Heat a large skillet at medium, then add onion, garlic, and Knob Creek bourbon.
Simmer for 8-10 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
Mix in rest of the ingredients and whisk to combine.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
If you prefer a smoother sauce, strain. Otherwise, your sauce is done and ready to use.
Chicken Directions:
Pre-heat smoker, grill, or oven to 400*. (2)
If spatchcocking your chicken, do so now. If not, leave whole, rinse, and dry.
Lightly oil the chicken and season with desired seasoning. (3)
Place chicken into pre-heated cooking device and insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast.
When the chicken is at 140* internal, glaze with BBQ sauce and return to cooker.
Pull chicken when breast is at 165* and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes:
I Spatchcocked the chicken, I find it cooks more evenly, and it’s easier for me to slather the BBQ sauce all over.
I like cooking chicken outdoors as it tends to smoke a lot as the fat renders. I used the pellet side of my Pit Boss KC Combo for this cook.
I used a combination of Pit Boss Chicken rub and Pit Boss Sweet Heat for a little kick. You can keep it as simple as salt and pepper, as the BBQ sauce will provide a lot of flavor.
4 Kanada City Cattle Co. Bacon Cheeseburger Bratwurst (1)
3 Beers
1 Onion, sliced thin
Hot Dog Buns
Mustard (2)
Directions:
In a pot bring beer, sliced onions, salt, and bratwursts to a boil. Turn down to low heat and let simmer until brats are 145* internal. (3)
Get a skillet or grill hot. Sear the brats to get a nice crust.
Remove brats to rest. If you need to hold them for a while you can put them back in the pot on low until ready to eat.
Wrap buns is a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds.
Add brat, mustard, and onions to your bun.
Eat and enjoy!
Notes:
I used these from KCCO and they’re amazing. They’re wagyu brats, and although you can taste the bacon cheeseburger it trends a little more towards traditional brats, especially with the beer bath. I don’t drink much beer so I use whatever’s left over from the last time we had guests over.
I love a nice whole grain and/or stone ground mustard with my brats, but use whatever you like. A little spice is nice too.
If you’ve got a high quality meat you don’t need to take it to 165* like they recommend. It’ll gain some heat during the sear too. Go to whatever internal temp you’re comfortable with.
Fill a pot of water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add potatoes and cook until fork tender.
While the water is boiling, cook your bacon. Remove to a paper towel and let sit. (4)
Remove egg yolks from the whites of your hard boiled eggs and transfer to a bowl. Add oil, dijon, apple cider vinegar, and garlic salt. Mash and then stir with a fork until creamy.
Add yogurt and stir to combine.
Chop your egg whites and pickles to your desired thickness. (5)
When potatoes are cooked, add back to the pot off the heat and let sit to help potatoes dry out. Let them sit for ~5 minutes to cool off, but not to cool completely.
Add potatoes, egg whites, and pickles to the bowl and mix with the dressing to combine. Add crumbled bacon, then taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as you feel fit.
Let refrigerate for at least 2 hours for the ingredients to meld together and for the potatoes to fully absorb the dressing.
Serve and enjoy!
Notes:
I’m using Yukon Gold potatoes, I just think they’re a great potato and they’re my go to. You can use russets, reds, fingerling, anything you’d like. I cut them into smaller bite size pieces but this is a make it how you like it dish so cut to your favorite size.
This keeps the dish a bit healthier. It’s also leftover from our Onion Dip earlier in the week so it’s the perfect way to use more of it.
Whatever oil is on hand, I used avocado.
If you want the crispiest bacon possible, cook it right before serving and add then. But in general the bacon holds up pretty well to a day or two in the fridge so go with whatever’s easiest.
I like thick pieces of egg white so I go a bit on the thick side. Pickles are a bit smaller, I just want small pieces
This dish commonly has red onion and/or celery. Those are good for a nice crunch so if you like ’em, add ’em.
Heat the oil in a pan over med-high heat. Add onions, salt, and pepper. Stir every few minutes. (4)
Once onions have released their liquid and it’s cooked away, ~10 minutes, turn heat down to medium.
Cook, stirring often, until the onions are cooked down into a deep, dark brown color. (5)
Transfer onions to a bowl and let cool.
Once cool, add the yogurt, sherry vinegar, and garlic powder, and mix to combine.
Cover the bowl and transfer to the fridge. Let sit for at least an hour, and preferably overnight, before serving. (6)
Taste for seasoning once your mixture has had a chance to sit and marry flavors. Add extra salt or garlic powder, if desired.
Serve with your favorite chips or veggies.
Notes:
This is the star of the show. More fat, obviously, than the non-fat greek yogurt, but much healthier than mayo and/or sour cream, which are usually the base for dip. You get some fat, which is good, and also great protein from the greek yogurt.
I like to use the sweet onion since we’re really going for that caramelized flavor profile. I dice small as well, knowing it’s going to shrink when cooked. Remember you’re not looking for long, stringy piece of onion in the final dip. Just those small chunks.
You can definitely do without this but it’ll provide a little bit of acidity and brightness to the dish that I like.
In this step the onions release a lot of liquid, in part because of the salt we’ve added. We want that so the onions get soft and break down, but we want to cook that liquid off, which the higher heat lets us do.
This dish requires a lot of stirring so the onions don’t burn. You can do it at a lower temp and not be as hands on but it takes forever.
The more time the better for this dish to sit. Those flavors really come together and meld overnight, and the longer it sits.
Heat pan (2) of water to a boil, season with salt.
Preheat large pan on med-high, add a bit of oil, and cook sausage.
Once sausage is cooked, turn down to medium, add garlic and a pinch of red pepper flake. (3)
Cook for 2-3 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
Drop pasta into water, stirring to make sure it doesn’t stick.
Add tomato paste to sausage mixture and cook for 2 minutes.
Add can of tomatoes and crush (4) to desired texture. Salt the dish heavily, and add the dry spices. Cook at a light simmer until pasta is cooked.
Boil the pasta until about 1 minute under your desired doneness. Using tongs, transfer pasta directly from pan into sauce. Don’t worry about draining it completely, the starchy pasta water will help thicken the sauce and allow it to cling to the pasta.
Mix the pasta together for about a minute, fully coating, and allowing some sauce to get into the middle of the bucatini.
Serve, top with high quality olive oil, grated cheese, and basil. Enjoy!
Notes:
I used 8 oz. Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage, but this dish can very easily accommodate up to 1 lb of sausage. If you are buying links of sausage, cut into casing and remove the meat. You can use any meat you want here, but the sausage has unique flavoring that I really like and that brings a lot of flavor to a sauce that cooks in under 10 minutes.
I use a pan of water. You don’t need a huge pot of water, and with this shape of pasta you’d need a crazy big pot to make it work. Cooking in an even layer in an 11-12 inch pan heats faster and cooks just the same. Just give it a stir every couple minutes to ensure it doesn’t stick (same as if it were in a pot).
Red pepper flake to your taste here. If there’s a small amount of rendered fat from the sausage, that’s great for sautéing the sausage. Mine was lean so I added a bit more oil. If yours seems particularly greasy then you can spoon out some excess.
If you want a super smooth sauce feel free to blend tomatoes into a puree. You can also just cans of tomato sauce. I snip the tomatoes with scissors first to release the juices, then crush them more with my wood spoon. If you don’t release the juice first, when you crush into it you’re likely to get juice everywhere, they’re like little tomato bombs. Watch out!
Prep the Tzatziki first. Shred and drain your cucumber, then add to the rest of your ingredients. Let sit for at least 20 minutes to come together. (5)
Pre-heat oven to 500*. If you have a baking stone or Baking Steel, you can utilize that as you pre-heat.
Get your naan onto a pizza peel or cutting board. (6) Add chicken, mozzarella, and red onion (if you want it cooked). Then add a splash of vinegar/dressing around the pizza.
Put naan into the oven and cook for 2-5 minutes until naan is crunchy and cheese is melted. Remove from oven.
Top with raw red onion, olives, pepperoncini, feta, and the tzatziki. Add a splash more red wine vinegar or dressing if you want that acidic tang. Slice and enjoy!
Notes:
You really want to drain the cucumber, if not you’re at risk of the tzatziki being way too loose and runny. Ideally put it into a kitchen towel and wring out the excess moisture.
I use pre-frozen Naan from Trader Joe’s that I let come to room temp before cooking. Use whatever you’d like here.
It can be any kind of pre-cooked chicken, but what’s nice is marinating the chicken in your favorite mediterranean dressing for a few hours and then baking that off. It’ll reinforce the flavors of the dish.
I typically use the fresh stuff from the ball and either shred by hand or slice. You can use whatever mozzarella you like though, if you’ve got the pre-shredded go for it. In general I try to go with whole cheese as much as possible.
Tzatziki is one of those sauces that is better if left to sit overnight. Taste for flavor when you first mix, but do your final taste for salt and acid after it’s been left to sit. That’ll be a truer sense of flavor.
We’re going to transfer the naan straight from this into the oven so use whatever is easy and safe for you to maneuver.
Trim brisket to desired fat content remaining. (3)
Combine salt and pepper to create an even blend of the seasoning. Season the meat all over. (4)
Place a probe thermometer in the middle of the flat portion of the brisket. Place brisket in your smoker, fat side up or down depending on where your heat is coming from. (5)
Smoke until the middle of the flat registers 200*, and/or you can insert a thermometer into the flat with little to no resistance. (6)
Wrap the brisket in 2 sheets of aluminum foil, then in a towel, and place into a cooler for 2-5 hours until ready to serve. (7)
Slice the flat, against the grain, into slices of your desired thickness.
When you get to the seam fat, stop slicing and cut along the fat to separate the remainder of the flat from the point. (8)
Continue slicing the flat against the grain.
Cut the point into chunks to be eaten as is, or to use as burnt ends later. (9)
Notes:
To be honest I’ve never measured so I’m not sure how much to go with here. You want about a 50/50 blend. Start with a few tablespoons of each, see how you like the color, then adjust the salt or pepper to your desired taste. As you’ll see this dish is totally customizable in every way.
I’ve done cooks where I go 175* overnight and then crank it the next day. I’ve done 225* the whole way, 275* the whole way. 225* is just a standard way. If your smoker has a “Super Smoke” feature put that on for the first 3-4 hours.
Typical fat content is 1/4 inch on top and none on the bottom. I’ve done em were I really only cut off the hard fat and leave it very fatty. You just have to cut a lot off when eating and that side of seasoning becomes moot.
Another chance where you get to use as much or little as you like. Don’t go too heavy directly onto the meat, go a little heavier on the fat side. The flat is thin and will shrink up a bit so you can over-season here.
Everything I’ve seen/read is that you want the fat towards the heat. The fat helps protect and insulate the meat from the heat so you want it getting the brunt end of the heat. If the open meat is hitting the air first it can dry out before the fat side does. On my Traeger that means fat side down. You can do whatever, I usually do it the opposite of my last cook to change things up and keep trying new ideas.
Knowing when the brisket is done is the hardest part. I’ve temped all over but I think the flat in the middle of the brisket is the best barometer. The very end of the flat might be overcooked but it should be all good. Some people don’t go to temp, they go to feel, but that takes a lot of practice.
If you have time I like this method. If you want to eat in 1-1:30, just tent it in foil. Leave your probe thermometer in the meat and slice when it’s at 155* internal.
I like separating at this portion of slicing. Some people just keep slicing the entire thing. The biggest takeaway is always slice against the grain.
Burnt ends are a bit of a manmade creation but if you desire that, cut for it now.
Sous Vide first. Why sous vide? What is sous vide? Sous vide cooking takes a piece of meat, puts it into a bag, sucks the air out, and cooks it in a water bath to a precise temperature. The advantages are doneness, texture, and ease of timing when you finish. The disadvantages are that it’s a much longer process and it requires special equipment. For an exhaustive article that will answer all your questions, check this out: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak.html
Now reverse sear. Reverse sear is similar in that you’re cooking your steak very slowly until it almost reaches your desired internal temp, then searing it. Here we are using the oven to bring it up to temp before searing. The probe thermometer stays in the meat to let you know continuously what temp you’re at. If you don’t have one you can check every so often with a normal thermometer until your steak is at the right temp.
Sous Vide Directions:
Season steak all over with your desired seasoning. I used Fogo the Rub but you can use just salt and pepper, or whatever you’d like.
Place steak into bag, and vacuum seal or use water displacement method to get an airless seal.
Cook at desired temp of doneness for 1-4 hours. Reference the article above to see a chart. I go to 132* for ribeyes and strips.
Remove steak from bag and pat dry, getting meat as dry as possible.
Dust a little bit of your seasoning on the meat.
Sear: Heat a grill, pan, or broiler to high heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes total, flipping a couple times, until a nice crust has formed.
Remove steak and let rest 5-10 minutes. Enjoy.
Reverse Sear Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 250*.
Season steak heavily with the seasoning you like.
Place steak onto a wire rack in a baking sheet. Place probe thermometer into thickest part of the meat.
Cook until your steak is 5* below the temp you want it to cook to.
Sear, using the same methods as in the sous vide directions.
In remembrance of Army Staff Sgt. Jeremy Katzenberger, who passed away during combat in Afghanistan in ’11, I get to share his story on this Memorial Day. With the blessing of his brother-in-law Patrick Montgomery, who runs KC Cattle Company, and whose wagyu beef I’m using here, I made SSG Katz’s Meatloaf prepared two ways to symbolize their brotherhood. Born in Weatherby Lake, MO, and survived by his wife Colleen and son Everett James, Jeremy was on his 8th deployment in ’11 when he was killed in action. Katzenberger was a squad leader assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. He was the lead assault man charging the enemies target. He died doing what he loved and showing his men the proper way to lead, from the front. His awards and decorations include the Ranger Tab, Expert Infantryman Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge and the Parachutist Badge. He has also been awarded the Air Medal, three Army Commendation Medals, two Army Achievement Medals, two Army Good Conduct Medals, National Defense Service Medal, three Afghanistan Campaign Medals, four Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Non-commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon, three Overseas Service Ribbons, and the Army Service Ribbon. His memory and legacy lives on with his family, and through KC Cattle Company Montgomery is able to provide work for other veterans.
Ingredients:
1 Small Onion, chopped
1 Large Carrot, peeled then shredded
1 Celery Stalk, chopped
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Jalapeno, diced small (1)
2 lb KC Cattle Company Wagyu Ground Beef
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire
1 tbsp Mustard (2)
3 tsp Kosher Salt, divided into 1 tsp and 2 tsp portions
Black Pepper
Glaze:
1/3 cup Ketchup
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
Directions:
Preheat Oven and Smoker to 250*. (3)
Chop the veggies. Sauté in a large pan (4) with oil, 1 tsp salt, and black pepper to taste until very soft and well cooked down.
While veggies cook, add milk and panko to a large bowl.
Once the milk is absorbed, add the eggs and beat. Then add remaining ingredients into the bowl.
When the veggies are done, spread out on a sheet pan and pop into the fridge for 5 minutes, to cool off.
Add cooked veggies to the meat and mix it all to combine.
Split the mixture in half, and place each on a wire rack set into a lipped baking sheet lined with foil. (5)
Place each half into their respective cookers, and insert probe thermometer into each. (6)
Cook until 150* internal, then remove from cooker. Crank oven and smoker to as hot as they can get, ~500-550*. Drain fat from baking sheet if you can.
Brush 1/3 of the glaze on the first loaf, and another 1/3 onto the second. Place them back into their cookers until the sauce glazes into the meat, 3-5 minutes.
Use the remaining glaze to fill the thin spots and apply a light 2nd layer. Cook again until set.
Let rest for 5-10 minutes, tented with foil. Slice, serve, and enjoy.
Notes:
If you want it spicier, include the seeds. If you want it less spicy, omit the seeds.
I gave it a big squeeze, could’ve been more, could’ve been less. No need to measure.
I used my Traeger for this. You can definitely just do one cooking method, but I had fun doing the taste test. I’d still split the mixture into two for cooking, it’ll cook much faster. My wife and I both preferred the smoked version. You can also cook it at a higher temp if you want to cook it quicker, I just liked the idea of going slower here to preserve some tenderness.
I used a Le Creuset Dutch Oven. The tall sides were great for mixing so none of the veggies fell out.
This part is where I diverge from a lot of traditional meatloaf cooks. I used a bread pan to help mold the loaves, but I knew with the fat content of the wagyu that I didn’t want to cook in there, I wanted the fat to drip off. The lipped baking sheet means it has somewhere to pool, it won’t drip off into the oven. For the smoker, I put just the wire rack into the smoker, not the baking sheet too. I also weighed the mixture and split them by weight so I knew it would be exactly 50/50 and cook evenly.
If you don’t have two probes that’s fine, use one as a basis for the other and start temping it when it’s close to 150*. Because I weighed the meat, they cooked exactly even and both got to 150* at the same time.
Husk and de-silk the corn. Cook in the oven at 500*, on the grill, or directly in a pan until the corn is cooked and the outside is charred.
Meanwhile, mix mayo and chili powder. Add salt. (2)
When corn is finished, slather with chili mayo.
Sprinkle as much cheese as desired, cilantro, and a squirt of lime juice. (3)
Notes:
I’m well aware this isn’t a true Mexican Corn. It’s just my take on it, and when it’s corn season it’s a nice alternative to normal grilled and buttered corn.
I haven’t been able to find Cotija at the grocer lately. I’ve used a 50/50 blend of Feta and Queso Fresco. Feta provides the salty, tangy factor that is in Cotija. The Queso Fresco is more mild and will balance out the Feta so you’re not tasting purely Feta. Feel free to go with all Feta if you’re looking for a strong sense of that tang.
Salt this pretty aggressively. This will end up being the salt that goes onto the corn. You can alternatively brush the corn with mayo, then salt separately. The Cotija (or Feta) will have a saltiness to it so go about 70%.
All these items are optional, of course. The lime is a bit of acid to brighten things up and cut through the cheese and mayo. You can also sprinkle a touch more chili powder if desired.
