[ChrisHager]

We started talking in Billzcat1's build thread about my grilled food and that I should start a 'Grilled Thread'. I decided that not only do I want to avoid filling someone else's build thread with my grilling talk, I could use some ideas on future grilling.

Usually, I grill 1-3 times a week. I feed as little as myself and my fiance all the way up to a Friday evening's shindig.

I do my cooking on a Chargriller Duo grill - one side gas, one side charcoal. It also has a side burner and will hopefully soon have the smoker attachment.

My plan for this thread is to grill some sort of man's feast, take pictures, and do a miniature 'write-up', if you will, for each grilled meal. I plan to link each recipe/rating in the thread below for easy finding in the future - kind of like an online forum recipe book with the benefit of having real hand's on advice/do's/dont's/etc.

Feel free to give me suggestions/comments. I'm always wanting to improve my grilling skills! Also, if you have something that you love grilling, post up the recipe and I'll give it a shot. If you want me to try cooking something as an experiment, tell me your ideas. Charcoal? Gas? No problem. I feel after that note, I should say I don't want this to get ridiculous - none of that EpicMealTime stuff. I'm talking real man food - things you would have on football Sunday, foods you would be proud to say "I cooked that", etc. I'm not going to stuff 5 pounds of brownies inside of an 8 oz sirloin steak, wrap that in bacon, and dip it in Jack Daniels. Nope. That's more of a mess and a waste of money than I care to even think about.

So anyways, let's get to it! :cheers2:

 

[ChrisHager]

My Recipe Links

Bacon Stuffed Deer Loin with Steamed/Boiled Onions and Potatoes - 8/10

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Brats - 10/10

Creole Beer Butt Chicken - 6/10

Spicy Chicken Wings - 8/10

Corn on the Cob - 8/10

Grilled Crab Bites - 9/10

Chicken and Veggies (Healthy) - 7/10

Grilled Salmon - 8/10

Smoked Pork Loin - 6/10 - Would have been an 8/10 but I over cooked it.

Marinated Grilled Shrimp - 6/10 - Same note as above . Don't leave these little guys alone!

Grilled Jalapeno Poppers - 9/10

Smoked Brisket - 8/10

Sweet BBQ Brisket - 7/10

Garlic Deer Steak - 8/10

Fatty (Pork Sausage) - 8/10

Chili Dogs - 10/10

Smoked Bacon Wrapped Deer Roast - 4/10

Smoked Ribs - 8/10

Smoked Chicken - 9/10

Grilled Steak Fajitas - 7/10

Pulled Pork - 8/10

Smoked Chicken Roll Up Things - How to save a burned chicken...

Grilled Parmesan Garlic Corn on the Cob - 5/10

Smoked Brisket - 7/10

:cheers2:

 

[ChrisHager]

Place Holder 1

 

[ChrisHager]

Place Holder 2

 

[ChrisHager]

Bacon Stuffed Deer Loin with Steamed/Boiled Onions and Potatoes

The first recipe I'm going to post is what started this whole thing in the first place - Bacon Stuffed Deer Loin with Steamed/Boiled Onions and Potatoes.

I unfortunately did not get many pictures but here is what you need:

Toothpicks soaked in water

Deer Roast
1 3lb Deer Roast
2lb Bacon
8oz Feta Cheese
Salt
Pepper
Seasoning Salt

Potatoes
1 Bag of Red Potatoes
1 White Onion
2-3 Cloves of Garlic (to taste)
1/4-1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Cans of Beer
Water
1 Stick of Butter
Salt
Pepper
Foil

Start by frying up a pound of bacon. You want it good and crispy. When it's to this point, break it up into a mixing bowl. Also, crumble in the feta cheese with the warm bacon and mix. I've found that buying feta cheese in a block and crumbling it yourself is MUCH cheaper than buying pre-crumbled. It's easy to break up. Go the cheap route.

If cooking with charcoal, now would be a good time to light it.

Next, butterfly that deer roast. Don't cut all the way through but open it up almost toe the opposite edge. Once butterflied, Salt, pepper, and season salt the inside. Next, cram in as much of that bacon and feta cheese as you possibly can. Close the deer roast around the mixture and kind of mush it down. Don't get carried away with the mushing. We just want a nice, tightly packed, deer roast. Salt, pepper, and season salt the outside.

OK now for the second pound of bacon. This is the key to making this cooking-fest work successfully. You want to wrap the (uncooked) bacon tightly around the deer roast and toothpick it together. Count how many toothpicks you use. They will smolder while cooking and could be difficult to find later. Line the bacon side by side so that it touches the next piece in line. When you've wrapped the entire pound around the deer roast, it should feel tight and well held together.

Now it's time to start grilling the roast. It took me about 3 hours. What you want is a pretty good pile of charcoal all on one side of the grill and maybe 6"-8" below the grilling grates. Place the roast on the opposite side of the grill. This will slow cook the roast and also allow the bacon to drip without catching fire. Roll the roast over every 30 minutes or so to keep it cooking evenly.

While that's cooking, it's time to prep the potatoes.
Dice the garlic and spread it out in the bottom of a large metal cooking pan.
Wash/rinse the potatoes and slice them (with skin) into the pan. I found for a large pan, I used almost all of the potatoes.
Slice the onion into the pan - I always chop the ends off, cut it in half, then slice. It's really a preference as to how you like your onions. I find this method makes it easier to scoop out after they are cooked.
Salt and Pepper the potatoes/onion.
Slice the stick of butter into pads and place over the top of the potatoes/onion.
Pour the vegetable oil over the potatoes/onion. I used enough to ensure it would seep down and coat everything a bit. You don't need a ton as the potatoes will steam/boil in the beer - mainly enough to help keep everything from sticking/burning.
Now pour the beer over everything. You want maybe half a pan full of liquid. My pan allowed two cans of beer and one can of water. If you can't find canned water at the grocery store, you can fill an empty beer can with tap water. :thumbsup:

Cover the pan with foil and place on the grill about an hour or so before the roast is done. I usually put the pan on the top rack to avoid direct heat. Direct heat will boil the mixture too quickly and cause the potatoes to burn/stick on the bottom. The potatoes are 'done' when they are soft in the middle and the onions have cleared/softened as well (45 min - 75 min). Keep your eye on the level of the beer/water. When it starts getting low, add water. I have added beer in the past but found it left too much of a beer flavor behind. Again, this is a preference situation.

Note: The pan I used was about double this size. This is the only picture I had which was a different day of cooking. Also, in this batch, I used whole pepper corns as opposed to ground pepper. I think I prefer ground pepper.

I pulled the deer off when the inside reached about 150-160 degrees. This tasted good to me but I feel it would have been a bit more juicy at 140-145. 150-160 browned the deer all the way through and would be considered medium-well.

Note: This was while it was cooking. I wish I would have taken more pictures when it was finished.

Once everything is off the grill and has set for about 5 minutes, REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS then slice the roast. I made my slices thick which makes it easier to cut and eat. Thin slices may cause issues with the stuffing falling out.

With 3lb of deer, 2 lb of bacon, and almost a bag of potatoes, 5 of us feasted and ate it all. If you have a hungry group of 5-6 people, this is a perfect amount of food.

I rate this probably an 8/10. It's delicious, not too dry, but a little rich (2lb of bacon and feta cheese are the cause here). The potatoes/onions help counteract this rich taste.

Enjoy!

 

[ChrisHager]

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Brats

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Brats

I will start by saying I found out about this recipe from JeepForum member jfinlaw. I've cooked it twice now, both times having great results.

What you need:

Toothpicks soaked in water
2 Packages of Uncooked Brats
2 Packages of Hotdog Buns
1-2lb of Bacon (I used 1 slice of thick-cut bacon per brat.)
1 Onion
2-3 Cloves of Garlic
1-2 Jalapeno's
Pickles
1 Brick of Pepperjack Cheese
Salt
Pepper
2 Cans of Beer
Water

Combine in a large pan the Brats, diced Garlic, chopped Onion, sliced Jalapeno(s), Salt, and Pepper. Pour 2 cans of Beer over everything. Add Water to bring the level up to about half full.

Boil for about 45 minutes keeping an eye on the level of liquid. Add more water if needed. I've gotten distracted before and almost evaporated all of the liquid.

When the brats have finished boiling, remove them from the pan with tongs. If using charcoal, now would be the time to light it. While the brats cool, if you have whole pickles, slice them into quarters:

Also, slice the cheese up into long, thin pieces:

Next, you want to gently slice the brats as if you were butterflying them. Don't cut all the way through. Add a slice of cheese and a pickle slice into the butterflied brat, wrap with bacon, and toothpick both ends:

Since we are cooking with bacon, I placed the charcoal on one side of the grill about 6" below the grates and placed the brats on the other side. Doing this prevents grease fires from the bacon and helps it cook slower:

Cook the brats until the bacon is cooked. Be sure to roll and shuffle them around so they all cook evenly. If you find you wish to speed up the cooking process, you can place them over the hot spot - just keep an eye on the brats and be ready to move them when the fire flairs up.

When they are finished, throw some buns on the grill to toast them. ALWAYS toast your buns... Why? I don't know, they taste better. I'm making the rule now if it doesn't already exist!

Remove from the grill and REMOVE THE TOOTHPICKS!

You are now ready to feast! We have found that no condiment is the best condiment for these brats. We tried adding some last time and it took away from the flavor.

I rate these brats as a 10/10. They are fantastic. The cheese and bacon add a rich flavor to the brats while the pickle mellows it out. The crunch of the warmed pickle really spices things up. Also, by boiling the brats in jalapeno's and then adding pepperjack cheese, the brats take on a slightly spicy zing. They DO NOT become hot and spicy though. If you don't like spicy foods, you will not have a problem with these.

I would like to thank jfinlaw for coming up with this recipe. Sometimes I like to cook with the 'less is more' attitude but other times, setting the bar higher on a food that's been grilled 10,000 times over is nice. This is one of those occasions. I hope everyone tries this recipe at one point or another. Also, as a final note, if you are worried about the pickle, I urge you to just try it. I'm willing to bet you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[viimag]

I will be trying this VERY soon... I am not a huge fan of brats but I will be trying this with good hot dogs and spicy italian sausage... mmmmmmm I am hungry........

 

[billzcat1]

Subscribed! We had chicken grilled with blue cheese, tomatoes, and bacon tonight. Some combo I had never tried. Quite good. Needs lots of blue cheese and bacon to make it work though. Tomatoes aren't required IMO.

 

[ChrisHager]

I will be trying this VERY soon... I am not a huge fan of brats but I will be trying this with good hot dogs and spicy italian sausage... mmmmmmm I am hungry........

That does sound interesting. I imagine the Italian sausage would be quite good. Next time I do this recipe, I'm going to look for real brats - straight from the other side of the counter. The last batch I made weren't as good which we all think had to do with the brat itself.

Subscribed! We had chicken grilled with blue cheese, tomatoes, and bacon tonight. Some combo I had never tried. Quite good. Needs lots of blue cheese and bacon to make it work though. Tomatoes aren't required IMO.

That is an interesting combo. The blue cheese with the bacon sound like this was a rich meal! Also sound tasty!

I haven't verified yet but tomorrow may be beer butt chickens... I hope to know by noon today so I can start a marinade!

 

[vanillathrilla]

I will be following this thread

 

[Pockets518]

yupp im going to be making those brats very soon, they look a-friggin-mazing!!!! well wrote up too

 

[jsburton84]

well played good sir, well played

 

[TSEJEEPERS]

Could we have a sticky?
Food looks great!

 

[ChrisHager]

Thank you sir. I take that as a compliment! I have good plans for this weekend/Monday night guy night. I think the beer butt chickens for tomorrow are going to work out!

 

[ChrisHager]

Soooo... Grilling a beer butt chicken, 5 pounds of chicken wings, and the potatoes pile from earlier recipes as we speak. Recipe/write up/comments to come!

 

[timberwolf0122]

Subscribed and inspired.. I think I need to start a thread.

 

[RUparrothead]

We did the brats last night - they were awesome. I had two leftover for lunch today - I just nuked to warm up, and used tabasco sauce on them today. They were better today than last night (didn't use tabasco last night).

I wonder if they are like chili, spaghetti, etc. - better the second day? Or was it just the tabasco that made it better?

Either way - awesome :cheers2:

 

[ChrisHager]

We've reheated a few the next day as well. Personally, I think they are better fresh. I imagine the hot sauce just amped 'em up a bit!

 

[ChrisHager]

Creole Beer Butt Chicken

New recipe time! We did a pretty massive grilling Saturday. While I did change 3 of our vehicle's oils, I should have been working as opposed to creating this feast. Oh well, everyone needs a Saturday afternoon off from time to time!

We cooked a beer butt chicken, spicy chicken wings, and as usual, the potato dish. First off, the Beer Butt Chicken!

Things you will need:

5 lb Chicken
Creole Seasoning
Chili Powder
Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper
Beer
Vegetable Oil
Soy Sauce
2-3 Cloves of Minced Garlic (I cheated and used pre-minced garlic).

First of all, clean out the chicken of all the extra goodies left inside. Rinse with water inside and out.

Next, cover the chicken with Creole Seasoning. Rub it in. If you have small cuts on your hands, gloves may be desired. I found this out the hard way. Anyway, the Creole Seasoning was my 'main seasoning'. The other seasonings (Chili Powder, Garlic Salt, Salt, and Pepper) were more of compliments to the Creole. I added a little (maybe a tablespoon for each side) and smelled it after rubbing in the seasoning. If it smelled good, I assumed it was going to taste good. So, go off of smell and season to your likings.

Next, discard (the word 'drink' can be substituted here) 1/3 of a beer. In place of this removed beer, add 2-3 cloves of Garlic, maybe 10 splashes of Soy Sauce, and some Vegetable Oil. Don't worry about filling the can back to the top. The ingredients added to the beer are mainly there to add flavor to the steam.

I have a couple handy beer butt chicken stands. I placed the can in the stand, sat the chicken over the can, and put the whole thing on the grill. I turned the right side burner on and placed the chicken on the left side. I was running the grill around 200-225°F. Every half hour, I would turn the chicken. Overall, it takes about 3 hours to slow cook this beast.

The chicken is done when it reaches 165°F internally. When it's finished, let it cool a little before carving.

Finished product (wing recipe is next):

My thoughts on this: The chicken tasted really good. It was a little dry to me but not like a typical 'too dry' piece of chicken. The Creole seasoning and Chili powder definitely created an interesting flavor but wasn't too over powering (I was a little nervous about the strength of the Creole). This was extremely easy to prepare/cook. It isn't something that needs watched constantly so would be a good afternoon grill if you were busy working on something else. I'd rate this at a 6/10 - The flavor didn't seep in as well as I'd hoped. I'm going to try for a different recipe next time around.

 

[ChrisHager]

Spicy Chicken Wings

Alright so this one I got a little creative with. I was going off an internet recipe but turned out to not have exactly what I needed. I'm going to post MY recipe since it turned out amazing!

What you need:
3-5 lb of Chicken Wings (I used legs)
Pepsi
Frank's RedHot Hot Sauce
Tiger Sauce (Mainly because I didn't have enough hot sauce. Not needed unless extra *zing* is desired.)
Soy Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce
Chili Powder
Garlic Salt
Pepper
Beer

In a large pan, combine a cup of Frank's hot sauce, a bottle of Pepsi, 1/4 teaspoon of Chili Powder, 1/4 teaspoon of Garlic Salt, 1/4 teaspoon of Pepper, a tablespoon or two of Worcestershire Sauce, a tablespoon or two of Soy Sauce, and a splash of HOT sauce (if desired). Next, add all of the chicken wings to the mixture. If the level of the liquid is not to the top of the wings, add beer (cooking with beer should be a staple in a man's diet).

I let these soak for a couple hours then placed on the grill. Total cook time is probably about an hour. Here's where it gets interesting:

Place the pan with the chicken wings onto a burner and bring to a boil. Boil for about 15 minutes.

Next, remove the wings from the pan and place on the grill. Reduce the pan to a simmer and grill the wings for about 10 minutes.

Place the wings back into the pan and boil for another 15 minutes. Then grill the other side for 10 minutes. And lastly, back in the pan for another 10 minutes.

That's it! Let them cool for a few minutes and they are ready to serve.

My thoughts:

Amazing. By trading back and forth from the grill to the boiling concoction, you get almost a crisped feel to the chicken with an extremely juicy bite. The hot sauce isn't too spicy and with being cooked in Pepsi, there is a sort of rich flavor added to the chicken. I am still shocked at how juicy the chicken was. The meat was literally falling off the bone. I'd rate this at probably an 8/10. It's fairly simple to cook though it does take a little more attention than other meals.