After the amazing response we got to Arthur Aguirre’s Tamales with Pulled Pork, we had to have him back when he mentioned that he was doing fish tacos around the campfire with chipotle slaw.  And man did he come through.  I’ll hand if over to Arthur so he can show you how to make these amazing morsels….

Over the Memorial Day weekend, my family and I went camping down in Leasburg, MO. We had great weather and the kids really enjoyed themselves. However, my favorite part of camping is grilling outdoors. I got the urge to make fish tacos over the campfire one evening for dinner. I wanted the tacos to have a fresh, outdoorsy taste, so I thought about topping the fish with chipotle cole slaw and pico de gallo. I also figured this meal would be quick to make if I prepared some things ahead of time. Not everything went as planned with trying to save some time, but it was so easy to make, it could have been worse. I’ll explain later.

Before we left for our weekend getaway, I made the chipotle sauce and Pico de Gallo ahead of time. I did this for two reasons. First, it always tastes better the next day. It gives all the flavors time to greet one another. And second, I didn’t want the ingredients to get smashed in the coolers. So I prepared them and stored them safely in the cooler. This way, it took up less space in the cooler and it is ready to serve when the fish was ready.

Chipotle Cole Slaw Ingredients:

1 Bag of shredded cole slaw
1 Can of chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1 Cup of mayo
2 Cups of sour cream

I start off by adding the mayo and sour cream into a container that is just large enough to store the sauce. You may substitute the mayo and sour cream for light or fat free versions. A healthier alternative is to use plain white yogurt.

Next, open the can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, remove the peppers from the sauce.

If you want the sauce extra spicy, throw all the contents of the can into a blender and run it until smooth, this will put hair on your chest. I think the adobo sauce is spicy enough, so I use a 1/2 cup of it and add it to the mix.

I store the remaining sauce and peppers in the freezer for future use. Finally, mix all the ingredients together, put a cover over it and place it the fridge.

My wife added the sauce to the shredded slaw earlier that day for lunch. It chilled in the cooler for hours until we were ready for dinner.

Pico de Gallo Ingredients:

2 Tomatoes
1 medium white onion
4 jalapeño peppers
1 lime
1 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt

I like to rinse all the vegetables off with water, even the packaged veggies. Bacteria seems to find a way into all kinds of produce, I err on the side of caution.

The pico takes more time to prepare. Start by dicing the tomatoes and onions to be approximately the same size, place them in a medium size bowl.

Next, cut the stems off of the jalapeños:

Then cut them in half so they look like boats.  Using a spoon, remove the seeds and the veins of the pepper:

After dicing the jalapeños, put them in the bowl with the tomatoes and onion:

Give a rough chop to the cilantro, just enough to release its earthy aroma.

Cut the lime in half and squeeze one half into the bowl, use the other half for some Mexican cerveza:

Add salt to taste:

Mix all the ingredients together, put it in a storage bag and store it in the fridge or use it immediately:

Both of these items were ready to go. This was easy to serve at the camp site and with having 4 toddlers running around, the less time preparing food, the better. We combined all these ingredients into 2 small containers plus we still have to grill the fish at the camp site.

Fish Taco Ingredients:

3 cod filets
8 soft taco tortillas
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

I didn’t have the opportunity to go fishing in the river, not that I’m capable of catching anything, so I bought some frozen cod filets. I like cod because it’s thick and meaty which means it holds up well on the grill. Cod also has a mild taste to it, so it won’t over power the other ingredients or the smoky flavor it absorbs over the campfire. But first, I like to coat it with some olive oil and season the cod with salt and pepper. And just for kicks, I sprayed non stick spray on the grill so the fish will not stick.

As I alluded to earlier, not everything went off without a hitch. We had a tough time getting a hot fire going in the fire ring.

A combination of the high humidity and the very green firewood didn’t allow us to achieve the hot and fast method. Instead, we had low and slow and the family was not happy. It did, however, add some great smoke flavor to the cod:

After about an hour of trying to get a hot fire going, it catches, and I was able to sear them at the end. Had the fire been too low or had been extinguished at any point, the fish would have been thrown away for fear of bacteria.

It is done when the cod tears apart easy with a white flaky texture:

You can just tear it into chunks or chop it up. I like my fish chunky.

Next I heated up some tortillas over the fire. They only take about 30 seconds each over a hot fire, just keep flipping them until they are soft. I found some whole wheat tortillas that were really good:

Assembling them is easy:

First, lay the tortilla flat, then add the cod:

Top with the Pico de Gallo:

Finally add the chipotle slaw:

Roll up the soft taco and enjoy:

This was really good.  It was smoky, spicy and fresh all at the same time. My only change would be to use traditional corn tortillas. They would have added some sweetness to the palette.

Delisioso!

***Editor’s note ~ Wow, Arthur, wow!!!***

If you would like to see other seafood dishes click here.

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

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

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.

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…

This is a feature that was supposed to be posted to the website last summer but due to a water line break requiring the removal of everything from the room that is my home office the notes were misplaced.  They were rediscovered a few days ago and I thought we are now in the depths of winter so why not put this together to give us all a warmer feeling during this dreary season.  So here we go on a seaside adventure with Shrimp and accompanying goodies.  While not all the Shrimp are grilled I think you’ll find an enjoyable experience unfolding here.

It’s that time of year for a couple of Grillin Fools to take a much needed break.  For several years the vacation trek has landed us on Dauphin Island, Alabama for a bit of seaside relaxation.  Typically, the trip occurs the end of April through the beginning of May when condo rates are off-peak making the jaunt very affordable.  A couple of thoughts immediately come to mind—grilling (of course!) and shrimp.  Shrimp are caught off the adjacent shore and we often are able to watch several boats harvesting these tasty treats while sipping a cool beverage from our balcony.  I hope you enjoy the journey—we certainly did.

The accommodations provide a grill??

Please note this contraption is not a grill—it’s a “hotplate”.  Should any device with an electrical cord be considered a grill by a Grillin Fool?  This situation was remedied a couple of years ago with the purchase of a “travelin’ grill” that fits nicely into the trunk of the car:

The legs fold up and it is transported similar to luggage on wheels.  Two weeks ocean-side without a charcoal grill was NOT going to happen.  It’s not a Big Green Egg but it’s not a hot plate.

U.S. Gulf Shrimp, no imports—we support the local economy whenever possible, were next on the agenda.  Over the years a relationship has developed with the crew at the local seafood shop, Skinner’s Seafood:

Left to right we have Gary Skinner (Old Fart) and the lovely associates Kellie (Blondie) and Gloria (Dingbat) are really customer friendly and have the freshest, best shrimp and seafood in the area.  Skinner’s offers much more than just shrimp—oysters, crab, scallops, flounder, red snapper, and my favorite Royal Red Shrimp along with a selection of seasonings and crab boil.

They’ll even season and steam your purchase on site if requested and at no additional charge.  Should you ever visit Dauphin Island The Grillin Fools suggest you stop by Skinner’s Seafood and enjoy some great seafood or visit them at SkinnerSeafood.com.  This Grillin Fool usually returns home with a couple of coolers of fresh gulf shrimp (frozen with water in Ziploc bags) to last until the next annual visit to the seashore.  When the shrimp are thawed they are just like they would taste the day they were caught and will easily keep frozen for two years—I’ve only made it one year and then I’m returning for more.

Here’s a look at the Royal Red Shrimp mentioned previously.  This photo shows them with heads on:

You will lose quite a bit when de-heading them but the stellar flavor of Royal Reds is certainly worth it:

Normally I like to grill most anything but my favorite way to prepare Royal Reds is to head them, peel and de-vein them, and then boil them in my special crab or shrimp boil (courtesy of the Old Fart) and dip them in warm, melted butter.  Why??  Because Royal Reds (close your eyes while tasting) taste like….Lobster!  It lends itself to an economical ‘surf n’ turf’ dinner because Royal Reds were only $5.99 per pound at Skinner’s.  In order to realize what a bargain this is please know that these shrimp were caught at a depth of 2200-2300 feet 80 miles out to sea then flash-frozen on board due to the distance involved.  Catch depth can range from 1600-2500 feet below the surface.  Royal Reds are not available everywhere—they’re caught off the coast of Alabama and a few select areas off the East Coast.  Most of you reading this will not find them at your local supermarket or fishmonger so if you visit the area be sure to give them a try and bring a few home—I usually return with 20 pounds or so and reserve them for special occasions.

This is the standard recipe, provided by Gary Skinner, I’ve used for years to boil shrimp.  In a large pot filled approximately ½ full of water—shrimp can be shell on or off if you prefer:  I apply a couple tablespoons of the crab boil mixture after combined.

3 parts Louisiana Crab Boil
1 part Swampfire Crab Boil
1 each Lemon/Lime cut and squeezed
Black Pepper to taste (optional)

Bring to a boil—drop in shrimp for 2-3 minutes—turn off heat and let rest for one minute—remove shrimp.  Serve immediately to enjoy warm or refrigerate and served chilled later with your favorite cocktail sauce.

OK—enough of that stuff—it’s time to turn to grillin’.  Everyone’s favorite each visit here is Grilled Kabobs.  Several skewers of Fresh Gulf Shrimp (peeled and de-veined) from Skinner’s, Beef Tenderloin seasoned with garlic and pepper, Mushrooms, Sweet Onions, Red and Yellow Sweet Peppers, and Fresh Pineapple.  What a cacophony of flavors with this combination—add some smoky grilled flavor and I’m in heaven:

The travelin’ grill was fired up using an electric starter—no charcoal chimney because of coastal breeze being a bit hazardous:

A basting sauce of Orange Juice, Brown Sugar, and Honey will be applied several times during the grilling process.  Sorry—no recipe—I just pour and mix till dissolved.  Vegetables, Fruit, and Beef were on the fire first as they require a bit more grilling time than Shrimp.  The Shrimp were grilled until pink and opaque.  Eight people were served and enjoyed this seaside delight.  White wine was selected to pair with the many flavors but a smooth light red might have sufficed.  A good Red Burgundy or Pinot Noir perhaps?  There is beef involved here.  Choose what you like wine-wise—I don’t think you’ll go wrong whatever you choose.  Here is a pic of the finished product:

Another evening meal featured Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp.  Bacon slices, sliced into thirds, were wrapped around each Shrimp and held in place with toothpicks.  These tasty morsels were glazed on the grill with 3 parts Dijon Mustard, 1 part Honey, and few dashes of spicy Chipotle Tobasco Sauce:

The bacon insulates the Shrimp from cooking too quickly and permits absorption of smoky grilled flavor:

It has been suggested that pre-cooking the bacon a bit prior to wrapping the Shrimp allows more even cooking and renders a bit more fat from this menu.  I’m ok with that process or perhaps just using thin sliced bacon will suffice—either way will work.

Here’s the Kabob version during week 2.  Beef was omitted this time, our supply of tenderloin was totally consumed during the previous effort.  This time around potatoes were added:

In order to cook them quickly and impart some grill flavor the potatoes should be boiled prior to grilling, allowed to cool, and then cut into chunks to fit on the skewers.  Incidentally, if using wood skewers they should be soaked in water for an hour or so before hitting the fire.  During the first week when Tom, The Big Green Eggspert was here he prepared small ‘b’ size red potatoes by boiling them and then soaking the spuds in Cajun seasoning.  The leftovers were discovered, still intact, in the fridge so they were added to this effort.  Half of the Shrimp were dusted with Slap Ya’ Mama seasoning found on Skinner’s seasoning rack or can be purchased at SauceHut.com if you can’t find it locally:

The other half were basted with Raspberry Chipotle Salsa (to the left in the pic below) suggested by friend Dan P. who vacationed with us the second week.  The Salsa glazed Shrimp was top notch and The Grillin Fools later prepared this for our friend Joe Bonwich, food writer for the STL Post-Dispatch in May.

The wine was an 06 Columbia Riesling—Eroica—Dr. Loosen by Chateau St. Michelle and it combined nicely with all the flavors presented to our palates.  The basting sauce was modified this time as well—we were out of Orange Juice—so white wine was substituted.  Oops!  I just located the recipe for the original basting sauce/glaze:

1 cup Orange Juice

½ cup Brown Sugar

¼ cup Honey

Heated till combined.

On the grill:

While relaxing on the balcony or sunning by the pool I took the opportunity to catch up on a bit of literature by reading a book or two.  I shopped at a bookstore across Mobile Bay near Gulf Shores and picked up a copy of recently released ‘Emeril At The Grill’.  It was interesting reading and may provide additional inspiration for an upcoming feature.  I’ve long been a fan of Emeril and have dined at his restaurants in New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Gulfport.  Earlier in the week Emeril’s Risotto recipe was served alongside grilled rib-eye steaks.  I recently commented to Mimi that he was overdue for a book on grillin’—I was surprised to find the edition on the shelf and certainly enjoyed his latest effort.

Seaside grilling has always been a challenge for me.  Apparently the constant salt-air breeze affects the maintenance and temperature of a charcoal fire.  I’ve tried it with the lid to the grill open, lid closed, vents open, vents closed, and all combinations thereof and still have difficulty maintaining temperature.  I’d like to hear from anyone else that has experienced this and any solutions offered.

I hope you have the opportunity to visit Dauphin Island, Alabama someday and partake of the great fresh Gulf Shrimp at Skinner’s and try seaside grilling for yourself.  It’s a great place to relax without city hassle—there isn’t even a stoplight on the island.  There is a great little bakery and Skinner’s Seafood plus a grill—oh—and a refreshing beverage—what more could you possibly want?  Ok—maybe a little Jimmy Buffet, Reggae, and Zydeco on the CD player.  Want more motivation to check it out?  Here you go:

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

If you are looking for more seafood recipes, click here.

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

With the economy what it is, going out to a fine restaurant may not be in the budget for some.  But does that have to keep you from a great date night with that special someone in your life?  Absolutely not.  Let the Grillin Fools show you how to make a special night around the grill for you and your loved one.  Tom and his wife Tracy had just such a night recently and they were kind enough to take pictures and document the process from start to finish.  Click below to learn how they had a great date night without leaving the house…

It’s finally summertime, why not have a nice romantic evening at home? It’s fun to cook together and this recipe is sure to please!

Crostini
Grilled Shrimp
Grilled Salad
Grilled Sea Bass with reduction sauce
Grilled Sweet Potatoes
Angel Food Cake with mixed berries

***Editor’s note ~ This isn’t a recipe, it’s an event!!***

Crostini

This is artisan bread, sliced, brushed with olive oil and garlic, then grilled and topped with cheese. Click here to see this in more detail despite some badly lit pictures.

Grilled Shrimp

1 pound peeled deveined shrimp
1/4 cup Mr. Yoshida’s marinade & cooking sauce
2 TBSP minced garlic
1 TSP “Slap Ya Mama” Cajun Seasoning**

**Note this is a spice recipe. If you do not care for spicy food leave out the Cajun Seasoning.  But if you are into the spicy rubs, there may be none better than Slap Ya Mama:

*** Editor’s Note ~ This stuff is great on a lot of things, particularly seafood.  We used this on salmon and trout just recently and it was excellent along with a little salt and pepper and that was all it needed.  If you can’t find it locally please visit our sponsors at SauceHut.com to order a can.  Use the promo code GrillinFools when you check out to get 10% off***

Combine all ingredients:

Prepare grill to 400 degrees. Place grill pan on grill and after it comes up to temperature place shrimp into grill pan:

Cook at 400 degrees approximately 5 minutes – do not overcook! Look for the shrimp to turn from the gray above to the white below and firm up a bit, but not too much as they will get rubbery:

Serve the shrimp with warm with crostinis as an appetizer:

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

1 large sweet potato
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Leave skin on to hold potato together while grilling. Par-boil sweet potato until fork-tender (time will vary depending on size of potato). Slice into 1/2 inch slices – it is important to have consistent size slices so they cook evenly and finish at the same time.

Brush with olive oil:

Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper:

Place sweet potato slices directly on grill (approx 375 degrees):

Cook approximately 15 minutes on each side, then move to side of grill to keep warm until ready to serve:

Grilled Salad

This recipe can also be found here
One Head Romaine Lettuce
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Grated Parmesan Cheese

Slice head of lettuce in half lengthwise, leaving core intact. Brush both sides with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Grill until warm and wilted, top with cheese and serve.

Grilled Sea Bass

Two fillets of sea bass (approx 4 oz ea)
Olive oil
Soy Sauce
Freshly grated pepper

Brush fish with olive oil and soy sauce.  Sea bass on the left, crostinis on the right:

Place fish skin side down on a 375 degree grill and cook until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees:

Remove from heat and cover with reduction sauce

Reduction Sauce

1/4 Cup sliced leeks
1 TBSP Olive Oil
2TBSP Butter
Salt & Pepper
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 White Wine
1 TSP sugar
1 TSP soy sauce

Give leeks a rough chop and saute in olive oil, 1 TBS butter, salt and pepper. Cook until slightly caramelized. Add remaining ingredients and cook until reduced and thick.

Prepare a nice setting for the meal:

Plate the food:

A close up of the dish:

Oh, but we aren’t done there.  Don’t forget about dessert.  It’s not grilled but it’s still delicious.

Angel Food Cake with Fresh Berries

Angel Food Cake
Simple Syrup
2 Cups mixed berries – Use your favorite, we used blue berries, black berries and raspberries.
2 TBS Marsala Wine

Make one angel food cake per box instructions or purchase already baked from your local grocer. If you bake at home, add 1 tsp lemon zest and two TBS lemon juice for a nice variation. This goes really well with the berries.

Simple Syrup, combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in small sauce pan over low heat. Stir until combined.

Add mixed berries and marsala wine. Cook until reduced:

Slice cake, spoon berry mixture over cake and top with whipped cream if desired:

If you have any questions about the date night feast outlined above feel free to email Tom at Tom@grillinfools.com.

And if you are interested in other seafood recipes from the Grillin Fools click here.

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

So I was walking through the grocery store the other day just looking for something to jump out at me and say, “buy me, take me home and grill me.  I will be delicious.”  I came across and entire, uncut yellow fin tuna loin.  So I got a nice thick slab of that sliced off for me and started thinking about a marinade.  I’d had sushi for lunch a couple days prior and was thinking Asian.  A little teriyaki here, some hoisin there and I had my marinade.  This is incredibly simple, easy and healthy.   Click below to see just how to do it yourself…

First off the tuna steak.  This is just a biscuit over an inch thick:

The ingredients are these:

And of course some garlic:

The amounts are:

1 TBSP of teriyaki sauce
1/2 TBSP of hoisin sauce (Asian BBQ sauce found at just about any grocer near the teriyaki and the soy)
1/2 TBSP of roasted sesame oil (a little harder to find.  Substitute peanut oil if you cannot find it)
1 small squirt of hot chili sauce (again, in near the soy sauce at your local grocer.  A pinch of red pepper flakes make a fine substitute)
1 clove of fresh minced garlic
3 turns of fresh black pepper

The sesame seeds or for after the tuna is cooked.

Combine in a bowl and place in a ziplock with the tuna:

I marinaded this for about 2 hours.  You could marinade this as short as 30 minutes or as long as overnight.

Now out to the grill.  This isn’t really a two zone cooking session.  Tuna is grilled over high heat for a couple minutes per side and then pulled from the grill.  Leave it on longer than that and it will be dry and chewy.  Below I have my grill pan right over the hot coals:

I uses my grill pan as it lessons the risk of the tuna sticking to the grill grate.  If you don’t have a grill pan you can still do this but it is a little trickier.  Take a paper towel and folded up into about a 2″x3″ rectangle and slather it with oil.  Now pick up the oiled towel with tongs and rub it back and forth over the area of the grill you are going to grill the tuna steak.  This is done with the grill grate over hot coals (hence the need for the tongs).  This will do about as good a job of cleaning the grill grate as possible.  Then, place the tuna steak on the grill and do not touch it for at least two minutes.  Try to move it before a crust forms along the bottom and it will stick.  When you flip it do not put it back down on the exact same spot as that spot will be a bit dirty now.  So make sure you clean enough space for this.

Back to my grill pan.  I cooked these between 3-4 minutes over high heat.  What you are looking for here is it start to whiten along the edge along the bottom.  That is happening here despite the picture not reflecting that so well.  Do not wait here.  Flip it as soon as it starts to whiten.  I waited as I was trying to get some more shots of this and the next pic and thus it cooked a little too long so don’t make the same mistake I did and flip it as soon as you see it whiten:

Here is the steak flipped with a nice crust around the edges:

After another 3-4 minutes I pulled the steak and plated it with a sprinkle of sesame seeds over the top:

And here we have it sliced.  Still pink and juicy, but like my steaks, I like it pinker than this.  Sometimes the taking of all the pics gets in the way of good grilling.  But you can learn from my mistakes.  This was still very delicious.

What I would’ve done differently.

• Having a really crappy camera means that I have to take 10-12 pictures on various settings and angles for each picture that makes the site.  Doing so here causes me to overcook a bit as tuna steaks are very lean and cook quickly.
• Sadly, I dropped my digital camera over the holiday weekend and broke it.  I had to go out and buy a new camera and decided to take the plunge and upgrade into the world of the SLR.  This is not a sad moment for you as my pictures should be much better.  It’s sad for me as those suckers are big spensive!!!

If you have any questions about the above dish please feel free to comment below or email me at Scott@GrillinFools.com.

If you are interested in other seafood dishes done on the grill, click here.

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

My lovely Wife was craving crab legs on Saturday and knew that I had never done them for the site so she suggested I kill two birds with one stone.  Bird one being her craving for crab legs.  Bird two being more content for this site.  I wasn’t exactly sure how to grill crab legs so I did some digging on the web before purchasing the crab.  I found that there isn’t much to grilling crab legs.  In fact grilling crab legs are easier than grilling lobster tails in terms of preparation. Click below and I will walk you through the entire process…

First, here are the main ingredients for the meal.  A couple pounds if King Crab Legs, a dozen little neck clams, six U8-12 shrimp, and six good size sea scallops.  What’s the difference between bay and sea scallops? Size.  These are the big boys:

First the prep for the crab legs.  Brush them with olive oil:

That’s it.  They are prepped.  I’m not kidding.  Just brush them with olive oil.  You could use butter too.  All you are doing is creating a buffer between the shell and the heat to keep the shell from burning.

Now on to the seafood butter boil.  This dish can be made just as easily inside but it’s a very social appetizer and seems to lend itself well to the social nature of the back yard BBQ pit.  Take an oven safe pot.  In this case a calphalon pot with a metal handle.  The recipe is not something I can quantify exactly because the amounts are based on the size of the pot and amount of seafood that will be boiled.  In this case it was:

3 sticks of butter

3 fresh garlic cloves smashed and diced

1/2 cup of white wine

The wine is optional as you can go all butter if you like.  Also if you really like herbs feel free to throw some in of your liking.

And I realize 3 sticks of butter seems like a lot but there needs to be enough liquid to submerge all the seafood.  You will by no means eat all the butter.  It may take a couple of times doing this to figure out how much is indeed enough.  Also, the butter will make a dipping sauce for the crab later during the main course.

The reason for the metal handled pot is that it is going directly on the grill:

The shrimp were butterflied and de-shelled, the clams rinsed and the scallops had the tough little muscle off the side.  What muscle you ask?  Many don’t know it exists.  Check this other post I did on scallops to see a video of exactly where it is and how to remove it. Once the butter came up to a boil I threw everything in at the same time.  If you use smaller shrimp or scallops then throw the clams in for maybe 30 seconds before the rest of the seafood:

Do you see the clam below at the top of the pic?  See how it has opened up?  That’s how you know it’s done.  Notice too the grayish shrimp in the pic above and how the shrimp is nice and pink below?  They are perfect:

One cautionary note about clams.  If they are open do not put them in the butter.  Tap them.  If they close on their own they are OK.  If they don’t close, then pitch them.  Also if they don’t open in the boiling butter when the rest do don’t eat them.

How do you serve the clams/scallops/shrimps?  Put the pot in the middle of the table and hand everyone a fork.  Very communal. Maybe set some guidelines that everyone gets X amount of scallops or shrimps but otherwise just have at it.  You could also give each persona small plate or a bowl and have them scoop out their seafood in order to move away from the table and allow others to get in there.  My wife and I simply shared a romantic pot of seafood on the back patio next to a hot grill.

I did the butter boiled seafood as an app because with seafood if anything is over cooked it gets rubbery.  Trying to time the butter boil and the crab to come out at the same time could cause one or the other to overcook.  Having never done crab legs on the grill, I had no idea how long they would take.

Speaking of the crab legs, back to them.  First off I placed the thicker pieces of crab on the grill first leaving the skinnier pieces on the platter.  They went on for maybe 5 minutes over a medium fire:

A close up of the fatter pieces on the grill:

The skinnier pieces waiting for the grill:

I used my offset smoker as a two zone cooker for this meal.  Normally I would use the kettle but the kettle doesn’t  have enough surface area for all the crab and still do two zone cooking (coals on one side no coals on the other).

After about 5 minutes I put everything on:

I used strictly lump charcoal for this and it faded pretty quickly as the wife and I were just enjoying the evening together between the appetizer and the crab legs.  Total grilling time was about 20 minutes but if the fire was hotter I can see these being done in 12-14 minutes.

Below are the crab legs that are done, lumped together, to stay warm in the upper right.  The crab legs that still needed some cooking on the upper left and the butter warming up over the heat on the middle left.  Bottom right are some left over hot dog buns that I split in half  and turned into crostinis.  More on that in another post:

You can see there was some browning of the shells but not much:

So how do you know when they are done?  Well, fresh crab legs are a bit pliable.  Once they are cooked on the grill the shells get hard and a little brittle.  That’s about all I can tell you on that front.  I wish I could be more descriptive.  Basically 12-14 minutes total (flipping a few times) over medium high heat, or 20 minutes over a dying fire of medium heat.

Here is the final product with one of those hot dog bun crostinis….

My wife, who is not the biggest grill fan in the world (sorta ironic, huh?), said she much preferred the grilled crab legs to crab legs boiled on the stove with a bag of crab boil and a couple quartered lemons.  I completely agree.  But then again I am Grillin Fool!!!

If you have any questions about the above dish please feel free to comment below or shoot me an email.

Click here to see other seafood dishes on the site.

Here is a link to a discussion of this recipe over the airwaves in Houston.

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

]]> http://grillinfools.com/2009/06/02/grilled-crab-legs-along-with-a-seafood-butter-boil-of-scallops-shrimp-and-little-neck-clams/feed/ 4 http://grillinfools.com/2009/04/07/grilled-bacon-wrapped-shrimps/ http://grillinfools.com/2009/04/07/grilled-bacon-wrapped-shrimps/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:31:00 +0000 Scott http://jason.grillinfools.com/?p=55 A very common item on the Grillin Fool’s menu is bacon wrapped shrimp but for some reason I have very few pics of this incredible and easy side or appetizer. One of the reasons I make these so often as that they are so versatile. I can all kinds of things with these from a sweet glaze make them flaming hot on the spiciness scale. I can make a crazy sauce to glaze them in or simply baste them in some melted butter….

I asked for 6 U14-18 shrimp. I usually go with the U10-12, but the ones in the U14-18 looked ever bit as big as the more expensive U10-12. Oh, for those that don’t know, the U numbers stand for approximately how many units of shrimp make up a pound. And while I asked for 6, I was given 8. No big deal.

Some of you are thinking that those big shrimp are really expensive. The 8 were right about $7. So it was $3.50/person. Couple that with two 8 ounce lobster tails for $10/person and a box of rice and the meal was less than $15/person for a lobster tail, 4 large shrimps and a side of rice. That’s pretty good considering the meal. I can drop more than $15 on a single steak.

So consider doing a couple of fat shrimps as an app or side. As an app, they may cost you $1/shrimp but if you go with say two per person and are feeding 4 that’s only $8.

Here we have the shrimp with my celly for perspective:

First thing with prepping shrimp is to shell and devein them. Dad and I thought we took some great footage of the process. Shot it more than a few times but we had a slight problem. Originally I was going to film it and turned the camera to record and then we decided he would film it so I gave the camera to him which was recording. So he gets all centered in on the shrimp and hits the record button which stops the recording. Then at the end of the demonstration he hit the record button again starting the recording. I grab another shrimp, he gets it centered, hits the record button stopping the recording, I run through the process of deveining a shrimp and then he hits the record button turning the camera back on, and on and on for about 5 shrimp. The next time I do these I will get some footage and insert it in here. I have a couple of pics to help demonstrate the process but the vids would’ve been much better.

First, take the shrimp in your hand and put the legs toward your palm, or the exact opposite of what my dad is doing here:

Then hold the shrimp so the back is sticking up. Take a paring knife with the sharp edge of the blade away from your palm and insert it stright down from where the head of the shrimp would be:

Run the blade along the back to split the shell. When you get to the last section of the shell stop, pulld the shell off and then remove the tail. Pinch just above the hard section of the tail while gently pulling on the body of the shrimp. Now look into the cavity just created for the vein or any other dark matter. Remove that and you have a deshelled, deveined, butterflied shrimp ready for the grill. Or in this case, ready for the bacon!!!

If you go with smaller shrimp you may need to precook the bacon just a bit. Also, go with a third to a quarter piece of bacon. This bacon wrapped around the shrimp twice.

Here are all the ingredients used to make the shrimps:

I did them two different ways but to start all eight got a half strip of bacon wrapped around them and then skewered with a toothpick. From there half of them were destined to simply be braised in the drawn garlic butter I did with the lobster tails. The instructions on doing the drawn butter as well as the write up on how to grill lobster tails can be found here.

For the other half of them I did them in a honey/honey mustard/garlic sauce. And no, that was not a typo. Honey mustard plus more honey:

3 tbsp of honey mustard
1 tbsp of honey
1 1/4 tsp of chili powder
1 tsp of minced garlic
Couple of turns of the pepper grinder.

Combine all ingredients and wisk together. If you have more shrimp to do than four just try to keep the honey mustard to honey ration at 3:1. Once the sauce is made apply liberally to the shrimps with a BBQ or basting brush:

After my lobster tails had been on for about 3-4 minutes I threw on the shrimp over medium high heat. With the size of these shrimp, when the bacon is done the shrimp are done. Here are the shrimps next to my lobster tails. I left both on the grill for about 6 minutes from this point:

Here are the shrimps plated with the main course and a closeup of the shrimps:

I put the closeup in here so you can see that the honey mustard will blacken a bit due to the high sugar content. This is not a big deal. It will not taste burnt.

Other methods that I use to do bacon wrapped shrimp. I take a sprig of rosemary (not a woody sprig) and place it in the crevice created by butterflying the shrimps and then wrap in bacon. Or take a whole basil leaf, wrap it around the body of the shrimp and then wrap in bacon. I have braised them in sweet BBQ sauce. I have dredged them in chipotle Tobasco sauce for an incredible flavor that is not too hot.

Get creative. And by all means share your creative ideas in the comments section below!!!

If you have any questions shoot me an email at Scott@GrillinFools.com

Click here to see other seafood dishes.

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

Some of you may be intimidated by Lobster. Some of you love the stuff but rarely eat it due to the cost. The cost leads to that intimidation. Do these questions pop up when considering Lobster:

What if I overcook it?
What if I under cook it?
How do I know when it’s done?
What if I screw it all up and that money spent on that expensive seafood will be wasted?

I’ve asked myself those same questions. I’ve had those same fears. How does one eliminate those fears? Practice. But this is such and expensive food item to practice on, right? Wrong. This is the best time to get that practice. Due to the economy being in the crapper nobody is buying such luxuries like lobster. The lobster vendors have slashed prices. What better time to practice on lobster than right now? Those two tails above were $20. Not apiece. Total. They were $20/pound and each of those is 8 ounces. Show me a good steak that you can get for $10? I saw a place in St. Louis that has 2 pound live lobsters for $14/lobster. That’s not per pound.

The time is now to conquer your fear of this delicious crustacean. The time is now to get your practice in. The time is now to realize that a lobster tail is just a really big shrimp. If you can grill a shrimp you can grill a lobster tail….

Dad ponied up the lobster tails. These were $20/pound as I mentioned above, but the next day Dad went back for a couple more and they were marked down to $13/pound. $6.50 for an 8 ounce tail? Are you kidding me?!?!?! Oh, how I wish I had the freezer space!?!

And while lobster tails are just large shrimp in terms of cooking they do require a bit different preparation. The main problem being splitting the tail open. Some suggest to split the bottom, much softer section of the tail. Some split the top. I went with the latter. A pair of kitchen shears made quick work of those shells but this can be done with a sharp knife too. Simply start with the sheers (or knife) and split the shell all the way to the tail:

Then slice the meat in half along the split shell. Try not to cut through the bottom shell:

Now for the cool part. I put my thumbs into the newly created slit that runs the length of the tail and pulled it apart. The bottom shell holds the two pieces together and now the meat is butterflied for maximum surface area:

The lobster tails will be braised with drawn/clarified garlic butter which is so simple to make:

2 stick salted butter
1 heaping tablespoon of garlic
1 spoon

Bring the two sticks of butter to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. After the foam dissipates on top you will notice some white clumps floating to the top. Spoon them off the top while trying to leave as much of the remaining butter. A sieve could also be used for this. Right before the butter is to be brushed onto the lobster tail (and a few shrimp in this case) put the garlic in. The longer garlic cooks the less flavor it has so do not boil the garlic the whole time.

Two sticks of butter seems like a lot but what will not be slathered onto the seafood while cooking will used as a dipping sauce during the meal.

Now that the lobster tails and garlic butter are ready for the grill, Dad and I cracked open a great wine that was on sale at the local grocer. Normally about $23 this bottle was on sale for $13:

Cooking Method:

I set up two zone cooking here almost out of habit but it is not really necessary. Just get the grill to a medium high heat. Not quite steak flame searing temps, but still a hot fire. There is no need to indirect these. Just keep them over the heat the whole time. The 2nd zone could be useful to keep the tails warm if there was something else that was not quite done and needs a little more time.

Brush the lobster meat with a healthy dose of the butter and place meat side down over the heat. Be careful of flame ups from the butter dripping into the fire. I had to readjust the location a few times due to flame ups as you can see below with the flames licking the tail on the right:

Here are the tails moved a bit to avoid the flare ups. I put the butter pot right on the grill to keep it warm (lower right):

The tails need to be over the heat for only about 3-4 minutes. Here are the tails with the shrimp added to the grill. I flipped the tails immediately after placing the shrimps on the fire (I will talk about the shrimp in another post):

Once the tails are flipped the shell will disperse the heat quite a bit but they still only need 5-6 minutes on the heat shell side down or a total of about 10 minutes cook time. This will vary depending on temp and size of the tail. What to look for is the consistency of a cooked shrimp – white, firm flesh, but not rubbery. Once the tails are flipped give them another slathering of garlic butter.

Here is Dad’s tail plated. Notice the flesh is a little browned from being over the heat but not charred. That is nearly perfect:

And here are a couple of shots of my tail. Mine charred just a bit on the right side but it was still fantastic:

Now is the time to get over the fear and anxiety of grilling lobster. When prices go back up you will be a seasoned vet with these and not worry at all about grilling them…

Click here to see other seafood dishes we’ve done on the grill.

If you have any questions about the above dish please feel free to comment below or shoot me an email.

Here is a link to a discussion of this recipe over the airwaves in Houston.

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

This is such a simple recipe that anyone can do it. And with Lent here it might be the perfect meal for Friday night the next couple of weeks…

Near my office in St. Louis there is an area that is as close to a China Town that St. Louis will ever have. I took a trip down Olive in University City and stepped into 3 seafood markets and one seafood restaurant. I didn’t realize it was a seafood restaurant until I stepped inside.

I wound up getting the seafood for this dish at two different places. At one place I got the Shrimp, scallops and conch (this was an experiment). At another I got mahi mahi and grouper. I had planned on doing monk fish but with none to be found I went with the mahi and grouper as it looked the best.

The first place had incredible deals on shell fish including 2 pound lobsters for $14 each. That’s each, not per pound!?!?! We will be doing those very soon so stay tuned. But their fish was not the freshest. It was hard to find any Grouper or Snapper that did not have their eyes clouded over which is a sure sign of the fish not being fresh. So I picked up some black tiger shrimps, U20-30 scallops (pound and a half of each or about 40 each) and 1 conch. Then I went down the street and got some wild caught gulf grouper and mahi mahi (a pound of each) . Oh, this may seem like a lot of food but I was feeding six.

To go along with the seafood I picked up two yellow peppers, a whole pineapple, and a pound of yellow squash. Yes, it’s a yellow theme. Now you can use canned pineapple but fresh is so much better and so easy. Lop of the top and bottom. Slice down the sides to remove the tough exterior. Turn on it’s side and cut into one inch thick slices. Cut the tough center out and chunk up. It’s a little more work than opening a can, but the extra effort is well worth it.

I know people have asked me to be more quantitative with my posts with detailed recipes and cooking times, but there really is not recipe for this. Pick whatever ingredients you want. I originally wanted monk fish but couldn’t find any so I went with what was available. You can do these with chicken, beef, pork, sweet onion, whole water chestnuts, zucchini, other seafood/fish, red/green/orange peppers, mushrooms, just whatever you want. Avoid potatoes (take too long to cook) and fish that is flaky like roughy. Mahi is ideal for this. The grouper started falling apart a bit as it cooked through. Swordfish, shark, monkfish are all good candidates. Just as the fish monger what s/he recommends for kababs.

Ingredients for the kababs:

1.5 pounds of shrimps
1.5 pounds of scallops
1 pound of grouper
1 pound of mahi mahi
1 pound of yellow squash
2 yellow peppers
1 whole pineapple

Feeds 6

Ingredients for the garlic butter sauce:

6 sticks of salted butter
2 large tablespoons of garlic

For braising the kababs and for dunking during the meal

Here we have some of the mahi mahi:

The scallops, fish (mahi up high in the dish and grouper down low) and black tiger shrimps. Outside of a royal reds, black tigers are pretty much the best tasting shrimp out there, but any shrimp can be used. Also remember to pull the tough muscle off the side of the scallops as demonstrated here:

And here we have the yellows – yellow squash, yellow pepper and yellow pineapple:

Here is everything together starting from the left and going clockwise – Pineapple, squash, scallops, mahi, grouper, shrimps, and yellow pepper. And don’t forget the Now and Zen Wasabi White that dad brought over. Amazing wine and only $10:

Make sure to soak your skewers ahead of time or you risk them burning up on the grill. These soaked for maybe 3 hours, but an hour is about all they need:

At first I went with kababs that were a variety of all the different ingredients as seen below:

Dad pointed something out. The items on the skewer are going to cook at different rates. The veggies will take much longer than the seafood. So I took a new approach. Skewers of the same ingredient. So a few skewers of just pineapple, a few of just shrimps, etc.

An another tip from dad. Instead of going with just one skewer per kabob he recommended doing two per kabab to make it easier to flip them over. If it’s just one skewer and you flip it over some pieces may rotate on the skewer so the side that was just over the heat is back over the heat again. Here is a pic of some scallop kabobs on the grill done with two skewers:

While the coals were getting going in my chimney outside I prepped the garlic butter sauce inside. I simply melted 4 sticks of butter in a pot and tossed in a couple heaping table spoons of minced garlic after the butter had boiled. I would up using another two sticks of butter after this pic was taken. I know that sounds like a lot, but a great deal of it was lost when I brushed it on the kababs. And I wanted some at the end for people to dunk their food in during the meal:

My wife made her amazing cheesy biscuits for the event. Here they are awaiting a 450 degree oven (sorry but no after pics):

I did two zone cooking for this in my large offset smoker which was used just as a regular grill here. I started off with the veggies on first indirect with lots of butter glazed on and the conch on the upper rack to the left directly over the heat. This was an experiment to see if it’s any good. Didn’t want to serve my guests something without knowing if it sucked or not:

The reviews were mixed on the conch. A couple of the pieces were tough. The flavor is reminiscent of lobster but it would seem that one side of the conch is tougher than the other side. The pieces cut from the upper right of this chunk below were tender, but the pieces cut from the lower left were tough. I don’t know if I bought a tough one as I have never bought conch before or if they are all that way. Either way, I will revisit this again as the tender pieces were pretty good:

BTW, just to give you a little idea as to the conditions for the grilling – that blizzard that hit Denver was on its way and we were grilling on my front porch in the rain at about 35 degrees. Overnight we got 2 inches of snow on March 28th:

After about 30 minutes of indirecting the veggies and the three skewers that I did the hodgepodge of ingredients I put the kababs over the direct heat to finish them up. The peppers went first and are on the upper rack on the right in the pic below to make room for the squash. I liberally applied the butter/garlic sauce every time I opened the lid to every kabab. I also had to add charcoal a couple of times to keep the temp up so keep that in mind:

Another little treat for the chefs. Pineapple on the grill is absolutely incredible. The last slice of pineapple I left whole so it could be grilled for dad and I to have a snack (we call this a chefs prerogative. Other good candidates for this are rib tips, chunks of a smoking bologna chub, and any pork product used to braise meat like bacon, salami or pepperoni):

The three kababs with the hodgepodge of ingredients were sent inside as an appetizer and the veggies to a baking dish covered with some tinfoil. Since the biscuits were in the oven, I had to rewarm the veggies right before dinner by placing the baking dish right over the fire for about 3 minutes.

Now on to the main event – the seafood as well as the pineapple. I indirected the seafood for just a few minutes (maybe 5) and then put them right over the heat. While the seafood was indirecting I had the pineapple on the upper rack directly over the heat. Here we have a shot of the seafood right after I put it over the heat:

I doesn’t take long for seafood of this size (namely chunked up fish) to cook. For the fish, once the grouper started to flake off a bit the fish was done. When the shrimps turns orange and firms up they are done. Anoth
er feature of black tiger shrimp is they turn much brighter orange than any other shrimp. And when the shrimp are done, small U20-30 scallops are done as well. Just look for them to firm up a bit. Scallops really only need about 2 minutes per side over medium high heat to be done depending on the size. And remember that it is perfectly acceptable to serve scallops medium rare and over cooking them makes them rubbery so make sure to lean towards undercooking when dealing with scallops.

Here we have a closeup of the those beautiful shrimps:

And here we have the seafood on a platter ready to be passed to the people at the table:

In the end we had some veggies and pineapple left but no seafood whatsoever. Kababs are a bit of work but so worth it.

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

If you liked the dish above click here to check out other seafood dishes we have done on the grill.

Here is a link to a discussion of this recipe over the airwaves in Houston.

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

I realize I am the GrillinFool and this is a grilling website, but for NYE we did not grill anything. I did not pay for the lobsters and the man that did wanted them boiled. As I was eating my lobster for free, I obliged the man with the credit card. As someone who is cursed with an insatiable passion for seafood and stuck smack dab in the middle of the country I can’t stress enough how much I enjoyed this meal. And yes, I was very worried I would screw up the cooking of the lobsters in my first attempt at this. It is so easy to do. I worried for nothing. Click the link below and see what I am talking about…

My menu planned on being lobsters, crab stuffed prawns, sauteed swiss chard, roasted red potatoes, cheesy potato biscuits, and clarified butter. As you can see in the pic above there is no greenery on the plate. The swiss chard at my grocery store was downright rotten. They had very little left and what was left was pretty much not edible. The good news is though that they did have escargot ready for the oven with a butter/garlic/herb mixture already added to the shells. The crab stuff prawns were also premade at the grocery store. Remember I was going for low maintenance for this meal.

This was the first time I have ever made lobsters myself. And I ran into a little problem. My largest pot is a 12 quart pot. That is not big enough for these beauties:

I want to expound a bit about the lobsters we had. Being in St. Louis, lobster is not on the menu very often except for very special occasions as it is normally extremely expensive. Well, we found TheLobsterGuy.com and these lobsters turned out to be pretty reasonable and more than that they were phenomenal. The lobsters were billed as being 1.5 pounds and they were every bit of that if not more. We ordered them on December 28th for December 31st delivery. They came with instructions on how to care for the lobsters up until cook time as well as a hand written note thanking us for our order. I don’t pimp a lot of products here but this outfit deserves the props. Highly recommended. Now back to the meal itself.

Knowing that I didn’t have the hardware to handle these bad boys I went to a local wholesale restaurant supply store and picked up this 60 quart monster (my 20 pound beagle in the background for perspective):

This problem was a little bigger than the lack of greenery for the meal. While this pot would easily accommodate the four lobsters my stove could not accommodate the 15 gallon pot:

Missed it by about an inch and a half. While I was not happy about the situation, my eight month old was ecstatic:

He played in that pot for a couple of hours. He really enjoyed himself in it. I almost don’t want to take the pot back, but I just can’t justify keeping it considering the price. Since he likes the pot better than the horse we got him for Christmas (in the background of the first pic) I suggested to Mrs. GrillinFool that we take back the horse and keep the pot. She didn’t like that idea!?!

So, what to do about boiling these lobsters? We talked about firing up my grill outside and putting the big pot on that but I think it would’ve been hard to keep the temp up considering it was about 35 degrees and windy outside. So we pulled out my 12 quart pot and got a couple smaller pots which did the job:

The big pot took on two lobsters and the other two took a lobster each.

For the sides I cut up enough red potatoes to cover a baking sheet. I put them in a bowl, slathered them with garlic, olive oil, black pepper and a few pinches of coarse salt and put them in the oven for 45 minutes on 400:

The right third of the potatoes I added some fresh rosemary:

Here is a shot of the other two sides ready for that 400 degree oven. The prawns went in for 15 and the escargot for 10:

With 12 minutes remaining on the biscuits, the prawns in the oven, the escargot about ready to go I dropped these into the pot. ***Warning: picture of Dead Lobsters Walking:

Despite the lobster being very similar to the cock roach in terms of their species, I had a hard time with the notion of boiling something alive. So I split their heads in two to put them out of their misery about 10 seconds before dropping them in the pots.

For the two smaller pots all I added was a large pinch of salt to each. For the larger pot I added two large pinches and a bag of crab boil for my FiL and I. I did not sample one of the lobsters cooked in the pot without the crab boil so I have no idea if it made a big difference. I will say this that everyone said theirs was delicious so it would seem that I couldn’t go wrong either way.

The smaller pots came back to a boil pretty quickly so I pulled those lobsters first. The larger pot having two lobsters dragging the temp down required a little more time. Here we have all four lobsters on the cutting board waiting to be plated. The ones on the right were just removed from the water:

Here are the prawns out of the oven:

And the escargot. One fell over and leaked all the butter and herbs out:

Of course we did it up right for NYE so the wife broke out the Lennox and the Waterford. Or as my FiL calls them, “the fancy eatin’ plates.” The wife likes to break out the fancy stuff for events like this. As long as I’m not doing the dishes, as none of this stuff can go in the dishwasher, I’m OK with that:

And yes, those are actually nut crackers that we use for lobster (and crab legs). We just don’t eat it lobster or crab enough, considering we live smack in the middle of the country to, to justify the proper gear here. The nut crackers and a good fork work just fine:

And the wine pairing is one of my faves – Pierano Estates Chardonnay – which is a rich buttery chard that played off the vast sums of butter that we consumed that night beautifully:

And of course the final plating before we luxuriated in some luscious lobster meat:

The obligatory, what would I do differently the next time:

1. I would measure the space between my stove top and the hood over my stove and get a pot that would fit in that space.
2. I would probably add the potatoes a little earlier so that I could broil them for about 5 minutes and get a nice crunch to them. I didn’t want the lobster to cool and become rubbery so I had no time for that.

Other than that I doubt I would do anything differently…Oh, and we are definitely doing lobsters again next year and the TheLobsterGuy.com will get our business again…

As usual, if you have any questions about this recipe, please email me at Scott@GrillinFools.com or simply leave a comment below.

If you are interested in other seafood dishes click here.

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