I stop into my local supermarket this morning to pick up some salmon for dinner and left with steelhead instead.  I guess, based on the paragraph above I did actually get salmon but since I’ve never grilled steelhead I figured I’d try something a little different. It really wasn’t all that different, the taste was slightly different but most people at the table didn’t really know the different.

Mrs. Grail was cleaning out a cupboard the other day and came across a bottle of Salmonberry Syrup we picked up on a cruise to Alaska several years ago.  I thought it would be nice to come up with a glaze using the syrup for the steelhead.  I served the steelhead on a bed of Israeli Couscous mixed with grilled summer squash. (The recipe for the Grilled Squash Couscous will post tomorrow)

One of the reasons I like to grill this type of fish is because it’s just so easy to do.  Brush the fish with a little olive oil, season and toss it on the grill.  This time around I seasoned the steelhead with Todd’s Crabby Dirt.  Dirt adds a nice flavorful kick to the fish that lets you know it’s there without a huge kick.

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In recognition of June 21, the official start of the 2011 grilling season, and America’s upcoming birthday (Start planning your July 4 theme barbecue party now!), we wanted to spotlight ginger’s natural talent as a meat tenderizer. By using ginger on protein you can produce better, more tender results.

The use of ginger as a meat tenderizer was first practiced in India thousands of years ago. Meat tenderizers are proteolytic enzymes or proteases; enzymes specialized in breaking the peptide bonds between amino acids found in complex proteins. Meat is held together by a complex protein called collagen, and aside from mechanical tenderization and cooking, enzymes are the only other available meat tenderizers. Meat tenderizers are extracted from a number of natural source, including citrus, tomato, papaya, pineapple, fig and ginger. These tenderizing ingredients are generally accompanied by a liquid mixture comprised of oil, vinegar and spices known as marinade (to soak) prior to cooking or grilling.

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

Rolled and ready for the grill

I remember the first time I ever laid my eyes on a porchetta.  I had stopped at the Fatted Calf in Napa for some sausages and there in the case of this beautiful piece of meat art.  What exactly is porchetta?

According to Wikipedia a Porchetta is a savory, fatty, and moist boneless pork roast of Italian culinary tradition. The body of the pig is gutted, de-boned, arranged carefully with layers of stuffing, meat, fat, and skin, then rolled, spitted, and roasted, traditionally over wood. Porchetta is usually heavily salted in addition to being stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel, or other herbs, often wild.

You aren’t likely to see a traditional porchetta very often in your local meat market.  What you’ll normally find is a butterflied pork loin rolled with the veggies and then wrapped in a pork belly with the skin side out.  Cooking it this way will give you a fatty and tasteful piece of pork with a crispy skin covering.  It’s just heaven on a plate.  Anyway, I digress…

After about an hour on the kettle

Ever since that day in Napa I knew that one day I would have to try cooking a porchetta at home.  My goal, as I’ve mentioned before, for the BBQ Grail Blog in 2011 is to try and incorporate Asian flavors into traditional American BBQ/Grilling.  So I decided a month or so ago to to combine my goal with my desire to cook porchetta.  I’ve spent a lot of time researching flavors and ingredients.  This is my first take on an Asian Porchetta.

(DISCLAIMER: This is the first take on an original BBQ Grail recipe.  Although the flavors were good but there is plenty of room for improvement.  Try these at your own risk.  I would very much appreciate any feedback or positive suggestions would be greatly appreciated.)

I started with some some grass fed pork bellies from the local farmer’s market that I had ordered a week ago or so.  When they arrived they were labeled as “side meat,” which is another name for belly.  The cuts I got were very slim and lean and the skin had been removed.  It wasn’t exactly what I wanted but I gave them a go any way.

About 90 minutes in with the first basting of glaze.

I brined the bellies overnight in the Asian Ginger Brine.  In tasting the brine, before the bellies went in, I had the impression that I probably should only brine for four hours.  But it was late so I put them in.  In hindsight because of how thin the meat was the eight hours in the brine was too much.  I probably would have been dead on with a brine of four hours.  The brine has multiple flavors going on and it was just to strong for this cut of meat.  With a traditional pork belly or pork loin overnight would have been fine.  Next time, and there will be a next time, I’ll butterfly a pork loin and use that.

My plan was to use carrots, jicama, bok choy, asparagus and leeks. Due to the thin cuts of belly I didn’t have enough meat surface to use more than the asparagus, bok choy leaves, and leeks.    Next time I’ll make sure I have enough area to get more vegetables in the roll.  The asparagus was par-cooked a couple of minutes to make sure it would be done completely when the porchetta was done.  Leaving the asparagus out in order to get more of the other vegetables in the roll would also be a good idea.

My first thought was to use a smoker to cook the porchetta, but after some pondering I decided the smoke would be too much.  I wasn’t sure how the smoke flavor would fuse with all the combinations of flavors in the brine and glaze.  Instead I decided to use my 26″ Weber kettle set up for indirect heat.  No wood, just charcoal.  It worked great.  This is probably the only step I know I’ll keep.  The glaze has lots of sugar in it, so wait until the last 30 minutes or so to start basting so the sugars don’t burn.

One of the challenges is making sure the porchetta is cooked to the proper temperature.  I like to cook pork loins to 145 degrees, wrap in foil and then rest for 20 minutes.  Because of the rolling of the thin cuts of meat taking an internal temp is difficult.  Make sure you use a good instant read thermometer and check the temp in a couple of locations.  Making sure the juices run clear is another good way to tell if your meat is done.

After resting, slice the meat and plate.  I used baby red potatoes roasted in the oven.  Ladle the brother around the potatoes and serve immediately.

Asian Ginger Brine

A great deal of detail was paid to the brine recipe.  A proper brine ratio of water to salt is important.  I listed the ingredient brands for the brine because I calculated the amount of sodium in each so that I kept the proper ratio of salt to water.  If you use different ingredients you will want to pay close attention to the amount of sodium in each to maintain the correct ration.

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts water
• 1/4  cup turbinado
• 1/4 cup mirin
• ¼ cup Ohsawa Tamari Soy Sauce
• 3 tablespoons, Morton Kosher Salt
• 1/2 cup Red Boat Fish Sauce
• 1/8  cup szechuan peppercorns
• ¼ cup fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 star anise pod, whole
• 2 tablespoons Shichimi Togarashi

Directions:

Heat water, sugar, tamari, mirin and salt to a boil in a saucepan over medium high heat to a boil.  Stir occasionally to dissolve.  When dissolved add peppercorns, ginger, star anise and togarashi.

Decrease heat and simmer for 20 minutes to blend all ingredients.  Remove from heat.  Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate before using.

Asian Pork Miso Broth

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds pork bones (I used a couple pounds of pork rib trimmings)
• 1 medium white onion, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, whole
• 2 inch section of ginger, cut into slices
• 1 inch section of ginger, skinned and large diced
• 1 stalk of leek, sliced
• 1/4 cup miso
• Oil for frying
• water

Directions:

Place the pork bones in a large pot and cover with water.  Bring pot to a boil and cook for five minutes.   While the water comes to a boil saute the onion, leeks and garlic in oil.  Make sure you cook the veggies and get a nice dark caramelization on them.  This is important for a deep rich flavor.  When the pork has boil for five minutes, drain the water, rinse the meat and clean the pot.  Return pork bones to the pot and cover with water.  Add the cooked veggies and the sliced ginger.  Bring the whole mixture to a boil, reduce heat and cover.  Simmer for 5 or 6 hours.  Remove any foam that appears and add water to keep everything covered.

After cooking, strain off all the bones, fat and veggies using a fine mesh strainer and cheese cloth.  Chill overnight.  The next day remove any fat that forms on the top.  Return to the stove and gently reheat the broth adding whole piece of ginger and 1/3 cup miso.  Once you add the miso do not allow the broth to boil.  Let the broth simmer for an hour.  Remove the ginger and strain once more.  It’s ready to serve.

BBQ Grail Miso Glaze

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Mirin
• 1/2 cup Blood Orange juice
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce ( I used Oshawa)
• 1/2 cup Hoisin sauce
• 1/2 cup Asian Pork Broth
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup Rice Wine Vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan.  Heat gently and reduce to a thicker syrup like consistency.

(NOTE: Thanks to Dining Details for some of the inspiration for Miso Glaze.)

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

Each month three or four of my favorite internet BBQ friends will use the same four or five ingredients to cook a meal.  The only real rule is that the “protein” must be cooked outdoors.  It should be interesting to see what each of these experienced outdoor chefs have up their sleeves each month.  At the end of this post you will find a brief description of their blogs and links to the great creations they’ve come up with.

This month’s challenge was to come up with a meal that contained the following ingredients:

• Fish
• Couscous
• Figs
• Eggplant

When the first ingredients were announced I knew I wanted to do a whole fish.  The main reason was that I have very little experience with grilling whole fish and I knew this would be a good time to give it a try.

One of my favorite markets to shop at when I want the nicest produce and fish is our local Nugget Market.  I know that I can always find something different to cook there.  When I walked into the meat department my eyes were drawn quickly to the bright colors of the (farmed) Golden Trout.

California Golden Trout: Once called the Volcano Creek Golden Trout, this species was designated as the State Fish by the California Legislature in 1947. Their range encompasses approximately 120 miles of stream habitat found mostly within the Golden Trout Wilderness high in the Sierras. The California golden trout is a State Species of Special Concern (Source: Fish Species of Special Concern in California, CA DFG, Second Edition, June 1995.) and a Forest Service classified Sensitive Species. The golden is the most likely California-native species to be federally listed as endangered, due to habitat degradation, primarily by livestock, and planting of non-native trout species. (Courtesy California Trout, Inc.  www.caltrout.org)

Coming up with how to  use Couscous wasn’t all that hard.  I bought a bag of Israeli Couscous and just followed the directions on the package for pilaf type version of Couscous.  I’m not sure if there is any difference between couscous and Israeli Couscous other than the size.  So since I was going to photograph the final plate I chose the much bigger Israeli Couscous.

Very few people in my family like eggplant.  We don’t like the flavor and we don’t like the texture.  So coming up with a way to improve flavor and texture was the biggest goal.  I read a lot about eggplant on the internet and it seems my family is not alone in disliking eggplant.  The first technique I learned was that you could eliminate the bitter taste eggplant sometimes has AND firm it up by slicing and salting it 15 minutes or so before cooking.  (Explanation of how to do this is in the recipe below)

Next up, what to do with figs.  I’ve never eaten a fig, that I know of, other than in a Fig Newton so I had no idea of what do with it.  After considerable reading and searching my cookbooks I decided a Fig Butter would be the best way to go.

Here’s the steps to Maple Planked Grilled Golden Trout:
- Soak your wood plank.  (I use wood planks from Rocky Trail)  Most directions for wood planks state you should soak your planks for 30 minutes.  I have found much better luck soaking them for an extended period of time, no less than 2 hours.

- Pre-heat your wood, charcoal or gas grill to hot.  Although I have all three I think it’s much easier to properly plank cook food on a gas grill than wood or charcoal.  Controlling the heat is key to success and it’s just easier on a gas grill.

- Wash, dry and season your fish with your favorite fish seasoning.  I used just kosher salt.  I wanted to be able to taste all the additional flavors from the lemon and figs.

Mrs. Grail also made some great bread.

- Place wood plank in the middle of your grill.  Once the wood starts to smoke you are ready to put your fish on.

- Place a layer of lemon slices on the wood plank.  To really add flavor to your fish you can also layer some herbs on top of the lemon slices.  Place the fish on top of the lemon slices.  Layer another row of lemon slices on top of the fish.

- Reduce heat to medium and close the lid to your grill.  Don’t open the lid again (if your looking, you ain’t cooking) for about 15 minutes.  Check temperature of your fish.  The recommended internal temperature for properly cooked trout is 145 degrees.  However, I prefer to take my fish off the grill about 10 degrees cooler than that.  Just like every other meat if you cook it to the “recommended” internal temp it’s likely over cooked.

- Let the fish rest for at least five minutes while you plate the couscous.  Lay the whole fish on top of the couscous, spoon the fig butter over the fish and serve immediately.

Recipes:

Fig Compound Butter

• 3 tablespoons fig preserves
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt (kosher or sea)
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Melt butter in a small skillet.  Add cinnamon, ginger root, salt and zest.  Saute over low heat, just until the ginger is tender.  Add the fig preserves and heat through.  The fig preserves will tak a little coaxing to melt.  Use a whip or hand mixer to completed incorporate all the ingredients.

Grilled Honey Garlic Eggplant

Ingredients:

• 2 baby eggplants
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• 1/4 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat your grill to high.

With a potato peel remove strips of skin off the eggplant. Slice the eggplant, long ways, into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange the eggplant slices on sheets of paper towels.

Season the the eggplant slices with a generous about of salt on both sides. This will cause the eggplant to release most of the liquid they contain, removing the bitterness of the eggplant while causing it to be less watery during grilling. Let the salted eggplant set for about 15 minutes, then pat dry with additional paper towels.

In a bowl mix honey, olive oil, garlic Sriracha, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Dip both sides of each eggplant slice into mixture. Oil grilled. Place eggplant slices on the grill, cover. Grill for about 3 minutes, rotate 90 degrees and grill for an additional 3 minutes. Brush remaining sauce on the slices, flip and repeat process. Adjust heat through the grilling to insure eggplant is not burning.

Serve immediately.

Two more great fish, fig, eggplant and couscous meals:

The No Excuses Website’s entry.   The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of barbecuing at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world.  Somewhere along the way things got out of control, and two years later the streak is intact and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.  In the process, No Excuses BBQ has become fairly popular and is listed as one of the top BBQ blogs on Alltop.com.  You can read about Paul’s fish meal

The Into The Flames entry:  Rob launched Into The Flames in the summer of 2010 as a way to share his passion for cooking, eating, and exploring food.

Ingredients:

• 1  15 oz can low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 Green Onions
• 4 Matchstick size pieces of fresh Ginger
• 1 Clove Garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1 tablespoon Lemon or Lime juice

Directions:

Cut white off the green onions making 2 1 1/2 inch pieces.  Cut the onion whites in half long ways.

Heat oil and saute onions, ginger and garlic until the onions just start to soften.  Add broth and fish sauce and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Turn off heat and add lemon/lime juice.  Spoon over cooked Udon noodles.

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.

I recently reviewed Ginger People’s Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce on The BBQ Grail and took that opportunity to also glaze up some MOINK Balls. The ginger and chili in the sauce complimented the saltiness of the bacon quite nice. This sauce will be a great addition to my MOINK Ball arsenal.

You can read the entire review of Ginger People’s Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce by clicking here.

As I wondered through the Fancy Food Store I was immediately stopped in my tracks at the Ginger People booth.  They had a fountain of sweet chili sauce flowing.  They had taken one of those ever popular wedding reception appliances and filled it full of sweet chili sauce instead of chocolate.  Anyone with that much love of their product deserved my attention.

A cube of chicken on a toothpick dipped into the fountain immediately told my tongue that this was not just any normal sweet chili sauce.  The Ginger People are serious  about their ginger and it shows in the Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce.  It’s loaded with ginger.  You can see the  floating in this stuff.  And you know what it tastes fantastic.  I’ve never been a huge fan of ginger.  Not because I don’t like ginger, but because other than putting ground ginger in teriyaki sauce or eating a few thin slices  when I eat sushi I had not used it all that much.

(See the end of this post for some details on the history of ginger.)

Tonight I decided to give my sample of Ginger Sweet Chili Sauce a try on some grilled fresh salmon.  Because I wanted to be able to taste how the ginger and chili worked with the salmon I only used sea salt and fresh ground pepper on it.

I used my Weber 26 inch kettle to grill the salmon and some asparagus.

After 7 minutes on each side I glazed the salmon with a healthy dose of the Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce and let it set for a few minutes.  Toss in a small baked potato and you’ve got yourself a great meal.

The glaze was great with the salmon.  The balance between sweet and hot was even handed and neither overpowered the mildness of the fish.  Best of all the sweetness hit the front of the tongue immediately with a little bit of hit on the back of the throat on the way down.

Next up for the Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce will be a spatchcocked chicken.  It’s going to be great, I already know that.

Ginger is native to India and China. It takes its name from the Sanskrit word stringa-vera, which means “with a body like a horn”, as in antlers. Ginger has been important in Chinese medicine for many centuries, and is mentioned in the writings of Confucius. It is also named in the Koran, the sacred book of the Moslems, indicating it was known in Arab countries as far back as 650 A.D. It was one of the earliest spice known in Western Europe, used since the ninth century. It became so popular in Europe that it was included in every table setting, like salt and pepper. A common article of medieval and Renaissance trade, it was one of the spices used against the plague. In English pubs and taverns in the nineteenth century, barkeepers put out small containers of ground ginger, for people to sprinkle into their beer — the origin of ginger ale. In order to ’gee up’ a lazy horse, it is the time honoured practice of Sussex farmers to apply a pinch of ginger to the animal’s backside. (Courtesy of The Encyclopedia of Spices)

Ginger is a tuber and a member of the Zingiberaceae family.  Other members of the this plant family are turmeric and cardamon.