Grilling

Father’s Day Gift Guide

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Father’s Day Gift Guide

I get a lot of questions regarding the best grilling tools and gift suggestions.  Coming up this weekend is Father’s Day!  Nothing says Dad like the grill.  So I have compiled a list of my favorite bbq tools and accessories.

Father’s Day Gift Guide 2014 Edition

10. Oxo Good Grips 16-Inch Locking Tongs – $12.95

  • Never underestimate a good set of tongs.  These puppies are 16 inches long.  The perfect size for grilling.  No more singeing your knuckle hair trying to flip that steak on the back part of the grill.  Oxo makes a sturdy and lockable set of tongs.

9.  Cedar Barbecue Planks – $24.99

  • Go gourmet this season with grilled cedar plank salmon.  Yeah, you see that.  Requires cedar planks.  Hmm, maybe you should get some cedar planks so that you can make cedar plank salmon.  What a great idea.  I will take 2.

8. Wide Skewers – $13.49

  • Nothing sucks more than turning skewers and having the food rotate so that even though you turned the skewer, the food never flipped.  Quick solution, wide skewers.  Great for veggies, chicken, tomatoes, scallops, etc…  Pretty much anything.  This set of 4 is 5/8ths inch wide.  Yep, almost a sword for you to skewer your meal.

7. Chimney Starter – $14.99

  • There are a ton of cheap chimney starters out there.  I have found the best deal on a Weber Chimney starter.  You may say, “Hey Rex they have chimney starters over at my big box retailer for $7.99”  Go get that one, but you will be sorry.  They are cheap and flimsy and when you have 1000 degree hot coals in your hands the last thing you want is cheap and flimsy.  Trust me.  Spend the extra $5 and get a nice sturdy one.  BTW – this exact starter retails for $19-29 at the big box stores.

6. Kettle Pizza – $145.04

  • Finally we all can make wood fired pizzas at home.  This attachment for the weber kettle turns your ordinary charcoal grill into an extraordinary wood pizza oven.  I have been using my for a couple of years now.  It is great and a ton of fun at parties.

5. Stainless Steel Seasoning Injector w/2 Stainless Needles – $16.07

  • This injector solves all of life’s mysteries.  Ok, maybe not, but it includes two needles.  One for liquid injecting and one for herb injecting.  I ran into this problem on Thanksgiving, where we wanted to inject the deep fried turkey with a mixture of herbs and spices, and then the injector holes kept clogging up.  We then had to switch to an all liquid marinade.  You wouldn’t want to be on an all liquid diet, neither would a turkey for its last meal.  Pick up this injector and surprise the turkey with a meal full of herbs and spices,  you will enjoy it too.

4. Grill Daddy Grate Brush – $23.45

  • A clean grill is a happy grill.  Brush off the big particles but leave some of the grease.  Using grill cleaners is a no-no, but so is trying to grill over the crust of barbecued chicken.  Using a heavy duty brush like this grill daddy grate brush you will clean the grates of solid material, but leave the flavor that you have so hardly worked for behind.  Added bonus, this brush has replaceable heads so that when you wear it down, you only have to buy a replacement brush head instead of buying a whole brush.  Yep, its green and it saves money.  Secondly, the two hand grips on the brush handle give you optimal force to clean the grill.

3. A super fast Thermapen– $96

  • When you are cooking a pork butt, beer can chicken or any sort of bbq it is best to know when it is done.  The best way to do that is to use a thermometer.  The Thermapen is a super fast and super accurate meat thermometer.  Getting this will take the guessing game out of barbecuing.  On a side note – it works great for roasting meats too.  Try it next year when you are cooking your turkey.

2. Custom Grill Grates – $29.95 and Up

  • Thanks to Chris over at NibbleMeThis for showing me these awesome custom grill grates.  Make grates that have the family crest or last name.  Have grates made that support your favorite team or even your favorite sport.  This could be the perfect gift of the season.  Customizable and full of character.  You could win best gift this year with this one.  Not that it is a competition, but we all know it is.

1. Weber One-Touch Gold Charcoal Kettle, Black – $149

  • You can not put a price on a great grill.  However, this charcoal grill from Weber is only $149.  It can grill, bake and smoke anything.  The gold edition has a thermometer in the lid, upgraded grates and the all important enclosed ash catcher.  You do not need to spend any more to get the best tasting grilled meats around.

Side Note – Most of the items above are available for Amazon Prime.  There is a free trial right now, basically during the trial period, all items eligible ship 2-day air for free or you can pay $3.99 for overnight shipping.

Hope this helps find the perfect gift for any Dad in your life.

-Rex

Chipotle Lime Grilled Shrimp

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Chipotle Lime Grilled Shrimp

I love shrimp so much that I purchase it whenever it is on sale.  I don’t mind buying frozen shrimp as all of the shrimp sold in supermarkets/fish markets where I live sell previously frozen shrimp.  Therefore, I like to thaw the shrimp under my own conditions. I usually thaw it in a strainer that is covered in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours before I want to cook them.  This recipe is simple, but it packs a ton of flavor.

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Quick Grilled Potato Salad

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Quick Grilled Potato Salad

I like to consider myself a grill master.  I love to cook everything on the grill.  However, I was browsing through the website yesterday and I determined I was seriously short on grilled side dishes.  There are a ton of sides that go great with grilled foods, but not so many sides that are prepared on the grill.  So I decided to make a quick and easy grilled potato salad.  This dish is delicious and can be served hot right of the grill or cold right out of the refrigerator.

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Lemon Garlic Grilled Chicken

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Lemon Garlic Grilled Chicken

Chicken is a great meat for grilling.  Chicken is a blank canvas just waiting for you to add a few ingredients to make it pop. This recipe is one of those simple yet extraordinary dishes.  It takes 10 minutes to prep, 1-4 hours to marinate and 16-25 minutes to grill.  Then there is the flavor.  The lemon, garlic and rosemary make this simple dish pop with little to no sodium. This is a great dish.

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Balsamic and Honey Glazed Nectarines

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Balsamic and Honey Glazed Nectarines

I love to grill.  It is as simple as that.  I love whole meals that can be made outdoors.  I have discovered that stone fruit works great on the grill.  This is the type of fruit with a hard pit in the center.  Peaches, nectarines, etc.  The other day I came across this article where they grilled nectarines with a balsamic and honey glaze.  This sounded amazing. I must say that if you have never combined honey and balsamic vinegar, you have never lived.  It is delicious.  A must try.

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Orange and Honey Grilled Chicken

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Orange and Honey Grilled Chicken

It has been really nice down here in Richmond.  So I cleaned the grill out last week and it is officially grilling season.  I wanted to make something new but was’t quite sure.  I also did not want to have to go to the store.  So using what I had in the kitchen, I created this orange and honey chicken. With a little fidgeting, it turned into a great grilling recipe.  It added a nice asian zing to my outdoor grilling experience.

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Bacon Egg and Cheese Burger

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Bacon Egg and Cheese Burger

Sometimes you want breakfast, sometimes you want lunch.  Whenever there is an egg involved, well, it is love.  I love eggs on burgers.  I can’t believe that it took me this long to make it for the blog.  The runny yolk permeating the meat and mixing with the cheese.  Well it is divine and down right amazing!  Here is the mouth watering burger.

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Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

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Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

I just went and got the gas in the grill refilled and I was ready to grill out.  I just didn’t know what to grill.  I asked Dana and within a second she said skirt steak with chimichurri sauce.  It took little to no effort on her part to come up with this.  I had never made it, but it sounded great.  Grilled steak covered in a spicy pesto like sauce.  This was a nice refreshing summer meal.  The steak was grilled perfectly and the fresh chimichurri sauce screamed summer.  If you are looking for the perfect summer dish, grilled skirt steak with chimichurri sauce is a winner.

Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce – (Adapted from Tyler Florence)

  • 3-4 pounds skirt steak(s)
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 2 jalapenos
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
  • 1 handful fresh oregano
  • 2 limes, juiced
  • 1 cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp freshly cracked pepper

Chimichurri Sauce

The first step is to make the chimichurri sauce.  The steaks are going to be marinating in this sauce, so it must be made first.

Place the cloves, jalapenos and red wine vinegar into a food processor.  Process until finely diced.

The base

Next add the parsley, oregano, lime juice and seasoning.  Process until finely chopped.

The Herbs

Turn the processor on and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture.  Once all of the olive oil is incorporated the sauce is ready.

Chimichurri Sauce

Skirt Steak(s)

Place the skirt steak(s) into a gallon plastic bag.  Then cover the steak with 3/4 of the chimichurri sauce.  Let the steak marinate for 1-4 hours.  The longer it marinates the better the flavor.  However, you do not want this to marinate too long as it contains a lot of acid from the lime juice and it will start cooking the steak.  Reserve the remaining chimichurri sauce to serve over the grilled steak.

Marination Station

Preheat the grill to high.  Remove the steak(s) from the bag and place directly on the grill.

Place the steak on the grill

Grill the steaks for about 4-5 minutes per side or until nice grill marks occur.

Make sure to get great grill marks

Once grilled to the desired doneness, remove the steaks from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes.  Then slice the meat across the grain and place onto a platter.

Slice the steak

Spoon the reserved chimichurri sauce over the meat and enjoy!

Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

This steak was to die for.  It was amazing and juicy.  The perfect fresh dish for the summer.

Side Note – At the store I could not find skirt steaks for the life of me.  So I asked the butcher for some assistance.  I felt like and idiot when I asked the butcher for a skirt steak and he came out and pointed at the black package right underneath me.  Oops.  The store by me only carries skirt steaks that are pre-packaged and vacuumed sealed.  So that is why I could not find them.  Their packaging was totally off from the rest of the steaks.  I guess I passed right over them.  Keep that in mind when you do your shopping.

Asian Beef Kabobs

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Asian Beef Kabobs

The other day I went to the store and they had sirloin steaks on sale.  So I picked a few up.  I wanted to try something new so I decided to make Asian Style Beef Kabobs.   I wanted to do a skewer that was reminiscent of a Stir-fry.  So I skewered broccoli, whole water chestnuts, peppers and onions.  Then I created a nice marinade that was thick and could grab onto the meat and vegetables.  This was a great meal.  The meat and veggies came out perfect.

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Stuffed Flank Steak

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I am sorry that I was unable to post this weekend.  I was in New York watching the Big East Tournament.  The weather was horrible, but the games were amazing.  Marquette made it to the semi-finals and the final game between Georgetown and West Virginia went all the way to the wire.  It was a close one.  After an exciting weekend, I am back.  I am back with a great dish for the grill.  We had a few warm days last week and I had to dust off the grill.  It was calling me.  So I decided to make a recipe from the Weber Way to Grill book; Stuffed Flank Steak with Roasted Peppers and Feta Cheese.

Stuffed Flank Steak

The rolled and stuffed flank steak came out perfectly cooked.

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4th of July Grilling Spectacular

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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
Firecracker Burger with Sour Cream and Chive Fries

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Flank Steak Tacos

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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
The tequila makes these amazing

Grilled Steak Tacos with Roasted Peppers

  • 1lb flank steak
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 tequila
  • 2 limes
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbs cumin
  • 1 tbs oregano
  • 1 tbs onion powder
  • 1 tbs chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Roasted Peppers

  • 6 poblano peppers
  • 1 zip top bag for steaming the peppers

Lay the flank steak out on a cutting board and dry it off with a towel.

The flank steak
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.