About
Stories of what I'm kooking on my Kamadowww.kamado.com
Following
This recipe is really easy and delicious! Here is the basic recipe for the sliders:
Salad:
1 ½ tsp olive oil
1 tsp each fresh lemon juice, white wine vinegar
½ tsp each Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard and minced garlic
¼ tsp lemon pepper seasoning
Kosher or coarse sea salt
½ cup each finely shredded iceberg
Diced avocado
Diced tomatoes
2 slices cooked bacon crumbled
1 ½ tsp minced fresh chives or scallions
Whisk oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard garlic, lemon pepper and salt to taste in a medium bowl until well blended. Add lettuce, avocado, tomato, bacon, and chives.
Burgers:
1lb ground chicken
½ cup blue cheese
4 sliced cooked bacon chopped
½ tsp chicken seasoning
6 slider buns
Combine all burger ingredients in a large bowl. Handling the ingredients as little as possible to avoid compacting it, mix well.
I however pretty much doubled the recipe and added whatever amounts of the ingredients as I saw fit. I ended up making burgers instead of sliders. I added garlic salt to both the burgers and the salad dressing. The chicken turned out great very moist and the flavor of the blue cheese and bacon really come through. The salad dressing is definitely going to be made for other salads as well. I did one of the burgers with beef instead of chicken. 
The quest to redefine BBQ continues! When I posted my ultimate BBQ tofu recipe, Justin suggested that I also try using a dry rub a la southern BBQ. Tonight I took him up on the offer and I am glad I did. This tofu is absolutely bursting with flavour and was enjoyed by young and old. I will leave it to Justin and my friend John P. to school me in the ways of Memphis BBQ and tell me if I got it right.
INGREDIENTS
Dry Rub
- 4 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
- cayenne pepper to taste
BBQ Sauce
- 1 recipe sweet and sticky BBQ sauce, replacing the water with 1/4 apple cider vinegar and 1/4 cup Jack Daniels (I also strained the onions out before BBQing)
- 1 pkg extra firm tofu, cut in 8 slices
METHOD
1. Combine ingredients for dry rub (it will make about 2x more than you need, so store the rest for next time). Rub all sides of the tofu with about half of the mixture and let sit for at least 30 mins.
2. Heat half of the grill to high heat. Oil the grill and grill tofu for a few mins per side to get some nice grill marks and to make the outside golden and crispy.
3. Move tofu to the other side of the grill (i.e. the one that is off) and spoon thick layer of BBQ sauce over top. Close the top and cook for 5 mins. Flip tofu over and repeat. You can serve it now, or you can sauce it again.
The most expensive item you have to buy for a barbecue is some type of bbq grill. If you don’t have a bbq pit in your backyard, you will need to purchase a grill. The good news is that you will only have to make this purchase once! This can range from less expensive tabletop units (cheap) to a small charcoal grill (medium) to a full scale propane tank grill (spendy), the choice is yours. Regardless of what you choose, it is a great investment that you will use repeatedly and get your money’s worth.
Warning-Self Promotion:
If you are looking to add a BBQ to your backyard, be sure to check Kamado out. As the article says,a BBQ is something you only have to purchase once…so long as you purchase a quality BBQ. Ours have shown to be able to stand through weather (Hurricane Katrina), fire (my sister’s house burnt down and the Kamado was still standing), and time.
A great article on pairing wine with your BBQ dishes.
With shrimp and certain fish, for example, there is a natural saltiness that can emerge with a basting with olive oil. It calls for a crisp white, such as a sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio. If you marinate that same fish with garlic, herbs and red pepper flakes, you’ll need a white with crispness along with some fruit to balance out the seasonings. We opened a pinot gris from Oregon over the weekend that matched well with a well-seasoned white cod.
With salmon, consider a pinot noir, especially if you include smoking in the cooking process. The fish’s richness and the grill’s smoke matches well with most styles of pinot noirs. Find one from the Sonoma Coast that has a good balance and a hint of spice.
When it comes to beef, a lot of reds step up to take on the task. Once again, it depends on the nature of the meat, how you season it and mode of heat. Charcoal or mesquite can get hotter than most gas grills and also gives off enticing smoke flavoring. The fatter the meat cut, the more the meat caramelizes. Wines with tannins stand up to smoky, caramelized meat fats.
Time to break out a cabernet with your rib-eye or Porterhouse steak.
Tri tip is popular for a crowd. It tends to be marinated and cooked longer on the grill, usually showing up with a blackened effect. You might want to try a syrah or tempranillo with this cut.
If you are considering doing slow-cooked ribs, there are number of zinfandels that could pair nicely with the barbecued flavors that usually show up with ribs. A medium-bodied Sierra foothill zin seems to do the job. But be selective. I find that high-alcohol, over-ripe styles tend to be too much for the ribs.
For dessert, throw sliced peaches or pineapple on the grill and serve with a dessert viognier or muscat.
Most important: Go low and slow, cooking away from the fire using indirect heat. When seasoning meat, earlier is better, he says, even the night before. And if you throw a slab of ribs on the grill, cook them curl-side up to allow juices to gather in the center of the curl. Flip once, halfway or three-quarters of the way through cooking.
One of my favorite Kamado pictures.
