Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Hey all!

The wife will only eat so much beef – eventually the beef gauge reads full and I am charged with cooking something ‘poultryish’. When in doubt, I turned to my newest favorite grilling book – ‘Mastering the Grill’ - for something new and different.

Started the day off putting together the dry rub - parsley, salt, minced garlic, black pepper and dried rosemary. It made a bit to much for just one bird, but may have other uses, I will try it on some grilled potatoes this evening (as I have paid my penance, we are having steak and ‘taters tonight!)

Instead of a beer can stuffed up it’s, ah-hum, bottom to keep the bird moist, this one has the dry rub mixed in 2 tbs of butter. Once combined, the mixture is placed under the skin to keep the meat moist and tasty. Of course, everything tastes better with butter on it . . . .

While the recipe calls for grilling the bird for 90 minutes at 350 degrees F, I have ample experience in the realm of poultry cremation in the making of ‘Beer Can Chicken’ and decided to use the smoker instead. I kept the temp right at 220 degrees F for the entire time, the chicken came up to a temperature of 170 degrees in approximately 3 and a half hours.

Once the bird came to temp, I glazed if for the last 20 min of smoking. Hoisen sauce, garlic, chili paste, sesame oil and agave nectar are combined to make the glaze, which the authors called ‘Peking Crackle’. It is also brushed on the pears while grilling them. The pears were cut in quarters, cored and stems removed, placed on the grill and brushed with glaze until soft.

To complete the meal, we had foil pouch asparagus. Asparagus spears seasoned with butter, salt and pepper. They taste great and only needs about 10 min on the grill.

While we didn’t eat the whole chicken, it was delicious. The glazed pears were the perfect counterpoint to the basted chicken.

Laters,

Been a While - However, the Word of the Day is 'Beet'.

I have found a new, bestest grilling book evah!  It called 'Mastering the Grill' by Andrew Schloss and David Joachim. It is not just a collection of recipes but also has guides on how to select a grill, cut up a chicken (and no, it does not involve yelling "Lorie, come here!") and descriptions of the various types of fish or game commonly available.

The book is catagorized into two parts. Part One has 4 subdivisions: Grilling Equipment; Grilling Techniques; Typical Grilling Proteins; Typical Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades. Part Two is the collection of recipes. The authors have thoughtfully divided the recipes, not only by the protein, but also by the average grilling length.

Of course there are vegetable recipes included as well - which brings us back to the Word of the Day, 'Beets'. No, I do not mean the pickled beets used to color up a salad - real, raw, with leaves and stems still attached, beets. I was browsing through the vegetables section (okay, okay, so even I get tired of Ranch Beans once in a while) and saw the recipe for 'Barbequed Beets with Orange Honey Butter'. Thought what the heck, even if I don't like the beets, I can probably use the butter during breakfast.

So, off to the store, and come home with all the ingredients; all the while getting the 'Have you lost your ever loving mind' looks from someone who shall remain nameless (starts with an 'L'). Cleaned 'em up, made the butter, salted and peppered the beets and put them on the grill.

Forty minutes later, they really were soft and squishy. I pull them off, leave the skins on, slice 'em up and serve with the butter. Fan,fricking,tastic. If fact the beets tasted better than the Orange Honey Butter. Either I put to much of the orange zest in it, or I just don't really care for orange zest that much. Next time, it will be honey butter with maybe some orange juice.

Anyway, I'll try to update a bit more often.

Laters.

New Smoker!

Hey all,


Well, tried out the new smoker tonight.

Yes, I purchased a propane smoker a Grand Cafe Model CSM07ALP – and it worked great! It held the temp in a solid 200 degree (F) range all afternoon long. The owners’ manual stated I should check the water and chips every hour. After 4 hours only half the water had evaporated from the reservoir. Not bad at all, I assume the manufacturer is being cautious as some people tend to cook a bit hotter than smoking temperature.

I used Apple chips for the smoke part. Not a real deep smoke flavor, there was a hint of Apple in the ribs and the chicken breast of the Beer Can Chicken, but not a lot. I think next time:

A - I won’t soak the chips (there are still chips in the smoking pan.)
B - I will start the chips when I am bringing the cooking chamber up to temp.
C - Use a cooking temperature of 220 instead of 200 (F).

At any rate, here are some pictures of the ribs:

Here are some pictures of the new smoker:

The inside can easily fit a Beer Can Chicken and 2 racks of pork ribs:

I removed the middle rack, put the chicken on the lower rack, and placed the ribs on top.

Later,

Grilling (Not Smoking!)

Hey all,


Learned a couple of lessons tonight:

1 – Do not pick out the biggest chicken breast in the market to grill.

2 – Do not ever try out a neighbor’s ‘Special Spice’ rub on the wife’s chicken breast.

I, on the other hand, had a nice tri-tip steak. Okay, okay, it was a bit over cooked.

Now that we have the proteins out the way – the Chili-Con-Limon spice was superb on the sliced Squash and Zucchini. Simple as simple can be. Slice the Squash and Zucchini into approx 1/8th to 1/4th inch slices. Place on a greased aluminum foil wrap. Sprinkle with Chili-Con-Limon spice. Hit with some fake or real butter. Tent all components in the foil. Then place the packet on the grill (indirect heat) for approx. 30 min. Delicious!

The Chili-Con-Limon spice has an nice initial kick, but the heat dissipates fairly quickly. All in all, I intend to use it on sweet corn and other veggies in the future.

Later,

Smokers

Hey all,

I currently use a Brinkmann vertical smoker – the Smoke King Deluxe shown above.  It does a fine job, however, it does take constant attention to keep it in temp’ range. Some people have called it a ‘fuel hog’ – I don’t think it uses more than you would expect when you are slow cooking a 12 pound brisket.

Having said that, my biggest frustration is if you let the coals go a bit to long, it is difficult to get the smoking chamber back up to temp’. If you have to high a temp’ closing the dampers on the door will rapidly bring it back into the desired smoking range.

I am currently re-doing my dawghouse (aka know as 'Mojave Mike's' in these parts) and was going to purchase a new one.  Then place fire brick around the fire pit and bottom third of the smoking chamber to see if it would be easier to maintain that magic range of 200 to 220.

Unfortunately, everywhere I looked (in the store and on line) the line was in a back order status. So, I began to wonder if there was a large enough target population to support this relatively unique and expensive smoker (approx. $450 plus shipping.) Especially, as I was going to purchase the fire brick / mortar to try to make it a bit more temp’ stable.

Got to looking around, found a propane smoker in the same price range, available for pick up tomorrow. Of course, it uses chips / chunks for the smoke taste, while the temp’ is maintained by the propane burner.

I may have to give it a try . . . . .

Start Up

Hey all,

Main topic is gonna be - wait for it - BBQ. (bet none of y'all guessed that!)

Now, the traditional rivals of Eastern, Southern and Texas BBQ have had their proponents and detractors. To me, it is all just (to steal a phrase) good eats.

As we go forward, I will be preparing, consuming and evaluating different recipes for you. I hope along the way to find new cuts, methods and spices that will surprise me in a pleasant way.

I have three Recipe books picked out for use:

Paul Kirk's "Championship Barbecue"
Adler and Fertig's "Fish & Shellfish Grilled and Smoked"
Cheryl and Bill Jamison's "Smoke & Spice - Cooking with Smoke, the Real Way to Barbecue".

I have no doubt some Food TV recipes will find their way in here as well. After all, no real aspiring backyard cook doesn't have dreams (or nightmares) of Bobby Flay or Guy Fieri showing up to see what's cooking.

Laters all