Caribbean Pineapple Baby Back Ribs with Pineapple Barbecue Sauce (page 234)

This is fantastic.  For the BBQ sauce, I doubled the recipe and only used one and a half habaneros and it was still plenty hot.  I also added extra brown sugar.  Other than that, I pretty much followed the recipe including the allspice berries which you can get at Whole Foods and the pineapple juice, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce in a spray bottle for spritzing the ribs while they are smoking.  The allspice berries go right in the coals along with the smoke chips. 

We took some of the ribs over to Jack and Andrea.  We'll see how Sophia likes Caribbean spice! 

Real Jamaican Jerk Pork (page 199)

The recipe calls for butterflying the pork shoulder which the butcher did for me in about 5 minutes.  It would have taken me an hour.  Using butterflied rather than bone in shortened the cook time and gave the meat even more flavor.

Here is a picture of the marinating meat...  Yumm!  Mouth watering huh?

I had to soak my hands in milk and then in vodka after cutting up 1/2 pound of habaneros for this recipe.  They were still burning when I went to bed at midnight - 7 hours after I made the marinade.  So, next time, I will use gloves.  It is just hard for me to believe that those little orange chiles can cause that kind of reaction.  Anyway, the meat was delicious.  For my taste, I recommend you add extra cinnamon and a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar to the marinade.  After the pork is cooked, cut it up into a vinegar sauce before serving.  I just used 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar, two tablespoons of brown sugar and a tablespoon of kosher salt but I think even a vinegar based BBQ sauce might be good.

We served it with grilled asparagus and grilled french bread.  I think it would also be good with corn bread (see Wisconsin Grill'n for recipe).  By the way, Sendiks did not have allspice berries.  I'll try Whole Foods next time.

Jack and Andrea came over for dinner.  Plat Plat seems quite content to stay inside and enjoy the BBQ for now.  I hope she likes habaneros! 

What's cookin?

We are feeling lazy this evening so nothing on grill.  Trying to think of something appropriate for the circus going on in Madison for tomorrow evening.  Nothing jumps off the pages of the cookbook but we must be able to come up with something.  Any ideas?

Chicken Sates in the Style of Kajang

Page 17

Well, this is another "re-do" as we are not the first to try it. The assembled diners, including cousin Lane, all loved it however. Take a look at the homemade authentic lemongrass brush.

Our peanut sauce, made by following the book's recipe, came out a little too thick, and we would make "thinning" adjustments in a future try at this. Also, we did not marinate the chicken for the required 4-12 hours, but rather only 2-3. I believe the shorter time prevented the full effect of the long list of spices from really having their effect on the finished product. Again, it was good but the shortcomings can be traced to our shortcuts.

Chilli-Beer Hot Wings (From Primal Grill-Steven Raichlen's PBS Show)

Roy keeps saying that we should post the recipe even though it is not in the Global Grilling book, but rather Steven Raichlen's show. So here is the recipe... From Episode 112: Tailgating

Ingredients:
For the wings and marinade:

12 whole chicken wings (about 2 pounds)
2 cups wheat beer
2 teaspoons coarse salt (kosher or sea)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup Thai sweet chili sauce (a good brand is Mae Ploy, available in the
ethnic section of larger supermarkets)
1/4 cup chopped peanuts or pistachios (optional)

Other Items Needed:
1-1/2 cups smoking wood chips or chunks



Directions:
Rinse the chicken wings under cold running water and blot dry with paper towels. Cut the tips off the wings and discard them (or leave the tips on if you dont mind munching a morsel thats mostly skin and bones). Cut each wing into 2 pieces through the joint. Place the wings in a large nonreactive bowl or resealable plastic bag and add the beer. Let the wings marinate for 12 to 24 hours; the longer they marinate, the more pronounced the beer flavor will be.

Place the salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, and celery seed in a small bowl and whisk to mix. Set the rub aside.

Drain the wings in a colander and blot them dry with paper towels; discard the beer. Place the wings in a mixing bowl. Add the rub and toss to coat the wings evenly. Add the olive oil and toss well to mix.

Set up the grill for indirect grilling and preheat to medium. Place a large drip pan in the center, preheat the grill to medium, then toss all of the wood chips or chunks on the coals.

When ready to cook, brush and oil the grate. Place the wings in the center of the hot grate, over the drip pan and away from the heat, and cover the grill. Cook the wings, turning periodically, until the skin is golden brown and crisp, and the meat is cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. During the last 5 minutes of cooking time, brush the wings with the Thai chili sauce and sizzle on both sides. To test for doneness, make a tiny cut in the thickest part of one of the larger wing halves. There should be no trace of red at the bone.

Transfer the wings to a clean shallow serving bowl or platter. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios and peanuts over the wings, if desired, and serve at once. You’ll want to provide plenty of napkins to your guests.

I need to start with the fact that Roy was still in transit from LA when I was trying to discuss the fact that I was all hyped up about the Primal Grill Tailgating Special and really wanted to make the wings shown on the special. Therefore, at 9 PM, Saturday night, I was running to Pick-N-Save to get wings. I marinated the wings in Leinkugel Red and an African Beer left over from Stephanie, because it was all I had in my house! Then on Sunday morning, I packed up my ziplock bag in my trunk and went to pick up Roy at the airport, hoping that I would not get pulled over and if I did the officer would ignore the strong beer odor in my car. Later in the afternoon, while Roy napped I mixed the other ingredients... without the forethought that paprika is red and I would need Roy's help if I wanted to look at all presentable when I arrived at the Koczela household. So, I woke him up midprocess, oops!
We did this recipe on the Big Green Egg and started on indirect heat (when Roy was outside cooking) and then I moved it to direct heat. It took longer than expected, about an hour total, but according to Roy was well worth the wait. I used the thai chili sauce recommended but forgot the peanuts, even though I spent 10 minutes chopping them... with a hammer (not a meat hammer).

Lazy Lumps

WAZZA?  COME ON you lazy lumps.  Is there some reason why Uncle Jack and I are the only ones posting?  HELLO OUT THERE IN THE FOG?  Is anyone listening?  NO?  Fine, then I'll go hit some guests...

In honor of the events in Egypt, We made Kofta (lamb kabobs) yesterday along with the two suggested relishes - one with onion and parsley and one with tomato and black olives.  All of it was very good and not too hard.  I also made the Morocan hot sauce which was good but unless your name is Torres you might want to use the smaller suggested amount of red pepper flakes or even less.  But it was very good especially with the grilled nan bread which is always a ht.  I do have to go out and try to find some flatter skewers for the kabobs.  The ones in the book look more like flat knives which stops the meat from falling off. 

POST!!

Re-Do Planked Salmon w/ Juniper Rub and Berry Glaze

Page 421

Thanks to Jayne and Mark, I think our attempt at this relatively easy grilled salmon entree was made perfect. We took their hint at less salt and the results were, well, delicious. We had an assist from Steve Koczela, here in DC, who brought along the requisite Boston and/or Milwaukee cold weather. We grilled in 28 degree air, with 40 MPH wind gusts. Delightful conditions.

The fresh berries available to us were blueberries, red raspberries, and large black berries. Top those off with Williamsburg Maple Syrup, what's not to like!?!?!

I tripled the juniper rub quantities, as we had about 2.5 lbs of Atlantic Salmon.

We added coal twice after we put the fish on to keep the fire hot. Cooking was totally indirect, and believe it or not, I think I can use the cedar planks again!!! Again, all in all, the salmon part of this meal was really easy. The fish simply melted in our mouths.

Roasted green beans with almonds and saffron rice as sides, Grammy's pinneapple chiffon cake for dessert.

Christmas Tree Steaks (Page 162)

Well, now we know what to do with our used Christmas trees!  You grill a nice rib eye on direct heat and then for the last minute or so, you lift the steak and put a spruce branch under it.  Has a nice flavor.  The book says it was invented around a Canadian campfire after several bottles of wine.  I believe it!

VICTORIOUS PACKERS' BRATWURST “HOT TUB”

(page 341)

No doubt that the Greenbay Packers are indebted to the Weber for bringing on victory in Superbowl 45. The win must absolutely be attributed to the Hot Tub Bratwurst!

Let me start with the negatives, so we can dwell on the positives. First a 22” Weber is of insufficient size to adequately address this recipe if one is cooking for more than 3-4 people—even then it still might be too small, for grilling over indirect heat, and having a “Hot Tub” also on the grill is very difficult, while trying to avoid the tub boiling or the coals going out…. Second, it is strongly suggested to use only one type of brat so you can get even cooking accomplished. If you use different varieties of brats at the same time, they all have different cook times, browning times, amount of grease released, etc. It unnecessarily complicates things even if serving a variety and having different choices available is a goal. Also, focus on proper bratwurst rolls. We searched high and low, trying to avoid standard Wonderbread hotdog rolls, and found some organic vegan buns from Whole Foods. Quite frankly, pun intended, and universally decided amongst our family and guests, the rolls were terrible. I’d rather not have a roll… Now, on to the good stuff….

We sought out several sources for our Brats, from our once weekly neighborhood farmers’ market where a guy who makes his own comes every week, to the Heidelberg Bakery and Deli in Arlington, to Whole Foods. Result was we had Stachowski Brand Wisconsin Style Fresh Bratwurt, Binkert’s (standard combo of pork & beef) Brats, Binkert’s Weisswurst (veal brats), and some Trader Joe’s Hofbrau Brats.

I fired up the grill and over direct heat cooked the (salted, peppered and butter-brushed) onions and red and yellow peppers. Tossed the cooked veggies into the tub and added Leinenkugels’ Sunset Wheat Beer, enough to cover them. As the brats were browned (combo direct and indirect heat per Steve’s method), I tossed them into the tub, too, adding beer to ensure that everything was properly soaking in the brew and that it was not boiling. (Again, the “not boiling” was hard to do, both at this point and also during the approximately 2 hours of soaking/smoking time.) I used water soaked applewood chips with the charcoal to increase the smoky flavor as well as to dampen the coals.

First, start your meal with great appetizers: fabulous goat cheese, stupendous brie, spiced shrimp, and a Packer logo veggie platter (see photo). That’ll get your mouth watering and the beer flowing and turn all of your guests into Packer fans.

Next, we served the brats right out of the tub, grabbing some of the onions and peppers to cover each brat. Appropriate hot or sweet mustard—whatever your fancy—finished off the outstanding flavors exploding in your mouth. Now add a neighbor’s yummy coleslaw as well as some absolutely outstanding warm German potato salad that Julie and Mary made, and voila, you have a SUPERBOWL championship meal, worthy of any good Packers’ fan. The potato salad involved 5 pounds of red potatoes (peeled by Grammy), 5 stalks of celery, onions, ¾ lb. bacon, apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, flour spices, etc. Uummm good. Leinenkugels’, Stella Artois, Spaaten, and some St. Pauli’s washed everything down. Yeeehaaa! Final score, Brats 31, Pittsburgh who cares.

I almost forgot the mandatory cheesehead centerpiece on the table. And, last but not least by any means, Tracy easily and wonderfully satisfied our game ending sweet tooth with fabulous cupcake sized “individual” raspberry swirl cheesecakes.

The Pack is Back! And so are Hot Tub Brats!

More Piri Piri wings

We revived this favorite from our Dartmouth weekend for the big game. This time, we did them over a combo of direct and indirect heat. The book says you can do it either way. To me it seems to work better to move them back and forth. This ensures you get the nice crispy outside, and a thoroughly cooked inside.

One other note on this recipe. You can add way more peppers than the book claims without burning your face off. I used about 12 habenoros in about a triple recipe of wings, and glazed it in hot sauce, and still didn't smoke anyone out.

GO PACK!!

Tacos Al Pastor (Page 212)

Stephanie is home for the Super Bowl!!  Jack and Andrea came over for dinner so of course we had to do some Global Grill'n

This is clearly a Top Ten recipe.  It is not that hard and very tasty.  The only change I would make is to double the amount of pineapple.  Other than that it is pretty much right on.  When you grill the pineapple, take an aluminum pan and put it on the non-coal side of the grill.  As the pineapple is done, put it in the pan and then start the meat and onions.  As they are done, you can transfer them into the pan on top of the pineapple.  At the last minute, take all of it out of the pan and put it on a cutting board.  Chop it up and serve with the warmed tortillas.  YUMMM.

Em made some slaw which went perfectly with the tacos.  And - great chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

GO PACK!!

Picanha: Spit-Roasted Rump Steak without Country Salsa (page 153)

This was good but I over cooked the top sirloin.  Our crowd here tends to favor meat that is on the well done side of the scale so I was determined not to under cook it and ... well it was not rare that's for sure.  It was tasty though.  The recipe calls for a thick layer of fat on the top sirloin so I had to ask the guy at Sendiks if he had any with extra fat on it.  He gave me The Look (which I am used to by this time) and went in the back and got me the untrimmed sirloin.  "Perfect!" I said so he cut me off a couple of pounds with eyebrows raised and wrapped it up.  I would say that I did not have it as neatly on the spit as the picture shows on page 154 but it cooked through and was tasty so I'm not sure it matters other than for presentation points.  The Farofa did not come out how I thought it would.  I could not find cassava flour so we used bread crumbs.  In the end it was kind of like a pile of bread crumbs with a little bacon flavor.  If anyone has successfully made Farofa, I'd like to hear how you did it.  Isn't it supposed to be kind of like flat bread of some kind?  If it is really just flavored bread crumbs I think I will skip it next time.  I did not make the Country Salsa which was a mistake.  I will do that next time because I think we needed something like that to round out the meal.  Em made some egg plant dip with pita bread but we could have used the salsa.

We are dealing with a foot of snow tonight.  I am wimping out so no grilling.  Tomorrow is supposed to be 50 mph winds and below zero temps so I might not grill tomorrow either.  TWO DAYS IN A ROW?  I am clearly losing my drive.