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Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 7:15 am
by knotquiteawake
Steaks don't need sauce if cooked right.
Chicken breasts, even really moist perfectly cooked ones, need a little sauce, I happen to like this COSTCO Mango Habenero sauce for it.
Chicken thighs just depend on my mood, but i'll usually marinate them. Store bought chickens are so terribly bland. If it were a free range dry processed chicken I wouldn't touch it, the chicken flavor really comes through on those and you don't want to mess with it.
Pulled pork needs no BBQ sauce but a generous sprinkling of "finishing sauce" (apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and spices) makes it just absolutely perfect.
Brisket usually needs a light bushing of BBQ for me, its just such a dry cut of meat sometimes.
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 7:53 am
by A-R
Quality cuts of beef and fish and dark meat poultry - minimal dry spices
Pork and venison - typically something like Dillo Dust, I enjoy the complex flavor it adds. Used to use raspberry chipotle sauce, but its just too overpowering
Chicken breasts - almost always marinate first, typically in a citrus + soy based marinade (homemade)
Turkey - "marinate" 45 minutes in 400 degree peanut oil
Beef brisket (and ribs) - I am sorely under-experienced with this. Never had the patience for it, and other family members are near experts - do I eat what they make. But it NEVER has sauce and never needs it.
I won't even eat restaurant BBQ that has sauce - when it comes to BBQ, I'm such a snob about it that not only is meat from other states not "real BBQ" (you hear me Memphis, Carolina, Kansas City, etc?

) but I even frown on other parts of Texas that have been infiltrated by foreign BBQ methods. Lockhart is still BBQ mecca, and my personal approved area stretches from roughly College Station to Junction, Luling to Llano.
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 9:51 am
by RoyGBiv
Dry spices for me too... Typically a bit of salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Lately I've taken to grill-smoking my steaks. After preheating the grill I'll turn off 3 of the 4 burners, let the grill cool down and put wood chips in a smoker box above the lit burner. Once the chips start smoking I'll put the steaks on the other end of the grill and close the top. I usually get about 30 minutes of good smoke out of that box. After it stops smoking I'll light the next burner (next to the chips) and get the temp up a bit to finish the steaks off to rare/med-rare. I find that the same low-and-slow you use to cook brisket works very well on ribeye too.
I'm working form home today and have a pork butt and two racks of ribs in the smoker... This thread is making me hungry.

Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 10:09 am
by anygunanywhere
Lop off the horns, wipe its butt, salt, pepper, olive oil, sear, put on the plate. Still twitching is perfect.
Anygunanywhere
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 1:56 pm
by Hoosier Daddy
Bacon, cheddar, onions and mustard.
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:15 pm
by Abraham
"Bacon, cheddar, onions and mustard"
Good for a baked potato and hamburger.
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:29 pm
by anygunanywhere
Hoosier Daddy wrote:Bacon, cheddar, onions and mustard.
You treat fine steaks this way?
To each his own, I suppose.
Anygunanywhere
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:37 pm
by fickman
Dry rub for brisket, ribs, and pork shoulder. Pecan for beef and hickory for pork.
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:45 pm
by Hoosier Daddy
anygunanywhere wrote:Hoosier Daddy wrote:Bacon, cheddar, onions and mustard.
You treat fine steaks this way?
To each his own, I suppose.
Anygunanywhere
I'm a beers and burgers man. I don't mess with She-ra and flayed minions.
To each his own, I suppose.
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:47 pm
by Abraham
"I don't mess with She-ra and flayed minions."
Huh?
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:56 pm
by anygunanywhere
Abraham wrote:"I don't mess with She-ra and flayed minions."
Huh?
Must be Indiana speak.
Anygunanywhere
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 3:11 pm
by RX8er
Like other's, salt and pepper on my steak cooked to med-rare. S&P sit on the stake for 30 minutes prior to cooking and always let your steak rest 5 minutes for each temp you like it so 5 for med rare and 15 minutes for leather. Use the chin / nose / head method or fist method for cooking doneness until you are good with feel.
Burgers get S&P, fresh garlic and anything in the spice rack that looks good. Sometimes I'll add a little ground pork or bacon. I always wait until my ground beef is room temp before making patties. Most of the time, we get fresh ground beef from the butcher. Anything more than 80/20 can make for a dry burger.
Pork, it really depends on my mood. I will get creative and just start mixing stuff till it smells good. Sometimes wet sometimes dry. I do the same for chicken.
I have a smoker and gas. I will always take some of my smoker chips in the gas grill to add a little flavor. I'll buy a wood grill before long. It's just when we grill, I like the speed of gas for the prep time.
Re: how do you flavor your meat?
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 3:20 pm
by knotquiteawake
Not to get sidetracked but for doneness the poke it method is ok for steaks if you don't have anything else but for Chicken I rely 100% on my Thermapen:
http://www.thermoworks.com/products/thermapen/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
110% worth the price. Especially with breasts. Once they hit 155 I take them off and the carryover gets them to a perfect 160 making them super moist. I use the thermapen for pretty much every meat, even steaks. It reads in 3 seconds. I have not overcooked anything on the grill since getting it a couple years ago.