Thankful Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2010:  Cribbing from Seth Godin:
"Wherever you are, you could celebrate Thanksgiving today. Not the Thanksgiving of a bountiful harvest before the long winter, the holiday of pilgrims and pie. That's a holiday of scarcity averted. I'm imagining something else...

A modern Thanksgiving would celebrate two things:

The people in our lives who give us the support and love we need to make a difference, and...

The opportunity to build something bigger than ourselves, something worth contributing. The ability to make connections, to lend a hand, to invent and create.

There are more of both now than there have ever been before. For me, for you, for just about all of us.
 Thank you Seth for re-framing Thanksgiving for our time!

I want to thank my sponsors and partners who have been incredibly supportive this year:
Mike Mills and his team:  Being discovered by Mike Mills was a milestone moment in our business.  I'm proud to call Mike, Amy, Becky & crew friends.  And a very special thank you to Mike for appearing in our first TV spot!
BBQR's Delight:  Thanks to Meathead for introducing us!  He calls us peanut butter and jelly we go so well together.   I've had the pleasure of cooking with Candy- she's a real pro and a fixture in the BBQ community and a great friend. 
Bad Byron's Butt Rub:  It's true everything is better with a little Butt Rub!  Butt Rub is one of those universal seasonings that works as well with pork, chicken, steak, even popcorn!
Mama Mary's Gourmet Pizza Crusts:  Our first partner.  We discovered their crusts grilling at our first trade show.  It became our first signature dish.  They just introduced an extra thin and crispy crust that is fabulous.  We use it on dessert pizzas too.
KCBS:  The gang at KCBS and MMA Creative are incredible.  KCBS has over 14,000 members now and I'm proud to incorporate their logo in our packaging and our TV spots.  Sponsoring the KCBS Backyard BBQ Tour was a grrrrrate move this year.  Mike and Chris Peters have grilled over 35,000 food samples on GrillGrates- including hundreds of grilled pizzas!
Big Green Egg!  What a great company!  Thank you for sponsoring our contest and offering a Big Green Egg as the prize!  There is still time to register!  Name me another company that has a more rabid and enthusiastic customer! (not even Apple)  Something for GrillGrate to aspire to!
The Good Shepherd Foundation:  Finally and absolutely the best thing to happen to GrillGrate this year.  I start my day there every morning I can.  It is a pleasure and privilege to work with this great group of people.  They pack and ship for us 5 days a week!  Talk about grateful!

Thankful and Grateful This Thanksgiving!  
God Bless!

Brad

Butterflied Turkey: Take Two

Thanksgiving 2010: A Bird and a Bag!

Grilled Butterflied Turkey is Fast and Easy with GrillGrates!

Bon Appetit Centerfold of Butterflied Turkey

Our local supermarket butterflied a fresh turkey for us and it was easy to prepare and grill.  We did the recipe twice and nearly a third time until I relented and gave up on doing a spatchcock comparison. The game was on when Bon Appetit Magazine arrives with a centerfold shot of what else? Butterflied turkey!

Very nice rosemary rub from bbq.about.com

Thanksgiving Links

• We chose a simple brine of 2 gallons of vegetable broth. A trash bag in a bucket worked well for an 8 hour soak.  
• I found a great rosemary rub from bbq.about.comhttp://bbq.about.com/.  Derrick has well organized lists of brines, rubs, grilling methods,
• Amazingribs.com is always a great resource. Here is a link to Craig's Thanksgiving ideas newsletter.  Sign up for Meathead's newsletter.  I read it bumper to bumper!
• Here's a link to butterflied grilled turkey on GrillGrates!  I've already had my hot turkey sandwiches too!  
• AND Yes Virginia there is a difference between butterflying a bird and spatchcocking it. This link takes you to Chris Lily's recipe that is truly spatchcocking.  Next year...
• What are you cooking up for Thanksgiving?

Customers and Friends First for a Grate Deal on Gift Bags!

A Grate Gift for your favorite griller!

We have 60 of the two-pocket bags left for this year and its only right to offer a grate sale to our customers and friends first.  We've added a four pack sku as well.


3 GrillGrate panels, The GrateTool, Steaming Brush and Bag is $79.99 plus s/h
4 GrillGrate panels, The GrateTool, Steaming Brush and Bag is $89.99 plus s/h

A great gift for your favorite griller!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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.