Okay, let me admit this right at the beginning.  I love Paula Deen!

There’s a couple of reasons why I love Paula Deen.  Certainly one of those reasons is we share a devotion to butter.  Another reason is an admiration of how she’s worked her way into the a position of respect in the TV food world.  The other is her restaurant, Lady & Sons, in Savannah, Georgia.  A couple of years when I was in Savannah I had to get in line, 5 hours in advance of our hopeful dining experience just for a chance to eat lunch there.  I got in and ate myself into a southern food coma.  It was simply marvelous.

Any, I digress…

Mrs. Grail was watching a recent episode of Paula Deen.  I didn’t pay a great deal of attention to the show because, quite frankly I wasn’t all that interested in learning how to cook Mexican food from Paula Deen.  But when she got to dessert she got my attention.  The dessert quesadilla was something that I immediately knew I had to try on the grill.  So here’s my take on Paula Deen’s Dessert Quesadilla.

Banana Dessert Quesadilla

Ingredients:

• Nonstick, nonflammable cooking spray
• 2 (10-inch) flour tortillas
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 medium banana, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar, plus more for top
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Vanilla ice cream
• Caramel sauce
• Dark Chocolate, grated
• A pinch of Chipotle Powder

Directions

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After two seasons of BBQ Pitmasters on TLC there was a lot of pre-showing discussion about the merits of “Best In Smoke.”  I found it tremendously interesting how much people were bashing a show even before it appeared, based solely on press releases and and a teaser video or two (one of which is available here).  I mean really, it’s about BBQ and grilling so there’s always something to learn.   Compared to most BBQ/Grilling shows on television “Best In Smoke” is indeed worth a watch.  It’s not about competition BBQ as much as it’s about different cooking techniques.  If you’re into competition BBQ it might not be the best show, but if you’re all about increasing your knowledge about flavor profiles and other things outside of the normal comp BBQ arena chances are you’ll find something interesting here.

The first thing I appreciated about the first episode was the quality of judges:

There are a lot of knowledgeable BBQ people in the world but there are few that compare with Amy Mills. Amy Mills has a BBQ pedigree few people can top and as author of one of the most popular BBQ cookbooks, Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue, she has proven she knows what she’s talking about.  Although, Tim Love, isn’t a traditional BBQ chef his approach to western cooking has earn him accolades through out the US.  His book Tim Love on the Lonesome Dove Trail showcases his skills and ability to combine ingredients for a unique twist on western cooking. Mitchell Davis as Vice President of the James Beard Foundation and author of Kitchen Sense: More than 600 Recipes to Make You a Great Home Cook provides a unique judging approach different from your traditional BBQ judge.

It appears, for the most part, Food Network chose a group of contestants with serious BBQ chops.

• “Famous Dave” Anderson (Minneapolis) – Founder, Famous Dave’s America
• Chris Hart (Boston) – Winner, Jack Daniels’s Invitational World Championship BBQ 2009
• Sara Horowitz (El Paso) – 2^nd place, Versus National BBQ Championship Series
• Matt Lang (Brooklyn, NY) – Former Head Chef, Fette Sau
• Chris Lilly (Decatur, Ala.) – Vice President, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q Restaurant
• Brad Orrison (Ocean Springs, Miss.) – Founder, The Shed BBQ & Blues Joint

I’m not exactly sure why Sara Horowitz makes an appearance with all the other contestants.  Sara proved her cooking abilities on the first season of Gordon Ramsey’s “Hell’s Kitchen” and second place in the first real BBQ cooking series, Versus National BBQ Series showed us she could be cook BBQ but where’s she been the last three years.  According to her interview shots on the show she’s running a failing catering business in El Paso, Texas.  Compared to the other five on the list, she just doesn’t seem to fit.

I enjoyed the first episode and will watch the remaining three episodes.  The show not only gives you a glimpse into “real” BBQ it also provides some very nice cooking ideas.  Even though Sara was eliminated the first episode, and I’m not sure why she’s there I will be giving her cranberry/nut crusted salmon a little BBQ Grail twist in the very near future.

For us backyard guys seeing the professional cooks mess up on timing was nice to see.  I don’t feel all that bad now when I can’t get everything off the grill at the exact time I had hoped.  The only problem I have with the show is the judges watch the participants preparing everything.  Without fail whenever a contestant pointed out something they did wrong, like Chris Hart’s chicken timing, the judges seemed to point out the error when giving their critiques.

“Best of Smoke” can be seen on the Food Network on Sunday’s.  Check your provider listings for the time it airs in your zone.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

Ground pork with garlic, onions and all the spices.

On a recent episode of “The Next Food Network Star” one of the contestants, Aarti Sequeira made a dish called Kofto Kebabs.  Her dish was excellently executed and was popular with the judges and dinner guests.

Every once in awhile I get the urge to recreate a dish from one of the realty TV cooking shows I often find myself watching.  I knew immediately that Aarti’s dish was was one that I needed to adapt to the grill or smoker.

As is often the case, Google was my friend.  I started comparing recipes and soon realized the spices used in making typical Kofto Kebabs was very similar to the spices I might use in making up a BBQ rub.

From my research I learned that Kofto Kebabs are most often made with lamb and/or beef.  Fish can be used, and there are vegetarian versions out there.   I used pork for mine.  I know it’s way out of the box for a middle eastern dish, but because Kofto is also found in South Asia and the Balkans it might not be so bad.

The seasoned ground pork is formed into meatballs and skewered on the smoker.

After a little more than 60 minutes the Kofto Kebabs are almost ready.

Kebabs off the smoker and resting.

Two meatballs, some slaw and pita bread.

Everything all wrapped up with a Cilantro Chipotle Sauce.

This was an amazing bite of food. The pork on the smoker gave this a great flavor.

BBQ Grail’s Pork Kofto Kebabs

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground pork
• 4 garlic gloves, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Skewers (if bamboo skewers are used soak them in water for at least 30 minutes)

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Mix with your hands until well blended.  Form the seasoned pork mixture into balls and put them on the skewers.  Place kebabs on a baking dish and cover.  Refrigerate  for at least 30 minutes.

Pre-heat your smoker or grill.  Cook/smoke the kebabs to the desired degree of doneness.

Serve on pita bread with the Cilantro Chipotle Sauce and cole slaw.

BBQ Grail’s Cilantro Chipotle Sauce

• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup mayo
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Art of Chipotle Paste with Adobo)
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Note:  You can adjust the chipotle flavor by using more or less of the paste.  You can also use canned chipotles in adobo instead.

When I attended the Winter Fancy Food Show I got a chance to visit with the people from Johnny’s Fine Foods.  I’ve used their French Dip Au Jus Sauce concentrate for years for a variety of different cooking  uses.

I was able to come away from the show with a bottle of their new French Onion flavored Au Jus Sauce.  The main purpose of this product is to make French Onion Soup but I knew immediately when I saw it that it was going to end up as a brisket injection.

The thought of having a different type of injection flavor for my brisket was something I’ve wanted to try for quite some time.  But it wasn’t brisket that ended up getting the French Onion injection.  It was beef shank.  And as you’ll see this may have been the highlight of this meal.

Beef shank is part of the leg of a heifer or steer.  Because of the nature of this cut of beef it is very sinewy and tough.  It’s very lean and hard to cook.  This may be the hardest to cook cut of beef on the entire cow.  And it’s pretty darn ugly too.

There was a lot of trimming that needed to be done.  The shank has more of the consistency of muscle than meat and it had a layer of “skin” and fat that needed to be trimmed off.

I mixed up 2 cups of the the French Onion au jus and injected the shank. What was interesting was how much liquid went into this small 6 pound shank. Because of the muscle I was injecting into at times it was like the injection was under pressure. Instead of just running back out it would shoot liquid up in the air a foot or two. It made for some exciting prep time.

Because the shank is so tough the only way I was going to get it tender was to braise it.  But since this is blog is all about BBQ I had to put it on the smoker for a couple of hours after the injection.  225 degrees for three hours gave it just the right amount of smoke flavor.

You can see the nice color the hickory and cherry wood gave the shank.   Even after three hours in the heat and with 2 cups of injection the shank released  very little liquid.  I was really surprised at this.

After smoking the shank went into a braising liquid of beef broth, onions, carrots, parsnips and turnips for four more hours. You can see in the picture how much the meat pulled back from the bone.

Parsnips, turnips and carrots with the beef shank ready to put on the table.

And plated with the Smoked Brisket Risotto

So here’s the story.  The shank meat was just okay.  You’d think that after so long in the whole cooking process that it would just be falling off the bone but it wasn’t.  It was still a little tough.  The flavor wasn’t all that appealing either.  It had a very gamey flavor to it.  To be honest this may have been the first and last beef shank I  ever cook.

]]> http://thebbqgrail.com/2010/beef-shanks-no-thanks/feed/ 5 http://thebbqgrail.com/2008/smoke-in-da-eye-is-getting-more-famous/ http://thebbqgrail.com/2008/smoke-in-da-eye-is-getting-more-famous/#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 06:00:03 +0000 Larry http://thebbqgrail.com/?p=74 On April 10th I posted about a member of the BBQ Brethren who had auditioned for the new Bobby Flay show on the Food Netowrk. In addition to having the most watched audition video Clint has now been written up in the New York Post Blog.

Check out Clint’s blog entry.

Now that my wife and I are “empty nesters” we are enjoy trying different types of foods and flavor profiles that we couldn’t try with kids at home. We are also trying to eat healthier. Ellie Krieger’s book “The Food You Crave” has given us several great meals that don’t necessarily taste “healthy.”

Tonight we tried her Grill Thai Beef Salad. (You can find the recipe on the Food Network here)

Celeste whipped up the marinade this morning and got flank steak soaking away in what smelled like a fantastic mixture of ginger, soy and garlic chili sauce.

After getting a nice bed of goals on my trusty weber kettle I got to grilling the flank steak:

Check out the close up of the chili sauce and garlic along with other morsels of tasty goodness.

All and all this was a meal that was both satisfying and flavorful. The combination of the basil and cilantro in the salad combined with the chili sauce marinade made of a taste that satisfied my need for a little heat, but wasn’t overpowering.

Check out the submission by fellow BBQ Brethren member Smoke In Da Eye. If you love his video leave him a comment.

Clint! Hope you make it on the show!

Smoke In Da Eye