5 Tips Every Chef Should Know About Steak

Grilling up a delicious steak cooked to order is not a simple task. You don't just throw the meat on the grill and start cooking and hope it comes out right. There are things you need to do and things you should NEVER do to a steak. So, next time you grill, serve up a delicious mouthwatering steak that people will remember you for. Compiled from My Texas Life magazine, May 2015

The Steak

• Tip #1 - turn the steak not more than 4 times during the cooking time for that diamond grill mark look
• Tip #2 - flip and move the steak with barbecue gloves, tongs, or a spatula. Try to not pierce the except to use a temp probe for wellness. 
• Tip #3 - A thin instant-read thermometer is excellent for a final doneness test while ensuring food safety
• Tip #4 - Know your wellness temps - from rare to well-done
• Tip #5 - Mop the steak with melted butter to keep is juicy while cooking

NOTE

Use this wellness chart to serve your steak to order without having to cut it open on the grill to check.

• Rare 130-135 F
• Medium-rare 140 F
• Medium 155 F
• Medium-well 160 F
• Well-done 165 F

These are the safe cooking temperatures for other meats

Steak 145 F / Poultry 165 F / Pork 145 F / Ground Meat 160-165 F

Bona Petite!

Comments? Suggestions?

3 Flavorings for Baby Back Ribs

These are my three favorite items to mix up for smoking baby back ribs. Your end results depends greatly on your preparation so take your time and do it right. I am going to give you the process I use for ribs then the three flavorings I use during smoking.

Preparation Process
Rinse the ribs off and lay out on paper towels bone side up. Pat dry and then remove the thin white membrane from the ribs. I try and start at one end and then with a paper towel as my grip, peel the membrane off. This allows the heat and smoke to penetrate through the ribs.

Flip the ribs over and if you are using a rib rack, cut the ribs into 6 inch sections. Place the ribs meat side up in your smoking pan and liberally apply your rub covering to the sides as well. Now transfer your rib sections to the rib rack for smoking.

Lightly apply your mop sauce over the tops of the ribs. You are now ready to start smoking. I usually smoke for 3-4 hours at 250-275 F.



Chef Rico's 3 Flavorings

The Rub
Ingredients

• 2 tbsp- kosher salt
• 2 tbsp - paprika
• 2 tbsp - ground cumin 
• 1 tbsp- chile powder

Mix this together well until it is blended and one color.
The BBQ Sauce 

• I use Stubbs Barbeque sauce for everything

Mopping sauce
Ingredients

• 1 cup - Apple cider vinegar 
• 2 tbsp - of your rub

Mix this well until blended

Smoking Process
Get your fire started and smoking at 200-250 F
First Hour - just smoke
Second Hour - add charcoal and wood as needed and mop sauce the ribs
Third Hour - add charcoal and wood as needed and add wood and mop sauce the ribs
Forth Hour - add charcoal and wood as needed and cover ribs in BBQ sauce

Comments? Suggestions?

Mesquite Smoked Beans

Simple to make and simply delicious to eat!  This dish is a great compliment to barbecue ribs, brisket or chicken and goes great with Chef Rico's Texas Potato Salad. You don't need a lot of seasoning for this since most the flavor comes from the mesquite wood smoke you use for smoking your. So next time you fire up the smoker, make some room for Mesquite Smoked Beans.



This recipe serves 8

Ingredients

• 2- 19oz cans of Ranch Style Beans or similar
• 1/4 c- brown sugar
• 1/4 c- white onion
• 1/2 c - Stubbs Mesquite BBQ Sauce
• 3 strips- thick sliced bacon 
• 1tsp - pepper

Preparation

I use a black iron skillet just for this purpose. If you don't have one, I suggest you buy one for smoking and cooking on the grill.

1. Pour the two cans of beans in the iron skillet (flavored beans optional)
2. Add in the brown sugar and stir in
3. Chop the white onion medium size and stir in well
4. Add Stubbs BBQ sauce and stir (that's just my favorite)
5. Cut the bacon into small pieces about 1/4 wide and stir in
6. Add pepper

Place the iron skillet at the end farthest from the fire box on your smoker about 2 hours before your meat is done. The mixture will become dark and thick and that is what you want. Stir occasionally when checking your meat. Add this to my Texas Potato Salad and you will have a hit on your hands.

Comments? Suggestions?

Dinner is (MORE) than ready!

So this happened Friday night while grilling a few things for dinner. One of the scariest sights you will ever see, is a fire on the side of your house that is fueled by propane gas and beyond your control. We felt helpless and could only imagine it catching the house and trees on fire and everything would be gone.

Our son the chef, was cooking dinner for us all and the menu was homemade enchiladas. He makes a tasty cream cream sauce using a grilled pablano pepper and white onion. Those were the only two things on the grill at the time. My son had just put them on and decided to go inside a few minutes and prepare the other ingredients. That decision saved him from harm.

We were all inside the house when my wife heard a loud noise and looked out the window and the grill was engulfed in flames. We grabbed fire extinguishers but the fire was too big. Only a few minutes into the fire, the propane cylinders heated up and started to explode shooting flames 10 feet up like a furnace.

We called 911 and started to clear the house and get out front. Grabbing the two dogs we were met outside with 6 Woodway police. We went next door and alarmed the people on that side of the house. Within minutes flames were shooting up as each cylinder heated and forced gas out the bypass valves. Unfortunately, there were two cylinders under the grill. One open and one closed as a spare.

The Woodway fire department arrived in minutes and had the fire controlled quickly. By that time the forced gas had stopped but everything around it was on fire: the grill, the fence, the tree above, and covers for all my grills.

Here is my take away that I hope and pray everyone reading this will heed:

1. Make sure you have a charged fire extinguisher within reach of your gas grill. Maybe on the patio or porch close by. Check it often for full charge and know how to use it. We had 2 but they were in the house and too far away.
2. Contrary to what others tell you, do not store your extra cylinder with the grill. Store it in a dry safe place away from the grill.
3. With a gas grill, once it becomes engulfed in flames, back off and call 911 and get clear away. A fire extinguisher is of no value on forced gas from a cylinder. Propane cylinders have blow off valves to keep them from exploding. Thank God for whoever designed that feature.
4. When gas grilling, never leave it alone for long periods of time.

The only cause we can figure is a leak in one of the lines or a leak in one for the cylinders. There were only two small items on the grill and that would not cause a fire. This is the very first fire I have ever had a fire of this proportion and it was spooky for sure.

There, you have my safely tips from this experience.

We praise God that my no one was standing in front of the grill when it caught fire. 

We praise God that it did not catch the house on fire. 

We praise God that police and fire departments were there in minutes. 

Comments? 

REAL Texas Caviar

Don't let all those other recipes fool you, there is only one real Texas recipe and I have it. This one has Texas ingredients like cilantro, mango, and of course avocado. I have to say it is really simple to make and will be a hit at any gathering wherever you live. I have to give credit where credit is due so a shout out to Nona my mother-in-law for sharing this with me. She has been making this for many years and so I adopted this one under the Chef Rico name and proud of it. With Nona's help, I first made it for a party of about 30 people and they cleaned out the bowl in no time. So get ready for a great party dip that will be a hit. (not actual picture, but close)

This recipe serves 25 + 

INGREDIENTS 

• 1 - 15 oz can pinto beans
• 1 - 15 oz  can black eyed peas
• 1 - 15 oz can black beans
• 1 - 15 oz can white corn
• 1 - 4 oz can diced jalapenos
• 1 small jar pimentos
• 1 mango fresh ( or 1- 15 oz can chopped)
• 2 - fresh firm avocados 
• 1 - medium size white onion
• 1 - medium size green pepper
• 1/2 cup - olive oil
• 1/4 cup - cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup - sugar
• 3/4 cup fresh cilantro

Preparation
1. Slice and chop the onion small, slice and chop the green pepper small, slice and chop the avocados medium size chunks, and remove stems from the cilantro and barely chop where leaves are in half.

2. Combine the olive oil, cider vinegar, and sugar into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Then remove from the stove and let cool 10 minutes.

3. Drain well with a strainer each can of beans, the can jalapenos, the pimentos, and the corn and then combine into a large mixing bowl.

4. Next add all the ingredients together in the large mixing bowl and stir well. Pour the cooled oil, sugar, and vinegar over the bowl and mix in well. Next sprinkle in the cilantro and mix well together, BUT SAVE some of the cilantro for now.

5. For presentation pour the mixed ingredients into a large decorative dish and now sprinkle the rest of the cilantro over the mixture for color.

There you have it...REAL Texas Caviar from Chef Rico. Set out some large Frito scoops and they will EAT - IT - UP!

Comments? Suggestions?

Kitchen Upgrade

Its been a long time coming but I had a new kitchen floor installed this weekend; Chef Rico's outdoor kitchen that is. We have this super large tree in our backyard that shades most the back, but the down side is nothing will grow underneath it. The shade extends to the side of the house where I spend a lot of time grilling and cooking. The area was just a muddy mess after all this past rain. So, I recruited the help of my awesome wife and youngest son. We laid down some netting to keep the weeds out and then laid down 24 bags of pea gravel. This made all the difference in the world and we love it.
I woke up to rain this morning on Memorial Day 2016 but had smoking plans to I started anyway. By noon the clouds and rain left and the skies are blue again in Texas. A perfect time for Chef Rico to be grilling in his new outdoor kitchen. No mud and no mess at all now. As you can see I use several types of grills for that just right taste. Gas grills are great for quick grilling but little to no smoking flavor. Everyone has to have a Weber charcoal grill for those tasty burgers and maybe some chicken. The smoker is my passion and love. I use hickory and mesquite the most and some oak for long term heat.
While you are here check out some of my recipes. All of them are family secrets that I started sharing plus this blog is a great place to store them for later. Alright, lets get smoking....
Chef Rico is in the house.......

Comments! What is your fav type of grilling?