I made a trip to Seattle recently which included a stop at Pikes Public Market. There are so many amazing foods to try Pikes. This trip I picked up some Pappardelles Chipotle Fettucine. Pappardelles one of the premier makers of artisanal pastas. They make over 100 different handcrafted dried pastas and raviolis. One of the great aspects of Pappardelles pasta is they take great pride in their product and only distribute through certified farmer’s markets and mail order from their own site (www.pappardellespasta.com).
When I purchased the pasta I had no idea what I was going to make with it. But I knew when I saw and tasted this pasta that I had to come up with something. In addition to the protein I wasn’t quite sure what sauce to serve with it. After some thought I decided to go towards a more Mexican style dish. I picked up a couple of Tomatillos and a bunch of cilantro. What I came up with is a Tomatillo Chipotle Cream Sauce served with a grass-fed chicken I purchased at local farmer’s market.
Continue reading Dirty Chicken with Tomatillo Cilantro Cream Sauce on Chipotle Pasta
Mrs Grail doesn’t always appreciate “smoke” as much as I do. So last night when it came time to prepare the chicken she requested she requested it be grilled. I didn’t want to just do the normal grilled chicken with just a seasoning one it so I decided to brine it.
We don’t shop on Sunday so I was limited to what I had in the pantry for the brine. Thankfully, we always have plenty of Kosher salt and brown sugar. But what was I going to add to the brine to give it a little POP? This is what I came up with:
It’s about getting down and dirty. You’ve got to get hands-on, get stuck in and extract the most from the food in the most primal way. Use your hands to crush and combine the fresh herbs, garlic and spices. Massage the marinade into the meat, and press the seasonings in with your hands instead of using a brush. I show you how to improvise and impart the best flavors possible with using something as simple as a bunch of mixed fresh herbs tied to a wooden dowel with twine. Discard the roasting rack and other exotic equipment — you won’t need it. Sometimes restraint can be difficult, but even if you are limited by your ingredients, it doesn’t mean you’re limited in the flavors you can produce. — Adam Perry Lang in the Introduction to BBQ 25.
I’m not sure I have a BBQ idol, but if I did it would be Adam Perry Lang (APL). Over the last couple of years no single person has influenced me more in my BBQ techniques than APL.
I can remember one of the biggest “I’ve just got to do that” moments was after watching an episode of the Food Network’s “Th Best Thing I Ever Ate.” Today I can’t remember who the host of that particular segment was, but I do remember they were raving about the smoke beef ribs at APL’s restaurant in New York City.
Continue reading Adam Perry Lang’s “BBQ 25″
Let me just cut to the chase. Jim ‘N Nick’s was everything, and I do mean everything, I want in a restaurant. Great atmosphere, great service and most importantly outstanding food. And what is most astounding is that this is a chain restaurant. The meal we ate last night more than made up for the nightmare of a meal we had the previous evening.
The meal came with with baskets of these cheese biscuits/rolls. Eating one of these was impossible so we inhaled a couple baskets of them. Eating one of these biscuits made the meal better than the previous nights whole meal.
Continue reading Memphis In May #5: Jim ‘N Nick’s Is What I Needed
First cook on the new Char-Broil RED Grill was 60 chicken wing drumettes for a review of some BBQ sauces. The grill performed great. I was amazed at how fast it got hot. I even tackled some smoking during the first cook.
Used one of the Wild Cherry wood "pucks" from Appalachia Smokers. The 3 burner RED Grill is divided into two sections. One section with 2 burners and one section with 1 burner. I used the smaller side for lighting the wood.
Continue reading My New Char-Broil RED Infrared Grill (Part 2)
Finished putting together the Char-Broil RED Grill. First cook was 60 chicken wing drumettes for the Wing Ding Party. It’s going to take some getting used to the infrared heat. Wondering about the grease that collects in the troughs. Started a small grease fire when I cranked up the heat at the end to
Continue reading … Grail Note: 4/30/2010
I love chicken wings. They are small bite sized morsels of poultry goodness. I’ve smoked wings lots of time and wanted to give something a little different.
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.
Continue reading Smoked and Fried Chicken Wings
The Sioux City Journal does a great job of promoting BBQ with online videos. Here’s the most recent video and The BBQ Grail gets a mention for the Rosemary Garlic Poultry Brine recently posted.
I made a trip to Seattle recently which included a stop at Pikes Public Market. There are so many amazing foods to try Pikes. This trip I picked up some Pappardelles Chipotle Fettucine. Pappardelles one of the premier makers of artisanal pastas. They make over 100 different handcrafted dried pastas and raviolis. One of the great aspects of Pappardelles pasta is they take great pride in their product and only distribute through certified farmer’s markets and mail order from their own site (www.pappardellespasta.com).
