Standard Key Features:

Stainless Steel Hexagonal Grates - heavy duty grates that maximizes the contact between the meat and the metal that provides an even pattern of cooking and assists in giving the restaurant style sear marks.

High Quality Ceramic Briquettes - With the combination of the direct heat of the burners and these superior briquettes allows you to preheat you grill faster, while using less gas and provides heat more evenly.

Hot Surface Ignition - These grill use a top of the line ignition system that is more reliable then almost any other grill on the market.

Smoker Box (standard on some models) - My favorite feature of these grills, a smoker box that allows you to add smoke to increase the flavor of your food.

Hood Assist System - The doubled walled hoods provide better insulation and helps prevents exterior discoloration.  The hood assist system helps reduce the weight of these double walled hood, but using extensions springs.

Halogen Lights - Each grill comes with two halogen lights, which if you are like me that likes to grill at any time, can come very handy late at night.

Zone Dividers -  Each burner on a Twin Eagle Grill is separated by a zone divider so that you can effectively control heat for different foods across the grill.

Optional Features:

• Choice of built-in or free standing grills
• Infrared Rotisserie System
• Infrared Sear Zone
• Propane or Natural Gas

Interested in a high-end gas grill?  Then check these grills out at Twin Eagle Gas Grill(s).

Nothing beats cooked cheese, except when it is grilled!  The added flavor from the smoke is absolutely wonderful.  This is also a very simple recipe to make.

Ingredients:

• 32 ounces mozzarella, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 2 eggs, beaten
• skewers
• Marinara sauce (optional)

Instructions:

Place the breadcrumbs on a flat dish and mix in the granulated garlic, kosher salt, and oregano.  Take a slice of the mozzarella and dip it in the beaten eggs, then coat with the bread crumbs, place on a dish.  Repeat the steps for each slice of mozzarella.

Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.  Place the coated slices of mozzarella on skewers and place over direct heat on the grill.  Grill a couple minutes per side.  Remove when the cheese is starting to slightly melt.

Serve with some marinara.

Results:

A very unique grilled appetizer that will be a hit with guests.  These were absolutely wonderful, I added in a couple chunks of cherry wood with the charcoal to give a good slight smoky flavor.

Don’t worry, this is a legal way of smoking a fatty.  A smoked fatty is just a sausage log that is smoked, basically the bacon explosion without the bacon.  There are many ways to smoked a BBQ fatty, the simplest is to just buy a sausage log, such as Jimmy Dean or Bob Evans sausage, toss it on the grill or smoker, and cook till done.  You can get more elaborate and mix sausage with a bunch of other ingredients and form back into a sausage log.  The key to creating a smoked fatty is to make the use of smoke and cooking it at a low temperature that is around 225 to 250 degrees until you get an internal temperature of around 160 degrees.  For mine I used a combination of mild and hot Italian sausage mixed with a bunch of garlic and diced red onions and it was absolutely fabulous.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces mild Italian sausage
• 12 ounces hot Italian sausage
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 4 cloves garlic diced
• Favorite BBQ Rub, optional (Mine)
• BBQ Sauce, optional
• Favorite smoking wood (I used cherry this time)

Instructions:

1. Combined the sausage, red onion, a garlic and mix well
2. Form into a sausage log
3. Coat with BBQ rub
4. Prepare the grill/smoker for indirect heat at a temperature around 225 to 250 degrees
5. Place in grill or smoker and cooking until the internal temperature of around 160 is reached
6. Remove from grill
7. Coat with BBQ sauce (optional)
8. Wrap in aluminum foil and let sit for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour
9. Slice and serve

Results:

This is a very simple, but definitely is great eating.  You can slice and serve by itself or do what I like, place on a biscuit with a a couple pieces of bacon and some BBQ sauce.  You can even add a fried egg and have BBQ for breakfast.

This is something I have been wanting to grill up for a while now, and finally had the chance, a grilled flatbread pizza with prosciutto, tomatoes, onion, basil, and freshly shredded asiago cheese.  Combine all those with the great smoky flavor from the grill, and you get one awesome pizza.

Ingredients:

• 1 Flatbread, I used a cilantro and thyme flatbread
• Olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Roma tomato, sliced
• 1/8 cup sliced red onion
• 8 leaves fresh basil
• 4 slices prosciutto, sliced into 1/4 inch squares
• 1/4 cup shredded asiago cheese

Instructions:

• Prepare the grill for medium direct and indirect grilling
• Brush olive oil on both sides of the flatbread
• Grill over direct heat for about 2 minutes per side, should get crispy
• Remove from grill
• Add the ingredients in the following order: Garlic, 1/2 of the cheese, prosciutto, onion, sliced tomatoes, basil, and the second 1/2 of the cheese
• Grill indirectly until all the cheese is melted

Results:

This is a great dish for an appetizer or a meal by itself.  And is a great way to cook pizza during those hot summer days, when you do not want to turn on the oven.

I think I have formed a love affair with Italian foods on the grill.  Not sure what it is, the recipes are usually so simple, but yet full of flavor.  This dish is another Italian dish that is so simple, but provides a wonderful flavor and fragrance to some pork chops. 

Ingredients:

• 6 large bone-in pork chops, 3/4 inch thick
• 2 tablespoons of fennel seeds, grounded in a coffee/spice grinder
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, grounded in a coffee/spice grinder
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon salt

Instructions

1. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, salt, fennel, and red pepper flakes
2. Rub the mixture onto all sides of the pork chops and let sit in a shallow dish for at least 30 minutes, preferably up to 60 minutes
3. Prepare the grill for medium indirect grill (make sure you can do direct for the first 4 minutes)
4. Place the pork chops on the grill over direct heat for 2 minutes per side
5. Move the pork chops to indirect heat till the pork has reached 160 degrees
6. Remove from the grill and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes

Results:

Favorite pork chop recipe now.  I originally discovered how wonderful fennel seed is by eating an Italian sausage at a small joint in Cedar Rapids, IA called the Flying Weenie.  They make their own Italian sausages and with each bite you get at least one fennel seed.  As soon as I discovered this dish there, I started dissecting the sausages to see what provide the amazing flavor they had, and I finally tasted a fennel seed that I pulled out from the Italian sausage (yes, I am a bit strange).  I have been addicted to it ever since.

Looking for a light meal or a unique salad with some grilled vegetables?  This is the perfect recipe.  This recipe uses rice noodle dish with grilled vegetables and a classic Vietnamese dressing.  The smoky asparagus and carrots really add a lot of flavor to this classic recipe.

Dressing:

• 1/3 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced

Mix the ingredients together in a bowl, making sure the sugar is dissolved.  Set a side.

Salad:

• 8 ounces rice noodles
• 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths
• 2 large carrots julienned
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3 tablespoons roasted peanuts, chopped

Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.  Toss the carrots and asparagus with the peanut oil and place on a vegetable grill rack.  Grill over direct heat for about 5 to 8 minutes, while tossing every couple minutes.  Grill until vegetables are tender (5 to 8 minutes).

Prepare the rice noodles as instructed, boil for about 5 minutes.  Rinse noodles under cool water and till the noodles are cool.

Put the rice noodles in a bowl and pour about half the dressing and toss to coat.  You can either place the noodles on a large plate or on individual plates.  Combine with the vegetables and remaining dressing.  Sprinkle with mint, cilantro and peanuts.  Serve immediately.

The company is Amazing Taste and they sent me a collection of seasoning packets to use on all types of foods.  Overall I am not that impressed with store bought seasoning packets as I find them lacking in flavor, so I really didn’t have high hopes for their seasoning packets.  I started with the seafood seasoning packet and the first thing that caught my eye was the consistency of the seasoning, almost kind of like a fake powdery type substance.  The next thing, the smell of it was a strange fake lemon smell (I love eating lemons).  I was unsure if I wanted to go through with it at this point in time, did I really want to risk ruining some good shrimp?  But I did and now I regret it.  I followed their instructions for basically using it as a dry rub, which they also had instructions to make a marinade out of the seasoning packet.  I grilled the shrimp as I normally do, and the results were as expected.  The powder left a strange texture on the shrimp and had a fake lemon taste.  I had 2 pieces of shrimp and that is all I could handle, in the garbage they go.  If I want a simple lemon flavored shrimp or seafood, I will just stick with a simple lemon-pepper seasoning.

I have opened up a few other packets they sent me to check the smell and consistency and they were all pretty much the same powdery type of rub with a strange odor.   As you might guess, I am not going to waste any more food on their seasonings.

There is one other thing that bothered me about many of the packets and that is they packets claim, "INSTANTLY Creates, Juicy, Tender, & Delicious Flavor".  Well a seasoning isn’t normally going to create a juicy and tender product, the method of cooking is going to do that for you.

Amazing Taste, thank you for the opportunity to give your products a change and I apologize for the bad review, but I tell it how I see it.  As a person that loves to grill and BBQ, I take pride in my seasonings and rubs.

So here is how it works, you can either submit a video or written post (with photos) on their site.  To make a valid entry, you must use one of their sauces, marinades, or BBQ Sauces and should try to use an ingredient from your home state.  So being from Iowa, I would probably choose a pork product or corn. 

For more information about the contest visit: World Harbor Look Local or on Facebook.

We really enjoyed the Spiedini from the Italian series, I decided to do them again, but with a few other twists.  This time I used ground turkey instead of beef and added in some chopped red onions.  I also didn’t use the Italian bread on the skewers, but kind of wish I did.  The Italian bread really helps holding the meatballs on the skewers, so I won’t skip that next time.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey, ground twice (use your food processor)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup pecorino cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 ounces pancetta, diced

Instructions:

1. In a medium size bowl, mix the all the ingredients and form into 1-inch balls
2. Place the meat in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes
3. Prepare the grill for medium heat
4. Double skewer all the meatballs
5. Place the skewers on the grill, turning occasionally and basting with olive oil
6. Remove from the grill and serve.

Here is a slight modification to my typical stuffed jalapeno recipes, this time no special equipment is needed.

Ingredients:

• 6 fresh jalapenos
• 12 shrimps
• 6 slices bacon, cut in half
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup cocktail sauce
• 12 toothpicks

Instructions:

1. Start off by making the cream cheese filling by mixing together the 4 ounces of cream cheese with cocktail sauce in a bowl
2. Remove the stems from the jalapenos and cut in half
3. Remove the seeds and membranes from the inside of each jalapeno half, best way to do this is to using 1/4 teaspoon and scoop them out
4. Fill the insides of each jalapeno half the cream cheese mixture
5. Place a piece of shrimp in each jalapeno half
6. Wrap the shrimp in place with a 1/2 slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick
7. Prepare the grill for medium indirect grilling and grill till the bacon is crispy (about 1 hour).  Longer you go, less heat the jalapeno will have.

Results:

These were mighty good and a nice change to the stuffed jalapeno I do.