Smokey Indian Chicken Drumsticks

As I mentioned earlier, I went car camping at the Assateague National Seashore in Maryland last Saturday. To make dinner preparation a bit easier I marinaded some chicken drumsticks ahead of time. My Coleman Propane Grill Stove has a grill on it but this recipe is a bit too messy for that thing. I'm a huge fan of Indian food and try to recreate it in my kitchen as often as possible. I call this one my smokey Indian chicken. Add the following ingredients into a zip top bag and let marinade for a few hours or over night.

2-3 Chicken Drumsticks Per Person

Several tablespoons of paprika (thats the smokey part)

Several tablespoons of ground cumin

1 Tablespoon of cayenne pepper

Several tablespoons of BBQB Bhut Jalokia vinegar based hot sauce (optional)

Tablespoon of salt
1 Tablespoon garlic powder

Lots of olive oil (This also prevents the chicken from sticking to the pan)

To cook the chicken I used a cast iron skillet. Pour the mixture along with some water into the pan. The combination of olive oil and water prevented it from sticking to the pan.

After about ten minutes of cooking, add in some sliced tomatoes and onions. Then cook until finished.
I served this meal with some rice and beans. That and a magnum of red wine hit the spot.

Campsite Chai on the Assateague National Seashore

I hadn't really been to the beach too many times this year so last Saturday I grabbed my camping gear and headed down to the Assateague National Seashore in Maryland. For those of you who don't know about it, it is an undeveloped island off the coast of Maryland that is famous for the wild horses that roam there. Though I prefer backcountry backpacking, I also enjoy doing a little car camping as well. And of course I brought my Coleman Propane Grill Stove.I had read the weather report so I knew there was the possiblity that it would get a bit cool. One thing that hits the spot when you are camping is chai tea. And its easy to do. Chai tea involves grinding several different spices together and boiling them with the tea. To avoid having to grind the spices at a campsite, I always grind them ahead of time and stick them in a zip top bag.

To make 3-4 servings of tea here is what you'll need:
3-5 Cloves (grounded up)
5-10 Pepper corns (grounded up)
3-6 Cardomon seeds (grounded up)
Half inch of fresh ginger
2-3 tablespoons of sugar
Powdered Milk
2-3 Bags of black tea

To make the chai, boil enough water for two and slice up the ginger and add all of the ingredients except for the powdered milk and tea.

Boil the mixture for several minutes to extract all of the flavors. Turn off the heat and add the milk and tea bags. I like my chai very spicy so you may want to adjust the ingredients to your taste.
This drink is also perfect when doing backcountry backpacking since it is flavorful and lightweight.

Stay tuned for my campsite smokey indian chicken drumsticks.

2008 West Chester Restaurant Festival

It was that time of the year again here in west Chester, PA today, the annual West Chester Restaurant Festival. As always the streets were packed with people sampling all of the fantastic restaurants of West Chester and the surrounding area.

My first stop was to check out the new Pig Out BBQ Pit. I ordered three of their baby backs ribs that came with some sort of mild barbecue sauce. The meat fell right off the bone when I tried them. "Falling off the bone" is not necessarily a trait that I really look for in ribs. I prefer a little bite. I also did not notice a smoke ring around the edge of the meat. Pig Out can correct me if I am wrong but I do not think they were smoked. Either way I thought the ribs were pretty good and I welcome the addition of Pig Out to Gay Street. I look forward to experiencing more of their menu in the future.

My next stop was Mabel's Barbecue where I also dialed up 3 ribs. I like how Mabel's has the grills behind their booth. It gets me in the bbq mood. The babyback ribs from Mabel's were fairly similar to Pig Out but I thought the bbq sauce they served was a tad better.

My final verdict was that Mabel's had a slightly better sauce but the ribs were fairly equal. At no point did I get the feeling I was eating bbq in a smokehouse in North Carolina but both establishments warrant further sampling.

Bhut Jalokia Hot Sauce

If I am a little bit of a chilli fanatic then my neighbor is that times ten. The hotter the better. The other day his wife brough over a bag of various peppers that they had grown. The bag included some habeneros, a few others that I could not identify and some Bhut Jolokias. As far as the BBQB knows, the Bhut Jolokia is that hottest pepper in the world. It weighs in at 1 million Scoville units. To keep that in perspective, a jalapeno onlys weighs in at about 10,000 Scoville units.

The question is, what to do with a Bhut Jolokia. Mind you, I ain't no sissy (pardon the double negative) but these babies are wicked hot.

The solution is dilution: a vinegar based hot sauce. Now I have to admit I had never done this before and frankly the verdict is still out if I was successful or not. Either way, this is what I did.

My first step was to remove the seeds and white "stuff".

Next, I boiled the Bhut Jolokia for about 15 minutes in:

1. 2 cups of vinegar
2. 2 teaspoons of salt
3. 1 Tablespoon of garlic powder

Then I just put the mixture in a blender and let it rip. To store the mixture I just used a normal canning jar and stuck it in the fridge.


Now for the verdict. All in all I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. The sauce has a fairly simple taste to it. The heat of the chilli immediately hits your tongue when you taste it but it is not overwhelming. After the initial shock of the heat it then moves to back of the mouth. For those of you who like heat it is a fairly pleasant flavor actually. The next time I do this I might add a bit more salt and possibly some other flavors. I might also try an oil based sauce as well.
My next problem is how to use the sauce. My first use was actually in a salad dressing. Just a small teaspoon adds a beautful spice to any oil and vinegar based dressing that you might make.
If any of you have any suggestions on how you would have used the chilli please let me know.

Amazing Taste Seasoning

From time to time, food vendors contact me with recipes or offer me to taste and review their products. A couple of weeks ago Amazing Taste Foods, Inc. asked me to review some of their products and sent me a box of premixed spices ranging from poultry and beef seasoning packets to chili and fajitas mixes as well. Because of my busy grilling schedule I didn't have time to try any of them out until last night.

I decided to go with the poultry seasoning. In general I do not really use a lot of pre-mixed spices. I often enjoy experimenting with different blends according to my own tastes. However, I am also always looking see how others approach seasoning as well.

I started with two boneless skinless chicken breasts. Since chicken breasts are notoriously difficult to grill with turning dry, I first pounded them out nice and thinly.

The easiest, no mess way to pound out chicken breasts is to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the chicken before pounding. The thinner the chicken the more the seasoning will penetrate the meat and the easier it will be to grill and to avoid drying out.

Next, I followed the directions on the packet to create a little marinade. The direction specify to "mix 1/3 cup water or fruit juice, 3 Tbsp. olive oil with contents of the packet". I had a few limes in my fridge so I decided to use 1/3 cup mixture of water and lime juice. The packet also suggests piercing the meat a few times to allow the marinade to seep into the meat. Since I had just pounded the meat I did not feel this step was necessary. 5-10 minutes of marinading and I was ready to grill.

When grilling chicken you need to be a little careful to not dry it out. Since I pounded the chicken so thinly my plan was to cook them quickly at a fairly high temperature over direct heat. You want them to cook quickly but you obviously do not want them to burn. If you feel the coals are getting too hot just put the cover on for a minute or two to muffle the flames.

All in all, these breasts took about 7 minutes on each side. Make sure the juices are running clear as that is a pretty good indicator that the chicken is fully cooked.

Now for the moment of truth. I decided to keep the sides to a minimum and create a plate that really focused on the chicken. Broccoli and tomatoes rounded out this nice healthy mid-week meal.

Now for the disclaimer. Even though these seasonings were sent to me for free, I have tried to be as honest as I can. That being said, if a vendor sends me samples and I do not like them I will not review them. Here it goes.

It was delicious. In general, the Amazing Taste Seasoning for Poultry gives a very subtle but balanced flavor to the chicken. One could taste the hint of paprika and garlic in the seasoning but in fact each spice balanced the other very well and none of them really dominated. As with many premixed spice mixtures, salt is a key ingredient in the mix, but in this case it was not the dominating flavor. All in all, I feel like this seasoning packet is perfect for whipping together great tasting meals in a flash. It is also good for the beginner cook who is still a little new to the spice world. And gentlemen, you can't go wrong entertaining the ladies with this one.

In the next few weeks, I plan to try out the other seasong packets as well. Until then, Amazing Taste Foods, feel free to keep the packets coming!

Smoked Salmon

While I was at the US Open last week, I ended up hanging out in Manhattan for the night. The following morning my friends and I grabbed bagels before heading back to PA. My bagel of choice is usually an everything bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon. That got me thinking. I can do this. ...and I can do it better than they can.

Start with a nice cut of salmon. I got this piece from Shop Rite in West Chester, PA. Their fish department has improved recently so I have started going there more often.

As with many other meats that I cook for a long time, I first placed the fish in a brine overnight. I used a really simple brine of 4 cups water and 12 tablespoons of kosher salt. I also mixed in a half-cup of brown sugar. That's all I put in there but you could probably experiment with other spices as well.

Smoking the fish can be a little difficult a Weber grill because you really need to control the heat. Ideally you want the heat to be around 100-150 degrees. I was able to maintain this heat for about 5 hours, with one sleeve of coals, by almost completely closing all of the vents. The results were spectacular.
I'll be doing this much more often. Stay tuned for my smoked trout.

My Morning Jacket

After some technical difficulties...BBQB is back up and running. To start back up, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures I took from the "My Morning Jacket" show I went to last Friday night at the Festival Pier in Philadelphia. For those of you who have not listened to them, I suggest you check them out. Festival Pier is a great venue as well. Though its outside, it is small enough that the sound quality does not suffer.
One apsect of my grilling that I really haven't touched upon much is the importance of listening to good music while you grill. In the upcoming months I will begin to feature the music that is key to successful grilling.


Step 1: Pick up a My Morning Jacket album. I bet your burgers taste better already.

BBQB Does The US Open

On Saturday, I headed up to NYC to some friends of mine and go to the US Open. It was a good excuse to catch some sports and have a few afternoon beers. After a few hours of baking in the sun and watching a ball go back and forth, we headed into Manhattan for dinner and some well deserved beers.

As you might expect, we went to a German beer garden called Loreley on the lower east side. I had never been to this one before so I was pretty excited. While Zum Schneider is more of a bavarian style beer garden, Loreley models itself more after a northern Germany or Cologne style beer hall.
We arrived early so we were lucky enough to get a bench outside. Soon after we arrived the place got packed. Even though Loreley specializes in native Cologne beers like Kölsch , I quickly ordered a liter of weiss beer instead. Since I have family in Cologne, I have had plenty of opportunities to drink Kölsch and frankly the BBQB prefers the bavarian beers.

A couple of liters later, we dialed up some German viddles. The food is priced very reasonable at around $10-$20 a plate but the real star is the beer.

Its a shame that I need to travel all the way to Manhattan to get a decent liter of German wheat beer.