Charcoal briquettes.

Labor Day weekend marks the kick off to the college football season in most parts of the country – one of the biggest reasons to tailgate with friends and family whether it’s at home or in your own backyard. In fact, Americans love Labor Day cookouts so much that they fire up more than 55.8 million pounds of charcoal. This year, don’t put your grill away on Labor Day; keep it out for game day all season long to extend the summer fun.

Top 10 Cities for Labor Day Weekend Charcoal Use

City & Pounds of charcoal used

1. Los Angeles – 2,585,845
2. Chicago – 1,510,639
3. Houston – 1,357,731
4. San Antonio/Corpus Christi – 1,326,020
5. New York – 1,193,400
6. Atlanta – 1,147,297
7. Dallas/Ft Worth – 1,119,805
8. St. Louis, Mo. – 1,057,567
9. Baltimore, Md./Washington D.C – 951,129
10. Birmingham/Montgomery, Ala. -  865,977

Stacks of bags o'charcoal briquettes - pix by BBQGrail.com

How Heavy is 55.8 Million Pounds of Charcoal?

It’s the weight of more than 16,185 Sprint Cup NASCAR racecars! Plus, Americans use enough charcoal on Labor Day to go around the Talladega Superspeedway, the longest NASCAR oval, more than 464 times.

Think the Statue of Liberty is heavy?  Americans fire up more than 124 times the weight in charcoal of Lady Liberty on Labor Day.

Enough to Pack a Football Stadium

The amount of charcoal used on Labor Day is enough to…

• Cover more than 113 football fields.
• Fill the seats of the largest college football stadium (Beaver Stadium in University Park, Penn.) 32 times.

More Food for Thought

• The charcoal sold during Labor Day would measure up to more than of 224 times the height of Mt. Everest.
• The number of bags of charcoal used on Labor Day would measure up to more than 3,769 times the height of the tallest building in the United States, the Willis tower in Chicago.
• On Labor Day, enough charcoal is sold to fill more than 28 Olympic-size swimming pools (2,489,603 cubic feet of charcoal).

Thanks to our friends at Kingsford® Charcoal for these fun statistics.

Char-Broil CB940X - the classic backyard grill!

To learn about charcoal burning grills and cookers available from Char-Broil: CLICK HERE

Welcome to the cook-out!

“Huh?” I did a double take befitting Elmer Fudd in a Bugs Bunny cartoon and said: “Poach them first?”

He went on to describe a technique of lightly poaching, just a few seconds really, the shucked oysters in boiling water with aromatics in it, then immediately removing and plunging into cold water.  This firms them up, making it easier to dust them with flour or wrap them in bacon after drying them off.  I tried it. It worked and it got me to thinking. What if I cooked the bacon a bit prior to wrapping it around the oysters, scallops or steak?

NOTE: there are several brands of thinly sliced center-cut bacon available which work very well as wraps. I happen to prefer a brand of apple-smoked uncured bacon and it’s pretty thickly sliced.  So this post may be over for you if you buy that microwaved bacon or the center cut stuff!

Here’s what I did – perhaps it will inspire you to adapt it for your own cooking.

Thick slices of apple smoked uncured bacon in Dutch Oven, covered and placed in oven on warm --- about 1 hour while doing other chores around the house. Bacon throws off water and fat --- but isn't fully cooked. Remove bacon, drain and store in tightly sealed container in fridge for bacon sandwiches, morning breakfasts and use to wrap steaks, scallops, etc.

I wrapped a piece of the partially cooked and cooled bacon around a steak cut of beef tenderloin. I like to use cotton string because it kinda shapes up the steak and makes it uniform for cooking. Cotton string will not melt in the oven or in most grilling situation will not catch fire due to absorbing moisture from the meat.

I roasted the steak. That's right - roasted it. I placed it on the warming rack of the grill on the opposite side of the burner - and closed the hood. The steak roasted at about 400F degrees for 15 minutes and then I seared the ends on the hot grates. The bacon rendered and crisped - because it was already half-way there. The steak was juicy and had a nice crust on it. You can do this on just about any grill or cooker - gas, electric or charcoal.

I think this worked very well for me and I’m very interested to hear from you about any tricks or techniques you use to accomplish these same kind of results.  Do you have comments, questions, concerns or thoughts you want to share about this post? Take a moment to post in the comment section below (your comment will not appear immediately if it’s the first time you’ve made a comment.) or send them to me via email: CB@SizzleOnTheGrill(dot)com I also encourage you to join in the conversation at the Users Forums an active “community of outdoor cooks.”

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cookout!

CB prepares beer can chicken on the grill - before & after

For some time I enjoyed making beer can chicken in the oven, grills and smokers. BUT once I began using The Big Easy oil-less turkey fryer and The Big Easy Smoker, Roaster & Grill to prepare chicken this way — I haven’t turned back.  Infrared roasted chicken or turkey is simply DEE-LISH-US!   But, and I’ll be 100% honest about this, I never really got the beer flavors in the chicken. I could not taste it. After each cook I’d inspect and it appeared that most of the beer was still in the can.  I confess that, just between you and me, I started tipping the chicken over as I removed it from the can, in order to spill the beer inside the cavity of the chicken to ensure there was beer flavor – because I thought I was doing something wrong!

Earlier this year the conversation about Beer Can Chicken started up on the Users Forums and some members chimed in on why they thought it was better to cook beer can chicken than just about any other way, while others took the opposite view. Well – perhaps a recent test which attempts to maintain proper scientific method controls to perform and evaluate this technique will maybe-kinda-sorta be the last word on the subject. Or not.  After all what fun is it to always pay attention to facts?

My friends at the Naked Whiz gave me permission to re-post this excerpt to introduction their more extensive post about Beer Can Chicken, representing their methods, test results and conclusions.  Take a look – and make up your own mind. Or – you can always just spill the beer inside the chicken when removing it from the can, like I do, cause that does taste pretty darn good!

Do you have comments, questions, concerns or thoughts you want to share about this post? Take a moment to post in the comment section below (your comment will not appear immediately if it’s the first time you’ve made a comment.) or send them to me via email: CB @ SizzleOnTheGrill dot com

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

~~~~~~~~

Sunday, August 22, 2010
Beer Can Chicken, We Hope For The Last Time….

Ok, we took the challenge again and re-did some of our testing, as well as adding some new testing. You can read all about it on our web page, Beer Can Chicken, Myth or Fact?.

What was the new challenge? Well, some folks said they can make the beer boil, so we felt we needed to try a few new things. We tested using different devices such as a cheap metal pan, porcelain chicken sitters, and a pricey Weber device made from heavy aluminum. Yes, we found you could make the beer boil in these devices with no chicken in place, so we then added a chicken and re-did our test of “beer vs. no beer.”

When we did our previous test, we used an expensive porter, but we didn’t document the brand. So some skeptics thought we should try a better beer. We used a strong and intense Imperial Stout (Czar Imperial Stout from Avery Brewery), added crushed garlic and tons of a strong rub. We cooked two birds side by side on two chicken sitters, one empty, one with the beer mixture, and then submitted them to blind taste testing.

The results? You’ll have to read the web page. Whether or not you choose to use this method of cooking chicken, you will find some useful information. Good luck, whatever your choice!

- TNW

~~~~~~~~

Here are two recipes for this technique – you may want to check out:

CB’s EZ Beer Can Chicken in The Big Easy

Drunk Chicken

Sear. Grill. Smoke.

Lamb Chop or any red meat - prepped by rising to room temp, seasoned with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper - placed on the hot grates to sear.

The chop has been seared on both sides and grilled on the fat flap --- to render and brown. Now it's ready to finish off of direct heat. I dropped some wood chips through the grates of my RED Urban Grill. You can also use a smoker box of a smoke bomb made of foil-wrapped chips. I use dry chips because I've never seen barbeque professional use wet wood for smoke.

The chop is on the side of the grill turned to LOW - on grates over wood chunks (Apple, Cherry, Mesquite) that are smoking and will add a layer of flavor over the grilled brown flavors on the meat surface.

Wait. I guess there is one more step that is critical…

Eat.

Do you have comments, questions, concerns or thoughts you want to share about this post? Take a moment to post in the comment section below (your comment will not appear immediately if it’s the first time you’ve made a comment.) or send them to me via email: CB @ SizzleOnTheGrill dot com

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

I’ve received numerous emails and read posts on the Users Forums about how to create this style of grilled steak at home on the grill. Ahem. The bad news is – “You can’t.” Well, not exactly. Even the highest setting of a Char-Broil infrared grill will not be as ridiculously high as hot steel outta the forge. The good news is – “You can approximate Pittsburgh style on a grill.” Well, not exactly. You need a cast iron griddle or a skillet placed on the grates and the temperature needs to be in excess of 650F degrees. In some circumstances this is possible using a charcoal fire or one of the new Char-Broil infrared grills like the RED, Heatwave or Quantum infrared grills.

But what if you like a crusty brown seared surface and don’t want the steak raw in the center?

The Beef Council and USDA recommend you cook beef steak to at least 145F degrees internal temperature. That’s Medium-Rare. When cooking on a traditional gas grill you can achieve a decent sear and crust – but cooking long enough over direct heat to get  to that internal temperature may over cook the surface of the meat and dry it out.  Cooking over a hot hot hot charcoal fire is faster but wow, that’s a lot of charcoal to get enough hot coals to prepare steaks for a dinner of four adults!  So I prefer to use one of the new Char-Broil infrared grills to sear steaks and chops and produce a tasty brown crusty surface with a medium-rare interior that is still very moist.

That’s the catch-phrase don’t-cha-know: Infrared. Grilling’s Juicy Little Secret! An advertising slogan and claim that,  in my experience, is very true.  But I’ve wasted enough of your time chipping my lips on this subject – here’s the tip.

1. Super heat the very clean grates to at least 650F degrees – or higher in good warm weather.

If you have the capability of managing the actual width of the grates on your grill – some grill grates have two sides: one kinda thin and one kinda broad – I recommend you use the broadest grate you can find.

2. Dry the meat thoroughly – remember: “Dry sears and wet steams.”

Salt the meat and rub it in. The brown crust you desire is a product of what food scientists call the “Maillard Reaction” and our grandmothers simply referred to as “Browning.”  The Maillard Reaction occurs best when the meat is dry and slightly salty.  Trust me – it does and I can’t explain it any better than that.

3. Don’t bother spraying, wiping or otherwise applying oil on the grates before you heat them or once they are hot.

To my knowledge there is no food-safe oil that will not immediately incinerate (turn to smoke) when applied to grates that are hot enough to sear – mostly above about 375F degrees but for good results I go with above 450F degrees.  Likewise – don’t bother applying any oil on the meat either – the same reason.

By the way – did you realize that when you apply all but a few cooking oils to the grates – if the oil doesn’t smoke immediately as you apply it, it suggests you are grilling too cool for true grilling?

If you are grilling meat at temperatures less than 375F degrees then you are not getting hot enough to sear the meat and may as well be cooking using indirect heat – roasting.  AND if you apply most any cooking oil to the hot grate that is higher than 450F degrees it will immediately smoke and burn away – so that is a wasted step!

Applying a very light coat (as I call it “a spritz”) of high temperature neutral cooking oil like peanut, canola, safflower or such to the surface of the dry meat will help to ensure the heat conductivity of the grates is fairly evenly distributed to the meat.

Oil on the grates and oil on the meat does not make either slippery and that’s not the purpose of it.  Proteins align at certain temperatures according to the types of proteins they are and when the proteins align the will release from the hot pan, griddle or grill grate.

4. Use tongs to place the room temperature, dried and lightly salted meat on the grates.

Where it hits – it sits. don’t move it but do test the cooking time by using the tips of the tongs to gently lift the edge of the steak to see if the proteins are cooked to the point of release. When the steak is seared in places where it comes in contact with the grates – and the proteins are ready, they will release.

If you are adept at the super hero power of seeing through walls, doors and such – and can visualize where the meat has been in contact with the grates and where it is not – using your tongs to firmly grasp the meat….every so slightly move it and adjust it so the areas that have not been in contact with the hot grates are.  Once again leave it alone!  Like mom used to tell you kids in the back seat on long road trips: “Don’t touch!”

5. Ask yourself the question: “How done do I want this steak?”

If you are pretty certain you have grilled one side by the slight adjustment and the entire surface of the meat has been in direct contact with the super hot grates – you may not need to grill the other side on direct heat.  After all – only one side will be facing up when you present it.  If you want to finish the steak off of direct heat by placing it “un-grilled” side up in a pan or tray on the warming rack and away from direct heat, you can finish the steak to the internal temperature you desire. Remembering the USDA recommendations, of course. (How’s that Mark?)

When the steak reaches a few degrees below the desired internal temperature you have determined is the level of ‘done’ you want – remove it from the tray and place on a serving plate. Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes or so, to enable the muscle fibers which contracted during cooking and squeezed out juices to relax and re-absorb those juices. If you allow the meat to rest after cooking – you will be happy with each moist mouthful of tasty steak.

Here's a picture of what your steak may look like when using this technique. This is actually a 10 oz. veal chop I grilled the other night. Crusty brown surface with lotsa complex flavors created by the browning, er "Maillard Reaction, and cooked to the doneness I prefer. The surface of the chop isn't perfectly flat so the searing isn't either. And I don't routinely press down on meat that is cooking on the grill.

Do you have comments, questions, concerns or thoughts you want to share about this post? Take a moment to post in the comment section below (your comment will not appear immediately if it’s the first time you’ve made a comment.) or send them to me via email: CB @ SizzleOnTheGrill dot com

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

CB's variation on insalata caprese with ... huh? What are those ingredients? (see below)

The classic construction of “insalata caprese” is, essentially, four ingredients:

1. freshly picked and sliced garden tomatoes – still warm from the morning sun.

2. freshly made buffalo mozzarella cheese sliced into rounds nearly identical is size and thickness to the tomatoes

3. freshly pick leaves of basil snuggled between and around the first two ingredients

4. rich extra virgin olive oil drizzled onto the entire plate of tomatoes, cheese and basil.

OK maybe, just maybe add some freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of exceptionally wonderful and, of course, authentic – aged balsamic vinegar.  But only if you are a radical!

In the appetizing picture above I played around with that list of simple ingredients to please my mood and taste buds…

“Grilled haloumi cheese, sliced fresh tomatoes, prosciutto ham, fresh basil all drizzled with Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil and aged balsamic vinegar and a couple of twists of freshly ground black pepper.”

Start the dish with tomatoes freshly picked from the garden, selected at the farmer's market or the best you can find - use a sharp knife to cut into relatively thin slices.

Choose leaves from a basil plant - yup that's right - freshly picked from the plant. Or at the very least from stems you've purchased at the market. Please don't use dried basil flakes!

NOTE: For this recipe I used Yanni Cheese - a brand of cheese made in California. They supplied the cheese to me - but it's not pricey and available in more larger grocery stores and many specialty shops.

In place of the traditional buffalo mozzarella cheese – which is delightful when fresh and made in the artisan tradition – use haloumi cheese and grill it first. You can do this the night before, if you must – but the combination of the fresh tomatoes and basil with the warm and toasty flavors of the haloumi cheese are wonderful and truly add to the pleasure of eating this dish!

How to grill Yanni Cheese aka “haloumi” cheese.

1. It comes in a package that is sealed and refrigerated. Remove from the package and “unfold” it – you’ll have two equal-sized pieces.

Wipe off any excess moisture on the surface of the cheese and place the slices directly onto clean grill grates that are preheated to Medium-High (375F – 450F degrees)

2. “Where it hits – it sits!” Don’t even try to move it until you see the edges of the cheese start to brown where they meet the hot grates. Test lifting it with your fingers – careful, it’s HOT on those grates and you can burn yourself if you are cavalier about it!

The cheese is almost ready to turn or remove from the heat when you can see the edges start to brown - getting all toasty like when the cheese melts outta your grilled cheese sandwiches and browns just a bit on the hot fry pan!

Use your fingers to gently lift the cheese off the grates – if the proteins are browned enough it will lift relatively easily — but you may want to use a thin blade spatula that is lightly spritzed with canola oil – to gently slip and work under the cheese.

Keep the blade flat on the surface of the grates and not at an angle so it gets under the cheese before you turn it.

Grill the other side if you like – but not necessary if you have good grill marks on the cheese and it’s warmed all the way through.

If you don’t trust yourself to manage one more session of the cheese on the grates you can place the sear-marked cheese in a tray on the warming rack to finish warming completely.

3. Once the cheese is grilled to your satisfaction – remove it to the cutting board and use a sharp thin blade knife to quickly trim the cheese into irregular bite-size pieces that show off the grill marks.

Yanni Cheese BROWNED in sear marks. I used the wide side of my porcelain-coated cast iron grates and they were a bit too hot. More than the medium hot (450F degrees) I recommend in this post. The toasting marks were tasty but only because I cut everything into smaller and irregular pieces.

Choose a non-reactive serving platter or plate and assemble the sliced tomatoes, pieces of prosciutto (or thin sliced ham – heck even good luncheon meat will work!) with the basil leaves and place the pieces of grilled cheese atop in a manner that will ensure your guests can use the serving spoon (of forks like in my house!) to load up a sliced tomato, basil leaf, prosciutto ham and a piece of grilled cheese into a big bite!  Drizzle the assembled ingredients with a very good quality extra virgin olive oil. While I strongly recommend to not use EVOO for grilling – it’s rich complex flavors are perfect for adding flavor to grilled meats and salads.  For this dish I used an extra virgin olive oil made with Kalamata olives because I like the fruity flavor of the oil and it pairs nicely with the saltiness of the prosciutto and the toasty goodness of the cheese .The sweetness cues of the tomatoes and basil are different … and work together in your mouth with the other flavors and textures to create a sensation I call: DEE-LISH-US!

CB's Insalata Caprese with Grilled Haloumi Cheese & Prosciutto.

I think this dish could use your creativity and use many different ingredients to add new flavors to it – and expand it’s use on your menu.  For instance a grilled sardine would be an excellent fish to add to this. I’m preparing several plates to take to an outdoor dinner party this weekend and I think on one I may use anchovies in place of the prosciutto! Or how’s about some slices of grilled avocado? In place of the tomatoes you could use grilled grapefruit – cantaloupe – pineapple – even apples!

What changes would you make? Share your thoughts in the comment section below or email me pictures of how you make this!

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

Corn grilled to caramelize the natural sugars in the corn.

There are many experienced outdoor cooks who enthusiastically jump in to help with a wide variety of questions and that alone is a good reason to check out the Users Forums now and again.

The other reasons are the recipe ideas that kinda just get casually tossed out there in a post, mostly as an aside.  You may be reading a post about, oh – I dunno, smoke-roasting a turkey in The Big Easy Smoker, Roaster & Grill and the conversation will stray a bit and one person will post, in an off-hand way, a recipe for something they prepared a day or two before. I read them and often-times they simply blow me away.

Last week John – aka “LostArrow” on the Users Forums – posted this simple to prepare and oh-so-DEE-LISH-US! summer dish that you can serve hot or chilled.  I hope you try it…maybe play with the ingredients a bit…and make it part of your regular outdoor cooking menu!

Say – if you have a recipe or tip you’d like to share – post it in the comment section below, send me an email with it attached or – better yet – sign up for free on the Users Forums and add it there when the spirit moves you!

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

________________________________

Grilled Corn Salad – Serve Hot or Cold

Hey CB – On our drive north from Mississippi to Chicago we stopped for the night in Mt. Vernon, Illinois – located smack dab in the middle of corn country. Everyone we asked gave us the same recommendation: “Go eat dinner at the 9th Street Grill. Well, what can I tell you? – the locals really knew their stuff and so did the kitchen!  We enjoyed a n excellent meal and each of our dinners came with a wonderful side dish – fresh corn that was first grilled and finished in a sauté with other garden fresh veggies. What’s that word you use all the time?  DEE-LISH-US!

Chopped bell pepper, purple onion and freshly grilled corn.

We were just about the last people in the restaurant, it being pretty late (8 o’clock) for farm country folks – so I asked if I could talk to the chef about the corn dish.  He was very gracious – like most good cooks who enjoy making people happy with the food they serve – sharing with me the basics of the dish.

Step One: Use fresh corn picked that day.  Shuck it and grill it on medium-high to mildly char the kernels and caramelize the natural sugars. Remove from the grill and allow to cool before slicing off the cob “sheets” of the corn.

Step Two: Sauté sliced or chopped onion, bell pepper (any color will do, I used orange  cause it was handy – but I bet red or green would look nice in contrast) in vegetable oil until just starting to soften a bit.

Quickly sauté corn & veggies.

Step Three: Add the freshly shaved corn to the sauté and season with salt & pepper to taste. The chef also gave me this tip – he uses a touch of  Lawry’s seasoning in the mix to add a complexity to the flavors. Sauté until thoroughly heated but don’t over cook – as you want to serve the dish so the vegetables retain a reasonable “crunch.”

Serve in a large bowl for family style or plate according to your meal. This is very easy & really good. I bet members of the forum will come up with their own variations of this dish using veggies from their garden and spice flavors to suit their own tastes.  I hope you enjoy!

LostArrow
Full Member – grills & smokes like someone who knows what they are doin.

Tailgating – it isn’t just for football anymore!

I call this line with more than 100 kites a "stairway to heaven."

This past weekend we took a short road trip to the International Kite Festival at Long Beach, WA. Thousands of kites in the air. All at once! This annual event draws kite enthusiasts, both fliers and lookers, to watch competitions, amazing acrobatic stunts, demonstrations of huge as well as miniature kites and take advantage of the day-long on-shore winds this time of year that are perfect for flying kites.

The little place we stayed was located at the edge of the dunes and I parked my rig, opened the trunk and within just a few minutes had the grill ready set up and ready to cook.  On the menu were shrimp two ways: 1) seasoned with garlic and pepper and 2)  prosciutto-wrapped.  Oh – and some garlic bread we picked up at the store.  Nothing special and everything could be prepped on the spot.

Let me start with the view. I believe an important aspect of tailgating is setting up to enjoy the view. Either it’s the parade of folks in the parking lot, there to celebrate and enjoy pre-game activities – or it’s the natural scenery.  I had both – er, if you call a line of riders on horseback a hundred yards distant in the dunes a parade!

I sat on the tailgate of my rig to enjoy the parade of riders on horseback traverse the sand dunes, whilst the shrimp were on the grill.

Preparation was simple - one cleaned and dried shrimp placed on one thin slice of prosciutto - wrap. Repeat.

Cooking was easy too! Spritz prosciutto wrapped shrimp with canola oil, place on Medium High grates - listen to the sizzle - use tongs to turn!

The shrimp cooks inside the prosciutto wrapping, the ham crisps up just a bit. Plate with sauces of choice, I used squeeze of limes remaining from the beverage hour.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Store-bought garlic bread heating on the hood of the grill.

After dinner the grill was cool and I collapsed the supports before stowing in the back of my rig. Easy-Peasy!

Too often the set up and preparation for a tailgate or picnic meal takes far too long relative to the amount of food and the time spent enjoying it!  This little portable infrared grill from Char-Broil was a no hassle grill to store in the back of my rig – keep food cold in one of the standard issue insulated cases, and keep cooked food warm!

We’ve prepared several meals on the Grill2Go ICE as has Mike “Pit Pirate” Hedrick. He loves it for steaks. I love it for the convenience and for being a swell cooker for just about anything I want to grill!

What and when to you like to grill ala “tailgating?” Post your answer in the comment section below.

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

Beef Chuck Short Ribs

“Beef short ribs are cut from the chuck and plate primals. A full slab of short ribs is typically about 10 inches square, ranges from 3-5 inches thick, and contains three or four ribs, intercostal muscle and tendon, and a layer of boneless meat and fat which is thick on one end of the slab and thins down to almost nothing on the other. There is a variety of ways to butcher short ribs. The ribs can be separated and cut into short lengths (typically about 2 inches long), called an “English cut”, “flanken cut” across the bones (typically about 1/2 inch thick), or cut into boneless steaks (a style recently introduced in the U.S.A. as a cheaper alternative to rib steak).” – Wikipedia

I’ve written several posts over the years about cooking short ribs – all of which have pretty much used the flanken cut.

CB’s Hawaiian-Style Short Ribs

Girls on a Grill Grilled & Braised Short Ribs

Mr. Jig’s Braised & Grilled Short Ribs

Julie Reinhardt’s Kalbi-Style Short Ribs

CB’s Short Ribs on a “Dark & Stormy” Night

This week my local grocery store butcher offered short ribs in the boneless steak style.  It took all of about 2 seconds for me to scoop up a package and take them home and before I got to the check-out stand I decided to marinate to enhance the natural flavor and layer of flavors by grilling and glazing for the final dish. Here’s what I did:

I wanted lot's of beefy flavor and marinated the meat for 3 hours in unsalted beef broth, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of ginger and 1 tsp of cumin. (1 hr per pound)

After marinating for 1 hour per pound, I removed the meat from the marinade and dried each piece thoroughly. "Dry Sears & Wet Steams"

Placing the lightly spritzed with canola oil meat on clean, hot grates for searing (500F degrees or higher on your grill) - "Where it hits it sits!"

After a few minutes of grilling with the hood closed, the tapered ends or thinner parts of the meat began to show 'beads of sweat" on the top surface. Heat on the bottom cause moisture to move up - and it gathers on top - indicating it's time to blot the moisture and turn. If the meat has cooked properly on the hot grates, the proteins will be seared and "release" from the grates with virtually no sticking.

The meat seared on side one, I blotted away the moisture and turned over to the second side. Remember "Dry Sears & Wet Steams" and I want sear marks on the meat because that brown is a complex form of tasty flavor.

After a few minutes, before the second side "released" from enough searing, I began brushing on a light coat of BBQ Sauce. I wanted to add another layer of flavor to the surface of the meat that would react well and balance the seared areas - plus compliment the marinade that was inside the meat. When the second side was seared, I removed the ribs to a sheet of foil, glazed again with sauce and covered lightly to prevent cooling - to finish to 145F degrees internal temperature.

I presented the Beef Chuck Short Ribs fully seared, glazed and cooked with chopped scallions on a single plate for home-style service. That's a picture of what I call "Tasty on a plate..."

Do you have questions about this cut of meat, the method or technique? Post it in the comment section below (first timers your comment will not appear immediately until approved – a cautionary step to prevent spam-bots from taking over!) or post your question, recipe or tips for cooking this cut online at the Users Forums.

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!

You see, while I have always prioritized eating together as a family – even if it was just the two of us – I won’t claim to have always offered the best food choices.  More often than not there was a healthy plate of complex carbs, fresh green veggies and lean protein. But, yes – I also relied upon McDonald’s and pizza delivery on more than one occasion when I used the excuse of feeling too tired or harried to do my job of presenting a balanced meal on the plate.  So it’s with some personal sense of having waffled on this topic that I read this story in the online edition of the Chicago Tribune:

~~~

Recognizing that few people comply with the national dietary guidelines, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is launching interactive programs on its website to make it easier to plan healthy meals as well as interactive tools that the USDA’s Dr. Robert Post can serve as a “coach to keep people on track.”

The department this spring challenged game designers, computer programmers and students to come up with games and mobile applications to promote healthy eating and exercise. “We opened up all of our USDA nutrition data to applicants to see if they could come up with apps to help people eat better and get more physical exercise,” Post said.

Recently the nearly 100 submissions were unveiled to the public. Concepts include “Revolting Vegetables: Eat them Before they Eat You” and a “Healthy Kid Maker” that challenges players to feed a 9-year-old girl healthfully.

People can try them out at

www.appsforhealthykids.com

and vote for their favorites through Aug. 14.

The public and a panel of judges (including Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, and Zynga CEO Mark Pincus) will determine the 12 winners, who will be awarded a total of $60,000 in prizes at a White House ceremony in the fall.

~~~

If you have children, grand-children, nieces , nephews or just have an interest in encouraging kids to make good choices about food – using food facts and appealing to their use of modern technology as well as good old fashioned efforts made at the family dinner table – you may want to check this out and play your part in helping to decide the winner.

And help me do a better job of presenting good food choices here at Sizzle on the Grill by sharing your thoughts, requests, tips & tricks along with recipes and photos of your meals here. Just send them to me via email: CB at charbroilgrilling dot com.

Thanks and…

Welcome to the cook-out!