Pork Chops Grilled and Drunken

Pork Chops Grilled and Drunken

moist inside, crusted outside

6 medium cut pork chops, bone in

2 cups spiced rum

3 tablespoons brown sugar, light or dark

1 table spoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon ground, dry, smoked hot peppers

The chops are covered in rum and left in the refrigerator 3 days

Chops are removed and rubbed with the mixture of sugar, salt and hot pepper.

The rum marinade has the remainder of the rub added and it is reduced on low heat

Setting up the grill

Start the hardwood charcoal in a charcoal chimney

allow all the charcoal started and add to the base of the grill with your favorite wood (Apple is best)

allow the grill to become hot (there may be some fire from the wood

place the chops and get grill marks on one side

turn and close the top of the grill, this produces smoke

continue cooking for 20 minutes

remove and serve

Food Network Cooking and my grilled salmon

I love to watch the food network, i get some good ideas,
but in all of the shows, the ingredients (Yes, even the left over or discard episodes of chopped) use expensive, high quality products.
Of course with the time restraints in the competition, it might be necessary, but a cooks true talent is making something tasty from cheep ingredients.
I regularly purchase cheep ingredients and CREATE!
Some always talk of fresh food, but i buy my use the next day meat and freeze it and there are advantages.
On the molecular level, freezing pops open cell membranes making flavors easier to be lost, but also allowing flavors you want to add to penetrate.
An example is my grilled salmon, purchased and always frozen and allowed to thaw in a marinade of orange juice, smoked salt, crushed, smoked hot pepper and paprika and i do this overnight in the refrigerator.
The flavor simply does not penetrate if i use fresh fish.
One of the complaints i have heard about fish on a grill or smoker, is that it is dry.
Guess what?  Not what i cook.
The manner i grill it imparts a smoked flavor, but because it is quick and a high heat, i consider it a grill method.
On a grill with the charcoal just white hot and i add my smoking wood that is NOT wet (usually apple, cherry or maple) and the temperature is about 300 F
I Skin side down!.
Close the cover for 10 minutes.
Smoke billows out.
Open the cover and the flames begin for 3 to 5 minutes and remove, by the way, the fish removes easily from the grill when it is done perfectly.
The skin is crispy, the salmon a PERFECT medium rare.
I have usually reduced marinade as a sauce for any one who wants (and you do want, it is good).
This works well with any salmon on sale and i do NOT pay more than $6 a pound.
My half a salmon will easily feed 6 with seconds (which always happens).

Smoking a chuck roast beef

Everyone who has a bit of knowledge about me, knows i enjoy cooking low and slow and if possible with smoke!
The hot days made me not want to cook inside so my/smoker/ grill was active, but chuck roast beef?
This is not a brisket and does not have much fat, so cooking it for 24 hours like i do a brisket would render it tough and inedible.
So my goal was a temperature internally of about 145 F - medium rare which means a higher temperature for a shorter length of time.
I wanted the flavor to be a bit traditional, so my normal beef rubs were not employed.

The rub for a 3.25 lb chuck roast of beef:
1 part salt
2 parts black pepper
1/4 part white, refined sugar.
Patted on the meat and left for a minimum of 6 hours.

The set up for the grill/smoker (which after 4 years of hard use is beginning to rust out):
a square of my wood of choice (Cherry in this case) with a hollow in the middle.
Hardwood charcoal (commercial brand).
I start the charcoal using one of those hand held starter which have paper as the starting material and the charcoal above.
Since my grill is 2 tiered, i covered the second tier with tinfoil to provide indirect heat and had a large pan of water on the first to provide moisture and still another direct heat barrier.
Add the charcoal to the center of my square and let the wood begin to catch fire.
Place the beef on the top rack with the water between it and the fire and close the grill.
I set my temperature to about 300 F (this is done by maneuvering the air intake and chimney closures in a way that i have become fairly good at).
Then i walk away only checking to insure the temperature remains at 300 F.
Large amounts of smoke are produced and the heat remains constant.
i come back in 1 and 1/2 hours to check the internal temperature of the meat...148 F
The meat is immediately removed and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes before cutting...
Perfect!