Baby, you can light my fire!

[Rebel Rose]

It's spring, and I'm ready to light it up! Is anyone interested in swapping unusual seafood recipes for the grill? I am SO tired of ribs, tri-tip, lamb and steak. (Yeah, yeah, poor me.)

And can someone please explain the proper State of the Grill? Dan says a "little char" keeps food from sticking, and I say congealed half-life grease looks nasty on seafood. We have "His" and "Hers" grills.

[jmcgrath]

Really good seafood doesn't need a recipe. Grilled hot over a charcoal fire is all it takes. For dinner on Thursday, I had wild Alaskan king salmon flown down from Sitka, AK, courtesy of a friend of a member of my sportsmen's club. I hardly remember the sides. Asparagus with hollandaise and rice pilaf, but they were so inconsequential compared to the salmon.

I wire brush my grill, but never use soap and water. A well seasoned grill is a thing to cherish. If the grill is greasy, the fire may not be hot enough.

Jim

[Rebel Rose]

Oh dear, that's a point for Dan! Although our grill gets very charred because of the sticky marinades we occasionally use. One favorite is late harvest zinfandel on tri-tip, with a rosemary and black peppercorn crust. We also like spicy peanut prawns, which are pretty gooey. I attack his grill with a wire painter's brush, which I find works better (and lasts longer) than the fussy grill brushes sold as barbecue accessories.

I do love a great filet of fresh salmon! I'm from the PacNW, and grew up on trout and salmon. Ever try gravlax?

[jmcgrath]

I do love a great filet of fresh salmon!  I'm from the PacNW, and grew up on trout and salmon.  Ever try gravlax?

I love gravlax. I was introduced to it many years ago by Pepin's "La Technique".

Jim

[Bombdog]

Really good seafood doesn't need a recipe. Jim

Beat me to it.

We do alot of seafood, all year long and I can't really think of much we do to it other than some olive oil, maybe a bit of garlic and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.

My grill surface is cast iron and all I do is use that wire brush from the paint department at Home Depot, after the pre heat and before applying the food.

[ferdlisky]

One of my favorite ways to serve grilled fish is with a salsa of some kind. Either purchased or home made. I live near a wonderful Mexican restaurant that serves a tomatillo/avocado salsa with its grilled fish. it's to die for.

I used to make a fab. grilled tuna--can't remember where I got the recipe, although you don't really need a recipe to make it. Just rub tuna steaks with chile powder, grill until as done as you like. Make a salsa of corn/sun-dried tomato/black bean/cilantro/spritz of lime juice.

By the way, lots of great recipes for grilled fish on Epicurious.com.

[woodburner]

It's not unusual, as you have suggested, but rarely done correctly.

Dozens of Long Island Littleneck Clams, resting before death, in an ice filled cooler. Very hot, real lump charcoal fire started in a Weber Kettle grille. Toss a few handfulls of clams onto the well cleaned grille, and close the cover, until they pop open.

Remove with long handled tongs from the grille, and repeat, again and again.

Oh yeah, keep a second cooler filled with cold beer at the table.

woodburner

[Mabelline]

Wire brushes from a welding supply are very sturdy, and do the job. Stick your grill on the fire when it's at it's hottest, then wirebrush it. I think you'll find no aftertaste and have a fairly easy time. We just did a couple of t-bones this weekend, and I swear--I wanted to eat the smoke!

[Rebel Rose]

Yum on the clams. I love grilled oysters, but we could do a lot of clams in each batch. Great idea for a party. We like our trusty Weber kettle, too. It gets hot quickly and stays hot in cold, windy conditions. We've had ours for five years now and its served hundreds of winery visitors on festival weekends, as well as our crush crew every night during harvest. Our neighbor, an old Italian farmer, makes huge bags of oak charcoal in a pit--it's fabulous stuff. (But we don't use it when we rotisserie because it spits and gets black stuff on the meat.)

Here's a recipe for a fruit salsa I like to serve with salmon.

Peach-Ginger Salsa

The Tequila gives it a nutty flavor and quickly extracts heat and flavor from the other ingredients.

4 fresh peaches, or one 16 oz. can of cling peaches, chopped

2 tablespoons Tequila

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine or pressed

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root

1 yellow Hungarian wax pepper, seeds removed and chopped fine

4-5 green onions, chopped fine

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Makes about 1 pint

Put the chopped peaches in a small serving bowl. In another small bowl or cup, combine the Tequila, garlic, ginger and pepper, and let the mixture steep for at least five minutes. The alcohol extracts flavor and heat from the garlic, ginger, and pepper, so the longer you let it steep, the “hotter” your fruit salsa will be. Combine all ingredients with the peaches and serve.

From our cookbook: Fresh from Dover Canyon

[woodburner]

thanks on the salsa concoction. Please, tell us more about the winery and cookbook.

Specialty lump charcoals can and are, be awesome. Maple is pretty much my favorite, when available.

woodburner

[Rebel Rose]

Our winery, Dover Canyon, is a small artisanal winery in the Paso Robles appellation. We're very tiny, with a mere 2500 case production, but Dan ("Dover Dan") and I have both worked in the wine industry here for 15 years. We're not macro-managers at heart, however, so about seven years ago we opted to buy our own small slice of heaven and do the artistic wine thing. There are pictures and more info at www.dovercanyon.com

We both love to cook and grill, and our home is a popular stop for starving bachelor winemakers, so we often have impromptu wine-and-barbecue parties. During crush, local winemakers share equipment and bring wine, and growers like to stop by and watch their fruit being processed, so it's not unusual for me to look around and realize it's 7 pm and I've got 10 hungry people on my hands.

During local wine festivals, Dan and I personally grill and serve appetizers to hundreds of people. (Hence our fondness for our sturdy Weber kettle.) We generally serve lamb ribs and duck breasts with a cranberry-Tequila salsa because they go well with zinfandel and syrah.

The cookbook is a compilation of our favorite fast recipes, what my son approvingly calls "grub." Every recipe had to be easy or fast, and I had lots of hungry volunteers for recipe-testing. It's a print-on-demand paperback, no pictures, just 90+ recipes with wine pairing suggestions.

I don't mind sharing recipes and ideas, so please feel free to ask.

I hope you don't mind if I lurk and learn as well, since I did set fire to the barbecue. The lamb turned out well, though.

[lala]

Lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, S&P...heaven on just about any fish/seafood.

[clothier]

And can someone please explain the proper State of the Grill? Dan says a "little char" keeps food from sticking, and I say congealed half-life grease looks nasty on seafood. We have "His" and "Hers" grills.

having an un-clean grill has never made sense to me. You clean your pans when you are done with them on the stove, right?

You wouldn't make some lamb chops in your cast iron skillet, then make a tarte tartin in the same pan without cleaning it?

So clean your grill!

[Marlene]

This baby will arrive in our backyard on Friday. Don calls it the "Hummer of BBQ's". He thinks it's a Father's Day present for him

I'm ready to grill the entire summer

The inside

[GG Mora]

This baby will arrive in our backyard on Friday. Don calls it the "Hummer of BBQ's". He thinks it's a Father's Day present for him

I'm ready to grill the entire summer

The inside

Rub it in. I'm lusting after a VC grill so badly I can taste it. You won't be disappointed; I got to test drive one of the lesser models at a friend's house & it made my Weber (which I already hated) feel like a Kenner Easy-Bake.

[Marlene]

We've been limping along with a wimpy Broil King for a few years. We're planning a big BBQ party this year, so I said that was it. My excuse (well I used Father's Day as an excuse really ), to get a really good one.

[Okbrewer]

Marlene! You will LOVE your Vermont Castings grill! I bought the VC200 model about 3 years ago. I got the optional side burner. I use my grill ALL the time! It has not only the usual grill burners but also a rotisserie and oven element! It holds a very constant temp. so baking is easy in it. I have baked everything from pizzas to turkey in the grill. It is a heavy, well-made unit! Take care of it and it will last a lifetime! I can't say enough good things about these grills. Home Depot has started to carry lower grade VC models, and even they are superior to the other brands. I purchased mine online. Let us know how you like it!

[Okbrewer]

Marlene! You will LOVE your Vermont Castings grill! I bought the VC200 model about 3 years ago. I got the optional side burner. I use my grill ALL the time! It has not only the usual grill burners but also a rotisserie and oven element! It holds a very constant temp. so baking is easy in it. I have baked everything from pizzas to turkey in the grill. It is a heavy, well-made unit! Take care of it and it will last a lifetime! I can't say enough good things about these grills. Home Depot has started to carry lower grade VC models, and even they are superior to the other brands. I purchased mine online. Let us know how you like it!

[john@thebar]

Really good seafood doesn't need a recipe.  Grilled hot over a charcoal fire is all it takes.

I wire brush my grill, but never use soap and water.  A well seasoned grill is a thing to cherish.  If the grill is greasy, the fire may not be hot enough.

Jim

Charcoal fire is good, mesquite or another hardwood fire is better. Aside from the enhanced flavor benefits, hardwood produces a hotter fire helping to seal in juices and enhance surface carmelization of whatever is being grilled. By the way, after wirebrushing have you ever cut an onion in half and rubbed the grill with it? It's a wonderful technique for seasoning the grill surface.

[Marlene]

It's here! It's here. God, it's gorgeous! Of course, I am now leaving on a weekend camping trip, so the first meal will be a spit roasted Prime Rib on Sunday night. Pics will follow

[GG Mora]

It's here!  It's here.  God, it's gorgeous!  Of course, I am now leaving on a weekend camping trip, so the first meal will be a spit roasted Prime Rib on Sunday night.  Pics will follow

Stop it. Stop it. Please. You're killing me.

I'll have to drive up to Hell's Depot this weekend just so I can pet one and dream. Sit beside it and fantasize. And then come home and kick the Weber.

[Rebel Rose]

I know. I went to the VC website, and I fantasized. I thought about it. But I'm in love with my Weber, I really am. So tomorrow I'll rub him down with some Citrus Solution, and light him up.

Pics would be good. Show us the beef!

[Marlene]

Pics will be forthcoming. Hubby has finished the last of the assembly and the roast has been spitted and ready to go.

[Marlene]

As soon as hubby upoads the pics I'll post em. In the meantime, it was an interesting "trial by fire". We had an anxious moment when 25 minutes into the process, we realised the new rotisserie, wasn't roterissering. It did'nt turn. Hubby hooked up the old rotisserie moter, and off we went. One side got a little crispier than the rest. It got a little overdone, (medium instead of rare to medium rare), but the crispy parts were to die for.

[Rebel Rose]

I made a yellow barbecue sauce last night. It turned out well, I thought, especially with the grilled chicken--fruity with a smoky, spicy kick.

Dan actually had some with his chicken (which validated it, I think) but this morning he's back to being suspicious of it. He keeps peering in the bowl like he expects it to crawl away or something.

Has anyone else tried this or seen a recipe? If Bobby Flay made this, he'd think it was great!