I have long been a relative purist when it comes to barbecue and grilling. Salt, pepper, a bit of garlic powder maybe. A little turbinado sugar if it’s brisket. But that was about it.
1. A friend published a book by this guy Adam Perry Lang called Serious Barbecue. I sort of hate it on its face, as it’s one of those attempts to elevate barbecue and grilling, as if the basic standard of it wasn’t enough. Of course, it is enough, and to this day I have my doubts that Adam Perry Lang has transformed it beyond what I can get twenty miles south of me at Lem’s anytime I want between 2PM and 2AM (closed Wednesdays).
However, last time I made ribs, I figured this guy had done so much work on his convoluted rib recipes that I would give him a nod and use some of his stuff.
I cooked the ribs slow for four or five hours, and finished them hot as is my wont, to get that bacony thing on the outside.
I did an apple juice/apple cider vinegar spray at various intervals.
And, finally, I did a (shudder) glaze of apricot jam and orange marmalade, mixed with the apple stuff, in a couple rounds starting at about two hours from completion.
Well, fuck me if it wasn’t pretty goddamn good. A little candyish, yeah, but pork and apple has never been a bad combination, and I cannot say I did not enjoy eating it.
I’ll try it again, put it that way.
2. We get stuff from this Middle Eastern place called Noon o Kabab, and they put these little packets of sumac in with the takeout. V suggested using them on steak, so I did.
Sea salt, pepper, Black Cat espresso roast from Intellentsia Coffee, powdered garlic, and sumac. Maybe 40% salt, 25% pepper, 10% coffee, and the rest the other stuff.
Sumac and coffee are damn good things to put in a beef rub.
Coffee, whatever, people do it, and for good reason. It does not read as coffee when charred–it reads as smoky, it reads as rich. Not bitter in the slightest. You can use kind of a lot of it to no ill effect.
Sumac is sour in its raw form, but smoked or burnt in moderate doses it imparts a deep, soulful tang that does not read as exotica. It reads as a richness that is part of the meat, rather than overlaid on it.
They are both part of my go-to beef rub now. As usual, I would add a little turbinado sugar for anything I was going to cook for a long time.