St. Patrick’s day is one of my favorite holidays. No…no..no not because you can drink. Who needs a holiday for that when you can do that anytime. For me St. Patrick’s day is about the corned beef. This time of year is when it gets super cheap and I buy quite a few to make pastrami. I usually prefer the points.

Pastrami is traditionally brined and coated with spices. Corned beef is brined too but not usually covered with spices. This is a pretty simple and straight forward process.

First thing is throw that damn spice packet away. I have an aversion to spice packets included with food. I think that there is dead cat chunks leftover from the glue factory in them. I will admit the spices included here probably are o.k. but I’ll err on the safe side. Give them to your mother-in-law.

Anyway….you need to soak them in water for 2 days completely submerged. Change the water 4 times (if you only do it twice I won’t tell). This is to reduce the salt.

After two days your ready to rock and roll. Squirt some cheap a$$ mustard (yes I said cheap a$$ save the good stuff for later) and rub all around. This doesn’t really do anything I just want you to get mustard all over your hands. Well actually it is going to hold the spices on okay?

Sprinkle both sides with granulated garlic. Now in your spice grinder (you have one right?) you need a 2/1 ratio of black peppercorns and whole coriander. For the sizes I was doing I used 2 tablespoons pepper to 1 tablespoon coriander for each one (I did two). You want to cover it all over pretty good.

That’s it!

Toss on your smoker. I have a small Weber Smokey Mountain that I like to use for smaller things. The cut I used was the point (thick end of the brisket) and had on the smoker about 12 hours. I used hickory but I’m sure you can use whatever wood is your preference.

Mine shrunk almost in half! But it’s worth it trust me. I wrapped in foil and stuck in the fridge until the next day.

Now that it is chilled it is slicing time!

Yes you can use a knife but I finally found a reason to buy a slicer!

The two I made was enough to fill up a 1lb ziplock bag of sliced goodness. Now we need to get down to business here because I’m getting hungry!

Get yourself a nice loaf of crusty marble rye and some creole mustard.

Pile on the pastrami and add some swiss cheese. Okay quick story. When I was a kid I never liked cheese at all. None. Nada. Zip. I would gag on macaroni and cheese. The only exception was Swiss cheese on pastrami. I was a weird kid I guess.

And finally the end result that now is in my belly.

There are many ways to make a pastrami sandwich and the best I ever had was just a hunk warm pastrami on a roll with some au jus. I had that 30 years ago and to this day I still remember it.

If you have any questions about this let me know. Send your photos too!

Okay I know some of you Texans out there are thinking chili from Cincinnati? On Spaghetti? OMG with BEANS? Heck yeah! Would I serve it and call it chili in Texas? Hell no!

Cincinnati chili is a regional style unique to this part of the country. It is believed this style of chile was started by Greek immigrants trying to offer something else more “American” in addition to their ethnic style of food. Ingredients vary from place to place but are a long the line of Allspice, cloves, cinnamon, chocolate etc.

Every once in a while I truly crave this recipe. I know it sounds weird but this is a truly regional classic dish and I think you all will love it too!

Well lets get started. Here are the ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef
1 qt water
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
4 cloves garlic minced
1 whole bay leaf
1 1/2 tsp salt
5 cloves whole
1/2 oz unsweetened chocolate (half square)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
4 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Toppings:
Chedder Cheese shredded
Extra chopped onion
2 15oz cans kidney beans drained.

First start by breaking up the ground beef in in a 5 qt pot.

Okay this part just freaks me out but it is part of the process and if you can make it through it you will be rewarded. Add 1 qt. water….yes water. Remember it’s hamburger you tossed in the pot not a filet mignon. You want to totally stir and break up the ground beef with a spoon in the water. When you are successful it will look like this. Ugh!

Try not to look I know. Slow boil this glop for 30 minutes making sure it is all broken up fine. Texture is an important part of food sometimes and especially in this case.

Okay once that is done add the rest of your ingredients:

Chop onion fine. I used a red and yellow onion because that is what I had.

2 8oz cans of tomato sauce. Only from Ralph’s they make the best! No I’m just joking any brand will do.

Add worcestershire, vinegar, garlic (minced), bay leaf, salt and cloves.

Add chocolate, allspice, red pepper, cumin and chili powder. Did you guys ever give your kids a piece of bitter chocolate when they were little? Both of my kids fell for that. You get to see the look in their eyes that they can have chocolate then their reaction once they take a bite. Money can’t buy entertainment like that folks. Okay I’m mean sorry. Anyway….

Bring up to a boil and simmer for 3 hours without a lid.

When it starts to look like this:

It is getting close. You basically want it reduced down to a thick consistency. That’s it!

Now some fixins. When you order it you have the option of the following:

two-way: spaghetti and chili
three-way: spaghetti, chili, and shredded cheese
four-way: spaghetti, chili, shredded cheese, and either diced onions or beans
five-way: spaghetti, chili, shredded cheese, diced onions, and beans

I roll five-way because I always say go big or go home! I did use less cheese then most places usually do because i’m trying to watch my sexy figure.

I hope you enjoy it!

It all started on Twitter today. Someone posted a link to a “gourmet barbecue” crockpot recipe. Maybe I’ve had a rough week or just not enough caffeine but I sort of…well…got pissed off! That’s o.k. right? I really was surprised at myself as I’m usually a pretty level headed person. Today I realized what I am…

My name is Robert King and I’m a barbecue snob.

Why was I pissed? It is the bastardization of american food. We have had a great history of food in our own right and I think too many people are “settling” for something that is substandard. That substandard ends up becoming the norm and before you know it we all lose a little bit of tasty history. It’s not just BBQ that this is happening but many other food traditions as well.

When you bite into a bratwurst sausage from a German meat market that has been making the same things from scratch for 30 plus years then compare it to a “beer” brat packaged in the store I feel cheated! Does anybody care anymore about quality? What are we going to do when these people pass on?

To do barbecue takes time. It cannot be rushed. It cannot be done in a microwave or a crockpot. It requires passion and true love for what you are doing to make it proper. We as an American people cannot sit idly by and lose our food traditions.

Barbecue is not grilling. Barbecue is not sauce. Barbecue is not crockpot.

Who doesn’t like jerky? Only jerks right? (yes I was trying to be funny). Well I have been planning to make jerky for a while and was going to share an old time molasses cured jerky recipe. I am still planning on doing that in a future blog recipe.

Dave Peckham is an old BBQ buddy who passed away last year. Really nice guy. His brother emailed out a request for any recipes he had posted. Dave had sent this to me a few years ago. So I thought I would share with Y’all (said in my best Paula Dean accent)

First requirement is to try doing this when there is tornado warnings…(no I am not joking)

That’s how I roll for all of you. Rain or shine!

First off you need to start with these ingredients:

5 pounds lean beef London broil (or other similar lean meat)
1 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup Tabasco Chipotle Sauce
1/2 cup Best Foods or Hellmans Dijonnaise
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp granulated garlic (or 4 cloves fresh, minced finely)
2 tsp granulated onion (or 1 large white onion, minced finely)
1 tsp Tenderquick
1 tsp white pepper

Make sure you use lean meat. You want to trim as much fat off as possible or it can turn rancid. Ask me how I learned this.

Slice the meat in 1/4 inch strips. I fine it easier to cut after you stick in the freezer to firm up for a little bit.

Whisk all the spices and the rest of the ingredients together.

A bit of useless information coming your way…

You see that white pepper to the right in this dish? Yeah, the one that wasn’t ground enough. That is from a huge bucket of white pepper corns I inherited from my grandfather 10 years ago. He got it from India probably in the early 70’s. Yes I still use it!

Where was I? Oh yeah whisk it all up and mix in with the meat. Marinade for at LEAST 24 hours…..24 HOURS…..24 HOURS….

I decided to smoke mine a little on an electric smoker called the Little Chief. They are pretty cool for something like this. I use this for smoking salmon too.

One problem I have when doing jerky on it is arranging the meat to not fall down the grates or keeping it flat. Mike Riblett over at www.frogmats.com solved that for me by sending custom mats to fit on my Little Chief rack.

Frogmats are a non-stick, food safe mesh that is pliable. Since it is non stick they are great for fish and vegetables. Simple to clean too! They worked great and will not be using this smoker without them in the future.

Everybody has their own way on how to dry jerky. What I did was put them in the little chief for about 2 trays of hickory chips (about 2-3 hours in-between rain storms) then put in my food dehydrator until they were sufficiently dried. Remember your not cooking the meat just drying it out.

If you want to spice it up more you can by adding cayenne or some crushed red pepper. Even using a habanero sauce in place or added also.

That is all for now time to get my waders on and hit the links. Sausage links that is!

The competition heats up in the northeast, even as temperatures fall at the Diamond State BBQ Championship in Dover, Delaware. Harry’s former teammate, Gary, competes on his own and Tuffy does Myron a favor, which could end up hurting his own chances.

Harry teaches Gary

Tuffy helps Myron out

I’ll be contacting you by email for your address to send your 1/2lb of DR’s BBQ Rub. Thanks to everybody who participated!

“I sure as hell, am not gonna tell you whats in them ribs if you wanna know for damn sure you better be paying me $750.00. I don’t be giving anything for F#$%ingdamn free not even you Jay Leno. Its all about me -getting paid.”

I will send the winner 1/2lb sample of my rub that is coming out soon. How about we end the contest This Sunday Jan. 17th, at Midnight PST and I will announce the winner first thing Monday morning.

Let’s make this fun and simple. No rules but what you see above. If I need to consult my attorney I will cancel everything and move to some Caribbean island with the money I would have given him.

Let’r rip! And don’t forget to watch BBQ Pitmasters on TLC every Thursday night. Check your local listings.

I HATE New Years resolutions! Why? I consider the same if you help feed some needy people on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Don’t they have needs the rest of the year? Okay that doesn’t make sense….Why not just start your resolution June 15th? If you want or need to make changes why not just start right at the moment you think about them?

So to contradict what I just wrote I now give you my New Years Resolutions!

2. Have our rub for sale on our site by February 1st. I finally found a company that makes it the way I want it. You would be amazed how difficult this is.

3. Sauce! I’ve finally made sauce that I like. Get to try it on some guinea pigs this year…urr I mean catering customers. Then….

4. Compete in at least 5 BBQ contests. Would like to do more but have to start out being realistic. It does cost money to go to these and I have to consider it like going to Vegas. Whatever money you bring you have to think you will lose it but have fun in the process.

5. Have a BBQ business full time. My existing business, stripping for Chippendales, is starting to get more difficult as I get older. I can only cover up things with sauce for so long until people start to notice.

6. Half of what I eat coming from my garden. Been trying to do this the last 2 years. But I have a plan! Hmmm….didn’t I have a plan the previous 2 years. This year is different! Wait last year was different…

7. Camp and fish more. We usually go camping during our summer vacation but want to try getting back to nature a little more. I’ll start by not shaving my armpits and eating granola.

8. Try to promote real food to people. By real I mean something that doesn’t come pre-packaged from the store. Remember that recipe your Grandma made? Well make it! Don’t have time? Turn off that computer and cell phone and just do it! (Sorry Nike)

9. More family time. Everything I do is for my family. Even the fart jokes. You have never experienced joy as when you tell a joke and your son’s eyes light up. Almost as joyful as getting a note from his teacher saying he told that joke in class.

10. Number 10…oh what to put for number 10….lose 30 lbs? No, then that would negate several of the above….Go sky diving? Hell no… Run with the bulls? Boy this number 10 thing is really difficult! Any ideas?