Aug 17, 2012
This
week let’s celebrate good old mesquite, one of the most flavourful
and versatile cooking woods. It grows everywhere, but I suppose
it’s most associated with places like Texas, New Mexico and
Arizona, where mesquite wood and charcoal have been used for ages
to produce some of the best barbecue in the world. In the early
1980s a bunch of fancy New York and California chefs started to use
it to fuel their grills, and the mesquite fire spread from there to
become popular in restaurants across North America.
Mesquite
is a dark-coloured, dense, hard wood. It’s actually a member of the
legume family and produces beans that were a staple food for the
aboriginal people of the American Southwest. Its smoke has a sweet,
strong aroma with a bitter edge; if you’re not careful you can use
too much of it. In competition I like to use a blend of mesquite,
hickory and a fruitwood like apple or cherry for a nice,
well-rounded flavour, but mesquite on its own works extremely well
in many applications.
Mesquite
charcoal is highly valued by outdoor cooks because it burns clean
and hot for maximum searing power. Lump charcoal – even if it’s
made from mesquite – doesn’t impart a lot of flavour, so if you use
it, add a few chunks of mesquite wood on top of the coals once
you’ve got them going.
You can
buy mesquite chips and chunks at most barbecue stores and in the
grilling section of home improvement stores. Chunks work best when
you’re using a covered charcoal grill like a Weber kettle. If
you’ve got a gas grill, the easiest way to get some mesquite smoke
into your food is to wrap a couple of handfuls of mesquite chips in
aluminum foil sort of like a big cigar, poke some holes in it with
a fork, and place the package under your cooking grate, right above
the heating elements. As your grill heats up, the chips will start
to smoulder and throw off lovely aromatic smoke into the cooking
chamber. If you want extra smoke, soak the chips for an hour or so
before using.
Here
are a couple of great recipes that take full advantage of
mesquite’s magical powers. Hope you like them! If you do, let me
know by posting a note on the Barbecue Secrets Facebook
page.
Tequila-Lime Quail
This
dish is inspired by a recipe in an old cookbook called Mesquite
Cookery by Courtenay Beinhorn. You can get frozen quail, six in a
pack, in the frozen poultry section of bigger supermarkets. These
tasty little birds make a great first course. Gnawing on their tiny
drumsticks makes me feel like Shrek.
Makes
six appetizers or three first-course servings
6
quail
½ cup
tequila
¼ cup
freshly squeezed lime juice
2
tablespoons corn oil or other neutral-flavored oil
8
crushed pequin chiles or 1 tablespoon crushed chile
flakes
1
teaspoon salt
1
teaspoon ground cumin
1
teaspoon ancho chile powder (regular chile powder will
do)
¼ cup
chopped fresh cilantro
some
more corn oil for brushing the birds
salt
and freshly ground pepper
1 firm,
ripe avocado
Lime
wedges and cilantro leaves for garnish
Remove
the backbone from the quail using a sharp knife or poultry shears.
Discard the bones or save them to make stock. Once you’ve removed
the backbones, place the quail, bone-side down, on a cutting board
and press down on them with the heel of your hand to flatten them.
You’ll feel the breastbone crack.
Combine
the tequila, lime juice, 2 tablespoons of oil, chiles, salt, cumin,
chile powder and cilantro in a bowl and mix them together well.
Combine the marinade with the quail in a heavy duty Ziploc bag,
push the air out of the bag and seal it. Put the bag in your
refrigerator and marinate the quail for at least one or two hours,
turning them once or twice. (You can marinate them overnight if you
like.)
Get
your charcoal or gas grill going at medium-high. If you’re using a
gas grill, use mesquite chips wrapped in aluminum foil; if you’re
cooking with charcoal, place one or two chunks of mesquite on the
hot coals just before you start to cook.
Remove
the quail from the marinade and pat them dry. Brush them with some
oil and give them a light coating of salt and pepper. When your
fire is hot, put the quail on the grill, bone side down. Cover the
grill and cook the quail for four minutes. Turn it over and cook it
for another four minutes, or until the skin is crispy and golden
brown and the meat is cooked to a core temperature of
160F.
Remove
the quail from the grill and while it’s resting, peel the avocado.
Serve the quail garnished with a few cilantro leaves, a couple of
slices of avocado and a lime wedge.
Grilled Pork Tacos
Instead
of making tacos with seasoned ground meat, try it this way, with
smoky slices of grilled pork tossed with enchilada sauce.
Yummy!
Serves
four adults or two teenagers
1 small
onion
1
10-ounce can of enchilada sauce
1 fresh
lime
4
8-ounce boneless pork loin chops
1
teaspoon kosher salt
1
teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1
teaspoon granulated garlic
1
teaspoon granulated onion
2
tablespoons corn oil or any neutral-flavored oil
¼ cup
chopped fresh cilantro
Your
favorite taco condiments (salsa, guacamole, pickled
jalapeño)
12
warmed corn or flour tortillas
Peel
and chop the onion and sauté it in the oil over medium heat for
about three minutes, stirring often, until it’s translucent. Add
the enchilada sauce and the juice of half a lime. Season the sauce
to taste and set it aside.
Combine
the salt, pepper and granulated onion and garlic and sprinkle the
mixture onto the pork chops. Drizzle the oil over the chops to coat
them lightly.
Get
your charcoal or gas grill going at medium-high. If you’re using a
gas grill, use mesquite chips wrapped in aluminum foil; if you’re
cooking with charcoal, place one or two chunks of mesquite on the
hot coals just before you start to cook.
Place
the chops on the grill, cover it, and cook them for about 4 minutes
per side or until they’re cooked through to about 140F for
medium-rare, or 160F for well done.
Remove
the chops from the grill, cover them loosely in aluminum foil, and
while they’re resting, heat the tortillas by placing them, one at a
time, in a hot non-stick skillet, turning them once to heat them
through. When the tortillas are done, thinly slice the pork chops
and toss the slices in the enchilada sauce. Transfer the meat to a
serving bowl and lay out the pork, tortillas and condiments on the
table so everyone can make their own tacos.
__________________
My
cookbook, Barbecue Secrets DELUXE!,
now available as an iBook from the iTunes Store.