Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Another Set Of Older Grills

This was chicken and shrimp, obviously. My fiancee told me she really wanted to have some chicken that was butterflied, I dont know If she liked it cause it cooked in less time or what. I, myself, enjoy butterflied chicken, I think It brings a different style to the chicken, and gives a moistness that for some reason you cant get out of a full piece of chicken. Butterflying is also, obviously, pretty on the eyes.. and leaves for a great presentation. I put just a regular chicken rub on her piece, and threw dill, tony cheshires, salt, pepper (i think thats it) on my piece. The shrimp was just for fun and eats, Also threw some tonys on the shrimp. As you can see, these were some pretty large pieces of chicken.. they were delioucious. I got 5 pounds for 14.15 from a local butcher. Very very good meat. I cant wait to try some more from them!

Cornished hens. I made these for my fiancee the night I proposed and they were delicious. On that night I just shoved a beer can up the ass, set it on a sheet and slid it in the oven. This time I took a different approach. I love cornished hens for their flavor, its almost like a sweeter, and richer flavored chicken than just your normal chicken. I took a sweet and smokey rub I got from walmart and rubbed it all over these, and to me, it was probably the best thing I've cooked with that rub on it. A very good mix of sweet, could definitely taste the cinnamon, and smokey, which I believe was probably paprika. Definitely a favorite of mine!!

This was our first grill. This was the first thing I ever cooked on my grill. This was cooked on the gas side.. Seemingly to me, was and is the only time I have used that side for cooking, we rarely use our gas side, and when we do its for warming. I've become a believer in charcoal, the flavor, the way it cooks, tastes, smells, the whole nine yards! This was a very good meal though, Tilapia and Salmon, cooked perfectly, seasoned perfectly, and ate perfectly.





This is my grill now. There is a before picture somewhere down there. I added the smoker box alittle less than a month ago. It was much much needed. I wanted it immediately following my first butt cook. This grill really is a great grill, I dont think I'll ever run in to any problems. Its beautiful!!!








This piece of meat sort of became a joke between me and some friends. I bought a piece of London Broil, a good 13-15 dollar piece of meat, for 5 bucks at Ingles, which if you live near me, is definitely the way to go, their meat selection is amazing! I marinaded this piece of meat on a thursday night. I rubbed it in 2-3 of my favorite rubs and marinaded it in dales. It didnt get cooked til the next tuesday. I figured it had gone bad but I wanted to give it a chance, I mean it is London Broil afterall!! It actually came out amazing, flavor was beautiful, cooked about medium to medium-well. Everyone enjoyed this.

This right here is the reason I bought the smoker. I read on http://www.grillersindex.com/ how easy it is to smoke pork, and make pulled pork. And If you live in the south, and are alive and breathing, you have to love you some pulled pork! Being alittle hesitant at the same time, seeing as this was a venture for me, I went to walmart to pick up some groceries, and saw a Boston Butt. It was about 10 bucks, wasnt to over the top for a first cook, so I picked it up and figured what the hell. I rubbed it down with some bbq spices and let it sit in the fridge overnight.


The next morning at about 10:30 I started up the grill, got it to a good 180-220, and let it smoke. I threw on jack daniels chips 1-2 times an hour to give it a really good smokey taste, and I hoped for what everyone hopes for when cooking bbq, and more importantly, cooking pulled pork, a good smoke ring! At about 5 that afternoon, I pulled it off the grill, chopped it up into big pieces, and threw it into our food processor. It was amazingly delicious, great smokey flavor with a rich pork flavor. I cannot wait for my next try!!!



"Grilled Potato Packs"











This is pretty much what I wanted to accomplished and hoped it would come out looking like. A very beautiful aray of colors beforehand left me very hopeful, I knew something good was going to come out of this. I sprayed the pan with PAM to make sure there was no sticking on the bottom.. Put potatoes in and then tossed them in parsley and oregano. I then pour mushrooms over top and mixed in. After I did this I noticed I didnt put enough spices on potatoes, I figured this was ok, I just wanted to get potatoes covered with some spice before I tossed everything together. So I mixed in mushrooms. I diced up half a onion into medium-small pieces and mixed that in. I cut up 3 jalapenos and mixed that in. I put in about a cup of corn and mixed that in for color, and for another veggie. I added my imported Italian and Mozzarella stuffed sausage on top, and gave it all one big mix. After I had the right mix in my mind, I covered it all in olive oil, and gave it another big mix. I let this cook in the grill for about 2 hours at 300. It has a very good smokey grilled taste to it. This was definitely a "great success!"

Thursday, June 25, 2009

"Grilled Potato Packs"

I dont really know what else to call this one.. But I cant wait to make them...

I had the urge last night to make grilled red skin potato packs.. I've had them in the oven before, with alittle big of garlic, parsley and some other seasonings on them and they are amazing..

So I took that idea and ran with it alittle bit.. I picked up..

1 Red Onion
About 10 Jalapenos, but I bought extra
3 Lemons, again extra
Mushrooms
and Red skin potatoes.

So I plan on doing.

1 1/2 cups of Red skin potatoes diced in to small chunks
1/2 cup of frozen or fresh Corn
1/4th cup of Red onion
1/4th cup of Mushrooms
1 Jalapeno (more or less to your flavoring)
2-3 teaspoons of Garlic, minced.
2-3 teaspoons of Parsley, dry.
Drizzle with EVOO
Salt and Pepper to taste

I have another BCC (beer can chicken) going on the grill at a low temperature so I figured I'd top rack these and let them slow cook, and maybe toss them on the grill the last few minutes of cooking.

I think If this is good, which it will be, I will take this recipe up a level and add some brats, or smokey/spicy sausage to the mix. Make a meal out of the packs alone..

Will post pictures when done.

Happy Grilling!
-Adam

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Don Marco´s "Wing Thing" Marinade and Sauce

Don Marco´s "Wing Thing" Marinade and Sauce

This stuff is highly addictive especially in wings, but something tells me its gotta be good on pork and fish also.
You really gotta try this, its fruity and flavourful and has a nice warm habanero "afterglow". It also gives your meat the perfect golden colour.

Heres the recipe :


-1 small can peaches, about 7 oz.( incl. the syrup)
-1/4 Cup EVOO
-1/4 Cup Jim Beam
-1 Habanero
-1 Teaspoon ground Chipotle
-1 Teaspoon kosher salt
-1 Tablespoon Texasbbqrub (or your favourite sweet rub)
-juice of 1/2 lime
-1/2 Tablespoon Honey

Grabbed this recipe off of http://www.barbecuebible.com/'s boards.. is a member recipe.. He posted some pictures of wings he has done in this and I must say I cant wait to try. I will definitely switch from habanero to jalapeno for taste.. I think Habanero might be alittle too spicy at first when making this for a group of people..

I would suggests, If making wings, make a double batch of marinade, and set some aside.. toss wings in marinade before throwing on grill, and keep seperate marinade in something that can be set on grill.. Set up grill for indirect cooking, placing a drip pan in uncovered area of charcoal.

As said by him, keep basting during the grill, will make for a very sweet and savory skin!

Thanks to Don Marco for the recipe!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Older grills

Here we have pictures of the first ribs I did on the grill.. Cooked them way too long, didn't pull of the membrane, and generally didn't take much time to figure out how to make ribs... So after they caught fire, I contemplated throwing them out and getting more.. But I didn't I just kept going. They definitely looked better at the end than they really tasted. I wish I had taken pictures of some of the ribs we tried after that.. Much much better. Boiled them first, then threw them on the grill. Have a few different techniques we have tried... I haven't made ribs in awhile actually.. HMM...

This was memorial day.. and this is only the red meats, once again, I wish I would have taken pictures of chicken.. there was probably 14-15 differently marinaded pieces of chicken on that grill. Over all it was one of the best grills we had.

On top rack, we have 4-5 little racks of ribs which weren't that great.. but they were definitely worth the try!

On grates, to left, we have the first and only (so far) brisket we have tried, I enjoyed it, and I think mostly everyone else did.


Lately I've been reading the Barbecue Bible's 'How To Grill', I suggest anyone with a passion for grilling, or even anyone who just likes to grill, go out and pick up this book. I've learned so many tips and techniques I don't think I ever would have known before now. So thus I created this blog, with the intent of taking pictures of everything I grill, and giving my own tips and tricks out, and hopefully receiving some as well. I am always open to suggestions, I love to hear different strategies!

How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques, A Barbecue Bible! Cookbook

This is the very first, just put together picture of my grill. Hadn't even been cooked on yet. That has all changed. I will take another picture now, specially with the modifications I have made and such since then. This is an amazing grill and I would suggest it to anyone. Who doesn't want the choice to cook gas, or charcoal, at any given time?!

First Blog, Kickin' Beercan Chicken!

So This was my first attempt at such a big chicken. Indirect grilling, 2 hours due to weight, and a homemade rub to kill for. This chicken was amazing! I have made cornished hens many times with beer cans, but never a full chicken. I also have never shoved anything in the neck so that the steaming beer will stay in the cavity of the chicken.