Scaring Up a Winner

Tonight was Halloween, and it was also the time to pick a winner.  I thought long and hard about how to do this, and settled on just declaring the winner later in this post.  Start skimming!

The Bride and I went down to Findlay this morning to pick up the ingredients for two recipes.  Our main course would be the Greek Pita Pockets on page 116 and the side/appetizer was the  Tapenade on page 49.

 The first thing to do (before football started) was to marinate the flank steak.  This can be a rather tough cut of meat, and the long marinade time would help tenderize it.  I put everything in the Ziploc bag and in it went to the fridge!

Later in the evening, as trick-or-treating was winding down,  I started up the coals and then started the tapenade. 

I used the immersion blender from this point to create the paste-like consistency that tapenade requires.  I then cut up the bread for a quick toasting session.

The slices toasted up quickly, and that recipe was done and ready for serving.

Here we have the flank steak after about 7 hours of marinating, before heading to The Forge.

While the flank steak was grilling I assembled the "salad" portion of the "gyro."

Overall, I liked the salad by itself.  Meanwhile, the flank steak was ready!

After the proper resting time, I began slicing up the meat for the gyros.

I notified The Bride that the meal was ready, and it was just in time for Sunday Night Football.

 

The winner of the haiku was Bru.  Not only was her haiku the first, but her request was granted and she was kind enough to stop me in the hallway and inform me that her one-year-old son approved of my Mac and Cheese.  

I liked this recipe for its simple and honest flavors.  The gyros were tasty, although I was nervous as I was plating them.  I happened to sneak a taste of the steak, and it was aggressively peppery.  I was concerned when the marinade called for the amount of pepper that it did, and those fears were confirmed when I tasted the steak for the first time.  However, when paired with the salad and bread, that strong pepper flavor was absorbed by the other ingredients.  The tapenade was a big hit with me.  I'm still learning to appreciate olives, but this spread is amazing on bread.  Great depth of flavor, and terrific bright saltiness make it rather appealing.  The toasted bread is a nice touch as well.   Because of the long marinade time, along with the fact that I have so many other long-marinade recipes to cover, it will be a while before I make this again.  Still, I recommend it for others to try!

Quick Grill, Quick Reminder

I had a lot of work to do tonight, wanted something interesting that I wasn't confident The Bride would enjoy, and it needed to be quick.  Enter the Grilled Oysters With Sriracha on page 71!  A trip to Findlay provided me with what I needed, and the prep was quick.

 I scrubbed them down as best as I could to remove any loose sediment. 

 I made the executive decision to use Old Faithful instead of The Forge because this was supposed to be a grill time of only about five or six minutes, and it wasn't worth the amount of charcoal required to get the direct high heat that Weber prescribed.  Granted, Old Faithful doesn't get nearly as hot as The Forge, but it would be fine for what I needed.

 After five minutes, I pulled them off, and did my best to open the oysters.  Never in my life have I tried to shuck an oyster, and after today I'm convinced that I'll never win any of those speed contests that I've seen on TV.  Without an oyster knife on hand, I found that the best tool in my kitchen was the bottle opener.

 This worked pretty well.  I used the sharp pointed end to force my way into the shell, and then the lever part to open it up the rest of the way.  As I was working my way through the oysters, I came across one that was really foamy inside.

I'd never seen this before, and honestly didn't know what to make of it, so I threw it away.  I figured that I had paid sixty cents for it, and the repercussions from the risk eating a foamy oyster weren't worth sixty cents.   From there I used a paring knife to separate the oyster meat from the shell, and then topped the good ones with the Sriracha sauce, put them back on the grill, and about a minute later they were ready!

Scrubbing them well earlier was a big help.  The best way to eat the oysters was to slurp them out of their shell. Without the scrubbing, you might get a fair amount of sediment while slurping.

This was a lot of fun.  While I've had oysters before (the best ever were at my sister's wedding), I've never actually done the prep for myself.  It was a cool and easy learning experience that gave me a lot of confidence for future sessions.  The recipe is delicious, but then again, I've enjoyed Sriracha sauce for many years now.  I didn't have to buy any for this recipe because it's always in my fridge.  I highly recommend it for anyone who likes a good chile sauce.  

On another note...only ONE haiku?  You have until Sunday!  It's a free $35 shopping spree, all for putting together only seventeen syllables!

The Giveaway!

I'm still not confident how they found me, but an online retailer called CSN Stores contacted me stating that they liked my blog and wanted to run a promotion through it.  I checked them out with the Better Business Bureau and they have an A+ rating!  They actually run multiple sites (over 200, in fact), each with a different theme, covering everything from dining room chairs to cookware. Here are some others:

http://www.allmodern.com/

 http://www.csnlighting.com/

and my personal favorite (for obvious reasons) http://www.cookware.com/

They want to give one of you a gift card worth $35.00 to any of their stores! Oh, and if you are from Canada, there may be some international shipping charges, but otherwise enjoy the free $35.00!  Let me know what you buy!

I decided that a proper entry worthy of a giveaway was required, so I invited my friend Matt over, gave him the option of a couple of recipes, and he picked the Kansas City-Style Spareribs on page 163.

 Following my usual procedure, I made the rub by blending the ingredients in my spice grinder and then using my shaker to distribute the rub.

While the ribs were in the fridge, I also took the time before the football games started to make a side dish for a good BBQ, so I picked the Old Fashioned Creamy Coleslaw on page 367.

 I pulled together the dressing, and then went about breaking down the head of cabbage.  The directions instructed me to quarter the head and then remove the core.  So I started by quartering it.

 Then I removed the core from each quarter.

 I knew I need to slice these thinly, so I started by laying each quarter on end and making length-wise cuts.

 I repeated this cut, holding the quarter together until I had made strips of cabbage through each quarter.

 I then rotated the quarter ninety degrees and made cross cuts to finish breaking down the quarter.

 The carrot was a little easier.  I just used a grater.

Just two medium-sized carrots yielded the amount I needed.

The ribs went on the grill, my mac n' cheese went into the oven, Matt arrived just in time, and I pulled the slaw out of the fridge.  With a little bit of basting during the last twenty minutes, the ribs came off the grill looking nice!

 I cut up the ribs into individual pieces and plated everything.

This was one of my top five recipes from Weber.  Perhaps I was just in the mood for ribs, maybe I was just looking forward to this a lot, but I thoroughly enjoyed this recipe.  I'm particular about my ribs, especially since The Bride bought me a smoker a few years ago and I've become quite adept at making them delicious.  The seasoning on the ribs was amazing, showing great complexity and softness at the same time.  The sauce was perfectly complimentary, and I'll admit to a fair amount of finger licking.  The slaw by itself was unimpressive, but really rounded off the meal well.  I generally don't prefer a creamy slaw - I usually opt for a more vinegar-based slaw - but after the ribs and sauce, along with my awesome mac n' cheese, it was cooling, soothing, and had a nice array of textures.  Matt thought the meal was awesome.  He enjoys all styles of slaw, and said that this one worked.  He also stated that he got about halfway through the ribs before remembering that there was a sauce, because they were that good.  Finally, he wants the mac n' cheese recipe.  I might even sell it to Weber.  :)

Okay, on to the contest.  Here's how it will work.  If you wish to be entered into the contest, you will leave your impressions of this meal in the form of a haiku (yes, I'm going to be a pain, but this will amuse me) in the comments section of this blog, not on Facebook.  Make sure to leave your name so that I know who you are, and if you are a little unfamiliar to me (you've been reading this and I don't know you that well) make sure to leave your email so that I can contact you if you are the winner.  I will give everyone a week, and then declare a winner on Sunday, October 31st. 

A Surpise Night Off - Giveaway Coming Soon!

I was supposed to work tonight, part of the Super Overwhelming Week, but ended up with the evening off.  Instead of leftovers heated up in a microwave, I got to cook up something new!  After a quick glance through The Guide, I picked out two recipes, the Sweet Pepper And Eggplant Bruschetta on page 81, and Beef Satay on page 142.  

 

 

The first thing to get ready was the marinade so that the kabobs would get happy.  I cubed the meat, pulled together the marinade, and then put everything together in a Ziploc bag.

 While they were in the fridge, I readied everything for the Bruschetta while The Forge was coming to temperature.

It was a pleasant evening to sit outside and grill vegetables and bread.

 This was a nice opportunity to try out a new toy.  This is an awesome time of year to pick up supplies and gear for grilling because all of the stores are closing out "summer" items.  I picked up some nice metal kabobs for about four bucks!

 I skewered the meat, added coals to The Forge (the Bruschetta was grilled over medium heat, whereas the Satay needed high heat), and began assembling the Bruschetta.

 After only a few minutes they came off the grill and I was ready.  I finished the dipping sauce while the meat rested.

I plated myself dinner and sat down to watch some TV.

 The Satay had an amazing depth of flavor.  I would never had imagined that lime and peanut would go so well together.  The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.  One of my favorite dishes is Phad Thai, which has final touches of peanuts and a squeeze of lime.  This had a nice balance of acidity, heat, citrus, and peanut.  The meat, however, was rather tough.  The recipe called for either beef tenderloin or top round.  I didn't feel like ponying up for tenderloin, but the top round proved to be too chewy.   The Bruschetta was rather nice.  It is a nice change of pace from tomato bruschetta.  The sweetness of the grilled red pepper and texture of the eggplant perfectly replaced the tomato.  

In other news, back to the giveaway.  Look forward to Sunday evening's post!  I've done some more research, and this Internet retailer has multiple sites, each with something for everyone!  I will post all details for the contest on Sunday!

Prizes For Reading This Trifle?

I've been calling this week The Super Overwhelming Week because I have a ridiculous amount on my plate.  This was the only night that I could do any grilling until Sunday, so I tried to take advantage of that.  To add to that, The Bride is in Germany for the next twelve days, so I wanted to make something that I knew she would be less than pleased with if she were here.  I went with Chopped "Steaks" With Ketchup Glaze on page 97.

As much as I love eating meat, I knew that I needed something resembling "healthy" on the plate as well.  Knowing The Bride's stance on Caesar Salad, I made the call to make the Hail Caesar! Salad on page 362. 

The "steaks" came together pretty easily, although they are a little messy.  I was worried about how loose they felt, but I hoped that a little time in the fridge would firm them up.  In the meantime, I prepped my salad.  I began by trimming the top and bottom of head of lettuce.

This enabled me to stack the leaves.

The advantage to this is the ability to easily remove many spines at once.  I don't like them, and so with the leaves stacked I was able to make two quick cuts with my chef's knife to remove them.  Three more cuts and I had perfectly cut my lettuce leaves into a bunch of evenly-sized squares.

The "steaks" had some trouble on the grill. They didn't firm up like I had hoped, and when I tried to turn them with tongs, the first two fell apart.  I ran inside to grab a spatula, which helped a little.  In the picture below, it is quite evident which ones were turned with a spatula instead of tongs.

 

I tossed the salad with the dressing, and plated my meal.


The recipe refers to Mom's Wednesday Night Special for meatloaf, but this was NOTHING like that.  After some careful consideration, I determined that it is much more similar to a Jamaican beef patty.  It has all of the ingredients to be so: carrots, onion, ginger, curry, and mustard.  I loved the texture as well.  The outside was nice and crispy, and the inside was juicy and soft.  The ketchup glaze added amazing depth for such a simple technique.  The salad, however, was average at best.  It was a close approximation of a Caesar Salad, but was a little plain.  I will fully admit to taking a shortcut by not making my own croutons, but that wasn't the difference maker. 

Okay, to the good stuff!  Last week I was contacted by the marketing department of an online retailer.  I checked them out, and they have an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, so I replied.  It turns out they like the blog, and would like to do a giveaway through my site to promote their company!  So, on Sunday I am planning to do a nice grill-out, and when I do that write-up I will include details.  One of my lucky readers will win a $35 gift card to do some online shopping!  Awesome!  Look for it Sunday night!

Sauce-Off

First of all, before I begin this post I need to give special props to The Bride.  She took time out of her busy schedule to make the house presentable for our guests.  For those of you who watch The League, a "Special Lady Day" is in her future.  

Although my golf league's season is over, we have agreed to meet once a month just to keep current and have some fun.  I took the initiative to host dinner at my house instead of meeting somewhere for dinner, mostly because I had an agenda.  As I was perusing The Guide a number of weeks ago, I realized that there were several barbecue sauces.  Instead of trying them one at a time over a long period of time, I wanted to be able to try them side-by-side, and with a group of experts would be all the better.  My plan was to make a bunch of chicken wings (a great canvas for sauces), and invite the fellas over to help serve as judges.  

The first recipe up for evaluation was Fritz's Favorite Barbecue Sauce Sauce on page 45.

Second up was a recipe simply called Chili Barbecue Sauce, also on page 45.

The third contestant was Weber's Tangy Barbecue Sauce on page 47.

The fourth sauce was something called Loco-Motion Sauce on page 49, and in my hurried nature this afternoon I forgot to take a picture of the ingredients, but will list them here: OJ concentrate, chili sauce, molasses, soy sauce, white wine vinegar, whole-grain mustard, worcestershire sauce, tobasco sauce, and kosher salt.

Finally, the last entrant was the Crazy Cola Barbecue Sauce on page 49.



I grilled up the wings, and when everyone had arrived I set them out with the sauces. 

The judges were not informed the names of the sauces, nor about any of the ingredients.  They were simply referred to as Sauces A, B, C, D, and E.  Each judge was given a form on which they could record any notes they desired, and then give a final ranking.  Here are their notes:

Sauce A (Fritz's Favorite Barbecue Sauce Sauce )

(1) Coffee tone unacceptable, orange is nice, nice gentle afterburn

(2) Jerk, orange, nice

(3) Translucent, mild sauce, light, slightly sweet flavor, chicken flavor was dominant over the sauce

(4) Tastes like vinagrette, too sweet

(5) Mint tones, good with lamb or kabobs?

Sauce B (Chili Barbecue Sauce)

(1) Nice spice, good acidity, fine balance, excellent "cling" factor

(2) Cumin, good spice/heat

(3) Spicy aroma, flavor is fairly mild with definite tomato

(4) Good classic BBQ, spicy, sage?, thick

(5) Spicy, chili pepper, slight afterburn, to me wings and sauce needs to be hot

Sauce C (Weber's Tangy Barbecue Sauce)

(1) Rather tomato-y, needs kick to be a BBQ sauce

(2) Sweet, thick

(3) Smells somewhat like a traditional KC BBQ sauce, taste reminds me of KC Masterpiece with a little less flavor

(4) Sweet pepper, thick

(5) Tangy, southwestern, thick

Sauce D (Loco-Motion Sauce)

(1) Strong OJ syrup, needs acidity to balance, also needs spice, OJ too strong, unidirectional

(2) Too orange-y, nice amount of spice, but some nice acidity

(3) Sweet aroma, citrus flavors overwhelm the sauce and chicken, great for a "luau" BBQ

(4) Sweet citrus, pineapple?

(5) Maple, beer/porter/smokey

Sauce E (Crazy Cola Barbecue Sauce)

(1) No "cling," very little flavor

(2) Is this steak sauce?  Too thin, not bad

(3) Little "cling" to the wings, reminds me of a steak sauce, good flavor, but not for wings

(4) Spicy vinegar, thin, not a wing sauce, but good flavor

(5) Watery, nondescript

As for the final rankings, here they are from favorite to least favorite:

(1) B, C, A, D, E

(2) B, A, D, C, E

(3) B, C, D, E, A

(4) B, E, D, C, A

(5) B, C, A, D, E

So the clear consensus favorite was Sauce B, the Chili Barbecue Sauce.  After that, it was all over the place.  A big thanks to The Gentlemen for helping me out on this little adventure, they were a big help!