Wagyu Beef Brisket on the Big Green Egg

Summer is in full swing and we recently made the most perfect brisket EVER. We splurged on a wagyu Beef brisket from www.farmhousedelivery.com which is a fabulous locally owned company that delivers farm fresh meats and produce to our door. What's even better is it's owned by an Ursuline high school alum! Go Bears! We also bought the Wagyu brisket full packer pictured above for 4th of July 2019, which we hand trimmed from Snake River Farms. It was outstanding!!

We've made many a brisket on the Big Green Egg and this was hands down the most delicious and successful cook yet.

We simply slathered it in Whataburger mustard (our secret weapon- perfectly balanced acidity for grilling), then generously cracked fresh pepper and Himalayan salt all over. Let it come to room temp about an hour.

We used B & B hickory and brought the temp to 200 degrees. Indirectly cooked this 7 pounder for 11 hours. We sprayed it with Beef stock every hour. Then we wrapped in butcher paper, wrapped in a towel and placed in a cooler and let it rest two hours before slicing.

This truly tasted like MEAT BUTTER. I've never had such a tender and unctuous brisket in my life!  Doesn't get much more Texan than that! Fresh corn on the cobb, my Drunken BBQ Baked Beans wrapped up the whole affair with a gluten free local blueberry pie and fresh whipped cream. Lawd have mercy make the tastiness stop!!!!!!!!

 

This is the brisket from 2018-we did not trim it, so it was kind of fatty. You can learn trimming skills from Aaron Franklin on you tube.

 

 

 Naughty yet fun mitt my friend gave me ;-)

Asian Pork Belly on the Big Green Egg.

This dish is simply unctuous, in a good way! Tender, creamy pork belly braised for over 4 hours on the Big Green Egg was the perfect thing to make on a scorching 106 degree day. The heat of the Texas summers never ceases to amaze me and makes me yearn for the Rockies. I feel very grateful to have a pool to plunge in while dinner cooks on the Green Egg, as it is too hot to cook indoors with this God forsaken heat. They had some lovely pork belly at our local HEB grocers, so I bought a pound and it turned out even better than I imagined!

My favorite rub is Pineapple Dizzy Dust!! Get ya some ASAP!!!!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound pork belly- cut into 4 squares (I froze two for later use).
Pineapple Head Dizzy Dust
1 bottle gluten free sweet soy sauce or teriyaki sauce
2 cups rich chicken stock
2 tbs sesame seeds
2 cloves garlic- lightly crushed
1 small nob of ginger (about a tablespoons)- roughly sliced.
1 red onion sliced
Several pineapple chunks

I generously rubbed the pork with Dizzy dust and let it relax in the fridge over night.

The next day I slathered a half a bottle of SPF on myself, donned a big sun hat, opened up the umbrellas and lit up the Big Green Egg with hickory wood to 225 degrees. We like BG Brand charcoal.

With the the plate setter on indirect cook, we gently placed the bellies fat side up on the grate and smoked it for an hour and a half.

Then in an aluminum pan we added all the remaining ingredients and placed the bellies in the braising liquid, fat side up and raised the temp to 275 degrees and smoked them for 4.5 hours until tender and the fat was rendered on top and crispy. We basted it every 30 minutes with the pan sauce.

 2 hours in above.

3 hours in above

Once the skin is crisp, remove from pan and let it rest 20 minutes before slicing. Holy Mother this was sinfully delicious and would be great in tacos, with fried rice or on a salad, as I served it. I had some fresh local peaches and spinach and drizzled it with orange vinaigrette for a simple, yet sinfully delicious experience. This freezes well and is easily reheated in a non stick skillet until warm.

"Beer Can" Chicken on the Big Green Egg

Sadly our egg got a crack in the fire box, but luckily the Big Green Egg has a lifetime warranty, so they replaced the parts free of charge. This warranted a trip to BBQ Outfitters, where we picked up the new parts and their ceramic "Sittin' Chicken" stand, which emulates beer can chicken without the bad paint chemicals leaching into my organic, happily raised, free-roaming chook. This was hands down the VERY BEST chicken we have EVER EATEN. EVER!!!!!

Glorious. Thank you sweet little chook.

Here's how it went down...

Brine the chicken in 1/4 cup fine grain sea salt, 2 quarts water, a sliced lemon, 4 bay leaves, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tbs onion powder, fresh thyme for 8 hours. Rinse. Pat dry and let it air chill in the fridge for an hour. Crack some fresh pepper all over the chicken plus some garlic and onion powder. We stuffed some sinful truffle butter under the skin of the breast for good measure.

Meanwhile, light the grill and bring it to 400 degrees.

Pour a bottle of beer in the stand (As an homage to my Belgian heritage we used a delicious Belgian beer called Blanche de Bruxelles). We added fresh rosemary, another bay leaf, a celery stick and a few sprigs fresh thyme to the beer. Stuck the stand in the chook's bum and roasted it about an hour until the skin was crisp and the chicken was cooked through. We let it rest under a tent of foil for 20 minutes before carving and reduced the remainder of the beer/chicken juice over low heat in a pot with a dash of sherry vinegar until reduced by half.

Drizzled the sauce over the chook and garnished with fresh tarragon and a fresh tomato salad. THIS is what summer is all about. 

Pugs reflecting on the perfect summer dinner and dreaming of chicken bites.

 

Pot Roast with Malbec Sauce- on the Big Green Egg

Comfort food is like a warm hug. I think pot roast is like a bear hug. Add a little malbec and a reduction sauce and now you have a sophisticated version of the classic. This recipe is super easy, serves 4-5 hearty portions and freezes well for reheating after a long day.

INGREDIENTS
4 pound chuck roast
1 bottle of malbec
2.5 cups beef stock
4 bay dried leaves
6 garlic cloves, peeled & slightly smashed to release flavor
1 large carrot, sliced into large chunks
1 medium onion
1 tbs olive oil
1 bunch fresh thyme
1 tbs fresh cracked pepper

In a large ziploc bag or storage container, pour 3/4 bottle of malbec wine & 1/2 cup beef stock over roast. Add garlic cloves, bay leaves and thyme. Seal and marinate overnight in the fridge.

Ready for the Big Green Egg

We decided to cook the roast on our Big Green Egg, low and slow at 250 for 4.5 hours, but you could do the same in a dutch oven or heavy pot in your oven. Or a crockpot!

In my pot I heated up the olive oil over medium high heat and placed an onion cut in half with the cut side down to cook until golden brown and caramelized. About 12 minutes. Adjust the heat to not burn it, but make certain there is a nice browning as this adds depth of flavor to your roast. Add the carots about 8 minutes in.


Then add the roast, marinade and herbs. Cover and place in oven or on the Big Green Egg and cook about 4.5 hours until fork tender and easily shredded.

 Three hours in.... almost ready.

While there is about 45 minutes remaining before the roast is ready, I whip up mashed potatoes and make a delicious reduction sauce to drizzle over the roast.

TO MAKE THE SAUCE
over a double boiler (a pot placed over another pot filled with water), I add the remaining malbec wine and 2 cups of chicken stock and stirring often I reduce the sauce until it is reduced to a cup or is syrupy in consistency. A whisk works well and if you need to speed things up, just turn up the heat and whisk away until it's reduced, but I do it low and slow and easy for 45 minutes.

Serve the roast on a bed of mashers, with something green and a sprinkling of fresh parsley.

Tequila Lime Carne Asada Tacos with Mango, Watermelon & Avocado Pico

I honestly have no idea how the month of July just FLEW by!!! So far it's been a busy month at the office and we took our darling niece on a jaunt to the coast for a surprise for her birthday. It looks like August is going to be just as crazy, but we've still managed to squeeze in a few good grills on the Big Green Egg and this was one of them. I wasn't really planning to blog this as it was a first time for me to make this, but it ended up so good that it had to be posted.

Our butcher was selling flap steaks. I'd not heard of flap steaks and after doing some research found out it is also referred to as "bavette" in France and "sirloin tip" in New England. It is often confused with skirt steak or hangar steak, but I find it worlds better than skirt steak. My mother used to pan sear a bavette steak in butter and onions finished with wine and stock when I was a child and I'd totally forgotten about it until they were for sale.

This being summer all the mangoes and avocados and watermelons at the market are bursting with flavor, so I thought preparing the flap steak for tacos with some fruit "pico" would be tasty. And it was...

INGREDIENTS FOR CARNE ASADA
2 Pound Flap Steak (Or skirt steak if you can't find it)
1/4 cup premium tequila
Juice of 4 limes
2 tbs grapeseed oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 large cloves of garlic- minced
1 tbs fresh cracked pepper
a pinch of cayenne
 3 tsp sea salt

Mix all ingredients in a ziploc bag and marinate 24 hours

INGREDIENTS FOR PICO
1 medium avocado- diced
1/2 a mango- diced
1/4 small seedless watermelon- diced
1/2 small fresh jalapeno- chopped
1 large shallot- chopped
Juice of 2 limes
A few hearty pinches of chopped fresh cilantro
Sea salt to taste.
Combine ingredients and keep chilled up to 2 hours before serving

We lit the Big Green Egg up to 400 degrees over indirect heat and grilled the meat about 15 minutes, flipping a few times until the meat had a nice bark, but was still medium rare in the middle.

While the meat rested on a carving block for ten minutes, I heated up 1 tbs butter in a non stick skillet and browned tortillas on one side until golden. Now let me tell you about these tortillas we use because they are the next best thing to homemade and are an outstanding local product by a company named Paqui. We love the roasted jalapeno flavor shown below. They are insanely delish!!

But they taste even more insanely delish when browned in a little butter!

 

After the meat has rested and the yummy juices have nestled back into the steak, slice it very thinly against the grain of the steak like this...

 

I like the flap steak because it is less grainy and fatty than flank or skirt steak and reminded me almost of a nice juicy Sunday roast beef.

We topped the toasted tortillas with meat, pico a bit more fresh cilantro and a few crumbles of cotija cheese and all became very, very quiet at our table as we thoughtfully chewed this savory goodness. Wash it down with a little Pacifico and you have the perfect Texas summer lunch.

 open WIDE.

Rosemary & Garlic Grilled Chicken & Skillet Potatoes on the Big Green Egg

It's back to reality after two glorious weeks in Maui. We actually were having so much fun we moved from Kaanapali to Wailea for three extra days. I knew it was time for me to go home when I was tiring of fresh ahi tuna or macadamia crusted ono- life's tough!! So I was craving some good Southern European flavors and had missed firing up the Big Green Egg, so we got to grilling right after we returned. This is a simple and flavor packed dinner that could be made on any grill, though indirect cooking is a must to prevent the chicken from burning.

INGREDIENTS FOR CHICKEN
1 whole organic chicken, split in half
4 sprigs rosemary leaves, finely chopped
1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tbs onion powder
1 tbs fresh cracked pepper
2 tsp sea salt
2tbs butter

Generously coat the chicken halves with dry rub, rub butter under the skin and let the flavors soak in overnight. I actually used white truffle butter for an extra kick, but regular butter is also fabulous.

INGREDIENTS FOR SKILLET POTATOES
10 baby Yukon potatoes, cut in half and par cooked in the steamer for 20 minutes. This extra step is worth it- trust me. Yields a creamy interior and crispy skin once you throw it in the oven. Try this also with oven roasted potatoes too.
1 medium red onion cut into chunks
1 tbs grape seed oil
salt and pepper to taste and a sprinkling of fresh rosemary leaves

 Ready to Grill!

About 20 minutes in... the whole neighborhood smelled wonderful.

We lit the Big Green Egg to 425, threw the onion and potatoes and seasonings in a small cast iron skillet alongside the chicken and cooked the whole thing about 30 minutes before lowering it to 400 and cooking about another 30 minutes until the chicken read 170 degrees in the thigh.

I smoked some little heirloom tomatoes earlier in the day over 200 degrees in the BGE for about 30 minutes until they were still a bit firm but starting to blister, cooled them and served them with balsamic vinegar, fresh torn basil and buffalo mozzarella balls with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. See this post for the recipe and pictures. It was an easy and fun dinner to enjoy al fresco on a warm early summer evening...

Coca-Cola Pork Chops with Cinnamon Apples

My friend's mother always baked her delicious ham in coca-cola, so I thought it would be nice to brine some thick cut pork chops using coca-cola instead of water. WOW!! That was a terrifically tasty idea! Our pork chops were tender and packed with flavor. We served them with a baked potato and cast iron skillet cinnamon apples, all cooked on the Big Green Egg, of course.

INGREDIENTS

2 bone in thick- cut pork chops

-1 bottle of coca-cola (We like either the Mexican coke or the HEB brand with real sugar).

Brine Mix:

- 1/4 cup salt

-  three whole allspice

-1 whole clove

-1 tbs granulated garlic

-1 tbs dried onion flakes

-1 TBS dried rosemary and sage, orange zest.

In a small sauce pan, add brine mix and a bottle of coke and heat until salt is dissolved. Remove from heat and add 2-3 cups of ice to cool the mixture. Pour over chops in a ziploc bag and brine for 8-12 hours. An alternative method is not using salt, but coke and the other brine herbs and soak overnight. Then we rinsed the brine off the chops, dusted it with our favorite rub recipe and got ready to grill.

The next day, we heated up our Big Green Egg for indirect cooking with the legs of the plate up, and a grill plate on top. We cooked the chops for about 30 minutes, flipping once. They were so tasty!

For the Baked potato, we wrapped it in foil with coarse salt and cooked it high and fast on the BGE at about 500 for 45 minutes, then turned it down to 350 for the chops and apples.

Cinnamon Apples

-3 braeburn or granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

- 1 tbs Cinnamon

- pinch of fresh nutmeg

- 1/4 cup pineapple juice

-3 tbs butter, cubed

salt to taste

I buttered a small cast iron skillet, added the apple mix, dotted with butter and cooked it on the BGE with the chops. They were terrific! You can also bake them in the oven at 375 for 40 minutes. They cook quicker on the BGE for some reason.

Jerk Chicken Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce

 

It's no secret that I love pasta and I love Jerk Chicken, so I obviously love Jerk Chicken Pasta!! I had an old friend from high school come stay with us this weekend and so I decided to make some Jerk Chicken as he used to join my family with us on our summer trip to our place in Jamaica. We've both lost our parents since those happier times, so I thought it would be a nice tribute to fire up the Big Green Egg and make a traditional Jamaican dinner for him.

Tonight it's Monday and we still had a bunch of chicken left over, so I was craving my brother in law's famous roasted red bell pepper soup and thought it could make a nice base for a sauce. My brother in law is currently a fantastic chef for Eddie V's and I first tasted his bell pepper soup when he was a sous chef at the very early "foodie" restaurant The Green Room in Deep Ellum back in the mid 90's. Those were the days! Galavanting around from Club Clearview, to Trees to Video Bar for "Sadistic Sundays". I miss my youth. Sadly as those of us from Gen X grew up, the Deep Ellum of the 90's went into a demise and most of these great places were shuttered in 2006.  Anyway on a lighter note, my brother in law kindly shared the recipe with me for his soup and it's become a household staple as it freezes well and can be used to make a rich and satisfying sauce as well. I've tweaked it a bit, but it's pretty similar to his, just not as much heavy cream.

While roasting the peppers over the grill or in the oven until charred is the best way, my brother in law says using fire roasted jarred red bell peppers works nicely if you don't want to sepnd too much time on it. Just be sure to drain and rinse thoroughly several times.

INGREDIENTS:

4 12. oz jars of roasted red bell peppers (I like Mt. Olive or Mezzetta brands)

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 sweet onion, minced

1 tsp brown sugar

3 tbs butter plus 1 more reserved for later

1 tbs olive oil

1 cup sweet white wine such as Italian Sweet Bianco

3 cups low sodium or homemade chicken stock, plus 1 tsp of boullion

a few dashes paprika,  1 dash cayenne pepper

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream or half & half

In a Dutch oven or large pot set over medium low heat,  add butter and olive oil and melt, add onions and stir until they start to sweat- about 5 minutes. 

Add the garlic and sugar and stir 4 more minutes.

Add wine and turn the heat up a bit to simmer and burn off the alcohol.

Add peppers, stock and spices

Simmer covered about 45 minutes to one hour.

Get another large pot and set aside. Working in small batches, blend the soup till smooth. (Be sure not to fill the blender more than half way, cover the lid with a towel in case of hot liquid spills).

Now this is the key... you have to strain the soup through a fine mesh sieve (Chinoise) or cheese cloth in order for the soup to be silky smooth. Trust me, it makes it so creamy and velvety. Ladle the soup through the strainer in to the reserved pot until everything has been blended.

Return the new pot to the stove and gently reheat the soup after adding in the cream. This can be eaten right away and tastes great with grilled gruyere and fontina paninis with pesto. SO GOOD!!

However, tonight we made a pasta dish, so we ladled a few cups of the soup in a non stick pan with shredded jerk chicken (a rotisserie from the grocery store works well also). 

 Homemade pasta...yum!

I let that heat gently over low while I threw some homemade pasta in heavily salted boiling water for about a minute (It should be salty like the sea). I then plucked the pasta from the water with tongs and added it to the sauce and chicken with a few tablespoons of the pasta water and 1 tbs of the butter and stirred it all together for a few minutes until the noodles absorbed the sauce, plated it and devoured. Now I need to jump on the elliptical for about 60 minutes.

Spring time in Austin means more Jerk Chicken!!!

I wasn't lying when I said I love Jamaica and Jamaican Jerk Chicken. Our friends the Huffs are also the proud owners of a Big Green Egg and are responsible for making us decide to get one. We kicked off the spring with a Jerk Chicken fest at their house down the road and decided it was too pretty and tasty to not post!!

For the recipe go back to my post from October 2011.

 It was a beautiful day when we sparked up the BGE

 Fun times on the patio waiting for dinner...

 Gorgeous Austin Sunset!

 Another stunning sunset shot. Our house is located where you see the lights to the left on the hill.

 Sparks were literally flying of this burning hot chook!

 This is the money shot.

And it's time to eat!!!

Post dinner cocktails :-)

Tuscan Spatchcock Chicken on the Big Green Egg

I love butterflied or "spatchcock" chicken and decided to try butterflying the chicken at home. It was amazingly easy!! I just cut out the backbone with cooking shears, opened the bird up like a book, removed the sternum and voila!

I made a marinade of the zest of 2 lemons, 1/2 cup grape seed oil (olive oil can burn at a high temp), then finely chopped 2 cloves of garlic, 3 sprigs rosemary, several sprigs of Italian parsley, 1 tbs red chili flakes and about 2 tsp of yummy Cyprus salt. Rubbed the chicken really well, then marinated 5 hours. Overnight would be even better!

We fired up the Big Green Egg and brought it to about 450 degrees, added a cup of soaked pecan chips and threw the bird on for about 40 minutes to an hour until the thigh read 165 degrees. Just plan your time for an hour to play it safe. Finish with a squeeze of lemon.

 As you can see here, we are cooking this indirectly with the grill plate inverted. This prevents the bird from burning. Next time I'm going to put some large chunks of veggies in a cast iron skillet with some beer or wine and let the yummy chicken juices dribble over them.

 After 20 minutes...

 40 minutes later and the bird is done! Let it rest covered in foil for about 10 minutes before carving and serving on warmed plates.

We devoured the chook with a side of rosemary and garlic roasted potatoes & Brussels sprouts with pancetta and grape tomatoes. Sprinkled a little more coarse salt on it too.

To make the sprouts, simply toss with diced pancetta, 1 clove chopped garlic, several grape tomatoes cut in half lengthwise and 1 tbs olive oil. Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Cook in a 450 degree oven for about 35 minutes. I put the potatoes in about 25 minutes before the sprouts. 

Jerk Chicken-Jamaican Me Hungry!!

Irie times cooking up some jerk chicken on the BGE. For those who know me, know I ADORE Jamaica and all things Jamaican, especially Jamaican food. I've been going to Jamaica since I was 9 years old, and with no television and three weeks idling away each summer, I picked up some cooking tips from our housekeepers, Beverly and Ulalee. These women could cook like no one's business and left quite an impression on my life. So whenever I have a yearning for my favorite island, I make some Jamaican food and it's like a mini vacation in my mouth. To think I used to complain that I was bored! Spoiled brat! What I wouldn't give to have three weeks a year to bum around in Montego Bay now days. I digress... Here's our hotter than hell Jerk chicken recipe...

Mixed grill with Jerk Flap Steak.... Caribbean fajitas!!

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into pieces

in a food processor, blend the following into a paste...
 6 sliced Scotch Bonnet peppers (1 habanero pepper may be used if scotch bonnet peppers are unavailable)
 2 Tbsp. dried  thyme
 2 Tbsp. ground allspice

1 clove, ground

  8 Cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion chopped

3 scallions
2 Tbsp. turbinado brown sugar
2 Tbsp. salt
2 Tsp. ground black pepper

1 tsp fresh ginger

1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
Juice of one lime
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice and reserved peel

  1/2 cup white vinegar

Marinade in a large ziploc for 24 hours. Then throw it on the big Green egg at 250 degrees for 3.5 hours or until the thickest part of the thigh meat reads 170 (jerk tastes better a little dry for some reason).Serve with Seasoned Rice and Peas (pigeon peas, but black beans are tasty too) KITCHEN HACK: True jerk is cooked over pimento wood (from the tree that makes allspice berries) Soak a 1/2 cup allspice berries in water for 2 hours, wrap in foil with a little water and place indirectly on the grill for an authentic flavor).

Rice and Peas

2 cups basmati rice
1 can pigeon peas or red beans

2 cups coconut milk

2 cups spring water

2 cloves minced garlic

1 scallion

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp dried ginger

1 tbs butter

bay leaf

salt to taste

Bring rice and ingredients to a boil, cover and reduce to a low simmer until done according to package. Remove scallion and bayleaf, stir in a can of rinsed and drained beans and serve. Add a little more butter, because butter is so d*mn tasty!

Ya Mon!!! Respect!!!!

Baking Artisan Bread on the Big Green Egg

Who knew bread baking was so easy??

Easy Artisan Bread Recipe

6.5 cups bread flour

3.5 cups warm wheat or kolsch beer  (110 degrees)

1.5 TBS each sea salt and active yeast

In a mixer, add yeast and beer (it really makes the yeast ZING!), let rest 5 minutes.

add salt and while mixer is rotating on low, incorporate flour until the mix is wet. It will be STICKY!!! At this point you could add seasonings such as chopped herbs or just leave it.

Pour the whole thing into a 1/2 gallon size oiled plastic container. Cover with lid, but don't seal!

About 4 hours later the whole thing will have risen, then it will implode on itself. Seal the lid and put it in the fridge for at least 24 hours. It will last about a week. It freezes well and if you want to make your bread really, really tasty, incorporate a little bit of the original dough into a new batch weekly and the flavor will intensify each week.

Once you are ready to bake, simply place parchment paper on a cookie sheet, lightly flour, add  about 1 pound of dough and form into a tight ball. Cover with moist towel (not terry cloth) and let it rise another 1.5 hours.

Meanwhile, if you have a Big Green Egg, Light her up to 500 degrees with a baking stone. Just before baking, place a tin pan filled with water until it steams. Cut a .5 inch slit with a serrated, wet knife on top of the bread. Slide the bread and parchment paper on it, cover with a turkey foil pan and let it bake 20 minutes with the green egg lid closed...

Remove the turkey pan (the steam is what makes a crusty crust), bake another 20 minutes until the bread temperature reads at 200. you are all done!! For a great video on this, look HERE

Want to really spice things up?? Make NAAN! I simply divided my dough in half, and in the mixer added 1 cup milk, one egg and 1 TBS sugar, let it rest for an hour, rolled it with a floured pin and made naan to go with our Tandoori chicken.

or Clover Rolls...