BBQ

This Friday, June 21, is the summer solstice which means that it's the longest day of the year. To celebrate these 15 hours and 38 minutes of grilling goodness, the folks at Kingsford® are offering a chance to win a grand prize of a backyard patio makeover including a Pit Barrel Cooker (which I dig down to my shoes), a year’s supply of Kingsford® Charcoal, and a $1,500 Visa® card to outfit your new backyard grilling paradise. Fire up your grill, cook up some great grub, and head on over to Grilling.com and enter.

This will be my last test cook on my Cobb Grill as I think it has earned a spot in my camper for the season. While it is not big enough to cook for a group, it will cook quite well for 2-4 people and produce a fine product. Items like a whole butterflied chicken, meatloaf, burgers, tenderloins, steaks, sausage, ribs, loin roast, and now a pork butt. Will also do some sides with the meat as well and will bake bread and pizza. I started with a Pork Shoulder Picnic that weighed about 4 pounds. I cut the skin off and trimmed off some of the fat and gave it a good rub of SGH. I filled the charcoal basket with a full load of Ozark Oak lump and brought the little cooker up to temp. Loaded my picnic shoulder and as you can see, I had plenty of room left if I wanted to add some baking potatoes, maybe a pan of baked beans, maybe some other grilled veggies, etc..The cook took about 5 hours and I did add more lump twice during the cook. I also made up three packets of wild cherry chips and used them on top of the charcoal basket for extra smoke during this longer cook. The roast about 30 minutes before I pulled it off the cooker. The last step was to give it a glaze of Blues Hog with some clover honey for the last 30 minutes. I tented the roast with foil and let it rest for about 30 minutes and then pulled it. Meat tasted and looked great.I added a potato treat and some fried sweet corn that was cut off the cob and it made a nice plate.

From the Corn Exchange Restaurant, Rapid City, SD-Chef MJ Adams 2 garlic cloves minced2 stalks of celery, diced2 carrots, diced1 medium onion, diced2 lbs. of ground Buffalo meat1/2 cup of green olives, rough chopped into small dice4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced1/2 cup of moist sun dried tomatoesSalt and pepper for seasoning2 T. of olive oilHeat a large sauté pan, adding the olive oil to it. Throw in the onions, garlic, celery, carrots. Sauté for 5 to 8 minutes. Add the ground Buffalo and cook until the meat is about medium (the meat will continue to cook in the dough), breaking up with a fork while cooking. To this, add the olives, sundered tomatoes and taste for seasoning. Remove from the stove. Cool and add in the eggs and mix ingredients together thoroughly. Empanada dough 3 cups of flour1/2 cup of cold butter1/4 cup of lard1/4 cup of cold waterPlace flour in a bowl, and work in butter and lard. Dissolve salt in water and than work into flour mixture, making a dough. Let rest for 30 minutes in the fridge. Divide the dough into 12 portions and roll each into a circle. Brush the perimeter with water, scoop about ¼ cup of filling onto one side and then press the two edges firmly together, crimping if desired or lay on a baking sheet and with an end of the fork tines pressed into the ends. Optional- brush with egg yolk and water mixture. Bake @ 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until browned. Chimichurri Sauce This is a common sauce that is often served with Empandas 1 cup of chopped parsley3 T. of garlic, finely chopped1/4 cup of red wine vinegar3/4 cup of olive oil1 tsp. of red pepper flakesMix the above ingredients together well, pour over Empanda’s.NorCalBBQ

Oldest Daughter has been on a journey to improve her general health and well-being over the past several months, and part of that includes learning to cook so that most of her meals aren’t consumed at restaurants or consist of tasteless offerings from the freezer section of the local supermarket. She’s been on me to tell her how to make a turkey meatloaf that doesn’t suck, which pretty much describes most of my previous attempts at making one. First off, pretending ground turkey is a substitute for ground beef or pork is a losing proposition if you expect similar taste profiles out of the finished product. I know it is a healthier alternative, but anyone who tells you a turkey burger/meat sauce/meatloaf tastes just like the beef/pork/veal equivalent meal is just plain barking mad (or has a bad case of arrested taste buds). So tonight I decided to treat ground turkey just like I would if it were Thanksgiving and I was cooking up the whole bird. With stuffing. And gravy. And naturally, I cooked it up outdoors on the BS Keg. In the rain, I might add. The funky looking juices oozing out of it are a result of stabbing the meatloaf in several places to make sure it was fully cooked (165°F internal) and discovering it wasn’t quite there. Next time around I’ll poke it from the sides and ends so I don’t have the visual issues. At any rate, here’s an approximation of the recipe I used for the turkey loaf. Ingredients 2 lbs. ground turkey 1 medium onion, finely chopped 1/3 cup celery, finely chopped 1/3 cup finely chopped mushrooms 1/4 finely ground bread crumbs (Panko works great) 1 ego 1 tbs. dried thyme 1 tbs. ground sage 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper 1 tbs. worcestershire sauce Directions Lightly sauté onions and celery in a dash of EVOO until onions are translucent. Mix all ingredients together well in a large bowl using your bare hands. Shape into a loaf and transfer to a grill pan. Smooth loaf to insure there are no visible cracks before putting it on the grill. Cook indirect over a 325-350°F fire until internal temperature reaches 165°F (about 45 minutes). Remove, slice, and enjoy. The end result is quite tasty and somewhat reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner, especially with some nice mushroom gravy. I suggest the health-conscious folks out there skip the mushroom gravy (one can cream of mushroom soup, half a can of milk and white wine, a teaspoon of worcestershire sauce, and about a 1/4 cup of chopped mushrooms heated to a boil and then simmered while the turkey loaf is cooking) as it likely doubles the calorie count of a slice of turkey loaf. The rosemary and garlic roasted red potatoes were a nice accompaniment, as was the steamed broccoli. Best of all, it didn’t suck, and no ketchup was harmed in the cooking of this meal.

This is a high temp steak, burger, grilled tenderloin, and homemade brat cook on the Green Mountain pellet grill. I added my steak insert which is two adjustable Brinkmann heat tents which I have sitting on a couple of firebricks for the correct height. They are used as flame tamers to keep the flame where I want it. Next step was to place the standard grates back on the cooker and then I added my Grill Grates on top of the standard grates. I didn't use any of the standard drip shield or the two wind deflectors that come with the cooker.I fired up the cooker and set the controller to 350 degrees which is all I need for my high temp grilling. Remember, this setup will grill at the tip of the flame so a fellow doesn't need those crazy hot temps that will warp and spring the parts in the cooker. As soon as the cooker got up to 700 degrees which took about 10 minutes, I added the burgers. By the time my burgers were done of the first side (about 3 minutes), the cooker had reached my target temp of 775 degrees. Again, the controller is set at 350 degrees. My setup allows me to cook at the tip of the flame with my insert. Next up was two rib-eyes cut about 1-1/2” thick.The rib-eyes cooked about 3 minutes on the first side and then 2 minutes on the second side. I then did my 2 grilled tenderloins and they took about 2 minutes to get done.I also cooked 3 homemade brats on the indirect side of the grill. I didn’t want to break the skin with the high temps.The results of the cook.The burgers as served.The steak as served.Now that some good stuff!!Along with my rotisserie mod, this high temp setup is one of the better modifications I have done to this fine cooker.

I started with a 4.78 pound chub of all beef bologna for this treat.Next step was to remove all the wrappers.I then quartered the chub to increase my surface area for the smoke. I scored the surface area and added some SGH rub and it was ready to go on the cooker.I fired up the Green Mountain cooker and set the temp to 150 degrees as at this very low temp I can get some smoke without a bunch of heat. The bologna is ready to eat as it is and by smoking at a higher temp will only dry it out. Fwiw, it is really better to just smoke it like you do cheese using no heat at all. Anyway, I had some other items ready for the cooker so I added the bologna. I smoked the quarters about 100 minutes and pulled them off the cooker.I wrapped 3 of them for the freezer and sliced up one of the pieces into about 1/2” to 3/4” wide slices.Next step was to add a black iron griddle to the smoker and then some bacon.Did a couple of rounds of bacon for the sandwiches. I then fried my bologna slices in the bacon grease for some additional flavor.I added a little mayo to my seeded bun and then some lettuce, a tomato slice, a couple slices of the bacon and about 3 of my slices of smoked and fried bologna. Just so simple but oh so good!!Served with a dill pickle spear and some of the pit beans off of this cook.

One of the best bargains in meat right now is the Pork Butt and in most areas, it can be purchased for about $1.19 to $1.29 a pound. There are many things a fellow can do with this great piece of meat. From just plain pulled pork, to sliced pork, to may kinds of jerked pork, to Western or country ribs, and more. Then it can also be ground and this opens up many new possibilities. Breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, many kinds of stuffed link sausage, and a couple of my favorites are the State Fair Pork-burgers and Bratwurst sandwich patties. I start by getting the grinder out and set it up for my pork. I then cut up about 16-1/2 pounds of pork from a couple of pork butts into some big strips that will fit the grinder. Run it thru the grinder along with some thick cut smoked bacon.Once my meat is ground, I then mix in some crushed garlic, some Worcestershire sauce, a little dried basil, a little diced onion, a pinch or two of seasoning, and some Lipton dry onion soup mix. This will be some fine tasting Pork-burger. This is my 16 pounds of Pork-burger meat ready to be made into patties or frozen in 2 pound packages for later use. Rolled my little Char-Broil 500X out to the cooking patio and fired it up with some lump charcoal. I set the cooker up with the right side direct and the left side indirect for this cook. I like to sear stuff at the tip of an open charcoal or wood flame for a few minutes on each side and then finish up on the indirect side of the cooker.Along with my Pork-burgers, I had some other items to cook and I started out with 10 one quarter pound thick burgers.Next up was the 1/3rd pound Pork-burgers.Also did 4 of those huge skin on bone in chicken breasts. Had the fire going so might as well do some dogs. Chicken looked good coming off the cooker.Cooked the big pork burgers to about 160 degrees internal and they are ready for the sandwich. The sandwich served at the State Fair has a steamed bun and they do not dress the sandwich except for a slice of dill pickle. I like to spread on a light layer of Miracle Whip, the add some lettuce, tomato, thin slice of onion or serve with green onions. I am just not sure there is a better sandwich out there!! Juicy, flavorful, make you want to throw rocks at a standard burger sandwich.

I have had a couple of successful outings with my three mushroom dogs this spring and I will tell you about one of my adventures into the woods for this wonderful treat.Loaded the dogs up and headed to the woods yesterday to see if we could find a batch of mushrooms. I hadn’t had my mushroom dogs out over the Winter for much additional training so I wasn’t sure just how well they would do on this first outing. They certainly were ready to go and took off on the hunt before I could even get a beer opened. In a few minutes, Herman started barking and I knew he was on to a patch of these wonderful delights. I got to him and picked up a couple of the small grey sponge mushrooms that were kinda dried out. By now my other two dogs were barking and both of them were onto some of the bigger yellow sponges. By the time I got these picked, this old fellow was tired so we quit for the day. We did have enough for a couple of breakfasts. It wasn’t a big batch but some of them were quite large. It hasn’t been a very good year in my area for mushrooms.Jan got the mushrooms cleaned and sliced up and put into a salt water filled bowl and then they went into the fridge for their overnight stay. Got the mushrooms out this morning and rinsed and dried them off and they were ready to be breaded and fried.Used a egg and milk wash and then flopped them around in a mixture of flour and cornmeal with salt and pepper. They did fill two large oval plates after the breading.Got a black iron skillet hot and fried this treat up and got them ready for our breakfast.I fried up and egg and then some hot spicy breakfast sausage and along with a piece of toast, got ready to eat this wonderful breakfast. Jan ate hers straight up with nothing but the mushrooms for her breakfast.It just doesn’t get any better than this!!Had the dogs out again and did find another batch of these wonderful morsels. My point dog did need some additional work as he sure gets lazy over the Winter....kinda like his master!Got them cleaned and into some salt water for their overnight stay.Got them breaded and ready for the black iron skillet.Looking good...Most likely my last batch of the year as season is about over. This is one great breakfast.

Truth be told, you don’t need much more than a good pan to make panini. That said…I’ve found some simple, inexpensive tools that have made panini-making a whole lot easier (and tastier!) for me over the years. Today I’d like to share with you my 8 Essential Panini Tools – what they’re good for and why I use them. Plus, one lucky reader will have the chance to win ALL 8 TOOLS, thanks to OXO (worth more than $100!). The giveaway details are at the end of this post! * * * Silicone Grill Brush Many grills come equipped with their own grill scraper, but for those that don’t, you will probably find a silicone grill brush very helpful when it comes time to clean your panini press. The soft-yet-firm bristles make it easy to scrape up the cooked-on bits that can get trapped between the grates without damaging the nonstick coating. * * * Meat Thermometer If you’re going to grill meats on your panini press, I highly recommend using a meat thermometer. It’s the easiest and most reliable way to ensure that meat is cooked to the desired temperature. With the OXO model I have, it’s easy for me to set the temperature (it comes with preset USDA and chef recommendations), insert the probe into the meat I’m grilling, place the meat on the panini press, close the lid, and wait until the thermometer beeps to tell me that the meat is done. It eliminates all of the guesswork, and I don’t lose any heat by having to open the lid repeatedly to check for doneness. * * * Cheese Plane You can, of course, buy pre-sliced cheese but it tends to melt and layer more easily when you slice it yourself. A basic cheese plane or slicer is relatively inexpensive (this one, from OXO, sells for $10). You want one that is comfortable to grip, and with a metal blade that can stand up to slicing firmer cheeses without bending itself out of shape. * * * (...)Continue reading "8 Essential Panini Tools…and Big OXO Giveaway!" >>