After a mini break, moving, adjusting, a new gig, I am BACK IN ACTION! As anyone on the gulf coast can tell you, if there is a tropical storm or hurricane en route, it’s time for a barbecue. Hurricane parties are a longstanding tradition on the coast, as there is a lot of waiting around, the potential for no power, and lots of rain. I think the barbecue is foreshadowing what is to come. If/ when your power goes out, it is followed by your freezer going out. You are then left with a rack of defrosted ribs, a whole deer, pounds of fajitas, sausage, and nowhere for them to go, but in your belly. As the rain came in, my spidey senses ignited and I waited out the rain alongside smoking meats. The weather was amazing that day, the wind kicked-up, and the temperature finally broke from 90 to a cool 70 degrees. It was a great day to be outdoors and an even better day for a barbecue. I have gotten the temperature under control with the help of mesquite logs. The logs burn at a higher heat level than the charcoal and have raised the overall cooking temperature of the grill. I had an even temperature throughout the cooking process and the higher heat gave me crispier chicken (YUM)! I finally feel like I am coming into my own on the grill; I fearlessly marinated, cooked, and ate the spoils of my labor. One of the major factors contributing to this was finding the right playlist to accompany the process. My father listens to tejano music - LOUD - while he barbecues. You can hear him barbecuing when you turn into the neighborhood from the main road. He times the cooking of his meat based on the number of songs he listens to. I’m not that methodical about music, but I do think it a factor for success. I’ve tried a couple of different genres, but settled into a playlist I listen to it while traveling to the Rio Grande Valley. It’s a Spanish rock mix with reggae and tejano influences. I think the second thing that made this barbecue stand out was that I didn’t stress about any of it. I just enjoyed the weather and the process. Everything timed right and I even made rice and beans to go with it. Usually this would be a to-do, but it wasn’t. I didn’t have enough cooked beans to make a full pot, so I just threw them in with the rice. In the past, I’ve put in chickpeas, corn, carrots, etc., but never beans. It came out RIDICULOUSLY DELICIOUS! Why I have never done this before I do not know, but it will be my go to for barbecues from here on out. Happy BBQ’ing! Below find a selection of songs from our BBQ playlists: Dad's Playlist: Guacamole by Texas Tornados, Las Nubes by Little Joe & La Familia, Que Chulos Ojos by Latin Breed Crystal's Playlist: Subeme La Radio by Enrique, Fuego by Bomba Estereo, & Escapate Conmigo by Wisin
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Fajita Bonita + My Kitchen is Open Episode 2: White Sauce + Shrimp Podcast is out! Cooking cousins talk about their food adventures, hear about Leslie's paleo lemon cake and Crystal's shrimp in my boots story. We also chat about the mysterious white sauce and blind sampling all the barbecue sauces! The podcast is listed below, you can follow us online @fajita_bonita & @mykitchenisopen. https://fajitabonita.podbean.com/ Happy Listening! I was super excited for barbecue three, I ripped off those training wheels and jumped in the pool! (boondock saints bar proverb) It was both liberating and humbling. One of the biggest takeaways from this barbecue was that I need to prep a little more, research a little more, and be wary of substitutions. For this barbecue, I tried my hand at turkey and forgot that barbecuing turkey takes additional time. It reminded me of my brothers attempt to cook a giant turkey leg in high school that went from a quick snack to a four hour wait. Where low and slow went from a cooking technique to are the charcoals still burning? After my wait, the turkey breast came out great and was gobbled up that day! I will definitely be barbecuing more turkey with the appropriate allotment of time (glad this wasn’t game day). I ended up putting a spicy rub on the turkey, which I really enjoyed. It had a deep mellow heat and rich smokey chile flavor. I had a few pieces of chicken lying around that I also marinated with the spice. These were definitely my favorite pieces of chicken so far, the rub gave them a more complex flavor profile than my regular marinade. I used my Texas shaped cast iron skillet! I love it! On its first run, I attempted to make a cherry dump cake. Cherry dump cake is a really simple cobbler style cake that you just pour the ingredients in the pan and bake. I remember making this in elementary school and it still shows up at family events. Making it on the grill was another thing, I decided to bypass the directions and go ahead and add extra pineapple (mistake). I also added the regular amount of butter (it’s a lot, this was also a mistake). In order for the cake to rise it needs the appropriate amount of heat (350 degrees for 35 minutes), which my grill did not maintain for the duration of the barbecue. I ended up having to put it in the over for an additional 15 minutes. It tasted okay. The smoke added a woodsy flavor to the cake, but not necessarily a complimentary flavor. I will reattempt this with the adjusted amounts, change wood flavors, and add a little something to the filling to kick it up. Overall prepping and barbecuing solo was an interesting endeavor. For me, this is definitely a group activity or at least an activity for two. I also think if I would have done a little more preliminary work this could have gone a lot smoother. In the future, I will allot myself extra time, less butter, and a little more patience. Hope you're enjoying the blog and photos! Don't forget to follow along on instagram fajita_bonita, twitter fajita_bonita or listen to the podcast with My Kitchen is Open at https://fajitabonita.podbean.com Happy BBQ’ing! So as I’ve mentioned in previous posts I am new to barbecuing. I am not new to barbecue culture, but the physical act of being in charge of the grill. I’ve been trying to fine-tune my skills to understand proper meat handling, cooking times, heat management, spices, differences between cuts, meat types, and regional specialties. I based my first barbecue on what I’ve grown up eating, for me a traditional barbecue, consisting of boudain, ribs, chicken, sausage, potato salad, rice, beans, guacamole, and tortillas. To focus specifically on grilling I cut this menu down to the basics of boudain, chicken, sausage, rice and beans. Trying to make sides and barbecue in the same pocket of time was way too much work. I have been considering different options to streamline this process and I am sure I’ll have it down in a few weeks. If you’ve never had it, boudain is a mix of spices, rice, and sausage in a sausage casing. They hail from Louisiana and are usually spicy to really spicy. A distinctive flavor note, is that many contain liver and can be fried into boudain balls the holy grail of boudain! If you’ve never had a boudain ball - find one and eat it! You cook boudain the same as regular sausage, grilling it for about 15-20 minutes turning it occasionally. For barbecue one, both the boudain and sausage came out great! I marinated and seasoned the chicken, but fumbled around with cooking it a bit. I used my low salt spices for the rub and it just did not have a strong enough flavor. I was also confused about skin side up, down or both? I got through it, unburned, house intact, and the chicken tasted pretty good. It was a bit dry, but I corrected it on the second try the following Friday. I also think I fussed with it too much on the first round and roughed up the skin a bit. It was not a huge deal, but didn’t look really pretty and may have messed with moisture levels. The following Friday, I skipped major sides and made German potato salad (which I love) and changed from spicy to less spicy boudain (just for fun). I timed the chicken to only turn it once while cooking, which seemed to work well. Steaming it at the end of the process making it super moist. The only changes for next Friday will be leaving the chicken on the grill longer, I guess I got too excited and took it off early. I’ll also be burning my sausage a bit, it just taste better a little burnt. Something new I'll be trying out is my cast iron skillet, which has lots of queso in its future! For this week, I’m going to baking a cherry dump cake on the grill along with my barbecue. Updates to come. . . Happy BBQ’ing! A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA: There are lots of favorites and opinions, even to the spelling of boudain or boudin. One of my favorite spots for boudain is Burt’s Meat Market in Houston. They sell regular boudain, seafood boudain, boudain balls, gumbo, and dirty rice. The other is Don’s Specialty Meats in Scott, Louisiana. We always stop on our way to New Orleans to pick up their amazing pepper jack cheese boudain balls. You can read a little more about the history of boudain in this article from the Smithsonian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/louisiana-boudin-180960105/ Check out Fajita Bonita + My Kitchen is Open Podcast! It was a lot of fun to chat food with my cooking cousin Leslie. Hear about her blog My Kitchen is Open, recipe sharing, and BBQ memories with her dad. Also, listen to my jump into learning to BBQ and my love for panaderias. https://satexas.podbean.com/ Happy BBQ'ing! The first grill we purchased several years ago was a Weber Ranch Kettle and it was huge! I think my husband was going for bigger is better and being able to grill 100 hot dogs in two minutes. It was definitely a conversation starter and envy of the neighborhood, but not really a functional every day grill for two people. I don't think it was a bad grill, just not the grill for me. Its large size made the top awkward to handle and it took pretty much a full bag of charcoal to start and maintain. It was overwhelming and a lot of work for our hot dog menu. I also didn’t like that it had one cooking surface, no attached table surfaces, and thin metal making it ridiculously hot. So logging this experience, I was determined to find a grill that would work better for me. For this endeavor, based on the space I have available and past experiences I was leaning towards a smaller grill. I scouted the local market and defaulted to my father’s collection of grills for research. He has two charcoal grills, a charcoal and propane grill, a large and larger smoker. I am used to smoking meat on a charcoal grill, smoking meat in a traditional smoker is new to me and maybe not something to get in my new grill. I’m also not a big propane fan (Sorry Hank Hill), it’s just personal preference and not something I wanted. Some of the things I wanted in a grill included: a possible flat cooking surface, an attached work surface, multiple grill areas, solid construction, and ease of use. One of the things I noticed in smaller grills is that the metal always seemed to be really thin. I wanted something that was going to last more than one Texas summer (114 degree heat and high humidity) and that was going to perform given the large potential for user error. I considered a few different brands and models, some standouts were the combination smoker grills (love them) and the Helotes Pits (these were amazing, but super heavy). I was super excited to find the All Season Feeder 24” x 20” BBQ Pit. This grill has good vibes and pretty much blew everybody else out of the water! It checked off nine of the ten items on my list and the only one it didn’t (flat grill area) you can easily work around (aka just throw your tortilla on the grill surface). It has a solid metal construction, two vents to control heat, two grill surfaces, a small table surface, four hook areas, and hook handles to hang things on or move it. I’m not sure why, but the pit area seems larger and deeper than some of the other grills of this size. I also love that it’s a local Texas company and was built about 20 miles from my house - gotta love that! So far, I’m super happy with my purchase. The grill is working wonderfully and delivers all of the things I wanted. I was also nice to see that replacement parts, should I need them, are reasonably priced and there were several available upgrades if I wanted them. My team (aka the family) all really like the grill and dad mentioned that he may now need a smaller grill for “every day grilling.” I hope you enjoyed the blog and I’d love to hear from you! You can reach me at [email protected] or follow my journey on Instagram at fajita_bonita or twitter at fajita_bonita! If you're curious about All Season Feeders here is there website, also check out there steel fire pits that double as bbq pits (NEED!) https://www.allseasonsfeeders.com/collections/bbq-pits
Welcome to Fajita Bonita a food blog about learning the art of barbecue! It’s been a long time coming, and I am really excited to finally be picking up the torch to begin this barbecue journey. I am a third generation southern Texas barbecuer and have been eating barbecue forever. Growing up my parents house was the place to go for fajitas, ribs, and amazing chicken. While the menu has changed subtly over the years, the family, friends, fun and great food have not. I was inspired to begin this journey by a simple question, “do you barbecue?” It really got me thinking about why I don’t since I love barbecue. I bought a locally made pit, which was an adventure all on its own (I’ll post on that later) and have begun firing it up! Just to be clear, I have seen this done over a thousands times and have been walked through the process one time over 13 years ago. For reasons beyond my control I was stationed on sides. I’m a hell of a sides maker, but I am putting that aside ;) and moving to the grill. I spent Wednesday (grill purchasing day) and Friday barbecuing chicken. Right now my biggest issue is managing heat and I’ll be workshopping after each session with my dad (Tio Joe). He’s got the inside track on working the grill (40+ years), and is always trying new techniques and flavors. I’m also getting some help from my husband Alex (so I don’t burn the house down) and my pit dog J (he’s seasoned at BBQ’s). What to expect from upcoming blog post: calamity, smokiness, no makeup, fire, meat, meat, and meat! While I grew up eating a set barbecue menu, I anticipate my BBQ’s will get adventurous. I’m thinking tofu, Korean BBQ, trompo, and grilled cobbler; the end goal is to make some amazing food and pick up a few new skill along the way. I’d love to hear your thoughts and any tips would be welcomed. You can reach me at [email protected] or follow my journey on Instagram at fajita_bonita! |
AuthorThird generation southern Texas barbecuer diving into the world of BBQ! #eatmeatrepeat Archives
September 2018
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