Planksgiving©

Today was the first annual planked Thanksgiving Feast and as most Northwesterners will tell you, the holidays are often paired with a lot of that white, sometimes-fluffy, cold stuff. It's okay. We're used to it. Grilling in the snow doesn't scare me one bit- the 20 lb. bird on the other hand... scary, but do-able.
This morning, I drained off the aforementioned brine water, patted my bird dry, stuffed it with as many Walla Walla sweet onions and fresh herbs as it's cavity would hold, then got to work with the herb butter.

This wasn't just any herb butter... this was hand-rolled Amish butter, with fresh thyme, sage, an entire bulb of organic brown tempest garlic, celtic sea salt, and rosemary from my Momma's garden. I'd have been happy with just a smear of this and hunk of bread, but I had 14 hungry people headed my way, so the herb butter was carefully placed under the turkey's skin and a light coating was rubbed on the outside. Now the bird was ready.

My turkey spent the first several hours of cooking time in the oven at 350°, then was transferred out to the grill on a burly one-inch-thick cedar turkey plank, made especially for this occasion.
Once added to the Outdoor Gourmet cedar grilling plank, the bird took on a great redish-brown color from the mix of cedar plank and hickory smoking chunks.
The ribs hit the gas grill around the same time as the turkey, but they were on a rough-cut piece of hickory and was served with ginger orange zest cranberry sauce.
We pulled the bird when the thermometer read an internal temp of 140° and foiled for a resting period of 15-ish minutes. The ribs- honestly, I was running around mashing potatoes and filling ramekins with Amish butter, so they just got pulled when they looked done.

Along with our meaty entrées, we served brussel sprouts with shallots in white wine sauce, fruit and nut stuffing, chilled barley and broccoli salad with feta, grilled sweet potatoes, and of course, mashed potatoes with brine dripping gravy.
Friends brought homemade bread, pies, babies, wine, and dogs along for the feast, which was held in the wood stove-heated garage with a couch, four chairs, and five coolers as seating.
When it came time for pie and fresh whipped nutmeg cream, we were out of plates, so Styrofoam cups made for a classy, yet ergonomic vessel.
Dishes- done. Turkey carcass- simmering into stock. Now I need to go sleep off this food and wine induced comma. Happy Planksgiving to one and all!!

Welcome to your Planksgiving weekend! -KB

Planksgiving© Prep

It's simple- everyone says so, but at the sweet, young age of twenty-three, this is my first time. I can't help but be nervous- I'm preparing my first traditional Thanksgiving dinner, except it will be going down the Friday before the big day.

I unwrapped my turkey, looked it square in the gizzard and said "I'm not scared of you!" It's important to establish dominance right off the bat. As Cesar Millan would say- "be the pack leader." Or in this case, the flock leader? Well, whatevs, I just need to plank this bird for the first annual Planksgiving© (copyright symbol- this mean, y'all F&F-ers!) which is tomorrow and we are already having some logistical problems.

The bird has been thawing for three days and it's still pretty frozen and this thing needs to hit the heat in t-minus 20 hours. A quick trip to wikihow's HOW TO DEFROST A TURKEY taught me...

As a rule of thumb, you'll need 24 hours for every five pounds of bird, so a 20-pound bird will require four full days of defrosting time. As I am 24 hours behind the curve, I am going with an alternative. Overnight brining.

Here's how I made my brine...

I grabbed whatever homemade stock I had in the freezer, some coarse sea salt, a couple bay leaves, fresh thyme, cracked black pepper, and a PBR for good measure. Cooked it all together and then plopped the bird in the largest pot I could find- it was a tight fit. Then I covered the bird and brine with cold water and put the whole unit back in the fridge.

Ok, turkey is brining, now for the ribs. We're going to go for a traditional Thanksgiving dry-rubbed short rib, just like the pilgrims shared with Squanto that first Thanksgiving.

* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/4 cup paprika
* 1 tablespoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon Johnny's Sea Salt
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 tablespoon garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon onion powder
* 1 teaspoon cayenne

Combine all these in a bowl, mix 'em together, then rub your ribs. Wrap your ribs in foil and they take a spot in the quickly dwindling refrigeration space as well.

Tomorrow, we will be planking these two main attractions, but for an extra smoky kick, the gas/charcoal will be forgone in favor of Hickory smoking chunks.
Now I'm off to chop some veggies and make some pies, but the bird and ribs are prepped for the big day. Stay tuned for more Planksgiving fare.

Welcome to your Planksgiving weekend! -KB

¡Bienvenidos al primer entrada afuera- en Argentina!

Note about the guest blogger- Amanda Baker.

Outdoor Gourmet guest blogger Amanda Baker sends greetings from South of the border while studying abroad in Argentina and she's got news- of food, that is! Thanks, Amanda!

While Argentina is not known for its intensity of flavors, it is known for its high quality food and how to bring out the best in the most simple of flavors. Ranking #2 in beef consumption, Argentines eat about 121 pounds of beef per capita per year, and for definite reasons. Something about free range cows fed from the rich grasses of the pampas that make all of the cuts of the highest quality. When quality is good, you do not need much to season it. Just a little bit of salt added to a piece of lomo while searing over a wood ember parilla and you almost have a meal fit for an Argentine. While the meat is of a very high caliber, Argentine side dishes leave much to be desired. Salads normally consist of either carrots and tomatoes in a bowl or eggs and potatoes in mayonnaise. I suggest you leave more room on your plate for the main attraction, as it deserves center stage.

-Amanda

After hearing about the grade A beef that Amanda has been enjoying, I did a little research if my own. It seems that Argentines love to top their beef with cheese- so here's a recipe for a planked twist on Argentinian fare.

Outdoor Gourmet Cedar Planked Fillet Mignon with Blue Cheese Crumble

Ingredients

2 or 3 Outdoor Gourmet Cedar Grilling Planks, soaked for an hour of more
12 slices of bacon (2 for each fillet)
6-8 Fillet Mignon steaks, trimmed
2 tbsp. of your favorite BBQ Rub
¼ C. Bourbon
2 tbsp. olive oil
¼ C. chopped fresh herbs (Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme)
1 tbsp black pepper
¼ lbs. crumbled blue cheese
1 small onion diced
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 C. croutons
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

First: Cook the bacon in a frying pan until ½ way cooked, then use a paper towel to dry off excess fat. Let cool.

Then: In a small bowl whisk together the BBQ rub, bourbon, olive oil, 2 tbsp. of the herbs and black pepper. Wrap the bacon strips around each fillet, securing with a toothpick. Drench each steak with the sauce then seal in a container with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Next: To make the cobbler topping, in a bowl combine the crumbled blue cheese, onion, the remaining herbs and the balsamic vinegar. Smash up the croutons lightly and fold them gently together into the blue cheese mixture. Form into patties the same size as your fillets, cover and set aside.

Then: Pre-heat grill to high heat, Open the lid carefully and arrange the fillets on the plank. Close the lid and cook for approx. 8 min. Turn the steaks and cook for another 5 minutes. Place one patty of blue cheese topping on each steak and cook for another 5 min., until the topping develops a crust. Use a spray bottle of water to extinguish any flames around the plank during cooking.

Finally: Take the smoldering plank directly to the table and place on a heat-proof platter. The plank will add excitement to the meal and keep the fillets warm while serving. Enjoy!

Welcome to your weekend! -KB

Yellowstone National Park- the world's first national park spans 2,219,798 acres and three states. Wyoming, Montana, Idaho- Wytanaho! Most of the park sits around 8,000 ft. or above, therefore is closed to vehicles other than snowmobiles for about half the year. During the summer, the tourist come in droves, so we opted for a one-week-before-park-closure visit. Geothermal activity spits, sputters, and steams in mineral hot pots and geysers all over this still-very-active volcanic plateau.

I'm usually of a mind that warning signs, boardwalks, and barriers are meant for everyone, that is, except for me. But after taking in some of the not-so-subtle signage around the park, I decided that the boardwalks were the place to be.
Wildlife run free, fat and unencumbered (unless you count wolves as cumbersome) around Yellowstone. Bison hang out by the heard, paying no heed to the passing cars. We glimpsed two grizzly bear that could barely waddle due to their girth- hibernation is close at hand.
Seeing the all those bison and the winter-ready bear got my wheels turning- I need to fatten up for winter. What is a good, fatten up for winter-type of nosh? Burgers! Which brings me to this week's recipe...

Alder Planked Bison Burgers

(No Yellowstone Bison were eaten in the creation of this blog... 'cause that's super-illegal.)

Ingredients

Outdoor Gourmet Grilling Plank, soaked for an hour or more
1 lb. lean ground bison
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

Instructions

First- Soak OG grilling plank for an hour or more. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, if they aren't sticking together properly add an egg.

Then- Shape into 3-4 burgers.

Next- Place Burgers on plank and add plank, grill on high for 15-20 minutes.

Add- Cheese, if you please.

Finally- Remove and enjoy!

Welcome to your weekend. -KB

Cedar Planked Steelhead- A Northwest Classic

For centuries, native tribes of the Pacific Northwest hung their fresh-caught fish over open fires, fastened to hand-split pieces of Western Red Cedar.

Fast forward a bit and the backyard grill was invented. Shortly thereafter, Outdoor Gourmet started producing more manageably-sized pieces of Western Red Cedar to cook with and blam! The modern-day grilling plank was born and we've been planking ever since.

What we're planking this weekend- Fall Steelhead.

Steelhead (Oncorhynchus Mykiss) are rainbow trout that migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to spawn-fish that do this are called anadromous fish. In Idaho, the Fall Steelhead run (the A-Run) is on right now. The Spring (B-Run) starts sometime in June and traditionally boasts much larger fish than the A-run. The Spring runners have spent two years in the ocean, opposed to the Fall fish, which only spent one year out at sea.

So, how are Steelhead different than Salmon? Well, for our purposes, they aren't that different. Salmon and Steelhead both migrate up river to spawn and rely mostly on krill as their food source, which gives them that nice pink-orange coloring. Once filleted, the two are almost identical in color, taste, and texture. If put to a blind taste test, I would struggle to tell the two apart.

The major difference is once you get to the cold case. Steelhead is much less expensive than Coho, Chinook, or Sockeye Salmon, and in my opinion, just as good.

Here’s how it works:

First - soak your cedar grilling plank in water. An hour or two prior to grilling will work just fine, but a longer soak time permits the plank to absorb more moisture. This allows for more cedar-infused water vapor to be released during the grilling process.

Next - season your Steelhead fillet, if you please. I used this brown sugar, paprika, chili rub for the first time and it was great! I find that using a maple syrup, agave, honey, or brown sugar lightly caramelizes the outside of the fish, which aids in moisture retention. That, and it's delicious!
Then- get your grill up to medium heat (350-400 degrees). Place the wet plank on the pre-heated grill and heat plank for another 5 minutes before adding your fillet. This allows the plank to begin to smolder and smoke. Place your fillet skin side down on the plank and close grill lid. No flipping, turning, or tweeking is needed.

Finally- Cook to your liking, carefully remove, and enjoy. It's just that simple.

Happy Steelhead Season! Welcome to your weekend. -KB

Make it a Happy Halloween with Planked Pumpkin Pie.

Note about the guest blogger- Crysta Evanenko.

Crysta lives and attends nursing school in Walla Walla, Washington. She is a planking aficionado, love pie with good coffe, and is the owner of often-featured Trucker- the Trusty Labra-Mutt. Thanks for the great recipe, Crysta!

Pumpkin pie- so seasonal and not just for breakfast anymore! There is nothing better than a slice of homemade pumpkin pie, a dollop of whipped cream and a cup or two of coffee. Yes, I realize that there are “real” holidays that each have special significances ‘round this time of year, but for me, pumpkin pie is the reason for the season.

Around my place, it's easy to know when the holiday season is starting to ramp up- Mom starts complaining about the size of her kitchen; “it’s too small” “I need another oven” or “get the heck out of here! I’m trying to cook!”. This year, I started thinking about how I could help contribute to the holiday fare without taking up precious kitchen space.

Brilliance struck! I could plank pumpkin on the grill and save a ton of time. Brilliant and delicious! I rummaged through my cache of grilling planks and couldn’t decide on a wood type, so I tried a few. Grill-based trial and error brought me to a discovery- I wouldn’t recommend using a cedar or hickory planks with something as delicately flavored as pumpkin. I found these more distinctive wood flavors overpowered the “squashiness” that I wanted to come through in my pie. On the other hand, Trucker the trusty Labra-mutt was one happy pooch, as he was the beneficiary of several batches of test pumpkin.
After several trial grilling sessions, I settled on the Outdoor Gourmet Maple Grilling Planks as the wood flavor best for my purpose. My pumpkin was lightly infused with subtle, sweet maple wood smoke flavor. And Mom was so impressed by my “out of the kitchen” thinking- we had a very nice, planked pumpkin pie breakfast together.
So here is how it’s done…

Maple-Planked Pumpkin Pie Filling!

Ingredients

2 c. cooked pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk
3 teas. pumpkin pie spice
1 T. cinnamon
2 teas. ground ginger
½ c. real maple syrup
1/4 c. brown sugar (if you like your pies sweeter, add ¼ c more sugar)
2 eggs

Directions

First thing you need to do is- pick up a sugar pumpkin from your local grocery store, farmers market, or neighbor’s pumpkin patch. Sugar pumpkins are smaller and have a stronger pumpkin flavor than a carving pumpkin. You’re also going to need a couple Outdoor Gourmet maple grilling planks. It’s best to soak the planks overnight because maple is a hard wood.
Next- Preheat grill to medium heat (300 degrees). Scrub, split and seed your sugar pumpkin. Put aside your seeds to bake them off in your oven with a little salt and have a delicious snack. Cover pre-soaked planks and seeded pumpkin halves with aluminum foil. The pumpkin flesh should be face down on the planks- aids in absorbing smoke and maple infused water vapor. The stick in on the grill!

Then- Smoke for 15-25 mins. and carefully remove planks and pumpkin from grill. A knife should easily slide though the pumpkin. Open the tin foil and let the pumpkin to cool down. Scoop out the pumpkin meat being careful not to include the skin. I recommend using a food processer to make the pumpkin smooth and creamy. You now have pumpkin for a pie filling!

Add- all ingredients, excluding the eggs. Fold together and taste. If the balance of spices if to you liking, add eggs. If not, please feel free to add more or less of any of the spices for your family’s taste.

Pour filling into pie crust.In my family we use the Krusties’ pie mix and all we have to do is add water and end up with beautiful crusty/tasty pie crust. The only place we have found it is at Cash n’ Carry, but I would recommend asking your local grocery store to stock it. It is fantastic time saver.

Finally- Bake for 35 to 40 mins. at 400 degrees. Allow to cool, then top with something good or enjoy this pie as a stand-alone. Enjoy!
Welcome to your weekend! -CE

Grilling Planks- not just for fish!

It's steelhead season again, but one shouldn't live on planked fish alone. Believe me- I've tried. So, here is a recipe that pairs great WITH cedar planked steelhead or salmon.

Maple Planked Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 Maple or Cedar Grilling Planks from our Outlet Store

12 baby portabella (crimini) mushrooms

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 cup Manchego

1 tbs. finely chopped rosemary

2 tbs. olive oil

2 pieces cooked pieces of bacon.

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

First- Soak grilling planks for an hour or more.

Then- Roughly mix together breadcrumbs, cheese, rosemary, salt and pepper. Remove stems from mushrooms; brush caps with olive oil and fill with cheese, breadcrumb and herb mixture. Garnish with bacon.

Next- Place stuffed mushrooms on soaked plank and set plank and mushrooms on preheated medium-high (400°) grill. Keep lid closed and remove in 15-20 minutes.

Finally- Remove carefully and enjoy!
Welcome to your weekend! -KB

How 'bout them Apples

Chelan County, WA- possibly the appleiest place is Washington, which is saying something, as Washington State is the true “big apple” and home of the Apple Cup. (Go Cougs!) So, when I was invited to a cider pressing party, I naturally headed for the smack-dab center of the state to collect the necessary supplies.One stop at Smallwood’s Harvest in Peshastin, WA and 800 lbs. of Golden Delicious later, I was set, so onward and westward!

Golden D’s, while sporting a great juice to skin/pulp ratio, tend to be sweet, yet simple, with little else to offer in regards to flavor profiles. As their coloring and sweet simplicity would suggest, they tend to be the dumb blondes of the horticultural world. So, my truckload of apples provided a good base. Now we just needed to add some interest to the mix. That’s where the other truck of miscellaneous heirloom varietals from an old-growth orchard there on the west side came in handy.

The cider pressing was divided into six different stations, that is, if you don’t count the fine people manning the BBQ pit and just hangin’ around for some nosh and spirited conversation.

And those six stations were as follows…

1. Rinse tub: the apples went from the truck bed, directly into a bathtub full of H2O.

2. Chopping station: the fruit was sorted and quartered.

3. Grinder: the apple sections were sent through the hand-cranked grinder and converted into mash.

4. Press: the mash was squeezed for as much of it’s liquid content as possible with a hand-powered crank.

5. Bottling: the freshly pressed juice was then filtered and bottled.

6. Compost: the remaining mash was then sent to the compost pile.

The cast iron and wooden cider press that we used was built in 1853. Mike Johnson, one of the hosts of the party commented “you can’t exactly go out and pick up parts for one of these.” Which is fine because the press worked splendidly and looks as if it will keep on pressin’ for another 157 years.

An estimated 100-ish gallons of cider was pressed that day and I will go to extreme measures to be invited to this fall fest again in 2011. I headed back with a plenty of cider to drop to any of my friends and family quick enough to respond to my mass text-odus reading “Hear ye, hear ye- freshly pressed cider delivery today only for those who have their own glass containers.”

The rest I took home to hoard and of course, find creative ways to plank with… which leads me to this week’s recipe.

Cedar Planked McIntosh Apples stuffed with Cranberries and Italian Plums… but wait! Soak the planks in cider for an extra-apple-y kick.

First: Soak Cedar or Maple Grilling Planks in cider (water will work just fine too) for an hour of more.

Next: Glaze 3 cup of cranberries and 1 cup of quartered Italian plums in a simple brown sugar, Cabernet, and butter reduction.

Then: Core apples, but leave some bottom portion to hold stuffing. Set apples on soaked cedar/maple grilling plank, then stuff with plum and cranberry mix.

Now: Place on preheated Medium-High (400°) grill and close lid. Let cook for 12-15 minutes.

Finally: Remove carefully and serve with freshly-made whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Welcome to your weekend! -KB