Paella

1C short grain rice
1 – 14 oz can of chicken broth
1 C of hot water
4 green onions, coarsely chopped
handful of frozen peas
½ C roasted red peppers
1 ear of corn, sliced into 1” rounds
½ can of clams and 2 or 3 ounces of the juice
½ lb. chorizo sausage, formed into meatballs
1 chicken breast, bone in with skin removed (wings are good too)
6 shrimp, peeled
1/4t salt
rub for chicken & shrimp

Stabilize the Egg at 375 degrees dome. Season the chicken and the shrimp. Lightly grill the shrimp, grill the chicken and sausage about halfway done, remove from the grill and set the plate setter on the grill, legs down. Chop the chicken into several pieces, leaving the rib bones in place.

Combine all ingredients in a pan suitable for the Egg except for the 1 cup of hot water. This can be added during the cook if needed. Cook until rice is done, about 45 minutes, rotating 90 degrees once or so. Remove and cover with foil for 15 minutes. I like a little of Tony Chachere's "Original Creole Seasoning" added at the table. It is great on the corn.

Paella is like many things that can and should be adapted to your personal tastes. Since posting this page, a couple of folks have told me they are making vegetarian versions with corn, peas, mushrooms, snow peas, squash etc. I also like using all seafood especially when I can get fresh clams and mussels. ~thirdeye~


In a message to me on the Big Green Egg forum, "bobbyb " posted a couple of photographs of his paella cook that looked so good I wanted to pass them along. He made a couple of changes to my basic recipe, so they are included as well. So here is a Guest Pit Boss version of bobbyb’s paella.

Bobbyb used skinless thighs seasoned with Ken Stone’s Red Rooster rub. He smoked the chicken and the chorizo with pecan wood. The shrimp were left unpeeled and seasoned with Old Bay seasoning.





The raw seasoned shrimp were added to the dish during the last 12 minutes of the cook and appear to be cooked perfectly.





After reading a paella tutorial by The Naked Whiz on his website, I asked for permission to include a link here. His how to features two recipes and includes a discussion of the rice, sofrito, soccarat, equipment and techniques. Clicking Here will take you directly to the paella page published by "The Naked Whiz". Here are a couple of pictures of what I am talking about. The top paella is chicken and the next one is seafood.

Paella

1C short grain rice
1 – 14 oz can of chicken broth
1 C of hot water
4 green onions, coarsely chopped
handful of frozen peas
½ C roasted red peppers
1 ear of corn, sliced into 1” rounds
½ can of clams and 2 or 3 ounces of the juice
½ lb. chorizo sausage, formed into meatballs
1 chicken breast, bone in with skin removed (wings are good too)
6 shrimp, peeled
1/4t salt
rub for chicken & shrimp

Stabilize the Egg at 375 degrees dome. Season the chicken and the shrimp. Lightly grill the shrimp, grill the chicken and sausage about halfway done, remove from the grill and set the plate setter on the grill, legs down. Chop the chicken into several pieces, leaving the rib bones in place.

Combine all ingredients in a pan suitable for the Egg except for the 1 cup of hot water. This can be added during the cook if needed. Cook until rice is done, about 45 minutes, rotating 90 degrees once or so. Remove and cover with foil for 15 minutes. I like a little of Tony Chachere's "Original Creole Seasoning" added at the table. It is great on the corn.

Paella is like many things that can and should be adapted to your personal tastes. Since posting this page, a couple of folks have told me they are making vegetarian versions with corn, peas, mushrooms, snow peas, squash etc. I also like using all seafood especially when I can get fresh clams and mussels. ~thirdeye~


In a message to me on the Big Green Egg forum, "bobbyb " posted a couple of photographs of his paella cook that looked so good I wanted to pass them along. He made a couple of changes to my basic recipe, so they are included as well. So here is a Guest Pit Boss version of bobbyb’s paella.

Bobbyb used skinless thighs seasoned with Ken Stone’s Red Rooster rub. He smoked the chicken and the chorizo with pecan wood. The shrimp were left unpeeled and seasoned with Old Bay seasoning.





The raw seasoned shrimp were added to the dish during the last 12 minutes of the cook and appear to be cooked perfectly.





After reading a paella tutorial by The Naked Whiz on his website, I asked for permission to include a link here. His how to features two recipes and includes a discussion of the rice, sofrito, soccarat, equipment and techniques. Clicking Here will take you directly to the paella page published by "The Naked Whiz". Here are a couple of pictures of what I am talking about. The top paella is chicken and the next one is seafood.

EZBB Ribs

Baby Back ribs are pretty easy to cook, but what's the easiest way to cook them? Well, after getting a lot of e-mails about ribs it seems there are a lot of folks that want good results the first time out, don't want to spend a lot of time cooking them, and also want a very tender almost fall-off-the-bone type of rib. Now, it's only fair to point out that in barbecue circles, the general opinion is that finished ribs should have a slight "tug" to the meat, while at the same time, leave the bone clean after each bite. But hey....you can figure out how you like them because you're the one eating them right? With this in mind, here is a good method to try. You will get consistently good ribs and there is room for some personal changes so you can dial them in to your tastes. I may bend a few of the rules, but that's okay.....Anyway, I call these EZBB Ribs.

Remove the membrane from the bone side of the ribs. Season your ribs with your favorite rub, as a minimum use salt and pepper. Keep the ribs in the refrigerator, they should be cold when they go on the pit. I like cherry wood for flavor. Set up your cooker for an indirect cook, I like to use a raised grate, drip pan and a second grate to hold the ribs. You can also use a pizza stone or a plate setter to baffle the heat with a drip pan on it. Use a 275° to 285° pit temp. Make sure that your rack will not overhanging the heat shield (you can see that I cut the small end off the rack above because they were so long) Let your fire stabilize for about 45 minutes, this also will let the smoke settle down a bit. Don't worry about that higher pit temp, the "high on the hog" cuts like loin, tenderloin and BB ribs can take higher heat. They are naturally more tender to start with and are leaner than say belly ribs or a butt.

Place the ribs on the grate above the drip pan, bone side down. This part of the cook will require about 2 or 2-1/2 hours. If you want to baste or spray the ribs, do this at the one hour mark, then again twenty minutes later. If you want to turn the ribs do this at the one hour and twenty minute mark. At two hours of cook time, check them for color and check the tenderness with a toothpick poked between the ribs. You should feel some resistance and you should notice the meat starting to pull back on the bones. You can leave them on another half hour if you have some really meaty ribs.

For the second step of this cook, (the tenderizing step) make a double layer of heavy duty foil large enough to make a pouch for the ribs. Warm up some thinned (with water or broth) BBQ sauce and some apple juice. I like to either use some some honey or agave nectar for sweetness, or some squeeeze Parkay. I guess you could use both honey (or the agave) and Parkay if you want... Anyway, make a figure 8 pattern on the foil with either the Parkay or the honey. Add a couple tablespoons of the apple juice inside the figure 8, it works like a dam to hold the liquid. Then paint the meat side of your rack with the warm sauce and put the meat side down on the foil. Do the same thing on the up side of the ribs (paint that side with sauce, add Parkay or honey, add some apple juice. (You can substitute other liquids for the apple juice. Broth, wine, beer, etc., will work too).

Then seal the foil. Put the pouch into a 260° oven. If you are doing more than one rack, put each rack in a separate foil pouch. Put the pouches on a baking pan just in case you have a leak, then into the oven with the top seam up. These will cook for one hour. Carefully sneak the top seam of the pouch open, watch out for the steam. Lift with tongs and test for tenderness using the toothpick, be careful not to poke a hole in the foil. They should be tender. Reseal the pouch and let the ribs rest about 20 minutes. You can place them into a cooler with some newspaper for insulation if you need to hold them longer. You can go back to the oven for 2o more minutes, but that extra time may make them too tender. You will notice that they are not super saucy, just sort of sticky. So have some sauce on the table....just do me a favor and try one without any sauce first.

Here is what the sliced ones will look like....

EZBB Ribs

Baby Back ribs are pretty easy to cook, but what's the easiest way to cook them? Well, after getting a lot of e-mails about ribs it seems there are a lot of folks that want good results the first time out, don't want to spend a lot of time cooking them, and also want a very tender almost fall-off-the-bone type of rib. Now, it's only fair to point out that in barbecue circles, the general opinion is that finished ribs should have a slight "tug" to the meat, while at the same time, leave the bone clean after each bite. But hey....you can figure out how you like them because you're the one eating them right? With this in mind, here is a good method to try. You will get consistently good ribs and there is room for some personal changes so you can dial them in to your tastes. I may bend a few of the rules, but that's okay.....Anyway, I call these EZBB Ribs.

Remove the membrane from the bone side of the ribs. Season your ribs with your favorite rub, as a minimum use salt and pepper. Keep the ribs in the refrigerator, they should be cold when they go on the pit. I like cherry wood for flavor. Set up your cooker for an indirect cook, I like to use a raised grate, drip pan and a second grate to hold the ribs. You can also use a pizza stone or a plate setter to baffle the heat with a drip pan on it. Use a 275° to 285° pit temp. Make sure that your rack will not overhanging the heat shield (you can see that I cut the small end off the rack above because they were so long) Let your fire stabilize for about 45 minutes, this also will let the smoke settle down a bit. Don't worry about that higher pit temp, the "high on the hog" cuts like loin, tenderloin and BB ribs can take higher heat. They are naturally more tender to start with and are leaner than say belly ribs or a butt.

Place the ribs on the grate above the drip pan, bone side down. This part of the cook will require about 2 or 2-1/2 hours. If you want to baste or spray the ribs, do this at the one hour mark, then again twenty minutes later. If you want to turn the ribs do this at the one hour and twenty minute mark. At two hours of cook time, check them for color and check the tenderness with a toothpick poked between the ribs. You should feel some resistance and you should notice the meat starting to pull back on the bones. You can leave them on another half hour if you have some really meaty ribs.

For the second step of this cook, (the tenderizing step) make a double layer of heavy duty foil large enough to make a pouch for the ribs. Warm up some thinned (with water or broth) BBQ sauce and some apple juice. I like to either use some some honey or agave nectar for sweetness, or some squeeeze Parkay. I guess you could use both honey (or the agave) and Parkay if you want... Anyway, make a figure 8 pattern on the foil with either the Parkay or the honey. Add a couple tablespoons of the apple juice inside the figure 8, it works like a dam to hold the liquid. Then paint the meat side of your rack with the warm sauce and put the meat side down on the foil. Do the same thing on the up side of the ribs (paint that side with sauce, add Parkay or honey, add some apple juice. (You can substitute other liquids for the apple juice. Broth, wine, beer, etc., will work too).

Then seal the foil. Put the pouch into a 260° oven. If you are doing more than one rack, put each rack in a separate foil pouch. Put the pouches on a baking pan just in case you have a leak, then into the oven with the top seam up. These will cook for one hour. Carefully sneak the top seam of the pouch open, watch out for the steam. Lift with tongs and test for tenderness using the toothpick, be careful not to poke a hole in the foil. They should be tender. Reseal the pouch and let the ribs rest about 20 minutes. You can place them into a cooler with some newspaper for insulation if you need to hold them longer. You can go back to the oven for 2o more minutes, but that extra time may make them too tender. You will notice that they are not super saucy, just sort of sticky. So have some sauce on the table....just do me a favor and try one without any sauce first.

Here is what the sliced ones will look like....

Pork Steaks

Cut from a bone-in pork butt, pork steaks have a higher fat content than rib or loin chops and are very flavorful. They can be sliced thick or thin, usually the butcher will do this at no charge when you buy a butt. Pork steaks are a good cook for beginners, it is almost impossible to screw them up.

If you own a meat saw, slicing a butt is very easy.

Seasoning Options: Unlimited. Pork steaks can be seasoned with salt and pepper or your favorite rub. A mustard slather is an option for anchoring your seasonings or they can be marinated (see marinade recipe below). A finishing glaze or sauce can also be brushed on during the last 15 minutes of the cook.

Cooking Method: Pork steaks are very forgiving and can be cooked using a variety of methods like:

* Grilled direct 250° - 275° measured at the grate.
* Grilled direct on a raised grate. 250° - 275° measured at the grate.
* Barbecued with an indirect set-up. 225° to 300° measured at the grate
* Grilled or barbecued until 160° then finished in a foil pan or wrapped in foil.

Tip: Pork steaks are done at 165° to 170°. For a more tender steak they can be cooked using lower pit temperatures until 180° and above. The steaks in this picture have been cooking for about 3 hours using a raised grate over direct coals. Cherry wood was used for flavor and to give them a red color.

Here is a marinade for pork steaks that came to me by way of Guest Pit Boss "Juggy D. Beerman". Juggy is a regular contributor on The BBQ Forum, in fact if you read through the archives he must be one of the original members. He also pops up from time to time on The Big Green Egg Forum. Juggy is no stranger to outdoor cooking and has been on the competition circuit around 20 years. I was very pleased when he agreed to share this recipe and technique with us here. I was in the process of formatting this write-up from a couple of BGE forum threads I had saved, when it dawned on me that it would be more appropriate if I posted the actual exchange in Juggy's own words....

Yo thirdeye,

Here is my marinade recipe that I use for rib tips and pork steaks. Because of the sugars in the marinade, you will have to keep the fire no higher than 250ºF at grate level. I cook indirect too. Since you only cooking two steaks, you might want to halve this recipe. Or you can freeze what you don't use and save it for another time.

Uncle Chuck Bob's Piggy Parts Marinade:
1 - 16 oz bottle Sweet and Spicy French Dressing
2 Cups - Apple Juice
1 - 12 Ounce Can Cherry Cola
1 Cup - Lemon Juice
1 Cup - Woeber's Sweet and Spicy Mustard
1/4 Cup - Hot Sauce (Your Choice)
1/4 Cup - BBQ Rub (Your Choice)

That marinade is also fairly acidic. Four to six hours works for pork steaks and no more than 12 hours for rib tips. I use a real light coating of sauce at the end. Maull's for the steaks and my rib sauce for the rib tips and riblets.

Lager,

Juggy

Pork Steaks

Cut from a bone-in pork butt, pork steaks have a higher fat content than rib or loin chops and are very flavorful. They can be sliced thick or thin, usually the butcher will do this at no charge when you buy a butt. Pork steaks are a good cook for beginners, it is almost impossible to screw them up.

If you own a meat saw, slicing a butt is very easy.

Seasoning Options: Unlimited. Pork steaks can be seasoned with salt and pepper or your favorite rub. A mustard slather is an option for anchoring your seasonings or they can be marinated (see marinade recipe below). A finishing glaze or sauce can also be brushed on during the last 15 minutes of the cook.

Cooking Method: Pork steaks are very forgiving and can be cooked using a variety of methods like:

* Grilled direct 250° - 275° measured at the grate.
* Grilled direct on a raised grate. 250° - 275° measured at the grate.
* Barbecued with an indirect set-up. 225° to 300° measured at the grate
* Grilled or barbecued until 160° then finished in a foil pan or wrapped in foil.

Tip: Pork steaks are done at 165° to 170°. For a more tender steak they can be cooked using lower pit temperatures until 180° and above. The steaks in this picture have been cooking for about 3 hours using a raised grate over direct coals. Cherry wood was used for flavor and to give them a red color.

Here is a marinade for pork steaks that came to me by way of Guest Pit Boss "Juggy D. Beerman". Juggy is a regular contributor on The BBQ Forum, in fact if you read through the archives he must be one of the original members. He also pops up from time to time on The Big Green Egg Forum. Juggy is no stranger to outdoor cooking and has been on the competition circuit around 20 years. I was very pleased when he agreed to share this recipe and technique with us here. I was in the process of formatting this write-up from a couple of BGE forum threads I had saved, when it dawned on me that it would be more appropriate if I posted the actual exchange in Juggy's own words....

Yo thirdeye,

Here is my marinade recipe that I use for rib tips and pork steaks. Because of the sugars in the marinade, you will have to keep the fire no higher than 250ºF at grate level. I cook indirect too. Since you only cooking two steaks, you might want to halve this recipe. Or you can freeze what you don't use and save it for another time.

Uncle Chuck Bob's Piggy Parts Marinade:
1 - 16 oz bottle Sweet and Spicy French Dressing
2 Cups - Apple Juice
1 - 12 Ounce Can Cherry Cola
1 Cup - Lemon Juice
1 Cup - Woeber's Sweet and Spicy Mustard
1/4 Cup - Hot Sauce (Your Choice)
1/4 Cup - BBQ Rub (Your Choice)

That marinade is also fairly acidic. Four to six hours works for pork steaks and no more than 12 hours for rib tips. I use a real light coating of sauce at the end. Maull's for the steaks and my rib sauce for the rib tips and riblets.

Lager,

Juggy

Lynne's Breakfast Bacon

Bacon has a long, rich culinary history and tradition. In general terms, bacon is cured meat from a pig. It actually comes in a variety of forms depending on which parts of the pig are used. Bacon can come from the jowl, the back, the side (or belly), and the shoulder. Bacon is salty and sweet, it’s really versatile, and can make just about anything taste better. Following the curing, bacon does not have to be smoked, but smoke adds an additional flavor that most of us enjoy. And if your only experience with bacon is store bought products, you will be in for a huge surprise….. home made bacon is superior and it’s not that hard to make. There are several options for the curing mixture, and the recipe below uses Morton’s Tender Quick and some spices.

I started searching for a Guest Pit Boss to write an article on belly bacon a couple of years ago and I'm really happy to share this one with you. Guest Pit Boss, Lynne is a Primo owner who hails from Nova Scotia, and is a regular on the Primo Forum which is where I met her. Her article will take us on a 6 day, start-to-finish journey, from the butcher shop to the freezer.

~~~~~~~~~ Lynne’s Breakfast Bacon from Pork Belly ~~~~~~~~~

I am working with a fresh 5.25 pound fresh pork belly that already had the rind removed before purchasing.

The spice mix that was used for this batch of breakfast bacon is given below.

NOTE: these measurements are per pound of fresh pork belly.

1T Morton’s Tender Quick curing salt
1 teaspoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground or cracked black pepper
1/2 crushed bay leaf

Mix the spices together. The amount and type of spice one uses can vary according to personal tastes but the amount of Morton curing salt should not be altered.

Place the pork belly in a zip lock bag and press the spice mix into all surfaces of the pork belly. Remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal.

Place the pork belly in a fridge that has the temperature set to keep the meat in the range 34 -38 degrees F. Flip the bag over every day for 5 days. You will notice when you flip the bag for the first time that there will now be liquid in the bag, which indicates that the curing process is underway. Do not drain the liquid from the bag, this liquid brine is important to the process.

After 4-1/2 to 5 days remove the pork belly from the bag and rinse well with cold water. Place the pork belly in a large non-reactive container, fill with cold water. Let sit in the fridge for a couple of hours, drain the water and rinse again. Repeat the two hour soak out and rinse at least three more times. This is a total of 8 hours of soak out time, and 4 changes of water.

If your timetable is such that you would rather soak out the bacon overnight (10 or 12 hours), do at least 2 soak and rinse cycles. The soak cycles will remove excess salt, and don't be concerned if the bacon looks slightly pale.

Once the soaking out process is finished, dry surface areas of the pork belly and set it uncovered on a rack in the fridge so the air can flow around the pork belly. This resting time will help equalize the liquids within the meat and also help with the pellicle formation which in turn will help the smoke adhere to the surface of the pork belly. The rest (or equalization) time is a minimum of 8 hours, but can be extended to 24 hours if needed.

Usually I use maple lump and I use cherry wood for the smoking wood.

Insert a thermometer into the thickest part of the pork belly. I set up the Primo grill so that the belly is on the raised grills and have a double layer of foil on the main grill under the belly. When the grill temperature is about 140 degrees F the pork belly is put on the raised grills. The temperature is kept in the 150 – 180 degree range for 2 hours or so and then allowed to creep up to 200 degrees F over the next couple of hours and then to 220 degrees F until the internal temperature of the meat is 150 degrees F. At this point the bacon is removed from the grill.

Allow the bacon to cool overnight in the fridge before slicing.

The next step is storing the finished product. I like to divide it up into small portions and seal it in Food Saver bags before storing in the freezer. The final amount of breakfast bacon was just over 4.25 pounds

Last but not least –taste test