Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Giving Your Meals the Wow Factor

By

giving meals wow factor just cook
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Thinking of hosting a get-together for friends? Or maybe you’re in a relationship that’s moved past the dining out stage and you’re ready to wow your date with a creation from your own kitchen. Take it from us—there’s an easy way to make your dinner a true conversation piece. It’s all about finding the right spices and rubs to add a punch to whatever protein you are serving. Just Cook has blends for chicken, salmon, pork, beef and lamb.

The current offerings include: Herbed Coffee Rub, Any Day Chicken Blend, No. 19 Salmon Blend, Ancho Chicken Rub, Close to Curry Blend and Gimme Steak Blend. Buy individual tins for $8.50 or go for a sampler pack of all six for $45.

Recommended Videos

Herbed Coffee RubIf you’re looking for the perfect dinner idea, grab some ribs at the grocery store and use the Herbed Coffee Rub. Along with the coffee, the ingredients include brown sugar, Kosher salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, chipotle, thyme, sage and molasses. Yeah, it’s as mouthwatering as it sounds.

Herbed Coffee Rubbed Baby Back Ribs

1 slab baby back ribs (or more)

4 tbs Herbed Coffee Rub

Related

½ cup white wine 1 cup Herbed Coffee Barbecue Sauce (recipe below)

TEN EASY STEPS: 1. Remove the thin membrane on the back of the ribs before seasoning. It’s relatively easy to pull away or ask your local butcher to do it for you. You will also want to separate the ribs for this recipe 2. PLAN AHEAD – season the ribs generously with the herbed coffee rub. Do this 1, 2, or 3 days ahead. 3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. 4. While the oven is heating, gently brown the ribs in a non-stick pan. 5. Make a big foil packet for this—spread a large sheet on the counter, double layer. 6. As the ribs get browned place them in the center of the foil. Once they are all browned, crimp the foil around the ribs leaving one end open. 7. Place foil pack on a roasting pan and pour wine into the packet. Seal and place in the oven. 8. Back for 3 ½ hours. Remove from oven, strain and reserve juice and allow the ribs to cool completely. 9. Mix reserved juice with Herbed Coffee Barbecue Sauce 10. When ready to serve, warm ribs over medium heat on the grill, basting with sauce.

Herbed Coffee Barbecue Sauce

(can be made up to a week ahead—makes 2 cups)

2 Tbs canola oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs yellow onion, minced

1 cup ketchup

¾ cup apple cider vinegar

2 Tbs dark brown sugar

2 Tbs Herbed Coffee Rub

1 Tbs cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS: 1. Saute garlic over medium heat until fragrant and a little brown. 2. Add onion and cook until translucent. 3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for a few minutes. 4. Remove from heat and serve, or after cooling completely, refrigerate for later use.

Editors’ Recommendations

Marla Milling
Marla Milling
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Marla Hardee Milling is a full-time freelance writer living in a place often called the Paris of the South, Sante Fe of the…
How to organize your pantry so it actually makes sense
These tips will save you time every time you open your food pantry
Pantry full of jarred food

Spring has sprung, and now summer is almost here. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the golf course is packed again. The arrival of this time of year ushers in the dreaded (but usually desperately needed) spring cleaning (which you can do in the summer, too). A great place to start your cleaning day is in one of the most used but often overlooked spaces in your home: the kitchen pantry. But how do you organize a pantry?

We spoke with Elisabeth Shake of Yourganized, a Chicago-based certified professional organizer and accredited staging professional, to get the best tips and tricks for organizing your pantry. Even if you don’t have a pantry and instead use cupboards, you will still benefit from this organizational guide, tips, and tricks.
What is a pantry?

Read more
Don’t ruin your meal: This is how long to let steak rest
Just put the steak down and walk away.
Steak on a cutting board

There are many factors that go into cooking a delicious steak. After all, there are a lot of things to consider—a steak's cut, thickness, preferred cooking method, how to season your steak, and many other culinary tidbits. Arguably, the most important step of all, though, has nothing to do with seasoning or searing but simply leaving the steak alone.

If you've ever prematurely sliced into a cooked steak and been met with a pink pool of juices all over your cutting board, you've learned the hard way the importance of resting steak. The science behind this is actually quite interesting. Steaks, like everything else, are comprised of many, many tiny cells. These steak cells are each filled with delicious juices. When steak is cooked, these cells contract and run for an easy means of escape - the steak's cooler center. There, they pool together and wait out the heat. If a steak is cut in this step of the process, all of those beautiful juices will immediately run out all over your cutting board instead of staying inside the meat where it belongs. However, when given the chance to rest, those cells will revert back to their original shape and make their way back to their original places, evenly distributing throughout the steak. The simple step of waiting a few minutes before slicing makes the difference between a dry and flavorless steak and a juicy, succulent, tender one.

Read more
10 apps to help you meal plan and stay on track with your diet in 2024
Meal planning has never been easier
Happy handsome bearded man is using his smart phone while he preparing vegan healthy breakfast for a lovely family

The data on New Year's resolutions aren't the best. Recent data shows that most people give up before the calendar flips to February. However, perhaps you've vowed to be the outlier this year, specifically with weight loss and healthy eating. Diet and weight loss remain top resolutions manually, but change is hard. A strategy, like a meal plan, can help, but developing one can feel overwhelming. Consider a food planner to lose weight. No, you don't have to buy a physical planner. Instead, meal plan apps allow you to hold the tool that can help you achieve your eating and weight loss goals in the palm of your hand.

Various healthy food planner phone apps offer different interfaces, bells and whistles, and price points. Most are more than mere calorie apps. Instead, you'll find ways to track your progress and plot out meals to ensure you're getting the calories and nutrients you need to thrive.

Read more