What is a chuck eye steak? It is often referred to as the poor man’s rib eye and that is for good reason. Rib eyes are cut from the 6^th to the 12^th rib of the cow. The chuck eye is cut off the 5^th rib. Don’t confuse them with chuck steaks. These are chuck EYE steaks. There are only two chuck eye steaks per cow so they aren’t always available. But when they are, they are quite the treat at a much discounted rate from the lauded rib eye:

That’s an 11.2 ounce steak for under six bucks!

The chuck eye does not quite have the flavor of the rib eye, particularly the money muscle around the top, outer edge, and isn’t quite as tender, but it is darn close. And for the price difference, it’s well worth the slight downgrade. To compensate for it not quite being a rib eye, I don’t recommend taking the chuck eye steak beyond medium. It also marries well with a marinade prior to grilling or basting during. I always keep my steaks below medium, and opted for the basting with some Andria’s Steak Sauce while I grilled it.

Ingredients:

2 chuck eye steaks
Salt
Black pepper
White pepper
Andria’s Steak Sauce, reserved for later

No amounts here. I kept it uber simple with this one.

The chuck eye steaks out of their cellophane prison:

That’s some good looking meat!

Time to season before we prep the grill:

Ready to Season

Hit it with salt, black and white pepper:

Prepare the grill for high heat, two zone grilling with coals or burners blaring hot on one side and nothing on the other side. In this case, I used the upper rack of my Char-Broil TRU Infrared as the second zone.

Place the steak on the hot side of the grill and rotate after 3-4 minutes 45 degrees to get those perfect grill marks:

After another 3-4 minutes flip over and repeat on the other side:

Can you say Grill Marks?

Don’t forget the basting of Andria’s Steak Sauce after the sear and the first flip:

Mmmm, basted goodness!

After it is seared, rotated and seared again on the other side (and grill marks achieved on both sides), flip over and transfer to the cool zone, in this case the top rack of my Char-Broil TRU Infrared:

I’m hungry just looking at that!

Another layer of sultry, savory deliciousness from Andria’s:

Awesomesauce!

Don’t forget the other steak. The one above was for my Father in Law who likes his steaks medium. The one below is mine, with more great grill marks, which I cooked a bit short of medium:

How much short of medium did I go with mine? You tell me:

Perfection

And a bonus shot of that wonderful redness!

Outstanding!

This steak was outstanding. It was highly equivalent to the man part of the rib eye (not the outer money muscle of the much more expensive rib eye), at a much reduced cost. It was tender, juicy and with the added Andria’s, had a ton of flavor. I will be on the look out for these in the future. I plan on stocking my freezer with them. At that price, they are the perfect steak to stock up on particularly with beef prices on the rise.

If you have any questions about what is a chuck eye steak or how to grill them, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

If you liked this grilling recipe and would like others with beef, and more wonderful grill marks, click here.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on their Facebook page where you can post your own grilling pictures, share grilling recipes, or join the general grilling conversation.  You can also follow them on Twitter @GrillinFool

Click Here To Print Recipe Sheet

What is a Chuck Eye Steak?

Definition of what a chuck eye steaks are and how to simply grill them

Author: Scott Thomas

Cuisine: Steak

Recipe type: Entree

Serves: 2

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  20 mins

Total time:  25 mins

Ingredients

• 2 chuck eye steaks
• Salt
• Black pepper
• White pepper
• Andria’s Steak Sauce, reserved for later

Instructions

1. Coat the steaks with with salt, black and white pepper then prepare the grill
2. Set the grill for high heat, two zone grilling – blaring hot on one side and cool on the other
3. Place the steaks on the hot side of the grill, sear for 3-4 minutes, rotate 45 degrees and sear for another 3-4 minutes to get great grill marks
4. Flip over and repeat the searing process after slathering with Andria’s Steak Sauce.
5. Once the other side is seared, moved to the side with no heat, slather with Andria’s and close the lid to bake until the desired doneness.
6. Bake for 4 minutes to get to medium rare and 8 minutes for medium. Do not cook beyond medium

3.2.1226

Prior to our last snowfall of the season a shiny black XL Grill Dome kamado-style cooker landed on my patio.

And promptly got dumped on by mother nature.

Once the snow was long gone I was chatting across the fence with my very British neighbor when she glanced to the dark object erected on my patio and she commented, “Looks like a bloody spaceship!”  I then took a long look from her vantage point and vision of a black monolith appeared and the soaring notes and pounding drums of Also Sprach Zarathustra from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey coursed through my brain.  Perhaps she was correct-maybe the Grill Dome will provide an out-of-this world experience.

The Grill Dome Smoker Roaster (guess I’m now a Roastin’ Fool like Chef Puck) makes life easy from the beginning starting with the assembly…there is none.  This gorgeous Terapex ceramic cooking machine arrives ready-to-grill!  This was particularly appealing to this mechanically-challenged Grillin’ Fool.  Now let’s take a look at some of the features of this cooker.

The Grill Dome gets high marks for spectacular appearance.  It would be a fashionable addition to anyone designing an outdoor kitchen.  It is sleek, shiny, and available in five colors of triple-baked enamel finish.  Above are black, blue, and red but copper and silver are also available.  Absolutely, in my opinion, the sharpest looking grill in the universe.

Adding to the Grill Dome’s pearlescent luster is the use of stellar stainless steel hardware which is standard on the Infinity Series.  Check out that fantastic Featherlite auto-hinge—you’ll be able to lift the 80 lb. lid with just a couple of fingers!  Here’s another big plus—no rust ever!  There is lifetime warranty on the ceramics and also against rust — how cool is that?

Let’s open this grill and see what goes on inside.  Notice the thickness of the ceramic?  That just may be the thickest on the market providing excellent thermal and fuel efficiency.  I’ve been testing (that means playing with) this grill for four months and it has become my go-to model.  I have a lot of charcoal briquettes stored in my garage — I buy a large quantity when the big box stores offer half-price sales once or twice a year and at one time accumulated 40+ bags.  I’ve noticed since cooking on the Dome using lump charcoal that my overall fuel consumption has decreased dramatically.  It is not uncommon to get two or three cooks from one batch of charcoal.

Notice there are two grills in the photo (look behind the dome).  What do they have in common? Hmmm…one was built by my departed father-in-law Russ from stainless steel sheets in the Seventies and the other is almost new?  One uses briquettes and the other lump charcoal.  They do both have stainless steel used in their construction but the big thing they have in common is that they’ll both last forever!

A number of grilling setups are possible with the three grates available for the Grill Dome.  The grill has a standard 22” grate and shown is the 18” grill extender that converts the cooking surface into a double-decker cooker.  The extender can also be inverted to enable indirect grilling or for hot searing right over the coals.  Also available is a half-moon grate which I’ve employed quite a bit during my celestial journey with the Grill Dome which has included a wide variety of grill sessions.

Bone-in prime rib-eye seared close to the coals.

This was our first cook on the Grill Dome.  Scott dropped in and we decided to test several types of meat to get a feel-a mouth feel-for how this grill cooked.  Shown are a bone-in pork loin portion, spare ribs, chicken tenders, and there was supposed to be chunks of beef tenderloin but Scott devoured them before I could raise the camera.  You can see all three grates are used for this cook—the grill extender is inverted and holds the diverter pan, then the standard grate followed by the half-moon grate.  Many combinations are possible to give the pitmaster extra cooking surface.

The Grill Dome was excellent at holding any desired temperature I needed whether low and slow or the high heat method.  Baby-backs were smoked a while first then dripped pork fat onto the brined chicken breast beneath…doesn’t get much better.

Take a look at smoking a beef brisket.  I bought a whole brisket (saving a lot of cash) and separated the point and the flat.  The flat goes into the pan and the point above on the half-moon grate so it can baste the flat in addition to the mop sauce applied.  Looks like I have a giant burnt end!  The point was the best part but everything was moist and full of flavor.  I’ve learned when grilling on the Grill Dome that I’m going to have a ‘juicy cook!’

By now you’ve probably assumed I really like this grill…and I really do but was there anything that caused me concern?  Of course, as is typical of ceramic grills, it is not easy to add smoke wood after the grates are set.  I simply added chunks, not chips, to the edge of the fire at the beginning.  Smoke would be produced for one or two hours which, in most cases, is sufficient.  Notice that a deflector/diverter pan is required to set up indirect grilling.  Unless I’m misinformed, there is no official pan or plate offered that performs this task so a budget-friendly pizza pan was introduced to achieve indirect status.  I began thinking (that’s the scary part!) “Do I really need to spend $70-$80 on a ceramic plate to fill the need?”  I think not.  I watched a video online where a cast iron skillet with the handle cut off was used making a great deflector piece with a built in drip pan.  An old pizza stone would suffice also and, by the way, the Grill Dome is also fantastic for brick oven pizzas.  So these issues weren’t really a big deal to grouse about but merely required me adapting to meet my grilling needs.

“Hats off” to this wonderful grill for the fine performance given me these past few months.  To learn more about Grill Dome visit Leisure Time Outdoors at 2415 N. Illinois Street (Illinois 159) in Swansea, Illinois 62226 or give them a call (618) 236-1600.  They offer the Grill Dome and much, much more.

While you’re searching the galaxy for the right grill…the Grill Dome might be the one to choose.  I hope it puts a smile on your face too.  After all, “it ain’t rocket science!”

There are a hundred and one ways to make grilled corn. For years we grilled it in the husk after soaking in water. Then we moved on to grilling it naked (the corn, not the griller) and then smoking the corn with apple wood, but this is my new favorite – Chili Lime Grilled Corn. Did I mention the butter and garlic? They’re there too, but the chili and the lime are such iconic flavors that they got top billing.

Chili Lime Grilled Corn Ingredients:

1 stick salted butter
1 tsp ancho chili powder
½ tsp chipotle chili powder
juice of 3 limes
1 tsp of garlic, minced (not pictured)
black and white pepper to taste
4 ears of corn
½ cup shavings of parmesian reggiano cheese, reserved
¼ cup cilantro or flat leaf parsley, rough chopped and reserved

First, make the butter sauce that we will be drenching our corn with. Combine the butter, 2 different chili powders, juice of the 3 limes, garlic and pepper in a small sauce pan:

Special Tip: When juicing citrus fruits, roll them hard with the palm of your hand on the counter to break up some of the membranes inside. It will yield more juice:

Next, shuck the corn by pealing off the outer leafs but not all of them. Once you peal away the outer ones, just pull the rest down but don’t tear them off. Remove the silks:

Now prepare the grill for high heat grilling. In this case, I fired up my Char-Broil TRU Infrared to the highest setting and closed the lid to get those grates good and hot. Place the corn on the grill with the husks off the edge of the grill so you don’t get grilled husks too:

Now go back inside and prep the accoutrements for the plating by rough chopping the cilantro (or for those like me who hate cilantro, flat leaf parsley) and create shavings from the Parmesian-Reggiano for the corn once it is grilled:

Grab the butter sauce and a pastry or sauce brush and head back to the grill. Hit the grilled corn with the chili, lime and butter sauce:

You want the grilled corn to brown on a couple sides and look like this:

As you rotate the grilled corn, brush with the chili lime sauce:

Once the corn is browned on couple side (you can go more if you like), take it inside, and place on a platter and cover with the slivered cheese and coarse chopped herbs:

For those that wish to add a little extra lime kick, throw on some lime quarters and serve:

Simply serve the grilled corn as is and I guarantee nobody asks for any extra butter. But if you have any of the butter sauce left over, drizzle it over the top. If serving to children, lop off the husk handle as they will make a mess, trust me. If you are worried about the heat, I served this to a 3 and 5 year old and they both loved it. If you want more heat, add more of the chipotle chili powder.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

If you liked the chili lime grilled corn and would like to see another grilled recipe or two of side dishes and appetizers, click here.  Or other fruits and vegetables click here.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on their Facebook page where you can post your own grilling pictures, share grilling recipe or two, join the general grilling conversation.  Or, you can follow us on Twitter @GrillinFool

Click Here To Print Recipe Sheet

Chili Lime Grilled Corn

Ears of corn grilled over high heat and drenched with a chili lime butter sauce.

Author: Scott Thomas

Cuisine: BBQ

Recipe type: Side Dish

Serves: 4

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 stick salted butter
• 1 tsp ancho chili powder
• ½ tsp chipotle chili powder
• juice of 3 limes
• 1 tsp of garlic, minced (not pictured)
• black and white pepper to taste
• 4 ears of corn
• ½ cup shavings of parmesian reggiano cheese, reserved
• ¼ cup cilantro or flat leaf parsley, rough chopped and reserved

Instructions

1. Combine the butter, chili powders, juice of 3 limes, garlic and pepper in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to low and shuck the corn
2. Pull the outer leafs off the ears but only pull the rest down to the base
3. Remove the silks and prepare the grill
4. Set the burners to high heat and place the ears right on the grill, with the husks off the edge
5. Brown one side and then rotate and brush with the butter sauce
6. Head inside and shave the cheese into slivers and rough chop the herbs
7. Brown the other side and brush with more sauce and remove from the grill
8. Place on a platter, sprinkle the cheese and rough chopped greens and garnish with lime quarters
9. Serve

3.2.1226

The Grillin’ Fools are looking to expand beyond cooking outside only and plan on offering recipes made indoors. Let’s face it. In the dog days of summer or the dregs of winter, we don’t always want to stand outside. We plan on taking our same step by step, picture by picture, foolproof approach to ensure you don’t screw up like we have thousands of times before. In that vein, I was able to spend a little time with Wolfgang Puck this week in anticipation of the introduction of his new counter top oven the NovoPro which will appear on HSN this Saturday, June 8th, 2013.

As if there were another Wolfgang Puck, I will expound a little further on who he is. He is the official caterer of the Governor’s Ball which means he feeds everyone at the Oscars. No pressure, right? He’s written six cook books, owns dozens of restaurants (including Spago) developed his own cookware, has had a number of television shows, and even done some acting. He is the chef to the stars and so much more.

In this short interview (a little over 7 minutes) We discuss the NovoPro as well as what Wolfgang Grills, what makes him nervous and how he feels about many of the television chefs:

It was an honor to talk to Mr. Puck. He was the impetus of one of our favorite recipes – the Crostini. It was about 12 years ago and I was between jobs (and careers) that I watched a TON of cooking shows. I caught the very end of Wolfgang Puck’s show where he made Crostinis. This was well past when he said what went into it, all he said was, “And here we have the crostini coming out of the oven. Crostini just means toasted bread in Italian.” If I were telling you this story in person, I would be doing my best Wolfgang Puck which is pretty good. That night I made crostinis on the grill and have been making them ever since. I still don’t know what goes into Mr. Puck’s crostini, but here’s what goes into ours and what they look like:

So thank you Mr. Puck for being the impetus for that amazing recipe.

We’ve done a lot of stuffed pork tenderloins these days starting with dad’s masterpiece with roasted garlic and wrapped in bacon followed by my attempt with the cream cheese, hot pepper jelly and garlic (oh and I smoked it on a gas grill), and finally we have Tom’s iteration on this technique that seems to be all the rage lately! You can stuff these things with just about anything. This recipe is probably the most refined. I’ll hand it over to Tom so he can show you how to make it…

Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Chard Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin approximately 2 lbs
4 large leaves of Swiss chard
½ cup goat cheese, softened
1 cup chicken broth
Code 3 Spices 5-0 Rub

To begin, place the chicken broth, Swiss chard and a couple of shakes of the Code 3 spice in a pan.  Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, then remove from the heat.  Let your chard cool and transfer it to a plate (remove it from the broth)

Butterfly the pork tenderloin:

Then slightly pound the meat with a mallet.  Cover the tenderloin with wax paper or plastic wrap to prevent the meat from splattering:

Sprinkle the 5-0 Rub over the pork, giving it lots of bold flavor:

Then spread the cheese over the meat:

Lay the greens across the pork tenderloin:

Then, with the long end toward you, pull the bottom edge of meat up and over the filling to form a long cylinder shape:

Use butcher’s/baker’s twine to tie up the roll.  Finally, drizzle the tenderloin with olive oil and add more seasoning:

Prepare the Big Green Egg grill for medium direct cooking (about 325°):

Turn meat once — DO NOT over handle while grilling, so that your roll stays intact (otherwise you’ll end up with a mess):

Grill the pork tenderloin to an internal temperature of 140°:

Let the tenderloin rest 5-10 minutes so the juices settle down and redistribute throughout the meat and the cheese cools:

Then slice and enjoy!!

Plated with a baked potato, steamed broccoli and some grilled lettuce (to die for!):

And yes, pork can be a little pink. In fact, it’s best that way.

If you have any questions about this stuffed pork tenderloin, feel free to leave them below or shoot Tom an email.

If you liked the stuffed pork tenderloin recipe and would like to see other grilling recipes with pork, click here.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on our Facebook page where you can post your own grilling pictures, share grilling recipes, and  join the general grilling conversation.  Or, you can follow us on Twitter @GrillinFool

Click Here To Print Recipe Sheet

Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Chard

Pork tenderloin, butterflied and stuffed with goat cheese and Swiss chard and roasted on the grill.

Author: Tom Jones

Cuisine: BBQ

Recipe type: Entree

Serves: 4

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  45 mins

Total time:  1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 pork tenderloin approximately 2 lbs
• 4 large leaves of Swiss chard
• ½ cup goat cheese, softened
• 1 cup chicken broth
• Code 3 Spices 5-0 Rub

Instructions

1. Place the chicken broth, Swiss chard and a couple of shakes of the Code 3 spice in a pan. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, then remove from the heat. Let your chard cool and transfer it to a plate (remove it from the broth)
2. Butterfly the tenderloin, and then pound flat under some wax paper or plastic wrap
3. Spread the goat cheese and Swiss chard over the tenderloin before rolling the pork tenderloin up and tying it off with baker’s/butcher’s twine
4. Prepare the Big Green Egg for medium direct cooking (about 325°)
5. Grill the pork tenderloin to an internal temperature of 140 degrees, turning only once, and carefully to keep the cheese from leaking out
6. Remove from the heat and allow to rest for 5-10 minutes so the juices can redistribute
7. Slice and serve

3.2.1226

For those that missed it, we appeared with Woody and Rizzuto show, sans Rizzuto, on 105.7 the Point on May 24th, the Friday before Memorial Weekend. These guys are absolutely hilarious and are both really into grilling. They aren’t talking BBQ because it’s topical to get ratings. During the commercials when there are no ratings to be earned, we still talked BBQ:

During the segment we talked grill gadgets and took calls from listeners:

I am honored and absolutely humbled that anyone comes to this site. It’s beyond me that people pay me to write for a publication as fantastic as Feast. And then to be on the cover? They say it’s better to be lucky than good, well, I’m one lucky S.O.B.!  I can’t believe that people look at me as a writer now and not just some schmuck with a grill, camera and a glorified blog. I also wrote the dessert review for the Last Bite segment on the back page.

And on top of that, something I cooked is on the cover. I grilled those pork steaks according to the direction I give in the article. This isn’t fake cooking/grilling for a photo shoot that nobody will eat. We ate a few of those pork steaks right after we got that shot, although they had to be reheated as it took a good 2 hours for Jennifer Silverberg to get that amazing shot. If you need some incredible shots done, she’s one of the very best in this city. You can see her portfolio here. She is part photographer and part magician. Think I’m crazy calling her a wizard? Here is a shot dad took of the same stack of pork steaks:

I took this shot and I couldn’t even keep it in focus!

I have a bit of an excuse for my poor shot. I may have had a beverage or two:

Here’s another shot Dad took with the little chalk board in there:

Now do you get it? She’s a flat out magician with the camera!

Thanks, Jennifer, for taking such amazing shots and to Lisa for the layout that perfectly spells out how I saw the good in the bad methods of grilling a pork steak and incorporated them into the perfected recipe. It was as if Lisa was in my head when she did that layout except I could not have articulated the way I wanted to lay it out as well as she did it.

And of course to Cat Neville. The Dos Equis guy is the Most Interesting Man in the World. Well, the most interesting woman is Cat. I’m so appreciative that she allows me to grace her magazine.

I don’t want to forget Jonathan Gayman who brought that Napoleon to life on the back page for the Last Bite piece. You can see his incredible photography skills here.

It’s better to be lucky than good and I am living proof!

Please go out and gobble up those Feast Magazines!

Speaking of my newest son. He was totally enamored with his daddy writing an article that appears on the cover of a magazine:

Mmmmmmm Prime Steak!

Oh Laaaahhrdy, Dry Aged Steak!

Sweet Jeebus, Grass Fed Beef!

All of them cost significantly more than traditional choice or select steaks full of hormones, fed on corn and not aged at all. But is a dry aged steak worth it? What about prime? And if choosing between dry aged, prime and grass fed, which is better? The Grillin’ Fools decided to put it to the test with a side by side by side, somewhat blind taste test.

Lately, at a local grocery store chain in St. Louis, we’ve seen many of these prepackaged like so:

Does prepackaging make a difference?

All three of these are NY Strip steaks also called Strip Loins:

Can you tell which is which? Left to right, Prime, Dry Aged and Grass Fed

For the side by side by side taste test, all we hit these with were salt, black and white pepper, and a little hickory infused grape seed oil:

Sometimes simple seasoning is the best

Prepare the grill, in this case my Char-Broil TRU Infrared, for high heat, direct grilling. Don’t toss those awesome steaks on until it hits 500 degrees:

That’s a HOT grill and this bad boy makes a MEAN steak!

The prime and dry aged steak were significantly thicker than the grass fed beef, so they went on first:

Nothing better than the sound and smell of a steak hitting a hot grill!

That grass fed beef beauty looks a little lonely!

I left the first two steaks on for four minutes before rotating 45 degrees to get those perfect grill marks and then tossed the final steak on:

And one makes three, sort of like what happened at my house two days before I grilled these when we had out third son!

Here are the first two steaks flipped over:

Did I mention that the Char-Broil Infrared makes a mean steak? The best grill marks out there!

I only went with a single hatch on the thinner, grass fed beef so all three steaks would be cooked to the same temperature:

That circle is from the cool grill grates the grill comes with

And here we have al three steaks off the grill:

Resting

And a closer look:

How good does that look? That closest one is the prime steak

We had to finish up inside since at this point the tornado sirens started screaming. We didn’t head for the basement right away though. Not when we had a prime, dry aged and grass fed steaks ready to eat that looked like this on the inside:

Did I nail that or what?!?

So what was the verdict? Well the grass fed was clearly the inferior steak. See, grass fed beef is MUCH leaner than other cuts and well, fat tastes good. I cooked it to a wonderful rare and yet it was still much tougher than the other two.

Now prime vs dry aged steak? At initial tasting, prime was voted the superior steak. But not by a ton. The dry aged had a certain sweetness with a little “meatier” or robust flavor to it that the prime did not, but the prime was a bit more tender and seemed to melt in the mouth. Even the fat around the outside had a different texture to it that made it quite delicious on its own.

After the initial tasting, we did have to go to the basement before we finished the steaks and after a little more time resting, the flavors awakened even more as if a fine wine allowed to breath. It was at this point that I would’ve called it a toss up between the dry aged and the prime. Hot off the grill, the prime was the winner. That being said, we used a prepackaged, dry aged steak. So basically, once it was put in the package, it was wet aged after being dry aged. I think that takes away significantly from the dry aged as I had one of these just the night before which was dry aged and not wrapped in plastic and it was blow your mind great:

Only two inches wide, but THREE inches tall!

Our next test will involve prime vs dry aged that were not prepackaged.

If you have any questions about our taste test, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

If you would like actual steak grilling recipes, click here.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on their Facebook page where you can post your own grilling pictures, share grilling recipes, or join the general grilling conversation.  You can also follow them on Twitter @GrillinFool

I’ve got to say, it’s been one helluva week. On Friday we did the Woody and Rizzuto show on 105.7 the Point, Sunday we roasted a whole pig, we were on Great Day St. Louis on Monday, my youngest son turned 3 on Tuesday and became our second youngest son on Wednesday when my wife and I welcomed our third boy into the world. And while my wife was in labor I got the opportunity to interview the Lord_of_Q, Myron Mixon.

In the interview we talk about Mr. Mixon’s new book Everyday Barbecue, Pitmasters, the difference between Myron the judge and Myron the competitor, and what Myron does on a random weekend when he’s not promoting a book, teaching a class or working on Pitmasters:

You heard that right. I interviewed Myron Mixon while my wife was in labor. She was getting a second epidural because the first one stopped working and well, I’m a huge wuss who can’t handle seeing that sort of thing, so I stepped out and was honored to get an interview with Mr. Mixon.

Upon my return, Colleen, still in a great deal of pain, didn’t think take my suggestion all that seriously when I said we should name the baby Myron. In fact, she might’ve said for me to do something to myself that is not physically possible along with some disparaging things about my parents state of matrimony upon my conception. I didn’t chalk it up to the pain. She’s said that to me lots of times before even when not in labor.

Oh, and you have to get Myron’s book! Here’s my copy:

Many thanks to Mr. Mixon on the opportunity to interview him! Here’s to you Myron. It was an absolute honor:

It appears that everyone has a slider recipe these days and sometimes simple things become increasingly complex.  Here is a method employing the KISS (keep it simple stupid!) philosophy, thanks to Chef Barry of WelcometotheCookout.com fame, to creating a lot of sliders easily and efficiently.  This would be extremely beneficial for those large family gatherings or holiday barbeques and still be practical for two people.  How is that possible?  You’ll see as we progress through this post of Simply Simpler Sliders.  Yeah, try to say that three times fast!

Simply Simpler Sliders Ingredients:

3 lbs. ground chuck
24 Hawaiian rolls
Salt and pepper to taste
Condiments and garnish of your preference.
1 onion, chopped
¼ stick of butter

Why use ground chuck or 80/20 ground beef?  I believe burger has more flavor with a bit of fat in it.  Very lean grinds tend to dry out easily leaving a tasteless burger.

Place burger on wax paper on top of a cutting board:

Then cover with wax paper and use a rolling pin to spread the meat into an even rectangular shape slightly larger than 24 Hawaiian rolls:

Cut into squares slightly larger than the 4 roll section.  I used a very sharp knife but a pizza cutter could be employed instead.  I wanted to be sure to cut through the wax paper to make easier to work with the patties later.

Next trick for a successful grilling experience is place the patties into the freezer for 30-40 minutes so they will be easier to handle when first applied to the grill.

Caramelized grilled onions are always a sweet treat so into the cast-iron skillet they go with the butter.

The Grill Dome is fired up and the extra half-rack is added.  I had 2 uses for the half-rack but only used one. Not sure how I missed it. I guess I should’ve checked the adult beverage meter about this time.  I’ll fill you in on the missed stage later.

I’ll grab the onions and cheeses and head to the patio.  Onions will be cooked a bit first then I’ll retrieve the patties from the freezer and toss ‘em on also.

Patties are on. I’m only grilling 2 this time because there are only 2 of us for dinner.  I know Mimi and I are hungry but 24 sliders?  These rascals freeze well. They’re already shaped and papered, making advance preparation an easy proposition.  Store them in the serving size you desire and pull them out for a quick thaw as they’re rather thin. The buns freeze well also.

Wow!  The patty on the left came up a bit short, well I didn’t get an ‘A’ in rolling pin class.

Onions are moved to the upper rack while the patties experience the maillaird  effect or the browning of the meat that caramelizes the proteins.  Don’t be in a rush to turn the patties or tinker with them.  Leave them alone until they release themselves from the grill then turn and no meat will be left behind on the grates or your utensil.

Patties are turned, no meat left behind!

Take a closer look:

Once patties are turned it is time to apply the caramelized onions. Yummm!

Then the cheeses, Havarti and cheddar on one, colby-jack on the other:

Time to prepare the Hawaiian buns, sliced through the middle, and so sweet!  I’ve used them for pork tenderloin sliders previously.  Ok, time to fess up. This is where I missed a step.  The Hawaiian buns were supposed to be buttered, warmed, and lightly toasted on the half-rack.  The Grillin’ Fools share their mistakes so you will, hopefully, not be a victim yourself:

Cheese has melted. Right about now I’m thinking, “Who needs a bun!”

Patties are removed from the grill and placed on the 4-bun bottom.  Remember earlier in the post when I mentioned to cut the raw patties a bit larger than the buns?  Here’s why, take a look at the meat versus the bun…to the edge baby!  That’s what I’m talkin’ about!  The ground meat will incur shrinkage (I’m not too fond of that word either!) so even though the burgers are thin they do cover edge-to-edge for a very tasty experience.

Take a closer look:

Now I’m thinking, “who needs anything else on this?”

Mimi was inside preparing this simple platter to dress up the sliders a bit while I remained outdoors slaving over a hot grill, taking photos, taking notes, and consuming an adult beverage…or two.

The 4-bun is dressed and ready to be cut into 4 sliders…how cool is that?

Two simple cuts and viola!  Four (4) that’s f-o-u-r sliders or mini-burgers if you prefer!

Two more simple cuts and eight (8) simple sliders are created!

There it is, in all its simplicity, Simply Simpler Sliders.  Hey! Is simpler even a word?  Guess I could’ve titled this Simon’s Simple Sliders or Super Simple Sliders, perhaps we could vote on it.  I hope many of you will give this method a try.  It is soooo cool, and it will impress your guests with how innovative you are.  On a recent trip to a local club store I noticed the Hawaiian buns sold as a 24-pack, how convenient for your next gathering around the grill.  Consider you’ll be grilling 6 patties, toasting 6 buns of 4, and producing twenty-four (24) burgers.  Does it get any simpler than that?

If you have any questions or comments about this grilling recipe, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

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