A crostini is simply toasted bread, but when that bread is grilled to toast it, the crostini becomes almost magical.  I have posted how to do crostinis on the site before but the pictures were so bad that I thought I should revisit the crostini. Here is the original post. Turns out this photography stuff is hard.

Back to crostinis.  They’re simple to do and can be done any number of ways.  This is an overview of how to make them.  Feel free to try your own combos.

Ingredients:

• Baguette of soft sided bread (crusty bed will be get very hard to make sure to go with soft sided bread).  French bread, Italian, even sourdough (my favorite) will do.

• Minced garlic

• Fresh cracked black pepper

• Dried basil

• Havarti cheese

• Olive oil

No amounts here on the ingredients as each ingredients needs to be enough to cover the bread.  You’ll understand in a few moments.

Slice baguette into 1-1.5″ slices:

Pour olive oil into a small dish or bowl to dip the bread into:

Dunk both sides of the bread with the oil:

I had to refill the plate multiple times before I got all of the bread coated on each side:

Now put some fresh cracked black pepper over one side of the slices of bread:

Here’s a close up of about how much pepper:

Now sprinkle some basil over each slice of bread:

And then put about a half teaspoon of minced garlic on each slice of bread.  I know it sounds (and looks) like a ton, but it isn’t once you see the method:

Now take the back of the spoon and grind the garlic into the bread to help it stick because later on we are going to lose a bunch of it:

Here are all the slices with the pepper, basil and garlic:

Slice the havarti and estimate two slices per slice of bread:

The cheese will go on at the end. You can use many different types of cheeses.  Asiago, parm, romano, work really great as well.  Romano is my favorite for crostinis.  Substituting dill for the basil and dill havarti is my wife’s favorite crostini.

Now out to the grill.  Doing two zone grilling.  Coals on one side and none on the other side:

The desired temp is over 500 degrees over the coals so we’re going hot here.

Now put only a few on at one time as these require constant maintenance in that you can’t walk away for more than about 30 seconds before they burn:

It takes only about 60 seconds per side to toast them:

Once the crostinis toast on the bottom, flip them over for another 60 seconds to toast the outer edge of the bread (the center will be insulated by the garlic and basil and not toast before the outside is burnt).  Here is where you will lose a great deal of the toppings which is why we added so much extra.  Here’s some of the garlic stuck to the grill grate with more that fell through:

Once the bread toasts around the outer edges on the top, flip it back over and put on the side with no heat:

Now add two slices of cheese per crostini:

Here you can see all five slices covered with cheese and on the side with no coals:

And now close the lid on the Char-Broil 940 to melt the cheese:

Once the cheese melts, pull from the grill:

Give them a couple minutes before you serve them.  Not to let the juices rest, but because they will be about the temperature of molten lava when they first come of the grill. But once you serve these bad boys your guests are going to be blown away.  This is a true home run.

Also, be sure to follow the order I put forth here on the ingredients or you will lose a lot more when you flip them.  If you put the garlic on first, you will lose a ton of toppings when you flip.  Also, don’t be tempted to put some crostinis on over the coals while the cheese is melting on the others.  I made that mistake once.  I turned the bread of the second batch into charcoal well before the cheese melted on the first.  If serving a crowd, slice them in half so more people can sample per batch.

If you have any questions about the crostinis, feel free to ask them below or shoot me an email.  Also, I would love to hear your own herb/cheese combos with these.  Please share them if you have one you like.

If you are interested in other sides and appetizers, click here.

And you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures and join the grillin conversation.

Arthur is broadening our horizons (and  waistlines) again.  Santa Maria BBQ is becoming quite popular.  It normally starts withgarlic (granulated, powder or salt), salt, and black pepper, as the base for a dry rub.  The rub can be modified, but these three ingredients are the core of the rub.  Once the rub is applied Santa Maria style BBQ is done over high heat, with purists using red oak.  Beef, sirloin or tri tip specifically, are the meat of choice for this style. It’s as delicious as it is simple.  I’ll hand it over to Arthur to show you just how simple and delicious it is…

Boy, I was so excited to see these in St. Louis, MO. Tri tip is very hard to find around here. It’s commonly found on the west coast because it was a cuisine to ranchers in the Santa Maria, CA region. Eventually, these west coast cowboys came up with Santa Maria style BBQ. This style has been expanding beyond Santa Maria over the years and I couldn’t be happier to try this unique cuisine.

The great characteristics of tri tip are: it’s lean, flavorful, inexpensive and it’s ultra tender when cooked right. I picked up a two pack of the triangle shaped beef roasts at Costco. As you can see, the name is given after the shape of the cut of beef:

Tri tip comes from the bottom sirloin primal cut and usually weighs in between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds.

The recipe is simple.

Ingredients:

Granulated garlic
Seasoned salt
Course black pepper
Olive oil

No measurements needed here, use enough to coat the meat

First, I rinsed the meat off with water and pat dry with paper towels.

Second, rub the oil all over the meat. This process helps the spices stick to the tri tip.

Third, sprinkle on the seasonings. Start with the garlic, get a lot on there. This is the base ingredient to a perfect product:

Next, add the seasoned salt:

Finally, add the pepper:

Now, in the next phase, the cooking process is just as important as the ingredients. Authentic tri tip is grilled directly over high heat with red oak coals. The grills themselves are very unique. They have a large cooking surface fixed to wheels and pulley’s that raise or lower the grill grate meant for heat management.

Fortunately, I reproduced this on my kettle. A chimney full of lump charcoal was lit up and banked to one side for indirect grilling. I want to have a hot and cool side for this process.

But most importantly, I have chunks of red oak. I picked up a bunch from a BBQ store in Ankeny, IA earlier this year:

It is also a good idea to have a meat thermometer because we do not want to over cook the tri tip. Add the red oak to the hot coals.

Place the tri tip on the grill directly over the hot coals. However, do not put the lid on, that will only lower the heat. I seared the first side for 7 or 8 minutes:

I seared the other side for 5 minutes to get a great flavor crust:

Move the meat to the cool side of the grill. I inserted my digital thermometer into the tri tip. Then, I added a couple more chunks of red oak and put the lid on with the vents wide open.

After roughly 15-20 minutes, the interior temp of the tri tip reached 135 degrees:

I pull the beef off at medium rare:

I let the tri tip rest for 10 minutes:

When meat comes off the grill the juices are in an excited state from the heat.  Letting the meat rest allows all the juices to settle down back to its proper place, so the juices don’t run all over the plate as soon as you cut into the meat.  Resting allows for the juices to remain in the meat for the entire meal. During this time the interior temp jumps up to 140 degrees. As a result, the tri tip is cooked to medium. I would not cook it more than this as it can be tough to eat.

To serve, slice against the grain. When this is done, the meat pulls apart easier, as opposed to with the grain:

Now, I’m going to put down the camera and get my eat on:

Forget the strip steak, t-bone, or tenderloin, this is my favorite cut of beef hands down. Next time, I’m going to shoot for rare or about 125 degrees interior temp. I used the leftovers for steak burritos the next night. The iron skillet was used to reheat and it was still tender and tasty. I’m going back to Costco to stock up on some tri tip.

If you have any questions about the Santa Maria Style Tri Tip, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email and I’ll send it over to Arthur.

If you liked this recipe and would like to see other grilled beef recipes, click here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures which is how we met Arthur here.  You can also join the discussion of all things BBQ.

Grilling doesn’t always have to involve fatty meats.  In fact, sometimes no meat needs to be involved at all.  We’ve shown time and time again that you can make all manner of food on the grill other than meat whether grilled romaine, naked corn, or grilled peaches in a butter rum sauce, and many more.  This time the Grillin Fools show their continued love of the crostini, which is Italian for toasted bread.  We have done crostinis many different ways on this site.  Check here for other crostini recipes.  To read more about this recipe, see below as Tom gives you the step by step, picture by picture instructions…

Ingredients:

One loaf french bread
Olive Oil
Goat Cheese or any creamy cheese that melts nicely
One large red onion
1/3 cup aged balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Agave nectar or simple syrup

Set up grill for direct grilling with a medium fire (275-325 degrees).  Place whole onion, skin and all, in center of grill and close lid.  Cook for three hours, turning onion every 30 to 45 minutes (our grill was approximately 300 degrees):

Remove onion from grill and let cool:

Peel the onion and slice into thin pieces:

Place into bowl and add balsamic vinegar and simple syrup:

Mix well and set aside while allowing the flavors combine.  After approximately 30 minutes transfer to small sauce pan, bring to simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes to reduce.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature:

While onions cool, slice bread into thick slices and brush both sides with olive oil:

Place on grill and toast both sides:

Top each slice of bread with cheese and close lid until cheese is melted:

Remove from grill and top with onion mixture:

The grilled onion is sweet and the balsamic vinegar adds a rich depth of flavor that is just delicious!

If you have any questions about the Roasted Onion Crostinis, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

If you are interested in other appetizers like this, click here.

Also, you can follow us on the Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures or join the general BBQ conversation.

I have to say that when Dad mentioned that he slathered some chicken with mayonnaise and put it on the grill I was more than a bit skeptical.  He raved about it, but I was leery.  The notion of heat and mayo made me nervous.  I brought it up to a coworker, Shane, who said he has done it in the past and that it was a great way to seal in the juices.  And then I saw the pictures and think that my cynicism was unjustified.  It sounds like the mayo is pretty magical in terms of sealing in the juices of the chicken.  So maybe if you don’t have time to brine, you should consider trying Mayo Magic.  I’ll hand it off to Dad now to show you how…

This grilling recipe quite was simply amazing to me.  I confess I was inspired to do this after viewing Paula Deen’s son, Bobby, perform a similar recipe in the oven on one of her TV shows.  I thought, “If it can be done in the oven, it can be done better on the grill.”  While the ingredients below call for eight boneless skinless chicken breasts, I actually used five breasts and four boneless skinless thighs.

Ingredients:

8 Boneless, skinless breasts
2 Cups of mayonnaise
2 TBSP Paprika
2 TSP Celery salt
1 TSP Ancho chile
Zest of one lemon

The ingredients could easily be modified to your specific taste.  I used Hungarian paprika but smoked paprika could add an interesting touch.  Ancho chile (dried Poblano pepper) could be switched with Chipotle seasoning or Cayenne if you desire to kick it up a notch or two.  I chose the Ancho because it is milder.  The lemon could be doubled if you prefer more of a citrus flavor and lime or orange could be substituted.  There’s a lot of flexibility here limited only by your own taste and creativity.

Combine everything but the chicken in a bowl and whisk together to form the wet rub:

Then slather the wet rub all over the chicken coating entirely.  Get in there with your fingers and make it happen:

The mayo contains a lot of oil so I’m expecting moist chicken.  We’ll see when the taste test arrives after grilling.

I prepared this about an hour prior to grilling and returned the chicken to the icebox till the fire was ready.  This is a wet rub, not a marinade so it is not necessary to marinate overnight.

I haven’t grilled with anything using mayo since chicken dipped in white BBQ sauce, and even then the white sauce didn’t go on until after the chicken was cooked.  Cooking the chicken with the mayo on it is new for me.

I fired up my old CharBroil 940 for this effort.  I’m indirect grilling here—coals on the left and chicken on the right.  Target temp is between 275-325 degrees:

Some soaked apple chips are added for the smoke flavor:

The whole pan wasn’t added, just a couple handfuls to get the smoke going.

The chicken pieces are on the grill and the wet rub appears to be a gooey mess.  Don’t let the appearance discourage you:

***Editor’s Note ~ Anytime you indirect chicken or turkey breasts, try to put the skinny point of the breast away from the heat with the fatter section closest to the heat for more even cooking.  Looks like Dad was hit or miss on that one above.  We’re not perfect.  Remember, we’re just some Grillin Fools.  The great thing about this recipe is the mayo will give you a larger margin of error in terms of not drying the meat out.***

Here’s what they looked like 30 minutes into grilling:

The foil pouch shown contains diced potatoes drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with cracked pepper and sea salt.  The thermometer indicates the temperature is a hair under 300 degrees.  I’ll cut into a thick portion of one of the breasts at 45 minutes to see if juices run clear.  When the juices run clear it means the meat has reached an internal temperature of at least 160-165 degrees which is your target temperature.

I cut into the thickest portion at 45 minutes and I’ll serve dinner in 5 minutes.  The breasts and thighs were pulled at 50 minutes and the taste test has arrived:

Here’s what the dinner looked like on the plate:

The breast and thighs were completely cooked and extremely moist—maybe the moistest boneless skinless chicken I have ever done. Remember, the chicken was not brined but the mayo did something magical to it to make it seem that way with how juicy the chicken was.

The chicken was never moved or turned during the entire grilling process.  I believe the oil in the mayo really preserved and protected the moisture in the chicken.  The flavors of the spices and lemon zest were mild and offered a delightful hint of flavor that I thoroughly enjoyed.  In the future I’ll try this with lime and oranges zest for the sake of variety.  I might kick up the Ancho chile also for a bit more spice.  The breasts were tastier to me than the thighs but the hint of citrus was very refreshing on a very hot summer evening.

Leftovers???  A couple of days later I thin-sliced some leftover breasts and created a sandwich with mayo (of course) and homegrown tomatoes.  The chicken was still extremely moist and made a really tasty sandwich.  Would I try this again?  Absolutely—it’s magic!

If you have any questions about the Mayo Magic Chicken, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

If you are interested in other poultry recipes done on the grill, click here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures or join in the general grillin discussion.

It’s a hot day today. The temperatures are above triple digits and I’m outside over a hot grill. Is there something wrong here? It brings a whole new meaning to GrillinFools. Nonetheless, I am making Huli Huli chicken. For those fortunate enough to go to Hawaii, you can smell the sweet aroma of these vender treats from the roadsides of the tropical island. I would like to go there at some point in my lifetime because of the coconut braziers and the authentic Huli Huli chicken.

First off, excuse my photographs for not being up to par this time around. Like I said, it was very hot outside and I somehow missed shots for certain steps in the process.

Along with the Huli Huli chicken, I made trash bag potatoes. I saw this potato recipe on a web site and I thought I give it a try. This was a meal I made on a week night after work, so not a whole lot of preparing was needed. I always try to do keep my grillin time within 2 hours on a work night. Especially today, did I mention how hot it was?

Let’s begin with the Huli Huli chicken…it’s just fun to say.

Huli Huli chicken marinade:

2 Chicken leg quarters
2 Chicken thighs (This can be done with an entire cut chicken rather than just these cuts)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp sherry cooking wine
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tbsp minced garlic
1” fresh ginger
1/2 cup crushed pineapple
1/4 cup brown sugar

Oops, that lemon pepper seasoning didn’t belong in that shot above. The heat is already affecting me. However, we will need it later.

First, I combined all the ingredients together in a bowl:

Second, I mixed all of it with a whisk:

Next, I wash my thawed chicken quarters and thighs in water and pat dry with paper towels:

After I washed my hands, I place the chicken in a one gallon sealable baggie. Then I pour all of the marinade in with the chicken and seal the baggie while taking all the air out. I placed the baggie in the rinsed out marinade bowl just to make sure there won’t be any leakage.

The marinating chicken is placed in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. I wouldn’t recommend going any longer than that because the acidic pineapple juice will start cooking the chicken.

While the chicken is marinating, I started the potatoes:

Trash bag potatoes ingredients:

5 medium Yukon gold potatoes
1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
(makes 4 servings)

Cut the potatoes into wedges. I suggest boiling the wedges for a few minutes on high heat. The potatoes ended up taking longer to cook than the chicken because I did not do this. After boiling the wedges, let them cool down. When that is done, place them in a one gallon baggie:

Start pouring the other items into the baggie. Just for the record, I didn’t use any measurements for this. I just put enough seasoning and oil to cover the potatoes. Measuring isn’t very important to me and it saves me some time. It’s not like I’m baking a cake here, it’s BBQ. It’s suppose to be messy and sloppy.

Once the ingredients are combined in the baggie, seal it and use your hands to move the potatoes around in the baggie. Make sure the wedges are coated well:

Place it in the fridge until the chicken is done marinating.

The grill manufacturer that shall not be named is set up for indirect cooking. This means that the hot charcoal is banked to one side of the grill. This creates a hot side and a cool side. The food will go on the cool side, thus cooking like a convection oven, while not burning it or drying out the meat.

Here, I took a picture of my grill from the inside of the house where it is nice and cool:

After a total marinating time of 45 minutes, I remove the chicken and potatoes from the refrigerator. The chicken immediately goes on the grill:

As well as the potatoes in a grill pan:

For a more authentic taste of Huli Huli chicken, I placed a pile of mesquite wood chips on top of the grill grate and let them smolder and infuse the chicken. Wood chunks would have worked well here, but I did not have any.

I place the lid on the grill and the food will cook for 45 minutes before I check it again. I make sure the vents are wide open on the lid and it is above the food. This is so the mesquite smoke travels over the chicken on the way out of the grill.

In addition, the grill temperature is about 375 degrees.

At the 45 minute mark, the chicken is done.

Immediately, I notice the skin of the chicken has turned a burgundy color with charred spots from the sugars in the marinade. And the smell is extremely delightful, a sweet and smoky aroma. Notice the top of the picture where the mesquite wood chips are now a pile of ashes. I remove the chicken from the grill.

However, the potato wedges were not done. They had to cook for an extra 30 minutes. Ouch! This would have been avoided had I boiled the wedges for a few minutes prior.

All of this extreme heat worked me up a real big appetite. I covered every part of the plate that I could find with Huli Huli chicken, trash bag potatoes and green beans.

The Huli Huli chicken was fantastic. It’s such a sweet fruity marinade. Sorry, I didn’t take pictures of how juicy and moist the chicken quarter was, as a result of sticky fingers from the marinade. Believe me, it was a home run. Next time, I’m going to spatchcock a fryer to see how that turns out with the marinade. On the other hand, the trash bag potatoes were not as tasty as I thought they were going to be. Maybe too much mesquite smoke got into it. But I wasn’t high on the seasoning of the recipe. I typically make oven fries with different variations of seasonings that turn out better than the trash bag potatoes. I’ll stick to my oven fries, and the Huli Huli stays too.

***Editor’s Note ~ Mesquite produces a pretty powerful smoke which is why it is so often used in smoking, but it can overpower food sometimes.  Particularly a fairly bland food like a potato.  I wonder what it would be like with apple or pear wood***

If you have any questions about the Huli Huli chicken or the trash bag potatoes, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email that I will send over to Arthur.

If you are interested in other grilled chicken recipes, click here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page where you can post your own grillin pictures or join the grillin conversation.

Arthur is back for more grillin, chillin and thrillin. This time he’s all about the sausage. Arthur’s the only guy I know that looks forward to a sausage fest after work. But after reading these two recipes, you may be up for one yourself. I’ll hand it over to him for the rest of the write up…

If you’re a typical guy, a sausage fest isn’t something you want to see when you’re out on a Saturday night. However, it has a whole other meaning to a BBQ enthusiast. Sausages are amongst my favorite meats to grill at any time of the year. When it comes to the staple sausage of backyard grilling, bratwurst is king. Fatties are another excellent use of sausage. As for the other types of sausages, I’ll do these recipes with hot links, ground pork and smoked sausage.

This is one of those meals that I thought up only after I got home from work and nothing was defrosted. It was such a nice day out too, I would hate to waste it being indoors and ordering pizza. So, I’m making sausage kabobs. They’re easy and I don’t have to marinate as they are ready to grill. Along with kabobs, I made yellow squash stuffed with sausage.

***Editor’s Note ~ Arthur, your cardiologist called.  I couldn’t tell what he was saying through the sobbing.  You may want to give him a call***

Sausage kabob ingredients:

1 14 Ounce pkg smoked sausage
2 Hot links
1 Green pepper
½ Large white onion
BBQ rub
BBQ sauce

This makes 4 skewers, but you will have left over smoked sausage. Grill them up for some tasty snacking treats. This is how my sons like them.

Don’t mind the extra veggies in the bowl, my wife wanted zucchini with her veggie kabobs. That’s for the next post…yeah right!

Here are the headliners of this grilling session (I forgot to take the ground pork out of the butcher paper):

The first task to do is dice up the peppers and onions into one inch chunks:

Then, slice the sausages into 1 inch cuts:

The hot links are actually not that hot. If you can tolerate mild buffalo wing sauce, you would like hot links. Brats would be a great substitute. You could also venture outside the ordinary with apple brats, chorizo, bockwurst, andouille, knockwurst, kielbasa, weisswurst, etc.

***Editor’s Note ~ You might want to pre cook some of the sausages mentioned above if they are raw.  The recipe calls for already cured or smoked sausages which really only need to be warmed up rather than cooked for hours***

Once that is done, I threaded the peppers, onions and sausage onto the skewers. I do this by alternating the meats and veggies, you know how it goes.

Next, liberally sprinkle your favorite rub on the kabobs. Set them aside for now:

Now for the sausage stuffed squash.

Ingredients:

Yellow summer squash
1 Cup ground pork
BBQ rub
BBQ sauce

First cut the stem and base off the squash. Then slice the squash in half lengthwise:

Take a spoon and core out the seeds from the squash. Discard the seeds, stems and bases:

Stuff half of the ground pork into one of the squash boats. Use the rest of the ground pork for the other boat:

Sprinkle the rub on the stuffed squash:

During this process, the kettle was set up for indirect grilling. This means that the hot coals are banked to one side of the grill and the food will be on the opposite side of the heat source:

Now I place all the kabobs and stuffed squash on the grill. I also place the lid on the kettle. The vents on the kettle are wide open and opposite the hot coals:

After about 10-15 minutes I check on the food. When the onions and peppers are starting to look tender, but still firm, it’s time to move them over to the hot side:

Also, at this point the ground pork is not done yet. Keep these on the cool side:

Cook the kabobs directly over the coals until the skewers start to char a little around the edges. Start applying the BBQ sauce to the kabobs with a brush.

After the sauce is applied, put the kabobs back on the cool side and close the lid. The kabobs are done when the veggie’s on the kabobs look tender.  The stuffed squash is done when the ground pork is firm and sits loose in the boat. Brush some BBQ sauce on the stuffed squash.

Give the kabobs another coat of sauce as they come off the grill:

These are waiting on the table as we are setting up to eat on the patio on this lovely late afternoon.

Here is my plate. I got my kabobs, stuffed sausage and a side of Pit Boys potatoes with grilled bacon on top. As if I need more pork to clog my arteries.

I really like the sausage kabobs. I’m going to try different combinations of meats and veggies next time I do them. The sausage stuffed squash was just OK for me. Honestly, I just like the squash grilled straight up, nothing to it. To sum it up, this impromptu outdoor meal was just the thing to help us unwind after work on a beautiful evening.

***Editor’s Note ~ Not every recipe is a home run.  I did sausage stuffed yellow peppers last year.  Added garlic, asiago, shallots, and black pepper to the sausage and put it inside a sweet yellow pepper.  Pretty much the same result.  I loved the pepper, but the sausage was meh***

If you have any questions about Arthur’s sausage fest (or feast), feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email and I will get it to Arthur.

If you are interested in other pork recipes, click here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures as well as discuss what you’re cooking with us which is how we found Arthur here.

I have to warn you that I am a peach fanatic.  I love peaches, peach pie, peach blend fruit drinks, peach wood, peach, peach, peach.  I love all things peach.  I grilled peaches for the site last year, and ran through about 8 different combinations of recipes and took all the pictures, but then forgot which one was the best.  So when I decided to do them again, my good buddy and guest contributor here, Arthur Aguirre, suggested this recipe.  So instead of trying to reinvent the wheel of all the combinations I did before, I thought I would go with his first.  I’ll revisit mine at a later date.  I couldn’t resist going with this one first when he told me it had rum in it.

Ingredients:

Ripe peaches
4 tbsp Butter (Smart Balance Butter can be used as a substitute for a healthier option)
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup rum
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
Vanilla ice cream

First make up the sauce:

Put the butter and brown sugar in the pot:

Add the rum and I actually grated cinnamon from a stick.  You can use pregrated if you like:

Now over to the peaches.

How many peaches you need depends on how many you’re serving.  I wound up only using two of these as they were quite large:

Slice into quarters or eighths and discard the pit.  A lot of people cut them in half and grill, which is fine.  But if you cut them in quarters or eighths then you get a higher grilled surface area to peach flesh ratio:

Now on to the grill.  I had a blazing hot fire here and put the pot with the sauce on it to melt the butter and get everything blended together:

The picture above didn’t do the fire justice.  The flash washed out the flames and redness of the coals.  Here’s a shot without a flash to give you an idea of how hot it was:

Wait for the butter to melt and all the goodness to blend together:

Now, dunk the peaches in the sauce and put them directly over the fire:

Don’t go anywhere at this point.  This part happens pretty quickly.  Keep checking the peaches to make sure they don’t burn.  When they got some nice grill marks I flipped them:

See that one on the bottom in the above picture? The one with the most char?  After I took the rest of the pictures I put the camera away and made up some more.  The ones that had more char on them were the best.  These could’ve used a little more time on the grill.

Once they’re charred on each side, place around a scoop of ice cream and be sure to spoon some of the butter rum sauce over the ice cream and peaches:

For the sake of full disclosure, the peaches were tart and it really took away from the dessert.  The sauce was heavenly and could’ve been spooned over the ice cream without the peaches.  So make sure the peaches are ripe and sweet before trying.  If you start with bad peaches you will finish with bad peaches.  Otherwise this is an awesome dessert.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

If you are interested in other dessert dishes we’ve done, click here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures.

Normally when I do corn I put it on the grill in the husk.  Sometimes I soak it in water, sometimes not.  When the husk is blackened all the way around it’s done.  Well, someone suggested I grill it naked – the corn not me!!  So I did.  Rather than put the corn on in the husk, I pealed it and threw it on the grill naked.  I also slathered it with a garlic, tarragon, oregano butter…

Let’s start with the butter to be brushed on the corn.

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter (you can use salted if you like)
2 cloves garlic – minced.
1.5 tsps of dried tarragon
.5 tsp of dried oregano

Put the butter in a small sauce pot on the stove or grill and start the melting process.  Then add the garlic, tarragon, and oregano:

Now shuck the corn and pull off any silks.  This is some beautiful bicolor:

Crank up the grill to high.  The grill needs to be at 500 degrees or hotter.  Because it is so hot, be careful with flare ups from the butter.  I’ve done this twice on consecutive weekends and found brushing the butter on the corn away from the heat first, and then putting the corn over the fire works best as the excess butter will flare in the hot fire:

This is a very short process and one that has to be constantly monitored.  Basically, brush with the butter, and rotate as the corn kernels begin to brown:

I had quite a few flareups and had to keep rotating the corn accordingly.  I wanted the corn over a hot grill, but didn’t want the ears to burn:

Rotated with the stalks away from the heat to keep them from burning either:

After repeated brushings (between 4-5) and frequently turning and repositioning, they are looking like they are ready to come off the grill:

Time to pull the corn.  Once on the platter, brush one more time with the butter:

The corn made an excellent side dish to go along with the best pork tenderloin I have ever eaten, some shrimps and a glass of Pinot Noir:

The blackening of the corn adds a certain sweetness that I don’t find when I do it in the husk or boil.  This is now my go-to method for making corn on the cob.

When I first heard about grilling naked corn, I was told to try it with tarragon alone and I did that the first time, but felt it needed something more.  A little oregano fit the bill perfectly, although you may want to do your own experiments with herbs.  If you come across a good combo please mention it in the comments section below or shoot it to me in an email.  I’ll give it a try and if I like it I’ll add it here as another option.

If you are interested in other veggies or sides, click here and here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook Page and post your own grillin’ pictures.

Arthur is at it again.  This time with a bacon explosion stuffed with beef rather than the typical pork.  And he used Andria’s in the recipe, which some of you already know – meat loaf isn’t meat loaf without the Andria’s.  I’ll hand it over to him for the rest of the write up.  Oh, and this recipe is not approved by any cardiologists!?!

My two sons are picky eaters. But they both agree that they love it when Daddy makes meatloaf. It’s a homerun every time. Unfortunately, this is about the only thing my boys like off the grill. I can’t really blame them, this is one of my favorite meals off the grill and this is the only way I make meatloaf. The process is very similar to making a bacon explosion fatty.

I used the meatloaf recipe off a can of Progresso bread crumbs. I’ve made some tweaks to the recipe to make it better. And for the first time, I’ll be using Andria’s steak sauce in this recipe. When I decided on making smoked meatloaf, Andria’s seemed like an obvious choice to add some great flavor.

Maybe I should mention that I bought my own bottle of Andria’s because I’m just a fan of the GrillinFools. I didn’t receive anything in return except some great flavor in the meatloaf.

With that said, here is the recipe for my Andria’s style meatloaf:

Ingredients:

2lb ground beef
1 cup milk
2 tsp chopped fresh basil
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp ground mustard
¼ tsp pepper
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 egg
¾ cup of crushed saltine crackers
¼ cup diced onion
½ cup diced green pepper
¼ cup Andria’s steak sauce
14 slices of bacon
BBQ sauce

Here are the diced peppers, onions and chopped basil:

And to make this meatloaf even better…I smoked it wrapped in a bacon weave. You know how it goes, everything is better with bacon.

Now, the first task is to mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl except for the bacon and BBQ sauce.

Place the raw meatloaf in the refrigerator and get out the bacon. The next step is making the bacon weave. If you have never done this before, you will only need these steps to get the idea:

First, lay down 7 strips of bacon vertically, side by side.

Second, fold every other bacon strip in half (it does not matter where you begin).

Third, take the 8^th strip of bacon and lay it across the middle, horizontally over the vertical strips of bacon and just below the bacon folded in half. Make sure the horizontal bacon is real close to the folded strips of bacon.

Fourth, unfold the bacon so all vertical strips are in their side by side position.

Fifth, fold the opposite strips of bacon up over the horizontal strip of bacon.

Sixth, place another horizontal strip of bacon and repeat the process until complete.

Now, take the meatloaf and pour it in the center of the bacon weave. Form the “loaf” on top of the bacon.

Carefully roll the bacon weave over the meatloaf.

While the weave did not come apart during this task, it may have been easier if I would have used saran wrap underneath the bacon weave to roll the bacon over the meatloaf.

Make sure the bacon overlaps each other and the ends are rounded off too.

***Editor’s note ~ While that doesn’t look all that cool considering it’s in a bacon weave, realize that the loaf is actually upside down at this point.  The underside of what you see here will be the top of what you cook***

I found that thin slices of bacon work better for this because a thicker cut of bacon would result in a loose weave, which tends to come apart on the grill.

Speaking of the grill, I set up my smoker at 230 degrees with cherry and hickory wood chunks. This recipe also works for indirect grilling too. Another thing, I would usually add rub, but I wanted to try without it first to get a taste for the meat and the effect the Andria’s.

When the grill is up to temp, I gingerly place the loaf on the grill, opposite of the charcoal.

As always, the vents are all the way open on the lid. In addition, the vents are placed directly over the meat to let the smoke pass over the meat and escape out the vents. I do this because trapped smoke can make meat taste bitter. So now it’s time to cover the lid and check on it in an hour.

After an hour in the smoker, the bacon has turned a light brown and it has taken the shape of the meatloaf.

The bacon weave looks really good right here. I check the water level and add more wood chunks before I put the lid on. I tend to use Scott’s advice to do as much as I can while I have the lid open, so I don’t have open it often and lengthen the cooking process. In another hour the meatloaf will be done.

An hour passes and the internal temp of the meatloaf is 173 degrees. Anything over 170 degrees is well done for beef. However, before I plate it, I fire up my gas grill to high heat. For just a few minutes I grill the meatloaf over the hot grill to crisp up the bacon. Otherwise, it comes out of the smoker soft and slightly chewy. In the last minute on the grill, I brush on some BBQ sauce. Now it’s time to plate it.

Total cook time was about 2-1/2 hours. This turned out to be my best looking meatloaf. It’s done to perfection and I can’t wait to dig in.

Even with the crappy knives I have, the bacon holds intact with a clean slice. It doesn’t tear or pull the rest of the bacon when I cut into the meatloaf. And look at that smoke ring!

This was some great BBQ and it was every bit as good the next day when I made a meatloaf sandwich. The Andria’s definitely added some unique flavors. When making your next meatloaf, try it instead of ketchup or BBQ sauce. You may get the pickiest of eaters to actually like something you grilled.

If you have any questions about the meat loaf above, feel free to leave a comment below, or shoot me an email and I will forward it to Arthur.

If you are interested in other meat dishes on the grill, click here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures, just like Arthur did and look at him now?  Showing off some major grillin skills on GrillinFools.com.

I had my dad and my Father in Law over for a guy night recently and I made four pork tenderloins.  I realize that sounds like a lot for three people, but I wanted plenty for leftovers because tenderloin makes a fantastic sammich that I will document as well.  This is a monster post, with more than 30 pictures, but I wanted to make sure I documented the process really well…

First thing I did was create a brine.  I took two cups of apple cider, mixed in a quarter cup of salt, quarter cup of garlic and ten turns of black pepper in a pot on the stove.  A little heat helps the salt dissolve quickly:

Once the salt is dissolved throw in a few ice cubes to cool it off so it can go into the plastic bag with the meat:

Then pour the brine into the bag with the four pork tenderloins:

Itopped it off with some more cider to make sure it covered the meat, mixed it around in the bag and put it into the fridge overnight.

Brining does a number of wonderful things.  First, the salt breaks down connective tissue so it tenderizes.  Second, the solution forces moisture away from the salt and into the meat so it makes the meat juicier.  And third, that moisture that’s going into the meat is full of flavor from the cider, garlic and black pepper, so the meat will be tastier.

You can use apple juice, cranberry, grape, whatever.  I would avoid orange juice as it is too acidic and will start cooking the meat.  I know a guy that uses Mountain Dew to brine.  You’re looking for something sugary and then add the salt.

I brined it overnight, but you can get the benefits of the brine in a couple of hours if that’s all you have.  I highly recommend it with all pork and poultry.  Particularly with the tenderloin as it has very little fat content and can dry out very quickly. The extra juice will give you a much larger margin of error.

The next day I rinsed the meat off under cold water to get rid of all the salt.  Then I placed them on paper towels and patted them off with more paper towels to make sure I got all the salt off:

Position the loins  so the fat end of one tenderloin  is next to the skinny end of the other loin:

I’ll explain why you want them positioned like this in just a second.

After they were dried off and laid out I slathered two of the loins with Spice Islands Brazilian Beef Rub.

The other two I drizzled with Tobago Keys Burgundy Wine Marinade and Grilling Sauce:

I love Tobago Keys products.  I’ve used the their Steakman Marinade on the site before.  You can see that recipe here.

I’m such a big fan their stuff that I own four of their products:

Here are the other two that I will try soon:

You can buy all of these varieties and a couple more I don’t have yet at Saucehut.com.

Here are two of the loins slathered in the Burgundy Wine Sauce:

Another way to keep the tenderloins from drying out is to tie them together with cooking or baking twine with the fat end of one end to the skinny end of the other to ensure that it cooks evenly.  Stack the two on top of each other and have a length of cooking/baking twine ready to tie them together:

Now tie them together at one end:

You can use four or five short lengths of twine or you can do it with one length by looping it over the meat multiple times:

Then I tied the other end of the loins:

I rolled the meat through the excess grilling sauce on the cutting board to get it good and coated.  Now time to go get the grill ready.

I prepared a quarter of a chimney of coals and put them on the right side of the Chargriller since the chimney is on the left so the smoke will travel over the meat on its way out of the grill.  I put a few fresh coals on the pile to act as insulation between the raging hot coals and the chunk of apricot wood:

If you don’t have apricot, then you can check this link for more than 50 different smoke woods and what they pair well with.

I went with a small fire because I want to keep the temps low in order to impart some smoke flavor to the meat without drying it out.  Pork tenderloin can dry out very quickly so I kept the temperature at just under 200.

I put the two trussed loins away from the fire underneath the chimney so the smoke will travel over it.  I put the thickest of the four loins closest to the heat.  I slathered some more Burgundy Wine Sauce on two of them and then placed slices of Genova salami and coppa on top of the meat:

The slices of salame and coppa will baste the meat as it cooks and provide a great snack (or as we like to call it – Chef’s Prerogative) later on:

At 30 minutes the salami and coppa are starting to curl around the edges as they fat renders out of the slices:

I rotated the meat so it will cook evenly and flipped over the chunk of apricot so it would keep smoking. I always try to do as much as possible each time I open the lid so I don’t have to keep opening it and losing heat thus extending grilling times.  Try to mop, rub, sauce, add fuel or smoke wood, etc. all at once so you don’t have to repeatedly open the grill to perform these tasks.

Here we are at 50 minutes and browning nicely:

At this point I started another chimney of charcoal to get ready to sear sear the meat:

At 70 minutes it’s time to sear the meat:

But not before Dad and I sample that salami and coppa.  My Father in Law was running late so we got all of it, and I must say, he really missed out.  Dad got the first slice:

My turn:

The salami was excellent but the coppa was even better.  Some are going to ask why I didn’t use bacon here.  We use bacon for everything now, right?  Bacon vodka, bacon salt and even bacon water.  If you just want to baste the meat, bacon is great for that.  Probably better than the salami or coppa.  But if you also want a snack, then the bacon won’t do because it won’t fully cook before the tenderloin will be dried out.  Trust me on this, I have learned this lesson the hard way. The coppa and salami are the best of both worlds.

I spread the coals from the chimney to have more hot surface area to cook.  That small fire I started at the beginning wasn’t big enough to sear the loins.  If this all sounds familiar, it is indeed the reverse sear process I do with my pork steaks applied to pork steaks. And while the reverse sear process makes a great smoke ring for pork steaks, you can’t do that with tenderloin.  If you have a smoke ring on the tenderloin you probably have dry tenderloin.

Here’s the meat over the high heat searing:

Now don’t walk away from the grill now.  You need to stand right on top of it and keep rotating the meat to keep it from burning.  A little blackening is fine, but you don’t want to come this far and then burn the meat:

Don’t forget the sides:

Now off the heat while dad gets the platter to let the meat rest.  Total searing time was less than 15 minutes. The internal temperature of the thickest part of the meat is 140 degrees which will leave it a little pink but that’s perfect for pork tenderloin:

Resting is a vital step for cooking.  When the meat comes off the grill the juices are in an excited state because of the heat.  Slice into it right away and the juices will run all over the cutting board.  If you let the meat rest, the juices will calm down and remain in the meat.  A steak may only need a couple minutes to rest, a brisket needs an hour, but these I let rest for 15 minutes on the platter under some foil.

Here are they ready for slicing:

Dad poured up his contribution to the evening and what a fine contribution it was – Noble Estate Pinot Noir 2008 from the Willamette Valley:

This pinot was fantastic young and runs only $17 locally in St. Louis.  Can’t wait to taste this after a few years in the bottle.

Here is the meat plated with some grilled corn and shrimp:

I realize that the pork looks really pink there.  I took the final pictures with two different settings.  This one washed the pink out more than the actual color of the meat:

You can see how juicy it is in this picture but the color isn’t representative of the actual color of the meat.  Here’s a closeup with the other setting in which it’s too pink than the actual color:

Try to imagine it somewhere in between.

All in all the pork loins were outstanding.  The Burgundy Wine Glaze added a wonderful sweetness to the meat, particularly where it caramelized on the meat over the high heat as it seared. It contrasted well with the Brazilian rubbed tenderloin which was pretty spicy.

I’ve never had such a tender and juicy tenderloin as this one.  I implore you to try brining one time.  You will be a believer after one try.

If you’re wondering about the corn, well, that’s corn that, for the first time, I grilled naked.  The corn was naked, not me.  You can find the write up on the corn here. Did I mention that it was bathed in a tarragon/oregano/garlic butter?

Now to the reason why I made so much extra.  I love making tenderloin sammiches.  First I take a foot long sub bun, or mini baguette.  My local grocer calls them sweet mini loafs.  I spread a compound butter on each piece of bread:

Then slice the tenderloin and place it on one side of the bun.  You won;t cook it yet. Just slice it until you know you have enough for the length of bread:

Now, take the meat off and put the bread onto a baking sheet and put it under the broiler until browned.  Then put the meat on one side (removing the other side and setting aside) and put under the broiler for a few minutes to warm the meat and then put some slices of cheese on top.  In this case provelone.  Put back  in the oven to melt the cheese:

Slap those to together and I’m in sammich heaven!!!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave it below or shoot me an email.

If you are interested in other grilled pork recipes, click here.

And you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures.