Last week I read the cookbook Weber’s way to grill. I usually only grill meat, but I have been wanting to expand my grilling repertoire. So I went to the store and found some nice portabella mushrooms. In the Vegetable section of the book there is a nice marinade for portabello mushrooms.
Portabello Mushroom Burger
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Happy Fourth of July!!
For the holiday’s I like to do a big post with great food. Since this is the summer and the 4th of July is such a big grilling day, I decided to make burgers and fries. Not just any burgers, firecracker burgers. Not just any fries, sour cream and chive fries. This was going to be the best grilling day ever.
Firecracker Burger with Sour Cream and Chive Fries
Last week my friend Jeff had me over for a little grilling and drinking. I brought the Corona and he gave me the workings for a great steak taco. I must say, having a food website has open doors. Everyone wants me to come over, but in return I have to do the cooking. I have absolutely no problem with that. Jeff had a nice flank steak that we grilled and made tacos with.
The tequila makes these amazing
Grilled Steak Tacos with Roasted Peppers
Roasted Peppers
Lay the flank steak out on a cutting board and dry it off with a towel.
The flank steak
With a flank steak I usually tenderize it before I use it. To do that use a hard object or a meat tenderizer and hammer the meat. This will tenderize it and make it so that it is not too chewy.
Take all of your aggression and use it against the poor helpless piece of meat.
Mix all of the seasonings above and place in a zip top bag. You can add as much tequila as you like. Jeff likes tequila so I think that we added about a 1/2-3/4 cup of tequila.
Add as much tequila as you like.
Then seal the bag and squeeze as much air out as you can. Then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. 2-3 hours is preferred.
Jeff was a great hand model. I think he has a future in the business.
Just like the shrimp tacos from a couple of days ago, we are going to serve these with roasted peppers. While the meat marinades, roast the peppers. Place the peppers on high heat and turn them every minute or so until all of the sides are blackened.
It is alright to let them burn as it will make the skins come off easier.
Make sure to rotate them so that all of the sides get blackened.
Once all of the sides are blistered and black time to remove them from the grill
Remove them from the grill when blistered and place in a plastic bag. The plastic bag will help to steam the skins off.
Zip top bags make the perfect container for steaming the skins off.
After about 10 minutes it is time to peel the skins. As you can see, the skins come off in giant sheets.
It might be a little dirty, but this is a hands on sort of thing.
Slice into strips and serve these tender, smokey, and tasty treats with any and everything.
Now that the peppers are done, it is time to grill the meat. Place the flank steak on the grill over high heat and sear the outside.
Place the meat on a pre-heated grill
After about 5-7 minutes you should have good grill marks. When you have good grill marks and the meat looks golden it is time to flip.
Flip when you have good carmelization
Now continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes. The meat should be about medium-medium well. Remove and let the meat sit for 5 minutes before carving. This will let the juices redistribute throughout the meat. Then carve the meat into thin strips. Make sure to cut against the grain. Otherwise, the meat will be chewy.
Make sure to cut against the grain
Serve the steak tacos on a flour tortilla with some cheese, roasted peppers, salsa and some sour cream. Makes for a perfect summer meal.
The tacos are great with just a little lime juice to add a tad bit more acidity.
These tacos were the best of the night. The meat was cooked perfectly and the seasoning was awesome. Now that it is summer time, it is time to grill. You don’t always have to make burgers and hot dogs. Next time make grilled steak tacos.
I love tacos and I love grilling. So the combination of the two is basically the perfect meal. Shrimp tacos are quick and easy and best of all, tasty. My buddy Jeff called me yesterday asking if I was interesting in grilling out. The only thing was that he had already purchased shrimp. So the solution was easy, grilled shrimp tacos.
These tacos were great, especially with the grilled peppers.
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Every wednesday I review a cookbook to help weed out the good the bad and the ugly. This week I am reviewing 25 essential techniques for smoking by Ardie A. Davis. I love barbecuing and this seemed right up my alley. |
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Artie A. Davis
Artie is an award winning expert with his own barbecue university. Artie founded the Greasehouse University. The degree program at the Greasehouse University is is a doctor of barbecue philosophy and is overseen by the Kasas City Barbecue Society. Artie is now a famed judge on the barbecue circuit. Story short, Artie knows barbecue.Artie starts the book off like every good barbecue book going over the basics of smoking. He goes over the tools required, the methods needed and basics of starting to smoke. His essentials include the basics of choosing wood. As you know the wood gives the unique flavor of each dish. Artie suggests wood for each meat and further goes on to suggest woods to stay away from. For instance, mesquite on chicken would be too bitter and alder on beef would be too mild. As a barbecue expert you may already know this and brush it off, but as a newbie, this information is awesome. The 25 techniques for smoking Artie list many ways to smoke. Low and slow, hot and fast an paper bag smoking. Low and slow is used for thicker cuts of meat, but hot and fast is used for fish and less fatty cuts of meat. The section that I really enjoyed was paper bag smoking. When smoking a pork butt, the meat is so thick that sometimes you get too much smoke flavor. Artie suggests that halfway through smoking you place the pork butt in a paper bag to catch the juices and to limit access to the smoke. He says that the pork that comes out fo the bag is amazing. Overall This book is definitely for a novice barbecuer. The recipes are great, the methods are listed in an easy to read fashion, and the pictures are amazing. Artie has recipes for all of the classic barbecue foods, such as ribs, pork butt and brisket. Artie also has methods and recipes for foods that you wouldn’t quite associate with barbecue. Such as, Smoked-baked barbecue chile pie, smoked duck and whole smoked garlic. If you are just starting out I would definitely recommend this book as it goes through everything that you need to start barbecuing. |
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Update: It was a great time competing in foodie fights. In the end I ended up in 5th place. I want to thank everyone that voted. With your help I ended up receiving the 3rd most popular votes. Thanks again.
The time has arrived for my entry into the Foodie Fights Battle. After you check out my creation below, be sure to go look at the other competitors concoctions. After looking at the the other sites, vote for your favorite. You can vote using the poll at the end of this post or at any of the other competitors posts. It doesn’t matter what site you vote on, as all of the forms are linked to the same poll.
The ingredients that were picked for this battle are: Potatoes and Lemons. So I decided to make lemon basil chicken with homemade potato gnocchi.
Savory Lemon Chicken Over Homemade Potato Gnocchi
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Nothing says summer more than firing up your smoker, sitting in the sun and drinking some beer. Last sunday it was 65 degrees and sunny so I decided that I wanted to make some pulled pork. I went to the butcher and of course, he was on vacation. So I had to choose from the meat in the case. They had a pretty good selection including full picnic shoulders, 9 pound briskets and boston butts. I chose a small 6 pound boston butt as I was only feeding myself. I know 6 pounds is a lot. But on the other hand it is still better than barbecuing a 14 pound picnic shoulder for myself. Although, I probably would have eaten it all. Pork is amazing!
Above is some freshly shredded pork, you can see the nice pink smoke ring. Doesn’t it look delicious.
