Recipes & Techniques
Barbecue University™
Grilling with Cherry Wood and Fresh Cherries
When it comes to flavor, nothing can beat the aroma of wood smoke. You may be familiar with using hickory, apple or oak wood, but have you tried smoking with cherry wood? Cherry can be used the same way you would other varieties: toss soaked wood chips on the coals of your charcoal grill or add them to the smoker box of your gas grill. I came to appreciate fragrant cherry wood during my sojourn to the Pacific Northwest—Cherry Wood Chips are...
Read more →Planet Barbecue
Escape Winter: Jamaican Jerk Pork
Already, this winter seems interminably long. Everyone I know is yearning for a respite from grey skies and single digit temperatures. But an escape to the Caribbean isn’t always in the cards. The next best thing? Recreating the spirit and flavors of the islands at home. No dish is more iconic than Jamaica’s fiery, lip-tingling, explosively flavorful jerk. Like many island cuisines, jerk is wholly dependent on ingredients found right there on Jamaica—primarily,...
Read more →Hot Stuff
5 of Our Best Barbecue and Grilling Recipes (Don’t Take Our Word For It: Readers Love These!)
Thousands of you have read our list of our 5 most popular recipes of 2017. By popular demand, we're thrilled to expand the list to the next 5 most popular, to give you (our readers!) even more recipes to try. This list is perfect as a Grilling 101 for newcomers, or a wonderful refresher for those of us who have been grilling for years. Kick off your grilling this weekend with these popular recipes: Barbecued Pork Belly Pork belly is for...
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Indoor Grilling
Here in Miami, we break out the warm hoodies and jackets when temperatures dip into the fifties. But I realize other parts of the country, particularly the Northeast, are enduring real cold this winter. (The wind chill in Vermont last week was an unfathomable -100 degrees.) There’s certainly no shame in taking the party indoors when temperatures fall below zero. Or maybe you’re one of millions of condo or apartment dwellers who are prevented from...
Read more →Under the Hood
Come Out of the Cold: Recipes for Electric Smokers
There are a lot of lingering stereotypes in the world of barbecue. There’s still a perception that bona fide pit masters have to have a beard, a beer belly, brawn, and a hella big offset smoker out by the woodpile pumping out clouds of blue smoke day and night. Another pervasive misconception is that barbecuing low and slow should be hard work. Which is why electric smokers are often criticized for being “too easy.” Let me tell you something:...
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Grill to Thrill: Cavemanning (Cooking in the Embers)
Some of the best moments in life occur when we’re not completely in control. Zip-lining. Falling in love. Live-fire cooking. As an industry, grilling and barbecuing seem to be moving toward the “set it and forget it” mentality, marketing grills and smokers that have more in common with kitchen appliances than the primal cooking fires that have sustained mankind for millennia. Don’t lose touch with that powerful, seductive, unpredictable, sometimes violent element....
Read more →Hot Stuff
Our 5 Most Popular Recipes of 2017
Now is the time for reflecting upon 2017, and contemplating the milestones we've accomplished during the past year. Reflection for our team often leads us to discuss our favorite pastime: food. We ask ourselves, What was your best cook this year? Or Which new recipes were your favorite? And of course What new grilling techniques did you learn? Have you looked back on your year of grilling yet? Let us help you: With our crystal ball, we can see statistics that tell...
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Epic Smoked Bloody Marys For Your New Year’s Brunch
Many of you know Glenn Tiede, an active poster on Steven’s Facebook fan page,“Steven Raichlen’s Project Smoke & Primal Grill,” and an avid barbecuer from Central Illinois. But you may not know that Glenn is well known locally and beyond for his hand-crafted Bloody Marys. He makes them nearly every weekend and teases the rest of us with photographs of the cocktails. When Steven and I decided to put Bloody Marys on the editorial calendar, Glenn was our go-to guy. Thanks, Glenn! ...
Read more →Barbecue University™
Use Your Christmas Tree on the Grill: Spruce-Grilled Steaks
Though I am constantly thinking about various cuts of beef and new ways to cook them, the busy month of December traditionally brings Spruce-Grilled Steak to mind over and over again. Why might I focus on this recipe each year, you ask? The answer is simple: the scent of freshly cut Christmas trees brings me back to the aroma of spruce smoke and a sizzling rib eye steak. Created by my friend and the editor of my French-Canadian books, Pierre Bourdon,...
Read more →Barbecue University™
The Only Recipe You Need for Whole Beef Tenderloin
When you want to make a gesture of generosity or opulence this holiday season, nothing beats the long cylindrical, supernaturally tender muscle cut from the inside of the steer’s ribcage, beef tenderloin. Yes, it’s an extravagance. And yes, tenderloin may lack some of the rich flavor of prime rib or brisket, but it’s guaranteed to delight the carnivores in your family or circle of friends. I’ve published many recipes for this luxurious cut of meat over the years,...
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