Friend and I are putting a picnic shoulder on the smoker to make pulled pork.

12 to 14 hours of slow smoking over hickory.

YUM!

We'll be these lamb burgers:

CURRIED LAMBBURGERS

Combine:
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. curry powder
2 Tbs. minced onion
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 slices fresh bread, crumbled
2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

Add 1 pound lean ground lamb and mix thoroughly. Shape into 6 thin oval shaped patties and grill until done but not dry. Serve in pita bread pockets topped with chopped tomatoes and feta cheese. Note: Fresh chopped cilantro may be substituted for the parsley for a different flavor. Also good topped with cucumber-yogurt sauce.

Not sure yet.

Maybe shioyaki (salt broiled) salmon, trout, mackerel or bluefish.

Maybe teriyaki chicken or tuna.

Maybe papoutsakias (stuffed eggplant).

Jim

Maybe chicken. Maybe shrimp.
Maybe not.
I'm waiting to see if my daughter is going to be able to come.......and what she's craving! LOL
Deanna

Pork butt for pulled pork.

Flat iron steaks with brown sugar/chili powder/bunch of stuff rub.

Graduation party/open house on Saturday. Gonna be fun!

I'm smoking a turkey, ribs, hotlinks, and kielbasa sausage on Saturday. I'll have some muchies out too. Friends and family are bringing the sides. Something rhubarb for dessert....brownies and cookies for those that don't care for rhubarb.

David

One day we are doing shrimp, scallop,fillet and andouille kabobs with peppers and cherry tomatoes and anothr day we'll have buffalo burgers!

Tonight I'm doing Philippino BBQ Pork -- Check out the link below... As soon as I saw it I started drooling and the recipe moved to the top of my to-try pile. I'll let you know how it goes...

Here is a link that might be useful: Phillipine Pork BBQ

We're going to finally try Sue's Roadhouse Ribs on Sunday at my sister's lake place.

Other things I do on the grill during the summer are hams, turkeys, chickens, several different kinds of kabobs-beef, chicken, shrimp, veggie, etc.-depending what I have on hand that will thread onto a skewer!

And the grill is not just for meat dishes, either. We like to grill vegetables and desseerts, too:

Grilled Vidalia Onions
From: Cooking Secrets of the CIA (Culinary Institute of America)

6 vidalia onions
3 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
6 T butter
6 T balsamic vinegar

Preheat charcoal or gas grill. Cut twelve 12 inch squares of aluminum foil. Peel onions and trim the root end. Be careful to leave the core in place to hold each onion together as it cooks. Make 3 or 4 cuts across the top of each onion, cutting about 2/3 of the way down to create wedges.

Set each onion in the center of a double-layered foil square, root end down. Sprinkle onions with salt, pepper and herbs, and top each with a tablespoon of butter. Pull foil up over each onion creating a pouch, leaving the top of the onion exposed.

Pour 1 tablespoon ov vinegar into each onion.
Place onions on top shelf of gas grill or around edge of charcoal grill over medium heat. Cook until onions are tender, about an hour.

Place each onion in individual bowl. The onions will spread open like a flower, pour accumulated juices over each onion and serve.

Grilled Corn with Cumin\-Lime Butter Source: Midwest Living 6/06 6 ears fresh sweet corn with husks 2 quarts cold tap water 1T coarse (kosher) salt Carefully peel husks of corn back and remove silks. Fold husks back over corn and tie with kitchen string to secure. In large bowl or tub, combine cold water and salt, stirring to dissolve. Place corn in water so all ears are covered. Place heavy pan on top to keep ears submerged. Soak 1 hour, drain and pat dry. Grill corn over medium coals 20\-30 minutes, turning frequently until kernels are tender. Peel back husks and serve with Cumin\-Lime Butter. Cumin\-Lime Butter 1T cumin seeds 1 tsp salt tsp ground chipotle chili pepper 1 c butter, softened 2 tsp grated lime peel In small heavy skillet, cook and stir cumin seeds over low heat one minute. Add salt and chipotle, cook and stir for one more minute, or until seeds become fragrant. Remove from heat and shake skillet for one minute. Place cumin mixture in a spice or coffee grinder. Cover, pulse until ground. In small bowl, mix butter, cumin mixture and lime peel. Store unused butter in tightly covered container for up to 3 days. Makes about 1 cup.

Grilled Pineapple with Rum Dulce de Leche
source: Gourmet Magazine

2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup dark rum
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 ripe pineapple, preferably golden
Vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Pour condensed milk into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate and cover with foil. Put pie plate in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to pan to reach halfway up side of pie plate. Bake milk in middle of oven until thick and golden, about 1 1/2 hours. Carefully remove pie plate from pan and cool completely.

Add rum and vanilla to milk, whisk until smooth, and season with salt. (The dulce de leche may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.)

Prepare a grill or grill pan. Cut the pineapple lengthwise through leaves, keeping leaves attached, into 4 wedges. (I found it easier if I cut in rings/slices) Grill the pineapple wedges, cut-side down, until just charred, about 2 minutes on each cut side.

Divide the wedges among plates, put a scoop of ice cream next to each, and drizzle with the dulce de leche

GRILLED STUFFED PEACHES serves 4 posted by Ruthanna 4 large peaches 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice 1/ 3 cup quick\-cooking oats 2 Tbs. firmly packed light brown sugar 1 Tbs. finely chopped almonds 1 Tbs. butter, melted 1/ 2 tsp. cinnamon In a large pot of boiling water, cook the whole peaches for 30 seconds. Rinse them under cold water and carefully peel the skins. Halve and pit the peaches and cut a very thin slice from the back of each so it will lie flat. In a bowl, toss the peach halves with the lemon juice. Preheat the grill to medium heat. Combine the remaining ingredients and divide evenly, filling the centers of the peach halves. Place the filled peaches on the grill and cook, covered, for 5 or 6 minutes or until the peaches are tender. Place the peach halves on 4 plates and serve hot or warm. (161 calories per serving) Linda

Elery bought a smoker, so we're probably gonna be smoking SOMETHING. He thinks ribs, I'm leaning toward brisket because I have one in the freezer!

Fearlessem, I clicked on that link and got all kinds of problems, it just kept opening page after page of popups. I finally turned the computer off when I got to 24 pages, it's the only way I could make it stop!

Has anyone else had problems with that or is it just a glitch with my computer? I'm afraid to try again....

Annie

No problem here with that link. Is your pop-up blocker on? What's calamansi?

Foodonastump, I'm at work, the pop up blocker is ALWAYS on, no way for me to take it off.

OK, I'll try it again. I'm always afraid to mess up the office computer, so I'm leery....

Annie

I had trouble with the link also. Not sure what I'm going to fix this weekend, but everyone elses menus look good.

Taking meat out of the freezer tonight I found a package of short ribs cut on the thin side. Finally it clicked why I bought these so I'm trying the maui style ribs that Dinanna55 mentioned many moons ago. Looks like they were a hit in Hawaii but the place has closed down. Here is one recipe that was linked to in her post and a link to one on epicurious. I'm going to play around with both of them and hopefully come up with something good. They sound different and unique to me tonight.

Rib recipe keeps Hawaiian secret safe
Azeka's is a ribs and snack shop in Kihei, Maui that has been in business for more than 50 years. The shop's legendary Maui ribs recently inspired Patricia Shorting to e-mail me in search of a recipe. Shorting had a card listing the ingredients -- soy sauce, cane sugar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger and sesame oil -- but wanted to know the proportions.
By Times Colonist (Victoria)February 20, 2006

Azeka's is a ribs and snack shop in Kihei, Maui that has been in business for more than 50 years. The shop's legendary Maui ribs recently inspired Patricia Shorting to e-mail me in search of a recipe. Shorting had a card listing the ingredients -- soy sauce, cane sugar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger and sesame oil -- but wanted to know the proportions.

Azeka's website, azekas.com, says the shop came up with a special marinade for barbecued beef short ribs in 1976, and it quickly became a favourite of Maui residents and visitors, solely through word of mouth. "Don't forget to try the ribs at Azeka's Market!" people would say. The marinade is based on an original recipe of Bill Azeka's mother, and the shop treasures the formula so much, it trademarked the product.

The chances of getting hold of the secret recipe are, well, nil. So, if you want to taste them, go to Hawaii, or they'll ship them to you frozen and you can cook them yourself. The other option, of course, is to come up with a recipe that resembles the tasty morsels of ribs served at Azeka's.

The place to start is with the meat. As noted, the cut used is beef short ribs, which may come as a surprise to some. Most associate short ribs with thick, five-centimetre-wide pieces of meat that require long, slow cooking to make them tender. For Maui-style ribs, however, the short ribs are thinly cut, one-centimetre-thick, long strips that become tender by deliciously marinating the meat, not slowly cooking it.

The result is short ribs that take 10 to 12 minutes to cook, not two hours. As for the marinade, the key balancing act is between the salt from the soy sauce and the sweetness from the cane sugar (sold at some supermarkets and Asian markets). In a first go-around, I used three parts soy to one part sugar. It wasn't quite right for my taste, so I opted to go with two parts soy to one part sugar. That may sound like a lot of sugar, but when I tasted the ribs, they were sumptuously sweet, not overly sweet.

I added the ginger, garlic and sesame oil in small amounts until I achieved the somewhat subtle, I-know-you're-still-there flavour I wanted to achieve. All three ingredients have pretty powerful tastes, and if you overdo it with any one of them, they, not the ribs, could steal the show.

Is the Maui-style rib recipe I came up with like the one served at Azeka's? Likely not. And that's a good thing, because it's nice to have secret food finds that keep you wondering why they're so delicious. That being said, my ribs were tasty and can be cooked indoors or outdoors. Because of the high sugar content in the marinade, you need to cook the ribs over medium heat -- any hotter and the sugar will burn before the ribs are done.

Eric Akis's columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday. The best-selling author can be reached at ericakis@shaw.ca

Maui-style Beef Short Ribs

I used Kikkoman soy sauce in the marinade. It's a little lighter in colour and didn't turn the ribs a deep black colour, which some of the darker soy sauces do. I didn't want that to occur with my ribs because they'd be darker and less appealing-looking once cooked. Preparation time: 10 minutes, plus marinating time. Cooking time: 10-12 minutes.

Makes: 4 servings

8, 5 to 6 bone, thinly cut strips of beef short ribs, about 3 1/2 lbs (see note)

1 1/2 cups soy sauce

3/4 cup cane sugar

3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 1/2 tsp sesame oil

Place the ribs in a sided dish just large enough for a single, slightly overlapping layer. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and stir to dissolve the sugar into the soy sauce. Pour over the ribs. Cover and marinate the ribs in the fridge at least 8 hours, or overnight, turning them occasionally. Preheat an indoor or outdoor grill to medium heat.

Remove the meat from the marinade; discard the marinade. Lightly oil the surface, then grill the ribs 5 to 6 minutes per side, until cooked through but still juicy. Adjust the heat downward if they're darkening too quickly. Note: At some supermarkets, unmarinated, thinly cut short ribs are labeled Maui-style short ribs. Eric's options: After marinating, these ribs could be frozen raw -- something you may wish to do with half the ribs if you're only feeding two. Thaw them overnight in the fridge the day before you intend to cook them.

© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

The link below has the recipe from epicurious. I've always had good success with the recipes from that site. If you google there are many more but they all have the same basic ingriedents. I'm going for it!!

David

I haven't smoked anything in at least two weeks so I will have to break out the smoker. I picked up some applewood chips and some baby back ribs so far. I think I should be able to fit a pork butt on there since these ribs are so small. Now the hunt is on to figure out the best rub and the best sauce. I have been using Sweet Baby Rays but I plan to make a batch of Ina Gartens to try.

Barbecue Sauce:

1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large onion)

1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup tomato paste (10 ounces)

1 cup cider vinegar

1 cup honey

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 cup hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

In a large saucepan on low heat, saute the onions and garlic with the vegetable oil for 10 to 15 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not browned. Add the tomato paste, vinegar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes. Simmer uncovered on low heat for 30 minutes. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator.

Copyright, 1999, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, All Rights Reserved

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts

Excellent ideas all! David, I am definitely going to talk to my butcher about the short ribs - those sounds great an much easier to eat.

Dh has requested Lou's Souvlaki recipe for one of the meals, so that is a definite. You have all given me inspiration for the other 2 nights. THANKS!

Happy and safe holiday all!

Alexa

Woo hoo! The bbq season has started! Of course, I have been known to hold an umbrella in one hand while basting ribs with the other in mid-Winter, but during the Summer heat, my grill gets plenty of use!

There is a package of pork spare ribs in my fridge waiting for me to prep them for tonight and I expect a tri tip will work it's way onto the grill tomorrow or Monday.

But, what's even better is that the first fresh corn has made it to the markets. Grilled corn, nicely caramelized, drizzled with fresh lime juice, salt and cayenne....yum! I can't remember if I have posted these recipes in the forum yet or not...if it's a repost, sorry about that:

Spicy Fire-Roasted Corn with Citrus

1T cayenne pepper mixed with
1 1/2 T salt.
4 ears of fresh corn (or more, if you want leftovers for roasted corn salad)
One lemon and one lime cut into wedges.

Fill a salt shaker with the salt and cayenne pepper.*

Shuck the corn and trim ends for corn skewers if you will use them at the table. If it's your first time roasting corn this way, it's a good idea to practice on one ear before committing all to the grill.

Brush your hot grill (not the corn) with a bit of oil, and using tongs, place the corn on the grill. Keep an eye on the ears, and turn them occasionally to prevent too much charring in one spot. You do want some browning and a bit of char as the caramelized bits give the corn a wonderful flavor. The corn should be done in approximately 5 minutes, depending upon the freshness and size of the ears.

Serve the corn with wedges of lemon and lime and the shaker of cayenne-salt. The diners rub the wedges all over the corn and then sprinkle with the cayenne-salt to taste.

* If you have children eating who might be put off by the cayenne, make a second shaker with equal parts of salt and sugar for them to use instead.

Leftover Roasted Corn Salad

2 ears leftover fire-roasted corn
4 T lemon/lime juice
2 T honey
1 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
2 cups assorted grated or chopped vegetables. (I like grated carrot, chopped red bell peppers, green onions, diced cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, crunchy celery, thinly sliced radishes and frozen peas, but just use up whatever odds and ends your refrigerator or garden produces! I've even added chopped apples or pears at times!)
1/4-1/3 c toasted, roughly chopped pecans, cashews or hazelnuts*
1-2 T minced fresh herbs (basil, cilantro, tarragon or parsley) -optional-

Cut leftover roasted corn from cobs into a bowl and then gently scrape the little juicy bits from the cob with the blunt side of a knife into the same bowl. Mix the lemon/lime juice, honey, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk until the honey is completely dissolved. Toss the vegetables with the dressing, and let sit at least 10 minutes for the flavors to develop. If you are adding fresh herbs, toss them in just before serving. This salad is wonderful with any simply grilled meat or fish, and pairs quite well with rice or couscous as a starch. It can also be made hours ahead, although it might soften and the colors might fade a bit if you make it the day before. Sprinkle the nuts on top of the salad before serving.

*Toasting the nuts really brings out their flavor. Before chopping, put the nuts into a pan over a medium-high heat. Shake the pan gently back and forth as though you were making popcorn until the nuts darken slightly and become fragrant.

Pre-salt a chicken (3/4 tsp/lb of chicken) today. Spatchcock (snip the backbone out with kitchen shears) and grill it on Monday. I'm not sure what I'll serve with it, yet. Grilled artichokes last week were not well received.

We have a nice big slab of spareribs thawed in the fridge. I'll rub it or salt it or something tonight for tomorrow. It's been quite a long time since we've made ribs. Christy made some potato salad today to go with it. I'd love some of that nice Florida corn to add to the menu.

Monday she might want to keep eating on the ribs so I'm thinking of some shrimp for me.

Tonight she's having sausage patties on the grill and I'm going to have some well done hotdogs. Just love grilled dogs when they get all dark and crispy on the grill. For dessert we are going to have strawberry shortcake made with some grilled pound cake. Yummm...

hubby just brought in the baked beans...next is the pork butt...

Yesterday was burgers and fries..

Tomorrow..no clue..LOL

I made Lou's Souvlaki recipe and it is very good - definitely a keeper.

Glad everyone has such great food coming - enjoy your holiday weekend everyone!

Alexa

Hey folks --

Apologies that the link I posted didn't work for some of you -- that's very odd, as I tried it again and had no problems with it. As for the phillipino BBQ recipe -- it came out okay the day of, and strangely was actually tastier the next day cold from the fridge, when the flavors seemed to have developed more...

Tomorrow I've been asked to bring my famous burgers to a cookout... And the secret to them? Bacon fat. Mmmm. Bacon fat and lawry's seasoned salt makes for a damn good burger!

Happy grilling!

Just wanted to report back that the Maui Ribs were a hit. I'll be making these again... shared the recipe with several who were here for the weekend. The teenagers really liked them. A great weekend even though we had rain in the early evening.

David