Grill School Archives - Grill Nation

Thanksgiving Turkey on the Yoder Smoker

November 20, 2023 By Ms. K

We love us some smoked turkey legs. But when we’re craving turkey – I mean Turkey with a capital “T” – a more traditional roasted flavour often comes to mind. So we were curious how the big bird would fare on our Yoder YS640S Competition Smoker – we’ll say up front that we were very pleased, and impressed with how easy it was to prepare.

Oiling and Seasoning Turkey for the Smoker

We began with a frozen turkey thawed over several days in the fridge. On cooking day, we removed it at ~ 10:30 am. We rinsed, patted dry with paper towels, and air chilled in in the fridge until 12:30. Then, we oiled and seasoned it up, and popped it back in the fridge once more for a few hours. We got our Yoder going at ~ 2:30pm, giving it about 30 minutes to heat up to 300 F.

IMPORTANT NOTE: we did up our bird in summer with light, crisp fixings and sides. But it certainly got us thinking that a Thanksgiving turkey on the Yoder has a ton of advantages! Besides the turkey’s deliciousness (and close-to-roasted flavour that should please even your most traditionalist guests), you’ve just freed up your kitchen for a less cramped and chaotic holiday prep. Read on for some tips and ideas!

Inserting the Probe – Final Step Before Smoking

Once our bird was oiled up and seasoned and ready to roll, we stuck a probe in the breast. I know I’m a broken record when I say that the Yoder’s wireless FireBoard monitoring is awesome. You can keep an eye on your cooking and meat temps remotely – so convenient, especially on a hectic party day.

[Oh yeah – worried about using your Yoder Pellet Grill in colder temps? No need. Check out this article on the Thermal Jacket designed to keep your Yoder performing when the thermometer drops.]

Turkey with Probe - Ready to Roll — Turkey with Probe – Ready to Roll

In our competition-edition Yoder, we can’t get over how small our ~ 5 kg (~ 11 lbs) looks in the oven. Obviously, there’s room for bigger birds – even multiple birds if you’re feeding a big, hungry group.

Now for the hard-to-believe but not hard-at-all part: we closed up the oven and virtually walked away from the bird for the next 3 hours and 15 minutes. Other than popping in to baste the breast twice with melted butter, that’s all we did. Our indoor kitchen and our time was open for all the other cooking, cleaning, prepping, visiting and snacking a gathering (even a Thanksgiving gathering) entails.

After 3 hours and 15 minutes on our Yoder, the turkey was done and it was glorious. (Keep your eye on the temps, of course. According to the FDA, your turkey needs to reach an internal temp of 165F.) We brought it in and covered it with foil, and topped with a clean dish towel as it rested to keep things warm and snug. Wow – does a turkey stay hot a while. We rested it for about 40-45 minutes, but are convinced it would have been piping hot an hour later.

What we snacked on while we waited: just had to show off my cheese and cracker board above, featuring both traditional Oka and Oka Mushrooms and Truffle cheeses, a wheel of brie, assorted crackers, and some fresh strawberries and green grapes

And here it is…ready to carve.

A Zesty Green Salad for Summer Thanksgiving

To fit the summertime vibes of this bird, we went with a zesty green salad tossed with a bright Italian dressing, and homemade garlic croutons.

But there is no reason you can’t whip up more traditional Thanksgiving fixings to accompany the delectable Yoder-smoked turkey – we’re thinking mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, roasted veggies, and your family’s fave casseroles and sides. (We haven’t quite figured out how to do homemade gravy since we’re not getting any of the necessary juices from over-roasting in a pan — but there are store bought options that can suffice!).

Ms. K's "GN Club" Sandwich — Ms. K’s “GN Club” Sandwich

And of course what would any Turkey or Thanksgiving feast be without the leftovers! We turned ours into a delectable Club Sandwich, and the next day we went with a Chef Salad.

Ms. K's Take on the "Chef Salad" — Ms. K’s Take on the “Chef Salad”

We’re all for traditions — but sometimes it’s time for a new one. Consider cooking your turkey on a Yoder Smoker this year. Happy Thanksgiving!

Don’t Forget the Membrane!

June 12, 2023 By Ms. K

Baby Back Ribs with Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub — Before you do any of this…

For those of you with years of smoky, lip-smacking pork rib bbq under your belts, this may seem like going back to square one. But it’s such an important tip that it really isn’t a tip at all; it’s a non-negotiable necessity of rib making.

We’re talking about removing the membrane or silver skin from the back of your pork ribs – and yes, there are better and worse ways to do it.

You will usually find a membrane on your pork ribs – glossy, connective tissue, a sort of shiny ‘film’ that lays over the bones. (Occasionally, butchers remove it for you. We’ve even bought pairs of racks where one rack had the membrane still attached, and the other had it removed. Bottom line: ALWAYS CHECK.)

The membrane absolutely NEEDS to be removed before oiling up, seasoning, or grilling. If you leave it in place, your flavours are not going to penetrate into the meat as desired. And worse – you’ll be left with ribs that are unpleasantly tough and chewy since this tissue doesn’t break down during cooking.

Shiny membrane or 'silverskin' still attached — Look for this – a shiny membrane or ‘silver skin’ still attached

There are various techniques for removing the membrane. If you’re using one that’s different from what we describe below and it’s working for you, keep doing it! Our hope though is that you’re not simple hacking it off in little bits and strips – a messy, inefficient and time consuming process (we’ve been there). There IS a better way!

Make a small slit in the membrane with a paring knife

First, flip the rack over so that you’re looking at the back side of the rack. If that tell-tale glossy filmy stuff is there, you’ve got yourself a membrane.

With the tip of a sharp paring knife, make a slit in the membrane. (We like to start at the “narrow side” of the rib rack.)

Coax membrane off rack with a dinner knife

Next, take a regular dinner knife and slip it into and under the slit. Wiggle the knife around to begin loosening the membrane.

Put the knife down and wiggle it just a bit looser with your fingers. (This sounds like a lot of steps, but it only takes moments – especially when you get the hang of it!)

Now for the fun part: Holding a paper towel in your hand, grasp the loosened bit of membrane. Steady the rack, and pull the membrane along the rack to peel it off. It should come off in a clean motion with little effort. (Soooo satisfying…)

Discard the membrane, and season up your ribs to your heart’s content.

Good eating starts with good preparation. Happy bbq, nation!

Whole Chickens on the Yoder YS640s

July 6, 2022 By Ms. K

Chicken with Malcolm's Bird Brine and essential seasonings — Chicken with Malcolm’s Bird Brine and essential seasonings

We threw a couple of whole chickens on our Yoder YS640S Smoker the other night. At about 3.5 lbs a piece, we enjoyed chicken for dinner and for days (salad, sandwiches, snacks). Super impressed by the flavour, texture and the ease of preparation.

We started by brining the birds overnight in the fridge using Malcolm’s Bird Brine. We then patted the chickens dry, and air chilled them for about four hours. After that, we oiled and seasoned them up, and stuck them back in the fridge for another 90 minutes before cooking.

A note on seasoning: we used our go-to Killer Hogs seasonings (The A.P. and BBQ Rub) and the results were delicious. BUT – that brine imparts a lot of saltiness. Next time, we’d dial back the seasoning to get more flavour and a less salty finish. (If you’re brining your birds, be warned and be wary!)

On the smoker and ready for slow cooking action

We got the grill up to 350F and put the chickens on. Plenty of room in our Yoder for the magic to happen.

The spacious Yoder YS640S cooking space...just wow — The spacious Yoder YS640S cooking space…just wow

We cooked the birds for 90 minutes until the breast meat read 165F. Then we let ’em rest for about 15 minutes.

Resting and lookin' pretty! — Resting and lookin’ pretty!

We were really impressed with the look and texture of the skin and the meat. Crispy and nice colour for the skin, and super juicy meat inside.

The level of smokiness was exactly to our taste when it comes to chicken – as in, just a hint. It was not overpowering at all. Just enough to make the birds special and give them a little ‘something’ over oven-roasting.

Crisp skin, juicy meat, and the perfect hint of smoke. Delish.

The chicken was delicious carved and served hot, paired with a homemade Greek Salad. It was also fantastic cold for the next few days. So tasty that leftovers weren’t at all tiresome.

Another win for our Yoder YS640S Competition Smoker!

Winter Cookery: The Thermal Jacket for the Yoder YS640s

February 14, 2022 By Ms. K

Nothing says Christmas Holiday Dinner like baby back ribs.

Okay–maybe not.

But then again, why not? If you’re like us, the answer up until now is that for a big chunk of the winter, it’s just too darn cold to be thinking of smoking meat low and slow outside. That’s why we were excited to come across Yoder Smokers’ Thermal Jacket for our Yoder YS640s pellet grill.

YS604S with Thermal Jacket — YS604S with Yoder Smokers’ Thermal Jacket

The jacket is an insulated cover custom-made to fit over the cooking chamber of our YS640S. It’s a three-piece system that easily attaches to the unit and to the other jacket pieces with simple hooks straps.

Another View of Thermal Jacket on Yoder YS640S

The idea is that when the cooking chamber is insulated, your smoker won’t have to work as hard – i.e., consume more pellets than necessary – to fight cold outside temperatures.

Note that the thermal jacket is specifically designed for low cooking or “smoking” temperatures (below 300 degrees). Yoder recommends that you remove the jacket for higher temperature cooking.

We gave our insulating jacket a whirl on December 23rd when the thermometer dipped to -9 degrees Celsius (about 16 degrees Fahrenheit). It definitely gets colder than that around here, so we’ll be updating you on our experiences with more frigid temps.

As you can see from the time and temperature chart above, we were able to keep a low smoking temperature (~225 degrees) nice and steady for hours – exactly what our Holiday Ribs needed. Despite the cold temperatures, we went through an average amount of pellets and didn’t have any problematic temperature swings.

(BTW – we’re totally loving our smoker’s built-in FireBoard wireless temperature monitoring technology, where the screenshot above is from. It lets you monitor what’s going on with your grill via an app on a tablet or smarthphone. Handy all year round, but especially welcome when it’s cold outside! Read more in our Yoder Grill overview.)

Ribs in late December is no longer just a dream thanks to our new Yoder Thermal Jacket. At about $270 US, it’s not cheap but it saves pellets, constant checking, and the potential for weird temperature swings when what your meat needs is consistency. In our books, it’s a win.

We definitely recommend that cold-weather citizens of Grill Nation with Yoder Smokers’ pellet grills check it out.

Baby Back Ribs on Yoder Smokers YS640S Smoker

August 3, 2021 By Ms. K

One of the primary reasons we invested in a Yoder YS640S 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.

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 YS640S 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 YS640S 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

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…

Cedar Planked Salmon on Weber Charcoal Kettle Grill

June 30, 2018 By Dr. T

1 Kilo of Canadian Salmon Goodness

Saw this B.C. beauty being unloaded at the fish market and got inspired. When asked “How much of it do you want?”, just had to respond: “All of it.”

Salmon looking good on the Weber Grill

Soaked a cedar plank for a couple of hours, then fired up our Weber Charcoal Kettle Grill. Used one Weber Rapidfire Chimney – full of coals (handy, that thing). Set up the salmon to cook over indirect heat – top vent closed ~75%- for about ~20/25 minutes.

We used Humble and Frank Salmon Finishing Rub (found it at the local Safeway – nice!) to season it up.

Cedar Planked Salmon – ready to serve

Looked and tasted spectacular – nothing like fish on the charcoal grill.

Reverse Your Approach to Grilling with the Reverse Sear

August 28, 2017 By Ms. K

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

Cedar Planked Salmon on the PK 360 Grill and Smoker

July 31, 2017 By Ms. K

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

Legendary Dry-Aged Beef at Home with Steak Locker

June 13, 2017 By Ms. K

We’re now doing the dry-aged beef thing at home – and loving it. This isn’t a how-to post (although look for some links and tutorials coming soon). Here, we’re basically singing the praises of dry-aged beef and showcasing our new home steak locker. Maybe you’re in the market for a unit like this, so this will give you an idea of what it all looks and feels like. (It’s also gonna make you hungry and get you ‘hooked’, if you’ll forgive the meat locker pun…)

Dry-aged beef on the kettle grill

If you’ve ever had dry-aged beef – maybe at a high-end steakhouse – you know that it’s worth writing home about. There’s that rich almost nutty flavor, that delectable tender texture… If you’ve had it, you won’t forget it, and chances are you’ll be on the lookout for it ever-afterward. But here’s the thing – it’s not easy to find. Dry-aging is time consuming and expensive. Retailers aren’t going to spend all that time and sweet moolah – especially when there’s the cheaper, more time-efficient ‘wet-aging’ process available. In fact, when you see ‘aged’ beef, even at many upscale butcher shops (we’re talking from experience here), chances are almost 100% that it’s wet-aged (unless of course ‘dry aged’ is specified). Not that there’s anything wrong with wet-aged, but dry-aging takes things to another stratosphere. So if you’re like us and you’re hard pressed to buy dry-aged steak from the butcher – and you’re not going out for that ultimate steak every Friday night – you may want to consider dry-aging at home.

Bringing the High End Steakhouse Home

Before you get too excited though, be warned that this is not a cheap proposition. Getting set up at home is still costly (the unit we bought is about $1450 + shipping, etc.), and of course it still takes time, patience, and bit of know-how when it comes to butchering things up. It’s true that for the costs involved you could go out for a whole whack of ultra-primo steak dinners – but the thing is, you won’t and you know it. Not only that, if you love your meat, you know that price isn’t the only consideration, right? It’s just damn interesting, satisfying and cool to do it yourself, for starters. And suddenly (or actually, 30+days later), you’re eating the ultimate meal in the comfort of your own home with everything else exactly to your taste – from choice of beverage, to music, to color of weekend sweatpants, if that’s your thing.

Steak Locker from ELA

As you can see from the photos, you can banish those images of yourself training amongst sides-of-beef hanging from meat hooks Rocky-style somewhere on your property. (This is a good thing because while you may argue that that would be pretty awesome, your wife wouldn’t like it.) You can think more in terms of a large wine fridge to get a sense of size, except instead of gazing at racks of Cabs and Merlots, you’re going to stare down a subprimal cut of beef for the next few weeks. (It’s a bit of science, interior decorating, and ‘caveman’ all at the same time. If you keep it in the kitchen, be sure that everyone’s on board.)

Steak Locker showing beef a few days in…

Our new Steak Locker (from Elevated Lifestyle Appliances) is just under three feet high, and about two feet wide and two feet deep. So, it’s not tiny but we didn’t have to build an extra wing. It has a stainless steel and glass design so it could conceivably incorporate in various locations in your home, and might even match other appliances. And all you need to do is plug it in, just like a wine fridge – no special hook ups or other DYI magic needed. But it’s worth noting that it does have a fan that runs periodically, and there’s a glowing UV Light to deal with bacteria. So if you can tuck it away somewhere out of the main action at home, that’ll work. After all, you don’t need to do much more than throw the meat in there and wait.

Look close – after a couple of weeks beef is taking on that funky-looking color…

So far, we’ve done a 30-day aging, and then tried again with a 45-day aging time (definitely more of a mushroom/blue cheese thing going on with the longer aging – tasted awesome). Each time, we celebrated with a blow-out steakfeast for between 6 to 8 extremely hungry folk, with leftover steaks to freeze for everyone to enjoy later (and the frozen ones were great, too – not always the case with steak, we find…). Next time we’re going beyond 45+ to compare, but even at 30 days we got the characteristic funk and flavor that had been eluding us. We’ll keep you posted – and if you’re doing the dry-aging thing yourself, tell us about it!

(Full disclosure – we keep our unit is in the fitness room in the basement, so we are channeling that Rocky thing just a bit.)

– Ms. K