Grill, Pop, Grill: Jalapeño Lime Chicken

First of all, does jalapeño make anyone else think of The Office and Lemoñade?

Today, I’d like to share one of my favorite recipes for summer: Jalapeño Lime Chicken. The marinade is light and uses a lot of cilantro, which is my favorite herb in the summertime. The aroma, the bright green color, the pho. Yum! Served with pineapple salsa and rice, the chicken is an excellent meal to share with family and friends. Give it a try this weekend.

Jalapeño Lime Chicken

Grill, Pop, Grill: Steak Part 2

Here’s part one in case you missed it. With Father’s Day coming up this Sunday, I figured it’d be good to post on steaks to 1) whet your appetite and 2) convince you not to spend $$$ at a steakhouse. On a recent visit to Sam’s Club, I noticed that strip steaks are now $7.98/lb – a whopping $2.10 more/lb than just 3 months ago. Looks like it’s going to be all ribeyes this summer.

The price/lb remains $6.98 at Sam’s.

3 or 4 for the price of 1

That’s right. $23–or what you’d pay for one ribeye at a steakhouse– for 3 good-sized steaks and 1 smaller steak. Sam’s typically puts 3 in a pack while Costco usually puts 6.

Remember what I said about ribeyes being well-marbled?

Marbled goodness

I do not recommend freezing steaks – just don’t. Buy as much as you’re going to eat, remove the meat pads/bovine hygiene products from underneath the steaks, and season the steaks with olive oil and coarse ground (or freshly ground if you have it) black pepper, which you can see in the background. I season the steaks in the original packaging because that’s one less dish I have to do. If you’re buying the steaks ahead of time, I’ve found up to 2 days in the fridge is ok, but I’d recommend buying them either the day of or the night before.

As long as you’re going to cook the steaks within 2 or 3 hours, you don’t have to refrigerate them. If you bought the steaks beforehand, get them out and season them at least an hour before grilling. Rub in some black pepper, then coat the steaks on all sides with olive oil, and let them rest until they are ready for salting (no more than 30 minutes before grilling).

Black pepper + Olive Oil

I like taking closeups of meat.

Hello, Mr. DeMille

I find most people’s apprehension about cooking steaks lies with over or undercooking the meat. Here are some tips:

1. Make sure the coals have completely ashed over. With a fatty cut like a ribeye, flareups are inevitable, but waiting until the coals are ready makes a huge difference. Also, you may want to use a glove if you want to save your knuckle hairs.
2. Don’t overload the grill – if there’s a huge flareup and there’s still plenty of time to go before a rotation or flipping, you’re going to want to move the steak to an empty spot on the grill. Yes, you will affect the grill marks, but as long as you get nice marks on one side, that’s all that matters. Have you ever seen someone flip their steak over?
3. To check for doneness, touch your meat. No seriously, touch it. Don’t focus on how long you’ve been cooking for – depending on weather and grill/fire conditions, your cooking time will vary from any recipes or instructions you may find. Testing with your fingers works every time.
4. I undercook my steaks a bit to compensate for carry over cooking, e.g., if someone wants a medium-rare, I’ll cook it just a little bit past rare.

And here they are.

Done

Since I was having several guests over, I cooked the steaks to different degrees of doneness. Here’s a medium.

Some like it medium...

And here’s a rare. Look at that delicious marbling and the juices on the plate.

I like it rare

If you really love your dad, head to a local butcher shop and get some aged cuts. As long as you touch your meat regularly during grilling, you won’t ruin it.

Happy grilling!

Grill, Pop, Grill: Steak

Though I’m given to hyperbole
Believe me: I could eat steak all day
I should also eat some broccoli
Or on the porcelain throne I’ll pay

The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday. Most normal people, like my wife, think of things like taking a walk, playing and enjoying the weather outside, dining al fresco, and dusting off the old flip flops; the only thing on my mind was steak.

For such a vaunted dish, it’s remarkably simple to make. I’ll never pay $20+ for a steak at an Outback or Longhorn…if you’re paying, however, I don’t mind. 🙂 At places like Ray’s the Steaks, where they age the beef on site, I’d pay top dollar. I’m a Ruth’s Chris fan mostly b/c I love butter; not a big Morton’s guy though. But for the price you’d pay for 2 at a fancy steak restaurant, you can have a veritable steak feast – or for you fatties out there, a buffet.

DROOOOOOL

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