to bottled bbq sauce (Stubb's): 
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I closed the lid and grill-smoked for another 10 minutes. When I checked in I found a few of the smaller wings fully cooked, and some of the larger wings still needing time. So I piled up the finished wings on a cooler part of the grill, and kept everything on for another 5 minutes:
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During that last 5 minutes I heated up a sauce of 4 Tbsp Frank's hot sauce, 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar, 2 Tbsp Ketchup, 1 Tbsp butter. I did this in a soup pot big enough to fit the wings inside, and only cooked long enough to melt the butter and heat the sauce through:
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When I removed the wings from the grill, they looked amazing on their own. Very crisp, nice charred bits, and the meat was looking plump. But using every ounce of willpower at hand, I continued with the saucing plan. Which is simply to dump them in the pot, cover, and shake 'em up for 5 seconds. I removed the wings from the pot immediately with tongs because I didn't want them to get soggy, and served them right away. A few shots of that process, starting with the wings fresh off the grill: 
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I love this sauce... its so simple, and has a great combination of salt & vinegar with a nice kick of straight hot sauce. The applewood adds a really nice subtle smokey flavor to a traditional buffalo chicken wing. Its a bit more of a sweet smokey flavor than you'd get from a basic charcoal grill setup, though making these over charcoal would be killer as well. All-in this is about a 40 minute effort... perfect timing for pre-game festivities before the big game. 

Here's the full recipe: 

Ingredients: 

  • 12 chicken wings
  • 1 cup apple wood chips
  • 2 Tbsp canola oil for oiling the grates
  • 2 Tsp Smoked Paprika (any paprika is fine if you can't find smoked)
  • 2 Tsp Chili Powder
  • 2 Tsp Kosher salt
  • 2 Tsp Fresh Cracked Black pepper
  • 1/4 cup beer (something simple, Labatt's, Pabst, Bud, etc) 
  • 1/4 cup bottled bbq sauce (Stubb's is great)
  • 4 Tbsp Frank's hot sauce (gotta be Frank's!)
  • 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp Ketchup
  • 1 Tbsp butter

Process:

  • An hour before you fire up the grill, soak the wood chips in water
  • Make a foil packet for the wood chips ( Place the drained wood chips on an 18-inch long sheet of tin foil, fold the long ends of the foil over the wood and crinkle them together. Then fold up the open sides to make a sealed packet, and poke 5 penny-sized holes in the top)
  • Remove a grate from your grill, place the foil pack directly on the heating element and heat the grill on high for 15-20 minutes, or until you see smoke coming from the packet. 
  • Meanwhile, make the rub: mix the paprika, chili powder, kosher salt, and black pepper in a small ball (note: this will make more than you need but I love having extra rub around!) 
  • Rub the chicken with 2 Tbsp of this rub
  • Once the grill is producing smoke, clean the remaining grate, and oil it with the 2 Tbsp of oil using tongs and a wadded up paper towel
  • Reduce the heat to low, place the wings skin side down on the oiled grate, close the lid and smoke-grill for 15 minutes, checking after 10 to confirm nothing is burning
  • Meanwhile, make the mop: combine the beer and bottled bbq sauce
  • After 15 minutes, turn the wings over and brush with cooked sides of the chicken with half of the mop
  • Close the lid and grill-smoke for 10 more minutes
  • Make the buffalo wing sauce: in a pot large enough to fit the wings heat the hot sauce, vinegar, ketchup and butter over medium heat until the botter has melted. Cover, and remove from heat. 
  • After the last 10 minutes most of your wings should be cooked through, but cut into the smallest and largest to confirm the meat is no longer pink
  • Remove the fully cooked wings from the grill, toss them in the pot with the sauce, shake for 5 seconds, then remove the wings individually using tongs (you don't want to keep them in too much sauce or they will become soggy quickly)
  • Serve immediately! 
  • Note: it's super easy to double, triple, and quadruple this recipe!