I realize that at the time this post was added to the website that a lot of us are right in the middle of winter, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come back and reference this later or refer to this on your own island getaway. Click below to see how my dad and cousin (the other two Grillin Fools) and their wives and some friends grill it up island style. I’ll hand the reins over to dad for the write up…
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Filed under: Seafood
The Grillin Fools will be at the Fishing Hole in Swansea, ILL next to Leisure Time Pools and Spas this Saturday, the 23rd, all day grilling and selling our product. We’re doing some of the basics with brats and dogs as well as dad’s amazing rib eye steak sammiches. Dog, chips and a soda or bottle of water is $2; brat, chips and a soda or bottle of water is $3; and steak sammich, chips, soda or bottle of water is $4.
Whether you are a pro angler or a non fisherman, come on by and check us out and have a steak sammy. We’ll be there from about 9:00 a.m. till maybe 5:00 and possibly beyond.
The address is 2415 N. Illinois, Swansea, IL 62226.
For the fishermen that may be interested here is the schedule of speakers on Saturday:
-11:00 AM LUKE ESTEL-CRANKBAIT FISHING
-12:30 PM JACK WATKINS -LINE CHOICES AND KNOTS
-2:00 PM STEVE SCHIMSA-FISHING ELECTRONICS
-4:00 PM JOHN NEPORANDY-LAKE OF THE OZARKS FISHING
-6:00 PM TBA
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Filed under: Uncategorized
A previous post, Beer Butt Chicken Stew, featured the birds smoking on the grill over a pan of vegetables and broth which allowed us to capture all the flavorful drippings from the birds in the stew below. Now that “comfort food” weather has arrived I thought the same process should be applied to beef chuck roast and all the fixins’. Click below to see how we did it…
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Filed under: Beef
Tis the season for caroling, shopping, freezing, snowing, sharing, giving, and, of course, maybe the most important part which is spending time with friends and family. It’s this time of year that we get together to be thankful as the Pilgrims did so many years ago and then to share and give on Christmas Eve and Christmas as well as ring in the new year to cap off the season. All of these special nights usually require a great deal of cooking. Why not break out of the mold and do something on the grill? Click below to see how to make what’s in those pictures yourselves with step by step and picture by picture instructions on how to do each one…
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Filed under: Uncategorized
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Football, pies, brisk air, stuffing, friends and family, and of course turkey. We all know the drill. Place bird in aluminum tray, insert in the oven, bake till the little thing pops up, serve and hope it’s not dry. If it is dry, well, make sure there’s a gravy boat nearby.
What happened? The turkey used to be the star of the show. Now it’s just something we do every year because it’s tradition. I’m not saying to break tradition and go with ribs on Thanksgiving (but if you do I’m pretty sure we have a recipe for you). I’m saying make that bird the star again. Send your guests away full and commenting on how great that turkey was rather than how well the gravy was that moistened up the dry turkey. And I realize that the cool weather is not traditionally grilling weather but think about it, rather than the grill making you sweat in the Summer time, it will actually warm you up when you check on the bird.
I will hand this off to my cousin, Tom – the Big Green Eggspert – Jones. He will be doing this on his Big Green Egg. For those of us that don’t have a BGE, simply follow the temperature guidelines for whatever grill you have. Click below to learn how to make the turkey something to be thankful for once again…
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Filed under: Entertaining Tips, Poultry
Recently the Grillin’ Fools were approached by a radio show aired in the Houston area called Your Livable Garden. Michael Shawn Kelly and Blinda Ann Kelly, owners of Mirror Lake Designs and winners of five international landscaping awards, host the nation’s longest running landscape architectural radio show which currently airs on AM 700 out of Houston. They discuss all aspects of outdoor design and living including our favorite subject – outdoor cooking.
Below you can click on the links to actually listen to some discussion of what you read about on the website:
In this clip that aired on January 16th of 2010 we discussed the different fruit woods that are excellent for smoking meat on the grill:
In this clip that aired November 14th 2009 we discussed holiday grilling in particular grilling a whole turkey or turkey breast for Thanksgiving or Christmas:
In this clip we discuss the things that have changed over the years in terms of grilling. Mistakes we have made and lessons we have learned. I also do a great job of butchering the name of the website so pay close attention for that flub. This clip aired on October 3rd, 2009:
Just in time for Halloween we discuss the perfect Fall recipe which is Apple Pumpkin Ribs as well as Pig Candy. I very nearly make a rather large flub in this clip by coming very close to accidentally insulting my wife’s parents. This clip aired October 24th, 2009:
The picture in the audio clip was taken by Christian Gooden of the St. Louis Post Dispatch which was used in the article that Joe Bonwich did on the Grilling Fools in May of 2009. In the pic from the bottom is my dad Greg – Smokin’ on the Water – Thomas, behind him is my cousin Tom – Big Green Eggspert – Jones and I’m the silly guy on the right with the shaved melon, Scott Thomas – The Original Grillin’ Fool.
Check back periodically for future interviews.
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Filed under: Uncategorized
No Snickers at my place this year. Nope. No Smarties, Sweet Tarts, Twix, Baby Ruth’s, or Butterfingers. I’m not handing out any run of the mill candy. I’m handing out pig candy. If your kids are on a kosher diet, my house may not be the place to be on October 31st because the Grillin Fools are taking Halloween candy to the next level.
What is pig candy? Well, it involved bacon so you know it’s going to be good. But beyond that, you’re going to have to click below to find out because if I talk about it any more there won’t be any need for the link below…
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Filed under: Pork, Sides and Appetizers
Ahhhh, my favorite time of year is here. It’s officially Fall. The temp is dropping, soon the leaves will be too after that magnificent color change. The Cards are heading to the playoffs, football is back, well in other cities its back, no so much here in St. Louis. The Blues are in training camp, Mizzou is off to a 3-0 start and my Irish just eked one out against Michigan State. Halloween is just around the corner and the pumpkin ales are on the store shelves. It’s a glorious time my friends.
Oh, and did I mention it’s the single greatest time of year to grill? Most people think it’s the summer. That’s just not the case. Think about it. It’s 95 degrees outside, let’s go build a fire and stand around it? Firing up the grill when it’s chilly outside makes much more sense than adding more heat to a hot summer day doesn’t it? Now if I could get Shawn and Blinda, hosts of Your Livable Garden in Houston and owners of Mirror Lake Designs, up to St. Louis to build me one of those outdoor kitchens with the ceiling fans I might be singing a different tune. While I grill all year round some of the most miserable cookouts for me are on those ridiculously muggy summer days that we get here in St. Louis.
All of this revelry in the season got me thinking of some sort of fall themed recipe. It took some doing but I finally came up with the Grillin Fools official recipe for the Fall – Apple-Pumpkin Ribs. Bear with me here. Click below to see the steps I took to come up with surprisingly easy recipe that I initially did my best to over think and overdo. The final result, though, will impress you and your friends. And realize that this recipe was inspired by the beer shown above…
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Filed under: Pork
One of the hardest things to teach people about grilling is dealing with ever changing circumstances that may or may not be out of their control. Grilling on a muggy summer day is much different than grilling in a blustery Autumn day and certain things should be done to account for the different weather. Grilling one day with an empty grill and then another with the bottom full of ash and thus a fire much more subdued than the previous cook out can greatly slow down the cooking process. Cooking chicken over direct heat and trying to keep the flare ups down with a squirt bottle while keeping the heat up in the grill enough to still cook the meat. There are many times the griller has to overcome some unforeseen problem.
I doubt I will ever be able to document all the obstacles I have ever faced while grilling but this last weekend I had a minor catastrophe that I had to deal with. I did a Brisket Sunday and made a crucial mistake that could’ve have easily resulted in an epic failure. Click below to see what I did to screw up and how I responded to that blunder…
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Filed under: Beef, Uncategorized
The Grillin Fools are big steak eaters. Rib eyes, NY strips, porterhouses, filets, whatever. You name it and we like to grill it and have even more fun eating it. Off the beaten path a bit is the flat iron steak. It’s not nearly as popular as its brethren mention above but we still love it. Not many places carry it. Not all that many people had heard of it until recently when a number of restaurant chains began offering the flat iron as an entree. Why the recent rise in flat iron steaks at restaurants? It’s much cheaper per pound than a lot of other cuts of steak and, if done properly, can be really good.
At this point I will hand it off to my dad to show you exactly how to do it properly….
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Filed under: Beef, Fruits and Vegetables, Sides and Appetizers, Uncategorized
