BBQ for Breakfast?.......Why Not?

When I BBQ and Grill, I always like to cook more than enough so that we will have a few meals worth of delicious BBQ. And one of my favorites for breakfast is leftover BBQ. Ahhh yes, the "Breakfast of Champions". You all know how that is....right? Oh yeah!!!

This morning my wife Lupe and I got up at the crack of dawn, had our coffee and turned out to the yard. We have a small lot of about 1/2 acre but we have so many plants, flowers, ferns and orchids, that it keeps us two old folks busy enough.

Right around 10 o'clock things were starting to wind down and Lupe went inside to cook us some breakfast. I finished up what I had to and went inside to cool off. Lupe told me, "Breakfast in 5 minutes!". That was music to my ears.

She brought my plate out and...whoa!!! What I saw was definitely a culinary treat. I had a feeling something was up when I smelled the aroma of coconut oil in the air.

Here's what I was served by my wife Lupe....

What you see here are the leftover BBQ'd marinated pork spare ribs, with white rice and the sautéed eggplant/green onion/cream cheese omelet.

The unique treat that she served up on me was the way she made her egg omelet. Here is what she did...

First she diced up the Asian eggplants, about 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch thin cuts and also diced up the green onions. She sautéed these in 1 tablespoon of virgin coconut oil. That was the secret. If you have never tried cooking with coconut oil, you are in for one big treat. The flavor, the aroma, is something so unique, it just characterizes the tropical island flair.

While sautéing the veges for about two minutes, my wife seasoned with granulated onion and garlic powders as well as freshly ground black pepper. When finished, she sets this aside.

Next she prepares the egg omelet (6 eggs) using a little butter. After the first flip she "folds" in about 2 oz. of cream cheese then flips the omelet over in half.

She then layers the sautéed eggplant and green onions over the top of the omelet.

The final step is to slice up the omelet so that all the flavors blend into one another and serve.

I have got to say, this was the first time I have tried this dish and it was delicious. Of course I had to pour a little of my Salsa Ranchero over the ribs and a little taste on the omelet just for a kicker. You can imagine, right?

What did my wife, Lupe, have to say about her scrumptious breakfast...."Don't Bother Me!!!!".

This is the "Don't Bother Me" look. Ever seen this look before?

Well, this powered me up for a few more hours out in the yard. It's pure hell working for a slave driver. All you guys out there know what I'm talking about. HeHeHe!!

Until next time....

Made on Guam Grill featured on the Barbecue Bible Web Site!!!!!

Wow....talk about exciting. My bbq grill, one that my son-in-law Barry Quinata fabricated and gave to me this past week, was featured on the infamous Barbecue Bible web site. Now that is super exciting news!!!

If you are not familiar with the Barbecue Bible web site, just let me fill you in a little. This site belongs to the BBQ Guru himself, Steven Raichlen. Steven is a multi-award-winning author, journalist, cooking teacher, and TV host. Steven Raichlen is the man who reinvented barbecue. His best-selling Barbecue Bible cookbook series (4 million copies in print) and The Primal Grill and Barbecue University™ TV shows on PBS have helped people all over the world ascend the ladder of grilling enlightenment.

So we are feeling very honored that B-Pits were showcased on his famous web site. And this special post would not have been possible without the help of Steven's super talented special assistant, right-hand gal, and producer Nancy Loseke. Thanks so much Nancy! As we say on Guam, "You are the bomb!!!".

I guess this officially marks the birth of the only Santa Maria style barbecue pit fabrication business (hobby now, business later) on Guam. This would be a true Guam made product. And what could be a better representation of Guam cuisine than barbecue? Right?

Mark my words people, you will be hearing a lot more from B-Pits of Umatac, Guam.

The business, tentatively known as B-Pits of Guam, will build custom pits to suit your specs as long as the basic design is that of Santa Maria style BBQ pits. This style is simple, a large fire box with a roll up grill.

The first B-Pit

Plans for tailgater trailer hitch pits, tow pits and just about anything in between are on the table. Barry is building another pit right now. Response on Guam has been awesome!!

The master checking the tolerances.

Barry likes to play with fire!!

B-Pits, the brainchild of the master fabricator, Barry Quinata of Umatac, Guam, is a family operated hobby, soon to be business. These Santa Maria style BBQ pits will be carrying on the world-famous Santa Maria BBQ legacy right here in Umatac, Guam.

So buckle your seat belts and hang on for the ride because this party has just begun.

Until next time....

Breaking in my new BBQ Pit!!!! Oh Yeah!!!

The B-Pit (Pits by Barry)

My new BBQ pit is finished!!! You can read all about it on my Guam Firehouse Cook blog site.

Here is the link to the post: Breaking in my new BBQ Pit!!!! Oh Yeah!!!

Until next time....

Breaking in my new BBQ Pit!!!! Oh Yeah!!!

My new BBQ pit is finished. That's right. My Son-In-Law, Barry, jack of all trades and a master of quite of few of them, just finished up the very first Santa Maria style bbq pit here on Guam. (first that I know about anyway)

Naturally, I just had to break it in. So I decided to try a number of different types of meat to see how the pit would handle it. Needless to day, the performance was great. The wood burned just right. Everything worked out just fine and I am one happy camper!!

Here are some pics of the pit and what I grilled.....

My wife Lupe was just waiting in the wings.

After she tried a sampler of pork spare ribs. This says it all.

I didn't take any pics of the chow after it was all cooked. Didn't have time. We had to eat!!!!

Looks like I am going to be one busy griller in the weeks to come.

Until next time....

Freek BBQ Grills up Mean Wings in the Netherlands

Hey gang, my good BBQ buddy Freek Haan and his boys the BBQ Pit Boys OSS are queing it up over across the pond. These guys are serious. And you know they have the best beer!!! 

They just BBQ'd up a batch of our Mean Wings, aka 7-Alarm Hot Wings. He substituted the wings for the drumsticks. Same smell. Just like chicken wing drumlettes on steroids.

Make sure you all pay his blog site a visit at Freeks BBQ.

Here is Freek's blog for the Mean Wings...

Mean Drumsticks aka 7-Alarm Hot Drumsticks

This weekend I tried a recipe from my BBQ friend Rueben, from the

island Guam.

As said before Rueben owns some great BBQ blogs: 
BBQ Guam and Guam Firehouse Cook.

Originally this recipe is called "Mean Wings aka 7-Alarm Hot Wings", 
this name was created by the Firefighters Pete Perez and Jeff

Soriano, Guam Fire Department.

I was very enthusiastic when I first heared of those mean wings.
When a fireman comes with such a recipe, it must be really good and

hot!!

I used drumsticks instead of wings, just to give it a try.

I amended Rueben's recipe a bit since Frank's Hot Pepper Sauce 
is not available over here.

Instead I used Sriracha Hot Chilli sauce, also very hot and spicy.

We had another BBQ "meating" with our team the BBQ Pitboys Oss 
this weekend, an excellent oportunity to test Rueben's recipe.

The other team members also made some really good chicken stuff, 
I will write about that another time.

So here it is, you need:

About 1 kilo of chicken drumsticks,

Wing Dust rub:
1 tbsp- Black Pepper
1 tbsp- Cayenne Pepper Powder
1 tbsp- Smoked Paprika Powder
1.5 tbsp- Sea Salt
1 tbsp- Chili Powder
1 tbsp- Onion Powder, Granulated
1 tbsp- Garlic Powder, Granulated

Marinade:
2 tbsp of Wing Dust
1 stick of salted butter melted
½ cup of Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce

Basting Sauce:
2 tbsp Wing Dust
1 stick of salted butter melted
½ cup of Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce

Directions:
A few hours before you start BBQ-ing marinate the drumsticks 
in a large heavy duty zip lock plastic bag or bowl.

After that you can toss them onto the grill, using the indirect BBQ 

method. Close the lit and let them rest for about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes baste the drumsticks with the basting sauce.
Yet after another 30 minutes baste them again and let rest for about

15 minutes.

Always do a taste test yourself to verify doneness, it's a dirty job but

someone has got to do it!

I amended Rueben's recipe a bit just because I had not all the original

ingredients available.

It must be said, those drumsticks are really hot and mean, I like them

that way!

Next time I will use chicken wings!

Special thanks to Rueben and the Firefighters Pete Perez and Jeff 

Soriano, Guam Fire Department, for supplying the name for this

recipe.

PS: a reminder to all readers: BBQ is all about the 3 B's of BBQ-

ing....
BBQ great food,
BBQ with great friends
and BBQ and drink ICE COLD BEER!!!!
It doesn't get any better than that.
For the mean drumsticks you definitely need a lot of beer!!! 

Well there you have it. Straight from the Netherlands

 and doing it the Freek's way with his BBQ Pit Boys Oss.

Thanks for that guys.

Until next time...

Grill and BBQ Cleaning Tips from Perry Perkins

My good ole BBQ buddy, Perry Perkins of Burning Love BBQ, has offered his great Grill and BBQ cleaning tips. Super information. I have re-blogged his post here.

Perry is an accomplished author of numerous books on BBQing and outdoor cooking and is a wealth of outdoor cooking information. Make sure you check out his Burning Love BBQ blog site.

Grill and bbq cleaning tips Perry P Perkins | August 19, 2011 at 11:27 am | Tags: bbq, Caja China, cleaning, grates, green, grill,   La Caja China, wire brush | Categories:Hardware, Technique | URL: http://wp.me/pXojs-HG

I love to barbecue...but I'm less enthusiastic about cleaning the sticky, messy, burned-on gunk that collects on my grills and pits, afterward.

The sad fact is that dirt, grease and food remnants build up on the grill over time. This can reduce its efficiency and leave a nasty taste in any food that's cooked on it.

Now, I may not enjoy the cleaning process, but I put a lot of work into barbecuing and grilling meat to perfection, and I'm not about to let a dirty cooking area ruin my hard work!

Here are some basic cleaning tips to help your Q be the best it can be...

What you'll need:

• A stiff wire brush, with a scraper attached to the end.
• Paper towels, bar mops, or rags
• Plastic bristle dish washing brush
• Warm soapy water
• Newspaper/tarp to lay under the grill

Note: Clean the barbeque as soon as you're done cooking. It'll be easier to clean if it is still warm and the food won’t have had time to adhere to the grill.

Grill Grates - After cooking, turn all your burners on high, and allow any residual gunk to burn away, or carbonize for easier cleaning, then give the grates a good scrubbing with a wire brush (if you're a gadget geek, check this out!).

Clean your grates thoroughly (oven cleaner works great) or replace once or twice  a year, depending on usage.

Smoking/Cooking Chamber - Line with heavy foil to ease cleaning, and rinse with boiling water if grease begins to collect in the bottom.

Wire brush every few months, including the inside of the meat chamber door, hose out and allow to air dry with all doors/vents open.

1-2 times a year, scrub down with a heavy brush and degreaser, rinse clean with water. After cleaning, I like to run a couple of hours of fire and smoke to "re-cure" my pit. I don't know if this does anything, but is smells good and it makes me fee better.

Fire Pit - Not much is required as far as cleaning the fire chamber of your pit/smoker...EXCEPT: make sure you empty the cold ashes out after EVERY cooking. Cold ashes can suck up ambient moisture and create a bitter, acrid scent that can permiate the cooking area out your pit. Ever sniff a cold ashtray...do you want your brisket to taste like that? Me neither. It can also increase the risk of rust.

Gas Grills - if you have lava rocks in your barbeque, remove them (scrape them off, but don’t wash them) to get at the burner and all the gunk at the very bottom. If possible, remove the burner from the barbeque.
When replacing the lava rocks, put them dirty side down, so last seasons gunk will burn off.

La Caja China  - in addition to the instructions above, I scrub the interior of the box with hot soapy water after every use, then spay with a 50/50 bleach water solution and allow to air dry before replaceing the lid. If you have a semi-pro, plug the drain hole and pour several gallons of VERY hot water into the chamber, scrub and drain. Another gallon of hot water to clean out the drain pipe afterward is a good idea, as well. If you're using the top grates for grilling, flip them over and set them directly onto the remaining coals after cooking. While you're enjoying dinner, any residual gunk will be carbonized and easy to scrub off with a wire brush.


Green Clean - If you're not a fan of chemical cleaning products, there are a number of "green" cleaners on the market, or you can go old school and pour two cups of vinegar into the spray bottle; add two cups of water,  replace the lid on the bottle and shake it vigorously to mix. Spray the water/vinegar solution on the racks of the grill and the area above and underneath them to saturation.

Let the solution set for 10 minutes, and them scrub the racks with your wire brush and rinse with clear water. Wipe all appropriate surfaces down with a paper towel and high-heat cooking oil after cleaning.

Here's a great video by Lowe's home improvement expert, Mike Kraft, with tips on cleaning charcoal, gas and stainless steel bbq grills and grill grates:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHP-drpcfRI

Keeping a clean grill will provide you extended years of enjoyment and tastier food for you and your guests this summer.

Happy Q'in!

-Perry

So there you have it gang. Some great tips from Perry Perkins, Burning Love BBQ.

Thanks for all that Perry!!!

Until next time....

BBQGuam in the Netherlands on Freeks BBQ Blog

Hey, just wanted to let everyone know that my good BBQ buddy from the Netherlands, Freek Haan, just posted BBQGuam on his website, Freeks BBQ. If you can, check out his site. It really has some cool stuff. And of course, great BBQing recipes and photos.

Here is his post...

BBQ on the island of Guam

BBQ is very populair all over the world, that's for sure.
Almost every country has his own BBQ specialities, techniques,
local ingredients and recipes.
On the island of Guam, BBQ also is a beloved occupation.

One of my followers is Rueben Olivas, he lives on Guam and is the owner and designer of his great site BBQ Guam.

I can recommend everyone to visit his site, it is a must for food and BBQ lovers!!

Currently, Rueben is with the Guam Fire Department (since 1986).
Previously he was a police officer in California for about 8 years, Marine Corps for 3 years and California Division of Forestry for 2 fire seasons.
And yes... Rueben loves BBQ!

At the Fire Department, Rueben cooks a lot and his colleagues appreciate it very much, who wouldn't! (take a look at: Guam Firehouse Cook)

For those who have never heard of the island of Guam, it is an island located in the western Pacific Ocean and it's territory of the United States.

Recently I was the 10.000th visitor on Rueben's site.
(I follow Rueben very frequently of course :-)

I talked to Rueben about it just for the fun and he thought it would be a great idea to reward it with a special gift, he promised me one of his secret homemade rubs, "Rueben's rub"!!
Now, I was getting very curious, I wanted that rub very much, wanted to try it out of course!

Until now I haven't used his rub but will soon give it a try and make a great blogpost of it.
I will write this in English so that Rueben, his followers and everyone else in the world can read it.

Thanks Rueben, keep up the good work with your websites and greetings over there!!
Soon I will write a blogpost about your secret rub :-)

Greetings from your friend from the Netherlands,

Freek

Thanks for that Freek!!! I hope everyone visits your wonderful site.

Until next time....

My Santa Maria Style BBQ Pit is almost READY!!!!

Just want to let you all know that my Santa Maria Style BBQ pit is almost done. My Son-In-Law, Barry is the fabricator and is done with all the welding. He's putting the finishing touches on it.

It will look similar to this pit....

Photo courtesy of Santa Maria BBQ Outfitters

You know that I am going to have to break this puppy in hard when I get it. As a matter of fact it's going to have to be fast and furious because I will be leaving Guam for about a month. (Homeland Security training in New Mexico).

So I am already planning what I am going to grill up. There will be some fresh fish, gotta have a big chuck of meat, maybe top block, chicken halves and ribs, ribs, and more ribs.

I'll posts some pics when I received the pit and of course of all the BBQing (grilling for some of you folks) that I will be doing.

Until next time....

Fried Chicken Tenders

My daughter Naomi and her husband Brandon were coming over for the weekly Tuesday night dinner. Also a very close friend of the family was to join us. I wanted to cook something that we haven't had in a while. This was a tough one to call because we are always cooking up something different. After pondering the big "question", I decided on Japanese breadcrumb encrusted fried chicken tenders and chicken wings.

I love to cook bite-sized food, because they are so convenient and easy to eat and you just keep eating these morsels until they are all gone. No leftovers. Works every time.

So here's what I did....

When I fry, I double dip so first I dip the chicken in the egg-milk mixture.

Next I dust the chicken in my 1 to 1 mix of flour and masarina (corn meal) with my Santa Maria Seasoning mixed in.

*Santa Maria Seasoning

1 tablespoon sea salt1 tablespoons granulated garlic powder

1 tablespoon of Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley, fine grind 

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, medium grind

1/4 teaspoon Accent (MSG) (this is always optional)

Chop the parsley or crush it between your fingers to make it small enough to mix well with the other ingredients. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

Then I dip the chicken back into the egg-milk mix.

Finally dip into the Japanese bread crumbs and into the oil (350 F).

This is what the bag of Japanese bread crumbs looks like...

Fry them up for about 5 min. for the tenders and 10 min. for the wings.

Let drain for about 10 min. and serve.

That's all there is to this. Chicken was nice and juicy inside and crispy outside. The seasoning was just right.

Served this down with some fresh macaroni salad, homemade chile beans and white rice. And for dessert we had plantain bananas steamed in coconut milk with a touch of salt added in. 

Another Tuesday night meal with the family on Guam.

Until next time....

10,000th Visitor!!!! Congrats to Freek Haan, Freeks BBQ, Netherlands

Well, BBQGuam recently just hit it's 10,000th visitor. And that honor is bestowed upon one of my BBQ buddies from the Netherlands, Freek Haan, of Freeks BBQ.  Check out his site and see how they do "it" in the Netherlands!!!

My site has only been up since March 21st of this year and has been slowly gaining in popularity. The visitor numbers have been increasing quite rapidly lately. It is also interesting to note that I have had 95 different countries visit BBQGuam. It's been fun.

So......that being said congrats again to Freek and I will be sending him a quart-sized zip-loc plastic bag of my Rueben's Rub. It's the least that I can do.

Freek Haan doing his thang!!!!!

Until next time....

Mean Wings aka 7-Alarm Hot Wings!!!

Hey everyone!!! Just made a batch of my Mean Wings, aka 7-Alarm Hot Wings, for a fundraiser. I didn't BBQ them so that is why I did not post them here. But I did post them on my Guam Firehouse Cook blogsite. Here is the link: Mean Wings.

Take a peek at the post. I think you'll like the recipe.

Until next time....

Mean Wings aka 7-Alarm Hot Wings

Everyone loves hot wings. And I am no exception. Whenever we have a fire department fundraiser, I like to take my "Mean Wings" or also known as "7-Alarm Hot Wings". I will make the 7-Alarm Hot Wings extra hot so that everyone drinks more to douse the flames. We make a little extra per drink at our fundraisers at the local pubs so everyone is happy......literally!!!!

Anyway, we just happened to have another firefighter fundraiser yesterday at a local watering hole named "Ralphy's" located in Hagatna, Guam. Had a great time and the event was very successful.

Here are some pictures of the Mean Wing process....

These wings have been dusted with my Wing Dust and I am tossing them very thoroughly to make sure that they are all coated very well.

My Wing Dust made fresh as needed.

I use Frank's Hot Pepper Sauce. Great flavor!!!

Melted one cube of butter and added 1/2 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce and 2 tbsp of my Wing Dust for my marinade sauce.

I spoon out all the wings into a plastic zip lock bag, pour in the marinade sauce, toss it all around and refrigerated until about 1 hour before I start my cooking. In this case I baked them.

Here is one tray all ready to go into the oven. I cooked two trays total. 400 F for about 1 hour. Of course this may be adjusted as all ovens have a mind of their own.

Here are the wings after about 1/2 hour of baking. The last 1/2 hour I give the wings about 4 coats of my basting sauce. This adds color and more heat. You can spike up the heat in the basting sauce for extra "fire"!!

Unfortunately, those are all the pictures that I took. I was running behind schedule for the fundraiser and I was only able to taste the wings to test for doneness, this is my favorite part of cooking, pack them up and drive down to the fundraiser 1/2 hour away. But don't sweat the small stuff. Just make your own and get a bird's eye view.

Here is the actual recipe for the Mean Wings....

Mean Wings aka 7 Alarm Hot Wings (Depends of the pika/heat)

Marinade

5 lbs Chicken Wings

3 tbsp of Wing Dust

1 stick of salted butter melted

½ cup of Frank’s Hot Sauce

Basting Sauce

2 tbsp Wing Dust

2-3 tbsp of Finadene Denanche (Homemade fresh hot pepper paste)

1 stick of salted butter melted

½ cup of Frank’s Hot Sauce

Wing Dust

1 tbsp- Black Pepper

1 tbsp- Cayenne Pepper Powder

1 tbsp- Smoked Paprika Powder

1.5 tbsp- Sea Salt

1 tbsp- Chili Powder

1 tbsp- Onion Powder, Granulated

1 tbsp- Garlic Powder, Granulated

Hot Pepper Paste (Finadene’ Denanche)

½ cup of fresh hot peppers with stems removed

4-6 cloves of fresh garlic

1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

1 tsp of Santa Maria* seasoning

Place all ingredients into a Bullet blender and blend into a paste.

Adjust salt to your taste.

*Santa Maria Seasoning

1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoons granulated garlic powder
1 tablespoon of Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon dried parsley, fine grind
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, medium grind
1/4 teaspoon Accent (MSG) (this is always optional)

Chop the parsley or crush it between your fingers to make it small enough to mix well with the other ingredients. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

Directions for Mean Wings

Marinade the chicken wings in a large heavy duty zip lock plastic bag or bowl.

Toss the chicken well enough so that the wings are coated thoroughly and evenly.

Refrigerate and then remove  1 hour before cooking.

Let wings warm up to about room temp (1 hour).

Bake in the oven on ungreased cooking tray for about 1 hour at 400 degrees.

Baste with basting sauce numerous times to your liking. Coat them real good.

Remove when you like the color.

Of course I always taste test to verify doneness. (My favorite part!!!)

Special thanks to Firefighters Pete Perez and Jeff Soriano, Guam Fire Department, for supplying the name for this recipe.

Well, I hope you all can try this out. These wings are party friendly so you won't burn everyone out, but I just adjust the heat a bunch for true 7-Alarm Hot Wings.

Until next time....