About reindeer

There are roughly 200.000 reindeers (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Finland. They all live up North, in the area which covers one third of Finland. That’s practically the whole Lapland and more. Closest relative to reindeer in North America is called Caribou (Rangifer tarandus).

Size of a male reindeer is typically 3ft 7in (110cm) height and it weighs 200-400lb (90-180kg), whereas female is 2ft 11in (90cm) in height and weighs 133-220lb (60-100kg). Living on arctic circle, reindeer have adapted to conditions, where temperatures can go as low as -94°F (-70°C)!

Reindeer meat is rich in iron, protein, selenium and vitamins. In addition to meat, the heart, liver, tongue and blood are also excellent material for various delicacies.

This recipe is about reindeer stew, in a charcoal grill!

Recipe

For the stew I use reindeer roast or shoulder. Both cuts call for long cooking, which on 285°F (140°C) means about 3-4hrs. When cooking stew, we use low temperatures and indirect heat. However, this recipe starts with direct heat by searing of meat cubes. You will need a cast iron pan for searing and a cast iron pot for low-and-slow cooking.

Meat for this stew is 2.2lb (1kg) reindeer shoulder.

First thing to do is to remove any silver skin. Second thing to do is to cut the whole shoulder on 1 ½ “ (4cm) cubes. Then sprinkle salt and black pepper all over the cubes and put into the fridge for an hour or two.

Before heating up your grill, it is practical to prepare all other ingredients. Here comes the list:

• 3 shallots
• 3 big carrots cut in 1 ½ “ (4cm) blocks
• 1 parsnip cut in 1 ½ “ (4cm) blocks
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup (2 ½ dl) of red wine
• 1 cup (2 ½ dl) of broth
• few branches of thyme
• salt
• 5 whole black peppers
• 5 juniper berries

Instructions

1. Take you reindeer cubes out from the fridge, heat up your grill to 395°F (200°C) and prepare for direct heat grilling.
2. Place cast iron pan on top of the burning charcoal and let heat up with splash of vegetable oil on it. Then sear all the cubes well and place in a cast iron pot.
3. Continue searing shallots, carrots, and parsnip. Put them into the pot also.
4. Switch your charcoal grill on indirect heat. I use ceramic deflector plate.
5. Finally, pour all other ingredients into the pot and place it on top of the deflector.
6. Adjust the heat down to 285°F (140°C).
7. Cook first 30min with pot lid open (grill lid closed) so the stew will get more that fantastic charcoal flavor.
8. Then continue for 2 ½ - 3 ½ hrs with pot lid closed.

Timing is not really so critical on this recipe, but longer you cook, softer the root vegetables get. I like mine not too soft, so I keep the cooking time within the instructions given.

Enjoy the reindeer stew with potatoes or rice and glass of your favorite red wine.

Cheers!

Recipe

This sauce is slightly sweet and rich in flavor. It goes extremely well with venison but also beef. Recipe is for 1 cup (2 ½ dl), which should be enough for four people dinner.

Ingredients

• Onion
• Carrot
• Parsnip
• Slice of celeriac
• Bay leaf
• Sprig of fresh rosemary
• Sprig of fresh thyme
• Black pepper
• Rose pepper
• Broth
• Red Wine (Portuguese of course)
• Port
• Balsamico
• Syrap or honey
• Corn powder

Method

1. Chop vegetables
2. Roast on cast iron pan until they get some color
3. Splash 1 tb of Balsamico on pan and let simmer
4. Add 1 cup (2 dl) of broth, 5 black peppers, 5 rose peppers and herbs
5. Let half of the broth slowly simmer off (takes maybe 15-20min)
6. Strain all to a pot
7. Add 1 cup (2 dl) of Port and ½ cup (1 dl) of Red Wine
8. Let half of the sauce simmer off
9. Now you should have 1 cup ( 2 ½ dl) of Port Sauce almost ready
10. Adjust flavor to your own taste with salt and/or syrap (or honey)
11. Thicken the sauce with corn powder

Enjoy with any grilled venison!

About reindeer

There are roughly 200.000 reindeers (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Finland. They all live up North, in the area which covers one third of Finland. That’s practically the whole Lapland and more. Closest relative to reindeer in North America is called Caribou (Rangifer tarandus).

Size of a male reindeer is typically 3ft 7in (110cm) height and it weighs 200-400lb (90-180kg), whereas female is 2ft 11in (90cm) in height and weighs 133-220lb (60-100kg). Living on arctic circle, reindeer have adapted to conditions, where temperatures can go as low as -94°F (-70°C)!

Reindeer meat is rich in iron, protein, selenium and vitamins. In addition to meat, the heart, liver, tongue and blood are also excellent material for various delicacies.

This time I grilled two reindeer sirloins.

Recipe

Reindeer is not very big creature so one sirloin weighs only ½ lb (230g). For the reasonable dinner, you will need one for each guest.

Here comes the method:

1. Sprinkle salt all over the sirloins and place into fridge for an hour or two.
2. Just before grilling, rub black pepper and rosemary on sirloins. Thyme or any other mild flavor herbs go well also.
3. Heat your grill up to 395°F (200°C) and prepare for direct heat grilling.
4. Place sirloins on the grill grate
5. Reindeer is very lean meat and target temperature is 126°F (52°C). This means roughly 5min searing both sides. Make sure to take sirloins out and wrap in foil when meat temperature hits 119°F (48°C). Temperature will carry over few degrees while resting and result is nice medium rare. You can cook sirloins few degrees higher if you like but be careful. If the meat starts to get closer to well done, it will dry up and turn chewy. Fast reading thermometer is a must in this exercise!

After 20-30min rest, unwrap sirloins, carve and serve with roasted root vegetables. Excellent sauce for reindeer or any venison is cranberry sauce.

Enjoy!

Bear Sliders

What could be more passionate food related subject for a debate than hamburgers? As simple as it is to cook, there are choices to be made and that makes it complicated. What meat should I choose? Should I pull the meat or just make a firm patty? What kind of bun should I bake? What ingredients should I add and of course the most passionate subject, how should I stack my burger?

When ever you want to cut the debate short, choose this recipe. It calls for burger patty made of brown bear sirloin, which is a rare cut to find but places you on top of any backyard pitmaster ranking immediately.

I was lucky enough to find 2lb (900g) brown bear sirloin and I used half of it for making ten sliders. Recipe itself is traditional and simple but the trick is to mix Mangalitsa pork fat into the minced bear meat. This is necessary as brown bear is super lean meat and fat is needed to keep burger patties in shape while grilling.

Mangalitsa pork is another rare creature to find. Yet it is worth of an effort as it’s fat is incredibly soft and neutral in flavor. It melts very easily and does not interfere brown bear meat flavor too much.

So, here are the instructions:

• 1lb (450g) Ground Brown Bear meat (sirloin)
• 3 ½ oz (100g) Mangalitsa pork fat
• Black pepper
• Kosher salt
• Cheddar cheese slices

Mix brown bear meat and Mangalitsa pork fat together. Season with black pepper and kosher salt. Prepare equal sized 1 ½ oz (50g) patties and put them into a fridge for an hour or two.

Grill at direct 395°F (200°C) heat on charcoals, flip over once and place slice of cheddar on top of the patty.

Cook until meat temperature reaches 158°F (70°C). This is very important for food safety. Brown bear meat have to be cooked well done. Butchers’ shops have licenses and certificates for every bear they sell, but I still fear risk of trichinella parasite.

Once cooked, stack your slider between gluten free bun.

About White-Tailed Deer

White tailed-deer (Odocoileus virginianus), originating from Americas, was shipped to Finland in 1930’s. It is a middle-sized deer and can be found especially in South-West of Finland. Male can weight as much as 284lb (130kg) and female 88-176lb (40-80kg). White-tailed deer is typically 40” (100cm) tall, so it is clearly smaller creature than moose. Hunting season starts on 1^st of September and lasts until mid-February.

Like any venison, white-tailed deer is an excellent choice for a grill. Today I got 1,2 lb (550g) sirloin to grill.

Here is how you cook it right:

• Clean off any membrane or hard lumps of fat with a sharp knife
• Rub some salt, black pepper and rosemary all over the sirloin and put to fridge for an hour

• Heat your charcoal grill up to 355°F (180°C) for direct heat grilling
• Sear sirloin both sides until meat temperature hits 119°F (48°C). This will most likely take some 15 minutes. Use fast reading thermometer for monitoring and pay attention. Venison is lean and will get dry and chewy, if overcooked.

• Wrap sirloin in foil and put to rest for 15min. Meat temp will carry over to 126°F (52°C), medium rare doneness.
• Serve with root vegetables and red wine sauce

Simple and beautiful!

About moose

Moose (Alces alces) is the most important game for hunters in Finland. Hunting season starts on 1^st of September and lasts about a month, depending on the region. This year 41631 hunting licenses were granted. That’s a bit less than in previous years.

Moose really is local food and meat is as pure as meat can get. Any cut of moose is excellent for a grill, but steak is a first choice to impress someone. Today I got two ½ lb (230g) sirloin steaks and the moose was shot only 15 miles from my grill!

Here is how you cook it right:

• If steaks still have any membrane or hard lumps of fat on, clean them off with sharp knife
• Rub some salt, black pepper and rosemary on the steaks and put to fridge for an hour

• Heat your charcoal grill up to 355°F (180°C) for direct heat grilling
• Sear steaks both sides until meat temperature hits 119°F (48°C). This will most likely take some 15 minutes. Use fast reading thermometer for monitoring and pay attention. Venison is lean and will get dry and chewy, if overcooked.

• Wrap steaks in foil and put to rest for 15min. Meat temp will carry over to 126°F (52°C), medium rare doneness.
• Serve with root vegetables and red wine sauce

Simple and beautiful!

About reindeer

There are roughly 200.000 reindeers (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Finland. They all live up North, in the area which covers one third of Finland. That’s practically the whole Lapland and more. Closest relative to reindeer in North America is called Caribou (Rangifer tarandus).

Size of a male reindeer is typically 3ft 7in (110cm) height and it weighs 200-400lb (90-180kg), whereas female is 2ft 11in (90cm) in height and weighs 133-220lb (60-100kg). Living on arctic circle, reindeer have adapted to conditions, where temperatures can go as low as -94°F (-70°C)!

Reindeer meat is rich in iron, protein, selenium and vitamins. In addition to meat, the heart, liver, tongue and blood are also excellent material for various delicacies.

This recipe is about reindeer roast in rotisserie!

Recipe

Spinning reindeer roast in rotisserie is fun and it also ensures nice and even searing. Reindeer is not very big creature so one roast feed barely four people. Today my reindeer roast was about 24oz (700g), so not a big one but not small either.

Here comes the method:

1. Remove silver skin, if any
2. Sprinkle salt all over the roast and place into fridge for an hour or two.
3. Just before grilling, rub black pepper and rosemary on the roast. Thyme or any other mild flavor herbs go well also.
4. Heat your grill up to 395°F (200°C) and prepare for direct heat grilling.
5. Place the roast into rotisserie
6. Reindeer is very lean meat and target temperature is 126°F (52°C). This means roughly 25min searing.
7. Take the roast out and wrap in foil when meat temperature hits 119°F (48°C). Temperature will carry over few degrees while resting and result is nice medium rare. You can cook the roast few degrees higher if you like but be careful. If the meat starts to get closer to well done, it will dry up and turn chewy. Fast reading thermometer is a must in this exercise!

After 20-30min rest, unwrap the roast, carve and serve. Excellent sauce for reindeer or any venison is cranberry sauce.

Enjoy!

Sea Buckthorns

Sea buckthorn is a delicious, orange color berry and has the highest nutrient content of all wild berries. It is loaded with vitamins E and C, fibers, and essential fatty acids. Taste is intense, tangy, and citrus like. It typically grows in Northern Europe, Canada, Mongolia, Northern China, and Russia. Sea buckthorns might be hard to find but worth of a try if you get your hands on an imported can. It is great company for venison!

Sea Buckthorn Chutney

Vinegar makes chutney. You can make chutney from fruits or vegetables. Sea buckthorn chutney has everything for a fantastic side for venison. Sweetness, bitterness and spiciness. Go and give it a try!

Ingredients

• 7 oz (200g) sea buckthorns
• 7 oz (200g) jam sugar
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 tsp (10g) grated fresh ginger
• 1 chopped chili (Aji Cristal is great choice)
• 2 cups (0,5dl) apple vinegar
• vegetable oil

Method

• Saute chopped onion and chopped chili in small amount of vegetable oil
• Add all other ingredients
• Cook for 15 minutes on medium heat
• Can hot into sterilized glass jar
• Let cool to room temperature
• Move to fridge

Enjoy with Boar Burritos or any other venison recipe!

How to Prepare Boar Burritos

Boar burritos are delicacy as such, but when you want to go one beyond, you complete your dish with Sea Buckthorn Chutney. Feel free to use your favorite burrito fillings, but please keep it fresh for the sake of arctic touch.

For arctic boar burritos, I use grilled wild boar tenderloin and chop it in small bites. Vegetables are most often fresh cucumber, fresh tomatoes and lettuce. Sea buckthorn chutney with chili gives nice edge with sweet and spicy bitterness.

Instructions on How to Grill Wild Boar

Here you can find instructions on how to succeed in grilling wild boar tenderloin for your burritos.

Instructions for Sea Buckthorn Chutney

This recipe also got some chili in it!

About Wild Boar

Wild Boar (Sus scrofa) population in Finland is not remarkably high. In early 2020 there were only 1400 specimens, but number grew rapidly to 3400 by January 2021. That’s now more than brown bear population of 2700, which is still also quite rare. Hunting is keeping population stable and wild boar meat is hard to find. Most often, cuts in the butchers’ store are imported.

An adult wild boar can weight 440lb (200kg). It is a fast animal and tricky to hunt. As wild boar eats also small creatures, a certificate for trichinosis clearance need to be in place. According to Finnish Food Safety Authority, trichinella parasites die on 158°F (+70°C). So, if you have clearance and you cook it beyond 158°F, you are double safe. Last witnessed trichinosis poisoning in Finland was in 1970’s. Control seems to be in place and wild boar is safe to eat.

Wild boar meat is darker than regular pork. Taste is rich and gamey. Meat is also lean and nutritious as venison tends to be.

Rules for grilling venison and other game meats also apply to wild boar.

Grilling Wild Boar

This time I grilled five ½ lb (230g) wild boar tenderloins. Here is the method:

1. Clean the meat by removing all silver skin and hard lumps of fat
2. Season with salt and black pepper. Other good choices are rosemary and thyme.
3. Leave the meat in the fridge for an hour or two
4. Prepare your charcoal grill for direct grilling
5. Heat the grill up to 390F°F (200°C)
6. For medium rare doneness, sear wild boar tenderloins both sides until internal temp hits 130°F (54°C)
7. For “double safe choice”, sear both sides until internal temp hits 158°F (70°C)
8. Wrap in foil and let rest for 15min. Internal temperature will carry over few degrees during rest.
9. Carve and serve as such, or…
10. Enjoy Boar Burritos!

Bear meat is rare. Even when brown bear population in Finland has strengthened from 2000 to 2800 in four years, it is still hard to find. This year 446 hunting licenses were granted, and majority of the bears shot are shared between hunting groups. If you succeed in finding a cut, you approach that with respect.

I was lucky enough to get a hold on a 2 ½ lb (1150g) sirloin. This is not a big one, so it must have been from a young bear. Excellent! Young meat is tender meat.

This is not a first time for me to cook bear. Read here about cooking a brown bear chuck roast.

I decided to cut 7oz (200g) steaks and sear them fast.

Bear have to be cooked well done. Butchers’ shops have licenses and certificates for every bear they sell, but I still fear risk of trichinella parasite. Cook your bear to +158°F (+70°C) and it is safe to eat.

Method:

1. Clean your bear sirloin well by removing all visible membrane and hard fat. Do not cheat. Bear fat is bitter and chewy. Get rid of it.
2. Cut it to steaks
3. Season with salt and black pepper. Thyme and rosemary go well also.
4. Put to fridge for an hour or two and let salt to absorb
5. Heat your charcoal grill up to 390°F (200°C) direct heat
6. Sear bear steaks well on both sides
7. Monitor meat temp with fast reading thermometer like Thermapen MK4
8. Take steaks out when meat temp reaches 153°F (67°C)
9. Wrap steaks in foil and let them rest for 30 minutes. Meat temp will carry over to desired level

There you go. Serve Bear Sirloin Steaks with Cranberry Sauce and grilled root vegetables.

Recipe revisited to 2021

I grill moose regularly. Fresh when it is a hunting season and from the freezer off season. Venison is pure meat and never fails on dinner table, especially when grilled as a whole. That’s what I cooked today but you can also read about my other moose grilling experiments from here and here.

My cut for the grill today was a 1,5lb (700g) sirloin from a young moose.

Venison tends to be very lean and moose is not an exception. When grilled, it should be left medium rare. Target temp for the meat is 140°F (60°C), but you can go as high as 150°F (65°C). Go higher, meat will get tough, dry and chewy.

Seasoning is simple. I use kosher salt, black pepper, rosemary and thyme. You can leave one or both herbs out if you want to taste the delicate flavor of venison the purest way. Other seasoning I don’t care so much about but most often I prepare a red wine sauce on the side.

Here are the instructions:

1. Clean moose sirloin from membrane and any hard lumps of fat
2. Season all over with salt, black pepper, rosemary and thyme
3. Put in the fridge for an hour or two
4. Heat your grill up to 355°F (180°C)
5. Place sirloin on the grate on top of the direct heat and sear both sides until meat temp hits 135°F (57°C)
6. Wrap sirloin in foil and let rest for half an hour. Meat temp will carry over to desired 140°F (60°C)
7. Unwrap, carve and enjoy with red wine sauce!

This method is hot and fast. Most likely you will be ready from the grill in 15-20 minutes. Good instant reading thermometer will make your cooking simple and fun. And bad thermometer will drive you mad, so pay attention to this!

Happy grilling!

Main reason for placing your salmon bites on cedar plank is the beautiful presentation it makes for the dinner table. Secondary reason might be fantastic aroma, which burned cedar spreads around.

Many recipes I have found, praise the luxurious aroma of cedar on fish. To be honest, I have not succeeded in finding that taste. Cooking time is so short, and cedar starts to become burnt only at the end of it. There is just not enough time for cedar taste to stick. Sorry about that. But you should still do this for other reasons!

This recipe is maybe the easiest in the world.

1. Slice your salmon into portions, which will fit on the cedar plank. Skin down. You might need to cut from two sides and there will be waste, but don’t worry. We are after perfect food presentation.
2. Sprinkle fine salt on salmon
3. That’s it

Now get to your grill.

1. Heat your charcoal grill up to 355°F (180°C) and direct heat
2. Place your cedar plank on top of the heat
3. Cook until internal temperature of the salmon is 125°F (52°C). It takes about 20-25min. You absolutely need to use fast reading thermometer on this one. I have Thermapen MK4, but there are others also.

Bring the whole plank onto the dinner table and serve one portion to every guest. Burnt cedar brings fantastic aroma and fish bites look great on it.

PRO TIPS:

SOAKING THE PLANK

If your grill does not allow enough distance from burning charcoals to the bottom of the cedar plank, you might want to soak the plank in clean water for few hours before cooking. This trick will delay burning of the plank and most likely prevent it on catching fire.

I have quite deep ceramic kamado grill and distance from the heat to plank is 10in (25cm). I don’t soak and plank gets beautifully burnt in 20-25min, without bursting on flames. I also have a Weber kettle and the charcoal chamber is quite shallow. For that grill I soak the plank or place it on indirect heat, beside the burning charcoals. However, I think the result is not perfect this way. Good it is, but not perfect.

WHERE TO GET CEDAR PLANKS?

Amazon, buy XL size and cut to half!

HOW MANY TIMES CAN I USE ONE CEDAR PLANK?

Once. They are disposable. They get contaminated.

WHICH CEDAR PLANK TO CHOOSE?

Avoid branded products as there is no added value. Plank is a plank. Buy cheapest, check dimensions. They can be raw and unpolished. Fish will go skin down and skin is left onto the plank when serving.

About reindeer

There are roughly 200.000 reindeers (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Finland. They all live up North, in the area which covers one third of Finland. That’s practically the whole Lapland and more. Closest relative to reindeer in North America is called Caribou (Rangifer tarandus).

Size of a male reindeer is typically 3ft 7in (110cm) height and it weighs 200-400lb (90-180kg), whereas female is 2ft 11in (90cm) in height and weighs 133-220lb (60-100kg). Living on arctic circle, reindeer have adapted to conditions, where temperatures can go as low as -94°F (-70°C)!

Reindeer meat is rich in iron, protein, selenium and vitamins. In addition to meat, the heart, liver, tongue and blood are also excellent material for various delicacies.

This recipe is about reindeer roast!

Recipe

This reindeer roast was about 24oz (700g), so not a big one but not small either.

First thing to do is to remove any silver skin and second is to sprinkle salt all over it. Now you can put the roast into fridge for an hour or two.

Just before grilling, I like to rub black pepper and rosemary on the roast. Thyme or any other mild flavor herbs go well also. In my opinion, hot spices are not for mild and tender reindeer meat.

Heat your grill up to 340°F (170°C) and prepare for direct heat grilling. Reindeer is venison, thus very lean and target temperature for the meat is 126°F (52°C). This means roughly 25min grilling, turning the roast once.

Make sure to take it out and wrap in foil when meat temperature hits 119°F (48°C). Temperature will carry over few degrees while resting and result is nice medium rare. You can cook the roast few degrees higher if you like but be careful. If the meat starts to get closer to well done, it will dry up and turn chewy. Fast reading thermometer is a must in this exercise!

After 20-30min rest, unwrap the roast, carve and serve. Excellent sauce for reindeer or any venison is cranberry sauce.

Enjoy!

Deer rump roast is a beautiful and tender cut of venison. Especially when taken from a young deer, like this one. Being only 1,2lb (550g) chunk, it feeds two or three people so keep this in mind when serving larger groups.

Venison is lean meat, which means you need to be careful with temperature management. Deer rump roast should be cooked to medium rare doneness, thus 135°F (57°C) meat temperature. If you go far beyond that, it gets dry and chewy.

This time I wanted to sear to surface well so I grilled with quite high, direct heat. It is a bit risky, as meat cooks fast and you need to follow temperature with care. Still, when you succeed, end result is fantastic!

Here is how to do it:

1. Remove silverskin, if any, with a sharp knife.
2. Sprinkle kosher salt all over and put to a fridge for an hour
3. Season with your favorite herbs. I used rosemary, but thyme goes well also
4. Don’t forget black pepper
5. Heat your charcoal grill up to 335°F (170°C)
6. Place deer rump roast on a grill grate directly on top of the heat
7. Turn once after 10 minutes
8. This roast took 25min to hit 124°F (51°C)
9. Take the roast out and wrap in foil for 15-20 minutes. Roast temperature will carry over few degrees while resting, so when you unwrap, it will be perfect medium rare.

Cut and serve with red wine sauce and root vegetables.

Grilled venison calls for perfect red wine sauce. This recipe is both, straight forward and delicious.

Ingredients

• Two shallots
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• Fresh rosemary
• 4 Tbsp balsamico
• 1 cup (2 ½ dl) broth
• 1 ½ cups (4dl) red wine
• 1 ½ Tbsp cornflour

Equipment

• Minimum 4 cups steel pot for cooking
• Strainer
• Steel bowl
• Sharp knife

Instructions

• Chop shallot and saute in olive oil for few minutes. Use medium heat
• Add fresh rosemary and continue cooking for 5 minutes
• Add balsamico and cook until it has evaporated
• Add broth and cook until half is evaporated
• Strain shallot and rosemary off. Use steel bowl.
• Add red wine and cook until half is evaporated
• You should now have about 1.2 cups (3dl) of red wine sauce
• Size with cornflour

Enjoy!

Cook first, sear then!

Reverse sear is a grilling technique, which helps you in securing more uniform doneness throughout the meat. In early days, chefs were definite that meat should always be seared before cooking. Thought process was that searing would help keeping juices in. Today we know better. Searing has nothing to do with keeping juices in or out. There are other techniques to keep meat juicy, but searing is not one of them.

Reverse sear turns the old thinking upside down. You cook first and sear then. Cooking is done in gentle, indirect heat, close to the desired target temperature of the meat. This way the meat cooks as evenly as possible throughout the cut. Finally, you sear surfaces on direct high heat. This allows Maillard reaction, which again enhances color and flavor.

So, is reverse sear better technique than others? No, I think it is just different and it works for me. Surely it is worth of trying. Here is how you do it.

Method:

First, make sure you have good quality, fast reading thermometer available. I use Thermapen MK4, but there are other good ones also. Now you can start cooking.

Prepare your grill for indirect grilling. 250°F (120°C) is a good cooking temperature. When you are aiming at medium rare doneness, internal temperature of the meat should reach 134°F (57°C).

Steak goes first onto “cool” side for slow cooking.

Take the steak out at 116°F (47°C) and foil for 15 minutes.

Temperature carries over few degrees, but that is OK. Meanwhile, heat up your grill for good 360°F (180°C) searing temperature. Unfoil the steak and sear both sides quickly on direct heat.

Take out and serve immediately.

You will see that meat has nice, uniform doneness due to slow cooking period. Final searing gives perfect color and taste to the surface due to Maillard reaction.

There is your dinner reverse seared!

Classic BBQ recipe!

OVERVIEW

Pork cheeks are extremely nice cut of meat. Especially for BBQ. Strangely enough, they are often overlooked and underrated. Maybe that is the reason they are rarely available. Be brave and ask your local butcher like I did. Follow these instructions and you will be a Pitmaster of The Day, again!

Pork cheeks should be cooked low and slow. Only time and gentle heat will allow all connective tissue to dissolve. If you go too fast, they will remain chewy. If you go too hot, they will dry. So take it easy and enjoy the ride.

INSTRUCTIONS

First step is to season pork cheeks. Choose your favorite rub for pork and start working. (NOTE! It is not necessary to remove membrane from the cheeks. When you cook low and slow, membrane will melt.)

First, apply thin layer of mustard all over the cheeks. Mustard act as a binder for a rub

Then rub cheeks well on every side

Put into the fridge for one hour

Prepare your grill for indirect heat Indirect Grilling and 230°F (110°C) smoking temperature. Pick few chunks of smoking wood. I use apple for pork.

Place all cheeks onto grill grate

Smoke 2hrs in 230°F (110°C)

Take aluminum pan and foil.

After 2 hrs of smoking, move all cheeks into a pan

Pour good splash of apple juice inside

Put back into the grill at 230°F (110°C)

No smoke anymore!

Now it will take some 2 to 4hrs when cheeks are ready. They will overcook and it is ok. You don’t cook cheeks to certain temperature. Instead, take a toothpick or use your thermometer probe every hour and try if cheeks feel ready. When you stick your probe into the meat, it should go through without resistance. If cheeks fight back, give another hour. Do not be afraid cheeks drying. If you cook on low temperature like instructed and cheeks are inside covered pan, with some apple juice on them, they will be just fine.

There you go, enjoy your juicy cheeks!

Full instructional video:

Indirect, but straight forward!

This technique belongs to very basics of great grilling. Luckily, it is the simplest thing to learn. Indirect grilling means keeping the meat away from the direct, radiant heat. This requires arranging two grilling zones inside your grill. In practice, you split the grill in half and place charcoals on the other side, while another half remains empty. Some pitmasters call this arrangement "half and half". This is also something you use when reverse searing your steak. Read about reverse sear here.

I tend to enforce the half and half arrangement by placing a heat deflector on top of the empty side, but this is not absolutely necessary.

If you are cooking with a gas grill, you need to have a model with several burners split in minimum two zones.

Why indirect grilling?

Indirect grilling gives you better control over temperature, thus greater cooking results. When cooking on two zones, the empty side is called cool zone and the other side hot zone. Meat goes always on cool zone where heat travels through air from the hot zone.

This is important especially when grilling larger cuts of meat. Just imagine cooking 3lb (2,7kg) pork loin directly on top of the burning hot charcoals for an hour. Most likely you would get burned surface and under cooked interior. Gentle heat through convection is key to success.

Surely you will need direct heat for grilling also. Searing is another technique, but then you work on high heat and short periods. That’s another story.

Now go grilling, indirectly!

Here you can find few recipes with indirect grilling

Sweet and sour sauce

This recipe is an excellent choice for any grilled venison. I have used it also for smoked pheasant breasts.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (1 ½ dl) Cranberries
• 1 cup (2dl) Red wine
• 1 Tbsp (15ml) Balsamico
• 1/5 cup (1/2 dl) Cream
• 1/3 cup (0,75dl) Sugar
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Corn starch

Method:

1. Measure cranberries, sugar and ½ cup (1dl) of red wine into a kettle and cook for 15min.
2. Add rest of the red wine, balsamico, salt and black pepper and cook for another 15min.
3. Sieve cranberries off and put sauce back into the kettle
4. Thicken with cream and corn starch.

Done!