Winter Squash

While the pumpkins for Halloween were here, Safeway had all these variants of  weird looking pumpkins. I picked a colorful one out for grilling. Cutting in to it brought back memories of carving a jack o' lantern when I was a kid. The color, seeds and smell were the same as a pumpkin. It was pretty good, so I tried other varieties over the past few weeks. Doing some research, I've found  a website having pictures of the squash varieties I have tried so far in this Autumn season. Here are their names:

• Delicata Squash
• Carnival Squash
• Buttercup Squash
• Fairytale Pumpkin Squash

 

Biscuits on the Grill

I've written about grilled bread, and now here are the photos! These are Pillsbury whole wheat biscuits, and Hormel marinaded pork loin. 

 

I served it with KC Masterpiece sauce and Mt Olive pickles.

Sweet Potato Fries

In the past, I usually buy the frozen french fries and cook them in the oven while the meat is on the grill. Also, I have tried the frozen sweet potato fries, knowing they are more nutritious.

Lately, I just grill slices of a fresh russet potato. Now available at Safeway are sweet potatoes and/or yams in three different colors. For my last few barbecues, I've grilled in turn the white, red and yellow skinned varieties.

To prepare, I like to cut the potato lengthwise in six pieces, and brush on olive oil. Here are the yellow sweet potatoes after the first turn. I grill the vegetables first.

Here the potatoes are on the cool side of the grill while my tri-tip steaks drip fat and flare up flames.

Here the meal is served with A.1., my favorite steak sauce for puting on steak fries and steaks.

Grilling Corn in the Husk

I have just seen Steven R's show where he says the great debate is on best way to grill corn on the cob. He demonstrates his favorite method by putting corn in the husk directly on top of lump charcoal, and leaving them until the husks are burned off. He prefers the taste of the caramelized kernels.

I have been grilling corn in the husk routinely ever since seeing my brother-in-law toss them on his gas grill. I have my own favorite way of grilling corn, which I will tell you about.

First step is selecting the corn at the market. Shoppers tend to peel or split the husk to peak at the kernels. I look for corn that has its husk intact. Husk that has been damaged will not stay wrapped around the cob while grilling, and exposing the corn to the grill affects its taste.

Next, I like to prepare my corn in the husk by trimming off the hanging silk and flopping leaves so it becomes a streamlined package. I also remove the few outermost husks that don't cover the whole length of the cob. Removing them is easer than cleaning the husk, and they would separate away from the cob when heated anyway.

To cook, I put the corn on first to give it more grilling time. The green husks should become completely scorched brown from grilling. The kernels are protected by the husks and shouldn't become scorched. I like to use the silk to indicate how done the corn is cooked. Raw silk is springy, and the fibers will fly out all over the place when shucking off the husk. Cooked silk is limp, and the fibers will stick together in a neat glob making it easy to remove them.

To eat, I just peel back the husks and use them as a handle. I love the taste of the natural corn, so I don't put on it any condiments or butter like how Steven does.

Start of Spring

Tuna steak

For February 3rd, Super Sunday, I rooted for my 49er's, and made a classic meal of hamburgers, french fries and root beer soda. For the hamburger buns, I grilled Pillsbury refrigerated French bread dough. We will be there next year!
On Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, I found a lot of seafood on sale at Safeway. I bought a Big Eye Tuna Steak. The next day watching Steven Raichlen, I saw he marinaded his fish steaks in fish sauce (used like soy sauce in southeast Asia). Next time I'll try my tuna steak marinated.
It's Spring, barbecue weather, and the Giants and A's will soon be playing as I'm barbecuing.

BBQ Blog Update for Summer of 2012

We have been watching a lot of Steven Raichlen and been inspired to grill a variety of foods. In the past year, we had quesadillas, bratwurst, fish and corned beef. And the usual chicken, steaks, country style ribs and corn in the husk.  For something we haven't grilled before, we had smoked sausage, Spam, and refrigerated French bread dough. We formed the dough into biscuits and split them after grilling to make sandwiches. The resulting bread was totally different: it's not toasted; it's not baked; but it's bread from grilled dough, and very easy to cook!
For the Father's Day camp out, we've had marinated three kinds of meat, beef, chicken and pork, which is our classic barbecue medley, and with grilled corn and jalapenos on the side. Then we tried another kind of grilled bread, refrigerated biscuit dough along with ground pork. For July 4th, we had ground turkey and grilled eggplant on sesame seed buns.
This brings us to our to-do list:

• Ground Italian sausage and refrigerated pizza dough. Not exactly grilled pizza. But after assembling a sandwich with a little pasta sauce and sliced cheese, it should approach the pizza flavor.
• Beef marinated in red wine vinegar, which has been sitting in the cupboard since we last marinated beef with it long ago. This time we'll try thin sliced beef to get maximum exposure to the marinade.
• Lamb, thanks to Steven saying it is very popular on planet barbecue.
• Pork tenderloin, an old favorite and long overdue for another appearance.

Forth of July