Local grillin'

So my posting has been delinquent. Mostly because I am still learning to use the grill and didn't want to bore you all with my travails of leathery pork chops and chicken with the skin seared right off the meat.

As of this weekend, however, my grilling rose to a new level of success. Trial and error has finally paid off. Not with anything from the book, just with herbed chicken a-la-Boston. Rather than fooling around spatchcocking the chicken, I just cut it in half and cooked the two halves. Start on indirect heat skin side up, near but not over the fire. Bring it to 165 or 170. Then, 5-7 minutes skin side down over direct to crisp the skin but not burn it. I know the book says you can go 15-20 minutes skin side down over direct heat to start. But that has yet to work out well for me, and I have ruined several good chickens in the process.

So this time, I followed Bay State Grillin technique, as developed by Greg Torres and demonstrated by the master himself at his hideaway in Dartmouth, and voila!

We had friends in from DC who played Mario Kart while I was cooking. Great weekend!

Lechon Manok - Lemongrass Rotisserie Chicken (page 353)

We picked this recipe in honor of Stephanie who is in the Philippines and Lydia who is ... well just check out the sign pictured on page 357 where Raichlen declares Lydia to be "The Barbecue Queen of the Philippines!"  And I thought she was just the tattooed lady.

I made the marinade for this tonight and I'll cook the chicken tomorrow.  Anyone ever use annatto seeds or calamansis?

Em is in New England this weekend with Ellie and Steve and families.  Charlie had a couple of friends over for dinner tonight. We had burgers, grilled asparagus and grilled peaches with ice cream and raspberry sauce which is about as easy as it gets.  One of Charlie's friends said "Mr. Koczela, I hate to admit it but I really like this asparagus."

The chicken was fantastic - a definite must try.  Cook it for longer than the book says.  I had a fairly large roaster and it took 1.5 hours on the rotisserie.  Don't forget the sauces and don't skip the annatto seed oil for basting.  In addition to the two sauces recommended in the book, we had peanut sauce which came in a bottle from Whole Foods.  I could not find calamansis so we used limes which worked great.  I used red jalapenos for the chili peppers.  I took out the seeds and white membrane so that they were not quite as hot as normal.  The flavor was good with the chicken. 

Mauritius Grilled Lamb Chops (Page 293)

We made these last week when Ellie and Lydia were here visiting and Jack, Andrea and Sophia were over for dinner.  We were not able to find any sugarcane juice but other than that, we had everything except the MSG which we were not interested in anyway.  We improvised the sugarcane juice with some honey, lemon juice and parsley which seemed to work fine.  In any event, the lamb chops were very tasty.  We also grilled a pineapple on the spit which was just as juicy and yummy as usual.  Ellie made some couscous with veggies and raisins and some other dish that I can't remember but I am sure was fabulous.   All in all the meal was delicious and the company was even better!