A Char-Broil Grilling Team member demonstrates The Big Easy infrared oil-less turkey fryer to a group of awestruck country music fans in Wisconsin.

The Char-Broil INfrared Tour hit one of the largest country music festivals in the country this past week in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin and now all of Country Thunder is IN!

This week we head to Indianapolis for the Brickyard 400! Fire up those engines and make sure to stop by to see Char-Broil! Hey NASCAR fans…are you IN?

To see the map of all Char-Broil summer tours and find one nearest to you - CLICK HERE

The Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) offers these suggestions for general grilling safety.*

Following a few basic steps can help ensure safe, reliable operation of your outdoor cooking appliance, regardless of what type you use. The following safety tips are designed to guide you through the grilling process. Remember, anytime you work with fire, there’s a chance of getting burned. So, take precautions. Common sense and planning will prevent injuries. (more…)

Recently I had the pleasure of cooking for a news segment for our local ABC TV station. Del Monte is a promotional partner with Char-Broil this year and they asked me to demonstrate some tips for grilling fruit. Now as you may guess in a 2 minute segment with the floor director hand signally “FASTER” and the anchor moving things along to get to whatever is next - there isn’t a lot of time for long-winded discussion about the techniques and all the tips one needs to use when preparing fruit on the grill. And since you most likely don’t live in my area and/or were outside enjoying the beautiful Friday afternoon - I thought I’d share those tips with you here. Thanks to Del Monte for providing so much good input on developing these tips.

Tips for Grilling Fruit

1. first use high heat for a few minutes, then lower the heat to create great grill marks
2. grill fruit for short time periods only
3. drizzle fruit with sugar to bring out the natural sweetness
4. apply a thin coat of oil to the grill before grilling
5. cut fruit in half and remove the core for grilling or grill bananas with entire peel on
6. grill fruit pulp-side-down first, then turn onto the peel to finish

For more recipes and to enter to win the “Fresh Grill Thrill” Sweepstakes go to www.fruits.com

Happy Grilling!

Got an email from a regular reader this week and he included some pictures of his latest meal. Now I’ve seen one or two beer can chickens in my time. This looks to be one of the better ones and I particularly like the idea of his doing it “Old School” style on a charcoal grill - with a little apple wood for extra sweet flavors!

How Ya doing CB,

I thought I would send some pictures along showing what I did on my grill today. Here is my version of a beer can chicken. About 2 weeks ago I did a small beef brisket. This was also smoked with low heat. I marinaded the brisket with a honey teriyaki sauce for about 12 hours, then put it on the grill, low and slow. You have really inspired me to grill more. I enjoy the e-mail news letter. Keep up the good work. Bob C. from NH

“Drunken Heineken Chicken”

I used about a 7lb chicken, washed and patted dry. Brushed olive oil all over the chicken, then sprinkled salt and freshly ground pepper over chicken and inside of cavity.

I injected some of the Heineken beer into the bird, then placed prepared chicken onto beer can roaster with Heineken Beer in the cone.

I use indirect heat on my charcoal grill with freshly cut apple wood for a little smoke.

It took about 2 1/2 hours at about 300 degrees. This is what we had for our dinner tonight.

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Hey thanks for sharing your recipe ideas and pictures Bob! And the inspiration goes both ways!

So what’s on YOUR grill this week? Send us a pix and …

Happy Grilling!

Where there’s smoke, there’s well-flavored meat and poultry. Using a smoker is one method of imparting
natural smoke flavor to large cuts of meat, whole poultry, and turkey breasts. This slow cooking technique keeps them tender, too. Smoking is slowly cooking food indirectly in the presence of a fire (or other controlled heat source.) This can be done by using a “smoker,” which is an outdoor cooker especially designed for this purpose. (The picture to the right is of the Char-Broil Double Door Smoker - CLICK HERE for more information)

CLICK HERE - To download to your computer this USDA PDF brochure called: Smoking Meat and Poultry

Char-Broil makes a ‘Digital Smart Thermometer’ that is excellent for low & slow cooking and great on all conventional gas and charcoal grills. It also can be used in your kitchen. CLICK HERE

Liven Up Your Summer With Grilled Fresh Fruit and the “Fresh Grill Thrill” Sweepstakes

It’s summer, so venture outside, fire up the grill and throw on some…pineapple? Sear some bananas and grill some avocados?

Here’s one of the recipes CB prepared on TV today:

Grilled Avocado
with Mediterranean Salad
Ingredients:
3 ripe Del Monte® avocados, halved with pits removed
1 cup diced ripe Del Monte® tomatoes
½ cup diced roasted red peppers
½ cup diced feta cheese
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
4 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 green onion, minced
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons minced parsley
3 teaspoons lemon juice
Additional salt and pepper for seasoning avocados
Additional olive oil to brush on avocados
Directions:
1. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, red peppers, feta, vinegar, olive oil, green onion, salt, pepper and parsley. (Do not make in advance and refrigerate since this mixture should be served at room temperature.)
2. Rub lemon juice on the surface of the avocado halves. Let sit for 10 minutes.
3. Season the avocado halves with salt and pepper. Brush with additional olive oil.
4. Grill avocado halves flesh side down over high heat for several minutes. Once the flesh has deep grill marks, turn halves over, reduce heat to low and continue cooking for another 4-5 minutes. The avocados are done with they are hot and soft all the way through.
5. Place each avocado half on a plate. Mound the tomato/red pepper/feta mixture on top of the avocados and serve immediately.

Del Monte and Char-Broil offer tips for grilling fruit and great grill giveaways

Tip for Grilling Fruit

1. first use high heat for a few minutes, then lower the heat to create great grill marks
2. grill fruit for short time periods only
3. drizzle fruit with sugar to bring out the natural sweetness
4. apply a thin coat of oil to the grill before grilling
5. cut fruit in half and remove the core for grilling or grill bananas with entire peel on
6. grill fruit pulp-side-down first, then turn onto the peel to finish

For grilling fans, these and other recipes for grilling fruit are available at www.fruits.com. Now through September 15, 2008, visitors to the site also can enter to win the “Fresh Grill Thrill” Sweepstakes. Two grand prizes include a brand new Char-Broil RED three-burner grill (retail value of $599 each), and six first prizes include a Char-Broil Designer Series stainless steel grill (retail value of $259 each). More than 50 additional prizes will be awarded.

For more recipes for grilled fruit and to enter the contest CLICK HERE and visit Fruits.com!

Summer menus tend to be light and easy. This recipe uses whatever fresh citrus you happen to have available, as well as herbs - and marinates the chicken thighs for most of the day or overnight. It takes just 20-30 minutes to grill and serve with rice, pasta, grilled bread or even potato salad or cole slaw. I call it “CB’s EZ Grilled Citrus & Herb Chicken.”

One of the tricks of this recipe is using the holding tray to finish the seared chicken thighs, placing it on the warming rack away from direct heat and covered. The chicken finishes without drying out.

While you certainly can eat a grilled lemon, they are also a visually appealing garnish. Just spray a little canola oil on each side before grilling to mark them. This one in the picture is only partially cooked - you could stop here or grill it more, as you wish!

If you’d like to view a printable recipe or to save one to your Free “My Favorites” account on the Char-Broil web site, just click on this link - CLICK HERE

Happy Grilling!

Every week or so I get emails from folks who are mystified as to how to gook a good steak like the ones they have had in a great steak house. There are a couple of secrets that great steak restaurants use and, if you start to use and master them yourself, you may be much happier with the results coming from your grill. First the really great restaurants get their pick of Prime quality meat. It’s pricey, most likely dry aged and will be flavorful and tender with the absolute perfect amount of fat marbling. Second they understand when to cook and when to stop cooking the meat. And they understand seasoning - they prep the steak with simple sea or kosher style coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper. (The salt draws out a small amount of moisture that contains proteins and natural sugars in the meat; when these are exposed to the high searing heat of professional grills they brown up and form the tasty crust we appreciate on a well-prepared steak.) And they probably add a butter sauce to the steak just as it’s placed on the plate. (One secret is to add a touch of brown sugar to the butter!) Oh one more thing. The steaks are seared at very high temperatures - most often using infrared grills.

A few weeks ago I posted a story called “Sear & Hold” for great tasting results that I suggest is the secret to cooking a great steak. It’s all about searing and then removing it from the direct grilling and placing elsewhere on the grill to finish using ‘indirect’ heat - preferably in a holding pan or tray and covered. Take a look at the post and see if you have any thoughts on this.

During this “finishing” is a great time to sauce or glaze the meat. Applying at this time will serve to compliment and add the distinct flavors of the sauce or glaze without the threat of burning from exposure to the high heat of direct grilling. And they will combine with juices naturally released from the meat to form a tasty sauce you can spoon on the meat when you plate and serve it.

CB’s EZ Savory Steak Glaze
This past week I roasted several whole garlic cloves for a risotto dish I like to make. (If you’ve never roasted garlic I recommend you try it. Roasted garlic takes on a sweet flavor and loses most of the ‘bite’ generally associated with garlic. It’s creamy and easy to spread or mix into sauces and soups.) I roasted a couple of extras to have on hand for appetizers and who knows what, keeping them in plastic bags in the fridge. Last night when I was prepping three NY strip steaks (USDA CHOICE) I’d purchased in a “family pack” on sale at my local Kroger store, I saw one of the roasted garlic heads and decided to experiment with a savory glaze.

I call it CB’s EZ Savory Steak Glaze and it is delicious! It uses a secret ingredient - anchovy paste!

Wait just a minute there now friend - don’t go saying ‘Yuck” - anchovies are in many dishes you don’t even know about.

Adding just the right amount of anchovies to a meat dish will add a rich depth and almost earthy flavor profile - contributing a character you would never recognize as fish.  So give it a go and see if you don’t enjoy it too! By the way, I didn’t tell either my son or our guest what was in this glaze until after they had finished more than half of their steak and had told me numerous times how good it tasted and asked “What’s in this sauce that makes it so good!” I should point out they both made a face at the word “anchovy” and then proceeded to devour every last bite of the steak. I think you’ll enjoy this steak glaze too!

If you’d like to view a printable recipe or to save one to your Free “My Favorites” account on the Char-Broil web site, just click on this link - CLICK HERE

Happy Grilling!

http://www.charbroil.com/Consumer/RecipeDetail.aspx?RecipeID=782

Have you sat around a campfire? Enjoyed the aroma of wood smoke, the crackling sound of steam popping and wood splitting in the heat? Have you felt the glow on your face? Even in the coldest weather - or with the wind blowing in the opposite direction - the heat touches your face and warms it.

That’s infrared energy at work.

Infrared energy doesn’t require air to transmit to you. It’s a naturally occurring force that can be generated by the sun, a beach fire or even a grill. Without any resistance from the air it hits your face, hands and clothing and transforms into heat energy. That’s the process harnessed in the infrared cookers from Char-Broil - and with greater efficiency and more control than a fire of wood or charcoal or even older ceramic infrared burners in other grills. The Big Easy is the world’s first and only UL approved 100% infrared oil-less turkey fryer. RED is a patented 100% infrared grill that can be set on high to sear at more than 600F degrees or on the very same grates, set on low to cook even and slow for true smoking and barbeque. The Quantum infrared system combines infrared energy with convection heat to offer you the best of both cooking processes.

Just some stuff I thought you might like to know.

Happy Grilling!

I was on the phone the other day with one of the “Gurus of the Grill” to whom I turn when I need inspiration and even a good swift kick in the keaster to get my grilling imagination going. He had prepared a full on feast on the Char-Broil RED and The Big Easy in a parking lot for a radio station morning show.  And my mouth was watering as he described in detail each recipe, the technique he used to prepare and grill to perfection the entire meal. OH MAN! When we ended our phone call I was ready to get my grill on.

Unfortunately my larder was empty. I looked in vain for the pork chops, the chicken thighs, and the ribs & sausages he had described. “Did I eat those already?” I’m certain it was a pitiful sight, there I was standing in front of the open doors examining every empty drawer in the fridge until, in desperation, I opened the freezer and saw them: A frozen cake from that angel of mercy, Sarah Lee. And a small pint of my favorite Lemon Custard from Snoqualmie Gourmet. And on the counter a pint of freshly picked blueberries a neighbor had dropped off that morning.

I rushed outside, turned on the RED (fast heating infrared don’t-cha-know) and returned to slice the frozen cake into long strips. A quick & light spray on both sides of the cake slices with canola oil and back outside to the heated grill. Just a few minutes on both sides - never mind the grill marks and making them pretty! Back to the kitchen - slices of grilled pound cake, scoop (or two) of lemon custard, a hand full of fresh blueberries on top. Took a total of 10 minutes so stick a fork in me cause I’m done!

Happy Grilling!