2012 BBQ, Grilling, and Smoking Thread

The other thread is two years old. Time for a new one.

Cooked some chicken legs and skirt steak last night.




The drumsticks were seasoned with garlic powder, lemon pepper, and cayenne pepper.





The steak was seasoned with garlic powder, ground black pepper, and liberal amounts of kosher salt.

As is our tradition, I cooked a leg of lamb (half leg, in this case, because we weren't having any guests) for my wife for Easter.



Seasoned with ground black pepper, some kind of "Mediterranean spice" mix I found in the pantry (with rosemary, oregano, mint, and a bunch of other stuff), and kosher salt. I also stuffed it with about a dozen cloves of garlic.




I also made rosemary potatoes and green beans. My daughter took this photo of her plate.

Lamb is incredibly hard to come by on the Yokosuka base, and when I do see a leg of lamb, it's some five pound fucker that costs over sixty dollars, and I'd have no clue how to get rid of all that much met without having to throw it away.

Not to brag, but this was probably the best one I've ever cooked. I've done good ones before, but this one was just perfect. If all my briskets turned out this well, I'd be a very happy man.

I haven't cooked with iodized salt in years. I either use kosher salt or sea salt in nearly everything I cook. Kosher salt is the essential thing for a good steak, IMHO. It helps create that "crust" better than anything else.

I grew up in a house where there weren't any onions or garlic in our meals because my mom doesn't care for them As a result, I'm also a junkie for both of those things. I could eat onions all day long.

I grill lamb chops for my wife from time to time (I've posted pictures before) and, while I have roasted legs of lamb in the oven, I prefer roasting them in a barbecue pit because of the smoke. It "smooths out" that "gamey" taste that lamb can sometimes have.

Sorry yours didn't turn out so well this year. Try again next week.

Remind me to take pictures for this thread. I keep forgetting.

Seriously though, I BBQed a killer beef steak tonight for the family. Pictures alone wouldn't do it justice.

shootER, do you precook the potatoes?

No, I just cut them up, drizzle some olive oil on them, season them, and then roast them on a foil-covered baking sheet. I poke them with a fork periodically to see when they're done.

I just realized that the difference with this year's lamb was probably the fact that I used oak to cook it. In previous years I used mesquite. Oak has a more mellow aroma/flavor than mesquite does.

I have never had lamb in my life Im lame.

This is a huge problem indeed. :| I'm sorry, but your only hope is to kill a spotless lamb of 1 year old and eat it while you roll around in it's blood. Then go swimming in shark infested waters. Fight off the sharks, and you win.

Oh I feel sorry for you.

But it is not for everybody. There is definitely a strong distinct flavor to it that not everyone will fall in love with.

That being said, it is one of my favorite meats. However, my ex girlfriend said my cum tasted different after I have had it. Take of that what you will.

Only if I can take the Lords name in vain during the event.

Had a frustrating day. Working on my day off, and the shoot didn't go very well. My wife bought some leg quarters, though, so I had work to do when I got home. I called ahead and had my daughter start the fire so I would be that much ahead by the time I got home. That's right, my teenage daughter started a great fire for me.



I'm not a huge fan of grilled chicken, but my family is so I cook it for them. Leg quarters are particularly problematic because it takes time to make sure that the meat is thoroughly cooked in the "joint" area.

BTW, grilled chicken is greatly improved by putting some of this stuff on it. Holy cow, I was sweating but it was worth it. I use that stuff all the time, but never thought to put it on grilled meat until tonight.

I am ashamed to say that my big pit hasn't been fired in over two years.

It sports a lovely green skin from sitting under my big oak and it looks like it's time to lay hands on a welder and make a new seal for the firebox door.

This will change soon!



Ahh glory days....

I think I've asked this before in the other thread, but how do you cook chicken on the grill ensuring the meat is thoroughly cooked, yet not burning the outside? I've tried (more than two years ago now) with the indirect heat, but the coals always burn out before meat is cooked - at least, I think they're burned out. How can you tell?

You've got to have enough coals so the fire lasts for at least 90 minutes, preferably longer. What I do is "sear" the chicken over direct heat for a few minutes (it doesn't work for sealing in the juices like it does for boneless chicken or other meats, but I like how it "crisps" the skin). Then I move it off to the side so it gets indirect heat until it's done, turning it occasionally to make sure it's cooked through. For bone-in chicken, it helps if you close the lid to your pit/grill to hold in the heat during this "roasting" process. Closing the lid not only holds in the heat, but it greatly reduces flare-ups, which are really bad with chicken due to all the fat in the skin.

My daughter's only mistake was building a fire without a "safe zone". With that small pit I was using, I'll pile the charcoal at one end before lighting it, but she had an even layer spread out from one end to the other. I had to fight a lot of flare-ups, but closing the lid helped minimize them.

You could use a meat thermometer to make sure the meat cooks all the way through, but I just go by how the meat "feels" in the tongs. When it's done, it's firm and doesn't have any softness or "give" to it, especially in the joint area where the leg and thigh bones connect. I didn't put a clock to it (and I was drinking beer at the time), but I'm guessing that chicken cooked for about an hour, maybe an hour and fifteen minutes.

I'm going to print that out and put it in my recipe box.

Speaking of chicken, I'm hoping I'll be able to attempt beer can chicken before we leave for the summer. I saw it in the last thread, and it looks delicious.

Are there any beers that work better than others for this, for those of you that have made this?

I don't think I've ever used beer, just wine with herbs and spices.

I think anything other than Blatz or Carling Black Label would do just fine.

I'm doing a lot of cooking for one or two people and have found over the past couple of years that a $30/$40 propane grill works pretty damn well for a lot of things. Of course, for real bar b q like a rack of ribs you gotta go the charcoal route. There's just no way to slow cook on a grill that small.

Oh and check your ethnic food section for Mojo Criollo sauce. It makes an incredible marinade for any meat, although you may want to mellow it out with 25 to 50% orange juice. Another warning....when you open it, you'll think it smells terrible, but trust me on this one, it's awesome!

My roommate used Mojo Criollo for her foods. I use it on sukiyaki meat to make carne asada tacos like I did tonight. I use it straight out the bottle, and if anything I add more lemon juice.

For the ladies in the house or other people without much grilling experience, The Basic Fire:



Coals stacked on one side of the pit, creating a cooler "safe zone" where you can either place meat that's starting to flare up or where you can place meats that need to be cooked with the lid/top of the pit closed.





Just something simple: Pre-marinated beef fajitas that my wife bought a while back and put in the freezer.

Reminds me too much of the destruction of the Enterprise scene in Star Trek III

I love a good hamburger, but I don't care much for cooking them. Forming the patties is tedious, messy work and ground beef flares up as much as chicken does. I think my maxim stating "A sandwich always tastes better when someone else makes it" applies to hamburgers, too.

But, that's what my family wanted for dinner.



I really like how these photos are looking.

My beer can chicken roaster came in today!

...unfortunatly, the Exchange was either out of flavor injectors or don't carry them. There's never ore than two women working in the Home and Kitchen place, and rarely one that knows half the utensils that are used in American homes. So I must wait a week.

But OMG BEER CAN CHICKEN