BBQ Tips
Talk of the Table – Grilling with Family and Friends
THE ART OF CONVERSATION AND DINING REDISCOVERED
During the seven years that I lived in Germany, we enjoyed the special occasion treat of the Swiss tradition of raclette. We would painstakingly prepare platters of carefully cut medallions of the top cuts of beef, meticulously sliced vegetables, and very select cheeses. The stone raclette grill would be slowly heated and we would grill the delicacies, eating them with tiny red potatoes and rustic bread. We'd then pour the obligatory melted cheese over the bread – divine!
While raclette grills are available stateside, I discovered the ease of using my electric griddle. Because of its portability, nonstick surface, and easy clean up, we were able to make what was only a special occasion meal become part of our regular family dining.
I've battled health issues most of my life, losing both legs below knee due to circulation issues from Scleroderma. In 2010 I was diagnosed with lung cancer. Although we were always conscientious of eating healthy, this propelled us into a new level of healthy eating. An emphasis of whole foods, forgoing the prepackaged processed foods. Table grilling, as we have come to refer to it, became an even more oft event. It's difficult to cook to the tastes of all of your family members and table grilling is a way of everyone preparing their own food to their own taste.
I love entertaining and it's become a tradition to invite friends over for a night of table grilling. Quite often I hear “Are we table grilling again soon, it's so delicious!?” More often than not, after my guests leave, they want to purchase their own table grills to share the fun and delicious table grilling experience with their own family.
It's because of prompting from friends and family that Talk of the Table™ was created. My hope is that you and yours may benefit from our experiences, tips, recipes, ideas, and top quality grills and accessories (coming soon!) and create your own tradition of table grilling.
Thank you and I look forward to seeing you here often!
Christi Hoehn
EASY SHRIMP TACOS
Serves 4-6
A fun and easy table grilling meal is shrimp (or chicken) tacos. Mini corn tortillas are perfect for the table grill, allowing everyone to cook their own tasty filling. Precooked shrimp are best – allowing you to focus on a quick marinade and getting a nice sear on the grill. Pair the tacos with your favorite salsa, creme, southwestern corn mix, and Mexican rice.
1 lb of precooked 26/30 shrimp
2 T Olive oil
2 T fresh lime juice
1 t ground cumin
1 t chili powder
1 t garlic powder
1 t oregano
1/2 t salt
black pepper to taste
Mix together and marinate shrimp for up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
Mini corn tortillas
Prepared salsa or homemade
Shredded cabbage or lettuce
Optional Ingredients:
Green onions
Chopped cilantro
Creme or sour cream
Mexican style rice
Black bean and corn mix (frozen section – thaw and heat on grill)
Sliced avocado
Lime wedges
Sliced jalapenos
On the table you'll need some oil of choice (we use coconut or olive), shredded cheese of choice, bowls of whichever sides you choose, sauces, and seasonings. Guests all need a non-scratch grill spatula. Keep tortillas covered. Set grill temperature to 400F. Grill small portions of the vegetables and shrimp at a time using just a slight drizzle of oil (no oil is really even needed). Experiment with your favorite combinations – you can even grill the cheese and make a “shell”. Tortillas should be heated on both sides and be slightly browned. Top with your favorite sauce, cabbage or lettuce, avocado, and a squeeze of lime juice. You can easily make them vegetarian by using the black bean and corn mix, seasoning and searing it on the grill and topping it with your favorite toppings.
Want to boost the smoke flavor—even if you don’t have time to fire up your smoker? Add one of the following smoked ingredients.
Ingredients That Add Smoke Flavor
Bacon: Everything tastes better with bacon. Wrap lean foods, such as shrimp or chicken breasts, in bacon for grilling. Grill or pan-fry bacon until crisp and crumble it over whatever you’re serving. Use bacon fat for sautéing or basting. In the best of all worlds, you’d make your own bacon or use a good artisanal brand like Nueske’s. Most inexpensive bacon uses injected smoke flavoring, not real wood smoke.
Chipotle chiles: Smoked jalapeños from Mexico. This is one of the rare foods I prefer to buy canned. Canned chipotles come in a spicy marinade called adobo. A teaspoon of adobo in addition to the minced chiles will electrify any dish.
Ham: Like bacon, smoked ham is a great way to add rich, smoky, meaty umami flavors to any dish you can think of. Wrap asparagus stalks in speck (Italian smoked prosciutto) for grilling. Add diced cooked smoked ham to mac and cheese. And slivers of smoky Virginia ham in red-eye gravy.
Lapsang souchon: Tea leaves are dried over pinewood fires to make this smoked black tea from the Wuyi region in Fujian, China. Use for teasmoking; add to brines and marinades. Makes great smoky iced tea. Freeze that tea with a little lemon and sugar, then scrape it with a fork to make a refreshing granita.
Liquid smoke: There’s no substitute for wood smoke, of course, but liquid smoke—a natural flavoring made by condensing real wood smoke in a sort of still—does give you a distinctive smoke flavor. Available in several flavors, such as hickory and mesquite, it’s especially useful for barbecue sauces. Use sparingly—a dash or two goes a long way.
Mezcal: Tequila’s cousin, mezcal is made from fire roasted agave cactus hearts in the hills around Oaxaca. It gives any cocktail an instant smoke flavor. Sprinkle a few drops on grilled oysters or in smoked tomato salsa.
Pimentón: Use this smoked paprika from Spain to add a smoke flavor to dishes not easily cooked on a grill—scrambled eggs, for example. I also like to substitute pimentón for the paprika in barbecue rubs.
Rauchbier: Smoked beer is traditionally from Bamberg, Germany. To make it, the malted barley is dried over a wood fire. Makes interesting beer-based cocktails and barbecue sauces. Melt grated smoked cheese in rauchbier for the ultimate cheese fondue.
Scotch whisky: One of the world’s most distinctive whiskies, Scotch is made by drying malted barley over a smoky peat fire. The best single-malt Scotches come from Islay Island off Scotland’s western coast. My favorite brands are Laphroaig (the smokiest), Lagavulin (distinguished by its finesse), and Bowmore (remarkable for its caramel sweetness). Indispensable in a Blood and Sand cocktail. Add a few drops to heavy cream with confectioners’ sugar to make a smoky whipped cream.
Smoked cheese: The best grilled cheese I ever tasted was smoked mozzarella grilled in lemon leaves at the restaurant Bruno in Positano, Italy. I like to grate smoked cheddar into mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. Popular smoked cheeses include cheddar, Gouda, and mozzarella. Learn how to haysmoke mozzarella and cold-smoke ricotta.
Smoked salt: A no-brainer seasoning for steaks, chops, and other grilled meats, and a great way to put extra smoke flavor into barbecue rubs. Two brands I like are dark Danish Viking Smoked Salt and Alaska Pure Alder Smoked Sea Salt.
Have you tried any of these ingredients to add smoke flavor? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or Instagram!
The post Don’t Have a Smoker? Ingredients That Add Smoke Flavor appeared first on Barbecuebible.com.
Flavors,Homepage Feature,News & Information,smoke,Smoke Flavor
By: Daniel
Title: Don’t Have a Smoker? Ingredients That Add Smoke Flavor
Sourced From: barbecuebible.com/2021/06/29/ingredients-that-add-smoke-flavor/
Published Date: 06/29/21
Did you miss our previous article…
https://amazinghamburger.com/grilling-tips/nashville-hot-cauliflower/
Morning All:
Did another slab of beef ribs today…used some Kosher salt & a rub mixture of 3 parts Dizzy Pig Game On, 3 parts DP Raising the Steaks & 4 parts Turbinado Sugar (a mixture I've used on the past couple of briskets)…Just on the Egg indirect with a dome temp about 300 with a couple chunks of cherry for some added flavor…
Since I was late getting them on the Egg (about 3:15pm) & I don't like eating after 8:00pm, I ran the Egg about 350 for most of the cook & took them off after about 3 hours with IT over 200 everywhere I checked…wrapped in foil while I grilled the corn…
Sliced & looking so tasty…
Added some corn on the cob & Kathy put together a fruit salad for a DELICIOUS meal…
As I said — That was GOOD!
EggHead Forum
By: SSN686
Title: Now that was GOOD…
Sourced From: eggheadforum.com/discussion/1227787/now-that-was-good
Published Date: 05/04/21
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The slopes are the place to be in the wintertime, from Mammoth and Big Bear in Southern California, to Big Sky in Montana, to Stowe, Vermont, and many places in between. Even Mankato, Minnesota, has a ski resort. (Don’t believe me? Google Mount Kato.)
Snowboarding, skating, and sledding are options, of course, as is cross-country skiing. What all these activities have in common is they get you outside and moving. An added advantage is that all are relatively safe to practice while the pandemic is active, being both social and independent pursuits. In other words, it’s easy to maintain safe distances between yourself and your mates.
As a reward for getting off the couch, we propose an outdoor après ski party. Pronounced “ah-pray skee,” it’s a French term for “after ski.” It’s that sweet spot between an afternoon (or day) of invigorating activity and dinner. Or maybe it is dinner. You can interpret it loosely.
In the Swiss Alps, a day shooshing down the mountainside might be celebrated with raclette—essentially, roasted cheese, partially melted near a fire, then scraped onto bread. I was obsessed with raclette when I was a child. I didn’t know the proper name, but was beguiled by this passage in the classic book “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri:
“When the kettle was boiling, the old man put a large piece of cheese on a long iron fork, and held it over the fire, turning it to and fro, till it was golden-brown on all sides. Heidi had watched him eagerly. Suddenly she ran to the cupboard. When her grandfather brought a pot and the toasted cheese to the table, he found it already nicely set with two plates and two knives and the bread in the middle. Heidi had seen the things in the cupboard and knew that they would be needed for the meal.”
As you can imagine, the brick of Velveeta in the family refrigerator fell a bit short of my expectations.
Which is why Steven’s recipe for A New Raclette so intrigued me. It appears here for the first time, but will be featured during a new episode of Project Fire when the show begins airing this spring. (Contact your local public television station to make sure they intend to carry the show.)
Like the classic raclette, it is served with small potatoes and cornichon (small cucumber pickles), but takes things further. You know Steven! This rendition features a terrific product, Rougette Bonfire Marinated Grilling Cheeses. If you can’t find them, substitute another grilling cheese like halloumi. (For more on cheeses that can be grilled, click here.)
Get the Recipe »
Other main course options for your party could include nachos, brats, kebabs, or anything that cooks fairly quickly and can be eaten easily by potentially mittened guests. A portable campstove/fire pit like this one, which burns propane, wood, or charcoal, ensures you can cook in style. But there are a number of small grills we like, including Weber’s Smoky Joe and Lodge’s Sportsman hibachi.
For beverages, consider beer, wine, mulled wine, or hot toddies.
How are you beating winter boredom this year? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or Instagram!
The post Beat Winter Boredom: Throw an Outdoor Après-Ski or Sledding Party appeared first on Barbecuebible.com.
Homepage Feature,Hot Stuff,Recipes & Techniques,winter,winter grilling
By: Cialina TH
Title: Beat Winter Boredom: Throw an Outdoor Après-Ski or Sledding Party
Sourced From: barbecuebible.com/2021/01/29/beat-winter-boredom-throw-an-outdoor-apres-ski-or-sledding-party/
Published Date: 01/29/21
Did you miss our previous article…
https://amazinghamburger.com/outdoor-cooking/super-bowl-burgers/
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