JIM MONAGHAN – For many, Labor Day Weekend means the unofficial end of summer. And for some, that means the grilling season comes to an end. Although I think if I remember correctly, I was still grilling, if you want to call it that, into November of last fall. My guest this morning on the Jersey Magazine is Celebrity Chef Darryl Taylor. Darryl, good morning and welcome.
DARRYL TAYLOR – So glad to be here.
JM – You just posted a few what recipes that I saw that a couple of them really caught my attention, including a garlic-studded allegro marinated beef brisket. Yes, please. I’ll have a couple of orders! That sounds delicious.
DT – Doesn’t that sound amazing? Really amazing. I can only tell you the flavors and the marinating of the allegro with the brisket making the little slithers and sticking your garlic in there. And I use the blackening spices and just put it all over. The secret is for me, I use a lot of celery seed. I just heavy sprinkle the celery seed all over. I mean really heavy. And it’s something that celery, it kind of gets in there. Once you let it soak in the marination of the allegro, man, you let it sit overnight or maybe 8 hours and grill it, man, it’s so tender and good. It’s like, oh my God, you will slap your mother!
JM – Now that’s the trick, right? To marinating is you’ve got to do it for a long time. You can’t just whip this out on the grill and go, all right, here we go.
DT – You really don’t have to marinate that long, in my opinion. I have done briskets in the oven and just pour it over there and put your spices and herbs on it and stick it in the oven and let it roast for four or five hours and it’s still going to be very tender. It’s something that allegro does to any meat that you’re going to cook, whether it’s an oven or a grill. But we’re talking about grilling. So this is a seasoned grill. And I’m all about keto.T hey call me the keto queen, king, whatever you want to call him. I’ve lost like 140 pounds doing keto. So it’s all about keto for me.
JM – You have a keto barbecue sauce, as a matter of fact. Tell our listeners about that.
DT – The keto barbecue is Country Kickin’ Keto Barbecue Sauce. It’s available now on Amazon. It’ll soon be in Kroger, Walmart, Target, Publix, you name it, it’ll be out there. But for now, it’s simply just on Amazon. And you can’t always just do keto when it comes to a holiday. So you have to use other sauces. My sauce is not loaded with carbs and sugar, but when you have guests over, you want the molasses and your traditional barbecue sauces. So it’s always good to have some keto if you have someone there that’s trying to watch their weight or whatever, it’s always good to have, but I love t ohave fun when you’re grilling use herbs and spices the way you want to use them. You heard me say I use a lot of celery when I’m doing briskets or any type of a beef or even when you’re doing poultry. I use a lot of celery seed, blackening spices, paprika, cumin, even a little turmeric. Just make your blend and put it allover your meats and go to grilling. Have fun.
JM – I get the feeling that you’re not standing there, though, with measuring cups when you’re doing all this.
DT – No, I never measure anything unless I’m baking, and I don’t bake a lot. So it’s all about having fun, being creative. Who measures when you’re having fun?
JM – Celebrity chef Darryl Taylor is my guest this morning on Jersey Magazine at 105.5 WDHA. With Labor Day being the unofficial end of summer, I milk summer for all I can get. Darryl, one of the other recipes that caught my attention was a Tennessee whiskey marinated grilled pork roast. What goes into that?
DT – You talk about having fun with pork tenderloin. I take it, marinate it really good in a Tennessee whiskey allegro marination and slice it in half, and I stuff it with a spinach and artichoke mousse that we made. Oh, my God, it’s to die for! And pin it together with maybe some skewers and let it soak, and then pan sear it or put it on your grill. It’s grilling season. Fire that grill up and just go to grilling having fun. And even if you have a flat surface on your grill, you could put a flat top on there and just sear it. Man, you talk about good. And wrap it in a sheet pan and just let it sit there and let it smoke on that oven. And I wrap it with a little aluminum foil and just let it smoke real slow.
JM – I’m getting hungry just listening to you.
DT – And you got to remember, you’ve already stuffed it with a spinach and artichoke mousse and we make that mousse with various cheeses, even smoked gouda, ricotta, ranch dressing, maybe a little mayo, and mix it all together and stuff it inside of the pork tenderloin and pin it together with skewers, pan sear to put it on the grill and let it smoke. And when you cut it in half, you’ve got that beautiful, lush spinach and artichoke mousse that’s in there, and it just oozes out. Can you imagine? Can you even taste it? With me talking about it, I’m trying to create a visual so you can taste it.
JM – When you mix all of these different things and you’ve talked about adding all different kinds of cheeses and spices and what have you, how do you avoid making sure that you don’t overdo one so that you can taste all of it? What’s the best way to do that?
DT – You’re having fun, and there’s no rule to how much who’s measuring? You’re just having fun. Toss out all the rules. There are no rules who says that it’s got to be accurate when it comes to your herbs and spices? Just have fun. Toss out all those rules. Have fun.
JM – Celebrity chef Darryl Taylor, my guest here this morning on Jersey Magazine at 105.5 WDHA. What is the most common rookie mistake you find that the backyard griller makes?
DT – I would say using too much salt. The grill, whether you’re using charcoal or wood pellets or whatever, you want to taste that smoke in the meat. You don’t need a lot of salt. Just try not to use a lot of salt. You want to taste the natural flavors of the meat and whatever marination you’re using. You want to taste that grill. You want to taste that grill back up on the salt. Don’t use that much salt, you know?
JM – Now, are you in favor of high temperature for a shorter amount of time or a low temperature for a longer amount of time? Which do you prefer?
DT – I prefer a higher temperature because for me, I don’t like to leave my meat on the grill that long. I want to get that flavor of the charcoal and the smoke. Sometimes I will grill it for X amount of minutes, and then I’ll put it in the oven and cover it. Oh, my God. And when you put, like, your ribs in the oven, after them being on the grill for X amount of time, putting them in the oven and cover them with some foil oh, my God. You talk about tender! So tender. It’s like falling off the bone. Whatever you’re putting in the oven, even your brisket, I will put it on the grill for a minute, maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour, depends on the size of the brisket. Maybe a few hours. And then finish it in the oven, cover it with foil, and maybe add a little bit more allegro or something on it. Marination, cover it. Oh, my God. It slices like butter.
JM – Chef Darryl Taylor is my guest this morning here at 105.5 WDHA. You can tell he is passionate about food. I was mentioning to you before we came on the air that I get a little nervous if I have a neighbor looking over my shoulder while I’m trying to grill something. You were on a show with Gordon Ramsay looking over your shoulder. What was that like?
DT – Can you imagine? I thought I wanted to be on his team, and I’m so glad I was not on his team. He is a hot, freaking mess! I can’t even explain it. But really, he’s this oh, my God. But really, he’s really a nice person on the other side. But I didn’t know that side. All I knew was looking over your shoulder. Even if you were not on his team, you were still nervous just to be in his presence. And even the first day when we got there, I’m like, oh, my God, what did I sign up for? What did I sign up for? Incredible. But what an experience just to be on Next Level Chef.
JM – You can check out all things related to celebrity chef Daryl Taylor epicureandrama.com and tell our listeners again how you can get the keto barbecue sauce.
DT – They can go to Amazon.com – Kickin’ Country Keto Barbecue Sauce, and they can also follow me on Instagram, Facebook – Darryl Taylor, Chef Drama, because it’s all about drama. With epicurean drama, we always present a dramatic presentation. And that’s why I am known as Chef Drama because it’s all about drama. The presentation is very dramatic.
JM – Well, thank you very much for your time this morning. I’ve enjoyed talking with you, and I’m going to head out to the grill real shortly and try and fire something.
DT – Okay, well, it’s been my pleasure being with you. Thanks for having me.
