Chili Sauce

A staple in my house are several different types of dried chilis. They can be purchased from any grocery store these days. They come in all different levels of heat. Here is a little recipe for a chili sauce that is dynamite on tacos.

Start by boiling a bunch of dried chilis for about 15 minutes. I used a few ancho chilis and few hotter ones as well. For a milder sauce, just use ancho chilis. Strain the water and remove the stems. Place the chilis into a food processor along with a dollop of mayaonnaise, another dollop of plain yogurt, and salt to taste. Spin that around and you have an excellent chili sauce.

Happy Thanksgiving '08!

I am still out on the west coast and about to go over to my brothers house for Thanksgiving. Since I am not making the turkey this year, I'm afraid I wont be able to post any pictures of any grilled trurkeys. However, since you are probably in the middle of turkey overload, above is a picture of the ribs I made last week to cleanse your pallet.
If you think it is blasphemy to think about ribs on turkey day, click here for all of my turkey recipes.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Few Days In Oregon

Last Thursday I flew to the west coast to visit some friends and family for the holiday. Though I haven't been grilling much in the past few days, I have certainly been eating. For your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of some joints I ate at on a four day driving trip through Oregon. It was my first time to Oregon and I was blown away with the scenery. The first picture above is from the Crater Lake National Park. The night before I had camped out in sub-freezing temperatures just outside the park. All of the campsites were closed so I just popped up my tent on the side of the road.

During the 1000 some miles that I drove across Oregon, I ate at a bunch of greasy spoons, each one being better and better.
Believe it or not there is a burger hiding under there.
I finished up the trip by camping along the coast and tieing one on at the Rogue Brewery in New Port.

Shrimp Tacos

Here are a few shots of the shrimp tacos that I made the other that used the guacamole for.

The tacos were simple. I just bought a pound of precooked shrimp, dusted some mild chili powder and salt over them, and pan fried them in some butter, olive oil, and fresh garlic.

To build the tacos, I heated up some corn tortillas, added some shrimp, a layer of guacamole and topped them off with some chopped cilantro.

BBQB Does Guacamole

I whipped up some shrimp tacos tonight and thought I would share the recipe for the guacamole. There are a dozen different ways to make guacamole and here is mine that I use for tacos. Not only does this taste great its simple to do.
You'll need the foillowing:
1 Avocado
1 Can of Herdez Salsa Verde
Chopped up cilantro
1 Chopped Tomatoes
Pinch of kosher salt
Minced red onionMix all of the above together until you have a nice smooth consistency. This is the perfect guacamole for tacos. Its not too thick and it gets a nice kick from the salsa verde.

Duck Duck Grilled

I was perusing through Shop Rite on Saturday and came across a sale on ducklings. At a $1/lb I thought I had better get two. One went on my grill Sunday night and the other is nesting safely in my freezer. It'll be brought out when the time is right.

My method for preparing duck is quite simple. Since the bird is naturally very fatty and flavorful, I skip the brining step that I normally do for turkey. Instead, I merely wait for duck to come to room temperature and then sprinkle it with kosher salt and pepper.

To grill the duck, I measured out a chimney and a half of Cowboy Brand 100% All Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal, placed it to one side of the grill and got it going really hot. As with most big cuts of meat I cooked it with indirect heat. To help me with "doneness" I used my meat thermometer again. This 6 pound duckling took 95 minutes to get up to 180 degrees. I kept the temperature in the grill to between 375 and 400 degrees. I like the high temperature because it crisps up the duck fat a bit. Since duck is so fatty there is little chance that you will dry it out.

After the 95 minutes I tossed the bird directly over the coals for about 30 seconds to further crisp up the skin.

One thing that I did not do this time around was collect the dripping in a pan and create a gravy. but I highly suggest you do so.

Pomegranate Margarita

Here is a "big bang for the buck" drink idea, the pomegranate margarita. Not only is it easy but it contains pomegranate juice which is the Superman of all health foods.
Whenever I am mixing up tequila with anything, I always go for the good stuff. While there are different type of Agave plants, at a minimum you need to start with a 100% pure Agave tequila. The rest is easy.

Into a shaker add the following ingredients (recipe for two drinks):

1. 2 shots tequila
2. 1 shot Cointreau (triple will do in a pinch)
3. Juice of one lime
4. 1 cup of pomegranate juice

Shake it up and pour over plenty of ice. Salted rim is optional but nice as well.

Simple Scallop Appetizer

Here is one of my biggest culinary secrets. Seared scallops over a bed of greens. The next time you have someone over for dinner and you want/need to impress them, break out this appetizer. Its so simple it not even funny.

The first step is to get your mitts on some giant scallops. More of the grocery joints sell them now but Gadeleto's would probably be my first choice. Giant scallops are expensive but the good part is that you will only need one scallop per person.

The second step is to put together a simple salad. You basically just need a fancy bed of greens. Any of the fancy lettuces will do. Possibly add a tomato wedge to look sophisticated. Toss the greens in a simple oil and vinegar dressing.

The only difficult part about this appetizer is that you need to cook it right before you eat it. To good part is that it doesn't take long to cook. Though this can be done on a grill, I normally cook this appetizer on my stove. I like to use my caste iron pan. Put a big hunk of butter in it and turn the heat on high. The goal of this one is hot and quick. When the pan is hot but before the butter has burned place the scallops in the pan. Season with salt and pepper. You will want to cook the scallop on each side for about 2 minutes. Thats it. When it is finished just place on top of the greens and serve. You're a winner.

2 Racks - 2 Hours - 1 Weber

The other day I was tasked with feeding 7 people with pork spare ribs. The challenge with grilling enough ribs for 7 people on a Weber is that you end up running out of grill space. You dont want the ribs over the direct heat of the coals or they will burn. The trick is to stack. The most I have ever stacked was 3 racks but this time 2 was sufficient.

As always I started out with the BBQB's basic rib rub.

1) One Part Ground Cumin

2) One Part Paprika

3) Quarter Part Garlic Powder

4) Quarter Part Onion Powder

5) Splash of cayenne

6) Kosher Salt

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl and add enough olive oil to create a paste. Cover both sides of your ribs with a thick amount of the paste. As always, I bought these racks from Shop Rite in West Chester, PA.

Normally I grill one rack of ribs for about 1.75 hours at around 300-350 degrees. However, since I had to stack these two racks on top of one another, my total cooking time stretched to about 2 hours. Half way through I flipped them around so that both side had equal time.

When the ribs were done I pulled them off, covered them in foil and towels for 15 minutes bfore eating.

The army of 7 was fed and they were fed well. Some homemade coleslaw and baked beans rounded out the menu.

Gilmore's, West Chester PA

Just wanted to say that I was at Gilmore's again last week and had yet another amazing meal. They are top notch. Some of you know that my last experience at Gilmore's was abit muddled since they ran out of the tasting menu before we got there. Normally this would not be so bad except for the fact that I had gone early to specifically make sure they would not run out.

That being said, my last experience at Gilmore's was absolutely perfect. The wait staff was excellent as usual and they even remembered me and my guests from that last visit. One thing that sets the Gilmore wait staff apart is that they are very knowledgable about the food. The head chef has each waiter try out the menu ahead of time so that they can describe it correctly to the guests.

Enjoy the pictures...I certainly enjoyed the food. Did I meniotn they are BYOB? By the end of the meail we were 5 bottles in the hole.