Pork loin is one of my favorite meals to cook on the grill. This Labor Day, I brined a portion of loin, rubbed it with olive oil and garlic and threw it on the grill over indirect heat. At an internal temperature, of 140 degrees, I seared the roast over the coals and took it inside to rest.

Sauteed some mushrooms, made a pan gravy and served. Check out that light smoke ring, man it was delicious.

Tip: I like to buy a whole loin cut it into a couple of six inch roasts and the rest into chops. You can usually get the meat for $1/pound cheaper if you do the cutting.

Its that time of the year when the air fills with the wonderful scent of roasted New Mexico green chile. Fruit stands, roadside vendors, grocery stores and even Walmart has a chile roaster in the parking lot.

While Hatch is best known for the chile in New Mexico, there are many wonderful fields around the state. For me its the backyard that produces the fresh green treats. This year I planted roughly twenty plants which have been producing and producing starting around the first of the month. Here are some picture of the latest roasting on the grill.

On the menu, spicy chicken wings with my favorite hot sauce the red rooster Sriracha.

The recipe is simple,

1 jar (18 oz) Orange Marmalade
1/3 cup – Honey
1/3 cup – Brown sugar
1/3 cup – Sriracha Sauce

Bring the mixture to a boil and remove from heat and toss with some wings.

The mix is thick sweet with some heat and great.

Thanks to No Excuses for the recipe.

Pictures of my first smoker build, a not so ugly Ugly Drum Smoker. This beauty, flows perfectly, holds between 235-250F for 12+ hours on a single back of charcoal. The intake is from a Big Green Egg smoker bought off of EBay. The exhausts are standard issue Autozone chrome tip exhausts, tack welded on the lid of the smoker. Modern cabinet handles and some miscellaneous hardware from Lowes, complete the build.

Spray painted it cherry red to go with the local collage team the University of New Mexico Lobos. Its sure to be a hit at his years tailgates.

I caught the smoker building bug and have already moved on to my next project, a fully insulated upright reverse flow steel smoker. I have about $1000 into it so far and its 80% complete. I hope to have it done here in the next month or so.

Spring can’t come fast enough.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNq4XdCuhD4

In honor of World MOINK Ball Day 2010 (June 5th), I decided to whip up a batch along side some baby back ribs in the new UDS.

MONIK = MO (Beef) + OINK (Pork).

Here my recipe,

Homemade meatballs (frozen store bought ones work just fine)
Bacon slices
“Sweet Heat” (light brown sugar mixed with cayenne pepper)
Skewers or toothpicks

The process is simple, wrap one meatball with one slice of bacon, use a toothpick or skewer to hold it together. Dust them with “Sweet Heat” or you favorite BBQ rub and place in the smoker till the bacon is crisp.

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Here are some pictures of my first attempt at a Reuben sandwich made with some of my homemade pastrami. My version includes homemade pastrami, fresh pumpernickel breed, Thousand Islands dressing, jack cheese (not a big fan of Swiss) and some organic sauerkraut.

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Spicy Sweet Sriracha wings, the recipe is simple,

Chicken wings, either deep fried or baked.

Sriracha wing sauce

1 part Sriracha sauce (commonly available in you local grocers Asian section)
1 part butter or margarine
1 part honey

Mix together in a sauce pan over low heat. Toss the wings in the sauce and serve.

I was planning on making Sriracha wings for dinner tonight, but I didn’t have any wings, so I substituted some baked chicken drumsticks instead, turned out great.

Beware: Sriracha might be one of the most addicting substances on the earth. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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Found a great local butcher (Keller Meats) in town and decided to grill up some porterhouse steaks for dinner on Sunday night. Menu included steaks medium rare, seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled asparagus spears, some garlic bread and a baked potato. The wife and I were very please with the special dinner.

Brining has been a longtime method used by some of the worlds top chefs to inject flavor and add moisture to meat. In a brine, the salt actually opens up the cells in the meat, allowing them to hold more water.

Unlike a marinade, which only imparts flavor to the outermost meat, a actually brine draws in the salt and other added flavorings all the way to the bone.

Here is the basic brine recipe:

1 gallon of water
1 cup of salt
1/2 cup of sugar

Make sure brine is cold before placing the meat in it. Brine for 3-36 hrs. in the refrigerator depending on the thickness of meat, keeping the meat fully submerged in the solution.

• Boneless Chicken Breasts, Pork Chops: 2 hrs.
• 2 lbs: 4-6 hrs.
• 3-4 lbs: 6-8 hrs.
• Whole Chicken: 12 hrs.
• Small Whole Turkey: 12-24 hrs.
• Large Whole Turkey: 24-36 hrs.

You can add flavors like herbs, chile, citrus and additional sugar to the basic brine recipe to achieve different results.

TIP: To adjust the salty flavor in the meat, change the brine time instead of altering the salt content in the recipe.

Here are some chicken drumsticks I brined and smoked last weekend. I added chile flake and garlic at some lemon to the basic brine recipe.

Unfortunately I missed the final product photos, but the drums turned out great and had plenty of moisture.

Longtime restaurant entrepreneur and host of No Reservation, Anthony Bourdain talks about vegans.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMdSgj-AUQ4