Well, yesterday we decided to grill Chuckie or rather a chuckie, more precisely a chuck roast from a happy cow and it was delicious.  Along the way I think there were a few learnings we picked up especially when our one hour cook time went to one and a half hours then two.  In spite of all of that what came off the grill was superb.  We started with a nearly 6 pound chuck roast we marinated overnight in Lawry’s Steak and Chop marinade in a zip lock in the fridge.  I turned the meat over several times.  Using my new hinged stainless cooking grate on my Weber 22.5″ charcoal grill with some Royal Oak lump charcoal and a couple of chunks of Hickory wood, we first attempted to sear the meat before placing it on the roasting rack suspended over a pan of beer, cracked black pepper,  a couple chopped onions and a couple cloves mashed garlic.  We cooked it this way on the opposite side of the grill, indirectly, for about an hour basting with a mixture of boiled left over marinade and a couple ounces of beer.  We turned the meat at 30 minutes.

Cooking a roast indirectly.

After about an hour and half of this we got well, really not that far, we got a lot of good smells and up to about 115ºF, when impatience set in and we decided to flop the roast of the roasting rack and onto the grate, at which time we grilled it for about 20 minutes rare until it was just shy of medium rare. We pulled it and dug in.  It was incredible, it was just like a giant steak and really quite tender.  Somehow we managed to make nearly six pounds of meat into a four serving dish.

Chuck roast drizzled with Au Jus and topped with onions

We devoured a steak drizzled with our beer, onions and drippings au jus and topped with the cooked onions and a potato on the side.  It was a tasty steak and an excellent learning experience.   Next time I do this I will either set aside more time to anticipate cooking if I want to use the indirect method of cook the entire duration of the cook directly on the grate but still indirectly and speed things up.

So for those of you who wanted to know how Chuckie fared, he fared well enough to have a Chuckie the second sooner or later on the grill and definitely in the smoker.

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Rarely to I find Dutch food a treat, I am Dutch and the closest thing that I find that is Dutch that I purposely plan to consume is Rusk and I am not sure why that is, I am usually not a fan of bland food.  However, this Christmas I was asked to make Pigs in a Blanket, to bring to Christmas brunch and so I have.  Using a recipe found online and then confirmed against a family recipe to create a truly Dutch treat, it is possible.

Homemade Pig in the Blanket

Ingredients
For the dough
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 egg beaten
1/2 c milk

For the filling
1 lbs pork sausage
1/2 lbs ground beef
1/4 c bread crumbs, made from bread dried in the oven and crumbled
2 tbsp cream
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Sift together dry ingredients, cut in shortening.  Mix in beaten egg and milk.  Turn out onto a floured surface, knead dough about 10 times until uniform.  Divide into two sections, roll each to 1/4 inch thick and cut out 15 2″x3″ rectangles from each, set aside.

For filling, blend all ingredients together by hand, until uniform.  Roll into 30 rolls of meat, think sausage links.  Wrap dough around each “link”.

Place on brown paper bag on cookie sheets with sides, bake 40 minutes at 350°F

If you are afraid it is going to be too bland, spice it up with some hot and spicy whole grain mustard.  This will become a Christmas, and most likely year around favorite for me.  What are you favorite Christmas time dishes?

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This past weekend I had some company over and made the world famous squealer burger, for those who don’t know what a squealer is, it is quite possibly the moistest, tastiest burger one will eat. I used the a recipe found on Recipe Zaar as my base and went from there. Because of the crowd I was feeding I ended up using 6 pounds of beef and substituted 90% Lean Ground Sirloin in place of the called for the 80% lean hamburger meat called for in the recipe. The added moisture from the bacon more than made up for the lack of fat in the burger, it’s like basting the meat from the inside the whole time it is cooking. I grilled up 22 of these patties and they were oh so moist, had great flavor and were gone in minutes.

Edit::The Actual Nate Elston Texas Squealer Burger Recipe

The recipe I used is as follows:

Ingredients
Per 1 pound of extra lean (90/10) ground sirloin
1/4 pound uncooked finely (size of a pea or a little bigger) chopped bacon, thicker cut bacon is better
Worcestershire sauce to taste
1 tbsp Mc Cormicks Grill Mates Hamburger Seasoning

Instructions
Hand mix all that together in bowl or large pot, and then form into burgers, about a 1/3 pound each.
From there put them in the freezer for about a half an hour it seems to help them grill better.
Grill until done to your taste.

If you want some extra kick, I have in the past added cheese (cheddar or pepper jack) and jalapeños to the meat before it is grilled, its almost like having a burger with the toppings inside.

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