Included are 8 recipes for beef and pork: Cherry Rub for Beef Steaks; Cherry Rub for Beef Roasts; Cherry Rub for Pork Chops; Cherry Spiced and Cured Brisket; Cherry Spiced and Cured Brisket Dry Rub; Cherry Marinade for Beef; Cherry & Red Bell Pepper Brisket Rub: Cherry/Balsamic Finishing Sauce for Pulled Beef.

CHERRY RUB FOR BEEF STEAKS

(all measures are pre-grind)

6 Tbls (heaping) dried cherries, hand-minced and freshly ground

1 Tbls freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbls freshly ground garlic from minced/dried

2 tsp freshly ground thyme

1 tsp freshly ground cumin

1 tsp freshly ground oregano

2 tsp dried chopped onion, freshly ground

1 Tbls ground kosher salt (grind last, and this will help to clean out the other spices from the grinder)

1 Tbls paprika

CHERRY RUB FOR BEEF ROASTS

(double-batch quantities, all measures pre-grind)

3/4 cup dried cherries, hand-minced and freshly ground

3 Tbls freshly ground black peppercorn

3 Tbls freshly ground garlic, from dried/minced

2 Tbls ground thyme

2 tsp ground cumin

4 tsp ground oregano

2 Tbls freshly ground onion, from dried chopped

4 Tbls ground kosher salt

2 Tbls paprika

CHERRY RUB FOR PORK CHOPS

(all measures are pre-grind from dried ingredients)

6 Tbls (heaping) dried cherries, hand minced and freshly ground

1.5 Tbls freshly ground garlic powder from minced

1.5 Tbls freshly ground black peppercorn

1 Tbls sweet basil leaves, freshly ground

1 Tbls oregano, freshly ground

1 Tbls rosemary leaves, freshly ground

1 Tbls paprika

1.5 Tbls kosher salt, ground

CHERRY SPICED & CURED BRISKET

***measures are for approx. 4 pounds of beef***

CHERRY SPICED BEEF BRINE & CURE

2 Tbls dried, minced, ground tart cherries

1 Tbls red bell pepper powder

2 tsp green bell pepper powder

2 tsp ground black peppercorn

2 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

4 bay leaf, whole

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cumin

1 Tbls jalapeno powder

1 Tbls ancho chili powder

1 Tbsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup Tender Quick Cure

3.5 cups water

CHERRY SPICED AND CURED BRISKET DRY RUB

1 Tbls dried, minced and ground tart cherries

2 tsp red bell pepper powder

2 tsp cracked or course ground black peppercorn

1/2 tsp ground thyme

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp cinnamon

***For additional information on the brine/cure preparation, process for curing, photos of the methods/process, or info on the basis for this recipe, please visit the original thread HERE.***

CHERRY MARINADE FOR BEEF

(for 6-7lbs)

6 Tbls wood-aged sherry cooking wine (1.5% salt content was used)

3 Tbls white vinegar (5% acidity content was used)

1 cup cold water

3 Tbls dried fresh ground tart cherries

1 Tbsl freshly coarse ground red bell pepper

2 tsp fresh ground black peppercorn

2 tsp fresh ground garlic

2 tsp fresh ground onion

2 tsp coarse ground thyme

1 tsp coarse ground oregano

2 Tbls brown sugar

2 tsp salt

Mix well and pour over steaks in ziploc bag. Close and gently tumble bag to coat all meat surfaces,
repeating tumble every 30-45 minutes, and refrigerate for 3-4 hours before cooking.

Smoke with hickory/cherry.

***note: this marinade is not well suited to high temperature grilling or broiling due to the natural and added sugars will will scorch relatively easily***

CHERRY & RBP BRISKET RUB

5 Tbls ground dried tart cherries

3 Tbls ground red bell pepper

1 Tbls ground rosemary

1/2 Tbls ground oregano

1/2 Tbls ground thyme

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1-1/2 Tbls ground black peppercorn

1 Tbls ground garlic

2 Tbls ground onion

1 Tbls paprika

2 Tbls kosher salt (mix into blend after all other ingredients are ground)

CHERRY BALSAMIC FINISHING SAUCE FOR PULLED BEEF

1/4 Cup ground tart cherries

3/8 Cup Balsamic Vinegar (aged 15-yrs)

2 Cups water

3 Tbls Red Bell Pepper, freshly ground from dried, chopped

1 Tbsp black peppercorn, freshly ground

1 Tbsp Garlic, freshly ground from dried minced

2 Tbsp Onion powder

2 tsp Thyme, freshly ground

1.5 tsp Rosemary, freshly ground

1 tsp Oregano, freshly ground

1 tsp smoked Paprika

1/4 tsp Cinnamon, ground

2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together in a saucepan, cover and heat on low. Allow to slowly heat for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If simmering occurs, reduce heat slightly.

Drizzle hot finishing sauce over freshly pulled beef and toss to finish.

***For additional info on the basis for this recipe, photos of the finished product and/or related discussions, please visit this recipe's introduction thread, found HERE.

(additional recipe variants will be added as they are developed)

***PREPERATION METHOD FOR DRIED CHERRIES***

The cherries are not a likely candidate for grinding because of the natural sugar content which immediately
begins to form a paste, and the more you work them, the more stubborn they become...this was first evidenced
in the cherry pasted chef's knife after just a few seconds of mincing.

Also, this blend will not mix uniformly with a fork in a soup bowl or other similar receptacle,
or by folding it together with a spoon, and tumbling it inside of a poly container is not an option either
due to the sugars in the cherries turning into a paste when you chop/grind them.

So, here's my method for accomplishing the blend:

Mince the cherries up reasonably fine with a chef knife on a poly board and add 2 Tbls at a time to your
electric grinder. Grind until the motor runs a fairly steady speed (mine took about 8-10 seconds),
then invert the grinder and tap the lid to shake the the pasty cherry grind into the lid and remove lid while
inverted and dump into a bowl. Repeat until all cherries are ground. Place them into a container to begin
mixing with the spices as they are ground and ready.

Next, with the grinder emptied of all of the cherry grind, add the peppercorn, minced dried garlic, thyme,
cumin and oregano. The peppercorn and garlic will help to further break up the cherry paste in the grinder
and also aids in the powdering of the other leafy ingredients.

The second-last run of the grinder is the onion and kosher salt. Again, the salt will speed up the grind of the
onion, which only takes a couple seconds this way, but will also remove much of the other spices and cherry
paste from the grinder, as it absorbs much of the moisture from these, which in turn helps to break the
spice's bond from the grinder.

Add the paprika and mix the blend of spices for a few minutes by gently spoon folding it in a deep soup bowl.

The clumps which have formed from the cherries will break up somewhat, but not completely. To accomplish this,

a regrind of the complete blend will work quite well. I've done second and third regrinds for an even finer texture.

Using a spice shaker to apply the dry rub aids in less handling of the rub which tends to reform the cherry clumping. 

Once the final application of dry rub is completed, allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before smoking so the
sugars can bond and salt can begin to draw a bit of moisture to aid in developing the rub's adhesion as well.

UPDATE: instead of pre-grind mincing, I have found that grinding whole cherries in small quantities of 1/2 Tbls or so will not jam the blades of the grinder. It will sound like your grinder is going to pieces, so just keep quick pulses going, and don't let the blade stop turning, or it may jam. If it jams, just manually reverse the blade a bit, lift the stuck piece(s) from under the blade's path and continue grinding. Keeping it moving without too high of blade speed seems to work the best. After you've gotten the pieces reduced in size, you can add them to spices and regrind to reduce the size more.

UPDATE #2: Whole dried cherries may also be added to ground spices to grind as a blend. Measure the amount of cherries you need to grind, then toss 6-10 into the grinder after adding a Tbsp of spices. This is the easiest method I've found thus far...no board or knife work involved.

Paste was forming on the knife blade long before I took this pic...here we're about ready for grinding:



Post grind of the minced cherries:



Here's the initial clumping issue I had to deal with...the sugars from the cherries were really going to work on sticking anything and everything together when I began working the spices into the blend:





So along came plan  B...regrind with everything together, a few Tbls at a time then fork mix the entire contents...I've already added the paprika here: