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:
Growing up I was never exposed to very many different fresh vegetables. Vegetables were something you “had” to have on the plate and for the most part not a great deal of thought went into them. Most of the time they were the frozen type that got nuked in the microwave just before we all sat down at the table.
Winter squash is a vegetable that has always sort of baffled me. I’d pick them up at the store and wonder just how in the world you could eat something as hard as these appeared to be. Last year I gave Acorn Squash a try for the first time and really enjoyed the flavors it gave me off the grill. So when Mrs. Grail sent me to the store with the instruction of “just get a vegetable” I decided to give Butternut Squash a try. The squash grilled up great and tasted fantastic.
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″
This question is about using a cedar plank to cook salmon etc on a grill. Does the plank need to be one of those expensive hummers one can buy at Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond or Lowe’s for the express purpose of cooking on it or can it be a normal fence board
Continue reading … Ask The BBQ Grail: Wood Grilling Planks
According to Underwriters Laboratories (UL) more than 86,000,000 households, or 75% of U.S. households, light up their grills every year as they prepare over 3,000,000,000 meals. With Memorial Day right around the corner, one of the most popular grilling weekends of the year, many families will host backyard cookouts to celebrate.
While nothing beats a grilled meal, every year outdoor grilling accidents cause 19,000 Emergency Room visits and 7,900 home fires. This is the reason UL, a leading product safety organization, is sharing simple, yet critical, grilling safety temps that families need to know and use.
Continue reading A Recipe For Grilling Safety
I’ve been reading a great deal about wood plank grilling lately, in preparation for a blog series on the subject. There are several great books on plank grilling, but without a doubt the foremost authority is Ted Reader. His “Napoleon’s Everyday Gourmet” cookbooks are a must reader for the backyard grilling enthusiast.
Last year Ted published, Napoleon’s Everyday Gourmet Plank Grilling, what may be the definitive plank grilling cookbook and will be discussed in-depth in future blog posts. Today’s post deals with his book Sticks & Stones: The Art of Grilling on Plank, Vine and Stone which was published almost 10 years ago. I came across several references to this cookbook and knew I had to add it to my library.
Continue reading Sticks & Stones: The Art of Grilling on Plank, Vine and Stone
I would be willing to bet hamburgers are near the top of the list of food items when grilling newbies light their first grills. I know for me that was the case and for the past 35 years or so I have been seeking the perfect hamburger.
There is nothing more All-American than the hamburger in my book. There has got to be a good reason hamburgers are found at family reunions, picnics, tailgate parties and the like. It’s because they just scream friends and good times.
In my book there isn’t much you can do to improve upon the hamburger. So when I got the chance to give August Kitchen’s J-Burger seasoning I took it. Most “hamburger” seasonings are dry spice type seasonings. As you’ll see this is far from the case with this product.
Continue reading J-Burger Seasoning from August Kitchen
One of the “Meatless Monday” challenges I face is coming up with meals that actually appeal to me. When my copy of the Gordon Ramsey cookbook, Cooking for Friends
, arrived I was glad to find a veggie dish that both sounded good and could be done outdoors on the grill.
So here’s my take on Gordon Ramsey’s Grilled Vegetable Lasagna. The main different between the recipe below and what I did was the vegetables were all cooked on my Weber kettle. The original recipe also uses the oven, as I did, but it could be done in the smoker or indirect on your gas or charcoal grill.
Continue reading Meatless Monday: Grilled Vegetable Lasagna
