Ms. K, Author at Grill Nation

Baby Back Ribs on Yoder Smokers S640S Smoker

August 3, 2021 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

One of the primary reasons we invested in a Yoder S640S Smoker was the ability to make a mess of baby back ribs. Our first attempt turned out really well, and we learned a few things for next time (which is right around the corner). Let’s get right to it!

First, after zipping off those membranes, we prepped two racks of baby back ribs by brushing on a coating of yellow mustard and a generous sprinkle of Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub.

Baby Back Ribs with Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub

Meanwhile, we filled up the smoker’s hopper with pellets and got it heated to 225 F. For reference, it probably took about 20 minutes or so to get to temp. (We’ve been allowing about 30 mins. in our planning for the heat up process just to be on the safe side – and have never been sorry.)

Another look at the Yoder Smoker — The S640S Smoker from Yoder Smokers

Once the ribs went on, the whole process was set to take about 4 hours, give or take. Unlike some other meats, we weren’t using a probe with ribs (too finicky) – instead we planned to cook according to some timed steps, and a bit of peeking. Basically: 2 hours of low and slow cooking and smoke absorption, ~ 2 hours (or less) with racks wrapped in foil, and about 30-40 mins unwrapped and sauced.

The first step was to get the ribs onto the smoker. For the next two hours, it was all about low and slow cooking, and allowing the ribs to absorb all that smokey goodness.

Ribs on the Yoder Smoker's S640S Smoker — WRibs on the Yoder Smoker’s S640S Smoker

With the ribs taken care of for the next while, we moved back into the kitchen and mixed up a tasty pot of Boston Baked Beans as our featured accompaniment. (We used a slightly different recipe than the one linked to here – our recipe came with the pot – but there seem to be a few variations out there. The beans themselves seem quite forgiving and flexible!)

Making Boston Baked Beans for a Scrumptious Side

We took a pound of navy beans, pre-soaked overnight, and brought them to a boil to soften them up. We then mixed them up in our super-cool, authentic Boston Baked Beans pot with thick cut bacon, molasses, brown sugar, onion, s&p, spices… Even at this point this tasty side smelled goooooooood. This baked in a 300 degree oven for a good 3 1/2 hours, so it was a good match timing-wise for the ribs.

Prepping the Boston Baked Beans (Bacon!)

Of course, we could have made the beans in advance and simply kept them warm for dinner, but making them while the ribs did their thing on the smoker happened to work great.

Preparing the Crutch with Margarine, Brown Sugar and Honey

All right – back to those baby backs! With the beans doing their thing in the oven, after about two hours of smoking on the Yoder it was time to bring the ribs in for some TLC. They’d taken in a great smoke flavour, but we weren’t done yet.

To hasten the cooking (and eating) process and keep everything moist and wonderful, we used the ‘Texas crutch’ technique. To prep the crutch, we laid out a sheet of foil for each rib, smearing them with some margarine, a sprinkle of brown sugar and a drizzle of honey to create a tasty, moisture-enhancing glaze.

Note to ourselves (and maybe to you, too) – we went a little heavy handed on the spread this time around. We’ll be more sparing in the future. You’re not making a sauce here, you’re just giving the meat a ‘crutch’ to hasten things along.

Rack on Margarine, Sugar and Honey "Glaze" — Rack on Margarine, Sugar and Honey “Glaze”

Wrapping the racks snugly is a crucial part of the crutch to be sure to prevent leaks. Once this was done, our ribs went back on the grill for another 2 hours.

For these particular racks, we actually found that this step was a bit long. The meat was literally coming off the bone – and while still ultimately tasty, it wasn’t ideal. Pitmasters actually strive for a situation where you can bend the rack and see the meat crack. You’re not wanting the rack separate into pieces (see below). We’ve since found that an hour and a half is more like it!

We knew at this point that our ribs were a bit more done than we wanted, but we continued with the plan anyway. We removed the racks from the foil and sauced them up. They then went back into the smoker for about 30-40 mins. more until the sauce got tacky. (You want your fingers sticky, right?)

All in all, not bad for a first try.

Baby back ribs, Boston baked bean, and Ms. K’s Homemade Slaw made for a pretty fine meal.

Pork Shoulder on the YS640S Yoder Smoker

June 30, 2021 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

9 1/2 lb. Pork Shoulder Fresh from the Grocery Store

One of the first things we tried on our new Yoder Smoker’s YS640S Smoker was a 9 1/2 lb. (4.3kg) pork shoulder blade roast. Turned out that pulled pork heaven was a mere 14 hours or so away. Did we learn some stuff? Yup. Would we tweak things next time around? Sure. But was there a delicious learning curve to be had? You’d better believe it.

Our epic day began at about 4:30 am to get the smoker going. (The alarm was set for a more decadent 5:00am wake up call, but we just couldn’t wait.) We loaded up the hopper to the max with 20lb of wood pellets (Pitmaster’s Choice Premium Fruit Blend Pellets to be exact). We set the smoker for a super-low 200F and waited about 30 minutes for it to get to temp.

Yoder Smoker S640S We Have Fire — Yoder Smoker YS640S We Have Fire

Found the fine looking roast below at my local grocery store where pork shoulder roasts happened to be that week’s featured item. Always nice when that happens.

As we waited for the smoker to be ready, we rubbed the roast with some canola oil (mustard would have worked, too) then seasoned with a one-two punch from Malcolm Reed’s Killer Hogs line of spice blends: A.P. Seasoning and The BBQ Rub. (For you Grill Nation Canucks out there, we order our Killer Hogs and other premium BBQ spices spices from The Rub Shack located in London, Ontario. Great selection!)

Seasoning up the Pork with Killer Hogs Seasonings

For our cooking method, we decided to follow pitmaster Malcolm Reed’s ultra low-and-slow, no-wrap pork shoulder method. Definitely check out his detailed video tutorial for a masterclass session.

The no-wrap method aims to infuse adequate smokey goodness into the meat and allow the roast to develop a beautiful bark. You’re shooting for an internal temperature of about 200F (195-205F). But you do need time. Lots of time. (In the video, Reed’s roast takes ~ 14 hours, and ours came in around the same. More on this below.)

Pork Shoulder Getting Started on the YS640S

For hours and hours, our roast was a-smokin’. We kept the smoker at 200F for about 12 hours. During that time beginning at about the 8 hour mark, the roast’s internal temperature stalled out as expected between 158-170F. It literally wouldn’t budge. (Using our smoker’s built-in Fireboard technology, we were keeping track of all this remotely with an app – but we did step out on the deck fairly often to peek.)

This ‘stall’ point is of course the point where other methods have you wrap the thing, urging those internal temperatures to keep on rising.

We waited as patiently as we could through the stall. But after about 4 hours seeing no change (so, about 12 hungry hours now into the process) we decided to bump up the smoker’s temperature to 250F. It was getting late, we were getting hungry, and we’d been smelling smoked meat all day for Pete’s sake. Anyway, raising the temperature got things moving in the right direction.

The roast came off the smoker at about 7pm with an internal temp of 190F (a little below what Reed recommends). This was 14 hours after we put it into the Yoder.

Then we had to rest it for about 30 minutes which may have been the hardest part of all. But look at these pics – the meat is as tender and buttery as it looks, and the bark had a pleasing bite.

Pork Shoulder Falling Apart and Ready to Go

These Bear Claws are an indispensable tool for pulling the pork apart.

Shredding the Pulled Pork with Ultra-Handy Bear Claws

…and look at what we made! Mmmm-mmm. We feasted on pulled pork sandwiches for days and shrink-wrapped and froze three generous portions for future meals. Hard to argue that all that time and waiting isn’t worth it when it tastes like this.

Our new Yoder YS640S definitely shone throughout the process and made start up, smoking and cleaning up ultra easy. I should note that we did end up topping up the hopper with pellets several hours in. AS we get acquainted with this machine, we’re finding that it uses about 1 1/2 lbs. pellets per hour, so for a huge smoking day like this one, simply filling once isn’t enough. Something to keep your eye on.

All in all we buy the logic of Reed’s no-wrap method. The meat was certainly buttery tender, perfectly infused with smoke, with a pleasing bark. It is a long process though.

You’ll notice that in Reed’s video, he puts his roast on overnight aiming to serve pulled pork at lunch. So, you’re sleeping during a lot of the waiting time, and not really tense about whether it will be done or not. Putting it on in the morning and aiming for dinner – even a later one – got a little tense as we started to wonder if we’d ever get around to eating. We had no choice but to bump up the temp to push it along this time.

Next time, we’re planning on raising the smoker’s temp from 200 to 225 after about 5 hours, then moving it up to 250F if need be. This might help us get to the more ideal 195F internal temp – and sooner. We’ll let you know how it goes!

Pulled Pork Sandwich with Chopped White Onions and Ms. K's Homemade Coleslaw — Pulled Pork Sandwich with Chopped White Onions and Ms. K’s Homemade Coleslaw

Great results from this method and our first time doing pork shoulder on our Yoder YS640S. More Yoder experiences coming soon…

The Yoder YS640S Competition Smoker. It’s Here.

June 13, 2021 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

Yoder Smoker YS640S Competition Smoker - Beautiful — Yoder Smoker’s YS640S Competition Smoker – Beautiful

There’s a new addition to our outdoor kitchen, and it’s a serious piece of equipment. Our Yoder YS640S Competition Smoker has arrived. It’s big, heavy, solid, and very impressive. We thought you’d enjoy an ‘unboxing’ tour and a few comments about the unit.

So, we got it up on the deck and love that despite the beefiness of this competition-worthy wood pellet smoker, the YS640S fits surprisingly well on our deck. And it’s so well-built that it really is an attractive thing (if you’re into grills, of course). Speaking of looks, we chose the black and silver style, but a flashier orange and black option – as well as custom cart colours – is also available.

As a competition grill, it’s meant to be mobile. We like how even if we’re staying put and smoking at home, the solid tires make it easy to pull the unit away from the wall and reposition when desired.

Of course, what really matters is how it performs. We were drawn to the YS640S for the promise of top-notch slow-and-low cooking, and the ability to sear at extreme temps. So far it’s met and exceeded our expectations for ease-of-use, clean-up and most importantly, results. (Cooking and food-related articles coming soon with mouth-watering pics.)

We ordered our YS640S through our local barbeque supply dealer, Luxe Barbeque Company. They had it pre-assembled so that on delivery other than popping on the front and side shelves, there was little for us to do. The delivery was definitely a two-person job (the machine weighs in at a cool 418 lbs). Getting it into place was not without its challenges – the guys had to negotiate a few steps up onto the deck (thanks, guys!).

The shot above of the cooking chamber shows off the awesome construction of the YS640S – and its spaciousness. You can immediately picture smoking multiple pork shoulders, chickens or turkeys if the need arises, all super-doable with this sort of capacity.

Here’s the hopper where you drop in your wood pellets. The auger at the bottom automatically feeds the pellets into the fire pot within the chamber.

And here’s said fire pot in action:

The hopper holds 20 lbs of pellets. We’ve already taken advantage of Luxe’s pellet-delivery service to keep the fires burning, so to speak. So far, so good.

Two-Piece Heat Diffuser with Access Door in Yoder cooking chamber

Above is a photo of the the Two-Piece Heat Diffuser with Access Door. The ‘access door’ is the removable piece directly above the fire pot. This insert is the critical piece that gives you the ability to smoke at low temps, then to crank things up and sear. With the door above in place, you can maintain low temps for hours and hours in the chamber.

Yoder Smoker - Access door on two-piece diffuser removed — Yoder Smoker – Access door on two-piece diffuser removed

Remove the door as shown above, now you’re able to crank that heat, place grill grates directly above the fire pot, and sear your meat at scorching temps surpassing 700 degrees Fahrenheit (Yup. We’ve done it. And it heats up fast).

An important note on the two-piece diffuser with access door: this part is supposed to be standard-issue with current YS640S units. However, on arrival ours came with the one-piece. Our dealer informed us that some of the newer models have still been shipping with the old part. He made sure we got the correct piece a.s.a.p. – but, be warned. Here’s the thing: you really can’t sear without the two-piece and its access door, and sold separately it will cost you a few hundred dollars. So, this is something to check as soon as you get your machine – it’s supposed to be included!

Above is a shot of the underside of the hopper lid, with some handy cooking tips and a meat temperature chart.

Here’s digital controller unit, located on the front side of the hopper. This is where you fire up the grill and monitor the temperature of the chamber and the meat, too (with a probe) if desired.

So this is pretty cool – the YS640S comes outfitted with FireBoard’s awesome wireless temperature monitoring technology letting you monitor grill and meat temps using an app on your phone or tablet. Not only that, you can create cooking programs with target times and temps, view graphs, get notifications, and keep an ongoing historical log of your sweet outdoor cookery. We’ve talked about using FireBoard digital thermometer before and have always been impressed; the fact that the YS640S has this technology built right in is a huge plus in our books.

Coming soon: several articles showing the YS640S in action where we’ll do a deeper dive into the smoker’s features and our thoughts on function so far. For now, we’ll leave you with this tasty teaser shot of a 10lbs. pork shoulder we smoked on our YS640S according to the expert directions of Killer Hogs’ Malcolm Reed. Grill on, nation.

Killer Hogs Sauces and Rubs

August 17, 2018 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

Killer Hogs Rubs and Sauces

Every now and then you try something new and it’s so good it becomes your new standard. That’s what happened to us this summer after discovering the Killer Hogs line of sauces and rubs.

Killer Hogs is in fact an award-winning (many times over) bbq competition team comprised of brothers Malcolm and Waylon Reed. These guys know what they’re talking about, and they love sharing their passion as is evident in their friendly, entertaining and very useful bbq tutorial videos.

Their products are truly worthy of their reputation: flavourful, super versatile, and awesomely tasty in every mix-and-match combo we’ve tried. We highly recommend that you grab some for yourself.

What I’m finding myself most excited about is this gem below, Killer Hogs A.P. (All-purpose) Rub.

Killer Hogs All Purpose Seasoning

The ingredient list is deceptively basic (salt, garlic, spices, etc.); whatever magic they do in the mixing makes this an outstanding blend to put on every kind of meat. It works really well alone, and we’ve had several steaks dressed in nothing but A.P.

But what’s really got us going is the layering technique Killer Hogs suggests in their tutorials. We layered these three on a steak the other day, and couldn’t get over the robust flavour and colour.

Killer Hogs – A Tasty Trio of Rubs

We’ve had fun around the grill combining the rubs in different ways (dialing back this, amping up that…) and haven’t gone wrong yet.

The sauces are also good bbq fun. The BBQ sauce, for instance, is loaded with smokey-sweet-fruity notes I haven’t tasted anywhere else. We do find though that the rubs are so darn good, there’s often no need to dip into the sauces, tasty as they are…

Killer Hogs BBQ Sauce

So do stop in here soon for most posts about this line of rubs and sauces soon as we’ll surely be doing more experimenting. (And head over to the Killer Hogs website for some truly inspiring bbq tutorials – definitely worth a look).

For more info about Killer Hogs products, helpful how-to videos, and Killer Hogs competition barbecue, visit www.killerhogs.com

Beef Tenderloin on the PK Charcoal Grill

May 21, 2018 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

Beef tenderloin ready to grill

Mmm…we sure like our beef, and we are loving our PK360 Grill and Smoker. (Kicking off our second grilling season with it – very, very pleased.)

We’ve been hibernating a bit in these parts, but are dusting off the grill and starting things off with tenderloin steaks. Went super-simple tonight, seasoning a trio of good-looking tenderloins with salt and pepper – that’s it that’s all.

Preparing to cook on the PK Charcoal Grill

We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again – the PK 360’s smart design means it’s a cinch to clean up, quick to prep for grilling, and easy to tend while cooking. (Getting excited thinking of all we’re going to cook on it this summer…)

I have created fire!

(Just an action shot as we get those coals ‘a-glowing.)

The PK Grill in action

(And flames make for cool pictures.)

Delicious – enjoyed with Heartland’s Director’s Cut – Cabernet Sauvignon (2013)

Success.

Served medium rare with a simple Greek salad and beautiful bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Here’s to summer grilling!

Custom Backyard Platform for Karubecue KBQ C-60 Pit

September 26, 2017 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

So, we love our Karubecue KBQ C-60 Pit and also like having a not-burned-down wooden deck. This summer, in anticipation of KBQ smoker goodness, we had a stone platform constructed where we can safely use this wood-burning wonder for hours and hours. And, it looks great – don’t ya think?

No, this is not an archaeological dig. (Maybe barbecuelogical.)

Custom BBQ Platform Step 1

Getting things on the level…

Custom BBQ Platform Step 2

Ingenious pattern devised by a brilliant 17-year-old mind (after applying much-appreciated 17-year-old muscle to the excavationary details…)

Custom BBQ Platform Step 3

Cool stones that are going to weather years of bbq to come…

Custom BBQ Platform Close Up

Almost there…

Custom BBQ Platform Step 4

Pit platform perfection!

Inaugural rib fest. Totally. Worth. It.

Karubecue in Action on Custom Platform

Reverse Your Approach to Grilling with the Reverse Sear

August 28, 2017 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

Steak that’s tender and juicy on the inside with a gorgeous, delectable crust on the outside. Sound good, right? In fact, it sounds perfect. That’s why you’ve got to try the reverse sear method.

Basically, the reverse sear method means smoking your meat low and slow at first, finish it off over the high heat of blazing-hot coals, and serve immediately. It may fly in the face of what you’ve heard all our lives (it did for us) – get the grill searing hot right away, throw the meat on for a few short mins on each side, then tent and rest. But, when you think about what we’re all after – juicy, beefy inside with a pleasing crust to seal it in – doesn’t the reverse sear make so much sense?

Two Cook Zones on PK Grill

Yes.

And it works.

We grilled up a thick ribeye using this method on our PK Grill – which is the perfect grill to accomplish the reverse sear. Not only is setting up two different heat zones side by side is so easy – a ‘cooler’ indirect heat side for smoking, and a hot direct heat side built up with a neat pile of fiery charcoal for the sear – the adjustable vents allow you to harness the power of the hot coals to turn the cool side into a smoker.

We really like the degree of control we have over temperature and smoke due to the adjustable vents on this unit (two in the lid, two underneath) which you can open or close to get things just right. We created direct and indirect sides in our PK Grill by opening the lower right side vent (the one underneath the coals for the searing stage) and also opening the “opposite” vent (the upper left vent), keeping the other two vents (lower left and upper right) closed. This allowed air to come in through the lower right vent to superheat the coals. It also allowed the smoke from the hot side to be drawn toward the open upper left vent, drifting over the steak while it cooked on the indirect heat side — and thus smoking it low and slow.

Prepping for High Heat with Bacon Fat

In terms of numbers, we aimed to get our indirect heat side to about 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Again, we could achieve this level of precision by adjusting the vents described above and monitoring the temperature of the grill and the meat with our handy Fireboard digital thermometer (read our Fireboard post for more info). Our ribeye smoked on the indirect heat side for ~25 minutes, with the lid closed of course. We monitored the temperature of the meat (also with the Fireboard thermometer) and cooked it until abou1 110 degrees before the sear stage (we were aiming for a final temp. of ~130 degrees for a beautiful medium rare).

High Heat Searing Action

The direct heat side took about one chimney starter full of charcoal, and we tossed on a block of white oak for good measure. When we were ready to get the situation sear worthy, we opened up the lid as well as all the vents and got our coals as hot as hot can be. (For added ribeye yum, we used the decadent technique of slathering the meat with bacon fat just before putting it on the high heat. The salty, bacon-y goodness melts into the steak which will soon melt in your mouth.) Not surprisingly, we got some flare up with all that fat and heat (which looks dang cool in pictures, right?, and they key was turning them meat often – every five or ten seconds – for not much more than a minute, in order to caramelize and not burn the outside.

The next critical step is to serve a.s.a.p – no resting. With the traditional high heat/short cooking time method you’re resting the meat to get the juices that have be retreated center-ward from the heat to redistribute inside. With the reverse sear, there’s no need because the meat has basically cooked slow and low with a quick sear at the end (thus no panicky, retreating juices). In the end our reverse-seared ribeye was off-the-hook tasty.

Glorious! (So glorious, in fact, we needed to pair it with a gorgeous wine from Bordeaux – a 2006 Chateau Monbousquet from Saint Emilion. A dinner for the ages!)

Winner, Winner – Ribeye Dinner

– Ms. K

Fireboard Takes the Heat Off Checking Meat

August 1, 2017 By Ms. K 1 Comment

You have got to get yourself one of these babies! The Fireboard is a digital thermometer that really makes slow and low smoking the laid back activity it should be — by keeping track of the temperature of both your grill and your meat.

Fireboard with Probe

Fireboard and Probes

But that’s not all – it sends the data in real time to its Fireboard cloud servers so you can check the real-time status of your meal on your phone, tablet, etc. That means you don’t have to hover near your smoker for hours to either lift the lid for a peek, or even to glance at the readout on a thermometer. Just check your phone wherever you are and get assurance that everything is hunky-dory (…or not. And then you know it’s time for an intervention!).

Below is the sort of useful (and very sciency) graph you’ll see on your device that lets you in on what’s going on in your grill (taken from our epic low-and-slow pork shoulder made on our Big Green Egg):

Fireboard Graph

So that’s the graph, and here’s the meat the Fireboard was charting – mmmmm…..

Fireboard with Pork Shoulder on Big Green Egg

Super useful — your Fireboard lets you go even more low maintenance by allowing you to set up alerts to warn you if temps go too far up, down, or sideways. Since this can mean the difference between delicious dining or dinner disaster — totally worth it!

Here’s a pic of our Fireboard hooked up to monitor the ambient heat of our PK 360 Grill. Notice how the thermometer’s probe attaches to the grate:

Fireboard Monitoring Ambient Heat

Here’s another pic — and this time we’re measuring both the ambient heat (heat inside the grill) and the meat itself. Note the two cables and follow where their probes go – one attaches to the grate, one nestles into the meat:

Fireboard measuring ambient and meat temperature

Here’s another photo of the Fireboard just hanging out and doing its thing, while we hung out somewhere else doing our thing…

Fireboard in Use (With PK360 Grill)

More than handy, potentially a dinner-saver, and super reliable every time we’ve used it, we’re really pleased with our Fireboard and can’t imagine not using it when we grill. So far, we’ve put it to use with a pork shoulder on our Big Green Egg, and for back ribs, reverse-seared steak, and cedar planked salmon on our PK 360 Grill.

Want to get a Fireboard for yourself?

Check out www.fireboard.com to purchase or for more information.

Cedar Planked Salmon on the PK 360 Grill and Smoker

July 31, 2017 By Ms. K Leave a Comment

Cedar Planked Salmon is a delicacy we’re so glad we learned how to pull off. Spreading dijon mustard over the fish and adding a generous sprinkling of brown sugar creates a heavenly alchemy of smoky, glazed goodness.

For years, we’ve been using our Big Green Egg to make this tasty dish with awesome results. We wanted to give it a whirl on our new PK 360 Grill and Smoker, and were very satisfied with how it turned out.

Below is a pic from our first try, where, while yummy, we felt we could have achieved a slightly more cedar smoked taste:

Cedar Planked Salmon on PK 360 Grill and Smoker

We suspected the remedy was getting a more significant char going on the cedar plank itself, so that’s what we did on attempt #2. Basically, we placed the cedar plank right over the coals (you’ll see it’s a bit offset in the photos above). We even rotated midway through to make sure the plank got a nice, even scorch. Much more cedar smokey goodness this way!

Cedar Planked Salmon with Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

On both occasions, we smoked up one of those really generous-sized Atlantic Salmon fillets. Since we’re only feeding two around our table, there were delicious leftovers in addition to our dinner. I love eating cedar planked salmon cold, as in this ‘modified’ nicoise style salad, with a hard boiled eggs, olive medley, and roasted beets, blanched green beans, and fresh dill from the local Farmer’s Market. Drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar and a fine extra virgin olive oil – not a bad way to do lunch:

Cold Salmon with “Nicoise-Inspired” Salad

And I still have some for tomorrow! 😉

Ms. K

Chef Tim Love All Purpose Bad Ass Rub

July 13, 2017 By Ms. K 2 Comments

Chef Tim Love All Purpose Bad Ass Rub

A few weeks ago, we received our awesome new PK 360 Grill and Smoker. (Check out our ‘unboxing’ post – and more to come about the tasty results…) There was a Father’s Day special going on when we ordered, and one of the sweet bonuses was a trio of premium spice rubs from Chef Tim Love.

So far we’ve only cracked open the Chef Tim Love All Purpose Bad Ass Rub for some tasty pork side ribs, but man it’s made us eager to try the rest – it was absolutely excellent. (You know when you sample something just to see what it’s like and then you have to keep going back to ‘check’ it a few more times to make sure? Yeah, you’re sure.)

Personally, I love cumin and there was a strong hit of it in this rub right off the top. There’s definitely a reverberating kick from this bad ass too, thanks to the guajillo chile (hot and spicy). Grounding it and rounding out all the flavours are herbs like rosemary and thyme, so you get some herby, earthy goodness, too. And ain’t it pretty to look at?

Close Up of Chef Tim Love Bad Ass Rub

Here it is rubbed into the pork side ribs ready for the smoker with a spicy, all-natural orange glow…mmmm…

Tim Love Rub on Pork Side Ribs

We totally loved the blend right out of the bottle, but the way the Bad Ass Rub mellowed and evolved after a few hours of smoking was ingenious. All that great flavour was still there and you still got some heat, but now it was seriously complementing and in no way overpowering the ribs. I’m drooling as I write…

Well done, Chef Tim Love – and thanks also to the folks at pkgrills.com for introducing us to a great rub. We’ll be trying the other rubs we got really soon – Chef Tim Love Steak Rub and Chef Tim Love Poultry Rub – so stay tuned, Nation!

– Ms.K