Fathers' Day Gift Ideas: 10 Grilling Tools for Under $50

Fathers' Day this year is on Sunday, June 20th.

Grilling and BBQ related tools are often a popular gift for dads so I thought I’d give 10 suggestions for under $50. Plus, at the end of this post, I’m giving you the chance to win a great gift for Father’s Day for my June Giveaway.

Many of my suggestions will include links and pricing from Lowes Home Improvement. That is just because I shop there often and no matter what I’m there for, I ALWAYS stroll through the grilling section during the summer. Besides, it was just easy to use their website to gather this information, call me lazy but they have 637 items under grilling/bbq. Other places to look for grill gifts include your local Weber dealer, hardware stores, and often, pool supply stores.

Long Handled Utensils

My favorite grilling utensil is the long handled tongs pictured above in the middle. They are long enough to keep my hands away from the inferno, have a nice rubber grip, and have a push lock that will keep them in the closed position in the drawer. You can get a similar pair at Lowe’s for $6.97.

In general, stay away from the “boxed sets” of grilling tools. My experience has been that they tend to be over priced and you probably get at least 1 tool you won’t use. Your better off hand picking a mix and matched set of quality tools. I try to get stainless steel or plastic handles instead of wood, just for ease of cleaning and durability.

And don't get one of those big meat forks, they just ruin perfectly good meat.

Grate Cleaner Brush
Does Dad’s grate cleaning brush look something like this?

Time to get him some new ones!

These are the two types that I like to use. The dual head one is good because the bristles clean rounded grill grates and the pad clean flat surfaces like griddles or flat cast iron grids (similar one at Lowes is $8.99). The triangle head one is my go to brush because it has longer, stiff bristles that get down on the sides, not just the top of the grate (one at Lowes is $6.97). Again, look for long handles.

Fire Starter

If your dad uses a gas grill, chances are the push button starter is out. You can probably buy the exact part for his brand at Lowe's. If you dad uses charcoal, a chimney starter (pictured left) is an excellent tool. It uses just one or two pieces of newspaper to start a whole load of coal and only costs $14.99. No more smelly lighter fluid.

Now if you really want to make dad a happy camper, you can get him a MAPP gas torch (pictured right) for about $35 for the trigger and $8 per cylinder. It is in the tool section at Lowes because it is general used as a soldering and sweating torch. But I use mine to torch 3 sections of unlit coal for 20 seconds each and in no time, I have my grill up to temp. It's the fastest way to get to cooking temps in my opinion. I cook outside 4 nights a week and usually get mine to last 4 to 6 months before having to replace the $8 cylinder.

Quality Instant Read Thermometer (for measuring internal temp of meat)

A great instant read thermometer is the only accurate way to tell when your meat is done and the manufacturers have different meanings for the word "instant". But when you are cooking over flame, time matters! The Thermapen is the industry standard but also costs about $90. In my tests last year, the Taylor Pocket Thermometer ($14.97) was the second fastest only to the Thermapen and in my experience, is just as accurate.

Grill Thermometer (for measuring cooking temp of the grill)

If your dad's grill has a thermometer gauge that only reads "low - med - high" or if it is old and no longer accurate, he needs a new one. They are under $20 (this one is $11.96) and Lowes has ones that should fit most grills.

Oven Mitts

Mitts is short for mittens and mittens don't sound manly for Dad, do they? I have tried cheap oven mitts, silicone oven mitts, and expensive oven mitts. While the Weber mitts are good for light grilling, it is hard to beat welder gloves ($15.98 ) for handling high grilling temps. Plus....they aren't called mittens ;)

Grill Cover with Logo

One of the biggest threats to the life span of a grill is weather. Sure you can get a plain black grill cover but why not get one that boasts your favorite team logo? Alexis bought me mine for Christmas and it's held up well. This one runs $34.96 at Lowes right now.

Gaswatch Fuel indicator

I used to have a propane gas grill and one of the things I hated was running out of gas in the middle of a cook. There are some tricks you can do to check your gas level is, but why play around? You can get your dad one of these fuel gauges for $15.99.

Rotisserie

Kim of Stirring The Pot will testify to the usefulness of having a rotisserie for your grill. She recently got one and loves it. Dad would like one too, after all, the only thing more fun than cooking meat over flame is cooking SPINNING meat over flame! They can get more pricey but this one is on sale for $25!

BBQ & Grilling Cookbook
There are some classic BBQ/Grilling cook books out there, such as Smoke and Spice, The Barbecue Bible, Paul Kirk's Championship BBQ, and Peace Love and Barbecue (Mills). There are also some fanatastic new "classics" like Big Bob Gibson's Barbecue Book, Planet Barbecue!, and BBQ 25. Any of these would be a perfect accessory for your dad's grill.

June Giveaway

Just in time for Fathers' Day, I am giving away an autographed copy of Big Bob Gibson's Barbecue Book: Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary Barbecue Joint.

I have had my copy for over a year and love it. I bought an extra copy at his class a few weeks ago. This would make a great Fathers Day gift and I will be drawing a winner next Sunday, June 13th so the winner should have it from me by Fathers Day.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment below.

• If you use the "anonymous comment" option, be sure to leave your screen name in the comment so I can contact you if you are the winner. Something like "EggerinFL from the Egg Forum" or "swibirun from the BBQ Brethren forum" is enough.
• One entry per person.
• Drawing will be held Sunday, June 12th at 12:30pm Eastern.
• Comments will be numbered by order received and random.org will generate a random number for the winner.
• Limited to Continental US unless you wish to pay the extra shipping charges.
  

[Standard Disclaimer] I have not received any compensation from any of the above referenced products or companies.

Bow chicka Chow Chow!

Do you know what chow chow is?

No, not the dog with the blue tongue.

Chow chow is a tangy relish type of dish, mostly in the south, but also in Pennsylvania and New Mexico according to Wikipedia. It is a "pickled relish" but it is not "pickle relish". It is made from green tomatoes, cabbage, sweet & hot peppers, other veggies and the typical pickling agents. It is typically used as a condiment on things like hot dogs, bbq, and pinto beans.

My first experience with chow chow was when I stocked grocery aisles in Jacksonville, FL when I was 18 years old. There was this jar of nasty looking stuff with a yellow label and a "way too happy" guy's face plastered on it. Having that guy staring at you while you're working at 3 in the morning is kind of creepy.

I decided right then, "Ewwwww, I HATE chow chow."

Almost 25 years later at the Market Square Farmer's Market this past weekend, I had the chance to sample some chow chow at the booth for Sherie's Garden Style products, including her Hot Chow Chow. I managed to get over my long held bias and try it.

Wow, I stand corrected. I do like chow chow, especially hot chow chow. I bought two jars.

I had some on a grilled hot dog this weekend.

I put some on a pulled pork sandwich at lunch today. I didn't say it was pretty, but you wouldn't look at a king crab or lobster and say, "Dang, I just want to eat that!" would you? (Yes, sadly I took a picture of my leftovers lunch at work on a paper plate).

I tried it on pinto beans.

It has a sweet heat to it with a vinegar kick that I like. Being "garden style" it is a more rustic cut that adds a lot of texture to dishes. It reminds me of a spicy vinegar based slaw or maybe giardiniera. It's much more exciting than sauerkraut and it is kind of what I imagine kimchi would taste like. The thing I like about the hot chow chow is that she adds sweet, jalapeno, AND habanero peppers, a great combination.

I admit it is one of those things you will either LOVE or HATE. I just happened to find out that I am in the love camp.

If you live around here, you can get Sherie's Hot Chow Chow at the Market Square Farmer's Market on Saturdays (maybe on Wednesday's too, I never get down there then) for $5 for one jar, $9 for two. They also sell salsa but I haven't tried it yet. You can also order it online at Armadillo Pepper for $5.95 a jar. I found that site when I googled Sherie's products. They carry a bunch of interesting products, so even if you don't like the idea of chow chow, you might want to check them out.

Farmer's Market
Some other things I've been enjoying about our weekly trips to the Market Square Farmer's Market include

Farm fresh eggs, Locust Grove Farm's Cumberland Cheese (a peppery sheep's milk cheese, but their Manchego rocks too), and fresh baked cheddar jalapeno bread made the best breakfast sandwich.

Spending time with Alexis and Trevor hanging out in one of the best downtown environments I have ever visited. The only time I've been to downtown on a Saturday in any other city was to see a building get imploded.

The adjacent park is cool literally.....and figuratively....

Finding new things I haven't tried before like Black Seed Simpson Lettuce which is as pretty as green leaf but doesn't have the bitter edge that some more ornamental lettuces do. It rocked in a simple salad with avocado ranch dressing (make one 'recipe' of ranch dressing and blend with 1 peeled/seeded avocado & 1 Tb cayenne pepper in a blender for 1 minute).

The family environment, Trevor took this picture of a kid playing in the splash fountains in Market Square. I love seeing what he captures when he takes my camera for a few minutes.

We always have to pay a visit to Earth To Old City, one of the stores at Market Square with eclectic merchandise like this.

[Standard Disclaimer] applies as always but I don't know any of these folks and paid full price for anything I bought.

Wow. I've rambled on. Tell me something "bow chicka wow wow" about your favorite local market.

Homemade Steak Biscuits

This breakfast all started with scraps.

One of the ways we try to save money is buying subprimal cuts of meat like pork loins, whole ribeyes, or beef tenderloins and cutting them myself down into retail cuts like pork chops, ribeye steaks, and beef roasts. Then Alexis vacuum seals the cuts, labels them and freezes them for use over the next 1 to 2 months.

But you will end up with some scraps. You can't just throw them all away, some have pieces of usable meat. Your best friend is the meat mallet, one with a flat edge and a torturous looking serrated edge. Pound the lean pieces with the flat edge and the fattier pieces with the serrated edge to tenderize and break up the connective tissue. A jaccard would come in handy if I had one.

So what to do with a plateful of thin ribeye steak? Normally, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches but Alexis decided to try her hand at making steak biscuits.

First she made the biscuit dough using 2 1/4 cup of Bisquick and 1 cup of Cruze Farms Buttermilk. She rolled out the dough and cut it into biscuits, letting them sit for about an hour.

The she baked them for 8-10 minutes at 450f, until they were golden brown.

While that was going on, she seasoned the steak with salt, pepper and a touch of Tiger seasoning that Larry got me to try.

Waiting for the cast iron pan to get preheated over medium high heat, she set up her stations of self rising flour seasoned with salt and pepper and an egg wash (4 eggs, 1/2 cup buttermilk).

For the frying, Alexis had about 1/4" of safflower oil (any high heat oil will do except maybe Havoline 5W-30). She dipped the steak in the flour, then the egg wash, and back into the flour. They fried very quickly, probably only 2-3 minutes per side.

She removed them to a cooling rack over paper towels to let any grease drain.

I have been ruined, I don't think I can ever eat a steak biscuit at Hardee's ever again after having these light, delicious bundles of Southern goodness.

What do you mean I didn't help make this breakfast? I helped....I took pictures and got in the way :)

MyHOP Cheese Blintzes

I love IHOP.

I know it's nothing fancy and food snobs look down on it, but to me a weekend breakfast at IHOP is all about comfort food. A plate of those crispy hashbrowns, a big omelet, and a short stack on a Saturday morning makes my weekend. It's my guilty pleasure, although we only go about every other month.

One of my favorite dishes is their Cheese Blintz, which is simply cheese stuffed crepes with a fruit topping. I've never made crepes. Alexis made one attempt when we got married and that was using a store bought batter in a carton. Back then, we knew about as much about crepes as Ricky Bobby did. It didn't end well. Since then, I've stayed away from making them.

I was watching Anne Burrell's Secrets of a Restaurant Chef and she showed how she makes crepes. She explained it very well and made it seem easy. I knew that I could do that now and decided to try to make my own version of IHOP's cheese blintzes.

The batter makes about 10 crepes but you'll only need 6. Save the other 4 in a gallon zip lock bag with pieces of parchment paper between them for later use.



MyHop Cheese Blintzes
Source: Nibble Me This
Crepe batter by Anne Burrell

Crepe Batter
1 cup All purpose flour
2 ea Egg
1/2 cup Club soda
1 cup Milk*
3 tb Butter melted
1 pinch Salt

Cheese filling
8 ounce Cream cheese softened
1 cup Confectioners Sugar
1 cup Ricotta cheese

Cherry preserves for topping

Mix together all of the batter ingredients and let rest for at least 30 minutes. *Anne's recipe in the episode and as printed on Food Network's site says 1/2 cup milk, but in the episode she ended up adding about 2 shots of milk that seemed to be about 1/4 cup each. Ours needed a full cup of milk too, in order to get the thin consistency.

Whip the cheese filling into a smooth mixture. The sugar sounds like a lot but we kept adding until we got the taste right.

Get a medium sized saute pan heated over medium heat and then melt about 1 Tb of ghee or butter. Pour in 2 ounces (I use a 2 oz ladel to make it easy) of batter and quickly swirl around to coat the bottom of the pan. Anne referred to it as "tilt-a-whirl action" which is a perfect description, just roll it around.

The edges will start to cook first. Use a spatula to lightly work the edges from the pan. After about 1-2 minutes, the bottom of the crepe should start to turn slightly golden and the batter on top will be set. Flip and cook another two minutes.

I proudly present to you, my very first crepe. (Forgive the white balance it wasn't that yellow, this was shot under a 40w oven range hood bulb.)

Remove and repeat. Stack the crepes with parchment or wax paper sheets between them.

Place 2-3 gooey heaping tablespoons of the cheese filling and roll the crepe.

Top with cherry preserves that have been warmed in a small sauce pan.


Holy carp! (sic) I can make crepes!

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Roasted Chicken

Sometimes recipes assume too much.

I know I'm guilty of it. I'll tell you to "spatchcock a chicken" or "rub the mix under and over the skin" without really telling how to do that. I presume you either
a) already know how to do it OR
b) can find out how to do it via Google

I'm going to try to do a little better than that. Because I remember the first time I someone told me to put butter UNDER the skin of the turkey I was going to cook. Well thanks. That was helpful....how the *$&% do I do that?

Tonight we decided to do a little "pesto on pesto" action. We were wanted to fire roast a chicken with a tomato pesto and serve it on a bed of pasta with traditional basil pesto.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Roasted Chicken

1 whole chicken, spatchcocked (click here for someone else's video on how to do that)
1 quart buttermilk (preferably Cruze Farm's if you can get it)
1 cup tomato pesto (I used Classico's jarred version, hey, it's the weekend)
Poultry Perfect Rub & pepper to taste

Marinate the chicken in the buttermilk for at least 8 hours.

Rub the tomato pesto under and over the chicken skin like this:



Season with poultry rub and pepper and then roast indirect heat at 350f until the breasts hit 160f and the thighs are 175-180f. We did ours with natural hardwood lump charcoal on the Big Green Egg and it took a little under an hour and a half, but you could do this in your O...... your O...... your OVEN. The key is to go by temps.

Alexis made a white sauce and then added a jar of basil pesto from a local vendor at the farmer's market this weekend. She then tossed some penne pasta in the cream sauce. We were actually disappointed in the basil pesto compared to the one we make, so I'll omit the vendor name. Sometimes buying locally isn't necessarily better. But usually it is.

We topped the pasta with the whole roasted chicken.

It was just about perfect. Can't wait to try this one again.

So are you firing up the grill tomorrow?

Greek Style Deep Dish Pizza

A few weeks ago, I complained that rabbits or squirrels were eating our strawberries just as they started to become ripe, before we could enjoy them. Well today, Brett rescued this little critter in our yard from a neighbor's cat's jaws.

Before everyone says, "awwwww, look at the baby rabbit", just remember, rabbits can be killers! Here's a scientific documentary proving that.



Even still, Alexis wouldn't let me make rabbit stew so we had to have something else for dinner. (Don't worry just joking, he/she is recovering fine and will be released back in our garden tomorrow morning.)

This is one that Alexis and I made up a few weeks ago (April 20th to be exact per my notebook) when she decided she wanted to try a deep dish style pizza. We looked at what ingredients we had on hand and decided to take it Greek style. It wasn't authentic Greek food, but it had a lot of Greek flavors.

We made it again tonight but this time made it in the brick oven....errr Big Green Egg. As I've mentioned a million times over, the Egg's ceramics make it the perfect wood fired cooker for pizzas. But this recipe does work well in both an oven or on a ceramic cooker.
Greek Style Deep Dish Pizza
Source: Nibble Me This

Ingredients
1 order pizza dough (make your own, buy from local pizza joint or buy a mix from store)
1/2 cup sun-dried tomato pesto
6 ounces mozzarella, shredded
8-10 slices salami, quartered
2 slices red onion
4-6 ea kalamata olives, sliced
1/4 cup portobello mushroom, diced and sauteed
8-10 ea mint leaves, fresh, chopped
4-5 ea marinated artichoke hearts, diced
6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions
Roll pizza dough out and form it into a greased 9" round dish. This will work with a cake pan but does really well with a preheated stoneware pan. Poke the dough all over with a fork. Alexis tells me that will help keep the dough from bubbling up during the pre-cook. She knows the baking stuff way better than I (See? we complement each other!). Place the pan/dough into a 475f Big Green Egg or oven for 5 minutes.

Spread the tomato pesto on the base of the pizza and top with the mozzarella. We used Classico's Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto that you can find in most grocery stores but you could make your own, there's a lot of recipes available via a quick google.

Then toss in the next six ingredients (salami, onions, olives, mushroom, mint, and artichoke....don't you hate when recipes make you count?).

Top with the feta cheese and put back on the Big Green Egg or in the oven, still at 475f and cook for 12 minutes.

Pull from the cooker and let rest in the pan for another 5 minutes.

You should be able to lift the entire pan using a pair of large spatulas.

Slice and serve. Damn good stuff.

Both times this has been one of our favorite pizzas. It might not be pretty but the flavors pack a punch that wakes your mouth up. The strong flavors of the feta, olives, peppers, and other ingredients walk that fine line between making your mouth water and making your eyes wince.

Time for a quick game of Versus in the comments:
1) Deep dish vs. regular pizza
2) Monty Python rocks vs. Monty Python sucks (don't worry about offending me, I love MP, Alexis hates them).

55 Knives

It's the Memorial Day Weekend so you would think I'd be ready to talk about grilling burgers and steaks...

But I'm more excited about this week's release of the e-book, 55 Knives - Recipes, Tips, and Stories from 55 Top Food Bloggers.


I was honestly shocked when I was asked to be a part of this project because the other contributing authors are what I consider some of the finest food bloggers around. They are people I respect for their content, culinary knowledge, skills, and a unique voice. I was a bit nervous but there was no way I was going to turn down an opportunity to be a part of something innovative like this.

55 Knives is the brainchild of Nick Evans from Macheesmo. It is much more than just a cook book of recipes. It brings 55 unique perspectives, tips, recipes, and stories from it's participating bloggers. Because it is an e-book, it is interactive and you have the option to go to hyperlinks for other content by the particular blogger and other information. Having read it the past two days, I found it very entertaining with a personal touch. There is a great article on this project at BlogHer.

The list price is $19 but between now and next Thursday, you can get 55 Knives at the introductory price of $14. You can order it by clicking on the links. Yes, as a contributing author, I get a piece of affiliate sales, but I am donating any of those earnings to someone who selflessly does a BBQ service once a month for local people who are homeless. It won't be much but every bit helps.

So please click on the link and check out 55 Knives.

Since I didn't post any recipes, click on over to Our Krazy Kitchen for my Fire Day Friday post about grilled stuffed fajita chicken burritos.

Have a great weekend all!