Share Your Holiday Grilling Plans & Pics!

Up Load Photos to Holiday Grilling Album

I'm already excited about our holiday grilling plans! We get to spend over a week together as a family and the meal planning has been underway for quite a while. After yesterday's Costco trip, it looks like the grill will be active every day! No complaints from me!

So far the Big Day Meals are set:

• Spatch-cock Turkey on Christmas Day
• Beef Tenderloin on New Years Eve
• Pork Shoulder one day in between

We also stocked up on salmon, brats, and pizza crusts. Non-stop grilling ahead at our house! We're also going to smoke a mac 'n cheese. We've never done that on that before on the grill.

We've put together a Holiday Grilling Photo Album to share ideas and recipes. You'll see a couple of classics from Amazingribs.com, Weber, and Smoking-Meat.com. 

Please feel free to post your favorite recipes and signature holiday grill fare in this album or on our Facebook page.  We hope this interactive photo album can become a reference tool and a place to show off your grate holiday meals.  

Remember to click a couple of pics when you are at your grill during the holidays.   We love hearing from you!  And it helps us share great recipes, grilling ideas, and mouthwatering pictures.

Best wishes for a warm, wonderful and delicious holiday.  

GrillGrate, Eat Well!

What are your holiday grilling plans?  link to holiday grilling survey  

Sear Marks. It's A Matter of Taste & Style!

Dial In the Sear on Those Steaks! 

Great grill marks aka sear marks are a treat for the eyes as well as the pallet.  First feast your eyes and then your taste buds.  Dial in your sear marks from golden brown (not charred) to dark crunchy black- all the way to Pittsburgh Style.  With GrillGrates sear marks are a great indicator of cooking temp while delivering that perfectly grilled look.   The temps in the chart below are at the GrillGrate and highlight the range of grilling temps to dial in searing and the amount of char you prefer.  Remember GrillGrates are likely to be 100F higher than indicated on the hood thermometer of your grill.

• 350-400F  Roasting temps for vegetables and for longer poultry cooks such as spatch-cocked chicken
• 400-500F  Golden brown sear marks on steaks and ideal temps for most fish and poultry, and hamburgers
• 550-650F  Darker near black sear marks- This is where most of our championship buddies are cooking their steaks.  Primarily steak and tuna temps above 550F.
• 700-850F  Black and crunchy sear marks on steaks- for those who like more of a char that lingers on your pallet.  Also great for quick searing Tuna and wahoo.  Otherwise these temps will overwhelm most other foods and leave a very rare center.

This collage featuring Brett Gallaway of USA Cook Team highlights the delicious range of sear-marks and varying degrees of char on steaks. No photoshop on these pics either!

I've been wavering from a super hot and fast seared and charred method back toward golden brown sear marks with less char.  This also gives the meat more time on the grill for the magic The Malliard Reaction!  I figure I've got another 30 years of R&D to do!   

SEAR-iously GRATE Recipe WINNERS!

I've been challenged getting the latest recipe winners announced because I've been pressed to get the recipes posted on our website. So I figure while I am holed up in a hotel room in Tulsa-its no dinner until I at least get the announcement out and contact our grate winners!

Some really great recipes were submitted and most are already published on GrillGrate.com. I'll post the remaining recipes soon but its more important to thank our winners!

• Larry Byer- is a repeat winner with Tequila Lime Grilled Shrimp and Calamari. Three of Larry's recipes are now published on grillgrate.com Thanks Larry!
• 
  Shawn Beaulieu A grate customer from Canada has been prolific with his Kamado Joe even getting the Canadian Navy to put Kamado Joe's on their ships. What a morale booster. His grilled scallops recipe is a winner and highlights how easy it is to grill scallops with GrillGrates.
• Bob S- submitted GrillGrate “Poppers” and used an innovative approach by elevating his GrillGrates on an angle to make sure the poppers would not lose the stuffing while grilling thoroughly. Innovative approach Bob!
• Lorraine Hartung joins this all-star cast! Her fabulous photos have been gracing the GrillGrate Facebook page since she got her GrillGrates less than 2 weeks ago. We'll wrestle a few recipes out of Lorraine and get them on our website soon.

AND...

• 
  Andy Scalzo wins a GrillGrate T shirt for his bacon bowl. Andy could put out a cook book with his amazing culinary talents and I just had to recognize this unbelievable photo.  Andy- I need this recipe!

Thank you to these GRATE Customers!

Please choose from:

GrillGrate T Shirt

GrillGrate Panel- Any length

STUFZ- Gourmet Burger Stuffer

Share your Grate Creation to WIN and thank you for helping us build our recipe data base for our customers.

Meet GrillGrate Customer Craig Jones- Master of the Grill!

 Even though I've not met Craig and his wife Gay in person (yet), it feels like I know them well. We met a couple of years ago on the GrillGrate Facebook page. Now I follow Craig's culinary adventures!  Craig is a perfect example of a master griller. Grilling is a big part of his life and his deck is a working Weber museum!

He grills over live fire 300+ days a year. No small feat living in Kansas City- not known for mild winters. He and his wife share great recipes and dinner ideas for two. His recipes are only rivaled by his photography. It seems that a lot of grillers are also good photographers. GrillGrate Porn! It's good for you and your marriage!

Here are a few of Craig's Gratest Hits that he has shared with us to post on the grillgrate.com website:

Sausage Juicy Lucy Burgers

Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Parmesan

Country Style Ribs (quick)

Boneless Pork Chops with Tomatillo Sauce

Craig is in the running to win a trip to NY and go backstage with the Food Network this fall! Vote for Craig to be on Food Network! Master of the Grill!

Number of Grills Owned: 6 Webers and 1 Kamado

Craig's Go To Grill: Weber Performer. “To me its like a gas grill... I can get it up and running quickly, and I can do ANYTHING on it. That being said right now I use the Kamado a tlo, because I am trying to learn how to cook on it... it truly is a different animal.

Craig's TIPS:

1. “Get to know your grill and use it in direct and indirect methods. Almost any recipe and cooking technique can be performed on the grill. Don't limit yourself to just the normal "grilling" and BBQ recipes. Challenge yourself to make gourmet meals on the grill. Any recipe that you can do "inside" can be converted to cook "outside"....which is a heck of a lot more fun...and of course tastes much better.”
2. Even though it's just the two of us, we grill meals for 4-6 people so that we can have great tasting lunches that we called "planned overs".
3. GrillGrates have added a new dimension to my grilling. Before I had to limit my direct grilling exposure, because the meat would dry out or burn.

Craig and his wife are the proprietors of Savory Addictions- Gourmet Smoked Nuts! I know I'll have the pleasure of grilling chilling with Craig and Gay in person, but until then I enjoy their wonderful posts and recipes! Don't forget to vote forCraig, you can vote daily.

Seariously Grate Recipes!

What do a retired funeral home director, a South African teaching high school in New Zealand, and a nutty entrepreneur from Kansas City have in common? They all have a passion for grilling; they are legitimate foodies with great recipes, and they are outstanding photographers to boot. And they use GrillGrates when they grill of course! Add it all up and it's a formula for Seariously Grate Recipes!

Fourie Joordan

Craig Jones

Andy Scalzo

 
Meet Andy Scalzo, Craig Jones, and Fourie Joordan. First, meet their grills! For the next several weeks we'll be featuring some of their gratest hits (I could not resist). Each has their own distinct grilling style and expertise which we will share in more detailed profiles in upcoming blog posts. We're publishing several of their recipes on GrillGrate.com and it has been a pleasure getting to know them.

• Fourie Joordan is a computer science teacher in New Zealand with a serious passion for BBQ. He goes under the moniker Hog Wild BBQ and his recipes, photos and videos share his passion. His Facebook page and blog is a culinary tour of South Africa grilling fare by way of New Zealand.
• Craig Jones is a computer IT guy, grill-master and entrepreneur with Savory Addictions Gourmet Nuts as well. Craig is a Weber man, but recently joined the cult of the Kamado and is a disciple of Jamie Perviance noted griller, Weber spokesman, and cook book author.
• 
  Andy Scalzo Retired Funeral Home Director from Spooner, Wisconsin. Andy is a Kamado guru, a genius with smoke and wood flavors and prolific with his camera! His work caught the attention of Kamado Joe and Andy now works with them as a social media consultant- and indie photographer.

I look forward to sharing their grate culinary creations and their passion with our customers.  If you are not already Facebook friends with Andy, Craig, and Fourie you should be. Their posts will delight you with great grilling fare and how to's. 

Love People. Cook them tasty food.

If ever there was a mantra to live by! I got that bumper sticker and a whole lot more when my wife and I visited Penzey's Spices manufacturing facility outside Milwaukee, WI last week. We went there to meet a GrillGrate customer, and wound up meeting a great company- a real American story. Our timing was perfect too.

 

Rob,  Quality Control by day, Grill-Master every Wednesday

For the past 15 years every Wednesday Penzey's grills lunch for their employees. When they started the Wednesday tradition they were feeding 50 people, now its over 200 who dine in a comfortably furnished dining room. And they serve sandwiches on Tuesday, soup on Friday and donuts on Thursday morning- all free to the employees. 

George Van Valkenburgh,  GM of Penzey's gave us the nickle tour and by the time we got outside to the Eight smoking Weber grills, Susan and I were overwhelmed by everything we'd seen and heard.    

Love People. Cook them tasty food. Penzey's lives it in every aspect of the company:

• 
  Penzey's has established relationships with small growers / farmers around the world and ship spices whole to the US to preserve freshness. Spices are not ground until they are ready for production. The entire production is done in house. Grinding, blending, packaging, labeling-- even photography. I recognize those sear marks!
• Penzey's offer a summer job to every child of every employee who wants a job. “We'll find them something to do” explained George.
• A magazine quality catalog is published 8x a year that features heart-warming stories from customers, their recipes, photos, even drawings from their children! It's a great read. Each issue has 15 new recipes including two letters from Bill- second generation owner and chairman of Penzey's. 

A company favorite Turkish Kabobs

Is Love a spice? It is at Penzey's! Penzey injects a healthy dose of love into everything they do.  Bill signs off his letters in the recent grilling issue with two great thoughts:

1. Kindness works.
2. Love People. Overcome Obstacles.

Thank you George, Rob and everyone at Penzey's for sharing your great story with Susan and I. Just like a good meal, if your still thinking about the experience the next day or two- you know if was mighty good!

Love People, Cook them tasty food.

Sign up for the Penzeys Spice Catalog: Love to Cook, Cook to Love.

Thanks Penzey's for sharing the love with Susan and I. 

Grill Steaks like a Champion! The Steak You Save Just Might Be Your Own!

There is little room for error when grilling steaks. Alton Brown says it succinctly- “fire is bad!” It does bad things to food not just from a health standpoint but from a taste standpoint too.  Burned is not better!  Perfectly seared steaks are caramelized not singed. The natural flavors and juices can easily be overshadowed by char or a sooty taste. Nor do we want to see the exterior of the steak scorched while the center is purple! 

Bumper to Bumper Rare!  Grate Customer in  Germany.

Everyone has their own definition of a perfect steak.  For me it's bumper to bumper rare to medium rare!  
 

Brett Gallaway's Formula to Grill Steaks like a Champion:

Time to take them off for a brief rest.

• GrillGrates
• Instant Read Thermometer
• Good Piece of Meat 

Preparation:

• Liberally salt steak and allow to sit out of the refrigerator
• Bring steaks to room temperature, as the salt opens the meat and brings the myoglobin to the surface (not blood- see Meathead's review on this subject)
•  After 20 minutes, blot the surface of the steak dry removing some of the salt.  (Many people suggest oiling steaks- we don't.  We oil fish filets for grilling but not steaks.)
• Pepper and season to taste. Go easy on the seasoning. Note if the steak seasoning has salt in it be careful not to over-salt.  Most of the time we just use salt and pepper on steaks.
• Continue to bring to room temperature and allow seasoning to penetrate the meat.  

Grilling:

• Get your GrillGrates HOT! 500F-650F (not 800F unless you want crunchy sear marks)
• Lay steaks at an angle on the GrillGrates and note your time.
• In TWO minutes LIFT and TWIST 90 degrees to create a cross hatch (do not turn yet)
• In TWO more minutes TURN to reveal nicely seared and diamon marked steak- cook to finish
• Use an Instant read to measure internal temp. Pull steaks 10 degrees lower than target temp. I pull my steaks at 125-130F anticipating them to rise to 135-140F
• REST the steak for 2-3 minutes, (Meathead has debunked the resting period for steaks.) 10 minutes for extra thick steaks (do not tent with foil- as they will cook more and overshoot doneness)
• Serve, Observe and Listen for guttural sounds of gastronomic joy!

For More Steak Tips: watch Brett Gallaway of United Steaks of America Cook Team in this recent video created by Walmart. 

 

Four of Five Money Winners at the 23^rd Annual World Championship Steak Cook Off grilled their steaks using GrillGrates.  

Thanks Brett! 
PS- Brett & his Team have won more than a dozen championships in the past three years!