Maple Sugar Dry Rub & Rib Glaze

Maple Sugar Dry Rub & Rib Glaze

Sadly, I haven't been able to work on many recipes for the past few months. Our beloved smoker decided to call it quits the day I was hosting a huge BBQ party for St. Patrick's Day.  The good news is that we finally rebuilt the smoker and it is up and running once again!

I decided that the first smoke of the season would be my ode to the North. I live in Eastern Pennsylvania, and wanted to smoke a rib that had northern influences. Honestly, I had no idea what I wanted to do and saw maple sugar in my pantry..and thought to myself, "Hey, this will work!"  So, here it is... my newest and favorite dry rub.

I used the 3-2-1 method to smoke ribs, and they turned out perfectly. The smoke penetrated the meat very well (as you can see in the smoke ring), and the ribs turned out moist and sweet. These could be my new favorite, and I'm even considering competing with this recipe!

Maple Sugar Dry Rub (perfect for 2.5 lbs. of Pork Ribs)

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. Maple Sugar Powder

2 tsp. Ground Ginger Powder

2 tsp. Powdered Chicken Base Seasoning

2 tsp. Dried Minced Onion

1 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

Maple Sugar Rib Glaze

Ingredients:

3/4 c. Maple Syrup
2 tbsp. Packed Brown Sugar
2 tbsp. Yellow Mustard
1 tbsp. Worchestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Sea Salt
1.5 tbsp. Salted Butter
1/4 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

Directions:

Add all ingredients in small saucepan. Bring to a low boil and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, so sugar doesn't burn.

Tex-Mex Inspired Barbeque Sauce

Tex-Mex Inspired Barbeque Sauce

Ingredients:

1 c. Ketchup

2 tbsp. Chopped Garlic

¼ c. Finely Chopped Yellow Onion

2 tbsp. Yellow Mustard

1 tbsp. Brown Sugar

1 tbsp. Chocolate Syrup

1 tbsp. Worchestershire Sauce

1 tbsp. Steak Sauce

1 tbsp. Soy Sauce

1 tsp. Ground Coriander

1 tsp. Taco Seasoning

½ tsp. New Mexican Chili Pepper Powder

¼ tsp. Ground Black Pepper

¼ tsp. Seasoned Salt

1/8 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

Fresh Chopped Cilantro to taste as garnish

Directions:

Saute garlic and onion until the onion is translucent. Add the remaining ingredients. Feel free to add more Cayenne or Chili Pepper to kick up the heat levels. Heat until the sauce simmers. Remove from heat. Add to any type of grilled or smoked meat. Add fresh chopped cilantro on top to add a unique flavor burst to the meal.

"Sweet As Soda Pop" BBQ Sauce

"Sweet As Soda Pop" BBQ Sauce

I still dream about that.. or so goes the song. I attended a great university in the South for 2 years, and was inspired by my experiences there to create some marinades and sauces.

My competition-grade recipes are directly inspired by my experiences at my old school. Those recipes are under lock and key..sorry! However, last night when I made my competition ribs I decided to play around with the barbeque sauce and create a new school-inspired recipe.

I call my newest creation, "Sweet As Soda Pop" BBQ Sauce. It contains Tennessee Whiskey (sorry I don't think I'm allowed to list brand names), Soda Pop, and Honey. The sauce is a fairly sweet sauce. I created it to go with pork ribs, however, it would work with chicken or pulled pork too. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 c. Cola

¾ c. Tennessee brand of Whiskey- Honey flavored

1 c. Ketchup

3 tbsp. Steak Sauce

¼ c. Soy Sauce

1 tsp. Onion Powder

1 tsp. Garlic Powder

1 tbsp. Mustard

1 tbsp. Honey

1/8 tsp. Black Pepper

Directions:

Simmer 25 min. at a medium heat. Stir constantly.

Smoked Pork Belly

1.25 lbs. of pork belly

Dry Cure added onto pork belly

Smoked Pork Belly

Smoked Pork Belly with Homemade Spaetzel

Here is my latest experiment in the smoker. It is a dry-cured pork belly. Not exactly the healthiest thing in the world to eat, but chock full of porky deliciousness. :)

We bought a 1.25 lb. pork belly at a butcher's shop at our local farmer's market, and I decided to experiment with it and cure it myself, and put it on the smoker.

I wanted to try a dry cure without using a traditional cure. I decided to make my own dry cure and cured the pork belly for 4 days. Here are the ingredients to my cure:

Dry Cure Ingredients:

4 tbsp. Brown Sugar

2 tbsp. Vanilla Sea Salt

1 tbsp. Ground Black Pepper

1 tbsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

2 tsp. of Vietnamese Cinnamon

1 tsp. New Mexican Chili Pepper Powder

1 tsp. Garam Masala

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together. Use about 1/2 of the mixture to cover the pork belly. Place the pork belly in a tightly sealed container (I used a casserole dish with a lid), and place in the refrigerator. Then leave it to cure for a minimum of 2 days. I cured it for 4 days.

After the curing process is complete, rinse off the pork belly with cold water. Pat it dry.

Sear the belly in a heavy pot or pan on a high heat on both sides until each side is a nice brown color. Take off the heat, and make a "beer bath" for your belly to soak in while cooking.

"Beer Bath" Recipe:
1 bottle of your favorite beer. I used a Canadian lager beer.

2c. Hot Water

1 tbsp. Chicken Base

1 tbsp. Beef Base

2 tbsp. Dried Thyme

Approx. 3-4 tbsp. of dry cure mix

Directions:
Heat up your smoker/or oven to 325F. I used apple chips to add a nice smoky, apple flavor to the meat.

Mix the "bath" ingredients thoroughly in an aluminum pan, and place the pork belly in pan.

Place the pork belly with the skin side up on the smoker/oven unfoiled. Cook for 1 hour, and then flip the meat over and place aluminum foil tightly over the pan. Cook for another hour, and then flip meat over again. Take foil off. Cook for 1 more hour (it took me a total of about 3.5 hours to cook a 1.25 lb. pork belly).

Once the meat is thoroughly cooked (I did the fork test, if the fork easily goes into the meat and meat easily falls apart..it's done), take the pork belly out of the "beer bath" and wrap it tightly in aluminum foil. Wrap the foiled pork belly in a towel, and place in a cooler. Let the meat rest for 30-45 minutes and then serve.

Cut off the skin from the pork belly and cut it into 2-3" squares, and crisp it up in a skillet or pot (be very careful, the skin jumped up in the pot I was using and the hot oil splattered quite a bit). Cook the skin until it is a nice golden brown and is crispy.

As a side dish, I channeled my family's Burgenland, Austria roots (I'm a nice mix of Austrian-Hungarian, Croatian and Ukrainian), and made a homemade spaetzel to go with the pork belly.

The pork belly had a wonderful smoky, cinnamon, and apple aroma to it and was so tender. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Irish Stout and Vanilla Coffee Barbeque Sauce

One of my favorite things about barbequing is making sauces. Here is my newest creation I made specifically for my 1st ever beef brisket I served on the 4th of July.

I love a good Irish stout..whether it's drinking it or cooking with it. :) I wanted to use Irish stout in a special barbeque sauce to flavor my coffee rub beef brisket. I also used vanilla coffee in the sauce to go along with the vanilla coffee rub I used. Here is what I created:

Irish Stout and Vanilla Coffee Barbeque Sauce

Ingredients:

1 c. Irish Stout Beer

1c. Vanilla Coffee

1 c. Ketchup

¼ c. HP Sauce

3 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

2 tsp. Onion Powder

1 tsp. Garlic Powder

1 tbsp. Mustard

1 tbsp. Honey

1/8 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients into a medium-size saucepan. Use a whisk to mix everything together. Simmer for 30 min. at medium-high heat. Enjoy!

Beef Brisket Mop Sauce

Brisket Mop Sauce

Ingredients:

¾ bottle of Apple Cider (Alcoholic or Non-Alcoholic)

Approx. 3 tbsp. Irish Salted Butter

2 tbsp. Light Brown Sugar

3 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Add all ingredients together into a medium-size saucepan. Heat until the butter and brown sugar are melted. Then use to baste beef brisket throughout the smoking process. Enjoy!

Beef Brisket Marinade

I just tried my first beef brisket on our smoker this past weekend for the 4th of July. Many BBQers out there will say not to inject a marinade into the meat or let it sit in a marinade overnight. I thought why not? Brisket has a bad rep in BBQ World for being a tough meat to smoke. You either get it right, and it is nice and moist, or it tastes like shoe leather.

After 8 LOOONG hours of smoking the meat, and letting it rest for 1 hour wrapped in aluminum foil, a towel, and placed in a cooler, it was ready to eat.

Did the marinade work? YES! It helped keep the meat moist, and added great flavor to the brisket. I used a meat injector and injected all of the marinade into the meat. I let it marinate in the refrigerator for 12 hours. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Beef Brisket Marinade / Mop Sauce

Ingredients:

½ c. Water

½ c. Vanilla-flavored Coffee (brewed strongly)

2 tsp. Beef Base

2 tbsp. Light Brown Sugar

¼ tsp. Irish Mustard

¼ tsp. Chili Powder

½ tsp. Garlic Powder

1 tsp. Onion Powder

2 tsp. Soy Sauce

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a saucepan, and heat until sugar has dissolved. Set aside and let it cool down. Once the marinade has cooled completely, inject it into your brisket or beef short ribs. You can also just use the marinade as a nice mop sauce too.