Madness Delayed is Madness Denied

Hey folks. Life has reared its ugly head and kept me from updating the blog. I hope you're all planning on coming out to Grillin' On The Bay AND the Brooklyn Chli Smackdown this year. If you're looking to cook, get your application in quickly. We may be sold out. We're putting together a great event, with a lot of special surprises for the cooks and some really great food for the spectators. It'll be fantastic.

So let's get back to the Madness. It hasn't been an especially interesting month so far, but it will get better. I don't want this to become a simple, what I had for dinner blog, but I want to bring you all up to date.

Dinner last night 3/10/09 - Nathan's Hot Dogs and Gabila's Knishes. A real Coney Island dinner. If you've never had Gabila's Knish, you're missing something special. They're easily the best on the market. Dessert was some Do-Si-Dos Girl Scout Cookies. Damn fine.

3/09/09 - Breakfast for dinner; Johnsonville brown sugar and honey breakfast sausage, eggs over easy and some rye toast. Quick, nutritious and filling.

3/08/09 - My cousin and his wife christened their new daughter, Charlotte Rene on Sunday and we celebrated with a fantastic party, entertainment by Tom Wopat, at NYC's legendary Four Seasons Restaurant. Who knew Luke Duke could sing and entertain so well?

My dinner was begun by Maryland Crab cakes with a mustard sauce, followed by the Four Seasons Farro Primavera and finished with Crisp Long Island Farmhouse Duck with Caracara Oranges. I also started the party with my first ever Bloody Mary, which I'll never have again. They're definitely an acquired taste.

All the food was good, but I'll get into a more detailed description of the food and the curious reactions from the different generations present in another post.

03/07/09 - Dinner was some killer pork loin chops and garlic mashed potatoes made by the wife. I love garlic mashed potatoes and wonder why all mashed potatoes aren't made with garlic?

03/06/09 - Late night at work and it's Lent so dinner was just a couple of Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches. Thank God for Skippy and Smuckers.

03/05/09 - Grilled Chicken Legs marinated in Olde Cape Cod's Toasted Sesame and Ginger Marinade with some wild rice and snow peas. It was the first time we tried this marinade and we weren't impressed. It's very light and didn't stand up to the heat of the grill.

03/04/09 - And to wrap up the first part of the month, dinner on the fourth was a wrap;
Grilled Szechuan Steak Bok Choy Wraps with Spicy Peanut Mayonnaise as found on the Beef, it's What's For Dinner website. That was a good meal, but I think I prefer peanut sauces on poultry.

So everyone's up to date. Talk to you soon.

BBQ Recipes: Smoked Duck

I came across this recipe for Smoked Duck on the internet at steaks-guide the other day. It looks interesting and is a completely different approach to how I've cooked duck in the past. I'm gonna have to try it. Take it away...

"Using wood chips for flavoring your smoked duck recipe will be a delectable meal in itself. For something like smoking duck you would prefer to use some kind of fruit wood, these are woods like apple and cherry.

Once you’ve mastered the cooking of a bird like chicken a duck should be no problem.

If you want to try for a great smoked duck recipe you might want to try this easy recipe.

Just like smoking most other things it only involves a marinade, a rub, and some smoker skills.

For the recipe you’ll need to get some ducks of course. Try for a small to medium size duck, if you get small ones try to get one for everyone coming to dinner.

To cook about 5 smaller ducks you’ll need:

• enough milk to soak the ducks in,
• 1 chopped onion and
• unpeeled apple for each duck,
• salt,
• pepper,
• 2 sticks of butter, and
• 1 cup of red wine.

First make sure you clean out and dry the insides of the duck. Place the ducks in milk and cover, soak about 4-5 hours. You can also soak overnight in the fridge; make sure you soak your wood chips in water overnight also.

Take the ducks out and rub salt and pepper on the inside and outside. Take the apples and onion and stuff the ducks with the mixture.

Get your smoker up and running to about 225 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, at this temperature you’ll be smoking these for 4-6 hours. Use the fruit chips mentioned before for a nice flavor, you can also use a traditional hickory if you like. Melt the butter and mix it with the red wine, salt, and pepper to baste the duck with.

Just as often as you would baste a duck in the oven, use this mixture to baste the duck in the smoker. Once they are done just take them out and serve.

This is one wonderful smoked duck recipe that I am sure your entire cook out will enjoy from the first bite."