HEADS OR TAILS????

a few people told me that they come to the blog to get ideas when they aren't too sure what too bubble. that's cool. glad to be of service. me? i use my indecisiveness to try out something different. i documented this one to share so you have even less reason to flip a coin when you're in that zone.

well this one involves pigtail, so swine haters beware. this one is pure swine and nothing but the swine. bbq pigtail to be exact. something i sampled some years ago and can't get enough of. until i made it myself that is. on this occasion, i wanted to see if it could be done minus the bbq pit.

basically, i put some pig tail in the pressure cooker with some spice and let that bubble like soup. the object here is to get that salt out and try to infuse some additional flavour into the pigtail.

while the pressure cooker was covered and doing its thing i started making a sauce. some sweet red chilli, jack daniel's honey dijon...

and some of this huge budwiser honey bbq that i got in pricemart. one of them impulse purchases that only manifests its insanity when you take it out of the car at home. "all this? but i don't own a restaurant! why did i buy this again? oh... because i was in pricemart being bitten by the it's-probably-cool-to-buy-this-massive-thing bug."

i put that in a pot with some sauteed garlic, onion, shadon beni, ginger, pimiento and thyme, then gave it a little heat for the flavours to come together.

not too long after that came the end of round one for the pigtail. round one is usually about 20 minutes, designed to cut a lot of the salt out. pigtail is a salty thing.

drained off that first water...

and added some more then put the tails back under pressure.

so at this point, there's still a lil salt in it. not overpowering, but enough to let you know that you're eating pigtail. i pressure mine to get it extra tender. that's just a preference though.

next move, into that sawse!

then onto a baking tray. heavy on the sauce. i mean... the sawse!

fire on top fuh dat!

we're just looking to get the sauce to darken up a bit to give it that bbq finish, so it doesn't take that long.

and a flip was necessary to get at the other sides.

and boom. that was it. my quick fix oven bbq pigtail. i sacrificed that smoked goodness you get from coals and wood, but to be able to drop this down without wheeling out the grill is worth it to me.

grill lime FTW

it's safe to say that we have given in to the pre-packaged lime. we used to enjoy kentucky fried once a month (when yuh mother dragged you in town on a month end and promised you a box of chicken an chips just to keep yuh quiet). now almost all our social moves are based on the availability of a doubles man, gyro stand, bake and shark stall or cutters menu. ah mean, i love a sushi at levels or kaisan as much as the other dude, but i am yet to experience something that beats back the fun, excitement, economy, security and hygienic safety of a bess lime at a breddrin's house. so when pothound said he wanted to fire up his new grill, my saturday night was planned.

the case is usually that you bring something. no pressure really. whatever you feel like. just make it good enough to eat and enough to share. i was talking to my father earlier that day about grilling fish, so i went home and took some swordfish steaks out of the freezer.

when it comes to fish, lime is a must. i forgot to pick limes while i was at my parent's house, so i used some of this handy lime juice in de lime shaped bottle. it aight in emergencies such as these.

lime juice in dey waist!!

seasoning is also key. so in the trusty chopper i blazed some onion, garlic, shadon beni, pimiento, jalapeño, big leaf time and chive.

inside wid dat!!

after that, a little salt and black pepper to taste.

full coverage we dealin with.

ready to rock and roll. i covered it with two pieces of foil just in case i decided to wrap the fish in foil instead of putting it directly on the grill. options we talkin' 'bout.

so later on we pulled up at casa de pothound, who had his stuff ready and waiting.

he didn't waste any time in getting the grill ready. out with them coals.

let's see how sure fire these coals really are.

one match and the coals started. way different from the last time we grilled.

however, alco on hand was not different from the last time we grilled. tonight gin and tonic with a splash of lime... yes... that is the drink.

fiiiiiyuuuuuh!! these coals are coated with a chemical to make them light quickly, so the thing to do is to let the chemical burn off before getting your food on.

meanwhile, some potatoes went to boil.

not this potato though. this one went to bake.

oh... maybe i should explain the scene a bit. the grill man for the night set up a hot zone with the coals on one side and left the opposite side with only ambient heat so we had different temperatures on the grill. so potatoes could bake in one corner while meats could go over the blazing heat.

meanwhile we constructed a bbq sauce with some ketchup, worcestershire sauce, the end of a bottled bbq sauce with some onions, garlic, salt and black pepper. simple but effective.

oh yeah... and the first part of that beer that baidawi finished.

with the sauce done, it was time to get it blazin'.

the first of the meats to grace the hot zone.

so the idea was to cook the chicken a little,

then dip them in the sauce.

then back to the hot zone to finish off and get some colour. some corn went on around this time too. pothound shared a simple technique that just required wetting the corn and rubbing it with some salt before putting it on the lower temperature to start cooking.

thanks to some seamless multitasking, the potatoes were mashed with a little butter, sour cream, salt, pepper and chives. we did it rustic with the skins in. man food nah.

after the chicken, we put on some more coals for more blaze. don't worry, the corns returned also.

so steaks on high heat, corn still on low heat for now.

but slowly the tables started to turn.

soon the corn was in the hot seat getting some charing while the steaks looked on.

notice the potato still jibbin there in the foil.

we threw some wings on there too.

when they were done, pothound flipped them in some wing sauce and put them back on the grill for a bit.

time for the fish... and a few pineapple slices for good measure.

not too long in the hot zone. didn't want it to be too dry.

done!

and that was it. chicken breast, chicken wing, a steak, fish with a side of mashed potatoes and a side of corn. level eats, level drinks, level lime. on a saturday night, that's all the level i really need.

leh we bubble.