Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

A lot of you may be grilling and barbecuing this weekend so I wanted to tell you about an award winning barbecue sauce.

I’m not sure if he was trying to send a message, but it’s called Grumpy’s and as you can see by the label, the company who makes it, is having a lot of fun. This stuff is good. It won 1st Place at the 2007 Scovie Awards and was a 2nd place winner at the America’s Zesty Best Food Contest.

What I like about it is the name and the packaging. I know a whole bunch of people I want to send a bottle to including my Grumpy older brother and my buddy Barbecue Bob.

It comes in four different “heats” including Not So Bold, Bold XX, Goodnight Irene and Black Label. I only have tried Not So Bold and Bold XX and they are both excellent. You can read more about them at their web site.

This is a really good price plus you can pick up some highly acclaimed More Than Gourmet stock reductions for $5 bucks a piece too including one of my favorites, Glace de Fruits de Mer (Lobster Stock) normally $7.50.  A really good deal.  The sale ends midnight Sunday, June 10, 2007.

Grumpy’s Shrimp
Serves 4.

I borrowed this recipe from their web site. It’s from Chef Lezlie L. Ringland and features Grumpy’s Barbeque Sauce but I’m sure you can substitute your own favorite commercial sauce or your own homemade bbq sauce but I would definitely give Grumpy’s a try.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup of Grumpy’s Barbeque Sauce® (your favorite flavor)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
• 1 clove of garlic minced fine
• 2 teaspoons of honey
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 lb. peeled & de-veined medium to large shrimp
• 2 to 3 scallions chopped

How to Prepare

Mix all ingredients except shrimp in a bowl.

Heat pan on medium heat with a tablespoon of oil, cook shrimp.

When shrimp become pink (about 3 to 5 minutes) lower the heat & add the sauce.
Heat long enough for all the shrimp to becomes coated in the sauce.

Serve over Jasmine Rice.

Friday night my youngest daughter had her first sleepover with a friend from her first grade class. When I asked my daughter what she wanted for dinner with her friend, she immediately replied, “Filet Mignon with Demi Glace Sauce!”

This is her favorite meal of all time and it would be her friend’s first encounter with filet mignon. My daughter wanted to share her excitement over this meal so I went out and purchased a few steaks.

I was a little concerned because when her mother dropped off my daughters friend she said her daughter was a very picky eater and didn’t like much but she did love french fries so steak frites (steak and fries) it was. I did serve a salad and creamed spinach for my wife and I but the kids would have none of it.

First Grilling – Two Mistakes

Normally I grill all winter long and I’m sure I ventured out into the cold at some point this past one but it has been a while. Friday night was a gorgeous night to grill. Clear skies, warm weather and a glass of wine in hand but I made two big mistakes which I will share with you now.

First Mistake — Not Cleaning Out the Ashes

First mistake this first night of grilling was not cleaning the ashes from the bottom of the kettle before starting. Normally I give both my gas grill and charcoal grill a good cleaning at the end of the fall season but I didn’t clean the charcoal grill this time.

Normally it doesn’t matter that much but because the ashes got damp and wet over the winter they formed a solid mess at the bottom of the kettle. This mess covered up a couple of the air vents at the bottom and made it difficult to get enough air flow necessary to get the fire hot.

I should have realized this as soon as I noticed how long it was taking to get the coals hot. I ended up doing a lot of huffing and puffing to get the coals hot enough to grill the steaks. And speaking of coals, this leads me to my second mistake. Not enough coals.

Second Mistake – Not enough charcoal

I don’t know what I was thinking but I skimped on charcoal when I initially made the fire and ended up having to add more before I could even start grilling. This slowed down the whole process and the kids were getting antsy for dinner.

I like using 100% lump hardwood charcoal. It costs a little more than the more common charcoal briquettes you find everywhere but the hard wood charcoal burns hotter, cleaner and with no chemicals.

So all I can say is, “Don’t skimp on a couple of dollars worth of charcoal and chance ruining $30 plus dollars worth of meat.”

I grilled the steaks like usual but served up the small pieces that cooked faster to the girls and let the bigger cuts cook a little longer. If you want to see my grilling tips, you can find them at http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/blog/cooking-tips/grilling-tips/

I also have some more grilling tips on my web site at Grilling Techniques

If you are interested in making your own demi-glace sauce, check out my blog Demi-Glace For Great Steak Sauce.

Friday Night Dinner with Barbecue Bob & Bert – We have been taking turns dining with Roberta, Robert and their family on Friday nights and last night was no exception. It’s hot here in the Philadelphia region so Bob & Bert decided on Lamb Burgers served with grilled eggplant and a yogurt mint sauce, corn on the cob and fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. The tomatoes and basil were fresh from Barbecue Bob’s garden.

The recipe came from an old Gourmet Magazine dated August of 1997 and the ripped out page was sitting on the counter. There were four burger recipes on the page and there is a great story behind them.

It turns out, Bert, wife of Barbecue Bob, was six months pregnant at the time this particular issue of Gourmet came out and she was craving meat. She happened upon these recipes and asked Bob to go out and get the ingredients for each burger recipe so she could have a different one each night of the week.

Barbecue Bob, being the great husband that he is and concerned about the grief he might face if he didn’t obey, ran out, purchased the ingredients and served his wife a different burger four nights in a row. What a guy!

I love hamburgers and I’m not sure why I haven’t thought about making a lamb burger before this experience. I suppose I believed burgers were made with beef – end of story.

Now that story has a new beginning and I can’t wait to make some myself.

Where to Get Ground Lamb?

You may be surprised but a lot of supermarkets now carry freshly ground lamb. They also sell ground lamb in frozen tube shaped packaging but I would stay away from that and go with only freshly ground lamb.

If you do find some freshly ground lamb it probably comes from the lean meat and trimmings from the breast, neck, flank, shoulder, rib, loin, leg or shank. If they don’t have any on the shelves, you can always ask the butcher to ground some up for you. They may ask you to purchase a piece of lamb breast or other cut of meat but then you will really know it is fresh.

Minted Lamb Burgers
adapted from Gourmet August 1997

Ingredients:

• ¼ cucumber
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• ¼ cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1-¼ pounds ground lamb
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 four-inch pita breads
• 1-½ cups shredded romaine lettuce
• 8 eggplant slices, grilled

How to Prepare Lamb Burgers with Mint Cucumber Sauce

1) Start with the sauce so it can sit for a while. Seed and finely chop the cucumber. In a small mixing bowl, add the cucumber, yogurt, 2 tablespoons fresh mint and season with salt and pepper to taste.

2) In a large mixing bowl, blend the lamb, cumin and the rest of the mint and again season with salt and pepper. Make four equally sized burgers.

3) Trim the tops off the pita breads so the openings are large enough to fit a burger. If you like, you can toast the pita bread or warm them up on the grill.

4) Cook the lamb burgers the same as you would a beef hamburger to the doneness you and your guests like.

5) To serve, place a burger inside a pita bread, add a slice of grilled eggplant, top with a little of the cucumber/mint sauce and finish with a little shredded romaine lettuce.

Delicious!

Related Topics:

Grilled Lamb Burgers

Mint Sauce for Lamb

Meat Doneness Chart