RECIPE OF THE WEEK: OAXACAN PORK FAJITAS

You spoke. We listened. More than 5,000 of you answered our survey and what you requested most are more big flavored, smoke- and fire-blasted recipes. So we’re happy to announce the first of our New Year’s resolutions—a new Recipe of the Week for those weeks when you don’t get our longer biweekly newsletter. Up this week: fajitas Raichlen style, made with pork and blasted with ancho chili powder.   

We’ve showed you ours; now you show us yours: keep those questions, comments, and photos coming to the Barbecue Board and Facebook.

Ladies and gentlemen: fire up your grills!

Raichlen’s Top 10 Smoke and Fire Restaurants of 2014

Ah, the good old days. When legendary masters like Arthur Bryant and Sonny Bryan manned the barbecue pits. A lot of people complain that barbecue just isn’t what it used to be, and they’re right. It’s better. It’s better in traditional barbecue hotspots, like Kansas City and Dallas. It’s better in places where you’d never expect to find killer ’que, from Brooklyn to Minneapolis to L.A. Read More…

Raichlen Predicts: BBQ Trends for 2015

2015 already? Seems like I just sat down to write last year’s predictions. Many came true, like really big steaks and smoked cocktails. So here’s a look at my crystal ball for Planet Barbecue 2015. Read More…

FROM THE STORE

The Ultimate Pork Loin Rib Roast

In Tuscany, they call pork loin roast arista (from the Greek aristo, literally “best”). It’s an aristocratic hunk of meat, to be sure, and it’s about to take your holiday feast over the top. I like to think of it as the pork equivalent of beef prime rib—but with an eminently friendlier price tag. Read More…

Getting the Flavor into the Meat

Rubs and spice mixes work great for building flavor on the exterior of the meat. Marinades take the taste deeper, especially if you score the surface with a sharp knife. But to drive the flavor even deeper into the heart of the meat, nothing beats injecting—a process similar to the shot your doctor delivers with a hypodermic needle. Find Out How…

FROM THE STORE

The 2014 Barbecue Gift Guide

You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you can get what you need.
—Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones

Sorry, Mick. I beg to differ. This holiday you can get what you want and what you need. (For we smoke and fire addicts the two are often synonymous.) Just click here for BarbecueBible.com’s annual compilation of the tools, fuels, gadgets, and other gifts guaranteed to thrill the barbecuer in your life. And to up the ante this year, we’re giving away one Barbecuer’s Dream Gift Package full of more items guaranteed to thrill. Read More…

In Praise of Pork Shoulder, Part 2: Season It Like You Mean It

In Part 1 of this series, we gave you tips on buying pork shoulder, sometimes called pork butt, even though it has nothing to do with a hog’s hindquarters. Now you’ll learn how to coax the most flavor from this indispensable hunk of meat. When it comes to seasoning pork shoulder, remember that a faint heart never won a poker—err, porker—game. Find Out How…

FROM THE STORE

How to Carve a Turkey

You sourced an organic or heritage turkey, brined it with whiskey and maple syrup for a day and a night, and slow-smoked it over hardwood. You basted it conscientiously and made gravy from the smoky drippings. Now comes the fun part—or for many people the scary part—to carve it in front of an expectant hungry crowd. Find Out How…

Survive Black Friday with 10 e-Cookbooks for Barbecue Fanatics

Black Friday? Not for me. I’d rather sit for a root canal (at least they anesthetize you) than fight the crowds at the mall parking lot. And that was before Black Friday elbowed in on what should be sacred family tradition: Thanksgiving dinner. If you want to shop on Black Friday, why not do the heavy lifting on your keyboard or touchpad? Read More…

FROM THE STORE

Battle of the Birds: Brining vs. Injecting

The contentious mid-term elections might be over, but American households are grappling with another controversy: Should this year’s Thanksgiving turkey be brined, injected, both, or none of the above? Like skillful politicians, let’s start by trying to find common ground. I think we can all agree that a lot of turkey comes to the table dry. So dry that it takes a generous, what-the-hell pour from the gravy boat to make it palatable. Read More…

Mac and Cheese Hits the Grill

As irresistible as traditional mac and cheese is, it’s about to get a lot better. The secret is—you guessed it—the grill. The Raichlen mac and cheese harnesses the power of fire and smoke at four stages in the preparation. Find Out How…

FROM THE STORE

Raichlen’s Top 10 Meat Cities in the U.S.

What are the best cities in North America in which to eat meat? A reporter from a major American newspaper asked me this in an interview recently, and it got me to thinking. Where should the unrepentant carnivore go to eat his/her fill of red meat? Herewith, Raichlen’s Top 10 Meat Cities in the U.S. Read More…

In Praise of Pork Shoulder: How to Buy It

The pork shoulder has everything a grill or smoke master could wish for. Heft. Flavor. Affordability. And remarkable ease of preparation. But not all pork shoulders are equal, and to get the biggest bang for the buck, you need to know about anatomy, animal husbandry, seasoning and grilling techniques and gear. Read More…

FROM THE STORE

Behold the Bacon Weave

If I did my job well during Bacon Month (August), you’ve been motivated to make your own home-cured and smoked bacon from scratch. You’re up to speed on how to grill bacon-wrapped foods, from onion rings to chicken drumsticks. Now—just in time for National Pork Month—it’s time to tackle the bacon weave, that magnificent mat of pork meat and fat that’s taken the blogosphere—and our barbecue community—by storm. Read More…

In Praise of Pork Chops, Part 2

In the last 30 years, pork has gotten a lot leaner. That means less marbling and less fat, and an increased tendency for those same lean cuts to dry out on the grill. Well, here at BarbecueBible.com, we try to be proactive, not reactive. Sometimes you have to adapt your strategies and grilling techniques to the foods you actually find at the market. So here are six fail-proof techniques for keeping a pork chop moist—no matter how you grill or smoke it. Find Out How…

FROM THE STORE

Tender Is the Steak

It was a two-line email—the kind that makes you sit up and think—because it addressed an issue faced daily by millions of grill masters around Planet Barbecue: “Sometimes we buy cheap beef because we are on a budget,” wrote Diane Q. “These steaks are often tough. We have tried salt, meat tenderizer, and marinades. Could you please tell me the best way to tenderize the steaks?” Read More…

What’s New in Best of Barbecue

This has been an incredibly busy year for Best of Barbecue, with more than 20 new products appearing in our 2014–2015 catalogue. To come up with new products, one thing we do is monitor trends—and more important, we create them. Another is to think about the dishes we’ve been grilling a lot recently. And the tools that would help us prepare them better. Read More…

FROM THE STORE

It’s Official: Barbecue University 2015 Now Open for Enrollment

Here at BBQ U, we’ve been called a lot of things. (“Best BBQ experience in the U.S.”—Food Network; “One of the best and most fun experiences of my career”—Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com.) But none has quite captured the spirit of the school (or made us smile) as a recent story by Senior Editor Tim Cebula in Cooking Light magazine: “Like fantasy camp for coalheads.” Well, for all you coalheads in our barbecue community, we’re excited to announce the 2015 dates for Barbecue University™ at the fabulous 5-star Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs: June 3 to 6 and June 7 to 10. Read More…

A Guide to Charcoal Water Smokers

“Stick burners” (offset barrel smokers) may give you the bragging rights, not to mention smoker envy. But if you’re just starting out with smoking, you’d do well to consider a water smoker—sometimes called a bullet smoker. Find Out How…

FROM THE STORE

Pilgrimage to Big Green Egg: Are YOU a Believer?

For years I’ve called them the “Moonies” of barbecue—that growing evangelical army of Big Green Egg enthusiasts who have a cult-like attachment to their green ovoid charcoal burning cookers and a messianic drive to spread the gospel of kamado cooking to every corner of Planet Barbecue. If you want to see for yourself, enter to win one here. I decided to visit the Big Green Egg headquarters to see if I could catch the holy fire. Read More…

How to Use Curing Salts

Many people have taken to curing and smoking their own bacon, pastrami, jerky, etc. Here’s a guide to the various curing salts and what you use them for. Find Out How…

FROM THE STORE

Summer’s Last Hurrah

Labor Day already? It’s hard to believe summer’s over. Most of us will go back to school or back to work. But hopefully, everyone gets a last hurrah in the form of a Labor Day barbecue.

If you’re like me, after a summer of cookouts, you’re ready for a party that’s anything but labor-intensive. A feast that’s big on flavor, but light on actual work. Here’s my menu. Read More…

The Great Grilled Corn Debate

The “corntroversy” over the best way to grill sweet corn, which is in peak season in August: Does it taste better grilled with the husk on or off? Read More…

FROM THE STORE