Saturday, June 26, 2010

RUBADUB

My wife and I have come across a rub recipe that is pretty much always good, on just about any cut of meat, especially pork. It is an anise-garlic rub, and goes a little something like this:

Combine the following in a small bowl:
3 Tbls Olive Oil
2 Tbls Ground Anise Seed (I use a mortar and pestle to grind them)
1 Tblsp Minced Garlic
1 Tblsp Anisette Liqueur
2 tsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

In this case, we cooked a pork loin, but you can really adapt this to pretty much anything. I brined this pork loin in 1/4 cup salt, 2 Tbls Sugar, and enough water to cover the top of the pork in a gallon ziploc bag. If you do the brine, its best to get the pork in there for about 8 hours, but even half that time makes a difference.

Rinse and dry the meat, then heavily coat it with the rub (I think I doubled the recipe for this pork loin...), then let it rest for 30 minutes or so at room temperature, while your coals are lighting.
Place the pork over direct medium heat, and turn it every 5-10 minutes, until it is brown all over. You want to cook the pork to about 150F in the center. If the meat is getting too dark, move it away from the coals to finish cooking over indirect heat. Depending on the size of the meat, it should take 45-90 minutes or so...
Let the meat rest for at least 5-10 minutes, then slice it into 1/2" medallions. If you like, you can add some olive oil to any leftover rub, and drizzle it over the meat.
I love this recipe because, with a little planning, it is totally doable on a weekday. Something that tastes this good on a weekday is almost a crime...

1 comment:

Wife said...

Actually, this is especially good on lamb! Seriously heavenly.