I enjoyed sharing recipes via email with Johnny about our weekend menu plans. He graciously shares his “Sunday Supper” menu with us, featuring a new way to brine pork chops. Take a look and then give it a try at your house!

Hey CB: My brother, his wife and their son came over for dinner last Sunday. I know my brother likes pork chops so I figured it would be a good idea to whip up some with a brine made with orange juice. Most people associate brines with “sea water” but it doesn’t have to be. A brine can be used as a vehicle to add flavor as well as additional moisture. This added moisture provides an extra level of insurance against dryness, which is especially important when you have to cook meat to a high temperature. Brines work well with pork and poultry.

Once I’ve prepared my brine (see sidebar), I put eight pork chops (1 inch thick) into two 1 gallon baggies. I added half my brine to each baggy. I let all of the air out of the baggies, sealed them and put them in a glass baking dish (to minimize the damage should the baggies leak). I put the glass dish back into the fridge for 7 hours. If you are using thinner chops, you can marinate for less time. When ready, remove the pork chops from the baggies and pat dry. Discard the brine. It is time to fire the grill.

Heat the grill to high.
Put the chops on and cook them 4-8 minutes per side until they reach 160 degrees. [CB Note - use an instant read thermometer and insert from the side to the center.]
Make sure you turn them so you get nice crosshatch marks.
Remove from the grill and let rest for 3-5 minutes.

You will find that the chops will be nice and juicy with a hint of orange in flavor. The salt from the brine should provide some seasoning but it should not be salty. If it comes out salty, you need to shorten up its time in the soak.

For a side dish, I’ve grilled up some green beans. Yes, you heard me right, grilled green beans! Snip the ends off of some green beans, drizzle with olive oil, and salt. Set a grill wok (or one of those grill fry pans) on the grill and heat to high. Add the beans and grill for 6-8 minutes, giving them a good stir every 2 minutes. Enjoy! – Johnny M.

My Orange Juice Brine
Admittedly, my recipe for orange juice brine is a modified version of a ‘well known TV chef.’ I’ve made it simple – No exotic potions or fancy spices. I always say, there’s no reason to not brine when you have all the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients
2 cups water
2 cups orange juice
12 peppercorns
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/8 cup sugar

In a pot, add the water, salt, sugar and peppercorns. Heat the water until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Turn off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. I generally will do this the night before and then stow the pot in the fridge overnight. In the morning, I add the OJ to my mixture. It is important to make sure your brine is totally chilled. You don’t want to be adding raw meat to a warm brine!

Thanks Johnny! Do you have a comment on this recipe or would you like to make a suggestion or submit one of your favorites? Send an email or post it in a comment, below. – CB

Hello from Oklahoma City!

The Char-Broil Everybody Outside Tour visited the Oklahoma State Fair over this past week and had a great time showing people the new oil-less turkey fryer,The Big Easy. This product makes frying a turkey hassle free and safe, not to mention delicious! The tour now heads to Music City in the Volunteer State, Nashville that is, for the TACA Fall Crafts Fair. If you you will in the Centennial Park area over the weekend, definitely plan on stopping by and saying hello!
-Warren

The signs of the season are all around and one dish in particular gets me going each Fall — roast duck. Long-time readers will recall my mention of a man who inspired me early in my career using these immortal words:
“Son, roast ducks don’t fly!” (more…)

Whenever I travel I tend to stay away from the more touristy areas. Nothing wrong with them, just not my glass of tea. It’s the same on the internet. Certainly I use some of the major sites to research all manner of topics and look up information – because I want to use trustworthy sources.

I read a lot of cookbooks, magazine and newspaper articles about food and cooking each week…and every so often I need to take a break. I enjoy finding interesting things online and there are a couple of sites that I like to visit now and again just because they make me smile.

One is the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum & Store

Another is The Deviled Egg Gourmet

Do you have any favorites? Send them to me or post in the comments below.

Happy Grilling!

Are you interested in seeing a 15 foot tall GIANT GRILL?

September 28 & 29th at the Corrales Harvest Festival in Corrales, NM between 10A – 3P

October 5 – 8 at the Bass Pro Shop in Mesa, Arizona between 10A – 6P

You’ll also get a FREE Johnsonville Brat and an up close & personal look at this:

With the holidays coming up – there is surly discussion about what to serve. This week I wanted to share my experience preparing a 7lb. bone-in leg of lamb, using the newest Char-Broil cooker called The Big Easy. Originally designed to replace the cumbersome, expensive and often dangerous hot oil turkey fryers – The Big Easy is an oil-less infrared fryer. Infrared energy is an excellent way to prepare large portions of meat up to a 16lb turkey, ham, pork shoulders, beef roasts, ducks, geese, chickens, veal and lamb. The meat is crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

Now, I’ve prepared leg of lamb on the grill or barbecue many times. (Here’s a recipe CLICK HERE.) But so many folks have sent me notes with questions about The Big Easy and it’s usefulness beyond cooking turkey I thought I’d give try preparing one of my favorites, bone-in leg of lamb.

Here’s what I did:
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I got an email from a regular reader – Brad – who ordered The Big Easy from Home Shopping Network. He loves to cook Boston Butt (Pork Shoulder for those of you not familiar with the term) and serve pulled or shredded pork sandwiches and dinners.

NOTE TO SELF: Keep Brad on my list of must visits if I get a chance!

He sent along these pictures of how he prepared a Boston Butt this past weekend. I think Brad is angling for a guest chef spot because his photos are much better than mine and are staged with a bit of style.

11lb Boston Butt with dry rub of salt, pepper and “a secret family spices”.
(more…)

Visitors inspect The Big Easy oil-less infrared turkey fryer.

Hey there Grillers! The Everybody Outside Tour learned this weekend in Lincoln that though summer is winding down, college football season is heating up. While it didn’t work out for the Cornhuskers versus USC this weekend, we had a great time visiting such a football crazed city and introducing football fans to the new oil-less infrared turkey fryer, The Big Easy!

This week the tour heads to Oklahoma City for a visit to the State Fair. We will be at the fair Thursday through Sunday, so if you’re in the area stop by and check us out!
-Warren

George wrote in a week or so back and asked about the Pork Burger recipe submitted by regular reader, Kevin W. I asked George to share some of his recipes and he graciously shares these with us. Thanks George!

CB here are a few recipe favorites of mine.

First a recipe for a SMOKED PIC-NIC HAM which I use my Char-Broil SILVER SMOKER for. Last year at a High School Class BBQ I smoked two and the people just raved after tasting it. I have also used my Char-Broil Charcoal Grill to do smaller hams. CLICK HERE

Second an all around Home Made BBQ Sauce handed down by my mother. I use with the Picnic Ham for basting and also with the pork on buns. Its very good also to be used with chicken and ribs. CLICK HERE

Third my version of Ranch Beans, which go very well with the ham, chicken, ribs, and for that matter anything from the grill !! CLICK HERE

Fourth, my Marinade for steaks before being slapped onto the grill!! CLICK HERE

Thanks for asking, enjoy to all !! George Vojik

What are some of your favorite recipes? Please share them with us!

Or do you need inspiration? Just use SEARCH RECIPES at the top of the page in the navigation bar. You can find recipes from trusted sources like Char-Broil and guest chefs…or you can use one to create your own version. You can also save favorite recipes on the Char-Broil site, FREE. And all recipes have a “Print” version – just click on it at the bottom of each recipe page.

Happy Grilling!

Greetings from Kansas!

After what turned out to be a very pretty ride through the green rolling plains of eastern Kansas we arrived in Hutchinson for the Kansas State Fair. For three days we had big crowds and lots of questions about The Big Easy, Char-Broils’ new oil-less infrared turkey fryer. From Thanksgiving day chefs to hard-core tailgaters, everyone we spoke with was excited about how convenient and hassle-free The Big Easy made turkey frying. This week, the Everybody Outside Tour travels to Lincoln, Nebraska, for what we’ve heard might be a pretty good football game, Nebraska vs. USC! If you’re lucky enough to have tickets for the big game, stop by and check us out—we may even have a turkey cooking in The Big Easy! -Warren