Grillin Wednesday
Aloha Everybody.
As much as we try, man cannot live by football alone. we need to eat while watching football. So each Wednesday I’m going to give out a couple of recipes I like, mention some products or talk about a couple of techniques that might help. Also if you have anything to offer, let me know and I’ll include them. We are all here to make the world better through football and grilling.
Tip #1 if you are using a charcoal grill
– Now many of you are probably already doing this, but I keep being surprised by the amount of people who have never heard of this technique , so I’ll mention it here. DO NOT USE MATCH LIGHT CHARCOAL OR . Instead use a chimney to light your charcoal. The charcoal gets hot much quicker, you can get to cooking sooner as you don’t have to wait for the lighter fluid to burn off. Plus its easier to arrange the coals when you get to pour them how you want.
Tip #2 if you are using a gas grill (but they work great on charcoal as well)
Get some grill grates to cook upon. I highly recommend MANGRATES (www.mangrates.com). They even out the heat that your meat is cooking on and leave great grill marks. MANGRATES especially are cast iron and made in America. You can even put a few wood chips in the grooves to add a little smoke.
And my recipe for the week. CAVEMAN STEAKS
Now if you’re going to do this, its important you use an all natural charcoal and not a matchlight or lighter fluid (which you shouldn’t be using anyway).
This one is pretty simple. Salt and Pepper your favorite Steak. Once the coals are hot, place the steaks directly on the coals (or hardwood if you’re cooking with wood). Make sure you are gentle as you don’t want charcoal attaching itself to your steak. Grill 4-6 minutes a side for medium rare. Remove and let sit 5 minutes
Now I originally did this on my own with a steak I found in the freezer that had been there forever and I just wanted to see what happened. It was fantastic. But of course I didn’t invent this.
Steve Raichlen in his book Planet Barbecue has the exact recipe and a great spicy sauce he calls Hellfire sauce. It goes as follows
3/4 Extra Virgin Olive Oil
10 jalapeno thinly sliced crosswise
10 garlic cloves thinly sliced
3/4 loosely packed fresh chopped cilantro
Heat the olive oil then add and when the garlic and jalapeno begin to brown, remove from heat and pour on the steaks.
Somehow this spicy really works with the steaks cooked in the fire.
Now don’t be afraid to play around with any of this, if jalapenos are too hot, use a milder pepper, if you don’t like cilantro go another way. You’d be surprised at what works.
Finally if you want a quick dessert, take something like apples or pineapples, slice them and grill on each side to be warm. Then melt some brown sugar and butter. Spread on each side and let it caramelize but be careful not to let it burn. Serve with Ice Cream.
Hope this was helpful for a first article. With some input from y’all I hope this becomes one of my most looked forward to posts.
Keep on Grillin.