BBQ-Heroes

Author: Erik Smilda

BBQ Meatball in Puff Pastry

Everyone is familiar with the pre-packaged sausage or meatball pastries you find in supermarkets. At least here in the Netherlands. They are variations of the sausage roll and make great quick snacks. We’ve created our version, the BBQ meatball puff pastry.

We smoke the meatballs, and the puff pastry buns are relatively easy to assemble with a bit of creativity.

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To get acquainted with our new grill, we start slowly by making some cheese-filled meatballs and smoking them low and slow at 120°C (248°F).

We insert a probe into one meatball to monitor the temperature inside the grill and know precisely when the meatballs are done. While the meatballs are smoking, we prepare the BBQ sauce.

We’ve created a delicious sweet BBQ sauce, which we brush onto the meatballs when they reach around 65°C (149°F). As the meatballs continue to smoke and reach 70°C (158°F), the sauce caramelizes and becomes sticky.

After the meatballs have cooled slightly, we place them on a sheet of puff pastry. Make sure to lay the puff pastry on a sheet of baking paper because it’s still moist and can easily stick to your countertop.

We then cut another sheet of puff pastry into strips and loosely drape them over the meatball. This allows any remaining moisture from the meatball to escape, keeping the puff pastry dry and crispy.

Next, we brush the puff pastry with egg wash to make it golden brown and sprinkle it with cheese, just because we can.

The wrapped meatballs in puff pastry are then baked at 200°C (392°F) on the glazed pizza stone we’ve placed inside the grill. The Weber stone is so smooth that you don’t need any additional grease or parchment paper. As long as the stone is clean, the puff pastry won’t stick to it.

This is our BBQ meatball in puff pastry. If you decide to make these, let us know in the comments below. Even better, could you take a photo and post it on Instagram? Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you’ve created.

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Ingredients

  • 12 sheets of puff pastry
  • 1 egg
  • Grated cheese

For the Meatball

  • 500 grams of ground beef
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic granules
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp roasted onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp chipotle
  • 40 grams of grated aged Gouda cheese
  • 1 egg
  • Sea salt

For the BBQ Sauce

  • 250 ml ketchup
  • 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsp syrup
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • A generous splash of Tabasco

Instructions

  1. Combine all the meatball ingredients, except for the salt, and form meatballs of approximately 100 to 120 grams each.
  2. Smoke the meatballs at 120°C (248°F) and prepare the BBQ sauce in the meantime.
  3. Put all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan, heat them gently, and stir until the sugar has melted.
  4. When the meatballs reach an internal temperature of around 65°C (149°F), brush them with the BBQ sauce and continue cooking until they reach 70°C (158°F). Remove the meatballs from the grill and let them cool.
  5. Allow the puff pastry sheets to thaw for 5 to 10 minutes on a sheet of baking paper.
  6. Place a meatball on a sheet of puff pastry and cut another sheet into strips as described above. Loosely cover the meatball with these strips so that you can see the meatball through the gaps.
  7. Roll up the sides of the puff pastry to seal everything and brush it with the egg wash. Sprinkle with grated cheese.
  8. Preheat the grill to 200°C (392°F) and bake the parcels on a baking sheet for 20 to 25 minutes until the puff pastry is golden brown.

Smoked pork neck with onion cream sauce

Sometimes, you have a recipe that is so simple but looks amazingly luxurious. We smoked a pork neck and served it with a delicious onion cream sauce. All you have to do is cut an onion and monitor the temperature.

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Every recipe depends on good quality ingredients. That means you must always buy the best meat you can afford. It’s better to eat fantastic a few times than mediocre every day, right? In this case, we opted for a Livar pork neck of almost one kilo. Livar is free-range pork from the Netherlands with a nice amount of intramuscular fat.

We made a spicy dry rub with chipotle pepper and a big teaspoon of black pepper to flavour the meat. You don’t have to worry about the meat getting too spicy. Most of the heat will be lost during preparation.

We set up our Kamado Joe with an indirect heat of about 150ºC (300F). The baking dish with sliced ​​onion and butter and the pork neck go on the grill grates. Don’t forget to cover the plate setter with a double sheet of aluminium foil. Otherwise, the drops of fat will burn and start to smell.

We smoke the pork to a core temperature of 65ºC (149F). That’s juicy and still a little pink. This is quality pork, and you can eat it medium rare.

In the meantime, check every now and then how the onions are doing. If they threaten to dry out and are not yet golden brown, pour some water into the oven dish. Pull the oven dish out of the grill to continue making the sauce if they are already golden brown. Let the bowl cool down a little; otherwise the creme fraiche will curdle, which doesn’t look good.

This is how we prefer to eat pork neck. Juicy, tasty with a smoke ring and just pink. Let us know if you will make this smoked pork neck in the comments below. Or better! Could you take a photo and post it on Instagram? Tag @bbqhelden and @kamadojoe so we can see what you made.

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Ingredients

  • 1 kilo pork neck

For the dry rub

  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika powder
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp garlic granulate
  • 1/2 tsp chipotle powder

For the sauce

  • 4 white onions
  • 50 grams of butter
  • 1 tbsp mustard
  • 100 grams of creme fraiche
  • Pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Mix all parts of the dry rub and sprinkle it over the meat. Rub it in and leave it in the fridge for at least 45 minutes or overnight.
  2. Cut the onions into ½ cm slices and line the bottom of a baking dish with them. Put the butter in small pieces on top.
  3. Prepare a barbecue with an indirect temperature of about 150ºC (302F) and a chunk of smoke wood. Apple or Cherry works well.
  4. Place the baking dish under or next to the meat if you have the space. Insert a thermometer into the meat and close the lid.
  5. Check every 15 minutes after half an hour to see if the onions are not cooking dry.
  6. When the pork has a core temperature of 65ºC (149F), remove it from the grates to let it rest.
  7. When the onions are golden brown, remove the oven dish from the grid and mix the mustard and creme fraiche through it. Then, season it with salt and pepper.
  8. Cut the pork into nice slices and serve with the onion cream sauce.

Grilled red cabbage

Grilled red cabbage smells and tastes great, and it also looks very nice. Grilling gives the red cabbage a deep dark purple colour and an almost sweet taste.

The outside has a few grilled edges and is nice and sticky because of the caramelized sauce, while the inside has become nice and soft.

How to cut red cabbage for grilling

In general, red cabbage is grilled in thick slices. If you cut a red cabbage into slices, you always end up with some loose ends. That’s why we cut them into wedges.

First, you cut the red cabbage in half and remove the dry leaves on the outside. Then, cut the parts in half again and cut those quarters in half again.

We thread these cabbage wedges on metal skewers to keep the layers together. You’ll need to handle the cabbage carefully once they’re grilled.

We brush the red cabbage with the marinade and leave it in the fridge for a few hours. Make sure that the marinade is spread nicely and deep between the layers. We use a silicone brush for this.

We have set up our Kamado Joe with the divide and conquer system for shared direct and indirect preparation. On the left side, we placed the half plate setter on the accessory rack and the red cabbage on the grate above it.

This way, it can cook slowly, while on the right side, we can roast a few picanha steaks over direct heat. Grilled red cabbage is delicious. But we still like to have a nice piece of meat next to it.

When the red cabbage has become soft, coat it again with the marinade and leave it for a few minutes until it’s sticky.

Are you going to make this grilled red cabbage, too? Let us know in the comments below. Or better! Could you take a photo and post it on Instagram? Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you made.

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Ingredients

  • 1 whole red cabbage
  • 4 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tsp mustard
  • 1 crushed garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp honey and 2 extra spoons
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Cut the red cabbage into quarters as described above. Then, thread them onto skewers.
  2. Mix the ingredients for the marinade and coat the red cabbage with half of it. Leave them in the refrigerator for a few hours.
  3. Mix the remaining marinade with 2 extra tablespoons of honey to make a sauce. Keep these aside for later.
  4. Grill the red cabbage segments at an indirect temperature of about 200ºC until they have softened in 20 to 30 minutes.
  5. Coat them with the sauce and let the red cabbage sit for a few more minutes until the sauce becomes caramelized and sticky.

Chimichurri sauce

Chimichurri is a pesto-like green sauce made from fresh herbs, vinegar and oil. It’s a traditional Argentinean recipe which taste can vary slightly depending on the specific ingredients used. It generally has a fresh and herbaceous flavour with a hint of acidity and mild spiciness.

Overall, chimichurri is a delicious and versatile sauce that can add depth and flavour to various dishes, from grilled meats to roasted vegetables.

This chimichurri is the base recipe that we like to experiment with. We also have a red variant that we really like. And a chimichurri with mint that tastes great with grilled lamb.

These are the most commonly used ingredients for a classic chimichurri. Fresh parsley and oregano are a must. In addition, the sauce gets a little kick by throwing in some red pepper. And garlic, as far as we’re concerned, a lot of garlic.

A chimichurri should not be too smooth. You should still be able to recognize the ingredients. We chopped this chimichurri by hand. This way, you can make it as smooth as you want. You can also decide on the amount of olive oil you add. The more you add, the thinner the sauce will be.

You can keep this chimichurri refrigerated for about 2 to 3 weeks. In the freezer a lot longer. You can also use the sauce as a marinade for chicken, vegetables or porkchops. If you make this chimichurri, let us know in a comment below. Or better! Could you take a photo and post it on Instagram? Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what it looks like.

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Ingredients

  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • half a white onion, chopped
  • 1 chilli pepper finely chopped without seeds, or if you like it very spicy with
  • 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
  • 10 grams of fresh oregano
  • 20 grams of fresh parsley
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Finely chop the garlic, onion, oregano and parsley and mix well. You can also throw it all in the food processor until it’s an even mix. But don’t go on too long. Chimichurri tastes best when it’s a bit coarser.
  2. Pour in the vinegar and then the oil until the chimichurri has the desired consistency.
  3. Add salt and pepper to your own taste.
  4. The taste will improve when refrigerating the sauce for a few hours before use.

Sambal rolled pork roast

We found the most effortless seasoning for a typical Dutch pork roulade, and it’s traditional Dutch sambal. The combination of water, salt, vinegar and chilli peppers make it a marinade that goes well with pork.

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To make a rolled roast from pork neck, you must first butterfly it. Place the neck across in front of you and find a straight plane. Then cut the meat open from that straight plane to an inch or two below the surface. This way, you cut it open like a roll until the meat has almost the same thickness.

At least try not to cut holes in the thinner parts. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t look so pretty. It’s dark where it ends up. Ask your butcher to do this if you don’t dare to do it.

Then we cover the entire inside with a nice layer of sambal. We use sambal manis because it is reasonably mild. If you like it hotter, you can use sambal oelek. The most searing heat will decrease slightly during cooking.

After rubbing it in, roll it up and tie it together with butcher’s twine. Then you also brush the outside with sambal. Did we mention that doing all this with gloves on is a good idea? You’ll think of it if you accidentally rub your eyes.

We placed the Platesetter in our Kamado Joe with a double sheet of aluminium foil on top. This keeps the Platesetter clean and prevents the falling fat from burning immediately. To make preparation a little easier, we insert a thermometer into the meat and set the Smoke Thermometer to 70ºC (158F).

We set our kamado to a temperature of about 150C (302F). Too high a temperature would burn the sugars in the sambal. That’s why we put the Smoke’s other probe in a clip on the grates. This monitors the temperature in the kettle. Every kamado has a thermometer in the lid, which is rarely the best place because the meat isn’t there. You want to know the temperature at the level of the meat on the grates.

For smoking, we use a chunk of cherry wood. This gives a mild smoky flavour and a beautiful red-brown smoke colour.

When the roast has reached a core temperature of about 65ºC (149F), you cover it with a sauce of sweet soy sauce and ginger. This way, you build another layer of flavour and make it sticky.

When the roulade has reached a core temperature of 70ºC (158F), let it rest for at least 10 minutes and cut it into nice slices. Be careful not to cut the strings. They are not tasty.

Let us know if you make this sambal rolled pork roast in the comments below. Or better! Could you take a photo and post it on Instagram? Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you made.

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Ingredients

  • 1 whole pork neck
  • sambal oelek

For the sauce

  • 60 ml sweet soy sauce
  • 2 tsp chopped ginger
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

  1. Butterfly the pork neck, or have your butcher do that for you.
  2. Coat the entire inside with a generous layer of sambal and roll up the meat.
  3. Tie the roast with some butcher’s twine and brush the outside with sambal.
  4. Put it in the fridge for an hour while you prepare the barbecue.
  5. We go for an indirect temperature of 150ºC (302F) with a chunk of smoke wood.
  6. Place the roast on the grates and insert a core thermometer into the meat. Cook the roulade to a core temperature of 70ºC (158F).
  7. Mix the sweet soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil and brush it on the roast at the last 5 degrees.
  8. Let the sambal roast rest for 10 minutes, and then cut it into nice slices.

Pickled radishes

In the Netherlands, there is a thing called school gardens where they teach you to grow vegetables. The first thing you produce is radishes. It has been years since we ate the spicy red balls. Suddenly a bag of radishes appeared in the fridge, and we had to do something with it.

We turned them into a lovely, crunchy, colourful addition to a nice sandwich.

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You can pickle almost any vegetable and make them sweet and sour. But firm vegetables work best. So these radishes are definitely a good candidate. To keep them crunchy, we don’t cut them too thin. Otherwise, you can slice them as thinly as you like.

The only work on this recipe is cutting the radishes. Then the refrigerator does the job. After a day in the vinegar, they are ready. This way, they can be kept for a few weeks.

We used these sweet and sour radishes to top a roulade sandwich. Are you also going to make these sweet and sour radishes? Let us know in the comments below. Or better! Please take a photo and post it on Instagram. Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what it looks like.

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Ingredients

  • 200 grams of radishes
  • 30 ml apple cider vinegar
  • 1.5 tbsp sugar
  • 30 ml of water
  • 1/2 tsp table salt

Instructions

  1. Cut the radishes into thin slices of about 2 mm.
  2. Mix the vinegar and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir well until the sugar has melted.
  3. Place the radishes in a preserving jar and add the vinegar.
  4. Leave this overnight in the fridge.

Beef Hammer from the kamado

If we are to believe our butcher, the Beef Hammer will be a big hit this summer. A Beef Hammer is a beef shank that has been artfully carved with an extra piece of bare bone to form a kind of club. That’s how the Beef Hammer got its name.

You can certainly appreciate the Beef Hammer if you love a spectacular piece of meat such as the tomahawk steak. This cut of meat is doing very well on Instagram.

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There may be a thick piece of membrane around the beef hammer. You will have to remove this. Start with a sharp and flexible knife and pull up the membrane as you cut along the meat. That’s how you go all the way around. You can leave the fat. The amount of fat in a shank is not much anyway, and the meat can use that little bit.

Because we cook the meat until it is so soft that it falls off the bone, it is helpful to tie the meat. If you don’t do this, you will no longer get the Beef Hammer as one piece from the barbecue. You don’t have to tie it very tight.

After binding, the meat goes into the dry rub. First, we brush the meat with Tabasco. Partly because we need something that the dry rub will stick to. On the other hand, we have the idea that we taste Tabasco in the final product.

The dry rub is a mix of classics such as salt, black pepper, paprika powder, garlic and onion powder. We took roasted onion powder. It smells and tastes so great that every dry rub immediately improves.

We build up our kamado for indirect cooking of 120ºC (248F). We place a drip tray on the SloRoller to collect the dripping fat. If you don’t do this, the fat will fall on the hot plate and start to smell.

We smoke this Beef Hammer with two chunks of beech wood. It is a large piece of meat, so you can use heavier smoke flavours such as oak and hickory if you like. You can use any fruit wood if you want a more subtle smoky flavour.

After a few hours, the meat has seen enough smoke, and you can wrap it to speed up the cooking. This can be done in aluminium foil but also butcher paper. In aluminium foil, the cooking will go a little faster because the steam will be kept in the packaging. Butcher paper has the advantage that the packaging continues to breathe so that the built-up crust remains firmer.

From a core temperature of about 93ºC (199F), you can check the tenderness of the meat by sticking a toothpick or the probe of your thermometer into it. The meat is tender if it can go in and out without much resistance. That 93ºC (199F) is therefore, not sacred. Sometimes you cook the meat to 96 or even 99ºC (205 or 210F) until the meat is to your liking.

Before you unwrap the meat, let it rest first. The moisture in the meat can distribute itself better, and the soft fat will start to solidify again so that the meat does not immediately dry up when you pull it apart.

We always let large pieces of meat rest in an old cooler. This way, it can stay warm for hours. Very handy if you are ready in time, but the rest of the family still needs to be ready to eat.

If you want the most oohs and ahs, you cut the rope at the table. Then the Beef Hammer looks most like a club until the last minute. If you cut the strings loose, the meat will immediately come off the bone and collapse.

If you make the Beef Hammer too, let us know in the comments below. Or better! Could you take a photo and post it on Instagram? Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you made.

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Ingredients

  • 1 beef hammer
  • Tabasco

For the dry rub

  • 1 tbsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1 tbsp roasted onion powder
  • 2 tsp garlic granulate
  • 2 tsp paprika powder

Instructions

  1. Remove the outer membranes from the meat. Mix the ingredients for the dry rub.
  2. Coat the meat with a thin layer of Tabasco and sprinkle the dry rub in an even layer over all sides of the meat.
  3. Prepare a barbecue with an indirect temperature of 120ºC (248F) and a chunk of smoke wood.
  4. Smoke the beef hammer for 3 hours until the dry rub has formed a dry crust.
  5. Wrap the meat in aluminium foil or butcher paper and heat the barbecue to 150ºC (302F).
  6. Place the wrapped beef hammer back on the grate.
  7. Insert a thermometer into the meat and close the lid.
  8. Check at a core temperature of 93ºC (199F) whether the meat is tender. Otherwise, continue cooking for a few more degrees.
  9. Let the wrapped beef hammer rest for another half hour to 45 minutes.

Cherry beer sauce

The easiest way to integrate beer into a recipe is to make a sauce with it. This time we fancied a sweet sauce to go with a beef hammer. That’s why we created this cherry beer sauce.

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You can make it very difficult for yourself and use fresh cherries, but that is just too much work. It is also not necessary for this sauce.

We wanted a sweet sauce, so we used pitted cherries in syrup. That’s already half the recipe.

The other half (or quart) is the beer. As said, we go for sweet. There are plenty of sweet beers. The beer connoisseur might reach for a Belgian kriek in which cherries are often used, but a kriek is generally just too sour.

We used a barley wine which is a deliciously thick and sweet beer. You could also use a double, dunkelweizen or even a pastry stout.

Let the sauce boil down until it sticks to the spoon. You could now put the sauce through a food processor to make it less lumpy, but we prefer to keep the cherries recognizable.

This is our cherry beer sauce that we served with a beef hammer. If you make this cherry beer sauce too, let us know in a comment below. Or better! Please take a photo and post it on Instagram. Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what it looks like.

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Ingredients

  • Butter
  • Half white onion finely chopped
  • 1 grated garlic clove
  • 250 grams of seedless cherries in syrup
  • 330 ml sweet beer (we used a barley wine)
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp paprika powder
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Add the butter to the pan and let it melt over medium heat.
  2. Add the onion and let it soften. Then add the grated garlic.
  3. Pour the cherries, including the syrup, into the pan, then the honey and beer.
  4. Stir everything well and let it simmer for half an hour until the sauce has thickened.

Wasabi-crusted chicken sandwich

If you’ve never tasted fresh wasabi, you should definitely try it. Fresh wasabi paste tastes so much better than the tubes of wasabi paste you find in the supermarket, which often isn’t even real wasabi.

We got a fresh wasabi root to make delicious fresh wasabi paste. Then we used that paste to give a chicken breast a crispy layer.

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This is wasabi rhizome. It is the root of a wasabi plant. It is the most valuable part of the plant because it is used to make wasabi paste. You can only find wasabi rhizomes in some places. We found these online.

A whole root is about 50 to 100 grams. For this recipe, we need about 25 grams. To keep the rest of the root as fresh as possible, wrap it in a damp cloth in the fridge. This will keep it good for a few weeks.

You make wasabi paste by rubbing the root gently over a wasabi grater. This leaves a soft green paste that is sharp but much less hot than the fake wasabi made from horseradish.

You don’t have to worry about the chicken getting too hot. The taste of fresh wasabi is relatively mild.

We placed the chicken breasts under a sheet of plastic foil and beat them with a heavy pan. This way, the chicken breast will be evenly thick throughout so it cooks evenly.

Mix the wasabi paste with the egg and dip the flattened chicken breast in it. Then sprinkle the chicken with breadcrumbs. The thicker you get the layer of breadcrumbs, the better.

We have set our kamado to an indirect temperature of 190ºC (374F). That is the perfect temperature to bring this chicken breast to the correct core temperature while the breadcrumb crust turns golden brown. When the chicken breast is ready, you would almost think it was fried.

We insert a core thermometer into the chicken breast to make sure the chicken breast is cooked perfectly. This way, we prevent that we serve raw chicken and ensure it is at its tenderest and juiciest.

This is our wasabi chicken breast sandwich. If you will make these, let us know in the comments below. Or better! Please take a photo and post it on Instagram. Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you made.

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Ingredients

  • 2 chicken breast
  • 2 tbsp grated wasabi root (about 25 grams)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp table salt
  • 4 tbsp breadcrumbs
  • lamb’s lettuce
  • 2 soft white rolls
  • Teriyaki Sauce

Instructions

  1. Prepare a barbecue with an indirect temperature of 190ºC (374F).
  2. Grate the wasabi root until you have about two heaping tablespoons of wasabi paste. Mix this paste in a bowl with the egg and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  3. Flatten the chicken breast until it has an even thickness, then dip it in the wasabi/egg mix.
  4. Sprinkle the chicken breast with the breadcrumbs until you no longer see any wet parts.
  5. Place the chicken breast on the grill rack. Insert a thermometer into the meat and close the lid.
  6. Remove it from the grates when the chicken breast has a core temperature of 75ºC (167F).
  7. Top the rolls with a handful of lamb’s lettuce, one chicken breast and a generous dollop of teriyaki sauce.

Grilled chicken with asparagus sauce

It isn’t always asparagus season. But as far as we’re concerned, it’s always a good time to grill some chicken thighs and serve them with a delicious asparagus sauce. We don’t often see a sauce made from asparagus, and we really wonder why.

This sauce has a concentrated asparagus flavour that we love. This sauce goes great with a nice smoked ham, a piece of fish or these grilled chicken thighs.

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This time we use chicken thighs with skin and bone. Skin because we love a crispy crust and bone because the chicken thigh keeps its shape. We sprinkle the dry rub over the chicken thighs in advance to give the salt time to remove the fat from the skin. This gives the skin the best chance to get nice and crispy. We put the chicken thighs uncovered on a fine mesh in the fridge overnight.

Officially, the asparagus season runs from the end of April to the end of June. Then they are at their best. But you can find good green asparagus from greenhouses from the end of January. So nothing stands in the way of making this recipe in the winter.

We use asparagus tips for the asparagus sauce. These have a more intense flavour than the whole asparagus. Of course, you can also use the entire asparagus if you want. Just grill them in a bit of olive oil until they are soft. Be careful they don’t burn. A dark edge here and there is fine, but you shouldn’t overdo it.

You then throw everything in a blender and pulse it until you have a thick sauce. If you want a finer sauce, just push the button a bit longer. A little lemon juice is added to the sauce to make the sauce a bit fresher.

When the sauce is ready, the chicken thighs go on the grates. We insert the Smoke thermometer into the meat and set the temperature to 75ºC (167F). Chicken breast is at its best at a core temperature of 70ºC (158F). We cook fattier chicken thighs or wings a lot further.

These chicken parts are not only fatter but also contain more connective tissue. This connective tissue is broken down during the cook and at a higher core temperature. We cook these thighs low and slow at 150ºC (302F).

Then the plate setter is removed from our kamado, and we grill them until the skin is golden brown and crispy. There is enough room on the grates for some extra asparagus. Sprinkle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and grill them until soft. It won’t get any easier.

These are our grilled chicken thighs with asparagus sauce. If you will make them too, let us know in the comments below. Or better! Could you take a photo and post it on Instagram? Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you made.

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Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs with bone
  • olive oil

For the dry rub

  • 2 tbsp dried basil
  • 2 tbsp dried rosemary
  • 1 tbsp garlic granules
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 2 tbsp smoked paprika powder
  • 2 tbsp mustard powder
  • 1 tbsp onion granulate
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp tarragon
  • 1 tsp chipotle pepper
  • 1 tbsp sea salt salt

For the asparagus sauce

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 200 grams of asparagus tips
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Lemon juice from half a lemon
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Mix the ingredients for the dry rub. Brush the chicken thighs with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with an even layer of the dry rub. Leave it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.
  2. Grill the asparagus tips and the garlic clove in a bit of oil in a cast iron skillet.
  3. Put everything in a blender with the lemon juice until you have a coarse sauce. Then season with salt and pepper.
  4. get your barbecue ready with an indirect temperature of 150ºC (302F). Place the chicken thighs on the grates and cook them to a core temperature of 75 to 80ºC (167 to 176F).
  5. Then grill them over direct heat until the skin is golden brown.
  6. Let them rest for a while, and serve them with the asparagus sauce.

Seasoning for Indonesian mie goreng

We have the perfect solution to spice up a pan with noodles. We have made a mix of herbs and spices that transforms cooked noodles with vegetables into a delicious mie goreng.

This spice mix gives you a mie variant you order from an Indonesian street vendor. You can also make a bowl of bland ready-made noodles tastier.

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The combination of herbs gives the dish just that little kick that it can use. And the turmeric provides a beautiful yellow colour.

This is our noodles spice mix. Are you also going to make these noodles for your next barbecue party, let us know in the comments below. Or better! Please take a photo and post it on Instagram. Tag @bbqhelden so we can see what you’ve made.

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Ingredients

  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp powdered ginger
  • 1 tsp white pepper

Instructions

  1. Cook the noodles as stated on the package.
  2. Grill some chicken or meat and stir-fry the vegetables.
  3. Drain the noodles and add them to the vegetables.
  4. Mix all ingredients for the seasoning and sprinkle it over the noodles. You need a large teaspoon per person. Or more if you really like it. Stir it through, and you’re done.

The better quarter-pounder

The quarter pounder is an underrated burger. Everyone’s talking about the Big Mac, but you and I know the quarter-pounder is the better burger at McDonalds. And yet we think we can improve this iconic burger.

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We use ground beef with a fat percentage of 20 to 25%. You could even use half and half if you like. In any case, do not use lean minced meat because the fat ensures that a hamburger gets its taste.

McDonald’s does not flavour their minced meat; you can taste it if you eat the burger separately. That is a missed opportunity. Of course, we want to keep tasting the minced meat, but with this spice mix, we get the hamburger taste we are looking for.

There is no salt in a spice mix for hamburgers. Salt would dissolve the proteins in the meat, allowing them to stick together and make for a tougher burger.

The quarter-pounder is originally a half American pound, and that is 113 grams. McDonald’s quarter-pounder is 120 grams, and we want a burger that is also a quarter pound in Europe. That’s why we make these burgers from 150 grams of minced meat. After cooking, they will be approximately 125 grams

We shape the quarter-pounders in a hamburger press to give them the perfect shape. Then we put them individually on a baking paper sheet so they do not stick together.

After we have formed the burgers, they go into the fridge. Due to the relatively high-fat content in the minced meat, the hamburger has a high chance of falling apart on the barbecue because that soft fat melts quickly. Allowing the fat to firm up in the fridge gives the burger time to form a crust and not break into pieces.

Hamburgers can be grilled on the grates, but the quarter-pounder must be on the griddle. Our Kamado Joe has a half cast iron grill plate that fits into the divide-and-conquer system. Get the griddle hot before the burgers go on it. Now is the time to sprinkle the burgers with some salt. We use smoked sea salt to give the burgers an extra barbecue flavour.

How do you get a nice toasted hamburger bun

The trick is to spread your sandwich with a bit of mayonnaise. The oil in the mayonnaise provides the golden brown crust. You can also brush the bread with sunflower or olive oil, but that would soak into the bread much too quickly. Mayonnaise is thick enough to stay on the bread without running off.

Do not spread too much mayonnaise on the bread. A thin layer is really enough. That thick layer only ensures that the bread gets wet, and then it takes too long before you have a nice toasted side.

Now you put the bread on the grates for a short while to put some excellent grill marks on it. If you want to provide the entire bun with a golden-yellow layer, place them next to the burgers on the grill plate.

When do we flip the burgers

On the side of the burgers, you can clearly see when a crust has formed on the bottom. You can also see the brown colour slowly creeping up. You can flip the burger when the meat stops sticking to the griddle. Then you wait again until a crust has formed. When the core temperature of the burger is 60ºC (140F), the slice of cheese is added. Only if you want a cheeseburger, of course.

We prefer to use a nice slice of aged Gouda cheese. It may take a little longer to melt, but the result is much tastier than the American cheddar.

This is our better quarter pounder that we dress up with some pickle relish. If you like tomato and onion, you should do that too. If you will make this quarter pounder too, let us know in the comments below. Or better! Please take a photo and post it on Instagram. Tag @bbqhelden and @kamadojoe so we can see what you made.

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Ingredients

  • 500 grams of ground beef for 4 large quarter pounders
  • Smoked sea salt
  • 4 slices of mature Gouda cheese
  • pickle relish

For the hamburger spice mix

  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp granulated garlic
  • 1 tsp granulated onion
  • 1 tsp ground coriander seed
  • 1 tsp ground cumin seed
  • 1/2 tsp ground celery seed

Instructions

  1. Mix the spice mix and add a heaping tablespoon to a pound of ground beef. Mix this well and then form 4 large burgers slightly larger than the balls you bought.
  2. Let the burgers set in the fridge for an hour while you prepare the barbecue.
  3. Heat a cast iron griddle or skillet until it is nice and hot. Pour some oil on the plate and place the burgers on the plate.
  4. Cut the hamburger balls in half and brush them with a thin layer of mayonnaise. Then roast them next to the burgers until they are golden brown.
  5. Turn the burgers when a crust has formed and do that again when the other side has a crust as well.
  6. When the burger has a core temperature of 60ºC (140F), place a slice of cheese on the burger and close the lid to let the cheese melt.
  7. Top the burger with a generous scoop of the pickle relish and enjoy.
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