Here’s a recipe that might make you scratch your head at first, but you’ll surely change your tune if you try it. My wife has gotten bit by the food contest bug and this was her first contest at the NC State fair. She nailed first place and a a check for a few hundred dollars. Not bad at all! The grilled apples work surprisingly well with other ingredients. It’s a great twist on a traditional salad, where tomatoes would be used in place of the apples traditionally.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt divided (into ½ teaspoon each)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 4 medium-large green Granny Smith apples from North Carolina, cored and cut into 1/4 to 1/3-inch thick slices (about 2 pounds)
• 16 ounces sliced, fresh mozzarella cheese
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves
• 4 to 6 thinly sliced pieces prosciutto
• ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans

Preparation:

• Combine first six ingredients in a large plastic freezer bag.
• Add apples, seal and shake gently to coat.
• Chill one hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake slices of prosciutto on an ungreased cookie sheet for eight minutes or until crisp. Then cool and crumble.
• Using a medium-size frying pan over medium heat, melt butter and soy sauce and ½ teaspoon of sea salt and one teaspoon of garlic powder until ingredients are warm and melted. Add chopped pecans and toast in mixture.
• Preheat grill to 350 to 400 degrees (medium-high) heat.
• Spray grill with nonstick spray.
• Remove apples from marinade, reserving marinade.
• Grill apples covered, 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until tender and grill marks appear.

Arrange alternating slices of warm grilled apple slices, basil and mozzarella cheese on a large, shallow platter. Drizzle with reserved marinade, season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with crumbled prosciutto and toasted pecans. This is great summer salad that will impress your friends.

First, lets start with your options. You basically have two major differences in the types of charcoal chimneys you’ll find available for purchase….size and material, regular steel or stainless. So, I recommend, and own a stainless chimney, which was the largest I could find.  Stainless steel lasts longer in the elements, which was my reason for buying a stainless chimney. As for size, you don’t have to fill the chimney with charcoal, so the larger the better. It gives me more flexibility.

Now, why a chimney? It allows you to get a good even burn on your charcoal or wood and it allows you to light up your next batch of wood or charcoal to add to the fire. Burning wood down a bit will eliminate the potential of getting any bitter taste from bark and it will burn off any chemicals, if your using charcoal that is not natural.

So, how do you use one? It’s simple:

1. put some old newspaper underneath the chimney
2. put some lighter fluid on the newspaper
3. add half the amount of charcoal you intend to use
4. put lighter fluid on the charcoal
5. add the rest of the charcoal to the chimney
6. put some more lighter fluid on the charcoal
7. light the paper under the chimney
8. come back in about 25 minutes and the charcoal should be ashed over and ready to use

If you’re using wood, follow steps 1 and 2. Then add a few pieces of charcoal and add some lighter fluid. Put your wood in the chimney and light the newspaper.

That’s all that’s to it. Now go get yourself a chimney.

As I had said, simple is best, and this simple lamb only requires salt, pepper, butter and lemon juice. The butter and lemon mixture provides a magnificent flavor as the meat sears. You really have to try this.

Time:

• Prep: about 5 minutes
• Cooking: about 25 minutes

Cooking Method and Temp:

• Direct, to sear, then indirect to finish cooking
• Temperature: High for searing, about 500 degrees, medium for finishing, about 350 degrees

Ingredients:

• One butterflied leg of lamb, about 6 pounds
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 and 1/2 lemons, juiced
• 3/4 stick of butter
• 1 disposable aluminum pan, if you’re using charcoal

Preparation:

1. I recommend using charcoal for this recipe, so get your charcoal started before you prep the meat
2. If the lamb is in a net, for roasting, remove the net
3. Pound the meat so that it is as even as possible, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick
1. If you don’t have a meat hammer, you can use an empty wine bottle
4. Liberally rub salt and pepper all over the leg
5. Melt the butter and then mix in the lemon juice
1. reserve about 3 tablespoons of the mixture to brush on the finished lamb
6. Get your grill set up for indirect grilling and let the grill heat up
7. Brush the top side of the lamb with the lemon and butter mixture
8. Place the lamb, brushed side down, directly over the heat, brush the other side and grill for 4 – 5 minutes
9. Repeat for the other side of the leg
10. Place the meat over the indirect portion of the grill, fat side up and brush again with the lemon and butter mixture and cook for about 15 minutes, until the internal temperature is 145 degrees for medium rare.
11. Once plate the meat, brush with the remainder of the butter and lemon mixture, cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
12. Slice the lamb and serve immediately

If you only limit your grill time to doing chicken breasts, steaks, pork chops or other “quick cook” items, you can get away without a thermometer. For those types of items, I simply I use my knowledge of my grill and grill times and I also use the “touch method”, that is, I poke the meat to feel it’s firmness. I’ll follow-up on that method soon.

For thermometers, I want something that’s quick in reading temperature, accurate in it’s readings, and durable. Do not get lured into picking up the $2 digital stick thermometer in your grocery store. More than likely, it will flat let you down. For the last few years I’ve stuck with three thermometers: 1) a digital fork thermometer,2) a stainless steel dial thermometer, 3) and a remote thermometer with two temperature probes. So, why three different kinds? Well, my wife would say that I’m anal re-tentative, which is true, but it’s this trifecta, that insurers that you have what you need for every scenario and that meets my requirements above.

Let’s start with the “standard” stainless steel thermometer“. I’ve used this as a back-up and I use it for checking the accuracy of my digital thermometer. It gets the gob done and is a less expensive choice. There are tons of choices out there, so you want to do a little research to make sure you buy something that is accurate and well built. To check the accuracy, I set my oven to the lowest, or a lower,  temperature reading of the thermometer. Once the oven hits that temp, I put the thermometer in and let it get to temp. That will give you an idea of it’s accuracy. These basic thermometers tend to be slower, taking a minute or two to get to temp, but I consider them to be a staple at least to backup your digital thermometer should it, or its batteries, fail.

Next you have the digital thermometer. My specific example is from Brookstone and has a readout of the temperature along with the ability to select the type of meat your testing. It displays a bar graph for each type of meat with rare, medium rare, medium and well markings. That’s all just fluff as you really just need an accurate temperature readout. It’s convenient if your not familiar with different temps for different levels of doneness for the meat you’re cooking. Good digital thermometers are usually faster and provide easier to read results. The fork type also allows you to move you meat as well.

On to the remote thermometer. This baby shines when you’re slow cooking something. they generally have two units; one that is the main unit that you keep in your house where its accessible while you have something on the BBQ, and the other attached to the probes beside your grill. The remote unit send the temp readings the the main unit that you have in your house, preventing you from having to stand over the grill the whole time. The unit I have, the Maverick, has two probes,
which is important. Two probes allows you to monitor and cook two pieces of meat, or allows you to monitor a piece of meat and the grill temperature at the same time from the comfort of your house, back porch or where ever you want to be within range. It really makes multi-hour BBQ’ing easier and helps insure everything’s running right on the Que.

Any one of these types of thermometer will get the job done. You just need to know what level of convenience your going after with the type of food you prepare

So, “What do you do with smoked salt?”, one might ask. To which I would answer, “Put it on anything you like.” Seriously. Replace regular sea salt with smoked sea salt in your BBQ rub, especially if you’re not going to add any wood to your fire when grilling meat. Sprinkle it on fish before broiling it for a hint of smokey flavor. Add it to your baked potato to give the taste and impression that you just pulled it out of the coals of a camp fire. The nice thing about real smoked salt versus the kind soaked in liquid smoke is that it doesn’t have an overpowering smokey flavor, but just enough to give that “fresh off the grill” taste. It’s definitely worth spending a little time to make your own and try this at least once.

Time:

• Prep: about 45 minutes to burn your choice of wood to coals
• Cooking Time: 4 – 6 hours

Cooking Method and Temp:

• Indirect cooking
• Low (you want as little heat as possible…..just the smoke)

Ingredients:

• Moist coarse sea salt (This is important as the moist sea salt absorbs the flavor much better than dry sea salt)
• Note: Check out your local Asian market or restaurant supply. I think I paid about $4 for 10 pounds
• The wood of our choice

Preparation:

1. Set up your grill for indirect grilling.
2. Either 1) put a layer of the salt in a shallow aluminum baking sheet, or 2) place aluminum foil right on the grate in the spot where you don’t have direct heat, and lay some slat on it being careful not to put too much so it doesn’t spill off of the foil
3. Light your wood in either a fire pit, charcoal chimney, or in your charcoal grill and let it burn down to mostly coals
1. Having a place to burn the wood that’s separate from where your cooking it is helpful so you can start more wood as soon as you add the first set of coals to your grill.
4. Once the wood is ready, use a shovel (if your using a fire pit or another grill), or  dump the coals from the chimney into your grill
5. Place the aluminum baking sheet with the salt, or the grate with the aluminum foil and salt onto the grill, and cover your grill…shut all of the dampers
6. Light up another batch of wood
7. Check the salt every hour stirring/mixing it with a spatula, tasting it, and adding new coals (make sure you use some kind of over or grill mitts to handle the hot grate)
8. Once the salt has the taste you want, you’re done. I tend to do it for 4 – 6 hours when I’m able to get pretty thick smoke.

It’s a little time consumption, but well worth it and you’ll save a bunch of money over the store bought stuff while really impressing your friends. Enjoy!

Before I get to the mix, let me say that this can be your final rub product, or a start to your own BBQ spice bliss. You can start simple by perhaps using ground chipotle pepper powder instead of the cayenne. Or maybe you just want to start with some extra garlic. From there, you can go where ever you like.

Yield:

• 1 cup

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (can be substituted with chipotle pepper powder or the pepper of your choice)
• 2 table spoons of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of white pepper (this you can skip, just use 3 table spoons of black pepper if you prefer)
• 3 tablespoons of coarse kosher or sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of the smoked salt of your choice (you can omit this and use 4 total table spoons of salt if you don’t have smoked salt)
• 2 teaspoons of onion powder
• 3 teaspoons of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon of celery seed
• 1 teaspoon of dried oregano
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup of light brown sugar (start with 1/3 cup and add more to taste)

Mix all of the ingredients and store in an airtight container. Now you’re set to add the BBQ flavor to your next meal.

Time:

• Prep: about 10 minutes
• Cooking time: 1 1/2 to 3 minutes (depends on the size of the asparagus and how hot your grill gets)

Cooking Method and Temp:

• Direct Cooking
• High: about 500 degrees

Equipment:

• Baggie for marinating the asparagus
• Grill tongs
• (Optional) Grill basket or tray

Ingredients:

• Asparagus
• Your favorite oil-based dressing or olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat your grill to high with the basket on the grate
1. If you don’t have a basket, cover your grate with aluminum foil and poke some holes in it with a fork
2. Marinate asparagus with the dressing or olive oil, with just enough to coat for 5 – 10 minutes
3. Once the grill is preheated, add the asparagus to the grill basket.
4. Turn the asparagus regularly until slightly limp (1 – 3 minutes)
5. Remove the asparagus and serve immediately

That’s it! This is a really easy one and I serve it with everything from steak to chicken to wild game. Here a video walk-through of the whole process.

As an avid outdoorsman, I’ve been out on several bird hunts this year and have been fortunate in my success of harvesting a few dozen quail, which is something my family have been very happy about. If you’re interested in checking  our latest adventure at Anderson Creek, a hunting preserve in Lillington North Carolina, you can read about it and check out the video ===> HERE. The bottom line is that I had prepared the quail breasts using this recipe and everyone was more than impressed. This recipe is relatively and doesn’t make much prep work.

Time:

• Prep: about 15 minutes
• Cooking time: about 20 – 25 minutes

Cooking Method and Temp:

• Indirect Cooking
• High: about 500 degrees

Servings:

• 4 for a main course

Ingredients:

For the Quail (or Chicken – reduce ingredients accordingly)

• 12 breasts of quail on the bone – 3 for each person (If using chicken breasts, 1 per person will work)
  

  Raw Quail Breasts

• 12 slices of bacon (1 slice per breast)
• Seasoned salt
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 24 Frozen peach slices, defrosted (2 for each breast)
• 2 jalapenos
• Butchers string or toothpicks
• Wood chips for a gas grill, or chunks for a charcoal grill (I recommend a fruit wood such as apple or cherry for this recipe)

For the Baste

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce

For the Peach and Jalapeno Glaze

• 12 ounce jar of peach jelly or preserves
• 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced

Preparation:

1. Soak your wood for 1/2 hour
2. Set up your grill for indirect grilling and heat to high
3. Add you wood chip foil pack if you’re using a gas grill
1. If you’re using charcoal, wait about about 20 minutes until your coals begin to ash over, then add your wood chunks
4. Make your baste
1. Mix all of the ingredients, except for the wine, and bring the baste to a simmer until the spices are dissolved
2. Remove the baste for the heat and stir in the wine
5. Season each breast with the seasoned salt and black pepper
6. Wrap each breast with one slice of bacon and either tie them with butchers string or secure the ends with toothpicks
7. Prepare the peach jalapeno glaze by adding all of the ingredients into a sauce pan and bringing it to a simmer, stirring for about a minute
8. Remove the glaze from the heat and set aside
9. Place the breasts on the grill where you don’t have direct heat and baste each breast with your baste
10. Baste the breasts every 4 minutes with your baste
11. After 15 minutes add the peach slices and jalapenos to the grill over direct heat
1. Remove the peaches slices once they have grill marks on each side
2. Remove the jalapenos once the skin blisters slightly
12. Once the breasts have reached and internal temperature of 165 degrees ( about 15 – 20 minutes), do the following:
1. For gas, turn the burners that are on to a medium setting ( all grills are different, if your grill is a flame thrower on medium, go to medium low)
2. For charcoal, you’re set with the hot portions of your grill the way they are
3. Brush the breasts with the peach glaze, and place the glazed side down over the hot grate and baste the side facing up
4. turn the breasts every 1 1/2 minutes, brushing them with glaze  every time, about 4 times to get a nice glaze

Now you’re done with the cooking part, so it’s time to plate. Place 3 of the quail breasts on each plate along with 2 grilled peach slices. Slice the grilled jalapenos across their width and evenly distribute them on each plate. I had served this dish with classic butter roasted “new” potatoes and grilled asparagus, which complement it nicely. I’ll provide recipes for these dishes over the next few days. I hope you enjoy this awesome, tasty recipe.

Time:

• Prep – about 1 minute per cob for husking
• Cooking Time: 10 – 15 minutes

Cooking Method and Temp:

• Direct cooking
• High – 500 degrees +

Ingredients:

• 4 Cobs of your favorite corn
• 1 Stick of butter
• 1/2 stick for basting the corn
• 1/2 stick for your guests to use for brushing on the corn
• 1/4 teaspoon of your favorite spices, or more to taste
• OPTIONAL: Wood chips (for gas) or wood chunks (for charcoal) soaked in water for 1/2 hour

Preparation:

1. Set up your grill for direct cooking, and heat to high.
2. OPTIONAL: Add your wood.
1. If using gas, set-up and add your wood chip foil pack
2. If using charcoal, let your coals ash over for about 1/2 hour before adding the soaked wood chunks
3. Husk your corn making sure to remove all of the corn silk threads.
4. Melt your butter and then add your spices
5. Place your corn on the hot grate and baste it with your butter mixture, immediately turning the corn so that the buttered side is down and baste the side that is now up.
6. After about 2/3 minutes you’ll want to baste the corn again and turn it 1/4 turn…..this will depend on how dark you want the corn and how hot your grill is.
7. Repeat step 6 until the corn is done to your liking.

Believe it or not, chicken is one of the harder meats to grill. Why, you ask? Because it will dry out if not done properly. That is one of the beautiful things about this recipe….as long as you don’t leave it on way too long, you’ll have a moist delicious chicken, with  crispy golden-brown skin. What more can you ask for? This method works equally well on gas and charcoal, provided you can cook indirectly. Another nice thing about cooking chicken in this way is that, being you’re standing the birds up on a can, you can fit more on your grill. So toss a few on for that Superbowl party!

Time:

• Prep: about 10 minutes
• Cooking time: about 90 minutes

Cooking Method and Temp:

• Indirect cooking
• Medium: about 325 degrees

Ingredients:

• 1 Chicken – about 4 pounds
• About 5 tablespoons of your favorite rub, seasoned salt, old bay…..you get the point
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 can of your favorite beer
• Optional: wood chunks or chips (I prefer a hickory or mesquite for chicken); chunks soaked and loose for charcoal, and chips soaked placed in a foil pack for gas
• Optional: Beer can holder (check out the video)
• Optional: Meat injector (check out the video)

Preparation:

1. Drink half of the can of beer (this is the best part!)
2. Set-up your grill for indirect grilling and heat to about 325 degrees
3. Optional: Add your foil pack or wood chunks
4. Rinse the chicken and remove any of the stuff inside the bird
5. Pat the chicken dry
6. Rub your chicken with 3 tablespoons of the  rub thoroughly
7. Use one tablespoon of the rub on the inside of the bird
8. Melt the butter and then add the last tablespoon of the rub to the melted butter
9. OPTIONAL: Inject about 1/2 of the butter mixture into the breasts and legs
10. OPTIONAL: Put the 1/2 empty beer can in the holder and the chicken over the can
1. Note: If you don’t have a beer can holder, you’ll have to balance the chicken on the can on the grill, which can be a little tricky.
11. Place the chicken, which is mounted on the can, on the grate over the portion of your grill that doesn’t have the burner on, or where you don’t have charcoal. You may want to place a disposable aluminum tray under the bird to catch the drippings which makes clean-up easier.
12. Baste the bird with the melted butter mixture and baste again every 30 minutes.
13. The bird is done when the internal temp reaches 165 degrees in the breast and 175 degrees in the thigh. Make sure your thermometer isn’t hitting bone as you won’t get an accurate reading.

Note: If the skin is getting too dark, loosely place foil over the bird to prevent blackening.

Here’s a video walking through the whole procedure. This is one recipe you have to try. You’ll look like a grillin’ genius!