Ribs, Wings, and Cornbread

I madethe 5-4-3-2-1 rub from the Global Grillin book to put on the ribs. Since I only had one rack of ribs, I also put it on the wings. Let me tell you, it is so tasty, we didn't even end up using any BBQ sauce.

One substitution of note was lemon zest and ground pepper instead of lemon pepper. It actually worked quite well, and the lemon taste was notable.

We also made the grilled onion/pepper cornbread again (shown here in dough form). Any cornbread recipe will do, add chopped grilled veggies, 20 or so minutes in cast iron on indirect heat. Yummy!

Also should note: throwing an onion slice in the coals and rubbing the grate with onions is also a great flavor booster!

And: be sure to turn the cast iron pan so the bread cooks evenly.

And: Yes, we do need The Phoenix. It will take up at least 1/2 our front yard, but what better use is there for a front yard?

Pancetta Orange Chicken Kebabs and Almond Cream Chicken Tikka

Both of these are very good.  The Pancetta Orange was a real hit.and not too hard other than skewering the meat which is a bit futsy.  The kebabs look very nice with the orange slices and the flavor and smell was wonderful.  Hint:  For the last few minutes of grilling take the meet off of the skewers and cooked it on direct heat just to make sure the Pancetta cooks through.  Otherwise the pieces are packed together and the sides don't really cook all the way. You will have to watch it closely because the fire can flare up as the bacon drips into it.

I didn't use skewers on the Tikka and it was fine.  It is just marinaded chicken.  It makes somewhat of a mess on the grill top because the yogurt sauce sticks a little but nothing to worry about.  I used Almond butter rather than cashew.  It tasted great!

Meeting Steven

Steven Raichlen's book tour brought him to the chilly shores of Lake Michigan last week.  He was doing a fund raiser for the local Public TV station and promoting Planet Barbecue at the same time.  We went to the event and sat with the other guests in an open air tent facing out toward the lake.  BRRRR.  It was one of those "cooler by the lake" days we have in the Spring in Wisconsin. Raichlen is from Miami and has no where near the body fat he should have given the recipes in his book.  He obviously does not sample his own grilling as much as I do.  In any event it was a lot of fun.  While he told stories of the history of grilling around the world, he made Caveman T-Bone Steaks with Hellfire Hot Sauce (p. 151 in your hymnal).  Since he couldn't possibly make enough of that to feed us all, he had paired up with a local chef to make a bunch of other recipes from the book so there was plenty of good food to eat - different kinds of bruschetta, some kind of Turkish meatball sandwich, bacon wrapped mushrooms and Piri-Piri chicken wings.  mmm good.

We now have Raichlen's signature on our copy of Planet Barbecue and he has a copy of the Wisconsin Grill'n blog book.  During his remarks he said that in this kind of climate you can tell the men from the boys because the boys shovel the walk and driveway whereas the men first shovel the path out to the grill.  He clearly knew his stuff.

I tried Caveman steak and hellfire sauce last night.  I don't thinking cooking the steak on the coals adds anything other than the taste of charcoal which frankly I don't mind skipping.  As to the hellfire sauce, I have not perfected.  Jess - you are the expert on this. What's the secret?  Ellie says you use some habenaros but ours was already too hot for my taste.  Do you remove the seeds from the jalapenos?