Grilled Hickory Smoked Rib Eye Pork Chops

This is probably the most basic method to wood smoke (hickory, in this case) pork rib eye chops on a grill. There’s no marinating involved – just take the pork rib eye chops out of the refrigerator one hour before grilling, coat with oil, salt or Lawry’s seasoned salt, and pepper, and then grill. The flavor is also at its most basic – just pork and wood smoke (in this case hickory).

Enjoy!

Grilled Apple-Oak Smoked Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Turkey

This will probably be the last post for 2014. So with the last recipe of 2014, I wish you and your family a Happy New Year for 2015, and will see you next year with more recipes.

So the final 2014 recipe is for grill smoking a whole turkey with apple and oak wood that I made for my family’s Christmas dinner. You were probably expecting a photo of the whole cooked turkey in this post (it was impressive looking!), but since I was pressed for time cooking Christmas dinner, I wasn’t able to take any photos and the photo above is for the leftovers.

The turkey is made with a spice paste that is placed in the space between the skin and meat of the breast, thigh, drumstick, and back. The space is created by separating the skin from the meat using your hand or the end of a long cooking spoon. Even though the skin is separated from the turkey meat, it is still attached to the turkey, forming pockets for a spice paste. If using your hand to create the pockets, you have to be prepared to place your hand (and part of your arm) into the turkey. I use this method because I’m able to feel the interface between the skin and meat, and use my fingers to separate the skin from the meat without breaking the skin.

When I first thought about making the paste using a food processor, I wanted to use a fresh rosemary, garlic, kosher salt, and olive oil mixture. It’s a classic combination and I happen to have rosemary growing in my backyard. Lemons and lemon juice are typical additions, but I decided to give the paste an Asian twist by using lemongrass. Only the white portions of the lemongrass are used in the paste, and the inedible green portions, together with the rosemary stalks, are stuffed into the turkey cavity.

Inevitably, some of the spice paste gets on the outer skin when you’re putting the paste into the turkey. Don’t worry, since this adds to the flavor of the skin. The turkey skin is coated with a mixture of kosher salt, pepper, and baking soda. The idea and use of baking soda came from America’s Test Kitchen. The baking soda not only helps with browning, but also with crisping the skin. I used double the amount of ingredients called for in the America’s Test Kitchen recipe, keeping the 1:1:1 ratio of kosher salt, pepper, and baking soda.

Root vegetables can be cut up, coated with olive oil, and placed in the bottom of the roasting pan if desired. Pan roasted vegetables is a nice addition to the meal and doesn’t really add to the cooking time. The pan roasted vegetables also add some flavor to any gravy that is made from the drippings. I also put the turkey neck and organs on top of the vegetables in the pan to be cooked, but you can also omit these items and use them for stock or directly in the gravy.

A gas grill with a thermometer is necessary for grill smoking a whole turkey. Maintaining a constant temperature of 350⁰F (175⁰C) and previous experience with your gas grill will determine the total cooking time for the turkey. I have found that 12 minutes per pound (450 g.) produces the right results (again, previous experience determines total cooking time). So for a 14 lb. (6.4 kg.) turkey, a total of 3 hours is needed to cook the turkey.

The size of your gas grill also matters since that will determine how many burners can be kept on for indirect cooking, which influences the ability to maintain a constant temperature. My gas grill is large enough to keep both end burners on during cooking, so I’m able to center the roasting pan with the turkey between two lit burners. For smaller gas grills, only one end can usually be kept lit for indirect cooking once the roasting pan with the turkey is placed on the grate, which might necessitate an increased cooking time. Regardless, the roasting pan should be rotated 180⁰ half way through the cooking time to even out any hot spots in your gas grill.

The turkey should rest for 30 minutes or more before carving, so don’t carve the turkey immediately after coming out of the grill since all the juices will not remain in the turkey meat and will just drain onto the cutting board. I consider a turkey just a large chicken, so you can follow the instructions for cutting a chicken in the Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe to carve the turkey. Unlike the chicken, where all the meat will fit onto one plate, separate the turkey dark meat from the white and use two plates. In the end, the turkey was very tasty and my family was duly impressed with the flavor.

Enjoy!

Chinese-Style Spareribs (Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1, 豬排骨)

This recipe was updated on 16 June 2013. Some instructions and ingredient quantities were changed, and metric measurements added.

The pork spareribs in this recipe are prepared like the Chinese spareribs that you can buy at your local Chinese delicatessen, but the spareribs are also smoked like American spareribs. Chinese spareribs are both savory and slightly sweet, but I think the addition of wood smoke makes the spareribs taste even better. In this case, apple wood was used to smoke and flavor the spareribs, which imparts a slight sweetness to the meat and goes well with the spareribs (but any fruit smoking wood can be used, such as cherry).

The spareribs purchased from your local Asian delicatessen are usually bright red in color due to the addition of red dye. This make-at-home recipe doesn’t use added red dye. The “red” in this recipe is the result of using red vinegar and ketchup. The spareribs not being bright red doesn’t affect the taste whatsoever.

Deli-bought spareribs also have a bright glaze. Maltose is used to produce the glaze and is applied at the end of the cooking process. If you mix the maltose into the marinade to begin with, the spareribs will burn before they can cook. Since you want some charring to the spareribs together with that glazed look, you mix the maltose with some of the marinade to make the glaze and apply the glaze during the last 15 minutes of cooking. Honey can be substituted for maltose if it is not available at your local Asian supermarket.

Enjoy!                        

Grilled Mesquite-Smoked New York Steak and Vegetables

Just in time for Father’s Day, here’s a simple recipe for grilling and smoking New York steak medium rare. The basic technique is to grill the beef first uncovered, producing the grill marks on the presentation side of the steak, and then covering the grill to smoke the steak. Grilled and smoked mushrooms and bell peppers accompany the steak.

Enjoy!

Asian-Brined Smoked Pork Chops

Smoking pork chops is one of my favorite ways to prepare this cut of meat. Brining not only keeps the pork moist, but also adds flavor. While dried red chilies (zi² tin¹ ziu¹, 指天椒) and Sichuan peppercorns (faa¹ ziu¹, 花椒) are used in the brine, the resulting pork chops are not hot, and the five spice powder adds a sweet fragrance. Cherry or apple wood smoke goes well pork, but you can use any available wood.

Enjoy!