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Any Time is Grillin Time

My rub is not an exact science. It always contains the same ingredients but the amounts change most every time I blend a batch. My rub contains some cumin, paprika, chili powder, coarse black and white pepper, granulated garlic powder, cayenne pepper, coarse salt, and meat tenderizer with no msg. It's lots of brown sugar and then the peppers and salts so that it first tastes hot but ends up tasting sweet on the tongue. Sometimes I'm in a hot mood and I want it to first taste sweet but the lingering taste is peppery. I blend it all and place it in a huge shaker bottle. As I use it down some.. I might add some more sugar or I might add some black and red peppers.. it depends on my mood and such.

I almost always smoke with apple and I use apple juice to keep my ribs and pork butts moist so I like to keep my rubs a bit on the peppery side. I've not had anyone complain about my rub... but I've not had anyone slap me on the back and say... man that rub is the greatest lol. It's fun to mix and match. You can't screw up a good rack of ribs. :)
 
Do you rest your meat after rubbing before cooking? Or, just go straight from rub to grill?
Had lot of fun making pancetta at my last job (essentially non smoked bacon).
 
Do you rest your meat after rubbing before cooking? Or, just go straight from rub to grill?
Had lot of fun making pancetta at my last job (essentially non smoked bacon).

I let the rub sit for 12-24 hours before cooking. Then I let the meat get to room temp on the counter and apply another quick coating of rub. It usually works out to the amount of time to get the smoker warmed up, wood soaked, etc.
 
Do you rest your meat after rubbing before cooking? Or, just go straight from rub to grill?
Had lot of fun making pancetta at my last job (essentially non smoked bacon).

I always rub my meat down the night before. I have a large shallow plastic bin that I place the meat in to do my rubbing. It can be a messy deal otherwise. I then take the meat out and wrap it in foil and store in the fridge until smoke time.

I let the rub sit for 12-24 hours before cooking. Then I let the meat get to room temp on the counter and apply another quick coating of rub. It usually works out to the amount of time to get the smoker warmed up, wood soaked, etc.

I don't do the second rub. I go straight from the fridge to the smoke. I read somewhere that the smoke condenses and settles on cold meat the best. I have no idea if this is true but I have always put cold meat on the smoker. You also have to keep in mind that I'm cheating with a pellet smoker. There is no prep time for the AM smoker. I turn it on smoke, let it achieve fire, and toss on my meat.

What sort of rub do you use? I'm always looking for improvements to my rub. There was a guy down the street that smoked commercially for years... and his family for generations. He would not tell me his rub recipe. Family secret lol. But, it was far superior to mine.
 
I always rub my meat down the night before. I have a large shallow plastic bin that I place the meat in to do my rubbing. It can be a messy deal otherwise. I then take the meat out and wrap it in foil and store in the fridge until smoke time.



I don't do the second rub. I go straight from the fridge to the smoke. I read somewhere that the smoke condenses and settles on cold meat the best. I have no idea if this is true but I have always put cold meat on the smoker. You also have to keep in mind that I'm cheating with a pellet smoker. There is no prep time for the AM smoker. I turn it on smoke, let it achieve fire, and toss on my meat.

What sort of rub do you use? I'm always looking for improvements to my rub. There was a guy down the street that smoked commercially for years... and his family for generations. He would not tell me his rub recipe. Family secret lol. But, it was far superior to mine.

i use an electric smoker with wood chips. I soak the chips for about 45 minutes before I put them in. So I'm not technically doing BBQ either.:o

I started with a rub recipe and hated it. Too much black pepper for me. Over the course of several smokes I tweaked it to my liking. Sounds similar to your recipe and like yours, it isn't the same twice in a row. I have it written down on a greasy paper at home. I smoke with hickory so it may be different.

I'll PM you the details when I get home. Ping me this weekend if I forget. I use it for both ribs and butts (pulled pork) but for ribs I add additional turbinado sugar.
 
I'm grilling out some chicken tonight. I diced up some potato wedges, salt and peppered them with a bit of diced onion and butter, and have them cooking now in a foil tent. I'll let them cook a while before I put the chicken to the fire. Some whole kernel corn will complete the meal. I guess I am hungry for I'm fixing enough to feed the troops.
 
Just pizza burgers here. The mosquitoes have been murderous this year so I am not staying outside long enough for them to feast.
 
I can't blame you for that. And Off doesn't make a decent marinade lol.
The mosquitoes have been scarce here this spring. We went months without any precipitation which likely slowed them down. It rained big time over the Memorial holiday weekend and again last night. I suspect my critter free time is now limited.

My chicken turned out great. I fixed way too much and will be eating leftovers tonight.
 
Leftovers are good.

We have had a lot of rain, heat and humidity the last couple weeks, which is a bit strange seeing as how May started with snow and the lakes still froze over.
 
The weather is just weird. It's always unpredictable here in Kansas but the last couple of years have been just crazy. Record highs.. record lows... long periods between rain.. way too much rain at once.. etc.

I'm grilling out some burgers tonight. I think I'll grill some onions and butter and toast my buns to make it a bit better. BTW, I did eat up the rest of the chicken. I peeled the remaining meat from the leftover pieces and diced it up. I tossed it into some cajun beans and rice. Was pretty good for leftovers.
 
It finally quit raining long enough to mow the lawn. I was hoping that would help reduce the mosquitoes but it hasn't.

Probably left over pizza burgers for us tonight. I haven't done chicken on the grill for a long time. There is a bar/restaurant up here that has a 4 piece broasted chicken dinner with a full salad and soup bar for $12. We just eat from the soup and salad bar and take the chicken home. That gets cut up and we make chicken salad sandwiches or a casserole and get another couple meal out of it.
 
:noob allert: ;)

So, going to make some burgers tonight, and without a grill so just cast iron on the stove.
Anyone have some tips? I have just ground beef (90/10, so pretty lean), sharp cheddar, onions, tomatoes, romaine. Just wondering what ya'll mix in with the beef for your patty. I have quite a bit of spices on hand, just no Old Bay. :(
Thoughts?
 
I like to use some seasoned salt when I make burgers from ground beef that lean. I'm not a salt guy at all but it helps. I like a bit of garlic too... and coarse pepper. Bacon is always good. :)

As a child my mother fixed bacon and eggs most every morning. Cast iron was always the cooking utensil. We always ate very lean ground beef. My father hated all roasts so when we butchered he'd have all roasts ground into some fat for burgers etc. So our burgers were lean but tasted like steak.
My mother would fry our burgers in the drippings from the morning bacon. I'm talking some seriously fine burgers my friend.
 
I like to use some seasoned salt when I make burgers from ground beef that lean. I'm not a salt guy at all but it helps. I like a bit of garlic too... and coarse pepper. Bacon is always good. :)

An alternative to Seasoned Salt is Montreal Steak. A taste of garlic and seasoning but not quite as salty. Bacon is always a fair addition to a burger.
 
An alternative to Seasoned Salt is Montreal Steak. A taste of garlic and seasoning but not quite as salty. Bacon is always a fair addition to a burger.

I'm also a big fan of the Montreal Steak seasoning. It finds it's way to burger prep quite often and nearly always is on my steaks. Good stuff. The Montreal Chicken is not bad either. Have you ever tried Stubb's Beef seasoning. It's pretty good on burgers too.
 
My youngest daughter and her current boy friend were over so I grilled out some brats. These were stuffed with cheddar cheese and were pretty tasty. I made some chili so we smothered the brats in chili and cheese and had some chips. Nothing fancy but easy and tasty.
 
My youngest daughter and her current boy friend were over so I grilled out some brats. These were stuffed with cheddar cheese and were pretty tasty. I made some chili so we smothered the brats in chili and cheese and had some chips. Nothing fancy but easy and tasty.

Sounds like some delicious diet food. :p;)
 
If I get really lean ground beef I like to make burgers with pockets in them that I stash a pat of butter (real butter, no margarine) in. Kinda defeats the purpose of lean beef, but omnomnom.

I tried some Weber Chicago Steak seasoning on my burger last night, was pretty good. It's kind of like Montreal but with more onion and a little bit less salt. Normally I'm just a salt and pepper guy for burgers, but Montreal Steak is awesome on steak.

Another thing with burgers is to mix the ground beef with Lipton Onion Soup powder, 1 or 2 packets to 1 lb beef. Goosh it together with your hands. It makes a really onion-y, savory burger.
 
Were those homemade brats from your butcher?

I would like to say yes.. but, there were a mad dash to the store to feed the unexpected company brats. :( They weren't Johnsonville. They were store brand and actually not too bad. My butcher has brats and hot brats. There is no cheese stuffed foofoo going on with his brats. :)
 
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