Want to smoke a whole brisket first? Check out our "Best Smoked Brisket Recipe."
Twice-smoked honey BBQ burnt ends are the ultimate reward for any brisket lover. These beauties are perfect on their own, or piled high on a bun with your favorite toppings. So next time you smoke a brisket, don't forget to save that point and give this recipe a try. You won't regret it!
]]>There are several ways that you can improve the flavor of your steak, including cooking techniques, preparation methods, and even the way you cut the steak. But the easiest way to improve the flavor of your steak is to use the right spice rub. A spice rub can do more than just add flavor. A good blend can improve the crust, giving your steak a perfectly seared outside while ensuring that the inside of the steak isn't overcooked.
A good steak is going to have a deep, meaty flavor all on its own. The goal with flavoring steak is that you don't want to cover up the naturally delicious flavor. Instead, you're trying to enhance and compliment the flavors of the beef. Some flavors will go better with steak than others. We'll start out with some basics and then talk about some less common flavors that will give your steak a unique flavor.
Salt and pepper are almost necessary for flavoring steak. Salt enhances the flavors and helps to seal in moisture when the steak cooks. Spicy pepper brings out the robust flavors and compliments the natural flavor of beef probably better than anything else you'll find. You might not believe it, but not all salt and pepper are the same. Some types are better for steak than others.
Most of our recipes recommend using kosher salt. Kosher salt is a coarse ground, natural salt. It's called "kosher" because of the large size of the crystals that are ideal for drawing moisture out of the meat while preparing kosher meals. It does not contain any additives, unlike regular table salt.
Table salt is a fine-ground salt that has added iodine usually in the form of sodium iodide or potassium iodide. Iodide is added to salt to address the lack of iodine in most diets. It's a key element for proper thyroid function and is often lacking in the American diet. It is also found in seafood, grains, and eggs. Small amounts of iodine are healthy, but larger amounts can cause health problems.
Pink Himalayan Salt is a type of naturally occurring salt that is mined in the mountains of Pakistan. It achieves the delicate pink flavor because of naturally-occurring trace elements and minerals that are present in the regions where the salt is found.
We prefer to cook with kosher salt in almost all cases. The larger salt crystals dissolve slower, leaving less chance that meals will be overly salty and it does a fantastic job enhancing flavors. Our second choice is pink Himalayan salt. Like kosher salt, it is typically sold in a coarse grind and does not include added ingredients. We reserve table salt for adding a little saltiness to already cooked foods but try to avoid using it while cooking.
Whole peppercorns offer the most robust spiciness and are the go-to choice for giving your meals the best flavor. When peppercorns are stored whole, they lock in the flavors that are only released when you grind them. Freshly ground black pepper will have a better flavor than store-bought, pre-ground pepper. Whole peppercorns are frequently used in stews, soups, roasts, and other dishes.
Cracked black pepper is peppercorns that have not been ground but aren't whole either. These offer a nice blend between the flavor of whole peppercorns and the convenience of ground pepper. Cracked pepper is a good choice for roasts, steaks, and other hearty dishes, but you should pay attention to the size of the peppercorns. Some people are turned off by having large pieces of pepper in their food.
Ground pepper offers the least flavor, but the most convenience. Ground pepper gets used on everything from steaks and pork to potatoes and salad.
Given the choice, you should invest in an inexpensive spice grinder and buy whole peppercorns. They will stay fresh for about six months and offer the most developed flavor. Plus, by cracking or grinding yourself, you'll have control over how fine or coarse you want your pepper.
Black pepper is the most common spice in the world next to salt. The wide availability makes it both economical and convenient to buy. Black pepper has the strongest flavor of any of the types of pepper.
White pepper is made from ripe peppercorns that have the fleshy part of the fruit removed through a process called retting. The white peppercorn has a more subtle flavor and is common in Asian cuisine.
Pink peppercorns are somewhat milder than black pepper and have a softer flavor if that makes sense. An interesting fact: pink peppercorns are not related to black peppercorns. They are different plants altogether but happen to have a similar appearance and flavor. Peppercorns are actually related to cashews. Who knew, right? So don't serve pink peppercorns to people with nut allergies.
Garlic is a pungent, edible bulb that is part of the lily family. Garlic is sold whole, minced, and ground. For steak seasonings, we like to use ground or granulated garlic over fresh garlic. It has a more pronounced flavor and sticks to the meat well without burning.
Onion is another popular and common ingredient for dry rubs to enhance the flavor of steak. Like with garlic, ground or granulated onion is the best choice. Onion powder and garlic powder are both ideal for dry rubs because they stick to the meat and add savory flavor.
One of the best flavors to complement steak is to add spicy peppers. Ingredients like red pepper flakes (which are crushed red peppers) and paprika (which is a finely ground red pepper) won't make the beef hot and spicy if you use them in moderation, but instead, they enhance the robust and meaty flavor that you love. Smoked paprika is our favorite choice, but it is also available as a mild, hot, or very hot spice.
Another way that you can add depth and dimension to the flavor of your steak is using some of the most common garden herbs. Some of our personal favorites are dill and coriander. You can buy dill fresh, dried, or you can buy the seed, which is sold whole or ground. Our preference is to go with whole dill seed and grind it ourselves. That gives the steak a bright, sweet note without being pungent.
Similarly with coriander, we go for the seed and grind it. Fun fact: coriander and cilantro are the same thing. Cilantro is unbelievably easy to grow in a window sill or a small garden, and then it's available when you want to add some fresh flavor.
Mustard is a plant that grows wild in many parts of the country. You've probably seen it a thousand times even if you didn't know what it was. Mustard is a tall, weedy plant with vibrant yellow flowers. Mustard seed when ground into a powder, adds a tangy, pungent, slightly bitter flavor that enhances the natural savory-sweetness of a well-cooked steak.
Combining the main ingredients we listed above makes for a delicious, homemade spice mixture that will enhance the flavor of any steak that is cooked on the grill or in a skillet. These flavors mingle very well together and bring out the bold, robust flavors of the beef. But if you're looking for a more convenient method than homemade steak seasoning, we have the perfect blend for you.
If you want to get close to homemade steak seasoning without the hassle, our Bearded Butcher Bold Blend Seasoning is just what you've been looking for. It's bold, intense, and perfect for red meat. Sea salt, paprika, celery seed, garlic, and onion powder all come together in this steak seasoning. And as usual, there's no MSG, gluten, or sugar.
There is no wrong way to season a steak. Honestly, even a steak that has no seasoning and is cooked well is going to be good. We like to use Bearded Butcher Bold Blend Seasoning because of the unique flavor and the convenience. We liberally coat all sides of the steak with seasoning, rubbing the ingredients into the meat – hence the name 'dry rub.'
A dry rub needs time to work, but it will only work for so long. After a period of time, the seasoning will no longer penetrate into the meat so it won't add any additional flavor. We typically let a dry rub sit for two hours, but we've also grilled steaks that only had a dry rub for fifteen to twenty minutes and they were still delicious. After two hours, you start to get diminishing returns from the seasoning rub.
Making your own spice blends is a lot of fun, but it is also a lot of work and can get expensive quickly. If you're looking for a convenient and cost-efficient way to try out some of the best steak seasoning flavors around, try out our Bearded Butcher Blend Seasonings. Each one is specially developed to enhance the flavors of beef, pork chops, chicken, and wild game and they are all-natural without preservatives.
]]>The cross rib roast is a cut of meat that comes from the chuck between ribs two and five. You will almost always find a cross rib roast with a series of strings tied around the roast. This is done to help the roast hold its shape when cooking. A thick seam of fat is rolled into the center of the roast that melts and is one of the reasons this cut has such great flavor. Leave the strings in place while cooking to help the roast stay in shape. The strings are also an excellent guide when it is time to slice the cross rib roast.
The cross rib roast is part of the chuck, but there are some differences between the two cuts. The cross rib roast is taken from the part of the chuck just before the prime rib, so this part naturally has a higher fat content. The chuck tends to be tougher and leaner, which is why it is so often slow-cooked.
Cross rib roast is tougher than some cuts, but not as tough as others. The biggest reason that cross rib roasts end up tough is that they are overcooked. Like the chuck, you want to cook cross rib roast slowly to allow the tough muscle fibers to relax and the fat to render. Braising in a roasting pan or cooking in a slow cooker or a crock pot are popular methods of cooking cross rib roast to get tender results, but our favorite slow cooking method is to use our smoker. This method gives us tons of flavor and a tender roast that is easy to slice thin.
Cross rib roast is most commonly cooked and eaten as a pot roast with vegetables and broth. When we smoke a cross rib roast, we prefer to use it for slicing thin and putting it on a sandwich. The fork-tender roast is perfect for a delicious French dip sandwich or a stacked-up deli-style sandwich on a hoagie roll.
Don't let the relatively low cost of this cut fool you into thinking it isn't any good and don't let horror stories about tough, chewy cross rib roasts discourage you from trying it out. The cross rib roast recipe we are going to share with you will give you a prime rib-like taste and nearly as tender of a texture for a cut that typically averages around $8.99 for USDA Choice which is the most common grade you'll find in grocery stores.
Without a doubt, the beef cross rib roast is best when cooked slowly. You'll want to keep the roast whole and leave the strings in place when you cook it. Attempting to slice the meat before cooking it will give you unpredictable results and the meat is likely to dry out when you cook it.
We like to use a very basic dry rub primarily made of black and white pepper, granulated garlic powder, kosher salt, a dash of onion powder, and one or several of our Bearded Butcher Blend seasonings. We've had great success using a combination of our Hot and Chipotle blends. One of our newest additions to our line-up – our Bearded Butcher Bold Blend also pairs perfectly with the robust flavor of the beef cross rib roast.
You can also marinate a cross rib roast in red wine or balsamic vinegar, a little olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, and a mixture of fresh or dried herbs and spices. The marinade will add juiciness and will slow down how quickly the meat cooks. This can be beneficial because the marinade allows the meat to slowly cook to the perfect internal temperature.
A cross rib roast generally weighs around four pounds. When you are looking for a good beef cross rib roast, find one that has plenty of marbling throughout the meat. You'll see the fat seam running through the roast. When you touch the roast with your fingers, it should be tender. Avoid roasts with little to no fat marbling, hard parts, or roasts that look like they were cut with a dull cleaver. The ties should be snug and should hold the roast in a roughly round shape. Skip roasts that look like they are falling apart.
Our basic dry rub for making a delicious smoked cross rib roast starts with a healthy portion of white and black peppercorns. We place these in a spice grinder and pulse them until the peppercorns are finely ground. We then add garlic powder, onion powder, and crushed red pepper. You can also add a generous scoop of your favorite Bearded Butcher Blend Seasoning at this point. A few quick pulses will mix everything well. In a large bowl, combine the spice blend and about one tablespoon of coarse kosher salt.
Place the cross rib roast on a large cutting board. You'll notice the strings that are tied around the meat run against the grain. Butchers tie this roast in this fashion on purpose. The ties keep the roast together and enhance the flavorful cut, so don't remove them.
Liberally coat all surfaces of the cross rib roast with the spice mixture, gently patting the spices onto the meat to encourage them to stick. The dry rub can be done anytime you are ready, including right before you are ready to start cooking. If you are going to let the rub sit, place the cross rib roast in the refrigerator.
Preheat your smoker to 225 degrees and maintain a consistent temperature for about 15 minutes. Place the cross rib roast in the smoker and insert a meat thermometer probe before closing the smoker lid.
We have been loving applewood this year, and this is an excellent cut of meat to use with sweet fruitwoods. Oak and pecan wood also make excellent choices. Hickory works fine, but we find the flavor to be a little overwhelming with this cut of beef.
The cross rib roast will cook for between three and four hours. This is a cut that you don't want to overcook, so plan on pulling it when the beef is still quite rare. We target an internal temperature of 135 degrees which gives us a red center and a crispy crust.
Remove the cross rib roast from the smoker and use an instant-read thermometer in a few places to ensure the roast is at the proper internal temperature throughout. Wrap it in pink butcher paper and place it in an empty cooler to rest. Don't skip the rest period. Resting should be allowed to happen for at least 30 minutes. We often rest a cross rib roast for more than an hour, particularly when we are slicing it for sandwiches.
Once the cross rib roast has rested, remove it from the paper and place it on a cutting board. Using scissors, cut the ties loose and discard them. Turn the roast so that the lines from the strings are running away from you. Using a sharp knife like our favorite Victorinox boning knife, slice the cross rib roast into 1/8 to 1/4 inches slices.
We like to arrange thin slices of cross rib roast on a platter and let our friends and family make up their favorite sandwiches.
Here is a quick recipe for making a dipping sauce that is ideally suited to flavorful cuts like the cross rib roast.
In a heavy bottom saucepan, melt butter or beef drippings if you have them. Sprinkle the melted fats with flour and whisk until the mixture becomes thick.
Add in about half a cup of beef broth or beef bouillon mixed with water. Whisk until the liquid is fully incorporated, then add in the remaining broth and Worcestershire sauce. Continue cooking at a low boil until the dipping sauce is slightly thick, about five minutes.
Lots of people like to add a step to the cooking process, including our friends over at Traeger. For the two-step method, you'll remove the cross rib roast from the smoker and place it in a large dutch oven or a roasting pan, and immerse it in a liquid beef broth for several hours until the internal temperature hits 203 degrees.
This method gives you a shreddable, fall-apart tender cross rib roast at the expense of the crispy bark that you develop in the smoker. For our sandwiches, we prefer to skip this option.
Ingredients
For the au jus
Directions
To make the au jus
Whether you call this cut a cross rib roast, a Boston cut, or an English cut roast, there is no denying the rich flavor and tender texture when cooked properly. We prefer our simple, one-step method that produces a smoky, flavorful dish, however, you may want to experiment with braising the smoked beef.
Adding a tasty gravy or dipping sauce makes this beef roast an awesome meal that is easy to share. We like to pile thin slices high on a soft roll and dip it into our quick au jus. This recipe creates a delicious sandwich that is quick and easy to make.
We typically have more roast than we need, so we don't slice the whole thing at once. Instead, we'll cut what we are going to use, then put the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Leftovers are great for tacos, a quick beef snack, or you can use a slicer to get thin cuts for a roast beef sandwich.
]]>Follow the recipe below!
Ingredients:
Directions:
***
The Bearded Butchers are dedicated to providing as much information as we possibly can to help you understand how to best process and prepare meats of all kinds. To help you, we maintain a blog and YouTube channel with lots of free, high-quality information. The Bearded Butchers and Beardedbutchers.com are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This means that The Bearded Butchers may receive a commission if you click on a link above and make a purchase on Amazon.com.
]]>Of course, we aren't saying you should go out and fully stock your freezer with prime rib and eat nothing but ribeye steaks for the rest of the month. But incorporating flavorful, fatty meats into your diet can help alleviate those boring, healthy meals. The key to understanding how to incorporate fatty eats into a healthy lifestyle is understanding the truth behind the types of fats and recognizing the importance of portion control.
Particularly with beef, a fattier cut of meat is going to have more flavor than a leaner cut of meat. That doesn't mean that lean meat will always lack flavor, but it does mean that you'll need to prepare and cook fatty and lean meats differently to get the same type of excellent results. We broke down the differences between fatty and lean cuts of meat in a previous blog if you want to know all about that fascinating subject. We get in-depth about the differences between saturated fat, unsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and all of the science behind fat.
Avoiding fatty cuts of beef doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice flavor. The trick to getting tons of flavor from lean cuts of beef like sirloin, eye round, or tenderloin is to use good-quality seasonings and take the time to allow flavors to incorporate into the meat.
This means using a marinade, often with some type of acid like lime juice or vinegar that helps to break down the tough fibers and encourages the marinade to work deeper into the muscle for more flavor. Adding soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or liquid aminos helps to bolster the savory, umami flavor that you recognize as a good piece of beef.
Many of the best lean cuts of meat will benefit from bold, robust dry rub ingredients to add layers of flavor the meat simply can't provide. One of the reasons that salt, black pepper, and garlic are so popular when cooking beef is because the spices enhance the natural flavor of the beef, making it taste like a fattier cut than it really is. The perfect steak seasoning: Bearded Butcher Bold Blend Seasoning.
The main trick when cooking leaner cuts of beef is to carefully watch the internal temperature. Overcooking lean meat leaves you with dry, tough, flavorless shoe leather that no one wants to eat. You have the best chance of success using a cooking method like searing or reverse-searing extra lean cuts and cooking them to only a medium-rare to prevent toughness and enhance the flavor.
One of the most popular diet regimes right now is the Keto diet. Keto, short for ketosis, is a diet that involves eating lots of fatty meats like bacon and avoiding carbohydrates and foods that are "unnatural." The trick for people on a Keto diet is understanding how much of fatty meat is appropriate.
There isn't any particular "rule of thumb" about how much fat and protein you should eat on Keto to lose weight or build muscle since there are many different variables. A person who has a sedentary lifestyle will need far less fat and protein than an individual who spends four to six hours a day in the gym.
Most websites that focus on a healthy Keto meal plan indicate that you should eat one to three meals a day incorporating some meat, and offsetting that amount with dairy, nuts, and eggs. The reason is that you'll want to have the added nutrients, proteins, and healthy fats found in these ingredients to get a balanced meal, even if you are eating a pound of bacon every day.
Most Keto diets tell you to start out eating the fattiest beef cuts, but regulating the portion size. The American Heart Association claims the average person should eat approximately three to four ounce portions of fatty beef once per week. It's okay if you are laughing, we laughed at that one also. The USDA defines fatty meats as containing more than 10 grams of fat per 100 grams of total weight.
Instead of living like a prisoner with your token scrap of meat once a week, you can make other choices that allow you to enjoy eating without overloading your body with saturated fats. Mix in lean meats like fish, chicken, and pork, and use lean cut of beef like sirloin and top round to offset the fats and you'll find that there are tons of excellent options for making great meals.
Whether you are striving toward portion control perfection or you are just trying to figure out a cut of meat that tastes better for your once-per-week treat, understanding the most flavorful cuts of beef will give you a heads-up when you are shopping. Let's start by discussing some of the best fatty cuts of beef for flavor.
The cut of meat you are working with will determine the proper method of cooking. Our rule of thumb is that any cut around an inch thick or more is going on the grill or in the smoker. Thinner cuts typically get a fast sear in a cast-iron pan or on a griddle. Roasts that are fatty get slow-roasted and braised.
In general, the longer you cook fatty meats, the more fat will render out of the meat, leaving you with a leaner and more flavorful cut. The trick is to avoid overcooking that will leave your meat dry, tough, and lacking flavor.
]]>Hamburgers are one of the most common meal items at backyard get-togethers and picnics every summer. Properly cooking a hamburger is an art form that requires both patience and knowing how to tell the difference between levels of doneness.
Grill masters looking to make burgers just like the pros can use some of our tips and tricks to get great results every time they throw some patties on the grill. Follow along as we show you the steps we take to make delicious hamburgers your family and friends are sure to love.
The first thing that you'll need to understand about grilling the perfect burger is how to tell the difference between levels of doneness. Most people prefer a hamburger cooked to medium-rare or medium-well, but we all know someone who won't eat beef unless it's all the way well-done, and also those folks that prefer their burgers still mooing a little bit.
The United States Department of Agriculture says the minimum internal temperature of ground beef must reach 160°F to be considered safe. At that temperature, ground beef is well-done, but poses very little risk of causing food-borne illness. Ground beef is considered rare when cooked to 125°F.
When we are cooking ground beef hamburgers, we tend to shoot for an internal temperature of about 145 to 150°F for a medium-well burger.
Rare ground beef will be bright red in the center with very little change in color to the edges. Once ground beef has reached a medium temperature, the center will be pinkish red while the outer edges will be lighter brown and the surface will begin to get a crust. A well-done ground beef patty will be brown or gray all the way through with a thick crust on the outside.
You can pay attention to the juices coming up while grilling burgers to get a good idea of when they are done. You want to see clear juices when cooking burgers on a charcoal grill.
There are a couple of common issues that people run into when grilling hamburgers. The first is that many burger patties tend to curl up on the edges, causing the edges to burn while the middle remains uncooked. Another common problem that people encounter is burgers that come out tough and dry even when they are not overcooked. Both of these problems can be solved by handling the raw ground beef in a different manner.
One of the keys to making burgers like a pro is starting out with your ground beef properly chilled. As ground beef begins to warm up, the protein and the fats begin to separate, which makes the meat sticky and results in burgers that lose all of their moisture when they're cooked. Starting with the meat cold will give you the time to add seasonings and flavors, shape the meat into patties, and have them ready to go on the grill before the fat separates.
When you go to the butcher counter, you're likely to find various fat content amounts, typically represented as protein and fat percentages. Lean ground beef is typically 97% protein, 3% fat.
One of the things that we've learned over the years making excellent burgers is that fat content matters. We like to aim for 90/10 ground beef when making burgers.
The best way to flavor hamburger meat for hamburger patties is to start out with the ground beef and a large mixing bowl and combine your seasoning, salt, and black pepper separately.
Sprinkle some of the seasoning over the meat and then gently work the seasoning in. Try to work the meat as little as possible while mixing the seasonings completely into the ground meat.
A pro tip for flavoring hamburger patties is to add the seasonings when grinding the meat in the first place.
One of the tricks that we use to get professional burgers is to use a food scale while we shape our patties. Most of the people that we know like either a quarter-pound or half-pound hamburger.
Instead of making two different burger patty thicknesses and risking over or undercooking some of the patties, we make burger patties at a quarter pound each so people who would like to have a half-pound hamburger can simply double up. That means you will start out making balls of ground beef that weigh 4 oz each.
On a silicone baking mat, cutting board, or other food prep surface, gently press each burger patty into a disc using the palm of one hand to cup the edge and create a disc. Try to make the edges of the patty slightly higher than the center. This shape allows the burger to expand as it cooks and prevents shrinkage and curling edges. Make the burgers slightly bigger than the hamburger buns for the perfect burgers.
It's a good idea to use butcher paper or parchment paper as you make them to prevent them from sticking together. This also makes it easy to put the burgers on the grill when you're ready. After you have shaped the burgers put them back in the refrigerator so that their temperature stays low until you're ready to throw them on the grill.
Checking the internal temperature of a hamburger patty can be a bit of a challenge since the patty is so thin. Checking the patty on the grill will likely give you an incorrect reading because you will also be getting temperature from the heat source.
We typically will select a burger patty, remove it from the grill, and check the temperature with an instant-read meat thermometer to determine the doneness of the burgers – one advantage of using the food scale to measure the burger patties by weight is that each patty will cook in approximately the same amount of time.
Just place the probe through the side and to the middle to get an accurate temperature from the thickest part.
Hamburgers are fun for family gatherings because they provide an opportunity to use lots of different toppings to create unique combinations.
One of the best things you can do to build a better burger is start out with high-quality ingredients. Thinly sliced onions, crisp Romaine or iceberg lettuce, and sliced tomatoes are popular condiments.
You can also make caramelized onions and bacon that pairs perfectly with our Bearded Butcher Blend BBQ Sauce for a Southwestern-inspired burger. And you can add cheese while the burgers rest after they finish cooking to avoid flare-ups.
Don't forget about buns, either. Toasted buns with mayo or Miracle Whip and ground mustard are an excellent compliment to a perfect medium-rare burger. After all, the best burgers demand high-quality buns.
There are a couple of mistakes that we see people make all of the time when making hamburgers that we want to talk about briefly.
The biggest thing that causes many people's hamburgers to come out dry and tough is using a spatula to press the burger down onto the grill while it's cooking. All this manages to do is push the fat out of the meat and results in dry meat.
If you're going to use a burger press to make smash burgers, you'll want to use a griddle to cook your hamburgers. This way you won't be losing all of the fat content.
Another thing we have noticed is the idea that burgers should only be flipped one time to be properly cooked. There is no scientific reason for not flipping burgers more often and in fact, you will get a more evenly cooked burger by flipping the burger three or four times as you cook it.
Q: Why do fast food Burgers taste different than homemade burgers?
A: The biggest reason that fast food Burgers taste different from homemade burgers is the fat content. Fast food chains tend to use ground beef that is between 20 and 30% fat which adds lots of flavor and juiciness.
Q: Why do my burger patties curl up on the edges?
A: The most common reason burger patties curl up when you cook them is the shape. Making a slight cup shape when forming the burger patties helps to prevent the edges from tightening and shrinking, which causes curling. Overworking ground beef can also cause the meat to shrink as it cooks, leading to cupping and curling.
Q: What is the ideal internal temperature for hamburgers?
A: USDA says that the minimum internal temperature for ground hamburger meat should reach 160°F to be considered safe. However, this is considered well-done, and we typically do not cook our hamburger patties to that high of an internal temperature. Our target is typically 145°F to 150°F for a medium hamburger patty that is slightly pink in the center.
Making hamburger patties like a pro isn't as difficult as it seems. Starting out with high-quality beef that has the appropriate ratio of protein and fat, using high-quality seasonings like our Bearded Butcher Blend seasonings, and making sure to keep the meat cold while shaping it into burger patties are the tips that will give you the best chance of professional-level hamburgers.
Now, you might have noticed that we didn't talk about grilling times. That's because the time will vary significantly based on the type of grill, how hot the grill grates are, and how thick the patties are. We highly recommend using a thermometer to get accurate levels of doneness rather than trying to time things.
The most legendary burgers are built with excellent condiments and fresh ingredients. Choosing good burger buns and adding perfect sides makes a burger cookout even more fun.
For some mouth-watering recipes, check out some of our favorites:
]]>Ingredients:
Chipotle Mayo:
Directions:
But wait, there's more! We've loaded this pizza with tender, sliced chicken breast, crispy crumbled bacon, and a generous sprinkle of our very own Bearded Butcher Blend Ranch Seasoning. This unique blend of herbs and spices adds a distinctive ranch twist that will have you reaching for another slice.
You can use your favorite store-bought dough or try a homemade recipe.
This Creamy Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza offers a unique twist on a familiar favorite. The creamy alfredo sauce provides a luxurious base, while the chicken, bacon, and ranch seasoning add savory and flavorful layers. Feel free to adjust the amount of ranch seasoning to your preference and experiment with other toppings to create your perfect pizza combination.
Let us know how your Creamy Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza turns out by sharing a picture on Facebook & Instagram, and don't forget to tag us!
]]>To complete this meal, some brussel sprouts and a loaded baked potato make for great sides.
Let's get into the recipe:
***
The Bearded Butchers are dedicated to providing as much information as we possibly can to help you understand how to best process and prepare meats of all kinds. To help you, we maintain a blog and YouTube channel with lots of free, high-quality information. The Bearded Butchers and Beardedbutchers.com are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This means that The Bearded Butchers may receive a commission if you click on a link above and make a purchase on Amazon.com.
]]>
Give this Slow Cooker Venison Stew recipe a try and let us know how you liked it by snapping a picture and tagging us on Instagram and Facebook!
]]>
This recipe is sure to be a hit with all who try it. The Bearded Butcher Blend Hollywood Seasoning adds a unique and delicious twist to a classic pulled pork pizza, making it a dish you'll want to make again and again. Let us know how your Hollywood Pulled Pork Pizza turns out by sharing a picture on Facebook or Instagram and don't forget to tag us!
]]>We're talking crispy, golden cornbread waffles infused with the sweetness of our signature Bearded Butcher Blend Hollywood Seasoning. And to top it all off, juicy, perfectly seasoned chicken thighs and drumsticks with an optional kick of our Hot Seasoning.
So, what are you waiting for? Grab your whisks, your tongs, and your appetite, because it's time to get cooking!
Happy cookin', and happy eatin'! Let us know how your crispy Cornbread Chicken and Waffles turn out by sharing a picture on Facebook or Instagram and don't forget to tag us!
]]>Ready to get Grilling?
Enjoy your delicious and flavorful breakfast frittata with a kick of chipotle spice! Let us know how your breakfast frittata turns out by sharing a picture on Facebook or Instagram and don't forget to tag us!
]]>
Forget plastic - when it comes to the noble art of chopping and slicing, wood stands the undisputed champion. But don't just take our word for it. Let's delve into the very grain of this debate and reveal why wood continues to be the preferred weapon of culinary warriors worldwide.
]]>Forget plastic - when it comes to the noble art of chopping and slicing, wood stands the undisputed champion. But don't just take our word for it. Let's delve into the very grain of this debate and reveal why wood continues to be the preferred weapon of culinary warriors worldwide.
One pervasive misconception casts wood as a haven for culinary nasties. However, recent studies have upended this myth, revealing wood's inherent antimicrobial properties. Its tight grain structure effectively traps and eliminates bacteria, while plastic's microscopic scratches become welcoming hideouts for these unwelcome guests.
Those seemingly harmless knife marks on your plastic friend? They're far more than superficial scars. They're breeding grounds for bacteria, immune to your diligent bleaches and dishwasher battles. Wood, on the other hand, possesses a remarkable self-healing property. Minor cuts and scrapes naturally close up, leaving no room for unwanted culinary foes.
Dull knives? A culinary tragedy and a safety hazard. Fear not, for wood comes to the rescue! Its gentle grip protects your cherished blades, keeping them sharp and gliding through your culinary masterpieces like butter. Plastic, on the other hand, acts like sandpaper on your knives, leaving them blunted and yearning for their former glory.
In our environmentally conscious world, every choice matters. Plastic boards leave behind a legacy of landfill pollution for centuries to come. Wood, however, is a renewable resource, embracing the embrace of nature's biodegradation. Choose sustainably sourced wood boards, and become a culinary champion for the planet.
Wood wins this battle hands down. It's safer, kinder to your knives, better for the planet, and undeniably gorgeous. Ditch the plastic and embrace the warmth, beauty, and safety of a wooden cutting board. Your kitchen (and your taste buds) will thank you for it.
Amongst the noble family of wood cutting boards, Black Walnut reigns supreme. This prized wood isn't just stunning to behold, with its rich, chocolatey hues and swirling grain patterns, but it boasts a unique set of properties that make it a true champion in the kitchen.
P.S. Craving the perfect wooden cutting board to join your culinary arsenal? Head over to The Bearded Butcher's website! We've curated a selection of handcrafted beauties that will make your chopping dreams come true.
Happy chopping!
Watch Now On YouTube: How to Make Venison (Deer) Bacon at Home | The Bearded Butchers
This Maple Bacon Recipe is a fan favorite! Let us know how your homemade bacon turns out by sharing a picture on Facebook or Instagram and don't forget to tag us!
]]>Prep Time: 40 Hours
Yield: 10 lbs of Roast Deli Meat
]]>
1. Coat pork shoulder generously with Bearded Butcher Blend Hollywood ensuring all sides are well coated. Set aside during preheat time and allow meat to sweat out.
2. Preheat the smoker to 225°F – use the super smoke option if available.
3. Place pork shoulder into the smoker with the fat side down.
4. Spritz meat every 45-60 minutes with apple juice until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
5. Transfer pork shoulder to the foil pan. Add 1 cup of apple juice to the pan and wrap the pan tightly with aluminum foil.
6. Place the wrapped pan back in the smoker and increase the temperature to 275°F.
7. Allow to cook until internal temperature reaches 204°F at the thickest part without the thermometer touching the bone.
8. Remove the pan from the smoker and open the foil, allowing it to vent until it stops steaming (approximately 5-10 minutes). This will stop the cooking process.
9. Once no more steam is visible, seal the foil back and place the pan in an unlit oven to rest for 45-60 minutes.
10. While wearing lined or heat-resistant gloves, carefully remove and discard the bone. Shred meat using gloved hands or shredding claws. Remove and discard any chunks of fat during this process.
11. Serve on a bun, topped with your favorite cheese, some Bearded Butcher Blend BBQ Sauce, and enjoy!
This recipe is sure to please your guests. Let us know how your Hollywood Pork Butt turns out by sharing a picture on Facebook or Instagram and don't forget to tag us!
]]>
This dish is sure to please everyone at your table. It is a delicious and hearty meal that is perfect for any occasion. Let us know how your pot roast turns out by sharing a picture on Facebook or Instagram and don't forget to tag us!
]]>The Bearded Butcher's Hollywood Blend is a sweet and sultry combination of pure cane sugar and molasses that caramelizes to perfection. It adds the right amount of sweetness to the ribs that's absolutely irresistible to everyone!
Here's how to make them:
The result is a delicious and tender rack of ribs that is perfect for any occasion. So fire up your smoker and give this recipe a try today! Let us know how your ribs turned out by sharing them on Facebook or Instagram and don't forget to tag us!
]]>
Cool & Smoky, The Bearded Butcher's Chipotle Blend is made with smoked chipotle peppers creating a mild bite and powerful impact. This recipe for smoked chili is easy to follow and produces amazing results.
This smoked chili recipe is a surefire hit with your family and friends. Give it a try and let us know how you liked it by snapping a picture and tagging us on Instagram and Facebook!
]]>
Bearded Butcher Black Seasoning is a rich and flavorful blend that uses coffee and molasses to bring out the full-bodied flavor of meat. It's the best seasoning for brisket, giving it a deep, smoky flavor.
Our easy-to-follow recipe and tips will guide you through the entire process, from trimming the brisket to slicing it up and serving it. You'll learn all the secrets to cooking a brisket that is tender, juicy, and packed with flavor.
1. Coat brisket generously with Bearded Butcher Black Seasoning ensuring all sides are well coated. Set aside during preheat time and allow meat to sweat out.
2. Preheat the smoker to 180°F – use the super smoke option if available.
3. Place brisket into smoker with fat side down.
4. Let the smoker stay at 180°F for approximately 7 hours, then increase the temperature to 225°F.
5. Every 45-60 minutes, spritz with apple juice until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
6. Once 165°F, it’s time to wrap. Place the brisket on a double layer of butcher paper, enough to tightly wrap.
7. Place wrapped brisket back in the smoker and increase the temperature to 250°F.
8. Allow to cook until internal temperature reaches around 200°F, the best way to know it is ready will be to check if it is probe tender. When probing, it should slide in without resistance. This usually happens around 204°F.
9. Remove the brisket from the smoker and open the foil, allowing it to vent until it stops steaming (approximately 5-10 minutes). This will stop the cooking process.
10. Once no steam is visible, seal the butcher paper back and place the brisket in an unlit oven. Rest for 1 to 4 hours.
11. After the rest it’s ready to be sliced, make sure it’s against the grain and enjoy!
Give this recipe and try and share it with us! Snap a picture and tag The Bearded Butchers on Facebook or Instagram.
]]>Fall is a time for hunting, and with that comes the joy of cooking up a delicious venison backstrap. Venison backstrap is a savory, lean cut of meat that is perfect for grilling. When seasoned with Bearded Butcher Black Seasoning, it becomes even more flavorful.
Deep & Dark, The Bearded Butcher's Black Blend is a rich seasoning that uses coffee and molasses to bring out the full-bodied flavor of meat. With our Black Blend, your venison backstrap will be so flavorful, it will melt in your mouth! This recipe is easy to follow and will result in a perfectly cooked venison backstrap that everyone will love.
Want to elevate your Black Venison backstrap meal? Serve it with Bearded Butcher Ranch Seasoned Grilled Jalapeno Poppers! Find the recipe below:
Looking for a delicious and easy side to pair with your venison backstrap? Look no further than these grilled Bearded Butcher Ranch Seasoned Jalapeno Poppers! This recipe takes classic jalapeno poppers to the next level by seasoning them with Bearded Butcher Ranch Seasoning. The ranch seasoning adds an appetizing, scrumptious flavor that perfectly complements the heat of the jalapenos.
The Bearded Butcher Ranch Seasoning is a flavorful blend of spices that includes chives, parsley, garlic, and bell peppers, with creamy buttermilk and vinegar for that familiar Ranch tang.
To make the poppers, just follow these simple steps:
Give these recipes a try and let us know how you like them! Snap a picture and tag us on Facebook or Instagram.
]]>This Zesty Lime Guacamole is bursting with the vibrant flavors of lime and spices from the seasoning. It's a refreshing twist on the classic guacamole that will be a hit at any party, family gathering, or simply as a delicious snack. Enjoy the zesty goodness!
]]>This Zesty Lime Guacamole is bursting with the vibrant flavors of lime and spices from the seasoning. It's a refreshing twist on the classic guacamole that will be a hit at any party, family gathering, or simply as a delicious snack. Enjoy the zesty goodness!
Is there anything better than a fluffy stack of blueberry pancakes straight off the griddle, just dripping with melted butter and fresh maple syrup? We could argue that the best part of breakfast isn’t the syrup on the pancakes, but the pool of maple syrup that floods the breakfast sausage links. The combination of the savory spiciness of the sausage with the sweetness of the maple is a totally out-of-this-world combination. Call us crazy if you must, but sausage that’s been soaking in maple syrup is always the best part of breakfast.
We began experimenting with adding maple to different recipes years ago. We had a ton of success – which, of course, means we made a ton of food and shared it with everyone that we knew. The result was some of our favorite DIY kits you can use at home to make fresh and delicious meals your family will love.
Well, this is the one that got it all started. Our famous maple breakfast sausages combine the sweetness of maple syrup and brown sugar with a unique blend of spices that draw out the flavors of your meat. The combination works best for pork sausage, but we love it with lean meat like venison, too.
Our DIY kit makes it almost too easy to get professional results at home. Simply mix ground meat with the included seasonings, feed the mixture into a sausage stuffer using the included fresh collagen breakfast sausage casings, and twist them off to store. Don’t have a sausage stuffer? Press the meat into patties and fry them up in a hot skillet. It might just be our imagination, but the 10” dual-handle Lockhart skillet seems to make these taste even better.
Few things smell better than fresh bacon frying on a griddle, but when you add the Bearded Butchers Maple and Cinnamon Swirl seasoning to the mix, you get the most tantalizing bacon ever. Seriously, make sure your neighbors have left for work before you fry this stuff up or you’ll have a houseful in no time. Or, grab a Blackstone griddle and cook up enough for everyone.
The maple bacon DIY kit includes all the ingredients you need to season 25 lbs of meat. That’s a lot of bacon! Our secret to getting perfect bacon uses a meat grinder to process pork butt which is then pressed into a pan and smoked. Not only does this process cut down on the time it takes to make bacon, there is a lot less that can go wrong.
Our first experiments with using maple to make breakfast sausages got us thinking about other ways the unique flavor might be useful. Ohio happens to be close enough to bratwurst country in the US that we get quite a bit of demand for the stuff. Our customers are always looking for something unique and different, so we decided to take a stab at using maple sugar with our traditionally-inspired bratwurst recipe. Adding bourbon powder to the mix gave the meat a deep flavor that enhanced the sausage tremendously. We thought it was pretty good, so we shared it with our friends. Next thing you know, we were making kits trying to keep up with demand.
This maple bourbon bratwurst recipe is perfect on its own but versatile enough that it can give great results no matter what type of meat you use. Pork and chicken are both awesome and showcase the sweetness and richness of the maple bourbon flavors, but we particularly like this one with venison for something uniquely different.
This recipe was a happy accident when we decided to toss in dried tart apple chunks to our regular maple bourbon bratwurst recipe. Our maple bourbon apple bratwurst kit is unbeatable!
There is something about the tartness of the apples that amplifies the complexity of the bourbon powder and maple sugar.
Combining these three ingredients with our custom spice blend produces a flavorful sausage that is unlike anything you will find at the next summer barbecue, even if you are in Wisconsin.
The kit has all the stuff from our maple bourbon bratwurst kit and includes enough dried apple pieces to make 25 lbs of sausage. This one is also delightful with elk and is delicious simmered with thin-sliced onions.
Pork and apples are a popular combination in the northern parts of the country, but we wanted to see what would happen if we added a little southern flavor to our classic maple bourbon bratwurst recipe. We got a sausage that has the nuances of a traditional German-style brat with the delicate sweetness of Georgia peaches added to it. Talk about a mouthwatering combination! This kit flies off the shelves, even up here in Ohio.
Beef isn’t a traditional primary meat for making bratwurst, but old-school recipes (like 1498 old school) often add a small percentage to pork for flavor and consistency. Making a brat with about 15 percent beef and adding our maple bourbon peach seasoning to it will give you one of the most unique flavor combinations you’ll ever find in a brat. The kit includes all of the non-meat ingredients you need to make 25 lbs of sausage.
Our Bearded Butcher Maple Seasoning is available individually on our site, so you can also experiment with your own recipe creations. While this blog has been all about our DIY sausage kits, one of our favorite ways to use maple seasoning is as a dry rub on beef ribs we plan to smoke. The smoker perfectly caramelizes the maple sugar and gives the ribs a mesmerizing sweet and smoky bark while leaving the meat succulent and juicy.
One of our favorite customers clued us in on using the seasoning to flavor sweet potato fries, so obviously, we had to try that. The complexities of the maple flavor with the already sugary sweet potatoes make for a side dish that competes with dessert. Oh, and we also made up a sweet potato casserole using our Cinnamon Swirl seasoning and maple seasoning. When we went back for seconds there was none left, so that should tell you it was pretty good.
Have you got a story about a way you used our maple seasoning to get creative? We want to hear about it. Drop us a line sometime and tell us what you’re cooking, we might even give it a try ourselves.
Our DIY sausage kits are perfect for beginners and make great gifts. Even seasoned pros will love the convenience and completeness of our DIY kits. They are a great way to try out new flavors, experiment with creative ideas, or to make delicious, all-natural, gluten-free meals for family and friends no matter what season it is.
The Bearded Butchers are dedicated to providing as much information as we possibly can to help you understand how to best process and prepare meats of all kinds. To help you, we maintain a blog and Youtube channel with lots of free, high-quality information. The Bearded Butchers and Beardedbutchers.com are also a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products we love. This means that The Bearded Butchers may receive a commission if you click on a link above and make a purchase using one of our codes.
We have had the opportunity over the years to try out just about every type of hunting blind on the market. We’ve used pop-up portable designs, self-climbing tree stands, and quite a few different types of elevated hunting blinds. Some of the designs we’ve tried are good, some are not. One thing that we can say is that the elevated stands from 360 Hunting Blinds are the best we’ve used.
These stands are durable, well-made, and worth every penny. Today, we will share with you a few of our favorite features of these really cool hunting blind designs.
We’ve hunted in plenty of elevated stands that were built from scrap materials by individuals who don’t have much skill at building things, so we know about that sketchy feeling when it seems like the stand might just fall down. Build quality is about much more than being durable, it is also about being safe.
At 360 Hunting Blinds, they use only the best materials to construct their products. The 360 series uses LP SmartSide panel walls that help insulate the blind and greatly reduce noise. LP SmartSide is a manufactured wood product that bonds layers of wood fibers with resin to create a durable board that is as easy to work with as real wood but lasts much longer. A seamless acrylic roof withstands rain, hail, snow, and sun, while integrated ventilation keeps the inside from getting too nasty.
The hunting blinds ship in a flat package that you assemble yourself. Even if you struggle to put together Ikea furniture, you’ll have no trouble putting the 360 hunting blind up. The included instructions are highly-detailed, and if you are still struggling, their customer support staff are some of the friendliest people we have ever spoken with.
Aside from how awesome these blinds look, the first thing you really notice is the tinted windows. This is a slick feature that many products don’t have available. The tinting reduces heat and glare in the blind and prevents prey from easily spotting you. The windows also help to control noise and scent that can ruin a hunt.
Our favorite thing about the windows is the innovative opening system. It uses a counterweight to allow for one-handed opening and the windows are totally silent. No squeaky hinges to give away your location.
The 360 series has windows all the way around the stand. Each wall includes a counterweighted window and a peep window at standing height. You will never have a deer sneak up on you or a turkey wander just out of sight with the 360 series design. The windows also provide an airy feel inside the blind, so you don’t feel stuffy or get claustrophobic.
The size of this stand is another big benefit. It offers six-and-a-half feet of height inside and is plenty spacious enough for two large men to use comfortably. We tested it, just to be sure, and it is totally big enough. There is even enough space for a little table to play cards on while waiting for those wily deer to show up.
The stand also has a large door that opens inward to offer quick access. The 360 series includes two sizes, a Pro and an Extra-Large model. The Pro stand has provisions for storing up to eight long guns and four archery bows with plenty of room for other accessories. The XL version increases storage to six bows while providing the same eight-gun storage as the Pro.
Even the window openings are well-thought-out. The sill includes a padded rest to help stabilize your rifle or simply offer a little comfort when you are hanging out. The padding reduces the chance of accidentally making noise while lining up the shot.
To offer even more comfort and noise reduction, the 360 hunting blinds are fully carpeted up to the bottom of the windows. This prevents boots from making noise as you move into position and also helps to keep the blind warm on those cold fall mornings.
Each 360 series hunting blind comes equipped with 4”x4” pockets for stand posts. It isn’t hard to build your own stand, but the company also offers both metal and wood stands designed to work seamlessly with the 360 series blinds. We particularly like the metal stand that is durable and easy to assemble. It provides incredible support and makes the hunting blind feel sturdy and secure. An oversize “handicap” door is also available to accommodate larger hunters who want an easier entrance and exit when carrying gear.
Just look at it – the 360 hunting blind is beautiful. It looks like the type of place you want to hang out all day. The tinted, silent-open windows make it feel like a vacation spot rather than a nasty old hunting blind. The use of durable and intelligently-selected materials for construction means it's durable, warm, and always functional. The first time we saw one, we knew that we wanted one. It is the perfect all-around hunting blind for just about any scenario. The quality construction means it will last for a lifetime or more while offering a great place to hunt in comfort.
]]>We met a couple of young hunters recently that showed off some pictures of a really nice elevated hunting blind their great-grandfather had built on the family property back in the 1920s. The blind was well-built, but nearly 100 years of rain, snow, and sun had taken a toll. The young hunters were looking to replace the blind, but weren't really sure what the best option would be.
What really impressed us was that the young men wanted to replace it with something modern and durable so that their great-grandkids would be able to hunt the property in another hundred years.
They were not just thinking about the here and now, but actually planning for the future to ensure that this great pastime will continue to thrive. It was a great opportunity to chat with them about the ways a hunting blind can enhance the hunt.
One of the things that we talked about was the importance of having a comfortable hunting blind. Being able to relax in comfort while on the hunt is great, but the blind needs to be large enough and configured in such a way that it is functional, too.
Elevated deer blinds provide big improvements in terms of visibility. Hunters can see deer from a distance, while the deer are less likely to spot the hunters. If you think about it, it makes sense. There are no predators that deer worry about attacking from the air, so the animals don't tend to notice a stand as easily as a ground blind or a hunter in the woods. Properly built, a hunting blind also offers excellent lines of sight.
One of the senses a deer possesses that gives him an advantage over predators is his sense of smell. Deer can catch a whiff of you from a long way off and they know to avoid people. Even the best concealment won't always prevent deer from smelling you, but an elevated hunting blind gives hunters a big advantage. The enclosure helps to contain the smell and because it is elevated, the scent wafts further, giving deer confidence that even if they smell you, you aren't hanging around.
Hunting blinds also provide extra safety and security. They offer a way to stay out of the rain so your gear isn't wet and you run less of a risk of getting sick. There is also less risk of falling when getting in and out of the hunting blind. While it is fun to trudge around in the snow sometimes, a blind makes it so that all you'll need to do is get to the location and back again. No risk of stepping in a hidden hole and twisting an ankle.
Deer blinds come in all shapes and sizes. From portable seats that strap to a tree up to mini-cabins on posts, the type of hunting blind will depend on the type of hunting being done.
For example, a portable tree stand is most useful when you can't have a permanent stand, like when hunting public land. A pop-up ground blind is ideal for temporary locations, such as catching deer along the edges of a cornfield or setting up for ducks over a marsh.
Our favorite type of blinds are permanent elevated structures with windows and plenty of space for comfort. Of course, this type of structure is only useful on private land.
The biggest factors that determine which type of hunting stand is best is the type of game and the terrain. Heavily-wooded areas might provide opportunities for permanent elevated stands, but a dense canopy will inevitably reduce sight lines. In some cases, a pop-up ground blind works better in the woods.
On open plains, elevated hunting blinds tend to stick out like a sore thumb and might give away your location to cautious deer or turkey. Hunters might find that an elevated hunting blind over a field or a marsh might just work perfectly for dove and duck hunting, though.
We've already mentioned this, but it's worth one more pass – placing a permanent stand on public land is typically illegal and is generally a bad idea anyway. First, you don't know who might end up using your blind. Second, you might show up at your favorite spot only to find that someone has removed your blind or destroyed it. Portable tree stands and pop-up blinds are the best choice for public hunting.
In many instances, a permanent stand makes a great option on rocky, uneven ground because the poles can be adjusted to accommodate for the differences. One of the designs we like is simply an elevated platform. When in use, the hunter erects a pop-up on the platform, but the rest of the time, it is simply a flat stand. This is a great design for deer, turkey, and duck hunting in less-than-ideal terrain.
The size of the hunting blind determines how much gear you will bring and the number of people you will hunt with. Most elevated blinds are best for two people and their accessories. Pop-ups can be as large or small as needed. Tree stands are usually solitary blinds, but there are some designs large enough for two.
Our favorite hunting blind designs are from 360HuntingBlinds.com. We've got a full breakdown of their products right here if you want to know more. These are durable, well-thought-out designs that incorporate useful accessories and offer cool features like silent-opening windows. Windows further help with concealment and make hunting more comfortable by keeping out drafts, rain, and snow.
Of course, the price is on the high side, but that's what you get when buying the best.
Regardless of the type of hunting blind, always put a premium on comfort and construction quality over price. Cheap hunting blinds aren't always bad, but they may not hold up to use and won't make your hunt as enjoyable as a blind that features the accessories you want and need.
Using hunting blinds offers a unique hunting experience and they are a great way to help get the young hunters in your family into the sport. A good blind offers enough room for gear, and space for a chair and an ice chest. A good blind also lets the young ones move around a little more and makes it easy for those of us that need to stand up and stretch our legs now and then to do so without giving away the hunting spot.
Choosing the right hunting blinds is about much more than the price, it is about providing the optimal hunting conditions to take advantage of the season while it lasts.
We can't wait to see what our new friends come up with to replace Great-granddad's old stand. From the sounds of things, these guys know exactly what they are doing and have a great plan to ensure hunting remains fun and enjoyable for generations to come.
]]>It is a sad day when you find a beautiful steak in the fridge you had forgotten about and realize that the "Sell By" date had passed a few days back. But sometimes, the forgotten steak might still be safe to eat. Knowing how to tell if steak is bad is the only way to decide if the risk is worth it. This article will describe the things to look for that show that a steak has gone bad.
Buckle up, because this is going to get a little gross.
From the moment that an animal is killed, the decomposition process begins. In the case of beef slaughtered for eating, the process is slowed significantly by processing the carcasses in cold rooms. Decomposition happens as a result of physical and chemical changes to the meat that are aided by various naturally occurring bacteria growth. When meat is exposed to temperatures above 40 degrees and below 140 degrees, bacterial growth can be rapid and results in gastrointestinal illnesses that can be fatal.
Whenever meat is improperly stored or handled, the risk that the steak is bad increases. Unfortunately, we have seen meat being sold in stores that is labeled as "fresh" even though it is clearly bad or spoiled. Most often, the meat was left to sit out at the wrong temperature for too long.
Raw steak that is left open to the air can become a breeding ground for bacteria and insects. Flies love to lay their eggs in decomposing flesh –which is exactly what they see your fresh steak as.
It takes 24 to 48 hours for maggots to hatch and begin eating the meat. Many species of fly eggs can tolerate freezing temperatures and will hatch once the meat warms back up. The United States Food and Drug Administration estimates that Americans eat between one and two pounds of flies, fly eggs, and maggots each year.
Preventing maggots is all about proper handling and storing raw meat. The less exposure the meat has to environments with flies, the less chance of contamination. Maggots can survive temperatures above 115 degrees but are killed beyond 120. So, unless you plan on grilling a steak in the summertime in Death Valley, you need to keep your meat covered.
The most common way that steak actually goes bad is freezer burn. This condition happens when meat is exposed to air at freezing temperatures. Air and cold interact to cause the muscle cells to burst. Oxidization turns the meat a grey color and leaves it dry.
Spoiled steak has a distinctly potent odor. Some people describe it as similar to rotten eggs. Gasses released during decomposition are the cause of the bad smell. That is why a bad steak smells like sulfur or ammonia. Rotten meat often has a slimy film that is made of harmful bacteria growing on the surface. A slimy steak is a definite sign of spoilage.
There is no hard and fast rule to determine when a steak has gone bad. Start by doing the sniff test. Raw steak should smell beefy and maybe slightly like grass or hay. If it smells sour, there is a problem.
Touching the steak is a good indicator, too. A slimy texture or stickiness indicates that bacterial growth is occurring. Hard, brown steak indicates freezer burn.
Packages of meat with lots of red liquid in the bottom are another telltale sign that a steak has been improperly handled. This liquid is not blood, it is myoglobin which is released during decomposition.
Dry-aging is a process that allows the surface of the meat to air dry, resulting in a tighter texture and better moisture retention when the steak is cooked. The dry aging process is done under controlled conditions to prevent harmful bacteria growth and to prevent spoilage.
One of the secrets of dry aging is that the meat is developing fungi that grow very slowly at low temperatures. The fungi are not harmful to us, but they can prevent bacteria and other types of fungi from growing. This is why dry-aged steaks have a slight mushroom-like flavor. The longer a steak is dry-aged, the more pronounced the smell becomes.
With that said, it is uncommon for dry-aging to result in rotten meat. Typically, dry aging is done in cold, dry air that is circulating well around the meat. This is why it is a bad idea to dry-age in your refrigerator. The lack of air circulation allows harmful bacteria to develop that can make you sick.
Like other cuts of meat, a dry-aged steak should not have a slimy appearance and it should smell like beef, not rotten meat.
It is never safe to eat rotten meat, period. As much as it sucks, throw it out. While cooking can kill viruses, bacteria, and fungi, it won't get rid of harmful toxins that are excreted by these things.
Some of the toxins can cause mild symptoms such as an upset stomach, but other toxins can lead to serious illness, hospitalization, or even death. Food poisoning caused by meat is less common than the type caused by unwashed greens, but it is nonetheless dangerous.
It might be tempting to try and trim off areas of a steak that have a brownish color but not too bad of a smell, but this is a really bad idea. The toxins that are released can seep throughout the meat and contaminate the entire cut. The overall flavor of the meat will be rancid, even when you trim off the rotten parts.
Freezer burn often only happens to a small area of a piece of meat that is exposed to air. In this case, you can simply cut the part off that has a brownish color and the rest of the meat should be fine.
If the freezer burn damage is extensive, it is best to use the meat for dog food or throw it out. Cooking meat that has freezer burn won't fix the damage.
Freezer burn does not introduce the possibility of food poisoning, it only leaves the steak dry and off-tasting. So technically, it is fine to eat freezer-burned steak if you want to, but we don't recommend it.
It is possible to make sausage with freezer-burned meat, but the flavor could still be off.
Dogs don't seem to mind the taste, though and there is still plenty of nutritional value in a freezer-burned cooked steak.
Prevention starts with knowing all the signs of spoiled steak. When you are at the butcher counter or the grocery store, look for steaks that are red. Bright red and dark red are both good signs of fresh red meat but avoid brown or grey steak. If there is a significant amount of red liquid in the plastic wrap, the steak has been improperly handled and won't be very juicy or tender. If it smells bad through the packaging, don't buy it. You can also tell when a steak is bad by feeling for toughness. A steak should be tender.
Don't forget to look at the sell-by date. This isn't the same as an expiration date, but it will give you an idea of the freshness of the meat. The use-by date should be within 24 hours of the sell-by date unless the meat is frozen.
Keep Reading: How to Tell If Steak Is Bad: 5 Telltale Signs
Storing meat is the biggest culprit for causing spoilage. If you are planning on cooking the steak within the next 24 hours, it is fine to keep it in the refrigerator. Just be sure to keep it in the plastic wrap or transfer the steak to a sealed container.
Keeping steak fresh for long-term storage means freezing. The way to prevent freezer burn is to tightly wrap meat so it can't be exposed to air. The frozen steak will stay fresh for months if it is properly stored. The best way is to use a vacuum-sealed bag that eliminates air from contacting the frozen steak. Raw steak can be frozen and thawed out with good results. You can also wrap them with plastic wrap and aluminum foil to prevent frozen steaks from getting freezer burn. Make sure that no area of the meat is exposed. That is why it is best to use both plastic wrap and foil.
Learning how to tell if steak is bad is all about using your senses. As gross as it seems, once you have smelled a bad steak, you will never forget the odor. A slimy texture will tell if your steak is spoiled. It is important not to eat spoiled meat as it can cause serious illnesses that are no fun to deal with.
Fresh raw steak should always be properly handled and stored to limit exposure to possible contamination which may cause bad steak.
There are few more terrible feelings in the kitchen than when you realize that you let a steak go bad. Even though it might be hard to do, dispose of it. The risks associated with eating spoiled raw steaks are significant and not worth the outcome.
Next time, use a vacuum sealer to store the steaks until you are ready and you won't have to worry about spoilage or freezer burn and you will get great results from your meat, even when it's old.
***
The Bearded Butchers are dedicated to providing as much information as we possibly can to help you understand how to best process and prepare meats of all kinds. To help you, we maintain a blog and Youtube channel with lots of free, high-quality information. The Bearded Butchers and Beardedbutchers.com are also a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products we love. This means that The Bearded Butchers may receive a commission if you click on a link above and make a purchase using one of our codes.
]]>These Zesty Lime Garlic Shrimp Tacos will tantalize your taste buds with their tangy lime flavor, aromatic spices, and succulent shrimp. They make for a perfect meal that's packed with refreshing zesty goodness!
]]>These Zesty Lime Garlic Shrimp Tacos will tantalize your taste buds with their tangy lime flavor, aromatic spices, and succulent shrimp. They make for a perfect meal that's packed with refreshing zesty goodness!
Here's how to make them:
Give this recipe a try and let us know how you like it! Stock up on our Bearded Butcher Blend Zesty Lime Seasoning and tag us on Facebook or Instagram.
]]>Bacon can be one of the most frustrating things to cook in a frying pan. A pan can allow too much excess grease to pool up, resulting in soggy, limp bacon. The strips also tend to stick together, giving uneven results that make the cooking process frustrating. Luckily, you can get perfectly cooked bacon on the griddle and it's the best way to cook lots of bacon all at once.
The Blackstone griddle is our favorite for cooking up breakfast and brunch recipes. These top-performing flat-top grill designs open up a world of opportunity. They offer a large cooking surface and excellent temperature control systems ideal for making griddled bacon, perfectly fried eggs, crispy sausage, and the fluffiest pancakes.
The first thing to do is get the griddle ready. Start by making sure it is absolutely clean and well-seasoned. Bring the griddle surface up to high heat. Put just enough high smoke point oil on the griddle to create a thin layer. This will be anywhere from a few teaspoons to a tablespoon depending on the griddle size.
Use a paper towel and heat-resistant gloves to wipe the oil completely onto the surface of the griddle. Wipe in a back and forth, then up and down motion rather than in circles. This motion distributes the oil more evenly.
Reduce the temperature of the griddle to medium heat. A surface thermometer should read around 375 degrees. The griddle is now ready for cooking bacon.
One of our tips for cooking bacon: before you head to the griddle, separate each slice of bacon and pile them neatly on a plate or a baking sheet. This step makes putting each bacon strip on the griddle faster and helps the bacon cook evenly.
Lay bacon strips so that the strip begins near you and finishes away from you. Bacon releases saturated fat quickly that can burn you if it splashes. Lay the strips so they are not overlapping and continue cooking for three to five minutes on each side, flipping once or twice to get the desired crispiness.
Some people like their bacon on the chewy side, while others won't touch it unless it crumbles to dust. Most people are somewhere in between, and a golden, light brown color is the perfect indication the bacon is cooked. Use paper towels or a scraper to remove excess fat and drain it into the grease trap.
Bacon strips tend to curl or bubble up on the griddle. Curly or bubbly bacon won't cook properly. There are a few ways to solve this problem and help bacon cook faster.
You can use a spatula to gently press down when cooking bacon. You don't want to press hard because you will force the sizzling fat out and end up with dry bacon. Just barely hold the bacon in place for a moment to encourage browning.
A griddle press is an awesome tool for making bacon. A griddle press is typically a heavy cast-iron plate with a handle. The Blackstone bacon press is an excellent example of a griddle press for making bacon. It has a flat bottom and a heat-resistant silicone handle. The press is large enough to handle two thicker rashers of bacon at once.
Preheat the griddle press on the cooking surface before pressing the bacon. The press will work like a convection surface with the griddle temp bacon cooks evenly. The trick is to just rest the press on the bacon rather than pressing it like when making smash burgers.
It can be tempting to get the griddle searing hot to cook bacon, but bacon cooked properly should not be burned. High temperatures on a griddle can exceed 450 degrees, which will melt too much fat and make dry bacon.
Instead, the perfect bacon griddle temp is medium heat. You can also use a two-zone method with medium-high heat on one side and the other side on low or no heat. This will let you keep bacon warm that has already cooked while you are cooking more bacon. It is a particularly handy trick when cooking thicker and thinner bacon slices at the same time.
When the bacon is finished cooking, remove it and place it on a clean, dry plate. Allow the bacon to rest for a minute or two so the excess grease drains off, then transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels. Putting the bacon straight onto paper towels traps grease near the bacon and makes it soggy. You can also use a wire rack and skip the paper towels altogether.
The best way to store cooked bacon is in a resealable bag or container. Keep it in the refrigerator to prevent the growth of harmful bacteria. You can reheat leftover bacon on a griddle on low heat or in the microwave.
Bacon needs to be fully cooked in order to be food safe. That means a temperature of 165 degrees or higher. A meat thermometer is useless with bacon, so you will want to use your sense of smell, sight, and touch to determine when the bacon is done cooking.
We have found that perfectly crispy bacon should be taken off the cooking surface just before it stops being slightly limp. Bacon will continue cooking after you remove it from the griddle. Pulling it just before it is at the desired crispiness gives you perfect crispy bacon.
A mistake we have seen too many times is cross-contamination from raw bacon. Raw bacon can potentially harbor numerous types of bacteria that can make you sick. Be careful not to reuse tongs that have touched the bacon. Wash your hands with hot water and soap between handling bacon and other cooking instruments. It is best to treat bacon like raw poultry – particularly turkey bacon.
A downside of using many griddles is that you will likely lose or contaminate the bacon grease. We like to use a fresh, clean disposable grease trap when making bacon so that we can keep the renderings. Bacon fat is wonderful for adding flavor to dishes and is an excellent product for greasing cast iron pans before cooking.
Many of us remember the can of bacon grease grandma used to keep by the stove. Despite that memory, science says that bacon grease should be stored in the refrigerator or in the freezer to prevent spoilage. Stored in an airtight container, bacon grease can last three to six months in the refrigerator. It can be frozen and will last indefinitely.
Here is a fun little thing we came up with a few years back to make the perfect bacon for hamburgers. Rather than fry each slice individually, make a bacon square. This trick works best with a bacon press, but can be done with a spatula when necessary.
Start by taking three strips of uncooked bacon and cut them in half. Lay three cut strips side-by-side. Start by folding the middle strip back, then place one of the remaining strips across the two strips right at the edge. Fold the middle strip over the top of the new bacon strip. Then, fold the two outside strips over the first strip and lay another strip across the bacon before folding the outsides down again. Finally, fold the bottom strip up and place the last strip of bacon across, then return the center to its original place.
When you are done, you will have a square of bacon roughly the size of a slice of cheese that has a basketweave pattern. We usually do this on a piece of parchment paper that makes it easier to place on the griddle.
Using a press helps the bacon to cook evenly because the press cooks both sides at once. When it is cooked, you have an easy-to-serve bacon flat. This works great for a thin rasher of bacon that would cook too quickly on its own.
A griddle is the best way to fry bacon in bulk. It takes a bit of practice to get the timing right, so get out there and fry up some bacon. Keep an eye on how long it takes and what temperature works best for you and you'll turn out professional diner-quality bacon on your griddle every time.
]]>Picture this: You have spent hours tending to the smoker, carefully controlling the temperature, and monitoring your meat. Then, you spent tantalizing minutes waiting as the meat rests. Finally, you get to take the first slice – and it's bitter. Not just a little bitter, so bitter you can barely swallow it.
The temptation to scoop up the platter and pitch the entire thing in the trash comes over you. Hopefully, we are in time to save your bacon (or beef, or chicken, or whatever you are cooking). Follow along as we share the secrets to fixing over-smoked meat that has a bitter taste.
The meat-smoking process involves balancing ambient and internal temperature, smoke, and time. If any one of these three factors is off, your smoked meat won't come out right. Temperature and time are fairly easy to understand since you can measure them, but how do you know when too much smoke is simply too much? This is where experience comes into play. Fortunately, we have some tips that have helped novice pitmasters get over the learning curve.
The bitter taste that overcooked meat gets is from a compound called creosote that is created by the burning of lignin in hardwood. Creosote is created during incomplete combustion of wood and becomes a vapor at temperatures below 540 degrees. When the vapor enters the smoking chamber, it cools and condenses. This happens at temperatures below 250 degrees, right in the range we typically want for smoking meat.
Charcoal smokers are affected the most since they use a combination of lump charcoal and hardwood to create heat and flavor. Pellet grills also release creosote from wet or improperly burning pellets, but the amount is significantly lower than a charcoal smoker.
You don't need a fancy contraption or the latest gadget to find out how much smoke is too much smoke. You simply need to pay attention to the color, smell, and volume of smoke that you are producing.
One of the ways to know that you are getting the right amount of smoke flavor when smoking meat is to pay attention to the speed the smoke comes out of the chimney. Slow, billowing smoke is allowing particulate in the air to settle on the meat which can cause too much smoke flavor and a bitter taste.
What you want to see is fast-moving air and smoke. Faster air carries particulate out of the smoker better and gives your meat a better smoky flavor without the unpleasant taste of over-smoked meat.
Occasionally waft the smoke so that you get a good whiff. The smoke should smell sweet or slightly spicy depending on the type of wood. Milder wood chips produce a lighter-smelling smoke, while stronger flavored wood gives a more pronounced smoky taste.
If the smoke smells bitter, something is wrong. Your best bet is to figure out why the smoke smells bad and correct it as quickly as you can. But don't panic too much – a short burst of acrid smoke is unlikely to cause a big change in the flavor.
Sometimes, you choose a wood that is just too strong. Mesquite and hickory can overpower delicate meats, leaving you with nothing but smoky flavor. Over-smoked meat typically has been exposed to too much smoke for too long. Over-smoked meat isn't usually bitter but has a strong, pungent smoke flavor that is unpleasant.
Badly smoked meat has a bitter taste. It might even make the tip of your tongue tingle from the creosote. Fixing badly smoked meat is a little more difficult.
What is done, is done, but there are a few tricks you can use to minimize the bitter flavor from bitter-tasting meat. None of these solutions will give you perfectly smoked meat but can help cut down the bitter-smoke flavor. Here are some solutions we have used to fix over-smoked meat.
This trick is a real bummer, but it will work to fix over-smoked meat. Creosote is unable to penetrate into the meat and is mostly in the bark. Using a very sharp knife like this one from Victorinox, carefully scrape or cut the bark from the meat. Cut only as deep as you have to so you are not wasting food or flavor. Excess smoke flavor can simply be cut off, but you will lose your seasonings and crisp bark.
BBQ sauce can do wonders to fix over-smoked meat, particularly when the cause is too strong of flavor from the wood. The sweetness and spiciness of BBQ sauce help to offset the unpleasant flavor.
Butter and other fats also work wonders for neutralizing the bitter flavor of smoked meat. Use a good slab, let it melt, then drip dry.
A sweet glaze can even be a good way to cover up that meat tastes bitter. Sweetness is the natural counter to bitterness. Orange glazes on pork shoulder work well.
This tip is another one that is best for meat that has too much smoke flavor, but it can also help with bitterness. Rather than serving smoked brisket, dice the meat up, chop up a good salsa, and serve tacos. Mixing other flavors in can help offset the smoke flavors and make for an excellent meal.
This is a last-resort tip. Place the meat in a pan of water or other liquid for about ten minutes and a significant amount of the bitter taste will come off. You also lose the bark this way and the meat can get a mushy, soft texture. It works okay to fix over-smoked meat, but the results are often less appealing than other methods.
Some people are very particular about the flavors of smoking meats. Even well-cooked meat might not be a pleasant flavor for some people. Some of the ways to get these folks on board include using milder wood like fruitwood. Our favorite fruit wood is apple with cherry being a close second. Nut woods also offer milder flavors and may impart a slight nuttiness to your meat.
It might be necessary to change your whole smoking process to get the results that you want. This means using less wood or even using a smoking wood chip tray that will produce less smoke flavor.
Wrapping your meat is another easy way to limit the smokiness. Once the meat is wrapped, little to no smoke flavor will penetrate the meat, so it won't get smoky. We like to use pink butcher paper as it lets the meat breathe a little, but many people swear by heavy-duty aluminum foil to prevent over-smoked meat.
A tip we know is that after about three hours, the meat will not absorb much smoke flavor. Use a meat thermometer to determine when the meat is about two-thirds of the way cooked and wrap it. Then, finish it in the smoker or in the oven to prevent over-smoking.
It is a good idea to always monitor the smoke from your smoker. While Bluetooth thermometers have made it easy to walk away from the smoker, you should still keep an eye on the color and volume of smoke.
Using a charcoal chimney starter is the best way to reduce the chance of making meat bitter with creosote. Pre-burning rids the charcoal and wood of creosote. If you are using wood chunks or chips in your charcoal smoker, it is vital that you keep an eye on the smoke color. If it is grey, black, or white, remove the wood from the fire chamber and ignite it in a chimney before placing it back in the smoker.
One of the biggest reasons smoked meat tastes bitter is from a dirty smoker. Over time, soot and creosote build up on the surfaces that make smoked meat taste bitter. Cleaning your smoker periodically is a good step toward food safety and good-tasting food.
It can take a bit of practice and patience to perfect the art of slow-cooking meats like pork butt or pork shoulder which can get too much flavor. Learning to balance the amount of smoke with the desired results gets easier every time you try.
Our recommendation is to start with minimal smoke flavor, then gradually increase until you get the proper flavor. Avoid the temptation to use too much wood since this can cause incomplete combustion which makes meat taste bitter.
If all else fails, trim off as much of the burnt flavor as possible, slather the meat in Bearded Butchers Barbecue Sauce, and chalk it up to a learning experience.
]]>