The Pathetic Suburban Males' Grill Club

Boneless ribs!?!??!

2012-01-27T17:06:00.001-06:00

So as I was trying to figure out what to
make tonight, I stumbled upon these. Boneless baby back ribs. My first reaction(though yes I've seen them before) was to say aloud, boneless baby back ribs??? My initial thought was the obvious, "no bone = no flavor". Then I did a double take when I asked myself if that in of itself was enough of a reason to pass on them as I have always done. Let me say I'm sure I glad I second guessed myself. So they took a bath in equal parts apple cider vinegar and apple juice along with some kosher salt for good measure. Rubbed down with sugar, kosher salt, cracked pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme powder, mustard seed powder, and paprika. Finished with a homemade apple cider vinegar/ketchup based sauce. Served with Old fashioned homemade cornbread in cast iron skillet (also done on the grill but finished in oven to brown top). Enjoy!

On a roll.......

2012-01-22T19:07:00.001-06:00

Tonight was blue cheese burgers with a side of crab rangoon. 80/20 ground beef formed into patties. Seasoned and grilled. Finished with blue cheese butter (butter, blue cheese crumbles, garlic powder) on top and steak sauce on bottom. Rangoon was done with won ton dough (easy to make) and filled with a mixture of cream cheese, green onion, minced garlic, soy sauce, and worcestershire sauce. Served with sweet and sour sauce. Enjoy!

Grilled Skirt Steak

2012-01-21T21:29:00.001-06:00

Decided on an old fav for dinner tonight, skirt steak tacos. Mixed up a quick marinade of soy sauce, olive oil, cumin, brown sugar, minced onion, minced garlic, and lime juice. Cooked over lump hardwood. Top pic is what I love to see on a snowy night; meat scented smoke rising from "Big Hoss"! Second pic is finished product. Served with warm tortillas and all the fixins. Glorious! Enjoy!

Hello All!

2012-01-17T09:23:00.001-06:00

So I know I have been a ghost around here. It's been a crazy year. With the economic turndown, my family and I have had to relocate and start over. Just haven't had it in me to post anything. Well that's changed! We are now located in Manhattan, IL (slowly working my way south). Last night I made grilled chicken breast (marinated in zesty Italian dressing for an hour) finished with provolone cheese, lump Italian sausage formed into small patties, grilled, and also finished with provolone. Done over a mix of charcoal and lump hardwood charcoal. Enjoy!

Pizza Time At My House

2012-01-16T07:12:00.000-06:00

A while back Chuck threw some pizzas on the website made with a crust referred to as Naan Bread, something his wife Eileen picked up near the local grocer's deli case.

Earlier this week I was cruising through the glorious Blue Goose (long may she reign among the grocers) and noticed, by the deli case as expected, some special pizza crusts that looked oddly like the kind of flat bread that comes from a stone oven. Yep, it was Naan Bread. And it looked good.

Pizza is always a fun thing to make. When you and your significant other can't come to grips with what to make for dinner, pizza has a way of filling the void. She can have whatever new world ingredients she wants, you can have a meat pizza. Everyone's happy. So I told myself then and there it'd be pizza one night this weekend.

Picked up everything we needed Sunday morning, while Christina was still in bed. Often I'm up much earlier than she is, and the best time to get some relaxed shopping done and out of the way for the day is in the morning. I grabbed the Naans, enough fixing for a Pizza Margarita (basil, plum tomato, and fresh mozzarella) for her, and enough manly goodies for me - Bob Evans breakfast sausage, Boar's Head Pepperoni, and shredded cheese. Good ole Contadina Thick and Zesty served as the sauce. I also picked up a half dozen wings to deep fry on the stove. There is something awesome about buffalo sauce, beer and sports. I wanted wings as an appetizer to start off. As expected, the bill was a little steep, but that's what happens when you go crazy with the proteins, I guess.

When Christina came home for the evening yesterday (bridal shower), her first words were "I'm starving". Quick assembly, quick firing up of the Kingsford Blue Bag, and the deed was done. I threw in a few unsoaked applewood chunks, not realizing that bread isn't like meet - it will absorb a lot of smoke quick and fast.

The final product would have been off the charts stellar, if I had left the applewood out. We've got enough of everything left over for a re-do tonight. My wife was disappointed with the bitterness of the smoke - tonight we'll redo with nothing but coal.

But the Naan Bread - excellent - crispy, great pizza crust. Chuck - good find!

Jeff H.

I'm Lame...

2012-01-09T06:56:00.001-06:00

Club members, please be patient with the lack of content. Chuck is single handedly carrying the load now (he chastised me in a rather mean fashion not too long ago about my lameness. I deserved it). Sorry everyone!

There is some cool stuff to report - my always generous in-laws bought me a meat grinder attachment for our Kitchen Aid Mixer... very very cool. Ground up some ribeyes last night for some expensive yet DELISH burgers.

Jeff H.

Finally, some "Winter" grilling...

2012-01-02T21:48:00.002-06:00

So we finally had a cold spell. Temperatures hovering in the mid-20's and a stiff wind straight out of the Northwest. Time to suck it up, get that grill going and make something good! These are Greek steaks from the Walt's butcher (flank steak, spinach, and feta cheese). They were kind enough to make these for me in a pinch today. All I had to do was get a chimney of charcoal going and I was halfway there.

Served it with a roasted poblano, onion, spinach, queso fresco cheese and basmati rice. Well worth the effort!

Chuck M.

Planked Salmon - Wood is Good!!

2011-12-11T21:20:00.001-06:00

Something popped into my head yesterday when trying to decide what to make for Sunday's dinner. My Pathetic Suburban (Fe)Male was looking at some pictures from this summer and suggested that we have a repeat of something that was a big hit - grilled salmon along with a tomato salad. One of the other blogs that I enjoy reading is Another Pint, Please, just because it discusses subjects that are near and dear to my heart; namely good beer, homebrewing, and grilling. Anyway, there was a post a few weeks ago devoted to grilling on wood planks. Suddenly I remembered that there were a few planks that I had received as a gift some time ago, but never had put to the fire. What better time than today to give it a try?

The cedar plank was soaked in water for 1-1/2 hours in preparation for the inaugural voyage. The salmon was placed on top and off it went into the Weber. Cooked directly over the coals for about 10 minutes, then off to the side to finish indirect. Drizzled a little bit of balsamic glaze on top at the end, had to make that by reducing some good balsamic vinegar until syrupy. I must say that the results were excellent!

The tomato salad was a nice side. Tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper, along with some fresh mozzarella.

Looks like the planks are here to stay!!

Chuck M.

Laboring Over The Saturday Menu

2011-11-25T08:17:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow is one of the most - probably the most - important football days of the whole year for me.... the legendary Florida v Florida State Rivalry game.

In years gone by (1996, for example), this game had National Title implications. This year, its really nothing more than the Sunshine State Civil War. And its intense, folks. Husbands and wives go days without talking to one another - no kidding.

And on odd number years, its hosted by the Gators at "The Swamp" in Gainesville. Gainesville and the entire University of Florida I personally hold in contempt. I'll leave some of the personal reasons for another discussion, but suffice it to say its going to be a rough day this Saturday for Central Florida Law Enforcement. All the trailer parks around Gainesville - and there are many - will be emptied out, its residents at the game supporting UF. Cat burglars throughout the region know they have easy pickins of any trailer park that day (provided they can get past the Rottweilers tied up in the carport). Therefore, local cops have to have one eye on the manufactured communites and one eye on the game. Its a tough gig to be a Gainesville Cop (or Alachua County Deputy Sheriff if said manufactured home Gator Community is off a dirt road). Parole and Probation officers, however, have an easy excuse for taking the day off and watching the game. They can simply tell their superiors that Cletus and Bunny were at the game, and unless they were going to stand outside the restrooms at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with a plastic cup, there aint gonna be no urine sample on Saturday.

At any rate, it'll be the first day of the Thanksgiving weekend where I can actually grill something (tonight I'm being drug kicking and scratching to an Indian Restaurant by my wife and her friends. I'd rather be hanging out at Sunny Acres with Cletus and Bunny and working the rabbit ears on the TV).

So.... what to make? I'm half tempted to fix a carnivore's delight... you know, a mess of ribs, wings, meatballs... the best finger foods, something fun. Keep you posted.

Jeff H.

Into the briney depths....

2011-11-24T08:05:00.001-06:00

What you see is a 19-pound bird on yesterday morning for a 24 hour soak, followed by some time on the Weber kettle today. The brine is an amalgamation of vegetable stock, kosher salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, coriander seed, allspice, garlic, rosemary, and apple cider.

I won't be using the rotisserie today, but I will be using the ring that makes the space for this device. I love using the Weber for the turkey but I find that a big bird sometimes gets in the way of the lid. After making several ridiculous-looking foil "rings" in years past to boost up the lid (worthy of a spot on thereIfixedit.com), it will be nice for a change to just put that ring on and take care of more important matters..... Like that fresh garlic sausage on the other grill!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Chuck M.

Great turkey - the bird was the best I have made, worth the wait. So juicy and tender, the brine was definitely worth the effort!

Warmup to the Big Day

2011-11-20T00:10:00.001-06:00

Sorry that I've been off of the grid for what seems like a eternity... Finally, some time to do something grill-related!! All I have to do is go get about 80 lbs or so of charcoal from the HD and I will be set for a good while.

Brined Turkey for Thanksgiving, of course. But today will be a warmup of sorts. Fresh turkey breast, soaking overnight in Cavenders, lemons, and various other spices. Placed on the rotisserie for a 2-hour spin cycle, that should do the trick.

See ya after the Bears game!!

Chuck M.

The turkey breast was excellent, it went very well with some asparagus and baked sweet potatoes. One thing I learned with the rotisserie - if you are roasting a large item it helps to fashion some heat shields out of foil to direct the heat to the sides.

The Elusive Tasty Meatball

2011-11-13T08:46:00.001-06:00

There are a handful of foods that I absolutely love, and always have. Club members who have followed my rants on this site over the last few years probably aren't surprised that I'm a carnivore, through and through. So it shouldn't come as a surprise when I say that the glorious meatball is and always will be one of those favorites.

But, it seems as though everyone from Subway to Holiday Inn seems to to have the secret to a tasty meatball down pat. Everyone, that is, except me. What have I been doing wrong? I've rolled them with everything under the sun you can imagine - even Jimmy Dean Sausage - and I just can't seem to get a meatball with good flavor. They always come out bland and unremarkable.

So, another Saturday afternoon, home alone. My wife and the girls took an overnighter to Galena and once again, I'm brimming with ideas about what to make. A while back this summer at Cost Plus World Market I noticed a grilling gadget along the lines of a slider maker. But this guy was cut different. It was for grilling meatballs. I decided it was time to make a trip back and pick one up.

Of course, the flare ups from 80/20 ground beef over charcoal, I figured, would add a depth of flavor I'd been missing. But there has to be a spice that will send it over the top. If Holiday Inn's bars can figure it out, why the hell can't I? I decided to cruise over to my old recipe stomping grounds, allrecipes.com.

After checking out a few different recipes on the site, the one that seemed to get the most positive feedback was this one, entitled "Meatball Nirvana". I gathered up as much of the data as I could and hit the Goose for the goodies.

Basically, I followed the recipe as closely as possible, going a little lighter on the yellow onion (I minced and sweated it - not a big fan of onion texture, but love the flavor). I did add more Franks Red Hot - by accident - but it didn't have a negative impact on the final flavor. Quite the opposite, in fact. Rather than garlic salt, I minced about four to five cloves and threw that into the mixture. Half of the yellow onion went in the meat, the other half into the dutch oven where about five cloves of minced garlic were placed with two large cans of Contadina Tomato Sauce, all coming up to temp.

The first 12 meatballs stuck somewhat to the grilling rack, unfortunately. I loaded it up with Pam for Grilling before hand, but I clearly didn't use enough. The second pass I made a concerted effort to get more of the Pam on the rack and got better results. Once all the meatballs were seared on the coals, they went into the Dutch oven to finish. The grill was a bonfire from all the fat from the balls hitting the coal. Beautiful sight - to me, that meant flavor (as an aside, why do people bitch about flare ups? Fat rendering down into charcoal creates phenomenal taste... but I digress).

A loaf of french bread was cut into small pieces... when the meatballs had been in the boiling sauce for about 45 minutes or so it was time to make the sandwich - leftover charcoal made the perfect melting platform for provolone overtop a two meatball french bread sandwich.

About an hour later, the internal fire was quickly doused with some glorious Alka Seltzer. What a perfect finish to a good afternoon of suds, College Football (Noles 23 Miami 19) and food.

Jeff H.

Tac - O - Rama

2011-11-07T07:39:00.000-06:00

Insomnia - a frequent guest in my house - brings with it some benefits to this site. Often tossing and turning at night gives way to fruitful thoughts (especially on weekends) about what to make for dinner each night. Something usual? Something new? Grill or cook indoors?

So Saturday morning about 4:30 or so that insomnia/tossing/thinking begins.

Tacos are great in that they are so versatile.... like Tim W.'s meatloaf, there are a MILLION twists and turns that keep tacos fresh. We hadn't done Mexican at home in a while, so why not now? Get as much grilling in before the winter hits and it finds itself covered more often than not. I decided to do a variety of tacos with meat mostly grilled over charcoal.

If you haven't been to La Huerta, you haven't had a real south of the border shopping experience. Authentic Mexican grocery with authentic salsas, tortilla chips home made, and every kind of delicious and vile meat you can imagine in the meat counter (whole beef tongue? I'm clearly very American).

So I picked up a pound and a half of chirizo sausage, a bag of home made tortillas, some fresh home made salsa (the wife is gaga for), a couple large cans of Modelo for marinading, chihuahua cheese, and some Goya Onion and Garlic seasoning.

Normally I hate the whole "two stop thing" but I chose to get the rest of the meats from Blue Goose. I called in and got a pound and a half of tenderized and trimmed skirt steak and an untrimmed pork shoulder (2lbs), authentic taco shells from La Tiara (looks like Wal Mart sells them, FYI. La Tiara's are incredibly good), and a jar of Del Greco Giardinara.

The set up: Skirt Steak in a bowl, completely submerged in ten to 12 packets of the Goya and 32 ozs of Modelo. Pork Shoulder: inject with about four full syringes of the Giardinara juice, rub heavily in Back of the Yards Garlic Pepper. Refrigerate both to set up for about 5 hours.

Cooking time: no smoke, pour beer in the drip pan. Indirect heat for about four hours on the small shoulder. Skirt Steak on direct heat for about 10 to 15 minutes (cooks fast). The chirizo just went on the stove top for expediency's sake.

Cut the skirt steak against the grain; chop the pork into small pieces and then mince all the meat with a slap chop mechanism. Warm the shells on the grill over medium heat. Enjoy with some of the salsa and some sauce of your choosing.

The biggest applause, however, came Sunday around game time with the copious amounts of leftovers where thrown over the home made nachos, smothered with Chihuahua cheese and into the oven for 20 minutes.... WOW, a meal in and of itself. My first venture into fried chicken Sunday night was almost derailed - everyone was too full!

Jeff H.

Good Stuff Coming Up This Weekend

2011-11-03T07:22:00.002-06:00

Club members, keep checking back.... good stuff coming to the site over the weekend. Football season = prime time bbq and grilling. Stay tuned.

Jeff H.

"You Realize That's a Roast, Right?"

2011-10-16T10:34:00.001-05:00

Another Friday night home alone. When I know those are coming I debate myself for days over what to make. Small window of opportunity to enjoy myself, those are the days, guys, when you HAVE to do something she'd never want to do with you. For me its things like my home made pizza. She hates it, and, god love her, she insists that we always eat the same thing as each other or our marriage is in trouble. I don't understand it either but that's the way it is. So things like my pizza or fried shrimp are perfect home alone grillings.

So as I was winding down the work day Friday I made a fast call to the Goose and get the meat department on the horn.

"Yah, hi," I said, "I need a special cut of bone-in ribeye."

"Ok," the guy on the line tells me. "What'll you have?"

"I want a thick one, a king sizer. Three pounds, please."

"Three pounds? Bone in?" he checked with a pause.

"Please."

"Uh, you realize that's a roast, right?"

"Whatever. I'm going to season it up and send it crashing onto the grill."

"ohhh kay. What's the name?"

And yes, my intention was to make baked potato, which I did. I misjudged how long it'd take to perfectly grill the steak. I pulled the hoss off the grill and tented it and the potato was way far from done. Finally I pulled the potato off about 85% cooked and dined. Wow, folks, that's a LOT of steak. I ate about 2/3s of it with the potato and it was LIGHTS OUT.

Next time, for a cut that big to be tender, I need to let it set up overnight in the rub. My only critique was that it wasn't as tender as most rib steaks I'd enjoy in the past. Juices and flavor were there, just needs to be a little more "soft" for your dining pleasure.

Jeff H.

Excuse the Hiatus

2011-10-10T06:35:00.000-05:00

its not that we haven't made anything good lately, we just haven't posted! More to come, sorry for the delay~

Jeff H.

Saturday Afternoon Company

2011-09-25T10:55:00.000-05:00

Club member Stash S and his wife Mo came up from Homewood to spend a day with us. Mo and Christina, my wife, have become to whack job peas in a pod, so you can imagine the silliness and libations that ensued.

Stash and I stayed back while they went shopping, much to their surprise. We hung out in the mancave, turned on FSU vs Clemson, drank draft been and made what else? Wings. AWESOME - the girls made it back in time to help us finish of the goodies.

Try this sauce, if you haven't. Its nothing more than Franks Red Hot, about a tablespoon and a half of wildflower honey, and three or four cloves of garlic, minced. You bring it all to a boil, and simmer for about three minutes afterward. The honey gives it a caramalization that is simply unbeatable.

Thanks for the visit, Stash and Mo!

Jeff H.

Oh My God! Look! It's Bob Stoops! And the Rest of The OU Team! Oh! OH!

2011-09-18T08:53:00.003-05:00

Update: this wouldn't really be a legit PSMGC Post without the pictures of... the grub. It was even better than it looks. New favorite added to the lineup....

Reminiscent of his calling of the 1999 National Championship Game, when we thrashed Virginia Tech by two touchdowns and all he could talk about was Michael Vick, Brent Musburger had a hard time hiding his biases.

Call me a baby but last night was no exception.

Dad and I did Beef Tenderloin Sliders and Wings. Pictures to come.

Let's hear it, Brent! "2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? SOONERS!"

"My name is Brent, yeah and that's ok, yeah! I'm for the SOONERS! Yeah and all the way, YEAH! Introduce yourself right on right on, introduce yourself RIGHT ON!"

A Sign Of The Apocalypse

2011-09-11T08:53:00.000-05:00

Once again apologies go out for the delay in posting. The Great Geno K of Aurora, sent this in three freaking weeks ago and just now I'm getting it up. Sorry GK!

I think the end of the world is near. GK is big into gas grills... and he's using COAL?? I'm happy, don't get me wrong, but what's next? Dogs and cats living in harmony? Cubs World Series? Bears fans eating Tofu?

I fired up the coal smoker and did a trio of pies for lunch! The first 2 were heavily doctored with cheddar jack and extra mozzarella along with a few seasonings. I over smoked these 2, but the 3rd one turned out perfect! I will have to try again. I used Roma pizzas, they are 7 for $10 at Woodman's. I recommend pie smoking to everyone!

Happy smoking to all!!!

Technical Difficulties

2011-09-04T10:12:00.000-05:00

Folks, my apologies for the jacked up layout.... I added a couple of links to the sidebar (that used to be on the right) and suddenly, the member roll and all the links and pictures that used to be on the right ended up at the bottom of the blog. I'll get it figured out, but in the meantime, bear with us!

Jeff H.

Football - Its All About the WINGS!

2011-09-04T08:49:00.006-05:00

The game was predictable, and, enjoyable. I'm looking forward to a good 2011 season with my boys in Garnet and Gold.

The wings were better than I had hoped. I cruised over to The Goose and picked up two six packs of chicken wings. I thought I was only getting a dozen. Then I realized what a sheltered culinary life I've lived.

If you have six whole chicken wings, Jeff, it means you have what you'd traditionally call a dozen at the local sports bar. Duh.

Its embarassing, but I have to admit it. I never really thought much about where the "drum" part of the wing came from. There are two types of wings you get from the local watering hole: the wing piece and the "drum". I have always been the odd ball of the group, preferring the wing piece to the drum (less gristle, in my opinion).

Ok, so I learned that the "drum" is actually the upper part of the chicken wing. Call me naive and slow. I deserve it.

At Meijer earlier I bought some poultry shears. The wings came off so moist and tender the shears cut the bones as though it was cutting a green bean. Very nice.

For the sauce, I decided that I wanted to try to make my own, rather than buying from the shelf. I went to my favorite recipe website, allrecipes.com, and found this one, which seemed to have many favorable ratings and be fairly simple. One poster, Chef Joy, commented that she made this sauce without the butter for better results. I followed her lead on that and wasn't disappointed with the consistency and the way the sauce stuck to the wing.

Final product was very moist, flavorful, and I loved the texture (rubbed with good ole Ozark before going on) of the skin. Next time I'll use more Frank's Red Hot and less Ketchup - the sauce, while good in consistency, was a little too akin to bbq sauce. Nothing wrong with that, but I was looking more for the classic Buffalo flavor.

Lastly, this experience confirmed my love of charcoal cooking. The flare ups and the resulting taste of cooked chicken over charcoal sealed the deal. With all due respect to my gas using friends, this recipe went to a whole new level because of charcoal.

Very cheap, fun thing to make, its going to be a staple of the rotation moving forward.

Jeff H.

August Recap

2011-09-03T11:37:00.027-05:00

Just a recap of August at my house. I usually try to post within a few days of grilling, just don't know where the time went. So without any further adieu, here is what made its way to the grill:

Some red snapper with rosemary, garlic, white wine, and lemon. Really liked this one.

Here's the inagural run on the rotisserie that I got for my Weber kettle. This is usually my beer can-chicken recipe (marinate overnight in Cavender's Greek seasoning and cut-up lemons). Look at those birds, these were in the order of Tim W's monstrosity (7 pounds each!). The lemons from the marinade went into the body cavity. These really turned out great!

Some salmon that was cooked indirect with aome applewood chips. Some balsamic glaze was drizzled over the fish prior to serving. It went right in the middle of a awesome fresh tomato salad that had basil, garlic, olive oil, and some fresh mozzerella.

Made some darned good tomatillo and another tomato-based salsa last weekend. Charring the tomatillos gives them a sweet-smoky flavor with still a little bit of their unique twang. Those red jalapenos though, whew!!

Next up is some skirt steak that was marinated in onion, garlic, cumin, and lime juice. Poblanos were cut into strips and finished on the grill-skillet. Try these peppers sometime in place of bell peppers, just enough kick to make it interesting!

Finally, some beef ribs in the smoker to close everything out. The ones on the right are of the boneless variety and the short ones with the poblanos are bone-in. Both were very good, although I would say that the bone-in had a little more flavor. Finished off with some Sweet Baby Larry's!

Yep, it was a good month of grilling in this neck of Homewood last month. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Labor Day Weekend, BABY!

2011-09-03T07:42:00.007-05:00

It's been kind of a tough week, and folks, I'm FREAKING ready to enjoy three days of rest and summertime relaxation. And yes, boys and girls, that means the grill will be running non stop.

My wife is going to be doing girl stuff with ... the girls, both today and tomorrow. That means no permission is needed to make what I want to make. I love my wife but those are good grilling days. Its all about ME and what I want. He He.

Its a glorious day in College Football, its opening day down in God's Country (Tallahassee) and my beloved Noles are playing a Community College ... errrr... a small school from Louisiana (Louisiana - Monroe). Which means I won't be tense the whole game and can actually relax and enjoy the grill. The plan? Perfect game day grub, what else? Wings and Sliders.

I've never done wings on the grill before so this will be fun, uncharted territory. The mancave is a bit of a disarrayed mess, so I've got some work to do getting it livable. Life will be good at 2:30 CDT.

Tomorrow, I'm continuing my quest to learn how to make good dry rubbed ribs without Sticky Finger's Dry Rub. I've been able to make them well ONE FREAKING time, since then, all the advice I've gotten from everyone has either been bad or I didn't follow instructions. Either way, its been a brutal journey. I have hope this time.

I had a meeting with Matthew Whiteford of Love Your BBQ early this week. For those of you that frequent the glorious Old Towne Pub here in Geneva, Matthew is the brains behind the new and improved menu there, which features his bbq products on many of the staple Old Towne dishes. Who would have ever thought to put pulled pork on top of a burger? Matthew did, and its one of the many awesome things on the menu at Old Towne. And those of you who frequent the place know that menu was already handed down from Mount Sinai before Matthew's improvements. But, I digress. (if you can't tell, I absolutely love Old Towne Pubs food, check them out if you haven't).

So, Matthew suggested that I try his bbq rub for dry rubbing. Its won many awards and should do the trick. Keep you posted, I'm confident that will be awesome.

Enjoy the weekend, folks!

Jeff H.

Caputo's Markets: Disneyland for Fat People

2011-09-01T05:36:00.006-05:00

For those of you who have never experienced Angelo Caputo's and live in the Chicagoland area - you need to get off your duff and check it out. Everywhere you walk, if you like to cook in any fashion, you'll find something novel. Premade Pizza Crusts, sauces of every kind, a meat case that is thorough and obnoxious. You gotta check it out. Click on the picture to the left to peruse their website and find a store near you. You won't be disappointed.

Last time I was there I was rounding up stuff for my home made spaghetti sauce and I threw on the brakes as I cruised by the pre-packaged butcher cut meats. You know what I'm talking about, not the stuff in the meat case, but the stuff the store has wrapped from the day before. For a small pittence there was about five pounds of bone-in ribeye and it was huge. And over the top. And I wanted it.

So, I went back this Tuesday morning and picked up one fresh from the case. A little over two pounds and damn near three inches thick, this is now my new favorite steak. Heavy dose of Chicago Steak Seasoning all around, and it hits the grates on direct heat with a loud thud and a HISSSS.

Lets just say about an hour later, life was very good. I'd cut a piece, cooked perfectly medium, swirl it in its juices. And if you haven't tried Spice House's Chicago Steak Seasoning, your missing out.

Jeff H.

A Bear's Life For Me

2011-08-27T09:37:00.004-05:00

My friend Pablo and I were hovering around the grill last night cooking up chili dogs and Horseradish Burgers when the conversation turned to reincarnation. Pablo (clearly Catholic) and I (Protestant) didn't have a lot of faith in the theory, in a theological sense. But what if? What would you want to come back as?

We agreed it was a no-brainer. A bear.

Think about it - all the advantages. You're at the top of the food chain, contrary to popular belief (you doubt me, ask Timothy Treadwell). Nobody screws with you. You can lumber around in your birthday suit, eating otter and salmon, weighing a thousand pounds and no one nags you. The ladies still want to make cubs with you, irrespective of your appearance.

And, as Ms. Pablo pointed out, you can sh*t in the woods.

But the best part?

No dealing with winter. Nope. Right around Thanksgiving you fill up on otter and salmon. You set your DVR to record the NFL Playoffs, the NCAA Championship, and the Superbowl. And you get in four or five months of REM sleep.

You wake up, rub your eyes, use the woods, and migrate to Scottsdale in time for spring training.

And we are the crown jewels of God's Creation? I'm not doubting the theological validity of that sentence. Just makes you wonder.

Jeff H.

More from the 2011 riboff, Part??...

2011-08-15T21:19:00.027-05:00

Just a few more photos from the 2011 Riboff. We really lucked out with the rain, I managed to get my canopy up before the showers came, and all of the heavy weather stayed up north. All things considered, it was a great day just to sit around with a few favorite beverages and contribute mightily to that big 'ol hole in the ozone. Thanks for hosting, Mr and Mrs. S!!!

Pictured above: Stash S., Sandor B., Hank B., Larry V.H., Dave S., Chuck M., and a special guest appearance by Mr. George Dickel.

Homewood Riboff - 5 Minute Recap

2011-08-14T07:56:00.004-05:00

Perpetual Barbecue Spinster and Bridesmaid Chuck M. didn't fare too well, again, unfortunately. Its disappointing too, because every year his handy work is first rate... just never number one. The video below is an unfortunate one, as he takes out his frustration on Larry VH's corn servings.

The winner, for the second time in six years, was host Stash S. After competition ended, it dawned on me that, in each of the three years I've judged this thing, I've scored Stash as one of my top three entries.

This year was far and away his best of the three, I think. The sauce was pungent with a punch and a bite of black pepper, the texture of the meat was substantial yet pulled cleanly off the bone. Those are probably my two biggest pet peeves when it comes to ribs, and Stash really delivered. Another fellow there and I kept asking "any more of number seven left?" (seven was his anonymous entry number). All this turned out to be quite the feat, as by judging time Stash was fairly, as they say, "in the bag."

There was a little bit of Florida 2000 confusion at the tallying of the votes. The hanging chads, in a manner of speaking, were due to the folks tallying the votes being a tad inebriated. However, the vote committee finally got the issue sorted out. New member Sandy B. of Homewood scored second, while Dave S., a third fellow I can't recall (??) and Chuck finished in a three way tie for third. Chuck did catch Stash's bouquet and garter after the competition, so you never know what next year holds.

More to come, I'm sure!

Jeff H.

Sixth Annual Homewood Riboff! Start the Countdown....

2011-08-13T09:09:00.004-05:00

Today is a red letter day at the PSMGC - each year a huge contingent of the club circles this day on the calendar, rests its liver, cleanses its colon, and prepares for the annual Homewood Riboff, aka, the "Beat My Meat Competition." You can read about its history here and here and here.

Defending the crown, as you can tell from the third link above, is Homewood's own Tom F (pictured above with the trophy). Tom created a little bit of controversy by serving up Tim S. Style Side ribs in the competition. Still, he won hands down. Its saying something when your St Louis Style ribs beat a bunch of baby backs in a competition. You are doing something right (sorry, Tim, personal preference....) when those things win a competition against the leaner varieties.

My prediction: its Chuck's year. Chuck, I expect big things from you this afternoon.

Judging starts at 6 CDT. See you there!

Jeff H.

Great Weeknight Dinner

2011-08-11T08:22:00.004-05:00

When all else fails and time presents a pretty small window, I smoke pizzas. Couldn't be more simple. Last night I just took your basic frozen pepperoni and added some jalapenos, sliced onions, fresh garden tomatoes and some Italian seasoning.

Popped it in the Brinkman over hickory for about an hour and a half and enjoyed great results. I always make two, because smoked cold pizza is a great lunch at work the next day. Or pop it in the microwave for a minute and watch how many co-coworkers are lured over by the smoky aroma.

Tim W.

P.S. I'm still waiting for others to give this a try and report back. Be creative!

The Results....

2011-07-26T05:43:00.004-05:00

Ok OK, I know I left everyone in the lurch talking about Seafood A Rama at my place, so here are the results.

Timing is always an issue, when trying to juggle the grill temp and keep the sides cooking indoors. No different this time. As the coals were dying out I was trying to finish the Grouper and Scallops. In hindsight, I shoulda got them on sooner, but they still finished out nicely with the blackening seasoning over top.

Oysters, for a first pass, were first rate. We did a three cheese and garlic combination (for me) and Rockefeller for the Mrs. Nice, and man, were they gone quick. I'll probably double my next order and stretch them out longer.

Jeff H.

Seafood Cornucopia at My House

2011-07-24T11:45:00.001-05:00

More to come, but I just dropped close to 70 bones on Oysters, Grouper and Scallops from a local fish monger.

OHHHHHHHH... its gonna be goooood....

Jeff H

Finally, we present the 2011 "Best Of...."

2011-07-22T08:02:00.033-05:00

Okay, Okay. So this storied event happened back towards the end of June. It's just been a very busy summer at work (Keep cranking those air conditioners, people!!) and there's finally a window of opportunity where I can sit down in front of this keyboard to pound a few words out.

What you see here are pictures from the Third Annual "Best Of" Cookoff, held at "Sweet Baby" Larry VH's palatial estate. The food category of interest was.... stuffed pork chops. It was a hot, humid June afternoon, and as you can see, the grills were out in full force.

In the end, 1st Place went to Donna H, who is actually the brainchild of this whole thing. Besides the honor of receiving the coveted "Best Of" apron, she also got this fancy "bug swatter/tennis racket/ping pong paddle?" thingamajig. I'm sure that she'll find a use for it... She will also host next year's event (yea Donna!!). Dave S. scored a 2nd Place, and was ecstatic to get a BBQ tool set. Enjoy!!

Eric D's Inaugural Submission

2011-07-22T07:20:00.004-05:00

Club member, co worker/professional guiding light, and friend Eric D. of Naperville is quite the bbq guy, I discovered. He called me one day when I was out driving around and asked me for some tips on a pork shoulder - I was shocked to hear about all the bbq stuff in his possession. I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot more from him in the coming months. Here is his St Louis Cut (Tim W's Fav) finished product.

Here's the "rub" - pun unintended....

"Rub - onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, seasoned salt. Pepper, brown sugar. Mopped with apple cider vinegar, lemon/lime soda, worcestire sauce, and more rub. 4.5 hours. Finished with Famous Dave's Texas Pit sauce...some spice but not too bad. "

We're going to be hearing a LOT more from this guy, I have a feeling!

Jeff H.

Beer-Can Chicken in the Brinkman!

2011-07-18T12:12:00.004-05:00

It's been a long while since I smoked a beer-can chicken, so I figured I'd give it a whirl on Saturday. Rubbed it down with some good BBQ rub, sawed off a giant hunk of apple wood, set it over a half can of beer mixed with the rub, and this 8-pound roaster went into the smoker for the better part of four hours.

I appetized with grilled, stuffed jalapenos and served with grilled sweet corn. Smoky, juicy and dee-licious!

Tim W.

P.S. I apologize for the crappy cell phone pic.

Chris H. shows us how to Get Down

2011-07-15T09:14:00.011-05:00

Today I'm channeling my inner Jeff, so I probably should be writing about things important to the Grand Poobah, such as Old Style, Pimento Cheese, Pullman seasoning, blah blah blah. But no, Jeff has been kinda busy lately, so he asked me to pass this along.

This post is courtesy of PSMGC member Chris H, who was nice enough to send this description of his cookout on the 4th of July.

Jeff, this was part of our nine slab extravaganza on the 4th. My wife started off by applying a dry rub and we cooked the ribs in foil on low heat. Then after checking these succulent pork products, we threw them on the grill for a few minutes, applying a concoction of bbq sauces and seasonings that she created and the results were visually impressive and the meat melted in your mouth. Holy shit good!! My grandkids proceeded to devour nearly half of them! Did some burgers and hotdogs as well, but the ribs were the hit!

Chris H.
Lombard, IL

Well done, sir!!

One Of My Best....

2011-06-27T06:14:00.004-05:00

Predictable Predictable.... but good. Copious amounts of Pullman for the rub, and a full 16oz Old Style overtop every 30 minutes, about 2 hours into the smoke. The more Old Style, the better - the meat was very moist and tangy. Can't wait to do again.

Jeff H.

What To Do, What To Do?

2011-06-25T06:48:00.002-05:00

The Mrs. is going into the city this afternoon and most of the day tomorrow - first to meet up with the girls for dinner tonight and then tomorrow to hang with said girls at... The Gay Pride Parade. To be completely clear, I'm not inherently homophobic - if a guy fancies another guy, that's his thing. I don't consider there to be any added value to a precious Sunday afternoon of watching a bunch of guys hang out in short shorts. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

At any rate, I'm in a quandary as to what to fix. I would imagine good old ribs will find there way into the rotation, or is that too predictable? Not sure, but stay tuned.

Jeff H.

Boys and their Toys

2011-06-20T21:33:00.005-05:00

After several years of begging, cajoling and otherwise making a complete spectacle of myself, I finally got something for my birthday that I have been wanting for a long time...... A Weber rotisserie for my 22 inch kettle!! Can't wait to get something on with this!!

A Great Little Meal

2011-06-20T21:07:00.012-05:00

Just the night before, my Pathetic Suburban (fe)male and I were driving back from Michigan and discussing what to make on the grill for the next day. I was torn between trying to make something grand and keeping it somewhat simple, since my son and I would be coming back early afternoon from a round of golf. In the end it was decided that we would have the old standby of steaks, roasted 'taters, and some sweet corn.

Some nice New York Strips were generously coated on one side with Back of the Yards Garlic Pepper from the Spice House. The corn was grilled directly over some medium coals while basting with some butter and an occasional dusting of Old Bay Seasoning (try it sometime, I think that you'll like it!!). All accompanied by a very good Oaked IPA called "Rumble" from Great Divide Brewing.

Yep, nothing fancy yesterday for Father's Day.... but darn good!

Speaking of Pork ...

2011-06-03T12:54:00.004-05:00

Been making a lot of salads these days. Can't wait for the garden tomatoes! On a recent glorious night, I marinaded a couple pork tenderloins, then cooked them indirect for about 20 minutes on the Weber, before transferring over the hot coals for a little crispy goodness. I wrapped 'em in foil and let 'em rest on the cutting board.

Meanwhile, I rough-chopped some veggies (mushrooms, zucchini, onions) and seasoned them with olive oil and some smoky bbq rub. Tossed 'em around in a bowl and, soon, they were ready for the grill basket.

I ran inside, grabbed my platter, and put down a bed of lettuce. Off came the veggies (grilled, but not soggy) and onto the lettuce they went. Then I thinly sliced the juicy pork and laid the "filets" over the veggies. I placed a few 'maters (not grilled) around the edges and drizzled everything with a chipotle dressing.

Outstanding.

There's something about warm pork/veggies mixed in with cool lettuce and tomatoes.

Have a groovy weekend, fellas!

Tim W.

Finally, some Pork Sanity

2011-05-31T12:20:00.010-05:00

Good news, everyone: the USDA recently revised their guidelines for cooking pork. The new recommended temperature is 145 degrees F, down from the old standard of 160. It seems that the traditional concerns with parasites, worms, etc, have gone by the wayside and this part of the food chain is much safer than a decade or two ago.

It's nice to know that they have finally caught up with the times, when lots of people (including me) have already been cooking pork the way it was intended to be. Slightly pink in the center, and most of all, TENDER AND JUICY!!! Cooking pork to 160 degrees is simply a crime. So the next time someone raises an eyebrow about your hunk of pork that's "still pink in the middle" you can assure them that everything's OK. You have the full backing of the USDA.

Here's a link to a recent Chicago Tribune article:
articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-05-24/health/chi-usda-changes-guidelines-for-cooking-pork-20110524_1_cooking-pork-pork-chops-national-pork-board

Salt-Crusted Ribeyes and other Treats

2011-05-30T20:04:00.029-05:00

One of the shows that is on my DVR list is Steven Rachlien's Primal Grill. I haven't made much from the shows, it's really to get those ideas planted into the grilling compartment of your head for future consumption. Wanting to do something different today, I took a shot at some salt-encrusted steaks. Basically it involves making a kind of a pasty mixture with some coarse kosher salt and some cold water. Put the steaks on, when they are ready to turn carefully flip them over and repeat the process.

The ribeyes turned out really good, maybe just a tad on the salty side for what I am accustomed to. I'm not one to put a lot of salt on my food in the first place, but in my opinion it wasn't excessive. They definitely had great flavor! Maybe the salt/water mixture needed to be a little drier....

Now, what to make for sides? Just made up a little something with some plum tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pine nuts. A little splash of balsamic glaze and olive oil was also welcome. Alas, no fresh basil to be had, or it would have made the cut as well. Sweet corn was also on the menu today.

Finished everything off with some grilled fruit; peaches, apricots, and pears. Just some brown sugar on these, they were very good. Any suggestions out there on what to put on these next time? I'm thinking that some Kaluha would be a welcome addition!

A Two-Bagger for Us Coalheads!

2011-05-27T14:36:00.002-05:00

Howdy, gents! Just a quickie to say Home Depot has 2 20-pound bags of standard Kingsford on sale for $7.97 this weekend. (I'm guessing the Lowe's across the street is following suit.) I'd advise going as soon as possible, because they burn through it pretty quick. Get it? Burn through it?

Sorry to all the gasaholics out there (Geno), but these kind of deals can get a man through summer!

Tim W.

Dry Rub Quandry

2011-05-22T08:47:00.002-05:00

You all may remember Chuck and the rest of the Homewood Posse coming up here last September for a grill a thon. That was the one and only time I've been able to make good dry rubbed baby back ribs.... I used the last of my Sticky Finger's Dry Rub, the ONLY thing I've used that works. They were so good, my friend Poncho and I ate the cold leftovers in the mancave the next day watching NFL.

I've tried several times with other rubs and it just wasn't good. I've searched EVERYWHERE around here for Sticky Fingers Dry Rub and NOTHING! Worse part is, they want a minimum of 10 dollars to ship a five dollar order - come on, guys!! Just can't bring myself to do it. And I know what you're thinking, no I haven't used 10 worth of gas driving around looking for it, either! I've done the math.

I've got an email out to Patty at the Spice House for suggestions, but now I'm opening it up to our vast club - talk to me, what's the best way to make weak in the knees good dry rubbed ribs???

Jeff H.

Spoiling Myself

2011-05-22T07:41:00.004-05:00

Like a lot of guys, when the Mrs. is out doing her own thing with the girls, its funtime at my house. I can play whatever music I want, drink as much beer as I want, and of course, COOK whatever the hell I want without being hassled about it. No "so, what did you want to do for dinner tonight?" conversations, where, of course, every thing that tastes good to me gets shot down and the endless barrage of requests for Thai and Mexican becomes the ensuing rejoinder.

Thursday night was one of those nights. I've been craving shrimp a lot lately and it seems no matter the situation, I never get tired of steak covered in Spice House's Chicago Steak Seasoning.

Logistics are usually an issue for me, too. I'm a short drive away from Blue Goose, which almost never disappoints, but the more diverse meat case (some may disagree) is a bit of a further drive to Geneva Commons at Randall and 38 - Fresh Market. The Market, as we call it, also sells a more inclusive beer and wine selection, with similar prices. So.... do I make two stops close by (Blue Goose and the local liquor store, a couple blocks away), or one long drive to the Fresh Market and get everything in one stop. More often than not, unless its early in the day, I do the two local stop solution of the Goose and the Candy Store. Thursday was no exception.

After making the rounds, I found myself in a shrimp quandry - got some nice peeled and devined 21/25s, but what to season with? After the steak was seared and seasoned with the good stuff, I threw a couple tbls of sweet cream Land O Lakes butter in a ramulken over indirect heat on the grill and let it melt slowly. Normally some Back of the Yards would be my go to spice here, but I didn't have any handy, so I improvised with Pullman Pork Chop Seasoning, normally my go-t0 for pork of any stripe. Very versatile spice. A few hearty butter brushings with the shrimp on skewers served as the glue for the Pullman.

Great outing!

Jeff H.

Estrogen Imbalace - Wonton Soup & Ham and Cheese Finger Sandwiches

2011-05-16T07:38:00.004-05:00

As usual, early Saturday Morning I couldn't sleep, so I found myself surfing the channels at three AM. The Directors Cut of Steel Magnolia's was on Hallmark Channel, and I found myself entranced. I couldn't stop crying.

Later that morning, I found myself dusting, stomping around the house, doing laundry, and nagging my wife about leaving clothes all over the house.

Saturday night we found ourselves at a benefit dinner in the Northern Suburbs. Of all the things at the silent auction I found myself obsessing over, I bid high on the 3 cases of Mike's Hard Lemonade. My wife thought I'd lost it. I won the bid, and had a gentlemen load the stuff in the back of the SUV for me.

Sunday morning I was crying again. No idea what to make. Switched on Ina Garten, no inspiration there. I picked up a new book I had bought while shopping at Home Goods, "100 Best Fresh Soups". I decided I was tired of being held back, I was doing Wonton Soup and Ham and Cheddar Finger Sandwiches.

I made a shopping blitz at Fresh Market, picked up a hamsteak, various ingredients for Wonton's, 2 quarts of Chicken Stock, some rye bread, pork, shrimp and veggies.

When the time came to make the goods, I popped open a Mikes, put on some dance music and got to work. The stock came up to temp with a chicken breast carcass, while the wontons were filled with pork, ginger, scallion, and diced shrimp. The hamsteak was slowly cooking over the coals as the wontons when into the boiling broth.

Only regret - should have kept the temp up with another chimney of coal... the sandwich bread wasn't as crunchy as we'd like, but otherwise good. It called for a lot of cilantro, too, not a big fav or mine. If I make it for myself again, I'll 86 the Cilantro.

I cried when it was over, hated the color of the nail polish. Hopefully a couple of Old Style's and a Cubs game will help me get back in balance.

Jeff H.

Nothing says "I love you" like....

2011-05-14T08:04:00.010-05:00

Another contribution from Homewood's own Larry V.H., who documented some rib action from a couple of weeks ago on Mother's Day:

Simplicity can be a wonderful thing. Four slabs. salt, pepper, Sweet Baby Ray's Hickory, smoked for 4 hours with Guinness in the drip pan (the Guinness smelled wonderful). Happy Mother's Day!

Nice job, Larry. Those ribs look great! Hopefully there was enough extra Guinness to allow for some self-marination.

Makes me want to go get a slab or two for tomorrow. After all, practice usually does get you closer to perfection!!

BIG ASS CHILI DOG

2011-05-08T02:54:00.005-05:00

One of the great things about living in Geneva is that we have a treasure trove of Mom and Pop operations that just put out great stuff. You all know about my affinity to Spice House. There are two local eateries, Old Towne Pub and Mel's Diner, that just produce the best food you'll ever eat when you don't feel like cooking yourself. And of course, what small town wouldn't be complete without the local butcher?

I was in Josef's Elegante Meats & Deli Tuesday when I caught a glimpse of gianormous hot dogs in the case. I'm a hot dog lover, have been my entire life. Patrick, the owner's son, hooked me up with a pound of these monsters, made locally.

Friday night rolls around and I'm getting a little concerned that these dogs aren't going to be edible forever. Saturday morning, as soon as Josef's opened up, I called Patrick up to make sure I wasn't going to be puking out of my ass if I ate these guys. Patrick, very knowledgeable, explained state regulations on the shelf life of prepared meat. I was satisfied.
I whipped up a batch of what is, if I can say so, immodestly, my famous Milwaukee Iron Chili. One of these days I'm going to entire it in a very large chili cookoff and absolutely CRUSH the competition. I'm very proud of it, its always a crowd favorite.

We had some Rosen's French Rolls left over from our last venture into Philly Cheesesteaks. After a few minutes of nicely browning the dogs over blue bag Kingsford, I threw the Rolls face down on the grate (indirect heat, of course, they'll burn instantly otherwise). A little sliced vidalia onion and ... voila... Dispeptic and Insomniatic at 3 am Sunday Morning. Awesome. If you're ever in Josef's, ask for Patrick and have him give you some of the Jumbo's... they're fantastic, he'll give you the details behind the dogs.

Jeff H.

Easter at Randy M.'s

2011-04-30T07:31:00.003-05:00

Randy M. from Phoenix threw a pool party over the Easter Holiday. Here he is with the details:.

What a better excuse for Easter than to host a pool party in Arizona, with a 7.34lb Center Cut Pork Roast on the grill.

I got the inspiration from the latest edition of "Cooks Illustrated". The simple process calls for a pork roast with a gentle application of salt and pepper (I threw in a bit of sugar to ensure carmelization). You let the roast age overnight in the fridge. Normally with big cuts I like to set it out for a few hours to come up to room temperature prior to the grill, letting the center temperature increase without the outside being cooked. This reduces the temperature delta between the inside and outside, reducing the cooking time a bit and slightly reduces the tendency of the roast being super-done on the outside and rare on the inside.

The roast was pulled off and after letting it rest for 30 minutes wrapped in foil, the ravenous hoard climbed out of the pool and devoured it. Oh, the humanity. About the only problem I had was when I cut off the rib rack, my alcohol-fueled assistant almost tossed it in the trash. The rib are now sitting in the fridge waiting a little sauce and more fire.

By the way, the magazine has a recipe for an orange salsa with Cuban spices as an accompaniment for this roast. I made it and it went over real well.

Salsa Recipe:

1/2 t Finely grated orange zest

5 Oranges, peeled, segmented; each segment quarter crosswise

1/2 C Red Onion, minced

1 Jalapeno, minced

2T Lime Juice

2T Parsley Leaves, minced (I used cilantro)

2t Brown Sugar

1T Olive Oil

1-1/2 t White Vinegar

1-1/2 t Oregano

1 Garlic Clove, minced

1/2 t Ground Cumin

1/2 t Salt

1/2 t Black Pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small nonreactive bowl.

Wish I could have a pool party! Good stuff, RM!

Jeff H

Sweet Baby Larry Comes Through Again

2011-04-25T21:36:00.012-05:00

I was in a serious bind for Easter weekend. My wife wanted to have part of the family over for dinner but I had to work Saturday and Sunday. What to do?

Well, you all know that I took care of the ham on Friday. Larry V.H. stepped up bigtime and offered to take care of the turkey breasts for Sunday dinner. These luscious beauties were brined overnight in a bath of apple cider, vegetable stock, rosemary, garlic, peppercorns, coriander and a few other choice spices. Smoked with maplewood chips. I even think that 'Ol Uncle Lar has become a believer of brining said poultry. It was sure worth waiting for until I got home late yesterday evening for dinner.

Thanks again Larry, you can cook for me anytime!!

Piling on the posts

2011-04-25T09:01:00.003-05:00

My wife and I are, sigh, dieting. Protein shakes, lots of snacks of the healthy variety and "sensible" dinner.

At the end of our second week, we really needed grilled steaks on Easter. I thought it was "sensible" enough. What I've found during this ordeal is that the sides are killers. No more cheesy bacon potatoes, etc.

Gotta have sides with steaks, though, right?

From a "sensible" standpoint, it's hard to top grilled veggies and a salad. But I had to smoke some stuffed mushrooms, too. And find a "sensible" way to do it.

Here's what I came up with for the filling:

Minced onion
Minced red pepper
Horseradish
Mashed kidney beans
Sprinkling of low-fat Mexican cheese

I know, I know. Sounds like baby food, but the results were delicious and basically guilt free. There's just something about the smoky flavor that makes the world right.

So I had the Brinkmann and Weber fired up side-by-side. Such a blissful marriage!

Tim W.

Something Different (?) For Easter

2011-04-25T07:29:00.003-05:00

I say different, because to my wife and I, its something different on the grill. In our quest for a little variety, we thought the traditional Easter Sunday meal of Rack of Lamb was the perfect deviation from our "ordinary".

The rub recipe was a, well, bit of a rub. I went the always reliable allrecipes.com and found this variation.

Lesson learned, olive oil in the breadcrumbs was probably unnecessary. Had I just used the layer of Koops horseradish mustard, the soggy breadcrumbs would have been avoided. Still, the flavor was great: seared the Back of the Yards GP into the meat, then coated with breadcrumb, three cloves of garlic and even more BOTY GP. All these variations still worked together nicely.

My favorite side dish, Au Gratin Potatoes, served as the principle side... probably my best stab at them yet. Something, however, was still missing... think next time I'm going to mince and sweat lots of Vidalia Onion for an extra zing.

All in, with the side salad, it was a great outing. Hope everyone had a great Easter!~

Jeff H.

Puttin' on the Cure

2011-04-23T21:04:00.013-05:00

I like it when my son comes home from school, it's a good excuse to whip up something good for dinner.

We all love grilled salmon, and I wanted to try a fish rub (cure) that I saw in one of Steven Raichlen's books. It's a sweet/savory rub that has some brown sugar, kosher salt, ground coriander, ground black peppercorns, and some chopped fresh dill weed. I've never had dill on fish before, so I didn't know if I or everyone else would like it (they are used to being my guinea pigs). Not to worry, it was really good, over charcoal with a handful of maple chips. The butcher at the Homewood Walt's was nice enough to bring out a nice 3 lb. slab of fish from the back cooler.

Served with some buttery, rosemary-infused mashed potatoes and steamed jumbo asparagus. Yes, it's an official do-over!

Rain, Schmain..... Ham On!!!

2011-04-22T13:43:00.020-05:00

HAPPENING NOW.......
Yeah, the weather sucks today, not much one can do about that. There's an 18 lb. clove-studded ham in that smoker, with an occasional dosing of maplewood chips for some extra flavor. A generous handful of bay leaves in the water pan along with some homemade rub. Additional pictures to come, as this breaking story develops!!

................................................................................................................

8:25 Saturday evening. So much for the "breaking news" theme!

Oh well, I was happy with the way that the ham turned out. As I mentioned to Jeff H. this morning, it's always good to let the ham break down a little more and add a little extra flavor. If you are going to put something in your smoker or grill for an extended time, I recommend the whole hams instead of the spiral sliced varities. Yes, I know that spirals are easier to serve, blah blah blah..... but if you do the whole ham right it's sooo juicy and tender!! Folks, this was just a humble Hillshire Farms ham to start with. Just remember to slice across the grain. And don't forget to put those pan juices back over the slices!

What I'd really like to try is brining/curing a fresh hunk of pork sometime just to see how it turns out, I think that it would be superior to what you can get in the grocery store. Does anyone have a local butcher who cures their own hams?

Enough already with the chit-chat, here are the pics:

Chris H. and Ribeye Heaven

2011-04-12T03:32:00.003-05:00

You know, I often beg for submissions to the site and beg and beg .... and then guys like Chris H. of Lombard send me stuff and it languishes in the mailbox forever.... Chris, you're a trooper for your patience, sorry man! Here's the latest red meat venture:

"The Mrs. and I decided to have our son over for dinner. Grabbed some ribeye's from Costco and magic happens! These beauties weigh in at about 18 oz. a piece...wish you were here!!"

I'll be there next time :)

Jeff H.

Returning To a Favorite

2011-04-10T08:11:00.003-05:00

Club members that have been following this site for a while can recall my discovery of just how good Baby Back Ribs were over charcoal. The first time I took a stab at ribs they were over gas, and surprisingly good. Over the next couple of years, while I still used the old Kenmore gas grill, they were bad 90% of the time... either tough, mushy, whatever... just not good.

I got tired of the BS with the gas and landed my first charcoal smoker, a Christmas 2008 gift from my in-laws. After a couple of trial and error ventures, trying to get it right, I finally did. The first time I made ribs over charcoal - and did it right - I almost wept with joy. They were so damn good.

Last night's stab at them - seen below - reminded me of that first good experience. I kept the water level just right in the pan, did a nice balancing act with the temperature, and used just the right amount of apple chips. The smoke flavor was PERFECT in the final product. Details, details: Pullman Pork Chop Seasoning for the rub, sauced with Sweet Baby Rays Vidalia Onion Sauce, and served with a very spicy batch of Zatarain's Dirty Rice.

My wife says my plating skills suck for the picture, but when you are that hungry by 7pm you don't give a rip about how it looks on the plate. You just want to eat.

Jeff H.

All Right, Club Members.....

2011-04-09T07:15:00.001-05:00

Its going to be in the 80's tomorrow.... and Byron, quit crying about rain, only a 30% chance! I hope to get overwhelmed with email about all the great outdoor cooking going on!

Jeff H

Naan-NA-NA-NA!!! (Flatbread pizzas)

2011-04-04T11:50:00.008-05:00

In the time-honored spirit of getting something decent to eat without a lot of time or effort, the wife and I decided to fire up the Weber and make some flatbread pizzas. I like this style of pizza because the hardest thing you have to do is assemble the toppings, as the crust is ready to go! I have made these in the past using something as simple as a good pita bread. Yesterday the foundation of choice was some "Naan" Bread, which I think is either Indian or Middle Eastern in origin. We had some plain and also some garlic-flavored varieties to work with.

These were grilled indirect over mesquite charcoal. Tomatoes, artichoke hearts, onions, and black olives were on top, along with a generous smothering of mozzarella cheese. The perfect thing for a casual Sunday dinner!

Cooking Light

2011-04-04T06:21:00.004-05:00

My wife and I needed to cook something - always a great way to spend quality time together. As the afternoon wore on into the evening this past Sunday, I knew I wanted something on the grill and wanted it to be on the lighter side, yet still satisfy.

SO - off to Blue Goose Market for a couple of Ribeyes and some boneless chicken. Good old pan fried, tenderized Ozark Fried Chicken Strips, grilled Ribeye smothered with Chicago Steak Seasoning, with Garlic Croutons went over a Cesar Salad. Nice change of pace. As you can see, the steak turned out phenomenal.

Jeff H.

Back In The Saddle

2011-03-20T06:16:00.003-06:00

The Picture's kinda grainy, but some great boneless BBQ chicken went over Kingsford Competition Briquettes Friday night. It felt great to be out over the coals again after the long, painful winter. I don't know how Chuck and Terrence pull it off.

Slatha'd on the chicken is the last of the DennyMikes Hot and Nasty Sauce. The rub was a generous shaking of Spice House's Back of the Yards Garlic Pepper. Red beans and rice on the side.

What to do today??? Purged the mancave and got it ready for the spring. Going to be a good, good year, I feel. Happy spring, bitches!

Jeff H.

A Bit O' Corned Beef Blasphemy?.... I Think Not!!

2011-03-06T09:58:00.016-06:00

Last week I was running an errand in Tinley Park and was going right past Winston's Market, a great little Irish grocery store near the corner of 159th Street and 80th Avenue. We have been getting our St. Patrick's Day corned beef there every year for quite some time, there is simply no comparison. The briskets that they use are really nice cuts and the end product has never disappointed.

I decided to get two corned beefs, one for St. Paddy's and the other to throw on the smoker for today. My wife's side of the family introduced me to the corned beef, cabbage and potatoes dish for the Irish holiday, and I would normally NEVER deviate (gasp!!) from that time-honored preparation: Boil the corned beef for several hours until tender, then boil the cabbage and potatoes until they are done as well. Serve with some horseradish sauce for the corned beef, butter for the cabbage and potatoes, and some Irish soda bread on the side. One of our favorite meals, we actually have it a few times a year. But I digress...

I have wanted to make a slow-cooked corned beef over coals for quite some time. Figured that this was my opportunity to give this a try, so I got the water smoker going and put a generous amount of bay leaves in the water pan along with the pickling spices that come with the meat. No wood smoke for this session, I don't want to overpower the seasoning that the brisket already has.

I know that it will never replace the traditional way of making the corned beef, but I'm betting that it will be great in its own right. Asparagus and roasted-garlic mashed potatoes are the sides, along with the soda bread. Also can't forget the horsey sauce! Final results to be posted later today.

Later today........

Arrrgh! Forgot to pick up some horseradish sauce.

It's OK, the corned beef turned out great. The pieces with some bark were "eyes roll upward" good, and overall it was a richer flavor than the traditional version. This would be a great candidate for some "burnt ends" treatment. Definitely a do-again!!

"OPA" - Sweet Baby Larry Does it Again!!

2011-02-23T17:56:00.029-06:00

What we have here is the latest meat creation from the esteemed Homewood grill of "Sweet Baby Larry" V.H. Some kinda Greek-style pork shoulder, slow-roasted for about 9 hours and sealed up to rest in a cocoon of foil for about 2 after that. I had the privilege of attending this dinner and let me tell you, this was simply awesome!

The recipe called for baking or roasting the pork in the oven.... not going to happen! Larry used his 26" Weber kettle and even invited a little bit of wood smoke to the party. The smoke was just enough to accent the spices on the meat. If this would have been smoked like a regular shoulder it would have overpowered the other flavors, but it was just right. Here's how he did it:

The pork was de-boned and seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, and mustard. Then lengthwise strips of Kefalotyri cheese (Greek cheese.... made from inbred goats!) were laid inside. Tied with kitchen twine and thrown on the smoker.

I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of some leftover shoulder the next day. Yes, sandwiches were made, but some of the leftover pork was held back for some lentil soup. Lentils, celery, carrots, garlic, and chunks of the pork simmered in some chicken broth until everything was tender. Very good, I must say.

Thanks again, Larry!!

Super Bowl Fare

2011-02-06T16:32:00.004-06:00

Heading out in a few minutes to watch the game at my favorite cigar store, at least for the first quarter or so... how ever long a Brevas Royal Maduro from Fuente usually lasts... then its home to throw a NY Strip on the grill, nicely coated with Spice House's glorious Chicago Steak Seasoning. Complementing the strip will be.... a full pound of beer battered Tempura fried shrimp with creole seasoning. Gotta love the deep fryer!

Steelers 28 Packers 24

Jeff H.

How to Dial Up a Turducken

2011-02-02T14:07:00.006-06:00

OK, I thought that a Turducken was about as far that you could go as far as pushing the envelope in Thanksgiving fare. Here is a video where they kick it up a notch. Take a Turducken and wrap it up inside of a baby pig? Outrageous. Take a look for yourself!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xc5wIpUenQ

The plate garnishes are the best!

New Years Eve & New Years Day

2011-02-02T07:33:00.004-06:00

Club member Chris H of Lombard sent these in a while back, and, typical of me, I keep procrastinating before they get posted. Sorry, Chris! Tell us about New Years Eve/Day:

This is the prequel to my New Years Day feast..I bought the whole filet and cut it into inch and a half pieces, and my wife made a garlic-butter bath for the scallops. She also sauted the garlic spinach...All I can say is defribrillator!!

Then came New Years Day. The verdict?:

My wife and I went to our son's home on New Years day with about 5 pounds of lobster tail in hand. He and his wife supplied the prime rib. As you can see....a work of art. I already snagged a couple bites of tail before I took this picture. Washed it all down with my son's signature Long Island ice tea......

Long Island Ice Tea?? Hopefully Mrs Chris H drove home! Great stuff, my friend.

Jeff H.

Just Do It!!

2011-01-23T00:07:00.013-06:00

It's days like Friday that make today seem like a warm front. Cold outside? Bah! Get yourself a good piece of meat, gussie it up the way you like it, start a fire outside and take care of business!

Flank steak was on sale today, all it needed was a good "south of the border" marinade. Tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef was the result. Now, what about the sides? Such as: roasted poblano rice with queso fresco cheese, homemade refried beans, and some El Yucateco habanero sauce. Wrap all of that together inside of a corn tortilla and you've got something that is definitely worth the effort.

Now get out there and melt that snow off of your grill.
GO BEARS!!

Are your co-workers this nice?

2011-01-21T12:12:00.005-06:00

Fellow PSMGC member and co-worker Frank P. was nice enough to remember me today with a couple of pulled-pork sandwiches, from a session last weekend. Slow-smoked pork, so good it didn't need any sauce. All wrapped up in wax paper, as it should be.

Amen.

Thanks Frank!!

Here You Go

2011-01-19T21:24:00.000-06:00

Packers Fan Announces He Will Return To Drinking For Another Season

Yes, Bring it on!!

2011-01-16T18:10:00.010-06:00

There's nothing like a Bears playoff victory and a nice bowl of chili to top off a great day! Chili made with ground sirloin, onion, chili/kidney/black beans, V-8, a can of PBR, Ro-Tel tomotoes with green chiles, diced pickled jalapenos, and Ancho/New Mexico Chile powder from the Spice House. Also toasted some cumin seeds in a skillet, to make some fresh ground spice. There's normally not this much garnish in the bowl, but what the hell, we jazzed it up a little today.

Now, what to grill for next Sunday's game?!! Stay tuned.

Am I a Wus? Probably.

2011-01-15T07:57:00.004-06:00

About a year or so ago, Terrence and I started a debate about the virtues of Winter vs Summer. Terrence is a lot like my old friend Buzz S. of Wauconda - he's a wintertime guy that likes the cool and the snow and the outdoorsyness of it all.

Me? Winter f***ing sucks. I'm a warm weather summer guy. In winter:

You have to get up at 4 am to warm up your car our you'll die driving to work
Ice everywhere = slips and falls along with dangerous driving conditions
Garbage piles up in your mancave because taking the garbage out in this weather sucks after a long day at work
Snot runs down your nose like a two year old
Wife nagging about shoveling snow
Grilling becomes a chore

To each their own, Terrence and Buzz, but for me, warm weather, birkenstocks, wife beater tee shirt and Cubs hat in the sun, slow cooking a pork shoulder over applewood... baseball on the radio.... that's the good life.

So, after a long day in and out of the cold, and a hour's commute home, the last thing I want to do is throw myself back out into the cold to fix dinner over the coals. That explains a lot of the silence on my end. Truthfully, with the weather like it is on the weekends, I really haven't wanted to venture out then, either. I've been spending most of my cooking time these days over the new Cuisinart deep fryer (beer battered chicken planks, etc).

Hopefully we'll get a break in the cold and I'll get the wontons to venture back out. In the meantime, wintertime grilling horses Terrence, Tim and Chuck will be carrying a big part of the load.

Jeff H.

Choppin' the Blue Devils

2011-01-13T16:55:00.003-06:00

Hats off to Jeff H's Alma Mater, as they send the "team formerly known as #1" home with their first defeat.

Nothing on the grill today, but...

2011-01-08T20:29:00.015-06:00

My son is going back to school tomorrow, so this last week has kind of been a "bucket list" of making some of his favorite meals to eat. Living in this house gave him a good start on mastering the various cooking skills, but college kids just don't have time to spend 2-3 hours in the kitchen whipping up a dinner from scratch. The last item on his list was a batch of chicken enchiladas that have a smoky, creamy tomato-based sauce. They are kind of hard to distinguish in the pan because of the smothering of Chihuahua cheese. The recipe calls for some sliced white onion as a garnish, but today I went for some chopped scallions and cilantro.

This is a Rick Bayless recipe, and there are quite a few of his that call for a bit of "pork lard". In the past I have always just used some vegetable oil because I didn't want to use that big block of processed white stuff that you can buy in the store. The grocery store that I shop at started selling blocks of salt pork a few months ago, so I decided to render some of that down to use in frying up the onions that go into the sauce, and also put some in the homemade refried black beans. It definitely added some richness to both dishes. Afraid of a little pork fat...? Stop it. It has less saturated fat than butter!! Go ahead, live a little.

This is a great recipe, although I would recommend that you put 1/2 of the roasted chiles in when you puree the tomatoes and taste, you may not need any additional heat. Make a double batch of the sauce and melt some shredded cheese in there for some "killer" chile con queso and tortilla chips!

Here is the link to this dish, give it a try...

http://www.fronterakitchens.com/cooking/recipes/enchiladas_suizas.html

Big Football Day

2011-01-02T11:14:00.003-06:00

For my 4oth I scored some neat stuff - good cologne, a deep fryer from my wife (awesome toy), and Denny Mike's gift pack, complete with tongs and basting brush. One of the Crown Jewels of the Denny Mike pack was a flask of his glorious East Carolina style sauce - thin and vinegary, its awesome on anything pork. A while back I made ribs with some and it was a huge hit in the household. SO - today, the match drops on a batch of Denny Mike's Carolina Style baby back ribs - just under four pounds worth, setting up in Pullman seasoning from Spice House as we speak.

Big big day for the Bucs - not only do I get to watch the game on regular tv, but it actually means something. Beat the Saints, have the Bears take out Green Bay and the Redskins take out the Giants, and they are in the playoffs. Washington I have no faith in, and the Bucs beating the Saints on the road is not likely. BUT, if they pull off the upset of NO, the Bears game will have special meaning for me. Fun day ahead, and an early night in the sack.

What's going on at your house today?

Jeff H.

It seemed like the right thing to do...

2010-12-25T12:13:00.006-06:00

Every year at Christmas our family has a nice brunch that pretty much consists of the same thing: French toast, thick-cut bacon, some fresh fruit, and some Champagne cocktails for those of age.

A few years back I started baking the bacon in the oven rather than frying it. I think that the bacon comes out better this way, however there is always the dreaded "broiler pan cleanup" to deal with. So this year I decided to try something a little different, and do the bacon on my Weber with my cast-iron grill grate. As you can see, it was more than up to the task.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

A shout-out to the early riser

2010-12-23T07:10:00.009-06:00

Who in their right "sleep-deprived" mind would get up before 6 am in this weather to throw something on the smoker? Someone who doesn't mind missing a little sleep in order to reap the benefits of a gloriously slow-smoked piece of meat, that's who. To everyone else out there doing the same thing over the next few days, I salute you!

Pork shoulder on before 7, a light coating of yellow mustard along with some of my rub that needed a few tweaks (does anyone ever make something the exact same way twice?). This one needed a bit more kosher salt and ground sage. We'll know for sure in about 10 hours!

Time to go pick up the turkey and get it into the brine.

The results are in, by far the best pork shoulder that I have done. The final product was a killer sandwich with some tangy North Carolina BBQ sauce and some homemade slaw on top!

Think I've Got a Good Plan, Whaddaya Think?

2010-12-21T09:24:00.004-06:00

Hey, men, Happy Holidays!

We're entertaining family on Christmas Eve and I'm going to smoke a ham for mini sandwiches on potato buns.

I'm going to do it over apple wood on Thursday, then slice it and keep it warm in the slow cooker on Friday. Knowing I need a bath to keep it from drying out, here's what me and a fellow foodie here at work came up with. A first draft, if you will:

Cider beer (Woodchuck's Granny Smith)
Adobo sauce (for a little kick)
Couple splashes of apple juice
Fresh, sliced apples

Sound like I'm heading in the right direction? All feedback is welcome.

Tim W.

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

2010-12-12T06:32:00.004-06:00

I figured last night before the winter weather hit would be a good time for grilling, and what's more, no matter what you grill always seems to be a bit more cost effective than going to the local eatery and running up a big food and booze tab - which we some how always seem to do. So I decided early in the day to make ribs, something I hadn't made in a while.

But, as the late morning wore on to the afternoon and our lunch plans had us eating lunch at 2 something, it became obvious to me that a four hour smoke of ribs wasn't going to play out well. I'd probably not start them until close to five, that had us eating at 9 or nine thirty. Not to sound like an old man, but with the physicality of the new job its rare that I can stay up that late. After all, I'm up at four in the morning during the week, working outdoors all day, and by the time I'm home if I eat and lay down on the couch I'm out by 8, sometimes, believe it or not, even earlier. Couldn't see me going the distance with a rib smoking.

Back during my consulting days, in summer of 2003, I worked in Louisville and frequented a very cool BBQ chain in the area called Mark's Feed Store. Everything on the menu was good there, and as an added bonus, they served just about every dish with a healthy portion of fried onion straws. One of the best things on the menu was... not pulled pork.... pulled chicken. White meat chicken breast, smoked and shredded on a plate. I ordered it often.

So early afternoon it hit me, why not do it this evening on the grill? Make BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches on toasted buns, serve it with a side of Red Beans and Rice? It would be a bit cheaper, probably more filling, and take half the time or less to prepare.

A hearty Chimney of Blue Bag Kingsford, a couple of handfuls of Mesquite chips, and the temp stayed at 300 to 350 for most of the evening. Total smoking/cooking time was about 45 minutes, with a very healthy slathering of Sweet Baby Larry VH's Vidalia Onion Sauce going on during the last ten minutes. During prep, I severed the skin from the meat of each breast, and poured a healthy dose of Spice House's Ozark Fried Chicken Spice, one of my favorites. The flavor of the Mesquite smoke and the Ozark nicely complemented the sauce - very nicely, in fact.

After about a 20 minute tenting, shredding and a toasting of the buns, my wife made a small side of rigatoni with Vodka Sauce, rather than the Red Beans. I decided to just chow on the sandwiches, with no sides (surprising, I'm sure, to those who know me). I slathered each sandwich with even more of the Vidalia Onion sauce and dove in.

This might possibly be the best chicken dish I've ever made on the grill. The Mesquite, Ozark and sauce was just an incredible mixture, the chicken was better than what I get at 90% of the restaurants I've visited in my day. Just fantastic.

Plenty of leftovers for today, for sure!

Jeff H.

As I'm getting the turkey out of the brine, I just wanted to say: Happy Thanksgiving to all PSMGC members!

2010-11-25T06:25:00.002-06:00

CARNITAS!

2010-11-22T14:34:00.003-06:00

8lb Pork shoulder rubbed down with cumin, brwn sugar, garlic, onion, and corriander seed. Smoked over applewood for 8 hours and then fried in it's own juices.

ENJOY!

Spice is Nice

2010-11-19T19:03:00.009-06:00

So my saint of a mother stopped by tonight and handed me this treat. Anybody ever seen/used 'em? I can't wait.

When I first saw them, I figured they were wood chips soaked in Tabasco sauce.

Not the case.

A little background from the back of the bag ...

Hand picked, ripe bright red capsicum frutescens peppers are mashed with a small amount of coarse ground Avery Island salt. This fresh or "green" mash is put into 50 gallon Arkansan white oak barrels, where it quickly ferments, then slowly ages for three full years.

The empty white oak aging barrels are cleaned out and, unlike whiskey barrels, put back into the system for reuse. Some of these wooden barrels may go through up to 10-15 aging cycles in their lifetime. TABASCO wood chips are made with the wooden slaves of these used aging barrels.

Question of the day: What should I smoke with 'em? My first thought was meatloaf ...

Tim W.

FYI: These were purchased in the Joliet-area HOBO (Home Owners Bargain Outlet.)

Czimers!

2010-11-15T11:43:00.004-06:00

As many of you know I frequent a local business by the name Czimers Wild Game Meats. Czimers has been in business since 1914. Now the only store, back in the early 1900's there were a few of them. All located on the south side of Chicago. The current owner is Rich Czimer. He grew up in the original shops in Chicago working alongside his dad and uncles. Back then they sold domesticated animals mostly. It wasn't until they moved to their current location in Homer Glen (13136 W. 159th St Homer Glen, IL 60491) that the focus became more "health food" orientated. Today they have the most diverse variety of meat and seafood found anywhere in Illinois. Beyond the great meat and seafood (check out my previous lobster and pheasant posts, both came from here) they also have a wide assortment of spices (cheaper than ANY store), cheeses (4 year old cheddar is my families fav), and unique items that are truly one of a kind (bison canes, see pics). Check out their website and remember they DO deliver! http://www.czimers.com/ . Place an order. I promise you won't be disappointed.

This is NOT a paid endorsement.

ENJOY!

Lamb Chops, Chicken Sausage, and Duck Breast

2010-11-13T11:23:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday my friend Pedro was over and relieved me on the grill. Pedro is a horse when it comes to cooking, outdoor or otherwise. He brought over a rack of lamb and some chicken sausage and an appetizer. My neighbor across the street, Barry, is an avid bird hunter that cooks Lean Cuisines and little else, so he donated some duck breast to the cause (not pictured). I'd forgotten how good duck breast is, it had been so long since I'd had it. Lamb was rubbed in nothing but salt and pepper, if I recall.

Jeff H.

End of the Hiatus: Nov Pepper Harvest

2010-11-10T08:53:00.004-06:00

They are not getting as big as the summer harvests. However, I spent $500 on a greenhouse in April and WOW! Going to be making some interesting peppery things in the coming days. Will post pics and write up. Also, I will be doing a write up with pics in the coming days of a local business that I have menttioned on here quite a bit. So this shall mark the end of the "HIATUS".

ENJOY!!

Sorry For The Hiatus

2010-11-06T19:00:00.003-06:00

Hi all -

as founder of the PSMGC I sometimes feel guilty when there is nothing new to post. So I thought a little explanation was in order.

This past Monday I started a new job - its a very rewarding one with a Fortune 500 company. But its a long long workday for me. I'm up at four in the morning and sometimes not home until almost 8 at night. The commute is hairy but the work, while physically and sometimes mentally demanding, is rewarding. I'm very happy with the turn of events over the last ten days.

I haven't had time to discuss life with Tim W, but I know his job as a writer for a major culinary outfit has been demanding with workforce reductions, so he's been busy.

Terrence's business has been good, so he's been busy. Chuck M works in the power generation business and is coming out of a long month of outages at the plant. As a former consultant who has done much work with power plants, let me tell you, I feel his pain. Repair and maintenance outages at a power plant are one large Gantt Chart from Hell. He's still recovering.

In the meantime, as always, club members can help out. Send your latest work for us to share with the group. We'll get it posted.

Thanks for checking back. See you soon.

Jeff H.

Meatloaf for Thursday Night Football

2010-10-28T13:55:00.004-05:00

Yesterday my wife excitedly announced that she had tickets to a dinner at a local Rotary Club event and was sure I wanted to go.

At first I thought, yeah, why not.... then my brain started working slowly - its only real speed - and I remembered that it was a glorious night in College Football, as my Noles are traveling to Raleigh, NC to play the Wolfpack. Sorry, babe, see if Karen or one of your other friends can go, I have a date with Jimbo Fisher's boys in the Mancave.

What to make??? or do I just go to my favorite watering hole and get their delicious wings? I really want to make something on the grill... a pathetic one man tailgate.

One thing I haven't done in a long while that I'm long overdue for is a glorious Tim W. smoked meatloaf. I usually don't do it because Christina, an annoying fussy palate, hates meatloaf. SO, its one of those things that I do when I'm home alone. I was really in a quandry, didn't want ribs. Didn't really want a chicken of any kind, or did I? Brats? No, I'll be in serious pain then. Then I was perusing the PSMGC archives and landed on Chuck's last post about meatloaf. Perfect, she'll be at a black tie affair, I'll be dining on Mesquite smoked Meatloaf with au gratin potatoes.

I'll do like I normally do, get a bag of waffle fries and make meatloaf sliders with the waffle fry as the bun. Awesome. Maybe a little brown gravy in the mix, like a quasi-French Dip of sorts, southern style.

Big test for the Noles tonight. Terrence, get your trash talk ready.

Jeff H.

Fabulous Fillet Mignon

2010-10-26T10:25:00.003-05:00

The wife and I took the IL state Hunter Safety Course over the weekend. It was hosted at the Mokena Park Dist. Right down the street is a little store called Berkots. This one is known for their fillet Mignon. Usually on sale it goes for $9.99lb. Well, on Sunday after our last class and test (the wife got 100% and I only got 92%, and yes I'm the hunter....love ya babe) we decided to take the two block drive over there. To my happy surprise, fillets were on sale for $5.99lb! I don't know about everybody else, but that's dirt cheap around here. Anyhow, I grabbed a whole tenderloin roast. Made a rub with minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper, olive oil. Rubbed all over the roast. Let sit for about 30 mins. Seared both sides using direct heat over lump for 5 mins a side. Cooked indirect for about an hour. Served with mashed and sliced hot cherry peppers (awesome with steak)

ENJOY!

Always a Hit

2010-10-25T06:21:00.005-05:00

First pulled pork journey on the new Weber. It didn't disappoint, as you can see by the grainy picture above. Smoked in Applewood with good old Bronze Bag Kingsford. Always a Sunday hit.

I let it set up overnight in the always reliable Pullman Pork Chop Seasoning. Flavor was complimented nicely by Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy sauce. Wavy Jay's and Thai Noodle Salad were the sides. Woo hoo

Jeff H.

Know the Signs of Choking

2010-10-24T03:38:00.004-05:00

It can happen at any time, to anyone. Especially a certain Catholic School when playing a service academy.

Things to remember:

if the person can respond to you audibly or cough, the air way is not obstructed. Do nothing.
if the person (or team) is turning blue, its go time.
bend victim over and give four sharp back slaps to loosen debris
locate the sternum with booger finger and middle finger
make fist below sternum and thrust
relive the past, when this didn't happen (years gone by)

Jeff H.

Call It a Step Backwards If You Wish....

2010-10-20T06:40:00.004-05:00

For the last six or seven months I've been using Lump Charcoal almost exclusively. Lump, I've found, is purer than briquettes and in many cases, significantly cheaper. You'll also notice that many professionals use Lump exclusively as well.

However, I've made a decision to go back to briquettes. I'm sure there are some purists out there that will scratch their heads at this move. Its for several reasons.

To begin with, as most of you know, Lump Hardwood Charcoal runs hotter and cools faster than briquettes. For some, the higher heat may be an advantage. For me, especially with the new Weber Kettle, it is more of a headache in temperature maintenance. The new Weber runs hotter than any other grill I've owned - its insulated very well, and no matter how deftly I try to work the flues, it stays hot on its own (I did a four hour smoke of baby backs Sunday with one chimney. In the past, that was unheard of). With the added temperature of Lump hardwood, it adds to my problem. What's more, once it does cool, it comes crashing down quickly.

Briquettes, on the other hand, are more steady in their temperature. Stash S and I were talking about this when he, Chuck and Larry were over last month for our grill a thon. As I was dumping my chimney of lump into the new Weber, his comments to me were a long those lines. Stash has won a competition or two in his day and when he made that comment to me, it got the ball rolling in my mind.

Another headache I've found with Lump is how difficult it can be to handle. Unlike the uniform shape of briquettes, lump comes out of the bag in a wide range of shapes and sizes.... its very little more than just chunks of wood, dried up a lot like what you'd find lying in the woods. When you try to dump it from the bag to the chimney, a lot of times you get one or two gigantic pieces into the cylinder and little else. Little pieces fall through the grate in the bottom and its a pain to clean up.

By contrast, briquettes pour cleanly and uniformly into the cylinder almost every time.

Once the chimney of Lump is burning in the cylinder, often several little pieces of piping hot wood fall through the chimney's grate at the bottom. Normally, this isn't a big deal, just scoop it up and toss it into the grill.

But things are a little different around our house these days. Recently we paid a big wad of cash to a local contractor to make some major changes to our fence in our back yard. Our previous fence was very old and the gate was literally falling apart. It was a big sacrifice but we've opened up a large part of our driveway by replacing and repositioning a six foot fence. As a result, our three female Labs have full access to the grill area and the garage. For them, its a very good thing. For our piece of mind; ie, their security with the new, bigger fence, its even better.

The one downside, however, is that the dangers of the hot grill with the dogs is more present than ever. They are typical, lovable Labs and have the curiosity that such dogs are known for. Especially when the smells emanating from the grill are of meat cooking.

This brings me back to the concern of the small embers falling through the chimney grate. Every time I dump a piping hot chimney of Lump into the grill, there are several tiny, burning pieces laying the driveway. I make a concerted effort to get as much of it up as possible, but I'm always afraid that the one that I don't get is the one that one of them will step on. That's not a pretty scene.

So, while at Home Depot this past Sunday, I grabbed another bag of my favorite, Kingsford Competition Briquettes. The Competition Briquettes burn much more evenly and leave less ash than the regular blue bag briquettes, though they do run hotter. I've found that the smell of the competition briquettes is purer - there seems to be less of a chemical odor to them than their blue bag counterparts as the fire up in the chimney. They do run hotter, as advertised, but the temperature control still seems much more manageable when compared to Lump. As I mentioned, a nice slab of ribs on Sunday and a gorgeous 1.25 lb NY Strip last night were courtesy of the Kingsford Bronze Bag. I finished eating last night wondering why I ever strayed from the Bronze Bag. Its a tad more expensive, but worth the sacrifice.

SO - take my purist's card away from me if you wish, its good to be back to the good old Bronze Bag - and the Blue bag if necessary. I'm sure I've started a lively discussion here.

Jeff H.

Good Old Down Home Cookin (Grill Style)

2010-10-19T09:41:00.005-05:00

Ok, so I was at work yesterday thinking about what to make for dinner (yeah being productive at work is my specialty)! I ended up leaving early. I couldn't come up with anything. So on my way home I stopped by Dominicks to browse the meat counter. I started to get this itch for gravy. That's when I saw chuck roast on sale for $1.99 lb. Not overwhelmingly cheap, however it started the creative juices flowing. I came up with "old school" beef roast with roasted potatoes and onions. Only this time I did it on the grill. From searing the roast on a cast iron skillit, to roasting the meat and potatoes covered with foil indirect heat at 250 for 3 hrs. Add coals and get heat up to 325-350 for another 30mins uncovered. Only thing made inside was the gravy. I must say, I do make a mean gravy and have yet to be risky enough to try it on the grill. Maybe one day..............

ENJOY!

Jerked Pheasant

2010-10-14T09:30:00.008-05:00

Rubbed down pheasant with my special jerk rub slow roasted over lump hardwood and apple wood logs. Served with my special twice baked red potatoes (bacon, parsley, garlic, sour cream, cheddar cheese).

ENJOY!

T

Its a Sign of the Apocolypse

2010-10-12T18:50:00.002-05:00

yes, men, Geno K bought a CHARCOAL smoker. Welcome to the darkside, GK. Prediction, that gasser will be on the curb by June.

Jeff H.

Skirt Steak Tacos

2010-10-12T11:06:00.002-05:00

Skirt steak is one of my favs. It is so versatile and adaptive, it can be made an infinite number of ways. However, like most cooking, I like to make MORE with LESS. Pounded out and salt and peppered and marinaded with onion, garlic, cumin, lime juice. That's it! I made 3 pounds of steak so adjust accordingly. 2 table spoons oil, 3 yellow onions, 5 cloves of garlic, juice from 3 limes, and 3/4 teaspoon cumin, blend in food processor until smooth. Transfer to plastic bag with steak. Make sure steak is coated well. Marinade 1-2 hours. Shake off excess marinade. Grilled over lump hardwood (direct heat) about 2-3mins per side. Serve with warm tortillas and dress how you like!

ENJOY!!

Don't call it a comeback!

2010-10-11T11:49:00.004-05:00

What's up fellas? How has everyone around here been??? With so much happening with work, kids, ect, I have wanted to post a lot of stuff on here but everytime I do, I am regulated to using my phone. As nice as the Iphone 4 is, I still cant post here from it. Over the summer, cooked 2 pigs, had a rib extravaganza for the 4th. Also, I went to Birmingham for work and while I was there I attended the Birmingham Blues and BBQ festival. Above are some pics of the ribs and "Sloss Furnace" where the fest was at. More post to come this week. I will be cooking every night and posting by the next morning. Time for me to kick it into high gear around here. I'm thinking tonight some of my special skirt steak tacos. Pics and write up in the AM.

Hope all are well,

Steak & Potato - Like Chocolate and Peanut Butter or Wings and Beer

2010-10-08T06:12:00.002-05:00

Randy M of Phoenix sent me this picture a while back - sorry for the delay, Randy! What is most interesting is how he does these potatoes - check it out, they look incredibly good.

Here's a photo of a simple "steak and potato" dish I whip up. The interesting thing are the potatoes. I nuke the spuds, then let them cool. A quick split across the top and pour in a tablespoon of garlic and black pepper infused butter. Let them sit a bit to soak in, then on to the grill, split side up, for several minutes to warm up. Then flip the spuds over to brown the open side. The butter should have soaked into the potato flesh thus dripping is minimized. The result is similar to a twice-baked potato.

Thanks, Randy!

Jeff H.

Remember The Best Pizza Conversation?

2010-10-05T08:15:00.002-05:00

My vote: Marion's, Dayton OH. Its even better than it looks.

Tailgating The Way Its Supposed To Be Done

2010-10-02T05:46:00.004-05:00

Back at the dawn of the NFL season, Byron W was hanging in the mancave over a couple cold ones and discussing with me the Bears tickets he had lined up for 2010. His first choice in the litter was the Monday night game on Sept 27 against the Packers - no one said the man was a fool.

Though he didn't have a ticket for me, he was kind enough to allow me to join the party for the tailgate. I was privileged to be invited last season to the game against the Lions, and I'll never forget the experience. We arrived at Soldier Field that Sunday at nine AM and I couldn't believe the scene - an endless sea of black and orange, with bags sets, coolers and grills everywhere. I went to a big name Football college and have experienced some serious tailgating, but this topped everything that had come before. Since his father owns a very nice sailing vessel which was conveniently moored at the marina outside the stadium, we had special access to the marina's parking lot - PRIME tailgating country, especially since the stadium gates were only a three minute walk away.

Fast forward to this past Monday. Byron's Brother in Law and Father in Law - Packer Fans - show up in Packer gear, loaded up in the SUV, and we're off at noon. By two in the afternoon, other friends and family show up with us at the Marina parking lot, the tables are up, the Weber Kettle is set to go, a Coleman Stove at the ready as well.

Beers opened all around, I start to pull my load at the party by throwing a chimney of Kingsford into the Kettle and searing the brats - two dozen in all. In a stroke of genius, BW has a small dutch oven filled with beer, onions, and Granny Smiths, coming up to temp on the Coleman Stove. Rather than try to boil the seared brats in a pan on the grill - a headache in this situation - we let them set up in the beer mixture on the Coleman. Recalling that our experiment from this past June demonstrated the Sear/Boil/Sear technique was the best, I tossed the nicely seared brats into the brats into the bath, and one by one doled them out to the patrons as they came off the second sear. We damn near ate everyone of them. No surprise, a big hit.

Then came time for the varsity level cooking. Trying to avoid hurting my feelings with outright rejection, Byron slyly pushed me ever so tactically away from the grill and began prepping thin, nicely marinaded ribeyes for the grill (he always accuses me of "playing with my food", so this was to be his baby). Once the finished steak came off the grill, it was cut into slider-sized portions, and thrown between grilled pieces of French bread for sandwiches. The steak and the crusty bread alone was enough to make this a world class course, but Byron's brother, Ryan, had brought along a Jalapeno Garlic sauce that was simply over the top good, especially on the ribeye sliders. This is a recipe I promise you I'm going to steal. Fantastically good.

In addition to a friend's beer can Jerk chicken that was cooked on the kettle and finished on a Smokey Joe, we also had slider sized pork chop sandwiches. So, after the brats, ribeye and pork chop sliders, beer can chicken and copious amounts of chips and salsa, its a miracle anyone was able to walk away from the party. My original plan was to crash on the boat listening to the game on the radio, but since I had paced myself nicely with the food and beer I made alternate plans. Byron's mother, Paula (one of those fun friend's mothers you grew up with), Ryan and I staked out a modestly crowded piano bar next to Ron of Japan and actually managed to watch the entire game.

The great night was winding to a close, back at the parking lot. Props to Byron, a real trooper, who drove his own SUV to the stadium and back. This was especially appreciated after the game - the rest of us slept the whole way home.

That, my friends, is how you combine your two... er, three.... loves, Football, grilling and beer the best way possible. Thanks, Byron, for the invite.

Jeff H.

Learning the Ins and Outs of the New Weber

2010-09-24T19:32:00.001-05:00

This thing is a freaking OVEN - I have a feeling I'm going to be talking a lot here at the PSMGC about my learning to work the temperature and make good stuff.

Tonight, as we speak, I'm doing my first Brick Chicken on it. I've had good success in the past with the Brinkmann... I'm going to have to learn to work the charcoal zones better. Stay tuned, this tonight may be a disaster.....

Jeff H

Bacon Wrapped Boneless Pork Chops

2010-09-24T06:38:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, I have a new Weber kettle-style grill and hate when a night goes by and I don't get to use it. That's getting expensive, but there are ways to enjoy it without spending a fortune on high-end meat.

Wednesday night I swung by Meijer and picked up three boneless Pork Chops and a pack of store brand low sodium bacon that was on sale. Normally when I make these, I get all the meat, bacon and all, from Fresh Market. This time, mostly out of laziness (ie, didn't want to make more than one stop), I just saved a couple bucks and went with Meijer's selection.

The final product did not disappoint. For starters, I dusted the chops with a thin layer of Pilsen Latino seasonin g from Spice House. Next, I wrapped the chops in the bacon, about three strips each running east to west across the meat until it was completely covered, securing nicely with toothpicks. While the chimney of coal is heating up, leave the meat out to come up to room temp.

My new Weber Performer runs very hot. Granted, I've only used Lump Charcoal with it, which by nature is a hotter running fuel, but even manipulating the flues, it stays pretty hot with a full chimney. I was able to finally get apple wood billowing from the grill and a steady 300 to 325 degree situation. Onto the Indirect Heat, turning once after about 15 to 20 minutes.

About this time, the bacon starts to firm up a bit. I grab a pair of needle nose pliers, and with the tongs in hand, remove the toothpicks one by one. Next, I created a small boat of aluminum foil, removed the bacon from the meat, and placed it into the boat. By now, the grease from the bacon had started to render down into the meat. Mission accomplished on that front, I could now remove it and cook it separately on Direct Heat in the boat, while the chops continued to cook on Indirect and absorbing the smoke.

All in, it took about 45 minutes to finish cooking the bacon and the chops. Once the center temp was at about 145 - kinda hit or miss with thinner cuts of meat, but I used the thermometer anyway with great results - I removed the Pork Chops and tented in a casserole dish with the cooked bacon and bacon grease for about 15 minutes.

Finished product was a panorama of flavors. I had done this recipe before (as you'll notice by my profile picture here on this site), but this was the first time I had done so over charcoal, and this was the first time I'd cooked the bacon fully over Direct Heat.

Give it a try.

Jeff H.

Larry VH's First Brisket

2010-09-22T07:35:00.006-05:00

Homewood's own Larry VH took a stab at brisket for chili - here's his story:

Next Saturday Homewood is having it's annual Fallfest and Chili Cookoff the Homewood guys are into it bigtime. As long as I can remember Chuck M., Hank B., and Dave S. have competed in the cookoff with various degrees of success. I have never been in the competition because I always had to work on the day of the contest. This year is different, Mrs. Stash S., Maureen, asked me to be her partner so that we could show the other guys how to make real chili. We agreed that I would prepare the meat and she would handle the rest of the fixin's.

I have never made a brisket before and I was so happy about how this one turned out I thought I would make some noise about it.

The pictures .... 11 lbs of brisket stuffed with white onions and bacon from the butcher, rubbed simply with salt, pepper, and brown sugar. I used apple chips for the smoke and after about 6 hours wrapped the meat in tinfoil to take it to the finish. I just finished shredding it about 15 minutes ago, I hear a big glass of Vodka calling me and I need to answer it.

Looks like a good first run to me, Larry. Thanks!

Jeff H.