I love books, especially cookbooks, so when I got a Direct Message on Twitter from Jennifer Chandler asking if I’d like a copy of her new grilling cookbook to read and review I immediately replied with a big yes!  What I like best about cookbooks is that no matter how bad the book is there’s something to be learned by reading it.  With Simply Grilling: 105 Recipes for Quick and Casual Grilling you get a cookbook that will teach even the most seasoned backyard griller something. Simply speaking this is a pretty darn nice cookbook.

It seems every grilling and barbecue cookbook today begins with a section on the basics on grills, barbecues, accessories and a few essential cooking tips.  Jennifer has done a great job in providing an easy to read and understand primer that every cook should have memorized.  With her “5 Tips to Master Grilling Meats” and tips on “Food Safety” she has touched on some of the more important aspects for becoming a Grill Master.

The educational part of the book is not limited to the first chapter though.  Each recipe includes one or more of the following tips:

• Cooking Tips: Detailed information on cooking techniques, substitutes and “food facts” about the dishes and specific ingredients.
• Do-Ahead: Tips and strategies to take the stress out of dinnertime. (For me this is one of the best features of the book -Grail)
• Variations: Tips on how to put a unique spin on a dish.
• Marinate: To help you plan, I let you know at a glance how long a dish needs to marinate.
• Suggested Sides: Tips to help you plan your menu.
• Grill Pan: Too rainy or cold to grill? Don’t own an outdoor grill? This icon lets you know which dishes can easily be made indoors on a grill pan.

From “Starters” to “Sweet Endings” there is a chapter for every course you might need for your cookout.  (Notice I didn’t say barbecue.  Barbecue is a verb, not a noun.  But that’s another blog post for another time.) There’s even a chapter on salads that looks pretty good.

The recipes aren’t all that difficult to understand and shouldn’t give to much of a challenge for even the novice griller.  But don’t let the level of difficulty lead you to believe these are basic recipes because they aren’t.  Jennifer has taken complex flavor profiles and simplified them down to a basic level.  What this means is there is plenty for the beginner to learn from but with a good solid base that will allow the experienced cook to take them and “make them their own.”

Jennifer may like blue cheese as much as I do, at least it seems so.  There are several great recipes using blue cheese on the grill and before the Summer is over I’m probably going to give each and every one of them a try.  If you’re looking for a new grilling cookbook that doesn’t just rehash the standard recipes then pick up a copy of “Simply Grilling” by Jennifer Chandler.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

SALISBURY — Gas or charcoal?

It’s springtime, and the smell of fresh-cut grass and grilling meat is beginning to seep back into the air, along with the perennial sounds of outdoor cooks arguing about the relative merits of grilling methods. Even among barbecue teams that are restricted to the use of charcoal and wood during competition, there’s a common debate about what to use at home.

“My buddy Mark loves gas for cooking steaks because he can get as it hot as he wants as fast as he wants,” said Mike Jarrell, who along with Mark Stallard is part of the competitive Slower Lower BBQ team. “Gas is good for fast cooking — it’s quick. But personally, I like to take the time to do it right.”

Laughing at the last comment, he said in addition to preferring the flavor of charcoal, he also likes the chance to unwind while he gets the coals glowing just right.

Read the rest of the story on DelmarvaNow.com

With the San Diego sun warming the air students are counting down the days until the semester ends, fathers are dusting off the ol’ grill, and families are enjoying the beaches once again.  Summer is on the horizon here in San Diego and what better way to celebrate the early summer than a nice BBQ filled with juicy hamburgers,hot dogs, and corn? Can you hear the sizzling of the meat or smell the marinated patties on the grill? Time to kick yourself off the couch,grab your BBQ tools, and head on out to the car, but where exactly are you going to BBQ? Fear not, we have compiled a list of places to BBQ right her in sunny San Diego.

Balboa Park

Balboa Park is perfect for a nice picnic. The park grounds are open 24 hours every day. If you have any questions or are lost there’s a Visitor’s Center located on El Prado and it is open from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm. The Center has brochures and maps and it also provides audio tours and a free-guided tour of the park. No smoking is allowed at all in the Park and Alcohol is only permitted from noon to 8 pm at the selected locations: Botanical Building at Lawn and West Lawn, House of Pacific Relations Lawn, Mall Lawn, Pan American Plaza Lawn, International Lawn, Recital Hall Lawn, and the Moreton Bay Fig Lawn. Dogs have to be leashed at all times and the owner must remain in control of it. Glass containers of any sort to carry or contain liquid are against regulations as well. If you want to bring your bicycle for a stroll around the park you can except at the Rose & Desert Gardens, Spanish Village, and the House of Pacific Relations International Cottage. Sadly roller skates, skateboards, and other such devices are not allowed in the Park. Other than that you are free to have fun. BBQ and enjoy the museums, playgrounds, or even visit the zoo.

Read the rest of the article…

“Stephane Reynaud is the chef and owner of the restaurant Villa 9 Trois in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris. His restaurant specializes in pork, and Reynaud comes from a family of pig farmers and butchers. His cookbooks have been translated into several languages and received widespread praise; his 2007 PORK & SONS won the Grand Prix de la Gastronomie Francaise. Originally from the Ardeche plateau in France, he now lives in Paris with his wife and three children.” –Author’s Bio

I love this cookbook.  For those who nitpick about things, like the difference between barbecue and grilling, this book is really a grilling book.  Not a lot about traditional American low and slow barbecue techniques.  However, as a self-professed nitpicker, I’m going to make some allowances.  It is after all a cookbook written by a French chef and translated into English so I’m going to be a little less critical with the title. If you like to experiment you can certainly “convert” some of these flavor profiles over to your smoker instead of your grill.  Otherwise, just break out the charcoal, and if you have to gas, grill and enjoy some great recipes.

Chef Reynaud has written a cookbook that is full of interesting recipes from appetizers through dinner.  With chapters on Burgers, Sausage, Skewers, and seafood to name just a few there is something for just about anyone who wants to grill up something special.  There are no ordinary recipes here.  But just because the recipes in “Barbecue & Grill” might be a little more “gourmet” than your normal grilling cookbook it doesn’t mean they are hard to do.  There are recipes for every grilling skill level.  There really isn’t a better way to improve your cooking skills than to try something out of your comfort zone, and this cookbook should get most backyard grillers out of their comfort zone.

The cookbook starts out with a chapter on “Equipment & Sauces.”  This chapter provides the novice with some good basic information on grills/barbecues before moving into accessories and other cooking tools.  I found the section on flavored salts to be especially interesting.  I’ve already mixed up a couple of them and have used them several times.

There’s a bit of a whimsical feel to the cookbook with illustrations for many of the recipes that are more of a cartoon than anything else.  They don’t add anything to the recipe but it’s kind of fun to skim through the book and check out the pictures.  The photography is simple but in a museum/art sort of way.  There is even a chapter on Barbecue Bloopers and even a few outdoor cooking cartoons at the end of the book.

The feature in this cookbook that I find the most useful  are the flavor profiles and flavor combinations that you don’t normally find in your traditional grilling cookbook.  Whether it’s rabbit or merguez sausage you just are not going to find another grilling cookbook that provides the variety found in “Barbecue & Grilling”. If you are in a grilling rut this cookbook will help you bust out your cooking boredom.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

I love to cook and I love to eat.  And for the past couple decades eating healthy has not always been a priority.  As I’ve gotten older, and hopefully a little wiser, I’m starting to realize that I need to put more emphasis on healthier eating.

For those of you who have enjoyed all the bacon, sauces, butter and other fun stuff, don’t worry they aren’t going away.  But I will be posting more “healthier” alternatives on the blog than I have in the past.  And pork is going will be a big part of my healthier eating lifestyle change.

Today’s pork makes it easier to eat healthier. Today’s pork cuts, on average, have 16 percent less total fat and 27 percent less saturated fat than they did just 21 years ago.  Compared to many other outdoor cooking alternatives pork is one of the healthier proteins to cook.  And with the USDA agreeing with what many of us already knew, that pork may be served medium rare (145 degrees followed by a three-minute rest) you can get some great tasting, tender and juicy dishes.

Since I diced the pork loin after cooking I and wasn’t going to be able to get that tasty caramelization on each piece from being on the grill I wanted to insure good flavor in every bite I decided to brine the pork loin with a little seasoning.  The brine process helps give the pork additional flavor and will help you keep the juiciness of the pork at it juicy best.

After you’ve removed the pork from the brine make sure you rinse all the salt off of it.  It’s a good idea to soak the brine in clear water for 3o minutes or so after you’ve rinsed it.  Just make sure you get the salt off.  Then season the pork with the same seasoning you used in the brine.  In my opinion it’s a good idea to try to use a seasoning that’s a little lower in salt.

Grill the pork over high direct heat on all sides.  Make sure you get some grill marks.  Grill marks aren’t just for looks, they add flavor, so get some char on that pork.  Once you’ve grilled it all the way around move the pork to indirect heat and cook to 140 degrees internal.  After a three-minute rest you’ll have a perfect 145 degree, medium rare.

Dice, chop or slice the pork into whatever shape and size you want for the tacos  Fill your tortilla with the pork and whatever fixings you want and you’ll have a great meal.

My tacos were served with black beans and avocado slaw and tasted just about as good as can be.

Check back tomorrow for the rest of the recipes to complete this great meal.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

This year we will conducting various polls about grilling/barbecuing/smoking.  If you have ideas or suggestions about polls please drop me a line or two by using the “Ask The BBQ Grail” link at the top of the page.

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:

BBQ Grail’s Smokey Pepper Poultry Brine

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts water
• 3/4 cup Morton’s Kosher salt (if you use Diamond Crystal Salt use 1 cup)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons McCormick Sweet & Smokey Pepper Blend
• 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces

Heat the water and add all the brine ingredients.  Stir until salt and sugar is dissolved.  Cool brine mixture to at least room temperature.  Place brine mixture and chicken in a container.  Make sure all the chicken pieces are submerged.  Brine in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours but not more than 8 hours.

Remove chicken and rinse well.  It’s important to make sure you remove as much of the salt as possible.

Grill on a medium/hot grill until 165 degrees internal.

Rest for five minutes.  Serve.

The McCormick’s Sweet & Smokey Pepper Blend added a great little bite to the brine.  Combine with the brown sugar it gave the chicken a nice flavor.  I got some of the ‘smoke’ flavor I wanted while giving the family the grilled chicken they wanted.

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.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

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.

These were not your normal beef back ribs.  They were more like a roast on a bone.  I just sat there staring at the screen, knowing that since I wasn’t going to be eating them any time soon I had to try to make them myself.  I searched high and low for the type of ribs they were.  I googled, I Tweeted, I Facebooked all to know avail.  I could find what cut of meat they were.  Finally I just asked APL on his Facebook wall.  And he responsed.  I was like a 12 year old girl at a Taylor Swift concert.  APL answered me.  (Okay enough with the melodramatics)  They were “Plate ShortRibs.”  So off to the butcher I went to buy some.  They came out great. (The original blog post is here.)

My next  APL moment was when I bought a copy of Serious Barbecue: Smoke, Char, Baste, and Brush Your Way to Great Outdoor Cooking What a simply fantastic cookbook this is.  I had tried to find 15 to 20 other BBQ bloggers that were willing to take turns cooking recipes from it and blogging about them.  The goal was to cook our way through “Serious Barbecue” from front to back.  I still hope to someday accomplish that task.

APL’s latest book is BBQ 25. Unlike “Serious Barbecue” this new book is about the simplicity of bbq.  APL explains in his introduction why he took this approach:

“There are two sides to me.  One is obsessed by technique and detail.  The other is spontaneous, adaptive, and not too concerned about getting bogged down with complicated processes…

“But les is often more.  This is that book.  This is the backbone of barbecue.”

“BBQ 25″ should appeal to all bbq/grilling skill levels.  If you fancy yourself a backyarder with some skills you’ll be tempted to jump right to the 25 recipes in the book.  But don’t overlook the beginning of the cookbook where APL has written some extremely helpful “tips.”  The “Glossary of Techniques” explains the processes used in each of the recipes.

Each recipe is broken down into the following “techniques:”

• Before Cooking
• Tools
• During Cooking
• After Cooking
• Cooking Method (Pre-Grilling, Direct or Indirect heat)

Even for the most skilled griller the explanation of these techniques is a good refresher.

The 25 recipes are divided into Five Categories: Beef, Pork, Lamb, Chicken and Fish/Misc.  Each of these protein categories are futher divided into Quick Cook, Medium Cook and/or Long Cook areas.

Whether you choose to tackle the Quick Cook recipe of a filet mignon or the “Long Cook of a Pork Butt each recipe will give you step by step instructions on how to preare that recipe.  From taking the meat out of the refrigerator to setting the table the recipe will guide you through the whole process.

One of the newest and most popular trends in cookbooks today is having stories/memories to go along with each recipe.  None of that here.  This is a down and dirty BBQ cookbook.  Simplicity at it’s best.  Lots of pictures and diagrams will make even the most unskilled griller appreciate their new found ability to turn out fantastic food.

This is a must have cookbook.  If you can master one recipe from each of the categories you’ll be the envy of 90% of all backyard grillers.  Get this book.

Photo By David Loftus

20. Whole Chicken (Spatchcock/Butterflied)

Serves  6-8

Two 3 ½ – 4 lb. chickens, spatchcocked/butterflied, thighs & legs slashed

INGREDIENTS FOR BRINE

• ¼ cup sea salt or kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp freshly ground
• black pepper
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
• 2 Tbsp fresh oregano leaves
• 2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 6 cups cold water
• 2 Tbsp canola oil or vegetable oil

INGREDIENTS FOR BASTE/GLAZE

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp water

PREPARATION

Combine all the brine ingredients in a large bowl or large sealable plastic bag. Mix and crush the ingredients with your hands, directly or through the bag, squeezing them to release the maximum flavor. Transfer half the brine to another bowl or bag.

Put the chickens in the brine, transfer to the refrigerator, and brine for at least 3 hours, and up to 24 hours.

COOKING METHOD

Indirect Grilling

Prepare the grill for indirect cooking; the temperature should be 300°F. Drain the chicken and dry with paper towels. Glisten with the canola oil.

Put the chickens skin side up on the well-oiled preheated grill and cook, covered, with the addition of wood of your choice (I prefer fruit woods when available), for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all the baste/glaze ingredients in a small bowl.

Baste the chickens, using a regular brush or an Herb Brush (see page 4), and continue to cook, covered, basting every 15 minutes, for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is done: the juices should run clear when a thigh is pierced, and the thickest part of the thigh should register 165°F on an instant-read thermometer.

Transfer the chickens to a cutting board, skin side up, and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting into 6 pieces each (2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 drumsticks).

From BBQ 25 by Adam Perry Lang copyright 2010 with permission of William Morrow/An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

I have heard the cedar fencing might have a chemical or something in it which would preclude one from wanting to eat anything cooked on it. Got any advice? — Bob Sheets

Bob,

The infusion of unique flavors to your food is the biggest reason for using wood planks.  Store bought fence boards are perfectly okay to use.  However, since it’s the infusion of flavor and not chemical toxins you want it’s important to make sure you select a fence board that is untreated.  If you can’t easily determine from signage in the store if the fence boards are untreated make sure you ask a store employee.

You can normally buy a 6 foot long fence board for under $5.00 which is a much more cost effective alternative to wood planks that are cut and packaged specifically for grilling.  If you don’t have the ability to cut your fence board down to size the lumber store will normally do it for you for a minimal fee or sometimes for free.  When cutting your planks down to size you need to consider the size of the meat you’re cooking, the size of your grill and the size of the sink or bucket you are going to soak your plank in before use.