Back in action (How to grill steak)

It's been a LONG time since I gave this blog the attention it deserved. But now that warmer weather is upon us, I thought I'd rededicate my efforts to providing interesting and delicious recipes, along with any tips/tricks I can throw in along the way.

On the horizon (in no particular order):
- Grilling an entire turkey (No more dry meat)
- Philly Cheese Porterhouse (as delicious as it sounds)
- Wood-burning grills - Doing it Argentine Style
- Tri-Tip (A bit of Santa Maria)

For today, enjoy a "how to" for grilling steaks (direct grilling, summarized):

1.) Season steaks before placing them over the heat. Use coarse sea salt and freshly ground or cracked black peppercorns.

2.) Set up 3 distinct heat zones
- Super high heat (for actual grilling - 600+ degrees F)
- Medium-high heat (400 degrees F)
- No heat (Safety zone in case of flareups)

3.) Place all steaks lined up in the same direction over the super high heat zone to keep grill marks consistent for a professional look

4.) After 2 minutes, rotate the steaks (don't flip them yet, just rotate them) 45 or 90 degrees to create a crosshatch of grill marks.

5.) Sear the steak for:
- 1-2 minutes (1/2 inch steak)
- 3-5 minutes (1 inch steak)
- 6-9 minutes (1.5 - 2 inch steak); Note: For steaks this thick, after searing, move the steak to the medium-high heat zone to finish cooking

6.) After searing, turn the steaks using tongs or a spatula.
NEVER use a fork, this allows the juices to escape

7.) Continue cooking on the other side, turning 45 or 90 degrees after 2 minutes.

8.) Top with a piece of butter or drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil

Apple Pie Cornish Game Hens

My son started crying one morning and woke me up. Once he was back down, I found myself wide awake and unable to get back to sleep before I had to wake up for work an hour later. As I lay in bed awake, I came up with the following recipe. It's still a work in process. Oddly enough, I've found that it tasted a bit better cold than it did hot. If anyone has some suggestions on how to perfect the concept, I'm happy to hear them.

Please note with the spices that I am NEVER precise in measuring them out, opting instead for what feels/smells/tastes right. What you see below is an estimate of what I used.

Apple Pie Cornish Game Hens



Prep Time: 10-20 Minutes
Time to Marinade: 0 Minutes
Grill Time: 20-40 Minutes

Ingredients:
2 - Cornish Game Hens
1 can - Apple Pie Filling
Olive Oil
1 Cup - Brown Sugar

Spices:
1 Tbs - Ginger
1 Tbs - Basil
2 tsp - Cinnamon
1 tsp - Table Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Sea Salt

Directions:
1.) Preheat the grill to 400 degrees and oil it.

2.) Mix and blend the Applie Pie Filling, Brown Sugar, Ginger Powder, Basil, Table Salt and Cinnamon in a blender. Pour 1 or 2 cups of the mixture into a seperate container and set the blender aside in the refrigerator (you will use the mix left in the blender to coat the game hens when you serve them).

3.) Rinse the hens and cut them in half lengthwise down the rib-cage so that they lie flat open. Using a cajun injector, draw the applie pie mixture from the seperate container until the cajun injector is full. Inserting the injector deep into the meat, pump the hens full of the apple pie mixture in several places. Use 1 or 2 full syringes in each bird. (Click here to for a video on how to use the injector)

Note: DO NOT stick the cajun injector into the mixture that you have set aside in the blender; you don't want to contaminate it.

4.) Brush both sides of the birds with olive oil, then sprinkle them lightly and evenly with coarse sea salt and cayenne pepper.

5.) Grill the birds for 20-40 minutes, starting skin-side down and flipping them to skin-side up after 5-10 minutes. Repeat the process, flipping the birds every 5-10 minutes until they reach an internal temperature of 170 degrees.

6.) Display the entire bird face down (as pictured above and below). Take the pie-filling mixture that is left in the blender out of the fridge and either pour it over the top of the hens, or serve it as a sauce on-the-side.

Enjoy.

Cajun Beer-in-the-Butt Chicken

Well, last weekend's project turned out most delicious. I won't write out the recipee because you can find it on my last post. It's a cajun chicken that's grilled over 2 hours with a can of beer in its butt. The beer steams slowly into the meat as it cooks.



I used a gas grill, so I had to change things up a bit from the original recipee. It's a 4-burner grill, so I still used the indirect method. I turned my two side burners to medium heat and left the middle burners turned off. The heat was a bit uneven, so I found that I had to turn the chicken a few times as it cooked.

Also, I used mesquite woodchips (instead of hickory wood chunks) to smoke the chicken after soaking them in beer for a few hours. No real rhyme or reason to it, mesquite is just what I happened to have lying around.

The end result was a sensual masterpiece:



I think I'll make another this weekend. HIGHLY recommend this recipee.

Cajun Beer Chicken

Here is this weekend's project:



I expect it should turn out most delicious. Maybe I'll adapt it for cornish game hens instead....

Cedar Tilapia

I adapted this recipe for the grill. The original recipe came from my sister. It's quick, easy, and delicious.

Cedar Tilapia



Prep Time: 10-20 minutes
Time to Marinade: 1 hour (soaking time for the cedar wraps)
Grill Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:
1.5 Pounds - Tilapia
1 - Large egg
1 Tbs. - Water
1/4 Cup - Olive oil
1/2 Cup - Grated Parmesan

Spices:
Sea Salt - To Taste
Pepper - To Taste

Other items:
Cedar Wraps - (Soaked for approx. 1 hour)
Butcher String - (Soaked for a few minutes)

Directions:

1.) Preheat grill to medium heat. If you are using cedar wraps, don't forget to soak them for ~1 hour.

2.) Mix egg, water, and olive oil.

3.) Dip each tilapia fillet one by one into the egg mixture. Remove and LIGHTLY sprinkle both sides with pepper and sea salt. Add a generous amount of grated parmasean to both sides of the fillet.

4.) Wrap fillets in the cedar wraps (one or two per wrap) and tie off with butcher string.



5.) Grill over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, or until fish has reached desired internal temperature, turning halfway through.

6.) Remove from grill. Cut butcher string, remove fillets, and enjoy.

Cedar Wraps

I was shopping for some planks when I came across these:





They're thin cuts of Cedar wood. The idea is that you wrap your food in these bad boys before grilling. Since they were only $6.95 for a pack of 10 on Amazon, I had to give them a shot. I decided to grill some tilapia, something I had been meaning to do for a while (see the recipe above).

The Good: Added a delicious plank-like cedar taste to the tilapia at a small fraction of the cost

The Bad: They're very small, limiting what they can be used for; They're flimsey and break easily; They're thin enough to become a fire hazard if you're grilling a cut that will take more than 10-20 minutes.

I would recommend these and I'll be using them again whenever a cut of meat/fish is small enough to fit. For larger cuts, I'll stick with planks.

4th of July BBQ

For the 4th, we had some of our friends over for a BBQ. Although I didn't get pictures of every course of the meal, here's an overview:

We started off with Chicken Kabobs:


I prepared the chicken using my standard lemon/lime recipee, then cut it into cubes. I added onions, red and yellow peppers, and zucchini. The zucchini I seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.

After the kabobs, I finally got around to making the cheese steak I've been wanting to make. Although, I didn't realize that a tenderloin cost $60-100, so I used a couple of roasts instead. It tasted amazing, but in hindsight I should have used some New York steaks instead. The roast didn't hold up to being stuffed too well. Much of the cheese melted out (catching my just-cleaned grease pan on fire yet again).

We then moved on to the sliders:


The process was simple. My wife made some small burgers from ground beef, adding chopped onions and some hamburger spices. We served them on french rolls with cheddar cheese.


The Grilled corn was simply amazing:


I've seen many different methods for cooking grilled corn (sheared and wrapped in tinfoil with ice, etc.). I decided to leave the husks on and throw them straight on the grill, rotating a quarter turn every 5-minutes or so. It took ~20-30 minutes to grill on high. I just waited until the husk was charred all the way around.

For dessert I served grilled bananas. Here's the recipee:

S'More Bananas
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Time to Marinade: N/A
Grill time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients:
Bananas
Chocolate Chips
Mini Marshmallows
Brown Sugar

Directions:
1.) Leave the banana in the peel. Cut the banana in half lengthwise, but don't go all the way through the back end of the peel (think of a hot dog bun).

2.) Open the banana wide enough to sprinkle with brown sugar. Then add a layer of chocolate chips, followed by a layer of marshmallow. Close the banana again and wrap in aluminum foil.

3.) Grill for ~5 minutes on high.

4.) Open the banana and eat with a spoon.