Another year already?! It seems like I just wrote my grilling predictions for 2024.
Grilling continues to evolve—as it has since a distant human ancestor called Homo erectus discovered you could cook food with fire. There’s no limit to what human ingenuity—and hunger—will deliver. So, here are my predictions for 2025:
The holidays are here. We at barbecuebible.com know what you need: a showstopper you can make fast on a moment’s notice. A hunk of protein that’s meaty enough to satisfy your inner carnivore, yet sufficiently upscale to wow your boss or your company. That shows you to be the sport that you are (it’s the most expensive cut from the steer), but economizes on your time in the kitchen. Enter this eye-popping whole beef tenderloin crusted with cracked pepper and other spices and flash-roasted on a screaming hot grill. Serve it just shy of burnt on the outside and a few degrees warmer than still mooing inside and you’ve got a princely centerpiece for an unforgettable holiday dinner.
This is it. The big kahuna. A barrel-shaped roast served with ribcage (at least part of it) still attached. The ultimate centerpiece for your holiday table. The English call it roast beef; your butcher sells it as prime rib. I call it one of the best ways I know to create high drama (and not a little envy) when you bring this dark, crusty, sizzling, garlic and rosemary-scented monster to the table. And that’s before you carve it! Despite its “wow” power, prime rib is easy to cook: 10 minutes of prep time and an hour or so of roasting (during which you can smoke the eggnog or other cocktail.
For my maiden paella voyage, I settled on Steven’s Paella “Primavera” on the Grill recipe from Planet Barbecue! Steven recommends ideally using 2 charcoal grills, one for the vegetables and the other for the rice. We only have one charcoal grill, so we added wood chunks and pre-grilled the veggies. It worked great. The smokiness that comes from grilling the paella over live fire is markedly different from other paellas we’ve had which were made on the stove. It is definitely worth doing over live fire.
Welcome to our to our ultimate Holiday Grilling Gift Guide! Our goal is to make shopping for the barbecuer in your life as satisfying as a backyard cookout. From flavorful rubs and cutting-edge grill tools to must-have accessories like wireless thermometers and Yeti coolers—and yes, even a pizza oven—our curated picks are perfect for every budget.
November already? That’s good news for people who love turkey. And not such good news, perhaps, for someone who has never cooked a turkey and to whom this intimidating task falls this year.
You have every reason to be nervous. Turkey is the largest bird—indeed, the largest piece of meat—most of us will ever cook. Its imposing size can be scary. Even people who are pros at roasting a chicken or duck may find a 12 or 15-pound turkey intimidating.
I have a solution to cooking the perfect turkey every time, and it’s probably standing in your backyard. That’s right, your grill.
Don’t get me wrong, I love turkey, and Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be a holiday without it. But my favorite part of the meal—or at least the part I most hunger for—just might be the side dishes.
As the holiday season approaches, many of us start planning the perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece. But what if there’s a simpler, equally delicious way to enjoy turkey?
This year, I’m swapping out the whole bird for something more manageable: smoked and brined turkey legs.
Imagine the smoky richness of Texas brisket with the sweetness of dried fruit and the subtle earthiness of carrots, all coming together in one dish. This Rosh Hashanah brisket combines the bold flavors of barbecue with symbolic ingredients that celebrate sweetness and prosperity for the New Year. The result is a tender, flavorful brisket that brings together tradition and barbecue in a deliciously unique way.
I have never made French toast but like to order when I am out for breakfast. While at the Alisal Ranch for Barbecue University this year, I ordered vanilla bean French toast for breakfast, and it was delicious.
Here is my first attempt at French toast and I am going to try and replicate the French toast I ate at the Alisal ranch using the Oscarware Griddle Topper.
What do you do with leftover brisket?
No, that is not a joke. Sometimes (rarely), you really do have leftover brisket. This year at Barbecue University we compared two methods for wrapping brisket. We wrapped one brisket in butcher paper (the Aaron Franklin method) and one in aluminum foil (the so called “Texa crutch”, aka, the Tootsie Tomanez method.
The happy result of our experiment was an over-abundance of brisket. Even after we sliced up four briskets to feed the students, our team, and some of the staff at the Alisal Ranch, we still had leftovers. I wrapped them up for the next day—I knew Steven would enjoy brisket with his breakfast. I decided a brisket hash would be a great breakfast for the crew.
The boneless skinless chicken breast is the meat we grill fanatics love to hate. And hate to love. We love it because it’s cheap to buy, quick to grill, and healthy to eat (consisting of almost pure protein with virtually no fat). We hate it because of all the parts of a chicken (and for that matter, of all the animal proteins), it’s the blandest, lacking the richness of a dark meat chicken thigh, the meatiness of a pork chop, and the rich sanguine flavor of a steak.
Despite its shortcomings, it’s far and away the most popular poultry cut in the U.S. I venture to say you might have some in your refrigerator or freezer right now.
But what if there were a way to make this lean, affordable poultry cut not only palatable, but interesting. Well, there is.
