This year we welcomed a new member to the Jerzeetomato family of grills. This sweet satay grill that The Principessa gave me last Christmas. It’s what Thai street vendors use for those skewers of bliss. Hats off to the good folks import food.com for importing this.
When I moved to Atlanta in 1987, I lived a stone’s throw from the Pachinko House named in the lead to the NYT’s article on the BGE. I never ventured into the store in the eight years I lived there, although I was intrigued. It must have been the heat. But a couple of years later some friends in DC started raving about the Egg. Particularly after one gave the other a BGE as a wedding present. And then one of those friends, my BFF, GAVE me an egg for my 45th birthday. (I don’t know, he doesn’t have kids, I’ll never be able to reciprocate). The rest as they say is history. As anyone who has tasted my version of Zack Palaccio’s Fatty ‘Cue Ribs can attest.
You really can cook just about anything in the BGE. The Principessa’s Pizza is legendary around these parts. As is the fire roasted tomato sauce.
Growing up, Saturday nights in the summer meant one thing: Dad searing a chuck steak on the grill. And not just any marinade would do. It had to be the one below. The smell of this marinade causes serious olfactory deja-vu for me. And the best part is, if you reheat the marinade it makes a great steak sauce.
The cut of steak is also important for my deja-vu’ing. It must be what is known as a “7 bone steak” to trigger the memories. Mom bought it back then because it was cheap. We buy it now because we like it. The 7 bone steak is not named this because it has 7 bones but, because one of the bones in it resmbles a “7”. Mmm-kay. If you say so. But the great thing about this steak is that it gives you a bit of many different cuts and great flavor to boot. It may be a bit chewier than other cuts but the flavor is worth it.
The marinade/sauce will work on other cuts of steak. If you must.
Saturday Night Chuck Steak Marinade
2/3 cup catsup
½ cup water
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. celery seed
1 TBS. Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. onion powder
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow to cool. Marinate a bone-in center cut chuck steak for at least 2 and up to 8 hours. Remove steak and reserve marinade. Grill!
Simmer reserved sauce for 5 minutes and either serve warm with steak or allow to cool.
So, while this blog has devolved into a few really lame posts about tomatoes over the course of this summer I keep thinking about our other aspect, that is, food. While toiling over the grill this summer, I more than once though “I should share this dish with my loyal readers (well, both of them)” But , I’ve often been reluctant since better than half of what we cook every weekend is whatever ideas Mark Bittman had. So it always seemed somewhat derivative to just fluff somebody else’s blog which is why I have resisted. But for god’s sake, the recipes usually work. As published.
But then I figured what the hell, I’m not doing anything else. And besides, since the tomato season has ended a bit early (thank you cool and rainy summer) there’s not much else to write about so here goes with our initial “WWALW”
Firs off, I should point out that due to the crazy schedule I work, I rarely get the chance to do much cooking during the week. Between driving to football practice, picking up at aftercare and whatever activities the Principessa has going on it’s usually a miracle if anything home cooked gets put on the table that’s not leftovers. So the weekend is when we let hair down. So to speak.
This past weekend we kicked off with (‘natch) a Bittman recipefor mussels and pasta. Whenever Bittman posts something involving seafood be it in Bitten or The Minimalist (or both) there’s a good chance we’re going to cook it on Friday night. Not that we’re religious fanatics or anything, it just works out that way. Anyway, killer recipe, will do again.
Saturday was an Indian feast, Jerzeetomato style. Steve Raichlen’s “Tandoori Style Beer Can Chicken” but instead of beer we used some wine from the packing crate in the fridge. The Principessa made raita, some wonderful cauliflower and a pilaf from Julie Sahni’s “Classic Indian Cooking” and we also did some chapatis on the grill from (you guessed it) Bittman. Lots of work for this meal and lots of clean up, which prompted the Principessa to refer to it as “Fricking Indian Thanksgiving”
Sunday, keeping it simple since it was the kickoff for the NFL season and we wanted to spend quality time with the flat screen, we grilled bison steaks we got at the Montclair farmer’s market and made a version of “Ass the Potatoes” from Mom’s first book. (someday we’ll share the story of how that dish was named, but for now, buy the book) Potatoes were fingerlings from the “organic guy” at the farmer’s market.
And one more Bittman on Monday. We managed to crank out the Pork Skewers with Peanut Basil Sauce and had them with some leftover pilaf. Good stuff and we realized that the peanut basil marinade/sauce would be good on just about any kind of skewer. Or just eaten from the bowl with a spoon for that matter.
It’s official. A recent inventory of my garage revealed SEVEN different types of charcoal.
It’s really quite embarrassing. I can’t help myself. I see a new brand of hardwood at the store and I have to try a bag. I mean, I’m not as wrapped up in it as the Naked Whiz, but I fear I’m headed down that path.
It started this summer with the discovery that Kingsford got religion and started marketing lump hardwood. Then of course I had to try their new “Competition Briquettes”. I went to my local BGE dealer and they had BGE brand lump. I had to try that. And I noticed at the local Shoprite they had one of my favorites “Cowboy” brand lump. I didn’t buy any because I’m running out of room but once we get the air conditioner out of storage in the garage we’ll have more room. So maybe then….
“Give me two bricks and an oven rack and some wood, and I’ll cook you a better steak than any expensive gas grill, hands down. It might look good in your garden, it might be more convenient, it might impress your friends, but it’s not going to cook you a better steak.”
-Chris Schlesinger, Owner, East Coast Grill, Cambridge, MA
I take a pretty hard line when it comes to the debate of charcoal versus gas for grilling. When someone tries to extol the benefits of gas to me I usually reply with a comment along the lines of “If I wanted to cook with gas, I’d stay in my kitchen” I took a class with Chris Schlesinger once, who, when asked about cooking times for a gas grill on whatever he was making replied: “I don’t know. I don’t cook with gas.”
When I lived in an apartment and gas was all I could get away with, I used gas. But ever since we moved into our current house, I have sneered at the gas-aholics whenever the subject came up.
Until a few summers ago. That’s when after years of toiling in our non-centrally-air-conditioned kitchen I hit upon the idea of usuing a gas grill as a sort of “outdoor oven” to keep the heat down in the kitchen. With a company awarded gift certificate we aquired a cheap s*#t gas model from Sears. Since then we’ve baked bread, tarts, crumbles and roasted oven-dried tomatoes in the damn thing. Between the heretic gas grill and the BGE, we rarely turn the kitchen oven on at all during July and August.
Memorial Day weekend traditionally kicks off the summer grilling season, so I ask you, loyal readers to weigh in. The gloves are off. Which do you prefer?
Mom sent me a link to this recipe for a porchetta inspired pork shoulder. We cooked it in the Big Green Egg for about 8 hours without any wood chips and it was the tastiest, juciest roast pork I’ve had in a long while.
JerzeeTomato 