First, A Safety Briefing

Making bacon involves curing meat. The cure does two primary things for us. First, we get to infuse the meat with salty goodness that creates that distinct bacon flavor. Second, we cure the meat with Salt and Sodium Nitrite to preserve it and to kill bacteria, such as Clostridium botulinum, which causes botulism. For more information on curing meat, food safety, and a really handy curing calculator, see this article on Amazing Ribs. I strongly recommend you read the entire article before curing any meats.

Please be assured, I read the article I discuss many times over. Professor Blonder, who created the curing calculator in that article, is an eminent (and highly respected) engineer, physicist, and food scientist. I always use his curing calculator when preparing to cure meat. This recipe is based upon standard thickness pork belly and assumes a 3 lb piece of pork. The liquid, time in cure, and amount of salt and Prague Powder #1 is derived from the calculator and will result in safely cured bacon.

IF you are going to do a different size/weight piece of pork belly, you need to adjust the time, liquid, salt, and Prague Powder #1 based upon the curing calculator. If you don’t, you are risking serious illness, visits to the emergency room, and friends and family being very unhappy with you.

On To The Good Stuff: Making Maple Whiskey Bacon

Bacon is made from stomach of the pig … AKA pork belly. You will need to get 3 lbs of pork belly. There are plenty of sources for this. I buy whole bellies at Costco. But you can go to your local butcher, a farmer that raises pork, or online meat providers like Crowd Cow.

Once you have the pork belly, which will generally come in cryovac (thick plastic bag sealed around the meat), you need to prepare the belly and then the cure. Preparing the belly is fairly simple. We are going to remove it from the cryovac, rinse it off, pat it dry, and cut into 3 lb slabs for curing. The pork belly in the pictures on this page was 10.5 lbs. I removed 1.5 lbs to use separately, put that in a ziplock bag and back into the freezer. Then I divided the remaining 9 lbs of belly into 3 equal pieces. I do not do any other trimming.

Now we are going to prepare our brine to cure the bacon. This is really straightforward to do, but there are a couple important things to consider in the process. Salt (including Sodium Nitrite aka Pink Salt) can penetrate meat and work it’s way through the meat. As it does so, it will tenderize and flavor the pork belly.

Other ingredients in the brine are not going to penetrate further than maybe an 1/8″ into the meat, or not at all. So, really, the other ingredients (garlic, pepper, maple syrup, etc) are creating surface flavor and crust on the bacon. Here, we want to amp up the ingredients because they will be entirely on the outside and just a small piece of what you get when you bite a slice of bacon.

All of these ingredients are going to be mixed together with some distilled water. Or water that has been boiled. Basically, we want to prevent bacterial growth during the curing process. It’s obviously highly unlikely in the refrigerator, with all of the salt and Prague Powder, but not impossible. And we are much better off safe than sorry when it comes to going to the ER with food poisoning.

I use 1 gallon ziplock bags to hold my pork belly and brine. A 3 lb piece of pork belly fits snugly in the bag, then we add the brine and seal it and we have a great container to cure our bacon. Just be certain to press all of the air out of the bag as you are sealing it. Lay the bag(s) in something to contain the liquid in case you have a leak. I use a cookie sheet, which easily holds 3 bags of pork belly as they brine.

The pork belly is going to cure for 4 to 7 days. Four days is the minimum necessary for the Prague Powder and salt to fully penetrate and cure the meat. It can go 7 days without a problem at all. Anywhere in that time period, we are going to remove the pork belly from the cure, rinse it off nicely, and then smoke it as the final step of creating bacon. Once smoked, it is perfectly safe to eat immediately. So cut off a slice and try it out. It’s gonna taste great.

Making Maple Whiskey Bacon In Pictures

Maple Whiskey Bacon

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: BaconCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium

Servings

24

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Smoking Time

2

hours 

Calories

185

kcal

Curing Time

5

Days

Serving Size

2

slices

Total time

2

hours 

20

minutes

Making your own Maple Whiskey bacon at home. This recipe takes you from raw pork belly through curing it and smoking it and turning your home made bacon.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs pork belly

• 3.5 grams Prague Powder #1 (measure this with a good kitchen scale)

• 4 tbsp Morton’s kosher salt

• 4 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper

• 2 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp minced garlic)

• 3/4 cup distilled water

• 1/2 cup quality maple syrup

• 2 tbsp whiskey …. rye, bourbon, scotch …. whatever is handy in your liquor cabinet. And one oz for the cook!

Method

• Curing the pork belly

• Mix the cure up in a 1 gallon ziplock bag

• Add the pork belly slab to the bag

• Get all the air out, seal it, use your hands to work the cure in on all surfaces of the meat

• Put in the fridge on a cookie sheet (or similar) to contain any leaks

• Turn 2X daily and rub all the cure into the meat when you do

• After 5 days, minimum, and 7 days, maximum, you are ready to smoke the cured meat

• Smoking the Bacon

• Set up your grill/smoker for 2 zone/indirect cooking

• Get the indirect zone to 250F

• Add a few chunks of wood … oak, hickory, ash, apple, mulberry all work well, heavy smoke is good on bacon

• When the smoker/grill is at 250F and the smoke is rolling well

• Add the bacon slab to the indirect zone

• Cook until it is 155-160 internal temp and has a nice crust starting to form

• Pull from the smoker and rest

• Making into bacon

• Cool to fridge temp. You can put put in freezer for 10 minutes to get it cold/firm enough, if you like

• Slice as thin as you can

• Cook as you would any other bacon

Nutrition Facts

24 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories185

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 14g 22%

  • Saturated Fat 5g 25%

• Cholesterol 30mg 10%

• Sodium 900mg 38%

• Total Carbohydrate 5g 2%

  • Sugars 4g

• Protein 9g 18%

• Calcium 1%

• Iron 1%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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When I’m doing a lot in the kitchen, I get help from our Lab, Dunkin. He enjoys the warmth of the stove and the time with his human. The only challenge is not tripping over him, since he feels it’s necessary to lay right in the middle of everything.

I’ve been making Potato Leek Soup for years. Probably 30 years now. I don’t particularly remember where I got the first recipe from. Likely it was either Julee Rosso’s “The New Basics Cookbook” or Julia Child’s “Mastering The Art Of French Cooking“. These two cookbooks should be on the shelf of all serious home cooks.

Over the years, I’ve adjusted this recipe some and I no longer need to open a cookbook for it. I do have the recipe jotted down from about 15 years ago when someone asked me for it. That’s when it became a true recipe, instead of me cooking with “some of this and some of that”. I hope you take this recipe, make it your own, and then someone else asks you to write it down for them.

Cooking Potato Leek Soup In Pictures

Potato Leek Soup – Vegan Friendly

This soup is very easy to make vegan and/or vegetarian friendly. There are some basic substitutions and one omission from my recipe. Obviously, take out the bacon. In place of the bacon fat (and butter for vegans), substitute a vegan butter like Earth Balance. Replace the chicken stock with a vegetable stock. and Replace the heavy cream with coconut cream. I’ll put the substitutions/omissions in parentheses in the recipe.

Potato Leek Soup

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: Soups, Stews, ChilisCuisine: FranceDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

410

kcal

Total time

1

hour 

Potato Leek Soup is one of the basics of French cooking. It’s great by itself, but can be used as the foundation for many other dishes. Serve it warm with some sourdough bread. Or serve it cold and it is Vichyssoise or Potage Parmentier.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs potatoes – Yukon gold is best, but really any potato works well

• 3 slices thick cut bacon (replace with 2 tbsp vegan butter) – diced into 1/4″ chunks

• 4 tbsp butter (replace with 4 tbsp vegan butter)

• 3 large leeks – remove root end and green leaves, rinse well, roughly chopped

• 6 cups chicken stock (replace with vegetable stock)

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (coconut cream)

• 2 medium carrots – peeled and chopped

• 3 cloves garlic – crushed or minced

• 3 bay leaves

• 2 sprigs fresh thyme – tied inside cheese cloth to make it easier to remove (optional)

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Method

• Saute bacon in your soup pot over medium low heat until crispy and the fat is well rendered (melt vegan butter)

• Reserve bacon pieces, leave bacon fat in soup pot

• Add butter, leeks, carrots to soup pot and cook until leeks are nicely wilted, about 5 minutes (vegan butter)

• Add garlic and pepper to soup pot, stir into leeks, cook until aromatic, about 1 minute

• Add stock, potatoes, thyme, bay leaves, salt to pot. Bring to a boil

• Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender to a fork, about 15 minutes

• Using an immersion blender or regular blender, puree the soup until mostly smooth. In a regular blender, you will need to work with portions of the soup at a time. If using the immersion blender, just do it right in the soup pot. Don’t blend until completely smooth, you want small pieces of bacon and carrot for a splash of color and an interesting add to the mouth feel of the soup.

• Set heat to low, stir in the cream.

• If the soup seems too thick, you can thin with a bit of water. If it seems to thin, add another 1/4 cup of cream and simmer for 10 minutes to thicken.

• Heat the soup over low heat until it is heated through.

• Serve – A serving is about 1.5 cups for a bowl/main dish.

Nutrition Facts

8 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories410

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 27g 42%

  • Saturated Fat 15g 75%

• Cholesterol 75mg 25%

• Sodium 699mg 30%

• Potassium 1023mg 30%

• Total Carbohydrate 40g 14%

  • Dietary Fiber 4g 16%

  • Sugars 5g

• Protein 7g 15%

• Vitamin A 316%

• Vitamin C 60%

• Calcium 17%

• Iron 11%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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Today we are making a Wild Boar Ragu And Pappardelle. Seven years ago, my wife and I spent a few days in Rome. For dinner one night, we had a wild boar ragu which was completely incredible. I’ve been thinking about doing that ever since. This particular recipe is a mashup between a recipe I worked out last year, Beef Short Rib Ragu (and I need to publish that, also) and some research I did on Tuscan recipes for Boar Ragu. In that research, I found that this is basically the “national dish” of Tuscany and there are dozens of published recipes available in English, but originating in Italy. This recipe from The Pasta Project seemed closest to what I was looking for, so I adapted this and my beef ragu approach to create what you see below.

Normally, in Tuscany, you would not first smoke the boar stew meat, but I liked the idea of adding some depth smoking it first. It isn’t necessary. And, if you can’t find wild boar stew meat easily, you can use pork shoulder. I get my boar meat from Broken Arrow Ranch in Texas. Their prices are reasonable and the shipping is top notch.

Notes For Cooking Boar Ragu

• I used my own beef stock, not something from the store. I should probably publish that recipe, too. Meanwhile, the better quality your beef stock, the better this is going to turn out. Don’t skimp on your ingredients.

• Wine: I used a Super Tuscan from Cooper Winery, which is on Red Mountain in Washington state. But you could do a nice chianti just as well.

• I think using tomatoes and herbs from the garden makes a big difference. If you don’t have a garden, then a farmer’s market is going to give you much better quality and flavor than what you get from standard grocery store stuff. Remember, most herbs in jars at Safeway have been sitting on warehouse shelves for over a year before you ever get to see it in the grocery store.

What To Serve With A Boar Ragu

Serve this with a good Tuscan wine: Chianti or Super Tuscan. Definitely serve over Pappardelle. You can find it in the pasta section of good grocery stores. A salad with a vinaigrette is a good side with this. Fresh grated parmesan is a must.

Special Tools

Smoker or grill of some sort if you plan to smoke the boar. You can skip that step if you like.

Overview

The day before you will cook this, cut the boar into 1″ x 1″ chunks and then liberally sprinkle 1/2 tsp of Morton’s kosher salt on the meat. Put in refrigerator overnight. If you can’t do it overnight, get the meat salted at least one hour prior to cooking. This is called dry brining. It will make a huge difference to your meat’s tenderness and flavor.

About 6 hours before you plan to serve, set up your grill or smoker and smoke the boar meat. Set up your grill or smoker for indirect cooking with the indirect zone between 225 and 250 degrees. Add a handful of wood chips or 1 chunk wood (preferably apple) to your charcoal. When smoke is no longer billowing and white, put the meat on the indirect heat and smoke it for about 45 minutes, until the internal temp of the meat is 145F. Reserve the meat.

While the meat is smoking, prep all your other ingredients (mise en place).

1. Peel the tomatoes

2. Dice the shallot, carrot, celery

3. Crush or mince the garlic

4. Add olive oil to a dutch oven or deep sided, heavy skillet and heat until shimmering over medium heat

5. Add shallot, carrot, celery and cook until shallot is translucent, stirring regularly, about 10 minutes

6. Add garlic and bay leaves and cook for about 1 minute, until garlic is aromatic

7. Now add the meat and brown on all sides, about 5 minutes

Create the Ragu by adding the tomatoes, stock, wine, herbs and salt. Stir together well. Bring to a simmer, cover with a lid that is cracked open. Stir occasionally and add water as needed to keep the Ragu from reducing too much and burning.

When the meat is tender, if the Ragu is too thin, bring to a near boil and reduce a bit until thickened appropriately for your taste. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Cover Ragu and hold while cooking the Pappardelle per the package’s directions. Drain Pappardelle and toss with olive oil. If the Ragu is too thick, add a bit of the pasta water.

Serve Ragu over top of the pasta with a glass of wine and some fresh parmesan.

Cooking The Ragu In Pictures

Taste of Tuscany: Boar Ragu

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: PastaCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

3

hours 

Calories

490

kcal

Smoking Time

45

minutes

Total time

4

hours 

5

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb wild boar stew meat (or pork shoulder), cut into 1″ cubes

• 1 medium size shallot, diced

• 1 carrot peeled and diced

• 1 stalk celery, diced

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 each bay leaves

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 tsp Morton’s kosher salt

• 1 sprig rosemary

• 5 leaves fresh sage leaves

• 1 lb tomatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ pieces

• 3 cups beef stock

• 1 cup red wine (chianti or super tuscan)

• 1/2 lb Pappardelle

Method

• Trim the stew meat and apply kosher salt to dry brine, at least 1 hour before cooking, but preferably 24 hours ahead, as described above

• Set up grill or smoker for 2 zone cooking and get indirect zone to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Transfer stew meat to indirect zone and smoke until internal temp is 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

• While meat is smoking, prep remainder of ingredients

• Dice carrots, celery, shallot

• Peel and chop tomatoes

• Crush or mince the garlic cloves

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Moroccan Style Rub for Salmon

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Recipe by Eric Course: RubCuisine: North AfricaDifficulty: Easy

Servings

5

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 1 tbsp paprika

• 1 tsp cumin

• 3/4 tsp kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp ground coriander

• 1/4 tsp turmeric

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Method

• In a small mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients together.

• Allow spices to mingle together for 1 hour before using

• Apply 1 tsp olive oil per 8 oz of salmon

• Apply 1 tsp rub per 8 oz of salmon, add it liberally over top of the olive oil, then lightly pat into fish

• Cook fish as desired, but best is to grill over direct heat

Notes

• I have also used this rub on halibut, swordfish, and branzino and it works well on all of them.

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Tips and Tricks for Beef Jerky

You’ll have to decide how you are going to dehydrate the jerky. There are three methods, all of them work, each of them has pluses and minuses.

1. Your oven …. yes, you can dehydrate meats, peppers, vegetables, and fruits in your oven. The big plus is you already have this and know how it works. The downside is that you are using your oven for this and can’t use it for other things

2. A dehydrator …. the obvious choice for dehydrating things. I have this Nestor dehydrator and it works well. A big plus, they are easy to use. But they have to sit somewhere and take up a bunch of kitchen counter space.

3. A smoker …. this is a great choice to make sure you get smoke house flavor. But it takes more effort than the other two options.

• About the meat – You want something very lean. I use round roast (top, bottom, eye are all good), but you could use flank steak, skirt steak, sirloin tip as well.

• Trimming – You definitely need to trim the meat well. Fat will get rancid since it can’t be completely dehydrated. Your jerky won’t last nearly as long if you leave a lot of intermuscular fat on it. So, get all the intermuscular fat and silver skin trimmed off. If there are any seams with fat in them in the cut, you want those out, too.

• Slicing the meat – Nice and thin, across the grain. I use my slicer and get as close to 1/8” as I can. Go across the grain unless you like your jerky really chewy, in which case you can slice with the grain. But it will be CHEWY. You can slice thicker, but it will take much longer to dehydrate fully.

• To smoke or not – I don’t smoke and I do use liquid smoke (I know, I know). But it tastes good. You can also smoke at 175F (no hotter or you will cook, not dehydrate). If you’re going to smoke the jerky, omit the liquid smoke.

• Storage – your jerky will last up to 4 weeks in the refrigerator. I just stick it in gallon ziplock bags, squeeze the air out, and put it in the fridge. I imagine you could freeze and save for later, but I’ve never actually had a bag worth of jerky that lasted more than 4-5 days, max.

• I am giving the recipe for 1 lb of beef. Scale accordingly. The recipe card can scale for you by servings. I estimate 4 servings from 1 lb of meat.

About Curing The Beef

You actually could omit the Prague Powder #1 if you prefer, however it won’t taste like that smoke house beef jerky. Prague Powder #1 is a curing salt, also called Pink Salt (not Himalayan Salt). It does contain nitrates and nitrites. Used properly, they are safe for humans. And contrary to what the labels indicated, those packages of “uncured” meats still contain nitrates and nitrites. The processor used celery salt instead of Prague Powder #1. But celery is a naturally occurring source of nitrates/nitrites. Once cured, the jerky will last much longer. If you only cure it with salt, it will have about half the shelf life as if you use both salt and Prague Powder.

Smoke House Beef Jerky

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: SnacksCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

4

hours 

Calories

201

kcal

Curing Time

24

hours

Total time

4

hours 

30

minutes

Just like you got when you were a kid on road trips. Tastes and feels like that old school smoke house beef jerky.

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean beef – Round, Flank, Skirt, Sirloin Tip all work well

• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt (not iodized)

• 1 1/2 tsp fine ground black pepper

• 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp ground coriander

• 1/2 cup beef broth

• 1/4 cup water

• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 1/4 tsp Prague Powder #1

• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke (I use Wright’s Hickory) (omit this if you are going to smoke the jerky)

Method

• Trim the meat well. We do not want any silver skin or intermuscular fat at all. Nor any seams between muscles in the cut of meat

• Slice the meat, across the grain, as close to 1/8” slices as possible.

• Mix all of the brine ingredients together in a medium size mixing bowl.

• Put the meat in the bowl and mix together well by hand. You want every slice well coated with brine.

• Put the meat in a gallon ziplock bag, pour the brine liquid in, squeeze all the air out and seal.

• Put in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. I prefer overnight to give the meat more opportunity to absorb the various brine components to the greatest extent possible.

• When ready, with about 6 hours of time to spare, set up your dehydrator, oven, or smoker to dehydrate the meat. An oven at 175F works well (although gas ovens will not dehydrate well. The gas introduces a lot of moisture as it burns). A smoker kept around 175F will also work well. Or just spend the few bucks and get the dehydrator already.

• Lay out all of the meat flat in the dehydrator. Don’t overlap the meat. No need to rinse it very much, just pull out of the brine, pat dry with paper towels and then into the oven/dehydrator/smoker.

• The meat will need 5-6 hours to become jerky. Longer if the slices are thicker.

• Beef jerky is done when a piece of the jerky bends in half, cracks on the bend line, but doesn’t break. It will feel like jerky, as well. Until it is done, it will feel a bit spongy to the touch, not that dry, rough feel of jerky.

• That’s it!

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Nutrition Facts

4 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories201

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 9g 14%

  • Saturated Fat 4g 20%

• Cholesterol 45mg 15%

• Sodium 1112mg 47%

• Potassium 6mg 1%

• Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%

  • Sugars 2g

• Protein 26g 52%

• Calcium 1%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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I have eaten minestrone off and on through the years and NEVER liked it. But it is a much loved soup, it’s from Italy, and it involves beans. So, I should like it. I was talking about soups with my wife the other day and I’m came to the conclusion that all the minestrone I had ever had was thin, watery, and bland. And most of it was from cans. I realized what I needed to do was create Minestrone not from a can.

Of course, it’s obvious in retrospect. Thin, watery, bland, limp pasta and veggies, that just doesn’t seem like something an Italian grandma would actually make in her kitchen. So, I started researching and investigating and found out that Minestrone that is served in restaurants and most American kitchens really just doesn’t deserve the name. I found out that there are some key ingredients needed to make it authentic. And that technique is also important.

I started experimenting with what I had found out in my research and this recipe is the result.

Cooking The Soup (In Pictures)

Key Discoveries To Create Minestrone Not From A Can

• Beans – Canned kidney beans. No, no …. replace those with Cannellini that you cook yourself.

• Veggies – there should be LOTS of veggies in the soup. It should be hearty.

• Base – Make your own beef stock. The stock you buy in the store is not particularly flavorful or robust. If you are going to use store bought, then get Better than Bouillon or a bone broth.

• Secret ingredient I discovered – traditional Italian minestrone includes a rind or two from Parmesan wedges.

• Order of cooking – the order you cook in and when the ingredients are added to the pot are very important. Otherwise you end up with soft, squishy veggies, undercooked beans and pasta, etc.

• Cutting the ingredients – The veggies, pasta, and beans should all be just about the same size. As should any diced ham, beef, or other meats added to the soup. This gives a consistent mouth feel AND no one ingredient overpowers another.

You Can Make a Vegan Minestrone Easily

• Substitutions are key here

• Parmesan – replace with nutritional yeast powder

• Stock – use vegetable stock (you can improve mouth feel with some gelatin)

• More veggies, no meat

• And it’s really that easy

As far as the beans go, first …. no canned beans. Second …. good heirloom beans make a huge difference. I highly recommend using Steve Sando’s Marcella’s, which are a thin skinned cannellini grown from an Italian heirloom seed. They are named after Marcella Hazan. Third …. cook the beans separate from the soup. If you happen to have beans already prepared, just add them per the recipe. If not, follow my primer for cooking beans.

Cooking The Beans (In Pictures)

Minestrone Not From A Can!

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: Soups, MainCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Calories

385

kcal

Total time

2

hours 

This is a recipe for home made minestrone not from a can. If you are looking for home made, hearty, robust, and flavorful minestrone, this is it. If you are cooking vegan or vegetarian, the notes in parentheses are the substitutions.

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cup Cooked cannellini beans, such as Rancho Gordo Marcella’s. You can substitute 2 14 oz cans of beans, but why would you? Cook them using my Primer to Cooking Beans.

• 1 cup white wine – not too expensive, something from Italy like a Pinot Grigio

• 8 cups beef stock (substitute vegetable stock)

• 2 slices thick cut bacon, chopped roughly (substitute 1 tbsp olive oil)

• 2/3 medium onion, chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, minced/crushed

• 1 leek, white portion only, chopped

• 2/3 cup chopped carrot

• 2/3 cup chopped celery

• 1 1/2 cups chopped red potatoes

• 2/3 cup peas or green beans – fresh is ideal. Frozen if you don’t have fresh. Never use canned, they will be mushy

• 4 oz dry pasta – a smaller macaroni style is best (Barilla Elbows is a good choice, but a pasta with no eggs)

• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes

• 2 rinds from parmesan wedges (8 tsp gelatin, if desired)

• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan. Use fresh grated, it makes a difference (1 cup nutritional yeast)

• 1 tsp sea salt

Method

• Soup base

• Add remaining two slices of bacon to a large soup pot (8 quarts is the right size), cook until rendered well and brown, but not crispy (skip this step)

• Reserve the bacon, chop up, add to the other bacon from the beans (heat olive oil)

• Cook onion, carrots, celery, leek in bacon fat (olive oil) until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes

• Add garlic, cook until aromatic, about 1 minute

• Add cup of wine, deglaze the pot

• Add tomatoes, beef stock (vegetable stock) and cheese rinds (gelatin, if desired)

• Cook at a simmer, lid partially open, for about 25 minutes until you have a hearty soup and the rinds are melted.

• Remove the remaining chunk of rind that won’t melt and discard

• Cook potatoes, meat, pasta, beans

• Add potatoes, beans

• Cook pasta in a separate pot until al dente, drain, keep warm but do NOT add to the soup

• If you will have meat in it, add that now too

• Chop all your reserved bacon to the same size as your potato dices and add to the pot (omit)

• Bring to a boil, reduce to a bare simmer and cook for about 15 minutes

• Check that beans are near done

• If they aren’t, go another 5 minutes, or so

• Add salt to taste

• Finishing the soup

• Add the peas or green beans and about a cup of Parmesan cheese (nutritional yeast)

• If you are doing other veggies, like zucchini or eggplant, this is the time to add them. Don’t do it earlier and end up with soft, blah stuff.

• Cook at a simmer for another 5-7 minutes

• Cheese should be melting and the peas should be heated through

• As you serve into a bowl, add a couple spoons of pasta

Notes

• If you want, you can add meat to your soup. Things like ground beef, diced ham, a bit of left over roast will all work fine. Make sure to cut it about the same size as the vegetables.

• Vegan/Vegetarian: Substitute olive oil for bacon, use vegetable stock, make sure that your pasta does not contain egg. Substitute nutritional yeast powder for parmesan cheese. You may wish to add some gelatin in place of the parmesan rind.

Nutrition Facts

8 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories385

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 9g 14%

  • Saturated Fat 4g 20%

• Cholesterol 28mg 10%

• Sodium 1013mg 43%

• Potassium 634mg 19%

• Total Carbohydrate 49g 17%

  • Dietary Fiber 10g 40%

  • Sugars 5g

• Protein 24g 48%

• Vitamin A 60%

• Vitamin C 23%

• Calcium 14%

• Iron 10%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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Man, what an experience. It was profound. I really wish that place wasn’t so many years in my past, that I knew the name, the location. Or, perhaps it is better that I don’t. Maybe, after many years of eating and cooking brisket, this place wasn’t all that great. Who knows now? What I do know is that Texas style brisket is, done right, sublime. It is smoky, peppery, and immensely about beef. It is the ultimate piece of meat if you love beef. And even if you don’t. It’s not steak or roast or a hamburger.

Important Notes About Texas Brisket

1. Brisket is the pectoral muscles of the cow. They are very heavily used and very tough, lots of connective tissue and hard/tough muscle. Long, slow cooking is required

2. A brisket, cooked right, is the finest bbq you can cook. 

3. Spend a bit of money and buy quality meat – by this I mean Choice or Prime, don’t bother with Wagyu or similar very expensive artisan breeds. Prime is the best I’ve ever cooked

4. Buy a whole packer the first time you cook it

5. Learn how to trim it …. there’s great YouTube videos showing this. See #6

6. Aaron Franklin – great BBQ cook – trims and preps a brisket – https://youtu.be/VmTzdMHu5KU

7. I dry brine the meat I’m going to cook for 24 hours normally. Use 1/2 tsp of Morton’s kosher salt per pound of meat. Put it in the fridge, uncovered, for at least 1 hour, preferably 24 hours, before cooking. For brisket at least 12 hours ahead of time, but 24 hours is better. 

I learned, over the years, from Meathead and his method for brisket. I also learned a lot from Aaron Franklin’s method in his book: “Franklin Barbecue: A Meat Smoking Manifesto”. Then modified by my own experience over the years of cooking brisket. I have cooked brisket probably 50 times since I started learning to BBQ and I think I’ve finally got a basic handle on Texas Brisket. Herein follows what I consider a decent method to cooking brisket.

Eric’s Method

I strongly suggest that you follow my method exactly the first time you cook a brisket. Once you have it dialed in to the point where you are happy, then start adjusting until you get to your perfect taste. Following my method, you can avoid the scary things you have heard about smoking brisket and instead achieve this.

Important Notes About Cooking Brisket

1. learn how to set your grill up for 2 zone, indirect cooking. You want the “cool side” of the grill to be 250 degrees. You achieve this by putting all your heat on one side.

   • On a charcoal grill, you pile the charcoal at one side.

   • On a propane grill, you turn on only part of your burners.

   • You will have to experiment with your grill to find the right technique to achieve this.

   • Use a quality digital thermometer to know the actual temperature in your cool or hot zone. I prefer the Fireboard for this.

2. Make darn sure that you have fuel for a long cook.

   • Brisket is 12-14 hours at 250 degrees.

   • You want a full propane tank, or about 20 lbs of charcoal, depending on your grill.

3. Meat takes on smoke flavor best when it is cold and moist.

   • Get your grill set up, get your smoke rolling, before doing anything to the brisket.

   • then take your brisket out of the fridge, apply your rub and go straight to the grill.

4. A brisket will stall during the cook. This is normal. Don’t freak out. Do plan for it. Your meat temp will naturally rise to about 155F and then suddenly stop going up. IT IS NORMAL. The moisture in the meat is evaporating and cooling the meat off faster than the temp is increasing from the grill heat. This will continue for several hours, then the meat comes out of the stall and goes up slowly after that

5. Meat temp is a guide. The real way to know if the brisket is done is to probe it with a thin, pointy “probe” …. a thermometer or cake probe … when your probe enters the meat and feels like a knife going into warm butter … it is done. 

6. Meat temp helps, though. Quality brisket is getting into the done range when it’s internal temp is 190F. Start checking it then. Somewhere between 190 and 205, it should be done. 

7. After it is done, you should wrap it tightly in aluminum foil (very tight) and put it in a 170F oven for at least one hour. Or wrap in old towels around the foil and then into a beer cooler (will hold the meat at 170) for at least one hour. Could go as long as 4 hours, depending. 

8. When ready to slice, take it out of the oven or cooler, unwrap, let it sit on cutting board for 10-15 minutes. You want the internal temp to come down a bit, to about 150 …. makes it slice easier

Buying Brisket

Preferably go to Costco and buy a Prime Packer Brisket … this will have both the point and flat and come in cryovac. Bigger is better. Go 14-16 pounds. If your costco doesn’t carry whole packers, go to a local butcher and ask him for a whole packer brisket. If your butcher doesn’t know what that is, find a new butcher.

Prime is better than Choice. If you go higher grade than Prime, it will cook very different and very fast. Be aware. 

A Prime packer, pre trim weight of 14-16 lbs, will need 12-14 hours to cook, plus 1 hour to prep the grill, plus minimum of 1 hour holding after the cook. Plan on 16 hours start to finish. If it is done early, hold in oven/cooler longer, which is fine. 

Texas Brisket: Eric’s Method

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: Featured, Smoked, TexasCuisine: Smoked, TexasDifficulty: Difficult

Servings

20

servings

Prep time

1

hour 

Cooking time

12

hours 

Calories

380

kcal

Total time

13

hours 

Ingredients

• 10 pounds prime beef brisket

• 6 tsp Kosher salt

• 20 Tsp Eric’s Beef Rub

Method

• Trim the brisket about 24 hours prior to cooking following the method in Aaron Franklin’s video

• Liberally salt with 1/2 tsp of Morton’s kosher salt and then put brisket in refrigerator, uncovered, for 24 hours prior to cooking.

• hour prior to cooking, prepare grill for 2 zone with the indirect zone at 250 degrees as measured by a quality digital thermometer

• Add wood chunks or wood chips for smoke, depending on your grill setup.

• When grill is ready, just prior to putting brisket on grill, add rub. Use Eric’s Beef Rub, about 2 tsp per pound. Apply liberally.

• Take the brisket straight to the grill, place a meat temp probe in the thickest part of the brisket and then put brisket in the indirect zone. Close lid. Walk away.

• Have a beer or coffee or whiskey handy. Probably a cigar, too. Kick back in your lawnchair. Be prepared for it to cook all day.

• Follow my guidelines above about temps. The brisket will stall. It’s okay. Have a beer. Or two.

• When the temp is over 190 degrees, about 10 hours in, start probing the brisket for done. Use a thin metal probe, from a thermometer or a cake probe.

• When your probe goes in like a knife into warm butter, you are done.

• Now pull the brisket off the grill and wrap in aluminum foil or brown butcher paper.

• Hold in a ice chest, wrapped in towels, or in an oven set to 170 degrees. Hold for at least 1 hour. Can be up to 4 hours.

• When ready to serve, slice into 1/4″ slices. Follow this video to understand slicing brisket, starting about the 8:00 mark.

Notes

• Read through this once in detail. Put the recipe away for a day. Come back, read again. Plan the cook. Read it again. Then do it.

• Servings is assuming a 15 lb brisket, trimmed well. Final, cooked weight of 10 lbs after trimming and cooking will leave a yield of 1/3 lb of meat per person.

Nutrition Facts

20 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories380

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 29g 45%

  • Saturated Fat 12g 60%

• Sodium 320mg 14%

• Protein 30g 60%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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About Cooking The Burgers

I actually think this comes out better in a cast iron pan on the stove top. Every surface of the burger gets a great maillard reaction. That is what leads to very flavorful beef. The more you can maximize it, the better your burgers come out. However, I have cooked this recipe on all sorts of surfaces. Traditional pan, griddle, grill, cast iron pans. It turns out well, no matter, what.

One quick note about cooking burgers and temperatures. It’s very highly recommended that you cook the burger to an internal temp of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. I know that we all like them more like medium than done. However, ground beef has the potential to have a lot of bad pathogens, like E.Coli, mixed in. If you don’t get the interior of the burger to 160 degrees, you won’t kill the E.Coli. For more on the topic, see this article at Amazing Ribs.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how to prep the burgers to be American Burgers. I love brioche buns that have been toasted. To that, I add all the fixings …. pickles, bacon, lettuce, tomato, sauces, onions, avocado, whatever floats your boat, really. I highly recommend trying my Smash Sauce on your burgers. Put all that together and you get easy weeknight burgers.

Easy Weeknight Burgers

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: Burgers

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

35

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Total time

45

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef – 90% lean is fine.

• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil, divided – we need this to get to high temp in the pan. If grilling, you only need 1 tbsp

• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tsp Morton’s kosher salt

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp fine ground black pepper

Method

• Put all the burger ingredients into a mixing and mix together by hand.

• Form 3 equal sized patties out of the ground beef mixture

• Lay them out on cookie sheet lined with wax paper (so they don’t stick)

• Make a good thumbprint in the center of each patty, which will help keep the burger from puffing up in the center while cooking.

• Put burgers in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This helps with the flavor, acting as an internal marinade.

• Prep a grill to medium high heat or preheat a pan or griddle. If you are testing with an IR thermometer, you want the pan surface temp at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a pan or griddle, add 1 tbsp grapeseed oil, which can go to 520 degrees without scorching.

• Put burgers on direct heat, cook for 4 minutes on side 1. Turn gently to avoiding breaking them and cook an additional 4 minutes.

• Turn one more time, put cheese on if desired, and cook covered for the last 2 minutes

• Burger internal temp should be 160 degrees to ill all the pathogens possible in ground beef.

• Reserve burgers on a cookie sheet (or plate) while people are prepping their buns and sides and then add burgers to the buns at the last.

• Enjoy!

Notes

• I do not include the cheese, buns, sauces, etc in the nutrition information. Every person’s burger is different and you will need to calculate those things on their own.

• You can cook to less than 160F (which results in well done for beef after carry over cooking), but it adds risk due to the potential for bacteria to not be killed during cooking.

Nutrition Facts

3 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories312

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 21g 33%

  • Saturated Fat 1g 5%

• Cholesterol 94mg 32%

• Sodium 756mg 32%

• Protein 31g 62%

• Iron 20%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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Use it on steakhouse burgers, smash burgers, diner burgers, or my easy weeknight burgers. You’ll love it. Use it for your fries instead of ketchup!

A couple quick notes about the recipe. First, as always, I recommend making it once my way. Then you can start tuning and making it your own. This recipe is intended to be a bit tangier and not as sweet as many other “special sauces”. That’s why I use Best Foods Olive Oil Mayonnaise, not Hellman’s Mayo or Miracle Whip. Using tomato paste plus honey results in a bit more savory and a bit less sweet than using ketchup. Give it a go!

Great Burger Dressing: Smash Sauce

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: SaucesDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Best Foods olive oil mayonnaise

• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp dijon mustard

• 1/2 tsp tomato paste (I keep a tube of Cento in the fridge for this kind of thing)

• 1 tsp honey

• 1/8 tsp kosher salt

• 1/4 tsp garlic powder

• 1/8 tsp fine ground black pepper

• 1/4 tsp celery seed – crushed in a mortar & pestle or coffee grinder

• 1/2 tsp dill pickle brine

• pinch of cayenne pepper

Method

• Whisk the ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl (plastic or glass, no metal). When well incorporated, cover and refrigerate for an hour before serving.

• Use about 1 tbsp on a burger (that is the calculated serving size for nutrition info)

Nutrition Facts

8 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories71

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 6g 10%

  • Saturated Fat 1g 5%

• Cholesterol 5mg 2%

• Sodium 294mg 13%

• Potassium 3mg 1%

• Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%

  • Sugars 1g

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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How I Cook Ribs: A Ribs Primer

First things, first. To many BBQ type folks, especially ones that like the Kansas City style, I am a heathen. I never put sauce on my ribs while cooking. You are welcome to, of course, because BBQ is uniquely creative cooking with as many different styles, variations, and methods as there are people cooking it. 

Second thing to be clear about. I cook ribs very straightforward and not complex. My goal is not to win a competition, it is to put great ribs on the plate of me, my family, and my friends. I don’t do things you may have heard of like 3-2-1 or Texas Crutch. I don’t glaze with maple syrup. I do want good bark on the ribs and great flavor, including smoke flavor. 

Tips And Tricks For The Best BBQ Ribs

Dry Brining is a great way to add flavor and tenderness to your meat. See my post about dry brining. This particular trick greatly improves flavor and tenderness both. This is the number one most important thing you can do to great a great backyard bbq outcome.

Smoke flavor – two things will really make a difference to how much smoke will end up on the meat. Smoke is very fine particles of matter coming from the burning fuel mixed into an aerosol of water vapor and gases from the burning fuel. The smoke sticks to your meat and creates that smoked flavor. Smoke is captured better when the surface of the meat is rough and when it is cold and wet. The rub helps to break up the smooth surface of the meat. I always bring the meat from the fridge to the counter, wet it with water and apply my rub, and then straight to the cooker … this gets that wet, cold meat in play, also. And this helps create the smoke ring, the visual appearance of smoked food. 

Smoke Ring and Fire Management – this is a beautiful pink color in your meat running from the surface inwards. The smoke ring comes from the gases in the smoke, specifically the nitric oxide. The smoke ring does not change the flavor of the meat at all, but it sure does look pretty. The other thing, though, is that you are not producing the right sorts of gases in your smoke to get a smoke ring if your fire isn’t burning around 700F. So, fire management is crucial. There’s tons of long write ups on fire management and you can learn a lot from them. I won’t do that here, just note that you want your smoke to be thin and have a bluish tint to it rather than white to grey and heavy. 

Here’s some other great sources, folks that I learned from over the years

• Meathead at Amazing Ribs and his Last Meal Ribs

• Aaron Franklin – Spare Ribs Part 1 and Part 2

• Chris Lilly – Get his original cookbook: Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ Book …. then read it cover to cover

Method – How We Are Going To Do It

24 hours prior to cooking the ribs, dry brine them with the kosher salt. You are going to liberally salt the ribs with 1/2 tsp of kosher salt per pound. Then place on a cookie sheet and put in the fridge uncovered. 

1 hour prior to cooking, get your grill, smoker, BBQ set up for smoking. Set it up for 2 zone cooking, with an indirect zone around 250F and with smoke from wood chunks, wood chips, or a wood fire depending on your cooker type. You want the cooker ready to go right on time, about 5-6 hours prior to serving. 

Timing depends on the ribs you will cook. Some tips I can give you is that grocery store ribs are somewhat less meaty than Costco/Sam’s Club. Expect an hour longer for Costco and Sam’s Club. Back Ribs are going to be 3 to 4 hours (maybe even 5 if they have a lot of meat on them) and Spare Ribs are going to be 4 to 6 hours, depending on source and cut (spare rib vs St. Louis Cut).

So, when should you start? Well, here’s how to figure it out. You will need 1 hour for holding the ribs at 170F in the oven or a faux cambro (very important) and 20 minutes to prep, slice, serve. Add up the estimated cooking time, the hold time, the prep time and the time to start your grill, bbq, smoker, etc. Figure the time you want to serve dinner, and work backwards from there to when you need to start your cooker. Now add an extra 30 minutes in case those ribs are ornery. If you don’t need it, that’s okay, just hold them an extra 30 minutes. 

I do not spritz or mop or any of those things. I do keep the cooker humid and moist with a water pan in the cooker. Best option is right under the ribs. If you are using something like a Weber Smokey Mountain then you are all set since it uses a water pan. On a Weber Kettle, or similar, put the water pan under the ribs, with the charcoal piled on the other side to give you direct/indirect zones. On a gas grill, you can put the water pan on the grill above the burners that are turned on.

Now we cook the ribs. Once your cooker is ready, get the ribs on, close the lid, and leave it alone! Until we need to start looking to see if the ribs are done. We are going to start doing that about 1 hour before we predict they will be done in case we have a set of ribs that just get done early.

How do you know if they are done? There are multiple approaches to done. I like to use two of them: the bend test and the probe test. The bend test is pretty easy, you pick up the slab of ribs with your tongs about 1/3 of the way down the slab and let them “bend”. If they bend well and get a crack in the bark they are done. The probe test uses a thin probe such as a toothpick or the probe of your handheld digital thermometer (like a thermapen). You probe into the meat between the bones and when your probe goes in as easily as a knife into warm butter, the ribs are done. 

When the ribs are “done” on the smoker, you need to wrap them tightly in aluminum foil and keep them in the oven at 170F or in a faux cambro. A faux cambro is easy to create. Take your beer cooler, fill it with hot water and close the lid. When you are ready to hold the ribs, get them wrapped. Then dump the water out, line the bottom of the cooler with towels, add the ribs on a cookie sheet or similar, then add more towels and close the lid. It will hold the ribs, above 170, for 2-3 hours. 

Now prep all your sides … I like corn on the cob, coleslaw, and maybe beans. When that’s all ready, pull the ribs out and slice into individual bones with a sharp knife. Slice the ribs into individual bones, serve and enjoy! 

Pork Ribs In The Pacific NW

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: American, Main Dishes, Pacific NW, Smoked

Servings

2

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking Time

5

Hours

Hold Time

30

Minutes

Ingredients

• 1 slab of ribs – back ribs, spare ribs, or St. Louis Cut spare ribs

• 1/2 tsp Morton’s kosher salt per lb of ribs

• 1 tbsp of rub per lb of ribs – Eric’s Rib Rub

Method

• 1 hour to as much as 24 hours before cooking, liberally cover the ribs with kosher salt, 1/2 tsp per pound. Put ribs on cookie sheet in refrigerator for at least 1 hour, and up to 24 hours. The longer, the better.

• Based upon when meal is to be served, and calculating cooking time for: 1 hour to prepare grill/smoker, 1 hour to hold at 170F post cook, 15 minutes to slice into individual bones, and 3-6 hours to cook depending on type of ribs and amount of meat on them, get your grill started. Assuming standard cooking time of 5 hours for spare ribs, you would start your grill 7 hours before you want to be cutting the ribs up.

• Set up your grill for 2 zone cooking. You want the indirect zone to be about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to have wood chips, chunks, or splits on the fire and producing thin, blue smoke when the grill is ready.

• Put ribs on the grill in the indirect zone, close the cover and leave the ribs alone. Let them cook. Don’t peek or fiddle with them.

• About 1 hour before you think they are going to be done, start checking. You want to see a good bark/crust on the ribs, and dark color. And then you want to start checking for them being done. See above for the done test. You can use the bend test or the probe test. Both work.

• When the ribs are “done” per the bend or probe test, pull off the grill and wrap tightly in aluminum foil.

  

• Put the ribs in an oven set to 170 F degrees or in a faux cambro. Hold for at least 30 minutes, but not too much over an hour if you can help it. A long hold will result in “falling off the bone” ribs. Some folks really like this, others do not.

• When ready to serve, unwrap the ribs. Cut into individual bones and serve with traditional BBQ sides. I like coleslaw, macaroni salad, beans, personally.

  

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A couple tricks to it. One is to use a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle to grind crushed rosemary into rosemary powder. Another is that, like most of my rubs, there is no salt in this one. It’s because we add the salt to the meat when we dry brine.

Eric’s Rib Rub

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: RubsDifficulty: Easy

Prep time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 3/4 cup white table sugar

• 1/2 cup Hungarian sweet paprika (not Spanish, American, or smoked)

• 1/4 cup garlic powder

• 2 tbsp ginger powder

• 2 tbsp ground cumin

• 2 tbsp onion powder

• 2 tbsp coarse ground black pepper

• 1 tbsp American or Ancho Chili powder

• 2 tsp rosemary powder

Method

• Put your ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir/whisk together until well blended.

• Transfer to a sealed spice jar or a ziplock bag.

• Use liberally on pork ribs, about 1 tbsp per pound

Notes

• This stuff is great on salmon, halibut, and cod, as well.

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Spaetzle, also called Nokedli in Hungary, are egg/flour noodles originating in the German region of Schwaben. They are a classic German side dish that go along with many different German and Hungarian dishes. However, they are also a classic main dish in Schwaben when prepared as KaseSpaetzle, which means, literally, Cheese Noodles. I lived in Germany for several years and every time I make these, it’s a taste of Germany for me! I validated what I’m doing by memory with a recipe on The Daring Gourmet that is pretty similar to mine.

Overview

There are really three key elements to preparing Spaetzle: 1. Getting the egg/cream/flour proportions correct; 2. Getting the structure of the dough correct; and 3. Cutting the noodles properly.
Be aware that you will have to stir the Spaetzle dough vigorously for 15-20 minutes and that using a mixer is not a good substitute for hand stirring. Also, understand that if you don’t have a Hobel (a cutter for Spaetzle), you will have to cut the noodles by hand. Without experience, this won’t work out well. I highly recommend you buy a Hobel, easily available on Amazon for a reasonable price.

One thing that is very important to note, you may find many different ways to do Spaetzle on the internet. Almost all of them assume you have special equipment or knowledge of some sort. I do not assume any special knowledge and I do base this on many years of experience and being taught by a Schwaebisch lady. Except the Hobel mentioned below. The key to my recipe is getting the dough consistency correct and using a Hobel over boiling water. Other than that, there is nothing special to this.

Another very important note. Please don’t substitute ingredients or leave out ingredients. This is a dough, not a batter. It is like making bread. You must have the right ingredients. In this case, you need the right amounts of fat, protein (the eggs and half & half), starches, and glutens (the flour), to create the proper structure. The salt helps you develop that structure. The things you could leave out are the nutmeg and cloves, but why would you? They add interesting depth and flavor to a bland recipe. Bottom line, until you understand how to get this dough right, don’t change my ingredients

Authenticity

Over all, this recipe is the same as the one I learned to make from someone who grew up in Schwaben, in Germany. The only difference from the way that a German would prepare Spaetzle is the use of half and half, milk, or cream. They would only use water in the dough. Over the years of working on, and tuning, this recipe, I decided I liked the impact on the structure and richness of the dough that was created by the half and half.

How Long Does It Take?

• Food prep – 5 minutes

• Preparing the dough – 25 minutes

• Cooking time – 3 minutes per batch, 10 minutes total for this recipe

What Should I Serve With Spaetzle

Excellent side for most German, Austrian, and Hungarian foods. Classically served with Csirke Paprikás (Hungarian Chicken), but also many other Central European dishes. Also, classically, served in Schwaben as KaseSpaetzle.

Special tools

A Hobel – You can get one on Amazon easily. Look up Spaetzle Hobel on Amazon. 
If you don’t have a Hobel, you will have to cut the spaetzle on a board with a very sharp knife. If you aren’t someone with many years of experience, I don’t recommend this. 

A Taste Of Germany: Spaetzle

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: Germany, Side Dishes

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Dough Prep time

25

minutes

Total time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 4 large eggs

• 1/4 cup Half and Half

• 1/4 cup water

• 1 tsp sea salt (or 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt)

• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp cloves

Method

• In a medium sized bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, water, salt, nutmeg, cloves until frothy

• In that same bowl, slowly whisk in flour until too thick to continue whisking, about 1 1/2 cups of the flour. You will need a strong wire whisk for this and need to go slowly, about 5 minutes of work here. 

• Once too thick to continue whisking, start slowly adding flour and using a wooden spoon to work the flour into the batter. Be gentle and work with the flour until you have all the remaining flour in. 

• Now you need to briskly work the dough with your wooden spoon. You are going to stir/beat for about 15 minutes to reach the right consistency. The right consistency is when the dough forms bubbles that take 1-2 seconds to collapse. See picture below. This takes experience to get right. At this point your dough has “structure”. It will be similar to a sourdough. 

  

• Now, bring a large pot of water, with some salt, to a rolling boil. 

• Place your Hobel on the pot using it’s hooks, fill the dough container about halfway (use 1-2 spoons to fill and scrape). Then rapidly move the Hobel over the grater until all the dough is in the boiling water. Remove Hobel/Grater from pot.

• Cook Spaetzle at a boil for about 3 minutes. You will have to judge by eye when they are done. Roughly, they are floating and easily moving in the water. Test one to check done. 

• Strain Spaetzle from boiling water using a slotted spoon or spider strainer into a non-reactive bowl. Dump onto paper towels, pat dry, and back into your bowl to hold them.

• Repeat this process until all your dough is cooked, approximately 3 batches. 

Tips & Tricks

• To make KaeseSpaetzle, as you cook each batch of noodles, put a healthy layer of grated Emmentaler cheese over each batch of noodles, then layer the next batch of noodles in. When you have finished that, the final layer is cartelized onions.

• Serve with Rouladen, Sauerbraten, Csirke Paprikas, Stroganoff, etc.

• Save leftovers and sauté them in a bit of butter the next butter until browned nicely, then serve with your eggs for breakfast.

Nutrition Facts

6 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories214

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 5g 8%

  • Saturated Fat 2g 10%

• Cholesterol 129mg 43%

• Sodium 450mg 19%

• Potassium 107mg 4%

• Total Carbohydrate 32g 11%

  • Sugars 1g

• Protein 9g 18%

• Vitamin A 53%

• Calcium 26%

• Iron 1%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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One of my original sources for this salad is Skinny Tastes, although I’ve modified quite a bit. And the cooking method for the lentils is based on Rancho Gordo recipes and my own Primer for cooking beans.

This is a very healthy dish, to say the least. And if you cook the lentils with either water or vegetable stock it is suitable for people who eat vegan or vegetarian. It’s also completely appropriate for keto diets with a total carb load of only 18 grams per serving.

Chilled Lentil Salad

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: SaladsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Total time

40

minutes

A chilled lentil salad makes a great side for summer grilling. Easy to prepare ahead of time and the flavors just get better sitting in the fridge up to 24 hours before serving. Use French style green or brown lentils, not red, yellow, orange, etc. Colored lentils are used in stews and soups and tend to break down and get mushy/soft.

Ingredients

• For Cooking the Lentils

• 1 cup uncooked French style lentils.

• 2 bay leaves

• bouquet garni with herbs de Provence, fresh or dry

• 1 carrot, unpeeled, chopped into 2″ pieces

• 1 celery stalk, chopped into 2″ pieces

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half

• Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 2 tbsp lemon juice (fresh squeezed is better)

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• Fresh ground black pepper to taste

• Salad

• 1/2 cup diced carrot

• 1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper

• 1/2 cup diced celery

Method

• Combine lentils, bay leaves, carrots, celery, garlic, bouquet garni in a medium size sauce pan. Add 6 cups water (or chicken or vegetable stock). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes. The lentils should be tender to the bite, but not mushy or soft.

  

• Drain the lentils well and remove all the vegetables and herbs, put in a bowl and chill in the refrigerator while preparing the rest of the salad.

  

• Combine the vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl large enough to hold your final salad. Whisk together well.

• Add diced carrots, pepper, celery to the vinaigrette and stir in. Then gently add the lentils to the bowl and stir together until well coated. Allow to stand in refrigerator for 1 to 24 hours. The longer, the better.

  
  

• Serve alongside a grilled main dish such as steak, tri-tip, flank steak, halibut or salmon, chicken.

  

Notes

• About salt: I like to not put salt in with the lentils when cooking. I find that salting them at that point tends to break the skin.

Nutrition Facts

6 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories206

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 5g 8%

  • Saturated Fat 1g 5%

• Sodium 574mg 24%

• Potassium 577mg 17%

• Total Carbohydrate 30g 10%

  • Dietary Fiber 12g 48%

  • Sugars 2g

• Protein 5g 10%

• Vitamin A 29%

• Vitamin C 116%

• Calcium 4%

• Iron 17%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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Two things really made a huge difference here. The first is that over the years I moved from canned beans to dry beans to heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. It turns out that these things make a difference. Canned beans, honestly, all taste the same, regardless of the type of bean. Black beans, pinto beans, white beans, pretty much all the same. The only real difference is the seasoning in the broth. Moving to dry beans and cooking them myself made a big difference. But, like most other industrially farmed food, beans on the grocery store shelf are not very flavorful and lack in variety. That is not true of Rancho Gordo’s beans!

If you just want to cook a batch of Rancho Gordo beans, take a look at Beans: A Cooking Primer.

If you want some White Beans and Ham, let’s move on to the recipe proper. You can use any white beans you like: Great White Northern, Cannellini, Navy Beans, Alubia Blanco, etc.

White Beans and Ham

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: American, Recipe

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

3

hours 

Calories

380

kcal

Total time

3

hours 

30

minutes

Making White Beans and Ham from scratch, like mom used to do!

Ingredients

• 1 lb white beans, dry – Cannellini, Alubia Blanco, White Northern, Cassoulet, Navy Beans ….. pick the ones you like best.

• 2 smoked ham hocks – flavor and a bit of meat, but don’t overdo it

• bouquet garni – 2 bay leaves, 1 sprig each fresh thyme & rosemary, celery leaves removed from the celery stalks

• 1 medium onion, peeled

• 8 whole cloves

• 1 medium carrot, peeled, whole

• 1 tsp black peppercorns

• 4 slices thick cut bacon

• 4 garlic cloves

• 6 cups chicken stock

• 8 oz of lager beer

• 3 celery stalk, remove the leaves for bouquet garni, then chop

Method

• There is no need to soak the beans you are cooking with. See Beans: A Cooking Primer for more details

• Cut the top of the onion off, leaving 3/4 of the onion intact. Push the cloves firmly into the onion, tail first.

• Using a dutch oven or heavy pot, slowly cook the bacon, allowing the fat to render, and the bacon to be almost crisp. Remove the bacon, dice it up.

• Deglaze the bottom of the pot with the lager, scraping up all the brown, crunchy bits on the bottom.

• Add all the ingredients into the pot, including the clove studded onion and top of the onion. But not the chopped celery. Reserve that to the end.

• If the lager and stock aren’t enough to cover everything, add some water until the ham hocks are barely covered.

• Bring the soup to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce to a bare simmer, just 2-4 bubbles at a time.

• Simmer for 90 minutes, ensuring that the ham hocks remain slightly covered, adding water if needed.

• At this point, remove all the ingredients other than the beans, stock, and peppercorns.

• Remove meat from the hocks, keep the bones/rind for something else, if desired. Discard the bouquet garni.

• Chop up ham, onion, carrot and add everything back to the pot.

• Continue to simmer until beans are done, about another 90 minutes. Beans are done when they still are tender, but not mushy, with a clean bite.

• About 15 minutes before the beans are done (so they will still have a firm bite and be a bit grainy), add the celery to the soup. Check for seasoning, if needed add salt and pepper.

• Serve with bread or biscuits and a green salad. That what mom used to do!

Notes

• Bouquet Garni – take the herbs specified and tie them in a bundle using cheese cloth so that the herbs are inside and can’t escape. We use this to flavor the broth but don’t have to worry about the pieces and parts of the herbs later on.

• About the beer: any non-bitter beer will work. A lager is a good choice, but a Belgian Wit, a German Weizen, English Lager, etc. Avoid hoppy beers like pilsener, IPA, Pale Ale, etc.

Nutrition Facts

6 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories380

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 12g 19%

  • Saturated Fat 3g 15%

• Sodium 635mg 27%

• Total Carbohydrate 54g 18%

  • Dietary Fiber 13g 52%

  • Sugars 7g

• Protein 26g 52%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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The ingredients are simple: some dried beans, chicken stock, onions, garlic, bay leaves, bacon, and beer. What you get is sublime. And something you can eat all on its own. These beans, plus a slice of bread and another beer would make a fabulous dinner. And if you are Vegan/Vegetarian, omit the bacon and replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock and you are all set.

Grocery Store vs. Heirloom Beans

A word about beans. You can buy dried beans at the grocery store, of course. I used to just buy canned beans, but over the years I moved from canned beans to dry beans. And then, when someone showed me their beans, I started buying heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. It turns out that these things make a difference. Canned beans, honestly, all taste the same, regardless of the type of bean. Black beans, pinto beans, white beans, pretty much all the same. The only real difference is the seasoning in the broth. Moving to dry beans and cooking them myself made a difference. But, like most other industrially farmed food, beans on the grocery store shelf are not very flavorful and lack in variety. That is not true of Rancho Gordo’s beans!

In the grocery store, you get a few different standard varieties of dry beans: Great White Northern, Pintos, Kidneys, perhaps a couple others. And that’s it. But if you are willing to put in a little time on the Internet and buy via a web store, you can find an amazing variety and type of beans out there. Like the Pinquitos in the above picture. Which have been cooked and eaten in Central California for at least a century, maybe longer, according to this article in the LA Times. There are hundreds of varieties of beans, most of which no longer end up in stores in the US. But I’ve had the opportunity to start eating them via Rancho Gordo, beans like Flageolets (France), Marcellas (Italy), Pinquitos (California), Yellow Eyes (Texas), Alubia Blancos (Mexico) and more. You should really try something other than the dry pintos on the grocery store shelf!

Notes and Tips: Soaking, Simmer, Salt

Most people used to cooking dry beans do a long soak of the beans before cooking them. This is, generally, because the dry beans are not “fresh”. Beans from someone like Rancho Gordo, that haven’t sat on shelves for over 2 years, are “fresh”. Soaking fresh beans can actually cause them to sprout. You should never soak Rancho Gordo beans. In fact, you don’t really need to overnight soak any beans. You can literally just cook the beans. But, if you are attached to soaking beans, and they are not “fresh” beans, then by all means feel free to soak them.

When I talk about a bare simmer with the lid cracked, what I mean is that you are getting no more than 2-4 bubbles per second. The easiest way I’ve found to achieve this is turn the burner down to its lowest setting and put a lid on, but cracked open. You may need to adjust the burner, based on your stove. It looks like the pictures below.

Finally, and I’m going to put a note in the recipe as well, do not add salt to this recipe. You can add after you have cooked if the beans/broth need more seasoning. But if you add salt at the beginning, you will create a mushy bean with a skin that tears and breaks easily.

Beans: A Cooking Primer

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: Main DishCuisine: American, BeansDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

3

hours 

30

minutes

Calories

272

kcal

Total time

3

hours 

50

minutes

A straight forward recipe for preparing and cooking dry beans. You can eat them as a dish by themselves, or use them in recipes that call for canned beans.

Ingredients

• 8 oz dry beans – either already soaked or fresh as above

• 1 small onion, diced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 slices thick cut bacon

• 3 cups chicken stock

• 4 oz lager beer (and 8 oz for you to enjoy)

Method

• Put beans in a colander and rinse them with cold water. Sort and remove any debris or broken beans.

• In a 2 or 3 quart sauce pan, brown the bacon slowly until fat has rendered well, but the bacon is not yet crispy. Reserve the bacon, cut into small pieces.

• Add onion to bacon fat (add olive oil if needed) and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes

• Add garlic and bay leaves, cook until aromatic, about 1 minute

• Deglaze with the lager

• Add the beans to the pan and then cover with stock. Cover the beans by at least 1″

• Bring the beans to a hard boil for 5 minutes

• Turn heat down to low, cover with a cracked open lid, and cook at a bare simmer. Anything harder than this will break the skin on the beans as you cook them.

• Cook the beans for about 3 hours, adding water as needed to keep the beans submerged/covered.

• The beans are done when they have a clean bite, but are still firm to the touch. If you cook past this point they will start getting mushy.
  

• Take the beans off the heat ….. now you can serve as is, or you can add them to whatever you are cooking that needs beans at the point it would call for canned or cooked beans.

Notes

• Note: Do NOT add salt until after you have cooked the beans. Adding salt breaks down the bean prematurely, leading to a mushy bean with skin that tears and breaks.

Nutrition Facts

4 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories272

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 5g 8%

  • Saturated Fat 2g 10%

• Sodium 118mg 5%

• Total Carbohydrate 39g 13%

  • Dietary Fiber 9g 36%

  • Sugars 3g

• Protein 15g 30%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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And that means that you need something that is comfortable to hold. A knife that keeps a good edge. Not too thick, not too thin. And it is going to have to stand up to a lot of wear and tear, since you use it every day, all the time. That most important knife in the kitchen is, for almost everyone, a chef’s knife. A typical chef’s knife has a 6 or 8 inch blade, a comfortable 5-6 inch handle. The blade has a reasonable curve to it so that you can use the knife in a rocking motion with the tip never leaving the cutting board. And the blade is double beveled in the Western style not single beveled in the Japanese style.

I have owned what I think is the best overall chef knife that you can buy for a decade now: A Wüsthof Ikon Classic 8” Chef Knife. I’ve been using it to cut up chicken, chop vegetables, cut briskets, cube up beef, and everything else in the kitchen for 10 years. It never slips in my hand, the blade is very precise, and it stays fairly sharp.

Everyone’s hands are different. So, while I can whole heartedly recommend this knife, it may not be the best choice for you. Figuring out the best knife for you should be a combination of research and test driving the knife. Fortunately for us, many people have done some great research and testing that we can leverage.

Here’s two great resources for you to take a look at:

• Food and Wine: The Best Chef’s Knife for 2021

• NY Magazine: 14 Chef’s Knives, Vetted 14 Ways

Once you’ve done your research, go to the store and test drive the knife you want. See how it feels, how it cuts, will you be comfortable with it.

Find a knife you like, get a good sharpening system, and go to town!

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Most of the seasonings and herbs used in a marinade are fairly large molecules that don’t penetrate into the protein strands of meat well at all. Salt, on the other hand, does. And it helps break apart the protein strands, improving flavor and tenderness dramatically. This Amazing Ribs article has much more on the science of salt.

Here’s the basics of dry marinading, which will make a huge difference with your meat, no matter whether we are talking about pork, chicken, or beef.

1. Pat the meat dry and remove all surface fat and silver skin

2. Use 1/2 tsp of Morton’s Kosher Salt per pound of meat

3. Apply the salt liberally to all sides of the piece of meat

4. For chicken, you need to get the salt under the skin and directly onto the meat.

5. Let the meat rest, uncovered, in the refrigerator, for at least 1 hour.

6. 24 hours is better for most cuts of meat

7. For very thick or large cuts of meat, you can go as much as 72 hours.

8. You want the salt to penetrate throughout the entire cut of meat

9. When you are ready to cook the meat, rinse the meat off lightly, then pat dry and apply your seasonings and rub immediately before going on to cook.

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How To Use It

Try this on a chuck roast, cooked low and slow until falling apart, and then make Mexico City style street tacos: corn tortillas, shredded beef, pickled onions, cotija. Or make traditional pulled pork, but with this rub for “south of the border” flair. This amount will cover a full pork shoulder or 3 chuck roasts. You need about 1 tbsp per pound. 

Carnitas Rub

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: RubCuisine: MexicoDifficulty: Easy

Servings

9

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

0

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Total time

10

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp chili powder

• 2 tbsp Garlic powder

• 1 tbsp onion powder

• 1 tbsp white table sugar

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp ground oregano

• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Method

• Assemble all your ingredients

• Dump into a small mixing bowl

• Mix together well

• Cover and allow to stand 1 hour before using

Notes

• There is no salt in the rub. You should be dry brining ahead of applying the rub. If you are not going to dry brine, add 1 1/2 tbsp of Morton’s kosher salt to the rub

• Use 1 TBSP of the rub per pound of meat. This amount will generally cover an entire pork shoulder or 3 chuck roasts.

• A serving is 1 TBSP for purposes of calculating calories.

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Got this originally from Sitka Salmon Shares. Made some adjustments to my preferred flavor profiles.

Notes

This rub has salt in it. If you are used to dry brining beef ahead of time, bear that in mind. I would recommend not dry brining if using this rub. This goes very well on beefy and fishy meats, especially beef with high fat content (beef ribs, ribeye steak, etc) and oily fish (salmon, swordfish, etc). Don’t use on pork, poultry, or white fish.

The term “spiced” is used in the English Middle Ages sense of using exotic spices from North Africa and the Middle East. Coriander, paprika, tellicherry pepper (ie black pepper), and so forth were the spices used in England at the time. They were quite expensive and reserved for special occasions as a general rule.

Takes (how long)

Food prep – 5 minutes to assemble and mix together. Let combine for an hour, or so, before first use.

Special tools

Coffee grinder, spice grinder, or mortar and pestle will be helpful.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp fine ground coffee – use something strong and robust, like French roast

• 1 tbsp sweet paprika

• 1 tbsp ground coriander

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 1 tbsp kosher salt

Method

1. put all ingredients in a small bowl, combine well, cover

2. Use about 2 tsp per 1.5 lbs of meat

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Smoked Texas Chili Backstory

There are three main sources for this recipe. Many years ago, I started making my own chili rather than buy it in a can (I know, I know). I started with sort of the classic home made chili recipe involving ground beef, onions, some basic dry seasonings, tomatoes, and beans (I know, I know). That evolved some over time, including that I learned to use fresh garlic, not garlic powder, and I started cooking my own beans, not buying them in a can. About that time, the Internet got to be a big deal and I was getting ideas off the internet, which is when I switched from ground beef to stew meat. Better, but still not great. At some point, I found Amazing Ribs, but I was really only using it for ribs, rubs, and sauces. One day, poking around, I discovered that Meathead had a Texas Chili recipe and it called for smoking the meat and onion!

I added that twist into my recipe and had already dumped the beans not long before. But I still wanted some crunch in there, so I added diced carrots. Yes, I know, that’s just wrong and all Texas Chili purists will denounce me. But I like it. I leave the carrots out of the recipe, but feel free to add them in to see what I mean. If you do, add the diced carrots right at the end and cook an additional 10 minutes after adding them.

Notes

A few quick notes. First, the chuck roast (and it’s fat) makes a big difference. Don’t try to go lean meat from stew meat or the top round or whatever. This is chili, not white chicken chili. It’s supposed to be big, hearty, bold, and have lots of beef flavor going on.

The wine should be rustic, a chianti or rioja is a great idea. The beef stock, ideally, is home made. If not, buy good quality beef stock or bone broth.

The first time, make it with all of my ingredients. After that, you can start swapping out and substituting and modifying. This chili is moderately spicy, not mild and not melt your face hot.

We are going to dry brine the chuck roast to enhance flavor and tenderness. This is a basic method you should use for all beef. See my post on Dry Brining.

Serve with

Crusty bread, green salad, corn bread, rice, and all the usual chili toppings (if you insist): shredded cheese, sour cream, avocados, tortilla chips, diced white onion, etc. Personally, I like chili all by itself, no toppings, a small green salad, and a Shiner Bock. Or a glass of the wine you used to cook the chili.

Special tools

• A grill or smoker to smoke the meat and onion. You don’t have to do this, but it makes a huge difference.

• Dutch oven, enameled or cast iron, for cooking the chili

• Good instant read thermometer for checking meat temp.

What It Looks Like Cooking

Life Changing: Smoked Texas Chili

0 from 0 votes

Recipe by Eric Course: Soups, Stews, ChilisCuisine: TexasDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

3

hours 

Calories

510

kcal

Time on Smoker

2

hours 

Dry Brine Time

24

hours

Total time

5

hours 

20

minutes

This is Smoked Texas Chili. There are no beans. Just meat, onions, garlic, peppers, and tomatoes. And smoke. And tons of layers of flavor.

Ingredients

• Smoked Chuck Roast and Onion

• 1 medium onion, cut in quarters, root end on

• 1 chuck roast – 2.5 to 3 lbs

• 1 1/2 tsp Morton’s kosher salt

• 2 tbsp Eric’s Beef Rub (2 tsp per pound of chuck roast. There 3 tsp in a tbsp)

• For The Chili

• 1 chuck roast, smoked

• 1 medium onion, smoked

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 lb bacon

• 4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

• 1 serrano pepper, deseeded, diced

• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded, diced

• 2 tbsp chili powder – American or Ancho

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 can diced tomatoes OR 1 lb tomatoes, peeled and diced

• 4 tbsp fresh lime juice (2-3 limes)

• 1 oz dark chocolate

• 2 cups red wine – Chianti, Rioja, or similar rustic red

• 3 cups beef stock – preferably you made it. If not, get good quality bone broth

• 20 whole tortilla chips, crushed

Method

• Dry Brine

• Liberally cover the chuck roast with the kosher salt, 1/2 tsp per pound of meat

• Place chuck roast on a tray or plate in refrigerator for at least one hour, preferably 24 hours

• Smoke chuck roast and onion

• Prepare smoker/grill for 2 zone cooking. Indirect zone should be 250F. Add a chunk of wood to your fire if using charcoal or gas grill, preferably some sort of oak.

• Remove dry outer skin of onion, cut into quarters. Leave the basal plate (where the roots are) on the onion quarters so they don’t fall apart on you

• Liberally rub the chuck roast with Eric’s Beef Rub – about 2 tsp per pound

• Put chuck roast and onion on indirect to smoke.

• Remove onion after 30 minutes

• Remove chuck roast when internal temp is 150F, about 2 hours

• Cooking The Chili

• Cut chuck roast into 1″ cubes (roughly), removing large fat chunks and gristle

• Rough chop the onion

• Dice bacon into lardons (about 1/4″ on a side)

• Mince or crush the garlic cloves

• De-seed and dice the serrano and bell pepper

• If using fresh tomatoes, peel and dice

• Cook bacon in dutch oven, over medium low heat, until fat is well rendered and bacon is starting to get crisp. Reserve bacon

• Increase heat to medium high and brown the chuck roast in the bacon fat, working in batches, until all meat is browned on all sides.

• Do not crowd the meat. Reserve the chuck with the bacon

• Reduce heat back to medium low, add olive oil and allow heat to settle.

• Add onion, serrano, bell pepper to the pot and cook until onion is translucent, about 10 minutes

• Add garlic and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute

• Add cumin and chili powder and cook about 30 seconds, stirring into the rest of the onions, peppers and garlic.

• Immediately deglaze with half the red wine, scraping all the browned bits off the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon

• Now add the beef, bacon, tomatoes, lime juice, beef stock, remaining wine, chocolate, and crushed tortilla chips into the pot

• Stir everything together well, make sure the meat is barely covered with liquid. Add water or stock to fully cover.

• Bring the chili to a boil, then reduce to a very bare simmer with cover on.

• Simmer chili for about 3 hours, until the beef is cooked and tender, but not falling apart.

• While cooking, if the chili is getting too thick, add some more wine, stock, or water. If it is not thick enough, add a few more crushed up tortilla chips

• At the end of 2 hours, start checking for flavor. You may need salt to taste.

• When meat is tender and chili is thickened properly, cover and remove from heat

• Serve and enjoy!

Notes

• Feel free to add any preferred toppings, such as avocado, raw onion, shredded cheese, diced jalapeño, tortilla strips, and so on.

• Can be served over rice, if desired

• Goes well with corn bread, crusty French bread, green salad

Nutrition Facts

8 servings per container

• Amount Per ServingCalories510

• % Daily Value *

• Total Fat 31g 48%

  • Saturated Fat 13g 65%

• Cholesterol 100mg 34%

• Sodium 457mg 20%

• Potassium 112mg 4%

• Total Carbohydrate 18g 6%

  • Dietary Fiber 2g 8%

  • Sugars 5g

• Protein 30g 60%

• Vitamin A 7%

• Vitamin C 41%

• Calcium 3%

• Iron 21%

* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

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