EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Get your grill on.

http://crunchgear.com/wp-content/upl..._z303_7is5.jpg

We're having a good bye to summer grilling challenge. Details: Anyone can compete. Competition runs for the month of September. Anything goes as long as it's cooked on the grill. Foreman grills and grill pans are allowed.

Here is the link to the inaugural challenge which was tomato.

For reference, you may want also to check out these Iron Chef OOT challenges: Cabbage, Sweet Potato, Bacon, Rice, Beef, Avocado, Ricotta, Garlic, Catfish, Radish, Duck, asparagus, & chili peppers.

Now go fire up the coals (or do whatever it is you gas/foreman/pan grillers do).

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

All,

A couple of ideas discussed in the last thread.

1) If you're a basic cook like me, feel free to grill up some awesome burgers and whatever else on the grill and submit them. If all you have is a small Foreman, do something on that. We'll separate the entries into a couple of groups to give the less experienced cooks a shot at glory as well.

2) Submit stuff early. We'll comment and provide critiques of dishes so people can revise and resubmit - and hopefully create more delicious versions of their initial creations.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Something AWESOME I just made a few weeks ago:

Slice up 1-2 apples, mix with brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon or whatever sweet stuff you have laying around.

Marinate 1 pack of chicken thighs in soy sauce, 1 clove of garlic and some brown sugar. I only let this marinate for ~1 hour.

Skewer the apples and throw the chicken on the grill all at the same time. Grill it up and serve with rice and your favorite hot sauce and some white wine. The sweet apples with the spicy chicken is absolutely amazing.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Let me get the pics, don't blame me if you drool on your keyboard....

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Oh man, I just ran out of charcoal at roughly the date that I was ready to say "It was a good summer of grilling and now I'm done," anyway, so I figured it was a perfect zen like time to call it quits.

I may just have to buy some more and make something for this.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

I realize this is pretty informal and so this is mostly an unnecessary question, but: what are the thoughts on combination cooking methods? Grilling+braising, and so on...

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Sapo,

I like to combo cook. A lot of times I'll start steaks (especially thick ones) on the grill, and finish them in the oven with some garlic or truffle butter or something (I love truffle butter). I'm not a huge fan of the crispy char that you get when you cook a steak all the way through on the grill. With my combo, I get good grill-marks and a nice crunchy outside, but the oven keeps it not too crunchy and very tender. I don't do this always, just on thicker cut meats.
Hope this helps.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

El Sapo--Combo cooking absolutely allowed, there are many people who boil various meets before grilling; for instance, there are those who boil their brats or ribs before putting them on the grill. Combining cooking methods I think is natural for some and therefore is definitely in. However, the dish must kiss the flame (or Foreman/grill pan--whatever) to be considered an entry.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

[ QUOTE ]
Oh man, I just ran out of charcoal at roughly the date that I was ready to say "It was a good summer of grilling and now I'm done,"

[/ QUOTE ]

Weak. By a shovel and grill in the winter like a real man.

I wish I had known about this last week when I made my ribs (2 slabs with a basic BBQ rub and 1 with a latin spice rub) and about a dozen pork-chops brined then rubbed with the same rub grilled on the rotisserie (why is that word so hard to spell??)

Unfortunately, this weekend isn't grill weekend it's "Vat of Gumbo" weekend for the Bears game [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

[ QUOTE ]
Unfortunately, this weekend isn't grill weekend it's "Vat of Gumbo" weekend for the Bears game [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Competition runs all month, so grill something up next weekend or the next weekend or...

I'm going camping this weekend, so I may have some pics of roughing-it fare when I get back...

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Roughing it fare? I'll have to scan some of my old Mountain Man Reenactment photos, cooking a whole brisket ov an open (hole in ground) pit.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Oh man, I just ran out of charcoal at roughly the date that I was ready to say "It was a good summer of grilling and now I'm done,"

[/ QUOTE ]

Weak. By a shovel and grill in the winter like a real man.


[/ QUOTE ]

Better still, move to California and cook outside year-round.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

This was dinner last night, and while it's really simple I wanted to post it for a few reasons.

- First, it's just got so much flavor. The pork chop is marinated in olive oil and a ton of minced garlic for several hours. Then it's just seasoned with salt and papper. The corn is just fresh corn, par-cooked in the kitchen and grilled the rest of the way for a little more flavor.

- It's just so easy to do. This is basically a two-step plate that I love to eat, and there's nothing complex about it.

- It's cheap. The chop is a thick-cut pork rib chop that goes for somewhere under $4/pound. Sliced thick (about 1.5 inches I'd say), that's basically $2 worth of food on the plate.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/781/chopks6.jpg

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Looks good!

I'll be picking up the film this week.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Dinner tonight was

Tenderloin with grilled asparagus and grilled onion-cheddar polenta

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/6862/grillsu3.jpg

The steak was super-simple; I just added some salt and pepper and threw it on the Weber. Same with the asparagus -- just a brush of olive oil and some pepper. I whipped up a quick Zinfandel sauce for the steak.

This was my first try at polenta, but I was pretty pleased with how it came out. I made a batch of instant polenta (with a little less water than recommended, so it came out extra thick) and added some sauteed onions, grated cheddar, butter and thyme. I molded it and let it cool for about an hour, then tossed it on the grill for about 3 minutes on each side to get a little bit of a crust. Nice alternative to mashed potatos.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Looks great - the steak seems nicely charred. Wish you hadn't covered up some of the steak with veggies!

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Beef Ribs with Apple-Bourbon BBQ Sauce, Sweet Chutney and Chili-Mashed Potatoes

I’ve cooked these several times in month since moving and buying a grill – each time trying to tweak the recipe. I think yesterday may have been the most successful set of ribs because of three things – thicker spice rub, better char and not overcooking. And I really thought the apple in the BBQ sauce worked well.

Basically there’s four things here: BBQ sauce, sweet apple-onion chutney, chilli-mashed potatoes and the ribs. Each one has some ingredient another has, and each one spent some time on the grill in one form or another. The idea was to try and link all the flavors but also make them individual.

The sauce: I took some of the grilled apples and diced them up, and mixed them in with tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, cumin, cinnamon, mustard powder, chilli powder and bourbon. The BBQ sauce was tart and sweet with a mild kick and vague flavors of bourbon and apple. I was surprised, in fact, how well the apple came through in the background.

The chutney: I took grilled onions and apples, rough chopped them and sautéed them with brown sugar and bourbon and a pinch of salt. Served with chopped mint.

The potatoes: Par-boiled and finished on the grill for a little char, hoping to add a slightly smoky flavor. Truthfully, this may not be necessary. I used a mix of sweet potato and regular potato, and then mashed with cream, a little garlic, chilli powder and salt and pepper. The chili powder gave them a ncie sweetness and warmth.

The ribs: I rubbed them down with plenty of salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne and chilli powder. I threw them on the grill and got a good char on the meat, and then coated them in the BBQ sauce, wrapped them in aluminium foil and cooked in the oven on low for about 90 minutes to 2 hours. When they came out I gave them another couple minuted on the grill and they were done.

The initial grilling is essential because a lot of the flavour will come from a good char/sear on the outside. Watch out that you don’t overcook the ribs in the oven – with the wet BBQ sauce and the closed foil you’re basically braising them. The meat will pull back, as you see in the photo of the second rack I did – the trick is to not overcook and let it dry out, but to cook low and slow long enough to be tender. I found that two hours at around 275 to 325 degrees worked well. Also, careful that if you re-finish on the grill and are doing two racks, the second rack doesn't overcook if you leave it in the oven...

The fully plated photo is ugly because the sun was up too high by the time I finished, but I like the full rack on the chopping board. Photos of some ingredients included as well.

All told, this meal came out really well. My girlfriend was out of town so I spent the day eating ribs and drinking cheap beer while watching college football. Pretty much perfect. And beef ribs are cheap, so you can experiment over and over and over...


http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4...odribswey8.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2861/ribs3fa3.jpg

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4461/rawribssg5.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1579/chutneysj0.jpg

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/1561/potatoesvb4.jpg

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

El Sapo,

I don't even like pork, but wow, that chop looks good.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

El Sapo--No time to pour over the preparation of your dish at the moment. I just wanted to say that the first photo (of the ribs) is amazing in its simplicity. Love it.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Thanks Mermade,

I'm really happy with it as well - every time I look at it, I get hungry.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

O.K. I'm back from camping. As promised, I'm posting pics of all of my roughing-it fare. I'll post our meals in order, as a sort of culinary trip report. To save room in the car, we decided to keep the Smokey Joe at home and do all of our grilling over an open wood fire in the fire pit.

Camping = little or no light in the dark, so I apologize for dark pics.

Grilled Herbed Chicken Thighs and Corn on the Cob

I rubbed the thighs with garlic salt, ground pepper, rosemary, and thyme. The herbs were cut from our garden.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...g--Chicken.jpg

I grilled the breasts over the wood fire.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...OntheFlame.jpg

The corn I placed in the ash near the fire and rotated frequently. Here is a photo of the finished product.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...ickenwcorn.jpg

A close-up of the thighs:

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Chicken002.jpg

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Camping: Saturday Breakfast

Fried Eggs, Sausage and Toast

Jingleheimer always makes breakfast on the weekend and camping weekends are no exception.

He fried up Farmer John's sausage.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...gBreakfast.jpg

Then, he fried up the eggs in the sausage fat.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...eakfast002.jpg

He also fried toast. Which we had with apricot jam. I didn't get a photo of that. Here's another shot of fatty breakfast deliciousness.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...eakfast004.jpg

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Camping: Saturday Lunch

Brats

Hey, I'm a Midwest girl and sometimes you have to have a good brat. These are Johnsonville Originals. I didn't do anything fancy with these. I just grilled them on the open fire until done.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...nch--Brats.jpg

I added standard condiments: spicy brown mustard, ketchup, and pickle relish. I forgot to bring an onion. I know some will complain about putting ketchup on a brat, but, whatever, I like it. I served them with watermelon and, guilty pleasure, potato chips w/ French onion dip.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...--Brats002.jpg

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Camping: Dinner Saturday Night

Spit-grilled Honey Mustard Pork Tenderloin, Grilled Baby Pears, Fire-Roasted Potatoes w/ Red Grapes


This was the most fun. I wanted to use up this pork tenderloin I had in the freezer, so I thawed it and we took it on our trip with no real plans for it. After we were at the campsite, Jingleheimer got the idea to put together a makeshift spit and cook the tenderloin rotisserie style. He whittled a branch into a spit to spear the tenderloin and then found a log that would serve to hold it in the fire pit.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...Tenderloin.jpg

He took over the job of rotating the tenderloin while I made the rest.

My son (he's 4) helped me make the potatoes. I sliced Yukon Golds almost but not all the way through and placed a sliver of butter between each slice, then he salted, peppered and wrapped each potato in aluminum foil and took them over to Jingleheimer to place near the fire.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...nnerPotato.jpg

I made a honey mustard glaze. Parts mustard and honey to taste. We basted the tenderloin as we turned it.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...yMustardGl.jpg

While this was cooking. I halved some pears, melted some butter in a pan and covered the pears in butter, then I put the pears on the grill. Here is a photo of the whole operation going on in the pit with two separate fires.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...pingDinner.jpg

Here's a close up of the tenderloin:

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...tApplewhit.jpg

Here's a photo of dinner plated.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...neronplate.jpg

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

the tenderloin looks great!

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Mermaid, those grilling pics are SO cool. It's exactly the kind of thing opening-up the contest should bring. Awesome job. I'm especially impressed by the make-shift spit!

I'm in SE Asia, so I'm not cooking. I'll try to make my own stuff when I get back, but here are couple grill related pics:

There are tons of street vendors in lao and thailand that grill random fish and birds, but I'm a little sketched-out by meat that's sitting for who-knows-how-long. We've been sticking to more vegetarian vendors.

The local Hepatitis A stand in Bangkok:
http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/1167/flagged0am5.jpg

We did have a traditional dessert where they grill sticky rice in bamboo.

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/6738/flagged2yh4.jpg

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/4690/flagged1bc5.jpg

To be honest, looking over my pics so far, I'm surprised there aren't more grill-related photos. I'll post my sauteing, frying, and braising pics in a new EDF thread when we get back to the states. We've been basically eating our way across Asia, so there are pics a plenty. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

[ QUOTE ]
This was the most fun. I wanted to use up this pork tenderloin I had in the freezer, so I thawed it and we took it on our trip with no real plans for it. After we were at the campsite, Jingleheimer got the idea to put together a makeshift spit and cook the tenderloin rotisserie style. He whittled a branch into a spit to spear the tenderloin and then found a log that would serve to hold it in the fire pit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you have any trouble with the stick burning? Did you soak it beforehand? No fears of it breaking?

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

El Sapo--We poured water over the supporting log and the spit before cooking, but didn't soak them for any length of time. The log didn't burn at all. The spit blackened a little bit but didn't burn or char in any significant way. He used a thick branch that he'd scavenged from the ground that was naturally bowed, but strong. It didn't bend at all with the weight of the tenderloin. Jinglehimer was watching and turning constantly so if the spit had caught fire or if he'd spied weakness, he would have just aborted the effort.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

I wish I took pictures but I grilled dinner for 6 friends last night.

Step 1- pick up high quality meat at Cumbrae's. The usual suspects were:

-2 chicken burgers
-2 steak burgers
-2 lamb burgers
-6 gourmet all-beef hot dogs

total cost about $25 but very much worth it. They use 35 days dry-aged Cumbrae beef exclusively. The burgers were prepared with all kinds of fun stuff inside as well (some nuts, green onions, oil, salt, pepper etc.).

Other ingredients
-1 red pepper
-1 green pepper
-3 yukon potatoes
-6 pieces of corn

For the corn, i pulled off the outer husk and removed the silk, leaving the inner husk in tact. That took about 10 minutes. Then I soaked them in water for approximately 30 minutes. After absorbing the water, I peeled back the husk, smeared each piece of corn with butter and sprinkled salt and pepper on.

I cooked the corn (with the inner husk on) with a propane grill for about 20 minutes (flipped it about 4 times) and the burgers for 5 minutes on each side.

The hotdogs I cooked on the grill in 3-4 minutes until they were blistered on each side.

The potatoes I sliced up, smeared with olive oil and montreal steak spice and oregano and cooked on my george forman grill inside for 10 minutes or so. Peppers were also on the grill, smeared with salt, pepper and olive oil. Buns were toasted in the oven.

Again, I wish I had pictures but the end result was simple and amazing and took about an hour including prep.

link to cumbraes

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

BretWeir--Asparagus on the grill is great. This is a standard veg in our house. I like to add some minced garlic as well as the olive oil and let it sit for a sec before going on the grill. I love garlic. It looks like the polenta turned out well. Did you have any problems with sticking?

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Sam--Great photos. I'd love to see a pictoral trip report, especially of the food, when you get back.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Its a crime not trying an and all that street vendor stuff becuase of fear of getting sick. that stuff looks amazing.



this is what I was relating too in the "obesity" thread in OOT, that street vendor food is Americas version of "fast food"..this is why we are fat and they arent.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

[ QUOTE ]
Its a crime not trying an and all that street vendor stuff becuase of fear of getting sick. that stuff looks amazing.

[/ QUOTE ]
Don't worry, we're having tons and tons of street food. We're basically eating every 3 hours. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] But I'm sketched out by meat that's sitting out. There are plenty of places selling an ashy, skewered chicken or fish, and there's no way to know how long they've been sitting. We're trying as much food as we possibly can, but some of the meat is super sketchy.

The stand pictured above is actually cooking the meat while you watch, so I'll probably try that one before we leave. (We leave tomorrow, so at least by the time I'm sick, I'll be back in the land of double-ply.)

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

If you like the heat in the potatoes, try adding some Chipotles in Adobo in there, mince a couple and add them with a tbsp or so of the sauce from the can. Delicious.

KJS

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

i have a proposal for the next challenge. Ive been messing around on wikipedia doing random search for food "cuisine of Poland" "cuisine of Syria" etc and there are some really tasting looking meals out there that i never saw or heard of previously. i think itd be cool for each person to find a foreign meal they never heard of previously and try to make it.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

[ QUOTE ]
BretWeir--Asparagus on the grill is great. This is a standard veg in our house. I like to add some minced garlic as well as the olive oil and let it sit for a sec before going on the grill. I love garlic. It looks like the polenta turned out well. Did you have any problems with sticking?

[/ QUOTE ]

Grilling has pretty much become my exclusive way of doing asparagus; in the winter, I just toss them on the Foreman. The garlic sounds like a great idea -- I'll have to try it next time out. I also like adding a little lemon juice or (even better) homemade sour mix right before serving.

There were some minor sticking issues with the polenta, but nothing too serious. I think the problem was that I grilled the meat first, so the grill wasn't totally clean by the time the polenta went on, and some of the crust stuck. I think that a really clean grill, maybe very lightly oiled, would have fixed the problem. In any case, I was able to preserve about 90% of the crust with some deft spatula work.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

BrettWeir--What's in your homemade sour mix. It sounds odd but intriguing.

El Sapo--I was looking over your ribs post again. I've been making my own BBQ sauce for the past two year, using a different recipe (usually of my own invention with what I have on hand) every time. I'll definitely give your grilled apple bourbon bbq sauce a shot. Did you really get a flavor from the grilling of the apples? I wonder about that, especially with gas grilling...

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Mermade, just so you know, eating like that means you are in fact NOT camping. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

[ QUOTE ]
El Sapo--I was looking over your ribs post again. I've been making my own BBQ sauce for the past two year, using a different recipe (usually of my own invention with what I have on hand) every time. I'll definitely give your grilled apple bourbon bbq sauce a shot. Did you really get a flavor from the grilling of the apples? I wonder about that, especially with gas grilling...

[/ QUOTE ]

I was really surprised (pleasantly) by how much the apple flavor came through. It certainly wasn't overpowering and it wasn't tart like a natural apple sauce - it was just a backround flavor, but it was definitely there.

I had a little left over and saved it, and used it last night on some chicken. The apple flavor was still very pronounced. I thik the cumin and touch of cinnamon brought it out. The apple flavor was stonger than the bourbon, actually.

Whether or not the flavor comes from grilling it: I'm not sure. I think a part of it is the sugar caramelizaion, which I suppose you could do on a stove. On the gas grill, I gave them an initial char and then moved them to the side and closed the lid, hoping to pick up a little more flavor.

I think it worked. The BBQ sauce came out well - though like you, I'm really just cooking with what's on hand, so replicating it exactly might be impossible.

Re: EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge
 

Mermade,

It's just regular sour mix, like you'd use to mix a whiskey sour. All the store-bought mixes I've tried have been cloyingly sweet with kind of a chemical aftertaste. So I mix my own: boil 1 cup water with 1 cup sugar to make simple syrup; cool and add 1 cup fresh lemon juice. Sometimes I throw in an egg white, which makes it foam a bit when you use it to mix drinks.

A couple of years ago, I made a big batch of asparagus for a dinner party and couldn't find the vinaigrette I was going to top it with, so I poured on a little sour mix and everybody loved it.