Outdoor Cooking Magic

Dutch Oven Enchilada Recipes

Scott — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:21:38 +0000

Like I've said before, you can cook almost anything in a Dutch oven. Here are two variations on an enchilada casserole that are easy and will give you an opportunity to try out some Mexican fare in the Dutch oven. They will be popular at your next cookout.

Enchilada Casserole

1 large onion chopped

2 lbs ground beef

1 10 oz can tomato soup

2 10 oz cans enchilada sauce

12 oz grated cheese

8 flour tortillas

1 cup sour cream

Cook ground beef and onion in the Dutch oven, then remove and place in a large bowl. Stir soup and enchilada sauce into the ground beef mixture. Spoon a 1/4" layer of meat mixture in the Dutch oven. Cover with a layer of tortillas (tear to cover). Cover the tortillas with grated cheese. Repeat layers of meat mixture, tortillas and cheese until all of the mixture is used up. Top with cheese. Put the lid on the oven and place 15 briquets on the lid. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until mixture is bubbling and heated through. Serve with sour cream.

Dutch Oven Enchilada Casserole

2 lbs. ground beef

1 tsp salt

1 large onion, chopped

1 10 oz can tomato soup

2 10 oz cans mild enchilada sauce

1 10 oz can water

6 large corn tortillas, uncooked

2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Add the ground beef, onion, and salt to the Dutch oven and cook until the beef is browned. Add tomato soup, enchilada sauce, and water and simmer together for 5 minutes. Remove ¾ of the mixture and place in bowl. Place 3 corn tortillas on top of the remaining mixture in the oven. Add another layer of the meat mixture on top of the corn tortillas. Sprinkle with ½ of the cheese. Add another layer of the meat mixture. Add 3 more corn tortillas on top of the meat mixture. Add another layer of meat mixture, and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Cover with the lid, add some briquettes to the lid and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.

I hope you enjoy these delicious dishes! Which one did you like better?

P.S., If you would like some more Dutch oven recipes, I recommend 101 Things to Do With a Dutch Oven.

Dutch Oven Enchilada Recipes is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

BBQ Sets

Scott — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 06:09:34 +0000

BBQ Sets are a popular gift item and what makes them even better is that you can find a BBQ set with your favorite team's logo on it. It's a great way to show your team spirit! Check out the links below to find your favorites team's BBQ set.

These make great gifts and are much appreciated by your favorite sports fan. And they are especially great if they go tailgating.

BBQ Sets is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques

Scott — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:15:58 +0000

I recently came across the book How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques by Steve Raichlen. I loved it. What I liked most was all the ideas and techniques for grilling almost any type of food.

There are over 1000 photographs that show each technique in detail. And each technique is accompanied by a recipe. And the recipes are actually something that I would eat. I don't usually get into the extremely fancy gourmet recipes on the grill, so the first thing that I look at in a book is for recipes that I think I would eat. And this book has them!

I utilized Steve'e technique for grilling asparagus, as shown in my post, Grilled Asparagus - A Delicious Grilled Vegetable. The results were great and I look forward to trying even more of the techniques outline in this book. In fact, it is full of the "how to's". You'll find a bunch of new ways to grill and bbq all sorts of different types of foods.

What The Barbecue! Bible is to inspiration, How to Grill is to technique. You'll be shown how to grill just about any cut of meat. It will give tons of help to the beginner and at the same time will give some challenges to the expert. If you own just one grilling and barbecuing book, How to Grill may be it.

If you would like more information about this book and see the what others have said, click here.

P.S. For more of my favorite outdoor cooking books, see below:

Amazon.com Widgets

How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

The Barbecue! Bible – Outdoor Cooking Books

Scott — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 17:51:35 +0000

Looking for some new food to try on the grill? How about recipes from around the world? The Barbecue! Bible
has over 500 of the very best barbecue recipes, delicious, easy-to-make, and guaranteed to provide great grilling flavors from around the world. Think Grilled Pizza, Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Memphis Style Ribs, Thai Sates, Bahamian Chicken, and even authentic grilled Indian food!

Even if you are a grilling idiot, the basic grilling techniques and easy-to-understand steps will teach you what you need to know to learn the barbecuing and grilling basics.

Some find the list of ingredients intimidating, but once you read through and try the recipes, you'll be hooked. Barbecue will no longer mean just steak and hamburgers and chicken. You'll find many more uses for your grill, like cooking pizza, quesadillas, and exotic foods from around the globe.

In fact, The Barbecue! Bible will become a party planner for you. Plan your meal based on recipes from various locations, add the libations and the music and you'll have an instant barbecue party.

The Barbecue! Bible is definitely a necessity for anyone the grills or barbecues. Click here

Here are some more of my favorite barbecue and grilling books:

The Barbecue! Bible – Outdoor Cooking Books is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

BBQ USA – Outdoor Cooking Books

Scott — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:26:40 +0000

BBQ is an American tradition. Through BBQ you take a worthless hunk of meat and by carefully applying smoke and fire, you turn it into a scrumptious dish that will have everyone raving about the food and your skill. BBQ USA by Steve Raichlen gives you exactly what you need to get rid of boring food forever.

BBQ USA has over 774 pages of information, recipes, and history with all the regional tips and tricks explained and recipes provided. With its 425 recipes, you'll be busy trying all the different foods and techniques for many, many weekend to come.

Even if you are a beginner, you could pick up this huge book, big almost anywhere, with any recipe and be able to cook delicious dishes. While it includes information and recipes for both grilling and bbqing (low slow cooking with smoke), it's not an introduction to grilling. If you want that, try How to Grill.

Once you start using this book, there will never be a reason for your family to complain of boring food ever again! And you'll be pushed to expand your skills and abilities.

If you want to:

Learn to cook brand new dishes on the grill
Expand your outdoor cooking skills
Amaze your friends and family
Have a new dish new you can cook every weekend for over 8 years

Then I suggest you consider getting BBQ USA for yourself or as a gift for someone who loves to cook outdoors.

Here are some of my other favorite BBQ and grilling books:

Amazon.com Widgets

BBQ USA – Outdoor Cooking Books is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Outdoor Cooking Black Friday Deals

Scott — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:51:11 +0000

First of all, I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! With the day after Thanksgiving being the traditional "Black Friday" where so many people take advantage of sales for the Christmas shopping, I thought I would share some great deals that I've found.

Under $20

These items are on sale from Black Friday through Cyber Monday and you get an additional 30% off the price listed when you checkout. That make all of these items under $20.

Under $50

With the 30% discount, these items are all under $50

Under $100

With the 30% discount, these items are all under $100:

Hope you find some good deals here!

Outdoor Cooking Black Friday Deals is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Volcano Grill – Another Outdoor Cooking Gift Idea

Scott — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:39:07 +0000

The Volcano Grill is one of those unique products that is guaranteed to delight your outdoor chef. It's versatile, compact, and light enough, that he or she will be able to cook almost anything anywhere.

If your outdoor cook likes to cook with Dutch ovens, this grill is made exactly for that purpose. But it can also be used with charcoal or wood to grill with, and some models come with a propane hook up so you can attach those small 1 lb propane canisters and cook on the grill with propane. In fact, there is no better solution to cook with when it comes to using charcoal, wood, and propane.

The Volcano Grill easily collapses to about 5" high, so you can even store it in the trunk of your car and have it available anytime and anywhere you are. Think of all the places you could take it: picnics, to the beach, boating, camping, backyard, family reunions, Scouting activities, quick trips up the canyon, over to a friends house for dinner, canoeing and on and on.

And your friends and family will be amazed to see what you can cook on this. Stir fry, baked bread, brownies, steaks, and so much more are possible.

There is probably no better solution for Dutch oven cooking. I saw my first Volcano stove about 8 years ago and was amazed at the concentrated heat it was providing to the Dutch oven--you can often get by on 12-15 pieces of charcoal, which will save you money over the long run.

The other nice thing is that because of the Volcano Grill's unique design, the outside and bottom stay nice and cool, which means that you can use it almost anywhere. The one exception is backpacking--it's too heavy for that, but anywhere you might be needing to cook where you can pull it out of the trunk of the car, it's perfect.

Have a Campfire with the Volcano Grill

Because the Volcano Grill also lets you use wood or charcoal, you can even have a small campfire with it, which is great if you want to cook at a place that doesn't allow ground fires. You can even roast hot dogs and marshmallows over it.

There are several versions you can get, mostly adding additional accessories.

Volcano II Collapsible Cook Stove

This is the basic model and is all you need to get started. You can cook almost anything with it. It does not have the propane attachment, but if your outdoor cook prefers wood or charcoal, this version will do just fine. It's about 15 x 15 x 8 inches and weighs 21.2 lbs. If you are looking for something to get started with, this is the one to get.

Click here to purchase.

Volcano II Collapsible Cook Stove with Attachments

This is the basic model (above) and it comes with the propane attachment which turns your Volcano Stove into a propane grill. If you want to have the versatility to cook with wood, charcoal, or propane, then this is the Volcano Grill to get.

Click here to find out more information and to purchase.

If you want to make someone's day on Christmas, get them a Volcano Grill.

Click here to purchase.

Volcano Grill – Another Outdoor Cooking Gift Idea is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Australian Outdoor Rotisserie

Scott — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:22:41 +0000

I came across the Auspit Rotisserie at a Dutch oven event that I went to earlier this year. The Auspit Rotisserie allows you to cook most anything over a fire, even bread! And it appears to be easy to cook with. All you do is pound the stake into the ground, slide the meat onto the spit, flick on the motor and you are cooking your food over the fire.

You can control the temperature by adjusting the height and angle that the spit is over the fire. That let's you put your dinner exactly where it needs to be to keep it from burning.

Want to cook for a large crowd? The Auspit Rotisserie holds 18 lbs of food, plenty to feed a large group. And since there a bunch of ways to cook, you can cook a wide variety of things, from roasted chestnuts to whole turkeys.

Best of all, there is something about cooking your food slowly over the fire--you won't get a flavor like that in almost any other way. Slow cooking allows the meat to cook in its own juices.

The Auspit Rotisserie comes with a motor that runs on a couple of D-batteries. It doesn't take much power--these batteries should be enough to run the motor for about 90 hours.

The whole system packs into a handy compact carrying case, and weighs only 11 pounds, even with all the accessories.

What kind of accessories can you get? That's where things get really interesting. Here's what is available:

FireTrough

This accessory lets you cook even when you can't build a ground fire. You can use it to with wood or charcoal. It's basically a trough that is loaded onto the vertical bar that holds the spit and is where you put your fire! That way you can cook almost anywhere.

Get the Auspit Rotisserie with FireTrough here.

Spitmate

This cool accessory is basically a tumbler that lets you cook vegetables, chicken wings, nuts, peppers, bread, scallops, bacon, and much more. You can even cook popcorn, my favorite snacks, over the fire in the Spitmate. There is a larger version, smaller version, and even a mini version. The smaller and mini Spitmate leaves some space on your spit to cook other things and works great with the FireTrough. This accessory really adds to the versatility of the Auspit Rotisserie.

Find out more about the Spitmate, Spitmate Junior, and Spitmate Mini.

Squeezeloc Spikes

These allow you to add extra spikes to your spit, to hold even more food! You can even squeeze them closer together so you can cook more, like doing 48 marshmallows at a time. They are ideal for veggies or even chicken.

Get more info about the Squeezeloc Spikes here.

If you want a unique outdoor cooking experience, with delicious food to match, get the Auspit Rotisserie.

Australian Outdoor Rotisserie is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Outdoor Cooking Christmas Gift Ideas

Scott — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:22:07 +0000

I know it doesn't seem possible, but Christmas is coming fast! It will be here before we know it. If you have someone on your gift list that likes to cook outdoors by grilling, bbqing, Dutch oven cooking, campfire cooking, or any other way, I'm going to give you some ideas for Christmas gifts.

Perhaps you are the one that likes to do some outdoor cooking and want to give some suggestions or hints (!!) to someone else. In either case, gift ideas are coming!

Along the way, I'll update this post so that links to all the ideas are are in one place. If you have something you are wondering about getting, but not sure about, please drop me a comment and I'll see if I can give you some suggestions.

Gift Ideas

Australian Outdoor Rotisserie

Grilling and BBQ T-Shirts

The Volcano Grill

Books - These make GREAT gifts!

BBQ USA

Outdoor Cooking Christmas Gift Ideas is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Grilled Side Dishes for Thanksgiving

Scott — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 21:15:34 +0000

One of the benefits of grilling Thanksgiving side dishes is that it frees up your kitchen for other things and keeps most of the mess outside. I scoured the web and found a lot of great Thanksgiving side dishes you could cook outside. So if you aren't cooking your Thanksgiving turkey on the grill, check out what other dishes you could do on your grill.

Potato Side Dishes

Grilled Rosemary Sweet Potatoes - An easy, delicious grilled sweet potato dish that uses a favorite seasoning, rosemary. You can even cook these ahead of time and then warm them up on the grill when you are ready to serve. These will be a wonderful change from your standard Thankgiving sweet potato dishes.

Honey Grilled Sweet Potatoes - Another very easy, grilled sweet potato dish with honey. Make sure to keep on eye on things so they don't burn.

Grilled Sweet Potato Fingers with Curry Dip - You could serve this grilled sweet potato dish as a main meal side dish, or it would go great as an appetizer.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes with Scallions - Another variation on the sweet potato, this time using scallions. Do you get the hint that sweet potatoes might go really well on the grill?

Savory Grilled Potatoes - Here is a bit of an unusual way to prepare grilled potatoes, but looking at the reviews, they were a huge hit. This dish is made with foil packets, with seasonings and other ingredients added, and then grilled. Before you pass this one up, try it and see if you don't agree with the 200 people that loved this recipe.

Grilled Potatoes and Onion - Another great variation on the potato, but cooked on the grill. This is a great alternative to mashed potatoes, and is also done in foil packets with garlic.

Vegetable Side Dishes

Fall Vegetables on the Grill - Uses potatoes, sweet potatoes, and acorn squash, cut into 1" chunks and cooked right on the grill. Gives the combinations of these three vegetables a delicious flavor.

Grilled Squash - You can grill almost any type of squash. Here are some basic guidelines for grilling squash, so choose your favorite and get it on the grill.

Barbecued Cabbage with Santa Fe Seasoning - If you are looking for something different from your typical Thanksgiving side dishes, barbecued or grilled cabbage might just be the answer.

Sweet Acorn Squash - As I said above, you can grill most squashes. Here is a recipe specifically for acorn squash (see the picture at the front of the article to see this dish). This is a fun and easy one to do, and reminded me a bit of some of the Thanksgiving sweet potato dishes I've had over the years.

Stuffed Acorn Squash - I've tried grilling acorn squash several times now, and it's becoming a favorite of mine. Here's another delicious grilled acorn squash recipe that uses apples, brown sugar, and peanuts.

2 Fresh & Local, Flavor Bursing Dishes for Thanksgiving - This post has two dishes for you to consider grilling for Thanksgiving. The first is another version of grilled sweet potato wedges. I've grilled regular potato wedges for years, and now it's time to try grilled sweet potato wedges. The other dish is a brussel sprouts dish. It has bacon, pistachios and cranberries. I'm not a big brussel sprouts fan, but with these additions, I might just have to rethink that.

Grilled Creamed Corn - I'm not a huge creamed corn fan, but if I cook it, using corn from the grill is definitely the way to go. The grilled corn kernels will give the creamed corn and huge flavor burst.

Bread

Barbecued Bread - If you want to be really adventurous, here's complete instructions for baking artisan bread on the grill. This post has some great pictures and shows you want a little creativity and thought can get you.

Fresh Baked Bread on the Grill - Pillsbury tells you how to take a can of Pillsbury Country Italian Bread and cook it on the grill. This would be a great addition to your Thanksgiving meal.

Emeril's Cast-Iron Honey Cornbread - Cook this cornbread in a cast iron skillet right on the grill while you are cooking other things alongside.

These are just some of the many possibilities. Whether or not you are cooking your Thanksgiving turkey outside this year, why not try a few side dishes on the grill and see how you and your guests like them? If you have grilled sides dishes for Thanksgiving before, I would love to hear what you have done--let me know if the comments below.

Grilled Side Dishes for Thanksgiving is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Dutch Oven Sausage Recipes

Scott — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 04:34:54 +0000

Because sausage is a ground meat, it cooks up easily and quickly in a Dutch oven. It can then be combined with other ingredients to make some tasty and original dishes that will delight your family and guests.

Sausage Balls

1 lb sausage (mild or hot)
1 egg
6 oz grated cheddar cheese
3 cups Bisquik

Mix all ingredients together. Pinch off small pieces and form into balls. Cook 10-15 mins at 350 degrees in a Dutch oven. Makes 6 dozen.

Dutch Oven Sausage Casserole

8 slices of bread
2 pounds of sausage
16 oz grated cheddar cheese
12 eggs
1 qt. milk
1-1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp salt

Heat a 12" Dutch oven and cook the sausage. When done, place in a bowl, wipe out the oven and line it with heavy-duty foil. Lightly grease the foil with butter. Break up bread into the oven. Crumble cooked sausage meat over bread and cover with cheese. In a separate bowl, mix eggs (lightly beaten), milk, dry mustard, and 1 tsp. salt (to taste). Pour the egg mixture over the layered bread-sausage-cheese in the oven, cover, and bake for 35 minutes, checking occasionally.

Enjoy these dishes!

P.S., If you would like some more Dutch oven recipes, I recommend 101 Things to Do With a Dutch Oven.

Dutch Oven Sausage Recipes is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Dutch Oven Chicken

Scott — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:09:24 +0000

Cooking chicken in a cast-iron Dutch oven is a method that ensures terrifically moist, succulent results because the heavy lid keeps the steam inside the oven. It also keeps the flavor inside, but because some people don't like the look of steamed meat, here's a trick to make your chicken taste better and look great. Heat some oil or grease in the oven to about 350 degrees by placing the oven over coals. Sear the chicken in the hot oven by turning it until it is browned all over. This will help seal in the juices for better tasting chicken and give it a browned look. Once it's browned, remove the chicken, wipe out the excess grease, and add the chicken and seasonings for the recipe you are planning to cook. You'll find that Dutch oven chicken is juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Yum!

Try some of these Dutch oven chicken recipes:

Door Slammer Chicken

8 chicken breasts
2-8 oz bottles Russian dressing
1-12 oz jar apricot jam
1 pkg. instant onion soup mix

Mix well & pour over chicken in Dutch oven. Bake 1 1/2 hrs. If in oven it should be 350 degrees or use 10 briquettes on bottom & 15 on top of your dutch oven.

from Sue: This is a very easy, delicious Dutch oven chicken recipe.

Dutch Chicken Bake

3 lbs frozen chicken breasts (skinless and boneless)
2 lbs frozen hash browns
1 29 oz can cream of mushroom soup
milk

Layer hash browns and chicken to fill a 12" oven 3/4 full. Mix can of soup and a can of milk together and pour over top of chicken and hash browns and cook for one hour or until chicken is cooked.

from Talons Falconry

Baked Honey Chicken

2 chickens, cut-up
¼ cup butter
1 cup chopped onions
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp rosemary
1 T honey for each piece of chicken
1 cup chicken stock
flour

Sprinkle each piece of chicken with flour. Melt butter in Dutch oven and sauté chicken on both sides. Remove chicken and drain on paper towels.

Sauté the onions until golden brown. Add chicken stock. Place chicken in oven on onions, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Drizzle each piece of chicken with honey. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F (10-12 coal under bottom of oven) for about 1 hour. Baste the chicken frequently.

Just Chicken in a Pot

3-4 lb whole frying chicken
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp pepper

Wash chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle cavity with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning. Put in Dutch oven and sprinkle with basil. Cover and bake for 4 to 6 hours or until tender.
Rusty

P.S. to get more Outdoor Cooking tips and recipes, sign up below to get the Outdoor Cooking Magic newsletter.

Dutch Oven Chicken is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Brining a Turkey for a Delicious Moist Flavor

Scott — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:32:10 +0000

Picture by Scott Feldstein at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottfeldstein/

So you decided to grill or smoke a turkey this Thanksgiving, your buddy says to brine it first, and you’re asking yourself, “Huh?” Here’s why your buddy is right about brining a turkey.

Turkey breast is a lean meat and tends to be drier than dark meat, and moisture loss happens when cooking any type of muscle fiber. Soaking the turkey in a brine—a solution of salt and water—will help ensure a moister and juicier bird and can reduce this moisture loss during cooking.

Brining can also dissolve some of the proteins in muscle fibers, turning them from solid to liquid, thus increasing the moisture in the turkey. Since white meat cooks faster than dark meat, brining pulls out the turkey's natural juices and the added water essentially steams the turkey breast while the dark meat finishes its cooking time.

The salt in the brine is the key ingredient that allows the bird to retain moisture, but many brine recipes contain other ingredients. These are flavor enhancers that don’t increase the juicy texture of the meat. So you can add dried herbs, such as thyme, oregano, or sage, to the brine or replace the water with another liquid, such as apple cider.

The turkey needs to be completely submerged in the brine, so coolers with ice packs are an easy solution. You can also place the turkey in a clean trash bag, add the brine, and seal the bag so that the meat is covered, then place the bag in a bowl and refrigerate.

Rinse the brined turkey afterward to remove any surface salt. Properly brined meat shouldn't taste salty, just very juicy with a yummy flavor.

For a whole turkey, the brine concentration is 2 cups salt to 1 gallon water using Diamond Crystal kosher salt; Morton's kosher salt is denser, so use 1-1/2 cups per gallon of liquid; table salt is denser still, so use 1 cup per gallon.

Fill a pan with cold water, add the other ingredients you want in your brine, boil the mixture and allow to cool before adding the turkey.

You can actually buy turkey brining kits that gives you everything you need for brining a turkey:

If you prefer to make your own brine, here are some turkey brining recipes you may want to try if you want some additional flavor.

Herb Turkey Brine

1 gallon vegetable broth
1 cup sea salt
1 tablespoon crushed dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried savory
1 gallon ice water

Citrus Turkey Brine

1 cup salt
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 orange, cut into wedges
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 gallons cold water

Orange Turkey Brine

1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 cup kosher salt
1 1/2 gallons water

Cranberry Turkey Brine

2 cups kosher salt
3 tablespoons poultry seasoning
3 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
4 quarts vegetable broth
2 quarts water
3 cups cranberry juice

Savory Turkey Brine

2 gallons cold water
10 ounces Kikkoman Naturally Brewed Soy Sauce
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons dried sage
2 tablespoons dried celery seed
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Apple Turkey Brine

2 quarts apple juice
1 gallon cold water
1 cup kosher salt
6 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
5 pounds ice cubes

Cranberry-Citrus Turkey Brine

1 cup kosher salt
1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 (12 fluid ounce) can frozen cranberry juice concentrate
1 gallon water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon, cut into wedges
1 orange, cut into wedges
1 red onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves garlic
4 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Once you start brining your turkey, I doubt you will ever go back.

P.S. For everything you need to know about brines (and lots more), see Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures and Glazes.

Brining a Turkey for a Delicious Moist Flavor is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Smoked Chicken Wings

Scott — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:11:50 +0000

I recently tried a smoked chicken wings recipe. It was a little different from the typical chicken wing, but it had a nice, mild flavor and was super easy to do.

Rinse your chicken wings and blot dry. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Prepare the basting sauce by mixing the following:

1 1/2 cups Italian dressing
3/4 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp hot red pepper flakes
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
coarse salt to taste

Divide the basting sauce in half. One half will be used for basting during cooking and the other half will be poured over the wings when they are done.

Set up your grill for indirect grilling, which means to set up your propane or charcoal grill so that you're not cooking directly over the flame or coals. If you have a multi-burner propane grill, start one or two burners, but cook over the burner that is not lit. If you have a charcoal grill, start your charcoal, then move the coals to the outsides and cook in the middle (or whatever other method will work for your particular grill).

Prepare some wood chips for smoking by putting a handful into a foil packet and tearing three holes in the foil packet so smoke can escape and flavor the wings. You can also use a smoker box if you have one, or you can toss them directly on the coals if using charcoal.

Clean and oil the grates and add the wings to the hot grates. Keep the wings away from the heat. Cover the grill so the smoke is contained. Cook the wings until they are golden brown, which will take about 30-40 minutes. About 15 minutes into the cooking, start brushing the wings with the basting sauce prepared above. Then baste every 5-8 minutes after that. Turn the wings occasionally to coat all sides.

In the last few minutes of cooking, move the wings so they are directly over the heat and cook uncovered. Cook until crisp (but don't let them burn--it's easy to get a few that are cooked a little too much!).

When the wings are done, move them to a plate, pour the other half of the basting mixture over them and serve immediately.

These are simple to do and very tasty. Enjoy!

Smoked Chicken Wings is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Grilling and BBQ T-Shirts

Scott — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 01:09:10 +0000

If you want to look cool while you are bbqing or grilling, or if you want to show off your favorite way of outdoor cooking, check out these cool BBQ and grilling t-shirts! They are the perfect gift for someone who loves to BBQ or grill.

There's some great T-shirts here! I hope you find one that you like.

P.S. If you don't see one you like, there are plenty more BBQ and grilling T-shirts to choose from.

Grilling and BBQ T-Shirts is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

How to Grill a Turkey – Five Techniques to Use

Scott — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:10:19 +0000

Thanksgiving is almost here, and some of you may be wondering if you can grill your Thanksgiving Turkey. Absolutely! Not only will grilling your turkey give it a fabulous flavor, but it will free up your oven for the other baking you need to do for Thanksgiving. You may never cook a turkey in the oven again!

So here are some of the very best posts from around the web with great ideas to show you how to grill a turkey using different techniques.

How to Grill a Turkey on a Gas Grill

60% of Americans own a gas grill, so most of you are probably wondering how you would barbecue your turkey on a gas grill. Whole Turkey on the Gas BBQ by the Chef at Granny’s Poultry gives some great instruction on the mechanics of using a gas grill for grilling a turkey.

Thanksgiving Turkey on the Grill from the boys at PigskinGourmet.com is a funny video that has some useful tips for grilling a turkey for Thanksgiving, as well as some other "interesting" holiday tips.

How to Grill Your Turkey on a Grill gives great tips for thawing, trussing, and grilling that Thanksgiving turkey on your backyard gas grill.

How to Grill a Turkey on a Charcoal Grill

Dave at BBQ My Way provides some instructions and a recipe for Grilling Turkey with a Weber kettle grill and includes a useful (and amusing) video on how he grills his turkey.

This Detroit Free Press article gives some very basic info on how to Grill your Thanksgiving turkey for golden skin and smoky, moist meat using a kettle grill. Be sure to check out the great left sidebar that has planning ahead tips, plus recipes for wet and dry brining your turkey.

The folks at Butterball suggest some easy, step-by-step directions on how to cook a turkey under 18 pounds using the Outdoor Charcoal Grill Method and the Outdoor Gas Grill Method.

Brining a Turkey

The Smokin’ Buzzards have written a great post detailing Brined & Barbecue Smoked Turkey. Scattered throughout are several of Juancho’s BBQ Tips with lots of useful advice.

Grilling your Thanksgiving dinosaur: live-blogging the bird tells you how to brine your turkey in a trash bag and grill a turkey with briquettes. There's lots of photos and an awesome bonus section with cool science stuff about pneumatic cavities in turkeys and brachiosaurs!

Dry Brining a Turkey

In The California Cook: Our best turkey tweak yet, the LA Times food editor gives great tips on grilling a 15 lb. turkey with briquettes and explains why he changed from using a wet brine to a dry brining rub.

How to Smoke a Turkey

This Smoked Turkey tutorial gives very detailed instructions on smoking a turkey from start to finish with all the various steps involved. Don’t miss the list of all the turkey information available on the site.

If you’re interested in a little more scientific presentation on Smoked Turkey, check out this article from the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia. It gives all the details of brining and smoking a turkey, plus links to other interesting topics like canning, freezing, pickling, curing, and jams and jellies.

How To Smoke Turkey - Smoked Turkey Tips from Brad gives some great instructions using a water smoker and charcoal to smoke a turkey, but be sure to read the comment at the bottom praising an electric smoker as the smoker of choice.

To add a fantastic flavor to your smoked turkey, check out these wine barrel staves. These staves are oak wood from red wine barrels. Toss a couple of staves on a hot bed of charcoal or on a gas grill, directly over one of the gas burners under the grill grate, and you'll have the extraordinary flavor of oak smoke with red wine.

How to Cook a Turkey on a Rotisserie

This blog gives instructions on how to Rotisserie Turkey using brining and a gas grill. If you have a charcoal grill, here’s some instructions for Rotisserie Turkey, Dry brined with Orange and Spices. You can compare wet and dry brining techniques and choose your favorite.

I hope you take the opportunity to cook your turkey on the grill this Thanksgiving. Remember, you may never cook your turkey in an oven again!

P.S. for some delicious grilling tips and recipes, including tips for grilling a turkey, see Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking with Live Fire.

How to Grill a Turkey – Five Techniques to Use is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Dutch Oven Chocolate Turtle Cake – My Best One Yet!

Scott — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:44:25 +0000

I've experimented with a Dutch oven Chocolate Turtle Cake a few times, trying different tweaks to get it even better. I made another try over the weekend and loved how it turned out!

To start, I cut a sheet of parchment paper into six or seven long strips and laid them in my Dutch oven, with the ends hanging over the sides. This is a big help in getting the Chocolate Turtle Cake out after it's done.

I then used a German Chocolate Cake mix and followed the mixing directions on the box. I poured a little more than half the batter into the bottom of the Dutch oven. I used a 12" Dutch oven, since that is the smallest I have, but wondered how this would do in a 10" Dutch oven. The cake would be a bit higher.

I set the Dutch oven on 10 coals and put 14 on the top, then cooked this bottom half for about 15 minutes.

While the cake was cooking, I started heating 1 1/2 lbs of caramels with 1 1/4 cups of evaporated milk over medium heat for the caramel sauce. Keep stirring so it doesn't burn.

After 15 minutes, I checked the cake to make sure it was somewhat done on the top. I didn't want the top to collapse as I did the next part, so I used my finger to see if a light depression sprang back a bit. Once it did, I poured one bag of milk chocolate chips over the cake and sprinkled them around so they were evenly distributed. (You could also use semi-sweet chips).

Next I poured half the caramel sauce over the cake and chocolate chips, then the rest of the cake batter over everything.

I cooked the cake for about 30-40 minutes more using the same coals, then checked the cake with a toothpick to see if it came out clean. Warning: if you push it too far down , it hits the chocolate-caramel layer.

Once the cake was done, my wife and I carefully grabbed the ends of the parchment paper strips hanging over the sides, gently lifted the cake out of the Dutch oven, and put it on a large plate. I trimmed the edges of the parchment strips so they didn't show and poured the rest of the caramel sauce over the top. When serving, I slipped the parchment pieces out from underneath. (If you prefer, you can gently flip it over when you remove it from the oven and pull the parchment strips off, then flip it back over and pour on the caramel sauce).

Sprinkle with chopped pecans, serve with ice cream and you have an absolutely delicious Dutch oven cake!

Enjoy!

If you haven't done any Dutch oven cooking, I recommend my series on Getting Started with Dutch Oven Cooking.

Also, I would love it if you would share this post on Facebook or Twitter -- all you have to do is click the corresponding link below (or you can share on a number of other social media sites)! Thanks!

Dutch Oven Chocolate Turtle Cake – My Best One Yet! is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Grilled Tomatoes With Cheese

Scott — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 01:13:41 +0000

I recently experimented with grilling tomatoes. I tried several methods and came up with one that got "5 stars" from my wife, Sue. It's easy to do and results in a grilled tomato that has a ton of flavor. I hope you enjoy it.

First, I cut a medium sized tomato in half and then removed the pulp and seeds from the inner sections:

Next I sprinkled some salt and pepper on the cut side of the tomato. Then put the tomato on the grill, cut side down, and grilled on high heat for about 15 minutes. My goal was to get the cut side to just start to char a little.

When the tomato was just starting to char, I flipped it over (I used tongs, but would suggest a spatula, as the skin of the tomato can start to slip away).

Drizzle a little bit of Italian dressing on the tomato, which allows it to settle down into the hollow tomato sections (where you removed the pulp and seeds). The idea here is to get some more flavor down inside the tomato so that when you eat it, all the flavor isn't at the top.

Sprinkle the cut side of the tomato with shredded Mozzarella cheese and top it off with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and basil.

Grill until the cheese is melted and serve!

Pretty delicious, if I so say so myself! When I do this again, I'm thinking I might actually gently push some of the cheese down into the hollow tomato sections.

Grilled tomatoes are a nice, easy side dish and a great addition to your grilled meal.

Enjoy!

P.S., For more great grilling tips and ideas, I recommend How to Grill. It has a ton a great grilling ideas for almost anything you would want to cook on the grill. Click here for more information.

Grilled Tomatoes With Cheese is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

Competition BBQ Secrets Review

Scott — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:06:00 +0000

I recently got a copy of Competition BBQ Secrets to review. I've seen this ebook referred to on the Internet many times and was interested to see what it said. I'm always looking for good sources of information!

I scanned through the topics in the table of contents and it looked like it had a lot of good information in it:

Information on smokers
Woods to use
Managing your fire
Brining, marinating, injecting, sauces
Cooking tips for the big four in competition: chicken, pork ribs, pork butts, and brisket
Smoking tips for turkey
Guide to trimming spare ribs, St. Louis style
Science of BBQ
BBQ competitions

I was looking at this ebook primarily from a backyard BBQ point of view. Most of these are topics that are applicable to the backyard BBQ, but some are much less so, such as the section on BBQ competitions.

To be honest, I was disappointed that so much of the ebook was spent on the competition aspect (about 12 pages out of 74). I hadn't remembered the sales page saying much about that part, so went back and checked and it was my memory--it clearly states that there is information for those who want to compete. It isn't that none of that information is applicable to the backyard BBQer but you'll have to dig a little bit to find it and apply it. It is more directly applicable to those doing competition.

With regards to the rest of the book, there is a lot of very specific information about how Bill Anderson cooks his meats at competition. Bill is part of the Chatham Artillery BBQ Team and has done very well in competitions recently. He must be doing something right!

I've seen some complaints that all of the information in this book can be found on the Internet. That's probably true! But you'll have to search high and low and test and try many things to find the combinations that work. Bill has already done that and shares it all with you in the ebook.

Bill provides specific information about cooking time and temperatures for chicken, pork ribs, pork butts, brisket, and turkey. He also gives a number of recipes, including:

1 injection recipe
7 rub recipes
12 barbecue sauce recipes
And a few miscellaneous others

Note that there are not a bunch of recipes--if that's what you are looking for, Competition BBQ Secrets is not for you. But if you want some recipes that have done great in competitions, then it's worth checking out. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, so can't comment on them, but I look forward to trying and testing them and see what I think. I've you've tried any of these, please let us know what you think in the comments below. I'll do the same as I try the recipes.

The one thing that I read that I completely disagreed with was a suggestion that lighter fluid be used to start the charcoal. Bill says that if you let it burn long enough, the fluid will burn off and the odor will be gone. That's not my experience, and I start all of my charcoal now with a chimney. In another part of the book, he talks about an experience where he tasted some barbecue that had a bit of an after-taste. When he checked with the cook, she said that she had used lighter fluid. His point was that you should not risk using lighter fluid to light your coals when there were other ways. I agree--use a chimney! It takes a little bit longer, but you run no risk of it affecting the taste of your food.

All in all, this book has some solid information and if it is what the Chatham Artillery BBQ Team is using during their recent success, then it's worth looking at. At the present time, the book goes for $29.95. This may seem a bit expensive, and you might even be a bit underwhelmed after reading it (I was at first), but then you need to remember that your time is worth money and Bill has shared proven tips, tricks, and recipes with you--no need to spend your time trying to figure out what works and how to BBQ. He'll easily save you that $29.95 in your time.

That doesn't even include the savings that you'll have from not having to buy meats and other related items to test and see what works. Heck, a brisket alone can run around $20, so you can easily save that money by following what Bill has found to work.

I recommend that you get a copy of the Competition BBQ Secrets ebook. You get access to it immediately (that's the beauty of an ebook) and there is a 60 day money back guarantee. With that, you can't go wrong. (Please note that if you click on one of my links and purchase Competition BBQ Secrets, I get a commission. It's not a ton, doesn't change the price you pay at all and helps me keep Outdoor Cooking Magic going.)

Enjoy!

Competition BBQ Secrets Review is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

BBQ Sauce – How to Tell the Difference between BBQ Sauces!

Scott — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:46:02 +0000

It's been interesting to me to see how different parts of the country do bbq! In some places, they don't believe in any sauce and flavor the meat with a rub only. For those areas that believe in doing bbq with sauce, there are a bunch of different kinds. This video tells you all about different sauces. And it's a fun video to boot!

Hope you enjoyed that!

P.S. To find out more about all types of bbq and grilling, I highly recommend Steve Raichlen's How to Grill. It tells you how to grill just about anything.

BBQ Sauce – How to Tell the Difference between BBQ Sauces! is a post from: Outdoor Cooking Magic

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Grilled Tomatoes With Cheese

Competition BBQ Secrets Review

BBQ Sauce – How to Tell the Difference between BBQ Sauces!