Even if you’re a die-hard I-only-put-ketchup-on-my-fries person, you have to try this easy French fry dipping sauce. Fear not since it does contain (some) ketchup! And mayonnaise (a worthy fry sauce on its own!). A few other ingredients and a little spiciness and you’ve got something different for your next batch of fries.
Pickle Brine Is Like Liquid Gold
I have quickly learned that one of the most valuable things in my fridge is a jar of pickle brine. It’s the liquid left after you’ve taken out the last pickle. Don’t ever toss it out. You can use it in so many recipes, from this French fry dipping sauce, to fried chicken, to my favorite, chicken wings. Keep that stuff around!
I almost always use Blue Plate mayonnaise in the dishes I make. I think it is the best around. If you can’t find it locally you can pick it up online for a fair price.
Never toss out the juice left in your pickle jars when the pickles are gone. You can use that brine in great recipes like this fry dipping sauce to fried chicken!
The beauty of the Vortex BBQ insert is that you can take pretty much any deep-fryer recipe and use it on a charcoal grill. It doesn’t have to be for chicken either. This Hidden Valley Ranch fried chicken using the Vortex is a perfect example of just how amazing it is. The meat is crazy tender and unbelievably moist. And the skin? Well, let’s just say I leave it for last because it’s almost like dessert. A true treat.
Super Easy. Super Fantastic.
Hidden Valley Ranch fried chicken using the Vortex is incredibly easy to make. And there’s no mess or clean up like if you’d fried the chicken on the stovetop or in a deep fryer. It’s why I love all my Vortexes. I have some for my big charcoal grills and some for my smaller charcoal grills. Which one I use depends on how much I’m cooking, but no matter what, everything comes out fantastic.
The Finishing Touch
I like to brush my fried chicken with a very light coating of oil just before I pull it off the grill. I give it a few more minutes to cook, then I get extra-crispy skin. It’s that extra little touch that really makes the final product feel and taste and look like it was deep-fried.
Hidden Valley Ranch Fried Chicken using the Vortex
This Hidden Valley Ranch fried chicken is crazy tender, unbelievable moist. And the skin? Well, let’s just say I leave it for last because it’s almost like dessert. A true treat.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Double this recipe. And if you have a lot of leftover smoked pulled pork (or brisket) laying around, quadruple the recipe. Because these smoked BBQ baked beans are fantastic you’ll want to make as much as will fit on your smoker at one time. I got this fantastic (and easy) recipe and many others from Brother Jimmy’s BBQ: More than 100 Recipes. If you’re a fan of smoking and grilling, you need Brother Jimmy’s now.
Any Smoked Meat Will Work Here
Just about any smoked meat will work just fine in these smoked BBQ baked beans. I prefer brisket or pulled pork, but chicken and turkey are good too. This is an excellent way to use up leftover (or not leftover) meats. They really add a lot of flavor.
I usually smoke my sides (and many of my meats) over lighter woods. I prefer fruit woods such as apple or cherry.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Double this recipe. And if you have a lot of leftover smoked pulled pork (or brisket) laying around, quadruple the recipe.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes.
Combine the onion and remaining ingredients in a medium disposable aluminum pan.
Transfer to your smoker and smoke for 45 minutes-1 hour or until hot and bubbly, stirring occasionally.
Notes
You can make this dish in the oven. Just bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until hot and bubbly. I recommend that you use a smoky BBQ sauce if making in the oven.
This is the first time in a long, long time that I didn’t take a picture of a dish after I plated. Why? Well, because my okra hush puppies were only on a plate for about 30 seconds. Yeah, sure, my hush puppy shaping skills are lacking, but it so didn’t matter. They were incredible. I mean just flat-out absolutely the best hush puppies ever. The perfect batter. And my favorite, fresh okra. I loved it!
Fresh Okra Is Best
You pretty much gotta go with fresh when it comes to the okra for these hush puppies. You might bet away with frozen when fresh is out of season, but the color, the crunch, won’t be quite the same. It’ll still taste delicious though.
Note: Yeah, I might have eaten several of these before they even cooled off. And yeah, they were pretty darned hot but I could not control myself. You won’t be able to either.
If I’m cooking for a crowd, I’ll break out my big deep fryer. But, if it’s just the two of us, I’ll fire up my Fry Daddy fryer. It’s the perfect size for both of us. It fries everything perfectly. And as an added bonus, it doesn’t use a lot of oil, which saves me money.
I get out my big deep fryer when it’s time to fry a large batch of food. It comes to temperature quickly and it maintains that temperature perfectly. It has a built-in oil filter and storage unit so I can re-use the oil several times.
This is the first time in a long, long time that I didn’t take a picture of a dish after I plated. Why? Well, because my okra hush puppies were only on a plate for about 30 seconds.
In a large bowl combine the okra, garlic powder, onion, and parsley.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, and sugar.
Add to the bowl of okra and stir gently to combine.
Stir in the cornbread mix.
Add the salt and pepper and stir..
Working in batches, scoop out a spoonful of batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Fry for about 5 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through, flipping as they cook.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
No dipping sauce required but you can use ketchup or Ranch and even mustard if you like!
Ahhhhh. Sweet corn season. One of my favorite times of the year. Nothing beats fresh corn on the cob, specially when it’s hot off the grill. But cook that corn on a cedar plank, and you get oh so much more flavor! Whether you want a little or a lot, the cedar plank adds a little aroma and a little taste you just can’t get from ‘just’ grilling corn! Cedar planked sweet corn is fantastic!
Perfect Corn Every Time
You can’t go wrong with plenty of salt and pepper on cedar planked sweet corn. For a nice spicier change, I prefer to use my favorite rub from AlbuKirky Seasonings. Their red chile rub adds a nice southwestern zing to each and very delicious bite. It’s good stuff for sure!
Fire up your grill for cooking around 400 F. Depending on how much cedar flavor you want, you may want to char the cedar plank on both sides before adding the corn.
Combine the melted butter with your favorite seasoning.
Brush the corn with the butter mixture. Transfer to the plank. I like to stand the corn on end.
Cook for about 20 minutes or until just tender. Brush with more of the butter mixture every 5 minutes.
Remove and serve.
Notes
Sprinkle with a little more seasoning before serving but don’t go crazy with it. You want that wonderful corn flavor to come through!
You want pasta salad. She wants potato salad. Now you both can get what you want, in one bowl! And with a little tropical twist, to boot. This Hawaiian-style potato macaroni salad is a wonderful side dish, perfect for a family get-together (it does make a pretty big batch!). It really is the combination of two favorites.
What’s Hawaiian about this Hawaiian-style potato macaroni salad? Well, you’re supposed to use sweet Hawaiian onions when you make it. Sadly, I couldn’t find them, so I used good-ole Vidalia’s, my favorite onions. I don’t think it matters, because this salad turned out to be fantastic!
I almost always use Blue Plate mayonnaise in the dishes I make. I think it is the best around. If you can’t find it locally you can pick it up online for a fair price.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the potatoes.
Boil for 5 minutes.
Add the pasta and cook 6-8 minutes or until the noodles are al dente.
Carefully drain the potatoes and pasta into a large colander and rinse with cold water.
Transfer to a large bowl and add the onion, carrot, peas and green onion.
Combine the mayo, relish, vinegar, mustard, allspice and salt and pepper to taste.
Gently fold into the potato pasta mixture.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
You can cook the potatoes and pasta together, but I prefer to steam my potatoes. A hard boil tends to beat up the potatoes, whereas steaming keeps that nice cube shape. To do so, place the potatoes in a steam basket over the boiling pasta and steam until tender. The potatoes will likely take longer to steam than the pasta will take to cook.
Happy Fourth of July! And what better way to enjoy the day than with red white and blue cedar planked Brie. Wonderful creamy, soft, yummy cheese. A hint of cedar aroma and flavor. Sweet honey. A combination of both roasted and fresh berries. This is the perfect appetizer, right off the grill! This makes celebrating Independence day even more fun!
Don’t Over-Cedar It
You can get as little or as much cedar flavor and aroma as you like. Charring the plank before adding the cheese will release some of those cedar oils. Less charring, less cedar. It’s that easy! Just don’t go crazy with it, there is a such thing as too much cedar!
Don’t buy any el cheap cedar planks for this or any other dish. Get the good stuff and you won’t ever look back. Cheap planks split, warm and have splinters. Good planks are thicker, stay flat and have smoother edges.
We both love the combination of cooked and fresh berries on this red white and blue cedar planked Brie. You get a wonderful textural difference, along with contrasting flavors. They’re really great! We used raspberries and blueberries, but really whatever berries you like will be just fine.
Fire up your grill for high heat cooking around 400 F. I like to start my plank over direct heat then move it to indirect heat once the plank has a good char on it. If you're using a gas grill you can start over high heat then turn down the gas to finish softening the cheese.
Unwrap cheese and place in the center of the plank.
Drizzle the cheese with honey and sprinkle with berries. Use as many or as few as you want.
Grill for 20-25 minutes or until the Brie is nice and soft. Remove.
Sprinkle with more fresh berries and serve with crackers.
Notes
Serve immediately. You can use your favorite fresh berries.
Note: This recipe was developed using the Char-Broil Big Easy Oil-Less Fryer. If you are cooking using the Char-Broil Smoker-Roaster Grill you should cook with the lid open and the temperature set to High. You might also need to adjust the cooking time.
Ahhhhhh. Nothing beats roasting chicken on my Char-Broil Big Easy. From marinating, to cooking, to cleanup, it’s just about as simple a process as you can get. And you sure cannot beat the final results. Like this lemon roasted chicken that I made just the other day. I went the whole-bird route. I had my sights set on making some delicious chicken for chicken salad sandwiches. And boy did it ever satisfy!
Fresh Is Best
I used fresh lemons for the marinade. Those are best, but I know, some times you just can’t find them. So reach for the bottled stuff if you have to. You’ll need about 12 tablespoons worth.
You can also make this lemon roasted chicken recipe on your Char-Broil Big Easy using split chicken breasts, legs, wings, or whatever you chicken pieces you have. A whole chicken is a little more challenging to marinate so feel free to use smaller pieces. I used a big, deep resealable container, but you can also use a super-big Ziploc baggie if you decide to go big.
Ahhhhhh. Nothing beats roasting chicken on my Char-Broil Big Easy. From marinating, to cooking, to cleanup, it’s just about as simple a process as you can get. And you sure cannot beat the final results.
Place the chicken into a large resealable bag or container.
In a medium bowl, juice the lemons (save the rinds), olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Add to the chicken along with the reserved lemon rinds.
Cover and place in the fridge for 1-6 hours, turning or shaking every hour.
Fire up your Big Easy and get it up to temperature.
Remove the chicken from the marinade.
Shake off the excess and transfer the chicken to the Big Easy basket.
Cook until the chicken reaches at least 165 F as tested in several locations. Use 20 minutes/pound as your starting point.
Remove the basket from the Big Easy.
Remove the chicken and let rest 10 minutes before carving for serving.
Notes
Be careful removing the chicken from the basket as it will still be very hot.
Note: This recipe was developed using the Char-Broil Big Easy Oil-Less Fryer. If you are cooking using the Char-Broil Smoker-Roaster Grill you should cook with the lid open and the temperature set to High. You might also need to adjust the cooking time.
Oh, let me at it! Delicious, tender, juicy chicken, packed with peppery goodness and a hint of sweetness. Sweet black pepper chicken on the Char-Broil Big Easy proves what I’ve said time and time again. After all, nothing cooks chicken like the Big Easy. Add a little marinade like this sauce from Stubb’s and you’ve got tremendously flavorful chicken.
Flavor-Packed Easy Chicken
I’d say that nine times out of ten I use split chicken breasts when cooking chicken on the Big Easy. Because they don’t ever dry out, a problem you can run into with boneless chicken breasts. So, any time I see them on sale I pick up a few family packs and get to cooking, like this Sweet Black Pepper Chicken on the Char-Broil Big Easy. I love to have them on hand. Also, they make for an easy dinner salad: just chop up the roasted chicken and top some greens with it. Dinner. Done!
“If all of your friends jumped off a bridge would you jump too?” Well, probably not, but if all of my friends were making grilled (or smoked) queso dip, I’d make it too. And so I did. And it was oh so good. Creamy, cheese, spicy yummy good. I mean crazy good. If you’re used to making queso dip in a slow cooker, this is not that. This is so much better.
There are literally a thousand things that can go into grilled queso dip. I picked my favorites. Roasted vegetables. Spicy sausage. And the right combination of cheeses (ok, Velveeta isn’t technically cheese, but go with it for now) so everything gets nice and creamy smooth. It’s what a dip should be.
Grill It. Or Smoke It.
You can make queso dip on your smoker just as easily as you can grill it. Instead of roasting the vegetables over high heat on a grill, just toss them in a 450 F oven until nice and just starting to soften and char. To make the dip, get your smoker up to 250 F over a light wood such as apple or peach. The cheeses might take a bit longer to melt, so be patient and enjoy the aroma!
Crumble the sausage into a skillet over medium-high heat and cook until browned.
Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool. I like to chop mine to get it nice and fine, but that's entirely up to you.
Fire up your grill for direct high cooking over high heat.
Place the onions, bell peppers and serranos into a large bowl and drizzle lightly with oil.
Transfer to the grill and roast over high heat until browned and just starting to soften, turning occasionally.
Remove to a plate to cool.
Chop the onion.
Remove the charred skins, stems and seeds from the peppers and chop coarsely.
Spray a 9" x 11" disposable pan with non-stick spray.
Add the ingredients. You can arrange them all pretty or just put them in. It's all gonna get mixed up in the end!
Change your grill over to indirect cooking. This just means you want a zone that isn't directly over the fire you already had going. Something around 350 F is what you want. You are just looking to melt the cheeses.
Place the pan over indirect heat and heat for 30 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally once the cheese softens.
Once everything is melted good and gooey, it's ready to serve!
