Hello friends, I have a mid-sized charcoal grill, some coals, some mesquite wood chips, a credit card, and some friends coming over who I need to impress. Any ideas on what I should do?

How long do you want to cook?

I just did a brisket the other day. It was great, but it took 9 hours.

Options based on cooking time:

A few minutes: scallops--smoked scallops are outstanding. I've served them with a spicy Brazilian sauce and with diced bacon and a scotch ale reduction
1 hour: beer can chicken or jerk chicken thighs
1.5 hours: baby back ribs
3 hours: spare ribs
5 hours: pulled pork or jerk pork
8-10 hours: beef brisket

I have great recipes for jerk rub, bbq rub, and bbq sauce if you are interested (and all the other things I mentioned).

Btw--I would suggest buying wood chunks to cook with rather than charcoal if you really want a good smoke. Weber sells bags of hickory and mesquite. When I BBQ, I use a fire with wood chunks and a few pieces of charcoal. I also soak a few wood chunks for to add for more smoke.

The last thing I made was beer can chicken, so I can't do that again or I'll look lame.

A jerk sounds good though.

Let me dig up my recipe. I'll post it after lunch. it is REALLY good. I've got some good side dishes for it, too. And you should definitely serve the dark & stormys I posted in the beverage thread.

Jerk Rub (adapted from Thrill of the Grill)

10 pureed habanero or scotch bonnet peppers
2T rosemary (dry or fresh)
2T parsley, chopped
2T thyme (dry or fresh)
2T mustard seeds
1T dry ginger
1T allspice
1T nutmeg
1t black pepper
1t salt
3 scallions, chopped
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup cheap yellow mustard
2T orange juice
2T white vinegar

If you haven't worked with habaneros before, use gloves and make sure you have plenty of ventilation (trust me on both counts). Anyway, mix all this in a food processor. You want it to be a paste about as thick as tomato sauce. If it's to thick, add more vinegar. Let it sit for at least an hour before you put in on chicken or pork. Keep some in reserve to serve with dinner as a sauce for those that like heat. I usually serve this with black beans and grilled bananas. We also make a mango/avocado/spinach salad with goat cheese that really goes well with this. Let me know if you want recipes for any of those.

Edit: With a small grill, you're probably better off going the chicken route.

This post was edited by JEB90 on Aug 2 2011 02:03pm

salmon or pork chops

jeb90.. iso recipes to all that..
in about 2 weeks i have no plans.. gonna start cookin all this

on topic, do u like grilled fish? my favorite fish is mackerel, they go great on the grill. very easy prep, salt/pepper/oil, flour dust if u want a crispy coat. lemon garnish. mackerel has a very distinct oil that might be considered too 'fishy' by some.. but i love it.
i've always wanted to try grilled sea bass.. my dad told me its bomb but its so expensive ive never even thought of buying it lol. like $10/lb?

u could do a japanese style 'yakitori' where u do a variety of meat/vege kabob style w/ yakitori sauce which is basically teriyaki w/ garlic and ginger

fish collars are also great grilled, supremely unctuous. the only ones i've had are salmon and yellowtail tuna. sauce w/ citrus, i go kicky w/ vinegar and jalapeno.
eel is also so good fresh grilled. japanese style uses eel sauce 'kabayaki' (a less syrupy teriyaki sauce) whereas koreans only use salt/pepper.

fack im so hungry!!

This post was edited by eriot on Aug 3 2011 03:01am

any ideas for smoking stripped salt water bass in a real smoker grill?

With good fresh fish,unless you want to make something like smoked trout or salmon and really dry it out slowly, I'd do a shorter smoke to keep it moist. Something like 15-20 minutes (depending on how think the pieces are; longer for a whole fish) over a fruit wood like cherry or plum.

awesome i got some nice 2 year old cherry chunks to burn now to go catch the dinnahhhh, gonna be my first time fishing for food and obviously strippers