Porterhouse Steak on the Grill

Who doesn't like steak?? We love it!! And my neighbor Harold grilled up a few for our monthly get-together. Steak of choice.....big, fat, thick and beautifully marbled Porterhouse. All I can say is that we were in steak Nirvana. Take a look for yourselves....

On the grill with a simple dry rub.

These four 3/4 inch Porterhouse steaks took up the whole grill space. And when we put each one on the plate, there wasn't a whole lot of room for anything else. That dilemma really caused me to suffer.......NOT!!!!

The Master of Disaster himself, Harold Fellows, retired USN.

Talk about "melt in your mouth" tender. And of course we had our variety of sides to go along with the steaks such as red potato salad, barbecue beans, Spanish Rice, BBQ'd eggplant, and hot wings. We also had a little dessert..... carrot and red velvet cupcakes.

Great company, food, and weather....another super day on Guam.

Until next time....

Smoked Meat....Guam Style

Smoked Meat....Guam Style

Well folks, it's been a while since I have posted. Been so busy planting my veggies in the yard (2 acres) and everything else that goes with that. Very time consuming. But we gotta eat so I have a lot of BBQ and other cooking posts that I need to catch up on. So don't forget to pay a visit to my other food blog, Guam Firehouse Cook.

I love smoking meat. Whether it is beef, pork, chicken or fish, I just love the taste. I use my old homemade open pit for most of my smoking needs. The openness flavors the meat with a mellow, smokey flavor. I don't like a taste where the smoke overpowers the meat.

I just smoked some beef roasts. I cut them up into 1 inch wide by about 8 inch long strips. The thickness was about 3/4 of an inch. Then I brine this meat overnight in the following mix:

• 1/2 cup Kosher salt;
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3 tbsp Mortons Tenderquick Home Meat Cure
• 3 tbsp minced fresh Ginger
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce
• 4 quarts of water.

You should make sure that you adjust the saltiness to your liking.

I then fire up the smoker using one week old 6 to 8 inch logs providing for indirect heat. The one week old logs are not dried out yet so they provide enough smoke due to their moisture content.

Here are a few pictures of the setup that I use:

Here is my pit. You can see the meat hanging. The suspended grill is to catch anything that may fall off the hooks. When I smoke I close up the front with another piece of sheet metal.

Here is my fire. You can see that it is offset to the left of the hanging meat for indirect heat. The heat is keep at around 225 - 250 degrees F. That's close enough for government work!!

I'd say, after about 8 hours of smoking, this meat is done. Of course I have to test the tenderness by tearing off a piece.  But if you can tear a piece off you know it's done.

I fashioned some thick, stainless wire for a skewer. I skewer all the small pieces that I trimmed off onto this. Works just great.

So, as I mentioned, I smoked this batch for about 8 hours, adding more wood when needed. As the cover photo shows, and here it is again, this meat is super tender and moist and loaded with mouth watering flavor. 

Better have some hot pepper and ice cold brews to totally enjoy this.

Until 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....

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....

BBQ'd Beef Short Ribs

I'm not really a big beef eater anymore, but every once in a while I just gotta BBQ some. That's because I love to BBQ everything!!!


Well on this occasion I decided on something a little different. Beef ribs. I wanted the ribs to be somewhat bite sized so I had them cut into thirds. This cut also takes up the marinade a lot better than a whole rib. But as we say, it's all good.


Here are a few photos of what I did....

The ribs are marinated in our famous island soy/vinegar marinade.

Close up of these marbled ribs.They look so good.

Got my baked potatoes going on the coals.

Use lump charcoal and hickory chips for these ribs. 

Basic salt and pepper. Coming along real nice.

These puppies are ready.

Served on the table.

This was just an evening dinner for my wife Lupe and I. Accompanied by a simple green salad, beans, coal-baked potatoes and finadene. I like to say that this was sinimple (my word for simpler than simple).

The moral of the story.....change up that BBQ menu!!! We sometimes keep BBQing the same things over and over. I am glad I did because these ribs tasted great.

Until next time....

Quick Steak Dinner

Smoked some tuna the other day and thought it would be a shame to waste all those coals so I slapped on a Chuck steak. 

Now a Chuck steak may not seem like anything special, but they are a great value. They have a great flavor and are tender if you choose the right steak. It must be very marbled. And Chuck steaks are very inexpensive.

Take a look at this steak...


Look at those juices flowing out. I wish I could find a way to keep all those flavor juices in.


Flipped over and looking good.


I like my steak medium and that is what I have here.


Steak, peppers, salad and white rice, simple but delicious.

Well, my wife and I had a great little impromptu dinner having made use of those leftover coals. I can think of worse things to do, but this wasn't one of them.

Just another way to end the day.

Until next time....

Churrasco Steak Marinade

I just recently bought the new issue of Grilling, Spring 2011, by Better Homes and Gardens. On page 71, they have an article on Churrasco-Style Ribeyes. Within this recipe there is a great marinade. I just used this marinade on some beef steak I BBQ'd yesterday and it is great!! I christened this marinade, Churrasco Marinade. I know what you are thinking, no imagination. Oh well, I use the KISS method and that works for me.

Here is the marinade recipe:

1 cup of white wine vinegar
1 cup chopped onion (1 large)
1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1/3 cup bottled minced garlic (I used fresh garlic)
1 tbsp Kosher salt
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp snipped fresh oregano (I have some in our garden)
1 tbsp snipped fresh thyme (I had to used the dried version)
1 tbsp ground black pepper

I placed the marinade in a plastic zip loc bag and added the steak in. I chilled this for about 3 hours, but the longer the better.

I grilled one-inch sirloin steaks using lump charcoal with hickory chucks. I also layed on a light sprinkle of my tri-tip rub. WoW!!! What a surprise!!!

The rainbow of flavors here was fantastic. It was like an adventure of flavor. My wife even commented about all the different flavors she experienced in her steak. She normally doesn't comment. She doesn't have time when she is eating, if you know what I mean.

My wife likes her steak well done and pre-cut.

You have got to try this marinade, if you haven't already. It is a pleasant change. I am going to do this again!!

Until next time....

BBQ steak, chicken kelaguen and potato salad at the Firehouse..

Every fireman knows that the firehouse or fire station as we refer to it on Guam, is our home away from home. Aside from responding to emergencies and conducting non-emergency public services and fire inspections, we keep the station in good repair, train and yes....we even cook our own meals. We are known country wide as good cooks. Heaven knows we get a lot of practice. If a newbie doesn't know how to cook when they first get hired on, believe me, they will learn. Everyone takes their turn in the kitchen.

On Guam, the firefighters are jockeying for the cooking duties. Well on this day we decided that we would BBQ for dinner. On the menu was BBQ'd beef steak, chicken kelaguen and potato salad. Now I'm sure most of you that are not from Guam are probably wondering what in the world is "chicken kelaguen"? Well I can tell you this....you don't want to miss out on trying this dish.

Chicken kelaguen is a local favorite. It consists of  BBQ'd chicken that is cooked to about 3/4 done, de-boned and diced up, mixed in with thinly sliced yellow or white onions, diced green onions, hot pepper to taste as well as salt and mixed in with freshly squeezed lemon juice. The lemon juice finishes off the cooking of the chicken similar to ceviche. Once the lemon and salt are just right, the chicken sampling is just about unstoppable. Add in your favorite ice cold "cocktail" and forget about it. 

Here are the steps to making chicken kelaguen:

 First if all you can use whole chicken or pieces. We typically use whole chicken and then de-bone the chicken after it is BBQ'd. But here we already had chicken thighs on hand and Chef "Richard" de-boned the thighs ahead of time.

The next thing you do is grill the chicken until it is about 3/4 cook over medium to high heat. High heat really locks in the flavor but it has to be constantly turned. Here are the Grill Masters themselves, Jeff Soriano and Jess Acfalle. BTW, you needn't marinade or season the chicken. Grill it naked.

Here is a closer look at the chicken being grilled.

While the two grill masters are taking care of the chicken, Chef Richard is squeezing the lemon juice out of the freshly picked Calimansi lemons.

The strainer is catching all the seeds as each lemon is being squeezed.

Chef Richard slices up the hot peppers. He has already sliced up the yellow onions and has diced up the green onions. You can see the lemon juice in the white bowl.

Once the chicken is cooked to spec, Richard then cuts the chicken up into small pieces.

Here is a close up of the cutting.

The following step is to dice up the chicken pieces into the right size. Usually about 1/8 to 1/4 inch pieces.

Then the prepared hot pepper, onions and lemon juice are poured in and mix thoroughly.

The mixture is tasted and if it needs a little more tartness you can add more lemon or in this case lemon powder. You will also salt the mixture down until it is slightly salty but not overpowering. The saltiness and lemon levels should blend in with each other and balance the mixture out. 

You will know when it is right because when you taste it the flavor just "pops" and you will just know as you go looking for your beer.

Now let us move over to the steak.

The steak is first marinaded in the traditional Guam marinade. Click here for the recipe:  

http://guamfirehousecook.blogspot.com/2011/04/guams-bbq-marinade-for-beef-chicken-and.html

 The grill masters Jeff and Jess are taking care of business.

 The steak is well under control on the grill.

The steak has been grilled perfect. We like it medium to medium rare and very juicy. The steak is cut into 1/2 inch thick by about 2 inch long strips.

The next step is to put all the sliced meat into a container.

The lemon finadene is then made and poured over the steak. Click here for the lemon finadene recipe:  http://guamfirehousecook.blogspot.com/2011/05/lemon-finadene-guam-bbq-dipping-sauce.html 

The "Pouring".

The finished product!!!

And last but not least is the potato salad by Chef Richard. He can really dress it up. Tale a look: 

Our dinner table spread.

The plate but without the white rice.

It was another great meal to end the day. Well, the day was almost ended. We still had to respond to a few emergencies because "that's what we do."

Until next time....