Category Archives: Recipes

More New Grilling Books for 2015

There’s yet another crop of new grilling books out for 2015. And here you thought everything had been written about our favorite outdoor cooking method…

Take a look at these new offerings. If you like any of these, let us know on The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board.

 

Grilling With House of Q

Grilling With House of Q

Amazon.com says, “If you love the taste of barbecue but worry about cooking the perfect steak or if you’re a whiz with burgers but want to grill other foods or if you harbor aspirations of presenting your own smoked brisket to a panel of trained judges, then this book is for you. BBQ Brian has spent more than a decade smoking and grilling foods, competing against other pit masters and learning from some of the best in the business. And not only does he regularly win awards for his barbecue and House of Q BBQ sauces, but he’s now one of the most sought-after teachers around. Why? Because he tells a great story, makes learning fun and easy and freely shares his recipes and his love of good food. Grilling with House of Q is part handsome cookbook, part instruction manual and part story collection. The result is that rare volume that entertains and becomes your go-to for delicious, no-fail smoked ribs, shrimp tacos, pulled pork and pit beans—or burritos, mac ’n’ cheese and baklava—all prepared on your grill and all eagerly anticipated by friends, backyard neighbors and barbecue judges.”

 

Build Your Own Burger

Build Your Own Burger

Amazon says, “Want to take your burger making skills to a whole new and exciting level? Let Build Your Own Burger show you how. This fun and practical guide to creating delicious and original burgers has literally thousands of combinations. In this inventive and fun format, ingredients are split into four categories – the buns, the sauces, the patties, and the toppings – each image presented in its own panel. Mix and match the panels to create your ideal burger. A comprehensive section covers the basics, including equipment, ingredients, and troubleshooting tips to get you started. The tasty-looking photography and the clever format will inspire cooks to create unique and mouth-watering flavor combinations such as: A fiery Chili Bun with a Beef Jalapeno Patty, topped with Sweet Chili Mayo and a Cooling Cucumber Salad or an Olive Ciabatta bun with a Field Mushroom Patty, topped with Vine-Ripened Tomato Salsa and Grilled Halloumi. With easy-to-follow recipes and photographs of all the elements, even a beginner can create luscious burgers in no time at all. Filled with burger ideas for any occasion and every palate, this really is the only burger book you’ll ever need.”

 

Southern Cooking For Company

Southern Cooking For Company

Not a grilling book per se, but with some imagination many of the main dish recipes can be adapted to the grill. This book is probably worth owning just for the side dish and dessert recipes alone!

Amazon says, “Nicki Pendleton Wood has gathered recipes from more than 100 Southerners that they prepare when company is coming. These are the show-off recipes hosts pull out when guests are on the way, whether for an intimate evening with another couple, a party for 100 people celebrating a milestone birthday, or anything in between. In addition to the recipes, contributors share their secrets for making guests feel at home.”

 

The Eat Like A Man Guide To Feeding A Crowd

The Eat Like A Man Guide To Feeding A Crowd

Amazon says, “This welcome follow-up to Esquire’s wildly popular Eat Like a Man cookbook is the ultimate resource for guys who want to host big crowds and need the scaled-up recipes, logistical advice, and mojo to pull it off whether they’re cooking breakfast for a houseful of weekend guests, producing an epic spread for the playoffs, or planning the backyard BBQ that trumps all. With tantalizing photos and about 100 recipes for lazy breakfasts, afternoon noshing, dinner spreads, and late-night binges—including loads of favorites from chefs who know how to satisfy a crowd, such as Linton Hopkins, Edward Lee, and Michael Symon—this is the only cookbook a man will ever need when the party is at his place.”

 

The Beer Bible

The Beer Bible

Amazon says, “It’s finally here—the comprehensive, authoritative book that does for beer what The Wine Bible does for wine. Written by an expert from the West Coast, where America’s craft beer movement got its start, The Beer Bible is the ultimate reader- and drinker-friendly guide to all the world’s beers.

“No other book of this depth and scope approaches the subject of beer in the same way that beer lovers do—by style, just as a perfect pub menu is organized—and gets right to the pleasure of discovery, knowledge, and connoisseurship. Divided into four major families—ales, lagers, wheat beers, and tart and wild ales—there’s everything a beer drinker wants to know about the hundreds of different authentic types of brews, from bitters, bocks, and IPAs to weisses, milk stouts, lambics, and more. Each style is a chapter unto itself, delving into origins, ingredients, description and characteristics, substyles, and tasting notes, and ending with a recommended list of the beers to know in each category. Hip infographics throughout make the explanation of beer’s flavors, brewing methods, ingredients, labeling, serving, and more as immediate as it is lively.

“The book is written for passionate beginners, who will love its “if you like X, try Y” feature; for intermediate beer lovers eager to go deeper; and for true geeks, who will find new information on every page. History, romance, the art of tasting, backstories and anecdotes, appropriate glassware, bitterness units, mouthfeel, and more—it’s all here. Plus a primer on pairing beer and food using the three Cs— complement, contrast, or cut. It’s the book that every beer lover will read with pleasure, and use with even more.”

 

School of Booze

School Of Booze

Amazon says, “Humans were seeking out alcohol millions of years before the word “keg” was coined. School of Booze contains everything you have ever wanted to know about alcoholic beverages, from how to make absinthe to the cultural history of zythos (beer). It covers the discovery and invention of fermented alcohol, ancient history, toasting, alcohol and health, alcohol’s role in religion, origin of slang expressions, virtually every known form of alcoholic beverage and their histories, temperance and prohibition movements and law, and much more. Packed with fascinating miscellany and curious facts to entertain your friends at the pub, this book is an essential compendium of knowledge about what essayist Dr. Samuel Johnson called life’s “second greatest pleasure.” It is the perfect gift for yourself, or for anyone who enjoys raising a glass to good health. Bottoms up!”

Spicy Apricot Chicken Wings

Spicy Apricot Chicken Wings

This recipe comes from our friends at Kingsford to celebrate National Chicken Wing Day, July 29. It was developed by Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ and is adapted here to the gas grill.

Spicy Apricot Chicken Wings

Cook Time: 30 minutes
Prep Time: 4 hours
Yields: 4 to 6 servings

Marinade
1 cup apricot preserves
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons kosher salt
4 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon red pepper
½ teaspoon ground ginger

14 whole chicken wings cut into wings and drumettes (28 pieces total)

Instructions
Mix the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until well blended. Place the chicken in a shallow dish or resealable plastic bag and pour the marinade over the wings, turning to coat. Cover or seal, and marinate the wings in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Fire-up your gas grill for indirect cooking, with a hot side and a cool side. When the grill temperature reaches 450˚F, remove the wings from the marinade (do not shake off the excess marinade) and place them on the cool side of the grill. Close the lid and cook indirect for approximately 30 to 35 minutes, flipping each wing piece once.

Remove the wings from the grill and serve.

Carne Asada by Tony & Maribel

Maribel and Tony with Chris Allingham
Maribel and Tony with Chris Allingham

Tony and Maribel are grilling fanatics. They live in Southern California where the sunshine allows for outdoor grilling almost every day of the year, and they do just that using their collection of Weber grills. When not grilling, Tony makes low & slow barbecue on his Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker or uses a taco cart with a flat-top griddle to make amazing Mexican fare.

Don’t think that Tony is the only one grilling in this household! Maribel knows her way around a Weber kettle and proves it in the photos they post on Instagram. Make sure to follow them to see what’s on the grill tonight…their photos will make your mouth water, I guarantee!

Tony and Maribel's collection of Weber grills

It’s fair to say from the photo above that Tony prefers cooking over charcoal, but some time ago he picked up a Weber Genesis gas grill that he calls “Jennifer” and uses it to make a variety of things, including the carne asada shown here.

Two pounds of flap meat

Tony starts with two pounds of flap meat and cuts it into pieces that can be easily managed on the grill. The meat goes into a bowl and gets sprinkled generously with Lawry’s Seasoned Salt.

While the meat sweats, Tony prepares the marinade ingredients:

  • 1/4 bunch of cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 white onion, cut into rings
  • Juice of 4 limes
  • Juice of 3 oranges
  • 5 Tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 Tablespoon cumin
  • 1 Tablespoon black pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 Tablespoon onion powder
  • 3 jalapeño peppers, sliced in half
  • 1 lime, cut into thin slices

Flap meat marinating with green onions

Combine all the marinade ingredients and add to the meat. Allow the meat to marinate for two hours. “As with tradition, I added green onions that get grilled and eaten on the side,” says Tony.

Carne asada grilling on the Weber Genesis

Preheat the grill to MEDIUM HIGH heat. Place the meat, onions and jalapeños on the grill and cook the meat to medium well doneness, about 8 minutes per side. Turn the veg once or twice to cook evenly. You’ll notice that Tony snuck two hot links onto the grill for good measure.

Carne asada with rice and beans

Tony and Maribel serve carne asada with red rice and refried beans and salsa roja on the side…and always an ice-cold cerveza! You’ll find the recipes for the rice and beans on The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board:

Thanks to Tony and Maribel for allowing me to share this amazing dish!

Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges

Grilled sweet potato wedges make a great side dish to accompany any meal. They’re easy to make, darned tasty, and a good alternative to regular potatoes.

Orange-fleshed yams

Where I live, the vegetable called “sweet potato” has a light-colored skin and yellow-white flesh, and the vegetable called “yam” has a red-colored skin with orange flesh. Lots of restaurants that serve “sweet potato fries” are serving the orange yam, and that’s what you want to buy at the supermarket for these sweet potato wedges.

Brown sugar rub

To prepare the rub for these wedges, mix 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar with 1 teaspoon of your favorite barbecue rub. The rub will flavor the yams and promote browning during cooking.

I used 1 teaspoon of Slap Yo’ Daddy All-Purpose Rub. You can buy it from SlapYoDaddyBBQ.com or make this version yourself.

Peel two good-sized yams. Cut each yam in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 3-4 wedges depending on size.

Seasoned sweet potato wedges

Place the wedges on a half sheet pan. Drizzle with 2 Tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil and toss to coat evenly. Arrange wedges cut-side down and sprinkle with half of the rub. Turn wedges over and sprinkle with the remaining rub.

Sweet potato wedges go into Weber Summit gas grill

Place wedges in a preheated 450°F gas grill and cook for 20-25 minutes, turning once.

Grilled sweet potato wedges with charred surface

To serve, arrange wedges on a platter and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Finished sweet potato wedges sprinkled with kosher salt

I grilled these sweet potato wedges in my Weber Summit 450 gas grill over direct heat with all burners on low and the temperature ran between 450-500°F. If you run the grill using indirect heat, the wedges will not brown evenly. Watch them carefully…mine got too brown in a few spots but were still delicious!

Of course, you can also make these wedges in the oven. Just bake at 450°F for 20-25 minutes, turning once.

How To Grill Thin Supermarket Steaks

Many steaks sold in supermarkets are not particularly thick, perhaps 3/4″ to 1″ thick. One of the challenges with grilling steaks like this is that by the time a good sear is achieved on the exterior, the interior can be gray and overcooked.

Here’s how to solve this problem, thanks to the good folks at America’s Test Kitchen.

Two bone-in ribeye steaks

Choose 3/4″ to 1″ thick ribeye or strip steaks. Pat steaks dry with paper towels.

Kosher salt and cornstarch mixture

For two steaks, combine 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch.

Steaks rubbed with salt and cornstarch

Rub steaks on both sides with the salt/cornstarch mixture.

Steaks in the freezer

Place the steaks on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to chill.

Preheat your gas grill on HIGH starting 10 minutes before the steaks come out of the freezer. Use a grill brush to clean the grates.

Applying ground pepper to very cold steaks

Just before putting the steaks on the grill, apply ground black pepper to taste on both sides.

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Grill the steaks on the first side for 2 minutes. Flip and grill for 2 minutes on the second side. Repeat the process, turning the steaks 90° to create diamond grill marks, for a total of 8 minutes of grilling. Use an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness; medium rare will be 120-125°F.

Steak on a plate

Remove steaks from the grill, cover loosely with foil, and let rest for just a couple of minutes while you get the other food to the table—5 minutes max.

Why This Method Works

  • Patting the meat dry with paper towels, applying cornstarch and allowing the meat to sit in the low humidity of the freezer all help to dry the surface of the meat, which promotes browning.
  • Chilling the steaks in the freezer allows them to stay on the grill long enough to sear the exterior without overcooking the interior.

Bright pink interior of steak

Note how the interior of this thin steak stays pink inside with just a thin layer of gray cooked meat around the outside edge.

Using This Method With Thicker Steaks

You can use this method for steaks up to 1-1/2″ thick.

How To Improve Searing

As nice as these steaks looked and as good as they tasted, the exterior sear could be improved by cooking them on a cast iron griddle or cast iron skillet on the grill.  Next time…

New Grilling Books For 2015

There’s a new crop of grilling books out for 2015. You may already be aware of some of these, some maybe not. All of these look interesting to me, take a look for yourself and if you’ve read any of them, let us know on The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board.

Southern Living Ultimate Book of BBQ

Southern Living Ultimate Book of BBQ: The Complete Year-Round Guide to Grilling and Smoking

The Ultimate Book of BBQ builds on the expertise of Southern Living magazine to create the definitive barbecue and outdoor grilling guide. The book features more than 200 of the highest-rated Southern Living recipes for barbecued meats and sides, plus pit-proven tips, techniques, and secrets for year-round smoking, grilling and barbecuing.

The Official John Wayne Way to Grill

The Official John Wayne Way to Grill: Great Stories & Manly Meals Shared By Duke’s Family

John Wayne Enterprises is proud to present The John Wayne Way to Grill, a new cookbook containing more than 200-pages of Duke’s favorite meals, from Tex-Mex classics to the best of Western barbecue and everything in between. More than just a collection of recipes, this deluxe publication will be chock-full of never-before-seen photos of the actor, along with personal anecdotes and heartwarming stories shared by his son Ethan.

Wicked Good Burgers

Wicked Good Burgers: Fearless Recipes and Uncompromising Techniques for the Ultimate Patty

Wicked Good Burgers ain’t your daddy’s patty on a bun. The upstart Yankee team that revolutionized barbecue with their upset win at the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational turns their talents to burgers. Wicked Good Burgers fearlessly incorporates new techniques, inspirations, and ingredients to take the burger to the next level – whether it’s the Meatloaf Burger on Pretzel Bread with Cabernet Mustard or the Island Creek Burger with Oysters and homemade cocktail sauce.

Flavorize: Great Marinades, Injections, Brines, Rubs, and Glazes

Flavorize: Great Marinades, Injections, Brines, Rubs, and Glazes

In his latest lip-smackin’ cookbook, Dr. BBQ shows how to dress up meat, vegetables, and fruits with 120 brand-new recipes for tantalizing marinades, mouthwatering injections, savory brines, flavorful rubs, delectable glazes, and full recipes for what to make with them.

Feeding The Fire

Feeding the Fire: Recipes and Strategies for Better Barbecue and Grilling

Joe Carroll makes stellar barbecue and grilled meats in Brooklyn, New York, at his acclaimed restaurants Fette Sau and St. Anselm. In Feeding the Fire, Carroll gives us his top 20 lessons and more than 75 recipes to make incredible fire-cooked foods at home, proving that you don’t need to have fancy equipment or long-held regional traditions to make succulent barbecue and grilled meats.

Grilling Pizza On A Weber Genesis

Pizza grilled on the Weber Genesis
Pizza grilled on the Weber Genesis

My friend John K likes to make pizzas using his Weber Genesis gas grill with the help of a bread machine for the dough. I’ve eaten his pizza and it is delicious!

Here are the ingredients for three thin crusts:

  • 1 cup water
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1 package active dry yeast (not rapid rise)
  • 1-2 TBSP olive oil
  • 1-2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 TBSP sugar or honey (optional)
  • Corn meal for dusting the work surface

Follow your bread machine’s directions for making dough using all the ingredients except the corn meal. When done, remove dough from the machine and let rest for 10 minutes, then divide into three equal pieces.

Preheat your gas grill and pizza stone on HIGH heat until very hot, approximately 600-700°F.

Roll-out one piece of dough into a thin crust on a cutting board. When finished rolling, immediately lift the crust and dust the board with corn meal to prevent sticking.

Pizza crust with toppings

Apply tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and your favorite toppings. Slide the crust onto a thin metal peel (this works better than a thick wooden peel). Open the grill quickly, place the pizza on the stone, and close the lid.

Pizza baking in the Weber Genesis

Bake for 7-10 minutes until the crust is crispy and the cheese is bubbly. Check progress with a quick peek under the lid to keep the grill temp up.

Finished grilled pizza

Checking the crust for doneness

Once the first pizza is finished, let the grill temperature recover and repeat the process for the remaining two pizzas.

Grilled Apples

Cooking apples

Apples are a wonderful fruit to grill. You’ve always got some in the fridge, they’re quick and easy to grill, and they taste delicious!

This recipe is adapted from one published in Weber Grill Out Times in the Fall of 1997. You can download copies of this and other classic Weber newsletters at The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board.

For this recipe you’ll need:

  • 3 medium cooking apples, peeled, cut in half, and cored
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted
  • 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Choose an apple that holds up well to baking, for example Granny Smith, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, or Golden Delicious.

Apples peeled, halved, and cored

In a small bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Preheat grill for 10 minutes, then hit the grates with a grill brush. Setup the grill for indirect medium heat.

Spray the cut side of each apple with non-stick spray. Place apples cut-side down on the grate, brush with sauce, and grill for 10 minutes. Turn apples cut-side up, brush with sauce, and grill another 10 minutes. Turn apples cut-side down one last time, brush with sauce, and grill another 10 minutes.

Apples cut-side down on the grill

Apples with grill marks

When finished grilling, apples should have nice grill marks on the cut side, will be slightly soft on the outside, but still crunchy on the inside.

Serve apples warm with a scoop of ice cream on the side.

Grilled apple with vanilla ice cream

Grilled Bell Peppers

Grilled bell peppers are easy to make and delicious by themselves or more often as an ingredient in a larger dish. But not everyone knows how to prep bell peppers for grilling, so we’ll cover both prep and grilling in this post.

Rinse and dry the bell peppers, and remove any stickers on the surface.

Cut off the top and bottom of the pepper.

Remove top and bottom of bell pepper

Remove the center of the bell pepper using a knife or your fingers.

Remove seed pod from pepper

Slice down one side of the pepper and open it up so it lays flat.

Opening up the pepper

Remove the internal ribs.

Remove internal ribs of the pepper

Cut into manageable pieces for grilling.

Trimmed bell pepper

Brush both sides with vegetable oil or olive oil.

Brush pepper with oil

Season both sides with salt and black pepper.

Season pepper with salt and black peppet

Preheat the grill on HIGH. Use a grill brush to remove any debris, then reduce heat to MEDIUM.

Start the peppers skin side down.

Starting peppers skin side down

Grill for 5-8 minutes until charred and blistered. Turn the peppers and grill another 3-5 minutes until the flesh is soft.

Charred bell peppers

Remove the peppers from the grill. They can be eaten as-is or cut into smaller pieces for use in other recipes.

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I always leave the charred skin on because that’s where all the flavor is!

If you have a recipe that calls for the skins to be removed, place the grilled peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the peppers steam for about 5 minutes.

Steaming peppers to remove skin

Pull off the skins using a paper towel or scrape them off using a knife.

Simple Sirloin Steaks

When I was a kid growing up in the 1970s, it was a big deal to go out for dinner at Saddle ‘N Sirloin in my hometown of Santa Rosa, California. In those days, going out for a steak dinner usually meant an affordable sirloin, and it was considered a special treat. Add some A-1 Steak Sauce (we didn’t know any better), a baked potato, and all-you-can-eat salad, ranch beans, and sourdough bread and you had a real meal!

Saddle 'N Sirloin matchbook

Today, I’m more likely to enjoy a ribeye steak or a filet mignon or a strip steak, but occasionally I get a hankering for a sirloin. What a sirloin steak lacks in tenderness and fat marbling, it makes up for in good flavor without breaking the bank.

So one day I’m shopping at Walmart and see these sirloin steaks on sale. I don’t typically buy meat at Wally World, but they looked pretty good and the price was right, so I picked up two.

Sirloin steak on sale

A sprinkle of garlic salt and black pepper was all that was needed before throwing these steaks onto the grill. You can make your own garlic salt by mixing 3 parts table salt with 1 part granulated garlic powder.

Steaks seasoned with garlic salt and black pepper

Preheat the grill on HIGH for 10 minutes, then use a grill brush to remove any debris. Reduce the temp to MEDIUM and grill over DIRECT heat.

Grilling sirloin steaks over medium heat

For a 3/4″ thick steak cooked to medium doneness (160*F), grill for 4-5 minutes per side; for a 1″ thick steak, 5-6 minutes per side. Increase or decrease the cooking time to achieve your preferred doneness.

Resting sirloin steaks after grilling

In the few minutes it takes to get the steaks off the grill and onto your dinner plate, and for you to find a steak knife, these guys will have rested enough for the juices to redistribute throughout the meat.

Close-up of grilled sirloin steak

These sirloin steaks are ready to enjoy!

As for steak sauce…I don’t do A-1 anymore. But in homage to the 1970s, I tried some Heinz 57 Sauce which was top-rated in a taste test by Cook’s Country magazine. They said that Heinz “provided a nice counterpart that let the meat shine through without overwhelming.” It’s “tomatoey, spicy, and earthy,” with a “sweetness [that] is rich and fruity,” and it has a “peppery tang.”

I’m not a big fan of steak sauce in general, but I thought Heinz 57 was pretty good as steak sauces go. More importantly, it served its purpose of taking me back to a simpler time when a sirloin steak and a bottle of steak sauce were not just a weeknight meal, but a special occasion.

P.S. Less-tender steaks like sirloin might benefit from the salting process described in this post: Salted Ribeye Steaks.