Sausages & Butternut Squash

Sweet Italian Sausages, hot dogs and (drumroll) Butternut Squash!

I know, I know. Butternut Squash is some sort of thing called a "vegetable". But when basted with brown sugar and butter, it transcends what vegetables can be, namely edible. And I didn't even have to wrap a slice of bacon around it.

Correction added 5.2.2011: It has come to my attention that Butternut Squash is in fact a "fruit" and not a "vegetable". Since its not a meat, I really don't give a rat's behind what it is. Fruit/veggie = not meat.

Beer Can Chicken!

Beer Can Chicken is one of our families favorites. It's easy and its fun.

We used the Weber brand Beer Can Chicken packaged rub for this... 

indirect heat at 350° for about 90 minutes (180° in thigh). Smoked using hickory chips.

Tip: Stuff a small potato in the neck to keep the steam on the inside throughout cooking.

Good stuff!

Smoked Prime Rib

....with Bacon-wrapped Sweet Potatoes.



250° about 30 minutes per pound (until thermometer is around 135 - rare). Serve with a creamy horsradish sauce.

Grill the whole sweet potatoes for about 12 minutes over direct medium, turning 3 times to expose each side to the heat. Remove, let cool, then remove the skin (easy) and cut into 1/2-3/4" slices. Wrap a piece of bacon around the slice and put it on a skewer. Grill over direct medium for 10-12 minutes until the bacon is firm, turning once. Serve with Sour Cream and Maple Syrup dipping sauce (2/3 cup Sour Cream + 1/3 cup Maple Syrup).

Lemon Marinated Pork Chops

A quick acting marinade that infuses the pork chops with a lemon flavor.



Lemon Juice, Soy sauce, Olive Oil, Light Brown Sugar, Salt and Pepper.

Marinate the pork for at least 60 minutes before grilling.

I grilled these by searing for about six minutes, turning once, then indirect at about 350° for another 8-10 minutes (time varies depending upon the thickness of the chops.



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Shroom Bombs

It's raining, bitter and windy today, so I'm not firing up the grill today. Instead, I figured I would share one of the more requested things that I grill. Many have asked about these.... so here's a quick post on how I make them.

I use medium stuffing mushrooms, after cleaning them off, I remove the stem with a small knife or spoon.

Slice up some pepper-jack cheese into small squares (cheddar works well, too). Slice them so that they fit just right into the mushroom bottom leaving room for the Jalapeno. Place a slice of the cheese into the bottom of the mushroom.

Slice up a Jalapeno pepper into rings and place it into the mushroom, on top of the cheese. The Jalapeno slice should fit snug so feel free to make any necessary cuts to get it to fit just right. Too loose? add another piece of the pepper or the cheese. I prefer fresh small-medium ones more then the big ones.Larger peppers are more sweet then hot. Jarred peppers are fine to use if that's all you got. If you don't like it hot-n-spicy, don't put in the jalapeno.

Take a slice of bacon and completely wrap the mushroom. Start on one side, near the top of the mushroom. Work the bacon down beneath the mushroom and back over the top until it is over the side of the bacon where you started. Next, twist the bacon so that it is perpendicular to the direction of the first wrap of bacon and wrap it around the sides of mushroom, and it should end back on the same side of the bacon.

Use a toothpick to hold the bacon in place (If I'm making both spicy and non-spicy versions together, I'll use two toothpicks in the spicy 'shrooms so that they're easy to tell apart).

 

I grill them on the heating rack with typically medium heat (350°) and it takes about 40-50 minutes depending on where the actual heat source is. You know that they're done when the bacon is firm, or even crispy.

I like to make mine spicy, and if you like increased heat, too, and you have some chipotle in adobo sauce, mince up a couple of the peppers and spoon a small amount with the adobo sauce into the mushrooms. This can also be used instead of the slice of Jalapeno. I haven't worked up the nerve to use a Serrano or Habanero pepper..... yet.

I like to wrap the bacon around the mushroom, as opposed to back over the top and bottom, because it will act as a "rim" and catch any melting cheese or adobo sauce (and rendered bacon fat) and keep it in the mushroom instead of escaping down the sides.


I got this idea from Pit Crew BBQ, click here to see the Youtube video

The Periodic Table of Meat Explained

.First time I've come across this bit of bacon news...

 ...without bacon life on earth as we know it could not exist...

Click here to visit the page that I found this on!


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Jerk Chicken 4.10.2011

For today, I decided on grilling up some Jerk Chicken. It's one of our families favorites when it comes to a simple, quick and different chicken dish. You make a paste and rub it all over over the chicken pieces and you want it to marinate the chicken for at least six hours. The below photo shows the ingredients which I always double, plus some Canola Oil to help make the paste.

I love the smell of the Allspice while making the paste.

The jerk-paste covered chicken pieces are in the fridge. They'll get most of the paste wiped off and then they'll be grilled over indirect medium heat at about 350° later today for about 40-50 minutes, which, to me, is the best way to prepare chicken on a grill.... 

I consider this pseudo-barbecuing.



Update: 5:00 PM
Out of the fridge and cleaned off of excess Jerk paste, the chicken pieces are on the grill. First the legs and thighs, then 10 minutes later I put the breasts and wings on. The three legs on the left are plain old beer-can chicken rubbed for my little girls who aren't big fans of the heat that the Habanero peppers pack into the Jerk flavor.

They don't look great at the moment, but the smell
is irresistible around the grill.

Update: 6:00 PM

After 40 minutes on the grill,
the Jerk chicken is ready for dinner.

During the final 5 minutes of cooking time,
I like to flip them to the skin side to get a crispy skin.

Let rest for 5 minutes and then serve!

I used 3-1/2 habanero peppers in the doubled recipe.
The presence of the heat made itself known, but not overwhelmingly intrusive.
It was so good. One of my favorite ways to prepare chicken on the grill.

And yes, there's left overs for tomorrow's lunch.

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Welcome to Grilling With Slash

I like food. I like grilling food. I like barbecuing food.
I typically BBQ on Sundays and would post a video of the "event" to Facebook so that my co-workers would see what I would have to share during lunch the next day.
And if there were no leftovers to share, it was so that
they could see what they were missing.

Therefore, I started this blog to share my adventures in grilling and barbecuing.
I plan to update this blog with photos, videos and grand stories of my time in front of the grill.

Please share your comments, questions and suggestions. I'm no expert, but we can all learn something new from one another that relates to grilling and barbecuing food.

By the way, I like bacon. A lot.

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