Grillin' Season.

As it’s now grillin’ season, I thought I’d share one of my favorite barbecue recipes:

You will need:

1 Boneless Pork Roast

1 Bottle of ‘Dale’s Seasoning’

1 Shaker of ‘Mrs Dash’ steak seasoning.

A little garlic powder.

A basting brush

A grill and accoutrements (That’s French for ‘stuff that goes with it’)

I should also point out that if you can’t get ‘Dale’s Seasoning’ where you live, you can make something similar by mixing Teriyaki and Soy Sauce together in roughly equal amounts and adding a healthy dose of Liquid Smoke.

Oh, and this also needs a charcoal grill. No gas. (I’ve never seen the point in a gas grill, you might as well just cook in the oven).

Anyway, you need to set your grill up for indirect heat. I’ll explain what this means for those that don’t know in a moment.

First a hint of getting your grill started. Very few people do this the right way and make life very difficult for themselves. They also start to cook way too soon. On average, a grill reaches perfect cooking heat about 15 minutes after everyone has finished eating.

Think of it like building a camp fire. You don’t spread the wood evenly over the floor, so why do the same with your charcoal?

Here’s the run down. Remove the actual cooking surface, dump in your charcoal, and arrange it into a rough conical heap. Add a dash of lighter fluid (if you don’t have ‘self starting’ charcoal), and throw a match on. (Also, never use too much lighter fluid, or add more once it’s lit…it ruins the flavor).

Once the charcoal is lit, walk away for at least half an hour. The cone shape means that the coals in the middle get a lot hotter and lot quicker and hold their heat. You can spread them out evenly later. (always remember to leave one corner empty…this gives you a handy spot on the grill to move food to if it starts to burn).

Remember, your coals are ready when they’re completely ash covered, white and there’s a faint red glow. If you can still see any black, or even a lick of flame, it’s not ready yet. Most cook outs I’ve been to, the cook has assumed that the grill is ready as soon as the flames have died down. Not so, they need to smolder for a good long while to build up the heat. Just pull up a chair, open a beer and relax. If you rush it, it won’t be nearly as good.

Anyway, how to set your grill up for indirect heat:

This is simple, once your coals are white a smoldering nicely, move all the coals to one side of the grill. You’re going to be smoking/roasting your pork roast, not grilling it, so you don’t want your roast to be directly over a heat source. If you do, best case, the meat sears on the outside which stops it from absorbing the seasoning, worst case, it’ll burn. It’s that simple.

Anyway, now we begin cooking.

Put your pork roast on the side of the grill with no coals. Sprinkle the top of your roast with the Mrs. Dash, and a little of the garlic powder.

Then pour some of the Dale’s seasoning into a cup, dip your brush in it and give your roast a liberal coating. Then, put the lid on the grill and go drink a beer or something.

You’re going to have to brush on the Dale’s every 15 – 20 minutes while it’s cooking. The beauty of Dales, and cooking this way instead of direct grilling, is direct grilling sears the outside of the meat and seals up all the pores. Indirect grilling like this leaves those pores open, and it actually absorbs the seasoning, instead of just coating the outside.

As well as adding an absolutely fantastic flavor, the Dale’s also keeps the roast from drying out and getting tough.

How long this will take to cook depends on the size of the actual roast itself. Use a meat thermometer, or just cut into it to check if its done. It’s a lot like roasting a turkey, if you cut into it, and the juices are completely clear and there’s no sign of red, it’s done.

One final tip: DO NOT slice up the roast and serve it directly from the grill. What you want to do is remove it from the grill and leave it to ‘relax’ for about 15 – 20 minutes. Trust me, it makes a MAJOR difference in how tender it is.

Once it’s done, slice it up and serve with the side of your choice.