Grandma Lu’s is a secret recipe, but the basics are listed on the back: sichuan peppercorns, imported sea salts, cayenne pepper, and other spices. The seasoning has a lemony aroma (from the peppercorns) with a hint of cayenne. I’m not particularly good at scent analysis so I’ll save some of my guesses…

In the shot below you can see some of the sea salt.

Tasting the seasoning by itself is pretty fun – I had a few folks over and everybody enjoyed the experience. The tinging sensation has been described as similar to putting a 9-volt battery to your tongue for a moment. My take: not exactly, but there’s definitely a familiarity there. There’s also a spicy kick that passes pretty quickly.

I’m really looking forward to using this spice in a few new recipes for the grill (thinking flanken short ribs!) but I went a different direction tonight based on some last-minute grocery store inspiration.

Of all things a turkey meatloaf seemed like the right thing for dinner tonight. It was turkey, egg yolks, Grandma Lu’s, a sweet onion, and kosher salt. I roasted some carrots to get a sweet dimension in the meal. The idea behind keeping it basic was to really understand how the seasoning would affect the taste as well as the right amount of seasoning to use. As I play around some more, look out for some tighter recipes.

You can buy Grandma Lu’s on Amazon – I definitely recommend giving it a try!

Of course this isn’t true. But I had to defend, and cook a set of steaks to let my buddy judge.

Roasted Garlic & Chive Compound Butter

• roasted garlic
• chives
• Plugrá salted butter

The compound butter is an easy prep. Roast the garlic out on the grill or in the oven by lathering it with olive oil, salting it with kosher salt, and cooking it until the cloves are tasty and soft. Mix it with the butter (at room temperature) and chives and refrigerate.

There was no magic to the ribeyes. I let them come to temperature by taking them out of the fridge 20 minutes before they hit the grill, salted them, and ground on some fresh black pepper. When the grill was rocket hot, I seared the steaks and when I achieved some good grill marks and carmelization, I took them off direct heat until the desired internal temperature (rare) was achieved.

I was satisfied with the results, and the butter is always a hit.

I landed on grilled spicy shrimp with a cool sauce – in this case an avocado dill remoulade – to balance things out. The results were pleasing, though I haven’t quite cracked the remoulade. If you have any ideas, definitely let me know!

Simple: olive oil, koser salt, and black pepper.

Preparation

The shrimp were in their shell so I split, deveined, and removed everything including the tail. It’s best to use two skewers with shrimp; the technique helps to keep them under control. They were tossed in olive oil and then seasoned with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

For the remoulade, I mixed mayonnaise, avocado, and fresh dill. I finished it off with a quick squeeze of  lime and put it in the refrigerator so all the flavors could start working together. All told, it probably hung out in the fridge for about an hour.

I decided to add grilled corn to the menu as well, so I mixed some butter and chipotle powder and left it aside.

Better grill marks would have been nice...

Grilling the Shrimp

I tossed the corn on the grill far before the shrimp so that everything would finish at the same time. My charcoal supply was low so it was a cool grill. Usually the shrimp would only take a couple of minutes each side… for me it was a little longer and the visual appeal of the shrimp suffered a bit.

When everything was done I came in, put some hot sriracha sauce on the shrimp, and plated up. As you can see my plating skills aren’t the best but it didn’t look too shabby, if I may say so. As for taste, the mix was exactly what I was looking for. The shrimp were spicy, the sauce was cool… and the corn with chipotle butter is a staple that just always works!

What is the Bacon Explosion?

2 pounds thick cut bacon, 2 pounds Italian sausage, 1 jar of your favorite barbeque sauce, 1 jar of your favorite barbeque rub… this is brilliant. Not new, but worth talking about. Thank Jason at BBQ addicts for bringing this to the internet.

Bacon Flowchart

Let’s say you’ve decided to have bacon, say, through the use of the incredibly accurate algorithm to the right. Grilling bacon is always a great idea. Here is why:

• Your oven doesn’t get greasy
• Your stovetop doesn’t get greasy
• Your microwave doesn’t get greasy
• There are usually flames there are barely controllable
• It smells awesome but doesn’t linger

Never grilled bacon before? Intimidated by being awesome? No worries. Here’s how to get started.

The Equipment

While a propane grill is acceptable in this scenario, a charcoal grill is preferable. The flavor added in this case is really incredible. On the other hand it’s bacon so you know… it’ll probably be awesome anyway.

• Grill, preferably charcoal
• Tongs
• Plate w/ Paper Towel
• Spray Bottle (for fires. They’ll happen. Also beer works.)
• Bacon. Any bacon. Thicker = better

The Execution

Heat up the grill, and toss the bacon in the freezer for a few minutes. You’ll want it to be very cold when it hits the hot grates. When everything is prepared, follow these steps to success.

1. Identify the hot and cool spots on the grill. You’ll want to flash the bacon on a hot spot to start the process, render and cook on a cool spot, and return to the hot spot for the finale.
2. Sacrifice a strip of bacon and grease up the grate. This won’t prevent all sticking, but it will help.
3. Lay the strips of bacon at a 45 degree angle to the grates. This will help prevent them from falling into the grill. A note on safety here: be ready for flareups and handle them with your spray bottle. Or sacrificial beer.
4. Cook the bacon strips over the hot spot until they start to shrivel up, and then flip with your tongs and move to a cool spot to crisp up. Cooking time will vary greatly, so just hang out and keep an eye on them. Build suspense by enjoying the wonderful scent of cured pig and fire.
5. For the finish, darken the bacon over the hot spot one more time. It should be dark rust colored, the fat should be rendered, and it should be crispy but pliable.
6. Remove the bacon from the grill and put it on the plate you’ve prepared. Enjoy!

This method will produce solid results consistently. To spice things up, try adding brown sugar or maple syrup to the bacon at different stages in the cooking process. This is definitely worth experimentation; as these flavors and textures play very nicely together.

Not enough bacon for you? Try the bacon explosion.

[Header image source.]