Chopped Steak

Chopped steak is a traditional American comfort food.  You will find this in country style restaurants as a standard dish.  What it is basically a hamburger without a bun.  This is a perfect thing to do with leftover ground beef you do not want to freeze.  I will not go into detailed directions as none are needed.  Mine was made from a little over a 1/2 pound of 80/20 ground beef.  As with hamburgers take the ground beef and form into a 1 inch thick patty.  Season with salt and pepper or your favorite steak seasoning.  On mine I have used Everglades seasoning.  Serve with some sauteed onion and mushrooms.  Steak sauce for the steak.



Simple and good.

Atomic Buffalo Turds

I don't know who coined the term 'atomic buffalo turds' but boy are they ever great.  Like all appetizers they take a bit of work to make and are eaten fast.  There are many ways to make these and no one way is more legitimate than the next.  These can be made the night before and can sit in the fridge until ready to grill or smoke.

Ingredients:

• Jalapenos, the larger the better.
• cream cheese
• bacon (pork, beef or maybe even turkey)
• meat (precooked, smoked pork, chicken, sausage)
• your favorite steak or brisket rub

Directions:

1. If you use a wooden/bamboo cutting board cover it with parchment paper or wax paper.  You don't want the pepper juice to get into it.  On that note you may wish to wear rubber gloves while handling the peppers.  Definitely do not rub your eyes or touch sensitive parts of your body after handling.  Otherwise you will be in for a wide ride!
2. Take your jalapenos and cut them in half.  Remove the 'white' and the seeds.
3. Set your cream cheese out so it will soften up and spread easier.  Fill the jalapenos with the cheese and place your piece of meat inside.  I am using chirozo.  Then sprinkle with your favorite rub or spice mix.
   
4. Wrap the jalapeno with a strip of bacon.  I have used beef bacon this time.  There are no rules so experiment.  Hold the bacon in place with a toothpick or short bamboo skewer.
5. When you are ready place them on the grill on indirect heat.  You can also throw them on the smoker for a couple hours.
   
6. Cook until the bacon is done.  Depending on the temp this can be an hour or multiple hours.
   

For people who don't like the heat of the jalapeno there is good news for you. When you remove the seeds and the white you remove most of the heat. Along with the cream cheese it makes it a great appetizer most will enjoy.  Also try habanero peppers and make Nuclear Buffalo Turds if you dare.

Gyro fatty and homemade Tzatziki

If you are not familiar with BBQ you may be wondering what a 'fatty' is.  The fatty comes from the original 'bacon explosion' but is more like a bacon wrapped meatloaf.  Regardless of where it comes from it makes great meal on the grill that people will remember.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground beef, 80/20 fat content
• 1/2 lb ground lamb 
• 1/2 cup minced white onion
• 2 large cloves minced garlic
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground marojam
• 1/2 tsp ground rosemary (chopped will work as well)
• 1/2 tsp black ground pepper
• Package of bacon

Directions:

1. Mince the beef and lamb.  You can use a food processor if you wish but a knife will work as well.  Basically all you want to do is chop it in all directions.
2. Mix all ingredients all together in a bowl.  But not the bacon. Mix well and set in the refrigerator for 1/2 to 2 hours.
3. Take your bacon out and weave into a place mat.  This is where that basket weaving merit badge comes in useful.
4. Take the beef/lamb mix out of the fridge and form into a loaf.  Set on the bacon weave.  Then roll it up.  Trim the edges if you made it too wide.
5. Set up the grill for indirect heat and get the grate temp up to about 325°.  Use your vents to regulate the heat.  Once you have the temp where it should be put the loaf on indirect heat.
6. Meat is done when you reach an internal temp of 165°.  It should be slightly dry and not juicy.

Tzatziki:

• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 2-4 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 cucumber minced and dried

Directions:

1. In a bowl add 1/2 cup Greek yogurt.  You use Greek yogurt due to the fact it has been drained out.  If you cannot find the Greek yogurt you can use regular plain yogurt.  However you must suspend it in a bowl with tripled over cheese cloth for a couple hours.  This removes the excess moisture.
2. Mince half a cucumber and place on paper towels in fridge for 30-60 minutes to remove moisture.  Then add it to the yogurt.
3. Mince the garlic and add it to the yogurt.  Place in fridge until it is needed.

Plate the gyro meat with some pita bread, chopped tomato and lettuce.  Some Pepperoncini on the side completes the meal.

Weber One Touch Silver to Gold conversion.

Converting a Weber One Touch Silver to the Gold is a easy 10 minute project.  Why would you want to go from silver to gold?  Basically the gold adds a enclosed pan to hold the ashes and hot embers that fall.  This is the one downfall of the silver.  But that is also why it is the cheaper grill.  Here is a picture of the silvers ash catcher we are going to remove.





How to upgrade it:

1. Clean all the ash from the grill.  You are going to be turning it upside down and don't want ash everywhere.
2. Remove the old ash catcher then the 3 legs starting with the non-wheeled one first.
3. Remove the cleaning system handle.
4. Take the aluminum ring and attach to the bottom of the bowl.  The 3 tabs fit into slots on the holders for the legs.
5. Reinstall the cleaning system handle.
6. Reinstall the legs after removing the clip springs for the old ash catcher.
7. Flip the grill back over, put the grates back in and hang the ash catching pan.

If you want to make it a full Gold conversion you will need to get the hinged grate.  The ash catcher kit is available on eBay from webercloseouts.  You can also order from Weber customer service.  The part numbers are on there website and you will need to order all 3 individually.  However Weber is not in the business of upgrades so you will have to tell them you already have a Gold in order to get the parts.  The conversion works for the 18.5 and 22.5" kettles.  On older kettles the slots for the tabs are not built in so you will have to break them off and use hose clamps.  There are many posts on this on the TVWBB forums.

Grilled Salsa

This is my recipe for a simple grilled salsa.  Most salsa consist of tomato, onion, a pepper for heat and lime or vinegar.  Mine is no different and can be changed easily.

Ingredients:

• 4 tomatoes on the vine.
• 1/2 white onion
• 2 jalapenos
• 2 cloves garlic
• cilantro
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• lime juice

Directions:

1. Cut the tomatoes and onion into 1/2 inch slices and put onto skewers.
2. Skewer the jalapenos and cut the stems off
3. Start a hot fire and heat up the grate.  I used lump to get it hot fast.
4. While the grill is warming up chop the garlic and chop some cilantro.
5. Once the grill is hot drizzel some olive oil on the onions, tomatoes and jalapenos.  Get it on both sides.  Place on grill on direct heat.
6. Do not burn the tomatoes, onions and jalapenos.  You just want to get a nice grill mark on them for a little char.  1-3 minutes per side.  If they start really smelling like stew vegetables they are over cooked.  Don't worry they can still be used.
7. Take off grill and let it cool to room temperature.
8. Chop up the tomatoes and onions.  Slice the jalapenos and add all to a bowl with the garlic, cilantro, pepper and salt.  Add lime juice.  Taste as you mix it up and add gradually ingredients.  I only used 1 1/2 jalapenos and one slice of the onion.  My white onion was quite large.
9. This is the hardest part.  Let salsa sit overnight in the fridge so the cilantro, garlic and all ingredients combine flavors.

Use as on game day as a salsa for tortilla chips or on tacos or for what ever you like salsa for.  Anything can be used in salsa.  Tequila, tomatillos, habaneros, corn, bell peppers, parsley and almost anything else you may want.  Experiment and enjoy.

Roast Beef and Potatoes

So now will put the Smoked Montreal Steak and Brisket rub just made to use.  A roast beef is juicy and pinkish in the middle.  To lock in the juices we will have to sear it so that they do not escape.  But before we get into that we need to prep the potatoes.  I got this recipe from Dennis Lundin over on the TVWBB forums.

Potatoes:

1. Quarter 2-3 yellow potatoes or however many you want to make.
2. Put the potatoes in a large Ziploc bag.
3. Add some EVOO(extra virgin olive oil), Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to the bag.  Seal and shake.  Then put aside until ready for the grill.

Roast beef:

1. You will need a 2-3 lb oven roast.  The one I bought was called a 'eye round roast'.  Leave this roast out for around 2 hours.  Let it come up to room temp.
2. Coat the outside of roast with some EVOO.  Then put a liberal amount of rub on the outside.  Cover every part really good.

Directions for the cook:

1. Start a charcoal chimney and let it get really hot.
2. Place a grill grate right on top of the chimney.  Let it heat up for several minutes.  Then add the roast.  Do about 1-2 minutes a side.  Get a good char on it.  Do all sides including the ends.
3. Remove the roast and grate from chimney.  Place coals on one side of the grill.
4. Close the bottom vents to 25% open.  You want the grate temp at about 300-330°.
5. Put the roast on the other side, indirect heat.  The potatoes should go over direct heat at first.  Check the potatoes often, do not over do.  Mine got a little overdone.
6. Once the potatoes are good a browned move by the roast in indirect heat.
7. About every 15-20 minutes flip the roast.  After about 40-45 minutes check the internal temp.  Once at about 135-140° you are done.
8. Pull the roast and potatoes off.   Tent the roast with aluminum foil and let rest 5 minutes.
9. A little Spanish rice on the side then slice and enjoy.

Roasted Montreal Steak and Brisket Rub

This my version of a Montreal Steak Rub.  It is a work in progress and I am constantly trying new things with it.  Hopefully it will give you some inspiration to experiment or try my spice mixture.  Most of the ingredients you may already have but two we will make ourselves.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of Kosher Salt
• 2 tablespoons of fresh ground pepper corn blend (course)
• 2 tablespoons ground red pepper
• 2 tablespoons ground cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dill seed
• 1 tablespoon celery seed
• 2 tablespoons of roasted onion flakes (see below how to make)
• 2 tablespoons of roasted garlic (see below how to make)
• Spray olive oil
• Empty spice jar.   I get these from the Fresh Market grocery store.  The glass is easy to clean and does not retain the smell of spices when washed and reused.

Directions:

1. Mix salt, peppers, seeds together.
2. Take white onion and make paper thin slices.  Continue to chop until you have basically a minced onion.  Make more than what you think you need.
3. Do the same for the garlic.
4. Take aluminum foil and make 2 small cooking sheets.  Spray the olive oil on the foil and spread out the onion and garlic on there own sheet.  Respray with olive oil.
5. Put in oven at 150° and check every 30 minutes.  They are done when they are a light brown color and are dry to touch.  The purpose is not to cook the onions and garlic but to dehydrate it while giving a toasty flavor.  Garlic should get done in half the time of the onion.  Expect about 2 hours for the garlic and over 4 hours for the onion.
6. Measure and mix in garlic and onion with other spices.  Mix it thoroughly and put in airtight container.  The container shown below is not airtight so I store the jar in a Ziplock bag.
   

Use this as you would with any Steak or Brisket Rub.  I prefer to use it by rubbing meat with some extra virgin olive oil and then a liberal coating of the rub.  Then either sear it on a cast iron skillet or the grill a couple minutes a side and finishing on indirect heat.  Store in airtight container as any dehydrated product will absorb moisture from the air.  If the garlic or onion seems to be spongy after a while throw it out.

Notes:

• A store bought chopped dried onion flakes and minced garlic can be used. However you will loose the roasted flavor.
• My original recipe called for double the Kosher salt.  I cut it down and it works well for me.  Plus doctors say too much is bad for you.  
• Don't use crushed red pepper.  It is great on pizza but adds nothing to this spice mix.

STOK Grilling Grate System.

This porcelain coated cast iron grate is made to fit the STOK Tower charcoal grill as well as any of the grills that take a 22.5" grate.  This includes the Weber kettles.  It is available online from HomeDepot.com for 39.99 plus shipping.  For under $50 including shipping you can have a useful tool for you grill.  One of the features of this grate is the removable center insert.  There are several different accessories for it.  They include the CI grate, pizza stone, rib and skewer rack, chicken roaster, wok, veggie tray and skillet.

Pros:

• Cast iron heats up nice and makes excellent grill marks.
• Fits a number of 22.5" grills including the Weber kettles.
• CI insert can be used for searing on a charcoal chimney.
• Low cost for a good CI grate.
• Weber Charcoal chimney fits inside the insert hole.

Cons:

• Not made in America.
• Handle for the inserts not available for purchase at this point.
• Some inserts not really worth it.

Inserts:

• Cast Iron insert.  Comes with the grill grate.  Heats up fast and holds heat.  Can be used on top of a charcoal chimney.
• Pizza Stone.  Small 12" pizza stone fits in center hole.  Average price for its size.
• Rib and Skewer Rack.  Cost prohibitive at almost $40.  A separate rib rack and skewer rack can be had at almost half the price.  Having to put the rack in the center hole makes it less useful than one that can be moved away from the heat.
• Chicken Roaster.  A nice accessory that can hold the beer can in the center and hold veggies.  Could be done with a Grill Mark veggie basket and a cheap beer can chicken holder.  Then you would have a useful veggie basket.  However it does make a nice beer can chicken and potatoes.
  
• Wok.  Made of porcelain coated steel.  Having to sit in the hole it cannot be moved to another heat zone on the grill.
• Veggie Tray.  Has the same problem as the wok as it cannot be moved around on the grill.
• Skillet.  Made of porcelain coated steel.  Has the same problem as the wok and veggie tray.  A better option is to get a CI skillet.

So in my opinion the CI grate is great for getting a nice sear mark on steak and burgers.  The inserts are all but a gimmick.  For under $50 for a CI grate it is not a bad deal, but don't bother with the inserts.  IMHO