bbq Archives - The Midnight Baker

Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Tenderloin

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 23:00:35 +0000

Toss this jalapeño popper stuffed tenderloin on the grill for your next BBQ. Does it get any better than a bacon wrap?

Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Tenderloin

Tenderloin is one of my favorite pork cuts. The reason for that is that it cooks pretty quickly and can be flavored or stuffed in so many ways. In other words, it’s different each way you make it so you never get bored! This jalapeño popper stuffed tenderloin is just one of those ways.

Lucky for me, tenderloins have been on sale quite a bit in my area. I definitely take advantage of that. And nothing complements a pork loin like a zippy jalapeño popper stuffing. It’s wrapped in bacon too so what’s not to love about this?

Grill Smoker Or Oven

That choice is pretty much up to you–and the weather, of course.

Since I love my outdoor grills so much, my method of choice for this (and any tenderloin) is indirect grilling. To do this, you cook the meat on the unlit side of a gas grill. On a charcoal grill, you bank the coals to one side and cook the meat on the side with no coals underneath. One thing about charcoal grills and indirect cooking is the BBQ must have a lid. A Weber kettle is perfect.

If you have a smoker, that’s a perfect way to do this tenderloin. I’d recommend apple wood chips as it goes so well with pork.

The oven is probably the quickest way to do this. It should cook in about 45 minutes at 400F/200C.

Prepping The Tenderloin

First you must remove all membrane and silver skin. If left on, it will shrink and change the shape of the meat.

Next, in order to fill it, you have to butterfly the tenderloin. I also try to pound down the thick parts so it all cooks evenly.

I won’t lie here–you’re going to need about 2 pounds of bacon to wrap 2 pieces. The bacon should overlap so there are no bare spots. It’s also best to cook this seam side up so you don’t lose any delicious filling. I didn’t need toothpicks or skewers to keep the bacon in place, but have some handy just in case.

The Recipe

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Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Tenderloin

Three ways to cook

Prep Time25

Cook Time3

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: jalapeño popper stuffed pork, pork tenderloin cooked on the grill, stuffed pork tenderloin

Servings: 8

Calories: 1005kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 pork tenderloins
24 oz bacon approximately

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese softened
4 jalapeños cored, seeded and
2 tbs onion finely minced
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbs chili powder

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Remove membrane and any fat off the tenderloins.
Butterfly the tenderloins (there are great YouTube videos on butterflying); set aside.
Mix all the filling ingredients in a small bowl. Divide the filling equally down the center of each butterflied tenderloin.
Fold the ends of the tenderloin over the filling and wrap tightly with the bacon slices. FYI you may use more or less bacon than I did depending on how large the tenderloins are—mine were pretty big.
This can be cooked 3 ways—oven, indirect grill heat or in a smoker.
For oven: cook in a 400F/200C oven for 45-60 minutes
For indirect grill heat: place the tenderloins on the UNLIT side of a gas grill. Close the lid and cook for 2-3 hours or until the internal temperature is 160F/80C
For the smoker: applewood chips are nice for pork. Smoke at 200F/100C for 3-5 hours. Internal temperature should be the same as for indirect method

Nutrition

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Bourbon Molasses Pork Tenderloin

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 04 Jun 2022 23:00:42 +0000

Fire up the grill for this delicious bourbon molasses pork tenderloin. Make it in the oven too.

Bourbon Molasses Pork Tenderloin–YUM

Have you noticed that pork tenderloins have been on sale a lot lately? They have been in my area and since I love this cut, I stock up big time.

Pork tenderloins are a great choice for when you want “roast” pork but want it quickly. Generally, they take less than an hour when oven roasted so that’s pretty quick. However, here we take the low and slow approach by using indirect heat on an outside grill. Even though this may take twice the time than in a regular oven, this method has many advantages. One of those is that the meat remains juicier.

Indirect Cooking Method

Indirect cooking is outside cooking’s version of slow cooking. A smoker uses the same method but with the addition of wood chips for extra flavor. As an aside, that will work very nicely here too so if you have a smoker, try it. The time will be approximately the same as the indirect method.

You can achieve indirect heat by either charcoal or gas grills. The charcoal grill will require a lid so if all you have is a a topless model, it won’t do here. A Weber kettle is the perfect instrument.

What you do with the charcoal is light it, let it catch so the briquettes are uniformly grey, then pile them up over on one side of the grill. Then place the meat on the side with no briquettes under it. With this method, you have to monitor the heat periodically so I tend to avoid it with longer-cooking pieces of meat. It does, however, produce great flavor.

Using a gas grill is so much simpler because it’s pretty much fuss free. Merely light one side of the grill and cook on the unlit side. No worries with a cover since they all have covers. And there’s little to no monitoring the temperature. This is my preferred method.

Let It Rest

As with all roasts cooked by any method, letting it rest is important. I can’t stress that enough here. Tent with foil and let these babies rest for at least 15 minutes.

You won’t be sorry.

The Recipe

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Bourbon Molasses Pork Tenderloin

Perfect for grilling

Prep Time15

Cook Time2

Marinate8

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bbq tenderloin, boozy pork marinades, pork tenderloin on the outside grill

Servings: 6

Calories: 282kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 lbs pork tenderloin trimmed of membrane

Marinade:

1/4 cup black coffee at room temperature
1/4 cup bourbon
3 tbs molasses
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs fresh thyme chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Mix all marinade ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
Place the tenderloins in a large plastic freezer bag and pour the marinade over the pork. Put the pork in the fridge and let it marinate for 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Prepare a charcoal or gas grill for indirect cooking. On a gas grill, this means cooking on the UNLIT side. On a charcoal grill it means piling up the charcoal on one side of the grill and cooking over the side with no coals (see photo in post). FYI the charcoal grill must have a cover (like a Weber kettle)
Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and boil for 5 minutes. You're going to baste the tenderloins with this.
Place the tenderloins on the prepared grill, cover and grill for about 2 hours or until internal temperature is at least 145F/70C. The ideal temperature is 160F/80C.
Move the tenderloins to the lit side of the grill to sear--about 5 minutes.
You can do this in a regular oven, but roast at 400F/200C for about 40 minutes.

Nutrition

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Instant Pot Make-Ahead Ribs

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 21 May 2022 23:00:07 +0000

With Instant Pot make-ahead ribs, you prep them now and finish them off later.

Instant Pot Make-Ahead Ribs

With Memorial Day and Independence Day holidays coming up, your Instant Pot will certainly be a boon. Since it will keep your kitchen relatively cool it will be a go-to appliance for the warmer months. It can also help with meal prep. Especially meats that need to be cooked then finished off on the grill.

This is one of those recipes. You prep, then cook these ribs. Then you keep them and the juices refrigerated until you’re ready to finish cooking them.

Exotic Flavors

The rub for these Instant Pot make-ahead ribs has an exotic and wonderful flavor. These flavors remind me of Moroccan cooking. Not sure if that’s entirely accurate but with the addition of cinnamon used for something savory, it’s reminiscent of those flavors. The taste of cinnamon is not strong; just a whisper but it’s ever so nice.

Another flavor comes from cumin. Straight up I’ll tell you it’s not one of my favorite flavors. However, how it blends with everything else it worked very well. I actually liked it very much. In this rub, you use crushed cumin seeds. I couldn’t find those in my local store but I was able to order it from Walmart and not at an inflated price either.

Most of the other ingredients I’m sure you already have like whole peppercorns, red pepper flakes and of course the cinnamon.

The Sauce

The basting sauce is what pulls this all together. The slightly tart essence from the vinegar is just the thing for this. So is the bit of garlic.

Because you make this ahead and refrigerate the juices, the congealed fat is easy to remove.

Now all you have to do is grill them and baste!

The Recipe

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Instant Pot Make-Ahead Ribs

Prep the ribs now to finish later

Prep Time20

Cook Time9

Course: Appetizer, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: instant pot ribs, party food you can make ahead, ribs with moroccan seasoning

Servings: 6

Calories: 463kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

4 lbs pork baby back ribs
1/4 cup dry white wine
Oil

Rub:

1 tbs black peppercorns
1 tbs cumin seeds
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs kosher salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Sauce:

2 tbs red or white wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic crushed
1/4 cup chopped parsley

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Crush peppercorns, cumin seeds and pepper flakes in a mortar & pestle. Place this in a small bowl then add the remaining rub ingredients.
Season the ribs on both sides with the rub.
Place the 1/4 cup of white wine into the Instant Pot and arrange the ribs around the side of the bowl--making a ring shape against the wall of the inner pot. Set the cooker to manual (high pressure) and set the timer for 9 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes then manually release the pressure. Remove the ribs to a baking sheet to cool.
Now set the cooker to the saute function for 10 minutes to reduce the juices in the pot. Strain this through a fine mesh strainer. There should be about 3/4 cup of juices. Let it cool then chill (this will congeal any fat for easy removal).
Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for medium-high heat (you can use an indoor broiler too).
Remove the congealed fat from the chilled juices and place in a small saucepan. Add the sauce ingredients and heat over medium heat until this mixture is reduced by half.
Lightly oil the ribs then place on the grill meaty side down until lightly browned. Turn ribs and baste with the sauce. Repeat this turning and basting until the ribs are lightly charred on both sides; about 5-10 minutes total.
Remove to a cutting board and cut into individual ribs. Drizzle the ribs with any remaining sauce.

Nutrition

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Raspberry Chipotle Ribs

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 23:00:43 +0000

Make a big batch of these raspberry chipotle ribs because they’ll disappear quickly!

Raspberry And Smoky Chipotle

Those flavors are about as close as you can get to a marriage made in heaven and that’s a good way to describe these raspberry chipotle ribs. The sweet-tart taste of raspberry preserves and the smokey slight heat from the chipotles combine so well that even people who avoid anything “hot” seem to love the flavor. I actually got this idea from my neighbor. She’s one of those people that run away from any heat in food. Yet, she told me the one thing she’s sad that she can’t get when a local market closed was their own chipotle raspberry bbq sauce!

She said they used it on beef but I wanted to try this with pork. The sauce is so easy to make, so you just may find yourself making it often!

How Many Peppers

That would be up to you and your personal tastes.

The sauce uses the canned chipotles in adobo. If you want it really zippy, then use the entire can, sauce and all. I’m talking about the smaller can here. However I would really advise against using so many chipotles because the smoky heat would definitely overpower the raspberry flavor.

I used two peppers. This for me was the perfect amount because I got smoke, a slight amount of heat and the raspberry flavor really came through. Since there’s nothing in the sauce that would cause you to get sick eating it raw, start with my amount of peppers then taste it. You can always add more and process it further.

If you don’t use the entire can, they can be stored in the fridge for a future use like this smoky two potato salad.

Now About The Ribs

If you want to cook them on the outside grill low and slow over indirect heat, that works here.

If you’re a crockpot fan, that works too.

The Instant Pot was my choice because it’s quick. Any method will do because all you do on the grill is finish them off over direct high heat.

Remember to really pile on the sauce when you finish them off. Baste and turn often because the more of that great sauce flavor is totally awesome.

The Recipe

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Raspberry Chipotle Ribs

These will be devoured quickly!

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Finishing On Grill10

Course: Appetizers, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: grilled chipotle raspberry pork ribs, making ribs in the instant pot, raspberry chipotle sauce

Servings: 6

Calories: 1104kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

8 lbs pork baby back ribs about 2 racks

BBQ Sauce:

1 cup thick BBQ sauce like Sweet Baby Ray's
1 cup raspberry preserves
1 small onion chopped
2 chipotle peppers packed in adobo

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until smooth; set aside.
Cook ribs your favorite way--leaving rack(s) whole. I used my Instant Pot and cooked at high pressure for 15 minutes, releasing the pressure immediately.
Heat your outside grill to high heat for direct cooking. When grill is heated, slather the ribs in the prepared sauce and grill each side until the sauce is bubbling and beginning to get brown. You can baste with the sauce several times while finishing them off for more flavor.
If a grill isn't an option, pop them under a broiler, basting frequently, until they are bubbly.

Nutrition

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Copycat Brooks BBQ Chicken

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 23:00:43 +0000

Brooks BBQ chicken is an upstate New York favorite. Here’s a copycat that happens to be genuine too.

An Upstate New York Favorite

If you’ve ever gone to a fundraiser or local fair in upstate New York, you’re sure to have enjoyed Brooks BBQ chicken. This chicken is a beloved favorite in the northern parts of the state.

The reason is simple–it’s got great flavor! There’s nothing really special about the ingredients since you probably have everything you need right in your pantry. In fact, I think you’ll find this quite surprising.

The Brooks people didn’t invent this way of doing chicken. As a matter of fact, the recipe existed for quite some time and there’s a bit of history attached to it.

Cornell Chicken

While this chicken has come to be known as “Brooks” chicken, the recipe is quite old and was known simply as “Cornell chicken.”

The reason for that is the formula was invented by a professor at Cornell University. Cornell is the land-grant college in New York state and land-grant colleges deal with farming and agriculture.

Years ago when younger chickens were being marketed, the major complaint was they had no taste and were rubbery. Long story short, the professor came up with this marinade to make younger chickens taste better and have a better texture.

Just an aside–even though I used my gas grill, this tastes way better done with charcoal.

Simple Marinade

The marinade is the simplest thing to make.

My advice is to use your covered blender to make it. I thought my immersion blender would be perfect, but nope. I was glad it didn’t make TOO much mess before I switched to a standard blender.

A couple of changes I made to the original was I cut the salt down to half because I’m really not into salty stuff anymore. However, I give the original amount in the recipe but I’ll remind you there of what I did.

I also used half olive oil, because I’m a lover of the stuff. As for the egg, you can probably safely omit this. Frankly I don’t see the point even though I used it. Therefore, using it is up to you.

The Recipe

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Copycat Brooks BBQ Chicken

A New York favorite

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Marinate8

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bbq chicken without sugar, brooks bbq chicken, cornell chicken, fundraiser bbq chicken

Servings: 4

Calories: 484kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

4 lb whole chicken cut in half

Marinade:

2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil I used 1/2 olive oil & 1/2 vegetable oil
1 tbs poultry seasoning
3 tbs salt I used 1/2 the amount
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place all marinade ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Reserve about 1/2 cup for basting.
Place the chicken halves in a large zippered freezer bag and pour the marinade over them. Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat your gas grill (or covered charcoal grill) to medium-high heat. Initially, you will brown the chicken over direct heat and finish the cooking over indirect heat. On a gas grill, this means moving the chicken to the UNLIT side of the grill then putting the cover down. On a charcoal grill this means that you move the coals to the periphery of the grill and place the chicken in the center where there's no coals under it, then placing the cover on the grill.
Remove chicken from marinade and pat dry on paper towels. Discard used marinade.
Cook the chicken, skin side down, over direct heat for about 5 minutes or until browning starts. Turn chicken and move it to the unlit side of the grill. Cover and cook for about 45 minutes, turning every so often and basting with reserved marinade, until juices run clear or registers 165F/75C on an instant-read thermometer.
Tent with foil and let the chicken rest for 10 minutes.

Nutrition

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Honey Tamarind Ribs

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 23:00:46 +0000

Honey tamarind ribs are quite possibly the best ribs you’ll ever taste.

Dollar Store Find

Sometimes you find the greatest things in a dollar store. My local store is one of the best I’ve ever been in.

On the last trip they had a whole bunch of cookbooks in their seasonal aisle. I bought one of each–can you go wrong for a buck? Anyway there were some awesome-looking recipes in a couple of the books that I decided to try. This particular honey tamarind rib recipe was very appealing since I just love ribs.

However, it needed an ingredient that I wasn’t familiar with–tamarind. So I Googled it and learned what it was. I’m sure I’ve had dishes that included it as I’m a huge fan of Asian cooking (where Google said the prominent cuisine where it is used), but I never cooked with it.

I was pretty sure I’d never find it around where I live, I purchased a small jar from Amazon.

Tamarind

It’s hard to describe the taste. It’s sweet/tart in flavor and a friend said it tastes like you put a bit of vinegar on a date. That’s pretty accurate when I think about it. I understand there are different forms such as paste and pulp. What I got was the paste and it looks and has the consistency of molasses. This paste requires no soaking or sieving so I consider that the easiest form because there’s less prep work.

There are substitutions for tamarind, but even the recipes for them tell you that they’re woefully inadequate because you’ll be missing the lovely flavor. Therefore, I urge everyone to get the real product.

Grilling Method

When making ribs–or anything that requires a longer cook time–the indirect heat method is almost always used. This is especially true if you are cooking the ribs from raw. This means you just place the food over the unlit side with a gas grill. With a charcoal set up, you place the briquettes in a ring around the periphery of the grill and place the meat in the center where there’s no briquettes. Of course either method requires that you have a lid for the grill. Popular though they are now, a Blackstone just won’t cut it with this cooking method.

Anything you grill with indirect heat is also great in a conventional oven. These ribs are no exception. Go with an oven temp of 325F/160C and you’ll be all set.

The Recipe

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Honey Tamarind Ribs

Finger licking' good ribs

Prep Time15

Cook Time1 45

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: recipes using tamarind, rib recipes for BBQ, tamarind honey pork ribs

Servings: 4

Calories: 632kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3 lb pork baby back ribs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Glaze:

1/2 cup water
1 tbs tamarind paste
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp fresh ginger grated
2 cloves garlic finely minced or pressed
1/2 tsp chili paste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Remove membrane covering the bones of the ribs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Prepare grill for indirect cooking. For a gas grill, this means cooking over the unlit burner. See post for charcoal directions. If your grill has a thermometer, you want to the heat to be medium--abbout 325-350F/160-180C.
Place ribs meat side down over unlit section. Close the lid and cook for 1 hour, turning ribs midway through cooking.
Meanwhile, combine the glaze ingredients in a saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring to combine. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes or until the glaze has a syrupy consistency.
Brush ribs with the glaze, continuing to cook for an additional 45 minutes, turning and basting both sides of the ribs throughout the final cook time. I basted them every 10 minutes.
Remove from the grill, tent with foil and let the ribs rest 10 minutes. Baste with remaining glaze just before serving.

Nutrition

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Cointreau Ribs

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 29 May 2021 23:00:44 +0000

Kick off the summer grilling season with these Cointreau ribs.

Ribs: Great For The Grill

Memorial Day (or Spring Bank Holiday if you’re in UK) is the traditional kick-off to summer. Even though summer really begins mid June, this weekend is all about outdoor cooking.

I just love cookouts and always have so I look forward to this weekend. And most of all, I look forward to my first rack of ribs done on the grill. I think they’re my favorite thing to eat. Since they taste way better done on the BBQ, I’m all set to go. One thing I really like is citrus with pork. These Cointreau ribs certainly satisfy with a hint of orange in the glaze.

The Liqueur

Cointreau is an orange-flavored liqueur for those who’ve never heard of the stuff. By itself, it’s a pleasant after-dinner drink, but it’s also useful for when you want to impart a deeply orange accent to anything.

Since the brand name is quite expensive–my local liquor store owner said that it has “attitude.” I assume that he meant that it was overpriced because if you could apply the sarcasm font to speech, that’s how it was said. As I’m known to be economical, he suggested a lesser-known brand which was quite in line with what I wanted to spend. I had lots of it left over after I made this great chocolate mousse cake and I wanted to use some.

Even though I rarely drink, I like the taste alcohol imparts to food and I also like orange with pork so I decided to experiment with ribs. The dry rub contains orange zest and the glaze has the orange liqueur and orange juice.

If you want to go non-alcoholic in this, substitute frozen orange juice concentrate for the liqueur.

Cooking Method

The preferred way to cook these ribs is over indirect grill heat, but they can also be done in a conventional oven. You could do them in the air fryer if you have a fryer large enough to accommodate a full or two half racks of ribs. If you want to go slow cooker or Instant Pot, you have to keep a very careful eye on them because these ribs are best when they are not falling off the bone.

When you finish them up with the glaze, just move the ribs to the lit side of the grill or pop them under the broiler if you used the oven. The air fryer is also great for finishing them off but keep a sharp eye because it’s so quick that the glaze will burn easily.

The Recipe

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Cointreau Ribs

Great for summer BBQs or any time.

Prep Time17

Cook Time1 30

Marinating Time8

Total Time9 47

Course: Appetizer, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cooking with cointreau, July 4 BBQ, Memorial Day cookouts, orange dry rub, ribs for grilling

Servings: 4

Calories: 519kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 lbs pork baby back ribs

Dry Rub:

1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp dehydrated orange zest
Pinch of cayenne

Orange BBQ Sauce:

1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbs cider vinegar
2 tbs molasses
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup orange liqueur
1 tsp orange zest
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp honey

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Mix dry rub ingredients in a small bowl; set aside.
Prepare ribs by removing the membrane covering the bones. Pat ribs dry and cover them with the dry rub. Place on a tray then refrigerate, uncovered, overnight.
Place BBQ sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and stir well. Heat over medium-low heat until mixture boils. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes until sauce is reduced to a ketchup consistency. Remove from heat and set aside.
To prepare on the grill--wrap ribs in heavy-duty foil. Heat the grill to medium-high heat on one side. Place ribs on UNLIT side and cook for 90 minutes.
To prepare in conventional oven--wrap ribs in foil as above and cook in a preheated 350F/180C oven for 90 minutes.
To finish with sauce--remove the ribs from the foil, brush generously with the sauce and cook over direct heat until sauce caramelizes; about 5 minutes each side. If you cooked them in the oven, place under the broiler until the sauce caramelizes.

Notes

For EU/UK--poultry seasoning is a blend of sage and thyme primarily. Equal portions of each is a good substitute or you could use all thyme or all sage to your taste.

Nutrition

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Spicy Orange Sriracha BBQ Chicken

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 23:00:37 +0000

Do this spicy orange chicken on the BBQ or in the oven.

If You Love Spicy Orange Chicken…

Choose The Chicken

As far as the chicken is concerned, choose the smallest chicken you can find. Years ago, they used to call these “fryers” or “broiler/fryers” and they were around 3 pounds. This is why I recommend getting a whole chicken and cutting it up yourself. What’s sold as parts are often humungous and would take too long to cook. If you do choose parts, drumsticks or small thighs would be the way to go provided no one wants white meat.

Where I’ve used skin-on chicken, this will work (and maybe better) with skinless so the meat gets flavored. I have not tried this but I would imagine the cooking time would have to be reduced, especially if it was boneless as well.

To Grill Or Not To Grill

Some areas are lucky enough to be able to use their outdoor grills year round. In such a case, this is perfect for those folks. I don’t live in an area such as that being in the northeast. However, I’m still able to grill outside because my BBQ is on my deck.

But with the advent of indoor smokeless electric grills and air fryers, “grilling” indoors presents no problems either. However, your good old-fashioned oven works pretty well for this recipe too. Under those conditions, you can’t get grill marks, but you can brown the chicken first or pop it under the broiler at the end of cooking.

The Recipe

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Spicy Orange Sriracha BBQ Chicken

Do it outside or in the oven!

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Course: Dinner, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: asian-style orange chicken, easy baked orange chicken, orange marmalade chicken

Servings: 4

Calories: 550kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3 lb chicken cut up or equivalent pieces

Sauce:

1 cup orange marmalade
2 tbs Sriracha
2 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
Salt & pepper to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For oven method: Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Line a large baking sheet with foil or non-stick parchment.
Place marmalade in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high 30 seconds or until marmalade is melted and can drizzle from a spoon. Mix in remaining sauce ingredients Reserve about 1 cup of the sauce for dipping/basting.
Lightly oil chicken parts. If you are doing this on an outside grill, grill the parts over direct heat for about 4 minutes in order to get grill marks. You may do this on a stovetop grill pan as well.
If you do the chicken in the oven, Brown in a large skillet.
Please note the above steps for browning/grill marks are not necessary—they are done for appearance sake.
For oven: Coat chicken with sauce and place on prepared sheet. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until temperature registers 165F/75C. For extra caramelization, pop under the broiler for a few minutes.
Outdoor grill method: Coat chicken with sauce. Cook chicken over indirect heat (place on unlit side of the grill) until internal temp is 165F/75C. Depending on the grill temp and chicken part size, this should take a minimum of 30 minutes.

Nutrition

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Honey Garlic Ribs

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 27 Jun 2020 23:00:06 +0000

Summer time is rib time! Honey garlic ribs will have them coming back for more so make double!

Calling All Garlic Lovers

I admit it. I’m a garlic lover. So when a recipe calls for some amount of the pungent bulb, I tend to double that amount! If you’re not insanely in love with garlic, these ribs will still please. Just use the standard amount given in the recipe. And, of course, if you’re a lover then double it.

This honey garlic ribs recipe will work best with baby back pork ribs, but the classic spare ribs will work just as well. And if you can find beef baby back ribs, it’ll work with those too.

Cooking The Ribs

There’s several ways to cook these ribs. You can pick the one that you like the best.

My preferred way is either by indirect heat on an outdoor grill or in the oven. Either of these methods isn’t quick, but returns the best results in my own opinion.

If you don’t want to bother with lighting the oven in the summer or want to conserve the propane in your outside grill, then go with your Instant Pot (or any electronic pressure cooker). If I’m using the pressure cooker, I do my ribs on high pressure for 13 minutes and release the pressure immediately. That produces a texture like Chinese restaurant ribs. If you want them to fall off the bone, then cook for 18 minutes and let the pressure drop naturally. Use the marinade as the liquid for the pot.

Another method is using the slow cooker. I don’t add any liquid to the pot. If you want to do so, again, use the marinade as the liquid. Cook them for about 8 hours on low.

Now once they’re cooked–by any method–you finish them off either under the broiler or over direct heat on the outside grill. This will slightly caramelize the sugars in the honey and crisp them up, especially if you used the Instant Pot or slow cooker method.

The Perfect Glaze

This glaze is perfect in my opinion.

The reason for that is it’s very simple. Most times, the simplest things are the best and the most tasty.

It’s just honey, garlic and a drop of soy sauce. Can’t get much easier than that!

The Recipe

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Honey Garlic Ribs

Ribs to satisfy the garlic lovers among us

Prep Time10

Cook Time1 30

Marinate8

Total Time9 40

Course: Appetizer, GRILLING, Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cooking ribs with indirect heat, garlicky pork rib recipe, ribs with garlic flavor

Servings: 4

Calories: 659kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3 lbs pork baby back ribs 1 rack

Marinade:

1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tbs dark brown sugar
3 cloves garlic finely minced
1 tsp grated ginger
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/2 tsp dark sesame oil
Pinch of ground anise optional

Honey Glaze:

1/4 cup honey
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 tsp soy sauce

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Mix all marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Prep ribs by removing the silver skin covering the bone side. Place ribs in a large zipper freezer bag and pour the marinade over the ribs. Seal the bag then turn it a few times to distribute marinade. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
OVEN METHOD (see post for alternate cooking methods): Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line a large baking sheet with non-stick foil or parchment paper. Remove ribs from the marinade and place unprepared pan bone side down. Roast for 60-90 minutes or until there is no pink around the meat by the bone.
Mix the glaze ingredients and brush over ribs. Place the ribs under a hot broiler or over direct heat on an outside grill heated to high heat. Cook just until glaze

Notes

Regular pork spare ribs may be substituted as well as beef ribs.

Nutrition

Boozy Jalapeño Shrimp

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 23:00:26 +0000

Grilled jalapeño shrimp that’s intoxicating, but not from the bourbon. It’s the great taste!

Shrimp So Delicious But So Easy

First I have to say I love shrimp. I buy it a lot because it’s often on sale for a great price–yes, even now!

I make a lot of shrimp recipes. My most recent was a Cajun shrimp and it was great, although it was the rice that was the star of that show.

In this recipe, the star is the grilled jalapeño shrimp and it’s due to the delicious marinade! The marinade combines pretty ordinary flavors, however when they’re mixed up together, it becomes something a lot more than the sum of it’s parts.

These shrimp are also easy to prepare and cook. And they’re perfect to make on the outside grill.

Jalapeños Supply The Heat

I have lots of jalapeños at the moment. I got on another rip with them when my Instacart shopper substituted them for Thai chiles. OK I wasn’t thrilled with the substitution because I actually needed small skinny red peppers, so I wanted to use them for something else other than scrambled eggs with cheese and diced jalapeños (this is a guilty pleasure of mine–try it). I found a similar recipe on my grocery store’s website whilst shopping and decided to make it with what I had.

The heat from the peppers offset the sweet and garlicky flavor of the shrimp. The effect is perfect. You also have the added “roasted” flavor that grilling gives the peppers.

If you don’t like heat, then a great substitution would be green or red bell peppers cut into about 1-inch/2.5cm squares. There is jalapeño in the marinade, but the slight amount of heat is offset by the other ingredients. Again, if you don’t want to take the chance, then substitute about 4 tablespoons of bell pepper. It won’t taste exactly the same, but it’ll be good.

A Word About Wooden Skewers

If you don’t have nice, long stainless skewers and use the wooden kind, make sure they are at least 10-inches/25 cm long. Remember you can always put small amounts on a large skewer but not the other way around.

You also must soak them in warm water for at least 30 minutes before using them. This retards them burning up and breaking. They will still singe, but the soaking makes the rate of burn much slower.

What I do to stop the bottom of the skewer burning or getting hot is I place that part off the front side of my gas grill so there’s no heat on it. Alternately, you can place a strip of foil under that part to prevent the burning and the end getting hot if you don’t want the ends hanging off the side of the grill.

The Recipe

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Boozy Jalapeño Shrimp

Grilled skewers of yummy shrimp & peppers

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Marinate20

Course: Appetizer, GRILLING, Main, Main Course, Seafood

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cilantro marinade for shrimp, grilled shrimp with jalapeño, marinades with jalapeños

Servings: 4

Calories: 307kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 lb extra large shrimp peeled & deveined
4 jalapeños seeded & cut into 3/4-inch pieces
4 long wooden skewers

Marinade:

2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup cilantro
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup bourbon
2 tbs honey
1 tbs lime juice
1/4 tsp salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Place all marinade ingredients and 1 of the jalapeños in a blender and process until liquified. This will make approximately 3/4 cup.
Preheat grill on high heat.
Place the remaining jalapeños and shrimp in a plastic zipper bag. Pour in HALF the marinade. Seal bag and massage contents to coat the shrimp & peppers. Let this sit for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, soak the skewers in warm water for 20 minutes.
Skewer shrimp & jalapeños, alternating a shrimp with a jalapeño piece.
Place on grill and cook about 10 minutes, turning and basting with remaining marinade.

Nutrition

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