Cinquo de Mayo - Carne Asada Marinade

Today is May 5th.  Cinco de Mayo.

Some people think it's Mexican Independance Day but that's actually in September.  Cinco de Mayo is a day that commemorates the unlikely win of Mexican Forces over French troops during the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Either way, It's a good day to celebrate Mexican Cuisine.  So here is my recipe for Carne Asada Grilled Beef Tacos.

Carne Asada Marinade

1/3 cup Olive Oil>

Juice of 1 Lime

1 Garlic Clove, smashed

A handful of Cilantro including the stems

2 tbsp of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of Cumin

1 teaspoon of Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

Kosher Salt and Fresh Black Pepper, to taste

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I like to use this marinade on a tough cut of meet like Flank Steak.  The butcher at Foodland often has Bavette steak also known as sirloin flap in his meat counter and this recipe works particularly well with that cut.

Marinate the steak for 2 hours and then grill on high heat for a few minutes per side (no more than medium as you don't want the steak to dry out.

Serve on corn tortillas and garnish with pico de gallo, cilantro and pickled jalapeno's.  

Spicy Watermelon and Raspberry Agua Fresca

When Andrea and I honeymooned at El Dorado Maroma in Mexico in 2010, each day at lunch, they would provide us with these infused waters.  Everyday had a different infusion and it was always refreshing to start off the day with this fresh tasting beverage.

In celebration of Cinco de Mayo today, I present to you my version of an infused water.  This recipe is a bit of an oxymoron. As you drink it, you start by getting the nice sweet and tart flavours of the fruit, but after a few seconds, you get the slow burn of the jalapeño pepper that hits you in the back of the throat.  It's quite an experience.

Spicy Watermelon and Raspberry Agua Fresca

1/2 of a seedless watermelon
1 pint of raspberries
1 inch piece of ginger
1/4 cup of mint leaves
juice of 1 lime
1/2 of a jalapeño pepper
2 tbsp of agave nectar (or sugar)


Place all ingredients in the blender.  Fill up blender with water right to the top and blend at high speed for 2-3 minutes.  If you have two many ingredients for one blender, you can make it in two batches.  It will be diluted a bit more but still be tasty.

After blending, strain it through a fine mesh strainer into a serving jug.  This will remove most of the pulp and seeds and leave you with the fine tasting fruity water to be served.

This can be served on ice.  You can add 1.25 ounces of white rum if you want to make it an adult drink.  If you want to make it a bit more interesting, you can top it off with 2 ounces of club soda.

This is a great refreshing drink to accompany any BBQ meal.  Goes particularly well if you are serving tacos or grilled meat.

Hope you enjoy.  If you try it, let me know in the comments below.

May is National BBQ Month

I follow a lot of BBQ related webpages, Facebook pages and Instagram pages.

The past few days, I've been seeing a lot of posts that May, is National BBQ month.

I don't know who the smart person is that chose May.  It may apply South of the border, where the BBQ's and Smokers are accessible most of the year.

Up in Northern Ontario, the last of the snow in my yard melted just yesterday.

Either way, May is a good time to pull out your grill, give it a good cleaning head to toe, check out the burners and even use a shop vac to clean out the interior.

Here is a good link to the Amazing Ribs website on proper care, maintenance and cleaning of your grill.  Some people will tell you that they never clean the grates on their grills cause it just adds flavor.  Don't believe them.  All it does is add the taste of burnt food and carbon to whatever you're cooking.  A well maintained grill should last you a really long time.  In Northern Ontario, often it's the burners that will rust out early but most times these can be replaced fairly easily.

So today is May 3rd... what will you be cooking on your grill this week?  Post down below in the comments.

Get to know your butcher.

I'm in Sudbury today and spent part of the late afternoon, chasing down local butchers in search of some fresh Chorizo.

I finally found some at Tarini Bros Meat and Fish.  If you`re even in Sudbury, I highly recommend a visit to this meat counter.  Not only did I find Chorizo, but I also bought some Andouille Sausage as well as a South African sausage called Boerewors.

In Timmins, we do have a few places where you can get some decent meat.  I'm always happy with the meat Counter at Pick of the Crop.  Also, Harrold, the butcher at Levis Foodland is always able to find you the cuts of meat you might be looking for.

Talk to your local butcher.  Ask them what THEY like to cook.  Ask them what's good value at the moment and they will steer you in the right direction.

What is barbecue?

A recent post on Facebook got me thinking.  That happens sometimes.

What is barbecue?

For the longest time, for me, the barbecue, was the cooking appliance that was located in my backyard.  When I was a kid, it was some yellow or orange coloured charcoal appliance that someone lit using a half a can of lighter fluid.

Over the years, and mostly with the advent of the Food Network and the Internet (remember when we actually couldn't look up BBQ recipes on Pinterest?), I discovered that BARBECUE, is not that cooking appliance in the backyard (that's the grill).

Barbecue has become a verb to me.  To barbecue.  Generally it means to smoke some type of meat, over low heat for a period of time until the connective tissues have broken down and tenderized the meat to make it succulent and mouth watering.  Barbecuing allows you to take a tough cut of meat and make it edible.  The difference between grilling and barbecuing is essentially the addition of smoke to the cooking process.

All you need is some type of heat source, some type of smoke and time to have a few cocktails while you wait for the food to be done.

I could have gone into much more detail about what barbecuing really is and how it differs from one culture to another, but another online blogger by the name of Meathead Goldwyn has already done it on his website.

A reminder to those who are reading this blog for the first time, that we have at least 2 upcoming amateur BBQ competitions to be held in Northern Ontario this year.  If you read some of my earlier messages, there are a few that explain what to expect at an amateur BBQ competition.  Hopefully you can join us and compete sometime this year.

Leave your questions or comments below.

Amazing Ribs Website

No, this is not a recipe on how to cook amazing ribs.  But it is a website I visit often for all kinds of BBQ and Smoking related info.

It's run by a guy called Meathead Goldwyn.  And if you can't trust a guy called Meathead about BBQ, what else could you ever trust him about.   Just click on the link below.

www.amazingribs.com

Boiling my ribs gets them tender.... blasphemy!

I follow a lot of cooking and BBQ Facebook groups.

One of the recipes that I see pop up quite often is Crock-Pot Ribs or Slow-cooker Ribs or Coca-cola ribs or any other variant on the theme.

Strangely enough, these recipes never come up on the BBQ, Grilling, or Smoking Facebook groups, but mostly on the other more general cooking groups.

Here is a word of advice.... Never, ever, ever boil your ribs!!  Why you ask?  When you boil meat, all the flavor which is in the protein gets extracted into the water.  Remember hearing about osmosis in high school science class?  This is a classic example of it.

Would you ever boil a steak before serving it?  I recommend not boiling ribs unless your plan is to make a pork soup of some kind.

Some will say that boiling ribs makes them tender and fall-off-the-bone.  While true, it also makes them mushy and not as appetizing.

In another post, I`ll go over a method for cooking ribs which will be more time-consuming, but will yield superior results and make you the rib King or Queen of your neighborhood.

BBQ in Northern Ontario

It's shaping up to be a really good BBQ summer in Northern Ontario.

Competition in Cochrane on August 8th.

Competition in Timmins on September 12th.

Sure would be cool to have a Trifecta wouldn't it?

July is looking a bit quiet right now.  I wonder where we should host our 3rd Northern BBQ competition of the summer?

Hmmm.... more to come and hope to have an announcement soon.

BBQ Crawl Season 3

Today is a good day in BBQ.

One of my favorite BBQ related TV shows starts up again tonight.  BBQ Crawl Season 3 starring Danielle Dimovski (aka DivaQ) plays on the Travel and Escape channel tonight at 9 PM.

Here is the website for the show.  Danielle travels all over the United States, chowing down on great BBQ along the way, chatting with the Pitmasters and competing in various BBQ comps.

My own BBQ crawl experience has been limited to a few places in Ontario over the years.  D&S Southern Comfort BBQ in Ottawa, Buster Rhino's in Whitby.  About 10 years ago, I ate at a place in Barrie (I think it was called Mike Love's BBQ) and a place in Orlando called Smokey Bones.  Actually, Smokey Bones is what got me started on my BBQ journey as it's where I got my first ever taste of pulled pork.  Toronto has a developing BBQ scene.  On my BBQ bucket list is Baju BBQ owned by Zane Caplansky.

 I still say that one of these days, I want to take a road trip from Timmins down to Florida and back and hit up a bunch of barbecue joints along the way.

Speaking of Diva Q, she has a great Youtube channel where she shares recipes and stories from the road.

Hope you enjoy the show and it starts just in time for BBQ season.

Carson Rodizio BBQ Kit

If anyone has a few hundred bucks lying around, I'd love to have one of these kits for my gas or charcoal grill. Please and Thank You.