How about a splash of wine?

Let’s talk about wine. I’ve referenced wine on more than one occasion on this site. For some grillin and chillin means BBQ and beer. I completely agree. But it doesn’t only have to be beer. Wine can be an excellent way to accomplish the chillin aspect of this glorious hobby.

I pride myself on my wine knowledge, but I am by no means a wine snob. Sure I’ve met a Bundschu from the Gundlach-Bundschu winery. I’ve spent a few hours chatting it up with the Meekers who make some incredible stuff as well. And even met Todd Williams who is the Vintner of Toad Hollow. Todd has a very, very dry sense of humor which is a bit ironic since his brother is Robin Williams.

That being said I have two rules about wine.

1. Wine is not supposed to be pink. I know that Rose's and Blushes are making a come back after the backlash against White Zin, but wine is just not supposed to be pink.
2. Wine is not supposed to come in a box. I know some boxed wines are getting 90 points from Parker and WS, but don't go there. Inside that box is a plastic bladder full of wine. The only bladder wine should go through is yours!?!?!

Screw tops, synthetic corks, are perfectly OK. Pink and boxes are not...Find what you like and drink it. If it's two buck chuck or a 1998 Rosemount Balmoral Syrah, enjoy it...

Now a little about pairing wines. Basically think of the food you are grilling and find a wine that will complement that food. For the most part what we cook on the grill is not mild and full of subtle flavors. Usually BBQ has powerful flavor. In that case you need something that can stand up to the flavor of the food and not get overpowered by it. So let’s talk about wines that fall into that range. For the most part we are going to be dealing with reds, but I will touch on whites as well.

But first let’s talk about a sort of continuum of red wine in terms of flavor. At one end of the continuum we have Pinot Noirs. Very light, flowery, delicate, with many subtle flavors. Next variatal along the continuum you have a Merlot. Very smooth and velvety with strong fruity plums, cherries, blueberries and blackberries mixed with black pepper tones. It has more zip than a Pinot but not nearly what the Shiraz and Cabs have. At the far end of the spectrum we have Zins, Cabernets and Syrahs/Shiraz' (same thing). These wines are much more zesty, meaty, and spicy. These are often referred to as powerfully flavored and do well standing up against a very smoky slab of ribs or a beautifully done steak.

Pinot Noir is excellent with fish. Yes you can drink reds with fish. A Pinot can be consumed with fish or meat. Pinot is excellent with salmon, chicken and turkey. Here is a great Pinot we had with some Salmon in Michigan last summer. John Taylor Russian River Valley Pinot:

If you were to smoke that salmon, chicken or turkey and thus the flavor will be more intense, then a Merlot might be a better idea. Steak? Cab, Shiraz or Zin are all good choices. Ribs would be the same as steak. Here are a couple great Shiraz'. Epsilon Shiraz:

Schild Estate Barossa Shiraz:

For seafood, you want to go with a white for the most part. And which whites are usually highly dependent on the palette of the drinker. In my experience people new to wine tend to like the sweeter wines such as Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Semillon, Fume/Sauvignon Blanc (same thing). For me, if I’m going with seafood I want a buttery unoaked Chard. Pierano Estates fits this to a tee and for only $13/bottle.

A couple of notes. For those that start off liking the sweet whites I have noticed, for the most part, as they drink more and more wine the sweet wines are not as enjoyable to them. As their palette develops they tend to appreciate the dryer whites more and more. This is not the case for everyone of course...

Also, red wine is not supposed to be consumed at room temperature and white wine is not supposed to be consumed at the same temp as a Budweiser. I prefer my reds between 55-60 degrees. I prefer my whites around 45-50 degrees. Without buying a wine fridge how does one regulate the temp? The 30 minute rule. Keep your whites in the fridge. Pull it out of the fridge for 30 minutes to let the temp rise above 34 degrees. Reds should not be kept in the fridge. But when you are ready for a bottle of red, toss it in the fridge for 30 minutes to drop the temp below room temp. The time varies from fridge to fridge but you get the idea.

There are a few exceptions to the temperature rule. For example. In the summer I keep a couple bottles of Pinot Grigio in the fridge. If it’s really hot I crack a bottle of that and drink it ice cold. It’s a very light and refreshing wine. I’m probably committing some wine sin by doing this but that’s the way I like my Grigio in the hot summers.

Food makes wine better. That uber dry Chard that almost makes you pucker every time you take a sip is a whole different animal if you are munching on something while drinking it. A decent wine can become a great wine if paired properly. A great wine can become phenomenal if paired properly.

Not all Rieslings are sweet. Alsace Rieslings are quite crisp and citrusy. Great for hot summers as well.

Ever wonder why you see people spitting out the wine at wine tastings? Because after a couple of glasses of wine the taste buds start to numb and thus all the flavors cannot be truly realized. Knowing this, when I am entertaining I generally have one or two really good bottles of wine, depending on how many people are involved, and then some second tier wine after the first bottles have been polished off. Why throw out a $40 Argyle Nuthouse Pinot for people to drink after they have already had 2 or 3 glasses of wine? That Argyle will be wasted on them. I will talk about second tier wines a little later.

Along with the Pierano Estates....

....I mentioned above here are a few wines that I really enjoy for under $20:

Marquis Phillips Sarah’s Blend Shiraz:

Shotfire Ridge Shiraz:

I know it sounds nuts but Little Penguin Cabernet Sauvignon is a 91 point wine and I find it on sale all the time for less than $6/bottle. The Little Penguin Chard is my tier two white that I keep on hand. Also around $6

Castoro Cellars Chard and Zin. This is the Zin with a NY Strip and some scallops:

Milton Park Shiraz – Some say that this is actually made by Shotfire Ridge but the company (Thorn-Clark) won’t admit to it. Still a really nice wine for the price:

Piccolo Cru
Stelzner Claret
Yangarra Shiraz
Red Truck and White Truck. Both very decent and only $10:

Rosenblum Chard -Fool's Pappy has been raving about this one
Pillar Box Red – Awesome for $10:

Vina Alabra – hard to find but GREAT!!
Ravenswood Zin and Shiraz are really good – And don’t go for the more exotic locations like Lodi that gets a 91 point rating for $30 when the $10 bottle gets an 89 rating. I’ll give you the extra 2 points and keep my $20
Penfold's Koonunga Hill Cabernet Shiraz has been running around $8-10 all over the place lately in St. Louis and is a 91 point wine:

7 Deadly Zins Zinfandel
Benton Lane Pinot Noir:

McManus Cab makes a nice tier two wine at about $9
Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

And here are a couple solid labels that makes good wine all the way around:

Rosemount
Yalumba
Wolf Blaas
Steele
Gundlach Bundchu
Meeker

If you are a wine person you will notice that I lean heavily towards Californians and Australians. I tend to avoid the Europeans because I don't know anything about them and they tend to run more expensive than the Californians and the Australians. Every now and again I will try a European wine on the recommendation of someone who knows them, but I'm not one to dabble in the Europeans other than Alsace Rieslings. Maybe one day but I could die a happy man just drinking Californians and Australians for the rest of my life.

If you are having a hard time finding wines you like call your local wine stores. Most of them do tastings from time to time for little or no charge. Go. Sample. Find what you like and enjoy it...

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Surf and Turf

Here we have another great steak. This time it's a Fillet Mignon. For this beautiful chunk of meat. I kept it simple. No marinade. Just a quick rub and on the grill. Want to see the rest of the process? Hit that link below...


Along with that hunk of Fillet I also did some fat shrimp in a butter bath right on the grill:


Back to the main event - the fillet. And it is quite a fillet. As everyone knows I don't like thin steaks. And here is another example of a great chunk of meat. And the cell phone is there again for perspective:

All I did with this was add some coarse salt, fresh cracked black pepper and granulated garlic:


Now time to flame sear this wonderful steak:


Flip and sear the other side:

I baked it for just a couple minutes and then pulled it to let it rest for a few minutes:


And of course the money shot:



Click here for the rest of the process

More Grillin and Chillin in Michigan

As I mentioned in the Rib Off post, when in Michigan we do a lot of grillin and eat very well despite the rustic surroundings. One reason why is because my cousin hauls his boat up and we fish for salmon in Lake Michigan every day weather permitting. And there is nothing better than eating salmon that was swimming in the lake that morning. Here are a couple great examples of the haul from the lake:

Notice the lake trout on the boat trailer on the right behind the two monsters.


Here we have the salmon and the trout ready for the grill:


Here is my cousin tending to some salmon on the grill:


A close up of some salmon as well as some deer tenderloin that my cousin brought up with him. The salmon had a really great Teryaki sauce that my cousin's wife made. This stuff was incredible:


What goes great with Salmon? How about a little Pinot. Dad got it right with these selections:


But that's not all. How about some deep fried bass:

Almost forgot the appetizer. How about Crostinis for 30? Here is one batch:



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How about a little Rib Off?

Every year about 30 of my family and friends go up to Michigan in the middle of July. The weather is amazing. Go to the pool or the beach during the day, wear a sweatshirt at night. The place is rustic. Not many frills, but it's a great time. Particularly if you like to eat food cooked on the grill. We rent five cabins each cabin has a grill. We line up the grills next to each other and about 5 of the 7 nights a few of us grill for all 30 people. Last summer we decided to have a rib off between my cousin, my dad and I:

Yeah, that's the three of us after many hours of grillin and a little too much chillin considering we posed for this pseudo Iron Chef type picture. Gotta love my Dad's farmer's tan!?! The rest of the riboff can be read by clicking the link below. It was quite the experience and well worth the read...


First off I have to mention a couple issues we had. My dad (Fool's Pappy) got an amazing "deal" on some baby backs. Well, they weren't baby backs. They were a little bigger than BB's and a little smaller than spares. Second. The membrane would not come off of these things. All three of us had issues. So we just scored them really well with a sharp knife to keep the membrane from making the ribs tough which worked quite well. And the biggest obstacle was the grills we were using. I mentioned this place was rustic. These grills are Uber Cheap Wal Mart Specials. They are not ideal for smoking at all. You'll see the pics in a minute and understand what I mean.

Now on to the Rib Off. So for the couple of months leading up to vacation we were talking about this Rib Off. All three of us were experimenting with different rubs, marinades, smoke woods, etc. My dad has some crazy Chipotle Rasberry Marinade he going to used. I used Mussleman's apple sauce and my cousin applied his mainly brown sugar rub the night before and wrapped in cling wrap. All viable beginnings to great rib endings.

But the night before my cousin is saying that he wants to skip the Rib Off and just grill the ribs and not have a competition. He's making excuses left and right and just wants to have fun. Dad and I aren't having any of that. Dad's got his marinade and I've got the apple sauce that I heard the guy who owns 17th street grill (and winner of the Memphis Rib Contest 3 different year) uses.

I also had my secret weapon. Someone told me about Penzey's spices the week before we headed out for vacation. I tell everyone that will listen that Penzey's are the best. They are far and away better than anything you can get at the grocery store. Part of the reason they are so good is they are much more powerful than anything from the grocery store and much less of the spices are needed. I did not know that little fact prior to using them for the first time during the Rib Off. More on that later.

My cousin and I used apple and my dad used cherry. All of the wood chunks were baseball size. My dad also soaked his cherry wood. My cousin and I did not. This is why I never soak my smoke wood. I really don;t use chips anymore and chunks just don't need to be soaked. Of the 5 grills we used one of them had the soaked cherry chunks. Guess which one:


Yeap, that would be Grill #4 with no smoke. And now do you understand what I mean about the grills being not well suited for smoking?

About 30 minutes into the process my cousin has to leave to go take care of something. I'd had a few at that point so I cannot remember what that was so Dad and I are cooking his as well as ours. So here I am, my cousin is AWOL, my dad has no smoke. I've got a perfect 235 degrees and billowing smoke rolling out of my grill. 30 minutes in and I think I've got it in the bag already.

But this is no short cook. There is plenty of time for the tables to turn. My dad settles in to pick up a few tips from the real master while we wait:


With no smoke for close to an hour from Dad's cherry we decide to throw all of his wood onto the grill (not in the fire) to essentially kiln dry it to get the moisture out so it will smoke when it is eventually added to the fire:


Of course Grillin Fools can't live by beer alone. We need to maintain our strength. During the process the rib tips were munched on as appetizers for us:


90 minutes in. Let's check the process. Dad finally has some smoke:


My cousin's ribs being attended to by us are doing just fine:


And here are my ribs:


About 2 hours in, my ribs are ready for the foil:


I placed them bone side down, slathered the top with syrup and for half of them added more rub to get a really nice bark. Then I sealed them up in the foil and back on the grill:


My cousin's are looking great:


And here are some of his foiled. Not sure why he didn't foil the one slab:


And my dad decides to add a little wine to his foil. I use the term "wine" loosely:


Someone told him the wine was really good. It was terrible. My dad really knows his wine, but he's dabbling in this boxed crap because every now and again someone rates one at 90 points. Not that one...That one was horrible.

BTW, remember me mentioning that we had to score the membrane on these ribs as the membrane just wouldn't come off? Here's what it looks like when cooked. Sorta looks like inverse cross hatched grill marks!?!?!


Here is my dad and cousin looking over dad's ribs:



Here are my dad's. Some sauced, some not:


Here I am tending to my Ribs. If you are a Cub fan look really close at my shirt:



Here are mine. The slabs on the right had more rub added for a really nice bark:

And here are the winning ribs:


That's right, my cousin who disappeared for about 3 hours won. He was there for 30 minutes to start and the final 30 minutes.

What went wrong?

Penzey's that's what went wrong

See, when someone like me who has used obviously very mediocre spices all his life gets a hold of Penzeys for the first time bad things can happen. Sorta like only driving a V6 all my life and then getting into an Enzo Ferrari and attempting to win a road rally without ever test driving the car. I did two rubs. And both were WAY too spicy for the crowd I was cooking for. I loved them. My Cousin's wife gave me the nod for best ribs as well as a few others who enjoy spicy food but for most of the people they were just too spicy. My idea of Chipotle spice is very different than that of Penzey's idea. I still say they are the best out there by far, I just wish I had a chance to test drive them first.

My Dad's were really good to me but he used that Chipotle Rasberry Marinade that happened to be very spicy as well. So, guess who wins? The guy who rubbed in brown sugar and slapped his ribs on the grill and I cooked them

Click here for the rest of the process