Maple Horseradish Glaze

This is adapted from a recipe by Bobby Flay, who mostly irritates me, but i was flipping channels one day, and heard him mention maple syrup and horseradish in the same breath, which gave me reason to pause. The original recipe uses it on BBQ pork ribs; we have also used it on salmon and chicken, as well as various other cuts of pork, and it is simply wonderful. The meat, except for salmon, which cooks so quickly anyway, should be nearly done before you apply the glaze, or the maple syrup will burn too quickly, and not crystallize quite right. The recipe calls for ancho chili powder, which i make by toasting dried anchos (bought in the Hispanic spices section of the local grocery store) in a skillet, and then processing them to a powder in a coffee grinder that i keep especially for these sorts of things. That being said, i have used plain, store-bought chili powder as a substitute, and it tastes just fine. Finally, i don't see how this recipe could work properly, nor taste right, without REAL PURE maple syrup, so please splurge and get the good stuff, and don't use maple-flavored Mrs. Butterworth's, or anything like that!

• 
  
• 2 cups pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup prepared horseradish, drained
• 2 heaping tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Mix everything together, and use on whatever meat you like. This keeps, covered, in the refrigerator for at least a week.

Extreme Burgers!

Cheeseburgers for grown-ups!

Double Cheese-Stuffed Burgers

2# Ground beef (85% lean)
1 (5.2 oz) package garlic and herb spreadable cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbspns chopped fresh parsley
½ tspn salt
1 large sweet onion, sliced ¼” thick
2Tbspns olive oil
6 Kaiser rolls, split
½ cup mayonnaise
6 green leaf lettuce leaves

1. Heat grill. Form beef into 12 (4”) patties, ¼” thick. Combine spreadable cheese, cheddar cheese, parsley and salt in medium bowl. Divide mixture into 6 potions; spoon on top of 6 of the patties, spreading to within ¾” of edge. Top with remaining patties; pinch edges to seal well.
2. Brush onion slices with oil. Grill burgers and onions, covered, over medium heat or coals 10-12 minutes or until burgers are thoroughly cooked and no longer pink in center and onions are tender and beginning to char, turning once.
3. Grill rolls, covered, 1-2 minutes or until toasted; spread with mayonnaise. Top burgers with onions; serve in rolls over lettuce.

A New Take On London Broil

We grilled this for dinner one night whilst in the Mountains over the Independence Day weekend. It was positively delectable; we had leftovers served with rice and spinach salad last night, and it was still amazingly tasty. There is another portion left, which I’ll use for fried rice tomorrow night’s supper. Definitely a keeper, from Cooking Pleasures magazine.

Honey-Soy Marinated London Broil

1 small onion, finely chopped
½ cup canola oil
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup honey
2 Tspns balsamic vinegar
1 ½ tspns minced garlic
1 ½ tspns grated ginger
2# flank steak

1. Combine all ingredients except steak in resealable plastic bag. Add steak; refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
2. Heat grill. Remove steak from marinade, shaking off excess; discard marinade. Grill, covered, over medium heat or coals 8-10 minutes for medium-rare, turning once. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Thinly slice.

Pulled Pork BBQ, part 2

This assumes you've already made the Dry Rub posted below.  This is adapted from Tyler Florence's Oven-Roasted Pulled Pork Sandwiches, but rather than baking the roast in the oven at 300F for 6+ hours, i use my crockpot.

Crockpot Pulled Pork

1 recipe BBQ Dry Rub

1 (5-7#) pork roast, preferably shoulder or Boston butt

1. Rub the spice blend all over the pork & marinate for as long as you have time for, as little as 1 hour or up to overnight, covered, in the refrigerator.
   
2. Brown roast on all sides, either on outdoor grill, or in a large skillet on the stove.
3. Place roast in large crockpot, & cook on low for 8-14 hours, or on high 4-7 hours.  Basically, cook the pork until it's falling apart & an instand-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 170F.  In my experience, it is not possible to overcook the roast this way.
4. Remove the roast from crockpot & pour accumulated juices into a measuring cup to allow fat to separate from drippings (reserve for sauce).
5. While roast is still warm, take 2 forks & "pull" the meat to form shreds, steadying the meat with 1 fork & pulling it away with the other.

Mmmmm ... Pork!

We had very yummy pork burgers tonight, recipe from All Recipes - minor changes made listed in red below.

Mostly, i halved the amount of meat & all other ingredients, except the apple & egg, which i did not reduce.  i added 1/4 cup of Panko bread crumbs, & set the formed patties in the freezer for ~30 minutes before Russ grilled them.  I also skewered the pineapple slices so Russ could grill them while the burgers were cooking.  We had this with couscous (used the reserved pineapple juice for part of the water), mixed lettuce salad & fresh tomatoes.

Pork Apple Burgers

2# ground pork (i used 1#)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored & chopped
1 sweet onion, finely chopped (i used 1/2 an onion)
3 cloves garlic, minced (i used 1-1/2 cloves)
1/4 cup Teriyaki sauce (i used 2 Tbsp)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
Buns
1 (20 oz) can sliced pineapple, drained, juice reserved (i used the smaller-sized can)

1. In a large bowl, mix together ground pork, apple, onion, garlic, Teriyaki sauce, egg & bread crumbs.  If too dry, add some juice from the can of pineapple slices.  Form into eight (4) patties.  Chill 30-60 minutes, while grill is pre-heating.
2. Skewer pineapple slices.
3. Lightly oil grill grate.  Grill pork burgers & pineapple slices for 10 minutes, or until well done.  Toast buns on grill.  Serve burgers on toasted buns topped with pineapple slices.