Saucy Contessa » BBQ Courtyard

Great BBQ Chicken

Saucy Mama — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:26:31 +0000

I just found this great BBQ Chicken recipe online from Demopolis Times, a little newspaper from Alabama. What I really liked about it is that it calls for hot sauce of your choice, and you can adjust the amount you add (as long as it’s between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup). It would also be fun to add a couple of your favorite sauces! I also think it would be good on other cuts of chicken as well. I’m definitely going to try this one out over the holiday weekend. Let me know if you do too!

Buffalo Chicken Breast

1 stick unsalted butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 tsp plus 2 tbsp ancho chili powder

one fourth cup hot sauce (you can make it one half cup if you like it hot)

2 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

4 chicken breast

2 tbsp plus 2 tsp ground cumin

canola oil

Preheat the grill to medium; make sure the grill is ready for cooking over indirect heat.

In the kitchen while the grill is getting hot, melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the 2 tablespoons ancho powder and heat for 10 seconds. Stir in hot sauce and honey and season with salt and pepper. Remove about 1/4 cup for garnish, and keep both portions warm.

Season each side of the chicken breasts with 1 teaspoon each ancho powder, and cumin, and the salt and pepper. Drizzle canola oil over the both sides. Grill over indirect medium heat, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Flip the chicken, keeping it on indirect heat, and brush with a good amount of the hot sauce glaze. Cover and cook, brushing occasionally with sauce, until cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Top with blue cheese dressing or ranch for that truly buffalo style taste.

NPR 2010 BBQ Books

Saucy Mama — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:30:40 +0000

NPR picks a list of summer books each year. This year’s cookbook list featured two great BBQ books – Planet BBQ and BBQ 25. The whole article can be found here: NPR 2010 Cookbooks.

McCain’s BBQ

Saucy — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:22:17 +0000

This is NOT an endorsement of McCain, but I really like the guy — I don’t believe in many of his views (war being the BIG one), but any Presidential candidate that can show off his BBQ skills to the press gets brownie points in my book!

From CBS News’ Dante Higgins:

PAGE SPRINGS, ARIZ. — John McCain has been campaigning hard for months and his traveling press corps has been working just as hard in covering him. So, this weekend McCain played host to a handful of senators and governors at his Arizona vacation home and today the press joined the party.

Two shuttle buses rode in with about 40 journalists onto what could be McCain’s version of President Bush’s Crawford ranch if he wins in November.

As reporters filed in, McCain, who stood by the grill tending to ribs and chicken, shook everybody’s hands as they passed. The receiving line continued as Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah, and former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, lounged on McCain’s large deck that wrapped around his cabin.

McCain wore a white sweatshirt with a silk-screened family photo on it, sunglasses, a green baseball cap and blue jeans. As grillmaster, he looked like the all-American dad, with a story for every spot in the house. He explained that he loved to grill because it was social. He said it gave him something to do with his nervous energy while everyone could enjoy food and drink.

He shared his recipe for “practically” fat-free ribs. He rubs a salt, pepper and garlic powder mixture onto the ribs along with lemon and cooks them for an hour and a half to allow most of the fat to fall off. Fat-free or not, the ribs lived up to the hype. After three servings, I’m confident in reporting they were succulent and flavorful.

Our invitation to the barbecue came with restrictions. It began as an on-the-record gathering, then shifted to an off-the-record event. McCain staffers say they wanted to allow the event to be more of a social than a work event. In the end, it was back on-the-record but no video or audio equipment was allowed. Most people adhered to these rules but a few audio recorders made their way in. A handful of reporters stood next to McCain with notepads in hand, unwilling to let this story go by unreported.

After McCain greeted reporters he continually turned meat on the grill and offered pieces as they became ready. He politely explained that he wasn’t doing interviews but that didn’t stop the crowd from standing around the grill taking photos and asking questions. He even told reporters to walk around and take a look at the place, but after he realized the press wasn’t going to leave him alone, he took them on a walk instead.

McCain led a dozen reporters around as he carried tongs and a knife in his hands. The first stop was to a blackhawk’s nest where he said he once watched a mother teach her baby bird how to fly.

The décor of McCain’s house had a southwest flavor. Navajo rugs don the walls and floors. Well worn couches and chairs furnish the lower level of his home, which has exposed brick, wooden door frames, and paneling. In one room, political cartoons of McCain from the 2000 election cover the walls.

Cindy McCain decorated most of the other walls in the home with family photos, and drawings and paintings by their children.

We ate at tables along a creek that ran past his house. Beef tamales, hamburgers, sausages, potato salad and pastas were on the menu in addition to McCain’s grilled chicken and ribs. The McCain’s have two dogs, Coco and Sam, who tag-teamed each table during dinner looking for scraps.

Infrared Gas Grill

Saucy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:43:51 +0000

We haven’t seen one yet, but found this review and wanted to pass this on for those that "need" a new grill! Saucy might just be able to justify this one…..although it does seem that it’s not built as well as it should be for the price ($700 @ Home Depot!!!!)

Char-Broil RED 3-Zone Infrared Grill (Model# 463250108)

Guide Rating –

The Bottom Line

Perhaps the most innovative mass market grill on the market this year (2008), the Char-Broil RED is a low cost, all infrared gas grill. On one hand, you might say that this grill is little more than a gas fired box that roasts instead of grills. On the other hand this grill can hit temperatures of nearly 700 degrees and almost never flares-up. The design of this grill lets it cook between low and slow barbecue and steak searing temperatures. On the down side this grill uses low quality stainless steel and plastic parts that might limit its durability. The biggest question is how long the internal "trough" will last.

Pros

High, efficient heating
Low price all infrared design
Doesn’t flare-up

Cons

Low quality 430 stainless steel construction
Questionable durability of the trough section of the cooking chamber

Description

Three 11,500 BTU stainless steel tubular burners
550 square inches primary cooking area with a total grilling area of 750 square inches
34,500 BTU maximum output from the main burners
13,000 BTU standard side burner under a flush mounted cover
Unique "infrared" design produces high temperatures from a low BTU output
Heavy porcelain coated cast iron cooking grates
Electronic Ignition
Painted steel and stainless steel (400 series) construction
Propane tank, rotisserie kit, and cover sold separately
Sold Exclusively through Home Depot Stores

Guide Review – Char-Broil RED 3-Zone Infrared Grill (Model# 463250108)

Hold your hand over a burning flame and feel the hot air raising from the fire. This is the kind of heat most grills use to cook food. This is the ancient power of cooking. Now place your hand to the side of the fire and feel the radiant heat. This is infrared energy. The heat you feel from the sun is infrared. For many years, grill makers have used a variety of techniques to produce infrared gas grills. The Char-Broil RED isolates a set of gas burners under a metal shell that keeps hot air out of the cooking area of a grill and radiates infrared energy at the food you want to cook. This low cost solution isn’t new, but the marketing certainly is. The result of all this is that this grill can produce temperatures low enough for barbecue and hot enough to sear a steak.

This grill comes equipped with a standard function 13,000 BTU side burner. Since the burners are isolated there is virtually no chance of flare-ups and so you won’t need a rotisserie burner. Basically, this is a full function gas grill (rotisserie kit optional) for around $600USD.

Inside this grill, under the heavy porcelain coated cast iron cooking grates, are the two "troughs." These U-shaped buckets separate the burners from the cooking chamber, eliminating the flow of hot air and radiating infrared energy at the cooking surface. The troughs are porcelain coated sheet metal that are labeled easy to clean. One problem is how long they will last. Metal expands under high temperatures, while porcelain doesn’t. Once the porcelain cracks the metal underneath, usually from exposure to drippings and moisture, it will rust. As soon as there is a hole through this part, the grill will fail. Combine this with the low grade stainless steel parts and plastic knobs and you have a grill with a limited lifespan. Fortunately, this grill uses only small amounts of the inferior materials.

Blues & Smoke…..What More Can You Want?

Saucy — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:17:21 +0000

Holy Smoke: Blues Fest group to host BBQ fundraiser

Heavenly scents and divine tastes will invade Cañon City this June during the inaugural Royal Gorge Holy Smoke Barbeque Showdown on the former Abbey football field.

“This is going to be a great thing for the community,” said Jay Bouton, one of the event organizers. “It’s going to be big. We expect teams from all over the country.”

Appropriately named for its location at the former monastery, the Holy Smoke competition is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society and will abide by its rules.

“We will have professional and amateur teams,” Bouton said.

The event is a fundraiser for the Belvedere Blues Foundation, known formally as the Fremont Community Nonprofit Center Foundation, and picks up where the Upper Arkansas Area Council of Governments barbeque competition left off.

“The Blues Foundation has been looking for a second fundraiser to kind of split up the year,” said Bouton, senior vice president of the organization. “We’ve been looking for a spring or summer event to complement the successful Blues Fest every fall.”

Bouton said when the UAACOG dropped its barbeque event last year, the Blues Fest hoped to step in with help from the previous sponsors.

“They’re going to help us,” Bouton said, “and with our event skills from the Blues Festival — we have so many wonderful volunteers – it will make for a great combination.”

Scheduled June 27 and 28, the event will feature 30 to 40 teams competing for cash prizes and bragging rights. A variety of barbeque and beer will be available, and music will keep the event hopping throughout the weekend.

“We’re hoping to get the Continental Kids to headline Friday night,” Bouton said, “and we’ll also have plenty of other high-caliber music, like what we’re used to seeing at the Blues Festival.”

The Colorado Mounted Rangers will provide event security, while Steve Lindner donated the use of the former Abbey football field. Various vendors also will participate throughout the weekend.

“This could be bigger than the Blues Festival within three to five years,” said foundation president Mike Merlino. “The foundation has brought in over $260,000 for nonprofits in the last seven years.”

The special event liquor license for the event was approved unanimously Monday night during the Liquor Licensing Council Meeting.

Admission to the event will be $5 per person, with 12 and under admitted free. The foundation is seeking volunteers to help with the event.

More information soon will be posted online at www.belvederebluesfest.com.

How To Trim Some Fat Off!

Saucy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:22:37 +0000

from our friends at eatbetteramerica.com….. some great tips on how to cut some of the fat out of traditional BBQ!

With a few fun additions and some subtle changes to how you cook, your backyard can become an open-air entertainment and fitness center.

On the Grill Unbeef the Burgers. Reduce the meat in burgers and spare yourself some of the fat without noticing the difference. Simply replace about an eighth of the meat with veggies. Finely chop and sauté onions, peppers, shredded carrots, or zucchini, and blend into the patties. To go completely vegetarian, throw a portobello mushroom on the grill. The mushroom’s texture is similar to steak and tastes good with all the regular burger condiments.

Check the Oil. To reduce fat in foods grilled with marinades, swap oil for mild fruit or vegetable juices, canned broth, or plain yogurt. However, leave in 1 tablespoon of oil to help prevent the food from sticking to the grill.

Get Game. Instead of the traditional ground beef, turkey, or chicken burgers, get some game—game meats, that is. They may contain less fat than commercially produced meats. A couple good examples to look for: venison chops, buffalo burgers, and elk steaks.

Trim Chicken. While cooking, leave the skin on the chicken breast to retain moisture, and then remove it before serving. This will reduce the number of calories and fat.