Smoking a Salmon

Jenn and I both love smoked salmon that you get in those little tiny 150 g packets from the grocers. The only thing is you pay $10 dollars for so little of salmon I almost feel guilty for buying it. So with my success with smoking a rainbow I thought I'd pick up a large fillet of Salmon from Costco. I don't have a cold smoker so, I had to hot smoke it like the rainbow on my performer. I tried brining the salmon with a wet brine composed of 2 cups water 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup sea salt. Brined for 4-6 hours then rinsed and dried.

Once the flesh was dried the salmon was placed on a sheet of aluminum foil with holes poked in the bottom every few inches. This was just to allow for easy transfers of the fish on and off the grill without tearing it apart. The salmon had a sprinkle of lemon pepper applied to the surface. The grill was heated to 250 degrees with 1/2 a cup of wet Alder chips. It was smoked for about 1.5 hours. A good way to tell when it is done is when you see a lighter pink liquid form on the surface which is a protein that is released while cooking. The fish was excellent, nice smoke flavour that was not over powering and the fish flavour was front and center.

EG's famous Chinese BBQ

I have made this dish a couple times, as a nice alternative to chinese take out and pretty fast. It consists of grilled chicken patties and fried rice. The fried rice is pretty simple. I just dice a carrot, onion, celery stalk, 2 cloves of garlic and shred about 2 cups of cabbage. Fry the vegetables on high heat throwing the cabbage in at the end so that it is still crisp. Then put in about 1 cup of cooked rice and continue frying. Add 1 tbs of sesame oil, 2 tbs of soy sauce and a couple dashes of Sirachi. The nice thing is the ingredients for this are pretty flexible, instead of cabbage bean sprouts could be used, peanuts or water chestnuts could also be added for more texture.

The chicken patties are just as easy. Mix ground chicken, 2 green onions, 1 inch of ginger diced ginger, 2 cloves of garlic. Add some hoisin, soy and an egg and roll into patties or rolls.
For a glaze, mix 1/4 cup of sirachi and hoisin and 2 tbs of honey.

Grill the paddies putting on the glaze in the last 5 minutes of cooking time. Making the patties just big enough so that they can be picked up with chop sticks is the perfect size. Serve with a cold Sleeman Original Draught

I love Lamp...... I mean Lamb (Grilled Lamb Shanks with couscous)

It's been a while since I had lamb. In fact the last time I had lamb was over 6 months ago and on that day I got engaged to my best friend and the love of my life Jenn. We ate at the Sultans Tent in Toronto and I had lamb shanks. But enough of the gushy stuff and back to the lamb that I am about to talk about. I went to Mr. Meat to get a chicken but they had fresh lamb shanks, so I had to get some. I decided to grill them and have them with couscous with carrot, raisins, and dried cranberries in it. The shanks were coated in olive oil and rubbed with salt pepper, dried oregano, thyme and red pepper flakes. Then I wrapped them in foil and added sliced garlic, a splash of water and olive oil. I threw them on the grill on direct heat at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. I then put switched them to indirect heat and grilled them for another 1 hour 15 minutes.

They were then taken out of the foil and grilled over direct heat and glazed with butter, honey, chili, and lemon juice to until the outside crisped up.

They may not have been as good as Sultans Tent Lamb Shanks but they were pretty darn close.

Honey and Apple Glazed Top Sirloin.....in the snow/rain

Like a lot of hard core grillers, I use my grill all year round. Today was one of those days when most people wouldn't even think about grilling. It was raining when I light the charcoal, but when I came back out to put the cooking grate on it was snowing. It helps that I have a covered porch so I shouldn't be bragging, plus I wouldn't want to get my performer wet if it wasn't (its my baby). The snow shovel was on stand and my pal is looking for dropped food, not so lucky Paris I am a whiz with the tongs. I think I should tell my landlord the mailbox needs a coat of paint.

Steak was on the menu, Adam Perry Lang style. As per usual he builds the flavour by having a moist rub(soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, chili powder) then a dry rub(chili powder, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon pepper) before the meat even hits the grill. Then the meat is grilled and has a glazed applied at the end composed of apple juice, apple cider, honey, garlic, pepper flakes and butter. I used to be a strickly salt and pepper guy on my steak, but man is this technique is flavourful.

Then to build even more flavour you paint the cutting board. What this means is you put a flavour profile on the cutting board, typically, EVOO, salt pepper, an herb, and lemon zest. Then while you cut the meat you dredge it in the sauce on the cutting board.

Had dinner ready just in time to watch hockey, I think the leafs were down by 3-0 by this point though. And no I don't have a flat screen yet, I am waiting till they give them out for free.

German Deli Style Top Tound, AKA Gross Beef.

I am beginning to see that Adam Perry Lang really is the King of BBQ. I smoked a eye of the round on Sunday following a Serious BBQ recipe called German Style Top round. It wasn't like the dried out roast beef you may remember having as a kid.

It was smoked with one chunk of hickory at 250 degrees F till it hit a temperature of 115 then, the temperature was cranked to 350F until the meat reached an internal temperature of 135F.

It was then wrapped in Saran wrap with minced garilic and time to rest to about room temp and then sliced as thinly as possible.

As suggested by APL it was served on rye with with Russian dressing, and with a spinach salad and some sweet potato mash. Come get some!

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