ROBIN;
These are some simple things that people just starting out don't find out in books or shows that are very basic when you think about the meat you are going to cook.
Let your meat, regardless of the type, come to room temperature before starting any of these processes. This allows for an even cook. Most Americans take the meat straight from the fridge to the grill, which means that the outside cooks faster (because it's warmer) and usually will burn before the internal temp is anywhere close to correct or even safe to eat. So take your time and let the meat come to room temp.
Next, let's heat things up by taking your prepared injection mixture and slow cooking it on a stove top. Let's take all your beloved apple juice and fixin's and heat them up SLOWLY, but not to a boil. The reason for this is to let all the flavors 'marry'.
What we mean by marrying a flavor profile as outdoor chefs is that wow factor that you get after letting something sit and mingle, so you don't taste just the pepper, or salt, or sugar...you taste the combination of all those glorious flavors and heat. The other benefit to heating the injection is that you can then strain it so that particles that are too large for your injector don't clog it up ... and the kitchen smells divine!
Okay, this is all based on what I've read, seen, tasted, made from scratch, learned from Dad and others, argued over with wives, in-laws, friends and so on. Let's talk about how to create meat rubs.
The holy trinity of rub starters is kosher sea salt, paprika and brown sugar. Kosher sea salt doesn't have that strong salt flavor, but still helps to break down the meat. Paprika gives us a glorious color that people expect from succulent barbeque. Brown sugar gives us the bark and the sweet sticky that we love so much!
So beyond the trinity, we need some spice! Some HEAT! So let's add some dark chili powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper, white pepper, garlic powder, cummin and onion powder.
Putting this together is based on your personal flavor profile, but for starters, we'll use a half cup of brown sugar, a quarter cup each of kosher sea salt and paprika, followed up with 1 or 2 tablespoons of each of the others. Each time you prepare this mixture, you're going to want to add or subtract teaspoons of ONE ingredient only, noting (yes, you need to keep records) which variation met with cheers, and which with jeers. This becomes very important while you develop your own unique blend of salt, sugar and spice for your cooker and style.
A wonderful trick for working with brown sugar! Take the brown sugar and sprinkle it over a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil, and then put it in a pre heated oven set to 150 for 5-6 minutes - NO MORE! This dries it out without cooking it to caramel. Grab your hand-held spice mill or a cheap coffee grinder, and powder it. Dry sugar powders very well. While you're at it, you might take any of your ingredients ( listed above) that are larger than powder and grind them too. If you are working with coarse grind items, keep them all coarse. If they are all fine powders, then grind them all fine. This balances out the rub.
So sit back, think of great flavors, and rub one off!
Happy Picnicing...
Robin
No comments:
Post a Comment