Ground Rule Double

I'll keep this short and sweet...I needed to precook some pork chops as I have to pack both lunch and dinner for tomorrow. I took care of the Classic Bone-In Pork Chops in the rookie section on page 34, and I also incorporated the Mustard Seed Dry Rub on page 54. 

Here I've made the rub using my spice grinder and shaker that I displayed in an earlier post.  At this point I'm just waiting on the coals.

So after twelve minutes on the grill, we're done!

On the whole this will serve me well for the next couple of meals.  To this point, I have been thoroughly pleased with the rubs I have come across in this book.  I would even use the analogy that they have all been Home Runs.  This one, however, I will give a grade of Ground Rule Double.  It's good, and I think it would be even better on fish, but it pales in comparison to the other rubs I have used thus far.  That's all for tonight!

Got My Bride Back

Okay, I know...The Bride came back a few days ago.  This meal was MADE a few days ago.  However, that night the batteries in my camera died and I was unable to retrieve the pictures. Today on my way home from school I actually remembered to stop by the store for more, and so here we go!

There were two determining factors that night.  First, I wanted steak.  I had been following my diet, and it was time for some cow.  Second, The Bride had just come back from France where she had been served steak with a rocquefort sauce.  She was eager to try this herself, so we divided the work so that I would cook the steak and side, and she would work on the sauce and the fondu (she was in the mood for this as well).  I wanted to keep things simple, so I went with Simple Steaks on page 32, and Roasted Artichokes on page 332.  First, a trip to the store and the prep:

The artichokes were going to take over half an hour, so while they were doing their thing on the grill, The Bride made the fondu as an appetizer.

T'was good!  The wine we used was a little old, which was a lesson for next time.  Still, there is something just fundamentally right with eating melted cheese.   While we noshed on this treat, the steaks were thrown on the grill, The Bride made the rocquefort sauce, and we were ready to eat!

We opened a bottle that The Bride brought back from France, and delved in.  The sauce was enlightening.  The Bride, I think, has missed her calling as a saucier.  She is truly gifted in that department.  The steaks were cooked perfectly, and the artichokes were as well.  With the next series of pictures, I will demonstrate how to each an artichoke!

First, pluck off a leaf.

Second, use your teeth to scrape off the fleshy bit at the base of the leaf.

Finally, return the rest of the leaf to your discard pile!

Between weather and lack of free time, I may not grill until this weekend.  That sucks.  Again, I had a lot of fun having an accompanying chef.  I will send out an open invitation again to anyone who wants to partake in this adventure with me.  You pick the recipe, we cook it up! 

 

All Alone Ribs

Looking at the weather forecast for the upcoming week, today might be the last time for a while before I can grill again.  I wanted something a little different, and as I browsed through The Guide this morning, the section on ribs caught my attention.  I settled on one of the easier-looking (read: less involved) recipes...Everybody's Favorite "Dry" Ribs on page 163. 

On a side note, The Bride and I are planning a trip to Memphis this summer with the intention of settling a long-debated topic in the BBQ world: wet or dry ribs.  I personally enjoy both, and am really looking forward to settling this arguement for myself.

The first thing to do was to prep the ribs.  I actually had all of the ingredients except for the ribs themselves.  This was another selling feature when picking out today's recipe.

The key step in any proper rib preparation is the rub.  As a tip that I am actually comfortable giving people when it comes to cooking, one of the best $10 investments you can make for your kitchen is a dedicated spice grinder.  The following picture shows how the rub looks before and after going for a whirl.

After that, probably one of the best $1 investments is the shaker.  I've used this for many applications, whether grilling/smoking, roasting, or baking.

Before applying the rub, I drew on my prior experience with ribs.  Over the last four years I've cooked my fair share of ribs in my smoker (bestest gift ever from The Bride), and learned early the incredible value of removing the membrane under the ribs.  Many restaurants forgo this step, and it shows when you eat it.  Leaving the membrane on only allows the rub to penetrate one side of the ribs, so you only get half of the flavor.  Removing the membrane takes only seconds, and is very easy to do.

All that was left was to shake on the rub!

The hard part was creating medium indirect heat in such a small area of the grill as the two slabs took up over two-thirds of the grilling surface.  I didn't want the undersides to burn, but I had a difficult time keeping the amount of coals I needed in a small pile off to the side.  On top of that, the recipe called for soaked hickory chunks which only added to the mass under the grilling grate.  Two hours later, I had ribs!

In the latter hour of grilling I also made my own double-fried french fries, because they are glorious. 

All told, this was an awesome way to cook ribs.  The preparation is minimal, the maintenance is minimal, and yet the flavor is maximized.  No sauce is necessary!  The rub is really interesting.  I never would have imagined that putting fennel seeds in a BBQ rub would work, yet it does.  It adds a neat fragrance that melds into the overall flavor during the grill time.  The meat was moist and pulled off the bone nicely, and the texture was excellent.  There was enough smoke flavor to make it interesting, but was nowhere near my smoked ribs.  Overall, this is a great recipe to have on hand when you need ribs in less than three hours! 

Guest Chef

Tonight was my Friday night without The Bride. I was fortunate to have Matt come over to keep me company and partake in my quest. Yesterday, after school, I met up with Matt and let him pick out a meal from The Guide. I stated that I preferred beef, as this was my one day this week to partake in that particular protein. He had no issue with this.  After some deliberation, he selected Spiral Steaks with Pesto, Olives, and Tomatoes on page 115. I agreed, and personally picked out the Yukon Gold Potatoes and Button Mushrooms on page 343, and the Southwest Onion Dip on page 80 as an appetizer. The first thing I had to do when I got home from school on Friday was to prep the steak spirals, as I knew flank steak appreciated a long marinade.

The first thing to do was shaped the steaks, and create the pesto and filling (what I would call a tapenade). 

After a few attempts and corrections at rolling them up and slicing them into eight spirals, I set them in the fridge to marinate.  Later in the evening Matt came over, and in the course of setting up the prep for the onion dip, he revealed that he hadn't eaten all day.  It was good that we were having an appetizer, as the steaks still needed some time!

I started the grill, and stated that I would take care of the onions.  Matt, as Guest Chef, was in charge of the rest of the dip.  Once the onions were done, I handed them off to Matt and went about grilling the tortillas.  This, by the way, is the BEST way to crisp up a tortilla.  It took some patience and trial and error, but it beats the pants off of warming them up in a frying pan.

After taking our first bite, I'll quote Matt on this one..."This is what the restaurants want to do, and aren't." 

Now satiated, Matt and I began prepping the potatoes and mushrooms.  We forgot to set up the prep shot, but what you need to know is that there are buttom mushrooms, yukon gold potatoes, fresh thyme, butter, garlic powder, paprika, and black pepper.  Once the grill was brought up to the proper temperature, we set them on.  Upon completion, we removed and covered them with foil to keep them warm while the steaks were on the grill.  Here are the spirals fresh off the grill:

 

And finally we plated the meal!

It was comical how much we enjoyed this.  After our first bite, we kept making the "MMMMMMMMM!" quote from What About Bob? and were actually laughing at how good this was.  I'll wrap this up by saying that this is certainly one my new new favoritest ways to eat steak, and made the week-long wait worthwhile. 

It was really cool to have a guest chef.  If anyone else wants to partake, drop me a line!

Must Be That New Hawaiian Burger Joint

I couldn't help but think of Pulp Fiction as I prepared my dinner tonight.  Tonight it was Pork Burgers with Grilled Pineapple from page 189 and Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Grilled Onions on page 353.  I selected the burgers earlier this week because I am still on this diet where I can only have red meat once a week, and that has been earmarked for tomorrow.  I also picked the sweet potatoes with my diet in mind, because they are something I am allowed to have every day, and I wanted a new way to eat them.

 

The sweet potatoes needed an hour of medium indirect heat, so they went on first.  After said hour, I pulled them off, cut them in half, and the skins basicaly fell off on their own.  I grilled the onions, chopped them up, and added them to the potatoes. 

For the burgers, I placed them on, flipped them after six and a half minutes, added the pineapples a minute and a half later, and waited for the last three minutes of cooking.

In that last three minutes, I added the glaze (to which I am now addicted and kept sticking my finger) and then pulled everything off grill.  I toasted my buns, and took everything into the house.

It was plated, and I was ready to go!

After a week of some mismatched (yet good) food, I hit this meal out of the park.  The pork, pineapple, and sweet potato were in perfect harmony.  I'll even go as far as saying that the meal felt festive.  The burgers were great, and the 50/50 mixture of ground pork and ground turkey remained moist through the near fifteen minutes of direct grilling.  The pineapple added nice texture and acidity to make the flavors truly come alive.  Next time I will even go a little heavier on the glaze.  It WAS a tasty burger.   As for the sweet potatoes, anyone who tries to serve me them prepared any other way will be considered a godless communist. 

Chops and Guac

I knew that today's would have to be quick.  I would be home around 4 p.m., and my tee time was 5:30 p.m.  Thus, when I read that "You'll be eating in less than an hour," in the description for the Pantry Pork Chops on page 189, it was an easy decision.  I also wanted a quick side, and the Guacamole with Fire-Roasted Vegetables on page 85 seemed like a good way to go.  When I got home, I let the dog out and quickly began prepping.

I was supposed to have saved some of the cilantro from yesterday, but in an ill-fated decision last night, it went into the compost bin out back.  I didn't have time to go to the store, and cilantro is a pretty key ingredient for guacamole.  In a bush-league move, I found and used some dried cilantro from the pantry. 

The guacamole ingredients needed direct medium heat, and the chops needed direct high heat, so I started with medium heat for the veggies while the pork chops were marinating with the intention of adding charcoal later for high heat.  This seemed to work pretty well.  When the vegetables were done (rather nicely), I put together the guacamole while the coals readied themselves.

Awesome stuff!  I kept eating it while the chops were on the grill.  More on that later.  I learned something valuable while reading The Guide.  The book makes a clear distinction between flipping and turning.  Thus far, when I read directions that stated to cook for x number of minutes, turning halfway through, I was flipping instead of rotating the meat ninety degrees.  As a teacher I can only make fun of myself for not reading directions.  Tangent aside, the chops looked great coming off the grill.

And true to the book's word, in less than an hour, I was eating!

The pork chops were good, but not something I would make again.  The lemon and soy sauce combination was different, good, but not something I want to keep in my wheelhouse.  Notice, however, the two directions of grillmarks?  Yup, turning and flipping ARE different.  It seems silly, but again, I'm new to this grilling game.  The guacamole, however, is definitely a keeper.  What I really like about the fire-roasted vegetables is that the onions carmalize, giving the dip a nice subtle sweet flavor that displays great depth.  This is refreshing, filling, and not easy to put down.  Next time I might even use fresh cilantro.  :)  Friends of mine will see this guacamole reappear!

I

Chicks and Bricks

The Bride is out of town...time to start playing!  I can (tentatively) grill for the next six days in a row!  I have the first couple of days mapped out, and tonight it would be something that I have been wanting to try for quite some time.  I've seen this done on several cooking shows, and now it was my turn...for Chicken Under Bricks on page 234.  I actually started this last night before bed when I prepped the bird and marinade.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera at school, so I only have the picture of what I took out of the fridge when I got home from school today.

Since I don't reveal exact recipes (don't know how Weber would feel about this) I will only tell you that the marinade has garlic, whole grain mustard, thyme, rosemary, white pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil.  The only substitution I made was using dried thyme for fresh, as the grocery store was out and my thyme plant in my garden is still too small. 

Perhaps it was fortunate, after all, that I did not have my camera.  I've broken down a whole chicken before, but I've never had to use kitchen shears to remove a backbone.  It was a little unpleasant.  Upon removing the backbone, I then flipped the bird and cut it in half by shearing along one side of the breastplate.  Again, it was unpleasant.  Applying the rub was easy, and I set the bird in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag in the fridge before bed, and the picture above is about eighteen hours later.

For a side I went with Brown Rice Salad with Lime Dressing on page 369.  I was nervous about the quantity this would make as I know that brown rice swells to about three times its dry size, and this recipe called for one and half cups of dry brown rice, but leftovers are always awesome, so here we go!

I started the rice, as it takes almost an hour to cook, and then set up The Forge for medium indirect heat.  From there, I wrapped the bricks in foil, and because I am a geek, I learned that I was going to use a little over six and a half pounds of bricks. 

First, I applied the chicken halves skin side down:

Then applied the weights:

After about half an hour to forty minutes, I flipped the chicken over to direct medium to crisp up the side that had been in contact with the baking sheet (looking good, I must say):

During this time I was also making the dressing for the rice salad.  I pulled the chicken off the grill to rest while I applied the dressing to the rice. 

Finally, it was time to plate:

Overall, I was very pleased.  The chicken is excellent, especially if you like rosemary.  It was definitely heavy on that herb, so scale back if you know you don't prefer it.  The chicken was certainly slanting towards Italian in flavor. 

Let me just take a moment to describe how juicy and succulent this was...AMAZING!  Chicken can dry out quickly, but between the marinade, the indirect heat, and the baking sheet, this was nowhere near an issue.  The meat fell off the bone and dripped juices everywhere. 

The rice was also rather delicious.  My only complaint was that it leans heavily towards an Asian flavor profile, which didn't exactly jive with the Italian influenced chicken.  Individually, these dishes are keepers, but I won't put them together again.  The texture of the salad receives high scores.  Adding peanuts to rice salad sounded a little odd at first, but the more I thought about it, I really like the peanuts that are added to Phat Thai noodle dishes. 

Perhaps what I am most excited about is learning a new technique.  In general, I am more interested in learning techniques that I can apply and modify than I am learning recipes, and this is a new technique that has a vast array of applications...even if I have to remove more backbones.  For now, though, I am going to enjoy two things:  my full belly and the Penguins/Canadiens Game 3.