Yesterday at work we had our annual chili cook off.  This year I tried to make something a little more unique than the other contestants, which it seemed like majority of the candidates tried to do the same thing.  We had recipes that ranged from your traditional chili, pumpkin spice, chili, cranberry chili, vegetarian chilies, and then I ended up with a pork chile verde.  In the past I tried to come up with recipes that were outside my taste profile, so my goal was to use ingredients that I like to use with my grilling.  This is a pretty involved recipe, that also introduced my little friend, Mr. Peno, Jala Peno (a stuffed jalapeno that is).

The first stage of the recipe is to make the chile verde, the ingredients needed are:

• 2 to 2 1/2 pounds tomatillos
• 1 bunch cilantro, clean and roughly chopped
• 2 poblano peppers
• 2 jalapenos, seeds and membranes removed
• 10 garlic cloves, unpeeled

Instructions:

1. Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse well.
2. Cut the tomatillos in half, and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet
3. Take the unpeeled garlic cloves to the baking sheet
4. Broil the tomatillos and garlic fro about 7 – 10 minutes, or until the tomatillos start to slightly blacken.
5. Remove from broiler and let cool off.
6. Roast the poblano peppers over an open fire until the skins start to blacken.  You can use the broiler for this step too, as I did this time due to the weather outside.
7. Place the poblano peppers in a bag and let rest for about 10 minutes.
8. After 10 minutes, remove the poblano peppers from the bag, and remove the outer skin of the peppers.
9. Place the tomatillos, cilantro, poblanos, jalapenos, and garlic cloves (squeeze from peel) into a food processor/blender and blend until are ingredients are finely chopped and mix.

To prepare the pork, you will need:

• 5 – 6 pounds pork shoulder (can use pork steaks, as the pre-sliced pork shoulder is easier to handle)
• 2 tablespoons whole Mexican oregano, crushed
• 2 tablespoons dried cilantro
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin (buy whole, and ground yourself).
• 3 tablespoons chili powder (Make your own: Chile Powder Recipe)
• 2 tablespoons granulated onion powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated garlic
• 1 tablespoon lime salt
• 3 tablespoons whole annatto seeds, finely ground (available at Mexican grocery stores and spice stores, such as Penzeys.)
• Olive oil

Instructions:

1. Combine all the dry spices and mix well.
2. Cut the pork shoulder into about 1 – 1 1/2 inch cubes
3. Heat up a skillet with olive oil
4. Take a little bit of the cubed pork and season it and place in the skillet (work with small batches at a time in the skillet) to brown on each side of the pork, remove and place on a plate. Continue with rest of the pork till it is all lightly browned, added more olive oil as needed.

To combine everything into the chili you will need:

• 2 sweet yellow onions, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 4 to 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons dried cilantro
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 tablespoon lime salt
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• Juice of 2 limes

Instructions:

1. Place the chopped onions into the same skillet as you cooked the pork (keep about 2 tablespoons of the oil/grease/spice mixture left behind in it) and sauté the onions until soft, about 7 minutes.  Make sure to constantly stir around.
2. Add the chile verde, pork, sautéed onions to a large soup pot.
3. Add enough chicken stock to fully cover the pork inside the pot.
4. Add in the dried cilantro, ground cloves, lime salt, and chili powder, and the lime juice.
5. Bring pot to a boil, and reduce down to a light simmer and cook uncovered for 2 to 2 1/2 hours (The pork should be extremely tender).

Optional, garnishments:

• Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos (the Mr. Peno, Jala Peno of the recipe)
• Lime Wedges
• Finely chopped cilantro
• Freshly made corn tortilla chips/strips (place oilve oil on both sides of corn tortillas, slice tortillas, bake at 450 for about 6 minutes.

To serve the chili, I prepared the bowls by:

• Placing desired amount of chili in the bowl
• Place a lime wedge on the side
• Attached the stuffed jalapenos to the lime wedges with the toothpick holding the bacon on the stuffed jalapeno
• Place a sprig of cilantro into the top the stuffed jalapno (Mr. Peno’s umbrella)
• Place a little bit of chopped cilantro in the center of the bowl
• Place freshly backed corn tortilla strips around the chopped cilantro
• Place to larger pieces of freshly backed corn tortillas on the side of the bowl.

This chili took the most unique/decorative category of the chili competition, but my unbiased opinion, it was the best overall chili there (ok, must be biased, since I didn’t get a chance to try others with all the prep work I did).  This is definitely one of the best and unique chilies that I have eaten.

Here is what you’ll need:

• 2 large sweet onions
• Dijon Mustard
• BBQ Sauce

To get started slice off the top and bottom of the onion and remove the outer layer of the onions.  Next slice the onion into 8ths from top to bottom, stopping about 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch from the bottom of the onion.  Carefully flower the onions by gently pulling apart the different layers in an outward motion.

Place each onion on its own piece of aluminum foil.  Cover one onion with the Dijon mustard and the other with BBQ sauce.  Loosely wrap the onions in aluminum foil, with a toothpick prick holes in the foil to let some of the smoke from the grill to get in (not necessary if you are using a gas grill).

Place the wrapped onions on a grill over medium direct heat and let cook for about 45 minutes on the grill.  Carefully remove from grill, pullback the foil and let cool a bit.

After cooled, just take pieces off the onions and enjoy!

At first, Miss Sweetie was attracted to Mr. Promise, as his nontraditional ways.  However as they talked, she noticed something was not quite right and his personality was very dull, even though he did have a nice minty scent to him.

Miss Sweetie decided to pay a visit to Mr. Bold’s table.  Right off the bat, Miss Sweetie and Mr. Bold hit it off.  Their personalities were a great compliment to each other, and she realized that she wasn’t really looking for someone to take care of, but someone to help take care of each other with.  With Mr. Bold’s personality, she knew she has found what she was looking for.  The two were inseparable after that night.

This story is about three rib recipes.  One using my traditional BBQ rub (Mr. Bold), which provides a bold BBQ flavor, with a kick of spiciness to it.  The second one (Miss Sweetie), was a recipe I put together to come up with a sweet rib recipe (for my wife). The final recipe, Mr. Promise, was a recipe I searched for online.  I was trying to find a use of dried Spearmint (the minty scent).

I knew Mr. Bold was going to come out of the smoker with a lot of flavor.  I had some small hopes for Miss Sweetie.  I was kind of interested in what Mr. Promise would end up like as it had a lot of good strong flavors with dried spearmint and Dijon mustard.

The results were Mr. Bold and Miss Promise had amazing flavors.  I definitely hit the sweet spot with Miss Sweetie, and this became my wife’s favorite rub recipe to date.  Not sure what happened to Mr. Promise, but it definitely seems the ingredients cancelled themselves out, and came out with a very dull flavor to them.

Ingredients:

• 3 racks of pork back ribs
• Jay’s BBQ Rub
• Miss. Sweetie Rub (below)
• Mr. Promise Wet Rub (below)

Instructions:

Prepare the pork back ribs by removing the membrane from the back side of the racks.  The simplest method to do this is to separate the membrane on one end with a butter knife or another dull type knife.  As you separate it grab hold of the part that is coming off and slowly pull across the rack of ribs to remove the entire membrane.  This takes a bit of getting use to, but once you do, you will be able to remove the membrane from a rack of ribs in under a minute.

Rub the first rack of ribs with Jay’s BBQ Rub, the second with the Miss. Sweetie Rub, and the final one with the Mr. Promise rub.  Wrap each one separately in aluminum foil and let sit for about 4 hours.

After 4 hours, place in smoker and smoke at 225 degrees for 4 – 5 hours.  The meat should be pull tender, should be able to separate the ribs by giving a slight tug between 2 bones.  Another good sign of them being done is the meat will start pulling back from the end of the bones.  Ribs should not be falling off the bone tender (usually sign of boiled ribs).

Miss Sweetie Rub:

• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1 tablespoon sweet French basil
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seed
• 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
• 1 tablespoon sweet Hungarian Paprika

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Store in air tight container until ready to use.

Mr. Promise Wet Rub:

• 4 cloves Garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon dried Mediterranean oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried spearmint
• 1 tablespoon apple cider
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh zest of lemon
• juice of 1/2 a lemon

Combine all ingredients into a blender and mix well.  Transfer to an air tight container and place in refrigerator you are ready to use.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoon whole Mexican Oregano, crushed
• 2 teaspoon dried cilantro
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon granulated onion powder
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon lime salt
• 3 teaspoon smokey sweet pepper seasoning
• Chicken breasts
• Pork steak
• Tomatoes, diced
• Cilantro, chopped
• A good Mexican cheese
• Lettuce
• Guacamole
• Sour Cream
• White corn tortillas, warmed up

Instructions:

1. Make the rub by mixing the first 8 ingredients together in a bowl
2. Rub the spice mixture into the chicken breasts and pork steaks
3. Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.
4. Place the chicken and pork steaks on the grill, and grill till completely cooked, flipping the meat once about half way through cooking.
5. Remove the meat from the grill and dice up the chicken and pork, and place in separate bowls.
6. Place the remaining ingredients into separate bowls
7. Let people form their own tacos.

I love a good steak, but to make a steak great, you need a simple, but great rub.  Here is what I use for my steak rub (also good on chicken, turkey, pork, vegetables, and almost anything else with the exception of toast, don’t ask):

• 1 tablespoon cracked peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons granulated garlic
• 1 teaspoon Spanish paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, finely ground

Put a good coating on both sides of the steak and put on high grill over direct heat for about 1 1/2 minutes per side for a searing (caramelization, not trapping the juices in).  Move to indirect heat till desired doneness is reached (and leather is not a valid desired doneness).

This is a simple rub that compliments beef very nicely.

For the corn this time, I decided to make a herbed butter. I took a softened stick of butter and placed in a bowl with 2 tablespoons dill and 1 tablespoon chive, both finely chopped. It was the first time we used some fresh herbs we actually grew. After mixing the butter well, place on some was paper and form into a log.  Place in the refrigerator to solidify.  Now prepare corn for the grill, but melt a little bit of the butter and brush on the corn, before covering back up with the husks.  Grill as you normally would and serve with remaining herbed butter.

Nothing in Iowa represents summer as much as corn on the cob.  Every 1/2 mile in town there seems to be a stand selling corn and eventually you must stop.  Yes, the grocery stores sale corn on the cob, but it is not even close to what you can pick up from the road side stands.  Preparing the corn is of debate in my house, I love putting the corn on the grill, my wife swears by boiling the corn.    This is a BBQ and Grilling blog, so I will only talk about grilling it (plus its better).   I served the corn (yes, the corn is the main dish in my house) with bacon wrapped turkey tenderloins.

To prepare the corn start off by soaking the corn in the husks in water for about 30 minutes to soften the husk and to help prevent the corn from drying out as you grill it.

Remove from the water and remove 2 or 3 layers of the husk, leaving the remaining layers to protect the corn while grilling.  Save a few layers that you remove.

Pull down the remainder of the husk as close to the bottom as you can get, without completely removing the husk and remove of the silk as possible.

With a butter knife, spread on some softened butter to the corn.  Alternatively you can even melt the butter mix in some fresh herbs for an extra kick to the corn.

Close up the remaining husk, making sure the corn is completely covered.  Tie the husks closed with the husks you save when removing a few layers.

Grill with direct medium heat for about 20 to 30 minutes.  I like to get a parts of the corn a little charred, not sure why, but it seems to have more flavor when I do.

For the bacon wrapped turkey tenderloins, apply a little freshly cracked peppercorns and kosher salt to both sides of the turkey.  Place on the grill over direct medium heat for about 7 minutes per side.   Remove and serve with the corn.

This was a wonderful family meal.  We go through spurts in the summer where we eat corn for 2 to 3 days straight for every meal.  Seems like we can never get enough corn.

For some reason I do not do to many burgers on the grill (heck, I haven’t even had a chance to light up the grill in a long time), even though it is very easy to get creative with the recipes.  This is a great example of a creative burger recipe that provides a lot of wonderful flavor.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground sirloin
• 2 tablespoons fennel seed, finely ground
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, finely ground
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 red peppers
• Fresh blue cheese, crumbled
• Salt
• Cracked peppercorns
• Olive oil
• 6 4-inch square Focaccia rolls (I used a tomato basil focaccia roll)

Instructions:

Start off by preparing the grill for high direct heat.  Rinse the bell peppers with water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Place on the grill over direct heat.  Rotate the peppers about every 5 minutes, till the skin is well blistered.  Place in a bowl and cover with saran wrap.  Let sit in the bowl till they are cool enough to handle.

Prepare the burgers by combining the ground sirloin, fennel, red pepper flakes, balsamic vinegar, and red wine vinegar.  Make sure to mix the beef mixture thoroughly.  Form the mixture into six burger patties, and coat lightly with olive oil.  Sprinkle on some salt and the cracked peppercorns onto each burger patty.

Grill over direct heat until the desired doneness.

As the burgers grill, the peppers should be cool enough to handle.  Remove the stem and seeds from the peppers and peel off the skin.  At this time it should come off nice and easily.  Slice the peppers into 1 inch strips.

As the burgers are close to being done, slice the focaccia rolls in half and toast on the grill, cut side down.

Remove the burgers and focaccia rolls.  To make the burgers place the burger on the bottoms side of the focaccia roll, topped off with some of the sliced red peppers, and then the crumbled blue cheese.

Results:

These were absolutely amazing burgers!  For the vegetarian/non-beef eater, try portabellas that have been lightly seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then grilled.  I did this for my wife, and they were absolutely amazing to.

Standard Key Features:

Stainless Steel Hexagonal Grates – heavy duty grates that maximizes the contact between the meat and the metal that provides an even pattern of cooking and assists in giving the restaurant style sear marks.

High Quality Ceramic Briquettes - With the combination of the direct heat of the burners and these superior briquettes allows you to preheat you grill faster, while using less gas and provides heat more evenly.

Hot Surface Ignition – These grill use a top of the line ignition system that is more reliable then almost any other grill on the market.

Smoker Box (standard on some models) – My favorite feature of these grills, a smoker box that allows you to add smoke to increase the flavor of your food.

Hood Assist System – The doubled walled hoods provide better insulation and helps prevents exterior discoloration.  The hood assist system helps reduce the weight of these double walled hood, but using extensions springs.

Halogen Lights – Each grill comes with two halogen lights, which if you are like me that likes to grill at any time, can come very handy late at night.

Zone Dividers -  Each burner on a Twin Eagle Grill is separated by a zone divider so that you can effectively control heat for different foods across the grill.

Optional Features:

• Choice of built-in or free standing grills
• Infrared Rotisserie System
• Infrared Sear Zone
• Propane or Natural Gas

Interested in a high-end gas grill?  Then check these grills out at Twin Eagle Gas Grill(s).

Nothing beats cooked cheese, except when it is grilled!  The added flavor from the smoke is absolutely wonderful.  This is also a very simple recipe to make.

Ingredients:

• 32 ounces mozzarella, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 2 eggs, beaten
• skewers
• Marinara sauce (optional)

Instructions:

Place the breadcrumbs on a flat dish and mix in the granulated garlic, kosher salt, and oregano.  Take a slice of the mozzarella and dip it in the beaten eggs, then coat with the bread crumbs, place on a dish.  Repeat the steps for each slice of mozzarella.

Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.  Place the coated slices of mozzarella on skewers and place over direct heat on the grill.  Grill a couple minutes per side.  Remove when the cheese is starting to slightly melt.

Serve with some marinara.

Results:

A very unique grilled appetizer that will be a hit with guests.  These were absolutely wonderful, I added in a couple chunks of cherry wood with the charcoal to give a good slight smoky flavor.