June GRATE MOMENTS in GRILLING Winners!

Perfect Steak Plate from Robert C

Copper River Salmon from Mike B

Grilled Kangaroo in Turkey by David B



Marty R fills his grill

• Mike B. for his copper river salmon   Looks more like a zebra fish- beautiful markings!
• Robert C. for his perfect steak plate.   We love grate plate shots as they really show off the entire meal.  This is my idea of a perfect plate:  steak, potatoes and asparagus!
• Marty R. for his filling the grill photo.  We love to see people filling the grill!  Without GrillGrates this is a fireball!  Way to maximize your grill space and output Marty.  I want to grill and fish with you!  ( I saw all those fic pics on your Facebook page)
• David B. for his grilled kangaroo (you read that right) from Turkey.  David is on assignment in Turkey and sent this shot from his apartment balcony.  Way to take your GrillGrates with you David!  How was the kangaroo?
• Ken & Patti Fisher of the blog Date Night Doins!  Winner for several video contributions including grilled fruit kabobs.  Ken chose the STUFZ gourmet hamburger stuffer.
• Scott G. A repeat winner whose recipe for Atomic Buffalo Turds was just published on grillgrate.com.  Scott even included a video!  All recipes published on grillgrate.com are automatic winners!  Scott joins Andy S. and Fourie from New Zealand in the repeat winners circle of Grate Moments in Grilling.  Thanks Scott!
  

 

Congratulations to our JUNE 2011 winners.  

Lady & Gentleman collect your prizes!  

Share your Grate Moments in Grilling and win cool prizes:

1. Use recipe submital form
2. Post pictures on GrillGrate Facebook page
3. Email us photos and recipes to infoATgrillgrate.com

Father’s Day 2011: New Memories and a Traditional Grilling Recipe

Father's Day 2014-  Grilling for Father's Day then and now.   Dad passed nearly 2 years ago and this previous blog post from 2011 is a tribute to him.  Thanks Dad for all the great grilling memories! I proudly am a grilling Dad too!

Father’s Day 2011 is a lot more special for me this year.  My father moved into a senior living center after several hospital stays and a stint in an assisted living center right across the street from our house.  Fortunately his health has improved and he is adjusting well.  Even more fortunate is the fact that I’ve been able to spend more time with him in the last 6 months than I have in the past 10 years. It has been a blessing to be there for him—after all it is my turn. 

And now I have a whole new set of memories of my father:

·      Delivering a short snort of scotch to Dad every afternoon at 4:30 PM

·      Sitting in rocking chairs on the front porch of the living center enjoying our scotch.  We were Denny Crane and Alan Shore of the TV show Boston Legal.

·      Breakfast at the local diner with Dad—7:00 AM sharp

I feel lucky that my father shared his passions with me while I was growing up because they are now the core passions of my life:

·      Fishing

·      Cars

·      Scotch

·      Love of Sales 

·      And of course, GRILLING!

My father jump-started my grilling career by giving me his old Weber Kettle as I went off to college. I quickly turned it into my “date night machine.”  London Broil was his signature dish and it soon became mine.   We dusted off dad’s old recipe for London Broil which he marinated overnight in Kraft Catalina dressing.  I loved seeing that in the fridge, growing up, because I knew great grilling and eating was ahead.  This 50 year-old recipe is perfect for Father’s Day every year!

 We'd love to hear your father's favorite grilling recipes.   

It's ASPARAGUS Season! It's an Artform to Grill Asparagus with GrillGrate!

Photo by Darren Warth of Smokey D's BBQ

Did you know that Asparagus is from the LILY family?  And that it can grow as much as an inch an hour?   ALL I KNOW is that there is nothing better than grilled asparagus!  Spring grilling around our house almost always includes asparagus.  I put them on the grill after the meat or main meal is finished. 

Grilling asparagus used to be quite a challenge not to lose those spears into the grill or have them shrivel, dry out, and blacken.  GrillGrates solves the problem and elevates grilling asparagus to an artform.  

Here's the Easy Formula for Grilling Asparagus with GrillGrate:

1. Prepare by putting asparagus in a flat dish, coat with olive oil and cracked pepper
2. Place on hot GrillGrates across the rails as shown above
3. Using The GrateTool, lift 1/2 or 1/3 of the stalks and hold them with your free hand and flip them over.  You may want to invite your guests to watch you deftly handle this part!
4. Use The GrateTool to lift and plate after 5-7 minutes on the grill

TIP:  The 5 minute grilling time is a perfect resting period for steaks and many meats.  Rest the meat, grill the asparagus! 

This one minute video demonstrates the technique.  See GrillGrates and The GrateTool take center stage with Asparagus!  Our neighbor Suzanne calls the money shot!  I love spring!

PS- Here's Meatheads ode to asparagus and a great recipe to try.

The ART and SCIENCE of Grilling Perfect Hamburgers with GrillGrates

I've opined about grilling perfect hamburgers before.  The quest of every grillers is to deliver that perfect, juicy hamburger to family, friends and guests.  Thousands of recipes, books, videos and websites honor the mouth-watering grilled hamburger. 

GrillGrate is adding a new chapter to this body of knowledge by elevating the art-from of grilling hamburgers to near perfection.  The results are visually dramatic with noticeably better taste.  I realize that is a bold statement.  It comes after 4+ years of near weekly practice and constant feedback and ratings from my family and my 85 year old mother-in-law who loves her hamburgers grilled rare.  This chapter is dedicated to you Jean!

Chapter One:  The formula for Grilling Perfect Hamburgers with GrillGrates:

1. The MEAT of the Matter:  Grind your own round or sirloin for the freshest possible burgers.  80 / 20 is most common blend although GrillGrates allow you to reduce the fat content without sacrificing juiciness.  Turkey burgers will surprise you with their juiciness too.
2. Treat Her Gently When you Patty Her!  Loosely formed patties allow juices to flow in and through the meat.  Forget the burger presses unless you are making a stuffed burger.
3. Grill Hot and Fast with GrillGrates without Fear!  The added protection of GrillGrates tames the flames while still allowing that flame grilled flavor.  No need to set up hot and cold zones or move burgers around the grill.
4. Lift and Twist (put don't press)  Get perfect steakhouse sear marks with the trick the restaurants use.  After 3 minutes, use The GrateTool and lift the burger and twist 45 degrees and sit the burger back down.  In 2-3 minutes, lift and turn.  The presentation side is now facing you and grill to finish.  Design your own sear mark patters by the angle of the twist.  Never squeeze out the juices no matter how tempting.
5. Toast Your Buns!  Crispy on the inside? or the outside?  You choose.  Place bun halves face down to crisp the inside, OR leave the bun intact to crisp the exterior so that first bite to is crunchy crisp.
6. Grab a Napkin- this is going to be juicy!

Here's to Grilling Grate Hamburgers with GrillGrate!

Tricked out Traeger Pellet Grill

Arthur H. is the perfect choice to be the first winner in the Show Us Your Grate Moments in Grilling Contest.   His thread had me salivating and really showed how GrillGrates had enabled him to get to 650F at the grill surface.  From a pellet grill!  The steak photos were fabulous and had me calling our first winner!  Art, aka Savannahsmoker choose a Streaming Grill Brush from Grate Chef as his prize and has since sent some fantastic pictures.

I was ashamed when I saw his Valentines meal setting.  He's been married a little longer than me.   Click here to see the full album of how Art tricked out his Traeger and his Valentine photos.  Art loves his Traeger, photography, good food, and his wife.  What a formula!

Many more winners to come!  Show us Your Grate Moments in Grilling and Win!


Thanks Art!


Brad

BLOG Interuption: Letter to the Editor, Wall Street Journal

Letter to the editor, Wall Street Journal Feb 27

GOOGLE Algorithms Won’t Stop the Gaming of the System only People Can

Google Revamps to Fight Cheaters (WSJ 2/26/11) gave me hope, but when I read that all Google is doing is modifying their Algorithms I realized that they don’t really want to clean up search. Taking the low road is more profitable.  Trying to stop the gaming of the system by real companies like JC Penny and Overstock.com is not even the core issue.  It’s the bogus shopping sites and content mills that steal original content and hawk products via the accomplices at Amazon.  Google and Amazon have enabled this gaming of the system and profited magnificently from it.  Companies bid up search words, SEO becomes a huge industry and Amazon cleans up by providing commissions to pirates.

If Google truly wants to clean up their search and make page 1 relevant again here’s how to do it in 90 days:

1. Staff a group of entry-level interns into a department to root out and black list content and information piracy.
2. Create a system for legitimate companies to submit to Google content pirates and sites that create neighboring urls to divert traffic. It will take a new hire 5 minutes to know that www.grillgrates.org is ripping off my company www.grillgrate.com.  Weber (the king of grills) would have a list 2 pages deep of leaches drafting on their brand! 
3. Contact the offending firms and the reporting firm of your decision and allow rebuttal. 

An algorithm can’t do that and I doubt Google will either.  Fortunately the market is sending loud signals to Google themselves to stop gaming the system by enabling and rewarding pirates to steal content, divert traffic, and reap commissions from affiliate sites such as Amazon.  I’ve always viewed Google as a high road company, but now that my livelihood depends on ‘being found’ on the Internet my perspective is a lot different. It truly is Somalia in cyberspace and the pirates are everywhere, and they could be banished in a few clicks. 

We now return to Great Grilling with GrillGrates!

Grate Moments in Grilling Contest!

Who better to show and tell why GrillGrates grill food better than YOU The GrillGrate customer!   We want to include your best moments at your grill in new videos we're creating featuring sizzling footage right down the food chain of grilling: Hamburgers, Steaks, Chicken, Brats and Dogs, Fish & Game and more.  Show and tell us why GrillGrates grill food better . Attach pictures, recipes, grate stories and video clips. 

Grate Prizes for Sizzling Footage and Photos!

We're giving away some grate prizes for all photos and footage that makes our videos!

• STUFZ- Hamburger stuffer gadget
• Peace, Love and Barbecue- Mike and Amy Mills
• GrillGrate Aprons
• Johnsonville Brats T Shirts
• GrillGrate Panels

Show us YOUR Grate Moments in Grilling!   We're especially interested in short video clips (less than 30 seconds).

Stay up to date and see the entries on the GrillGrate Facebook Page

First up is grilling perfect hamburgers.  Help us finish this video with your sizzling footage and photos of grilling grate hamburgers.