Spiced Jerk Chicken with onions, rice and noodles. Local food from street vendor in downtown Honolulu. And he prepared it on a Char-Broil!

I began celebrating May Day a dozen years ago when, by chance, I happened to be in Honolulu on business and an associate invited me to the annual May Day Concert at the Waikiki Shell. The Brothers Cazimero were playing and we had a grand time, arriving early to enjoy some local food and the atmosphere.  I was absolutely enchanted by the sight of so many happy people – representing different ages, nationalities and lifestyles – all celebrating something so simple and fun in a very friendly and easy-going atmosphere.

Colorful Flower Leis for sale at May Day booths at Kapiolani Park on Lei Day.

One of my favorite memories is of a father playing the ukulele for his infant son. The man was Samoan and if you know anything about the Samoan culture, you can immediately recognize this wonderful image that I describe.  He was big, really big, about 3oo lbs or so and solidly built with plenty of muscle. He was wearing a colorful wrap cinched at the waste and was bare chested.  The full-sized ukulele looked like a child’s toy held in his massive arms.  He was wearing many  flower leis around his neck and atop his long, black hair. His voice was pure and sweet as he sang and softly strummed the ukulele to the delight of his cooing son. Man, no doubt about it – that was a dad who inspired me – what a good experience that was!

Last year I was fortunate to participate in a successful attempt for the Guinness Book of World Records at Kapiolani Park in Honolulu.  The World’s Longest Lei was created and strung together by volunteers and we spaced ourselves about the perimeter of the vast green playing fields of the park.  Holding up our sections of the lie we cheered as the helicopter flew overhead to record more than a mile of flowers strung together in the spirit of Aloha!

This year I’m gathering with friends to enjoy some close-to-home stay-cation time and preparing our own Hawaiian-style meal.  Here are some recipes to inspire you for your next luau!

CB’S EZ GRILLED AHI TUNA

CB’S EZ HULI-HULI STYLE GRILLED CHICKEN

GRILLED ASIAN WINGS

GRILLED BEEF TRI-TIP WITH TROPICAL FRUIT SALSA

GRILLED FISH IN FOIL

GRILLED MAHI MAHI WITH SWEET ONIONS AND GARLIC

GRILLED MARINATED TUNA STEAKS

GRILLED PINEAPPLE WITH COCONUT & MACADAMIA NUTS

SPICY PORTUGUESE BEEF STEAK KABOBS

TERIYAKI-MARINATED BEEF STEAK

THAI-STYLE HALIBUT ON SKEWERS

TROPICAL PORK CHOPS WITH ISLAND SALSA

TURKEY TERIYAKI

Happy Grilling!

Chef Aaron Shanchez.

We are so fortunate to have amazing guest chefs who share their diverse backgrounds in cooking styles. Read about them on the Writers & Chefs page. We’re adding more all the time, so check back often.

This week I’m highlighting (*) several recipes from long-time contributor, Chef Aaron Sanchez.  He’s well-known for many TV appearances and is celebrated as a master of spicy flavors.

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo next week I’m grilling something spicy for my guests  that I’ve found in the Char-Broil recipe files!  I’ve highlighted several for you to consider.

TACOS DE CARNE ASADA/ROASTED BEEF TACOS *

BISTEC DE PALOMILLA/BUTTERFLIED STEAK *

CB’S EZ FAJITAS (GRILLED FLANK STEAK WITH GRILLED SWEET ONIONS, PEPPERS AND CORN)

FIESTA BEEF RIB EYE STEAKS

GRILLED YUCATAN PORK STEAKS

SANTA FE SALAD WITH GRILLED PORK TENDERLOIN

SOUTHWESTERN-STYLE GARLIC GINGER TURKEY WITH MANGO GLAZE

SPICY LIME AND CILANTRO TURKEY FAJITAS

Happy Grilling!

Nothing says spring like a race at Talladega!

Race Fans gather round the Char-Broil Grilling Team for some fun in the sun at Talladega!

The Char-Broil INfrared Tour had a great time with race fans this past week – over 200,000 fans came to the Speedway to catch the race – and get in on our “Juicy Little Secret!”

Fellas always seem to be interesting the infrared!

Heading to Nashville this week for the TACA Spring Fair in Centennial Park – and hope to see you there!

Check out the 2009 tour schedule CLICK HERE

I thought it would be helpful to many to show the steps taken to prepare the sirloin steak for the BBQ sauce taste test.   I practice the “Sear & Hold” method when grilling steaks. This cook was simple and basic.

1. Prep the steaks with sea salt and ground black pepper about 30 minutes before grilling.

Steaks were seasoned with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper - then spritzed with canola oil and placed on the grates to sear.

(more…)

A few days ago I posted a story on being requested to try some bottled bbq sauces. As promised – I set up a blind test with some friends over the weekend and chose sirloin steak as the meat for the first tasting. Sirloin is flavorful, but not too, and mostly muscle – so it would make a good ‘medium’ with which to test the flavors of the sauces.

Here’s the related post on grilling the steaks: Grilled Sirloin Steak for the Taste Test.

We decided to taste 3 sauces from Buccaneer Blends:  Sticky Rum,  Honey Mango and Mesquite.

Here’s the tasting plate:

Sauces (l-r) Sticky Rum, Honey Mango, Mesquite. Sliced sirloin, grilled to medium-rare.

We served the sauces warm.  Not heated, but they were opened fresh from the bottle.  When food is either too cold or too hot, the actual flavors are masked to the taste.  We wanted to be fair and allowed both the steak and sauce to be at room temp so we could put our tastey-buds to the test.

The first thing I noticed was the sauces weren’t gloppy. They had body but weren’t a big ol pile of thickness.  I like that because it indicates to me they are a good balance of ingredients.  We sampled the sauces and here are some of the comments I wrote down:

“Nice smokey flavor – I can taste the meat and I know you didn’t smoke it so the smokiness must be in the sauce. But it’s not too strong, just right.”

“Ohhhhh. I like this fruity flavor. I think it would be awesom on chicken or pork ribs!  CB please make some ribs so I can taste this on them!”

“Wow – this has a good body and really compliments the steakflavor.  I’m not sure what that is – but I like it.”

OK.  So my friends were immediately won over.  Actually so was I.  The Honey Mango will be used as a glaze on some ribs and chicken I’m going to barbeque this weekend. And the Sticky Rum was a winner in my book.  The bottle of Mesquite must have been pretty special – because I noticed it had gone missing about the time I realized Tom had left without saying good-bye.

First round verdict: Good sauces.  Well-balanced texture and flavorful but not over-powering, very complimentary to the meat.

I’ll update you with more results next week!

Happy Grilling!

If you are a regular reader of this web log then you may already know I think if a body is gonna prep a piece of meat overnight with rub, marinade or brine – then smoke and/or slow cook it for 8 – 10 hours – that it better taste pretty darn good all on it’s lonesome! And to my way of eating a prime cut of steak, lamb or fish – requires nothing more than a little sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and maybe a hint of butter to finish it.  So off-the-shelf bbq sauce – loaded with additives, corn syrup, and artificial this’s and that’s, for my tastey buds, is not something I pour on meat I’ve grilled, smoked or barbequed. That said I am a big fan of BBQ sauce on sandwiches and burgers. And I’ll readily admit for some recipes a good BBQ sauce when lightly applied as a glaze during the final minutes of cooking can really make the meal.

Buccaneer Blends™ is a sponsor of the 2009 Char-Broil Grilling Tour

When I do serve sauce, it’s either home-made or one of the few store-bought labels I trust, and it’s generally served on the side as a little flavor enhancement for ribs, brisket and even pulled pork.

Therefor I know it was with some trepidation that Linda (the Char-Broil Summer Grilling Tour Sponsorship guru) called and asked me to accept a package of sauces from one of the tour sponsors – Buccaneer Blends™.   She must have had a direct cell number for the mail man because no sooner did I agree (And for the record I usually try to agree with Linda – she can whip you!) there was a knock on the door and the postman presented me with a box containing a variety of the Buccaneer Blends sauces.

Over the next couple of week I’m staging some tasting parties with several friends who enjoy bbq sauces and  several who don’t – to try out the flavors they sent and give you a report:

Honey Mango

Fra Diavlo

Mesquite

Pirate’s Original

Swashbucklin’ Spicy

Sticky Rum

Apple Maple

I’ll keep you posted!  Hey – here’s an idea: If you’ve tried Buccaneer Blends sauces, please drop me a line and tell me what you think?

Happy Grilling!

Some time ago I became aware of an online group of enthusiasts who use some pretty fancy devices in their back yards to smoke meat, bacon, fish, veggies and anything else that is edible. The members of this group hail from all over and come together to share recipes, tips and tricks about their equipment and proudly show pictures of their efforts.  Sometimes they’ll discuss a failure and seek input from fellow members. Hey – it kinda reminds me of our own Sizzle on the Grill Users Forums!

It seems these smoking aficionados have begun using The Big Easy as the final stage for smoking turkey, chicken, beef, pork and some tasty looking appetizers.  I wrote to one of the fellas who posted and asked if I could feature some pictures of his cook.  He said he’d be honored (Obviously he’d never heard of me or he might not have used that particular word!) and this post is a brief description of his cook with tantalizing photos.

(more…)

Rebecca, Tara and J know the secret.

Do you know the Juicy Little Secret?

Last week was a great launch for the 2009 Char-Broil Infrared Tour with an exciting weekend at ‘Thunder Over Louisville’ in Louisville, KY.  More than 700,000 people came to Waterfront Park and stopped by to learn about the juicy little secret!

This week the Infrared Tour is heading to Talladega for the Aaron’s 499. Hope to see you there!  Get the tour schedule CLICK HERE

Temperature is the critical factor to master and use for successful outdoor cooking. Regardless of the method (grilling, BBQ or smoking) or the equipment used – cooking food at the right ‘external’ temperatures will help you cook food to the best ‘internal ‘temperature and your food will be cooked ‘properly.’

That word ‘properly’ is a dynamic word.  The USDA guidelines have taken into consideration food safety issues, and believe-you-me: You can always be thankful when the restaurant you dine at has strictly adhered to these! But individuals have different tastes and desire food to be prepared to a very personal interpretation of what is considered “done.”  Therefor ‘properly’ is both a food safety standard and a personal choice.  I try to make recommendations in my posts and recipes that follow the USDA guidelines. If you ever see that I’ve deviated from these standards please bring it to my attention so that I might:

1. correct the error!
2. explain why I purposefully worked outside the guidelines
3. correct it and explain!

To prepare this helpful list of temperature recommendations I checked with several members of the Sizzle on the Grill Guest Chef brain trust to get experienced feedback. The best advice I can give is to idenitfy these temperatures as ‘guidelines’ for cooking that you can adapt to your own techniques, recipes and even the weather conditions. (That’s right, when cooking outside the weather will play a role in the temperature of the burner. So a setting for say, 300F degrees in July might need an adjustment in November to achieve the same approximate grate temperature.

Outdoor Cooking Temperature “Guidelines”
Low & Slow: 225F – 275F degrees – using indirect heat and measured with an oven or hood thermometer
Roasting: 325F – 425F degrees – using indirect heat and measured with an oven or hood thermometer
Grilling: 400 – 450F degrees – using direct heat and measured at the grate
Searing: 450F – 650F degrees – using direct heat and measured at the grate
Incinerating: 650F and above – not suitable for cooking except for searing meat very very VERY quickly!!

Happy Grilling!

______________________________________________

Here are some additional posts with information about heat, temperature and technique you might find useful:

Temperature is One Important “TIP” to Cooking Great Tasting Barbeque

How to cook different cuts of beef.

Cooking Pork: Temperature Guidelines

BBQ & Food Safety

Is it Done Yet?

The Perfectly Prepared Grilled Steak

“Sear & Hold” for Great Tasting Results

It’s all about HEAT!

Do you ever just get the ‘hungers’ for something?

You know – a particular taste memory gets into your brain and you can’t stop thinking about it?

Lately I’ve hadda ‘jones’ for some smoked pork sandwiches. I’ve been dreaming about smokey pork, sliced all nice and thin and served on a toasted baguette – maybe with butter and garlic or maybe mustard.  Yeah – I dream about food.

I guess visualization works because this weekend I was shopping at the market and found a 3lb pork loin roast that was pretty even in shape. (Sometimes when a roast is tapered at one end it results in uneven cooking.) The scene in my mind was like those cartoons where the coyote looks at the bird and envisions it as a roasted chicken.  I saw sliced smoked pork for sandwiches. (more…)