Did you get any new tools or other “toys” during the holidays? I sure did! A new Big Easy Smoker-Roaster-Grill. After only a few cooks I’m beginning to think this may become my “go to” cooker for all types of food preparation. This infrared cooker is affordable and takes up a very small foot print on the deck, lanai or back yard patio.  And it can perform a number of cooking tasks – all quite well – which is good!

The Char-Broil Big Easy Smoker Roaster Grill - more versatile 100% infrared.

The Big Easy has become the favorite “turkey fryer” for thousands of folks during the past 3 years – replacing the expensive and often risky practice of frying turkeys and chickens in hot oil.  The Big Easy uses 100% infrared in the cooking chamber to ‘fry’ up to a 16 pound turkey without any oil.  The end result is moist and tender meat with crispy skin.  The TBE, as it’s commonly called by enthusiasts on the Users Forums, has also become something of an experimental cooker – with folks using it to prepare a variety of food that no one at Char-Broil even thought of when the cooker was designed to replace hot oil turkey frying.  (Check out some of the conversation about this product on the Users Forums – and get tips on how to increase your skill-set and performance of just about any outdoor cooker made by Char-Broil.)

Inspired by the many uses folks were inventing for the original Big Easy, the folks at Char-Broil developed a new product aptly called the Big Easy Smoker-Roaster-Grill. This cooker has taller and sturdier legs, a bigger cooking chamber and several new features which expand the use of the cooker to include grilling and smoking.  Just like the original Big Easy the “SRG” generates 100% infrared energy in the cooking chamber to roast larger chickens, beef and pork roasts to a finish with a crispy crust and moist interior. The SRG also has a specially designed grate that covers the opening at the top of the cooking chamber to convert the infrared and convection heat to high temperature grilling.  A hinged lid also can be used to cover the cooker while slow cooking and adding smoke to flavor the food roasting in the cooking chamber. (more…)

That headline is kinda misleading. While the picture  at the bottom of this post clearly shows a bacon-wrapped pineapple on what appears to be a rotisserie spit, Tommy actually cooked this tasty looking treat in his Big Easy oil-less infrared fryer – but it will cook just as easily for you on your grill using a standard rotisserie spit, in the event you don’t have a Big Easy.

Tommy "B"

Tommy “B” the creative fella I tapped as the first “Big Easy Oil-less Infrared Turkey Fryer Chef” for the Users Forums has been playing with an idea I had some months back when it seemed just about all the conversations on the Users Forums were about wrapping bacon around this-or-that. meat before smoking or grilling. Bacon-wrapped mushrooms were the favorite food item to experiment with and many different variations were tried … most were successful.  So I posed the question: “What would bacon wrapped pineapple chunks taste like?” My first attempt was a dismal failure but Tommy figured out a way to do it.  Evidently he kept playing with the idea of pairing up bacon and pineapple, behind the scenes, because this past week showcased his efforts on the Users Forum with this post.

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Bacon-Wrapped Whole Pineapple w/Bourbon Glaze

Well after all the talk about pineapple in TBE I just had to try it to see if it would work. Now a few lessons learned on this cook. (more…)

People do love their wings. Of course if you don’t know what I’m talking about it could be that you love “Wangs.” Regardless of how you say it or where you hail from – one of the favorite foods to prepare on grills and outdoor cookers is wings, er wangs….er drumettes.

Here are a couple recipes you may want to play around with:

Reader Recipes: cookiecdcmk “Hot Wings” original recipe

Grilled Hot n’ Sweet Wings

Suzie’s Hot Wings

Reader Recipes: Rob’s No Mess Atomic Wings

Or you may just want to use the word ‘Wings’ in the Search Recipes pull down menu that you can access by clicking HERE.

Want some tips on the best method of preparation on your grill? Head on over the the Users Forums to check out the various posts on the topic of preparing wings. If you don’t see an answer to your question – sign up and post it in the appropriate board, you’ll get some help from folks who cook on your grill or, at the very least, have some good ideas.

Have you got a favorite recipe for wings? How bout a tip for preparing wings that you know will help others? Share it in the comment section below or send it to me in an email, even better if you have a picture!

Thanks and…

Happy Grilling!

A recipe for Sloppy Joe's with a Big Mac as the main ingredient? Well, you know that they say...."It takes all kinds!" (Photo Food Network)

You gotta know at least one person in your life – be it family, friends, at church or work, who says this:

“It takes all kinds….”

And their voice kinda trails off without finishing the sentence. Oh heck, we’ve all said that phrase or, at the very least, thought it quietly to ourselves when we see something that is so extraordinary to our personal way of thinking the only “nice” comment we can make is:

“It takes all kinds….”

I think we say or think this when confronted with situations we find either odd, silly or even a bit weird and uncomfortable. Mostly we use it to avoid being negative and as an attempt at taking a higher road than one of harsh judgment. Often it’s accompanied by a shake of the head, a wink of the eye or a knowing look. Well – especially because I read hundreds of emails and web posts each week on the subject of outdoor cooking – just about every day I run across something that just absolutely generates this same response.

My experience today that generated this response was reading a recipe posted on a well-known food television network web site that uses McDonald’s Big Macs as the main ingredient for making Sloppy Joe’s – I know, I kid you not!  And the best part is the recipe was attributed to the celebrity chef they feature as most ‘health conscious.’  (What? You say you don’t believe me? CLICK HERE to read the recipe!) While I’m sure someone must like that choice of ingredient and  preparation but – as for me and my house – you know what they say:

“It takes all kinds….”

When I recovered from my laughing fit – I decided to start something new and (hopefully) fun for readers.  How’s about you find your favorite recipe or cooking accessory, etc. that may or may not be weird, funny or quite possibly your REALLY like but acknowledge that most folks, upon hearing about or seeing it for themselves, would be inspired to shake their head and say:

“It takes all kinds….”

Let’s have some fun! Keep it to food please and send your nominations to: CB@SizzleOnTheGrill.com I promise to publish those judged by me to be ‘family friendly.’

Thanks and…

Happy Grilling!

These 3 words: ‘Brine. Inject. Rub.’ when tossed around in conversation or a recipe can be extremely confusing to the person just getting started in outdoor cooking. And believe me – even with years of experience, they are the cause for many a ‘friendly’ disagreement amongst outdoor cooking enthusiasts!

If you are just getting started or even if you’ve been around the fire for a while -  I’ve ‘plucked’ some recipes and tips from two of the regular and well-respected members of the Users Forums that may contribute to improve your outdoor cooking skills and experiences.

Brine.

We’ve covered the topic of brining chicken and pork quite extensively here -  Brining & Marinating – and in multiple topic posts over at the Users Forums. [Note: If you have questions about which meat to brine, how long to brine, and what should go into a brine - then I recommend you do just a little bit of ground work here at Sizzle on the Grill and read some of my posts, then reference some of the discussions at the Users Forums. If you still have questions - register and post them on appropriate boards at the Users Forums.]

Savannah Smoker is a retired military pilot who competed in barbeque contests for years. He’s graciously passing along some of his ‘winning’ recipes to readers of Sizzle on the Grill. Some of his recipes don’t necessarily use measurements – that’s because the cook is expected to experiment and adapt the recipe to a personal style. The word ‘Mohunken’ has several good uses and its meaning is best defined by the context. For example: “That’s one Mohunken mountain!” is a good way to use the word to describe Mt. Everest. Or, “Man, you shoulda seen it – the waiter brought out this Mohunken plate of fried pickles!” is a good way to describe both the size of the plate of fried pickles and imply what the gut-ache musta been like the next morning. Because if there are that many fried pickles involved there are also, most likely, some large quantities of beer involved.

Here’s a brine recipe for pork that SavannahSmoker swears by:

SavannahSmoker’s Mohunken Pork Brine Recipe

Injection.

Some folks prefer to use a specialty tool that looks like a big ol’ hypodermic needle to inject flavors and moisture into meat – often in addition to brining -  and most often to enhance the flavor of a lesser quality cut or to by-pass the marinade process.  With the injection technique you can position flavor enhancing ingredients in specific areas of a roast or bird using the flavors you most enjoy. And you can mix & match.  The same Thanksgiving turkey can have  “herbed butter” parts and  “cajun” parts!

LostArrow is an experienced outdoor cook who is comfortable smoking, grilling or roasting food on his deck in the back yard or at deer camp.  Here’s a tip that he wrote on using the injection technique with poultry that may be of help to you:

How to inject a “bird” Lost Arrow
I usually both brine & inject poultry (time allowing). I use a simple brine with water kosher salt & sugar to keep the bird moist & an injection to flavor the meat. Injecting the bird will flavor much of the meat.

I insert the needle fully into the area that I want to ‘flavorize’ and with a finger pressing on the spot where the needle enters the meat (to prevent leaks) I  inject the mixture as I slowly withdraw the needle – hesitating at short intervals to inject. Then without removing the needle, or using the same hole if I need to re-fill, I direct the needle into a different area through the same puncture, and repeat the slow even injections, pausing as I remove the needle. Then I massage the area of the injection to spread the fluid & wiggle my finger over site to seal. (This realigns the meat fibers & plugs the hole.)

To fully flavorize poultry, because of size variation I generally use this guideline: repeat 2 X at different locations on each breast & thigh for chicken & 4X for turkey.

This is an injection recipe created by Savanna Smoker that he recommends for either pork or poultry:

SavannahSmoker’s Mohunken Pork Injection Liquid Recipe

Rub.

There are as many recipes for rubs as there are combination of spices and taste buds in the mouths of outdoor cooking enthusiasts. You can purchase a rub ‘off the shelf’ at most grocery and food stores or you can concoct your own – to suit your tastes. Take a look at some basic rub recipes in the Sauces & Rubs section of the Char-Broil recipe files. Here’s another competition winning recipe from Savannah Smoker for pork rub:

SavannahSmoker’s Mohunken Pork Rub

As with all of the recipes presented in Sizzle on the Grill – I urge you to experiment with the ingredients to suit your own style of cooking and to find the combination that pleases the palates of you and your guests!

Happy Grilling!

The stainless steel emitter and grates used in the patented Char-Broil Quantum® cooking system need to be seasoned prior to the first use.  If you’ve already seasoned them and haven’t repeated the process or if you overlooked that step when you purchased your grill last year – now is a good time to give your grill a thorough cleaning to remove all of the grime and any rust that may have formed due to neglect or forgetfulness and get ready for grilling this year.

The patented Char-Broil Quantum® infrared emitter & grate system.

To optimize cooking performance of the Quantum infrared grilling system you need to season the infrared emitters and grates just like a you do a cast iron skillet. This is most important as they are designed to operate at peak efficiency when seasoned so this process will improve cooking performance, make cleaning easier and inhibit rusting.

Brush Hawg Stainless Steel Scouring Pads

Step One
If you have already used your grill – make sure the grates and infrared emitter plates are clean. Remove any grime or burned on materials by soaking in warm water (I sometimes add a touch of vinegar) and use a lot of elbow grease to scour it off. I use the Brush Hawg Stainless Steep Scouring Pad for this job.

Step Two
Dry the grates with a towel and immediately coat all surfaces of the Quantum® Cooking System (Grates and Emitter plate) with vegetable oil. I recommend either peanut, safflower, cottonseed or canola. If you use a spray, which is easier to use, wipe down the Quantum® Cooking System after spraying to ensure an even coat.

Step Three
Replace the emitter plate and the grates in the grill cooking chamber, light the burners in the grill and leave it on the Medium-High setting with the hood closed for 15 – 30 minutes, or until the vegetable oil burns off and stops smoking. Turn off the burners and allow everything to cool.

Step Four
I always repeat the process.

What you will achieve by adopting this process and staying with it!

The shiny finish on grates and emitter should now have a very dark brown or bronze color. Your grill is now seasoned and you are ready to cook. The more you use your Quantum® grill the better it will cook. The more properly seasoned the cooking chamber becomes you will discover your grill will cook hotter and more evenly. A light spritz of high temperature tolerant vegetable oil after each use (once the grill has cooled) will keep the surfaces seasoned and help prevent any rusting – just like a quality cast iron skillet.

Make it a habit to clean your grill after each use. Follow the instructions in the product manual and keep it clean.  You wouldn’t cook using a dirty pan so don’t cook on a dirty grill. Proper seasoning is NOT leaving food and other crud build-up on the grates!

The next time you plan to use your grill with the Quantum infrared system, before starting the burners wipe the grilling surface with a cloth that’s got a bit of vegetable oil in it. This should remove any debris that may have accumulated while not in use  – then pre-heat your grill and start grilling some of the juiciest steaks, chops and other meat you can ever enjoy. You’re grilling infrared and that’s our Juicy Little Secret!

So, the three basic steps are:

1. Make sure to season your grill prior to the first use. Coat all cooking surfaces with a high temperature vegetable oil. This can be done with a spray, brush or cloth. Heat the grill at a Medium-High setting with the hood closed for 15-30 minutes until there is no more smoke.
2. After your grill has cooled again wipe down or spray the entire cooking surface. This will coat the metal and provide a barrier to help reduce surface rust.
3. Prior to cooking again wipe down with an oiled rag. This will help remove any debris that may have accumulated.

Want to read more tips and tricks or have a question about your  Char-Broil grill with the Quantum infrared grilling system? Check out the many topics on the Quantum board at the Users Forums.

Want to learn more about the Quantum infrared grilling system? Check out this  short video: CLICK HERE

Happy Grilling!

I saw this marinade recipe for preparing beef brisket on one of those really popular recipe free-for-all web sites that are open to the public….and I shuddered.  The reason? To my way of thinking the ingredients in this marinade first destroy the product flavor and texture and then re-constitute it with phony flavor substitutes.

Here’s the recipe:

FOR THE MARINADE
1 whole Lemon, Juiced
1 can (10.5 Oz. Can) Beef Consommé
8 teaspoons Dried Onion Flakes
4 teaspoons Beef Bouillon
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
½ teaspoons Celery Seed
5 cloves Garlic, Minced
¼ cups Red Wine
¼ cups Soy Sauce

First off – the acids are a big problem. There are three in this recipe.

1. Lemon Juice
2. Red Wine
3. Soy Sauce

I wouldn’t normally categorize red wine as an acid – because I don’t generally use alcohol as a marinade, instead I prefer to incorporate it into the finishing sauce.  When you combine wine with the lemon juice it turns to vinegar – so acid it is.  Acids tenderize – actually acids break down the proteins and sugars in the food. Leave meat too long in the marinade with that much acidic content and you’ve nearly got mush.  All of this acid doesn’t have a counter balance for flavor.  I expect the meat placed in this marinade will come out tender, oh yeah, so tender you could eat it without teeth!

Next is the use of added beef flavor to flavor a beefy tasting cut of meat.

1. Beef bouillon (dry)
2. Beef consommé (canned)

Both of these products have a limited place in a kitchen that needs shortcuts.  Although I’m not a fan of their taste (the canned consume is never that good, really is it?) I can certainly see how they can be short-cuts on a busy night. But when you are taking the time (several hours in the case of this recipe) to marinade – why add them? What positive impact could they have on a cut of beef that is – well – a cut with the quintessential ‘beef’ flavor? I’ll tell you why they are here.  If you use that much acid and destroy the texture and leach the flavor out of the beef – then you need to add some flavor back in it. The end result is not a true flavor of that particular piece of meat but a homogenized version of beef. Think steam-table taste.

Too much salt!

If you added up all the salt in the bouillon, consommé and soy sauce – oh man, you’ve got a whopping amount of salt going on. And it’s not the good flavored salt, it’s that insidious hidden “sodium” that only adds to hypertension not flavor!

The spices are, well, poorly chosen.

• Dried onion flakes AND onion powder? Why not just chop up some real onions folks? It’s cheaper and the taste is real!
• Celery seed? Are we making corned beef here or grandma’s soggy brisket?

Fresh Garlic.

At last the recipe makes some sense!

But it needs more.

In fact, how’s about you just take about a dozen cloves of garlic and smoosh them all up with some kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper – mix them in a little grape seed oil and rub it all in nice and good on the brisket?  Forget the rest of it!

Slowly & indirectly cook that beautiful piece of beef in your smoker or grill at about 195F degrees for a couple hours with some hickory or mesquite (or other wood you like) for a little touch of smoke flavor to it. After about 2 hours wrap it  really tightly in some foil and continue to cook until the internal temperature is 195F degrees as well. Remove it and place in an insulated container (an empty oven, cooler or even a microwave will do) – still in the foil and wrapped in towels to rest for an hour or two.

That brisket is gonna taste like beef. The real beef flavor of the meat. The connective tissue and collagen will have rendered and flavored it like you can’t believe. And it’s gonna be so tender — but will have what I call a good “tooth” to the bite. Not mushy, not tough, but a good “tooth.” And the garlic-salt-pepper will combine with the smoke to make a tasty crusty surface that you will savor in each cross-grain thinly sliced piece.

Oh yeah baby! That’s what I call DEE-LISH-US!

Happy Grilling!

Full disclosure:

Laura is one of my favorite people in Georgia.  She’s funny, a talented designer and a great mom. And she loves to cook!  We often exchange cooking tips via email so, when she posted pictures of a recent ‘bacon-wrapped’ cooking adventure, I asked her to share the details. Just so happens she cooked this meal on the Electric Patio Caddie…how bout that!

Happy Grilling!

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Bacon-Wrapped Jalapena-Stuffed Quail

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeños Stuffed Quail

CB, I’m so excited! I finally get a mention in Sizzle on the Grill!!! Thanks for asking about these little beauties.  They were actually quite easy and oh-so-tasty!

Some friends of mine went on a quail hunt and I asked what they were going to do with the birds. That evening they brought me 5 dressed and ready to go! These little birds were as fresh as fresh can be! I researched quail recipes and found a few that I morphed together (I have a problem actually following ANY recipe 100%.)

I preheated the Electric Patio Caddie to 350F degrees while I mixed together about 1/8 cup generic steak seasoning, 1/2 tsp chili powder and 1/4 tsp garlic salt to rub on the outside of the breast. I halved the jalapeños from stem-to-tip and scooped out the seeds. Placing sliced peppers in the underside of each of the butterflied birds and wrapped the little legs around to hold them in place before wrapping the whole bird in thick cut bacon to keep them moist while cooking. I skewered the birds together to make them easier to flip and threw them on the clean, hot grill. I left the birds on there for about 25 minutes and probably could’ve taken them off sooner – even though they were STILL incredibly moist and tender.

Jalapeños Poppers

These were so good CB. I have never had quail on the grill – only in fu-fu recipes at fancy restaurants. I think I may smoke them next time… low-and-slow… to see how they do. Watch out Big Boy, I’m gonna be giving you a throwdown challenge the next time you’re in town! ~ Laura

PSsst: I had some extra bacon and jalapeños peppers so I stuffed the pepper halves with cream cheese and wrapped them with bacon before roasting on the grill too! What’s that word you use? Oh yes! DEE-LISH-US!

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For a printable version of the recipe CLICK HERE.

Friendly debates abound amongst members of the Users Forums. Pick any food group and pair it with a cooker – ask for a recipe or technique and you will most likely start a conversation that ranges from the technical to the esoteric. It’s just one of the ’side’ benefits to taking a look-see at he various product boards and topics.

Recently the conversation between some regular users of The Big Easy oil-less infrared turkey fryer turned to the subject of “Moink Balls.” A friendly conversation became a ‘Throw Down’ between three very creative and competent cooks. The original Moink Ball was created by our own Guest Chef Larry Gaian and it’s pretty simple.  This contest allows for some ‘creative interpretation’ of the basic recipe and, while none are technically genuine “Moink Ball” material – they look DEE-LISH-US!

Happy Grilling!

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Just click on any of the pictures posted below that feature the three entries and you r browser will open a new page of the contest topic board.

Winged Moink Ball "TMB" style

Moink Balls – (Mighty Tasty Balls)

It's not a "moink" ball it's a "bouink" ball

The voting ends on Friday, January 15 at midnight. Results will be posted on Saturday, January 16th after I’ve had my coffee! ~ CB

You may have some interest in using a cast iron Dutch Oven to prepare meals outdoors. This series of videos produced by the Texas Parks & Wildlife may be helpful to you and serves and a great introduction to outdoor cooking with cast iron. The host is an amiable fella who shows some basic recipes including Texas Cowboy Egg Pie – er,,, Quiche Lorraine for those of us non-cowboys.

Happy Grilling!

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Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.