One summer, he vacationed with his family in Arkansas. Upon returning, he called me up.

“Jason, I’ve got something for you.”

“What is it?”

“Something important. Get to the office now.”

Being a Sunday, I was extremely curious. I hopped into the car, tore across town, and met him in our office parking lot, mafia style.  He handed me a paper bag.  In it was McClard’s BBQ Sauce.

“This is the shit. This is what you’ve been looking for. This is what I’ve been looking for. Hell, this is what the world has been looking for.”

I took it home, cracked the bottle, and tasted it. Yes, it was the single best commercially produced barbeque sauce I’ve ever had.

***

The McClard’s Sauce is like a perfectly balanced wine from the Rhone Valley of France: spicy, but not too much so; fruity, but not too much so; and with lip smacking acidity. It’s a wonderful thing, and it SINGS with pork in particular.

I have no affiliation with McClard’s. They have no idea who I am or that I exist. And I’m happy to say you can order a case of this sauce HERE.

Also please take the time to read the history of McClard’s Bar-B-Q. I haven’t been there myself but I hope to make it down there soon.

One of the many secrets top notch grilling and barbecue chefs have is the use of the “rub”, or the combination of dry spices added to meat just far enough ahead of cooking to impart some wicked flavor.

There are endless great rub recipes out there, including the legendary Mike Mills’ “Magic Dust” which has won him numerous barbecue awards.  Buy any book on grilling and barbecue and you’ll be inundated by hundreds of ideas for the ideal rub.

In March of 2003, I developed what I consider my ‘baseline’ rub, otherwise known as our “family rub” because my then seven year son, my wife, and I all enjoyed it equally.  It doesn’t have the big spike of heat of so many of today’s rubs, which I like because think about it — you want more heat?  Add more cayenne.  Simple as that.

One thing I like to do is write rub recipes in ‘parts’ rather than teaspoons or tablespoons.  It makes producing a huge batch far easier, and also allows for a faster process … just grab a spoon (or a quarter cup measuring cup!) out of your drawer and you’re ready to go.

THE GRILLING MAN’S “FAMILY RUB”
Feel free to adjust to your own taste

2 parts    Kosher Salt
1 part      Spanish Paprika
1 part      Garlic Powder (not garlic salt!)
2 parts    Chili Powder
1/2 pt.     Cayenne
1 part      Brown Sugar
1 part      Onion Powder
1/2 pt.     Ground Mustard
1 part      Fresh Ground Pepper
1/2 pt.     Dried Oregano
1/2 pt.     Dried Sage

Mix well in bowl, incorporating all ingredients.  Stores well in a tight jar for up to two months.

Using the rub the right way
The thing about rubs is, honestly, they are overused.  They are often used heavily to cover defects in the quality of the meat, or applied too early and thus becomes too penetrative to the flavor.  The rub should, in the end, balance the flavors, not become the flavors.

Pork ribs: I like a fine dusting on the ribs 3-4 hours before starting to smoke them.  Anything more, and due to the salt it dries out the ribs and changes their flavors.

Steaks: If you dust the meat about an hour before cooking, you’ll be in good shape.

Beef roasts: This is where you can leave it on for a bit.  Dust the meat the night before cooking for good penetration.

This rub works well on everything: fish, lamb, popcorn, you name it.  At my house it’s always within reach and always enjoyed.  Let me know what you think.

In mid-December, this was my first experiment with sous vide at home, a rack of lamb.

Based on the utterly delicious success of the lamb, I awoke Christmas Eve morning and decided to do a fifteen pound rib roast in a cooler full of water!

***

The process of sous vide cooking has been all the rage for a number of years.  The top chefs in the land do it on a regular basis for several reasons, the two most important being temperature control and ultimate consistency.

To cook sous vide in a restaurant you need to do some major investing in equipment.  But luckily for us home home cooks, you probably already have all that you need.

First, Sous Vide 101: The whole idea is that the meat is cooked in a sealed plastic bag surrounded by water that is held at the final cooking temperature.  No juices are lost, and because of the sealed environment, any added spices or herbs are intensified in flavor.  From the edge of the meat all the way through the middle, the temperature will be constant.  In the case of beef, I like it just a hair above 120 degrees.

To cook a fifteen pound rib roast for Christmas Eve, I needed a large container (in this case a big cooler), a large bag with a watertight seal (in this case a turkey brining bag from the store), and time.  Lots of time.  Not knowing how long it would take, but also knowing that once it reached temperature I could hold it there, I planned on ten hours.

STEP ONE – THE COOLER and THE THERMOMETER
The larger the piece of meat, the larger the cooler has to be.  Simple physics — if you are going to keep the meat at a constant temperature, you need a significant amount of water around it.  For this Flintstones like roast, I used my biggest cooler (which you’ll see in the photos was still not THAT big).  Fill it with warm water (about 20 degrees warmer than you want to sous vide at) and let it warm up.

Throughout this process, temperature control is the most important factor.  To sous vide at home, you’ll need a digital thermometer that is accurate and has a long cord so you can immerse it into the water. A thermometer that allows you to program alarms (both minimum and maximum temps) is ideal.  My iGrill worked perfectly for this.

STEP TWO – THE MEAT AND THE BAG
For the rib roast, I got a big turkey brining bag, covered the roast in sea salt, black pepper, garlic, and dried herbs (along with a bit of olive oil) and put it in. (I had dry aged the roast in my meat fridge for three days prior.)

STEP THREE – IMMERSION
Take the bag with the meat in it, unsealed, and slowly lower it into the water bath.  As you slowly drop it in, the bag will vacuum itself to the meat as the air is pushed out.  Get it down to the last two inches and seal up all but the last bit of the bag.  Drop it in further to get the last bit of air out, seal it up, and let it go.  It should sink.

STEP FOUR – TEMPERATURE CONTROL
When I did the rack of lamb in the cooler, I didn’t have to worry about temperature control.  After bringing the water to 123 degrees, the temp held steady for the hour of cooking (actually it held for about three hours!).  But with this big roast, I needed to keep a pot of water warm on the stove at all times.  I set my iGrill to alert when it got down to 120 degrees, at which time I scooped out about 6-7 cups of water and dumped in more from the stove (then picked up the roast bag to move the water around for even temperature distribution).  As you can imagine, I didn’t have the precise control of the pros but I was careful to rarely go over 130 degrees and never under 120.

For the first two hours, I had to do this water dance about every 20-30 minutes.  But after that only about every hour did I have to fuss – the roast was starting to “cook”.

My iGrill did a good job of tracking the temperature, and I made sure to move the probe around quite a bit to make sure I had even temps.

STEP FOUR: TAKING THE MEAT OUT
The first time you cook something sous vide you’ll be hesitant when you first take the meat out and touch it and look at it … we’re used to browned meat with well done little bits and the smell of smoke.  This roast was soft, limpy, lifeless, and ugly.  I stuck a probe into the middle and it read 125 degrees … it was done — perfectly.  Now came the really fun part.

STEP FIVE: BROWNING
If you’ve wanted to play with fire, here is your chance.  Get the grill as hot as you can with natural hardwood coals, coat the meat in some olive oil, and watch it go.  I had this roast on the grill for only about six minutes, just to char the outside a bit.

STEP SIX: PRESENTATION
THERE IS NO REASON TO LET THIS MEAT REST because you are not letting juices settle back in and final temp to be hit.  It’s done, and it’s ready to go.  Slice it up and serve it.

The advantages of sous vide are many, but one of the best is allowing you to time a roast like this to any other side dishes that are coming out.  Because it can be held at temp for a long time, you can prep everything else until you’re ready to fire it up.

Another amazing sidenote: the most forgettable and bland meat in the world, boneless skinless chicken breasts, are absolutely PHENOMENAL when done sous vide.  Add a pat of butter, some thyme and rosemary, and drop them in a pot of 145 degree water for 30-45 minutes.

Enjoy!

PS: Think of the implications this has for cooking while camping!  You can get your cooler all set, drop in some packets of meat, go for a hike for a couple hours and come back to a gourmet dinner with very little (or no) mess or fuss.

The results were fantastic. Pitch perfect spice, sweet, and savory. Here is the recipe:

TGM MEATLOAF

Ingredients for the ‘meat mixture’

• 3 pounds of ‘meatloaf blend’ from the store (beef, pork, and veal). Try to get a little more beef in the mixture than the others.
• 3 small onions, nice and sweet varieties, chopped medium
• 5 cloves of garlic, diced small
• 4 large eggs
• 1.5 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce (I used this instead of Worcestershire sauce)
• 4 teaspoons good coarse grained Dijon mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I like the Greek stuff because it’s unsweetened)
• 1 sleeve of Saltine crackers (about 40 of them)
• 1 cup chopped parsley leaves

Chop onions and garlic, and saute in a bit of olive oil until translucent. (Start the onions first, then after a couple minutes sprinkle the garlic on it. Try to not let the garlic go to the bottom of the pan and burn.) Once done (5-10 minutes) place in a bowl and cool in the fridge.

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs and add thyme, pepper, soy sauce, mustard, and yogurt. Whisk together and smell it — doesn’t it smell good?!

In a separate larger bowl, pull the three meats into little bits and mix together followed by hand blending all meats together. Pour egg mixture over the meat (use a rubber spatula to get it all out). Add sautéed onions and garlic. Mix and blend all together by hand (get your hands wet first and make sure you don’t try to answer your cell phone during this stage). Crush the saltine crackers, and add crackers and parsley. Mix further by hand. Place mixture in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Fire up the grill, offset heat. Take a sheet of heavy duty tinfoil and put in on an upside down baking sheet (you’ll learn why soon). Take the cool meat mixture out of the fridge and with wet hands free-form the loaves (or better yet use little tinfoil loaf pans and press the meat into shape, dumping it onto the tinfoil. That’s what I do). Find some good barbeque sauce and brush over the loaves, then cover in bacon.

On the grill, slide the tinfoil off the baking sheet (see, that’s why it’s upside down) and place opposite of the coals (off set grilling … really roasting). Curve up the edges of the tinfoil to catch most of the grease. Cover and let it be for 45-60 minutes.

You want the internal temp to end up around 150-155. Keep an eye on it while you enjoy a glass of wine or three.

If the grease is building up and you want to drain it, three things to keep in mind: 1) Easy to do by poking holes in the tinfoil. 2) You have a good chance of a grease file flaring up so don’t stand with your head right above the grill. 3) You’re going to have grease to clean up later but that’s relatively easy.

When internal temp reaches 155 slide it onto a baking sheet and bring inside. Tent loosely for 15-20 minutes while finishing side dish prep and drinking more wine.

Idea wine pairings with this dish include Cotes du Rhone (the Grenach/Syrah blends in general are incredible with meatloaf) because you want something medium bodied but with a little spice. Another good choice, on the more geeky side, is Zweigelt from Austria.

We had some extra soprasatta sitting around, so we did goat cheese and cured meat stuffed jucy lucy’s.  I also ran out of hamburger buns so I used English muffins instead.  Worked great!  Highly recommended!

My son Spencer wanted to acknowledged as The Grilling Man tonight as well.  He’s posing with a pork loin that he had nothing to do with, but we’ll let him enjoy the sensation of a TGM title.

A fabulous night at the home of Lee and his beautiful wife Kristen.  Lee is a proven Grilling Man, often showing off a deft touch with pork.  Tonight it was a perfectly grilled pork loin, which is not easy to do well.  Kudos to tonight’s special guest Grilling Man.

It’s actually a difficult day for me.  I went to my local old reliable meat shop and asked for skirt steak and was rejected.

“You don’t want that stuff.  Only good for tacos!” is what the butcher said.  I didn’t want to tell him I’ve purchased about $150 of skirt steak from Whole Foods down the street over the last few weeks.  C’mon, buddy!  If I ask for skirt steak, just sell it to me.

Turns out they don’t even have any at my local butcher, so I returned to Whole Foods and stocked up.  No wonder he down-talked this glorious and overlooked cut of meat.

I love skirt steak on a hot grill.  Only a couple minutes per side at the most, plus a few minutes to rest.  High in fat content and oh so tender and yummy.  And better for more than just tacos, trust me.

On the last great day of summery weather here in Minnesota. Tomorrow: winter (figuratively).

Thick cut pork chops can be tricky because you want them to end up at the perfect temperature, but often they get overdone.  This is an example of when a good thermometer is absolutely essential (along with knowing your temperatures).