Tag: Grill

BBQ Pork Ribs in the Instant Pot

Instant Pot BBQ Pork Ribs

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 1 rack of ribs

Ingredients
  

  • 1 rack St. Louis style or spare pork ribs (membrane removed)
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 Tbsps chilli powder
  • 1 Tbsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp chipotle powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp hickory smoke powder (optional if hard to find)
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsps sugar
  • 1 cup beer (alternatives: pineapple juice, cola or chicken broth)
  • 1.5 cups BBQ sauce

Instructions
 

  • Mix together all the herbs, spices with the salt, cornstarch and sugar. Rub this powder into the ribs. Set the rack into the Instant Pot, pour the beer into the bottom. Roll the ribs into a spiral and set onto the rack of the pot, bones vertical. Close and seal, cooking on "Meat" setting for 25 minutes. Remove and slather with BBQ sauce and either place on high temp grill or under a broiler for 3-5 minutes per side to caramelize. Serve with extra sauce.
Keyword BBQ, Grill, Meat, Pork, Ribs

And now for the details…

Okay, so this is another one of those recipes that almost seems too easy to share. The Instant Pot has changed my life when it comes to cooking ribs. Remember that previous method of boiling or baking the ribs for several hours to try and get them tender? NO MORE! The Instant Pot makes this SO EASY, and so fast, that ribs on a weekday are not only a possibility, but a preferred option because of how simple it makes your evening meal.

If you want to make these even faster, you can do what I do and mix up a large batch of the rub and store it in a Tupperware container, so you can even skip measuring out spices when it’s time to make these.

Speaking of the rub, that’s where we start out recipe. In a bowl (or Tupperware), mix together the garlic powder, chilli powder, cumin, oregano, chipotle powder, hickory smoke powder, salt, cornstarch and sugar. If you cannot find hickory smoke powder, just skip that part. I know it took me a long time to hunt it down, and I’ve been treating that stuff like it’s powdered gold. Again, you double, triple, quadruple, or more the amount of those measurements, and just have the rest sitting in a container for the next time you make the ribs.

Next, it’s time to get those ribs ready for cooking! Before you rub everything in, tear off the membrane, also known as the silver skin, on the back of the ribs. It’s not the end of world if you forget this step, but the ribs will have this membrane on them when you eat, and it’s a little chewy and ropy. There are plenty of videos and info out there showing you how to do this, I found this video has great info on how and why to remove the membrane (skip to 1:30 to see the technique ;P).

Next we’ll take that rub and… well… rub… it into the rack of ribs (if you’re storing extra, make sure to set that aside so that you don’t cross-contaminate the spare rub with those ribby fingies). Get right in there and massage the rub into the meat on both sides. To save on using extra dishes, I actually do this right on the packaging the ribs came in 😛

Next, it’s time to cook! Pour the beer into the bottom of the Instant Pot. If you’re not a fan or don’t want to cook with alcohol, you can replace the beer with juice (I recommend pineapple, but orange or apple would work too), broth, or even cola or root beer.

Next, curl the ribs into a spiral and place them so the bones are vertical in the pot. In my case, unfortunately the rack was cut in half in order to fit the packaging, so I just kinda half-circled them around the outside of the pot. I have tried doubling the recipe, and a spiralled double rack JUST fits into the pot. Cover the pot up and set the lid to “Sealed” position. We are going to pressure cook these on the “Meat” setting for 25 minutes.

Once you have that set, we wait. You basically have 25 minutes of your life back. So many options on what to do here. You could make some pretty impressive sides to go with those ribs. OR. You could kick up your heels and enjoy the rest of the can of beer, since there’s more that 1 cup in a can 😉

Once the ribs are done, unseal the lid and let the pressure come back down, then open up that lid and expose the gloriousness that is the cooked ribs. Lay them on a tray and slather them with your favourite BBQ sauce (both sides).

Now you have two options here: you can either finish these off on the grill or in the oven. On the grill, set your heat to medium-high, or in the oven, set your broiler to medium-hi. Either place the ribs right on the grill or under the broiler, and cook them for a few minutes on either side, just long enough to get some darkened, caramelized bits.

Remove from the heat, and either serve up directly with your extra BBQ sauce on the side, or slather on a bit more sauce just before serving.

Happy eating.

Get Ready for Grilling! Juicy BBQ’ed Burger Recipe

5 Comments

Juicy Grilled Burgers

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Course

Ingredients
  

  • 700 g lean ground beef (1.5 lbs)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 shallot (peeled, finely minced)
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 4-6 burger buns
  • burger fixings

Instructions
 

  • Mix the raw ground beef with the egg, Worcestershire, mustard, shallots, salt and pepper until fully mixed. Split the meat into 4-6 parts (6 will be 1/4 lb burgers, 4 will be 3/8 lb), forming into patties. Press a small indent into the middle of the patties with your thumb to avoid "puffing" of the middle. Place on a grill heated to ~400ºF/205ºC. Cook on each side for 7-9 minutes, flipping only once, until fully cooked in the middle. Serve immediately, with buns and fixings.
  • (Burger in photo: caramelized onions, peanut butter, bleu cheese, spicy mayo, onion jam, tomatoes)
Keyword BBQ, Beef, Burger, Grill, Ground Beef

And now for the details…

I’m not sure what the weather it is like in the part of the world you are in right now, but for us here in Calgary, Canada, spring is in the air, which also means its time to get back to grilling. There are a few brave souls who grill in the winter, but needing to shovel snow to access our grill is not something I’m interested in…

And what better food to kick your grilling into high gear than the hamburger? A nice big, juicy burger, topped with your fixings of choice? Yum.

In this recipe, I am using all lean ground beef. I have heard/read about adding in some fatty ground beef to up the juiciness factor, but to be honest, I am too lazy to get that specific. If you want to give it a try, please feel free to give the suggested 80% lean / 20% fatty method a whirl and let me know if the effort fo measuring/mixing is worth it in taste 😛

We start everything off by mixing the meat with the egg, Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, shallot and salt and pepper. I did not measure the S&P, that’s up to your preference. For ours, I used about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the same of pepper. Keep in mind when you’re adding your salt that the Worcestershire is already fairly salty and we are adding a full tablespoon of it to the meat. Best method to mix all these ingredients? By hand. You could use a mixer or wooden spoon if touching raw meat grosses you out (I have a few friends who are anti-touching raw meat), but by hand allows you to get a good mix in without overworking the meat. Yes, it is possible to overwork ground beef. If you mix too much, it will actually cause the meat to compress, giving the patty a tougher, rubbery-like texture.

Next is time to form up your patty. You can divide the meat up into four or six roughly-even parts, depending on how big you want your burger patties to be (and how many people you’re serving!) Six parts will give you six quarter pounders. When you are forming the patties, it is the same as when we were mixing, don’t squeeze the hell of out of the meat when you’re forming the patty. Just use a light squish to make sure they stick together; it’s not an attempt to beat the Hydraulic Press Channel… Use your thumb, and press a little dimple or divot into the middle of the patty. This will help to keep the patty from “puffing” in the middle while its cooking, and result in a more even burger.

Next is grill time. Preheat your grill to medium heat, somewhere around 400ºF/205ºC. Place your patties on the grill, close it up, and let them cook for 7-9 minutes. Avoid the temptation to press the patties with your spatula/flipper, which presses/pushes the fat and juices out of the meat, resulting in a drier burger. Once the first 7-9 minutes are done, flip the patties and let them cook for another 7-9 minutes, or until the internal temperature registers at 160ºF/70ºC. I know some people are fans of a pink inside to their burgers, but I like them well-done. Really, unless you are grinding your own beef and have full control over the handling of the meat and sanitizing of the equipment, I don’t know that I would go with a pink inside.

Finally, assembly time. Tons of options here, you could have all the fixings ready, and leave it up to the folks eating, like a burger buffet, or you could preassemble and serve. While the typical fixings are ketchup, mustard, mayo, relish, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. might I suggest toppings a bit off-course? The toppings on ours were inspired from a burger I had in Ottawa, Canada a few years ago. They called it the “PB & J” burger, and I’ve been mildly obsessed with peanut butter on burgers ever since. In this burger, I used a caramelized onion jam for the “J”, and crumbled pieces of bleu cheese, but I’ve tried it with fig preserves, or with grape jelly, and both were also delicious. I would recommend adding the PB as soon as the burger comes off the grill. It get a little melty and oozy and is so good. I also used a little spicy aioli under the patty before placing it on the burger bun.

Top the burger off with some caramelized onions and tomatoes and you are ready to consume!

Happy eating.