Pico de Gallo Salsa...the perfect BBQ Compliment

Just about everyone loves to spice up their BBQ. This Pico de Gallo salsa will do just that for you. It has the excellent flavor and heat that will get your mouth watering and keep it there.

Here is the recipe for this utterly delicious salsa...

Pico de Gallo Salsa 

4-5 Fresh red tomatoes (roma), diced (depends on size)

3 Fresh jalapenos, finely diced but not minced (burn the peppers first, brings out the flavor and heat) 

1/2 bunch Fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped (approx 3 Tbsp) 

1 small Onion (red) diced, ½ Medium onion 

1-2 Tbsp Lemon juice or lime juice, freshly squeezed (I usually find the juice from 1/2 of a lime is sufficient) 

3 cloves Garlic, minced 

Salt to taste 

Instructions: 

Combine all ingredients and marinate for at least one hour to allow  juices and flavors to combine. 

Taste and adjust any ingredient you like. 

Chill before serving. 

Garnish with a sprig or two of cilantro and a wedge of lime.

Here is how you "burn" the Jalapeno peppers....

Rinsed and ready to burn.

Keep turning to obtain an even burn.

Finished product. At this point you can cut lengthwise and take out the membrane and seeds if you like. I leave the peppers whole.

The peppers are finely diced but not quite minced. I find this size a little bit "friendlier" in that no one gets a larger piece of pepper that may be too hot. But again, this is up to you.

Your finished salsa should look something like this.

All that is left now is something to spread the salsa over. And that, my friends, is your department!!!!

Until next time....

Smoked Yellow Fin Post on the Barbecue Bible.com Web Site!!!

Hey everyone, Guam has garnered the national spotlight, again, in the BBQ world. My BBQGuam Smoked Yellow Fin blog post was featured on Steven Raichlen's Barbecue Bible website. Steven Raichlen, known as the "BBQ Guru" is an award winning author with numerous outdoor cooking programs on PBS.

Here is the link to that post:

http://www.barbecuebible.com/blog/2012_01/23_guamanian_yello.php

Don't forget to check out Steven's other blog posts and links on his site. He has truly amazing content. And sign up for his Barbecue Bible newsletter while you are at it. Talk about out of this world BBQ recipes. It is all there.

For more fantastic recipes from Guam and our neighboring islands please visit 671Recipes.com. You will find some of the greatest island fare imaginable within their pages. Search by topic such as cake, chicken, pies, etc.

Thank you to Steven Raichlen and Nancy Loseke for showcasing part of the wonderful cuisine of Guam to the world. 

Until we meet again....

Smoking Yellow Fin Tuna....Guam Style!!

With all the water surrounding the island of Guam, it goes without saying that fish is abundant. As a matter of fact, fishing our waters is down-right great!!!  One of my favorites methods of preparing fish is to smoke it, especially yellow fin tuna.

Today I did just that. Had some yellow fin tuna, also known as Ahi (Hawaiian) and at the urging of my wife, Lupe, decided to smoke it. 

I normally smoke about 5-10 pounds at a time. I prep the tuna the night before. I sliced the loins up into 1/2 inch thick steaks. I then put them into a brine consisting of about a half a gallon of water and one cup of kosher salt and two cups of brown sugar. Mix this all up and add the tuna. I make sure that all the tuna is completely submerged so that every piece gets thoroughly soaked in the brine.

The next day I smoke the tuna over my wood pit that is enclosed on three sides. I like the front of the pit completely open. This allows for a lot of the smoke to escape but provides for a nice, mellow smoke. And I use all local fuel.....tangantangan wood, and coconut husks. The tangantangan wood has a red oak flavor. I love it. The coconut husks are the outside, protective layer of the coconut. But this coconut husk provides for a mellow coconut aroma and flavor. So the end product is a smoked tuna that has a mellow, but very distinguishable island aroma and flavor. Very popular among those that have tried it.

Here is the coconut tree...

Coconut...

Husking the coconut (opening it up to access the coconut seed itself)....

The husk....

Tangantangan Tree....

We cut them when they are 6 inches in diameter or larger for smoking.

So after about 5 hours of semi-open smoking the job was done.

Here is the final product....

Hope you give it a try. If you don't have whole coconuts, you can burn just the nut. It will give off that same, tropical aroma and flavor.

Until next time....

BBQ for Wednesday Night Scrabble Party

My wife Lupe has a Scrabble Party just about every Wednesday night. So I am usually voluntold to prepare something for everyone to eat. Of course Lupe does her share of the work also.

This past Wednesday, Jan. 11, I grilled fish and top sirloin steak. Lupe made her delicious spaghetti and veggie salad. She also made her tartar sauce and lemon finadenne' sauce.

Here are pictures of what we prepared for our dinner:

Fresh Guam Reef Fish.

18 pound Top Sirloin Block.

3 inch thick by 1 foot long Sirloin Steak.

Tangantangan wood used for fire. Similar in aroma and flavor to Red Oak.

Reef fish being grilled.

Sirloin steak on the grill.

Fish is cooked!!!

Small groupers are very tasty.

Snappers and trevally.

Lemon Finadenne', the Hot!!! Chamorro Sauce.

 The Calamansi Lemons use for the finadenne'.

Lupe's fresh veggie salad consisting of cucumber, wing beans (sigidiyas), eggplant, tomatoes, green onions, sprinkled with calamansi lemon juice and salted to taste.

Lupe's homemade spaghetti sauce with Italian sausage.

Spaghetti noodles with melted butter and garlic powder.

Chamorro dessert called Letiya. Letiya is a cake with a egg, sugar, cornstarch, Carnation Milk, and cinnamon frosting. Super delicious. I will place the recipe for this into the recipes section.

The other players also brought their pot luck dishes like corn and beef vegetable soup, banana bread, and ice cream.

Needless to say, everyone had plenty to eat. Oh, and the Scrabble game......it did not get over til about 12:30am.

Until next time....

Guam Firefighter's Breakfast

On CHRISTmas day firefighters all over the world work. Emergencies never stop and we have to be ready to response at any time of the day or night. We also have to be fueled up for those exhausting responses. So on CHRISTmas day the crew at the Umatac Fire Station put together a little feast that we almost did not get a chance to enjoy....But 7 fires and numerous medical responses later, we were able to Chow Down!!!! The cooking was the hardest part. Everything had to be done in between all those emergency responses. Not an easy task!! But one thing is for sure, Firefighters always complete their tasks!!!!!

The boys grilled marinated Carne Asada, Pork Spare Ribs marinated overnight in Korean Bulgogi  marinade, a dish that we call Chicken Tinaktak, which is a BBQ'd chicken soaked in a coconut vinegar (tuba) with plenty of hot pepper, onions and a few other ingredients, potato salad and chicken ala king donated by the fire crew at the Agat Fire Station.

But this post is about breakfast..right? Well, there was plenty left over and guess what? Our next shift, we warmed everything up and had it all for breakfast. Talk about powering up for the day. And you know how leftovers are....always better the next day. This day was no exception.

Here is what my breakfast plate looked like...

Whew, let me tell you, this is the best way to start your day. And lucky for us, because our day, again, was filled with quite a few more emergency responses.

Until next time....

Friday Night Eats

Hey Gang, we had a little family get together at the house this past Friday. Nothing special, but it was another opportunity to do some cooking. I've had to slow it down a little lately because my wife, Lupe, is on one of those cleansing diets for 7 days. So I have been supporting that venture. All soft food, but she is feeling a whole lot better and I can see it in her.

But one of my daughters invited herself, hubby and 3 teenagers over for dinner. Of course no complaints here because that meant I got to cook "real food". So I decided to change it up a bit from the regular grilling and BBQing. I figured to do up one of my favorite combos.......Surf and Turf!!!!

So here is the spread that we planned for:

Smoked Paprika Fried Chicken

Butter Sauteed Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

Homemade Buttered Mashed Potatoes

Mixed Veggies in butter

Pork and Beans doctored up with a little ketchup and mustard

White rice

Fresh dinner rolls

Lupe's special homemade tartar sauce and 

Finadenne' hot sauce...

Here is a picture of the finished spread:

Here are the recipes for the two main courses:

Smoked Paprika Fried Chicken

Here is another variation for one of our old time favorites, Smoked Paprika Fried Chicken.

I love using smoked paprika for fried chicken. The paprika gives the chicken a subtle smoke flavor without affecting the overall great taste of the chicken. The paprika also gives the chicken that dark golden brown color.

I like to use whole chicken because there is always a piece there that someone prefers. I usually throw in another 4-6 pack of chicken thighs because thighs are my favorite parts of the chicken.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

4-6 chicken thighs (depends of thigh size)

Flour mixture:

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 tbsp of smoked paprika powder (add a little more if you desire)

1 tbsp of salt

2 tsp black pepper

Mix these ingredients together in your favorite container or plastic bag.

Egg Dip Mixture:

5 eggs

1 cup of milk

Whisk this mixture together

Panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Cut up whole chicken into frying size pieces. Each chicken will give you 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings, 2 breasts that are each cut in half, 1 lower back and 1 upper back with the ribs for a total of 12 pieces to each chicken.

Rinse and drain. I cut up the chicken about 2 hours ahead of time and place the chicken, uncovered, into the refrigerator. This is one of the secrets to great fried chicken. Dries out the chicken exterior for a better fry.

Pre-heat the oil to about 350 F, standard temp and add 1-2 tbsp of salt to oil. This will ensure that every piece of chicken is salted evenly on the outside of each piece and also serves as a non-stick method;

Dip chicken in egg dip mixture;

Coat with flour mixture;

Re-dip into the egg mixture;

Then coat with the Panko bread crumbs.

These coatings will ensure a very juicy fried chicken.

Fry chicken for about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the sizes of the individual chicken. You can check the thickest piece, the thigh, by slicing it to the bone and checking for doneness. But with experience you will be able to tell if it is done or not by how the chicken finally floats up to the top of the oil and also when the chicken stops producing most of it bubbles when frying.

Once the chicken is done, place on a cooling rack over a baking tray. This cooling will also add to the crispness of the chicken.

That’s all there is to it.

Recipe for the Butter Sautéed Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

Sautéed Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

Everyone loves sautéed shrimp. One of my favorite shrimp is the Jumbo Tiger Shrimp. They are big, sweet, tender and super juicy. What more could you ask for in a shrimp.

Ingredients:

15 pieces of Jumbo Tiger Shrimp

1 cube of butter

1 medium onion cut in half and then thinly sliced

1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp of Mama Sita’s brand barbecue marinade (http://www.msita.com/sauces.htm)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Heat wok over high heat;

Add cube of butter into wok when you turn on the heat. If you add the butter after the wok is heated, there will be a lot of smoke from the butter and the butter will burn and turn brown;

Sauté the onions until for about 3 minutes or until they have separated from each other and are browned;

Add in the shrimp, Worcestershire sauce, and Mama Sita’s Barbecue Marinade and stir constantly until cooked to your satisfaction but no more than 4 minutes. The shrimp should turn orange in color.

Taste liquid and adjust seasoning if needed.

Garnish with diced green onions.

Serve with your favorite sides.

Well folks, needless to say we all had a great time. A couple of us had a hard time breathing by the time we got up from the table. But we knew the job was dangerous when we started!!

Until next time....

New BBQ Guam Additions....

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you all know that I have been trying to keep up a few blogs and that can prove to be quite challenging. So I have decided to streamline my operation. 

Today, I have combined my Guam Firehouse Cook blog and this blog, BBQGuam. This will bring you the best of both of my worlds into one blog. So as of now, BBQGuam is not only about BBQing on Guam. It is all about BBQing, cooking and eating on Guam.

So I hope you don't mind me mixing it up all together. Check out all the new additional posts from Guam Firehouse Cook. I have a lot more stuff to add. Working on it all now, but I will try my best to keep it interesting and informative.

So here is to great BBQing, grilling, cooking, eating and just all around having a good time.....Island Style!!!

Until next time....