The Ponderings of a Big Foot Buddha

2003-06-21 - 6:14 p.m.

Blissful Meat Endorphins

Just grilled up a pair of lovely porkchops. Dropped them on slices of fresh sourdough white bread, with just a dab of homemade BBQ sauce (Moose Creek Crossing BBQ & Grillin' Sauce I's call it).

The wonders of cast iron cookware are many and wonderful. My chops came out a nice rich brown with a slight crispness to the outside while the inside was barely off pink and ever so juicey.

mmmmm Tummy & tastebuds euphoria.

Just being the way I am I make homemade ketchup (Moose Creek Crossing Rich Tomato Ketchup) & steak sauce (Moose Creek Crossing Steak Stuff) as well as BBQ sauce.

A lovely batch of marinade made from the Steak Stuff spent the night with a big batch of beef strips and they are currently drying up nicely into beef jerky as I type (only a few more hours to go) filling the house with the rich aroma of jerky.

As to grilling (or BBQ as most folks call it although I'm a BBQ snob & if it aint cook low & slow with smoke for a few hours it's not real BBQ but thats OK cause I really like grilled stuff too & do that lots myself) pork or beef it's easy & simpler than most folks think. The trick is a nice hot cast iron pan or grill.

You'll need some really good oven mitts or welding gloves for this one though so be careful. Put your cast iron pan or grill in a cold oven or BBQ. Now run the temperature up to 500ºF. This may take a few minutes and if you're using a BBQ it might reach 500º before the pan is fully warm enough so just wait it out for a bit more.

While you're waiting on the pan/grill to heat up sprinkle both sides of your chosen cut of meat (up to about 1 1/4" thick over that & we need to cook it a bit different) with a bit of oil. Flavoured oil here work nicely or just plain cooking oil (plain is my preference) works nicely too. Next shake on a touch of seasonings, I like coarse salt & coarse black pepper just a bit of each.

If you're using an Oven instead of the BBQ turn on a big burner all the way up, you'll need it red hot to hold the heat in the cast iron.

Using your really really good set of oven mitts take the pan out of the 500º oven & place it on the red hot burner (BBQ'ers just open the lid & leave the heat turned up in the BBQ). Lay your steaks/chops in the hot pan for 30 to 60 seconds (depending on how dark you like the outside) I go for 40 seconds myself. Once the time is up using a set of tongs (not a fork you want to sear the meat to keep in juices the fork will poke holes for the juices to run out) flip the meat over to the uncooked side. Then return the pan with the meat in it to the oven (BBQ'ers close the lid again).

Here's the tricky part, well OK not that tricky at all you just have to cook like this a couple times to get used to how done you like your meat. A guideline for you to start with (well it works in my kitchen anyhow :-D ) is:

2:00 minutes = very rare

2:30 minutes = rare

3:00 minutes = medium rare

3:30 minutes = medium

4:00 minutes = well done

4:30 minutes = very well done

Remove the pan & meat from the heat, remove the meat from the pan to halt the cooking if you leave it sit in the pan any longer the heat retained in the cast iron will keep cooking the meat. Place the meat on a new fresh plate, I like to place an upside down saucer on the place first, then the juices from the meat will run off and not give you a soggy bottemed steak/chop. Place a tent of tin foil over the plate of meat & let it rest for five minutes.

After the five minutes is up, eat & enjoy, ta-da meat heaven has arrived.

Took longer to write this post than to actually go cook up a pair of chops & eat them.

A rule of thumb one should remember when grillin' like this is that spices/sauces should enchance the meat not overpower it so go lightly on the seasonings & skip the sauces during grilling. If you like the BBQ sauce with it then plan ahead & marinade your meat for a few hours or run a cupful through the microwave & use it as a dippin' suace after the meat has reached your plate.

My goodness I'm stuffed full from supper still and now I'm drooling again, guess I'll go lick the meat plate or maybe use another slice of bread & soak up some of them juices.

Remember as always this is just my opinion. (in this case though I'm right, this is the best way to grill up chops or steaks)

Now where is that sourdough bread ........

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