Mango BBQ Sauce

Mango BBQ Sauce

(around 3 cups)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Yellow Onion, diced (about 1 small onion)

1 cup Red Bell Pepper, seeded & diced (about 1 medium pepper)

3 cloves Fresh Garlic, rough chop

1 tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Black Pepper

½ tsp. Ground Allspice

1/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar

3 tbsp. Molasses

2 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

2 tbsp. Fresh Lime Juice

¼ cup tomato sauce (no-salt added)

1 ½ cups Fresh Mango, peeled, seeded & diced (about 1 medium mango)

2 Fresh Jalapeno Peppers, seeded & minced

Directions:

In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the oil and bring up to temperature.  Add the onion and cook remembering to stir a few times for about 3 minutes or until the onion is translucent.  Next, add the bell pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, and allspice to the pan and continue to cook another 2 minutes.  Stir in the vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire, lime juice and tomato sauce and cook 1 minute more.  Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and add the mango and jalapenos.  Pulse the mixture until smooth.  Pour into a container and refrigerate until needed.  Use part of sauce to marinade chicken or pork before grilling and remainder for after the food has been cooked.

Note:               Remember to discard the marinade used for the meat after your done marinating.  Only use the sauce not used to marinade meat for after cooking.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Orange Chipotle Glaze

Orange Chipotle Glaze

(1 quart plus)

Ingredients:

1 cup Orange Juice

2 cups Apple Cider

1 cup Soy Sauce

8 cups Sugar

7 oz. can Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce, pureed (seeded or not based on heat desired)

Directions:

In a 3-quart sauce pan over medium heat reduce OJ to a ¼ cup.  Add the remaining ingredients using a whisk and continue to reduce until the mixture coats the back of a spoon and thickens.   Remove the pan from the heat and let cool to room temperature.  Then place the mixture in a sealable container and refrigerate until needed.  You can use this glaze to marinate as well as brush on food as you grill.

Note:               This glaze is great for poultry and pork products.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Quick Sweet Dill Pickles

Quick Sweet Dill Pickles

(8-12 servings)

Ingredients:

32 oz. jar Whole Dill Pickles (any brand)

1 1/3 cup Sugar

3 tbsp. White Vinegar

½ cup Water

Directions:

Drain the liquid off of the pickles and discard.  Slice pickles into chunks on the bias to make nice finger food type size and return to the pickle jar.  In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, add the sugar, vinegar and water and bring to a boil.  Remove the pan from the heat and pour the liquid over the pickles in the jar until covered.  Place the lid on the pickles tightly and wipe jar before putting the refrigerator.  Let the pickles refrigerate at least 24 hours (48 is better) before serving.  Must keep these refrigerated after making the pickles.

Note:               You could slice the pickles into pickle chips or long thin slices to put on sandwiches.  I don’t because they would never make it that far.  They’re just addictive and you want to just eat them straight out of the jar.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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How About Some Tailgate Food Ideas

Labor Day Weekend is usually the kick-off of the college football season with the pros following close behind.  That means tailgating to many football fans before (during & after for some) their favorite teams games.  The parking lots or other designated tailgating areas are full of wonderful aromas, grill smoke and rowdy people getting pumped up for the game.

But tailgating just doesn't happen.  You and your fellow tailgating group need to do some planning to pull off a successful tailgating experience.

Remember that it's more than just food and your favorite beverages.  It helps to get everyone involved in the planning and execution of the event.  Let people handle what they are good it (or keep them away from what they are not good at).  Someone needs to make sure all the creature comforts are taken care of such as chairs, tables, sound system or TV.  I've seen some that bring floor rugs and love-seats and really big flat screens.  Don't forget all your team identification items like flags and such.

There is always one person who is great at handling all the beverages and variety is the spice of life.  Who has the best cooking equipment and the ability to get it to the location?  Some people will bring grills (gas & charcoal), turkey fryers and smokers.  Many times the one doing the smoking never sees the game because they've been there too long keeping themselves hydrated (beverage of choice).

You really don't have to bring cooking equipment if you plan your party right.  I've got a recipe in the cookbook for Oven Smoked Brisket.  You can make that ahead and wrap it up good in foil, place in a cooler and hold it for 3-4 hours at a nice warm temperature.  The same goes for pulled pork and there is a recipe here in the blog for that.  Pulled Pork

Many tailgaters go with the standard fare of burgers, hot dogs, brats, steak, ribs and the 2 items already mentioned (brisket & pulled pork).  Think out of the box once and a while and try different marinades and glazes on chicken, turkey or pork.

Another area to think about is finger foods or snacks.  It's kind of nice to change it up from game to game so look for other ideas to try.

This week I'm doing 3 recipes.  The first is a finger food for snacking and they're an easy pickle to make and tastes like candy.  Thursday is a spicy glaze (from my friend, Scott Manley) and the last one is a marinade on Friday.

I'm going to talk a little more next week on tailgating and have 3 more recipes for you to try at your next tailgate.  Have a great week.

Oh, one more thing before I go.  The blog broke 9500 hits this past week.  Please pass on the link for my blog to your friends.  I'm 6 weeks away from having written Cabana Boy Cooks for 1 1/2 years.  I'd love to break 12,000 hits before that time is up.  I "Thank You" for your help and support of my food blog.

Mushroom & Swiss Stuffed Burger

Mushroom & Swiss Stuffed Burger

(4-6 servings)

Ingredients:

4 oz. can Mushrooms (stem & pieces), drained

1/2 cup Shredded Swiss Cheese

3 tbsp. A-1 Steak Sauce

2 lb. Ground Chuck

1 ½ tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

1 ½ tsp. Garlic Powder

1 ½ tsp. Onion Powder

1 ½ tsp. Black Pepper

4 to 6 Hamburger Buns, grilled or toasted

Directions:

In a small bowl combine the mushrooms, cheese and steak sauce and set aside.  Take the ground chuck and form into 12 equal sized balls (8 if you are only making 4 larger patties).  Next take 6 of the balls and form into thin flat patties and place on a sheet pan.  Top each of these patties with an equal amount of the mushroom mixture.  Being sure to keep the mixture in the middle of the patties and leaving about a half inch around the outside uncovered.  Now form a ball into a thin flat patty about the same size as those on the sheet pan.  Place that patty on top of one of the topped patties and seal the edges together all the way around the patty.  Repeat the process with the remaining patties.  Sprinkle half of each of the 4 seasonings equally over the patties.  Now place the patties seasoned side down on your grill and repeat the seasoning process on the top side.  Cook the stuffed patties on each side for 4 to 5 minutes or until done.  Serve on grilled buns with your favorite condiments.

Note:               If you don’t want them so juicy on the inside, you could omit

                        the steak sauce.

Note:               For those of you that really like your cheese, the patties can always be topped with additional cheese slices of your choice before serving.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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Lipton & Cheddar Burger

Lipton & Cheddar Burger

(8 servings)

Ingredients:

2 lb. Ground Chuck (80/20 or 85/15)

1 envelope Lipton Dry Onion Soup Mix

½ cup Water

2 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

8 Hamburger Buns, grilled or toasted

Assorted Favorite Condiments

Directions:

Combine and mix the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl.  Then portion out 8 equal sized balls and form into patties for grilling.  Be sure to make an indentation in the middle of each patty so they don’t ball up on you as they cook.  Place a patty on a bun bottom and top with the condiments of choice before placing bun top in place.  Enjoy.

Note:               If this is too oniony for some, only use half an envelope on

                        onion mix.

Note:               I’ve also used 2 tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce instead of the water for a slightly different taste.

Note:                You could also try different cheeses in the patties.  Or even just place the cheese on top of the patty.  But I like the little change of pace using the shredded inside.

Ideas for Future Efforts

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More Burger Talk

Let's start with what type of meat do we want for our burgers?  Remember yesterday we talked about not limiting ourselves when it comes to everything we put our burgers in not to mention on them too.  So why would we limit the type of meat we want to cook and eat?

Tradition has the huge majority of them being made from beef.  So we will start with beef.  Most agree that you want a good meat to fat ratio because that is where the flavor comes from in the taste.  Again the majority of experts agree that using ground beef of a 70/30 to 80/20 is the range you want to be in for good burgers.  I tend towards the 80/20 blend because it still has a good taste and is a little healthier for you (my dietitians are cringing on that statement).  The fat side of the ratio also helps in the juiciness of the burger.  You can use the leaner ratio meats (85/15, 90/10 93/7) but you really need to pay attention to the cooking process.  Don't over cook them or they will end up like hockey pucks when you try to eat them.  More about the cooking process later.

I prefer to use 100% ground chuck for my burgers.  Regular ground beef, ground round or even ground sirloin will work well but I just think (and many others) there is more flavor in the chuck.  I also prefer to buy what my meat department grinds instead of the boxes of ground beef they just bring in to sell.  That way I know what they are putting in my ground beef.  There are some packaged ground beef sold that include heart or some other organs in the grind.  If in doubt, ask your butcher at your favorite store.  They can help you make the choice that meets your desires.

These days there are many other choices of meat when in comes to burgers.  Some of the more popular ones on the list include lamb, pork, chicken and turkey.  The lamb with Feta cheese and some mint make a terrific burger.  When it comes to pork you even have choices.  Some like to go with just plain ground pork while others enjoy using pork sausage of one type or another.  Italian sausage or brats (casings removed) make for great burgers too.  As I mentioned earlier with the fried egg on a burger, some will use breakfast sausage.  Especially those early morning tailgaters trying to combine all their meals into one on game day.

I tend to use more chicken than turkey for burgers because I like to grind my own chicken breasts.  Again I'm in control of what is going into my ground meat and I can go a little courser on the grind.  Chicken and turkey are very lean so you may want to add some moisture to the patties.

Buffalo is another up and coming ingredient for those burgers.  It is much leaner than beef so be careful cooking and don't over do it.

In making your burger patties there are 3 different ways to give you some variety.  Just plain ground meat patties is one but another way to go is mixing in ingredients and flavors.  An example would be the Lipton Dry Soup mix recipe where you combine the soup mix and water to the ground meat for an oniony flavored burger.  The third way is to stuff them.  This requires making two thinner patties and then placing a filling in the middle of one patty topped by the other.  Here you want to make sure the two patties are well sealed together before you cook them.  There are many ingredients you can use to stuff a burger.  I believe that cheese and mushrooms top the list though.

Forming burgers takes a little practice but it is easy to pick up.  It usually helps to moisten your hands a bit before you start.  It helps to portion out the meat into balls or piles to make sure all are about the same size and that you get the quantity you desire.  Then take one in both hands and form into a patty normally about 4 inches in diameter and about 3/4 inch thick.  Be careful not to over work the meat as it can change the texture and make them tough.  Once you have it formed be sure to make an indentation in the middle of the patty.  This will help keep it from ballooning in the middle while it cooks.

If you watch much cooking on TV, most of them only use salt and pepper on their burgers.  I'm a little different when I grill my burgers.  If I'm just using plain ground beef, I like to season my patties on both sides with 4 items.  I use Lawry's Seasoned Salt, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and Black Pepper.  I use them generously too.  Not to brag but I do receive many comments on how tasty my burgers are as they are being consumed.  I use those same 4 ingredients on my steaks too.  Give it a try and let me know your thoughts.

Lastly, with burgers no matter what type of meat you are using - DON'T OVERCOOK THEM!  Take them off the grill a little before they are done as they continue to cook and who wants to eat a hockey pucks?  Not even a hockey player.

Have a great day and remember to check out the burger recipes for Thursday and Friday.