Saints vs. Bills - 9/27/09

Menu for today:

Marinated Portabello Mushrooms with Asisgo
      Webers "Way to Grill" p. 237

Basil Bacon wrapped Louisiana Gulf Shirmp
       How to Grill by Steve Raichlen

Editors note:  I know I said over and over that I was going to do Pulled Pork sandwiches, but I called an audible last night and went with this instead.  It's a much faster cook, over high heat...it involves a touch and skill that I want to see if I have.  (Second editors note:  Reading this after creating the rest of the post and actually making the meal makes me want to chew on tin foil.)  The Pulled Pork is on the back-burner...for now.

Anyway...you know, there are good days grilling and there are well, other days grilling.  And just like anything else, like oh, say football for example, the game plan doesn't always get executed the way you expect it to...and that makes for one of those other days.  If your fortunate you have enough skill those days to pull a rabbit out of your hat and still do well...kinda like the Saints this weekend...and my gameday grill menu.

I admit, I'm a creature of habit.  I like things happening at the same time day in and day out...Sunday in and Sunday out...like a noon kickoff.  Why the NFL had the Saints kickoff in Buffallo at 3:05 I'll never know...but I believe it screwed my day up.  I had the ingrediangets prepped and really just had to assemble.  I thought that went swell enough, except for cracking the head of one of the ports.  But everything was laid out, prepped and ready to go.

I scraped the gills out of the inside of the portabella mushroom heads...I've never done that before and thus was the reason for one cracking, thankfully they were think enough that it didn't split in half all the way.  So, after peeling the shrimp, scraping the mushrooms, making and applying the marinade (olive oil, Balsamic vinigar, soy, and fresh rosemary), and a few other prep tasks I produced this:

 

 

Doesn't EVERYTHING look better wrapped in bacon?  And to this point the prep wasn't hard, it was easy and even with it being nearly 3 and gametime I was ready to fire the grill up and get cooking.

New segment on Gameday Griller - "What Frank Drank"

Key West - Sunset Ale.  I've never have had this beer before.  It was pretty good.  Light, but not a light beer - nice taste with little after taste - nice to drink in what was already late in the afternoon...I'd rank it a 3.5 out of 5 "Frank"en-steins

  So, at this point, the gameplan was still together...and the game was starting...and the grill was pre-heating...and this is when the plan kinda fell apart.

First...if you don't learn a single thing about grilling from this blog remember this - temperature is everything.  Too hot = burn, too cold = e.coli.  I ran the grill too hot here and really didn't understand the gravity of the mistake until the skwers that I soaked in  H2O for 2 hours burned clean through on the first lay out of shrimp.   See, and here's the hidden thing that I didn't really pay much attention to, these two items...bacon shrimp and ports cook best at different temps.  I was going for a medium heat on the ports and a high direct heat for the shrimp.  But I wanted to have as much grill room for the shrimp and ports so I had the three burners going low-medium-high across the grill, which promptly resulted in a schizophrenic heat surface.  

Here's what they looked like when they went on.

I'm sorry to say that I have no pictures of them actually cooking because I found out that I can't flip, turn, swear, and salvage all at the same time.  Now honestly, I timed everyting out, I had a plan as I said...and then, all of a suddden I was just winging it.  (Like the Saints who managed to not rely on the offense this past weekend).  I flipped, I moved, I re-wrapped with tongs, ran into the house and back out about 400 times, I put fires out (bacon grease lights on fire REALLY fast)...but I managed to pull the food off at the same time, dressed the ports in the Italian bread crumb mixture I made, and made sure the bacon cooked through...the result?

  

 

Notice the burn though on the skewers, think I had it a little too hot?

The plate isn't going to win any "best dressed" awards, but I drew rave reviews from my diners.

 

Okay, he didn't have any...but everybody else said it was delish.  So, much like the Saints, I had a game plan going in, had to adjust and work harder, and the result was the same for both...win-win.  I guess the lesson is this...a plan is only as good as how well you manage the deviations from the plan.  Until next Sunday...