FoodB

Ugg. Wanted to post this yesterday but got busy in the morning and sick in the evening. I gotta say that it sucks to get sick at the end of a work day because you don't get to skip work and the time you have at home is marred by feeling like shit.

I was dead set on BBQ'ing this weekend. It has been over a month since I last fired up the 'que and I feel like they're going to take away my BBQ'ing license if I don't get out there and start burning things. Hell I cooked more on the grill in winter than I have so far this summer. So I went back to where I started when I was expanding my BBQ repertoire (yes I had to look up how to spell that) and consulted Steve Raichlen's BBQU website. I settled on making his Pancetta Grilled Scallops because a) it seemed easy, b) it was different than the usual chicken/steak that I usually cook on the grill and c) I ain't ever cooked shellfish before on the grill. So off to the market.

The scallops were kinda expensive but since I was experimenting I wasn't worried about that but finding pancetta seemed a little tougher. Instead of trying every deli I could find I just went straight to the only Italian deli I know in the area, Lucci's Deli. They were able to slice it as thinly as possible and I was able to pick up some frozen gnocchi while I was there for a dinner to be named later. In addition to the scallops I decided to make some chicken yakitori as well just in case the seafood didn't work out and some corn because I always try to grill vegetables when I get the chance.

Getting the scallops prepared was the most time consuming part of the whole day. Basically it was like trying to wrap a wet piece of paper around a wet piece of soap. The pancetta was prone to tearing at the slightest misstep and made for some interesting looking scallops. After that I rested and waited for our guests to arrive because it would only take a few minutes to cook everything.

After the coals were fired up, I set my $10 Weber kettle together and threw on the corn. Once the corn was on I knew I had a problem because they took up about half of the grilling area and I had a lot more food on the way. So I fired up the propane grill and threw the corn on there. Found out sometime later that I was out of gas so they got moved once more to the oven inside. With the charcoal grill free I threw everything else on. The scallops were really temperamental on the grill and were very tough to control. The pancetta sent a lot of fat onto the coals which caused a significant amount of flair ups and I don't feel like they came out as good as they sounded on paper. If I ever decide to do wrapped scallops again I plan on just pan frying them and skip the open fire portion of the show. Much easier to control heat in a pan than on a grill.

The chicken though was nice. Instead of brushing the sauce on the chicken while cooking I would really suggest marinating them. The sauce doesn't stick very well because of the mirin and it would just add a lot more flavor. I really enjoyed them little sticks of meat though and over the last year I have grown a new respect for chicken thighs.

The corn was my favorite of the meal which I think is funny because it was also the cheapest. I threw some BBQ rub as well as some salt and pepper in the foil pack before I cooked them and thought it really helped change something that I am so used to into something else. I'm going to try throwing some lime juice and cilantro on next time and see if that helps any (I saw Emeril do that one).

So it was an okay BBQ experience. I'm definitely leaving the scallops to the professionals from now on and am already starting to think about what I can cook next weekend after seeing the Packers take Phillip Rivers out for the year.