Jerk Kabobs and Pineapple Salsa

There is a show on a couple of networks that deal with Hoarding.  It makes me think of my cookbooks.  I have a lot.  I mean A LOT!  Most of which I have never opened other than the day they came in my house.  Some I have had since I was a kid.  My first cookbook, Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, is still around.  It is old, I am sure it was old when my mom gave it to me all those years ago.  Back to the hoarding shows.  I rarely use any of these cookbooks so why do I keep them?  Byrd doesn't know, I don't really know, except there maybe an outstanding recipe in one of them I can't live without.  The answer to why I keep them is the same response from the people on these shows. I can't live without something I don't use, that's just silly. This kind of freaks me out.  So in order to not think of myself as a hoarder of cookbooks I have made a deal with Byrd.  I will find a recipe in each one of them that is worth keeping, if I don't find one we can give it to whoever takes used, or hardly used cookbooks.  All of the kitchen gadgets are safe for the moment, they aren't in plain sight.  I hoard those too.  Now where the hell do I start?  After deliberating on this Byrd and I decided that on the nights we cook from a book, she will pick the book and I will find a recipe.  This being the first time she couldn't decide. She handed me two.  Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes Grill It! and Shall We Gather(This is a regional cookbook from my childhood home town of Wetumpka, AL). I looked through both and decided to go with Grill It! Dave at MYOTG has been using pineapple in several recipes and they all have looked great.  With that in mind this recipe jumped off the pages.  Jerk Steak Kabobs with Pineapple Salsa.

Jerk Marinade
2 green onions, minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon grated, peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Mix all ingredients together.
I used a 1 1/2 lb boneless sirloin cut into 1 inch cubes.  I put the steak in a zip top bag and then poured on the marinade.  The recipe says to marinate the steak for 15 minutes, I had more time than that so it bathed for 2 hours.
After smelling and making the marinade I decided to make a second batch to use with some vegetables.  I sliced red onion, squash and zucchini and marinaded those for an hour.

 I put everything on my little hibachi.

The recipe said to serve the Jerk Kabobs with a pineapple salsa. I made this first and let it sit in the fridge while everything else was prepared.  I made a few changes to the salsa for my tastes.  I added extra cilantro.

Pineapple Salsa
2 limes
1 ripe pineapple (rind removed) cored and coarsely chopped
1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1 green onion, sliced
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

I pulled the meat off the grill first to let it rest while I finished the second batch of veggies.  Now all together.

With the salsa now.

First things first, this was delicious.  The meat was tender and full of flavor.  Byrd normally doesn't like allspice due to its cinnamony taste, but it was subtle enough and with everything else worked well.  It had just the right amount of sweet and heat.  The vegetables as well.  Although next time I would leave the cayenne out of the veggie marinade, all together it was a little spicy.  The pineapple salsa was fantastic, a great accompaniment to the meat.  A bite with all three was even better.  I will be using this marinade for all sorts of things in the future.   There were a lot of tasty looking recipes in this book and I can't wait to try more. 1 cookbook saved.

Pork Balls

Trying to think of a way to use the thin cut boneless pork chops is sometimes tough.  They are usually used for sandwiches and things of that nature around here, but Byrd came up with a new use last night.  If you have not looked over the deer balls, then this will be new to you.  Here is what we did.  I took 5 thin pork chops and cut them in half.  Pounded them out with a tenderizer, the one in the picture came from my grandmother, it has a hatchet on the reverse side.  Place diced onions and bell peppers inside, and roll them up.  Add a cap full of Pilleteri's, or Dale's/Moore's.  Then wrap a piece of bacon around them and secure with a toothpick that has been soaked in water.  This is as easy as it sounds.  

Then onto the grill, I would say it was about 350, I am not much on temping my little hibachi.  Make sure you constantly mess/roll/flip them in order to not burn one side.  When the bacon is crispy they are done.  

I know this is too many for just the two of us, but this is the main course so 4 per person is about right.  With two left over for a snack tomorrow.  Here they are with Byrd's favorite pregnant food, potato wedges.

I liked these more than the original deer balls.   But then again anything wrapped in bacon is going to be delicious.

Smoker Fun

Byrd and I set out yesterday to spend time with some family.  My cousin Matt and I wanted to fire up his smoker and try out a few new rubs and well, just cook.  This is an original smoker built by Matt.  He documented the entire build on The Smoke Ring.  Here is the link to his build.  You can tell by the size, this isn't a cooker you fire up to do a little cooking so we had big plans for the day.  Matt lives across from a pecan orchard so having plenty of it, that is what was used for the heat and smoke.

We got the temperature up to 250 and put on a brisket.  It looks so lonely all by itself.

One of the reasons for this cook was to get our cooking times down for a competition in April.  The Bodagetta BBQ is in its second year and is held at Auburn University.  Matt and I both are Auburn graduates so what better place to enter our first competition.   We tried a new rub that Matt has been working on for the spare ribs.  It has a cast of the normal rub characters.  

Now on to join the brisket

After the spare ribs were on, some family members dropped  by to get a few items smoked while it was hot.  Added to the spare ribs and brisket were 2 slabs beef short ribs, 2 pork tenderloins, 5 split chicken breasts, and 1 slab of pork baby back ribs.  Like I said no reason to fire this behemoth up unless you are going to cook an obscene amount of food.

Both trays pull out for easy loading and unloading.

This is the brisket after it reached internal of 165.  Then it was wrapped in foil and put back on till internal of 195.

The brisket sliced.  Great smoke ring and flavor. 

One of the slabs of spare ribs.

Matt's wife Erin, made some great sides.  A marinated slaw and spinach Madeline.  

The tenderloins, beef ribs, chicken, and baby back ribs went home with there respective owners so no pictures of those meats.  They all looked great when they came out though.  The ribs had a great flavor, and the sides were delicious.  Spinach Madeline was new to me.  I did get the recipe from Erin and I will be having it again soon.  Once again we came out on top with no big errors on the cook.  We got our times down and close to the flavors we wanted.  We also got to sit around and enjoy the first day of spring by cooking and drinking beer.  Not a bad way to start off the BBQ season.  Not that the season ever really stops around here.

Wings 3 Ways

Lately Byrd has been craving Chinese food, mostly Hot and Sour soup and spring rolls.  Yesterday the plan was to go pick some up and that would be dinner.  But at some point I got a taste for wings, I don't know where it came from, but after I talked them up, she finally agreed to put the soup and spring rolls on hold, in order to satisfy my wing craving, I am a lucky guy.  I have been wanting to try my friend Evan's (evanspices.com) sweet soy wings.  I started to make the soy sauce/marinade.  I am usually pretty good at following a recipe, but sometimes my mind wanders and I make mistakes.  This was one of those times.  Instead of the 1/8 cup of soy sauce and apple cider vinegar, I put 1/2 cup of each.  I finished the sauce and well, it tasted fine so I went with it. I had a package of 8 full wings, that I cut down to drumsticks and flats.  I took the "hook" as I call it off.  I wanted a variety so I marinated 7 wings in this sauce.  Reserving 2/3 for tossing and dipping. 

Sweet Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper

Years ago I worked for a restaurant here in Birmingham named Locos Grille and Pub.  I have always loved their hot sauce so I  made some as well.  This isn't their exact recipe, but I will say it's as close as it gets.  They don't marinate their wings, they fry them and toss them, like most restaurants do.  But I marinated 3 wings in the hot sauce just to see how it would taste grilled.  I left 8 wings with no marinade or seasoning to  toss in the sauces to see how much of a difference the marinade made.  

Hot Sauce

1 1/2 cup Texas Pete Hot Sauce

1/4 cup Sugar

1 Tablespoon Blackening Seasoning

1/4 Tablespoon granulated garlic

I used the 30-20-10 method from Nibble Me This.  I have never tried this method, but I have tried several of his dishes and have no reason to doubt him now.  So I set up my grill for an indirect cook, while the wings were drying out in the fridge.  I got my temperature to 350 and put them on.  

I cooked them for 30 minutes lid on, flipped them, cooked for 20 minutes, then sauced them and put them directly over the fire for 10 to crisp them up.  I took them off and sauced the wings.  The wings I didn't marinade I tossed in the hot sauce and sprinkled the tops with lemon pepper seasoning.  I used to do this when I worked at the above mentioned restaurant.  I love the flavor pairing.  Here are the wings with their best friends, celery, carrots and fies. We are still on the diet, but I needed some fries.

The wings turned out perfect.  I will now live by the 30-20-10 method for wings.  Great timing.  The hot sauce tossed wings were great, although Byrd and I agreed that a mix of the sweet soy wings dipped in the hot sauce was our favorite.  

My first Brisket

I have been cooking a lot of red meat lately, due to the new diet Byrd and I are on.  But there is one that I haven't cooked.  The brisket.  I have been scared of this meat for awhile.  I have heard it is difficult, temperamental, and easy to dry out, but I am a sucker for a good deal.  I was at the grocery store and  they had a special on briskets, so of course I bought one.  I chose a little one(2.49 lbs.) not wanting my first brisket to be too expensive, in case I ruin it. But once again I am up for the challenge, and have a great wife that is up for trying my experiments.  With not much of a plan in mind I used the only rub I keep around, Rut's Rub.  I have used this rub on ribs, butts, chicken, sausage and just about every other meat I can think of, but not red meat.  It was on hand and I like the way it tastes, so I went for it.  I have done a little research on briskets, so I at least knew the temperatures to look for.  I also decided to go with apple chips for smoke, because I had them on hand, why else.

I got my temperature right on the smoker and put it on.  I knew I had several hours until it would be done so I used a little of the cabbage I bought for a St. Patty's day treat to make my mom's slaw.  This is a really easy recipe that I love.  Shredded cabbage, thin sliced white onion, oil, white vinegar, sugar(well Splenda, still no sugar in the house, thanks diet) and celery seeds.  It needs at least 4 hours to marinate, better overnight, good thing I had plenty of time.  

In order to have a little more on the plate I thawed out some corn(no its not on the diet, but a FEW carbs won't hurt), added a little butter, salt and some of the afore mentioned rub to have a balanced meal. 

I pulled the brisket when the temp reached 160 degrees, I wrapped the brisket in foil with a little beer and apple cider vinegar in the bottom for steam.  Then put it back on the grill until it reached 190.  It took about 5 hours and 45 minutes.  I pulled it from the heat and let it rest while I cooked the corn. 

It smelled great.  I was really excited about my first brisket.  After it rested, for as long as I could let it, I pulled the corn off the grill.  Really should have given the corn more time, but hind site is 20/20.   So after it rested I sliced it, not sure if I did this the right way, but it looked and smelled great.

With everything ready to eat.

I added the juice from the bottom of the foil package back to the top of the sliced pieces.  It was better than I thought it would be.  I truly am happy with the outcome of my first brisket.  The slaw was good as usual. Now the corn, it felt hot and smelled good, but I guess it wasn't completely thawed when I put it on the grill.  Nice and hot on the outside and still frozen by the cob.  I am glad this was the worst part of my first brisket cook.

Pickapeppa Chicken

I have known about Pickapeppa Sauce (you can usually find it in your local grocery store) for awhile now, but the only time I have had the pleasure is when one of my friends wifes has topped cream cheese with it.  Now it is delicious that way, served with a few tasty crackers or veggies.  But that was it for me and Pickapeppa.  When I came across this recipe on Food & Fire, a great blog by the way, I was dying to try it.  It looked simple enough, but it took planning.  I am not a great planner, more of an impulse cook. However, I am a great bargain shopper.  I came across a great deal on chicken thighs a week ago, so I naturally bought them, I took them out and froze them in bags of two and four.  Byrd doesn't really like chicken on the bone, well she likes wings, but thats about as far as it goes.  She was skeptical this time.  I took a pack of four chicken thighs out of the freezer and let them thaw and then marinated them in the Pickapeppa based marinade.  I did make a few changes to the original. First I cut the recipe in half since we were only doing 4 thighs.  I also added a little crushed red pepper, just because I like a little extra spice every now and then.  Food & Fire said to:"Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, overnight is better, 48 hours rocks." They were allowed 24 hours, because I just couldn't wait any longer.

I put them on the grill skin side down for 20 minutes, then flipped them and let them cook indirectly for 40 minutes.  I did add some apple wood chips for a little of that sweet smoky flavor.

To go with the chicken I made some green beans.  I started by rendering  a slice of bacon and some red onion, then adding a can of beans.  

This was by far the best chicken I have ever cooked.  It was just that good.  A perfect blend of sweet, tangy, and spicy.  We did serve it with a side of the Pickapeppa Sauce, but agreed that it was not needed, the flavor was perfect.  Byrd actually said we can have this again this week, maybe she has finally come around to the chicken thighs.  I guess it is good that we have 36 left in the freezer.

New Diet

Until yesterday I haven't had much to say about my wife, Byrd, being pregnant.  A few things have changed:

Her steaks are now med/med well, instead of rare/med. rare

She doesn't have wine/beer while we are in the kitchen, or anywhere.

She eats all the sweets she wants, well she did that before she was pregnant, so no change there.

She loves potatoes, which she never really cared about before.

Yesterday the doctor told her that she is anemic.  Low iron count in her blood.  So 1st hiccup and not a big one, well for me.  New rules:  Very limited intake of sweets, this is a big one for her.  Lower carb intake, no more potatoes, no more wedges, her favorite side item as of late.  She also has to take Iron supplements, which we have been told is like adding concrete to the stomach.  The good news is the doctor told her to "eat lots of red meat" and "leafy green vegetables"  So we are looking at a high protein, low carb diet.  This part works for me. I will miss the carbs, but I get to have a lot of steak, so I think I will be ok.

I have always loved a spinach salad, with hot bacon dressing.  So for tonights dinner I set out to finally make homemade bacon dressing.  I found a simple recipe from Paula Deen for the dressing.  I followed the recipe, except I used Dijon mustard instead of the honey mustard, I had it in the house.  As for the salad, thin sliced white button mushrooms, red onions, hard boiled eggs, and of course bacon.

For our red meat, Publix had top sirloin filets on sale so that's what's for dinner.  I don't normally marinate steaks, but in order to get a little flavor in the sirloins, I used some Pilleteri's Original Marinade.  This is a product of Mr. P's Butcher Shop and Deli, which is a great little local place.  My little Hibachi doing its job.

I tossed the fresh spinach, onions, bacon, and mushrooms in the dressing.  Then plated them and topped with the egg.

  

The steaks were definitely not the star of the show, the spinach salad was.  Now that I have a bacon dressing under my belt we will have it more often. I know it is possible to cook a sirloin where it is tender and juicy, I just haven't figured it out yet.  This I will work on. I have a lot of red meat to cook in the upcoming months so I am up for the challenge.

Surf and Turf

So after a long day of having fun in the sun and tasting BBQ, we thought a great surf and turf would be the right ending to the day.  We stopped by Blalocks, the local fresh seafood and specialty market, and picked up some ribeyes and scallops.  So as the sun set we started on dinner.  I say we here because it wasn't just Byrd and I.  We had two other great cooks in the house.

With four of us in the house we had them cut us a couple of 20 ounce steaks.  A little salt, well what I thought was salt, actually sugar and pepper.  Then a little Worcestershire.  

We cooked some bacon then wrapped the scallops. No seasoning needed.

We are not allowed to have a charcoal grill on the patio, so a tiny propane tank Webber has to do.  In order for this not to be an all meat dinner we grilled an onion as well.  We cut a wedge out of the top then added some butter, garlic and Worcestershire sauce and made a package out of foil.

The onion after the grill did its job.

My cousin took care of the scallops.  Searing them in some browned butter.

We also had Byrd's favorite, potato wedges, but no pictures this time.  The scallops were the real treat of dinner, they were delicious.  I will have to keep the browned butter cooking method in mind next time I have some fresh scallops. I haven't cooked on a gas grill in a long time, so I did over cook the steaks a bit, but nobody complained.  The meal was a great ending to an outstanding weekend.  It is always nice to get to spend time with family, especially when they love food as much as we do.

Potato.....and Steak

I hate to see my grill being put through this. Snowy rain is not its favorite weather, or mine. This is a sad grill.

With the unusually cold, wet weather gone for the moment, time to get back outside. I love the combination of a steak and potato as most people do, but sometimes find it a bit monotonous. Time to try a new potato. So after reviewing a few methods from fellow bloggers, My Year on the Grill and Evanspices I decided to give it a shot. What could be better than a potato off the grill?

I was glad to get back outside, so here is my now happy grill.

The potatoes before they went on. Most people would use butter or some form of oil from a bottle to grease up the potatoes. Since I keep bacon grease in the refrigerator, a glutton/southern thing, thats what I used to help the Kosher salt stick. I left them on indirect heat for about an hour and a half.
The steak was lightly seasoned with salt, pepper, and onion powder. Then cooked for about 3 minutes a side. I love the bone-in rib-eye, or actually any bone-in steak. You get to eat steak and then eat a rib.

Here they are side by side, almost spooning each other. These are quite a pair.
A potato from the grill is absolutely delicious, much more flavor than coming out of an oven. I was really surprised at how much the potato soaked in the aroma of the grill. Next time I will put a few in the smoker and see the difference. I wonder what smoked potato salad would taste like? Oh, and the steak was pretty good as well.

"Double Cheese" Burgers

The cheeseburger may be my favorite food item. I crave them. A simple burger topped with any kind of cheese is delicious. It is a perfect blend of all the food groups. Grain(Bread), Fruits and Vegetables(lettuce, tomatoes, onions),Dairy(Cheese),Meat and Protein(Beef), Fats, Oils and Sweets(Mayo, Ketchup). If I were ever in the situation to have a last meal, and I hope I never am, this would be it. But these aren't your normal burgers. A friend of mine at www.evanspices.com calls these his "middle burgers." His were the inspiration behind my concoction. Start with ground beef (80/20), seasoned with a little soy sauce, Worcestershire, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Make really thin patties for the bottom. Place a slice of American cheese on top. Then top with another thin patty. Make sure you completely close off the sides of the meat.. Then on to the grill.

I tried to leave them as long as I could on the first side. A good rule of thumb for burgers is to only flip them once, plus I was worried the cheese would come seeping out.

As for the fries, we decided to go with potato wedges. Take an Idaho potato and cut it in to 12 wedges. Soak them in cold water for a few minutes, then boil for about 5 mins. Remove, pat dry, then toss with olive oil and season. Place them on a nonstick pan and into the oven on 450 for about 20 mins. Season again as soon as they come out of the oven. We use McCormick's Broiled Steak Season.

The double cheese part comes from adding a couple slices of bacon then cheese to cover. Here it is on a toasted onion roll with the wedges.

These were delicious. It takes a little more work than a regular cheeseburger, but it was definitely worth the time. Next time I may try to place the bacon inside as well.

Friday cookout

With a great forecast for the weekend, we thought a cook out was in order. I thought trying a new rib would be fun, so instead of baby backs I used loin ribs. A little meatier and a lot more fat. Also I am trying lump mesquite charcoal. I don't know why, actually I do, it was on sale at Sams. I have been using lump charcoal for a while now, but never mesquite. I was worried that the mesquite would be over powering, but why not. I also opted not to add any wood chips for smoke. I used my normal Rut's Rub and started them off at 215 degrees. I left one slab dry the entire cook. The other two I misted with a blend of Welch's Peach and White Grape juice mixed with Apple Cider Vinegar every 20 mins. I thought the sweetness of the juice would work well with the mesquite. I wrapped the last two slabs in tin foil with a little of the juice. After two more hours I unwrapped them and placed them directly over the fire and basted them for the last 15-20 minutes.

And sliced. Without the wood chips I didn't get the smoke ring , but I did get delicious tender ribs. I missed the ring.

No cookout is complete without baked beans. Canned beans with a little ketchup, mustard, onions, brown sugar, salt and pepper, mixed together in a bowl, then topped with bacon. I think everything should be topped in bacon.
Deviled eggs. This is my mother in laws recipe for them, and the first time Byrd has ever made them. These are delicious. Not your normal eggs, they have olives and bacon in the stuffing as well as the normal characters. I know it sounds a little weird, but try it. Not to take a slogan from a local restaurant, but "there is nothing like'em nowhere." It's true.

Here it is all together. Not the greatest picture, but....
Everything was great. Once again Byrd and I put good food on the table. But sometimes the food isn't the best part of the night. Fire pit, cold beer, iPod on shuffle, good friends and family, even if the food was horrible, it still would have been a great night.