Line 'em up and knock 'em down!

BBQ and Beer! Now that's a combination. Here are just a few more winners that have crossed my path recently. Chimay's Ale, Rogue's Dead Guy Ale, Corsendonk's Abbey Pale Ale, and Stone Brewing Co.'s IPA

Announcing Lock's Bar-B-Q Sauce!

As the BBQ bachelor, people have come to depend on me for BBQ tips and tricks. While travelling the country, during dinner I bumped into a nice gentlemen at the bar who sold BBQ sauce. Now, as you know, I typically like to flavor my own sauce but every single person at the bar swore up and down that this is the best sauce in the world. In the next upcoming weeks I will plan to use this sauce on my world famous ribs and write a review on it. For those of you who want to learn a little bit more about these guys go to their website at Lock's Bar-B-Q

Tandoori Chicken

Ok, here is another little masterpiece that I want to share with everyone. The key to this one is to marinade it for a good chunk of time. For this bird I used a store bought tandoori marinade which I mixed with a little yogurt and then spread it all over the bird. I then stuck it in the fridge for a day. Once the fowl is marinaded thoroughly I tossed it on the grill for 3-3.5 hours using indirect heat. When I served the meal I paired the chicken with a white wine from a local winery called the Chaddsford Winery. I'm not much of a white wine guy (nor should you be) but it seemed to work fairly well. It has a little bit of a sweet kick which off set the spicyness of the meat. Since I can only go so far with white wine, mid meal we opened up a Cab from Century Cellars. Excellent.

Tomato and Cucumber Salad

This is perfect healthy side for grilled meats. Couldn't be easier as well. Just roughly chop up a cucumber, a few tomatoe, an avocado, and top with plenty of feta cheese. Pour on your favorite vinagrette dressing right before serving and thats it.

Bridgeport Brewing Company IPA

Time to highlite another gem I found on my last trip To California...The nice thing about California is that you can buy wine, liquor and beer just about anywhere. In addition you are allowed to buy 6 packs. Now for those of you who have never had the pleasure of attempting to buy alcohol in Pennsylvania, PA has some interesting laws. Not only can you only buy beer at state run beer stores but you must buy an entire case (24 bottles/cans) at a time. Now I am all for buying 24 beers but I dont always want to buy 24 bottles of the same beer at a time. Its the BBQB's opinion that Pennsylvania needs to grow up and change their ridiculous laws. Done wiht my rant...check these guys out when you can - Bridgeport Brewing Company

Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon

I finally got around to grilling up some salmon. However, I hate to admit it but I did something to this fish that I am not proud of...I grilled it on a gas grill. It was a moment of weakness and I'm sure I will not do it again for a long time to come. Aynways, back to the details...I bought these fillets at Safeway and actually ended up using one of their premixed salmon spice rub. It was basically a lemon/salt flavored mixture. Not too bad. Anyways, all I did was rub those spices on to the fish and let them sit in the fridge for an hour. After that I grilled them on a propane grill. Actually in my opinion I was really just cooking outside rather than grilling. In order for the fish to retain its shape I placed it on tin foil. Unfortunately because ofthe absense of charcoal the fish did not really take on an extra flavor from the grilling. In the end though it turned out fairly tasty.

Alaskan Amber

These boys paired really well with the spicy Wrapped Jalepenos. They're made but the Alaskan Brewing Company. Check out their whole line of beers here. Its tough to find their products outside of the west coast so be sure to pick up a six-pack the next time you're in the Golden State.

Wrapped Jalepenos

Got the inspiration for this one while out in Palo Alto. These make an excellent fiery appetizer.
Ingredients:

1. Jalepeno peppers (6-8)
2. Ground pork or sausage meat (~1 lbs)
3. Chunk of your favorite cheese (I used a block of cheddar)
4. Bread crumbs
5. Egg

This is a pretty simple process. Wash the jalepenos, slice one side open (the long way) and gut them of their seeds and white stuff. Next cut off a piece of cheese and stuff each pepper with as much as you can get in there. Next spice your ground pork with some salt, pepper, and whatever else you like. I would suggest tossing in a little cumin powder, garlic powder, onion powder and chili powder. Toss in an egg as well and mix the meat. The goal is to now coat each jalepeno entirely with the meat. The easiest way to do this is form a ball of meat on your hand and then press the pepper into the meat. After each pepper has been covered, roll them around in bread crumbs until coated. These guys can a be a little delicate to grill so I would now suggest tossing them in the fridge for 15 minutes so they retain shape. Toss 'em o nthe grill for about 20 minutes or so and your done. The peppers will taste best if they get cooked inside the meat. The jalepenos in my picture above could use a few more minutes in the Weber.

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