Tri Tip BBQ on Guam for Two!!

I originally hail from Santa Maria, California. Some of you may know Santa Maria as the home of "Santa Maria Style BBQ". We do a lot of prime rib and Tri-Tip there. Well, though I live on Guam, I still have to have my Tri Tip.

For those of you who do not know what the beef tri tip cut is, here are a few links about tri tip and Santa Maria Style BBQ:

What is a tri tip? http://www.iwing.org/tritip.htm

Origin of tri tip: http://www.santamariaelks.com/history/tritip.html

Santa Maria Style BBQ: http://santamariavalleybbq.com/, http://lospadrescounty.net/et/smbbq.html

We love tri tip and the weather has been so gorgeous lately that I suggested to Lupe, my wife of 35 yrs., that we BBQ the tri tip in the freezer. She was all for that. So my original menu plan was BBQ'd tri tip, homemade chili with sirloin chunks, macaroni salad, BBQ'd red potato slices and octopus kelaguen (same concept as ceviche). So we were going Cowboy all the way with a little island flair thrown in. After all we are on a tropical island. However Lupe cancelled the octopus because we still had fish kelaguen to eat. Not a problem.

So here are a few pics of our Sunday evening.....

We had a beautiful Guam evening. Seems to be a lot of those here!!

I have 3 pits set up in different areas of my property so that I don't have to keep moving them around. This is an old gas BBQ grill that I modified for wood and charcoal. Works great. This area is by my greenhouse on one of the upper levels of my property. My property is terraced into 3 levels. Lighting was by Tiki torch and candlelight mostly.

The beef tri tip seasoned and ready for the grill. The backside is the fat layer.

Tri tip on the grill in the spotlight!!!

It is getting there. Not too much longer. Tri tip is typically a 45 minute grill time.

I sliced a few pieces off because Lupe likes her beef well done. Will it dry out? We shall see...

Well, does it look dry to you? Now I know that there are a lot of folks that tell you don't use a fork to turn meat with because it will allow all the juices to escape and dry out your meat. But again, what do you think?

Here are the meat and potatoes. Red potatoes are all we use. A whole lot sweeter than Russet. Great flavor. The chili is on the grill in a pot and the rest, well it's all on the table. 

Macaroni salad by candlelight. Hey, I am with my wife and I like to have a romantic dinner, even if we are in the middle of our garden.

Tri tip is cut up into small pieces ready for me. Lupe's meat is on the right side next to the potatoes.

Well, we had a great candlelight dinner under the stars here on Guam......again!!!!!

That's what I call Tri Tip BBQ for Two on Guam!

Until the next time....

Beef Shish Kebab

I had this 3 inch Rib Eye steak that had been staring at me for a couple of weeks now. I had already BBQ'd it's twin along with my wife Lupe's T-Bone steak a few weeks before. So it was only right that I allow this piece of meat to join the party!!! What to do.......slice it up and grill it shish kebab style.

Now some of you are probably asking why am I going to ruin a 3 inch thick Ribeye Steak by slicing it up for shish kebab? Well I just wanted to grill something I haven't eaten in a while and why not a super delicious and tender cut like a Ribeye? After all, it was going to be eaten one way or another so when it comes right down to it, what's the difference? Well that was my reasoning and I'm sticking to it!!! 

So here is what I did:

First of all I trimmed the fat off of the Rib Eye.

Then I cut 1/4 inch by about 3 inch pieces slicing across the grain to aid the tenderness of the meat.

Next step was to prepare the marinade.

1 cup Kikkoman Soy Sauce

1/2 cup sugar

A 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced.

I combined these ingredients into a saucepan and brought them all to a boil. This not only blends all the flavors but dissolves the sugar a lot easier.

I then added the beef cuts to this mixture and allowed this to marinade in the refer about 6 hours.

I skewer the meat just prior to putting them on the grill. 

All skewered and resting in the leftover marinade until the fire is just right.

You want a hot fire for kebab grilling so that all the juices are locked in by searing.

Kebabs getting their grill on!!!

Beef Shish Kebabs ready for the table...

The grilling took maybe about 4-5 minutes per side. They were juicy and very tender. They were served with white rice, buttered spinach and one of my favs, cream corn. Though the spinach and cream corn are not traditional sides dishes they all went well together for us. Again, something different.

Lupe and I had a great dinner on this beautiful Sunday evening on Guam.

Next up.....Pork Kebabs!!

Until next time....

Guam Grouper BBQ

Living on a tropical island you just have to love seafood. One of my favorites is Grouper. Here is some information about groupers so you know what I am talking about: Grouper Info.

As some of you may already know, I love to fish. On a recent bottom fishing trip we caught some poundage and I just had to BBQ one of my favorites....the Red Grouper pictured above. Other names for this particular grouper is Gadao, Lapulapu, Lyretail Grouper, just to name a few. But one thing is for certain, they are delicious BBQ'd.

The prep is fairly basic. Here is what I do:

I scaled and gutted the fish and cleaned the body cavity out real good with a strong water nozzle. Does the trick everytime.

Then I made 3 diagonal slices on each side of the body to allow for the seasoning to penetrate better.

I oiled the fish down with olive oil so it doesn't stick on the grill. The oil also gives the fish a little extra crispiness once it is BBQ'd.

Then I season the fish inside and out with sea salt, rubbing the salt into the flesh.

And the next step is to grill, or as we say on Guam, BBQ the fish.

It takes maybe about 10 minutes per side over my wood flame fire. I have my grill up about 1 foot over the coals. 

After having BBQ'd both sides, I sit him up and Que the inside just a bit. I don't want to dry the flesh out.

The "cheek" muscle is the tastiest part of this fish. We call it the filet mignon of the fish.

Here is the business end of the grouper. Don't put your hand in there. It may tickle just a little..

So no more than 30 minutes later, it's chow time!!!!

What I did not mention was that this was a special request by my wife, Lupe. I included some pics of her at the dinner table.

Lupe wasted no time with her feast. By the time I got settled down with my camera, she had finished almost half of the fish.

Lupe's meal would not be complete without her finadenne' (Guam hot sauce).

This is where Lupe "totches" or dips her every morsel in for some extra "pika" before it goes "down the hatch"!!!

Now doesn't Lupe look like a happy camper?? She is concentrating so hard she doesn't even know I'm there or so it seems. And she knows that whole fish is hers. Even has her little basket of fresh calamansi lemon right in front of her for that extra tang. Lupe knows how to eat her fish.

Well, folks...that is how it's done here. And this is happening all over the island everyday. It's like we can BBQ everyday, but we get serious on the weekends here on Guam.


So if you like to BBQ or eat out and have a great food fest and maybe even enjoy a few "cocktails", Guam is the place. You will never forget a trip to Guam. I guarantee it!!!

Until next time....