I get to sample a lot of different food in this “job.” (And my waistline is really showing it!) This time of year there are many open houses to which I’m invited and the hosts often ask me to bring something to ’share.’

Here are four of my favorite appetizers to prepare on the grill and that guests seem to just love. Hey maybe that’s why I get invited to ’share’ at so many parties! [NOTE: Please observe that 'bacon' is well represented in this group.]

Happy New Year Grilling!

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Just click on the recipe title to go to the complete recipe that is printable too!

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Created by Ka Honu

Shroom Bombs

“If you like garlic, mushrooms, and bacon (and who doesn’t?) it is Da Bomb”

~ Ka Honu

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Created by Larry Gaian

Larry Gaian’s “Original” Moink Balls

“The key to this appetizer is the simplicity.  Some people want to make fancy meatballs, but it isn’t necessary.”

~ Larry

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Created by CB

CB’s Bite Size Burgers

“Mouth-watering tasty bites of DEE-LISH-US!”

~ CB

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Created by Mike Hedrick

Pirate Mike’s Peg Leg Chicken Drums

“These take a few extra minutes of prepping on the front end – but they are Oh-so-good you’ll want to slap yourself!”

~ Mike

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Q: Help – my propane fueled grill/cooker won’t get hot enough! I swear it worked yesterday – what’s the problem?

B Propane regulators approved for use today have a safety design that restricts flow if a sensor is triggered – indicating too fast of flow. This often happens (to all of us!) when we turn on the propane at the tank and have left the control knob at the cooker ON.

To get things going again follow these simple steps:

1. Turn everything OFF.
2. Disconnect the tank from the feeder hose.
3. Wait a minute or two.
4. Re-connect the hose to the tank.
5. Make sure all control knobs on the cooker are in the OFF position.
6. Turn on the propane at the tank.
7. Turn on the proper control knob at the cooker and ignite according to manufacturer recommendations.

Here’s a post on the subject that also references a page in the product manuals of all Char-Broil propane fueled cookers: CLICK HERE

As I write this post in my neck o’the woods it’s the shortest day of the year. We like to celebrate this somewhat overlooked event within my circle of friends – usually with a shared meal and plenty of laughter – because we know once this short day  engine has arrived at the station the other end of the train is parked at the longest day of the year! When that day arrives in June and daylight savings time is activated, the sun rises very early and sets fairly late – around 10 o’clock at night. (For my friends who live in Alaska and Canada I realize neither of these is any big deal!) If you live in lower latitudes you may not have first hand knowledge of why these events are so important.

December, the last month of the commonly used western calendar, is a holiday time of year.  I find it’s great fun to learn about different folks around the world who mark this same time of year with their own cultural events  – some of which that are vastly different from those I was raised with.  Seems to me the one thing that all of these appear to have in common is sharing food with friends and family. And I can’t argue with that one bit!

If you need some ideas for holiday meals – regardless of which holiday(s) you celebrate – just click on the Search Recipes tab at the top of this page. Here are a few favorites from past holiday posts:

1. Christmas Goose
2. Roasted rack of pork w/rosemary
3. Grilled boneless leg of lamb
4. Lemon & Herb stuffed roasted chicken
5. Cook a 12lb turkey on your grill in 45 minutes
6. Seared duck breast with sweet potato fries
7. Wild caught Alaska sockeye salmon

Whatever and however you celebrate and share this season with loved ones – to you and yours – thanks for inviting me onto your computer screens each week, sharing your recipes, tips and tricks with others on the Users Forums and for providing me with some of the finest memories of my life.

As my Hawaiian friends say in their gentle way – Mahalo and Aloha.

Happy Grilling & Happy Holidays!

The use of that word in modern slang notwithstanding – I ask you quite seriously: “Ever cooked a cougar?”

This past Sunday I was at a great Christmas party (there were carols, silly sweaters, great food and an accordion player – yeah, I know how to live it up!)  where I just happened to casually ask a friend I hadn’t seen in a while about what he and his wife did for Thanksgiving. He reported they’d traveled to the remote Idaho location of his father’s new house. My friend is an architect and he wanted to show me some pictures of the home and location on his iPhone. The home his father built by hand is an elegant design and located in an amazingly glorious natural setting with incredible vistas. I was enchanted by the photos and, almost as an after thought, I asked about their dinner.

You know, something casual  like: “And what did you have for dinner?” I guess I kinda thought he might tell me about the wild duck, pheasant or maybe turkey  they had hunted – I believe these are all fairly plentiful within a few hours drive of the home. His reply stunned me.

“Cougar – two ways.”

I’ll admit to never having heard of anyone eating mountain lion. And because the mascot of the cross state college rivals is a cougar – I just assumed he was talking about a sporting event. uh-uh.

Then he flipped to the next picture on the iPhone and showed me this…

"That's cougar pan frying (l) & cougar braising in apple chutney (r)."

“Mountain lion (cougar) are very common in the area north of White Bird, Idaho and a local rancher shot it with a permit. My dad got some from him and suggested we prepare it in his new kitchen.  One batch we lightly dusted in flour and herbs, then pan seared. And the other was pretty much braised on the stove top in an apple chutney mixture.  Both were really quite good but I think the cougar in flour and herbs allowed the true flavor of the meat to come through a bit more. It was lighter in color than pork tenderloin.  The taste is very similar to pork but a little more gamy and, because it’s so lean, the meat dried out quickly like pork.”

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OK.  I got nothun.

I can’t pass up a bargain in the meat dept.  Since late in the summer one of my favorite local grocery stores has been offering USDA Prime sirloin & ribeye steaks fairly regularly – as the restaurant business has slipped just a bit and the Prime grade beef cuts are generally sold to those outlets. The other day I saw a 2+ pound Prime sirloin roast and snapped it up. When all was said and done it served 6 meals including some tasty sandwiches – so I think the $13 was well spent!

USDA Prime beef is more available to us 'common folk' these days.

Want to know more about USDA meat ratings? Check out What are USDA Grades of Beef all about? in “Just Ask CB.”

Smoked & Roasted sirloin roast resting for 30 minutes prior to carving.

I used a simple seasoning of McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning and patted it in – resting for about 30 minutes or so while the Char-Broil Outdoor Kitchen Stovetop & Smoker warmed up to about 250F degrees. I placed the roast in the smoke chamber with a remote digital thermometer probe inserted to the center of the roast – placed a handful of mesquite-apple wood chunks in the smoker tray and relaxed for about an hour – checked the thermometer and pulled it from the cooker at about 90 minutes and an internal temp of 120F degrees.  I wrapped it in foil, inserted a Polder dual temp analog thermometer in it and placed the bundle inside my kitchen oven set to 200F degrees whilst I prepped the rest of the dinner. The internal temperature had climbed to just about 14oF degrees when I pulled it from the oven, unwrapped and let it rest for 30 minutes before carving. (Want to know a bit more about resting meat and why? Check out these comments on the Users Forums.)

Tasty thin slices of smoked & roasted sirloin are great for dinner entree or for sandwhiches!

I sliced some of the roast as “English Cut” (thin slices) for a meal entree that is also perfect for sandwiches! [Note: The picture is kinda washed out - because the color of the meat was a lovely bright pink-nearly-red.]

The remaining portion I saved as two small-ish (4-5 oz) serving sizes for a variation of Steak Diane prepared the next evening.

This was an elegant meal – easily prepared on a home grill (set up for indirect heat and a smoker box with wood chips) or a smoker.  The results were so tasty and would please your most finicky meat aficionados.  I was fortunate to get a-hold of USDA Prime but I’ve also made this with a USDA Choice cut and had similar results.

Perhaps for a holiday dinner party or maybe a quiet New Year’s Eve dinner for a special someone – this is the meat to prepare and serve!

For more recipes on grilling, roasting or smoking click on Search Recipes.

Thanks and…

Happy Grilling!

I admire folks who head out several times a year in all manner of weather to hunt.  Seems like most of the folks I know hunt game birds like duck, chukar, quail, white wing and pheasant – so my larder will often times have one of these birds.  And I must confess – wild birds are not nearly as tasty to eat as their domestic variety!  Must be because the wild birds are so lean.

But – when it comes to the larger animals like deer, elk, moose, etc. – I just don’t have any sources to get some of this tasty meat.  My friend Norman was a bow hunter for years and, with a little bit of encouragement, he’ll share a story or two of some pretty amazing hunting expeditions he’s had around the world.  Lately he’s been talking about doing some wild pig hunting on the Big Island of Hawaii using a pellet rifle. That sounds pretty darn interesting to me but it’s not putting anything on my table right now! All said and done I don’t think I’d make a very good hunter. I would, I do believe, make a good camp cook!  That just seems to be my kind of activity.

Recently I received an email from reader Nate Teske as he was about to embark on a weekend hunt with his son.  Nate wanted to share the story with me. and asked if I’d be interested.  I emailed back immediately and asked for pictures and a recipe or two.  Here’s his report!

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Hey CB:

Our two days of deer hunting this weekend was poor. That said, my boy Spence said it was his favorite weekend (over the last 2 years) at our cabin.   That made the entire trip worthwhile. That’s a photo of him holding a plate of our secretly famous family recipe we call Teske’s Grilled Venison Backstrap Steaks.  Thank goodness we had some in the freezer!

Here’s our time-tested-sure-fired-mouth-watering- slap-yourself recipe:

Teske’s Grilled Venison Backstrap Steaks

Ingredients:

• Bacon slices-thick hickory smoked is best
• Preferred grilling spices (Steak Rub, Montreal Seasoning or Steak/Prime Rib seasoning)
• 1 chunk of venson backstrap (thin strips of tender meat beneath the loin) sliced to preferred thickness (1″ to 1.5″)

Method:
For this recipe, I keep things simple.

1. After cutting the backstrap into steaks, trim any remaining silverskin off. If this is not done, the venison may have a gamy taste.
2. Then rub your favorite seasonings into the meat. (Not too much as it will affect the wonderful flavor of the venison.)
3. Wrap the steaks (around the outside) with the bacon and secure with toothpicks.
4. When your grill is up to temperature (450F degrees – 650F degrees) and the grates oiled, grill each piece for a total of 8-10 minutes until you reached the preferred doneness. The Teske’s like medium rare, (about 145F degrees internal temp) so I do 2 minutes, then a quarter turn for another 2 minutes. Then flip and repeat.  Let it rest for 5 minutes so the juices don’t run all over your plate. We eat this with baked potatoes and broccoli or green beans.

I hope your readers enjoy this recipe and look forward to hearing about any recipes they have! – Nate Teske (& Son!)

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Hey Spence thanks for sharing your hunting trip with us and the family recipe sounds DEE-LISH-US!

What about you? Share your wild game recipes with other readers of Sizzle on the Grill – in an email to CB@sizzleonthegrill.com or in the comment section below this post.

Thanks! and…

Happy Grilling!

For a printable copy of this recipe just CLICK HERE.

Put these under the tree….and make someone very happy!

Magneto Special Offer

Magneto
Super-strong Magneto products attach to most flat surfaces on a grill. I absolutely love my towel holder and use one on the grill and in the kitchen! Oh, and the hooks are awesome!

This exclusive offer includes:
* Paper Towel Holder
* Coozie Holder With Coozie
* Tool Rest
* Set of Two Clips
* Set of Two Hooks

The individual priced items cost $65.95, purchased separately.

For more information on all the Magneto products and to order this special offer: – CLICK HERE

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Short Order Spatula

Short Order Spatula
There are tools I must have when grilling. A good set of tongs and a great spatula! This spatula is just like those used in your favorite cafe or road-side burger joint. It’s ideal for hamburgers, chicken, chops, steaks, and vegetables on the grill. Use it in your kitchen for eggs and bacon!

The hardwood handle in rosewood finish with built-in hanging loop (works with Magneto hooks!) Short handle for better control when flipping burgers. Head design features raised edge to keep food from sliding off. 430 stainless steel head measures 4″ x 5 1/2″ Measures 15 1/4″ overall. For more info and to purchase Short Order Spatula – CLICK HERE

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Char-Broil High Heat Gloves

Char-Broil High Heat Gloves

I have a pair of these gloves and they are so very useful when working around a hot grill. While not intended for actual “in the fire” use, they protect my hands when I need to move a cast iron pan or adjust a grate and especially good for a number of jobs when cooking with charcoal and in a smoker.

The pair of sueded leather gloves feature:
* Equipped with hanging loops
* Measure 13″L
* One-Size fits all

To order Char-Broil High Heat Gloves - CLICK HERE

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Char-Broil Canister Charcoal Starter

Canister Charcoal Starter
I have not purchased lighter fluid to start charcoal for more than 10 years. Not only does that save me money – it helps my food taste better with no “petroleum” taste.

Just fill’er up with some hardwood charcoal or briquettes, stuff some crinkled up newspaper beneath and set it in place in the grill to light. Voila! Provides hot coals in less than 15 minutes without lighter fluid or electricity.
* Heavy duty zinc-coated can
* Wooden handle
* Metal heat shield
* Holds up to 4 lbs. of briquettes

To order the Char-Broil Canister Charcoal Starter - CLICK HERE

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Everybody Grills! $24.95

Tell Dad to put some real “Sizzle On Your Grill” and give him EVERYBODY GRILLS®!

It’s the award-winning cookbook from Char-Broil with 200 easy-to-follow recipes for grilled and barbequed appetizers, salads, main courses, sides, marinades, and even desserts!

There are more than 250 mouthwatering, full-color photos that are un-retouched photos of food cooked according to the recipe. What you see is what you get!

Hey Now! There’s even one entire chapter by Sizzle on the Grill™ blog host and newsletter author Barry “CB” Martin (whoever that is!) including:
* CB’s favorite tips and techniques for brining, marinating, grilling, and rotisserie cooking that yield juicy steaks, ribs, burgers and chicken
* The differences between grilling, barbecuing, and smoking explained
* An explanation of infrared cooking
* How and why to care for your grill, inside and out
* CB’s list of grilling and BBQ essentials

To order your copy of Everybody Grills! - CLICK HERE

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Want something different? How about a new grill? Check out all of the specials on grills posted in the right-hand column of this page!

Happy Grilling!

Each year about this time I fear the cold weather and the news it will bring. Folks lose power in their homes – it’s freezing – and they bring their outdoor charcoal or gas cooker indoors to prepare a meal and warm the house. The results are not good food but disaster.

Your outdoor grill, cooker, smoker is designed to be used out doors. It does not manage exhaust the same way your gas stove or other appliances do and will produce deadly carbon monoxide. Breathing carbon monoxide will result in disorientation, illness and can result in death. At the very least there is a tremendous fire hazard involved!

So please – don’t bring your grill indoors to cook or heat your house. Be safe!

The communal ritual of gathering round a fire to share food and comfort is intertwined in the history of man on earth. Whatever creed or philosophy you follow – it will be there some place in the records – a story of elders sharing food and passing along the history of the family and community to the young.

Every culture has some form of this activity and I’ve always felt that our modern society gravitates to the backyard to cook over fire because of something deep inside us that actually requires this ritual. So it doesn’t surprise me that  just about wherever I travel if there are folks grilling or barbequing there is a spirit of friendship and warmth being shared and radiating to the surroundings. Even in the most dire of circumstances the very process of gathering round the fire pit to prepare a meal seems to revitalize those who are drawn to it. ~CB

For several years an organization called BBQ For Our Troops has acted on this belief to provide, gratis, literally hundreds of thousands of meals to soldiers and families as a gesture of support and thanks.  Goodness knows the individuals who volunteer to defend our freedoms so that we enjoy our own backyard cookouts deserve something after the long months of separation from their loved ones.

Friday, December 11 – BBQ For Our Troops will be coordinating in partnership with the USO a barbeque cookout for the troops and families of Ft. Hood, Texas.  To be called “Fort Hood: Community Strong.” the all volunteer organization is gearing up to serve more than 80,000 meals.  Let me say that again. They plan on serving more than 80,000 meals.  Here’s a photo from an earlier event that will give you just some idea of what that might look like.

Soldiers and families line up for tasty BBQ at a previous BBQ For Our Troops event.

Our own Mike ‘Pit Pirate” Hedrick is a national spokesperson for the organization and he sent me this information:

CB:

BBQ for Our Troops is dazed, amazed and humbly grateful to announce that the “Fort Hood: Community Strong” event is fully funded through donations of products, services and cash donations — with a week to spare. An abundance of donated goods and volunteers from around the country have poured in to make this a very meaningful and wonderful day for the entire post community of military personnel, military families and civilian members of the Ft. Hood, TX community. The USO estimates 85,000 people will be attending and more than 185,000 meals will be prepared to ensure everyone who wants, can have seconds!

We extend a grateful “Thank You!” to:

The Fort Hood USO for coordinating the event and Gatesville Fire Department for being a collection point for all donated goods. The following businesses called us to see how they could help and have supplied food, spices and support: Tyson, Texas Beef Association, McCormick & Co., Inc., Texas Rib Rangers, Buccaneer Blends, Pit Crew Barbeque and Knox Spice Company.

We’d like to thank all the good folks in the BBQ community who passed along this information to their members and readers to help us raise awareness of our events and generate support in the form of donations: TheBBQForum.com, Char-Broil & Sizzle on the Grill, Jeff Hammond of Fox/Sports and most of all – the generous and caring American citizens from all walks of life who, from all over the country, have responded with generous donations and wonderful things to say in support of the Ft. Hood community.

While the response to the Ft. Hood event is a success – we have several more events in the next 6 months that could still use some assistance (even after-the-fact donations are helpful) to ensure that we can continue to operate as a primarily all-volunteer charitable effort:

Los Alamitos, CA: 40th Infantry Division – December 5th, 2009
Saturday December 5th, 2009 we provided BBQ and support for 500 of our brothers and sisters in the 40th Infantry Division of the California Army Reserve. The Division calls upon hundreds of citizen-soldiers every year to provide emergency services for the state, from hundreds of soldiers to assist in flood relief activities, to dozens of troops assisting firefighters in forest fire operations, all the way down to a single, solitary enlisted person giving up his or her night so that an Armory can be opened to shelter the homeless from the winter’s cold.

Los Angeles VA Hospital: Los Angels CA – December 6th, 2009
BBQ for Our Troops assisted with the Veteran’s Holiday Celebrations at the Los Angeles Veterans Administration Hospital. The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System exists to serve the veteran through the delivery of timely quality care by staff who demonstrate outstanding customer service, the advancement of health care through research, and the education of tomorrow’s health care providers. Happy Holidays and Thanks for your Service!

Army vs. Navy Football: Wounded Warriors Tailgate Party – December 12th, 2009
This Game Day is the only time folks here at BBQ for Our Troops take different sides but, we’ll be coming together to provide the best Tailgating BBQ these Wounded Warriors ever had. The event this year is at Lincoln Financial Field and we are looking forward to enjoying this great rivalry together with these men and women who have sacrificed so much. Del says “Go Navy!”

Christmas Party at Camp Pendleton – December 18th, 2009 - We will feed tasty BBQ to members of the 5th Battalion 11th Marines. Many of these soldiers will depart almost immediately to serve a tour in Afghanistan.

Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center: 29 Palms, CA – May, 2010
We are gearing up for BBQ for Our Troops annual “We Salute You” event where we provide for the entire 29 Palms Marine Corps Base a BBQ Thank You for the job that they have done. We have been going out there since  the beginning of the Afghan war, for nearly 9 years, and have fed many a hungry Marine. Each year we go back to salute them and there are new faces in the chow line right beside those we have seen many times at previous events. We will need a lot of donations and support for this event.

- Peace. Mike Hedrick

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I tip my hat to the people and businesses who volunteer their time, energy  and resources to support BBQ For Our Troops and thank you for taking a moment to read this.  If you’d like more information about BBQ For Our Troops here is a link to their web site.

BBQ For Our Troops.

Happy Grilling!

It always warms my heart when folks share a picture and little story about special meals. Seems that the mister has an allergy to peanuts and they had to stop frying their turkeys…until they found The Big Easy.  Allyson sent me this kind note about their holiday meal...

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Our Big Easy 'fried turkey' and sliced ham.

We loved our Big Easy Fried Turkey again this year.  As you can see it fried up into a beautiful turkey.  It was moist and savory to the last piece.  We did it a little different this year, because of shortness of time, and injected it with Louisiana Creole Butter the evening before.

We needed to carve the turkey next to the sink because it was so juicy!

We have had fried turkey’s before, but since my husband is allergic to peanuts, we could not fry in the peanut oil.  The Big Easy is the perfect solution to our family’s need.

Thank you,  Allyson Browning

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Thank you Allyson for sharing your holiday meal with us.  What’s on your grill this week? Send me a picture and a brief note to CB@sizzleonthegrill.com

Thanks and…

Happy Grilling!