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Grill & Smoke Cooking
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Grill and Smoke Cooking
Grill and Smoke Cooking
Grilling and Smoking - Day 1
By: Martin Kimeldorf
Today, we’ll start with an introduction and some terms to get you in the “Q” mood. Tomorrow we’ll start in with some great recipes and more. Happy Grilling!
The master BBQ-ist is known by the flavors he or she imparts to our everyday foods steaks, fish, chicken, pork. At it’s most fundamental level we welcome the charbroiled steak, smoky ribs slathered with sauce, or slow-cooked chicken to good to eat with a fork and knife. But let me take you a step beyond, into the sacred realm of the standout grillmeister or smoke guru—where you’ll be known by the barbecue flavors that linger long after the meal, the unusual mouth tingling sauces, the meats that remain succulent after intense cooking heat because you used a brines or injected marinade. And then there would be the and long-remembered signature barbecue sauce you concocted with multiple herbs and spices.
I’ll show you a number of short cuts to this inner circle of the “Q” (barbecue) which often rely using the underplayed hero of the grill and smoker: seasoned rub.
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Barbecue Rubs
The base for a barbecue rub is concocted from sugar, salt and various spices. It provides a quick and easy way of adding the kind of flavor associated with long simmering sauces, tangy brines or pungent marinades. In addition, rubs create a tantalizing crust. Leave the meat wrapped in a rub overnight and you have a “dry marinade”. When you add a bit of vinegar and oil you can turn the rub into an injectable marinade by using an oversized hypodermic. The result is surprisingly tasty and moist, capturing the power or a brine (which inhibits dryness) and the flavorizing qualities that comes from marinating.
In less than 20 minutes you can make enough rub for an entire barbecue season. Keep it tightly lidded and away from daylight to preserve freshness. And if the seasoning begins to clump a few months later, whisk it in a food processor to bring back the light airy quality of a rub. Rely on dry herbs and spices, reserving your fresh ones for marinades and sauces.
If you enjoy these rubs, sauces, and recipes, then you may want to consult my two “Q” cookbooks Grill Play and Smoky Pleasures. Both are now available as eBooks at Amazon or Powell’s Books. Each book contains a useful appendix where various herbs and spices are grouped by similar effect. This allows you to substitute one kind seasoning for another. And remember there are no sacred cows in my barbecue, every recipe is open to interpretation, change, and experimentation…barbecuing is very forgiving.
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Clarifying Terms: Grilling verses Smoking
Most people use the word barbecue to describe either high-temperature-quick grilling or low-temperature slow smoke-cooking. Using one term invites everyone into the brotherhood of the Q, but clarifying the terminology will prove to be helpful.
Grilling is done over a high temperature fire, around 400 to 500+ OF . Generally, meat is seared about 3 to 5 minutes per side to create a char broiled crust. Meat over an inch thick requires more time but at a lower temperature. Therefore, after the char broiling effect, one places the meat on a cooler spot away from the intense heat of the flame. Using briquettes? Then move the meat to an area where there are none. If you use gas, then turn a burner off under the meat. In both cases, continue cooking with an with the lid over the barbecue. In this manner you move from a grilling effect to an oven heating to complete the cooking process on thicker cuts. In Q-talk we say you have changed from grilling directly over the flame to indirect heating. This slower cooking begins to resemble the venerable, traditional barbecue which relies on lower temperatures…and this is the source of confusion for the term barbecue.
Devotees of smoke cooking argue that the term barbecue cannot be applied to grilling. Believers in the “Q” tradition rely on the opposite process: slow cooking around 225 to 250 OF, with smoke contributing to the cooking and flavorizing process. Smoking is enjoying a resurgent interest as evidenced by the increased purchase of herbs and spices to create brines, sauces, and rubs. Today, many traditional recipes have been transformed from low-cost back-woods formulas into gourmet affairs found in fine restaurants. My humble brisket takes three days preparation!
Smoking is a leisurely way to cook across several hours while grilling is more active and is helpful when you are pressed for time. I enjoy smoke cooking on weekends and grilling during the work week, or when in a hurry. Sometimes I squeeze in a smoked meal towards the end of the week, when things seem to slow down.
These days I prefer my salmon grilled with a rub, or smoked after being bathed in my martini brine. I rarely attempt to cook ribs and chicken on grill when I have the slow-smoke option. Grilled corn or vegetables produce sweeter, nuttier results that can’t be created on a smoker or in a steamer. And a grilled steak or lamb chop has no peer.
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The Art Of The Rub
The word “rub” can be misleading because many grillmeisters argue that the dry seasonings should be liberally sprinkled over the meat and not physically rubbed into the flesh because it will clog the pores and prevent other flavor enhancements from taking hold, like smoke. The opposite opinion also prevails. You’ll have to try and experiment to find your Q-truth. Some cooks make slits in the meat to increase penetration of rubs, marinades, and brines.
I generally sprinkle a light coating of the rub on thin cuts, but I am more heavy handed with dense foods like beef, pork, and swordfish. Because fish rubs are a newcomer to the block I always start light at first. In general, if you are new to using rubs, use them sparingly until you are familiar with how they flavor your dish on your barbecue.
Next, I pat or gently press the rub into the flesh. With foul I try to place some of the rub under the skin as well as on top.
To enhance the rub’s impact, I often start the process 4 to 24 hours in advance. In this instance I apply the rub the day before, wrap the food snugly in plastic wrap and refrigerate over night. Some cooks refer to this as a dry-marinade.
Most of my herbs come ground, but others are bought in assorted shapes and textures. I generally put the Bay leaves, spiny Rosemary, Caraway seeds, peppercorns and so forth in a coffee mill (which I use as a grinder). . I only purchase my herbs from one source: Culinary Exotica. You can get any amount, the quality is high and the price low…and it’s all online (see resources at end)
After they are ground, then are blended with the other ingredients in the larger food processor. Later, if the rub grows clumpy or has been stored for over three weeks, I freshen it by re-mixing it in the food processor.
Let’s start with 3 rubs that will take us through a week of menus. Begin by mixing up a double batch of MK’s Basic Warm and Sweet Rub. This “sweet and warm” formulary becomes the base, using half for a rub designed for steak and the other half creates the foundation for a poultry rub. The salmon rub stands alone, made from scratch.
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