I Eat With My Hands Man!

Found this on Sizzle on The Grill and over at You Tube. Starts slow but gets real nice - much like traditional barbecue itself. My favorite line - "Barbecue in Austin makes you forget about Boston!" Amen brother. Amen.

BBQ Deals: Charbroil Friends and Family

Here's the deal of the week, sorry it's a little late.

Friends and Family Char-Broil Promo
Charbroil.com is excited to announce that we are having a Friends & Family VIP Sale!

When: August 1- August 16th.

* FREE Regular Ground Shipping for all orders $100 or more. (Oversize handling fee will still apply. Local pick up orders not available)
Sale: 25% OFF

It is still not too late to purchase that new infrared grill you’ve been wanting and it is a perfect time to pick up the ultimate Tailgating grill, the Grill2Go ICE®. Or start Thanksgiving early with The Big Easy® Infrared Oil-less Turkey Fryer, or The Big Easy® Smoker,Roaster,Grill.

Take advantage of 25% OFF all regular priced Grills, Cookers, Fireplaces, and Accessories from www.Charbroil.com. (Replacement parts not included)

Enter Promotion Code CBFF81 when placing your order to receive your discount.

BBQ Recipes: Grilled Orange Chicken The WhiteTrash Way

I told about the orange chicken.
You know the bbq that was really grillin'
Well here's another version to try
And still look the author in the eye
Looking through a glass onion
Oh yeah!
So I told you about Charbroil's version of BBQ Orange Chicken. Well I liked the recipe as printed a lot. But I felt it was missing some depth and body, so here's my version of...

Grilled Orange Chicken - The White Trash Way

My modifications are in red. Tell me - does this qualify as a new recipe?

2 1/2lbs chicken parts

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 Tsp of ground ginger
• 1 Tsp of dried onion powder
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 Tbsp butter
• Kosher Salt to taste
• Fresh ground pepper to taste
• Zest of one orange

Cooking Instructions:

1. Light a chimney of charcoal. Meanwhile prepare your grill for a two zone cook. (Don't know what that is - well it will be detailed in a future post.)
2. In a medium bowl, mix together all sauce ingredients except salt and pepper, until smooth.
3. Place sauce in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Boil for one minute and reduce heat to a simmer. I usually do this on my stove - yes, it is gas powered.
4. Let sauce simmer and reduce until it thickens to a light syrup.
5. Once the sauce is thick - taste it carefully it could burn your lips. Adjust the seasoning by adding salt and pepper to taste.
6. Once your charcoal in the chimney is lit, place it on the hot zone of the grill. Let the grill come to a medium heat.
7. Lightly oil your grill grates.
8. Lightly salt and pepper your chicken
9. Place chicken pieces on grill away from heat, skin side down and cook 20 minutes.
10. Turn chicken, and grill for 10 additional minutes.
11. Brush chicken with sauce and turn occasionally cooking for an additional 10 minutes.
12. Place chicken over direct heat and to char and crisp the skin and sauce. Turning frequently. Do not walk away - This sauce has a lot of sugar and will burn easily.
13. Let rest 5 minutes and serve.

Give it a shot both ways. I think you'll enjoy my modifications to the original recipe.

Cigars and BBQ - It's a Man's World

A rare second post - but I saw this and knew that I had to share. A chance to save some money on a fantastic infrared grill and a website pairing cigars with grilled meats? Damn. Cigars and BBQ - it really is a man's world.

PUNCH CELEBRATES THE TWO REASONS MAN INVENTED FIRE
National BBQ Promotion Debuts at Tobacconists Nationwide

Richmond, VA—Two of the biggest names in smoke, Punch® cigars and Char-Broil® are teaming up to encourage consumers to break out the cigars and fire up the grill to kick off the much-anticipated barbecue season with the Punch “King of the Deck” promotion.

The Punch Cigar Smoker Box - fill it with wood chips and place on your grill!

Consumers of legal smoking age are encouraged to visit their local cigar shop to purchase a Punch-branded steel smoker box while supplies last. Inside the smoker box, cigar enthusiasts will find one each of the following cigars: Punch Magnum, Punch Gran Puro Rancho, Punch Rare Corojo Magnum, plus the new Punch Upper Cut Robusto which is included free. In addition, the smoker box contains a coupon that can be redeemed online at www.CharBroil.com for $100 off the purchase of a new Char-Broil grill valued at $399 and above. For the suggested retail price of just $19.99, this special offer also boasts the added benefit of the smoker box itself which, along with wood chips, can be used to add a rich, smoky flavor to the cigar lover’s favorite grilled foods.

This Char-Broil infrared grill is eligible for a $100 discount with the coupon from Punch Cigars.

According to Debo Mukherjee, vice president of marketing for General Cigar, parent company of Punch cigars, “For cigar enthusiasts who have a passion for grilling, we are pleased to bring these two great pleasures together under such well-respected brands as Punch and Char-Broil. To get people thinking about barbecue season, we’re taking this promotion one step further by engaging in a comprehensive social media campaign to spark online conversations about grilling tips, recipes and cigar pairings.”

A dedicated Twitter account (@PunchCigars) and a Facebook page (Punch Cigar) have been established to educate smokers as to which Punch cigars pair best with their favorite grilled fare. A mobile extension of the promotion’s website (www.punchgrilling.com) has also been developed to allow consumers to enter their favorite Punch cigar brand and preferred grilled meat to receive personalized pairings. In addition, a series of brief videos featuring grilling tips and Punch cigar pairings from Barry “CB” Martin, Char-Broil’s lead blogger and grilling expert, will be released throughout the promotion on www.punchgrilling.com and will also be available for download.

In addition to in-store events which will be held at tobacconists nationwide, Punch cigars will be sampled at noteworthy barbecue events throughout the year. Visit www.punchgrilling.com for more information.

~~~~~

About Punch Cigars
Since their U.S. introduction in 1969, Punch Honduran cigars have been a favorite among premium cigar connoisseurs. In addition to the original line of Punch cigars, the brand features these bold-flavored collections: Punch Deluxe®, Punch Grand Cru®, Punch Rare Corojo®, Punch Gran Puro® and Upper Cut by Punch®.

About General Cigar
General Cigar Co. Inc., a subsidiary of Swedish Match, manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Passionate about delivering cigars of the finest quality, General Cigar produces Macanudo®, Partagas®, Cohiba®, Punch, Excalibur®, Hoyo de Monterrey®, La Gloria Cubana® and several other industry-leading brands, which are sold through tobacconists nationwide. In addition, the company grows its own proprietary Connecticut Shade wrapper tobacco, as well as natural and candela wrapper in the Dominican Republic. General Cigar also operates Club Macanudo®, a cigar bar in New York City. For more information, please visit www.cigarworld.com

® Punch, Macanudo, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas, Cohiba, Hoyo de Monterrey, Excalibur and Club Macanudo are registered trademarks of General Cigar Co. Inc.

® Char-Broil is a registered trademark of Char-Broil LLC.
# # #

BBQ Recipes: Grilled Orange Chicken

I admit it. Grilled chicken is easily and by far my favorite food on the grill. Crispy skin. Sweet sauce. Tender juicy meat. Seared and charred skin. I could eat grilled chicken almost every meal and still be a happy camper. My family - ehh. Not so much. Part of the problem is that I like - love my grilled chicken to be swamped in sauce. The family - ehh, not so much. We need to find a compromise.

Towards that end, I've been playing with various barbecue sauces lately and I came across an interesting one. It's called BBQ Orange Chicken from the book Everybody Grills by Charbroil. I enjoy this book, but be warned, it is very much gas grill focused. Recipes from this book will need to be adjusted for cooking on the only true barbecue grill - wood and charcoal.

Notice that I changed the name to Grilled Orange Chicken as we are instructed to grill our chicken, not barbeque it. This recipe produces a light and refreshing very orange tasting barbecue sauce that is a nice departure from the bottled stuff. Enjoy!

BBQ Orange Chicken

2 1/2lbs chicken parts

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• Zest of one orange

Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat grill to high, if using a gas grill.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together all sauce ingredients until smooth.
3. Reduce heat to medium on one side of the grill and turn off the heat on the other side.
4. Place chicken pieces on grill away from heat, skin side down and cook 15 minutes.
5. Turn chicken, and grill for 10 additional minutes. Brush chicken with sauce and turn occasionally cooking for an additional 10 minutes.
6. Let rest 5 minutes and serve.

Up next, I'll talk about my additions and modifications of this recipe. "Turn off one side of the grill." Sheesh! Sorry for the excessive blue tones in the picture. It's a new camera and I'm finding its features. Did you know not to have the camera set to incandescent light while photographing in the sun? I didn't. I didn't even know it was an option. Live and learn.

Wordless Wednesday

BBQ Equipment: The Big Easy 2

I promised you guys a review of the Big Easy, Charbroil's new infra-red oil-less turkey fryer. I've already told you that this little guy works as advertised. It produces birds that are moist and tender with a crispy skin, all without the use of oil. (Sorry, we didn't get any pictures.)

How does it work? I'll borrow a piece of my buddy Adam's explanation from his excellent website, Men In Aprons..

“We have to understand two things: thermodynamics and frying.

According to thermodynamics there are three ways of heat transfer: convection, conduction, and radiation. Imagine a piece of meat sitting on a hot grill. Convection is the act of air heating and rising and circulating around the grill. Conduction is the direct transfer of heat from the hot grill grate onto the meat. And radiation is the transfer of electromagnetic waves through the space of the grill from off of the diffusers, sides of the grill, or the grill grates themselves.

This act of radiation is the way that infrared cookers work. They transfer radiant energy from radiant conductors directly to the food you are cooking. Since there is little or no convection in this process, the food does not dry out from the circulation of hot air.

And now on to frying. To understand how The Big Easy works and why it is called a fryer, despite the lack of cooking oil, you must understand the act of frying itself. Deep frying food is a way to cook food fast and at a very high temperature. Immersing food into rocket-hot oil attacks the food on all surface areas. It is one-hundred percent conduction cooking. Heat is transferred directly from the oil onto the surface of the food. And since it cooks fast and hot, juices and flavors are sealed in and a nice golden-brown color is created. Perfect.

If you think about The Big Easy, the method and results are the same. The Big Easy heats the meat in the container by using radiant energy, attacking the food on all surfaces areas at a very high temperature. The result is a nicely cooked piece of meat, with juices sealed in and a golden brown exterior.”

In our first cook, my brother and I experienced just that, “a nicely cooked piece of meat, with juices sealed in and a golden brown exterior.” We did two large chickens in just about one hour.

So what’s it like using this beast? Actually cooking on the Big Easy couldn’t be simpler. You season your bird, drop it in the fryer basket and drop the basket into the cooking chamber. (I recommend spraying the fryer basket with Pam prior to cooking. It makes cleanup so much easier)

Putting the Bib Easy together was another issue. While I wouldn’t say it was particularly difficult, the instructions were a bit confusing. The underside of the Big easy contains the gas hoses, the rotating igniter, and a grease trap. It’s a lot to fit in and the pictures were not particularly helpful.

The packaging for shipping was great and the hardware arrived in a great card with all screws and nuts labeled clearly and easy to find. My grease drawer arrived with the flanges bent, even though the box was undamaged. It had to have been packed that way.

So, where is the room for improvement? There’s not much. Charbroil really has done a bang up job here, but there are a few minor things I’d like to see in version 1.1.

1. Improved assembly directions. They’re not bad, but the pictures don’t really help.
2. The grease drawer changed to a food safe metal. As shipped, if you plan on using the drippings in gravy or whatever, you need to line the grease drawer with a food safe aluminum pan.
3. A cookbook or brochure dedicated to the Big Easy. Charbroil ships the Big Easy with their generic recipe brochure that is geared to the grills they make and another pamphlet on how to cook a turkey in the Big Easy. I’m not looking for grilling recipes when I’ve got this cooker out. Show me how to use the Big Easy, not the Tec Grill.
   
4. Charbroil needs to pay more attention to what’s put in the box. This isn’t the first time I’ve received an item from Charbroil with a part damaged or missing.
5. They need to improve the fryer basket. I don't know if they're all like this, or it's just mine, but the horizontal bars are not welded on all the verticals. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to where the spot welds are. Some bars are welded to every vertical and on others only in two spots. Also, the horizontal bars are not always straight. I don't know if this is by design, but it seems a bit like they were a bit lazy putting this together.
   

But, I like this little guy. I will use it often. One of the things that kept me from using my old turkey fryer was the disposal and cost of all that oil. Charbroil has fixed that for me. My old oil based fryer may be finding it’s way to the Salvation Army this year.

BBQ Equipment: The Big Easy

Ok, I know that The Big Easy is not really a cooker used to produce barbeque.

Ok, I know that this blog is supposed to be about barbecue.

Ok, but I hope you know that this blog is really about me and my adventures in outdoor cooking.

And one of the things I like to cook outside is deep-fried turkey.



I mentioned earlier that the fine folks at Charbroil were sending me a new model of deep-fryer, the Big Easy that cooks with out oil.

So, in those terms, The Big Easy deserves some attention on this blog.

On Sunday my brother and I put together my Big Easy and cooked up two 7 pound chickens in about one hour. I'll write a more detailed review for you all tomorrow, but let me tell you this... The Big Easy works as advertised.

BBQ Equipment: The Big Easy

A couple of weeks ago I attended Charbroil's 2008 product roll out at New York City's Bryant Park. This year's event was a little more low key than last, but Charbroil showed some great new gas and charcoal grills. I'll talk about the gas grills in another post, but let it be known that Charbroil has heard from their users and responded accordingly. The new gas grill technology and designs are impressive.

Being a charcoal/wood guy at heart, the Charbroil CB500x Portable Charcoal Grill caught my eye. (Yeah, Charbroil needs to hire someone to come up with better names for their grills. Remember the Double Door Smoker? Name them something catchy and easy to remember. I needed to search the Charbroil website to find the name of this grill. Totally unmemorable.)

From what I understand, this is not a new design but a reintroduction of one of Charbroil's classics. This portable table top grill is well built and can accommodate a rotisserie which is really a nice feature. I doubt Charbroil's claim that you can indirect grill and smoke on this little guy, it's just too small, but I'd be willing to give it a try.

The star of this year's show is The Big Easy. The Big Easy is Charbroil's version of the turkey fryer but without the oil. No oil you say? How does that work?

Well, I'll let Charbroil explain it. "Just like a turkey fryer, minus the boiling, hot oil and visits from your local firefighters. It’s faster than a smoker, grill or conventional oven, and can cook most large cuts of meat in about eight to 10 minutes per pound. And since it cooks from the outside-in with infrared heat, the meat stays moist on the inside and crispy on the outside."

"Cooking occurs inside The Big Easy’s cylindrical, double-walled heating chamber, powered by a fully enclosed propane burner. The turkey or other meat is placed inside a drop-in basket that is lowered into the chamber and cooked with evenly distributed Infrared radiant heat."

Crispy and moist without oil? Yeah. It works. I sampled turkey that was cooked in The Big Easy at Bryant Park that day and it was damn good. You can get a detailed run down on the food at Bryant Park from CB over at Sizzle on the Grill.

Charbroil just dropped a Big Easy on my front porch. I'm looking forward putting this bad boy through its paces. Living in the big city, I don't usually fry my turkeys for the simple reason I don't have an easy way to dispose of the used cooking oil. Charbroil has solved that issue for me. I'll be reporting back soon.

BBQ Equipment: Charbroil Tec Gas Grill

Well folks, there is some power in the internet.

Here's the official response from Charbroil about the Tec burner problems...

"Char-Broil has seen the messages posted on this and other forums regarding failing fasteners used in manufacturing of a limited number our TEC burners. We regret that a few TEC by Char-Broil Series owners have experienced burner performance issues.

Char-Broil wants to assure all TEC Series customers that we will take care of their individual issues and assist them in replacing the complete infra red burner assembly in their grill.
Char-Broil encourages TEC Series owners who have encountered a problem with the fasteners to call 1-888-430-7870 to receive a new TEC stainless steel burner assembly from Char-Broil.

Our TEC Consumer Services line will be open 7 days a week from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM EST. One of our customer service agents will be happy to assist you and a warranty service kit will be shipped out at no charge via priority 2^nd day air shipping.

We stand behind the safety and performance of our products and make it a priority to respond to our consumer’s needs and concerns."

Looks good. They've wised up and they're shipping the parts on their dime. Please let me know if any of you are still having issues with the TEC grill.

BBQ Equipment: Charbroil TEC Grill

Frequent readers of this blog know that I try to be straight with my recommendations and reviews of products and events. I try to give you, my faithful readers the good and the bad, based on my experiences and I always give you the truth. Sometimes that gets me in trouble, but as I feel it's my duty. A friend recently referred to me as "the Ralph Nader of Barbeque."

So in my new role as "The Ralph Nader of BBQ" I need to let you guys know about some problems with the Charbroil TEC grill. As you know I recommended this grill to you when it came out, so I feel I need to let you know about some of the problems people are experiencing with this grill. I haven't had any problems with mine but it seems a lot of people do.

It seems that there is a design flaw in the TEC Burner. For some reason, the screws holding the burner in place are sheering off when you use the grill. This has led to flare-ups and small flash fires. I had heard about this from one reader who posted on my blog, from another who sent me a private message and I'm beginning to hear more about this on the various internet forums and blogs. There's clearly something wrong.

Charbroil has not issued a recall, but according to About.com, Charbroil will send replacement burners and screws, but you have to pay the shipping. (C'mon Charbroil - it's your fault - you pay the shipping.) He also states that Lowe's is authorized to offer you a full refund for the grill.

I leave you with the warning that appears on About.com. It's got all the information you need.

"WARNING: If you own the Char-Broil/TEC grill you need to remove the cooking grate and glass plate from the burner (gas turned off) and inspect the screws inside this burner. If any of these screws are broken or missing you need to contact Char-Broil immediately. Call 1-888-430-7870 for assistance. While there is currently no recall or safety alert regarding this grill there is clearly something wrong. Char-Broil is supplying replacement screws and newly designed burners. I fully encourage you to be safe and make sure you Char-Broil/TEC grill is safe to operate."

BBQ Equipment: Brush Hawg

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned that I had received a goodie box of grilling accessories from Charbroil. I've already reviewed the Hedge Hawg and now I'm moving on to the Brush Hawg.

I don't know about you, but I don't like cleaning my grill. After cooking, I usually remove the meat and let the grill sit, dirty and festering until my next cook. What usually happens is that the meat juices, sauces, sugars and spices are burnt to a crisp by the time I return to the cooker.

When I'm ready for the next cook, I light a fire in the cooker, knock the big stuff off the grill and let it heat up with the fire. Just before the meat hits the grill, I hit it with a brush cleaning off any remaining food nasties.

While this is an effective way to clean the grill, it's hard on the brushes. It's hard on the cook too, since you're cleaning a hot grill in a hot cooker. But its not so hard on the Brush Hawg. Like it's little brother the Hedge Hawg, this brush can clean. I guess that's due to the cleaning heads on both brushes having "maximum count stainless steel bristles" whatever that means.

Unlike some of the cheaper brushes on the market, this brush has a nice thick handle that stands up to elbow grease as you clean. It also has multiple blade scrappers, one of which arrived bent on my brush, and a convenient hook for hanging or to my surprise, grill lifting. A very nice feature is that the brush heads are replaceable.

The Brush Hawg retails for $ 12.99 and is available from Home Depot®, Sears®, Kmart®, GrillLovers.com®

BBQ Equipment: The HedgeHawg

It's been a good week here at WhiteTrash BBQ. Not only did the lamb find it's way to my grill, but my friends over at Charbroil sent a huge care package of barbeque tools and accessories for me to try out. There were so many toys in the package that this boy's gonna be busy for a long long time.

The first piece of equipment I used was the HedgeHawg. I first saw this little brush last October at Charbroil's product roll out in Bryant Park and I didn't think much of it. I was told that it was designed for a woman's hand and I openly questioned how often a woman cleans a grill. I won't tell you what happened after that, but it wasn't pretty.

I used the HedgeHawg to clean the grates of the grill before cooking the lamb on Saturday. I tell you, this little brush can clean! Most grill brushes that I've used in the past don't last more than one or two uses, but after the first use and a rinse under some running water this brush still seemed brand new.

One great feature is that the pads of this brush are replaceable with either steel bristles or nylon scrubber pads. A big drawback to the HedgeHawg is that it does not have a long handle so it can not be used on a hot grill or over a live fire, but Charbroil has an answer to that which I will reveal in another post.

So do yourself and your grill a favor, go buy a HedgeHawg. They're available at Target and Grill Lovers. Suggested retail price is $7.99.

Stop Everything.....

I think I hear the President.

Not really, but it's a song reference and the first person who identifies the song title, composer, original performer and title of the album where the song first appeared will get a bottle of barbecue sauce from my personal collection.

By the way, I Qed today. I made St. Louis Style Ribs on my Charbroil Double Door Smoker. I have a lot of thoughts about the experience, but you'll have to wait to hear about it. It's late. I'm tired, and I'm out of town tomorrow.

Have a happy and safe Fourth of July tomorrow. Be sure to stop and think about what a remarkable holiday it is. It is the celebration of a nation declaring itself free of tyranny to be governed by the people. Thank God we won!

BBQ Equipment: Charbroil Double Door Smoker and Grill

I'm back from an OK weekend. I hope you guys had a good one.

First up, I want to congratulate my friends Nancy and Greg from Purple Turtle Caterers for winning the I Love BBQ Festival in Lake Placid, NY this weekend. Great job guys! Congrats also to my buddies over at I Smell Smoke for taking an unusual second place; I Smell Smoke wins so often it must have come as a real shocker!

For me, I wound up having to work on Saturday, but on Sunday I raided my garage and took out and reassembled my Charbroil Double Door Smoker and Grill. (Yeah the name STILL sucks)

The fine folks over at Charbroil sent this offset smoker to us back for the Paul Kirk Pit Master's Class in October, but due to various shipping issues, it came too late for the class. After a brief stop at RUB, the smoker meandered its way to my garage in Brooklyn where it sat until this weekend.

Here's some info from Charbroil on the grill itself:

• Double door access reduces smoke and heat loss


• Center Door Stop removes providing full access to cooking chamber


• Cast iron porcelain-coated cooking grates for even heat distribution


• 738 sq. in. total cooking surface area in cooking chamber and firebox


• Removable Ash Drawer simplifies clean-up


• Firebox door with damper provides access and heat control


• Removable front shelf and lower storage rack


• Chrome-plated spring-style handles


• Cast iron wheels with rubber tread


• Top-mounted smoke stack tumbles flavorizing smoke within the firebox


• Heavy-gauge steel construction for years of reliable cooking performance


• Bonus Veggie Rack and Water Marinade Pan included!

My game plan was to smoke a couple of racks of ribs, but after seasoning the grill with vegetable oil and doing a test burn, I discovered that my ribs were still frozen solid. Damn. I could get around this, but that would mean eating very late. Then the wife called and said we needed to travel to the end of Long Island and retrieve the daughter. Double damn. I was really looking forward to finally using this beast.

Oh well, I did grill up some chicken on the Weber Kettle for dinner. You'll have to wait a few more days for the ribs and the review of the Charbroil Double Door Smoker and Grill. Talk to you later.

Father's Day Recommendations

OK boys and girls, Sunday is Father's Day. Does dear old dad like to grill or barbecue? Still don't know what to get him? Well, I have a few recommendations for the outdoor cook.

• A Weber Charcoal Chimney Starter. It's only about $10 and will allow dad to light the fire without charcoal lighter. He'll notice a huge improvement in taste of his finished product.
• A year's subscription to The National BBQ News. This newsletter covers the barbecue circuit, has some great recipes and is one of my must reads.
  
• Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue Sauces: 175 Make-Your-Own Sauces, Marinades, Dry Rubs, Wet Rubs, Mops, and Salsas. A cookbook? Yup a cookbook for Dad. This is one of my fall back books and I can't recommend it enough. It's so much more than a cookbook, it actually teaches you how to create your own recipes.
• Looking for a gas grill? Take a look at the Charbroil TEC Series. I truly believe you can't find a better gas grill for the price. I've written two reviews about the grill, which you can check out here and here.
• Looking for a charcoal grill? Take a look at the famous Weber Kettle. It's a classic and worth every penny. Be sure and buy Dad the larger 22 1/2" model. It's a much more versatile piece of equipment than the smaller version.
  
• Believe it or not, I'd be thrilled if my kids bought me some real charcoal or hard wood for cooking. The instant light stuff, well, it's another four letter word that can't be used on a family blog. The real stuff is cheaper and better. Don't know which charcoal to buy? Take a look at The Naked Whiz. He reviews and tests all the brands.
• If you're looking to really impress the old man and your pockets are deep, why not consider purchasing him A Big Green Egg, Primo or a Kamado? They are a unique Japanese inspired ceramic grill that can do everything from cold smoke to grill pizzas. Not too many Dads have one and he'll be the envy of the neighborhood.
  

And finally, just be good to Dad on Father's Day. He needs a break, even if he denies it.

Hampton Smoker - Take a bow

This just came across my email. It's a story from USA Today about the Charbroil TEC grills and my buddy Matt Fisher aka The Hampton Smoker is interviewed for his opions. Take it away USA Today....

Infrared burners are ready to barbecue

By Elliott Minor, Associated Press

ALBANY, Ga. — For a quarter century, chefs at pricey steakhouses have been searing meat on burners that cook with infrared energy. Now the high-temperature technology may be coming to a backyard barbecue near you.

With the expiration of a key patent, major gas grill manufacturers, including market leader Char-Broil, have scrambled to bring infrared cooking to the masses with models in the $500 to $1,000 range. Previously, such grills cost as much as $5,000.

"Infrared is really hot," said Leslie Wheeler, a spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, an industry group in Arlington, Va. "They're great for searing and then either you turn it down or move over to another burner for cooking."

The grills are still powered by propane and have traditional gas burners that heat mostly by convection — or hot air. But they also can cook foods with radiant heat generated by one or more infrared burners. (Infrared falls between visible light and microwave energy on the electromagnetic spectrum.)

Char-Broil says its advanced burners operate at 450 to 900 degrees, hotter than the 450 to 750 degrees of standard gas burners. And unlike charcoal, which can require 20 to 30 minutes to reach its 700-degree cooking temperature, heat from the infrared burners can be adjusted quickly.

Most leading grill makers, including Solaire, Weber and Whirlpool's Jenn-Air, also offer grills that use infrared.

"It's terrific," said Wheeler, who owns an infrared grill. "Grills nowadays give you many options."

Cooks can sear steaks or hamburgers, steam vegetables and give their meats a smoky taste by tossing a few wood chips onto the burner, said Rob Schwing, a Char-Broil vice president.

"Infrared has done to the grill business what the microwave did to the indoor kitchen," he said. "It's presenting consumers with a whole new way of cooking."

Bill Best, founder of Thermal Electric of Columbia, S.C., developed the technology in the 1960s, primarily to give automakers a faster way to dry the paint on cars. That led to high-end grills for professional cooks and wealthy consumers.

When his patent expired in 2000, grill companies saw a future in America's backyards.

But original infrared burners — and some offered currently to consumers — contained ceramic material that was hard to clean, prone to flare-ups and fragile, Schwing said.

Char-Broil formed a strategic alliance with Best's company to develop a new generation of burners known as the Char-Broil TEC series. The fragile ceramics have been eliminated. They have a layer of glass to shield the burners from drippings and provide even heat distribution.

Seven years after Best's patent expired, those improvements are available at a price more affordable to weekend grillers.

"I think it's significant," said Matt Fisher, who tested one of Char-Broil's grills. "It really brings a whole new technology to the market for most people."

Fisher, who lives in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., maintains the The Cook's Kitchen website and a blog devoted to barbecue.

Fisher said gas grills are convenient, but he still prefers wood and charcoal.

Barbecue and barbecue accessories are a $4 billion industry in the U.S., with 17 million grills shipped to retailers last year, a 15% increase over 2005, said the industry association's Wheeler.

Pomona, Calif.-based Cal Spas has been selling high-end grills with infrared burners since 2003. Nicole Lasorda, a spokeswoman for the company, said the faster and more predictable way the burners cook allows people to spend more time relaxing and less time cooking.

"More and more people are barbecuing now and they don't necessarily want to stand in front of the barbecue all the time," she said.

Associated Press writer Doug Gross in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

BBQ Equipment: Cooking on the Charbroil Tec Gas Grill

When we last talked about the Charbroil TEC Grill, I let you know about the packaging, the construction and ease of setup. So what about cooking on the thing? Well here goes.

The Charbroil TEC Grill that I was given has two traditional high-output gas burners, one TEC gas burner, an infrared rotisserie burner and one external high-output gas burner.

As I mentioned before, I've never owned a gas grill before, but I have cooked on them a few times. Please keep that in mind when you read my review.

Since this was a new grill, I decided that we'd put it through all of it's paces utilizing every burned and all the grill space we could. We (my brother and I) decided that we were going to make clams, chicken, fajitas (flank steak and London broil), onions, peppers and corn on the grill. The only thing we weren't going to do, was use the rotisserie for this cook. (Why? Because the rotisserie is an optional piece of equipment that needs to be purchased separately.)

We fired up the grill and I was a little taken back by the effort required to light it. The TEC grill and the external burner lit without a hitch. The rotisserie burner lit, sputtering out flames. Lighting of the the rotisserie reminded me of lighting an old Coleman lantern. You could hear and smell the gas gather and then the flames burst out. We let the rotisserie burn for about 20 minutes until it burned off all its packing and manufacturing materials.

We put out the other burners and tried lighting the traditional gas burners. On other gas grills I've used it is a matter of simply turning on the gas and hitting the ignition switch. Not so with this grill. You need to hold down the igniter for at least a minute before the gas lights. At first I thought I put the flame tamers in wrong, I removed them and the burners lit easily. Replacing the flame tamers, the grill would not light quickly. I checked the manual and adjusted the igniter wire which allowed the burners to light with the flame tamers installed. But they still didn't light as quickly or easily as expected.

First on the grill were the stuffed clams. They cooked quickly and became our snack as we played with the rest of the grill. Next up were the onion slices and peppers for the fajitas. I learned a long time ago that wood or charcoal fires have hot spots and cool spots, and I assumed that the gas grill would as well. By grilling onion slices, it would be an easy test to see where the hot and cold spots are on this grill.

The hottest spot by far is the TEC burner. That was to be expected. Next came the gas burner and the other side of the grill, with the burner in the middle putting out noticeably less heat. I don't have a problem with this, but my brother who is a gasser in more ways then one, tells me that this is a flaw in the construction. He feels that all burners should perform exactly the same.

Next up came the chicken and beef. I used the TEC burner to sear the meat, which provided some lovely grill marks. I should have left the beef on the burner longer, but I was anxious to see how quickly the TEC burner would provide grill marks.

I felt that the grill overall took a little longer to heat up then I expected. We placed a pot of cold water on the external burner for the corn and that also seemed to take a long time to reach the boiling point. Remember, these are just observations coming from a cook who is used to wood and charcoal fires. I just assumed that a gas grill would heat up much faster.

Is the Tec Grill the ultimate grill? Probably not. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good grill. It's possibly great but I haven't had it long enough to make that statement. I really enjoyed cooking on the grill. Would I recommend you purchase one? Yes. In a New York Minute.

As you know, I'm a charcoal and wood guy at heart, but this is definitely one of the better gas grills I've ever used. I found it to be sturdy, well put together and I was unable to find any areas where Charbroil obviously cut corners to save money.

As I already told you, it was packed and shipped beautifully. I've never seen better packaging for the hardware needed to put a grill together. The assembly instructions were clear and easy to follow.

The Tec grill has some issues. It takes a long time to light and heat up, or at least longer then I expected. The mid-burner on mine doesn't seem to get as hot as the other one. (I've spoken Matt Fisher at The Hampton Smoker who doesn't have this problem with his Charbroil grill)

I don't see how you can attach the rotisserie and operate the side burner without removing the rotisserie brackets. There's a large opening on the back of the hood which I haven't figured out yet. I assume it's for ventilation, but I've never seen this on other grills.

I also expected a cook book or some sort of instruction manual for using the Tec burner and the grill. I know there's information on the web, but I want something I can look over while I'm at the grill, not at my computer. For the money, I also expected the rotisserie attachments and a cover to be included.

So, if you're in the market for a grill, go take a look at this beast. Even with it's minor faults, I think you'll be happy you did.

BBQ Equipment: Charbroil Tec Grill

OK, I've teased you enough. It's about 1:00am in the morning and I've finally found some time to write about the Charbroil Tec grill. You will remember that back in October, the fine folks at Charbroil invited a bunch of people out to Bryant Park for the introduction of the new Tec grill. Part of the roll out was the promise of a new Tec grill delivered to me for review. I accepted only when Charbroil agreed to my fair, honest, unedited and uncensored appraisal of their product.

So here goes...

The grill was shipped to my house further out on Long Island. (YES, Brooklyn in geographically part of Long Island!) The driver arrived with out a dolly, so getting the grill into the backyard was an experience.

I don't know who Charbroil hired to design their shipping packages, but this was a marvel of efficiency with absolutely no space wasted. While the package was very heavy, it was very easy for one person to unpack. Even the space between the wheels underneath the grill was utilized to store the grill grates.

I was impressed by how much of the grill arrived assembled. I have never owned a gas grill before and I assumed that I'd have to spend the morning putting this together. The main body was arrived assembled, leaving only the shelves, side burner, flame tamers and the Tec grill surface to be installed. All in all, it took about 30 minutes to assemble with very little use of four letter words or tantrums.

I was EXTREMELY impressed with how Charbroil sent the hardware. Most times you're searching for the right screw or washer, but Charbroil packaged all the hardware in a great blister pack with all pieces clearly labeled.

The assembly instructions were very clear and easy to follow, but there was no operating instructions included in the box. As I said, I've never owned a gas grill before, and I fumbled around starting the grill up. Once all the burners were lit, and the shipping gunk burned off we were ready to cook.

I would have liked an operating manual to discuss some of the differences between the regular burners and the Tec burner, but there was nothing to be found. Charbroil does not include a cookbook with the grill either, so you're really on your own. They do provide a phone number and a link to a website, but when I'm in the backyard, I'd really prefer a paper manual.

This really is a good looking grill. I was given the 3 burner model, which has two conventional burners, one Tec burner and one side exterior burner. On the back of the grill, fully recessed so that it doesn't interfere with the grill space, is the rotisserie burner. It spans 2/3 of the width of the grill, but does not cover the area over the Tec burner. I wonder why Charbroil chose not to extend the burner the entire width of the grill.

On the opposite side of the grill from the exterior burner, there is a recessed basket below a cover. I haven't quite figured out what to use this for. It's not deep enough for storage. But it appears sturdy enough to hold a good amount of weight. I didn't test this, but I will.

In the back of the grill is a very sturdy and wide warming shelf. This shelf is stationary which is a nice change from the swinging shelves found in many a gas grill. That's a great feature as it won't interfere with anything on the grill when you close the cover.

There's a thermometer installed in the cover of the grill, which when tested by being dipped in boiling water, was precisely accurate.

Below the grill is a nice a cabinet with a slide out for the gas tank. I would have liked to see the gas tank stored to one side of the cabinet instead of right smack in the middle. But the slide out is a nice touch. (If it was stored to one side, as it is on the four burner model, we would have been left with a lot more storage space in the cabinet)

The grill is made entirely of heavy weight stainless steel. It's sturdy and feels like a very solid piece of equipment. You know you're working with a quality product. The knobs however are thin plastic, which seems a bit incongruous with the level of workmanship and quality of the rest of the grill.

So what's it like to cook on it? That's for another post. This one is too damn long already!

It Was A Good Weekend

Ahh, it was a good weekend. Even though NYC was drenched with 8" of rain, I got some time on Saturday to grill. Yes, I actually cooked over a live fire. Hmm, I wonder if I pissed off Mother Nature and that's why she sent the Nor'Easter on Sunday?

A while back I mentioned that I was attending the Charbroil roll-out for their new TEC grills. One of the perks of the roll-out was that Charbroil was going to send me, and anyone else who attended, a TEC grill for evaluation. I only agreed to evaluate the grill if Charbroil would accept criticism as well as praise. Their response, "Bring it on."

You may have seen reviews about this grill already at The Hampton Smoker, Men In Aprons and at The BBQ General. My grill was delivered last week. It was unpacked and assembled and christened on Saturday.

I'm doing taxes today, so I don't have time to post the full review yet. I will be giving you the nitty-gritty during the week but to sum it all up, I like this grill.