November 24, 2009
Posted by Joshua Bousel, November 6, 2009 at 7:15 PM
[Photograph: Joshua Bousel]
Between brisket and the forthcoming turkey, I was able to get in a nice big leg of lamb, one of my favorite large cuts of meat.
Seemingly designed for the grill, a butterflied leg of lamb comes out perfectly medium-rare exactly when the outside develops a nice crust over medium-high heat. In addition to the easy cooking technique, this leg of lamb has a smooth lamby flavor with just the right amount of chew, making every bite a pleasure.
It's hard to improve on something already so good, but add mint to the equation and you're talking some seriously, seriously delicious eats. The two come together here as part of a tahini and lemon based marinade, which added a minty tang to the crust, only heightening this leg of lamb into one of the best pieces of meat to come off my grill this year.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, October 16, 2009 at 7:00 PM
"The maple-coated sausage mixed with the sweet apples had all the fitting flavors of an autumn meal."
[Photographs: Joshua Bousel]
I love this time of year, when the supermarkets bust out the big bins of deliciously fresh apples and fill one after another. I picked up a half-dozen the other day, thinking I'd make a grilled dessert out of them, only to see these beautiful stuffed apples on Another Pint Please. I knew I had to make them.
Learning from my mistake with sausage stuffed peppers, I made sure the stuffing of sausage, onion, celery and sage was fully cooked before filling the hollowed-out apples. Once stuffed, they were drizzled with maple syrup and topped with a small dollop of butter, then grilled over indirect heat with some applewood for about an hour. At this point the apples were slightly soft, retaining some crispness, but we weren't ready to eat, so I left them on the cooling grill to stay warm for another 15 minutes or so to soften.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, October 9, 2009 at 8:30 PM
[Photograph: Joshua Bousel]
There's nothing I miss more from my time in Israel than shawarma. I'm not exaggerating—I had shawarma in a pita or laffa almost everyday during my six months there. Like my previous experience making tacos al pastor, I knew making shwarma sans a vertical rotating roaster would not be the same, but nevertheless, I decided to try it out at home after seeing a nice recipe in July's Bon Appétit.
A dry rub of tumeric, salt, coriander, cumin, and peppers (black, white and cayenne) was applied to brined turkey cutlets with some onion slices, then drizzled with olive oil—this goes into the fridge overnight. The turkey was then quickly grilled and cut into small strips in an attempt to imitate the slices you get off a vertical roaster. Obviously it didn't have the same taste and crunch as the real deal, but this shawarma was insanely delicious in its own right.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, October 2, 2009 at 8:00 PM
"I took a ten-minute break to wallow in my failure then returned to the grill—but those ten minutes made all the puffy difference."
[Photographs: Joshua Bousel]
Given my rough relationship with bread-making, I had little hope that grilling pita pockets would yield the proper results. But since I'm not one to shy away from a challenge—and determined to take the upper hand in my battle with breads—I ventured forth in a quest to grill delicious pocket pitas.
I made a switch to instant yeast, taking improper proofing out of the equation for failure, and mixed it with flour, salt, oil, and water, letting it knead for 10 minutes in the KitchenAid. Then the dough went into the fridge to rise overnight. I checked on it after an hour and it was already rising. (Hurray!)
The next day, I divided the dough, let is rest while I prepared the grill, then rolled them into rather imperfect rounds one-fourth of an inch thick. Before throwing the dough on the grill, I gave each disc a few mists of water to add some moisture, hoping to create the air bubbles needed to form the pocket.
The first few pitas didn't puff, and although delicious, I was feeling a little dejected.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, September 25, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel of The Meatwave drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
[Photographs: Joshua Bousel]
My favorite sausages in the world are the incredibly juicy and spicy beef links smoked in Elgin, Texas. A few years ago I attempted to reproduce them, only to fail miserably. Traveling about two hours southwest to Houston, there's another sausage I love and thought would be a little easier to tackle: smoked pork with cheddar and jalapeño.
The flavors of this sausage run only as deep as its name, so I started by grinding pork, fat back, and chunks of sharp cheddar together. Then I threw in a bunch of chopped jalapeños, salt, pepper, and more grated cheese, and gave the mixture a whirl in the Kitchen Aid to emulsify the meat and fat a bit before stuffing it into hog casings. Smoked over applewood chips for about two hours, the pale sausage emerged from the smoker, transformed into beautiful orange links.
The flavors were pretty spot-on and cheddar oozed out, which balanced the spiciness of the peppers in a plump and juicy link. The only issue I had was after cooling down, the skins shriveled. This didn't stop anyone from enjoying the sausage, but one eater suggested giving the sausages a bath in ice water as soon as they come out of the smoker to prevent this in the future. I'll give it a try next time, but for now, these sausages were definitely good eats.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, September 18, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel of The Meatwave drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
[Photograph: Joshua Bousel]
Due to some complications at my previous residence--including a nosy neighbor who was convinced I was burning down the hood every time I fired up the smoker--it's been over two years since I've made pulled pork, a shame that's hard to live down. With my new digs has come confidence, and this past weekend I smoked up two beautiful pork butts.
Brined in a molasses-and-salt mixture then rubbed down, the pork butts started smoking over a combination of oak and applewood at 10 p.m. on Saturday night and emerged from the smoker 16 hours later. So tender, they began falling apart as I lifted them out. After an hour's rest, they were easily pulled, piled high on a bun, and topped with North Carolina-style vinegar sauce (adapted based on your comments). Pulled pork is one of the few foods I openly brag about making incredibly well--this experience solidified that claim even further. Smokey, spicy, and juicy, the meat was everything pulled pork should be.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, September 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel of The Meatwave drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
[Photograph: Joshua Bousel]
I like a good challenge of finding somewhat obscure ingredients, which is what drew me to a chicken recipe involving Aleppo pepper, a Syrian dried ground pepper. I thought it would be an easy one since a variety of Middle Eastern markets dot my neighborhood, but after a good afternoon of searching, I ultimately failed and resorted to paprika and crushed red pepper.
Dejected, but not totally down, I soldiered on and finished the recipe of chicken marinated in a yogurt-based mixture, which is then skewered and grilled. Any lingering feelings of disappointment quickly faded upon tasting. Aleppo pepper or not, this chicken were delicious.
Moist and wonderfully flavored--with spice from the pepper and tang from the acids in the vinegar and lemons--these skewers are among some of the best I've ever had. Although satisfied, Aleppo pepper is still on a growing list of ingredients I must find, and once I do, there's no doubt I'll be making this again with the real deal.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, September 4, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel of The Meatwave drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
I'm a burger purist. I don't think I've ever made a burger at home beyond ground beef, salt, pepper, and a slice of cheese. So I can't explain what possessed me to grill a green chile cheeseburger this week, but I'm glad it happened. I've seen and read about the green chile burgers before, but never actually had one. My attempt was more of a personal imagining of what one should be, not a recreation of the beloved Southwestern favorite.
I started by grilling a few poblanos and a thick slice of onion until fully charred, removed the chile skin, and coarsely chopped the two together. Then I mixed ground chuck with chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, formed a patty, cooked it to medium-rare and finished it off with a slice of pepper jack. The burger, on a toasted bun with the chile-and-onion mixture, quickly went down the hatch.
The first thing that hit me was the spice. Having cooked with poblanos in the past, I was expecting a mild and fruity flavor, but instead got a good kick of heat. This was in a nice balance with the beef, which had an earthy quality from the chili powder and cumin. Each bite I kept expecting just "burger," but instead was greeted by the pleasing mix of Southwest flavors that got me wondering if my "simple burger as perfection" notion has room for company.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, August 28, 2009 at 8:00 PM
I've gone and done it. I've officially killed my copy of Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. Now more a mess of loose pages than an actual book, this favorite had shown signs of giving way for over a year. The final culprit-- a Mexican Roadside Chicken recipe. I've passed it up many times, and only turned to the inconspicuous recipe this fateful day to appease some non-beef eaters who wouldn't partake in my skirt steak fajitas.
Luckily, the book did not die in vain. This chicken, which was more of an afterthought, became the real star of the day. After a 45-minute cook over indirect heat, a picture-perfect, mahogany-skinned bird was revealed. The feast for the eyes quickly gave way to its succulent flavors--an earthy and acidic combination enlivened by the chicken's juiciness, all of which paired very nicely with the green onion and tomatillo salsa accompaniments. Although disappointed by the loss of my book, this meal did wonders to ease the pain.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, August 21, 2009 at 8:00 PM
On Fridays, Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
[Joshua Bousel]
The extreme heat and humidity we have going on here in New York hasn't exactly left me with a desire to stand next to a 500-degree grill. That is until I came across this recipe for a grilled gazpacho. The thought of sweating it out over the flames with the reward of a cold summer soup at the end was very enticing.
So it went, I grilled almost every ingredient in the soup: green onions, garlic, onion, red and green peppers, and tomatoes. Then they all got a spin in the blender along with a cucumber, oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper, followed by a chill in the fridge. After the hour defined in the recipe as the minimum resting period, I was in need of relief from the heat and served myself a large bowl.
The soup was robust, deep with the flavors of the grilled vegetables, with the distinct underlying coolness of the cucumber. The only problem was that an hour was long enough to cool the soup but not make it truly cold. So it was a triumph of flavor but didn't quite deliver the refreshing factor, although I bet that will change when, after another hot walk home tomorrow, I have another serving of a now, fully chilled gazpacho.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, August 14, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel of The Meatwave drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
My enthusiasm for lamb is not mutual in my relationship, so it's always a treat when I cook it up at home--it doesn't happen all that often. Last weekend was one of those sporadic times when lamb graced my grill, and it was extra special since these Lebanese kofta skewers were some of the best lamb creations I've ever made.
It started with fatty pieces of lamb shoulder, which I finely ground, combined with parsley, onion, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt and pepper. The lamb mixture was then formed around skewers and grilled. The spices were subtle against the distinct flavor of lamb, but there was just enough to give the meat a complexity behind its deceptively simple looks. With an under-oiled grate, a couple of the skewers fell apart when I tried to turn them, but despite the fallback, thankfully no meat was lost. They grilled up and were gladly eaten all the same.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, August 7, 2009 at 8:00 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel of The Meatwave drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
Chicken tends to be my go-to item when I want something to grill after work but haven't planned anything in advance. It's quick, healthy, and can easily be livened up with a simple sauce. Although not that exciting, it does the trick to fill the belly. When I came across this chicken recipe in Bobby Flay's Grill It!, I got all jazzed up about the roasted-garlic vinaigrette pairing, thinking it may add the needed punch to make a last-minute meal truly excellent.
Unfortunately expectations were not quite met. The meal was pleasant enough--a juicy, crisp-skinned grilled chicken along with silky fingerling potatoes, and while the sauce added a decent flavor to both, it didn't provide the extra depth I wanted. The roasted garlic and oregano were actually diminished by the flavors of the oil and vinegar, and while this is easily fixed by adjusting the vinaigrette proportions, I think the real problem is that I'm trying to make a quick grilled chicken more than it really can be.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 31, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
I tend to find eggplant either crazy delicious, like these eggplant spirals, or totally off putting. I couldn't quite put my finger on why until I tried out this recipe for Chinese eggplant with a garlic and ginger sauce.
I grilled eggplant slices, and they looked perfect when they were beautifully browned and pulled off the grill. I then nestled my wok right onto the coals, quickly sauteed some garlic, ginger, scallions, and chiles, and tossed in the eggplant and sauce, letting it cook until thickened. It looked so mouthwatering, and I eagerly took a first taste. It had a deep ginger flavor that I love, along with the type of sauce that makes good Chinese food. But something was not right--the texture of the eggplant. In contrast to the creamy eggplant texture I do enjoy, these were a bit too mushy for my palate.
That said, I had a true eggplant lover on hand when I made this, and she found these delicious. So for someone without my hangups, this is an excellent recipe.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 24, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
I've covered beef and pork tacos before, so the next logical step in my taco journey was chicken. I've always had my eye on this one particular recipe for beer-marinated chicken tacos, partly because chicken marinated in Negra Modelo sounded delicious, but mostly as an excuse to make a large batch of guacamole.
The combination ended up being fantastic. The recipe called for a 2 to 4 hour marinade, but I pushed it further to overnight, and the chicken really picked up the deep flavor of the beer. The marinade also caramelized over the high heat, forming a crisp crust. These two factors added a nice contrast to the creamy and fresh guacamole, making each bite a pleasing one. From now on, making guacamole will mostly be an excuse to grill up a batch of this chicken for more taco goodness.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 3, 2009 at 8:00 PM
On Fridays, Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
Before you run out and grab all those burgers and hot dogs for tomorrow's great Fourth of July cookout, let me tempt you with another great American tradition that's great for the grill and revelers alike: pizza. Although the high heat of the grill produces a truly excellent pizza, it's a challenge to get a perfectly cooked crisp crust at the same time the toppings are ready, but after years of trial and error, I've developed a fairly foolproof way to get perfect pizzas every time.
This requires a two-zone fire, with all the coals piled on one side of the charcoal grate, and a process of cooking the crust in stages.
First you stretch the dough out to a personal-size pizza and place it directly over the coals, cooking it until it browns and crisps nicely. Then remove the crust to a plate, arrange the toppings on the cooked side, place it over the cool side of the grill, and cover. When the cheese is melted and the toppings are done to your liking, check the bottom of the crust; if it needs to cook a little longer, just move it over to the hot side again until it's perfect.
What comes off the grill is a real beauty of a pie. A wonderfully cooked crust, with that balance of crisp and chewiness that makes a great pizza--something to truly celebrate alongside our independence.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, June 26, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
I have yet to jump on the banh mi bandwagon, but my fiancée has been all over them. She's been singing the praises of the banh mi so much, that I felt it was my obligation to try them, so we can we ride this food craze together.
Having made a Vietnamese grilled pork not too long ago, I was looking for a different filling option. I came across this recipe for Vietnamese grilled meatballs that was just calling to me. I loved that this recipe had me mixing pork fat and sliced pork loin together in a food processor, along with the flavors I loved so much from my previous Vietnamese venture. This produced a very pleasing, fine-textured meatball with the great taste I was expecting—but the meatball wasn't what I set out to experience.
When I added these already delectable meatballs to a baguette, and stuffed in some pickled carrots and daikons along with a big bunch of cliantro, it was like being in flavor nirvana. The vegetables added a crunch and acidity that matched perfectly with the fish sauce flavored meat; and throw that much cilantro on anything, and I'm sold. Since I was the newbie, I had to turn to my fiancée and ask if these were the correct flavors of the banh mis she loves so much—to which she gave a big nod of approval, then promptly got up to fix herself a second sandwich.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, June 19, 2009 at 8:30 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
I'm a man of tradition. After adding meat grinding and sausage stuffing capabilities to my kitchen, a chicken-apple was the first type of sausage I made for my friend's first annual grilling birthday bash in Prospect Park. Ever since then, my friend has kept up her spring birthday picnic, and I've kept churning out a different chicken sausage each year, and now it doesn't feel like spring until this tradition has been fulfilled.
This year, however, was extra-special—my friend emerged from the long winter as both a doctor and carnivore, able to enjoy the chicken sausage with basil and tomato I cooked up. Although I had initial doubts about the rather small ratio of tomatoes and basil to the massive amounts of chicken, all the flavors came through perfectly in the end, making this fresh-tasting sausage a perfect fit for the beautiful spring party in the park.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, June 12, 2009 at 7:00 PM
I don't feel the need to gussy up asparagus on the grill; just a little olive oil, salt, and pepper is all you need to make them delicious. But every once in a while, I have the desire to go all fancy-pants with these green spears of goodness, and one of those moments hit me this past weekend.
I really didn't do too much differently. Instead of salt, I wrapped each thick spear in a slice of prosciutto. Then after the asparagus came off the grill, I hit them with some lemon and lemon zest. These two simple variations lifted the asparagus from a common grilled veggie into the realm of greatness. The prosciutto, although slightly overpowering, delivered the salty with a nice touch of ham, and the lemon freshened it all up with a tang that lingered pleasantly on the tongue.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, June 5, 2009 at 8:30 PM
Each week Joshua Bousel drops by with a recipe for you to grill over the weekend. Fire it up, Joshua!
I'm going out on a limb here, because this is technically not barbecue, or grilling. But there are few other sides so ubiquitous with both as barbecue beans. Although tastes vary widely across the nation, I can't think of a barbecue joint I've been that has not had beans on their menu, and it's also, rightfully, one of the most frequent sides cooked up in my house.
It's hard for me to fire up the smoker without making a batch of these beans—especially since I can just throw them in with whatever is smoking and let them cook, low and slow, until the perfect balance of flavor and tenderness is achieved. It takes a good six hours or so for this to happen, but patience is well rewarded, with a deeply sweet and meaty tasting bean that has just the right touch of heat to balance it all out.
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Posted by Joshua Bousel, May 29, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Grilling potatoes is no easy feat. Larger potatoes I sometimes will boil first to avoid charring the outside while waiting for the middle to cook, and the smaller, new potatoes I'll cook over a two zone fire, browning them over direct heat, then moving them to the cool side of the grill to finish up. Even with practice, I often find potatoes a challenge.
Case in point, I was grilling a batch of halved new potatoes for a salad recently using the two zone method. I waited to grill them until the fire burned down to medium, but even then the spuds started to char before I could move them all over to the cool side of the grill. Luckily, the charring wasn't deep, and with the strong vinaigrette and a squeeze of lemon that dressed the salad, they didn't taste off at all. Quite the opposite actually, the light char gave the salad a unique grilled flavor that otherwise may have been lost, and all worries I had of ruining such a beautiful looking salad melted as it slowly disappeared into grateful stomachs during the meal.
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