Wanna see what's in my drawers?

What? No, not THOSE drawers, you pervs.

I emptied the plastic drawers that I keep under my grill table to clean them out and couldn't believe how much stuff I had in there.

The contents included....

• 8 instant read thermometers
• 4 remote probe thermometers
• 7 spatulas
• 8 sets of tongs
• 1 pair welding gloves
• 2 pair safety glasses
• 2 grate brushes
• 1 MAPP gas torch
• 3 cans spray oils
• skewers (7 metal, 100 12" bamboo, 50 10" bamboo)
• 4 silicone brushes
• 2 rotisserie tines
• 1 can compressed air (not sure why that was in there)

Sadly, that doesn't even touch the "garden bin" that holds some of our smoking woods, rib racks, veggie racks, steam pans, chimney starters, and such.

Wait. Why are you dialing the number to Hoarders?

Raichlen's Gaucho-Style Beef Ribs

Last night, Alexis and I took a trip to Brazil.

I've been enjoying Steven Raichlen's newest tome, Planet Barbecue! It is a culinary world tour of live fire cooking and I've been getting my epicurean passport stamped up lately. Last night, I had two racks of beef back ribs (the part trimmed off of a whole ribeye) and Alexis had gotten me a rotisserie attachment for Father's Day so I decided to follow Raichlen to Brazil for Gaucho-Style Beef Ribs.

These are beef ribs seasoned simply with coarse salt and pepper cooked over an oak fire. Sure, that might not sound like much of a "recipe" but it's more about process. The book recommends using a rotisserie for closer to authentic preparation but also gives a method for indirect cooking if you don't have a rotisserie.

So I threaded a rack onto the rod as Raichlen describes and used my rotisserie for the first time on my Brinkmann Professional Charcoal Grill. It smelled and sounded so good as the meat took a ferris wheel ride over the gates of hell.

Planet Barbecue! advises to cook these over medium heat (325-350f). Unfortunately, I rarely use this grill since I got my Big Green Egg and let the temps run away from me. I used a full chimney of lump and briquettes and even with both vents shut down, the temps skyrocketed to 550f.

The ribs ended up being a bit overdone despite my efforts but that was totally on me and my lack of fire management. Next time, and I will try this again, I would use a half of a chimney to get the lower temps.

Then I made the second rack of ribs on the Egg using the indirect method (mostly). As you can see, salt and pepper only.

I've done beef ribs on the Egg a few times but at smoking temperatures. This time I was running it at 325f with lump coal and Jack Daniels oak barrel wood chips.

When the ribs were almost done, I strayed from the method in the book. I wanted to get some direct heat on the ribs like the ones on the rotisserie so I switched to direct heat and grilled the ribs for about 90 seconds per side to finish them up.

Click this and just listen. If pictures are "food porn", then this is the sound track.


This time they were perfect! Trevor called them "steak ribs" which is really what they are.

Want to get your BBQ passport inked up? Pick up a copy of Planet Barbecue! Whether you are a novice griller or a serious Q enthusiast, you'll enjoy it. Steven Raichlen will be in the area for the next week or so doing book signings so get a signed copy.

THURSDAY, JUNE 24
Dayton, OH: Books & Co, 4453 Walnut Street
Presentation and Book signing, 7:00pm

SATURDAY, JUNE 26
Franklin, TN: Williams Sonoma, 1800 Galleria Boulevard
Book signing, 3:00 pm

SUNDAY, JUNE 27
Louisville, KY: Williams Sonoma, 5000 Shelbyville Road
Booksigning, 2:00pm

MONDAY, JUNE 28
Lexington, KY: Williams Sonoma, 3473 Nicholasville Rd
Book signing, 6:00pm

TUESDAY, JUNE 29
Atlanta, GA: Sur La Table Perimeter Mall
Book signing, 6:00pm

FTC Disclosure Notice: I received my copy of Planet Barbecue! for free from the publisher for review a few months ago but everything I have said is my honest opinion. I plan to buy a copy at the Nashville (Franklin) book signing to give away so I can quit saying I got it for free, because it really is a great bbq book. I highly recommend it.

Finally something I can't make on the Big Green Egg

When I was a kid, homemade ice cream was a treat but also an endurance event similar to a triathlon. Instead of swim, bike, run, it was more like ice, salt, and churn. The family would shuttle ice and salt into the old ice cream maker while we took turns hand cranking the machine for what seemed like hours.

These days I can't believe how easy making homemade ice cream is. My parents gave us a Cuisanart ice cream maker (Model Ice 20) two years ago and it is so easy to use even a caveman could do it....providing he had electricity of course. No salt. No ice. No hand cranking.
Alexis made Toll House chocolate chip pan cookies (recipe on their bag) and then this super easy vanilla bean ice cream.

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups half & half
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
1 vanilla bean

Mix the first three ingredients. Split the vanilla bean, scrape out the vanilla into the mix and discard the bean casing. Pour the mix into the pre-chilled machine and turn it on. She ran it in the ice cream mixer for about 30 minutes.

I don't eat much dessert at all, I just would rather have seconds or a heavy beer like Newcastle Brown (what I call dessert beer). But this was easy and oh so good.

The fork dives right through the ice cream and then drives into the cookie base...yum! The ice cream was light and creamy with that real vanilla pow in the kisser.

Don't worry, I'm still alive and aliens haven't kidnapped me. Grill programming to return in the next post ;)

Mahi Mahi Maui Style

Maui style. What does that mean to you?

To most people, it probably means tropical or Hawaiian.

But to me, it reminds me of my adolescence because I started surfing when I was 14 years old. I was as passionate about surfing as we foodies are about food. And just like now when I cook outside year round, back then, I surfed year round, even in the winter. One of my favorite pieces of surf wear was a Maui and Son's sweatshirt that my sister bought me for Christmas in the 80's when Quicksilver, OP, Lightning Bolt, and surf wear were all the rage. It was perfect for changing into after peeling off a cold wetsuit.

I mentioned that sweatshirt tonight to Brett because I had given it to him and he told me that Trevor now had it. Some ~25 years later, that sweatshirt is still in use!

What in the sam hell does that have to do with cooking? Well, Maui and Sons started out as a cookie company but their venture failed so they turned to surf wear. The logo that adorned several pairs of baggies that I wore was based on a chocolate chip cookie.

I never knew that until tonight until the whole sweatshirt thing caused me to look them up on line.

While this recipe has nothing to do with Maui and Sons, it definitely fits my idea of Maui style! Bold and brash.

Mahi Mahi Maui Style
source: Not sure. I find this on several of the big recipe sites but no one cites the original source.

3-4 mahi mahi fillets
2 tsp butter
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp teriyaki sauce
4 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp honey
2 tsp sesame seeds

Melt the butter and saute garlic until it starts to brown. Remove from heat and whisk in the teriyaki sauce, lemon juice, honey and 1 tsp of the sesame seeds.

Marinate the fillets for 30 minutes while you preheat a grill to 350f.

Grill meat side down for about 3 minutes. Flip and grill skin side down for 5-8 minutes, until the fillet hits an internal temp of 140f.

Serve with sweet and sour rice and soy steamed green beans. I poured a smiddgen (official measurement) of the sweet and sour sauce over the fish too.

If you want to make an impressive grilled fish dish, then you want to give this one a try. I've been making this one for many years and it always rocks. And keep in mind, I hate fish.

June Giveaway Winner

Yesterday was appetizer day here at our house. We never really at one full meal but we snacked all day long.

I made up a small bite of fun using Mezzetta's Applewood Smoked Olives in Chardonnay. I've talked about these a few times since I found them at Food City this spring. They are the best olives I've ever had, they are a treat by themselves. Just a hint of smoke shines through each briny bite. I love using them in any Spanish or Greek dish calling for any other kind of olive.

Anyway, I split them and then stuffed them with a strip of roasted red bell pepper and a spear of Locust Grove Farms Cumberland cheese. Locust Grove is a local farm that makes spectacular cheese from sheeps milk. The Cumberland is there manchego cheese that adds "a wonderful mix of green peppercorns, sweet red chili’s, onion, garlic, and ginger". It is ridiculously expensive ($19 a lb) but worth every penny. I wrapped some with prosciutto and some with bacon and then high temp smoked them with more applewood. My temps were about 300 for about 30 minutes until the bacon was crisped.

The prosciutto wrapped ones were way too salty, not surprisingly. The bacon ones were perfect.

Then I tried grilling artichokes for the first time ever. I followed the Cooking For Engineers method which I think was on target. I just wasn't thrilled with the result. Granted I had high expectations, but I think I would have preferred grilling artichoke hearts on a skewer. Anyone have tips for grilling artichokes?

Next, I grilled some wild caught Gulf shrimp. Yes Gulf shrimp, you can still get it and should support those fishermen as long as it is available. Simply seasoned with Old Bay, brushed with butter/lemon juice and grilled 2 1/2 minutes a side at 300f. They were perfect and would have been ideal on shrimp tacos but we ate them straight off the skewer before tacos had a chance.

Finally, I made a version of Chris Lilly's BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp.

And speaking of Chris Lilly, it is time to give away the autographed copy of his book, Big Bob Gibson's Barbecue Book - Recipes and Secrets of a Legendary BBQ Joint. There were 68 eligible entries and the winner was #18 - Thebtls, fellow Egghead and operator of the blog, Big T's Big Green Egg Recipe Blog.

Congratulations Big T. I'll email you through the Egg Forum but check your spam filters, a lot of messages to me from the forum end up there. I need a snail mail addy asap so I can get this to you before next weekend.

Blackened Pork Chops

Dave at My Year On The Grill (who is currently temporarily exiled grill-less in the Virgin Islands) has taunted me a few times with his blackened pork chops. While "blackened" does sound like a euphemism for "burned", Dave has explained that it the meat is not burned but rather it has a crust of charred spices.

I grabbed this recipe from Big Oven for a blackening spice. Then read a little bit more on blackened meat and fish at Dave's blog and a few other sources. They were all very similar so I gave it a shot.

Blackened Pork Chops
Blatantly stolen from...errrr....inspired by My Year On The Grill

3 ea pork chop, 1" thick, boneless, trimmed
1/2 Tbsp paprika
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp thyme, ground
1/4 tsp oregano, ground
1/4 tsp celery seed

Almost every source I read mentioned the use of a searing hot cast iron pan for cooking these. I knew this was a job for my Craycort cast iron griddle insert.

I let the griddle get very hot in a 400f Egg that had already been burning for 2 hours. I then brushed each chop with hot melted butter (heat is the key) and then layered heavily with the rub. I placed them on the searing griddle, topped with a splash of more butter, and let them go for 2-3 minutes.

I flipped them and repeated the butter splash. The article did warn about possible flame ups from the butter...
I'll be honest, the flare up was much smaller. I did this one on purpose for effect and the camera :)

After two more minutes these chops had a perfectly charred crust on both sides. I quickly converted the grill to indirect heat by putting a grid extender over a 1/2 steam pan. I roasted them at 350f until they hit 145f internal.

I was worried how that crust was going to taste. I like a little char on my steaks, burgers and thinly sliced flank steaks, but this was something else. If it was all just char it was going to be bitter. But I trusted what Dave said.

I was so surprised when I tasted my first slice. There was nothing that resembled burned meat about the texture or taste. It was like Dave said it was, an intensely flavorful crust of spices wrapped around juicy, tender meat. I just wanted to eat the whole thing right there at the cutting board.

But that would have been overlooking the perfect side dish that I prepared for my FIRE DAY FRIDAY post over at Our Krazy Kitchen, red beans and rice.

This was a definite favorite dinner of mine, even if we did eat at 10pm last night.

Don't forget, Sunday is the deadline for entering my June giveaway, an autographed copy of Chris Lilly's book (see the side bar for details and to enter).

Arroz con Pollo & Blogger Get Together

Wow! What a dinner and what a weekend. I'll start with the weekend first.

Saturday, we had a fantastic time at a blogger get together at Larry & Bev's home, also known as "Almost Heaven". Having been there, I can attest to the fact, it is truly, "Almost Heaven". Their home is tucked away on a quiet inlet on a reservoir in the Smoky Mountain foothills. See that cute little dock in the middle?

It's not so little. It's more of a party barge than a dock. It seats 25, has a fridge, sink and tons of counter space and we had so much fun, food, and friendship. It was wonderful getting to spend the day with our magnanimous hosts, Larry and Beverly of Big Dude's Eclectic Ramblings, Sam and Meakin of My Carolina Kitchen, Katherine and AJ of Smoky Mountain Cafe, and six assorted kids.

The food was excellent, as expected, but we could have all made great food at home. The memories I will cherish was the fun we all had together. I could go on for hours and still not capture the socializing & hilarity that went on. You know all of those people that got to go to Camp Blogaway last month? I no longer envy them!

I didn't do a great job remembering to take pictures but my 3 favorite pics are of the kids after they had been in the water for about 5 hours at this point. These were taken within 60 seconds of each other.

Thank goodness Katherine's daughter Lauren had a boat license.

She could transform this....

Into this, with a twist of a jet ski throttle!

It was a small event but I would not trade it for the world. I can not WAIT until we get together again. Our club house and pool will have a tough act to follow whenever Alexis and I host one of these! Larry, can you fit your jet ski or your boat in a 6' deep pool?

Now on to tonight's dinner. It was awesome too and even Brett's picky eater girlfriend loved it.

Arroz con Pollo
Source: Adapted by Nibble Me This from Joy Of Cooking (97 version)

Ingredients
1 whole chicken, cut into wings, thighs, legs, and boneless breasts
2 Tbs poultry seasoning (click for the recipe I use)
1 Tbs black pepper, ground
1 ea yellow onion, half of it diced, half of it sliced
1 ea green bell pepper, half of it diced, half of it sliced
1 ea Anaheim pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
4 oz smoke ham, diced
2 cups long grain rice, uncooked
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 Tbs paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups chicken stock
1 can diced tomato, drained (didn't have any fresh)
1 sprig fresh oregano, chopped
1 cup green peas (fresh or frozen thawed)
1/3 cup roasted red peppers, sliced
1/3 cup brine cured olives, pitted and chopped (These applewood smoked ones are AMAZING)


Instructions
Preheat a cast iron skillet direct heat over at 350f fire. (That would be medium high on a stove top.)

Season the chicken pieces with the poultry rub and pepper. You could just use salt and pepper but I like the extra layering of flavor.

Add about 2-3 tablespoons of bacon grease or butter to the skillet and then brown the chicken pieces on all sides, which should take about 10 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces to a plate and reserve 2-3 tablespoons of the pan drippings in the skillet.

Add the peppers, onions, whole garlic cloves, and ham to the skillet and saute about 5 minutes. The reason I slice some and dice some of the pepper and onions instead of just dicing it all is that I like how the longer pieces look in the final dish. I do the whole cloves of garlic because diced garlic would burn during this stage but I want the flavor in there.

Add the rice to the veggie mixture and stir, tossing until the rice is well coated. Saute for 1-2 minutes until rice gives off a nutty aroma and starts to brown. Stir in the minced garlic, paprika, salt, and pepper.

Add the stock, tomatoes, and oregano, stirring with a wooden spoon to deglaze all the goodies from the bottom of the pan. Return the chicken to the the skillet, cover, reduce heat to 275f to 300f (medium on stove top), and let simmer for 20 minutes. I was having a little of a hot spot in the back of my Egg last night so I turned the skillet a quarter turn every 5 minutes or so.
I had a bit of a time trying to get the Egg back down to 275f but it seemed okay at 300f.

After the 20 minutes, I stirred in the olives, red pepper, and peas. I covered it and cooked another 5 minutes, just to heat through.

Remove and serve family style.Did this dish gain anything from being cooked by live fire on the Big Green Egg versus on a stove top? Not really, but there were some advantages for me:

1. I didn't heat the kitchen up.
2. I got to enjoy the sun going down as I cooked.
3. When the dish was done, I thought the chicken needed a touch more color so I grilled it for about 60 seconds and put it back in the skillet.
4. I got to play with fire!