Just got a grill

For charcoal I love having the chimney. I light it, and usually the coals are ready to go by the time I'm done getting the food ready to go on.

If your gas grill has a side burner setting your charcoal chimney on it is both the quick and easy way to get the coals ready to go.

One my wife really likes:

Take a zucchini or two, cut into wedges lengthwise, brush with a mixture of garlic and butter. Grill it for a couple minutes, but not until it turns limp and overcooked.

The book How to Cook Everything has a grilled pizza recipe. I've only tried it once; it seems the sort of thing that could take a bit of practice but is pretty good.

Behold!

For some reason, the steak looks pink on top, but not inside... weird. It was grilled with the "sear first" instructions from oldopelguy. It was amazing. I don't know why one side was pink. It was the side facing the burners for a majority of the time. whatever, it was amazing.

Sweet corn according to happyandy's instructions, but I must've screwed up. My parents prepare it that way so I know it's amazing. This stuff was undercooked at first (in photo) then grilled for longer, then it just didn't have the same taste I remember. This was supermarket corn, not from the farmer, so i'm blaming that. Also i've never done sweet corn over a grill before, so i probably screwed it up. Still was OK.

Not pictured, a side salad, because it wasn't cooked.

Tomorrow I'm doing spiedie chicken, since it's a regional specialty. Stay tuned for pics!

In reply to Rufledt:

YUM! That looks delicious!

I have bookmarked this thread for future grilling nights. So many great ideas in here!

Skip all the fancy gourmet crap and just throw some meat on it.. you have to try really hard to screw up a steak or hamburger..

The husk of the corn needs to look burnt. The water soaks into the husk and will steam the corn and will actually protect the kernels from burning. If you open one up and the corn is all wrinkly, there was either not enough water or you've over cooked it.

It may be a bit early for corn up there too. I got some last week that were a bit off

You've never met my mother-in-law...

novaderrik wrote: Skip all the fancy gourmet crap and just throw some meat on it.. you have to try really hard to screw up a steak or hamburger..

Trans_Maro wrote: You've never met my mother-in-law...

novaderrik wrote: Skip all the fancy gourmet crap and just throw some meat on it.. you have to try really hard to screw up a steak or hamburger..

Bad news, guys. I'm going to a friend's place tonight for a BBQ, so I won't be grilling. I'll be eating someone else's grilling (and looking for pointers). Tomorrow I'll make Spiedies, I promise.

Ok guys and gals, more bad news. I didn't make spiedies. I know, I internet promised and everything, but the grill out at my friend's place yesterday was spiedies, and I found some beef chunks approaching their sell by date in my fridge, so I improvised.

Behold!

Not as attractive as the previous dinners, but still delicious. You suggested veggies in foil, so I did veggies and beef in foil. Potatoes, onions, some korean peppers from our garden, beef, garlic salt, butter, and olive oil in a foil oven bag, grilled fairly hot (400-500f). I flipped it over/stirred it up a few times.

I learned a few things-
1. cooking anything in butter makes it exactly 168% better minimum.
2. foil bags are an amazing invention, except...
3. when foil bags with olive oil get tiny holes in them from a careless cook, the grill becomes a dramatic place where flames can remove arm hair with striking quickness.

Tomorrow, I don't know what it'll be. I won't make promises, but I hope it'll be awesome.

Yea, I use the 'set it and forget it' method for avoiding foil holes. If I nudge it by accident there becomes much swearing, smoke and more often than not larger flames than preferred.

You don't need to use the foil bags, a couple layers of the run of the mill aluminum foil folded into a pouch works just fine. I've found the little grille veggie screens work great for putting foil packs on, so you can slide them around by grabbing the screen. I've got a couple of screens, they work great for flaky fish too.

In reply to RossD:

Ill have to look into the screen thing. I didn't know they make pre made foil pouches. I already just fold up regular foil already.

Last night we had chicken breasts marinated in a whiskey BBQ sauce then pounded on for a bit before tossed on the grill. It was quite good.

Last week I made more chicken but mixed my Hawaiian teriaki marinade I make with a bit of the Tiger hot sauce. Sweet with a ice heat.

RossD wrote: You don't need to use the foil bags

I know, but i've had a few in the drawer since I moved into my first apartment (mommy got them for me) and I figured I should use them up before they keep filling drawer space for another 5 years. I think tonight I'll try spiedies for real this time.

Bacon wrapped chicken kabobs.

An authentic Cajun chief taught me this recipe and I guar-on-tee it’ll be a huge crowd pleaser.

Marinade skinless chicken breast cubes that are a little over one inch square and then partially pre-cook them for eighteen minutes at 375 degrees. Now, wrap them in raw bacon, skewer them with your favorite veggies, and apply BBQ sause of choice.

oldopelguy wrote: If your gas grill has a side burner setting your charcoal chimney on it is both the quick and easy way to get the coals ready to go.

just make sure to clean off the ash that it leaves or else that burner will be rotted out in 2 years or so (grr still sad I clean mine and ruined it.)

as for corn... my preference is to shuck it, coat with a bit of olive oil and toss it on the grill, turn it like a hot dog, you will see the color change (deeper yellow color) and get a few kernels brown nicely... sweet and smokey goodness... sadly sweet corn down here in houston isn't near as good as it was in the midwest or even in FL :-/

Behold!

I don't know why that pic turned out so small... weird. I'm too lazy to change it, though.

Spiedie chicken on the left, sausages on the right. Spiedies are easy, it's a special marinade (some are available on amazon), whatever meat you want (usually chicken). Grill on a skewer, eat on a piece of italian bread. Yum. I just bought the chicken prepared (Lupo's if you are in the Binghamton, NY area). The italian bread was from a local bakery. I figured they will assume their italian bread will be used for spiedies. it was pretty good, but I think I like burgers better.

Rufledt wrote: Behold! I don't know why that pic turned out so small... weird. I'm too lazy to change it, though. Spiedie chicken on the left, sausages on the right. Spiedies are easy, it's a special marinade (some are available on amazon), whatever meat you want (usually chicken). Grill on a skewer, eat on a piece of italian bread. Yum. I just bought the chicken prepared (Lupo's if you are in the Binghamton, NY area). The italian bread was from a local bakery. I figured they will assume their italian bread will be used for spiedies. it was pretty good, but I think I like burgers better.

You have now become assimilated. Welcome brother.

In reply to neon4891:

resistance was futile, giving in was tastier.

Go and get sweet bell peppers in yellow, orange and red. Shake in 1 gallon freezer bag full of olive oil and whatever else you want to put in there. Portabellos come to mind.

Also acquire some thick cut lamb chops. Like... 1000 of them. Wipe with olive oil, a little bit of black pepper and garlic.

Make a E36 M3load of jasmine rice, sticky... like a good Japanese place does.

Throw the peppers on a HOT grill and let them blacken a bit then toss them aside in a bowl. With the grill still ferociously hot, toss the chops on and give it 1 minute per side then turn the heat down and cook to warm red center.

Serve peppers and bloody chop over jasmine rice and a 1/4 cup of Robert Rothschild's Farm Roasted Pineapple and Habanero sauce (warmed).

Open a bottle of Chimay Blue.

You are welcome.

Don't have a pic to behold, since I used an ipad camera and it looks like garbage.

I stole a burger idea from a place I ate at once, who stole the idea from elvis.

Make a burger, sprinkle cinnamon on it. Grill up some bacon, and banana slices. On the bun, spread peanut butter. Assemble the burger, bacon, bananas, and bun. Enjoy.

In reply to Rufledt:

How high was Elvis when that recipe struck him as a good idea?

I tried grilling green beans and button mushrooms this weekend. For the mushrooms, I just used white button mushrooms and pulled the stems off. I put them all in a bowl, poured melted butter on them, and sprinkled with garlic powder, then threw them on the grill.

It came out great, but keeping green beans from falling through the grating was tougher than I'd thought, and turning them was very difficult so most came out only grilled on one side. I'll either need to be more careful next time, or use hardware cloth.