Archive for July, 2005
Choo Choo BBQ
Here’s another interesting barbecue pit. This one is shaped like a train. It was spotted out at the Kemah Boardwalk near Houston, Texas. Even the chimney works.
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The Big Green Egg
The Japanese, who brought us the hibachi, have been cooking outside using ceramic pots called kamados for centuries. These early cooking vessels are the ancient origins of an odd looking, but terribly cool barbecue grill called The Big Green Egg.
It’s easy to see how The Big Green Egg got its name, and despite its strange name and appearance, its fanatical users have buying Big Green Eggs since 1974. Big Green Egg owners (Eggheads they call themselves) are so in love with the beast that they even hold their own conventions.
Continue reading “The Big Green Egg”
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Recipe: Beer Can Chicken
A popular method of cooking chicken in recent years both in barbeque contest as well as backyard barbeques is the beer-can chicken. A.K.A Beer in the Rear Chicken. This method is suprisingly easy, quite delicious, and always impressive.
Continue reading “Recipe: Beer Can Chicken”
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How to Tell When a Steak is Done
Every backyard barbecuer loves to grill steak. In fact, along with hamburgers, its probably the most frequently grilled item. I know that I have friends who’s grilling is pretty much limited to steaks.
Continue reading “How to Tell When a Steak is Done”
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TABASCO Sauce
TABASCO sauce, the grandaddy of all hot sauces, has been king of the hill since its introduction in 1868. The ubiquitous pepper sauce, TABASCO is a great way to add a shot of heat to just about any type of food, from chicken wings to eggs to home made barbecue sauce. So just what makes this hot sauce so popular? I decided to take a deeper look at this fiery staple and discovered some interesting facts.
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Black Panthers Market Barbecue Sauce
Notorious 1960’s black militant group The Black Panthers is soon to be marketing their own brand of barbecue sauce. The new sauce, dubbed Burn Baby Burn is derived from the chanting of rioters during their hayday.
David Hilliard, an original member of the Black Panthers, is behind the new sauce, and makes no apologies. Hilliard rejects any suggestion that celebrating an era of rioting that killed dozens of people and caused millions of dollars in property damage is in any way bad taste.
And he rejects the notion that the former militants have sold out, despite the fact that they have applied for a trademark on “Burn Baby Burn” and are also planning a new line of clothing.
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Woodflame: Wood Burning Portable BBQ Grill
The French-Canadian company Woodflame‘s new wood burning portable barbecue grill designed to make grilling safer and more convenient for boaters, campers, picnicers and tailgaters. No charcoal or propane is required, only a single cube of wood.
To operate the unit, a hardwood cube is place into a combustion chamber inside the grill, then a forced air blower system supplies the fire with a constant supply of oxygen, heating the grill in under two minutes. The grill burns the hardwood so completely and efficiently that only a tiny pinch of ash remains in the grill.
The lightweight units (10 lbs and 17 lbs models) are designed for portability. They fold up into a little bag for easy transport to the beach or wherever your travels may take you. The unit is battery powered, and the efficiency of the hardwood burner means you don’t have to haul a sack of charcoal with you either. Unlike other grills, the forced air heating system means that the sides and bottom of the grill do not get hot. You can even cook on a plastic table cloth.
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Iron Chef America: BBQ Battle!
This weekend on Iron Chef America is BBQ battle. The cookoff pits Food network star Bobby Flay against Adam Perry Lang, owner of New York’s Daisy May’s USA.
Who will win? Who’s cusisine will reign supreme? Tune in and find out.
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Korean BBQ makes exotic fare accessible
This is a review of a Korean BBQ restraunt in Arizona where you do your own grilling. Apparently each table has its own gas grill where you are on your own to cook a variety of tasty dishes seasoned with Korean spices.
That point is the unique Korean flavoring system. Koreans take the Asian concept of “five flavors” very seriously, and they don’t believe in subtlety. So you’re going to be hammered by many notes: salty, sweet, sour, spicy and bitter, produced by soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, chiles, ginger, sesame, black pepper, scallions and enough garlic to keep you safe on a midnight graveyard stroll in Transylvania. The lingering scents can be so powerful that you may need to open the car windows for an overnight airing after driving home.
Sounds good to me! Even if you are no where near this restraunt (I’m certainly not) it is a good introduction to Korean BBQ and other signature dishes.
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The All-Star BBQ Showdown
OLN, the Outdoor Life Network, is set to premier their new series, The All-Star BBQ Showdown on a satellite or cable channel near you on 7/23/05.
The best, most outrageous BBQ chefs in America face off against each other in the ultimate showdown to crown the best BBQ chef in the US.
Also competing will be local amateurs who think they have what it takes to win the crown. Local competitions take place around the country at real events, with thousands of people in attendance, leading to the grand finale in New York City.
Each episode includes a cook-off involving two of eight BBQ masters. I guess these are the Iron Chefs of the BBQ world. The All-Star BBQ Showdown culminates in an hourlong finale Sept. 10, in which one competitor will emerge as the best barbecue chef in America.
To turn up the heat, each week the contenders are unaware of what type of meats they will cook (hmm secret ingreditents?) or which equipment and tools they will use. It should prove interesting. Set your TIVOs kids.
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Beer Marinades for Outdoor Grilling
Now this is the health bulletin we’ve all been waiting for!
Recent studies by German food chemist Udo Pollmer indicate that soaking red or white meats in beer, before grilling, reduces the formation of cancer-causing HCA’s (heterocyclic amines), and actually prevents the formation of these compounds. In his book Lexikon der Populären Ernährungsirrtümer (or Dictionary of Popular Food/Nutrition Misbeliefs), Pollmer expunges the myths about beer being bad for your health, and exposes the benefits of marinating with beer and spices. One catch…the beer must be alcoholic.
Here are three beer marinade recipes that are sure to please. While these recommend a variety of craft brews as the prime ingredients, I’m sure you could get away with any full flavored brew if you can’t find them in your area.
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Grilling vegetables
Here’s another good article on grilling vegetables this summer. Grilled vegetables make great side dishes, pasta toppers, and can even be added to pizza. The article is full of good ideas tips such as these:
Most vegetables and fruits need some care when grilling. They are delicate, cook quickly and have almost no fat, which means they will stick to the grill. Some vegetables, like zucchini and corn, are also easy to burn on the grill because they have natural sugars like fruits do.A safe bet for most fruits and vegetables is to grill them on a cleaned, well-oiled grill grate or use a perforated sheet or vegetable basket designed for the grill. Also, don’t cut or slice the vegetables too small.
Some folks I’ve read about only eat vegetables. These people are called vegetarians, which is actually a Native American word which translates loosely to “poor hunter”.
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Canadian BBQ Sauce
Hard to imagine, but this Canadian inventor has managed to make a BBQ sauce for Candians — without any beer in it! Take off heh?
His company, Amazing Flavours features, aside from an extra u, 18 unique sauces that (as far as I can tell) have nothing to do with beer.
Certainly a first. I expect his non-beer oriented selections won’t fare well, as even he tells us:
“Canadian’s are very, in average, very conservative in taste,” he said of the Canadian palate. “It only changes once they get introduced, then they are fine.”
Take off you hoser! Canadians fear not however, here is a recipe for a Beer Marinade and BBQ Sauce that does feature beer as a key ingredient.
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Free grilling guide for women
According to a recent National Pork Board survey of more than 1,000 women, six out of every 10 women are handling the grilling duties at home at least once a month.
To inspire women (and girly men I guess) to get grilling, the board is offering a free booklet, “Grill Power! A Girl’s Guide to Grilling.” It features a grilling guide with times and temperatures along with other tips and five (not surprisingly) pork oriented recipes.
A note to the fellows however, if you can get paste the obnoxious loopy loopy font, the unicorns, rainbows, and so forth there is actually some pretty good recipes in here. It also hits the highlites on basic grilling.
For a free copy, you can just download the PDF. Or, if you are reading this from 1985, send a self-addressed mailing label to: “Girl Power! A Girl’s Guide to Grilling,” National Pork Board, P.O. Box 9114, Des Moines, IA 50306.
More pork propaganda can be found at their fanciful, website www.theotherwhitemeat.com.
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Summer brings a fresh crop of BBQ cokbooks
Many people may be keeping their grills out year-round these days, but summer is still prime time for cookbooks about grilling. It’s the height of summer grilling season, and the hunt for new recipes to cookup on the grill continues. In this article Great Grilling from the Winston-Salem Journal, author Michael Hastings reviews the latest batch of grilling and barbecue cookbooks. This year’s collection includes some updated books from established magazines as well as a few newcomers:
- Peace, Love, & Barbecue : Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue
- Taming the Flame: Secrets for Hot-and-Quick Grilling and Low-and-Slow BBQ
- Weber’s Real Grilling
- The BBQ Queens’ Big Book of Barbecue
- Betty Crocker Grilling Made Easy: 200 Sure-Fire Recipes from America’s Most Trusted Kitchens
- The Cook’s Illustrated Guide To Grilling And Barbecue: A Practical Guide for the Outdoor Cook
- The New Gas Grill Gourmet, Updated and expanded : Great Grilled Food for Everyday Meals and Fantastic Feasts
He also includes several choice recipes from the new cookbooks:
- Apple City Barbecue Sauce
- Jack and Coke-Soaked Pork Chops
- Chile-Rubbed Flatiron Steaks With Chipotle-Red Pepper Sauce
- Cajun Corn
- Grilled Salmon With Maple-Soy Glaze
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