Grate Fish and Game Grilling

In one week we've received some great fish and game pictures on GrillGrates:

• Pheasant
• Elk
• Wahoo
• Trout

Wahoo! One of the tastiest fish in the sea!

Rainbow trout caught and grilled in the wild!

Pheasant on the Big Green Egg

ELK on camp grill

The fish and game crowd sure loves GrillGrates!  Thanks for sharing Bill, Clint and David.  We have a lot of outfitters using GrillGrates- let us hear from you.  Show us your great catch!

I've got a green glow this morning!

Susan and I are recovering from non-stop grilling at Big Green Egg's Eggtoberfest!  We grilled desserts on Friday night and had no idea what we were in for.  Jonathan from BGE finally came over and fired up a second EGG for us.  The line never stopped for 3 solid hours.   The fun part was watching Susan prep and interact with the people while making sure I didn't stray from my grilling duties as I jabbered away.  We finally ate at Waffle House at 11:00PM covered in chocolate and raspberry juice!

My hat is off to BGE!   The way they set up the event and then turn it over to the crowd is brilliant.   No corporate BS either.  No Steve Jobs keynote speeches here!  At the end of the day on Saturday several hundred new Egg'ers eagerly awaited driving home with their new EGGS.  They had the green glow going on too!

Thanks BGE for a fabulous event- your customers are just as amazing as your product!

Brad

When this baby rolled up I grabbed my camera and then never touched it again. 

PS-  I'm reaching out to the EGGer's on the BGE forum for pics.

Susan prepping Fruit Pizza

Love our MamaMary's crusts!

Enter the Tell Us Your Grate Grilling Stories Contest

Win The Greatest Book about Peace, Love and Barbecue!

The best part of my job is hearing from customers.  I love hearing GrillGrate stories and particularly grate recipe ideas.  Please tell us your grate grilling story by:

• Using our Feedback Submittal Form
• Submit a Grate Recipe Form
• Post pictures on Facebook
• Post video on YouTube
• Email me your story, recipe, pictures

Every entry will be entered to win a copy of Peace, Love and Barbecue by Mike and Amy Mills.  FIVE people will be drawn at random.  Multiple entries are encouraged! 

Every Picture Tells a Story

Penzey's Spices grills for their employees nearly every week

As Rod Stewart says: "Every Picture Tells a Story" Our new friends at Penzey's Spices sent me this picture and grate story.  They purchased one set of GrillGrates a few weeks ago and then ordered 8 more sets.  I called to make sure it wasn't an error and learned that Penzey's grills for their 200+ employees nearly every week.  They bought 8 more sets to cover all their Weber Kettles.  Now that's a grate story and a great company!


Tell Us Your Grate Grilling Story or Recipe

We'll post some of your stories here on our blog and some on the website.  We've even got a few videos from a GrillGrate customer in New Zealand to share.   Check out my new video (90sec) to kick off the Grate Stories contest and this new section on our website.

Speaking of Grate Steaks- How about a $2500 Steak?

That is what the United Steaks of America BBQ Team won for their best steak in the 2010 OK Steak Championship!  GrillGrates deliver more than just gorgeous steakhouse sear marks.  GrillGrates bring out the best flavor of the meat while keeping meat tender, moist and evenly cooked.

Congratulations to the United Steaks of America for best steak in the great state of Oklahoma!

The Science of Grate Grilling: Grilling Great Steaks!

Grilling Steakhouse Quality Steaks - "Grate" Lessons Learned

One thing we hear constantly is how much better steaks grill and taste with GrillGrates.  Over the past year I have been on a personal journey to better understand the science behind grilling steakhouse quality steaks.  Craig Goldwyn of Amazingribs.com has been my guide as I learned and improved. I pay a lot more attention to preparation, internal temperature, resting, and even proper slicing tips.

Preparation starts by allowing choice quality (and thicker) steaks to come to room temperature.  SALT liberally and pat dry with a paper towel before grilling.  Meathead calls it dry brining. Pepper moderately, with more pepper at grilling time.  Ideally the entire steak is at room temperature when it hits the GrillGrates.

•     Good Product  + Good Preparation + GrillGrates = GRRRRRRATE  Steaks! 

Lesson #1:  Stop Winging It!

This has been a difficult lesson for me to learn.  I've always winged it, stabbed my finger on the steaks and pronounced them ready.  I got a thermometer as a gift and I'm trying to get in the habit every time I grill meat.  Err to the rare and get steaks off the grill to rest so juices can settle back into the meat.  I finally printed out the Amazing Ribs temperature chart and posted on our refrigerator.  I find myself referring to it practically every time I grill. 

    * Download Meathead's Temperature chart  

      (suitable for laminating and posting on the fridge)

    * Make sure to read Meathead's thermometer buying guide

Bumper to Bumper Color, Texture, Juiciness, and Flavor

I like Meathead's bumper to bumper analogy;  juicy, evenly cooked from top to bottom, seared, not charred. (as opposed to a cross-section of sear, brown, tan, pink, red, pink, tan, brown, sear)  GrillGrates deliver bumper to bumper beauty.

Read more from Meathead as he details how to grill steakhouse steak.   

Now we're onto trying out an Argentina technique of corn starch and salt glaze, followed by a trip to the freezer for 30 minutes before grilling- stay tuned.

GRATE Grilling for LABOR DAY!

Labor Day grilling is an American tradition.  When there is a crowd to feed, America fires up their grills!   Labor Day grilling is all about production.  Ideally, you'll want to grill at a house with at least 3 or more grills in the yard, otherwise round up your neighbor's grills!  It's called a cook-out another All-American tradition.  With production in mind, think BIG, big bags of chicken wings for example, a case or two of hamburgers and hot dogs etc.

Here are a couple of grate menu suggestions when you are grilling for a crowd! 

• Burgers, Brats and Beers with a GrillGrate twist, give your brats a beer bath on your GrillGrates.  Gather round to see, smell and hear the sizzling, steaming beer!
• BBQ Chicken is great for production grilling.  The trick is to grill as low as you can to not burn the skin (or bbq sauce).  Under 400F is ideal and with GrillGrates, bring on the marinades and sauces.  BBQ Chicken qualifies as at least a two beer grill too!
• WINGS are great for crowds.  Wonderful finger food and easy to grill.  Again grill as low as possible as long as possible.  Sauce them for 10 minutes at the end.
• PIZZA  Even pre-made store bought pizzas are wonderful on GrillGrates.  Spy a pre-made pizza deal?  GrillGrate them!  You'll probably never put pizza in the oven again!
• CORN on the COB  Shucked and naked corn on GrillGrates at med/low for 15-20 minutes. Turn and roll every 5 minutes.  Butter as soon as you remove the corn from the grill, the corn will suck it up!
• CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY YUMMY  Cap off your Labor Day with this outstanding quesadilla with ricotta cheese, chocolate chips and raspberries.

What are you grilling this Labor Day weekend?

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Finally a wiff of Fall in the air

Finally the early mornings have a tint of coolness.  Soon we'll have deep blue skies and we'll be turning off the AC!  I can't wait to open the windows again!  It's been a HOT summer and we've developed a new grilling routine that we'll be perfecting for many summers to come!

Low and Slow Sundays (link to 2 min video) has already become a summer tradition at Tom and Bev's house, and I think always will be.  Between the pool, the keg and his mojo grill, it's about as good as it gets!  We learned to do pork butts (shoulders) on his honking gas grill. 6-8 hours of grilling on a Sunday is a nice way to spend the day. 

Last weekend was the first Sunday we grilled over 400 all summer!  You can't imagine weeks of rendering from butts and wings that had built up on Tom's GrillGrates (link to pictures).  But I digress.

We grilled steaks while the girls were away, school has started, and TAILGATING season is here! I think our tailgating will consist mostly of game day home grills at Tommy Boy's hang!  I keep telling him he's running out of time to get a flat screen in there!

I have fond memories of big time tailgates at the 'old' NY Giants Stadium in New Jersey.  Now WEBER has a tailgating pavilion set up at the 'new' Giants stadium.  Grilling is a great business and it's tailgating season!  Here's a sneak peak to some great tailgate recipes.