Planning Thanksgiving on the grill opens up a whole new world of flavor, and this year we’re taking you through it step by step. The Barbecue Bible Complete Thanksgiving Guide is a three-part series designed to help you build your entire holiday meal outdoors—from the main turkey, to the sides, to the show-stopping alternatives if you’re ready to try something different.

Each post digs into the techniques, gear, and recipes that make live-fire Thanksgiving cooking not just possible, but deeply satisfying. Whether you’re chasing crisp skin, smoky depth, or dishes that bring a spark to the table, this guide walks you through the essentials so you can create a feast that feels fresh, fun, and full of flavor.

The Thanksgiving Turkey Steven Raichlen will be Making This Year

Over the years, I’ve written a lot of recipes. More than 4000 by recent reckoning!

And over the years, as Thanksgiving approaches, I’ve written a lot of turkey recipes. Dozens, if not more.

I’ve marinated turkeys Miami-Cuban style, with adobo (cumin, garlic, and sour orange), and served them with mojo (fried garlic lime sauce)

I’ve stuffed turkeys under the skin with truffles and butter.

I’ve blasted turkey breasts with pastrami spice and cured them with citrus and rock salt.

I’ve cooked turkeys on the rotisserie, on beer cans, on the grill, and in my smoker.

But there’s one turkey I keep coming back to: bourbon-brined turkey smoke-roasted in a kamado.

It’s the turkey I’ll be preparing for Thanksgiving this year, and it never fails to bring down the house.

Bourbon-Brined Turkey

So let me break it down for you.

First, the bird. I always buy an organic bird—ideally around 12 to 14 pounds. Organic, because I know it was cleanly and humanely raised. Twelve pounds because it’s easier to stay on top of the cooking. If I have a lot of people to feed, I buy two birds that size. I don’t like cooking 20-pound monsters—it’s too hard to insure even cooking and accurate doneness.

Next the brine. Turkey breast is intrinsically dry. Brining adds moisture. I like to flavor my brine with bourbon, which adds a sweet, woodsy flavor. (Bourbon is aged in charred oak barrels. Wood + fire? It’s the liquid equivalent of barbecue.

I also flavor my brine with lemon zest, cloves, and bay leaves). Turkey needs salt, so the salt in the brine provides flavor too.

As for the cooking, I use a method I call smoke-roasting. You do it at a higher temperature than traditional smoking, and that helps cook and crisp the skin. (Traditional smoking produces great tasting meat, but rubbery skin.)

As for the smoke component, turkey is one of those meats that just begs for the soulful tang of woodsmoke. I typically use oak or hickory, but any hardwood will do. Except, possibly, for mesquite, which produces a stronger smoke than the other hardwoods. But, hey, if you like mesquite, smoke your bird with that.

As for the cooker, I typically use a kamado (like a Primo or Big Green Egg). I like how the thick ceramic walls and felt gasket between the cook chamber and lid seal in moistness. But I’ve also smoke-roasted turkey on a charcoal kettle grill and in a pellet grill. All will produce admirable birds.

This year, I’m adding one new twist to the traditional Raichlen bird. I’m taking a page from the fried turkey school. Smoke-roasting produces a turkey skin that’s crisper than traditional smoking. But not as crackling crisp as a fried turkey.

So once my bird comes off the grill, I’m placing it on a wire rack over a roasting pan. I’ll heat a couple cups of vegetable oil to 350 degrees in a saucepan. And I’ll CAREFULLY ladle the hot oil over the bird—carefully—to crisp the skin just before serving.

Bourbon-Brined Turkey Recipe

Get The Recipe »

It’s the best of all possible worlds.

Cooking turkey this year? I’d love to see how YOU do it! Post pix on my social media pages. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thanksgiving Turkey: Frequently Asked Questions

Related Posts

• The Secrets to the Best Thanksgiving Turkey Ever
• Turkey for a Small Thanksgiving Gathering
• The Five Incarnations of Turkey – Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes

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Over In the course of my career, I have written 34 books—12 of them devoted to grilling, smoking, and now griddling. That translates to something on the order of 4000 recipes—more than 500 recipes in Barbecue Bible alone.

So distilling that down to five indispensable recipes that everyone—beginner or expert—should know how to grill might seem like an impossible task.

It is an impossible task, but I’m going to try. After all, if you’re just starting out with live fire cooking, you don’t want to know how to grill 4000 recipes. You want to have a four or five fail-proof showstoppers in your repertory that you prepare on demand without breaking a sweat.

Here’s my list of the indispensables:

5 essential grilling recipes

Steak: The first thing everyone should know how to grill is a steak. Not necessarily, a 2-pound porterhouse that will set you back $100 or more. (I’ll tell you how to grill one of those in a future blog—stay tuned.). No, you want to know how to grill a steak that’s readily available, flavor-packed, and mercifully affordable. Enter the skirt steak. Cut from the steer’s undercarriage, skirt steak has flavor in spades. The secret to grilling skirt steak? Bold seasonings. Hot fire. And remember to slice it across the grain. Here’s a bourbon-marinated skirt steak that will smoke the competition.

Chicken breasts: We food writers like to dump on chicken breasts because they’re mild-tasting, uncomplicated, and quick. The same reasons that you—and we—probably have some in the freezer. Chicken breast is about easiest food there is to grill, and although it’s bland, it absorbs flavors like a sponge. Just rub it or marinate it, oil or baste it, and cook it fast to keep the lean meat from drying out on the grill. My favorite way to cook chicken breasts takes a page from the Italian playbook. It’s called pollo al mattone (“chicken under a brick”) and it’s guaranteed to steal the show at your next cook-out.

Whole chicken: While we’re on the subject of poultry, a whole roast chicken is about the most comforting dish on the planet—especially when spit-roasted on a grill, preferably in the presence of woodsmoke. If you have a rotisserie, you’re ahead of the game. Just brush the bird with olive oil and season it with your favorite barbecue rub (or with salt and pepper—either works). Set up the rotisserie following the grill manufacturer’s instructions. Add wood chunks or chips to the coals or place in your gas grill’s smoker box. Oh, and my trick for producing a tender bird every time: overcook it, that is cook it to an internal temperature of 175 to 185 degrees. That’s how the French do it, and they make the best roast chicken in the world.

Baby back ribs: If there’s one dish that epitomizes barbecue, it’s ribs. And if there’s one rib that everyone should know how to cook, it’s baby backs. Cut from high on the hog (yes, that’s where the expression came from), baby backs are generously marbled, naturally tender, and relatively quick to cook. You can smoke them “low and slow,” as you would true barbecue—a process that takes 3 to 4 hours. You can indirect grill them hotter and faster, delivering competition worthy ribs in 90 minutes. The secret? A four-ingredient barbecue rub (equal parts salt, pepper, paprika, and brown sugar) and a luscious lemon brown sugar barbecue sauce.

Pulled pork: The pork shoulder may be the most forgiving piece of meat ever set to fire. It, too, can be cooked low and slow or hot and fast. Thanks to its generous marbling, it always stays moist—even if you overcook it. Start with a Boston butt—cut from the top of the pork shoulder and so name for the wooden barrels (“butts”) it used to be stored in for shipping. Once it’s cooked (to 190 to 195 degrees on a meat thermometer), you shred it with meat claws link or two large forks and douse it with a Carolina vinegar sauce. The piquancy of the vinegar counterbalances the richness of the pork. Just remember to add hardwood chunks or chips (the latter soaked in cool water for 30 minutes, then drained) to add that authentic Southern smoke flavor.

Related Reads

• Back to Basics: How to Grill Tender, Versatile Skirt Steak
• 10 Essential Tips to Take Your Grilling to the Next Level

Check out our 1000+ Recipes section here on Barbecue Bible.Com

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Refreshed for 2025

Succulence and smoke guaranteed.

He wouldn’t. He shouldn’t. He did.

He being me, and I found a revolutionary new way to grill bratwurst. It’s about to make you and your next tailgate party succeed like a million bucks!

From the beginning of time (or a least bratwurst), people have grilled this traditional German sausage directly over the fire.

Even the name suggest direct grilling: braten is the German word for to roast or grill.

Direct grilling bratwurst and other fresh sausage has benefits and risks. Get it right, and you wind up with a crisp smoky casing and sizzling meat. Get it wrong and the bratwurst will split and the fat will gush onto the fire, turning your grill into a conflagration. Or one side will come out charred; the other side raw, which is an equally unhappy result.

But what if there was a way to grill brats without these fiery risks? There is and I discovered it a few years ago when I suddenly had to cook 60 brats for a book signing and my assistant was a no show.

Indirect grilling bratwurst

So I set up my grill for indirect grilling and lined up the brats on the grate. Then, in a moment of inspiration, I added hickory wood to the coals. The result was astonishing. Indirect grilling kept the casings and juices intact, which meant brats that were 30 percent juicier than the sausage I grilled using the direct method.

And the smoke flavor made the brats off the charts delicious. (Think bratwurst channeling barbecue.)

Best of all, the method works for all manner of fresh wurst, from chorizo to Italian sausage.

Brats are indispensable for any self-respecting tailgate party. Use my indirect grilling with wood smoke method for the best brats you’ve ever tasted.

How to do it

1. Set up for indirect. Two-zone fire (coals/burners on one side only). Aim for 350–375°F in the indirect zone.
2. Add wood. Place a fist-size chunk of hickory (or a handful of chips) over the hot side.
3. Cook gently. Arrange brats on the cool side, lid down, vents open. Cook to 155–160°F internal, 20–30 minutes, rotating once.
4. Optional crisp. Roll brats over the hot side for 30–60 seconds to blister the casing.

Time & temp cheatsheet

• Grill temp (indirect zone): 350–375^°F
• Wood: Hickory (oak or apple also fine)
• Target internal temp: 160°F (USDA for fresh pork)
• Typical time: 20–30 min indirect + 1 min crisp

Bratwurst Recipes

• Bratwurst “Hot Tub”
• Bratwurst with Curry Sauce (Currywurst)
• Mile-Long Smoked Bratwurst Sandwich
• Smoked Bratwursts

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Quick: what’s your favorite flavoring for pork? Garlic? Sage? Rosemary? A salt and pepper rub? If you answered all of the above, do we have a dish for you!

Italians call it porchetta (pronounced pork-etta). I call paradise.

Born in ancient Rome, porchetta has been around for a long time. Over the centuries, it has evolved into a whole boned pig stuffed with an aromatic paste of garlic, fresh herbs, salt, pepper, and fennel, and spit-roasted or oven-roasted until the skin is as crisp as potato chips and the meat is as luscious and tender as butter.

In honor of Pork-tober, we’re showcasing three of our favorite porchetta recipes:

Porchetta Recipes

Porchetta (Italian Garlic & Herb Stuffed Pork Loin)

This roast bursts with garlic, sage, rosemary, and citrus in every juicy slice—crackling skin, tender pork—yet uses straightforward prep anyone can handle.

Get The Recipe »

Porchetta with Blueberries and Hazelnuts

Rustic pork belly wrapped around loin with a wild mix of blueberries, hazelnuts, thyme and pancetta gives you sweet, nutty, crisp flavor that feels gourmet but is totally doable.

Get The Recipe »

Yankee Porchetta: “Pork and Beans”

A clever mash-up of stuffed pork loin and baked beans wrapped in bacon and smoke-roasted—comforting, bold, smoky goodness made in a way that’s fun and not fussy.

Get The Recipe »

Porchetta may have ancient roots, but it feels right at home on a modern grill. Go classic with garlic and herbs, sweet with blueberries and hazelnuts, or smoky with beans and bacon—each version captures the spirit of Italian cooking: simple ingredients, bold flavor, and a little patience over the fire. Try one this Pork-tober and taste why this centuries-old roast still earns a spot at the table.

Related Reads

• Your Best Holiday Roast Yet: Italian Porchetta
• A Delicious Charcuterie-Stuffed Pork Loin
• Your Next Incredible Holiday Meal: Stuffed Italian Porchetta

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Sauce is the lifeblood of American barbecue. Without it, Kansas City-style ribs would lack the sticky sweetness that keeps you licking your fingers. Carolina pulled pork would simply be a pile of shredded cooked Boston butt.

Traditional American barbecue sauces have always had an air of mystery. The lengthy ingredient lists. The complex layers of flavors. The secrecy bordering paranoia surrounding the recipe. The mythical pit masters who vow to take their secret sauce recipe to the grave.

Well, we’re about to break the code of silence. In honor of Pork-tober, here are five of our favorite barbecue sauces. Equally terrific on pork chops, tenderloin, ribs, and pork butts.

What’s even better: three of the sauces require only three ingredients. You read that right three ingredients!

So get out your saucepan and get cracking!

We at Barbecuebible.com wish you a happy Pork-tober!

Five Barbecue Sauces for Pork

North Carolina Vinegar Sauce

Makes 2 cups.

This mouth-puckering condiment was America’s original barbecue sauce, and while a watery mix of cider vinegar, hot red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper may not seem like barbecue sauce to most Americans, North Carolina-style pulled pork just wouldn’t taste right without it. The vinegar counterpoints the fatty pork, while the black and hot peppers crank up the heat. In the western part of the state, ketchup is added for sweetness—a practice I’ve made optional here. Note: Some pit masters add liquid hot sauce in place of (or in addition to) hot red pepper flakes. Others add water to diminish the vinegary bite.

2 cups cider vinegar
1 to 2 tablespoons hot red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper (about 1 tablespoon of the former and 1 teaspoon of the latter)
2 tablespoons ketchup (optional)

Place the ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until the salt dissolves. Alternatively, place the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until the salt dissolves. To serve, mix with or spoon over pulled pork (smoked shredded or chopped pork shoulder). It’s also great with shredded barbecued chicken or duck.

South Carolina Mustard Barbecue Sauce

Yield: Makes 2 cups.

South Carolina’s contribution to regional American barbecue is mustard sauce. BBQ buffs in these parts understand the wonders that mustard can work on pork; how the spice enhances the meat’s sweetness, while the acidity cuts through the fat. A good mustard sauce is a study in balance: the bite of mustard and mouth-pucker of vinegar offset by the sweetness of honey or brown sugar. Tradition calls for using ballpark-style mustard, which I’ve always found to be jarring on the taste buds. Call me a heretic, but I prefer the suaveness of Dijon-style mustard or a grainy mustard from Meaux in France.

2/3 cup Dijon-style mustard
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup cider vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper (lots of pepper) to taste

Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and whisk to mix. Simmer for 3 minutes, then let cool to room temperature for serving.

Alabama White Barbecue Sauce

Visit Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, and you’ll find a barbecue sauce unlike any on the planet. Created by a railroad man-turned-pit master in the 1920s, this piquant mixture of mayonnaise, vinegar, and black pepper has accompanied barbecued chicken for five generations of pit masters. Well, let me assure you, this singular sauce is equally delicious on pork. I know the mayo thing sounds strange if you’re not from Alabama, but take my word for it, it’s awesome.

Makes 3-1/2 cups.

2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup prepared white horseradish (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper and salt (you’ll need about 2 teaspoons of the former and 1 teaspoon of the latter)

Place the ingredients in a deep mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pineapple-Chile Salsa

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine.

Serve at room temperature over grilled pork or fish.

Stir together 2 cups finely chopped fresh pineapple (about 12 oz.), 2 thinly sliced scallions, 1 seeded and finely chopped red Fresno chile, 1/2 seeded and finely chopped serrano chile, 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, 1 tsp. lime zest, and 1/4 tsp. kosher salt in a medium bowl. Serve immediately, or store covered in refrigerator up to 2 days.

Chipotle Molasses Barbecue

Smoke and fire are what make barbecue barbecue and they’re about to electrify the sauce to go with it. The smoke comes from chipotles—Mexican smoked jalapenos. The fire comes from the chilies, plus Sriracha and horseradish mustard.

2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup Sriracha
1/4 cup horseradish mustard or Dijon-style mustard
1/4 cup bourbon whisky
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar (light or dark—your choice), or to taste
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon Sambuca
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chili with can juices (or to taste)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the ingredients in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and gently simmer the sauce, uncovered, until thick and richly flavored, 10 minutes. Correct the seasoning, adding pepper or sugar as desired. Let the sauce cool to room temperature for serving. Store in clean jars away from heat or light. Refrigerated, the sauce will last for at least a week.

Whether you like your pork tangy, sweet, smoky, or spicy, there’s a sauce here that hits the spot. Each one tells a story from a different corner of American barbecue, and every spoonful adds its own twist to the meat we love most. Fire up the grill, grab your favorite cut of pork, and taste your way through these classics.

Hungry for more? Sign up for our Up in Smoke newsletter and get a FREE copy of Steven Raichlen’s Burgers e-book—packed with recipes and grilling tips you won’t want to miss.

Releated Posts

• Barbecue Sauces from Around the World
• Soda-Based BBQ Sauces: 3 Easy Recipes
• 8 Must-Try Regional Barbecue Sauces

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Skip to the FAQ: brats, smoke woods, beer pairings

Have you ever started in one place and found yourself the next morning in another—without the faintest idea of how you got there?

That pretty much describes my first Oktoberfest in the festival’s birthplace, Munich.

Fresh out of college and traveling through Europe, I wanted to see what Oktoberfest was all about. So I took a seat on a bench under a huge tent in Munich’s die Wiesn district, surrounded by jovial men in feathered hats and lederhosen, singing at the top of their lungs.

A waitress in a dirndl set a Maßkrug, a gray one-liter stoneware mug filled with Munich’s finest brew.

One liter is a lot beer. Like 33.8 fluid ounces. But I didn’t just drink one liter. I didn’t just drink two liters. I drank three. And the Brezn (soft pretzels) and Wurstl (grilled bratwurst) that accompanied them weren’t enough to counterbalance the alcohol in the beer.

I woke the next morning in a cheap hotel, my clothes still on, my backpack by my side. How I got there, I still don’t know to this day. Someone must have been looking out for me.

I don’t suggest you drink three liters of beer at your next Oktoberfest party (although I’m living proof it’s possible).

I do suggest you drink a little less beer and eat a little more food. Actually, a lot more food. Like the following dishes—German-inspired, but perfectly adapted to the grill in your backyard.

We start with….

Oktoberfest Recipes

Back to top ↑

Oktoberfest may have started in Munich, but the flavors translate perfectly to your backyard grill. From brats soaking in a beer-and-onion hot tub to smoky Spiessbraten and pork roasted over wood, these dishes are as festive as the beers they pair with. So pour yourself a stein, fire up the grill, and raise a toast—Prost!—to good food, good friends, and a taste of Oktoberfest at home.

More Fall Blogs

• Grilled Pork Loin: The Perfect Meal for Fall
• A Taste of Fall with Grill and Smoker Recipes for October
• Your Ultimate Guide to Fall BBQ with 8 Grilled and Smoked Recipes

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Call them best supporting actors. Call them MVP sideliners for taking your tailgating party over the top. You’ve mastered brisket and ribs, and your burgers are the stuff of legend.

But without killer side dishes, your barbecue will lack gravitas required to establish you as a true pro.

The Big Three Tailgating Side Dishes Everyone Loves

I’m talking about the big three: baked beans, potato salad, and coleslaw.

Of course, I could tell you how to make all three in your kitchen—no lighting of your grill or smoker required. They’d be good—even excellent. But they wouldn’t be barbecue.

No, to make side dishes that will, er, smoke the competition, they need to be kissed with fire.

First up, baked beans, which have been part of American culture since before there was an America. That’s right, long before the arrival of the Mayflower, the Iroquois, Abenaki, and other Algonquian peoples boiled beans in clay pots, with bear fat to make them rich and maple syrup for sweetness.

And long before the arrival of Pizarro, South Americans in the Andes Mountains cultivated hundreds of varieties of potatoes. The proto-American potato salad may well have been papas a la huancaina, a Peruvian potato salad flavored with piquant amarillo (yellow) chiles and salt queso fresco cheese.

As for coleslaw, our word comes from the Dutch kool, cabbage, and sla, salad—both favored by the early Dutch settlers of Manhattan.

Pro Tips for Adding Smoke Flavor

My baked beans get a double blast of smoke flavor—first from the addition of bacon (and brisket or pulled pork, if you have any extra in your refrigerator). Then from a long slow cook in your smoker.

To make coleslaw, I smoke the cabbage—just long enough to flavor it, but short enough to keep it crunchy and raw.

I also smoke the potatoes for my potato salad, adding pimenton (smoked paprika) to reinforce the flavor.

Yeah, it takes a little extra time, but you can smoke the vegetables at a previous grill session. Serve them, and your next cookout will win you access to the tailgating hall of fame.

Got your own favorite twists on game day sides? I’d love to see them! Share your creations and tag us on social—we’re always looking for new ideas to try (and cheer for).

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As the days get shorter and the evenings turn crisp, few dishes bring more comfort than osso buco cooked low and slow.

Osso buco is one of the glories of Italian cuisine—veal shanks braised for hours with wine, herbs, and aromatic vegetables. It starts with an undisputably tough cut of meat—the shin—and you cook it low and slow until it’s tender enough to eat with a spoon. The best part might just be the buttery marrow inside the shank bone. (Hence the reference to a spoon—which you need for scooping the marrow out of the bone.)

What Is Osso Buco?

A specialty of Milan in the province of Lombardy in northern Italy, osso buco (literally “cow bone”) is the ultimate comfort food—perfect for winter. (Actually, it’s pretty perfect any time of the year.) It’s hard to imagine how you could improve on a dish Italians have been making for centuries. But I’m going try. And my secret weapon—you see this coming—is my smoker.

My osso buco upgrade involves a technique I call smoke-braising. You read about it in my book Project Smoke, where I used it to make smoke-braised Asian lamb shanks. I like to think of smoke as the umami of barbecue and it imbues this already amazing dish with the spirit of American barbecue.

How to Smoke Osso Buco

Despite its amazing flavors and a semi-long ingredient list, osso buco is quick and easy to make. Note I said to make. It does require 3 hours of cooking. But if you own a pellet grill, you pretty much set it and forget it. Ditto on a gas grill. A kamado grill, like a Big Green Egg, is perfect for osso buco. So is a charcoal smoker or grill, although with both you’ll need to replenish the charcoal and wood every hour.

As you look at the following photos, you may be surprised to find aluminum foil wrapped around the pot. That’s to keep the smoke off the outside. (If the truth be told, it’s pretty easy for you to clean the pot with a blast of oven cleaner.)

I give you smoked osso buco! It’s great the day you make it and even better served as leftovers.

Smoked osso buco isn’t just a dish—it’s a full fall feast. Pair it with sides like Grilled Smoked Mac and Cheese, Grilled Poblano Cornbread, or Plancha Potato Chips to round out the meal. For more autumn inspiration, check out our collection of fall-friendly sides and recipes

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Why Shrimp Is America’s Favorite Shellfish

Quick: what’s America’s favorite shellfish?

Lobster? Maybe if you live in New England. Oysters? Yeah, we love them raw on the half-shell, but grilled they’re still pretty niche.

No, it turns out that our most consumed shellfish is the smallest in size. Shrimp.

By dollar and poundage, this diminutive crustacean remains our hands-down favorite. We Americans eat an average of 5.9 pounds per person per year.

Shrimp Around the World

We’re not alone. South Africans prize their piri-piri prawns, spiced up with fiery malagueta chiles. The Spanish pay exorbitant sums for carabinieros, briny crimson shrimp fished from the cold deep waters of the Bay of Biscay. Venetians thread their gamberoni onto skewers to be dusted with breadcrumbs and grilled kabab style. No Indian feast would be complete without yogurt- and spice-marinated tandoori shrimp.

Regional Shrimp Varieties in the U.S.

But which shrimp? If you live on the southeastern seaboard, you eat delicate Carolina shrimp. If you come from Down East, you raise your fork for sweet white Maine shrimp. Down my way, in south Florida, we grill succulent Key West pinks. Californians and Hawaiians eat spot prawns (so named for the black eye-like carapace on the side of the shell.

Quite miraculously, in this age of global supply chains, shrimp remain mercifully regional, and each variety has its own distinct texture and flavor.

Buying Shrimp: Fresh, Farmed, or Imported?

But what if you don’t live near the coast? Seafood farms from around the globe (especially Southeast Asia) provide shrimp in all sizes as prices so modest, you wonder how they can do it.

The short answer is don’t ask. The longer answer requires uncomfortable questions about dubious labor and environment practices. Whenever food comes cheap, you pay the price in other ways. But ask to sniff the shrimp before buying it: if it smells like bleach, don’t buy it.

For this reason, I always try to buy fresh local domestic shrimp. When in doubt, I buy from a store merchant that vets the provenance of its seafood, like Whole Foods, or I check with the Marine Stewardship Counsel.

Why Shrimp Is Perfect for Grilling

But my main job is to whet your appetite, not suppress it, and shrimp possesses many qualities that endear it to us grillers.

First, it’s quick to grill, delivering pure protein and superb taste in a matter of minutes. It readily absorbs spice, marinade, and smoke flavors, without losing its briny uniqueness. Speaking of taste, it has one of those flavors that seems to appeal to everyone—without the squeamishness often associated with sea urchin, oysters, or other shellfish.
Did we mention that it’s available everywhere and as seafood goes, mercifully affordable?

Five Key Questions Before Grilling Shrimp

But before you fire up your grill, you need to ask 5 key questions.

Does size matter? As in the bedroom, not really. Shrimp range in size from the diminutive Dutch garnall (so tiny you can fit a dozen in a tablespoon) to the Kenyan King (a single shellfish tips the scales at 3 pounds—split and grill as you would lobster). Here in the U.S., shrimp are sold by the “U” size—for example a U-16 means that there are 16 headless shrimp to a pound. When making kebabs, I use extra-large shrimp (U 16s). When grilling individual shrimp, I use U8s or U10s—also sold as “colossal.”

Head on or head off? In much of the world, people grill whole shrimp (that is with heads on). I’m down with that. Head on shrimp look cool and there’s a lot of flavor in the head. To paraphrase how Louisianans eat crawfish: suck the heads and pinch the tails.

Shell on or shell off? Both. I like grilling shrimp in the shell. Fire-charred shells add flavor and keep the meat moist. I like grilling peeled shrimp because they’re quicker and easier to eat. There’s time and occasion for both.

Tails on or off? Toss up here. A lot of restaurants leave the tails on (perhaps to remind you that the creature you’re about to heat once swam in the ocean). That fire charred tail adds a bit of flavor. But it also adds another step come time to eat the shrimp, so you can omit it with a clean conscience.

Should shrimp be deveined? Large ones yes. A visible black vein in a cooked shrimp is unsightly and can taste acrid. With smaller shrimp (or shrimp with no visible vein), I don’t bother peeling. Unless my wife is watching. Then I always peel shrimp.

How to Devein Shrimp (3 Easy Methods)

Tip: There are three ways to devein shrimp.

1. Get yourself a shrimp peeler and deveiner. Insert the deveiner in the fat end of the shrimp and push. Vein removed QED.
2. Butterfly the shrimp, that is make a V-shaped cut along the back of the shrimp to cut out the vein and flesh immediately surrounding it. Advantage of this method: the shrimp curls into an attractive butterfly shape as it cooks.
3. The lazy way to devein a peeled shrimp: Insert the tine of a fork in the rounded part of the back under the vein and gently lift. Most of the time, the vein will pull right out.

How to Grill Shrimp

In a nutshell, direct grilled over high heat. I grill small shrimp kebab style (threaded on a bamboo or metal skewer). The skewer should pass through the head end and tail end so each shrimp lays flat on the grate. For the real monsters, I split them in half through the belly side, butterfly them open, and grill them as I would lobster.

Our 5 Favorite Shrimp Recipes

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You’ve eaten salmon grilled, roasted, blackened, planked, and pan-fried; perhaps you’ve even chopped it to make burgers.

But have you made salmon candy, also known as Indian candy? (We no longer call it “squaw candy” by reason of political correctness.) British Columbians snack on it and it’s a staple in Pacific Northwest gift shops. Think of it as jerky, only better. Burnished to an Old Master chiaroscuro by hours of exposure to fragrant wood smoke—usually alder. Glazed with pure maple syrup or honey. Salty and sweet at the same time. It has a nice chew, too—but nothing that will threaten your molars.

Salmon candy makes a great snack for a road trip, hike, or long day at the office. It’s addictive as all-get-out. Once you gnaw your last piece, you’ll instantly crave more.

Making a batch is a satisfying project for the waning days of winter. Yes, it requires some time—16 hours or more including brining and smoking—but very little actual work.

Before you get started, here are a few secrets for salmon candy success:

• Use wild-caught Pacific salmon if possible. You’ll recognize it by its deeper red-orange color and leaner appearance. If in doubt, verify its origin with your fishmonger. It is illegal to farm salmon from the state of Alaska, so salmon from there is always wild, while salmon from the East Coast, Chile, and Norway is likely to be farmed.
• A center-cut fillet will yield more uniform pieces of fish: It tapers and becomes sinewy the closer you get to the tail.
• Remove the skin before slicing the salmon into strips. If using a whole fillet, place the salmon skin-side down on a cutting board. Firmly hold the tail with one hand and run a sharp knife between the skin and the flesh, holding it parallel to and against the board. Slide the knife away from the tail the length of the fish, being careful not to cut the flesh or the skin. Remove the skin, but don’t discard it. Make Pac-Rim potato chips by brushing the skin with toasted sesame oil and season it with salt and pepper. Indirect grill at 400 degrees until crisp. Five to ten minutes will do it.
• You can cure salmon candy using either a dry or wet brine, but the ingredients are more uniformly distributed in a wet brine.
• If the salmon smells fishy, soak it in cheap vodka, rum, gin, or Scotch before brining. I often do this when I smoke salmon.
• Do not substitute table salt for kosher salt in the brine. Table salt contains iodine—a metal that “burns” the fish.
• To achieve the translucency characteristic of commercially-produced salmon candy and jerky, add curing salt (sometimes sold as pink salt, InstaCure #1, or Prague powder, all available online) to the brine strictly following the manufacturer’s recommended proportions.
• For the purest flavors, use spring water, not tap water, when making a wet brine.
• Use a charcoal grill or smoker. Gas grills do not work well for smoking.
• Store salmon candy in the refrigerator to prolong its shelf life. Refrigerated, it can be kept for at least 5 days—and likely much longer. (Both the salt and smoke act preservatives.)
• For lip tingling heat sprinkle the salmon lightly with cayenne before smoking. Coarsely ground black pepper makes a less fiery option.

FAQ For Salmon Candy

What exactly is salmon candy?

Salmon candy a traditional dish of the Pacific Northwest—salmon cut into bitesize chunks, cured with salt and brown sugar, smoked, then glazed with maple syrup or honey. It’s sweet, salty, and smoky, playing to virtually every tastebud in your mouth.

What kind of salmon is best for salmon candy?

The richest, fattiest salmon: king.

What’s the secret to getting the perfect glaze?

Use maple syrup or honey and brush it on while the salmon is smoking. Add one final coat at the end.

How do you keep salmon candy from drying out?

Because the salmon pieces are relatively small, keep the smoking time short—20 minutes or so.

Can you make salmon candy without a smoker?

You can make brined, maple syrup-glazed salmon. Cook it on your grill, on the griddle (there’s a great griddle recipe in Project Griddle, or even in the oven. It won’t be smoked, but it certainly will be delicious!

How long does salmon candy last in the fridge or freezer?

Up to 5 days in the fridge. Several months in freezer, but it will lose some of its pizzaz in the freezer.

Try these other salmon recipes:

• Salmon with Maple-Mustard Glaze
• Planked Salmon with Mustard-Dill Glaze
• Scotch Whiskey-Smoked Salmon

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It’s an article of faith, not to say dogma, that the proper way to cook brisket is low in slow—that is at a low heat for a very loooooooooong time—a half day or more for a full packer brisket. You need that slow, gentle heat to melt the collagen and make the meat tender without drying it out.

Yes, there are hot and fast briskets that cook in a few hours. Our test kitchen director made one that ranks pretty high on the deliciousness scale.

But what if I told you there’s a brisket dish you can cook in 2 minutes—I repeat 2 MINUTES—directly over a screaming hot fire. You’d think I was crazy.

The Secret to Cooking Brisket in Just Two Minutes

Or so I believed until I visited Baekjeong KBBQ restaurant in the heart of New York’s Koreatown. Here the chef slices frozen brisket points across the grain on a meat slicer. The slices come out so paper-thin, the meat cooks in a matter of minutes. It simply doesn’t have time or heft to get tough. You could think of this direct grilled brisket as steak on steroids, with a rich meaty beefy flavor every bit as intense as slow-cooked brisket, but as easy to chew as filet mignon.

The brisket itself comes unseasoned. The fireworks come from a table-burying selection of sauces and condiments collectively known as panchan. Like so much Korean grilled meat, you eat grilled brisket taco-style: wrapped in lettuce leaves. Think of it as barbecue health food.

The easiest way to slice the meat for this extraordinary brisket is on an electric meat slicer. Serious carnivores may own one already. I’ve come up with a work-around using a food processor. In a pinch, you could try hand slicing. Either way, place the brisket in the freezer until softly frozen. You don’t want it hard as a rock. If you happen to live in an area with a large Korean community, you may be able to buy the brisket pre-sliced.

Here, then, is a brisket dish most of us would never dream possible. Two minute brisket. Really! One bite of the luscious, seared, sizzling smoky beef will make you a believer.

Recipe: Two Minute Korean Brisket

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Most serious practitioners consider barbecue an art, the outcome of which depends on knowledge, skill, and intuition. Which is why I’m skeptical of formulaic approaches like the 3-2-1 method for cooking pork spare ribs. Last year, in what turned out to be one of my most visited blog posts to date, I wrote:

And if you serve ribs cooked by the 3-2-1 method, 95 percent of the people who taste them will react with delight and will declare you a genius. My guests sure did, and I did not deflect their praise. And yet … and yet … I felt a certain discomfort accepting my guests’ compliments. These were good ribs. Safe ribs. Ribs by rote. These were ribs almost anyone could love on account of their moistness and tenderness.

(If you are unfamiliar with it, the 3-2-1 approach calls for smoking the ribs for 3 hours, cooking for 2 hours tightly wrapped in foil, and unwrapping for the final hour for a total of 6 hours.)

This barbecue-by-the-numbers method is undeniably popular among backyard pit masters and on the competition circuit, where it is believed to have originated. So why do I keep revisiting it? I have never been totally satisfied with ribs barbecued according to the 3-2-1 formula. Sometimes, the chew skews from tender to mushy. The bark softens in the steam while the ribs are foiled. The rub disappears. The flavors seem dialed down, a bit washed out, almost like boiled ribs.

After experimenting, I identified the primary cause of the problems: The ribs were simply spending too much time in the steamy environment of the foil.

I’m now a proponent of the 3-1-1 method. (Not as catchy as 3-2-1, but oh well.) Below are the particulars. Note: If using baby back ribs, cut the smoking time down to 2 hours.

Step-by-Step Guide to the 3-1-1 Method Ribs

• Start with the best spare ribs you can buy, preferably heritage breed and never frozen. Buy St. Louis-style ribs or trim them yourself. One rack feeds 2 to 3 people. Remove the papery membrane from the bone side of the ribs as it impedes the absorption of smoke and spices.

  

• Apply your favorite rub (I’m partial to my Planet Barbecue Kansas City Smoke Rub) to both sides of the ribs an hour or so before you intend to cook. The salt in the rub draws some of the moisture from the surface of the meat, giving you better bark.

• In the meantime, set up your smoker according to the manufacturer’s instructions and preheat to 250 degrees F. (Alternatively, set up your charcoal grill for indirect grilling and preheat to the same temperature.) If using wood chips to generate smoke, soak in water for at least 30 minutes, then drain. (I don’t bother soaking wood chunks.) Place a shallow pan of water in the cook chamber if not using a smoker with a built-in water pan. You could add moisture to the ribs by mopping, but repeated opening and closing of the lid compromises the temperature’s stability.

• Once the temperature has stabilized in your smoker or grill, arrange the ribs on the grate, bone side down. If smoking several racks at once, use a rib rack. Immediately close the lid. Smoke for 3 hours, replenishing the fuel, water, and/or smoking wood as necessary.

• For each rack of ribs, tear off a rectangle of heavy-duty aluminum foil large enough to completely enclose the ribs. Quickly remove the ribs from the smoker or grill and replace the lid to avoid heat loss. Place each rack, meat side down, on a piece of aluminum foil and bring up the sides. If desired, pour 1/4 cup of apple cider, beer, ale, or other flavorful liquid on top of the bones and dot with thin slices of butter. Bring the edges of the foil together and fold to make a tight package. Return to the smoker or grill and cook for 1 hour. (You no longer need to add smoking chips or chunks to the fire.)

  

• Remove the ribs from the smoker or grill. (Again, work quickly to maintain cooking temperatures.) Carefully open the foil package; wear heatproof food gloves to avoid steam burns. Insert a toothpick between the bones in the thickest part of the meat; it should penetrate fairly easily. Using tongs, lift the ribs from the foil. Discard the foil. Reserve the juices, if desired, and boil down to make a glaze. Don’t bother if you’re only doing 1 or 2 racks.

• If desired, dust the ribs lightly with more rub. Return to the smoker or grill, meat side up, or to the grill rack. Cover and continue to cook for 1 hour. Again, insert a toothpick between the bones to test for doneness. If the toothpick doesn’t penetrate easily, continue to cook until it does, testing at 15-minute intervals. (Another test for doneness requires you to lift the rack of ribs up by one end. If it begins to bend and form a shreddy crack between the middle bones, the ribs are tender.) If you made a glaze, apply it now. I like to serve barbecue sauce on the side. But you can apply it the last 30 minutes of the cook or sizzle it in over a hotter grill for the last 5 minutes. Please note that sweeter sauces burn easily, so watch them carefully.

Bottom line? The success of ribs, like brisket or pork shoulder, still depends on human intuition. Use the above formulas as guidelines, recognizing that a particular rack of ribs might need more or less time on the grill. Be flexible. If the ribs are done before your guests arrive, loosely wrap them in foil and stow in an insulated cooler until serving time. If the ribs need more time, have some interesting grilled appetizers at the ready.

Do you have a fail-safe method for barbecuing ribs? Please share it with us on social media!

Related Reads

• Master Ribs: 6 Steps to Perfect Barbecued Bones
• 6 Things You Need to Know About Pork Ribs
• First‑Timers Ribs: A Foolproof Recipe

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Photo by Rob Baas.

Updated for 2025

What Makes Jamaican Jerk So Fiery?

As anyone who has eaten real-deal Jamaican jerk can tell you, it hurts. Smoke gets in your eyes and Scotch bonnet chiles scorch your gullet.

“You need to sweat while you’re eating jerk,” says my friend, Gary Feblowitz (we met on the set of Project Smoke).

An Emmy award-winning videographer (you’ve seen his work on the Discovery Channel and PBS), Feblowitz is one of jerk’s most zealous evangelists. The license plate on his SUV reads “JRKMSTR.” (I’m guessing that would play well in Kingston, but might be misinterpreted in Gary’s home state of Minnesota.)

The Story Behind Authentic Jerk Ingredients

Gary’s jerk epiphany occurred when a vacation to Jamaica was extended two weeks by a medical emergency that prohibited air travel. He knew the key to authentic jerk was the pimento (allspice) tree—its fruit (allspice berries), leaves, and especially, its fragrant wood. He wanted to import these ingredients into the U.S., but the Jamaican government had banned pimento exports in the early 1900s after demand for the dense, beautiful wood nearly wiped out the supply. (At the time, it was popular for umbrella handles.) Gary proposed to use only trim or felled trees and plant three for every one he imported. The Jamaican officials agreed.

Gary Feblowitz (left), owner of Exotic Wood Chips, LLC, with Steven Raichlen on the set of Project Smoke. In addition to being a jerkmaster, Gary is an Emmy award-winning videographer. Photo by Rob Baas.

Like North American barbecue, Jamaican jerk is simultaneously a dish, a cooking method, and a way of life—a noun and a verb.

Historically, jerk is associated with the Maroons, runaway slaves who settled in the mountains when the British defeated their Spanish owners in 1655. The Maroons hunted wild boar, which they rubbed with a fiery paste of salt, spices, onions, ginger, and chiles, and cooked it slowly over smoldering pimento or laurel wood fires in earthen pits. The method tenderized and preserved the meat, and more importantly, produced little smoke, which would have given away their positions. (Cuba’s lechon asado and Hawaii’s kālua pig are similar.)

Modern Jamaican Jerk: Methods and Proteins

Today, Jamaica’s “jerkmen” are more likely to cook in modified steel drums or shallow trough-like grills covered with sheets of corrugated tin. Once you master the basics, you can jerk almost any protein on your gas or charcoal grill or smoker. Chicken and pork are the most popular meats, but I’ve also encountered jerk snapper, lobster, shrimp, and even tofu. Gary confided one of his favorite preparations is jerk brisket. We can’t wait to try that!

Key Ingredients in Jamaican Jerk Seasoning

Most jerk ingredients are available at any supermarket.

• Scotch bonnet chile: One of the world’s most fiery chiles (100,000 to 350,000 Scoville units), with a sweet heat that blooms in the mouth rather than bludgeons. But still approach with caution. For less heat, seed the peppers. If you cannot find Scotch bonnets, substitute habaneros. Wear gloves when handling.
• Pimento wood: This fragrant tropical tree is one of the defining flavors of jerk. To be strictly authentic, cook the food on a grate of pimento wood sticks and generate smoke with pimento wood chips. Because it is so dense, the sticks can be reused if you work over a low fire.
• Pimento berries and leaves: Pimento berries—also called allspice—are available in the spice aisle of most supermarkets. Be sure to buy whole berries, not ground allspice. Gary (see website above) usually carries dried pimento leaves. If they are unavailable, substitute bay leaves.

Get The Recipes

Cooking Tips for Authentic Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Use fresh ingredients whenever possible: Fresh scallions, thyme, and Scotch bonnet peppers make a huge difference in flavor compared to dried or bottled substitutes.

Marinate overnight: Let your chicken soak in the jerk marinade for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, to deeply infuse those bold, spicy flavors.

Get your grill ready for indirect heat: Jamaican jerk is traditionally cooked low and slow over indirect heat, often with pimento wood smoke if you can find it. This helps develop that smoky crust without burning the spices.

Don’t rush the cooking: Keep the grill temperature around 275-300°F (135-150°C) and cook the chicken slowly. This locks in moisture and allows the spices to caramelize nicely.

Use a meat thermometer: Cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C) for safe, juicy results.

Add smoke for extra flavor: If you have a smoker or pellet grill, adding a bit of wood smoke (hickory, apple, or preferably pimento wood) enhances that authentic jerk aroma.

Baste occasionally: Spoon or brush reserved marinade or a bit of oil on the chicken during cooking to keep it moist and flavorful.

Rest before serving: Let the chicken rest for 5-10 minutes after cooking. This helps the juices redistribute for a tender bite.

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The Surprising Technique of Smoking on the Griddle

Every once in a while, a cooking technique comes along that sounds so improbable, you’d never think to try it.

But that turns out to be so essential, you’ll wish you had thought of it earlier.

I speak of smoking on the griddle.  Aka barbecue on the griddle.   Aka an impossibility.  Only it’s not only possible.   It’s impossibly cool.

Why I’m Obsessed with Griddling Lately

If I seem obsessed by griddling lately, it’s because I just published a new book called Project Griddle.   No, I haven’t given up grilling—that will never happen.   But I have added several outdoor griddles to my grill collection at home and I use them to turn out some amazing food.

Why bother with outdoor griddles?   Well, there are certain foods you just can’t cook on a grill.   The short list includes pancakes, eggs, fried-rice, A5 wagyu steaks, and delicate fish.   More on those in a previous blog.   You can even use a griddle to cook steaks, chops, and kebabs.

But unlike a grill, the one thing a griddle can’t do is smoke.   As in smoking to make barbecue.   Or can it?   While writing Project Griddle, I came up with a revolutionary technique, for it turns out you CAN smoke on a griddle.   Not just one way, but two.

Smoke Griddling Method #1: Charcoal Grill with Cast Iron Griddle

I developed this technique during my first ventures with griddling on a charcoal grill.   I spread the coals in an even layer.   I set my portable cast iron griddle on the grate and heated it.   To check when it was ready, I sprinkled a few drops of water on the griddle—when they evaporated in 2 to 3 seconds, the griddle was sufficiently hot.    

Next, I added handfuls of hardwood chips (or a couple wood chunks) on the charcoal at the edge of the grill.   When I saw smoke, I placed the food—shrimp in this case—on the griddle.   I kept the grill lid closed to hold in the smoke.   My smoke-griddled shrimp were amazing, and so were the pork tenderloins, chicken breasts, and salmon steaks I griddled subsequently. 

No one was more surprised than I was.

Smoke Griddling Method #2: Smoking Directly on the Griddle Surface

Even more surprising was Smoke griddling method #2.   In this method, you smoke right on the griddle itself.

I was trying to make a griddled version of barbecued chicken with Alabama white sauce.   I heated one zone of the griddle to high and one zone to medium.   I mounded a handful of hardwood chips (you can also use hardwood sawdust or pellets) directly on the griddle over the hot zone.   When the chips started to smoke, I slid the wood to the medium zone and place the chicken next to it.   Then I placed a griddle dome on top.   I griddled the chicken covered, while wood smoke swirled all around it.   And damn if it didn’t taste like barbecued chicken I’d smoke on the grill. 

So before you dismiss outdoor griddles as being inferior to grills or smokers, try smoking on your flattop.

Related Blogs

• Steven Raichlen’s Project Griddle: Beyond Barbecue
• Peppered Pineapple on the Griddle or Grill: A Bold Twist on Dessert
• The Ultimate Memorial Day Menu (and yes, you can use your griddle)

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Of course you know Meathead—founder of Amazingribs.com and author of the bestselling book that bears his name. I have great respect for him, but we don’t always seen eye to eye.

Who Is Meathead?

Meathead champions sous vide (cooking foods in a plastic bag at low temperature in a water bath). I consider it cheating. I love caveman T-bone (grilled directly on the embers). He dismisses it as a party trick. Meathead distains beer can chicken. I wrote a whole book on it—not necessarily because it’s a superior cooking method (although it does produce a great roast chicken), but because it’s so much fun.

But there’s one thing we agree on and that’s that live fire makes just about every food taste better. And humankind and the world would be immeasurably impoverished without it.

His first book, Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecuing and Grilling (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), became an award-winning bestseller. Now he’s back with a hefty new hardcover: The Meathead Method (Harvest, 2025).

Meathead (like Sting and Madonna, he goes by first name only) was a seasoned journalist (Washington Post and Chicago Tribune) before he came to barbecue. He writes with wit, style, and grace. Above all, he’s a scientist, and the first half of The Meathead Method is filled with discourses on myoglobin, viscosity, lipids, the Maillard reaction, infrared radiant energy, and so on.

And even on how we taste. Depressing fact: a young person has 8000 to 10000 tastebuds. As we age, that number dwindles by half. (Please pass the salt.)

In fact, if you thought you were buying a cookbook, you’ll have to make your way through 164 pages of science and technology before you get to the first recipe.

Science First, Recipes Later

Believe me it’s worth it. No one knows more about barbecue science than Meathead. If my chemistry textbooks in college were written with half has much verve, I might have gone to medical school.

As in his first book, Meathead does a lot of myth busting. Like that melting fat penetrates the meat when you baste, say, a chicken or turkey. It doesn’t, says Meathead. (But it sure makes the skin taste good.)

Or that brisket and other meats stop absorbing smoke flavor after they reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees. On the contrary, they continue to take on smoke until you wrap them, which Meathead likes to do with aluminum foil (the so-called Texas crutch).

Meathead is against resting grilled meats before serving, seeing no appreciable increase in juiciness or tenderness. (Legions of French chefs would disagree.)

In fact, a lot of what Meathead writes flies in the face of tradition and conventional wisdom. He doesn’t like cooking whole animals. The various cuts and muscles (ham, shoulder, ribs, tenderloin, etc.), he argues, taste better when cooked by different methods and to different temperatures. (I wonder what Rodney Scott would say about that.).

He recommends dividing a whole packer brisket into point and flat and cooking them separately, for example. (I wonder what Aaron Franklin would say about that.)

He doesn’t like marinades, favoring dry brines and spice ribs. (I wonder what grill jockeys from Jaipur to Jakarta would say about that.)

A lot of what he writes makes sense:

He suggests oiling the food, not the grill grate.

He likes grilling shish kebab without the shish (Turkish for “skewer”). The chunks of meat brown better cooked separately, he reasons, and they do. (Of course, a large part of the attraction of shish kebab, shashlik, and other kebabs is how inviting they look on the skewer.)

He advocates flipping steaks numerous times (better browning and more even cooking) and he doesn’t give a fig about grill marks. Thanks to Meathead, that’s now how I grill my steaks.

He’s a strong partisan of board sauces—scattering your cutting board with fresh herbs, chopped alliums, olive oil, lemon juice, etc., then slicing the meat right on top of them. That mixes the flavorings right with the meat juices—a technique pioneered by Adam Perry Lang.

So, What Is the Meathead Method?

So what exactly is the Meathead Method? For most foods, he uses what he calls a “2-zone setup”: rake the embers to one side (or light one burner on your gas grill). Do most of your cooking at a low temperature (225 degrees) away from the heat. Then sear the food over the hot zone at the end to lay on flavor and crust. He does this not only for the obvious large foods, like chickens, turkeys, and pork shoulders. But even for foods that most of us direct grill, like steaks, chops, and chicken breasts.

According to Meathead, his method produces moister, tenderer food and reduces the need for (and anxiety associated with) split-second timing.

Another Meathead method I like is what he what he calls the “afterburner”—direct grilling over a lit chimney starter, which produces a volcanic blast of heat ideal for searing fajitas and other thin steaks. (He also uses a chimney starter to heat a wok for stir-frys.)

But to my mind, the most valuable Meathead method is his refusal to accept conventional wisdom and tradition—to keep tweaking and experimenting until he finds the appropriate set of cooking techniques to bring out the best texture and flavor in every cut of meat, seafood, or vegetable.

Meathead devotes the second half of his book to recipes, and I must say they make my mouth water. Like his Vigneron Method Flank Steak Subs, grilled as they do in Bordeaux—over grape vine trimmings—or his championship chicken, inspired by Todd Johns of Plowboys BBQ. (To get there, you layer the flavors with a rub, barbecue sauce, apple juice, and butter.) Or his Mussels with Smoked Fettucine, for which he actually smokes the water used for boiling the pasta. Brilliant! Or his Torched Figs—grilled with a blowtorch.

The Meathead Method makes an indispensable addition to any serious griller’s library. Come to think of it, I wish I had written it myself.

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To come to New Orleans without eating a po’boy would be like visiting Paris and missing the Eifel Tower. What could be better than fried seafood on a soft pillowy French roll? There are oyster po’ boys and shrimp po’boys, of course, and even roast beef po’boys. And the best place to try one might well be NOLA Poboys on Bourbon St. in the heart of the French Quarter.

A Brief History of the Po’Boy

Local legend dates the po’boy to the 1929 streetcar strike in New Orleans. Two ex-streetcar conductors, Benjamin and Clovis Martin, opened a restaurant, Martin Brothers’ French Market and Coffee Stand, offering free sandwiches to the striking workers. The sandwiches harbored leftover roast beef with fried potatoes and gravy. (Seafood would come later.). The poor boys (striking workers) tasted. The poor boys liked, and the po’boy sandwich was born. While the Martin Brothers’ restaurant is now closed, Parkway Bakery and Tavern is a popular alternative known for its po-boys.

Rethinking the Classic: Grilled, Not Fried

Much as we love the traditional version, I find fried seafood rather heavy. In my recent blog on Italian beef, I reimagined Chicago’s classic sandwich using the flavor-blasting powers of a smoker.

I wondered how you could reinvent the shrimp po’boy using the fire power of—get ready for it—the grill.

Building a Better Po’Boy

The Raichlen po’boy gets a triple blast of flavor: first from Cajun seasoning, then from homemade remoulade sauce, and finally from the smoky char of the grill. For extra flavor, of course you’ll butter and grill the bread.

Grilled instead of fried, this Shrimp Po’Boy recipe keeps the spirit of the New Orleans classic but lightens things up without losing any flavor. It’s got heat, crunch, and just the right amount of sauce—all wrapped in a toasted roll. Give it a try next time you fire up the grill. You might never go back to the deep fryer.

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The post A Better Shrimp Po’Boy? Fire Up Your Grill! appeared first on Barbecuebible.com.