BBQ Season 2007
 

Yes, official BBQ season approaches. I am considering having a BBQ and reinviting all of the Cellar people I invited last year (I hope you can make it Brianna).

During the winter I bought a rotisserie for the grill. I have my eye on an an 8.5 or 12 quart cast iron dutch oven with basket. Although I don't think my wife will approve of deep frying, I'm considering using it as a sort of pressure cooker on the grill, putting in veggies, frozen chicken, and spices and letting everything cook low for a while.

Of course they are also good for boiling corn, seafood, etc.

The shipping weight of the 12 quart is 31 pounds, including packaging. Filled with 3 gallons of water that would make it about 50 pounds so I am not sure a grill top would hold it.

I love BBQ! My favorite is BBQ lamb or maybe the short ribs. hmmm Oh and of course grilled zucchini is a must! :)

I love lamb. This being the Easter season there are a lot of sales on leg of lamb. I am considering trying this on the rotisserie but I am concerned about overcooking. I like to serve and eat meat medium well, but from what I hear lamb roasts get dry at that level.

Marinate them first and bast them when you are cooking.

I've got a 5qt dutch oven that I use on my grill all the time. It holds more than enough food!
It does get awfully heavy though.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...vey/beans2.jpg

I've got 3 pork butts on the 'Q right now to make pulled pork for a b-day party today. MMmMMmm

Thanks, I was thinking of mixing olive oil and honey but I'm not sure about the combination. I might go with olive oil and garlic instead. Or mustard, or crushed mint, or.......

I'm probably not going to know what I will use until the day of the BBQ.

I was thinking of also taking a cheap cut of beef and grilling it on high on the rotisserie until the outside gets black and crusty and then putting it into a dutch oven with a little water, veggies, and seasoning and letting it slow cook. That way I get my grill crunch flavor and still have that pull off the bone softness. I want a big enough dutch oven to hold a 5-7 lb roast.

Rich , go here , they have all kinds of good stuff ,
http://www.campchef.com/
and aluminum dutch ovens , lighter weight
I have thought about gettign on of their turkey roatsers ,

rich, honey is likely to burn if you use it as a baste. You need to be careful of the level of heat you're using.

I think lamb is best medium rare because as you say, it's very likely to be dry if it's cooked over medium. If you want to cook it more, I would recommend getting a cut that still has a lot of the animal fat left on. This will help keep the meat moist through cooking and will also improve the flavour.

Edit: Also, make sure the meat is at room temperature before you start cooking. This will also help keep it tender, and don't forget to rest it for at least 5 minutes before carving.

BBQ season is on the way out here, although in the part of the country where I live, they're pretty much an all round thing. I can't wait till we extend our deck so I can bring the BBQ upstairs and cook on it more often.

I am going to do a cured ham on the grill tomorrow. Since it is essentially already cooked it just needs a little heating up. I'm going to indirect heat cook it, smothered in pureed pineapple and dijon mustard.

Then I plan to eat until I don't feel so well.

And that will be the start of BBQ 2007.

I get hungry when I look in this thread. :o

There are times when I am so glad I'm not a vegetarian. This is one of those times.

:drool:

Gearing up
 

I finally settled on a dutch oven. After dithering about the size to buy, I settled on the 8.5 qt oven.

Amazon's 4-for-3 sale decided it for me. The promotion is to buy 4 items from a selection of Home & Garden and the cheapest is free. Only the 8.5 qt was included in the sale. This, coupled with the fact that I thought the 12qt would be too heavy for my portable grill, decided it.

1. "Hamilton Beach 26200 Flip 'n Fluff Belgian Waffle Baker"
2. "Deni MT48 48 Blade Meat Tenderizer"
3. "Lodge Logic 11-1/4-Inch Pre-Seasoned Grill Pan"
4. "Bayou Classic 7460 8-1/2-Quart Cast-Iron Dutch Oven and Lid with Perforated Aluminum Basket"

Okay, the waffle maker is not technically a BBQ item, but I've always wanted one ever since I went to a breakfast buffet in California that had a self serve waffle maker.

I'm really looking forward to trying the meat tenderizer. I sometimes buy steak and egg bagel sandwiches from McDonalds and I am amazed at how soft they can make a cheap piece of steak by punching holes in it. I'm hoping the meat tenderizer can make the London broil cuts I buy more tender and cook more evenly on the grill.

I have been forbidden to grill on Mother's Day, so the roll out for this stuff will have to wait until June 9th, our first BBQ party of the season. I will of course be practicing before then.

I was thinking of trying to make hush puppies using the dutch oven and basket. I've never done it before but I see a lot of recipes out there.

BTW, I almost freaked out when I saw the total at Amazon. I got free shipping, but by default they place you at standard shipping at checkout. The shipping for the items was over $40.:eek: I had to click on budget shipping to get the charge removed.

Sort of like the hot searing pan frying steaks in a cast iron skillet and then putting them in the oven. We have done it a few times and it is real good but smokes up the house big time. I need to do that again.

For me that's the number one benefit of a grill. Even if I do everything right there still might be smoke and our smoke alarm is too sensitive. Outside I can take more chances.

I already have the grill, a cast iron griddle and a rotisserie, so with the dutch oven I will have covered most types of cooking.

I really want to do what they do on those cooking shows with the sandwich makers, where they throw in rice and frozen chicken breasts and have a meal in 15 minutes.

I'm thinking of taking oil and seasoning and sauteing some onions and peppers in the dutch oven. Then I would pour in some cooking wine, scrape any bits off of the bottom, and throw in frozen chicken breasts. Put on low heat and I should have dinner in a short time.

Have you seen the Green Egg? I have been thinking about getting one.

We did some nice steaks last night on the grill. I may try to do some shrimp tonight.

Seakdivers mentioned the Egg in last years BBQ thread. She really seems to like it.

Me, I'm too happy with propane.

Tonight's dinner.

AHHH K-Bobs !!
YOUMMMMERS !!!!

Get The Thrill Of The Grill or any of their books, but I suggest that one first.

Green egg. I stopped by hardware store other day to look at a pressure washer. They had the egg. $699, the stand was around 90 bucks and the shelves that clamped around top 75 bucks.

I have two green eggs - a large & a small. It is not the kind of thing to buy if you are perfectly happy pulling a burger off a gasser.

I have a nice 'spensive Weber Genesis Gold that hasn't been used since we bought the first egg. :)

BBQ after action report
 

Yesterday turned out to be a nice day for a BBQ. There was a late afternoon sprinkle, but that only helped to cool things down. The breeze running crosswise through the backyard was cool and kept the skeeters at bay.

From the Cellar, Bruce and Wolf showed up. Wolf and her friend brought a nice bottle of wine which we didn't get a chance to open and Bruce brought ice and a case of Rolling Rock. I should have mentioned that the guest list was only about 20 people, so I have to apologize to Bruce for not being specific about quantity when he asked if he could bring anything.

Marci made a veggie plate, but did not bake desserts, and she want a little overboard buying desserts. I forgot to mention the dip Wolf made with (cream cheese?) and salmon. I haven't had a chance to try it myself, but there's leftovers in the fridge and this will be a part of tonight's dinner.

I cooked plain chicken and chicken in a spicy BBQ sauce I made by mixing half-and-half BBQ sauce and wing sauce. I tried (and failed) to manage my grill time by precooking the chicken and keeping it warm and covered in a 200 degree oven. I started with the BBQ chicken 2 hours early, so by the time I was ready to serve, it was falling off the bone from having been slow cooked in addition to grilled.

I also made (cheese)hamburgers and hot dogs (Hebrew National). Nothing else special except I used up my hoard of Habanero Pineapple steak sauce that I picked up when Clemens Markets closed.

It was a great night to be out on the deck under the stars. I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures.

Thank you Wolf and Bruce, for the wine, beer, and dip.

If I'd had known is was going to be 20 people I'd have brought 2 cases.

Just why in the HELL didn't I get an invite??? :bitching:

Thank you, Rich, for your hospitality, great eats, and conversation! The habanero pineapple sauce was extraordinary ... hopefully we'll either find some more or figure out how to concoct our own! (might make for a good day of experimentation.

Tester-San and I both had an excellent time.

My dip recipe seems to have disappeared from the Nabisco website ... I'll have to hunt around for it, in case you would like it. Luckily I posted it here.

After seeing your BBQ pics, if you'd have come I would have made you cook.;)

Actually, I think I did invite you the last time.:)

Yes, I think you did. Sorry couldn't make it.
Grilled other day. Also cooked 1st picking of purple pod beans, new taters. Grilled chicken thighs and eggplant. Click photo for more.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1212/...2433904de2.jpg

My Dads day dinner , add a cob of sweet corn and some mixed greens and :yum

Rich, I wanted to share this with you. This is by far the best tool I have ever used for BBQ cooking. I use it for everything but fish, obviously. Chicken, steaks, ribs, it works on everything. Check it out:

http://www.pigtailff.com/

That looks very interesting. How well does it work for burgers?

Looks interesting but I prefer tongs, and the occasional flipper when food sticks to the grill.

Don't think at all. I made one with a ss. welding rod
and hickory handel, For ribs and such it's great. Most Steak lovers don't belive in polking holes to let juice out. IMHO bb

Not so great. Great for everything else. I love mine.

I love mine also. cost around $.50 cents.

I agree. I prefer my tongs for everything I put on the grill. I was just curious. I make my burgers pretty loose so I don't think it would work well for me.