Man Cave Meals

Man Cave Meals Welcome to Man Cave Meals! Let's cook! Mostly outside... seasoning with smoke... sippin' on a glass of bourbon... Join our Livestream on Thursdays at 830pm ET.

Hit that subscribe button! Only a buck a month! Outdoor grilling and cooking

Have you ever cooked a pork steak?This week's adventure was a thick-azz pork steak. I went to Publix and had them slice...
08/29/2026

Have you ever cooked a pork steak?

This week's adventure was a thick-azz pork steak. I went to Publix and had them slice a pork butt for me in two-inch thick slices. I picked out my favorite slice and seasoned it with my homemade TSG (This Sh*t's Good!) all purpose seasoning and then bagged it up in a vacuum seal bag and tossed it in the fridge. I left it in there for 36 hours before proceeding but 8 to 12 hours would have been enough.

When I was ready to cook, I fired up my PKGO portable charcoal grill as well as my Kamado Joe. I got the PKGO ready for searing and then setup the KJ for indirect heat cooking at 250°F with a big chunk of hickory for some good smoke. While I was searing the pork steak on both sides, I mixed up a glaze of about 50/50 bourbon and barbecue sauce.

After I had the sear on both sides looking like I wanted, I put the steak on the Kamado Joe and basted both sides with the bourbon barbecue sauce glaze and stuck my RFX temperature probe in the steak. My goal was to smoke it until the internal temp reached about 165°F. That took about 4.5 hours. Before I reached that temp, I mixed up a braising liquid that was about 50/50 apple juice and barbecue sauce. I placed that in a sauce pot and put it on the KJ with the steak so the liquid could preheat.

When my pork steak reached 165°F, I moved it into my braising pan and dumped in the braising liquid. I ramped the temp up on the KJ to 300°F and let it go. It took about 60 to 90 minutes to finish the steak to an internal temperature of just below 200°F.

Somewhere between 195-200°F is a good target for this project. You don't want the steak to fall apart but you do want it to be extremely tender. This method achieves that perfectly. Once I got to that temp, I pulled the steak from the braising pan, put on a little barbecue sauce on both sides, spread it over the steak, and closed the grill and let that sauce tack up for about 15 minutes.

I wrapped it in foil and let it rest for 30 minutes or so before slicing it. It was perfection! This is a fantastic method for making pork steak. I am going to try a different method for one of the remaining pork steaks and I'll report back on that at some point in the near future!

08/28/2026

Join Jeff and me tonight for a look at pork steaks! 830pm ET!

08/28/2026

Sorry for not being clear on this... the livestreams have moved back to Thursday nights (TONIGHT) starting at 830pm..... we'll be on shortly!

I cooked a huge pork steak today.. used the PKGO to do the initial sear.. check into the Livestream tomorrow night at 8p...
08/27/2026

I cooked a huge pork steak today.. used the PKGO to do the initial sear.. check into the Livestream tomorrow night at 8pm to see the details....

So it looks like I will be buying yet another Thermapen from ThermoWorks pretty soon. The NANO looks intriguing but the...
08/26/2026

So it looks like I will be buying yet another Thermapen from ThermoWorks pretty soon. The NANO looks intriguing but the name may be a little deceiving. It's not any smaller than the Thermapen ONE as far as I can tell. I watched a little video on their website that makes me think it's a good bit faster than the ONE and anything else I have in my arsenal of instant read thermometers.

Do I need a faster thermometer? Heck no. Do I need a.thermometer with a one or two second read time? No. Does anyone need a thermometer that fast? Maybe, but not for backyard use.

How many thermapens have I bought in the past? Two original thermapens, one of which was a special edition. One Thermapen mk4. Two Thermapen ONEs. This will be number six. I will buy it just so I can speak intelligently about it. I doubt I will like.it better than the cheap instant read I use as my go to, but thermoworks boasts a brighter display and they have FINALLY put some magnets on it. That upgrade was a long time coming. The Thermapen has the crappiest LCD display for any of my others. For LCD displays, I prefer the reversed backlit display. This new NANO just boasts a brighter display. We will see. They aren't shipping until October so I might try to get in in the initial shipment by preordering it ..

I was browsing America's Test Kitchen this morning. A nice photo of some grilled chicken breasts caught my eye. I had ...
08/26/2026

I was browsing America's Test Kitchen this morning. A nice photo of some grilled chicken breasts caught my eye. I had a look at the article just to see if there was anything useful I might learn. I man how many ways are there to grill a chicken breast? After reading the author's struggle with breasts sticking to the grill, I was about ready to write it off as inexperience, which it may have been, but then I had to look deeply into my soul about the use of fish sauce in the 'brinerade' as it was described. Fish sauce is a staple in my fridge. I use it for a lot of things. It's not inconceivable to me to see it in a brine/marinade I suppose. BUT three tablespoons of it in 1/3 cup of water made me re-read it a few times to make sure I hadn't missed something. That's a LOT of fish sauce. When I add fish sauce to a sauce I am making, it's like one teaspoon tops... Maybe two on rare occasions. I tend to use it in place of anchovies in a ratio of one teaspoon of fish sauce instead of one anchovy filet. It's a very subtle UMAMI upgrade for whatever you are cooking. I can't imagine using three tablespoons of it in anything under any circumstance. I suppose a marinade is different. It's NOT a sauce so a huge majority of those ingredients are gonna be tossed out. Only the salt in the marinade is gonna pe*****te the chicken to any depth. The only fish sauce that is gonna be left on the chicken is what manages to stick to the surface. The fish sauce is going to completely dissolve in the water so it still has me thinking. I am gonna have to try it. The fish sauce and water aren't the only ingredients in the marinade. The ratio of those two is what caught my attention...

I am gonna start doing some more cooking on my small PKGO charcoal grill. I like using briquettes on that grill. I fig...
08/25/2026

I am gonna start doing some more cooking on my small PKGO charcoal grill. I like using briquettes on that grill. I figured it's time to charge some more experience with this product!

When I was growing up, you knew when your neighbors were firing up their grills. You could smell it! This was slightly before the days of match light though. Folks just doused their charcoal with starter fluid, let it soak in a bit, and then tossed a match on it. The aroma from that charcoal burning could be smelled down wind if the grill for a pretty good way. When I catch that aroma today, it brings back nothing but fond memories.

Much like steak sauces, match light charcoal and starter fluids catch a bad rap in the eyes of the more serious outdoor cooks. They say it makes your food smell and taste like starter fluid. The good news is that I can both confirm and deny this claim. It taints your food with those tastes and aromas when you use it improperly. When used properly, you can't tell any difference from not using starter fluids.

The starter fluid infused charcoal actually gives you a bonus. It has a built in alarm clock. When. You light that charcoal pile, it starts giving off that scent that everyone complains about. When the charcoal STOPS giving off that scent, it's ready

to cook! If your food ever tasted or smelled like starter fluid, you didn't give the charcoal enough time to preheat and burn all that off before the cook. You were in too big of a hurry!

Do I recommend match light and/or starter fluid? Only to anyone who wants to use it properly. Do I use it? Yes, on occasion.

Growing up in western North Carolina, I had no clue that every kid didn't have the opportunity to enjoy Cheerwine the sa...
08/25/2026

Growing up in western North Carolina, I had no clue that every kid didn't have the opportunity to enjoy Cheerwine the same way I did. I had the realization at one point in my childhood when I took notice of my cousins visiting from California stashing Cheerwine in their luggage before their flight home. Cheerwine in glass bottles... Made with pure cane sugar... The way God intended!

I have purchasesd, and made from scratch, quite a few different barbecue sauces that have been flavored with various soft drinks, including this wild cherry elixir we came to love as kids. Stumbling across this offering from Cackalacky recently made me pull the trigger on a couple jars for use in some Man Cave cooking projects.

I popped the top on one of these to give it a taste. As soon as I untwisted the jar cap, I caught an aroma of sweet smokiness carried hints of the childhood drink that we all loved. I went straight in with my index finger instead of fumbling around for a spoon. The sauce has a beautiful sweetness. The smoky aroma backed by the cherry from the Cheerwine just WORKS! This is gonna be a fun sauce to play around with in the future. The only fault I can find in this sauce is a PERSONAL one .. I am not a big fan of barbecue sauces that I consider to be spicy in terms of heat from hot peppers. This sauce sits on the very edge of that fence for my personal taste. It's got cayenne pepper in it. It's not on the overboard level for me but it's right there staring me in the face saying "come on Johnny... You can do it!".

For me, barbecue sauce ain't just for barbecue. It finds its way into a lot of other things I do as well, so there will be no issues finding places to use this stuff! The Cackalacky brand has quite a few other sauces I would.like to try in the future as well. I will tell you about those as they find their way into the Man Cave pantry...

Music Monday: What was the last album you listened to from start to finish?
08/24/2026

Music Monday: What was the last album you listened to from start to finish?

Good morning… this week’s project is pork steaks. Two inches thick should be a good place to start.
08/24/2026

Good morning… this week’s project is pork steaks. Two inches thick should be a good place to start.

Address

Valdese, NC

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Man Cave Meals posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category