Deep Sea Triple Play: Yellowfin Tuna. Part 1 of 3

As I said the other day, our fish thawed out on the way home from the beach, so I have to cook them up this week.  First up are Yellowfin Tuna steaks.  I love tuna as it cooks up nice, has a distinct mild flavor, and accepts flavor from marinade readily.  I usually like my tuna raw as sushi, but from time to time, I do like it grilled.

First, I created a lime ginger marinade.  Here are the ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and diced fine
1 Tbsp of sriracha sauce
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp of sesame oil
Juice of 1 lime

Mix it all up to mingle...

Place the steaks in the marinade for 1 hour...

Then, place the steaks on a hot fire with direct heat to sear.  Flip after 1 minute, then move to indirect heat to finish cooking...

On indirect heat, I cooked the steaks for 5 minutes a side.  At this point they are cooked the whole way through with no pink, but not overcooked.  I know, some would think they are over done at this point.  Even I think that.  But, the family likes their fish well done.  So, we compromise.  I get the flavors I want and they get the doneness they want...

How were they?  Nice and tender with ginger, lime, and soy overtones.  The sriracha gives a nice bite on the tongue going down.  This is a go to recipe for me when grilling tuna.

Thanks for stopping by...

Bill

World Bacon Championship, Part 2 of 4

Today's World Bacon Championship category is: Anything wrapped in bacon.  Now, I imagine that there will be a decent amount of Fatties and sausages wrapped in bacon that are turned in that day.  For those who don't know, a Fatties is ground sausage, rolled out thin, filled with a stuffing of your choice, rolled up, and encased with a bacon weave.  Here is one that I made.  A good choice for this competition, but I want to be different.  So, in order to get a little beef into our judges diet, I am going down the flank steak path.

So, I took two flank steaks, pounded them out and tenderized.  Then, I marinaded overnight in Stubbs Beef Marinade...

Then, I prepared two types of filling.  One was caramelized onion, Gorgonzola cheese, and sriracha sauce.  One was caramelized onion and garlic herb cheese...

Then, I removed the steaks from the marinade, laid flat, and spread the cheesy filling out on the beef.  Then I rolled up, closed with toothpicks, and wrapped with bacon.  Then, on to the smoker at 375 F...

 Pulled when done, about 30 minutes.  Then let rest, then sliced...

They were both very good.  I liked the creaminess of the Gorgonzola with the added sriracha kick.  Hope liked the mellow flavors imparted by the garlic and herb cheese.  We are still debating over which one to use as our recipe.  Rest assured, I believe we will score well either way.

What will a do differently next time?  A little less filling and I will make a weave to wrap around the outside instead of single bacon slices.

Either way, outstanding!

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill

Grilled Chicken with Sriracha Ginger Lime Marinade

After every competition, Hope and I need to get the BBQ taste out of our mouths.  It is just the last thing we want to eat after two days of exposure to smoke, rub, and sauce.

So, tonight, it was Ginger Lime Chicken on the grill.

First, I made a marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tsp Sriracha sauce
Juice of one lime
1 tsp sesame oil

Whisked everything together in a bowl and poured over our chicken to marinade in a plastic bag...

After two hours in the marinade, I placed on the grill with indirect heat, skin side up.  I always cook my larger pieces of chicken on indirect heat so that I can mimic how they get cooked in the oven.  Some like to parboil the chicken and grill to get the crispy, grilled flavor.  But, why loose all that good flavor?

After about 20 minutes, the skin was starting to crisp up, so I moved the chicken to the top rack...

20 more minutes and they were done...

The dark meat was nice a juicy.  Good ginger sesame flavor with a bit of bite from the sriracha.  We will be doing this again...

Thanks for stopping by,

Bill