I don’t care what time of day. Or day of the week. I’m scarfing these double-thick cowboy-cut, tomahawk duroc pork chops!

Beer brined overnight, then seasoned in a brown sugar, chili and smoked paprika rub, before rolling these “hawks” around their edges in a robust blend of finely ground coffee beans and toasted spices – these two-toned chops are layered in flavor, aesthetically impressive and ready to be laid to flame.

For the perfect result every time, I prepare a multi-zone grilling surface in my Twin Eagles Grill. The far left burner is dialed up to the max, the middle burner is set on mid range and the far right turned down to it’s very lowest setting. The chops were first placed over the coolest, indirect grill grates, intermittently basted, flipped and rotated, slowly elevating to 130F internal temperature. In the final minutes of cooking, these glorious hunks of bone-in pork were moved over the directly heated stainless steel grill grates – charring the exterior of the pork until the internal temperature reached 145F.

After resting for 10 minutes, these steaks were splashed with a fruity olive oil and garnished with an aromatic garden of fresh herbs, then served alongside a platter of root vegetables, an apple-caramelized walnut salad, and two handfuls of crisp, ice cold craft-brewed amber ales.

Life in the great north of wild Michigan doesn’t get much better than this. -Cheers, David

Print Recipe

Reverse-Seared Tomahawk Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 4 Bone-in Tomahawk Pork Chops
• Olive oil
• 1/2 cup sweet and spicy barbecue rub, homemade or pre-made
• 1 cup regular coffee, finely ground
• 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes
• 2 tablespoons roasted garlic powder, granulated
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Kosher salt and freshly ground peppercorn, to taste

Instructions

• Trim excess fat from steaks, rinse meat in cold water, and pat dry. Brine overnight in a chilled bath of 3:1 water to beer, plus 1 cup salt and 1 cup sugar. Remove tomahawks from brine 2 hours before cooking and rest on counter until near room temperature.
• Preheat grill using the two-zone method by turning burners to high on one side of the grill while leaving the other side off. Meanwhile, rub the pork in olive oil, season liberally with the BBQ rub, then roll the tomahawk edges in a blend of the coffee grounds, garlic, onion, and pepper. Season additionally, to taste, with kosher salt.
• Lay the chops over coolest grill grates, bating, rotating and turning intermittently until internal temp registers 130F. Move to hottest, directly heated grill grates and char beautifully, until internal temp has achieved 140F. Remove from the grill, loosely tent with tin foil for 5-10 minutes and allow carry-over energy stored in the steaks to finish the cook – serving temperature at 145F.
• To plate, carve tomahawks alongside the bone, removing the meat, then slice the steak in 1/2" cuts across the grain and on a bias. Plate the chops atop a bed of charred vegetables and alongside a beautiful fall salad. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve.

Notes

Two-Zone Cooking Method: Elementary technique to create one hot searing zone (direct heat) and one cooler smoking zone (indirect heat). This grill arrangement is imperative to cultivating perfectly prepared hunks of steak.

Gas: Turn the right side of the grill to high & leave the left side off. If using a with an odd number of burners, turn the far right side of the grill to high, the middle to medium-low and leave the left side off.

Charcoal: Ignite the charcoal in a chimney starter. When coals are glowing red, dump coals into a pile on one side of the grill floor. Rake a few coals the opposite side of the grill floor, creating one high-stacked hot zone and one cooler zone. For every hour of cooking, add a half-chimney of coals.

As the dog days of summer fade into fun-filled fall weekends, I couldn’t be more excited for the long-awaited arrival of football season! And, whether you’re in the backyard hosting a hard-hitting “homegate” for family and friends, or parked stadium-side throwing down a tailgate fit for a rowdy crowd of the hungriest home team fans, all agree – good games require great spreads!

To kickoff this cookout I’m grilling a grid iron feast alongside my friends from Eckrich Meats, featuring their Original Skinless Smoked Sausage Ropes, because not only are they entirely gluten-free, versatile and easy to cook, but made with the perfect balance of toasty spices and all-natural flavors.

The kettle grill was loaded with a full chimney of lump charcoal, cherry and oak wood, then I charred these sausages to tender, smoky perfection. In the final moments of cooking, each sausage was brushed in one caramelized layer upon another of a sweet and tangy Carolina-style wholegrain golden mustard barbecue sauce. Stuffed in a buttered and toasted artisan brioche bun, then dressed with charred summer corn, pickled shallots, and freshly prepared kale slaw. Plated with two handfuls of crispy salt and vinegar kettle chips and served with a handcrafted, ice cold northern Michigan lager! Life definitely doesn’t get much better than this!

To be the MVP of your next homegate or tailgate, visit www.eckrich.com for this recipe and hundreds more! Also, click here to find where you can buy a variety of Eckrich products locally. -Cheers, David

p.s. I’d love for YOU to win Eckrich’s “Road to the National Championship” Sweepstakes. As the Official Smoked Sausage and Deli Meat of the College Football Playoff, Eckrich is inviting fans to enter for the chance to make a 15-yard throw for $1MM during some of the biggest football games of the season, including the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship. Visit www.eckrichfootball.com for details and to enter for a chance to WIN!

RECIPE: Carolina-Style Sausages with Charred Sweet Corn and Tangy Homemade Kale Slaw
6 Eckrich Smoked SausagesHomemade or your favorite store-bought brand of golden barbecue sauce  
2-4 ears sweet corn on the cob, husk removed, par-boiled and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper
6 artisan-style brioche buns, lightly buttered
10-12 shallots, dicedHomemade or your favorite store-bought kale-based coleslaw

1. If using a gas grill, preheat to medium-high heat. If cooking with charcoal, ignite a full chimney of briquettes  – when coals are glowing and just ashed over, dump into a pile on the bottom of the grill floor and spread out evenly. Allow the grill grates to warm for 10-15 minutes prior to cooking.
2. Lay the sausages evenly across the grill grate. With the grill lid open, char on all sides until just cooked through. In the final minutes of grilling, caramelize layer upon sweet and tangy layer of barbecue sauce over the sausages. Remove sausages from heat and set aside to cool.
3. Simultaneously, grill the par-boiled and seasoned sweet corn on all sides, rotating intermittently, until charred evenly on all sides. Set aside to cool. Then, carve the kernels from the cob and fold into the prepared coleslaw.
4. Lightly grill the brioche buns directly on the grill grates, 30-60 seconds per side.
5. Load the sausages into the buns, dress with additional barbecue sauce, shallots and coleslaw. Plate alongside your favorite flavor of fried kettle chips and serve!

After a long, hard winter, the first spring weekend in Michigan has arrived and it’s all the reason I need to get outside and fire up the barbecue! Sunshine, blue skies and the essence of smoky hardwoods in the air – outdoor cooking season has formally arrived. And, what better way to open up our backyard kitchen, then by throwing down a grate full of gorgeous Australian grassfed racks of lamb.

These beautiful hunks of lamb were frenched across the bones and scored in cross-hatch fashion through the trimmed fat cap. The lamb was then rested at room temperature for 2 hours, then seasoned in a homemade activated charcoal-coffee-garlic rub – yielding an incredible, rustic presentation, layers of brilliant texture and a unique flavor profile complimenting the mildness of the grassfed lamb.

With the grill lid open, the racks were positioned, fat cap-side down, directly over a thick bed of glowing charcoal and smoky hardwoods, searing and encrusting the exterior of the lamb for 4-6 minutes. Once encrusted, the racks were flipped bone-side down and positioned to the cooler, indirectly heated portion of the grill with the bones situated away from the heat source. Over the next 10-15 minutes, the lamb was basted in olive oil and slowly prepared to sweet, tender perfection.

Carved into chops, garnished with an aromatic parsley chimichurri and a birchwood-smoked fleur de sel, then plated for a crowd and served with two handfuls of ice cold Pure Michigan lagers! -Cheers and long live the adventure, David

For more great Simply Spring Recipes visit, True Aussie Beef and Lamb

Print Recipe

Charcoal-Rubbed Australian Grassfed Rack of Lamb with Parsley Chimichurri

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 2 racks Australian grassfed lamb, frenched and trimmed
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional to baste
• 4 tablespoons activated charcoal powder
• 2 teaspoons black sea salt and freshly ground black peppercorn
• 1 teaspoon finely ground coffee beans, unflavored
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Fleur de sel, to garnish
• Homemade or store-bought parsley chimichurri, to garnish

Instructions

• Remove lamb from refrigeration up to two hours prior to grilling and rest on the counter, elevating to near room temperature. 30 minutes before laying lamb to flame, preheat grill to medium-high heat. Meanwhile, score the fat cap in crosshatch-fashion, brush entirety of the rack with olive oil, then generously season with charcoal, salt and pepper, coffee and garlic powder. 
  
• Position lamb fat-side down over direct heat and with the grill lid open sear until nicely charred. Flip rack to bone-side down and move lamb over to indirectly heated portion of the grill. Close the grill lid and cook for an additional 10-12 minutes, basting intermittently with olive oil, until internal temperature reads 125-130F. Remove lamb from heat, transfer to a cutting board and rest for 5-10 minutes before carving.
  
• Slice the racks into individual chops and dress with parsley chimichurri. Plate for a crowd alongside and serve with an ice cold lager.
  

If this isn’t Heaven, it’s certainly somewhere close. What an incredible weekend hunting absolutely enormous King Salmon upon the deep blue, icy waters of Lake Michigan. And, by the grace of our Good Lord, with a bit of luck, an overabundance of patience and a degree of perseverance, our bounty was great!!

This freshly-harvested 22-pound wild salmon was butterflied with it’s pin bones removed, then seasoned with minced chilies, smoked paprika, roasted garlic, wildflower honey, fresh citrus and red onion, then finished with a splash of robust olive oil, shredded white crab claw meat, a dusting of smoked fluer de sel, and an aromatic selection of seasonal herbs from our backyard garden.

Positioned skin-side down directly atop the chef-grade, stainless steel grates of my All-American Twin Eagles Grill, this breathtaking beast covered all 42″ of grilling surface! The grill’s burners were dialed within 10% of their lowest setting in each cooking zone, elevating the grilling chamber to a steady 225F. Because this grill system was innovatively-designed to deliver both direct and radiant heat with precision and consistency from corner-to-corner and wall-to-wall, I was able to ensure from teeth to tail, this fish was prepared to tender, flaky perfection!

After gently removing the whole fish from the grill and resting for 15 minutes, the thick fillets were sliced and served over a rustic bed of Mediterranean-style ancient grains and paired alongside a beautiful glass of northern Michigan cabernet sauvignon. Life just doesn’t get much better than fishing and cooking out with family and friends!! -Cheers and long live the adventure, David

Print Recipe

Butterflied and Grilled Great Lakes King Salmon

Ingredients

• 1 King Salmon, cleaned, scaled and butterflied
• olive oil
• 4 tablespoons ancho chili powder
• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 2 tablespoons granulated roasted garlic powder
• 2-3 pinches cayenne pepper
• Wildflower honey
• 1 large red onion, finely sliced
• 1 fresh fennel bulb, cored and finely sliced
• 2 Lemons and Oranges, finely sliced
• 8-12 oz crab claw meat, shredded
• Fresh chives and parsley, roughly chopped, to garnish
• Kosher salt and ground black peppercorn, to taste

Instructions

• Prepare salmon, by cleaning, scaling and butterflying the freshly-harvested fish. Pat dry the meat and skin with paper towel, then rub the meat olive oil, chili, paprika, garlic, cayenne, salt, freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of honey. Rest on the counter until near room temperature. 15 minutes prior to cooking, preheat the grill to low (225-250F).
• Place the salmon skin-side down directly atop the grill grates. Toss the slices of onion and fennel in olive oil and dress dress the fish, followed by lemon and orange, then top with shredded crab meat. Season additionally with salt and pepper. Close the grill lid, basting intermittently with olive oil, until the internal temperature in the fattest part of the fillet reaches 135F, approx 45 minutes.
• Remove salmon from the grill grates and rest under a tin foil tent for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with freshly chopped herbs, season additionally to taste, then plate in 6-8oz portions atop a rustic bed of cous cous and ancient grains. Pair with a beautiful cabernet sauvignon and serve.