Big Fat Daddy's Zesty Marinade Recipe Ribs Chicken Steak

These boneless ribs come out tender and pack a punch with my Big Fat Daddy's zesty marinade. See how to do this Boneless Country Ribs meal here. 

I get asked a lot about basting meats, using marinades or using injections.  This is something I do quite frequently and I'm old school, so I believe when doing them "less is more."  In my opinion, twenty crappy ingredients won't yield you the same results a few fresh ingredients.  I am a firm believer that less ingredients extracted at a higher quality, can produce a better result.  Much along the same lines of my dry rub, I feel that marinades really bring out the flavor of your meats.

Juicing your marinades pull out the ingredients in the spices that you would not normally expect.

In this case, I have my original zesty marinade recipe that you can make in small batch quantities at home, but you will need a juicer.  This marinade can be applied days ahead of time on you steak, chicken or ribs to marinate in the fridge, or can be used immediately when cooking to produce a zesty flavor full of heat.  My wife loves this on her wings.

Ingredients for My Zesty Rib Marinade:  REGULAR   (7 ingredients)

This will yield enough for one large rack of ribs, or two small racks, a family pack of chicken, one rump roast, a small brisket, or six nice steaks. 

2 teaspoons whole mustard seed  (Sauer's)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 teaspoon Whole Peppercorn melange' or Peppercorn Medley (Sauer's)
1 slice of a small red onion (fresh)
1 pinch of White Pepper
1 small fresh clove of garlic  (Peeled)
1/3 Cup Lite Italian Dressing

or (Use Gluten Free Recipe Here) for Less Zesty Alternative)

2 teaspoons whole mustard seed  (Sauer's)
1 tablespoons Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Whole Peppercorn melange' or Peppercorn Medley (Sauer's)
1 slice of a small red onion (fresh)
1 pinch of White Pepper
1 small fresh clove of garlic  (Peeled)
1/3 Cup Olive Oil
1 teaspoon fresh dill
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil


Blend the ingredients in a juicer.   Not using a juicer will yield you unsavory results. I cannot stress enough how a juicer can take a small piece of food and pull out the flavors you never expected.   These ingredients must be juiced until they create a liquid.  You will still see small chunks of peppercorns which should now resemble large bits of pepper but no trace of the onion.  (see photo above).

You can either: 

A) Marinate your meat with this product up to 24 hours in the fridge.  The longer you marinade the more overpowering the peppers and garlic will become. I usually do not go over 24 hours but my wife marinades wings up to 48 hours in this, and they are good.

B)  Pour over your meat when baking  using 3/4 of the product up front, and 1/4 of the product nearing the end of your cook time as a brush on baste, or dribble baste.

For grilled products, you will want to use 3/4 of the marinade  as in step A, but save 1/4 of the product as a last minute baste. You must remember the oil in the dressing will speed up the browning process so using A. 

YOU MAY LIKE:
You can see this marinade on Boneless Country Ribs with Pumpkin Butter Ten Minute Prep here

also did you know that shopping with CF Sauer online gives you free shipping over $25 in spices?   They are my sponsor and you should enjoy theirYou can also nab some of the great Sauers recipes here.

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Big Fat Daddy's is celebrating over three decades of catering, fairs and festivals therefore, we thought it only right to vintage up our blog a little. Here is an old child's learning game!

Welcome to the fair! Made of wood is always good!

This post last updated 12.15.14

13 Bean Soup Smoked Ham Hock

Nothing like a tasty bean soup to warm you on a cold winter's day.

13 Bean Soup - Smoked Style

We have a running joke in my household. You see, my wife is one of those "bland soup makers." I'm not knocking her cooking, because it's darn good. You just have to put your own seasonings in if you want to spice it up. She could very well cook for Campbell's if she wanted to.  I think they would love her. You know maybe even sell those big restaurant style soups that are bulk commercial soup with no salt in it.  When it comes to Bean soup, she isn't aloud to cook it.  That's my job.

Everything I cook has it's own taste and flavor. Maybe too much, I don't know. I have a real passion for smoking everything. They key to a good bean soup I believe is the smoked flavor. If you think about it, your beans are "soakers." They are going to soak up whatever flavor you put in there. No flavor means bland beans. I hate that.

How to get that Smoked Flavor

You can obtain this one of three ways. I use #2 and #3.

1.  The first of course is adding some type of liquid smoke or smoke flavoring to your foods. I call this cheating but it's easy, and quick. Problem is if you over do it, you are going to throw your bean soup out real fast.

For most of us, I suggest the other two ways.

2. Simmering your bacon in a fry pan until it's nice and crispy. Using some of the bacon and bacon fat in your soup.  Yes, that's right, I'm telling you to add a little bacon fat - read this article as surprisingly bacon fat is much healthier than some fake fats we stick in our bodies. Not a lot, just a little will go a long way.

3. Here's something not many people think of.  When you save a ham hock from your family meal or baked ham, make it a point to smoke it on the barbeque pit within a few days to dry it out, smoke it, and remove the excess fat. Then you can freeze it so it's smoked up for your soup.  You are using bacon fat in #2 so you don't need that extra lard from the fatty part of the hock. What you do need however is SMOKED FLAVOR. I sear it good and lock in that flavor.

You can find this soup mix here. 

My Preferred Beans

I use Bob's Red Mill 13 Bean Soup Mix.  It's organic and for some reason the beans seem to take a lot less longer to cook than traditional store bought beans. To me, it's a good way to get in navy beans, pinto beans, small and large limas, black beans, garbanzo beans, red lentils, black eyed peas, great northern beans, kidney beans and so many more in this mix. One package will do a huge stock pot of soup for the family.

Overnight Prep

You should soak the beans overnight in the fridge.  Make sure to put in extra water these babies will soak it right up.  Pull out your ham hock that's frozen and start to thaw.

My 13 Bean Soup Recipe

5 Slices of Bacon, cooked crispy
Two teaspoons Bacon Juice
1 Frozen presmoked Ham Hock
1 Bag of Bob's Red Mill 13 Bean Soup
1-2 Stalks of Celery, diced small
1/4 Medium White Onion diced small
Salt, Pepper to taste

Begin by simmering your bacon in a fry pan and start your ham hock boiling in a stock pot.  I use my Rachael Ray cookware (been very pleased with it, has lasted me over a year at home and that's saying something) 6qt stockpot, but you can use any size larger for this recipe. Cover the hock completely with water and let it boil down until the hock is falling apart (about an hour or less).

Meanwhile I get my bacon crispy and crumble it up in the soup pot. Two teaspoons of bacon grease goes int the stockpot too. I wipe out the fry pan leaving a bit of coating for simmering up my celery and onions, until they are somewhat cooked and toss them in to. Now you have your base boiling away.

Remove your ham hock and let it cool, picking it clean and tossing the rest of the edible ham into the pot.

I picked this bad boy clean.

The beans, which have been soaking overnight should be drained in a strainer and rinsed just to remove any additional debris. Toss them into your stock pot.  Bob's recommends a 3 to 3.5 hour simmer on the beans but truth be told I have found that within an hour and a half my soup is delicious and my beans are tender.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Yum. Eat and Enjoy. If you have extras be sure to freeze extras on day one, to avoid any further breaking down of the beans. When reheating, do so low and slow on low flame.

Read more of my recipes here under Recipes.


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