Onions on the Grill

I mentioned a month or so ago about an awesome and easy onion recipe that I made during Jake’s birthday party to pair with the Sam’s Club Brisket. We made them again a few weeks later at a roping and this time I paired it with a grilled whole pork loin that I had marinated all day and there were also hot dogs and brats. Now when we are cooking at the ropings we are using a little Holland Grill that some people don’t like because they don’t think it gets hot enough but I have been able to make grilled pork loin, these onions and a variety of other grilled items on this grill. We really like it. Anyway now that that Holland Grill commercial is out of the way back to the onions.

Start by getting out two pieces of aluminum foil that are approximately the same length as the width. I use two to prevent burning on the bottom of the onion. Next prep you onion, take off the outer skin layer but only the part you wouldn’t eat and core the middle out. I core about a quarter size hole in mine so I can get more good stuff in there. Now is the fun part, you can put absolutely anything in there that your heart desires. We like to use Vidalia onions that are a little on the sweeter side so I use sweeter things in the onion hole. These onions were packed with brown sugar, then I poured some Crown Royal into the hole and topped with more brown sugar where the sugar dissolved into the whiskey then put a generous teaspoon or two on top of the onion and wrap with the foil. When you are wrapping with the foil make sure you leave a little space at the top when you roll the foil down so the butter doesn’t burn on the foil and you have some room for steam to build up. Place the onion on the grill and let it do its thing. I usually end up putting them in the back corner of the grill and pile on other things around it, meat, potatoes, other veggies, etc. I typically let them cook for 45 minutes but they can go longer, to test the onions use a pair of tongs and squeeze the onion and if they squeeze easily they are probably done.

I just open the foil up and serve directly out of the foil, if you want you can cut the onion in quarters so they are easier for people to pull up and eat. The juices from the onion, brown sugar, whiskey and butter will be in the bottom and people like to pull them up with their onions for extra flavor.

Our beautiful grilled onion! Yummy!!

Some other variations to the onion stuffing could be:

·         Brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and butter

·         Blue cheese, red wine and butter

·         Adobo sauce (and peppers if you want), cilantro, tequila and butter

Party Short-cut

Next time you are going to have a party where you are serving for a large group, go straight to Sam's Club, go to the meat counter then STOP, turn around and walk to the refrigerator cases and...well stay tuned to find out...

This past weekend I had a birthday party for the boyfriend. It was a pretty big one, the big 4-0, and when I asked him what he wanted to serve he said brisket. I secretly freaked out because I've never cooked brisket before and as much as I love brisket I HATE a dry brisket. Yes hate is a strong word but nothing is worse than an overcooked, dry brisket.

So I was thinking about all my options when I asked my very smart friend Christy if I could cook a brisket and keep it in a crock pot, because yes did I mention that we were not only having a party, but we were also going to be camping the whole time in the horse trailer? so I wasn't going to have the convenience of the stove at home. Anyway back to my smart friend, she said that a friend of hers that works for a caterer said they always get the presmoked/precooked, presliced briskets from Sam's Club...enter angels singing and lots of glowing light.

So when I was at Sam's picking up beer and buns, I strolled over to the meat area, by passed the uncooked stuff and pulled out beautiful presmoked/precooked, presliced briskets in their special 7 pound package and started putting them into my cart. The meat manager at Sam's Club told me that a sandwich would have approximately 3 ounces of meat on it, knowing this was going to be a bunch of farmers and cowboys I estimated a little higher.

The day of the party, about 5 hours before we were going to serve the meat, my trusty assistant, my mom (or Jane with a T as she is lovingly referred to), and I took them out of the packages and cut the long strips of brisket in half, broke up the slices and put them into crock pots with some beef broth and of course Worcestershire Sauce, I didn't measure them I just poured until I liked it. My trusty assistant tended to the meat while I was on the next trail ride turning the meat every 45 minutes or so to get it all on the bottom and in the juice. We kept the crock pots on low and even turned them off for about an hour because the liquid was boiling.

The brisket was served on buns with tinfoil onions (I'll post about those some other time), cheese, pickles and an assortment of BBQ sauce. In addition we had fresh made salsa, cowboy beans, cauliflower/broccoli salad and good ol' fashioned potato chips.