Entry #1 (Cynthia Wright nominates Cynthia Wright

At first I was going to nominate my husband for this outstanding, mouthwatering prize…but then I thought…what the heck…I am nominating myself for this bad boy.  Don’t get me wrong. My husband is incredible.  He is the best father to our 5 children anyone could ask for ..all while working very hard to provide for us. I am so blessed to be his wife.  The reason I am nominating myself is bc I AM THE COOK..and that includes the “outdoor cook”. I LOVE to cook outside.  It is such a magical experience…listening to the kids play ball while sipping on my favorite beer taking in the aroma of the fabulous, delishouness that is cooking slowly. I think I deserve this totally.:)I really hope you consider this entry and do a mom a favor and pick me!!!(and my husband..LOL)

Entry #2 (Sarah Gerdon nominates Randy Gerdon)

I nominate my husband Randy Gerdon because of the men he is teaching my 3 sons to be. He came into our lives 10 years ago. I was going though a messy divorce from an abusive man. He stepped up and has taught my sons to be kind, thoughtful and funny young men. He never said an unkind word about their father out of respect for their feelings. My oldest, now in college wrote an amazing paper about Randy being his greatest influence and the man he admired most. It was reading that paper that made me so proud of my husband. He could have come into our lives and just been a presence but he chose to be a dad. He coached their football teams, tucked them into bed and held them when they cried. He’s taught us all how to love and be loved. Please choose our hero for this gift. Thank you!

Entry #3 (Michelle Tucker nominates Aaron Tucker)

My husband, Aaron, should win this amazing giveaway, because he exemplifies what a good father should be.  Aaron isn’t a true father, in fact, we’ve both not been blessed with kids.  However, we are foster parents to a special needs adult.  She calls him “dad” all the time.  He jokes with her and helps her out when she needs it.  He treats her like any father would treat their own child.  He’s a little goofy, he’s got a CRAZY love of bacon.  I’d bet that if he won this he’d be finding 101 ways to grill or wrap food in bacon.  Once, we traveled from mid TX to PA so we could attend a bacon conference, in a car no less!  Every person that meets Aaron thinks he’s a riot. In fact, they call him the bacon man.  All of our “daughters” friends ask daily about what food he’s come up with to dazzle everyone with.  He’d be so thrilled!

Entry #4 (Chase Bowman nominates Alan Bowman)

I would like to nominate my Dad, Alan Bowman, to win this prize.  I may only be 3 years old, I can tell my Dad is a pretty cool guy.  He bbq’s WAY too much but I forgive him because he also spends a lot of time with me.  We like to play baseball together, ride our bikes and stay up past our bed times watching sports on TV while eating “movie salad” and drinking milk.  If my Daddy wins this prize, maybe he will share with me and teach me how to bbq so I can grow up to be just like him

Entry #5 (Becky Michel nominates JoAnn Legano)

I nominate JoAnn Legano because she is the most caring, loving mother to her only daughter Macy Legano.

(Note: You are certainly welcome to leave a comment about who you want to win, but comments DON’T count as votes)

(Okay folks, I’m shutting off comments because some people can’t seem to get the spirit of this contest)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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“Great barbecue: It’s as simple as meat, fire and smoke.”

It’s that quote on the back cover of Ray “Dr. BBQ” Lampe’s new book, Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide to Barbecue, that first caught my eye.  As much as we’d like to have everyone think turning out great barbecue is something difficult and hard to do.  Ray’s newest cookbook brings low and slow barbecue to the everyday backyard cook’

I’m sure there are a variety of “traditionalists” who may take an exception to some of the “shortcuts” mentioned in the recipes.  But for people who are more interested in getting great results than they are in the perceived “right way” this book has some fantastic techniques and recipes that should appeal to both the beginning and advanced pitmaster.

The cookbook starts off with an entertaining Foreward by “Famous Dave” Anderson.  I don’t always read forwards to books because I usually find them boring and somewhat grandiose.  But when the first paragraph starts with “If you are a pork-aholic…” I’ve just had to find out what else Dave had to say.  Dave’s introduction was an insightful look into both Ray and “Famous Dave.”

If you are ever looking for a great description of what barbecue is and what it’s all about you’ll want to take a look at Ray’s “The Art of Barbecue” that begins his cookbook.  It’s a great explanation and he captures the look and feel of the BBQ world perfectly.  “The Art of Barbecue” is followed by a few pages of explanation on cookers, charcoal, wood and tools.  The section of wood is a good read on the most popular woods used for low and slow barbecue with descriptions of the flavor and what proteins they are best with.

The actual cooking part of the book is divided into seven chapters that covers everything from “Spices and Sauces” to “The Necessary Side Dishes.”  With chapters on pork, beef and birds you get plenty of great recipes and techniques that should provide you with plenty of great tasting grub.  There’s a chapter on “Anything But” includes recipes on “Jambalaya-Stuffed Bell Peppers” and the likes of “Barbecued Bologna” to name a few.

For me the highlight of this cookbook is Ray’s take on Ribs. According to Ray, “Ribs Rule The World,” and I’ve got to agree with him.  Ray takes you a culinary rib field trip from Memphis to St. Louis to Korea and back.  Whether it’s baby backs, beef short ribs or plain old spare ribs Ray provides the reader with some fantastic recipes that will impress friends and family.

There are a lot of great barbecue cookbooks on the market today, Ray Lampe’s Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide to Barbecue is one of the best.  If you consider yourself a beginning backyard pitmaster who wants to learn how to turn out fantastic low and slow BBQ on your existing cooking hardware (except gassers) then this book will give the tools you need.  If you’re a more advanced type cook you’ve got some great recipes that can be easily adapted to whatever cooking techniques you like to use.

One of my favorite recipes in Ray’s cookbook is for “Homemade Pastrami.”  I love pastrami and as soon as I go to the store today to pick up some supplies there will be a brisket curing in my refrigerator.  Ray’s recipe for “Homemade Pastrami” is reprinted with permission from “Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide to Barbecue,” published April, 2012 by Chronicle Books.   Photo by Leigh Beisch. Used with permission.

Homemade Pastrami

Everybody loves pastrami and this homemade version may be the best you’ve ever tasted.  The recipe avoids the long brine method and substitutes a more efficient combination of injection and dry-curing.  It may seem like an intimidating project, but it’s really pretty simple as long as you remember to start the process four days before you plan to eat it.  If you can’t find the Morton’s Tender Quick near the salt at  your local grocery store, look for it online.

Ingredients:

Brine Injection

• 2 tablespoons Morton’s Tender Quick
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup ice water

Dry Cure

• 2 tablespoons Morton’s Tender Quick
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander

Cooking Rub

• 1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons ground coriander

Directions:

To make the brine injection: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup of water, the Tender Quick, brown sugar, garlic powder, coriander and pepper.  Bring to a simmer, stirring often to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from the heat and pour into a medium bowl.  Add the ice water and mix well.  Refrigerate until very cold.

To make the dry cure: In a small bowl, combine the Tender Quick, brown sugar, garlic powder, and coriander.  Mix well and set aside.

Lay the brisket fat-side down on a sheet pan with sides.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap.  With a kitchen injector, inject the brine deeply into the brisket in a grid pattern at 1-inch intervals.  Continue until all the brine has been used.  Remove the plastic and dry the brisket and the pan.  Flip the brisket over and season the fat side with half of the dry-cure mixture. Press the mixture into the fat.  Flip the brisket and season the other side with the remaining dry cure and press it into the meat.  Put the brisket in a heavy plastic bag.  Push out as much air as possible and seal the bag.  Refrigerate for 3 1/2 days, flipping and massaging it through the bag twice a day.

Take the brisket out of the bag and rinse it well under cold running water.  Place the brisket in a large pan of cold water to cover for 30 minutes.  Dump the water and replace it with fresh water; soak for another 30 minutes.  This will keep the pastrami from being too salty.

Prepare your cooker to cook indirectly at 235 degrees F using medium oak wood for smoke flavor.

To make the cooking rub: Combine the pepper and coriander in a small bowl and mix well.

Take the brisket out of the water and dry it well. Season the fat side with half of the cooking rub, pressing it into the meat.  Flip the brisket and season the meaty side with the other half of the rub, pushing it into the meat. Put the brisket in the cooker, fat-side up.  Cook for 4 hours and then flip the brisket to fat-side down.  Cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees F, another 1 or 2 hours.

Lay out a big double-thick piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Take the brisket out of the cooker, and lay it on the foil fat-side up. Wrap the foil up around the brisket, adding 1/2 cup water to the package. Close up the package tightly, pushing out as much air as possible.  Return to the cooker until the internal temperature of the brisket reaches 200 degrees F, another 1 or 2 hours.

Take the package out of the cooker and open it to allow the steam to escape. Let rest for 15 minutes. Take the brisket out of the foil and discard the juices.  Slice thinly across the grain to serve.

Giveaway Details:

Want to win a copy of “Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide To Barbecue?”  Here’s all you need to do to enter.  Leave a comment below on why you think you should win.  I’ll randomly pick one of the comments on May 1st and that person will get a copy of the book. You may leave a comment once a day until the contest ends.  Simple?  You bet…

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I had a vision, you might even call it a dream, to have the biggest BBQ/Grilling/Outdoor Cooking Father’s Day Contest ever.  Not the largest in terms of dollar value of prize(s), no I want to have the biggest Father’s Day contest prize package based on the number of prizes awarded.  Thanks to the generosity of many great companies I think I’m on my way to realizing my dream.

Take a look at the amazing prize package donated for this contest.  (Check out the visual representation  on my Pinterest Board.)  And unlike most contests with multiple prizes this is a “Winner-Take-All” contest.  I’d like to thank each and every one of the companies and individuals for their contribution.  Please take a moment on each visit and visit one or two of these great companies.  The best way to thank them for their donation would be to “Like” them on Facebook and “Follow” them on Twitter.

You can find the Entry form here. Ia nutshell here’s how this contest is going to work.  From right now until 11:59pm on May 13th you can nominate any individual to win this contest.  You can nominate yourself or someone else…it doesn’t matter who.  As a matter of fact you can nominate a male or a female.  That’s why we call this the MOTHER of all FATHER’s Day Contests. If you know of someone who has exemplified what a mother or father…mom or dad is then you can nominate them.  As long as they are 18 years old, as of today, they can win. You may nominate one person, per day.

You’ve got 250 words to describe why your nomination should win. Make the nomination good, but please don’t make it over the top.  On May 14th, 5 randomly selected nominations will be posted on The BBQ Grail.  From May 14th through May 30th readers will be allowed to vote for the nomination they like the most.  Whoever has the most votes at the end of the contest will win the prize package.

Please read the official rules for all the finer points and details.

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(Congratulations to Gaye M. for winning a $30.00 gift certificate, good towards the purchase of her Easter Ham.  And a big thank-you to the National Pork Board for sponsoring this contest.)

There’s only one thing better than a great ham dinner for Easter and that’s a free ham dinner for Easter.  And thanks to the National Pork Board for donating a $30.00 gift certificate that one lucky reader of the BBQ Grail blog.

Entering the contest is easy.  All you have to do is go to recipe section of Pork Be Inspired,  and leave a comment on this blog post with your favorite ham recipe from Pork Be Inspired. (Originally, the plan was to count the number of ham recipes found on the website.  However, I blew that one because there are way to many recipes to do that. So just leave your favorite and you’ll be entered.)

You may enter the contest once a day through Midnight (Pacific) on March 27th.  On March 28th the winner will be chosen randomly from those entries with the correct number of ham recipes found on Pork Be Inspired.  The winner will be notified via email.  In order to get your gift certificate in time for Easter the winner needs to reply the same day they are notified with their name and address.  The certificate will be mailed by the National Pork Board to the winner.

Please Tweet and Share on Facebook!

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I had a vision, you might even call it a dream, to have the biggest BBQ/Grilling/Outdoor Cooking Father’s Day Contest ever.  Not the largest in terms of dollar value of prize(s), no I want to have the biggest Father’s Day contest prize package based on the number of prizes awarded.  Thanks to the generosity of many great companies I think I’m on my way to realizing my dream.

Take a look at the amazing prize package donated so far.  I’d like to thank each and every one of the companies and individuals for their contribution.  Please take a moment on each visit and visit one or two of these great companies.  The best way to thank them for their donation would be to “Like” them on Facebook and “Follow” them on Twitter.

The contest with complete rules will be announced on April 1st, 2012.  In the mean time please check back frequently to check for additions to the prize package.  And if the list of prizes doesn’t entice you enough…this is going to be a winner-takes-all contest.

Want to get a reminder when the contest opens or when prizes have been added?  Sign up for the newsletter by filling in the form directly to the right of this post.

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Over the holidays my friends at Mr. Bar-B-Q offered to send me out one of their grill accessories to use.  They also offered to give another set of whatever they sent as a giveaway on the blog.  I couldn’t pass up a chance to get my readers something nice so I accepted.  (Note:  This is my way of saying, so I’m in compliance with all stupid laws and rules, that the pizza grilling kit I’m going to talk about here was free to me.)

This isn’t so much a review of the Mr. Bar-B-Q Grill Stone Pizza Set they sent me, but a review of my pizza making skills, which are somewhat lacking.  The pizza stone and giant pizza spatula, I  hesitate to call it a pizza peel, worked great.  Mrs. Grail bakes an awesome pizza in the oven so I attempted to duplicate her efforts on my 26 inch Weber Kettle.  Take a look at how I did it and offer up some suggestions at the end in the comment section for your chance to win your own Mr. Bar-B-Q Grill Stone Pizza Set.

Keep in mind this is a Weber 26 inch Kettle which is considerably larger than the 22 inch most people have in their backyard.  The first thing I did was fire up a whole chimney of charcoal and once it was ready form it into a ring around the bowl.  Because of the size of the kettle I needed to add some extra charcoal.  Once all the charcoal was hot I placed the pizza stone on the grill.

For some reason, I’m not quite sure why, I thought it would be a good idea to have the pizza stone a little higher up into the dome lid so I placed the pizza stone on top of my GrillGrates.  I’m not sure if this was a good idea or not.  I’ll need to try this again without them to see how the process goes.

The pizzas I cooked seemed to take longer than I would have anticipated, about 15 minutes.  I don’t know maybe that’s the right time frame, but it just seemed like a long time.

The flavor was great and Mrs. Grail’s Pizza Dough Recipe was fantastic but for some reason I just wasn’t satisfied with the results.  I was hoping for more of that “wood fired pizza” flavor.  It just wasn’t there.

Here’s what I would do next time to try to improve.

I think I need a much hotter kettle than I had.  I didn’t the get the temperature in the dome over 400 degrees.  To do this I need to either use more charcoal or use my smaller 22 inch kettle.  Is the ring of charcoal a good idea?  Or should I have spread it out?

I’ll probably try using the pizza stone directly on the grate instead of trying to raise it higher.  Thoughts?

Want to win a Grill Stone Pizza Set from Mr. Bar-B-Q so you can make great pizza outdoors?  Here’s how to get an entry:

• Leave a comment here about cooking pizza outdoors.  It can be a comment about how you’d like to do it for the first time, it can be a comment about how I can improve my pizza making skills. Just leave a comment.  You can leave multiple comments for multiple entries, but not more than once a day.
• Next if you have a Facebook account you can get an additional entry by “Liking” this post on Mr. Bar-B-Q’s Facebook Page.  (You’ll need to “Like” their page first, please do so.)
• You will also get one more entry if you “Reshare” the link on Mr. Bar-B-Q’s Facebook page.

On the morning of January 28th all entries will be transcribed into an Excel spreadsheet.  A number will be selected using a random number generator at Random.Org.  And that will decide our winner.  Winner will be notified that morning via email and/or Facebook!  Easy?  I sure hope so…

Thanks to Contestgirl for the promotion!

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I have to admit my inner “Tool Man” wants me to have anything that runs on electricity, but so far I’ve avoided buying that one.  When it comes to pulling pork I’m pretty much a two forks and lots of arm action kind of guy.  I’ve always found my technique to be adequate.  So why try anything else.

I found a good reason to try something else recently when I got an email from the gang at Meatrake offering me a couple sets of Meatrakes.  One for me to try and and another to give away.  I replied and told them sure, go right ahead and send them out.  I mean trying something out for free beats the heck out of buying something and discovering it’s not the product you thought it was going to be.  I have to admit, though, I already knew I wasn’t going to like this “tool” at all and I felt a little guilty accepting their offer.

But, I was wrong…

The Meatrake actually did make pulling the pork a lot easier.  I ripped through two 8 pound butts in around five minutes.  This is pretty fast for me.  I thought it was a great tool and now I’m glad I got them.  I’ll probably use them every time I shred me some meat.

The handles are made from polypropylene and fit nicely into my hands.  I wish the handles were a little bigger around than they are, but it’s not really much of a problem.  The tines are make from professional grade stainless steel and tear through meat with ease.  I was even able to separate the pork fat from the pork using the Meatrakes with very little difficulty.

I suppose I could pad this review with lots of hyperbole and big words of praise. Instead I’m just going to tell you these things work and they work good.  In my opinion they are work $19.95 if you are pulling lots of meat.  You can purchase from Meatrake.com.

Now for the giveaway details.  The rules are quite simple.  Leave a comment on this post with why you want a set of Meatrakes.  Then tell all your friends about it.  Have them come here and leave a reply to your comment.  The person who gets the most replies to their comment wins.  Drawing will be held at Noon (Pacific time) on January 2nd.  Winner will notified via email, so make sure you leave your email.  In the case of a tie, I’m just going to pick someone…

Simple enough?  Ready…set…comment!

(And if you don’t mind would you please retweet for me)

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Here are the rules:

• Entries much conform to contemporary English language Haiku styles
• Use of three lines
• No more than 17 syllables total
• Entries must be BBQ or Grilling related
• Entries must contain at least one “meat”
• All entries become the property of The BBQ Grail Media Group
• Entries can be submitted beginning November 1st, 2011
• Judging will conducted by readers of the BBQ Grail blog beginning December 15th, 2011
• Winner announced January 1st, 2012
• Prizes will be awarded.  ( Just don’t know what they are yet)

Leave your entries in the comment section!  Have fun and thanks.

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America’s Next Pork Crock-Star

On October 1st, I took over the daily editing and writing responsibilities of Pork, Knife and Spoon through the rest of this year.  PKS is the official blog of the National Pork Board.  It’s a tremendous opportunity for me to spread the word about my love of Pork.  It’s also a great way to incorporate the BBQ community into the site.

It’s Fall and The National Pork Board is running a contest on the best family style Slow-Cooker recipes.  Details are here!  Now, before all you BBQ enthusiasts think I’ve gone off the deep end.  I’m promoting the contest here because I know there are lots of closet slow-cooker users in the ranks and the readers of this blog are great cooks.  Just remember it’s “Slow Cooked Pork in BBQ Sauce” and NOT “BBQ’d Pork.”

Better Recipes:  Weekly Recipe Contest…BACON!

Now I know there are lots of bacon fans out there with tremendous bacon skills.  This recipe contest on Kristina Vanni’s site The Daily Dish.  Details are here!  And just for the record…MOINK Balls are taken.  Someone else is entering them.

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Grail Note: The Winner of the MrBarBQ.com contest is Mary M. from Wantagh, New York.  I’d like to thank the folks at MrBarBQ.Com for sponsoring this great contest.  If you’re looking for great BBQ Accessories please check them out.

Do you have a father or know of a father who deserves a nice BBQ/Grilling present for Father’s Day? Here’s your chance to win that super-duper Father (or father figure) a great present from MrBarBQ.com. The winner of this prize package will receive the new Hydro Grill Blaster pictured above along with an 18 piece stainless steel grilling tool set with aluminum case.

Here’s how we’re going to do it…

From now until 6:00pm (pacific time) on June 12th, 2011 you can leave a comment here on why your nominee deserves a chance to win these great prizes. The more nominations a person has, the better chance they have to win. Also, if you are on the list of people who have “Liked” MrBarBQ on Facebook your nomination will be doubled. You can nominate anyone you want to win this great Father’s Day gift. You can nominate multiple people, just make sure you nominate on different days.

I will notify the winner, via email, shortly after 6:00pm on June 12th. Winner MUST respond to email within 24 hours with shipping information or the prize will be given to someone else. The goal is to get this prize shipped in time for Father’s Day. There will be NO EXCEPTIONS to this rule.

(NOTE: All comments are moderated on my blog. If it doesn’t show up right away, just it will soon. Once I approve one of your comments the others will appear immediately. And rules are subject to change)

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