Steven shares his masterful approach to trimming brisket in our latest blog. Drawing from his book “The Brisket Chronicles,” Steven offers a detailed guide that could transform your BBQ results. Learn the art of shaping for better smoke absorption and the delicate balance of fat trimming.
If they’re looking down from that big flattop in the sky, short order cooks from the 1920s and 30s would be surprised to learn the griddled burgers they once made by the thousands have been reincarnated a century later as “smash burgers.”
How is it that luncheonette-style burgers have worked their way back into the spotlight after a decades-long sabbatical? Some of the credit likely goes to the burger chain, “Smashburger.” Founded in Denver in 2007 by Rick Shaden and Tom Ryan, veterans of the fast food industry, Smashburger now has over 200 locations. And cooks across America are eager to replicate these juicy, soul-satisfying burgers with a deeply browned crust and crispy edges. Read on to make your own version.
In one of my recent blogs, “Make Sizzling Shrimp Bowls with Oscarware Grill Toppers,” I introduced Planet Barbecue to a useful new product. It has been a great addition to my many grill accessories.
To highlight the capacity of the Oscarware porcelain-coated XL Roast and Rib Rack I cooked a whole chicken and three large Hasselback potatoes. I set up my Big Green Egg XL (BGE) for indirect grilling and heated it to 400 degrees. While the BGE heated up I prepared the chicken and the potatoes.
August is a glorious, bounteous month for grillers. Late summer produce—tomatoes, corn, zucchini, figs, stone fruits, eggplant, green beans, melons, and more—can be found in gardens, at farmers’ markets, and grocery stores throughout the country. Pair with easy-to-cook steaks, chicken breasts, shrimp, or pork tenderloin for a quick meal that keeps the heat out of the kitchen. If you’re lucky enough to have a thriving herb garden, harvest tender herbs like basil, parsley, and cilantro before they bolt (go to seed). In the meantime, enjoy some of our favorite end of Summer Recipes.
When it comes to cooking brisket, three words have been the credo of the barbecue community for decades: “low and slow.”
In other words, cook it at a low temperature for a long time to render the brisket fat and convert the tough collagen to tender gelatin.
So when Texas Monthly barbecue critic, Daniel Vaughn, broke the news of the hot and fast method advocated by Roland Lindsey, pit master-owner of Bodacious Bar-B-Que in Longview, Texas (incidentally, the first place I experienced Texas barbecue), the blogosphere erupted with understandable emotion.
If you could really cook a respectable brisket in 3 hours, why have so many of us endured predawn wake-up calls or overnight smoke sessions.
Well, the controversy reached Barbecue University recently, so we asked our Test Kitchen Director, Steve Nestor, to put it to the test.
A few weeks ago, we wrote about the 3-2-1 method for cooking ribs. It was one of our most popular blogs ever. In a nutshell, you smoke ribs uncovered for 3 hours, then wrapped in foil with a little liquid (Beer? Apple cider?) for two hours. And finally unwrapped for 1 more hour.
Besides the obvious numeric poetry of the name, the method produces ribs of remarkable moistness and tenderness—ribs that most people will devour with pleasure.
And yet, I’ve always felt a little uncomfortable serving 3-2-1 ribs. They’re almost too good, namely, they’re so tender they almost seem mushy and so moist, they almost tasted steamed. Which in a sense they are, because 2 hours of cooking wrapped in foil with liquid comes dangerously close to that heresy of rib-making: boiling.
Coke. Sprite. Dr. Pepper. Pepsi. Black cherry. Ginger ale. Cheerwine, a specialty of North Carolina. We serve these sodas at barbecues, and we love to drink them with our favorite brisket and ribs.
But did you know you can also use soda pop to improve the flavor of your barbecue?
“Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, oer the land of the free and the home of the brave?” It sure does. And there’s no better time to set aside our political divisions than the Fourth of July, one of America’s most beloved holidays. It’s the perfect time to fire up your grill and create a momentous meal, one that celebrates the anniversary of our independence. From cocktails to dessert, we’ve got you covered!
Curious about making restaurant-quality beef ribs at home? Steve Nestor shares his experience with Prime Beef Short Ribs in this guide. He walks us through the simple steps of seasoning and smoking these impressive cuts, resulting in tender meat with a flavorful bark.
Grilling is simultaneously the easiest and trickiest method of cooking. Easy because basically all you do is cook the food over the fire. Tricky because every fire, every grill, and every grill session is different, and a million factors—from the weather to the particular cut of meat—influence the final outcome. In a nutshell, it all boils down to you learning to control the fire—not have it control you.
Over the years, I’ve grilled every imaginable food over just about every grill out there, and I’ve answered thousands of questions about barbecuing and grilling. Here are 12 tips to help you rock your grill this summer.
Since my book How to Grill was released, some pit masters have embraced a method for smoke-roasting ribs that relies less on intuition and more on a simple-to-follow formula explained before, the 3-2-1 approach. This is very successful with spareribs, which are larger and tougher than baby backs. If using the latter, consider smoking the baby backs for 2 hours, foiling for 1 hour, and finishing over indirect heat for 1 hour. (For more rib wisdom, check out my book Best Ribs Ever.)
Today, I want to introduce Planet Barbecue to Oscareware Grill Toppers. They have been making outdoor cooking accessories since 1989. They offer a range of grill toppers that include their porcelain-coated, disposable, and round grill toppers. The porcelain grill topper was the original and is still one of Oscarware’s most popular products.
The Oscarware Grill Topper was perfect for a dish my wife and I enjoy. We call it grilled shrimp bowls. It is just grilled shrimp, veggies, avocado, and rice. We mix up the veggies based on what is at the store or fresh from our garden.
