So what if it's snowing? I'm still grilling!

Cafe Society
#1

So, I’m addicted to grilling. Steak, pork, chicken, even fish.

And, like the title says, I’m grilling even when it’s below 10 degrees and snowing. (I’ve grilled in the fireplace before, but it still smelled liked a cookout 3 days later, won’t try that again. A moot point now, as I’m in a place with no fireplace.)

I’m looking for some different recipes.

I marinate chicken breasts in the fridge in lime juice and fresh garlic. No need to baste while grilling (unless you want to), the flavor is all the way through.

Pork or lamb: rub olive oil on it, salt and pepper. Basic but good.

I just recently did a brandy and brown sugar glaze on some NY strip steaks. Yummy. After flipping them the last time, pour on the glaze and let it sit for a few minutes. To make the glaze, I just mixed brown sugar, brandy (whiskey should work, too), and a tad of real butter in a smal sauce pan till it all melts together. Be careful of flame ups!

I picked up some red snapper at Gulfport Seafood (fresh daily via airplanes!), put it on aluminum foil, cracked peppercorns over it, cut up some garlic and chives, add a little bit of real butter. Wrapped up the foil and put 'em on the grill. I didn’t keep track of the time too well. I think it was about 40 45 minutes. Tasted great.

I’m not in it for low fat, obviously. It’s the taste I’m looking for!

I use propane, controls the heat better. My neighbors think I’m odd already, so it’s no big deal to see me grilling in the snow.

How about you?

Funny stories, good recipes or techniques, fave food to grill. Let it out, man!

#2

Good for you, No Clue Boy! I’m a firm believer that grilling should be done year round. Unfortunately at the moment our grill is buried under about 10" of snow but hopefully we’ll be able to clear if off enough this weekend to use it. Mr. Winnie is a proponant of charcoal grilling and charcoal grilling only… propane is sacrilige.

I looooove your recipe using the brandy and brown sugar on the NY strip steaks. Those are my favorite cut of steak and I love a sweet/spicy glaze on them. I might add a few shakes of crushed red pepper to give them a little kick with that glaze.

One thing I’ve noticed about winter grilling is that it’s not easy to cook things that you would normally do for a long time at a low temp-- like ribs, a roast, etc., so we try to keep our selection to things that cook more quickly like fish and steak. My country father-in-law just provided us with about 20 lbs of ribs from his recent side job slaughtering some hogs so once we have a decent mild day those babies are going on the smoker.

#3

#1: Might try cracking black peppercorn on it. Rub it in while raw, some of it will fall of during grilling. I can’t do powdery pepper any more. Gotsta crack 'em myself. Toatally differnt taste and a bit hot. I like the red pepper idea, too. Gonna try it.

#2: So true. Needs to be flat food and tender enough to be good without slow cooking. Thanks for the reminder!

#4

We grill almost everything, last night it was tarragon pork chops. I love it! Husband gets involved with dinner and there are so many fewer dishes. One of the best things we’ve ever done on the grill was a chicken with an opened beer can (full of beer) in the cavity. I put a homemade rib rub on the outside and boy was it good. Though it took a while to cook as it was a whole bird. Mmmm.

#5

Beer Can Chicken! Whoo hoo! This is one of my husband’s specialties. Always gets the big can of Guinness for this treat.
Beer Can Chicken

#6

What about veggies? I like to take some asparagus and/or slices of red pepper and/or onion wedges (what ever’s handy), shake 'em in a ziploc bag w/ a little olive oil, lemon juice and pepper, drain the oil off a bit and grill alongside the steaks. Delish! I might try this w/ zucchini or other veg as well. Any suggestions?

For marinade, I like my "sorta asian marinade for all occasions"TM. It’s made up of: Sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce (but not too much as the salt can draw out the meat’s moisture) and a dollop of the Indonesian red hot sauce - the stuff w/ the green lid and the chicken on the label. I like to marinate and grill a cheaper cut of steak, slice it and serve it over rice noodles, bean sprout and spicy cinnamon beef broth - sort of a “faux pho”, if you will. This marinade also works great with chicken, especially with skin.

And yes, add me to the “clear the snow around the barbecue before the sidewalk” crowd. I was grilling up beef for fajita last night in the snow, no less!:slight_smile:

Any advice for preventing fish from sticking to the grill (salmon in particular)?

#7

Here in the twin cities, a couple years ago a guy couldn’t figure out why his gas bill was so high one winter.

Come the spring, he discovered that his natural-gas outdoor grill had been left on all winter…

#8

I grill all winter too, using charcoal. We had a gas grill but the flavor wasn’t the same, so we switched back.

Right out our back door the area has a roof, but it isn’t enclosed, so that is where the grill is. So I can grill rain or snow, night or day.

As a matter of fact, I don’t really know how to cook meat if it isn’t on the grill. I’m not a really good cook, but it isn’t too hard to throw something on a fire and cook it.

#9

After too many times when a beautiful fish fillet ended up as a pile of flakes or we had to soak the grate with oil to prevent sticking, Mr. Winnie & I invested a mere $20 in one of those fish grilling baskets. They work like a charm and you don’t lose any of the “grilling experience”.

Fish Grilling Baskets

#10

Or, get the right kind of propane grill accesories.

The flavor comes from the smoke of burning fat and juices or the smoke of the wood used for the briquettes. A grill that has a angled metal shelf catches drippings and smokes them off. Lava rocks catch the drippings and smoke them off. For the wood flavor, a basket of soaked wood chips works wonders. This way, you get all the ease and constancy of gas and the flavor of using briquettes.

I don’t sell propane or propane accesories, I’m just a consumer. I still charcoal when out camping, have even cooked over the embers of a campfire. Fun. Good times.

#11

it is kind of cheating, but i just place a fish basket right on top of the grill… it also makes it possible to gril fish with lemon and pepper slices on the fish the whole time… works great for mackrel and dolphin

#12

oh yea… veggies… i like grilling asparagas also … i like to marinate it in a raspberry vinegarett for a few hours, then grill it over charcoal… carefull of flame ups because this will override the flavor or the marinade…

i also like to grill portabello mushroom caps… soak them in worchester and a touch of soy… mmmmmmmm
one more thing… get a thick bone in pork chop and cut a small inscision, then stuff it full of your favorite cheese (i like swiss or munster) then use a toothpick to close the inscision so it wont melt out (the level of melting depends on how well done you like it)

oh yea… i have grilled out several times during this snow… one day we had a lot of trouble finding the lid because of all the snow

#13

Add a cup or so of Tequila and some cilantro to that marinade – adds a great flavor. (Of course, you need to drink marguritas while you cook this, so watch that you don’t overcook the meat!)

#14

(emphasis mine)

The last time? How many times do you flip your steaks?

I turn mine once. Cook five minutes on one side, moving them as necessary to avoid flame-ups. Flip them (using tongs, NEVER a meat fork; releases the juices) once, cook them four to five minutes on the other side. Modify this for very thin or very thick steaks.

I marinate my steaks in Italian dressing and a dash of Worcestershire sauce, and baste them with melted butter while they’re cooking. I also sprinkle some cracked pepper, garlic salt and dried onions on each side after basting with the butter. Lord have mercy, they’re good.

#15

2 or 3 times, I’m a control freak and I like to see what the meat is doing. My brother hates this, too, but so what? Still gets cooked the same. I never use a fork.

I like the Italian dressing idea. Dad used to do that on chicken all the time. Every now and then, I still will. Am going to try it on a steak now.

tequila! veggies! marinades! fish baskets! cheese stuffing! beer cans!

Great posts so far. Going to be a thread I’ll print out and save.

Thanks! More, please!

#16

A basic honey mustard sauce is pretty good on chicken. Just a blob of good mustard, a couple squirts of honey, and a splash of balsamic. Let it marinate overnight. Usually I scrape off most of the sauce before I start grilling cause the honey will burn pretty bad, then give it a quick brushing towards the end of cooking.

#17

Oh and my basic method for steak. Usually I buy good steak so I don’t want to mess with the flavor much. I brush it with Sesame oil and season with chipotle power and salt. Then I put my big cast iron pan on the stove and crank it as high as it will go. I sear each side for about 15 seconds in the hot pan(the oil makes a lot of smoke, gotta remeber to remove the smoke detector first). Then I take the well seared steak and put it on the grill over fairly low heat until pefectly rare and juicy.

#18

Grill up some Targ!

#19

Trek bleeds over into all aspects of my life. :smiley:

Howdy, Tars! Grab a plate. We’re grillin’!

#20

Sauce? On steaks?

Heretic!!

:open_mouth:

Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.