Probably hamburger....
I'm sorting CD's....and my life is full of enough decisions as it is!!

Yesterday afternoon we had some people over to celebrate our one year anniversary in our new house, and we grilled chicken thighs, chicken wings, hot Italian turkey sausage, and garlic toast. Normally I would grill marinated mushrooms and some zucchini, but it was an afternoon party and was not meant to be a meal, although it seemed to turn into that. I used bagettes for the garlic toast and sliced then into 4-5" pieces and then again lengthwise. To make the garlic butter, I mash a garlic clove in a mortar and pestle with a bit of salt and then add butter, black pepper, and olive oil. Sometimes I add fresh herbs, but when I'm grilling the toast, it doesn't need it. I only butter the inside and then grill the crust side down first so that the butter will sink in, and then I turn it over for the other side. It's my favorite way to make toast, but it has to be watched closely so that it doesn't burn.

For the chicken wings, I made a simple marinade with Korean chili paste, lime juice, garlic, olive oil, and chimichurra, which I happened to have on hand. For the thighs, I used a marinade that I had made the week before, and it had sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, olive oil, onion, black vinegar, and Serrano chilies. I use the stick blender to purée the marinades, as it is easier to clean. The Italian sausages were already made, and so I didn't have to add anything to them, and they are one of my favorites to grill. We usually grill extra, as I like to have them left over for sandwiches later.

When I'm grilling a whole meal, I generally grill a whole chicken or else salmon, which should be in season soon.

Lars

I grill EVERYTHING. Especially when its hot and I don't want to turn on a burner.

Everyone here has heard me wax euphoric over Reynolds 'non-stick' aluminum foil - I line a 1/2 sheet cake pan with it, drizzle olive oil herbs S&P and go to town with potatoes or veggies or delicate fish. My pans don't look very good from the grates, but who cares!

I seriously need to get a new grill, and I have a perfect location for it now. Claire, what kind did you get? We grill mostly with charcoal, but I'm thinking that I might want to get a new gas grill just because it would be so much more convenient. However, I do love the smoke flavor from the Mesquite charcoal - it reminds me of things in Texas that I actually liked.

Jessy, I don't know what it's like at your house, but it was in the upper 60s yesterday afternoon at my house and by 7:00 PM it was almost too cold to stay outside.

At my next party, I want to grill pizzas, and I now have three large pizza screens for just such an occasion.

Lars

Flank Steak marinated in Teriyaki Garlic and Brown Sugar!

Well Linda, I know for a fact that hamburger is just delicious, quick and easy!

Jessy, I'm about to starting grilling everything myself! My new grill even has a side burner which is new for this location, although I used to keep an antique cookstove near the back door at another house for cooking ''everything'' outside. It's just a different configuration, even if it's much the same.

Lars, that sounds good! I'm thinking about grilling a loaf of slices (of garlic toast) myself, just to see where the hot spots are. I figure I'll find out in a hurry. Happy Anniversary to you and your brother; May you have many more happy years in your ''new'' house!

Lars, our local hardware store was having their 30% off sale, so we went for a Weber Genesis. It's a little beefy, but the quality seems really good. It heated up to 650 in 10 minutes, so it's powerful compared to what we were using before. It has three burners (in addition to the side burner), and I love the electronic ignition. It will be much easier to cook indirectly than the way I was attempting to before, and I'm looking forward to the first rack of ribs. I've looked at grills for quite a while, but hadn't got the bug until the sale happened. Amazing what a sale will do to help spend your money!

That grill pan from WS is great for veggies and I love it for shrimp marinated in various things. Fast, easy, and you don't have to mess with skewers. I do use them for bacon wrapped shrimp though. Another fave is grilled pineapple with teriyaki chicken breast...yum! Burgers, dogs, bratts, steaks, beer can chicken, pork loin, and corn on the cob to name a few. A friend made bacon wrapped jalepeno poppers a couple of weeks ago that were wonderful. Love my grills...both gas and charcoal. Then there is the smoker..another great source for cooking.

David

I see all kinds of gizmos now for grilling stuff.

One that intrigues me is a rack to hold stuffed jalapenos.

I have a smoke box designed to fit into a gas grill, I could stuff some jalapenos, grill them and smoke them at the same time. Those sound good.

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On a grill I like stuffed burgers. Pretty simple, take your regular burger portion and split it in half.
Add a bit to one half and make two thin and fairly large diameter burgers.

Place your fixings on the larger one, top with the second one and work that seam to fit it together.

Grilling is quick, as the burger is thin.

Blue cheese crumbles are one of my faves, both onion and mushrooms need be sauteed first as they are too wet. Bacon crumbles and cheddar is good. I make a sort of onion marmalade that goes real nice with some slivers of hot peppers. Stuff them with whatever you like. Guests sure seem to like them.

Don't use shredded or slices of cheese, use cubes or chunks, so the heat just melts them instead of melting and then dripping out.

Oh Claire! I know this is going to sound silly, but I'd completely forgotten that my bbq has a side burner! I honestly have never used it! Wonderful! Now I have one more resource available for cooking outside instead of heating up my kitchen! The other day, I dragged my electric griddle out to the patio to simmer some stock and never thought for a moment about the bbq burner!

My absolute favorite grill dinner is a tri tip roast, rubbed very simply with garlic & onion powders, celery salt, pepper & paprika...medium rare...with grilled mixed vegetables & grilled potato wedges.

Korean beef bulgogi is another favorite.

The weakest part of my cooking skills involves seafood, but anyone can grill salmon or tuna or halibut. Yum.

Went to a last minute cookout the other day. Found some frozen salmon steaks in the freezer. I thawed them for about 20 min. in cold water. Made a quick butter/garlic/parsley mix and covered the non skin side of the fish. Into foil packets and onto the grill. About 10 minutes later it was done. Really good.

Jo

Last night was salmon and asparagus. The salmon took longer than I anticipated and I burned the asparagus :(

Elery grills a lot, I don't grill at all, I don't like grilled food enough to mess around with it that much.

We just had fish tacos made with tilapia, it was OK, I'm not that wild about tilapia and last week he grilled salmon which I liked much better.

Lars, has it really been a year already? My word, it seems like you just moved in!

Annie

One of my favourite things on the grill is pizza! Fun to make and oh so good.

I place all the toppings in little bowls, mushrooms, bell peppers, hot peppers, crumbled sausage, sauce, feta, olives ,fresh moz, thinly sliced tomatoes, pepperoni, ham, proscuitto, etc. I don't always have them all but I generally have at least 2 cheeses, 2 meats and 4 veggies.

Sausage, mushrooms and bell peppers are sauted in advance because there isn't enough time for them to cook on the pizza.

I form the dough into individual size pizzas grill on one side, let everyone top their pizzas on the grilled side and then back on the grill to cook the other side and warm/melt the toppings. I use the unlit side of the hot BBQ for this step.

David, I bought the mesh grill pan yesterday, and looking forward to giving it a test run.

Rachelellen, I'm glad you remembered you have a burner on your grill! I'd much rather be cookin' with gas, and now I can.

Jo, I haven't cooked much fish, but need to experiment. I like to learn new things, and 10 minutes sounds like my kind of cooking.

Annie, you don't like grilled foods?

Sharon, now that I know how to make pizza (finally), I'm ready to branch out to the grill. I agree advance preparation is key when making pizza. I'll post when that happens so you can feel sad for all the failures I may have before I achieve success!

Claire, grilled foods are OK, but nothing that I like any better than foods prepared by other methods. I'd just as soon have a steak seared in a cast iron skillet as I would on a grill, as long as they are very rare I'd enjoy either one. I don't care about ground meat, so burgers don't matter to me either way. (shrug)

I'll eat grilled stuff and enjoy it but I'm too impatient to watch it, turn it, put it over indirect heat, etc. Mine comes out raw in the middle, blackened outside because I do not have the patience or the attention span to stand by a grill for half an hour and do nothing else.

Elery did ribs on the grill last night. They were good, but no better (IMO) than those done in the oven.

The ones in the smoker, now those are something else entirely, but I still don't like them well enough to learn to use the smoker consistently, Elery does that too. I make the brines, the rubs, the sauces, Elery does the grilling and smoking. He's far more patient than I am, and when the stuff is done we eat some and I give most of the leftovers to the girls and the grandkids, they really appreciate it much more than I do.

It's not a matter of not liking it, I like it fine. I like other ways of cooking just as well and they aren't as annoying to me. If I loved the grilled flavor, I'm sure it would be worth the time and effort to do it well.

Annie

I love my mesh grill basket! Wish I could fit two of them on the grill at the same time.

I'm thinking grilled teriyaki chicken or teriyaki steaks tonight.

This is what we've grilled in the last few weeks:

Don't laugh (or gag:) ~ alligator sausage. It was delicious! Bison steaks ~
We are trying to perfect Bison burgers. I am close, but not exactly there! Any suggestions --without adding fat.

Also shrimp, salmon, mahi-mahi, ham slice, roasted veggies, including radish and Brussels sprouts, Romaine lettuce - sliced in half for a salad (yum) - recipe posted on "new recipes" thread a few months ago.

Also grilled fresh pineapple slices and mangoes- peaches are great grilled also.

We grill as much as we can. The Pizzas, tho, are cooked in our Breville Toaster Oven (worth every penny!)

I love the non stick aluminum foil as well. I also have different baskets, and and screens for the veggies and the seafood. Long handle silicon basting brush is a must!
Enjoy your new grill!

We just got a new grill too. ItÂs not the quality of the Weber and we knew this going in (cheaper stainless steal), but we really wanted the Infrared cooking at a decent price, so we purchased the Char-Broil Red. We hooked it up to our natural gas, so we are good to go!

Filet Mignon tonight and Bourbon Planked Salmon tomorrow night. :-)

"I love my mesh grill basket! Wish I could fit two of them on the grill at the same time.
I had the same issue, not enough room in those things. I drew a plan out, dimensions, size of hole, etc. for one big (huge actually) grill topper (covers about 2/3 of my grates) and took it to my local fabrication shop. Told the guy I was in no real hurry, do it when they had time and that I'd certainly reward the metal worker with a case of his favourite brew as well as pay for it. Two weeks later, stainless beauty was ready for pick up at a cost of a case of beer and about $70, if memory serves. We use it for all manner of things, pizza turns out better than directly on the grill. I made one side lower than the others. It faces me so I can toss away but still get in horizontal, keeping my hands outside the sear zone.

"We are trying to perfect Bison burgers. I am close, but not exactly there! Any suggestions --without adding fat.

Bison is pretty lean, I'm afraid you will have to add some fat to get away from that grainy, mealy mouthfeel. I've made bison sausages and they really don't work well unless you add fat. Bison steaks, on the other hand...

I got a Char-Broil too. Love it. Love grilling. I made a bunch of teriyaki-marinated chix breasts last night. I like having the leftover meat to make sandwiches for lunch during the week.

Question: how long does a propane tank for a patio grill last?
About how many uses?

Gina, it all depends on the number of burners and the BTU output of your grill. Also how often you use it. Guessing, I think I get about 12-14 hours of grill time from a 20lb. tank. That's a combination of using high heat on all four burners or indirect with only two burner on. I've kept a second tank on hand for years now in case I run out while cooking. Yes, that has happened to me more than once in the past.

Another trick you can use to see how much propane you have left is to pour hot water down the side of the tank. Wait a few seconds and the tank should feel cool at the level of propane left.

Here is a link from Char-Broil.

David

Here is a link that might be useful: How long will my propane tank last.

Gina, I second David's idea re the second tank. It's just so much easier than worrying if you have enough and once you switch them you can take your time refilling it.

I love a simple, stress free life!

Yes, to everyone's suggestion of a second tank. We always keep one on hand; it saves a lot of angst.

Magothyrivergirl, I've always added shredded cheese to bison burgers. I know you didn't want added fat, but you really need it, and the cheese helps the moisture factor (and mouth feel like Metaxa mentioned) when it's so lean.

Metaxa, your grill topper sounds great.

Angelaid, the mesh roasting basket at WS looked like something I'd be able to fit two of on my grill if that looks like a possibility. There's no handle to detach or get in the way either, and I liked the long rectangular shape.

I've seen some KitchenAid mesh grill baskets with lids. What's the point of having a lid?

Gina: have your fab contractor hook you up to gas. We did!

I'm a "GRILL BASKET" lover too !!! Beer can chicken, Sirloin Steaks with Grilled Mushrooms,Hot Italian Sausages, Sockeye Salmon, Barbecue Ribs,and Hamburgers. I grill almost everything I can. I just love the Barbecued Foods !!! Diana55

Do you like potato salad?
Do you like grilled veggies?
Do you enjoy a twinge of smoke flavour?

Take all the veggies you would use in potato salad and grill them, cool and then chop to salad size. I do this the day before.

Take new potatoes, before the skins harden up, chop in half and smoke them for a short while. (Maybe a half hour?) While still warm, cut them into salad sized chunks and toss with a bit of cider vinegar. Toss well, let cool.
Now put all your seasoning onto the potatoes. S&P, any special stuff like lemon zests or whatever, on the potatoes only and toss well.

Combine the veggies and mix, add your dressing and stir. Chill. Serve.

Its just potato salad but with a twist.

Goes with all that stuff you are doing on the grill.
Plus you get to grill, smoke and muck about in the kitchen. Not much better than that.

I have had exactly one grilling weekend so far this year. Such is weather in the Pac NW in 2010. I "grilled" a paella. If summer ever comes, I'll get to try out my new grill basket.

I have a few questions - if you don't mind...

1. Could you tell me what you use the basket for? Sounds popular, but IÂm not sure how I would use it. FatherÂs Day is coming  might be a good gift for DH.

2. IÂve been trying to find a good Teriyaki Chicken recipe and so far IÂve failed. Who know it would be so hard? Please share your favorite recipe.

3. Skirt Steak. CostCo has some pre-marinated skirt stake that looks really good. I just donÂt know how to cook or use it. IÂm guess it will grill up pretty fast  right? Then do you just slice and eat it as is?

4. Who uses chips for smoke? One of the benefits of the Char-Broil Red is that I can through chips below the grates (no exposed flames). What should I purchase? Can I use chips all the time?

Jeri, I haven't used it yet, but it looks like it's used for shrimp, or small vegetables that may fall through the grates. (I seem to have a lot of trouble with things falling through the grates, like onions, green beans, peas, asparagus, peppers, etc.)

I used this garlic, chili paste marinade on skirt steak the second time I used my new grill. It was absolutely delicious, and I'll be making it the same way again. I'll post the recipe.

For smoke, I prefer chunks, not chips. They seem to last longer. I read a hot tip about pressure cooking your wood in water, to really get them soaked in a hurry. I don't think the brand really matters as long as you use the type of wood you like best.

Here's the recipe I used for skirt steak. It was for flank steak, but worked as well on the skirt steak, which is what I had. It's an ATK recipe:

Gas Grilled Marinated Flank (or Skirt) Steak
1 (2-lb.) whole flank (or skirt) steak, trimmed
1 t. table salt
1 recipe wet paste marinade
vegetable oil for the cooking grate
1/4 t. ground black pepper

Garlic-Chile Wet Paste Marinade
6 T. vegetable oil (I use light olive oil)
6 medium garlic cloves, minced (about 2 T.)
2 scallions, minced
1 T. minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 medium jalapeno chile, minced

Puree all the marinade ingredients until smooth.

Pat the steak dry with paper towels and plate it on a rimmed baking sheet. Using a dinner fork, prick the steak about 20 times on each side. Rub both sides of the steak evenly with the salt, and then with the paste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour, or up to 24 hours. (24 hours is my pick!)

Turn all the burners to high and heat the grill, with the lid down, until very hot, about 15 minutes. Use a grill brush to scrape the cooking grate clean. Dip a wad of paper towels in the oil; holding the wad with tongs, oil the cooking grate. Leave all the burners on high.

Using paper towels, wipe the paste off the steak; season both sides with the pepper. Grill the steak until well browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Using tongs, flip the steak; grill until the second side is well browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the steak reads 125 degrees for medium rare and 135 degrees for medium, 3 to 6 minutes. If the exterior of the meat is browned but the meat is not yet cooked through, move the steak to the cooler side of the grill and continue to grill to the desired doneness. Transfer the steak to a carving board.

Tent the steak loosely with foil; let rest 5 to 10 minutes. Using a sharp chef's knife or carving knife, slice the steak about 1/4 inch thick against the grain and on the bias. Serve immediately.

That sounds delicious Claire - Thanks. I'll add that to my list. I want to try a Pizza soon as well. :-)

I would really like to learn how to do veggies like BeniHanaÂs (or equivalent). I wonder if the basket would work for this???

Grill baskets are good for grilling veggies, like chunks of zucchini and onion and peppers...mushrooms...
Also good for chunked up potatoes that you have tossed with oil and seasoning....chicken wings, shrimp, little smokey sausages even pineapple chunks...
Annie....you have patience for piping frosting around a cake but not for turning chicken on a grill???
Tell ya what....you pipe the frosting, I'll turn the chicken!
Linda C

LindaC, I don't really have patience for that cake decorating either, I make two or three a year. I took a cake decorating class and learned that I really hate decorating cakes, so I do special requests only.

I do like grilled foods, I just hate the process of grilling. That's why I bought a $59 grill and I assembled it and it works, but I never use it.

I did a duck today in a countertop convection oven because it was hot and I didn't want to turn on the oven but I also didn't want to fiddle with that blasted grill. Elery is painting the house so I didn't want to ask him to smoke the duck.

Annie