The Best Father's Day Menu: Part 2

This section has been written by Seth (with comments from Courtney)

Chili-Garlic London Broil 

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 tbsp chili sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp veggie oil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

4 lb london broil

I am not what you would call an expert griller. I have learned how to grill from many failed attempts in often desperate situations, situations like not having any charcoal, but just sticks and old newspapers around the house. Being what I would call frugal (cheap), I find that sticks are just as good as charcoal when it comes to flavoring. I do not like gas grilling due to the bland taste that it often gives. It is also more expensive than I'd like. This is just an example of grilling London Broil, and I'm sure many other people would be better suited for this task. 

London Broil is one of the more tricky meats to grill due to its often tough consistency. Lemon juice added to the marinade allows the connective tissue to break up, making the meat more tender. Mix all the marinade ingredients together and pour over the meat. We put the meat in a Pyrex dish so that the meat is just sitting in the liquid, not necessarily covered by it. Cover and let sit in the refridgerator for 3-4 hours.

I like to grill the old fashioned way with plain old sticks. However, I did not use this method this time because I had charcoal and it was easier (I tried to insert a smiley face here, but Seth said he couldn't have a smiley face in his section). I laid a good set of coals on the bottom of the grill, about twenty brickets. You can use a chimney starter, which puts charcoal in a small cylinder with paper beneath, but we used a stick teepee made from sticks and paper. 

Once the coals are evenly gray to orange, make sure the heat is not too high by putting your hand 2 inches over the grate. If you need to remove your hand within 2-5 seconds, you are ready to put the meat on the grill. Cover the grill with the holes on the lid open. Grill for about 6-8 minutes. Flip. Grill for another 6-8 minutes. 

If you like a bark on the meat like I do, make sure your temperature is a little higher when first putting the meat on. A lot of good flavors are trapped in what appears to be a burnt crust of the meat. We like our medium well to well. If you like it a little more rare, I would just put it on for 4-6 minutes on each side.

Maryland Crab Cakes

Ingredients: 

1 lb crabmeat

1/2 C breadcrumbs

1 beaten egg

5 tbsp mayonaisse 

1 tbsp finely chopped parsley 

2 tsp Worchestershire sauce

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp salt 

1/4 tsp pepper

We are blessed to live in the state of Maryland - except for the taxes - where we have such wonderful meals such as crab cakes. First, you want to make sure your crab meat is completely thawed but not warm. Once you add all the ingredients, be sure to mix the crab meat in by hand as you need to feel the primitive cakes (I don't know why he used the word primitive. I guess he just feels it's more manly to not use utensils). Grab a lump of the mixture about a baseball in size and place it on a plate. 

We made them about an hour before cooking and just covered them and placed them in the fridge. 

Coat a pan with oil and let it heat up. Place the baseball sized crab cakes on the pan and press carefully with a spachula. Once one side is bown (4-5 min), flip with 2 spachulas as they easily fall apart. 

Wait until browned and place the finished cakes onto a plate with a paper towel to soak up some of the grease.

Now it's Courtney's turn again :) For the side dish, we made my favorite summer potato. All you need is:

potato

onion

butter

salt

pepper

aluminum foil

Before doing anything, slice the onion into about 1/4 inch pieces. Then thinly slice the potato into 1/8 inch pieces and half wrap in foil until potato is standing and still in a potato shape. Add a square of butter to the top, 4 or 5 slivers of onion, a sprinkle of salt and a dash of pepper.

Wrap it all the way up in the foil and place on the grill. Now, in order to not burn one side of this potato, I have found it is best to flip them with tongs every 10 minutes for 1 hour. It may seem like you're running in and out to the grill, but it will be worth it! 

For Father's Day, we ran out of grill room, so you can also make these potatoes in the oven at 350, still flipping every 10 minutes to cook evenly.

This potato is soft and slightly buttery with just a slight flavor of onion. The onion also caramelizes nicely with the butter in the foil. I can smell these when they're on the grill from all the way in the house, and it makes my mouth water just thinking of them!