Mr.Barbecue's Chicken/Pear Burger

This is a very tasty burger, albeit different from a traditional burger for sure. I was commissioned by Franz Bread to come up with a couple of burgers for their "Grilling Days" promotion this year.
Wanting to keep things based on Northwest focused ingredients-I chose to use NW grown chicken and Oregon's "official" fruit-pear in a tasty pairing. I hope you'll try it, and enjoy it.

Ingredients:
1/3 lb. ground chicken meat (or boneless,skinless chicken breast pounded flat) or ground turkey meat
1 slice Swiss cheese per burger
1 large Bartlet pear sliced and seeded. Pear slices should be about ¼ inch thick.
Salt & Pepper to taste.
Preparation:
Form chicken meat into a pattie-about 3 inches in diameter-1.5 inches thick. Grill over high heat until cooked-approximately 8-12 minutes per side. During last 4 minutes of cooking, add cheese to melt. Grill pear slice if you desire-about 1 minute per side.
Fix your bun, then add the chicken pattie, and top with pear slice, add whatever condiments you desire and enjoy a healthy, tasty burger!

Mrs. BBQ's Savory Salsa

Here;s a great salsa recipe developed by my BB-Q-T! It;'s a summertime favorite-but really making fresh salsa is something you can do all year long. And should!
Ingredients-2 med. Tomatoes, diced, ½ large sweet onion, diced, 1-2 jalapenos, seeded and diced, ½ cup parsley chopped (can be mint or basil or celantro, 1 lime, juiced, 1 tb. Olive oil, salt & pepper to taste.
Preparation: in a glass bowl, add the diced vegetables, olive oil, salt and pepper, gently fold ingredients to mix-without mashing or crushing the veggies. Once mixed, add fresh lime juice and fold again. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow ingredients to meld together. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips or frito scoops.

Orange Molasses Ham Glaze

I first experienced this at Goudy Commons @ Willamette University. It was offered as part of their breakfast menu. ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! Especially when married with hickory smoked ham! And best of all...it's quick and simple to make with delicious results.

Ingredients:1.5 cups molasses,1.5 cups orange juice (non-pulp type),1 TBL garlic powder, up to 1/2 TBL allspice. (optional--ceyanne pepper for heat)

Preparation: In a 2qt. sauce pan, add all ingredients,over medium heat, stir and reduce by 1/2 volume. Allow glaze/baste to cool. While cooking or warming up ham, brush on every 20-30 minutes, until ham is done. Makes approximately 3/4 cup of baste/glaze. For a real glaze, heat up molasses mixture and paint on ham after it's come off the grill. Allow to cool on the ham. YUMMY!

My thanks to my friends at Bon Appetite @ Willamette University for sharing this recipe with me! You guys are THE BEST!

Corned Beef On The Grill

Just in time for St.Paddy's Day! Use your grill/barbecue/smoker to enhance the flavor of this time honored favorite!
The History and Irish Tradition of Corned Beef
According to the US department of Agriculture Originally "Corned Beef and Cabbage" was a traditional dish served for Easter Sunday dinner in rural Ireland. The beef, because there was no refrigeration at that time was salted or brined during the winter to preserve it, It was then eaten after the long, meatless Lenten fast.
According to the website Irish Cultres and Customs their research shows that most likely a "bacon joint" or a piece of salted pork boiled with cabbage and potatoes would more likely have shown up for an Easter Sunday feast in the rural parts of Ireland.
Since the advent of refrigeration, the trend in Ireland is to eat fresh meats. Today this peasant dish is more popular in the United States than in Ireland. Irish-Americans and lots of other people eat it on St. Patrick's Day, Ireland's principal feast day, as a nostalgic reminder of their Irish heritage.
Corning is a form of curing; it has nothing to do with corn. The name comes from Anglo-Saxon times before refrigeration. In those days, the meat was dry-cured in coarse "corns" of salt. Pellets of salt, some the size of kernels of corn, were rubbed into the beef to keep it from spoiling and to preserve it.
Today brining -- the use of salt water -- has replaced the dry salt cure, but the name "corned beef" is still used, rather than "brined" or "pickled" beef. Commonly used spices that give corned beef its distinctive flavor are peppercorns and bay leaf. Of course, these spices may vary regionally.

CORNED BEEF ON THE GRILL:
Now is the time you want to purchase those under 5# packages of brisket in the meat counter! BEWARE! A corned beef (actually the flat cut of a whole brisket) is not the easiest thing to cook on the grill! Reason: Lack of marbling (fat). Has to be slow cooked in order to break down the meat fibers. Pickling may help to do some tenderization because of the vinegar in it. However, you need to mop the corned beef while cooking it otherwise it will dry out. Use butter,olive oil or a seasoned vinegar mop as a means of adding some moisture to the meat.
Soak: To start off grilling our corned beef you need to soak the beef for about 30 minutes per pound and no less than 2 hours. This soaking needs to be done with warm water or the salt will not dissolve effectively. You also need to change the water every hour and rinse the corned beef off when you change the water.
Season: Once the corned beef has been soaked and rinsed off you can now apply the seasonings. Corned beef is frequently sold with a spice packet. You can use this as a rub on the meat. You can also mix up your own rub. Use coarsely cracked black pepper, cracked coriander seeds, onion powder, thyme, paprika, garlic powder and cayenne. Typically you want a lot of pepper and coriander and less of the other ingredients. Try 4 parts pepper and coriander and 1 part of the others.
Cook: You want to cook your corned beef for up to 2 hours at around 250 degrees F. Charcoal and hardwoods will give you better flavors but you can use a gas grill. Either way, go for indirect cooking and use a drip pan under the corned beef. Cook until the internal temperature of the meat reaches170 degrees F. You could also simmer the corned beef in hot water first it is probably already around this area. What you want to get is a corned beef that has lightly crusted on the surface but hasn't dried out so watch the meat closely, especially after the first hour.
Baste: During the cooking process, baste your corned beef every 30 minutes. So, why would you want to grill a corned beef? Well you add a lot more flavor to the meat than you would simply boiling it. Also you get a piece of meat that isn't boiled to a mush. Grilled corned beef is denser and has a much better texture to it. If you want to get the cabbage to go with this use the last batch of water that you soaked the corned beef it. Bring it to a boil, throw in some potatoes and then the cabbage. You can also add some of the drippings from the drip pan in your grill. This will really flavor up the mixture.

Recip File 03-01-08 RIB SECRETS!

March first is National Pig Day. When it comes to barbecue, RIBS are my absolute favorite! Here are a few of my secrets to turning out great tasting ribs:

Peel the membrane from the back of the rib (bone side). This allows the heat and smoke to penetrate between the ribs, and allows for easier cutting when they're done cooking. Also, you don't have to worry about spitting out the piece of membrane when you are eating the ribs.

Season the meat portion only. Why waste spices on the bone? Doesn't make sense to me. You eat the rib meat, not the bone.

Pork and mustard are like peas in a pod. A light coat on top of your dry rub works wonders for flavor, color and holds the seasoning onto the rib as well.

Barbecue em, don't grill em! Ribs need some TLC in your cooker. Keep the cooking chamber temperature around 225-250F. Allow the meat to warm up before applying smoke. Figure spareribs will take 5-7 hours, depending on how hot it is outside. Babybacks about 3-3.5 hours. Country-style ribs can be all over the map cooking time wise.

Finishing secret! Just before you cut the ribs apart, warm up some honey in your grill or microwave oven, and paint a light coat on top of the rib meat. Allow the honey to cool for a few minutes, then cut the ribs apart. It'll give em a beautiful sheen! (This is an especially good trick for competition barbecuers-where appearance is part of your score).

Peppered Teriyaki Short Ribs

The secret to this recipe is adding brown sugar to the peppered teriyaki. It helps reduce the sodium taste of the Teriyaki and enhances the pepper. One cavet...in order to get really tender short ribs, cook them at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. You can grill them if you want, but they won't be as tender as when you cook them on a longer term basis.

Beef Short Ribs with Pepper’d Teriyaki sauce.
Trim the short-ribs if necessary. In a sauce pan, add ½ cup of water, and 6 tablespoons of freshly cracked black pepper. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Allow to cool, then strain out the pepper, leaving the peppery liquid. Stir in 2 cups of teriyaki sauce and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, then blend together. Reduce over medium heat until the mixture thickens.

Salt & Pepper the ribs-meat side only. Brush on the mixture and either grill on high heat until done, brushing every 5 minutes. Or slow cook at 275 degrees until internal meat temperature is 160 degrees. Baste every 15 minutes with the peppered teriyaki mixture.

From The Recipe File-Valentine's Dinner

Relatively low fat. Featuring America’s favorite seafood-Shrimp!
●Appetizer---variety of cheese and crackers, along with LOVE POTION #2!
●Salad—bag o’ salad (baby greens or spring vegetables) choice of a creamy and a vinagarette salad dressing.
Main Course:
● Baked potato—cut lengthwise, season, wrap in foil and cook on grill for 60 minutes (put on first)
● Protein—Grilled Jumbo Shirimp with Asian Plum Sauce—
Plum Sauce= (Makes 1-1/4 cups) 1-12oz jar plum preserves,2 tbl.vinegar,1 tbl brown sugar,1 tbl. Minced onion, 1tsp. minced ginger (or grated fresh ginger), 1 tsp. red pepper flakes and 1-clove garlic, minced. Put into a sauce pan, bring to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes, then cool. This will be your glaze/baste for the shrimp. Hold some back for table dipping sauce!
●Shrimp==purchase 1 lb. of JUMBO Peeled and devained shrimp. Rinse and skewer—using 1 skewer through the head, one near the tail (easier for turning). 1 lb=11-15 shrimp. Colossal shrimp 10 or less per pound.
Over high heat, lay skewers down and grill approx 3-5 minutes per side, brushing with the Asian plum sauce. Want to turn over the prawns half way through. Cook until they turn from bright to pale. Serve on a leaf of red lettuce.
● Grilled pineapple rings optional.
●Dessert==1 chocolate truffle served on a doily with a glass of port wine!