Newsletter Archive
This spring, we urge you to give versatile lamb a try! Tender, rich, meaty, and compatible with many flavor combinations, lamb’s versatility is unmatched. Explore its many cuts to find your favorites—loin, shoulder, ribs, brisket, bone-in or boneless leg of lamb, steaks, loin or rib chops, etc.
If you’re new to grilling lamb, we recommend you start with a leg of lamb or shoulder. If using shoulder, ask your butcher to remove any excess intermuscular fat (this is where the gamier flavors hang out) and to roll and tie it for a more uniform shape that can be rotisseried or indirect grilled.
Here are a few of our favorite recipes:
Revised, redesigned, and beautifully photographed, this updated classic from America’s barbecue guru offers 50 recipes for the ultimate chicken grilling technique—on a beer can—plus brilliant recipes for birds off the can, perfect sides, and even desserts!
Chicken on a beer can? You bet! When Steven Raichlen, America’s barbecue guru, says it’s the best grilled chicken he’s ever tasted, cooks stop and listen. An essential addition to every grill jockey’s library, Beer-Can Chicken presents foolproof recipes for the ultimate poultry grilling technique, plus the perfect sides and desserts—more than 50 recipes in all. The results? The perfect bird, crackly crisp, succulent within—the most flavorful chicken you’ve ever tasted. Beer-Can Tandoori with yogurt, warming spices, and of course, India’s Kingfisher Lager. Sake Chicken with a wasabi-sesame rub. Truffled Chicken and Cousin Rob’s Cajun Chicken. Other birds on the can: Root Beer Game Hens and Beer-Can Turkey (perched on a 32-ounce can of Foster’s). ”Beerless birds” (Ginger Ale Chicken, Black Cherry Soda Chicken), and birds cooked off the can in clever ways—like Stoned Chicken (grilled under a brick) and Welder’s Chicken (wrapped in foil and turned with welder’s gloves). Whether on a can, under a brick, or in the embers, each grilling technique is explained in easy-to-follow steps, with recipes that guarantee no matter how wild the process, the results are always outstanding. Includes sides, desserts, and all new instructions for beer-canning on a pellet grill—with full-color step-by-step and beauty photography throughout.
Are you up for a gratifying challenge this year? Want to serve a genuine home-cured ham to your guests this Easter? There’s plenty of time for Smokehouse Shoulder Ham if you start soon.
Just as a Thanksgiving holiday turkey often delivers an even stronger performance as a sandwich the following day, the same can be said for St. Patrick’s Day corned beef. Below are some of our best suggestions for corned beef leftovers. If you’re lucky enough to have them!
There’s something so seductive about a whole chicken rotating slowly on a spit, its skin browning to crisp perfection, its rich-tasting fat basting the meat as it roasts over the flavor-boosting powers of wood smoke.
Can you buy rotisserie chicken at your local big box store or supermarket? Of course. (Costco sells over 170 million per year.) But why would you, when a chicken seasoned and smoke-roasted at home is easy, versatile, and so satisfying? This cooking technique not only ensures even cooking, but also imparts a delightful crispy skin and succulent meat. Follow these simple steps, found in Steven’s book, Project Smoke, and you’ll be a rotisserie chicken master in no time.
March Madness is right around the corner and that means watching your favorite team with family and friends. It is more fun that way, but the group will want to eat! Here are two simple appetizers to keep your crew fed while watching the game.
One of my go-to appetizers for a crowd is chicken wings. They are easy to make and the flavor profiles for wings are endless. My second appetizer is not as common as wings but is simple and always a hit. It is smoked camembert cheese with grilled bread.
Today I will share how I spiced up my wings and smoked cheese with the help of the Texas Pepper Jelly Company.
While many people confine their grilling to weekends or their days off, your grill can be an ally in putting great food on the table fast any night of the week. An added bonus? Clean-up’s easier, too.
Whether you cook over charcoal or gas, it generally takes less than 15 minutes for your grill to come up to temperature—time you can use to give foods like chicken breast or shrimp a quick marinade in your favorite vinaigrette, or season simply with a rub. Other proteins that can be finished in minutes include pork tenderloin or chops, burgers, thinner cuts of steak, brats, lamb chops, or fish fillets. Prepare extra servings so you’ll have the makings for another meal.
As an active recipe tester for many years for barbecue master Steven Raichlen, I have taken to buying premium meats online from some of the country’s most well-regarded artisanal purveyors. One of my favorites is Porter Road.
Porter Road recently sent me a magnificent trio of pork cuts, including pork flank, bavette, and short ribs.
The pork flank I received was pasture-raised and generously marbled. My mind went immediately to fajitas.
Popular from Texas to Thailand, this robust steak from the underbelly of the steer (we call it skirt steak) has everything a carnivore hungers for: bold flavor, juiciness, and no-nonsense texture you can sink your teeth into. Let’s face it: Anyone can look good cooking a tender filet mignon. It takes skill—even cojones—to turn out a great skirt steak. We’ll share our how to grill skirt steak step-by-step method in this blog.
Have you ever heard of a “Texas Twinkie”? I am not talking about the yellow sponge cake cream- filled treats you would eat as a kid. The Texas Twinkie is a jalapeño stuffed with leftover brisket, cream cheese, cheese, and a spice rub, wrapped in bacon, smoked, and then glazed with barbecue sauce. Sounds good to me.
February’s a short month (even during Leap Year), but there’s a lot going on, including Super Bowl Sunday (February 11)—check out our definitive guide on wings as well as the Buffalo Chicken Dip—and Valentine’s Day. We’ve even included a couple of recipes that will transport you the Caribbean or Hawaii, even if you have to shovel a path to the grill through the snow.
There’s no doubt that chicken wings are one of the most popular appetizers and game day snacks in the U.S. (In fact, if you intend to serve them on February 11, Super Bowl Sunday, you’d be well-served to tuck a few packages in the freezer right now as they sometimes become scarce.)
But wings are popular all over the world, from South Africa to Australia to Malaysia. Their versatility is part of their appeal. After all, the wing is the choicest morsel of the chicken for grilling, consisting chiefly of skin—rendered crackling crisp by the heat of the grill—and bones, which are fun to gnaw on and impart rich flavor. The meat there is well marbled so it stays moist throughout the cooking.
Here’s how to smoke-roast flavorful, crispy, utterly addictive chicken wings on your grill or smoker.
