So, Neko! Let me tell you what I did yesterday...

This post is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend, Neko Hamlett.

Neko and I first got to know each other in 1999. I had just recently been hired by American Roamer (now Mosaik Solutions). Neko had long been a friend of the president of our company, and was just asked to join the team as VP of sales. It didn't take long for Neko and I to discover that we had a lot in common. We both loved darts (He was good at it, and I was good at making him look even better at it.), a good beer and a cigar (I didn't even know I had a passion for these until Neko introduced them to me. In fact, Neva says I was fairly virtuous...until I met Neko. I sure owe him a lot!), talking about how proud our wife and kids made us, and smoking (food)! It took a little while before we discovered the grilling part. One day I mentioned that my family loves for me to smoke our Thanksgiving turkey. Shortly after that, we were emailing before and after each holiday to find out what the other was going to smoke, and how it turned out. Neko went to be with our Lord during the Labor Day weekend in 2008. I was smoking a huge mess of ribs that weekend, and never got to tell him about them. I still love smoking meats (as well as all the vices he so wisely passed on to me), but there has always been something missing on holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day; holidays that require the use of a grill. This Memorial Day holiday I decided, what the heck! I might not receive a direct reply, but there is no reason for me not to let Neko know what I cooked for the holiday. So, Neko! Let me tell you what I did yesterday...

I hadn't smoked anything for quite some time. I've been itching to though. Plus, I needed to empty some space in the freezer. It didn't take long to decide I needed to smoke a turkey AND a boston butt. The next dilemma was figuring out what device I was going to smoke them on. Was I going to pull out the trusty Chargriller and smoke these the old fashioned way, with charcoal and wood chunks? Or was I going to crank up the Sawtooth pellet grill and slow smoke these items on the back deck? Both methods have their advantages. Nothing gives a good smoke ring and crust on a pork butt like smoking the old fashioned way. And you have to use the old methods if you want a smoked turkey that has that gorgeous mahogany skin. But...you have to really be prepared to dedicate your day to the grill. It is important to keep the smoke and temperature consistent, if you want your meat to come out just right. That's kinda hard to do if you have a lot of other things going on in your life that day.

Making life easier is what the pellet grill is all about. Other than occasionally checking the pellet level, these grill/smokers are about as "set it and forget it" as grills can be. You don't get the mahogany color on your smoked turkeys with a pellet grill, but that mahogany color comes at a price. While the turkey meat is juicy and flavorful, the skin gets so full of smoke it becomes acrid, and leathery. With a pellet grill, the smoke flavor of the turkey meat is still there, though as part of the background harmony, rather than the lead. However, the real treat with a pellet smoked turkey is the crispy, yummy skin. Who can argue with a turkey that looks like this?

 I thought about doing the pork on the Chargriller, and the turkey on the Sawtooth. My wife made some smart comment about me running back and forth between grills all day. I certainly did not want to create any unnecessary exercise for myself. That is NOT the purpose of a holiday. The pellet grill won!

The night before the great smoking event, I prepped my turkey. This year I found a commercial brine on clearance, that looked pretty good. It was mainly kosher salt, black and pink peppercorns, rosemary, and thyme. The next day, the real preparations began. I had to mix up a dry rub for the pork. Now, I live with a family of wusses (myself included). When we eat barbecue, we would much rather sink our teeth into something sweet and smokey, rather than spicy. My dry rubs have a tendency to be heavy on the brown sugar, and lighter on the salt and pepper.  This time my dry rub had brown sugar, smoked kosher salt, garlic salt, cumin, white pepper, dried red bell peppers that had been ground down completely, and finally, some dried tomato flakes that had been ground down. As you can see below, The tomato and red pepper gave the rub a nice red coloring.

Before rubbing the butt down, I mixed a bottle of pear hard cider and half a cup of vinegar, and injected all over the butt.

Next, I dried the turkey, oiled the skin, and sprinkled smoked salt and coarse ground black pepper all over the bird. Then, it was out to the pellet grill that was set on low/smoke which kept the temperature around 150 degrees, and produced ample smoke. It was a tight fit, but I got both pieces of meat, as well as a pie plate filled with water, herbs from the brine, and an apple, for moisture.

I kept the Sawtooth on the low/smoke setting for a couple of hours. I then cranked it up to medium, which got the grill to just above 200 degrees. This still produced a good amount of smoke, but kept the butt and turkey both at a good rate of cooking for producing moist and tender meat. For the first six hours, I sprayed the turkey and pork butt with a mixture of pear hard cider, vinegar, and water. After six hours, I turned the Sawtooth up just enough to get the temperature to 250 degrees, and started spritzing every half hour. After nine hours (just in time for supper) I had the golden brown turkey pictured earlier in this post. The pork butt needed another hour and a half to finish.

Neko, I don't want you to think we were total carnivores last night, without a hint of vegetables on our plates. As you can see below, I had a green vegetable...as well as some Loaded Potato Salad.

So, you've never had Loaded Potato Salad!?! Well! All you have to do is boil three pounds of red potatoes that have been sliced into decent bite sized chunks. While those are boiling (Don't forget that Anne Burrell says to always add enough salt to the water that it tastes like the ocean!), mix together a cup of mayonnaise, a cup of sour cream, one pack of ranch dressing mix, half a pound of crispy bacon all crumbled up, a half cup shredded cheddar, and about six green onions finely chopped. Stick the dressing in the fridge to cool. Once the potatoes are boiled til fork tender, drain and allow to cool just a bit. Mix them with the cooled dressing. If you can make the day before, it is better. That gives the ranch flavor some time to mellow a bit. It ain't your mother's potato salad, but it sure is good.

By the way, did you see the pink on the turkey meat in that picture. That's smoke! Once that bird hit the table, it didn't stand a chance. I was afraid things were going to break out into WWIII over the drumsticks. Fortunately, some last minute diplomacy prevailed.

Don't worry. I haven't forgotten about the pork butt. Here is a picture of the finished product.

The bark isn't as dark and thick as it would have been with the Chargriller, but it was far from being a disappointment. In fact, I had some of the pork for lunch today, with my left over potato salad. All I can say is I am glad my office has a door on it. That pork resulted in some sounds that some might deem inappropriate for an office setting. I am definitely going to have to use the hard cider as an injection again. I don't know that I could pick out the pear flavoring, but there was something about the cider, that made this meat scrumpdillyicious.

Well, that's pretty much all there is to say about my weekend, Neko. Something tells me you fixed them one heck of a barbecue on the other side of those pearly gates. One day, you'll have to tell me all about it...

I haven't been lost...just eatin' a whole lot!

I feel like I've let my readers (all two of you) down. I went the entire month of February with nary a post. I am sure some of you went back and re-read the book of Revelations in the Bible...just to make sure this wasn't one of the signs of the apocalypse. I assure you, it is not...at least I don't think it is. I remember something about the seven churches of asia...the false prophet...the beast...the whore of Babylon... Nope, no mention of the Great Food Junkie.

Speaking of "women of ill repute (not necessarily in Babylon), do you remember the movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas"? Do you know how long it took me to realize the people who printed the movie posters didn't misspell warehouse?  I'll admit, I have rarely been the brightest bulb in the pack.

However, I digress.

Anyway, we have a little catching up to do. I believe I ended my last post with some mention of taking a bite out of Bambi. That's exactly what I did. I had a coworker come up to me and mention that he had too much deer meet, and was wondering if I might like some roast. Well, I never cooked deer in my life. The benefit to that is that if I really screw it up, the family will think that's just how deer is supposed to taste, and I am without shame. The next day, the friend showed up with five deer roasts. Now I was looking at five hunks of meat, and I had no idea how to cook it. I figured it would be good cooked slowly in a slow cooker, but I wanted to grill it. After some research and recipe hunting, I decided to treat Bambi just like I treated my dear friend chuck in the previous blog post. I mixed up the same marinate, with perhaps a bit more brown sugar, and marinated two roasts. I then wrapped them in bacon, and threw them on the grill. The results were deeeeeelicious!

 The bacon did a great job of keeping the lean deer moist. The only problem was the roast on the right. Not having ever cooked deer before, when I pulled it out, I thought it was the most beautiful roast I had seen. I wasn't sure what the significance of it being labeled "neck" was, but I was sure it was something special. What is special about it is that friggin huge bone running right through the center of the roast, making it one beast to slice.

My next great adventure in cooking is a program called eMeals. This is a neat little program, and the perfect solution for the family that raises their utility bill by standing in front of an opened refrigerator for three years, wondering what to make for supper. The result is usually, ordering pizza. With eMeals you are emailed meal plans for the entire week. Depending on the subscription level you choose, you can either have just dinner plans emailed to you, or every meal of the day. Not only are you given a menu, but you are given a shopping list as well. To make things even easier, you can indicate what store you do most of your grocery shopping at, and Emeals with customize the meal plans to use ingredients known to be carried at that store.

After doing eMeals for a couple weeks, we decided our grocery bill was a little higher than it used to be. However, we figure that we are coming out better in the long run, because knowing each night what you are going to eat, significantly reduces the pizza orders, and trips to restaurants. Here are some of the things we have eaten.

This is a creamy cheddar cauliflower soup. I wasn't sure at first, how it would taste, but the whole family scarfed it up. One of the tricks I used, was using yellow cauliflower. It helped intensify the cheesy look to the soup.

This is dirty rice and peas. Okay, there is absolutely nothing special about the peas, but the dirty rice reminded me of the stuff I used to get with my chicken and biscuits at Bojangles. I know I'm dating myself by mentioning that restaurant.

 

This was one of the best meals by far. It is a crispy baked Parmesan chicken breast. What is it the teenage girls say? OMG! The recipe didn't call for buttermilk, but I did marinate the chicken breast in buttermilk all day, while I was at work. The crispy topping was absolutely to die for. I know, the chicken in the picture doesn't look very crispy. That's because there was a whole lotta juicy topping surrounding the chicken that I just couldn't let go to waste...unless it was going to my waste. The other miracle on the plate is the carrots. The main flavorings for the carrots were brown sugar, butter, and ginger. The miracle is that Joseph actually ate them. He ate cooked carrots! THAT is a sign of the apocalypse!

Finally, this is cranberry chicken, with stuffing and sour cream green beans. The chicken, once again, was out of this world. the glaze is a combination of California French Dressing, Onion soup mix, and whole cranberry cranberry sauce. It is one of those recipes that you initially look at warily. Cranberry sauce and onion soup mix...really! Then, you are surprised with one of the best chicken dishes you have ever eaten. Unfortunately, I can't heap the same praise on the green beans. That is one of those recipes that looks great on paper, but reality is something completely different. You see sour cream, french cut green beans, and Parmesan cheese on the ingredient list, and think, "This has got to be a winner!" Guess what!?! You really can ruin a perfectly good batch of green beans.

My final adventure involved "Bring your favorite soup to work" day at ... that's right. Work! I had no idea what to bring. Then I went to Beverly's office. Whenever you are in doubt, just go to Beverly's office. She will tell you what to do...or where to go. I didn't want to make my world famous Jose O'Shea's Green Chili. We would have a chili cook off soon, and just like you can't wear the same prom dress twice, I certainly couldn't cook the same chili twice. In all honesty, if I were to really bring my favorite soup to work, it would be a package of chicken ramen. I wasn't sure how well that would go over with the other folks.

Well, Beverly, being the great and wise guru that she is, suggested I try to make the white bean chicken chili that is served at Ruby Tuesday's. That's exactly what I did, and it must have been a success. I barely had enough left for one bowl that the kids could share at home. Anyway, it has been a while since I've posted a recipe on my blog. Here is my recipe for White Bean Chicken Chili. Once I come up with a regular chili recipe that I think is a winner, I'll have all the colors of the Mexican flag.

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White Bean Chicken Chili

Ingredients
Six cups cooked and diced chicken.
Six cups chicken broth (boil a whole chicken with some veggies to get both your broth and the cooked chicken. It will be much better than any broth you buy at the store, AND you will save money.)  
2lb bag of Great Northern Beans (soaked according to directions on bag.)
2 medium onions chopped
2 roasted jalapeno peppers, seeded and diced.
1 large Chile Pasillo (or Poblano) roasted and diced
1 small bunch of cilantro
2 tsp ground Cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilis)

Directions
Roast the pasillo and jalepeno peppers by placing them on a baking sheet, and spraying them with cooking spray. Then put them under the broiler, and allow the skin to blister and char. Watch carefully. You want the peppers roasted, not burnt. You will need to turn the peppers, so all sides can get charred. Take the peppers out of the broiler, and immediately place in a plastic storage bag, or other air tight container. Allow to sweat and cool. When the peppers are cool enough to hold comfortably, the skin should peel off easily.

Place all of the ingredients, except the cilantro, in a slow cooker, and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours. Chop the cilantro, and add during the last hour of cooking. Towards the end, you will want to salt and pepper to taste. I like to add some adobo seasoning. Adobo seasoning is an all purpose seasoning blend most Mexican cooks have in their pantries. It adds a nice flavor to many things. If you want your chili to be a little thicker, take a couple cups of beans out in the last hour, and mash them. Stir the mashed beans back in with the rest of the chili.

Serve with a dollup of sour cream and a little bit of shredded cheddar, or other favorite cheese.

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I'll try not to stay away so long next time. I promise. St. Patrick's day is coming around the corner. It is one of my favorite times to celebrate. I found a good recipe for smoked corned beef. I might just give it a try...and write about it.

The Great Food Junkie Starts 2013 With More Grillin and Chillin!

I know many of you have gone into a deep depression because I haven't written as much lately. It is not because I have become a lazy, no good, sloth, who just lays around all day trying to do as little as possible. However, I'm sure some people think that is one of my life goals. Nope! Trust me when I say there has been a whole lotta cooking going on at the GFJ's house. After all, when you get cooking gadgets for Christmas, you have to try them out. I'll get to those in a bit.

It didn't take long before the GFJ grew tired of all the Christmas food. There is only so much turkey, ham, and assorted sweets a person can handle. So, I went out to the freezer in the garage and started to peruse the shelves. It was only a moment when my eyes landed upon the last of our chuck roasts. Hmmm! Chuck roast sounds good, but I don't really want to break out the slow cooker and have to cut and peel a bunch of potatoes, carrots, and onions. There had to be more to the life of a chuck roast than being stuck in a slow cooker. The poor thing just sat there. Staring at me. A tear fell from its eye.

"Please, Sir," it begged with hands clasped. "Don't let me become another pot roast. I have so much more potential."

How could I, the Great Food Junkie, ignore such pleading. I gently picked up the poor sap, and stroked his packaging with my hand. "Come with me, Chuck!" I exclaimed. "You were meant for much greater things. Together, we can make your dreams come true."

I new what I had to do. I had to figure out some way to grill the chuck roast. After all, what says I love you to a piece of meat like a grill? I found a good marinade recipe that included barbecue sauce, teriyaki sauce, minced garlic, and sliced ginger. I didn't have any teriyaki, so I did the next best thing. I added a little Irish whiskey. I mixed it all up, and poured it over my chuck roast. Then it sat in the fridge for the better part of a day.

However, I knew Chuck couldn't make this journey to greatness alone. He was going to need a faithful sidekick. It had to be something complimentary, but not overpowering. I put my thinking cap on and came up with new potatoes, skewered and grilled, right alongside Chuck. I went to the store and picked up the potatoes, bamboo skewers, and then it hit me. Bacon! These potatoes need to be intertwined with bacon. The wife looked at me and said, "You need to get thick sliced. The other will just fall apart on the grill." This was indeed going to be a glorious day. I had just been given permission to spend money on thick cut bacon.

When we got home, we rubbed the potatoes in olive oil and pink Himalayan salt. Then we skewered them, intertwining them with the thick cut bacon. Then, for added measure, Neve took each skewer and wrapped an additional slice of bacon around the potatoes. However, this presented us with a dilemma. We had a few slices of bacon left...but, not enough to save for another meal. Well! Surely Chuck would need the proper outfit for his adventure to greatness. So Chuck came out of the marinade, got a quick dry off, a rubdown with Santa Maria seasoning, and a nice new set of bacon clothes. Then it was out to the grill!

Chuck and his new friends on an adventure

 Those cool things Chuck and friends are sitting on are called GrillGrates. They are anodized aluminum, and have high ridges. They sit directly on your existing grates, or can be used as replacement grates. The nice thing about them is that the ridges get extra hot, providing excellent searing and grill marks, while the juices drip into the deep spaces between the ridges. The juices sizzle and evaporate, creating more flavor and moisture for the meat, and preventing flare ups. You absolutely must check them out at www.grillgrate.com. They are one of the best improvements you could make to any grill.

After about an hour, Chuck and friends reached the pinnacle of success. I truly believe they achieved a personal nirvana. And I was frickin' hungry!

 It wasn't long before The Great Food Junkie had also reached Nirvana. Chuck was a perfect medium pink in the middle, and his sidekicks, the potatoes and bacon, were spectacular.

Chuck and friends in all of their glory

The adventures with Chuck the roast were just the beginning for the GFJ. If you'll remember, I mentioned a couple Christmas gifts that had to be tried out. The GFJ's wife received a set of tortilla shell pans. You know you've seen the commercials on TV. "Make your own taco salads!" It really is a simple concept. You place burrito size tortillas in these pans, bake for 10-12 minutes, and Presto! You have perfect tortilla shell bowls for a taco salad.

 They don't taste quite as good as the fried shells you get at the restaurant. Can anything really taste better than fried? However, they really are tasty and crispy. In fact, they hold their crisp well enough to fill with chili mac...twice.

The other device was something the wife and I bought each other for Christmas. I saw one of those "does it work" segments on the news, and it featured the Yonana. What is a Yonana? It is a device that takes frozen bananas and other fruits or additives, and makes them into a dessert very similar in texture and taste to soft serve ice cream. If you are wanting a healthy alternative to ice cream, or even if you could care less about the health aspect, and want to try something new, you have to check this thing out. The treats that come from it are spectacular. One of the best things is that it isn't frozen cream. It is frozen banana. That means your ice cream doesn't melt! The pictures below, do not do this thing justice at all. The first was a raspberry, blueberry, and strawberry yonana. It tasted great! However, nothing puts a damper on eating dessert like fighting tons of raspberry seeds. Oh well. The second was a yonana made with a tropical fruit blend of strawberries, mangos, and pineapple. That was an absolute hit. The key is to get your bananas as ripe as you can before freezing. The blacker the peel, the better the banana. This ensures your bananas are providing the maximum sweetness, while not overpowering the dish with their own flavor.

 I think the Great Food Junkie has made up for his lack of communications in this entry. He is going to sign off before your snoring gets too loud for the neighbors. I hope you all have a wonderful new year, and I look forward to all of our 2013 food adventures. Until next time, when the GFJ takes a bite out of Bambi, Goodbye!

Beef eaters unite! The Flat Iron is for you!

I like steak. No, I love steak. The problem is that my wallet is highly allergic to the cost of steak. A good ribeye can easily cost upwards of $8 to $9 per pound. Go for a New York Strip, T-Bone, or Porterhouse, and you just about have to take out a mortgage. At prices like that, the closest our family usually comes to steak  is tube steak. For those of you not versed in the various cuts of steak, "tube steak" is a more refined name for hotdog.

One day, we received a giftcard for Longhorn's Steakhouse. I forget the occasion, but that really doesn't matter for this story. On the particular day we decided to use this giftcard, Sissy was otherwise occupied, so it was just Neva, Joseph, and me. We had $50 dollars on this card and Joseph was determined we are going to have steak. I made it clear to everyone that we could each spend $13 dollars, leaving just enough on the card for tips. Needless to say, we didn't walk into the restaurant with very high hopes. We walked in, and, before being seated, asked for a menu. It was starting to look like chicken that night when I spotted one steak within our price range. We were staying.

The steak we decided to try was a flat iron steak. I had never heard of it before. It came out in an 8oz portion, about one inch thick. It is supposedly called a flat iron steak because it resembles the old fashioned flat irons of old. Much to my surprise and delight, it came out absolutely delicious. It was tender, like a filet, but still had the taste of a ribeye. This steak was definitely a winner.

Unfortunately, I could not find the flat iron in any stores. It turns out that this cut of meat is more popular, therefore, easier to find, out west. Just as I was about to give up hope, I was looking through the meat department at my local Kroger, and saw this long strip of vacuum sealed beef. Upon closer inspection, it was labeled as a flat iron steak. Even more importantly, it was about $9.50 for a two pound strip. That was just $4.75/lb. I convinced Neva that it was a necessary item for the grocery cart, and started salivating over the thoughts of grilling it. A few days later, that steak was sectioned into four 8oz pieces, and slapped on the grill. Below are the results.

Isn't that one tasty looking slab of beef!?! Trust me when I tell you that it tasted just as good as it looks. Now, don't go jumping down my throat, complaining about me putting way too much sour cream on my potato. My family does try to occasionally eat right. We stopped eating sour cream quite a while ago. What you see on that potato is plain Greek yogurt. It's taste is very close to that of sour cream, but without all of the fat. The steak is genuine though ... fat and all.

Update: A good friend of mine (we'll call her Melinda...because that's her name) told her that her butcher recommended the chuck eye steak as an inexpensive alternative to those pricier cuts of beef. I decided to check it out. It turns out that the chuck eye steak is cut from the part of the beef chuck that enters the rib cage and connects to the part of the cow where ribeyes come from. In fact, they are often called the "Poor Man's Ribeye" because they resemble ribeyes in taste and tenderness, without the cost. The main thing that distinguishes chuckeyes from ribeyes is that the chuckeye steak definitely has more connective tissue running through it. At $5.99/lb, I was certainly willing to try. I found a pack of six. I marinated them for half an hour in a mixture of butter and a thirty minute steak marinade.

After grilling these things, I can see why the butcher is so reluctant to let his customers know about them. He can only get 3-5 chuckeye steaks per cow, and he wants to keep them all to himself.

There, you have it. Two excellent alternatives to the more expensive cuts of meat; flatiron and chuckeye steaks. Enjoy your steaks, and stay fiscally sound.

Smokey says, "Only you can prevent grill fires!"

So...let me explain that cryptic title. You might remember that with my last post I had just finished cooking ribs. One of the side effects of slow smoking ribs is very fatty and sugary drippings. Just keep that in mind.

The other day, we decided to have some leg and thigh quarters, cooked on the grill. Those were quickly becoming one of our favorite things to cook on the Sawtooth. For one thing, it just about takes an act of God (or stupidity) to dry out leg and thigh quarters. You are almost 100% guaranteed juicy chicken. Quarters are one of the absolute least expensive cuts of any type of meat you can purchase for grilling. I like to have the butcher season my quarters before purchasing. That allows the seasoning plenty of time to get into the meat. This last time, I had him use lemon pepper seasoning, and boy did he ever. I almost had to look twice to make sure there really was chicken under all of that seasoning.

One of my fondest memories of childhood was my Grandpa's barbecued chicken. His chicken was not covered in a sloppy sweet barbecue sauce. Instead, it was really grilled chicken that he would baste with a special sauce that contained lemon, butter, and other ingredients. I say, "other ingredients" because I truly don't know what the other ingredients were. I have learned to make my own baste, using a stick of margarine, a whole lemon (or a quarter cup lemon juice), a quarter cup red wine vinegar, a couple tablespoons of light soy sauce, some Greek seasoning, and a cup of water. I let all of it come to a boil, then remove it from the heat.

So...back to my story. I took the chicken and placed it on the grill, skin side down, and basted it. All was looking good.

About 15-20 minutes later, I checked the chicken again, and rebasted. That's when things fell apart. I went into the kitchen and started having a pleasant conversation with the wife. (They really do seem to pop up a lot in stories of male goof-ups, and they usually end up looking much smarter.) Well, it just so happened to be one of those rare golden moments when the kids were in the living room...actually getting along...and we were getting deeper and deeper into our conversation. Then I sniffed the air. Hmmm. I shouldn't be smelling that type of odor. That does not smell like chicken slowly cooking on a "non-flare-up" wood pellet grill. I looked out the back door. To my wondering eyes appeared a thick envelope of smoke with bright orange flames just to the right. I ran outside, and...well...let's just say I did not have one of my more glorious moments of self control. The bad news is that a whole lotta Hail Mary's are going to be needed to fully recover. The good news is that my creative side came up with a whole slew of new adjectives to properly describe how I was feeling at the moment. Anyway, after this rather embarrassing moment ended with a pitcher of water tossed on the grill, I was left with the following result.

Chicken, anyone?

I guess it "no flare-ups" only applies if you change the foil after cooking greasy, sugary ribs on your grill. Who knew? Anyway, we did actually have chicken that night. With the fire extinguished, I continued to grill and baste the chicken. Remember, earlier I told you it just about takes an act of God to dry out leg and thigh quarters. Fortunately, He took pity on me. After removing the burned skin, there was actually some very tasty chicken underneath. I even managed to pull one more triumph from the jaws of this disaster. A few nights later, I took the three uneaten quarters, and turned them into one of the best tasting chicken gumbos to have ever passed between my lips!

Yes, Virginia! Miracles do happen...even for grown men who make stupid mistakes at the grill.

Update: I really should read my own blog more often. Apparently, I never did write a blog about my ribs...I just ate 'em and left it at that!

The Turkey in the Straw Has Come to Call

Those of you who have just recovered from your heart attacks that were induced by two blog entries in one week, might need to take some preventative measures. Here's the third entry. Two entries ago, I promised a smoked turkey on my new Sawtooth wood pellet grill. It has taken a bit, but here we go. This little write up should remain relatively short in comparison to most of my other ramblings. That's because of the nice little video surprise at the end of the entry. You heard me right! A video! Now, who can say I don't treat my readers right. I must warn you, though. There is some nudity in the video. That's probably going to make you skip the rest of this blathering and head straight there.

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, or you have read previous blog entries, you know that one of my favorite activities is smoking turkeys. In fact, it has been several years since a turkey has actually graced my oven. In the past, I always smoked my turkeys on a large charcoal grill that had a side fire box. This allows for proper smoking with the indirect heat method. As you may remember from my previous post about smoking a turkey, the skin becomes a dark, almost mahogany, color. This is due to the massive amounts of smoke produced by throwing chunks of hickory in the side fire box. While this produces a turkey with an absolutely mouth watering smoked taste, it also produces a skin that is beautiful to look at, but only palatable to the few with cast iron stomachs, like my son. It is common knowledge that the skin is sacrificed for the flavor in the meat when using this method of smoking.

Wood pellet grills use what I would call a semi-indirect method of smoking. The fire pot is inside the grill, instead of outside. This puts the heat source closer to the meat. However, the drip/flavorizer pan prevents any flames from being able to reach whatever food items are on the grill. Also, instead of wood chunks that burn very slowly, wood pellet grills use...well, wood pellets. These burn at a somewhat faster rate, even on the low "smoke" setting. Therefore, the amount of smoke produced is sufficient for creating that smoked flavor, but nowhere near the amount that is produced in the traditional method. This could be good, or bad, depending on who you ask. Some people absolutely crave that super strong smoked flavor that comes off a traditional smoker. However, some people want a milder smoked flavor, and dearly wish to eat a super crunchy turkey skin. That is what you get with a wood pellet grill; a milder (but definitely present) smoked flavor, and crunchy, yummy, skin.

I usually brine my turkeys. The master BBQers will tell you to never brine a turkey from the supermarket, because it has already been injected with a broth or salt water solution. That may be the case, but they are still as bland a shoe leather. I have never had a brined turkey that turned out too salty. However, I chose a completely different method of keeping my turkey moist this time. I had a bottle of Tony Cachere's Roasted Garlic and Herb marinade. I injected that marinade ALL over the turkey. Wow! I mean, Wow! Between that marinade and the crispy skin on the turkey...I don't know if you could get any closer to heaven without actually being there. The turkey was so juicy. Since it was roasted garlic, the garlic flavor was mild. It was definitely there, but not in an overpowering way. See how I did the wings in the picture above? I learned to tuck them under the bird. This keeps them from flopping, and makes the bird more stable. The cool thing is that all the sugars in the marinade and rub collected at the bottom of the turkey. Those sugars, along with the natural sugars in the skin were in direct contact with the grill, creating a wonderful caramelization. Eating parts of the chicken wing meat and skin was literally like eating candy. I do think it just about got Neva speaking in tongues.

I promised a short blog, and here we are. It's only four paragraphs. Ok! They were long paragraphs. A little about the video below. It is a short "How-to" video on smoking a turkey on a wood pellet grill. It is my first instructional video, so I do realize some of the tips could have been slowed down a bit for those who aren't speed readers. Sorry. This was Christina's first time as a camera man(woman). Some of the footage is slightly out of focus, but I think she did a whizbang job for her first time. Thanks, Christina. I hope you enjoy this.

Enjoy!

Move over, Ruth's Chris. There's a new joint in town!

Anybody who reads my blog regularly, and knows who Ruth's Chris is, is probably wondering what this entry has to do with smoked turkey. It is true that my famous last words were, "Next up, smoked turkey." Okay, they really were "Y'all come back soon!', but I'm hoping you won't mind me taking a little artistic license with what were really the next to last words. I'm also hoping you won't mind this little detour into the land of beef, while we are on the way to turkey.

Anywho! I digress. For those who don't know, Ruth's Chris is a chain of very highfalutin steak houses. It's one of those restaurants where you have to take out a mortgage for a meal that will have you swearing you are sitting at the great banquet table on high. The worst part is that you will feel it was worth every penny...as you tuck yourself into your brand new cardboard box for the night.

We don't eat steak often at our house. It's not that we don't like it. I think my above description of Ruth's Chris pretty much puts that fallacy to rest. There are a few reasons. After years of trying (not too successfully, I might add) to eat healthy, and focus more on poultry, fish, and pork, my stomach has become pretty sensitive to beef. Please don't force me to go into detail. Now, I'm one of the lucky one's who takes one of those daily stomach pills, which also takes care of the sensitivity to beef. The main reason, we don't eat steaks much is price. Once you've been spoiled by the best, you just don't want to go home with one of those scrawny little supermarket steaks. Especially, since even the cheap paper thin steaks cost an arm and a leg...AND I have to buy two family packs because I have a family of four, and the supermarket (whom shall remain nameless...KROGER) thinks every family unit contains three members. Now, if the cheap steaks that are cut so thin that they almost classify as carpaccio, are expensive, just imagine how much the good ones cost!

Like I said. We don't eat steak often at our house. Imagine my surprise when I was walking by the meat clearance section of that nameless supermarket, and I happened upon a pack of four (Not three!!) 11oz ribeye steaks. These things were absolutely gorgeous, and were begging me to take them home. $26 is a lot to spend for one pack of meat, but that really only comes to $6.50 per 11oz steak. You can't get that type of price on a ribeye at your cheap gristle and chicken restaurants. Besides, I had this wonderful new wood pellet grill being delivered that needed to be properly tested. Into the basket the steaks went...after a few minutes of begging with the wife.

This was going to be a good test. One of the chief complaints about wood pellet grills is, while they do an excellent job at low and slow cooking, they just don't get hot enough to provide a proper sear to a steak. What is so important about a sear? On a piece of meat that is going to be cooked at a high temperature, and can quickly lose it's precious juices, searing is needed to basically "cauterize" the wounded flesh. Sounds kinda gross, but that really is what searing does. It cauterizes the meat, and locks in the juices. Anyone who has had the misfortune of eating a dry steak can attest to just how important that is.

One of the reasons I purchased a Sawtooth pellet grill, is because Doug (remember him from my previous post?) promised me it would get hot enough to sear. That means it had to reach a minimum temperature of 450 degrees, preferably 500 degrees or higher. When I was ready to cook, the temp gauge was reading just above 450. I remembered that on a previous test the surface temperature proved to be about 20 degrees hotter that the top of the dome, where the temp gauge is. It is quite possible the grill could have gotten hotter, but I was satisfied with 500. I wanted to sear...not burn.

My first test was to be a grilled summer salad. What!?! You heard me correctly. It is amazing how much the flavor profile of a standard green salad changes when you grill it. I took thick 1/2 inch slices of red onion, brushed them with olive oil, and sprinkled both sides with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. I then placed those onion slices on the grill. After 8-10 minutes, I flipped them over for another 8-10 minutes. I also cut some romaine hearts in half, lengthwise, and brushed the flat surface with olive oil, followed by a sprinkling of kosher salt. During the last two minutes of cooking for the onions, I placed the romaine on the grill, flat side facing down. Two minutes at high heat was just enough to provide a little char on the surface of the lettuce, without completely wilting it.

Take the lettuce and onions, give them a rough chop, mix in some grape tomatoes, then drizzle with a small amount of your favorite salad dressing. Joseph and I like to make dill pickles in the summer. Our favorite dressing is a simple mixture of the leftover pickle juice from a jar of pickles, mixed with enough mayonnaise to just about fill the pint jar. The final grilled summer salad is below. Please excuse the bluriness, I was in lala land, and didn't notice that I still had the camera on manual focus.

Next up...the whole reason for cranking up the grill this night. I had just slathered the steaks in a mixture of oil and butter. The butter adds flavor, and the oil both helps the kosher salt to stick, as well as allowing the surface of the steak to get even hotter. Just before slapping the steaks on the grill, I sprinkled one side liberally with kosher salt. Since kosher salt granules are larger, they don't dissolve in liquid as easily as regular table salt. This ensures little bursts of flavor as you are eating your steak. I honestly feel that a properly salted and peppered steak NEVER needs steak sauce. While you don't want to pour the entire salt mine on the steak, you do want to be liberal with the salt, as much of it will fall off in the grill. I placed the steaks on the grill grates salted side down, then proceeded to salt the other side. I closed the lid, then after two minutes, I turned the steaks a quarter turn, and cooked for another four minutes. I then gently flipped the steaks, and cooked them for another four minutes on the other side. After pulling the steaks off the grill, I placed them in a dish and covered with foil, so they could rest while we ate our salads. When it came time to eat our steaks, all four of us had juicy medium-rare steaks...just the way we like them!.

While eating our steaks, I did make the comment that while seared properly, the grill grates that came with the Sawtooth grill did not produce proper grill marks. I believe the response I got from Joseph was, "Who cares!?! These are good!" I think that's what he said as he continued to stuff meat into his mouth.

Next year I might invest in a set of GrillGrates. These are a set of grill grates that can either rest on top of your current ones, or replace them. They provide the same type of "infrared" grilling that Charbroil is providing on their newer grills. It is supposed to be an excellent way of searing, and providing those beloved grill marks. Then again, maybe not. After all, who can argue with...

"Who cares!?! These are good!"

Finally! It's Time For Some Grillin' And Some Chillin'!

I know! I hear you loud and clear! Grillin' and Chillin' time started waaaaay before the middle of August. The problem is that I'm lazy. There. I said it. I'm lazy. My gas grill burners and flavorizors rusted out a while back. On top of that, my propane ran out. What can I say? It was going to cost almost as much to replace the parts as it would to buy a new basic gas grill. I haven't been totally without a grill. I have my Chargriller Super Smoker Pro. However, that sucker is big, and kind of a pain to get going just to do a quick dinner for four. Now the other day, I had eight leg and thigh quarters to cook. The Chargriller was perfect for that. I had enough space to cook the quarters, and enough space for a cool zone, in case of flare-ups. In addition, it is perfect for smoking turkeys, ribs, and pork shoulders. After all, that is why I got it.

However, I was really beginning to miss going out on the back deck and cranking up the grill for a nice easy dinner. I have to be honest. Laziness wasn't the only reason for not replacing the gas grill. The other was that a gas grill wasn't what I was really wanting. My brother had been trying to talk me into getting a wood pellet grill. They aren't cheap, though. Finally, the right set of circumstances fell in place, and I was ready to get one. Of course, this long wait had given me the opportunity to do a lot of research on wood pellet grills. For looks, there are two basic types of wood pellet grills. You have your barrel grills, like Traegers,
Brinkmanns, and some Louisiana grills, and you have the style that looks more like your typical gas grill. Looks (as well as space) were important to me, since this grill would be on display on my deck. I heard one main complaint about the barrel grills. They all seemed to have a hard time getting to the high 450 degree and above temperatures needed for searing foods. Another problem was build quality. Apparently, Traeger recently moved production of their grills to China, and quality seems to have suffered. I don't know where the Brinkmann wood pellet grill is made, but I was seeing reviews for it that were so-so at best. The Louisiana grills do seem to have a devoted following, but I decided I wanted a look more modern.

If you go with the modern look you have choices between such brands as Mak, Yoder, and Memphis Grills. All are excellent quality brands, with prices to match (I'm talking thousands of dollars. Yikes!!!!!) Then, one day, I ran across a brand I had never heard before. Sawtooth Pellet Grills. I emailed the company, and got a reply from Doug. Poor Doug. I doubt he ever got bombarded by so may question filled emails about the products he sells. To make a long story short (in case some of you readers are still awake at this point) I found out the following. Sawtooth pellet grills are made in Star, Idaho. This is a definite plus for those looking to buy American. Another plus is that is is made of 16 gauge steel. This is important, because the thicker the gauge of steel, the easier it will be to retain and regulate the heat in the grill. 16 gauge was the highest I found of any grills. The Sawtooth grills use the same controls as the Louisiana grills. This control is a nice compromise between the simple controls with Low/Medium/High settings, and those that are digitally controlled. While the Sawtooth controls don't give quite the precision of a digital control, it does have nineteen different steps between Low/Smoke and High. It also has a Prime button, which is great for adding a little more fuel to the fire to make recovery from opening the lid faster.

Sold!

Sawtooth grills come in two models, SPG-400 and SPG-600. The number in the model denotes the approximate amount of grill surface. The SPG-400 has 440 square inches of grilling surface. Each size is sold in two packages. The basic package is the grill only. The Extra package includes front and side shelves, and a grill cover. I chose the basic package. I can add shelves later, if I really need them, and I can get a good grill cover at the local hardware store. After waiting on pins and needles, my baby (Excuse me, Dear. Our baby) arrived. Two hours after I got home, with the help of my son and Christina's boyfriend, I had the handsome beast below.

In case you are wondering, that giant black box with the glowing blue light is the wood pellet hopper. Instead of propane or charcoal, this grill uses pellets made of compressed hardwoods. Don't let the extension cord fool you into thinking this is just an electric grill. It actually uses very little power. The grill has an auger that turns and feeds the wood pellets into a small burn pot. It then electrically ignites the wood pellets, starting a small, but intense fire. From that point on, the only power used is what is needed to turn the auger, and a small fan that keeps the fire fed with oxygen, and also helps keep the electronics from overheating. The grill regulates the temperature by adjusting how fast the wood pellets are fed into the burn pot.

Choosing wood pellets can be almost as confusing as choosing a grill. Some wood pellets are simply oak or alder that is treated with "flavoring" oils. This does help keep the cost of the pellets down, but it also imparts very little wood flavor into the food, and leaves more ash residue to clean up. After all, the oil adds moisture to the pellets. Some pellets are made from 100% of the wood it claims to be, such as hickory, mesquite, cherry, or maple. This is great for imparting that authentic taste, but it also adds somewhat to the cost of the pellets, and gives the griller more to remember when grilling. Different woods burn at different rates and temperatures. I chose pellets from CookingPellets.com. These folks only sell two types of wood pellets. You can choose from 100% hickory pellets, or their Perfect Mix. The Perfect Mix is a blend of hickory, cherry, hard maple, and apple. They claim it provides the perfectly balanced smoke flavor. I am certainly going to have fun testing that claim.

It was almost 8pm before we finished building the grill. If I was going to christen it that evening, I was going to have to choose something fairly quick cooking. Smoked sausages! I'll tell you a little secret. Kroger sells there Kroger Value smoked sausages in packs of sixteen for the same price the other brands are selling packs of five. Before you wrinkle your nose, consider this. They are massive compared to most other brands, and they are made for Kroger by John Morrell. Trust me, when I tell you that you won't be disappointed. We certainly weren't.

Take note of the cooking grates. They are flat stainless steel grates with slits cut out. The jury is still out on these. I have a feeling they are not going to be good for leaving grill marks on things like steaks. However, the next night's meal proved that they are ideal for grilling thin vegetables without the usual sacrificial pieces.

Friday night was special for Neva and I. Joseph left for a troop campout, and Christina and Justin (her boyfriend) were at the drag races. I was determined that we were going to have a special super. Trust me. I will be finding many reasons to grill and justify this purchase. I went to Kroger and picked up a bundle of fresh asparagus, two baking potatoes, and some southwestern stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon. The chicken breasts were stuffed with roasted red sweet peppers, a very small amount of chipotles , and Monterey Jack & Cheddar cheeses.

I cooked the potatoes and stuffed chicken breasts on the grill at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. While they were cooking, I took the asparagus and snapped off the tough ends. I then mixed 1/4 cup olive oil, the zest and juice of one lemon, and three cloves of minced garlic. I then poured the mixture over the asparagus, sprinkled with kosher salt, and tossed until all of the spears were well coated.

During the last fifteen minutes of grilling, I put the asparagus on the grill, turning it halfway through the cooking. The resulting dinner is displayed below.

I love this grill!

Next up, smoked turkey. Y'all come back soon!