“Rippin’ Red Wing Sauce” is hot.  It’s burn your lips hot.  But it’s also loaded with spicy good flavors.  Rippin’ Red starts with cayenne pepper sauce and cayenne peppers, a popular base for many wing sauces.  But, with the addition of plenty of garlic and Parmesan Cheese this sauce is loaded with flavor.  Amazingly good flavor.

It still have enough heat for most of the wing lovers out there.  The heat, however, fades off the lips and tongue quickly but leaves a nice reminder of the heat on the roof of your mouth and throat.  It’s not a crazy blistering heat, but a nice lingering warmth that makes you want to take another bite or two or three.

I used some of the wings I had dissected to come up with yesterday’s blog post on cutting fresh chicken wings instead of pre-packaged frozen wing drumettes and wingettes.  Cooking chicken wings for me is a two part process. First they are rubbed and then smoked until done.  Once the smoking process is over they are flash fried in hot peanut oil to get an extra crispy skin. Because this is a couple of hour procedure I don’t want the wing sauce to cover up the flavor of the smoked chicken and not mask the flavor of my rub.  At first I was afraid Rippin’ Red was going to fail that test, but as the initial heat blast started to fade the chicken and rub flavor were evident.

Another feature of Rippin’ Red that I appreciate it is the texture of the sauce.  Many times hot sauces are pureed to a smooth consistency.  Now, there’s not anything necessarily wrong with that but I really like the somewhat chunky texture of the sauce.  The little bits of garlic in the sauce gives it a little extra something that makes your mouth feel good, especially while your lips are burning.

Next time I’ll add a nice buttermilk/blue cheese sauce to dip the wings in.  The buttermilk and blue cheese will add a great cooling effect and compliment the cayenne quite well.  This time I had to go with chunks of Port Reyes Blue Cheese.  Oh my! What a wonderful combination this is.  If you can get a hold of some Port Reyes Blue Cheese you won’t regret it.  It’s an expensive addition to chicken wings. But well worth it in my opinion.

If you want a wing sauce that’s not your normal, everyday wing sauce check out Rippin’ Red! You can buy the sauce from Hot Sauce Home.

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The cost of the frozen wings can cost as much as $2.00 a pound depending on where you buy them and the time of year.  I was already buying whole chickens when they were on sale and cutting them up myself.  Why couldn’t I just buy me a whole bunch of chicken wings and cut my own.  I promise if you to do this you’ll be happy.  I mean how often can you get a better product at a cheaper price?

The goal is to cut the chicken wing at the joints.  This will give you three pieces.  (Right) Separate the wing “tip” from the “wingette.”  The “wingette” is the middle part of the chicken wing.  Most people don’t bother cooking and eating the wing “tip.”  I save them and use them for making chicken stock.  This way there isn’t any waste.

If you cut through the skin and pull it back a little you’ll be able to see the “knee” joint between the “wingette” and “drumette.” All you need to do is cut between the bones in the joint.  It’s not important to get a perfectly clean-cut, just make sure you separate it there.

There you go a perfectly cut up chicken wing.  Now all you have to do is season it and toss it on the grill or smoker.  You just can’t compare the flavor of the fresh chicken wings with the “enhanced” and frozen chicken wings you’ve bought in bulk.  It only takes about five minutes to cut up three or four pounds of chicken wings.  Honestly, I don’t think it’s all that much easier with the frozen wings and I know it’s cheaper.

Give it a try…

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

Atomic Buffalo Turds! Or as they are commonly referred to ABTs are one of the first BBQ appetizers I fell in love with.  These babies are packed full of flavor and are always a huge crowd pleaser whenever they are served. There are a variety of different ways to make ABTs.  Sometimes using jalapeno “boats” and other times standing up on end.

No matter how they are made there are usually three standard ingredients.  Jalapeno, bacon and some type of cheese.  I think cream cheese is the most popular to use, but any type can be used. Besides the bacon there is often another meat used.  I like to use “lil smokies” because they add a great flavor and provide a little texture to the ABT.

Here’s a step by step instruction on how I make my Atomic Buffalo Turds:

It’s a good practice to use rubber gloves during most of these processes. You don’t want to get the capsaicin on your hands, trust me on this one.  I’ve made the mistake, too many times, of thinking I could do this part and not end up burning some part of my body.  (Left) Wash the jalapenos and then cut them in half length wise.  Remove the seeds and veins.  I use an old fashion  potato peeler to scrap the insides out of the jalapenos. (Right) Fill the jalapeno cavity with cream cheese.

(Left) Next, give the cream cheese a good dash of your favorite BBQ rub.  (Right) Take some lil smokies and cut them in half.  Add a piece of sausage to each jalapeno.  You can use a whole sausage if you want, but I find a half piece is enough.

(Left) Wrap each ABT in half a slice of bacon.  You can use thick bacon if you want, but I think the thin sliced works the best.  Secure the bacon with a toothpick. (Right) Another dash of the BBQ rub goes on next.  Now you’re ready to put them on the smoker.

I prefer to smoke my ABTs at 225 degrees until the bacon is almost done and then crank the heat up to about 300 degrees until the bacon gets good and crisp.  No sauce is necessary but I like to serve my ABTs with a little additional hot sauce or BBQ sauce for dipping if someone wants a little additional flavor.

You don’t need a smoker to make great Atomic Buffalo Turds.  Just set your gas or charcoal grill up with indirect heat.  The bacon and sausage is going to drip so make sure they aren’t directly over the heat source and you’ll be just time.

NOTE:  If you don’t like the heat jalapenos normally have here is a tip on how to tame them.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

First!  My apologize to the Bangles…it was just too easy!

Second!  It’s not Monday anymore but what the heck it’s still a good headline!

If you’ve been following the last saga of my trip to the Fancy Food Show you know that I’ve become the owner of a fair amount of Buffalo Style Hot Sauce from Tabasco.  So, it seemed only appropriate that I cook something with the hot sauce.  There will be more, at a later date, about the hot sauce itself, but in the mean time I adapted a recipe from one of my favorite new cookbooks The Meatball Shop Cookbook by Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow.  I’ve adapted their Mini Buffalo Chicken Balls for the grill and turned this into a salad instead of an appetizer.

The “baking” of the meatballs on the grill, using indirect heat, is because the meatballs are not firm enough to set on grill grates without falling apart.  By cooking them a little first you can then grill them without any problem.

Enjoy!

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

A salad without lettuce?  Who would have thought this would be something that tasted awesome.   I saw this on the Fine Cooking website and figured it would be a novel idea to try and blog about.  Little did I know that it would, in fact, be a flavorful and extremely tasty appetizer.  You’ve just got to try this recipe.

Grilled Bread Salad With Basil and Cherry Tomatoes

A trip to the grill gives the makings of a classic Italian bread salad—a good crusty loaf of bread, ripe summer tomatoes, and basil—a little smokiness and crisp texture. Because this salad can sit out at room temperature for an hour or two, it’s the perfect side for a picnic or barbecue. If you can’t find bocconcini, substitute a large fresh mozzarella cut into 1-inch pieces.

Ingredients:

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

Watermelon Rind that tasted good!  Who would have thought that?  Certainly not me.  I was originally going to make a fresh peach chutney to go with this dish but it’s a little early to find peaches in the store.  This led to a little searching through cookbooks and the internet.  I came across a lot different chutney recipes and since I’d just finished cutting up a watermelon and had a bowl full of rinds I figured I’d give it a try.  And I’m so glad I did.

This recipe is a little different from the previous plank grilling recipes in this series.  Normally, you pre-heat the planks until they just start to smolder.  With this one you heat the plank until it actually starts to burn.  You want a nice dark char on the plank.

Once you’ve got the char, turn the heat down and put the brie on the plank.  Close the lid and cook the brie for about 20 minutes or until it gets nice and soft.

Once the brie is soft, plate it and top with the chutney.  Serve with grilled crostini.

What I found was that I didn’t really care for the brie by itself and the watermelon rind chutney was just okay.  But it made for a fantastic flavor when combined.  I really, really liked this appetizer and it will likely become a regular for our family get together. (Giant thank you to Chef Robin White for the inspiration and technique for this blog post)

Watermelon Rind Chutney

Ingredients:

• 6 cups 1/2″ diced watermelon rind
• 1½ cups cider vinegar
• 1½ cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• ¼ cup fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2  tbsps minced jalapeno, with or without seeds.
• 1½ tbsps minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp crushed black peppercorns

Directions:

Remove the watermelon flesh from rind.  Make sure you remove all the pink flesh from rind.  With a sharp knife remove the green peel and discard.  Cut the rind into 1/2 inch cubes.

In a 4-quart saucepan, combine rind, cider vinegar, water, sugar, ginger, cayenne peppers, garlic, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil, and stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer 45–55 minutes or until rind is tender and translucent and liquid is syrupy.

Cool chutney and chill in airtight container for 1–3 days to allow flavors to mellow.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

In Hawaii it seems Spam is so popular it’s known as “The Hawaiian Steak.”  One of the results of this love of Spam is a delicacy known as Spam Musubi.

Readers of this blog will know that I enjoy Asian flavor, they will also know that I Spam.  So a dish that incorporates Asian flavors and Spam would right up my alley.  There’s just something about the saltiness of the Spam combined with a nice teriyaki glaze/dipping sauce that when combined with the rice and nori makes for a dish that just tickles my taste buds.

I mean, really, what could possibly be better than Spam Sushi?  Especially if you’ve smoked the Spam and then grilled it to a nice carmelized piece of processed meat perfection.  I recently had the chance to make up some Spam Musubi for my daughter who was visiting.

The Spam slices went on the Traeger the night before, just because of time constraints the next day when we were making the Musubi.  Since I was planning to grill them the next day, and I didn’t want them to dry out on the grill, I smoked the slices at a low temp so all the fat wouldn’t render out.

The next day I fired up the RED gas grill with ManGrates and seared some nice grill marks in the Spam slices.  The grill marks were just an added little touch that doesn’t matter much since everything is covered in rice and nori anyway.  I lightly glazed the Spam slices with Aloha – Barbecue Sauce.  This gave the Spam some sweetness to match the saltiness.  It was a great combination.

Once the Spam grilled we assembled the tasty treats using a Spam Musubi Sushi Rice Press .  I know it’s cheating in some circles but hey I’m not a sushi chef and wanted the end result to be as good as it could be.  And they were.

If you’re going to try making Spam Musubi use a good quality sushi grade rice to make your sushi rice.  Here’s a simple sushi rice recipe, from Alton Brown, to follow the first time.  Then assemble you musubi.  Although most spam musubi is done with a thick portion of rice and covered with thin slices of spam and nori I prefer musubi done like the picture above.  A thinner layer of rice, a Spam slice, and then another thin layer of rice.  And then the whole thing is covered in nori.  (Use a couple grains of your sticky sushi rice to secure your nori.)

E `ai ka-ua

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

(Click here to read the previous blog post)

The first thing I changed was the Apple Coulis.  It was really just far to sweet.  It would have been great spooned over vanilla ice cream but as a salad it just didn’t work.  I took the remainder of the Apple Coulis and reduced it on the stove by about half.  This gave me a much thicker sauce that I figured would cover the apples and greens better.  Once I got the thickness I wanted I started adding apple cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until I got the bite I wanted.  I ended adding another 2 teaspoons of vinegar.  This gave me a nice sweet and sour flavor.

So the Apple Coulis recipe now looks like this:

Apple Coulis

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup apple sauce
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Apple cider vinegar

Directions:

In a small saucepan combine sugar, water and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Stir in the apple sauce and cook until reduced by 1/2. Stir frequently to avoid burning. Turn off head and stir in vinegar. Let cool completely before serving.

The second change I made was to switch up the cheese.  Although the grilling cheese was good it didn’t have a flavor that provided enough contrast to the sweetness in the apples.  This time I used a really nice Irish White Cheddar.  The Irish Cheddar is very sharp and paired very nicely with the apples and the coulis.

Plating was pretty much the same.  A little Apple Coulis on the bottom of the salad bowl, greens, apples and nuts.  This was a much better salad.  Where the first salad was good, the second time around the salad was good enough that I would actually make it again.

When you are dealing with thousands of of BBQ enthusiasts for some reason salad doesn’t appear near the top of the list of “must haves.”  So I figured a salad would be different enough to give me a slight edge in the voting.  Toss in some Yanni Grilling Cheese and I figured I had the potential for a great salad.

I stopped by the Roseville Farmer’s Market and three varieties of apples.  Fuji, Granny Smith and McIntosh.  Each variety of apple grills up slightly differently and I wanted the different textures of grilled apples to compliment the grilling cheese and spring mix salad I was planning to use.

The Yanni Grilling cheese was an interesting thing to try out.  My thought was the grill marks on the cheese and the grill marks on the apples would make for a very nice looking salad.

I was hoping for something along the lines of a sweet salad with a little savory bite towards the end.  I made up an apple coulis that I thought would work.

Apple Coulis

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup apple sauce
• 2 teaspoons Apple cider vinegar

Directions:

In a small saucepan combine sugar, water and corn syrup.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat.  Let simmer until liquid reduces slightly, about 4 or 5 minutes.  Stir in the apple sauce and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes.  Stir constantly to avoid burning.  Turn off head and stir in vinegar.  Let cool completely before serving.

To make up the salad start by coring and slicing the apples in bite size pieces.  Spray the apple slices with non-stick spray and sprinkle both sides with sugar.  By spraying the apple slices instead of your grill grates you’ll have less sticking to the grates.  Also, by spraying non-stick cooking spray directly on the grill grates you create flares which can lead to a bitter taste.  The spray on the apples combined with the sugar will give you great grill marks on your apples.

Once the apples have grill marks on the first side turn them over and grill the second side.  Becareful to not over cook the apple slices, you want them to be warm but not cook the center of the apple slices.  Over cooking will give you soft mushy apples that won’t go well with the salad greens.  The texture just won’t be good.

Once the apples are cooked remove them from the grill and allow them to cool completely.  I cooled some of the slices to room temperature and cooled some in the refrigerator until they were cold.  I preferred the cold slices better in the salad.

At the same time grill the cheese.  You’ve got to make sure the cheese is grilled quickly because if you don’t it will get too soft to turn over.  I tried a couple different times to get it to work out “as advertised” but wasn’t able to get it to work out correctly.  Cool the cheese and slice it.

Put a small amout of the Apple Coulis on the bottom of your plate or salad bowl.  Place a small mound of greens on top of the apple coulis.  Layer the apples and cheese on top of the greens.  I also picked up some great “Sweet & Savory” nuts at the Farmer’s Market from the El Dorado Nuts and Fudge Company and I chopped a small handful of these nuts and sprinkled them over the top of the salad.  Dizzle a little more Apple Coulis over the top and you’ve got your salad.

I cranked up one of the Weber Smokey Mountain smokers with some avocado wood.  Avocado wood is a somewhat hard wood that goes great with chicken and pork.  It’s a mild wood that should be treated like you would a fruit wood.

The wings were seasoned with Simply Marvelous Season All and smoked at 225 degrees for about 2 hours.  Because it was a busy day I let the wings cool and put them into the refrigerator for eating at a later date.

After sitting in the refrigerator for a couple of days I took the wings out of the refrigerator and let them come up to room temperature.

After the wings warmed up a little I gave them a little milk dunk and a dust of flour.

After letting the flour set into the Masterbuilt Butterball Indoor Turkey Fryer they went for about 10 minutes.  They came out nice and crisp.

The wings got a coating of Sweet Baby Ray’s new “Original Dipping Sauce”  The sauce has a mild horseradish flavor and complimented the season all and avocado wood.