Hungry for some goo-oo-ood BOBBA-CUE!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Now that the temperature has warmed up around here, I broke out my Weber charcoal grill and I’m ready to cook.

Had a scrumptious steak last Thursday and tonight I fired up some chicken breasts (some with Italian dressing marinade, some with barbecue sauce. Both were great).

But I want more. More, do you hear me! MORE!!! Bwahahaha!

ahem

So, let’s hear from youse guys. I’m looking especially for some cajun recipes, for chicken, steak and fish (not much of a fish eater, but I think a trout filet with cajun seasonings would kick ass).

Or any of your favorite backyard bobba-cue yummies.

2

Ah…break out the Weber,nice cold one in your hand,sit back on the deck and watch the Friggin METS lose! That’s the life.

Dave,In my Webber manual I just found a recipe for Bourbon steak.Not Cajun,but it’s got that Big easy taste to it.

1/2 cup Bourbon
1 cup water
1/2 cup Soy sauce
3 Tbsp Worcester sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsb lemon juice

Marinate overnight.(I marinated for 4 hours,the steak did anyways,not me in the bourbon).Has a great smell and flavor.If you boil the marinade after use you can use as an “Au jus” style sauce.I’ll check the book tomorrow for a Cajun recipe. Later.

3

What’s the matter with pork? You don’t eat grilled pork? Well TOUGH SHIT, pal…you’ll take this recipe and like it.

(Now, people with BBQ pits dug in their backyards will scoff at the parboiling part, but I’ve found it an efficient way to “degrease” ribs before they grill. I admit that a man with said pit, a cord of hickory, and about two days to spare will end up with a marginally tastier rack of ribs. But these are damn good, easier, and more suited to being prepared by a hungry guy with a bellyful of beer)

4 lbs. pork ribs
1 medium onion stuck with 2 cloves
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Barbecue Sauce (You can use a bottled brand, but see below for the ne plus ultra)

  1. Place the ribs in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add the onion with cloves, soy, marjoram, S&P. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, turning once, until ribs are tender (about 1 hour for a large rack).

  2. Preheat the grill, light the charcoal, whatever.

  3. When the ribs are tender, transfer to a large shallow dish or roasting pan. Brush with sauce.

  4. Grill the ribs over MEDIUM heat, basting often with more sauce, until crisp, about 6 minutes on a side.
    SAUCE
    1 cup molasses
    1/2 cup Dijon mustard
    1/2 cup red wine vinegar
    1/4 cup Worcestershire
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp Tabasco

Stir ingredients together in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and let simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.

4

Well, there’s nothing wrong with pork, as far as far as I’m concerned. But we don’t eat much of it, as my wife’s Jewish and has this strange aversion to pork.

I find this strange, as she doesn’t keep kosher anyway, and enjoys ham and bacon. But the pork thing is a no-no.

Ribs may be OK, but chops (one of my favorite entrees) have never graced our table in lo these 19 years.

5

**

Ohhhh… then you just have to try some of Maurice’s Gourmet BBQ. Avert your eyes from Maurice’s politics, and be ready to turn off the MIDI version of “Dixie” if you go to the home page.

But I was teethed on Carolina barbecue, and Maurice makes none better. (Well, second only to my Grandpa Dan’s, but his recipe died with him.) People drive for over three hours from Atlanta to eat at Maurice’s, in a region where they rate barbecue by how far people are willing to drive to get it.

Now Carolina BBQ isn’t that sugar-loaded, tomato based stuff. No siree. It’s vinegar and mustard based, so you can cook with it from the git-go without fear of it burning into a black, bitter charcoal. It’s made primarily for pork, but it’s also good on chicken and beef.

Pour your Maurice’s over some baby back or country ribs in a casserole dish and cook 'em half way in a microwave or the oven, then finish 'em off on the grill. Your taste buds will have orgasms.

OK, ok. No pork allowed? You can also do it with chicken or brisket or beef ribs. Or mix some in with your burgers.

Here’s another recipe I like:

Get some skirt steak and marinate it in sliced brown onions and beer for about 20 minutes. Any plain old domestic beer will do. Baste it regularly with fresh beer dribbled from that bottle you’re holding while you’re standing there cooking it well-done. Serve as a sandwich, or more authentically, on fresh corn tortillas warmed on the grill, with minced onions, cilantro, and some fresh garden salsa. It’s amazingly good.

As for steak, if it’s a good cut of beef, anything more than garlic is a sin.

Crush a handful of peeled cloves of fresh garlic - not elephant garlic, though - and rub that into both sides of your steak. Let it sit a few minutes, then grill. And in case you don’t already know, don’t put any salt on it until you cut into it! Salt makes it dry out.

6

Whoopsie! Is my face red!

Well, try the above sauce on CHICKEN, then. Or beef. While you’re eating, I’ll dig into my stained recipe index cards and come up with a more suitable dish (Cajun preferred…wait…do Cajuns grill?) for yez all.

7

Oh yeah - don’t know why I forgot my number one favorite thing to do when cooking for just 1 or 2:

Buy some filet mignons, about 6 or 8 ounces. No more than about 5/8" thick. Grill 'em up like I said, with just garlic, and then serve like a hamburger, on a large onion roll with sliced tomatoes, onion, lettuce, salt and pepper to taste, and a dab of mayo and deli mustard.

You’ll never grill another hamburger again! Especially recommended during BSE or E. Coli scares.

Some may think it’s a waste of a filet, but most grocery store filets aren’t really that fantastic. If it was a Prime piece of dry-aged filet, then I’d agree - anything more than knife and fork is a crime. But if you just use standard Safeway steaks, this makes the best steak sandwich ever!

8

My favorite thing for the grill is to get some good boneless pork ribs and marinate them in Italian dressing for about 4 hours (longer if you wish). Grill em up, and serve them with some grilled veggies and a potato and bam! Good eatin!

9

I’ll definitely have to try some of these out (it’s gonna be a good summer, I can tell).

Still, aside from Ike’s promise to look for some spicy blackened Cajun recipes, I haven’t got what I was after. If I have a basic recipe, I’m perfectly willing to modify it and cook by the seat of my pants. My kitchen experiments more often than not turn out great. But it would be a crime to goof up a perfectly good steak or something fooling around with unfamiliar ingredients.

I just need a starter set of Cajun ingredients and a little hint on the proportions thereof. Then I can fly solo.

Ike, I’ll get back to you on the pork-ribs-as-Barb-kosher question ASAP.

10

Ooootch. Not the most appetizing of metaphors there, pal.

Re: Cajun blackening. Correct me if I’m wrong (and the cooks on this board WILL), but Cajun blackened stuff is always blackened in a hot skillet.

Nonetheless, there’s no problem with seasoning your food with a Cajun-style dry rub and then grilling it. I’m partial to Tony Chachere’s pre-mixed seasoning, but you can save yourself a couple of bux and make some up from scratch:

1 26-ounce box of salt
3 tblsp black pepper
2 tblsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tblsp Accent (optional)
2 tblsp dried parsley flakes
4 tblsp Cayenne pepper
2 tblsp chili powder

Mix together in a coffee can or other sealable container; fill a shaker for daily use.

11

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. I’ve been salivating over the last few weeks for a decent barbecue.

Here’s a couple:

Steak fajitas

This is a real, honest-to-goodness simple fajita. Simply take some steak (your choice, although in Mexico the fajita cut is usually a fairly cheap cut) and marinate it for several hours in lime juice. Maybe a little garlic if you wish. The key is the purity of flavor. Don’t f*** it up by getting too adventurous here. It’s absolutely beautiful.
Serve it with flour and corn tortillas, freshly made salsa, beans, whatever…

Fennel pork -

Get yourself a nice thick slab of pork for grilling, and coat it with salt and ground fennel seeds. Mmmm… The original recipe is actually for pork loin roasted in an oven, and then you make a gravy by deglazing with balsamic vinegar and adding some butter, starch & stock, but it works well on BBQ, too.

Marinades involving yogurt are great for chicken. You can take a r cup of yogurt, add about a tablespoon of paprika and powdered red pepper (cayenne, or, preferably, an Asian chile of some sort) and some salt to taste. Your result basically resembles a tandoori chicken. Wonderful. Hey, if you like Indian, use the above, but add a tablespoon of ground cumin, a tablespoon of turmeric, 3 cloves of mashed garlic, 1.5 tsp of black pepper, a tablespoon of salt (or less, taste,) 6-8 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons of veggie oil. Marinate for 3 hours.

And here’s one of my favorites, courtesy of epicurious.com - Lemon-Oregano chicken (Greek.)

12

Oooo… that’s good for boneless chicken breasts and steaks. I’ve almos marinated chucnks of beef for shish-ka-bobs in Italian dressing. I’ll have to try it on pork this weekend.

13

Okay, for your edification and gorging enjoyment, I present
THE ALL-CAJUN/CREOLE, ALL GRILLED MEAL!!!

Appetizer:
Sticky wings with Sausage

Entree:
Onion-Stuffed Porkchops (Or Chicken, for Kashrut)with Jim Beam glaze

Grilled vegetables marinated in Italian Dressing
(Note-no recipe for this. Use what you like and be creative. Barbecue, to me, means meat. Carry on.)

Dessert:
Grilled Rum Bananas n’ Pineapple
Sticky Wings:
2-3 lbs chicken wings, separated (cut the wingtips off and separate into “mini-drum” and “2-bone wingtip”)
1-2 packages smoked sausage,cut into 1-in. chunks (andouille’s good, polish too)
12 oz dark beer
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup ketchup
Mix of the following:
Red & black spice (cayenne & black pepper)
Celery salt
Garlic powder
vegetable oil (abt. 1/2 cup. or enough to moisten the amount of spices you desire. Heat goes up with more, but so does flavor.)

After cutting up the wings and sausage, put into a large skillet and pour in the beer. Cook over low heat until the chicken is mostly done (parboiled). Add ketchup and molasses, turning chicken & sausage over to get coated.Lift out with slotted spoon and reserve the cooled sauce. Sprinkle/Spread chicken & sausage with spice mixture. This is now ready for the grill& can be done in advance. Over meduim heat on the grill, cook chicken & sausage until done to liking, mopping with the reserved sauce. Here’s your appetizer.

ENTREE: Onion stuffed porkhops (or chicken breasts) with Bourbon Glaze

1-2 thick chops per person, same with chicken, which should be boned, skinned breasts with a deep pocket cut to hold the stuffing. Chops should also be cut to hold the stuffing, and can be boneless or bone-in. Pounding optional. (God, “boned breasts”,“stuffed chops”, “pounding optional”,…I feel so DIRTY!
2-3 cups onions, sliced thinly, sauteed until brown n’ squiggly, let cool
1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
SPRINKLED ON OUTSIDE OF CHOPS PRIOR TO GRILLING:
Seasoned salt
Accent
Black pepper
Garlic powder

Glaze
1 cup Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, Evan Williams, or other American corn mash whiskey
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup orange juice

Simmer until slightly thickened, reserve to cool.

In a bowl, mix the onions and cheese until cheese is evenly distributed. Pack an oversized tablespoon into the pocket in each chop/breast, pushing stuffing well to the back of each pocket,as the meat will shrink during cooking, and you don’t want to lose any stuffing. Coat well with the suggested dry spices, or come up with your own mix. I like Penzey’s Galena Street Chicken& Rib rub, http://www.penzeys.com.

Grill over medium-hot flame until slightly underdone, then top with glaze and continue until domne fully, giving the glaze a chance to carmelize slightly. Top with the rest of the glaze for service.

After you’ve ingested the cholesterol fest above, you’re left with a hot pile of coals, meat overload and a desire for dessert. Most people wimp out at this point, and serve brownies or some such, but the true crazed grill maven knows that fire, alcohol, and mass hypnosis make everything better.
GRILLED RUM BANANAS AND PINEAPPLE

1-2 bananas per person, peeled and cut in half lengthwise and crossways (to make four half-flat banana segments)
1-2 slices fresh pineapple
1 tsp butter, softened, per person
DARK rum. Dark, not tan. Black as my soul. Myers is excellent for this.
1 tbsp brown sugar per person

Using aluminum foil, make a square package that can be folded securely. Place the Pineapple on botton, followed by the banana segments. Top with butter & sugar mixture, then slosh rum over the entire mess. Use caution, as you’re going to be putting foil-wrapped packages of flammable liquid into proximity to fire here. This is why it’s cool.
After removing the porkchops/chicken/vegetables from the fire, slide the packages gently onto the grill. If you’re using coals, push them to the side, or bank them indirectly. The key here is that you want enough heat to cook the fruit all the way through and melt the sugar, but not too much, or the sugar and alcohol will burn.

When done, remove and serve with vanilla ice cream. 151 float and flame optional.
Hose down the deck, kids, dog and grill and continue drinking beer until the sun comes up. Perfect weekend around the False_God house.

14

I have never done it with beef or chicken. I might have to try that this weekend as well. We should trade notes and see how it was. :slight_smile:

15

A good mustardy garlicky vinagrette makes a great marinade for chicken, flank steak, AND pork tenderloin. It’s best if you make one from scratch, but Paul Newman’s’ll do in a pinch.

16

robgruver said:

Nor should you. It’s perverted and probably illegal. Keep your sick fantasies to yourself, you deve…What? He was talking about marinades and cooking? Oh. Never mind.

17

Hahahahaha . . . good one, DAVE! :wink:

18

Thanks for the recipes and suggestions, guys. Ike, if it don’t rain Sunday, I’m gonna whip up some ribs. Your sauce sounds like a winner, so I’ll run with it. I’ll let you know how it turned out. If it does rain Sunday, I’ll be eating Kraft macaroni and cheese, and cursing my fate.

19

If I wake up all rainy tomorrow, I promise to post a recipe for an **award-winning tuna noodle casserole.

20

Oh, wait…here’s something to do with a chicken. It’s more a Tuscan thing than a Good Amurrican BBQ, but we had this on Wednesday and there was NO dinner conversation, as everyone had their noses in their plates.

Split a 3-4 pound chicken and remove the backbone. (Use the backbone & wing tips and giblets to make stock.) Get your fingers up under the breast skin and the thigh skin, loosening it but not detatching it from the bird.

Cuisinart a small onion, three or four garlic cloves, a teaspoon of dried rosemary, and S&P to taste with a tablespoon of good olive oil and just enough red wine vinegar to make a mush. Scoop it out of there and rub it under the skin…rub the rest of it over the skin, both sides, so the two halves are simply redolent. Put it in a plastic bag or in a covered dish and let it marinate for at least an hour. Overnight is better.

Get your grill ready, and wrap two bricks in foil. Put the halves skin side down on the hot part of the grill, and weigh them down with the bricks. Cover. After 5 minutes, move the bricked chicken to a cooler part of the grill, re-cover, and leave it for 20 minutes. (You’re roasting it now, and letting it absorb smoke, rather than flame-grilling it)

Remove the bricks and flip the chicken, so it’s bone-side down. Give it at least another 20 minutes covered. More doesn’t hurt. Interior temp should be about 180 degrees.

Serve with a bean and tomato salad (chopped fresh tomato, cannellini or garbanzos, plus onion and basil and a vinaigrette) and garlic-sauteed escarole.