Tag Archives: bbq

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Smoked Lamb Shoulder + Smoked Pulled Pork

Take 10lbs of lamb shoulder (we sourced ours from Central Market), rub generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder overnight, then smoke over oak and hardwood just like a beef brisket.

Mind you that this lamb shoulder does have a few rib bones in it, so a little more studious monitoring is required so it doesn’t overcook. Our Thermoworks Thermapen MK4 and Dot make this an easy task.

Most BBQ lamb recipes I’ve seen treats lamb like a steak, to be grilled or seared over high heat to a rare temperature. In this instance we are cooking low-and-slow for juicy, fatty, shred-ready pulled lamb.

We wrapped the lamb shoulder at the 165F mark and smoked till internal meat temps reached 195F-200F in our BGEXL, again as we would a beef brisket. I should mention that we also had a pork shoulder (boston butt/picnic) also sharing grill space with the lamb that we sauced and wrapped at the stall temperature. (Our favorite bottled sauce on most everything barbecue is Trader Joe’s Organic Sriracha & Roasted Garlic BBQ  Sauce.)

Once rested, we started pulling the meats apart and feasted on the bbq goodness for over 2 weeks.

 

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Smoked BBQ Ribs

It’s no secret that we’re in love with smoking on the Big Green Egg. And with our handy ThermoWorks gear, (i.e. DOT and Thermapen Mk4 both in screamin’ Green) smoking and grilling to temperature has gotten a whole lot more accurate.

So when I spotted a post on ThermoWorks blog about competition style BBQ ribs, I just had to put our BGE to work reproducing those delicious BBQ pork ribs.

We sourced our pork ribs from two vendors: our local Kroger grocery store (for back loin ribs) and a butcher shop, Matador Meats, in Plano (for St Louis cut ribs).

I applied our cajun-style dry spice rub to the ribs and refrigerated until we were ready for meat to hit the grill.

Here’s a reprint of my Cajun/Blackening Spice recipe:

  • 2-3 tablespoons paprika
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 1 tsp red pepper flakes, ground cayenne, or a dash of ghost pepper
  • 1-2 tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1/2 to 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon basil (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
  • 1-2 tablespoons brown sugar

We primed our BGE to cook low and slow at no more than dome temp of 250F, using oak chips and lump. We had at least 3 temperature probes monitoring meat temperatures during the 8 hour smoke. When the the temps hit 165F, we pulled them from the BGE for the wrap portion of the cook.

Our go-to sauce is Trader Joe’s Organic Sriracha & Roasted Garlic BBQ Sauce, and we slathered this on the ribs in their foil wrap, before returning them to the BGE for the final march to 200F.

The result: tender, pull-apart sweet-spicy pork ribs that easily fell off the bone.

 

Dining, Recipes

Recipe: Smoked Glazed Pork Belly (aka Pork Belly Burnt Ends)

The Labor Day weekend is summer’s last bow before fall arrives, and the holiday is usually marked with backyard cookouts across the US, involving grills and smokers.

My household planned on staying home during the weekend, spending some intimate time with the Big Green Egg XL…and I wanted to do something different with pork belly from my usual crispy smoked roast pork. I wanted something sweet, smoky…and spicy a la Sichuan style. And of course I’d heard of pork belly burnt ends so…

This here hunk of smoked pork belly with crisped skin…

…went back into the BGE with a generous application of my spice rub, along with helpings of butter, honey and brown sugar…

Which then turned into the sticky-sweet-and-savory pork belly dish below!

The only things I would have changed to this recipe: get a larger slab of pork and add some real heat–Sriracha or chili oil–to the glaze.  Oh, and I could’ve certainly used a lot less butter.

The recipe as is:

  • 6 tbsp salted butter (2 or 4 tbsp would be less wasteful)
  • 3oz Neem honey
  • 3oz light brown sugar
  • 1-2oz of spice rub (I used my cajun rub)
  • about 3 lbs of skin-on, boneless pork belly
  • a bunch of green onions, sliced, for garnish (optional)

In contrast to some burnt end methods that I’ve read, we didn’t cut or rub the pork belly before the smoke. We slapped the raw, uncut and unadorned pork belly onto the BGE to smoke at 300F (over hardwood coals and post oak logs) for about 15-20 minutes. We then applied direct heat to the skin for another 5-10 minutes to get crispy.

After pulling it off the smoker to slice and cube, I tossed the pork belly chunks in a foil pan with the glaze ingredients.  Then back onto the BGE they went for another 10-15 minutes to caramelize.

Once the pork belly got sticky and a little blackened, I pulled the pan from the smoker and let it sit while I chopped up the garnish.

It was mighty hard sneaking bites in of the hot bits of pork…but it was soooo delicious!

Dining

Franklin Barbecue: Storied BBQ landmark damaged by fire

As I was searching through the news finding out the status of BBQ restaurants in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, I found this news at Texas Monthly regarding the most famous of all BBQ joints “in the world”.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/aaron-franklin-will-rebuild/

Indeed a banner on the Franklin BBQ website indicated the indefinite nature of the shutdown.

As of 9/1/2017

However, we know that the same spirit and optimism moves the people of South Texas and Louisiana affected by the storm as we look toward the coming days of relief and recovery.

Bites and Finds, Dining, Reviews

Cattleack BBQ offers online preorder form

Cattleack BBQ, a top 10 finalist in 2017’s Texas Monthly top BBQ joints, now offers an online form for pre-ordering. You can pre-order a minimum of 10lbs of meat that you can then pick up at their restaurant on Thursday or Friday only. Previously, you could call or email Misty with your order and confirm your credit card over the phone. Now there’s an additional disclaimer of “first come, first serve”. Once upon a time, the minimum was 5lbs, but with their recent addition to the BBQ royalty elite in Texas, I’m sure Cattleack will be hard-pressed to keep up with all the requests for their great barbecue!