Tiz that time of year when folks start looking for gifts for their favorite foodie. Because every cook has different tastes, and because your mileage may vary, this year I’m going to try to avoid making recommendations.

Instead, here are some products that I’ve enjoyed using this past year. I wholeheartedly give them the Food & Fire Seal of Approval (for what that’s worth ). If you think your grill guy/girl might appreciate some of them, go for it and enjoy the great food that (hopefully) may come your way in return!

Steel Grill Roaster from Williams-Sonoma – It’s a perforated stainless steel pan, so the food gets directly exposed to the flame, but it’s raised up a bit so it cooks more evenly. Great for roast veggies and shrimp.

Cholula Hot Sauce - There are now 4 flavors of Cholula: Original, Chili Garlic, Chili Lime, and Chipotle. I’ve been a big fan of their original sauce for years – not much heat or vinegar, but a solid chili taste that works great on almost any Mexican dish. The new sauces take that original flavor and add some very nice accents to it.

Bayou Classic Cast Iron Griddle - I’ve had this for a while, but really put it to work this year. I’ve made some excellent blackened steaks and sizzling fajitas on it.

Thermapen Splash-Proof Thermometer - The new version of my favorite  instant-read thermometer adds a splash-proof seal. It’s fast, accurate, and easy to read. I like it so much I now I have the new one in my grill table and old one in the kitchen.

High-Que Fire Grate Upgrade - I’ve been cooking with this new grate for the Big Green Egg for 6 months and it works as promised. The Egg comes up to temp faster and burns between 25°F and 50°F hotter than it did with the old grate. I’ve not had any problems with ash clogging the grate, even though I usually reuse the lump.

Emile Henry Flame-Top Cookware - I’ve been lucky enough to get to try out Emile Henry’s new line of flameproof ceramic that’s designed to go directly on a live flame. I’ve tried their tagine, Dutch oven, and pizza stone and they all cook like champs.

All-Clad d5 Stainless Pans - My dear wife gave me a nice set of new All-Clad pans almost a year ago. I’ve cooked the hell out of them since then, and continue to be very pleased with them. They heat evenly, respond quickly to temperature changes, and are easy to clean.

Wishing you all a happy and a healthy and a merry!

I had really hoped to make this dish on the Big Green Egg using a cast iron griddle, but the weather just wouldn’t cooperate. I ended up cooking it on the griddle (highly recommended) on the stove top (not so highly recommended).

It looks like there are a lot of moving pieces here, but if you are organized you can put this on the table in about an hour and a half.

The Chicken
4 boneless/skinless chicken thighs, sliced into 1/4 inch strips
Juice of 1 lime (about 1/4 cup)
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce

Put the garlic cloves and salt in a food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced. Add the lime juice, pepper, cumin, chili powder, soy sauce, olive oil, and hot sauce and give everything a whirl until it is well-combined.

Pour half of the marinade over the chicken, toss to coat, and stash in the fridge for at least an hour, but not longer than 4 hours. Reserve the other half of the marinade in the fridge for later.

The Shrimp
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon achiote oil
1 tablespoon Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce

Pour the  oil and hot sauce over the shrimp and toss to coat. Stash in the fridge while you prep the veggies.

The Veggies
3 large bell peppers (assorted colors are pretty) cut into strips
1 medium onion, chopped
3 gloves garlic, crushed and chopped
3 scallions, roughly chopped

The veggies will pick up plenty of flavor from the griddle, so I didn’t season them at all.

The Cook
Think of the griddle as a flat wok – you want to get it hot and move the food on and off it quickly. So have all of your ingredients, and a large (pre-warmed if possible) serving platter arranged in front of you before you start.

Center the griddle over your largest/hottest burner on the stove (or across 2 burners if you have a large rectangular griddle) and heat over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes.

Swirl a couple of glugs of peanut oil on the griddle and let heat until it starts to shimmer (about 2 minutes). Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the marinade and arrange it on the griddle.

Let the chicken sear for about 2 minutes and then flip it over and let it cook for another minute or so until done (I like using a set of tongs for this).

Remove the chicken to the platter and put the veggies on the griddle. Cook these until they soften and start to char a bit, about 5 minutes (or until your smoke alarm goes off like ours did). Pour just a couple of tablespoons of water on the griddle to de-glaze it and steam the veggies a bit. Use a spatula here to scrape up the brown bits and work them into the veggies.

Remove the veggies to the platter and add the shrimp to the griddle. Cook these just until they turn pink and start to curl (about a minute), flip and cook the other side for another minute.

Remove the shrimp to the platter and drizzle the whole thing with the reserved marinade. Serve with warm tortillas and guacamole.

Nutrition
Lean meat and tons of veggies, what’s not to love? Just watch how many glugs of oil you use and go light on the tortillas and guac. Makes 6 (1 1/2 cup) servings. 270 calories. 6 Weight Watchers points.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
An outstanding weeknight dish. The griddle gave everything a nice char and the Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce added a little heat with a lot of slightly sweet smokiness. Th achiote oil was subtle, but it added a richness that helped round out all the flavors.

While the griddle did its smoky/searing job, it was a little too much for the vent fan in the kitchen. Between the smoke and the splatter, this would have worked at lot better outside on the grill.

I usually make this hearty Mexican stew after Thanksgiving when I can use the turkey carcass for meat and stock. But since the nice folks at Cholula sent me some of their new Chili Garlic Hot Sauce to try out, I couldn’t think of a dish I’d rather put it in.

Since this recipe takes a little while to make, I doubled it up to make a great Sunday dinner plus leftovers for my lunches the rest of the week. It also freezes up really well.

2 pounds boneless/skinless chicken thighs
8 ounces Mexican chorizo
4 cups chicken stock
2 (20-ounce) cans hominy (Juanita’s if you can get it), drained
2 (4-ounce) cans green chilies
1-2  jalapeños, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
2 red or green bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 tablespoon medium chili powder
1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried cilantro
1 -2 tablespoons Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large Dutch oven, crumble the chorizo and brown it over medium-high heat. Drain off as much of the fat as your conscience tells you to. Add the bell peppers, chilies, jalapeños, garlic, and onions and cook until the onions are soft, about five minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Add the chicken stock, chili powder, cumin, and cilantro and bring to a simmer on the stove top for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the chicken thighs, nestling them into the sauce so they are mostly covered.

Put the lid on the Dutch oven and move it to the middle rack in the oven. Let cook for 2 hours, checking at the 1 hour make to make sure the stew isn’t drying out. Add more stock or water if needed.

Remove the Dutch oven to the stove top. Give the dish a stir – the thighs should just fall apart. Turn the stove burner up to medium-high and add the hominy. Let it come to a simmer and adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and hot sauce.

Serve with corn chips, a squeeze of lime, and a sprinkling of cojita cheese

Nutrition
Makes 6 (1 1/2 cup) servings. 446 calories. 11 Weight Watcher points, so not exactly a low-calorie dish, but you could easily bump up the veggies and the amount of broth.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
The title says it all – the chorizo, the fall-apart thighs, and the heat and complexity of the sauce made this a delicious stew. I may very well make this with turkey again, but I’ll never make it again without chorizo.

The Cholula Chili Garlic Hot Sauce was made for recipes like this. It added a lot of clean, rich garlic taste with some nice warmth. I don’t think it’s quite as hot as their original sauce, but I liked the combination of peppers and garlic.

The fine folks over at Cholula Hot Sauce were nice enough to send me a 4-pack of their sauces to try out. I’ve been a big fan of their original sauce for years. It doesn’t have much heat or vinegar, but it’s got a solid chili taste that works great on almost any Mexican dish.

There are now 3 new flavors of Cholula – Chili Garlic, Chili Lime, and Chipotle. Of the three, the Chili Lime caught my attention first. I thought it would be a great addition to my Shimp Ceviche recipe.

1 pound cooked medium (41-50) shrimp, shelled and deveined (get the freshest you can find)
Juice of 2 limes (about 1/2 cup)
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup cocktail sauce (Trader Joe’s in this case, but any sauce with some horseradish in it will work fine)
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeños, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tablespoons Cholula chili Lime hot sauce
16 – 24 pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 avocado, sliced the long way

In a large, non-reactive bowl, combine the shrimp, salt, and lime juice. Let this sit for about 5 minutes. Add the onion, cilantro, cocktail sauce, jalapeños, oil, Worcestershire, horseradish, hot sauce, and olives. Mix well and let sit in the fridge for about an hour so the flavors all get to know each other.

Arrange the avocado strips into a little nest on a small plate or bowl. Mound the ceviche in the center of the strips.  Serve with lime wedges, more hot sauce, and tortilla chips or (strangely, but traditional) saltine crackers.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
This dish just screams sand and surf. I really liked the addition of the last little tomatoes from our garden. They are so perfectly ripe and intense that they are just little flavor bombs.

The Cholula Chili Lime Hot Sauce really shines here – the base chili flavor isn’t too hot (more flavor than fire) and the zip of the lime brings out the freshness and sweetness of the shrimp. I think it’d be great with almost any seafood.

Next time I’d use a different size shrimp. I’d either go large/jumbo so you could pluck the shrimp out with a fork and scoop the remaining sauce up with a chip, or use little cocktail shrimp so you could just scoop the the whole works up.

Sometimes you need a little help. We had a friend visiting from out-of-town and I wanted to put together a nice meal on the Big Green Egg. We also had a lot of other things that we wanted to do, but was really feeling short on time.  Lucky for me, I hit these two two saviors while I was digging through our pantry.

SAN-J makes a lot of gluten-free sauces, but they are hard to find in our local grocery stores. Fortunately, I’d run into a bunch of them at an Asian market and grabbed a few to try.

Peanut Noodles
3/4 pound dried spaghetti (use corn or rice noodles to make it gluten-free)
1 (10-ounce) bottle SAN-J Gluten Free Thai Peanut Sauce
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips

Cook the pasta according to the direction on the package until al dente (if you are going to let this sit in the fridge, shorten the cooking time for a little firmer pasta). Drain into a colander and rinse with cold water.

Dump the pasta and veggies into a lidded container and pour about 2/3 cup of the peanut sauce over them.  Put the lid on and toss to combine. Store in the fridge until just before dinner, then remove and let warm up a bit before serving. Add more sauce and maybe a squirt of sriracha before serving if needed.

Sweet & Tangy Thighs
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 (10-ounce) bottle SAN-J Gluten Free Sweet & Tangy Glaze
4 flat, wooden skewers

Put the chicken in a zip-top bag and pour on enough of the glaze to cover them (about 2/3 cup). Toss to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours. Put the skewers in a pan of water to soak.

Set your grill up for a direct cook over high (450°F) heat.

Thread the thighs onto the skewers (about 3 on each). Grill chicken about 10 minutes per side or until the internal temp hits at least 180°F. I like my thighs a little more done, so I went another 10 minutes until the meat started to get a good crispy char on it and the internal temp was 200°F.

Remove the skewers from the grill and let rest 10 minutes before serving over the noodles.

The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Where these as good as my usual Teriyaki Kabobs and Peanut Noodles? I didn’t think so, but the meal met with rave reviews (although that may have been the Cucumber Margaritas talking), so who am I to argue?

The thighs were indeed sweet and tangy with a good mix of savory umami and bright fruit flavors. The noodles were rich and peanutty and had a nice crunch from the veggies. I would have added a bit more garlic to the chicken and a little lime juice to lighten up the noodles,  but that’s more niggling than complaining. In the end, the trade off in taste was minor for the ease of putting this meal together.

 

I’ve had the older version of this model for a number of years and swear by it – it’s fast, accurate, and easy to read. There’s no better instant-read thermometer out there. In fact, it’s so good that I often find it missing from my grill drawer because my dear wife is using it inside.

About the 4th or 5th time I had to go searching for it, my dear sweet wife said these magic words, “If you can find a deal on another one of those thermo-thingies, get one just for you.”

Whoohoo!

Thermoworks posts deals and give-a-ways on their site. I signed up for the RSS feed from their blog, and within about a month they announced that they had open-box Thermapens for $69 plus shipping. That’s a $20 savings, so I jumped on it.

Performance
The new Thermapen performs much like the older version, and that’s a good thing. It gives you precise internal temperature readings in 3 seconds flat. There is no on or off button, swing the probe out and it’s on (and yes, it was a hot one the day I got it).  The very thin tip slides right into the meat and gives you a reading at the center of the food. The hole it leaves is so small it usually seals up right away and doesn’t let the juices leak out.

The new version adds a splash-proof seal, which is nice since my grill table isn’t as water-proof as I would like. You don’t want to go scuba-diving with it, but it’ll shake off a rain storm. It also has a new bacteria-resistant case to keep you from getting the gleep.

The new probe doesn’t have the old lanyard, but I didn’t miss it. In fact, one of my frustrations with the old probe is getting the probe caught on the strap.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
This is a really nice redesign of an already great product. Thermoworks kept all of the features that made the previous version so handy and added a couple of valuable tweeks that I really appreciate. I’ve lost a couple of cheap timers due to water damage, so if the splash-proof seal works as advertised, it’ll more than pay for itself. 

I also dig the bright orange color – easy to find and hard to swipe from my drawer

This is the second time this has happened in 5 years. The last time I just called my dealer and he had a free replacement for me in about a week. So, kind of a bummer, but not a huge deal. I put the broken grate back in and figured I’d pick a new one up when I got a chance.

But when I checked my email that night I had a note from the fine folks at High-Que wondering if I’d be interested in testing out their grate upgrade.

Talk about timing.

A couple of days later I had a new fire grate in my mailbox.

The BGE grate is cast iron and built like a floor drain with holes in it. The High-Que one is stainless steel and built like a grill grate. High-Que says that this design not only allows more air to get to the charcoal, but it won’t clog up with with ash either.

The High-Que grate fits perfectly, sitting on the same little bumps inside the firebox that hold the original grate in place. I loaded the firebox about a third of the way up with lump charcoal from a bag that was about half empty. You lump charcoal aficionados out there know that that means the lump was about 50/50 large chunks versus little chunks. There was very little dust (the few bits of lump you see in there are what was left when my shop-vac crapped out).

I lit the lump like I usually do – one Lightning Nuggets fire starter in the middle of the lump and then hit it with the MAPP torch just long enough to get the starter going. I closed the lid and the bottom vent screen, but left the upper daisy wheel vent off and the top open.

About 10 minutes later I had this little inferno going and the dome thermometer was just shy of 700°F.

I put the upper daisy wheel vent on and adjusted it the where I usually get 375°F (main opening covered and the little daises opened all the way). After 10 minutes the temp settled down to 425°F and stayed there for the 20 minutes it took to cook dinner.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
I’ve used the High-Que grate 6 times so far, and so far it performs just as advertised – the Egg comes up to temp faster and burns between 25°F and 50°F hotter than it did with the old grate. I’ve not had any problems with ash clogging the grate, even though I’ve reused the lump that was left from the last fire every time and the and lump keeps getting smaller as I work my way to the bottom of the bag. I’ve not had to use my wiggle rod once to get the fire to take off.

It does feel like I’m using a bit more charcoal with the new grate, but I can’t tell if I’m really burning more, or if more of the little bits are falling through the grate. Also, all of the cooks so far have been medium to medium-high heat. While I don’t doubt that it will rock at nuclear temps, I’m curious to see how it does on an overnight low-n-slow cook.

The grate is made in the USA, has a 5 year warranty, and retails for $32.88 plus $4.99 shipping.

P.S. High-Que also carries a Nomex gasket with adhesive backing that I’m looking forward to tying out when my current gasket dies.

I finally got a chance to try out the lovely 4.2 qt Dutch oven that Emile Henry sent me on the Big Green Egg. For its maiden voyage, I decided to try a batch of carnitas. To make these tender, yet crispy bites of porky wonderfulness, you need to provide a nice, even heat while the fat is rendering from the meat. Then after the fat has rendered, you need to reduce the liquid and crisp up the meat.

4 pounds pork shoulder roast (aka Boston Butt)
Juice of 3 oranges (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Set your grill up for a 5 hour cook over indirect heat at 350°F. On the Big Green Egg I used an inverted plate setter with a trivet on it to diffuse the heat and keep the bottom from burning.

While the grill is heating up, cut the pork into big (4 to 6-inch) chunks, discarding any nasty pieces of connective tissue, but keeping all of the fat.

Combine all of the ingredients in a Dutch oven, and stir to combine. Cover the oven with a lid and set it on the grill. Let it simmer for an hour. The hot juice should have started to break down the fat in the meat.

Remove the lid and let it simmer for another hour. Keep checking and stirring once an hour until most of the liquid has evaporated and the pork has started to fry in its own fat (about another 2 hours).  Then check it every 15 minutes to make sure the meat is getting crispy, but not becoming dry or burned. Total cook time for this batch was just over 4 hours.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
I dearly love carnitas, and this batch was one of the better ones I’ve made. Making a smaller batch (just 4 pounds) and cutting the meat into larger pieces gave me a better crisp/tender ratio. There was lots of nice crunchiness, but the meat didn’t break down too much or dry out. Perfect.

The Emile Henry Dutch oven performed flawlessly. The lid sealed nice and tight to keep the heat and juices in for the braising part of the recipe, yet the pot is wide enough to let the liquid evaporate when I wanted to crisp the meat. This is part of their Flame-Top line, so even when the fire got a little too hot at one point, the pot handled being “flame-licked” just fine and provided nice, even heat.

I really like the design of the lugged handles and the knob on the lid. They really fit the hand and it’s easy to get a good grip on them, even while wearing grilling gloves. I’m sure looking forward to more cooks with this great Dutch oven.

Just one big unsolicited plug here for Dizzy Pig Barbecue Company. Over the years I have had nothing but good luck and tasty results using their barbecue rubs and it’s about time I told everybody out there how good they are.

Dizzy Dust is my “go-to” rub for ribs and butts.
Raging River is a huge hit on salmon.
Spicy Swamp Venom is great on wings.
Shaking the Tree is a better-than-lemon-pepper rub for chicken and pork.
Red Eye Express, Raising the Steaks, and Cowlick are all in my rotation for  steak and burger seasoning.
Jamaican Firewalk is the jerk king, mon.
Pineapple Head rocks on sweet potatoes.

They have a new newsletter out this month and they’re in the running for About.com’s 2011 Readers’ Choice Award for Barbecue Rub (vote early and vote often). They’ve also just moved into a new production facility and have great plans in the works.

Thanks to Chris and the gang for producing some of the best fresh, hand-blended rubs out there!

The fine folks at Emile Henry have been kind enough to send me some of their new Flame-Top clay cookware to try out. While they have been making cookware in Burgundy, France since 1850, this is their first line of flameproof ceramic designed to go directly on a live flame, like a gas burner or a barbecue grill.

I can’t wait to try the pieces out on the Big Green Egg, but so far the weather hasn’t been cooperating. In the meantime, I made this chicken pizza in our oven on the Emile Henry pizza stone.

1 12-inch pizza crust (Against the Grain Gluten-Free in this case)
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 large cooked chicken breast, diced
2 cups (8-ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tablespoon Greek oregano
1 (6-ounce) can ripe olives, sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup pepperoncini peppers, diced
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 350°F. Put crust on stone and pre-bake for 10 minutes. Remove stone from oven and top crust with the sauce, chicken, olives, feta, peppers, and onion. Cover with mozzarella and sprinkle with oregano.

Return pizza and stone to oven and bake for 20 minutes, until crust is crisp and the cheese is brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
It’s pizza – what’s not to love? I’m usually more of a pepperoni and sausage kind of guy, but the chicken is good with the contrasting salty/spicy peppers, olives, and feta.

The Emile Henry stone really made a difference in the crispness of the pizza crust. The Against the Grain crusts are great, but this time it was considerably more crisp, but still nice and chewy. The stone also cleaned up easily with a little soap and water. Can’t wait to try it on the Egg.

I take my hot sauces pretty seriously and have amassed a respectable collection, limited only by my dear wife’s desire to have room in the fridge for actual food and my desire to remain happily married.

In their application, I tend to take the terroir approach – sauces from a given region goes best with foods from that region. So Louisiana-style sauces (Crystal, Frank’s, Trappey’s) go with southern cooking like jambalaya or biscuits and gravy, and Mexican sauces (Cholula, Valentina, Búfalo) go with tacos, enchiladas, etc… I do a little mixy matchy (Valentina with a little mayo is killer on sushi), but have yet to find a single hot sauce that really works to compliment a wide variety of foods.

That said – I take my hat off to Suck Creek WFR Hot Sauce.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars

This sauce complements everything I’ve tried it on. So far, I’ve had it on eggs, in my cherished biscuits and gravy, and as a way to brighten up some beef stew. I’ve used it to add some heat to my wing sauce, tacos, and ranch dressing. It has a nice, tangy base of warmth that’s wrapped with black pepper and herbs, and then finished off with a straight up habanero heat.  It’s not as vinegary as Crystal, nor as hot as Marie Sharp’s. The heat is considerable, but not overwhelming. It does, however, build and linger for a while. It may be a bit much for some folks, but’s that’s their own fault. I can see it as my “go-to” heat source for barbecue sauces and marinades.

The versatility of the sauce means that a bottle of WFR now sits on our dining table right next to the salt and pepper. My only wish is that it came in a bigger bottle .

This is another rub courtesy of Fred’s Music & BBQ Supply. Fred helpfully included some recipes and suggestions to use as a starting point. His salmon recipe looks like a real winner.

1 salmon fillet (Alaskan wild in this case)
1-2 teaspoons of Signore Bernardo’s Salmon Seasoning
Olive oil

Use a food-grade plank that’s been soaked in water for at least an hour. Set your grill up for a direct cook over medium-high heat (about 400°F).

Oil both sides of the salmon and season with Signore Bernardo’s Salmon Seasoning.

Put the plank on the grill by itself for about 5 minutes, just until you can smell the smoke coming off the plank. Put the salmon on the plank, close the lid, and let it cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the fish hits 130°F internal and the flesh just starts to flake.

The plank almost wasn't wide enough for this lovely fillet.

Serve hot off the grill. If you’re being fancy schmancy, cover a serving platter with a bed of damp lettuce leaves and set the plank (with the fillet still on it) on the platter. The lettuce makes sure the plank is extinguished and serving off the plank makes for a nice presentation.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
When Fred sent this rub to me he said that it was “something special” and I have to agree with him. I’m a big salmon fan, and I really don’t like to overwhelm its natural flavor too much. Fred’s salmon seasoning does a great job of accenting without covering anything up. The garlic and black pepper in the rub are nicely balanced with sugar and citrus. You taste the salmon, but you also taste all of these other flavors at the same time. Outstanding rub!

Fred, of Fred’s Music & BBQ Supply, was kind enough to send me some of his Tasty Licks rubs for me to try out. Since I was dying for wings (when am I not dying for wings?) I decided to try a batch with his Original Rub.

I usually cook wings in the medium-high range (350°F or so) without any added wood smoke, but this time I decided to slow smoke them for a couple of hours over apple wood before cranking the heat up to crisp the skin.

6 fresh chicken wings
Olive oil
1-2 tablespoons Tasty Licks BBQ Company “Original” All Purpose BBQ Rub and Seasoning

In  medium bowl, lightly coat wings with olive oil. Dust the wings with some of the rub and give them a toss. Dust and toss again, making sure that all of the wings are covered with the rub.

Set a cooling rack on a cookie sheet or jellyroll pan. Lay wings out on a rack and let them sit uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, and preferably overnight.

Set the grill up for an indirect cook at 250°. Once the grill is up to temperature, add your smoking wood and arrange the wings on the grate top side up. Close the lid and smoke for an hour. Flip the wings and smoke for another hour. Now bump the heat up to 350°F and cook for 15 minutes. Flip the wings and cook for another 15, or until they are brown and crispy.

Serve them hot off the grill with some Horseradish Mustard Sauce for dipping.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
This is a great rub! I tasted it right out of the bottle and it was a lovely blend of heat and sweetness. You could really taste the chili powder, but it wasn’t overwhelming – kind of a nice, long, low burn. The sugar and salt hit you right up front and really helped balance the spice in the rub.

The wings were very tasty done low and slow. The skin stayed crisp while the meat was melty and tender.  I loved the smoky flavor and the rub really complemented that. You could call them barbecue wings, but not in that just-slap-a-sauce-on-them kind of way. They had that true barbecue taste that you can only get from the blending of spices and smoke over low heat.

Thanks for sharing, Fred!

General Mills is jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon by adding gluten-free Bisquick to its product lineup. I’m very excited about this for two big reasons:

• While it’s not a new and innovative product (there are lots of GF baking mixes available), it is a General Mills product which means it’s going to be available everywhere. Even my Mom in small-town Iowa can buy it at her local Hy-Vee.
• It’s Bisquick, and while it’s not a one-for-one replacement for the original, it does mean that there’s about a gajillion recipes out there that can now readily be made gluten free.

The first thing I wanted to try making with the GF Bisquick is my favorite recipe that I used to make with the original Bisquick - biscuits. I even broke out Grandma R’s dough blender to do the job.

2 cups Bisquick Gluten-Free mix
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
3 eggs

Heat oven to 400°F. In a medium bowl, combine Bisquick mix and butter.  Cut in the butter, using pastry blender or fork, until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and eggs until a soft dough forms.

Drop dough by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

I served these right out of the oven, topped with butter and honey

The Verdict: 4 out of 5 stars
Fair warning – I am not a baker, that’s my dear wife’s specialty. Even so, the biscuits turned out crispy on the outside and fairly tender on the inside. The dough was heavy and the biscuits ended up being a little dense. They weren’t the flaky bits of perfection that my grandmother used to make, but they were as good as any box mix biscuit I’ve ever made. Taste wise, I couldn’t tell they were gluten free, and that’s a huge plus.

I’ve said this before – I am not a big fan of boneless/skinless chicken breasts. They almost always end up being kind of dry and flavorless.  But my dear wife likes to have some around for lunches and chicken salad, so I decided to give this version from Adam Perry Lang’s  BBQ 25: The World’s Most Flavorful Recipes-Now Made Fool-Proof a try. I figure anything brined and basted can’t be all bad.

The Brine
8 – 12 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grated or finely chopped red onion
2 cloves grated or finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped scallions
1 bunch fresh marjoram or basil
1 bunch fresh thyme
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Juice of one lemon
4 cups cold water

Combine everything but the chicken in a zip-top bag. Mix to combine. Add the chicken and turn to cover. Stash in the fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is best.

The Glaze
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons chopped scallions
1 bunch fresh thyme, leaves only
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots

Combine all of the glaze ingredients in a shallow, flame-proof pan (a disposable 9×13 foil pan works great).

The Cook
Set your grill up for a direct cook at medium high (400°F) heat. Set the pan containing the glaze on the grill and heat until the butter melts. Stir the glaze to combine all the goodies, then remove the pan from the heat. I set mine right next to the Big Green Egg to keep it warm and handy.

Remove the breasts from the brine and put them on the grill. Grill the breasts 10 minutes on one side, flip and baste with the glaze. Grill 5 minutes on the second side. Brush with the glaze and grill for 5 more minutes. Flip, brush, and grill until just this side of done – the juices will be just a little pink  and the internal temperature of the chicken hits 155°F.

Remove the breasts from the grill and set them in the glaze pan. Turn them to coat with the glaze. Return the pan to the grill and heat until the glaze comes to a boil and the internal temperature of the chicken hits 160°F (about 5 minutes).

Remove the pan from the heat. Let the breasts rest for 10 minutes in the glaze before serving. Top with remaining glaze.

The Verdict: 5 out of 5 stars
Another winner from Lang’s BBQ 25! The breasts stayed moist and tender from the brine while picking up all the buttery/herby deliciousness of the baste. They not only made an excellent dinner, but were also great for lunch the next two days. Even nuking them in the microwave at work didn’t dry them out. Now that’s the test of a juicy chicken breast.