I have to warn you that I am a peach fanatic.  I love peaches, peach pie, peach blend fruit drinks, peach wood, peach, peach, peach.  I love all things peach.  I grilled peaches for the site last year, and ran through about 8 different combinations of recipes and took all the pictures, but then forgot which one was the best.  So when I decided to do them again, my good buddy and guest contributor here, Arthur Aguirre, suggested this recipe.  So instead of trying to reinvent the wheel of all the combinations I did before, I thought I would go with his first.  I’ll revisit mine at a later date.  I couldn’t resist going with this one first when he told me it had rum in it.

Ingredients:

Ripe peaches
4 tbsp Butter (Smart Balance Butter can be used as a substitute for a healthier option)
1/4 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup rum
1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
Vanilla ice cream

First make up the sauce:

Put the butter and brown sugar in the pot:

Add the rum and I actually grated cinnamon from a stick.  You can use pregrated if you like:

Now over to the peaches.

How many peaches you need depends on how many you’re serving.  I wound up only using two of these as they were quite large:

Slice into quarters or eighths and discard the pit.  A lot of people cut them in half and grill, which is fine.  But if you cut them in quarters or eighths then you get a higher grilled surface area to peach flesh ratio:

Now on to the grill.  I had a blazing hot fire here and put the pot with the sauce on it to melt the butter and get everything blended together:

The picture above didn’t do the fire justice.  The flash washed out the flames and redness of the coals.  Here’s a shot without a flash to give you an idea of how hot it was:

Wait for the butter to melt and all the goodness to blend together:

Now, dunk the peaches in the sauce and put them directly over the fire:

Don’t go anywhere at this point.  This part happens pretty quickly.  Keep checking the peaches to make sure they don’t burn.  When they got some nice grill marks I flipped them:

See that one on the bottom in the above picture? The one with the most char?  After I took the rest of the pictures I put the camera away and made up some more.  The ones that had more char on them were the best.  These could’ve used a little more time on the grill.

Once they’re charred on each side, place around a scoop of ice cream and be sure to spoon some of the butter rum sauce over the ice cream and peaches:

For the sake of full disclosure, the peaches were tart and it really took away from the dessert.  The sauce was heavenly and could’ve been spooned over the ice cream without the peaches.  So make sure the peaches are ripe and sweet before trying.  If you start with bad peaches you will finish with bad peaches.  Otherwise this is an awesome dessert.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or shoot me an email.

If you are interested in other dessert dishes we’ve done, click here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook page and post your own grillin pictures.

Normally when I do corn I put it on the grill in the husk.  Sometimes I soak it in water, sometimes not.  When the husk is blackened all the way around it’s done.  Well, someone suggested I grill it naked – the corn not me!!  So I did.  Rather than put the corn on in the husk, I pealed it and threw it on the grill naked.  I also slathered it with a garlic, tarragon, oregano butter…

Let’s start with the butter to be brushed on the corn.

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter (you can use salted if you like)
2 cloves garlic – minced.
1.5 tsps of dried tarragon
.5 tsp of dried oregano

Put the butter in a small sauce pot on the stove or grill and start the melting process.  Then add the garlic, tarragon, and oregano:

Now shuck the corn and pull off any silks.  This is some beautiful bicolor:

Crank up the grill to high.  The grill needs to be at 500 degrees or hotter.  Because it is so hot, be careful with flare ups from the butter.  I’ve done this twice on consecutive weekends and found brushing the butter on the corn away from the heat first, and then putting the corn over the fire works best as the excess butter will flare in the hot fire:

This is a very short process and one that has to be constantly monitored.  Basically, brush with the butter, and rotate as the corn kernels begin to brown:

I had quite a few flareups and had to keep rotating the corn accordingly.  I wanted the corn over a hot grill, but didn’t want the ears to burn:

Rotated with the stalks away from the heat to keep them from burning either:

After repeated brushings (between 4-5) and frequently turning and repositioning, they are looking like they are ready to come off the grill:

Time to pull the corn.  Once on the platter, brush one more time with the butter:

The corn made an excellent side dish to go along with the best pork tenderloin I have ever eaten, some shrimps and a glass of Pinot Noir:

The blackening of the corn adds a certain sweetness that I don’t find when I do it in the husk or boil.  This is now my go-to method for making corn on the cob.

When I first heard about grilling naked corn, I was told to try it with tarragon alone and I did that the first time, but felt it needed something more.  A little oregano fit the bill perfectly, although you may want to do your own experiments with herbs.  If you come across a good combo please mention it in the comments section below or shoot it to me in an email.  I’ll give it a try and if I like it I’ll add it here as another option.

If you are interested in other veggies or sides, click here and here.

Also, you can follow us on our Grillin Fools Facebook Page and post your own grillin’ pictures.

Arthur Aguirre is back with another amazing recipe.  I’m not sure how he could top his
Tamales with Pulled Pork or Campfire Fish Tacos but then he sends me this write up and these pics.  Sweet Jesus does this look fantastic.  I will hand it over to Arthur now so he can tell you how he did it…

Guacamole is my official favorite dip. I put it on everything…chips, eggs, steak, chicken, beans, any Mexican food, on and on and on. So, on a night when my wife and I were having beef (for me) & Boca (for her) soft tacos, there was no question what it was going to be topped off with. First, I had to go pick up the guacamole stuff. At the market the avocado selection was meager. I picked out six of the ten best that they had. Most of the avocados were hard and the others looked questionable, but I REALLY wanted guacamole, so I settled for these.

Thinking about what I can do to save these avocados if they are bad got me thinking about grilling them. I don’t know why I thought of it, but it seemed like a good idea. If they don’t turn out good, I’ll just blame it on the avocados.

I prepared my propane gas grill for high heat (600°+). While waiting for the grill to get up to temp, I got out the things to put on the grill:

Ingredients
5 Avocados
1 Tomato
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lime

The avocados were cut in half. Then the seed was removed from each fruit. This was done by taking my santoku knife and striking the seed to attain a firm wedge. Give a little turn both ways until the seed is loose. After that, I cut the tomatoes into 8 equal wedges:

Pour the olive oil and squeeze the lime into a small dish. Brush the oil and lime on to the flesh of the avocado:

There is no need to brush the skin. Do the same to the tomatoes and the other half of the lime. Now they are ready for grilling:

Place all the avocados, tomatoes and lime on the grill, flesh side down. After about a minute, turn the avocado and lime 90 degrees and flip the tomatoes:

One minute later, remove all the fruits from the grill. My instant reaction was WOW, those are some wicked grill marks!

Peel the skin off of the avocados and place them in a bowl. Start smashing them with a masher or fork. Then, dice all the tomatoes and put them in the bowl.

Make guacamole with my simple recipe:

Ingredients
2 green onions
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tsp salt

Place all the ingredients in the bowl with the avocados and tomatoes. Mix well.

The grilled avocados were amazing. Those firm avocados had softened to a buttery smooth texture. I was so excited about my experimental success, I had to garnish it. I used up the last of pico de gallo from the fish tacos and I shredded some cheddar cheese over the guacamole. For a vegan dish skip the cheese.  It was my first time using a garnish, how does it look?

***Editor’s note ~ It looks magnificent Arthur.  Thanks so much for sharing it with us***

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email and I will forward it on to Arthur.

If you are interested in other vegetarian dishes click here.  Some of the vegetarian recipes in that link accompany meat dishes so be aware that you might have to scroll past some pictures of meat.

Also, you can follow us on Facebook where you can post your own grillin pictures which is how we found Arthur and the amazing stuff he does on the grill.

You can compete against Arthur in the First Annual Grillin Fools Backyard BBQ Bash in St. Louis October 9th.  He will bring his grilling skills to the event and competing.

My cousin Tom and his Wife are really bringing it on the grill lately.  The Pear and Goat Cheese Crostinis just recently and now this?  Wow!!  And for those of you that really enjoy fruit salsa I highly recommend grilling that fruit salsa.  The grill caramelizes the sugars in the fruits and vegetables and adds a slight smoky flavor that takes your fruit salsa to a whole other level.  I now pass it off to my cousin Tom, the Big Green Egg Head, to show you how he did this amazing dish…

Salsa
1/2 Fresh pineapple sliced with core removed
1 Fresh jalapeno, slice in half and remove seeds
1 – One inch thick slice of red onion
1/2 Red bell pepper
2 TBS Rice vinegar
Juice of one lime
1 TBS Honey
1 TBS Cilantro
1 TBS Olive oil
Red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper

Prepare grill to approx 350 degrees and grill pineapple rings, jalapeno, red onion and bell pepper for approximately 3 minutes per side (cook the onion slightly longer):

You want nice grill marks, but don’t overcook.  The fruit and veggies should still be slightly crisp:

Remove fruit and veggies from grill and allow to cool.  Chop cooled grilled fruit & veggies, then combine with all other ingredients:

Let stand at least 30 minutes prior to serving

Pork Chops
Center Cut Pork Chops approx 1 inch thick
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Drizzle both sides of the chops w/ olive oil
Sprinkle salt & pepper

Grill the chops at the same 350 for approx 5 – 7 minutes on each side for medium doneness or 160 degrees internal temp:

Remove the pork chops from the heat and allow to rest for a couple of minutes so the juices calm down from being in an excited state and won’t run all over the plate as soon as you slice into them.  Then top with grilled fruit salsa and serve:

Shown served with grilled asparagus.  Trim asparagus by breaking off the tough bases to each stalk, toss with olive, salt and pepper.  Grill over medium heat approx 6 minutes for slightly crisp vegetables:

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or email Tom.

If you are interested in other grilled pork recipes click here.

Also, follow the Grillin Fools and post your own grillin pictures on Facebook.

With our upcoming event at St. Luke’s called Guys, Grills, and Good Health we decided to document a particularly healthy meal made entirely on the grill.  My dad will take over now and show you how to do it step by step and picture by picture…

This is a rather simple method to grill something that isn’t loaded with fat and all those other things usually associated with grilling beef or pork.  I began with a 10-lb Honeysuckle Bone-n Turkey Breast, rinsed and gravy packet removed—last time I checked gravy wasn’t exactly on the healthy list:

I’ve trimmed the excess skin and plan to spatchcock (butterfly) the breast for easier handling and even cooking.

The backbone is removed with a good pair of poultry shears.  As I proceeded I decided to go ahead and remove all the bones to really make the grilling process simple:

It would’ve been easier to remove the boneless breasts while the rascal was still whole but I was already into it.  I discovered this was more effort than a non-pro meat cutter should handle and created a lot of extra work.  The Turkey Breast could also be cooked whole and then sliced off the bone if desired.

Now I have two boneless halves and will add the healthy mixture below to help flavor the bird and maintain moistness.

1 cup Smart Balance Buttery Spread
2 tbsp. Minced Garlic (or more or less to your taste)
2 tbsp. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
1/4 cup white wine (reserve for later after you stuff the skin)

A really simple mixture and I was originally planning to simply add the Garlic to the Spread but decided to kick it up a notch with the Creole Seasoning.  Feel free to substitute your favorite seasoning.  The Smart Balance was allowed to come to room temperature for ease of combining with the other ingredients.  Smart Balance and garlic:

Then the creole seasoning:

Here’s the process of adding the mixture under the skin which will likely require a few toothpicks to secure the skin in place.  You could also completely remove the skin and simply baste with the mixture if desired for an even healthier meal.  I’m going for healthy here but the golden brown skin is so attractive, holds the mixture in place, and virtually cooks away.

Work your fingers under the skin to separate the area between skin and meat—sort of like trying to put a latex glove on.  Next spoon or push the mixture into the area created and spread around as much as possible.

I’ve opted to forgo the toothpicks this time around and place the Breast halves into a shallow broiler pan to grill:

***Editor’s note ~ Skipping the pan here and putting the breasts straight on the grill will be healthier than this version as the fat will drip down into the fire rather than stay in the pan***

Reserve a bit of the mixture to melt and occasionally baste the bird while grilling.  I added a few splashes of white wine to liquefy the mixture a bit and may need to add more liquid later.

The old CharBroil is set up for the “flank method”—coals on the left and right with Turkey in the center:

This grill may get retired soon or actually transferred to Scott as I have a new CB 940X in the garage awaiting assembly.  This model had been discontinued and was recently re-introduced by the folks at CharBroil.  Bless them for this!  There will be a break-in posting soon.

Apricot (in foreground) and a few pieces of Nectarine retrieved from my wood stash were used to add the smoke flavor.  Oh yeah!  I’ve got a wood stash and perhaps there will be photos of that in an upcoming post.  It’s a huge benefit knowing some friends that are in the tree removal business:

*** Editor’s note ~ if you would like to see the most extensive list of things you can smoke with on the web. I have more than 50 things ranging from all manner of woods to herbs, grape vines, and even onion or garlic cloves click here***

The Turkey goes on the grill and later the coals are refreshed and a chunk of each wood is added. The wine was added to the Smart Balance/garlic/creole seasoning mixture for basting later.  The lid was closed and I went to work on the sides for this meal:

***Editors note ~ While Dad didn’t do it here, I recommend putting the fat part of the breast closest to the fire so you don’t risk drying out the tip of the skinny part.  With the smart balance basting constantly it’s not as big of an issue but I would do it none the less***

I picked up some new crop California Asparagus at the local grocer to grill with a drizzle of olive oil, cracked pepper, and a small amount of coarse salt.  Fresh Sweet Potatoes will be pre-cooked—boiled about 10 minutes—then cooled, thick-sliced, and brushed with olive oil to be finished on the grill to gather that smoky flavor:

Wine pairing for this meal—is this the unhealthy part?—is a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc:

Typically this varietal from that region imparts a hint of citrus which I’m hoping compliments the Creole Seasoning and smoky flavor of the Turkey.  I don’t think you could go wrong with a Chard here either—even a glass of light red—Pinot Noir or Red Burgundy will certainly compliment Turkey as well.

The thermometer indicates 300 degrees in the pan at 30 minutes in.  Liquid?  The mixture under the skin has melted and the natural juices from the Turkey are bubbling in the broiler pan.  I’m occasionally basting the bird with the leftover mixture:

The wine is corked and I’m perched upon my grilling post out back and sampling a few of the nibblers I had placed on the direct heat and basted with the mixture.  The view is beautiful.  My neighbor, Dave R., has over the years planted the edge of the dam with daffodils that are now in full bloom and reflecting off the mirror surface of the water on this calm, peaceful day.  The Pear trees are blooming, the Plum is about to burst forth, and soon the flowering Crabapple trees will bring their splash of color to the scene.  What a beautiful time to be grillin’ and chillin’:

Here’s a pic one hour in with temp reading abut 325.  Another chunk of nectarine wood is added.  Another coating is basted on the bird and I’m probably in trouble with Mimi.  The broiler pan is getting some serious stuff in the bottom that will likely have to be soaked for a week to get it clean.  Here’s the deal – I cook, she cleans up.  I do help though…..sometimes:

The sweet potatoes are sliced and drizzled with the oil and ready to go on the grill.  The same drizzle is applied to the Asparagus with a small amount of coarse salt and cracked pepper added:

After 90 minutes the Turkey is pulled from the grill to rest under some foil.  Always let meat rest after pulling it from the grill.  The juices are in an excited state and will ooze out immediately after cutting into it.  If you let it rest a bit then the juices settle down and stay in the meat when sliced:

If you don’t butterfly the the breast and split it in two cooking time would be longer.  While the Turkey rests is the perfect amount of time to finish the sides.  The coal grate is raised and the Sweet Potatoes go on.  When they finish I’ll move them to the center, off the direct heat, and begin the Asparagus:

Here’s a pic of the finished Sweets and the Asparagus on the heat.  Once the Asparagus is finished it will be time to carve the Turkey Breasts:

The turkey sliced:

Here’s the meal plated:

The asparagus was still crisp and full of smoky flavor, the sweet potatoes were cooked through but still firm and a bit of Smart Balance Spread was added to top them off.  The turkey was cooked thoroughly although moist in most parts and drier in others.  I probably could’ve pulled it 15 minutes sooner at one hour 15 minutes on the grill as it would continue to bake while resting foil-covered.  It was very flavorful and I didn’t miss real butter at all.  I will certainly prepare this again.  The turkey had a mild smoky flavor and the touch of Creole Seasoning was just enough.   The wine was delightful with the meal.

Now for the best part—leftover Turkey sandwiches the next day.  Whole grain Sarah Lee bread with a little honey mustard and you’ve got another healthy meal or two.

As usual if you have any questions or comments leave a comment below or send me an email.

Other turkey recipes can be found here.  Don’t forget about chicken.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools and post your own Grillin pictures on Facebook.

This is a wonderful appetizer but can also be served as dessert with a fruit & cheese tray along with a nice bottle of wine.

1 Loaf French Bread
Olive Oil
Goat Cheese (Chevre is soft & spreadable)
Ripe Pear
Honey

Slice Pear into thin pieces:

Then grill over medium low heat for approx 2 minutes per side until you get some nice grill marks:

Slice bread into 1 inch slices and drizzle with olive oil , grill until crisp with hash marks (approx 2 minutes per side):

Place one slice pear onto the grilled bread:

Then spread cheese over the pear:

Place back onto grill until cheese is warm and melting as they are here on the Big Green Egg:

Drizzle with honey:

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below or email me.  

If you are interested in another crostini recipe click here.

Also if you are interested in other sides and appetizers or other vegetarian dishes check these links.

Often times people think of things like brisket, pulled pork and big fat steaks when they think of food cooked on the grill.  They think of bratwurst and burgers and dogs.  But grilling doesn’t have to revolve around massive cuts of beef and pork or things that require a bun.  Grilling can have a more refined side.  It doesn’t have to be a robust flavor of a jerk rib with lots of zip along with an ample smoke ring.  For a much more sophisticated meal click below to see how my dad made the dish above.  And just because it’s sophisticated doesn’t mean it has to be difficult because this is not difficult…

This is a very simple, quick grilling effort good anytime.  Two dozen Gulf Shrimp, from Skinner’s Seafood in Dauphin Island, Alabama, were peeled and de-veined:

One stick of salted butter (you could use unsalted butter instead if you prefer, but it could be a little bland so throw in a pinch) plus a heaping spoonful of minced garlic added to the saucepan to melt and combine:

Olive oil could work but I’m going for that magic that hot butter creates when married with the shrimp.  Once the butter-garlic mixture has cooled a bit (I don’t want to pre-cook the shrimp!) it’s time to give the shrimp a “butter bath”.  Thoroughly stir the shrimp and butter mixture to coat the now happy shrimp:

I allow the mixture to bathe the shrimp for 30-45 minutes prior to grilling.  For additional flavor you could add lemon-pepper or whatever seasoning you prefer—in case you wanted to kick it up a notch ala Emeril.  In the past I have substituted garlic salt for the minced garlic and will comment on that later after the dish is finished.  Butter and shrimp—there’s something simply wonderful about that combination and now we’re going to add grilled flavor to the mix.

Homegrown yellow squash will be grilled as a delicious side  The squashed is washed, trimmed, sliced and lightly drizzled with olive oil to coat both sides then fresh ground pepper and coarse salt are added and the side dish is ready for the grill:

Mimi is preparing another side dish—leftover risotto pan-fried with Panko bread crumbs with a little egg wash applied.  We were served this at a dining establishment while on vacation in Michigan (we didn’t grill every night) and decided to try a home version:

The Brinkman was fired up and it was time to grill.  I chose the Brinkman because it has an upper grate where the cooked squash can remain while the shrimp are being grilled.

Wine choice was an un-oaked Australian Chardonnay:

I would also suggest a dry Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc or really whatever white wine you prefer.  The Grillin Fools aren’t wine snobs—we just like a good tasting wine with our grilled foods as well as a good cold beer.

The squash was placed directly over a medium hot to hot fire.  The temperature of the fire can fluctuate here as long as you keep an eye on the squash.  You are looking for a good grill mark on them and then flip.  Cooking times will vary depending on how how the fire is.  Here are the squash when first placed on the grill:

Keep peaking at the squash until you see a nice char from the hot fire and flip them over as some were flipped here.  The fire was much hotter in the back and those were done first:

Once a slice of squash has a good char on it place it on the upper grate.  Once all the squash is done put the shrimp in a grill pan and place on the grill:

Be careful here as the butter is very flammable and can cause flareups:

The shrimp were grilled till opaque and pink and a bit firm and then it was time to serve up dinner:

The taste test of what you grill will ultimately be the true judge of your effort.  Here’s the verdict on this creation.  The shrimp really picked up a grilled flavor from the charcoal fire without using any smoking wood.  I’ve decided I prefer the garlic salt method over the minced garlic—strictly a personal preference but the shrimp were still quite delicious this time.

The fried risotto cakes were just super.  We will be working on a lemon-butter-cream sauce for that dish in the future.

The squash was a big disappointment.  I sliced it too thin and it lost texture when grilled.  I should’ve halved or quartered the squash and it would’ve been fine.  The flavor was great but the wimpy texture left a lot to be desired.

The Grillin Fools do screw up—we’re just backyard grillers like most of you and we do make mistakes, except when we do we document it and show the world so they don’t make the same mistakes.  The important thing is to learn from each experience and not repeat mistakes over and over again, or completely sidestep the mistakes because we showed you where we went wrong.  We actually show our mistakes on this site as a matter of integrity and reality as well as to assist you in not making the same error.  We do not always attempt a recipe several times to get it right so we can show perfection.  Many of the posts you see here are first-time efforts by us.

Whether you appreciate this honesty or not, please be assured it will always be there in what we do.  We enjoy grilling as it is our passion and we simply want to pass that along to you so you can experience thrillin’, grillin’ and ok….a little chillin’ as well without repeating the mistakes we have made over the years.

***Editor’s note ~ I actually like my squash done this way.  It is a great, quick, light side dish.  I think Dad prefers it more al dente but if you like your veggies cooked through then this is a great option as it is.  You can cut it thicker if you want al dente, but you don’t have to.  It’s good both ways depending on your personal preference***

As usual, if you have any questions or comments about this dish please feel free to leave a comment below or send me an email.

If you are interested in more seafood dishes on the grill click here.  If you would like to see some more vegetables done on the grill click here.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

The Grillin Fools tackled this three different ways.  The first was my take on the classic dish which can be found by clicking here. This is the second installment which was done by my father, Greg – Smokin’ on the Water, Thomas.  He took one of our favorite methods for doing pork loin or brisket of inserting slivers of garlic into the meat as well as a fairly standard brisket mop sauce to make the traditional corned beef into something a little unconventional.  His tribute to Raichlen’s grilled cabbage is truly worth reading about.  Click below to see the process as my dad lines out step by step and pic by pic…

Take a peek at this first photo—it’s a crime scene:

So after a couple months of colder than normal winter St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and it’s time to get the grill fires going.

***Editor’s note ~ I can’t think of a better time to cook than when it looks like that, but I’m a little twisted!?***

This effort will include a Corned Beef Flat, Cabbage, and ‘b’ size Potatoes all done on the grill.

Corned Beef
One 3 lb. Flat
One Garlic Clove-slivered
Seasoning packet (came with beef)
One cup Beer
One cup White Vinegar

An important ingredient for the celebration is beer—for the griller and guests of course!  I chose Smithwick’s (pronounced Smittix I’m told) Irish Ale:

It was quite tasty and not as heavy as some of the stout varieties.

Smoking wood chosen was Pecan—this has worked well with earlier brisket efforts so I thought I’d give it a go here:

Click here to see more than 50 different things you can use to smoke meats.

I soaked the Corned Beef in warm water for approximately 4 hours, changing water every hour making sure to rinse the meat each time, to remove the salt from the brine. Not leaching the salt out will cause the beef to be practically inedible.

Next I cut slits in the beef with a thin sharp knife and inserted slivers of garlic in each slit:

***Editor’s note ~ The process of leaching the salt out of meat with water will make the meat looked washed out and gray but don’t sweat that.  It will look plenty red when you grill it.  Even more so than if you were to boil it***

I decided to grill the beef in a foil pan and apply a mop sauce every half hour.  The mop sauce consisted of one cup of beer, one cup of white vinegar, and the seasoning packet that arrived with the beef:

No rub applied—I figured we I had enough going on with garlic, mop sauce, and smoke flavor—after all, this is an experiment.

Cabbage
One 3 lb. Head
¼ Stick of Butter
One small Onion diced
4 slices of Bacon diced
Coarse Salt and Pepper

One tbsp. of butter was added to a skillet along with the onion and bacon and simmered till it was just beginning to brown:

That mixture was strained and the onion and bacon added to the core of the cabbage along with the remaining butter which had been cubed:

I then painted the outside of the cabbage with the remaining drippings from the straining:

Potatoes
2 lbs. ‘b’ size Red Potatoes
Olive Oil
Coarse Salt
Black Pepper

The potatoes were quartered and drizzled with olive oil and dusted with salt and pepper:

I had a bit of the drippings left from the butter, bacon, onion mixture so that was added also—no sense wasting pork fat!  This was all placed into aluminum foil and a packet created for the grill:

This will go on the grill during the last 45 minutes to an hour of the anticipated grilling time for the beef and cabbage of 3 hours.

The old Charbroil was set up for indirect grilling with coals on the left and the beef and cabbage on the right.  In retrospect, I probably should’ve used the flank method and placed the beef and cabbage in the center.  Either method will work:

The cabbage on a foil ring and the corned beef in an aluminum pan fat side down:

One hour in and the cabbage in getting rather charred on the outside so at Scott’s urging I foiled it for the remaining cooking time:

It was hard to tell how the brisket was doing—the temps ranged from 275 to 350 and fluctuated a bit with the breeze flowing through the drafty old grill.  More briquettes were added and the lid closed and we’ll check it a bit later.

After an hour and a half I’m getting nervous.  I’m considering foiling the beef for the last hour:

Now 2 hours have passed and I’m foiling the beef and adding the remaining mop sauce and pan juices to the foil tent.  The packet containing the potatoes was added to the grill over direct heat:

The 3 hours are up and we are starving by this time.  We’ve decided to serve sandwich style so I purchased some onion buns at the local grocer, buttered the inside, and toasted them on the grill:

Here is the meat after a rest of about 15 minutes ready to carve:

Carved:

The cabbage was very browned on the outside so I’m thankful that I listened to Scott about foiling it:

I peeled the outer leaves off to make it more presentable but I did not try those outer leaves and probably should have:

And here are the potatoes:

All three plated:

The final result was rather tasty—Mimi enjoyed it so I must be happy too.  She added mustard and horseradish to her bun and I took mine ‘straight’ trying to determine how the flavors came through.

The beef was good but I couldn’t pick up much of the garlic flavor and could’ve added more in hindsight.  The cabbage was done completely through and was quite tender with still a slight bit of chew to it and full of flavor from the smoke wood and the mixture applied.  To test for doneness on the cabbage you can pierce with a wood skewer—if it goes in easily—it’s done.  The potatoes were right on with flavor and doneness after approximately 45 minutes on the grill.  Oh, the beer?  It was a fantastic compliment to the meal. No wine pairing considered—after all—it’s for St. Patrick’s Day!  Have a great holiday everyone!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

With St. Patrick’s day just around the corner and the typical fare of corned beef and cabbage on the menu, the Grillin Fools thought we would do these traditional favorites our way.  My father and cousin, Greg – Smokin on the Water, and Tom – the Big Green Eggspert, will have their own twists on these two items soon so check back.  Dad’s is up on the site and can be found here. Here’s what I did to shake up the typical St. Patty’s Day menu…

First off I started with a 3.5 LB premade corned beef from the grocery store that’s been brined already:

Here is the meat and the seasoning packet:

I did not use that seasoning packet at all in this cookout, but in retrospect I probably should have.  If you want a more traditional corned beef done on the grill, you will want to use that.  I will go into it more at the end on how to use this for a more traditional corned beef.

Normally corned beef is boiled with that seasoning packet and the boiling helps to remove the overpowering salt that has infused into the meat from the brine.  Since I’m not boiling it, I have to leach that salt out of the meat or it will only be useful as a salt lick in a cow pasture.  To leach the salt out submerse it in water:

Change the water one time for every pound of meat plus one change of the water.  So for this one I changed it four times, and probably should’ve done it five times.  When you change the water rinse the meat off.  I put it in water Thursday night and had planned to change it Friday morning but forgot before I went to work.  I changed it Friday night, then again Saturday morning and one more time about two hours later on Saturday morning.

I’ve done some research and some say that you can do the water changes every hour and knock it out all in one day.  I didn’t have that kind of time and did not test that.  If you do it every hour, you may want change the water a couple extra times.

After three changes here’s what it looked like:

The water makes the meat look grayer and drabber but that’s not an issue at all.  Now for the fourth time I soaked it in a marinade that also leached off some of the salt.  For the final soak, I marinaded the meat in something I thought was completely appropriate for this cookout – Murphy’s Irish Stout:

I also added a a couple heaping table spoons of minced garlic and some black and white pepper in a ziplock bag:

That went into the fridge for 3 hours.  When I pulled it out I decided to trim some of the fat off the bottom:

I still left a thin layer of fat but the rest was not needed.

Then I made up a rub:

1/3 cup granulated garlic
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sweet paprika
1 tsp of onion powder
1/2 tsp of mustard powder
Black and white pepper
But you can use whatever rub you prefer

Notice no salt.  None on the meat or in the rub.  You don’t want to add any more salt to the brined beef:

And now it’s off to the grill for indirect grilling/smoking:

On the right we have apricot wood to flavor the meat:

Now before anyone jumps up and says that smoked corned beef is just pastrami, calm down for a sec.  I’m not smoking this thing all the way through.  I just smoked it for an hour and 15 minutes and then foiled it.  So, I made sort of a tweener between corned beef and pastrami.  Also, you may have noticed something a little odd about the beef:

Yes, there are two probes in that hunk of beef.  The reason for this is I got a new probe thermometer with a remote alarm that lets me know when the proper temp is reached.  I wanted to make sure the thermometer is accurate so I tested against my old one that I tested against a couple other regular oven thermometers:

As you can see the temp’s are off between the two.  My new one on the left is three degrees higher than my old stand by.  If the temp is off by a few degrees, that’s not all bad as long as it’s consistent and it was throughout the process.  It was always 2-3 degrees high.

Back to the grill.  Time to close the lid and check the temp:

And make sure I have good smoke:

I let the brisket smoke for about an hour before I went to work on my cabbage which was 3.25 pounds:

The problem with grilling cabbage is that it’s round.  How do you keep it from rolling around?  A foil ring:

Set the cabbage on the ring to keep it in place:

Now slice around the core at about a 30 degree angle and remove the core:

Then a sprinkle of coarse salt, couple turns of black and white pepper and then slather with minced garlic and about a third of a stick of butter:

Then cover it entirely in foil.  The goal here is to cook the cabbage in the foil and soften it up before we smoke it:

Now back out to the grill.  The corned beef has been smoking for one hour and fifteen minutes:

Here we can see the temps and it’s still two degrees apart but the temps are consistent:

Now it’s time to foil and do some steaming.  What to steam the beef in?  How about some Irish Stout.  Half a can was just about right:

What to do with that other half a beer?  Hmmm?  Easy.  Add it, along with another full can, to your favorite mug:

One hour later the cabbage is pretty soft and I decided to open up the foil and smoke the cabbage:

Then eight ounces of shredded mozzarella:

Then about a half cup of fresh grated picarino romano:

Forty five minutes later the corned beef hit my desired internal temp of 180 degrees so I pulled it off the grill and drained out as much of the fluid as I could:

I let that rest for 15 minutes while I let my cabbage to continue to smoke:

Sliced:

And now onto the cabbage that I pulled off the grill after one hour in the foil and one hour in the smoke:

And here we have it sliced:

Notice the arrows?  Time to move on to what I should’ve done differently.   See how the very heart of the cabbage is yellow while the rest is white?  That’s because what was yellow was still fairly al dente.  The recipe I checked to find cooking times had a two pound cabbage cooked for 60-90 minutes.  I went a full two hours but should’ve gone more like 2.5-3 hours.  The flavor was delicious, but it could’ve cooked longer.  And the head felt very soft before I pulled it from the grill, so keep that in mind.   Just because it feels soft, you may want to leave it on the grill for a bit longer.

Also, the critique my wonderful Mother in Law gave for the beef was that it wasn’t a traditional corned beef. She said it tasted more like beer beef.  I loved it but she was right, it didn’t have the traditional flavor.  If you want that then you may want to use the seasoning packet in the marinade or for an even more traditional meal then use the spice packet in the foil with the beer.

And before you give me grief for kissing up to my MiL for calling her wonderful, on top of all the amazing things she does for my wife and son she is also my main guinea pig in terms of trying new things.  If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have perfected the Apple/Pumpkin ribs.

I mentioned earlier that I should’ve changed the water one more time.  The salt was a little heavy for me, but I don’t put much salt on anything but french fries and use it sparingly in my cooking, except of course the dry marinaded steaks.  My MiL didn’t mind the salt at all, so if you are as sensitive to salt as I am then you may want to add an extra water change.

So, that’s my twist on the typical St. Patty’s day meal.  I hope it inspires you to shake things up a little when you sup on March 17th.

If you like this recipe and are looking for more beef recipes on the grill, click here.

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below or send me an email.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.

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….

The flat iron steak has been, until recently, a little known cut of steak, from the shoulder of a steer, and is a grilling favorite with this Grillin’ Fool. This tasty cut is now beginning to appear in restaurants and meat markets as a result of research at a couple of universities into what was previously regarded as a waste cut of beef. The result is a nearly perfect steak for our grilling pleasure.

Recently all three Grillin’ Fools were touring around the city and stopped at a local meat market, Kenrick’s, and discovered they offered flat iron steaks on a daily basis. They were cut correctly for grilling so I picked up a couple to enjoy and share the experience with you.  Here is one of them:

The flat iron steak, a non-loin steak, benefits from marinating and shouldn’t be cooked beyond medium. It has been suggested that the steak be grilled over medium high heat to prevent the outside from charring before the middle is heated rather than over high heat like we normally do steaks on this site. I usually go for medium rare doneness and have had good results in the past with the flat iron.

The flat iron was marinated in a mixture of equal parts Andria’s Steak Sauce and Diet Coke in a ziploc bag over night:

Immediately prior to grilling, the steak was removed from the marinate and dusted with granulated garlic and coarse ground pepper:

Note on marinades: This is the same marinade I use on my rib eye steak sandwiches and am very fond of it but you don’t have to use this marinade.  Particularly since Andria’s steak sauce is not available much outside the St. Louis region.  Use whatever flavor combination you like whether you create it yourself or get one of the many varieties offered by our sponsor SauceHut.com.

The brinkman was stoked and it was time to grill.  The meal plan included a  chopped romaine salad and grilled yukon gold potato slices to go along with the steak. The salad was simply eight finely chopped Romaine stalks, 1/8 red onion, 2 large mushrooms, one hard-boiled egg white, and ½ cup of fresh grated parmesan-reggiano. These ingredients were all finely chopped and then a very light drizzle of Italian dressing was added. Very simple but the textures and flavors combined to be very tasty. That was enough to serve two.

The yukon gold’s were boiled in water for 10 minutes to soften them up a but then thickly sliced as shown and ready for the grill – garlic butter to the right:

The coals were ready and the yukon gold slices went on first:

Once grill marks were achieved they were flipped and brushed with garlic butter. I reserved a bit of the garlic butter to put a finish on the steak:

Once the taters were toasted a bit on both sides they were moved to the upper grate to bake while the steak was grilled:

The steak was grilled approximately 3 minutes per side over medium high heat (results will vary by grill and the heat of the fire) then the fire was lowered and the garlic butter brushed on and the steak was allowed to bake for about 4 minutes:

The steak was removed from the grill, loosely foil covered, and set aside to rest for 5 minutes:

I used the “thumb test” to check for doneness and remember, I was going for medium rare here.

The flat iron was sliced and it was time to plate the meal and dig in. Medium rare?? I nailed it as you can see:

Earlier Mimi had set the table and omitted steak knives so I suggested we put them out. What a mistake!! We never touched the steak knives as the flat iron was “fork-tender”! This steak virtually melted in our mouths! We enjoyed this tasty treat with the delicious salad and garlic butter basted potato slices.

I paired the steak with a 2005 Rosenblum Syrah that just got better the more it breathed:

Should you be counting calories you could omit the potatoes from the meal and have a really lean and low carb dinner. The flat iron could also be sliced and placed over a salad or it would be a great addition to grilled fajitas. It could be interchanged with almost any recipe calling for similar cuts such as skirt or flank steak. I suggest giving this a try on your grill soon. It’s an inexpensive cut of lean beef with no waste and the leftover possibilities, if you have any, are endless.

If this recipe intrigues you, then you may like these other steak recipes by clicking here.

As usual, if you have any questions about the flat iron or potato cooking process feel free to comment below or email me.

Also, you can follow the Grillin Fools on Facebook and post your own grillin pictures.