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....

Rotisserie Chicken on the Menu

Got my daughter and her husband coming over tonight for dinner. This happens every Tuesday night. But being a Firefighter, I work every other Tuesday. But when I am off, I BBQ. What else is there really if you have the time.

I mean cooking outside in great weather and not having to worry about getting a kitchen all durtied (my own word) up and just enjoying the time and company is the only way to go. Now that's SINIMPLE!!!!

So being that it is Tuesday and I am off I'm am going to thrown down some rotisserie chicken rubbed down with a cilantro pesto, served with a nice pasta crab salad, grilled French cheese bread and a little dessert yet to be determined. Probably some BBQ'd pineapple slices in coconut milk.  My wife loves this menu but my daughter and her husband have not tried it yet.

I will do my best to remember to take pictures.

Here are some pics on one that I did on a gas (I know) pit:

It was very tasty. I just don't use the rotisserie enough.

Well as I continued on with the BBQ, now later in the day about 3pm, I put my plan into action. The plan was a good one but the execution.......not so good.

You see my rotisserie mounts were on my old gas BBQ pit. I went to remove them in order to install them on my Charcoal pit but they were rusted on. Duhhh, after 4 years I guess they would be. So I sprayed the nuts and bolts down with WD-40 and went to plan "B". That's right, plan "B". B for BBQ!!!! I just took that whole chicken that was all set up for turning and cut it right in half and just grilled it.

First thing I did was rub down the whole chicken with Rueben's Jerk Rub (that's me). For the recipe, click here:  http://guamfirehousecook.blogspot.com/2011/05/ruebens-jerk-rub.html

Then I made a cilantro pesto by cutting about 1 cup full of cilantro leaves, 1/4 cup of virgin olive oil and 10 cloves of garlic and blended them all together using a bullet blender. Then I rubbed the pesto under the breast skin onto the breasts and inside the abdominal cavity.

Then I bamboo skewered this all together as you can see below.

Now the chicken is all ready for the rotisserie. But on this particular day, as I mentioned above, it was just not meant to be. So I cut the chicken in half and BBQ'd the halves.

Everything came out just fine. The BBQ got done and no one starved to death. And guess what happened? Everyone needed help getting up off the table. Just like last week!!!! It seems to be a habit now.

Oh, I almost forgot. We had grilled pineapple slices served with homemade whip cream whipped up with a touch of pineapple juice and vanilla extract, then drizzled with a little more vanilla. Here are a few pics:

As you can tell, I am not one for picture perfect presentation. I was too in a hurry to eat this.

Though the original plan of BBQ'd rotisserie chicken did not happen, I recovered and BBQ'd it instead. Oh well, I can think of worse things that could have happened.

Until next time....

BBq'd Pork Spareribs Because It's Thursday

BBQ because it's Thursday. What more of a reason do you need. A person has got to eat ya know.

It was another gorgeous day on Guam. Yeah, it was a little warm. Temp in the mid 80's. The humidity was in the high 80's low 90's. It was another good day for an afternoon BBQ. So I called my wife at work and told her to be ready for some pork spare ribs. Then I called my oldest daughter and asked her to come on by the house after work on the way home and stop for some BBQ. She said she was game.

That was all I really needed anyway, encouragement....a man on a mission.

I grabbed my U55D (Ugly 55 gal. Drum) and started the fire. And  folks, my drum is ugly. No paint, no plugs, no makeup or anything. But it holds and burns all the fuel I can give her. And the drum was free.

Burning Tangantangan wood (local wood with oak type smoke flavor). Also used coconut for that great island flavor.

For the ribs, I took 2 slabs and removed the membrane on the bone side and rubbed those puppies down with some rib rub. Click here for the contents  http://guamfirehousecook.blogspot.com/2011/05/basic-rib-rub.html

All rubbed down and ready for the grill.

Ribs are on the grill. The fire at a medium heat for about a 2 hour grilling time. This will give the ribs enough time to cook within the thickest parts and caramelize the rub without burning the sugar.

My wife and I just enjoyed the time together watching the late afternoon sun go down.

And when it came time to take those ribs off, it was the cutting board for them.

I think they are ready...

My second most favorite thing to do is slicing BBQ'd ribs. My first most favorite thing to do is eating the ribs once they're sliced.

These were served with mashed baby red potatoes and buttered mixed vegetables. My daughter and her husband and my wife and I all needed help getting up from the table. You know the feeling.

Yeah.....BBQing because it's Thursday.

Until next time.... 

BBQ'd Beef Short Ribs- Guam Style

One of our favorite BBQ eats on Guam are the BBQ'd Beef Short Ribs. These are actually crosscut beef ribs about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. They are very tender and meaty. They do not take long to marinade. Here is a photo of the ribs on the BBQ.

Here is the marinade:

Ingredients:

1 cup of Kikkoman Soy Sauce

1 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 to 1 onion sliced very thin

6 cloves of garlic minced

black pepper to taste

Beef short ribs depending on the number of persons 1/2 lb per person generally.

Directions:

Mix the ingredients either by hand or in a blender.

Pour the marinade over your ribs in a container and coat ribs well. (the amount of marinade depends on the amount of ribs)

Place the covered container in the refer for at least 2 hours.

If you don't have a refer, any cooler will do.

BBQ or grill as some say, mopping the marinade on the ribs to keep them moist.

Because these ribs are thin, they will not take long to cook.

These are juicy and delicious right off the grill.

Enjoy and let me know what you thought of them. 

Until next time....