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recipe

Recipe: Coffee Rub Steak

Recipe By blackbookali March 24, 2020 Tags: coffee rub, recipe, ribeye, Steak No Comments

Coffee Rub Steak

This isn’t the first time I have made a coffee rub steak on the grill. But in the age of the Coronapocalypse, my grilling has kicked into overdrive. The age of #selfquarantine has also got me looking at a big fat shelf of cookbooks I have collected over the years that I just don’t crack open often enough. Well that is all about to change. I’m starting a new chapter of Bang for your Burger Buck: Cook the Book, where I test drive recipes and share the results.

And with that, let’s get down with Cool Smoke’s Coffee Rub Steak . . . .

Slider Recipe: White Castle in your own Castle

Burgers, Cheap Eats, Recipe By blackbookali March 17, 2020 Tags: Burgers, recipe, sliders No Comments

a Slider Recipe

A slider recipe. Really? Yeah, it seems so simple you don’t even need one but consider these two fundamental burger realities:

Everybody loves the sound of making burgers on the grill but they don’t always come out primetime.
Everybody loves the sound of sliders but lots of restaurants serve up overpriced lil’ burgers and let’s be real: White Castle is awesome in idea, less so in reality. Unless you are hammered.

Which brings me to an enchanted recipe that merges two great ideas to into an easily executed reality: making sliders in the backyard.

Recipe: Holiday Prime Rib Dinner

Recipe By blackbookali December 6, 2019 Tags: Holiday dinner, Prime Rib, recipe No Comments

The Vitals:
recipe: Prime Rib Holiday Dinner
difficulty: Easy. Seems intimidating but the technique is nearly fool proof with the right equipment.
health rating: indulgent. It’s the Holidays after all.
time: Prime Rib: 4 hours including cooking time and prep. the roast has to be seasoned the night before. Mashed Potatoes: 30 min. Creamed Spinach: 30 minutes

Cooking turkey is a big fat pain. There I said it. And this is coming from a guy who literally did a Thanksgiving cooking demo a few weeks ago. Maybe that’s why I was burnt out on the idea of more poultry for the Ultimate eating holiday but I have always been one to change things up for Thanksgiving. In years past I have had fun with cornbread and sausage or bacon and oysters when it comes to the stuffing game. And I am a big fan of dry brining though for my Thanksgiving demo I did a wet brine with a Mexican twist. Still, even with all the tips and tricks I have accumulated over the years, no roast turkey recipe can compare to the ease and glory that is the Almighty Prime Rib. This is how to absolutely nail it + a few recipes for sides.

Recipe: Instant Pot Biriyani

Indian, Recipe By blackbookali August 11, 2019 Tags: biriyani, Indian food, instant pot, lamb, recipe No Comments

The Vitals:
recipe: Instant Pot Lamb Dum Biriyani
difficulty: medium – lots of spices/ingredients, a fair amount of prep if you’re not used to making Indian food on the daily
health rating: indulgent. If you do this right with fatty lamb, whole milk yogurt and white basmati rice, you hit a cheat meal 4 sho
time: Instant Pot time 6 minutes + natural pressure release. 30 minimum minute marinade time. 1 hour prep.

Much to my chagrin, the wifey scored an Instant Pot during Prime Day last year and I could not be happier to be wrong about getting a new kitchen gadget. The Instant Pot is a fabulous excuse to try time consuming, slow cooked recipes within the context of modern life, i.e. cooking meals on the fly. Since getting an Instant Pot I stopped buying carnitas by the pound at the local Carnicería and ordering Indian takeout. Now it takes a few solid recipes + trial and error for me to full on quit takeout on genres like Indian and Mexican but they are out there.

Recipe: Bánh Mì Chicken Sandwich

Asian, Recipe, Sandwiches By blackbookali March 24, 2019 Tags: Banh Mi, recipe, Vietnamese 1 Comment

The Vitals:
recipe: Chicken Báhn Mì (Vietnamese style sandwich)
difficulty: easy
health rating: healthy – but watch the calorie count on the bread you use.
time: 30 minutes + 4 hour marinade time(can marinate up to 24 hours)

I literally made this ~~last night~~ two nights ago and it was so good(and easy) I just had to sit right down and share the recipe. All you really need to do is get the chicken in the marinade and make sure you have the right ingredients and the right condiments.

And on that note . . . .

Recipe: Al Pastor tacos

Recipe, Tacos/ Mexican By blackbookali February 6, 2019 Tags: Al Pastor, Bomb Tacos, Cheap Eats, grilling, Las Vegas, marinade, pork, recipe, Tacopedia, Tacos No Comments

The Vitals:
recipe: Al Pastor tacos
difficulty: medium
health rating:healthy
time: 1 hour + marinade time

<scroll down for ingredients and instructions>

As much as I love scouring the country for Cheap Eats, I love grilling at home just as much. My preference is to cook over a “live fire”, which for me is hardwood charcoal. These days I have a backyard, so lighting up a grill is pretty easy but back when I lived in a loft, I had to deal with a shared gas grill. And that is where I learned the importance and power of marinades.

If you have ever had Al Pastor, the Mexican cousin to Shawarma and Gyros, you know it is one of the tastiest taco fillings there is. Now traditionally, like Shawarma and Gyros, the meat is cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Like most of you, I don’t have one of those, so the notion of cooking Al Pastor at home seemed like a smokey daydream. Then Cheap Eats went to Las Vegas and I was taught the method marinating and grilling al pastor. And believe me, this Al Pastor taco recipe is worth trying at home.