About a year ago, I was contacted by Barry Martin on behalf of Char-Broil. I know Barry has been associated with them for some time, and I’ve seen his work online and in books (I even have a few of y recipes in one of the books he’s done , America Grills! By Char-Broil). Barry asked me to be a part of Char-Broil Live as an All-Star Blogger.

I thought it might be fun, and I got to try out one of Char-Broil’s new infrared grills as my ‘payment’. Yes, I got it free in exchange for my involvement, but, honestly, it’s a killer grill!

This all brings me to a few weeks ago, when I got an email from Mary at Char-Broil about an opportunity to meet up with the other all-stars and some people from Char-Broil, at a place called Serenbe, near Atlanta. It even turned out that I was able to get my wife to join me!

So fast forward to last week, and the time has come to fly south. I’ve already got a good opinion of Barry and Char-Broil in general, but now we even have a driver at the airport to limo us to Serenbe, as well as fantastic digs. Things are better and better.

We find that Serenbe is patterned after the English countryside, with pockets of “villages” with pasture, fields, animals (including livestock), organic produce and lots of gorgeous in between.

In he morning, we met up with everyone for a country breakfast served by one of the nicest staffs I’ve seen. Other than Barry and some of the Char-Broil staff, the other all-stars were Christo Gonzales, Danielle Bennett Dimovski, Catherine Chapin Mayhew, Michael Williams, David Olson, Scott Gregory Thomas and Julie Reinhardt. I had to wonder why I was even there after seeing what these others are capable of doing!

After breakfast, we talked about the company and the things happening in infrared. The gist is… Char-Broil knows what they’re doing. On top of that, I learned that the company has a lot of integrity, wants to truly help the grilling community in ways beyond just selling equipment, and it’s a company with which I’m glad to be associated.

The day continued with all of us grilling a whole bunch of stuff for lunch, followed by a Chopped-esque competition. We paired up, and Julie got stuck with me. We had to come up with something using chicken, bacon, chunky peanut utter, fennel, pineapple and bleu cheese. Well we didn’t win. Christo and Scott took the honors. We had fun, though.

The day ended with a tour of the HGTV Green Home, a cocktail hour, and a great dinner at the farmhouse. I really enjoyed the time and meeting everyone, and, to Mary, Michelle, Barry and all of Char-Broil, I want to say “thank you”. It was actually my wife’s and my 9th anniversary, and we thoroughly enjoyed. It.

And to the other All-Stars, thank you for doing what you do and keeping the bar high.

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I’ve been out of town, soon to post some new Longman & Eagle goodness. But first, this video is FUNNY…

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I’ve heard of Terry’s Turf Club for a while now, a small place in Mount Washington, east of downtown Cincinnati. It’s only been there a few years, but it’s been filled up with neon lights and old signs of just about any type. Terry’s isn’t known for that, though… It’s known for having what some say is the best burger in Cincy!

We got there at about 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon, and found we had to wait 20 minutes or so, then were offered 2 seats at the bar. As it turns out, the bar is the place to sit! If you are ever in Cincy and go there, ASK for seats at the bar. Why? Because you may get the chance, as we did, to talk to Terry himself, as well as his rather nattily dressed brother, Scott. We also talked to the customers sitting next to us, who waited for bar seats to enjoy talking to the proprietors and other patrons. It’s close quarters, to be prepared to be friendly to strangers!

I knew nothing about the place or anything other than the burgers were supposed to be great. I found that there are a few appetizers, including foie gras. Not expected in a tiny diner that has a maximum occupancy of 49. Looking over the options, you can get several great sounding condiments as well as a big variety of cheeses including goat cheese, good cheddar, brie and several others. Grilled or raw onions are available, and you can top your burger with a crabcake, or even get a burger made of filet mignon.

The burgers come with chips, or you can get what look like great fries or, like we did, opt for 4 cheese au gratin potatoes (go for these). They also offer mushroom burgers, chicken and a BLT for those not wanting a burger… But you’re going to want a burger.

My wife opted for a burger with the basics: ketchup, mayo, pickle, onion. I, instead, couldn’t start basic. I went whole hog, or maybe that’s whole duck… I got a burger with brie, grilled onions and foie gras. You read that right… foie gras on my burger! It was served with a bit of the duck fat and truffle oil on the side for dipping, too. And we split the au gratin potatoes.

How was it? The potatoes were some of the best I’ve ever had, with big cheesy, earthy flavors, and the burger was, without a doubt, one of the best I’ve had anywhere outside of Urbana, Ohio (my all-time favorite burger from Crabill’s). It was so good, I wanted to find an excuse to go back the next week, but I wasn’t able to fabricate anything to get me there.

And to top it all off, they have a great beer selection, and, while talking to Scott about whisky, Terry gave me a little sample of a whisky they had on the shelf, a 42 year old Lonach single malt Scotch whisky… Not only was it a nice Scotch, but very nice of Terry!

So to recap… Fun place, great staff, friendly customers, very solid beer selection and great burgers and food. Why did it take me so long to get to Terry’s Turf Club???

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Grilling.com has asked its VIP Bloggers (and I happen to be included as one) to come up with hot dog recipes to celebrate baseball teams and cities. I grew up a fan of the Big Red Machine, and the Reds will always be my team!

The city of Cincinnati stands strongly behind its baseball team as well as its other establishments.  To honor a city where locals and transplants alike support each other, the Cincinnati Dog is a combination of parts from local providers, put together in a great way…

Findlay Market, the city’s longest open community market, is the heart of the Cincinnati Dog, which is fitting, as it’s also the starting point of the city’s annual parade on the Reds’ opening day.

Starting with the ‘bun’, Taste of Belgium makes Liege waffles, the ‘other’, and better, Belgian waffle.  These are dense and sweet, and great topped with just about anything.  Jean-Francois has opened his bistro in the heart of Cincinnati, only a few blocks from Findlay Market, where he first offered these amazing waffles.

To transition from bun to dog, another Findlay Market that sells their products through the farmers market part of the community market is Fabulous Ferments.  Jennifer and Jordan have a shared passion for raw, healthy, sustainable and local foods, and they make several styles of fermented veggies.  They’re great people, too!  In talking with them, I discovered that there’s an Apple Cinnamon Cranberry kraut that sounded perfect for the Cincinnati Dog, so they gladly provided some to add to the effort.

The last local ingredient was also from a Findlay Market vendor, Mike’s Meats.  They make their own goetta, which is a Cincy area food that even has its own festival.  It’s a German concoction of pork sausage and steel-cut oats.  For the Cincinnati dog, I used Gliers Goetta Dogs, made in Cincy.

The only other addition was to drizzle a bit of maple syrup over the dog, adding a bit of sweetness to bring everything together, from a local farm, Clough Valley.

Thanks to Fab Ferments, Mike’s Meats and Taste of Belgium for being a part of the Cincinnati Dog!

Taste of Belgium logo used with permission

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My new endeavor, Livefire Whisky, is celebrating its start with a tshirt giveaway. The entry is simple… Just go to the site and follow the instructions listed on the giveaway post. The deadline is February 24th at midnight, and the winner will be announced next weekend!

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If you’ve been reading what little I’ve been posting lately, you may know I’ve been really strict on what I’ve been eating, and I’m down about 70 pounds since the beginning of fall last year. I’m still working on it, and most of my eating revolves around lean meats from a good deli.

However, once a week, I get a day to do what I want, and Superbowl Sunday was that day last week. I’ve learned not to overdo it on my free days, but chicken wings sounded soooo good! The typical way of making them involved deep-frying, and even the way I’ve made them in the past was to fry them briefly, then smoke them. Instead of all that, I wanted to skip the frying completely.

I thought that if I grilled the chicken indirectly with lower heat, the fat would drip mostly off of the wings, then I could sauce, finish, and then grill.

After cutting the wings at their joints, I added just a bit of salt and pepper, and put the wings, along with a few chicken legs, on my Char-Broil infrared. I had it heated up, with the two side burners on low, with Jack Daniels wood chips on the grate to add smoke, and the center burners were completely off. It took about an hour or so for the wings to be just about done, and I turned them a couple of times during that to ensure even heating.

For the sauce, I used Nando’s Peri-Peri, in Hot Sweet as well as Garlic flavors. I didn’t use any butter, just trying to keep the fat out as much as I could. In a stainless bowl, I tossed the wings (and legs) with the sauce to coat the chicken, then it went back on the grill for about 10-15 minutes. I then added just a bit more sauce to the chicken.

That’s all it took. I was able to watch pregame shows, get some stuff down around the house, and cook the wings and legs, and I was easily ready to watch one of the best Superbowl games I’ve seen in a while. It’s too bad the commercials weren’t up to par, but I did like that Audi vampire campfire!

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Today marks the first full day of a new blog… Livefire Whisky!

It’s just my own info on Scotch whisky tastings, information I find on whisky, and whisky stuff in general. I may have other info now and then, too, even something about bourbon now and then, like when my Maker’s Mark barrel gets bottled, and I visit the distillery to get a bottle.

In the meantime, my “wordless Wednesday” for Livefire Whisky will be a triple “w”… Wordless Whisky Wednesdays!

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I have to admit something to my regular readers… I haven’t been cooking a lot lately. The reason is pretty good, though. Over the last few months, I’ve been working on getting healthier, and I’m down about 65 pounds since the end of September! Woohoo! But I do get to splurge now and then, and, once I get to where I’m headed, I’ll be cooking more again.

When I go out, I generally like to go to new bistros, try new foods, stuff like that. However, it’s really hard to beat a good steakhouse. Just like L. L. Bean makes the same great Bean boots year after year, a steakhouse that puts out the same menu is a great thing, as long as they do it well.

In Dayton, there’s something of a landmark restaurant that does just that, the Pine Club. The restaurant opened in 1947, and may not have been remodeled since then. But that’s ok.

The restaurant hasn’t, as long as I can remember, taken reservations. But that’s ok.

The restaurant still doesn’t offer dessert. But that’s ok. (and there’s a Ben & Jerry’s 2 doors down).

What they do, however, is put out a top-quality steak, with house-made salad dressings and great classic cocktails. The place takes me back to going out to dinner with my dad when I was a kid. The restaurant has wood paneled walls, booths covered in dark red naugahyde, and a wait staff that’s generally older women instead of hip, young people, but they know how to do their job very well.

We started with shrimp cocktail, served with house-made cocktail sauce, then a house salad with bleu cheese and the house French dressing. It’s simple but very good. Then came the main event… A bone-in ribeye with onion rings that are thin and delicious. The steak was nicely charred on the outside and rare inside, seasoned simply but well.

The meal was thoroughly enjoyable, and way too much food. The waitress was friendly, and the bartender did a great job on my smoky martini. I’ll go to other places that are more trendy and more continental, but I’ll keep coming back to the Pine Club. Oh, they still have house accounts, too; when was the last time you saw that?

By the way, the photos were all taken with an iPhone and edited using Mobile Monet, just for a bit of fun.

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It’s been quiet around Livefire lately. That’s mostly due to the fact that I haven’t been eating a lot lately, but I did want to wish everyone a really great 2012!

I was asked about my 2012 grilling resolutions, and what I came up with was:

• Get back to more outdoor bread baking, especially sourdough whole grain breads
• Explore more flavors using marinades that involve whisky (Scotch)
• Begin pairing grilled foods with wines, ales and whiskies
• Continue showing that great grilled food can be simply done at home

If you notice, whisky is in a couple of those. As you may recall, I did a whisky tasting with a friend almost a year ago, and, since then, have added to my selection of single malt whiskies. Well, this is resulting in a bit of a new push for me to add to Livefire… whisky reviews!

So in 2012, you’ll start seeing info on different whiskies and what I think of them. Along with that, some friends that are grillers/barbecuers are also involved, and, if they’re willing, I’ll include some of their reviews, too! I’ll put up some information here as entries, but I’ll also be adding a menu selection to Branndair Uisge Beatha Cuallach, which is an attempt in Scottish Gaelic to say “Barbecue Whisky Society”!

We’ll be trying whisky from all over Scotland, and throwing some whiskeys in from other parts of the world. This spring, I’ll probably try a Pappy Van Winkle bourbon or some different types of single malts from outside Scotland. The idea will be to show from entry level whisky to some higher end stuff that most of us won’t buy on our own, but that will be fun to try.

The question has to be asked, though: what does this have to do with barbecue?

The answer is simple. Each review will include some form of relating the whisky to grilling or barbecuing, whether a way to make a marinade or sauce with the whisky or what foods done outside will go with the whisky.

So I hope you all stay tuned to see where this goes… and I hope you all have a great 2012 ahead!

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I’ve been making pig candy for years now. It’s a simple, delicious way to prepare bacon by covering it with brown sugar and a touch of cayenne, then baking/smoking it until the bacon is crunchy and the brown sugar has coated it. It’s just addictive stuff!

I was thinking this year of fixing candied pecans. You know the ones I mean… the pecans with cinnamon and sugar and egg whites that make them crunchier and, also, addictive. This gave me the idea to try a new version of pig candy, using the typical brown sugar and cayenne, but starting with an egg white base to give the bacon a new texture.

I took 4 egg whites and beat them until they got a bit frothy, then added about half a cup of brown sugar, and bit of cayenne. I was afraid I’d put in too much sugar, as the egg whites got a bit heavy, if that makes any sense. I kept at it, though, and the egg whites started getting firmer and firmer, until I got stiff peaks when removing the beaters.

At this point, I put a cooling rack in a cookie sheet and sprayed some PAM on it to try to keep things from sticking. I took bacon slices and dredge them, one at a time, through the egg whites and arranged in a layer on the cooling rack. I then added a good sprinkling of brown sugar to the bacon, adding about 1 cup of brown sugar to 3/4 pound of bacon, right on top of the egg white mixture.

I put the cookie sheet in the oven at 250 degrees F. You may notice two things here: 1. I put the bacon in a cold oven, and 2. I put it in the oven instead of cooking it outside. Both are true. The cold oven I do only because Alton Brown taught me, via Good Eats, to bake bacon by starting with a cold oven. I just do it. And I used the oven because I don’t have a cookie sheet and cooling rack that fits on my Big Green Egg right now. I should have just cooked it outside, but I was being lazy, I can admit it!

I baked the bacon, turning every 15 minutes for evenness, for about an hour at 250, then another 30 minutes at 350 to crisp up the bacon some more.

What was the verdict?

I loved it. My wife wasn’t sure at first, as she loves regular pig candy, but she finally agreed that this was a better form of pig candy, with the egg whites giving a really interesting texture to the pig candy. This will be the preferred method at the McAdams house for pig candy from now on!

Serving suggestions:
Serve all by itself and pass it around, or match with red pear and English cheddar. Great with a big Scottish ale or wee heavy!

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