Grills and recipes

OkeeDon · Dec 12, 2003

We were digressing on another thread, so I copied Bob's post here and started another. It might seem odd to discuss grills in Winter, but some folks grill all year round. I promise no one will get mad if a charcoal vs. gas debate springs up... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I brought up the Holland because Bob lives in Apex, NC, where they are made.

rlk (Bob) wrote:
 OkeeDon, I'm very familiar with Holland Grills. I bought one about 10 years ago and it is still going strong.

I don't think you can beat them for all around cooking. I cook whole turkeys, whole chickens, grill fish, pork chops, steaks, fresh vegetables, sausage, biscuits, plus about anything else you can think of.

One thing I tried this fall turned out to be really great. Took some large, fresh apples and sliced them like you would slice an onion you were going to fry. Lightly greased a large sheet of tin foil with olive oil. Put the apples flat on the tin foil then sprinkled the apples with cinamon, brown sugar, raisins, and chopped pecans. Put them on the Holland Grill for about 15 minutes, and they are great. I usually put them on when I turn the pork chops or chicken over. My wife says the apples are just like eating a cinamon bun but without all the bread.

Another thing I do with the grill is to slice sweet potatos about a quarter inch thick. Put them on a lightly greased piece of tin foil and grill about 10 - 15 minutes per side. You wouldn't believe how sweet the potatos are after grilling them. The only problem with fixing sweet potatos like this is you don't have enough room on the grill for 4 steaks and enough potatos to satisfy everyone.

Try either one of these and I'll guarantee you'll like them.

Bob 

I used to have a Holland, but I owned a bbq grill store, and Holland changed their method of distribution, so I switched to Phoenix, one of the many copies of the Holland concept, built in Sanford, NC. Same concept, same type of cooking. There's also the Wilmington, the Bubba grill, the Coastal and the Legends, and maybe some others, all copies on the slow roasting concept that Brad Holland invented right there in Apex.

I don't use my Phoenix for everything (I like a faster grill for steaks, for example), but it's my favorite. I haven't done the apples, but you're right about the sweet potatoes. I'm a bit of a purist; I don't like anything to get in the way of the grilled flavor, so I most often cook naked (that's without tin foil, not without clothes /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif) The Holland type grill doesn't dry out the food, and they get a kind of nutty flavor.

I also like to buy the little frozen half-ears of corn, baste them with a butter sauce, and grill them naked until they start to turn a light, golden brown. I nuke them first, or let them sit out for a while, to thaw the cobs, or the cold stored in the frozen cob will turn the ears cold really fast, even after grilling them. They're a favorite when I cook - they have a nice, light nutty flavor you can't get any other way. You really have to keep an eye on food that you cook naked, however, which is hard on a Holland type grill, because "if you're lookin', you ain't cookin'".

Bob_Skurka · Dec 12, 2003

I've got a stainless Phoenix grill by the house and a Weber at the pool. We use the Weber once a year and the Phoenix a couple times a week. The big drawback to the Phoenix that I see is that on windy days the wind will blow out the grill. It is built in so we can't rotate it.

I love to roast chicken on it. We have a little contraption that is bascially a frame to hold the chicken upright on its butt end. We just season it and let it roast. The skin comes out crispy, the meat is super tender and the fat drains out of it into a little tray.

Golfgar4 · Dec 12, 2003

( cook whole turkeys, whole chickens, grill fish, pork chops, steaks, fresh vegetables, sausage, biscuits, plus about anything else you can think of.
)

Bob,

I'm with you! Anything that sits still for more than 1 minute is liable to end up on my grill. I'm afraid that I'm not up there in your or Don's league with the New Holland grill (to be perfectly honest, I've never heard of them before! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif). I use your basic CharBroil grill, but it works for me! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

One of my favorite things to grill used to be red potatoes before we started on the South beach diet plan. Anyway, I'd basically just quarter the potatoes and mix them up with sliced onions, peppers, and sometimes mushrooms. Then I'd throw them into one of those foil oven cooking bags you can get now and just put them on the grill. I always figured about 40 minutes on medium flame. Need to turn the bag often to avoid burning, but when they come out of the bag, they are soooo tender and good! /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

When I was in Scouting, we always said that anything that could be cooked in a kitchen could be cooked on an open fire. Well, I think the same holds true for a grill. You can get cookbooks from the Scout organization that give you just about any recipe you'd ever want for cooking on an open fire. It's not hard to figure out how to adjust it for cooking on the grill.

Man, I'm making myself hungry! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

OkeeDon · Dec 12, 2003

You have good taste. My Phoenix and my Weber Gold B sit side by side, and I use them both a lot. I think the combination is the finest you can get in portable grills, especially since I have a Weber charcoal kettle sitting next to them for when I have the time to fool around with charcoal.

Try this on your Weber (will work on the Phoenix, but not as well). Buy a peeled and cored pineapple, and slice it into thick slices, then cut into wedges, about 3/4". Put the wedges on skewers. In the nuke oven, melt equal amounts of butter and honey with some cinammon added. Put the skewers on the Weber at relatively high heat and baste frequently as you turn them with the butter/honey mix. Grill until starting to turn golden.

Opening the lid on the Phoenix to baste them frequently stops the Phoenix from grilling as well. Grills without flare up control (almost any grill except the Weber and the Holland/Phoenix style, or the more expensive grills) will catch the butter on fire.

As for cooking chicken on the butt end, have you tried beer can chicken? Put your favorite spices in a liquid medium (beer works good!) in a beer can (Texas Two-Step makes a stainless steel version that lasts forever), and shove the can up the chickens butt, then stand it on the grill. The liquid boils and the vapors carry the spices (usually hot peppers and such, but can be sweet) through and around the chicken. Keeps it real moist, too.

Bob_Skurka · Dec 12, 2003

Don, it is 11 degrees outside my window, where in h... am I supposed to find a fresh pineapple in Indiana right now???

As for the beer can chicken, basically the stand we have for the chicken is the same thing, only it has a heavy wire frame that goes into the chicken instead of the can, the wire attaches to a tray under the chicken that allows you to put whatever you want it. They sell them at the kitchen gadget stores, they cost a lot more than a beer can (maybe 5 bucks) and you have to wash them when you are done cooking . . . wait how is THAT a good thing?

OkeeDon · Dec 12, 2003

it is 11 degrees outside my window, where in h... am I supposed to find a fresh pineapple in Indiana right now??? 

Oops, sorry, I keep forgetting. We grow our pineapples. Cut the top off a store bought pineapple, stick it in the ground, and in a couple of years you have another one, and maybe some "babies" that can be transplanted. Before the Flagler Railroad opened up Key West and easy trade with Cuba, most of the pineapples in the US were grown near my present house near the Indian River. We have an annual Pineapple Festival. Of course, most come from Hawaii, now.

thcri · Dec 12, 2003

I had a Holland Grill. Never again. I had it for a year. It cooked great when there was no wind. But as soon as any type of wind came up the thing would cook so uneven and a hamburger would take over an hour to get done. The instructions said to never put food on until the temperature reached 300 degrees. Under a normal breeze I could pre-heat it for over an hour and never get to the 300 degrees. We changed the regulator twice, the valve once and drilled the orfice out two notches. This was all done by the factory reps advice. The ignitor was replaced three times due to failure. I finally set the thing out back and bought a new one. Another one of my $400.00 blunders.

I know a lot of people have them and like them and I liked mine until any breeze came up. I could not use it in the winter months.

murph

MossRoad · Dec 12, 2003

where in h... am I supposed to find a fresh pineapple in Indiana right now??? 

Our local supermarket has them. I like to grill them when we have BBQ anything. Fresh grilled pineapple and a little KC Masterpiece is really tasty.

riptides · Dec 12, 2003

Ahh,

A post I can relate to. I keep my life simple (haha!) but my grilling simpler. Weber, kingsford and kraft. It is not uncommon to fire it up once a week, rain, sleet, snow, ice, heat, bah. I'll smoke up the whole side of the county.

My only problem is light. Seeing how it gets dark before I get home, makes it tough to figure out the doneness. Even with flood lights from the house, the shadows are tough to beat.

But, this is where years of experience comes into play. Timing is everything.

You name it, I probably grilled it.

-I am gonna try that beer can chicken!! Thanks!

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

OkeeDon · Dec 12, 2003

Use your Kingsford for everyday use, but if you are planning something special, try to find some natural hardwood chunk charcoal. It's not cheap (usually about a dollar a pound), but it doesn't have any of the fillers (clay, coal dust and cornstarch) of processed briquettes.