Sweetwater Spice Sliders

Sweetwater Spice Sliders

I found Sweetwater Spice searching through the internet for a product to enhance my competition brisket.  All of the products looked intriguing so I ordered some up from Scott Sapire - the Chief Spice Officer of Sweetwater Spice.

Sweetwater Spice is located in  Austin, TX and if there's one thing Texans know - Brisket!  I started experimenting with their Brisket Brine and it was clear these guys know what they are doing.  I was trying to think outside the box a little for some other uses of their products.  My wife wanted me to cook up some sliders this past weekend and I thought this would be the perfect protein canvas to try out a few different Sweetwater Spice products at the same time!

 I tried to keep this as simple as possible so I could really see what these brines would do to the meat.  I tried out three of their most intriguing flavors (to me):

• Brisket Bath (Ancho and Chipotle)
• Tres Chilis Fajita Bath 
• Pineapple Habenero Jerk

To test their compatibility with other spices I used some Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub and Peppered Cow Rub.

The plan was to make 4 x 1/4 lb sliders - remember they're sliders - they're supposed to be small - and add one dry rub to 2 of the patties, the other dry rub to one more patty and leave one patty blank so I could taste just the meat with the brine.

 I cleverly identified each set of patties with a specific number of toothpicks and then added the dry rub to a specific patty on the grate.  It was pretty obvious which dry rub was on the patty but I'm trying to be scientific here!

 Each 1lb portion of ground beef (12% fat) received 1 1/2 tablespoon of the assigned brine.  This was just enough.  Any more and the ground beef would have become too loose to pack into patties and hold their form.  If you happen to add too much you can always add an egg and / or some breadcrumbs to save the day.

 I smoked these on a pellet smoker using oak pellets at a grate temp of 300F.  Not too high and not too low. 

 After about 15 minutes I flipped the sliders over to finish cooking.

You can see the color is looking really nice.  This happened to be one with Brisket Brine but all the sliders had a very similar color.

At 140F internal temp I added a slice of Gouda  to the sliders that received dry rub.  No cheese for the non-dry rubbed patty.

I let them cook for another 3 - 4 minutes to let the cheese melt a bit and then let them rest on the counter for 5 minutes while I prepared the buns.

 I baked these buns earlier in the day and they were the perfect size for these little sliders. Check out the recipe for these amazing buns on another post in my blog!



The results was amazing!  Each slider's flavor came through and tasted individually wonderful.  I tasted the intentionally unseasoned, no cheese patties first so I could get an idea of the true flavor coming through.  Although each one was different, I think I liked the Pineapple Habanero Jerk the best.  Honestly - all of them were great.  The Peppered Cow dry rub was particularly good with the Brisket Brine and the Cherry Rub was awesome with the heat from the Tres Chilis and the Pineapple Habanero Jerk.

I've tried these versatile brines on other products - maybe more how they were designed but used in this recipe is something I'll do again and again.

You can find all of Sweetwater Spice products on their web site - http://sweetwaterspice.myshopify.com/
On twitter - @sweetwaterspice
On Facebook - Sweetwater Spice

You can check out all of the products from Simply Marvelous on their on line store too!  I recommend all of the Simply Marvelous Products!  http://simplymarvelousbbq.com/store

Grilled Zucchini

Grilled Zucchini!

I know what you are thinking - this is a Meat, Inc. blog - not a vegetable blog!  I agree but zucchinis are coming into season and occasionally I lose the battle to just put meat on the plate.  I guess the positive of this dish is if seasoned right and cooked correctly - it almost kinda seems like it could taste like meat if you were blindfolded and ear muffed in a Chef Ramsay palate challenge.

There are three basic ingredients for this super simple side dish -

• Olive Oil
• Zucchini
• The Rub Company Santa Maria Style Dry Rub

I use the The Rub Co Santa Maria Style Dry Rub because it  is a simple rub consisting mostly of Garlic Powder, Black Pepper, and Salt.  There are some other ingredients too but those are the basics.  I highly recommend any of The Rub Co products!

 I cut the zucchini up two different ways - long wedges or planks.


Here you can see the long wedges.  Smaller zucchinis are perfect for long wedges and those giant zucchinis are great for planks.




I cut the zucchini wedges lengthwise and about 1" thick at the skin.

Here I've cut the zucchini into planks.  I cut the zucchini across the whole vegetable about 1" thick.


Both wedges and planks turn out great and can be used as a meat substitute if you had a vegetarian friend guest person come over to eat.





Generously coat the planks or wedges with olive oil and then give a healthy sprinkle of the Santa Maria Style Dry Rub over all both sides.









 Both planks and long wedges are basically the same way - directly on the grates.

I typically cook these on an indirect fire - either in a smoker or on the indirect side of a charcoal or gas grill.  You don't want to cook these over direct flame or they will char pretty quickly.

I try and cook these at a grate temp of about 225F - 250F for about 5 minutes per side.

Perfect with just about any kind of meat - like this smoked salmon here.  The Santa Maria Dry Rub is perfectly balanced for the vegetable and compliments just about any kind of protein.

Here it's plated up with some potato salad, fingerling potatoes and a stuffed cheese burger.



Those zucchinis aren't going to eat themselves!  Let's eat!

Reser's BBQ Pack weekly give away - June 4

Reser's BBQ Pack weekly give away - June 4

Week 4 is done with another excited winner and we are on to our last week - Week 5!.  Same rules as the last 4 week to enter (easy contest huh!) Meat, Inc. BBQ Team is teaming up with Reser's Fine Foods to help you celebrate National BBQ Month!  This is the last week we will be giving away a fantastic BBQ Gift Pack including:

Reser’s BBQ Prize Pack (will be shipped overnight/refrigerated)

·         Trio of Reser’s Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad and Cole Slaw

·         4 Koozies to keep those beverages cold

·         4 Stress Potatoes (to keep things calm)

·         4 Re-usable Tote Bags to carry all of your goodies

 Each Friday a random winner will be drawn and their prize pack will be shipped directly to their door.

All you have to do to enter is:

• "Like" the Reser's Fine Foods Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Resers
• "Like" the Meat, Inc. Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Meatinc
• "Share" the Contest announcement on either Reser's or Meat, Inc. Facebook Page

  - OR -   

• Follow Reser's on Twitter - @resers
• Follow Meat, Inc. on Twitter - @meatinc 
• Copy and paste this message onto your twitter - May is National BBQ Month - @resers @meatinc will help you celebrate!

Reser's BBQ Pack weekly give away - May 28

Reser's BBQ Pack weekly give away - May 28

Three weeks and three winners.  Now it's time for week 4 and YOUR chance to win a great prize pack for summer.  Same rules as last week to enter (easy contest huh!) Meat, Inc. BBQ Team is teaming up with Reser's Fine Foods to help you celebrate National BBQ Month!  For the next 4 weeks we will be giving away a fantastic BBQ Gift Pack including:

Reser’s BBQ Prize Pack (will be shipped overnight/refrigerated)

·         Trio of Reser’s Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad and Cole Slaw

·         4 Koozies to keep those beverages cold

·         4 Stress Potatoes (to keep things calm)

·         4 Re-usable Tote Bags to carry all of your goodies

 Each Friday a random winner will be drawn and their prize pack will be shipped directly to their door.

All you have to do to enter is:

• "Like" the Reser's Fine Foods Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Resers
• "Like" the Meat, Inc. Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Meatinc
• "Share" the Contest announcement on either Reser's or Meat, Inc. Facebook Page

  - OR -   

• Follow Reser's on Twitter - @resers
• Follow Meat, Inc. on Twitter - @meatinc 
• Copy and paste this message onto your twitter - May is National BBQ Month - @resers @meatinc will help you celebrate!

Reser's BBQ Pack weekly give away - May 21

Reser's BBQ Pack weekly give away - May 21

Week 2 is in the books with two wildly excited winners and we are on to Week 3.  Same rules as last week to enter (easy contest huh!) Meat, Inc. BBQ Team is teaming up with Reser's Fine Foods to help you celebrate National BBQ Month!  For the next 4 weeks we will be giving away a fantastic BBQ Gift Pack including:

Reser’s BBQ Prize Pack (will be shipped overnight/refrigerated)

·         Trio of Reser’s Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad and Cole Slaw

·         4 Koozies to keep those beverages cold

·         4 Stress Potatoes (to keep things calm)

·         4 Re-usable Tote Bags to carry all of your goodies

 Each Friday a random winner will be drawn and their prize pack will be shipped directly to their door.

All you have to do to enter is:

• "Like" the Reser's Fine Foods Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Resers
• "Like" the Meat, Inc. Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Meatinc
• "Share" the Contest announcement on either Reser's or Meat, Inc. Facebook Page

  - OR -   

• Follow Reser's on Twitter - @resers
• Follow Meat, Inc. on Twitter - @meatinc 
• Copy and paste this message onto your twitter - May is National BBQ Month - @resers @meatinc will help you celebrate!

Reser's BBQ Pack weekly give away - May 14

Week 1 is in the books and we are on to Week 2.  A Reser's BBQ Prize Pack is on the shipping dock waiting for an address of a very happy winner.  Same rules as last week to enter (easy contest huh!) Meat, Inc. BBQ Team is teaming up with Reser's Fine Foods to help you celebrate National BBQ Month!  For the next 4 weeks we will be giving away a fantastic BBQ Gift Pack including:

Reser’s BBQ Prize Pack (will be shipped overnight/refrigerated)

·         Trio of Reser’s Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad and Cole Slaw

·         4 Koozies to keep those beverages cold

·         4 Stress Potatoes (to keep things calm)

·         4 Re-usable Tote Bags to carry all of your goodies

 Each Friday a random winner will be drawn and their prize pack will be shipped directly to their door.

All you have to do to enter is:

• "Like" the Reser's Fine Foods Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Resers
• "Like" the Meat, Inc. Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Meatinc
• "Share" the Contest announcement on either Reser's or Meat, Inc. Facebook Page

  - OR -   

• Follow Reser's on Twitter - @resers
• Follow Meat, Inc. on Twitter - @meatinc 
• Copy and paste this message onto your twitter - May is National BBQ Month - @resers @meatinc will help you celebrate!

Big Mista's Perfect Pork Chops!

Big Mista's Perfect Pork Chops!

Neil Strawder - aka - Big Mista is a Southern California BBQ icon.  He has been on BBQ Pitmasters, cooks demos for Fresh & Easy and runs a very successful BBQ business serving thousands of SoCal faithful from his various stops at Farmer's Markets.  He's also a top competitor in the KCBS Competition BBQ Scene and also one of my friends and hero!  Neil has a new product line of BBQ Rubs and when my shipment arrived, I rushed to the store and got some pork to try out the new Perfect Pork Rub.  Thick cut boneless chops sounded perfect.


My wife says that I can't just eat meat (not sure why yet) so I made up some vegetable hash to top off the pork chops and made some farfalline pasta as a side.









Let's start with the pork chops.   A heavy coating of Big Mista's Perfect Pork Rub on both sides.

The thin chops on the left are coated with Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub for the kids.  They tasted the Perfect Pork rub but they really love the Simply Marvelous - so they got it!




 The Perfect Pork Rub is a fairly fine ground rub with a simple ingredient list - salt, sugar, garlic, black pepper, and Spices.  It has a really nice complex flavor profile.  It starts out sweet, then a nice heat builds, and then the salt and heat mix and linger.  It coats really nice and after about 10 minutes seems to melt into the meat.




I put the chops on my Royall 3000 Pellet Grill at 250F and let 'em rip!   I love using pellet smokers because you turn it on, set the temp, put the food on, and go do something else.  The Royall is built like a tank so it can really cook efficiently.  A truly amazing unit.






Now back to the vegetable hash.  Simple ingredents that will accent the pork chop.  Red Bell Peppers, Green Onions, Chopped cashews, and apple.



Course chop the red bell pepper.  Slice the green onion, and grate the apple.  I had whole cashews so I pulsed them in a food processor a few times to get them more chopped / crushed.



 

 I had a little fun cooking up the vegetable has.  Started out with some Strawberry Boones Farm, added in a 1/4 tspn of minced garlic, 1/2 tspn of lime juice and as soon as the garlic was heated up, I started adding the vegetables.









I cooked the onions for about 5 minutes in the garlic then added in the red bell peppers and grated apple together.





After about 3 - 4 more minutes - really just enough time to get the apple and pepper warmed up, I added in the chopped cashews.  The hash was really flavorful with some sweetness from the pepper and the strawberry wine and had a nice nutty crunch from the cashews.  It went with the pork chop perfectly.





I cooked up the farfalline.  Farfalline is kind of like a mini bow tie noodle.  It mixes easily with other ingredients.   This time I added in some shaved Parmesan and then when it was plated, added a sprinkle of Italian Herb Seasoning for some color.

 I cooked the pork chops to an internal temp of 145F and let them rest for a few minutes on the counter.  I put the farfalline on the side and topped the pork chops with the vegetable hash.  It was an outstanding blend of flavors and the rub did NOT disappoint.  The sweet and the heat balanced the pork perfectly.

I recommend this dry rub for any type of pork.  Please visit Big Mista's on line store and get you some.  This product made me cook like a pro!  It will be my new go to rub whenever I'm cooking pork!

Let's eat!  Perfectly!