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Jan’s Original Dry Rub
Ingredients:
- 1 cup + 4 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup Lawry’s seasoned salt
- 1/4 cup garlic salt
- 1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1/4 cup onion salt
- 1/2 cup paprika
- 3 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 Tbsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp lemon pepper
- 2 tsp celery seed
- 2 tsp dry ground sage
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1/2 tsp dry ground thyme
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
Jan and Larry (known as KyNola on many BBQ/Smoking/Cooking Forums) live in Kentucky and here in Larry’s words is how Jan developed her Original Dry Rub …
" My friend has a commercial BBQ restaurant and gave me some of his rub. He would not however give me his recipe so I put my wife on a mission to find something very similar on the internet and then we would tweak it to match his. Here is the best effort. It only has 14 ingredients and makes a bunch "
I've been using Jan's Original Dry Rub for years now on poultry and pork. Gave a batch to my Son and he tells me that he loves to use the rub on tri-tip roasts. Jan's Original Dry Rub can make a brick taste good!
Smoked Pork Tenderloins
Pork tenderloin, like chicken is extremely lean, low in carbohydrates, and very reasonably priced compared to other cuts of meat. I normally get all my proteins at Costco. Their pork tenderloin comes packaged with two pouches and each pouch contains 2 tenderloins. The pouches are vacuum sealed which makes it easy to freeze one or both pouches until ready to be used.
Trimmed excess fat and silver skin from two pork tenderloins. Rubbed all sides of tenderloins with garlic extra virgin olive oil and Plowboy's BBQ Bovine Bold rub. Wrap the tenderloins in plastic and refrigerate for 5 hours or overnight.
Preheated my wood pellet smoker-grill (MAK 2 Star General) to 225ºF using apple pellets. I use a frogmat to prevent the tenderloins from sticking to the grill grates. Apple smoked the pork tenderloins at 225ºF for about 2 hours until the internal temperature of the tenderloins at the thickest part reaches 145ºF.
MAK Grill Wi-Fi Smoked Turkey
Replaced my MAK 2 Star General wood pellet smoker-grill Pellet Boss Controller Bluetooth module last year with a Wi-Fi module. I really like the remote control capabilities of both technologies but for a tech junkie like myself I prefer the added bells and whistles that the Wi-Fi module provides.
The MAK Grills Mobile (Wi-Fi module) is their Wireless Web Application which allows me to operate my grill using any device with a web browser. A Kindle, smart phone, iPod, tablet, laptop or desktop computer, can all be used. It is not a "smart phone app" that only runs on Apple or Android platforms.
The MAK Grills Mobile gives me full operational control of my MAK 2 Star. I can change and set grill temperatures, set-up an unlimited number of cooking programs, set meat probe alerts, receive text or email notification alerts no matter where I am or what I'm doing, graph my smokes/cooks and food temperatures, and even turn off my grill. It can be used on any MAK grill.
Yesterday, in the middle of some much needed rain here in Northern California, I smoked a 14 lb spatchcocked young turkey from the comfort of my home office.
The 'Grill Control' screen illustrates some of the tools available at my finger tips. While working on my desktop computer I monitored the probe temp at the breast and the grill temp. The 'Set Point' allowed me to change the temp from Smoke to 325ºF. I used the 'Countdown Timer' to notify me after 2½ hours of smoke in order to raise the pit temp to 325ºF. The 'Elapsed Timer' is a great tool for documenting the length of your cooks.
The 'Cooking Graph' shows the preheating cycle, 2½ hours of smoking at 180ºF with hickory pellets, and the pit temperature increase to 325ºF. Note how stable the MAK 2 Star keeps the pit temperature.
The temperature probe is measured at the thickest part of the turkey breast. I recommend taking the breast temp to 170ºF.
Quick note on how to hickory smoke a scrumptious 14 pound turkey. Start with a fresh or properly defrosted young turkey. Remove the giblets, rinse the turkey, and pat dry with paper towels before spatchcocking the turkey by removing the backbone using a large butcher knife and/or poultry shears. Flatten the breast bone to allow the turkey to lay flat. Rub extra virgin olive oil and Jan's Original Dry Rub under and on the skin.
Preheat your MAK 2 Star wood pellet smoker-grill to 180ºF and hickory smoke the spatchcock turkey for 2½ hours. Bump the pit temp to 325ºF until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast reaches 170ºF. Rest the smoked spatchcocked turkey loosely under a foil tent for 20 minutes before carving and serving with all the trimmings - mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and of course the infamous green been casserole.
Old School Corned Beef & Cabbage
I love old school corned beef & cabbage!! When I say old school I'm referring to a New England boiled dinner consisting of boiled corned beef, cabbage, carrots, celery, white onions, and red potatoes. In other words - your traditional St. Patrick's day meal. I've discovered over the years that not all people love corned beef as much as I do. Why is beyond me but then I'm not complaining cause it leaves more leftovers to graze on.
I've tried smoking a few corned beef briskets on my MAK 2 Star smoker-grill and/or baked in the oven but it's not really the same. There's just something about the texture of a boiled corned beef that smoking or baking can't match ... at least to me. After all, everything about cooking comes down to personal preferences and tastes.
A New England boiled dinner is very easy. I really trust the quality of meat at my local Costco store and corned beef is no exception. You'll not find select grade meats at Costco - they're all Choice or Prime.
Started with a 3½ pound choice grade corned beef round brisket. Using my largest pot I brought the brisket to a boil before turning it down to a semi-hard simmer and boiling the brisket for 3 hours. The instructions called for 2½ to 3 hours but as always, I cook everything to [easyazon_link keywords="Thermapen Mk4" locale="US" tag="ftd-20"]internal temperatures[/easyazon_link]. I take my briskets to 205º - 210ºF and in this case 3 hours was just the right amount of time to reach 210ºF. Wrapped the corned beef in heavy duty foil until the vegetables were boiled.
Some people like to throw in the quartered cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes in the pot with the corned beef. Using the same water that the corned beef was simmered in I prefer to boil the vegetables by themselves while the corned beef is resting in the foil. Years ago I started steaming my potatoes separately. These days I like to use my [easyazon_link keywords="B00N310CKG" locale="US" tag="ftd-20"]Instant Pot pressure cooker[/easyazon_link] for the spuds.
The Money $hot - New England Boiled Dinner - Corned Beef, cabbage, carrots, celery, onion, and potatoes ... Best of all there's plenty of leftovers to graze on! I've never really eaten much corned beef hash over the years but I love frying the vegetables up in [easyazon_link keywords="california olive ranch" locale="US" tag="ftd-20"]extra virgin olive oil[/easyazon_link] and serving the corned beef with a side of horseradish.