4th of July Weekend Cooking Plans

Seems every holiday is an excuse to invite family and friends over for a party, and the 4th of July weekend is typically one of my favorites. Summer is just getting started, the weather is warm, and a good time is typically had by all.

This 4th I am having about 15-20 friends, family, and neighbors over for what else a bbq cook out. The following are on the menu off the smoker, or the Weber kettle grill.

- grilled corn on the cob in the husk
- smoked garlic
- slabs of K.C. spares
- ABT's
- baked beans with twice smoked kilbasa


I will also be braising a pork shoulder on the stove for carnitas, served with corn tortillas, cilantro, red onion, and some salsa verde I will make.

I am curious what others may be planning for their 4th of July menus.

Jim, that sounds fantastic!

I'll be cheating - instead of cooking, I'll be heading to KC itself to see the White Sox play the Royals.

Ursiform wrote:
I'll be cheating - instead of cooking, I'll be heading to KC itself to see the White Sox play the Royals.

shoot, if that is cheating, I am down with that... have a blast in K.C.

go go sox.

I believe I'll be making a big platter of Spam musubi for a Hawaiian-themed cookout at a friend's place.

I figure plopping some teriyaki-glazed Spam on rice is the least I can do, considering she plans on making lomi lomi salmon, tuna poke, and a home-oven variation of kahlua pork

that sounds like a cool theme party idea.

jimswside wrote:

Ursiform wrote:
I'll be cheating - instead of cooking, I'll be heading to KC itself to see the White Sox play the Royals.

shoot, if that is cheating, I am down with that... have a blast in K.C.

go go sox.

Jim, if you haven't gone to KC to see the Sox play before, I suggest you look into it. We decided to go after seeing how unbelievably inexpensive great tickets were. The fact that we could stuff ourselves with barbecue all weekend didn't hurt either.

Ursiform wrote:
Jim, if you haven't gone to KC to see the Sox play before, I suggest you look into it. We decided to go after seeing how unbelievably inexpensive great tickets were. The fact that we could stuff ourselves with barbecue all weekend didn't hurt either.

Ive been thinking/dreaming of such a weekend trip, but have yet to pull it off. hopefully I can do it in the near future.

No 4th of July is complete without deviled(sp?) eggs.

menu plans are up in the air now, some out of town guests are not coming, so Ineed to stay flexible in regards to what I am making.

If I am still having over 10 people it will be the menu posted above, sans the carnita's.

If less than 10 are coming I will go surf and turf(sirloin steak, paired with jumbo scallops). Probably still stick with the ABT's, and corn on the cob, and maybe make a chunky mango salsa of some sort.

Ill know mre by THursday.

since I have only 6 people(5 adults) coming I ammended my menu again, and for the final time

- grilled sirloin steak
- smoked rib tips(gotta have some smoked pork on the 4th)
- ABT's
- grilled corn on the cob
- Macaroni salad from Low and Slow
- Mango salsa
- Banana pudding from Low and Slow

I recently won a wild game sausage sampler so for July 3rd celebration, we're having a "sausage-fest". Our place isn't that big so rather than having a sit down meal, I'm setting up stations in various parts of our home - appetizer station, side dish station, sausage bar, dessert station, drink station.

As for specifics, here's some of the wild game sausage I'll be throwing on the grill and adding to our bar w/toppings & condiments:

Lamb Merguez Sausage w/olive tapenade & feta toppings
Buffalo Sausage with Chipotle Chilies w/nacho cheese sauce & pico de gallo toppings
Elk Sausage with Pear & Port Wine w/blue cheese sauce & caramelized onion toppings
Duck Sausage with Orange Liquor w/mandarin orange glaze topping
Wild Boar Italian Sausage w/ marinara sauce & peppers toppings
Wild Boar Brats with Cheddar & Beer w/cheddar sauce & caramelized onion toppings

foodie1 wrote:I recently won a wild game sausage sampler so for July 3rd celebration, we're having a "sausage-fest". Our place isn't that big so rather than having a sit down meal, I'm setting up stations in various parts of our home - appetizer station, side dish station, sausage bar, dessert station, drink station.

As for specifics, here's some of the wild game sausage I'll be throwing on the grill and adding to our bar w/toppings & condiments:

Lamb Merguez Sausage w/olive tapenade & feta toppings
Buffalo Sausage with Chipotle Chilies w/nacho cheese sauce & pico de gallo toppings
Elk Sausage with Pear & Port Wine w/blue cheese sauce & caramelized onion toppings
Duck Sausage with Orange Liquor w/mandarin orange glaze topping
Wild Boar Italian Sausage w/ marinara sauce & peppers toppings
Wild Boar Brats with Cheddar & Beer w/cheddar sauce & caramelized onion toppings

great concept, and some interesting sounding sausages.

Tomorrow we'll be at a fambly member's for a seafood boil, so I'm just thinking about tonight. I followed Cook's Illustrated's recipe for spice-rubbed picnic chicken, til I remembered Sweet Baboo, unlike me, does not care for cold chicken, so I decided to save that for a future lunch for myself.

So tonight is grilled lamb, and my plans are evolving. They've gone from a lamb shoulder on the rotisserie to ground lamb formed into thin skewers a la Steven Raichlen, to a thicker ground lamb loaf on the rotisserie a la Alton Brown, to lamb burgers a la moi. Any of the latter three would be served with tzatziki sauce on pita bread.

Burgers stuffed with braised short-rib meat from Hubert Keller's new book topped with melted amadeus cheese, on a home-made ciabatta bun, regular fixings
Cold-oil fries from CI
Grilled corn on the cob
Iceberg wedge salad with Swan Oyster Depot Louis dressing and cherry tomatoes from the garden
Blueberry pie with vodka crust
Fresh lemonade (CI method)

About ten incoming friends and family:

10lb butt done as pulled pork w/Lexington table sauce

Big ol' slaw made from cabbage right out of the garden

Giardiniera from the LTH recipe

Tater salad

Keg of Heineken and various nice bottled brews, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as default.


Looking forward enormously!!

Geo

All my prep is done, pics to follow tomoorow when I have more free time.

- Rib tips slathered in mustard, rubbed and in the fridge

- ABT's assembled( cream cheese, roasted garlic, parsley, cheddar, and chorizo wrapped in bacon.) I did 10 jalapenos, and 2 anaheim peppers.

- Macaroni salad from Low & Slow done, very nice in the tastes I have had, I think the lemon juice make sit pop. I added some minced carrots to the recipe for some color, and texture.

- banana pudding from Low & Slow finished yesterday. the custard was rich, and easy to make. I am anxious to try this one.

- I have(had) (2) monster sirloin steaks that once weighed 3# total, but I had to cut a small sample off last night to have with a cheese burger. I cant wait for the rest tonight. I will grill these, and then some soaked corn on the cob in the husk on the Weber.

Ill fire up the smoker around 1, and get the ABT's, and rib tips on around 2, plannig to eat somewhere between 4:30 & 5.

some pics of my ABT prep:

More prep: rib tips, Low and Slow banana pudding, Low and Slow Macaroni salad:

I worked on the spam musubi (teriyaki-glazed spam on short-grain rice seasoned with sea salt, all wrapped with a ribbon of nori) for tomorrow's Hawaiian-themed party:


I'm happy with how they came out, but man, frying up spam really stank up the joint

Low & Slow Banana Pudding

stevez wrote:Low & Slow Banana Pudding

very nice steve, desserts, and baking isnt my strong suit, I wish mine would have come out looking like that. taste wise it was great.

some final pics of my 4th.

RIb tips onthe smoker:


ABT's on the smoker:


finished ABT's:


finished tips:




a couple pics of the steaks I grilled, didnt get any after pics, was too busy getting everythign else plated:




thanks for looking, it was a feast.

I had some tempeh burgers and some tofurky dogs, and we grilled them with vegan local-cabbage free-range slaw...

Okay, we went to a party so all we had to do was bring a couple of dishes. I pickled shrimp, a la the recipe in Charleston Receipts:


(file photo)

and then, I picked some juneberries, a native wild fruit which grows around the Chicago area:



Art Jackson blogged about them here.

Then at Green City yesterday I bought some of the tiny, tart, very pricy tartes des bois (a French wild strawberry) which Fruit Slinger has blogged about extensively:



Incidentally, he said somebody had Juneberries at the market yesterday, under another name (Saskatoon berries or something), where I'm sure they cost rather more than mine did. Went home, made a sweet pastry crust and a creme patissiere, and...



Tarte des Blog.

Mike G–

My Montréal landlord has landscaped the flat front and back with native plants and shrubs, including fiddlehead ferns, trillums, and, in the backyard, a lovely small serviceberry tree, which has rich white blossoms in early May, and scads of fruit in late June. When I saw your pix of your juneberries I just loved it: your juneberries are what we call serviceberries, a fact which google verified for me just a moment ago. Congrats on your discovery!

In the city, I have about 3 mins between when the berries get ripe enough to be interesting, and when they are totally eaten by the birds and squirrels. I gotta move FAST!

Go back to your bushes in May and see how pretty they look whilst in bloom.

Geo

We had about 16 over for tapas and 12 staying for paella. Tapas were:

charred asparagus with saba
shrimp with garlic and chilis
dates with chorizo and bacon in red pepper sauce
chorizo and manchego with marcona almonds
olives with citrus peel and thyme
patatas alioli (cold, a la Emilio Gervilla)





Paella was a la valenciana, with the non-traditional addition of lots of red bell pepper (in the sofrito and strewn on top) since that's how I came to love it in Cantabria and how many Spaniards take it in the Americas. First try on the Weber Performer over wood coals and an oak split worked well.



boiling down



With both sweet and hot chorizo, chicken thighs (or rabbit*, if not for a crowd with kids), farmers market string beans and peppers, olives.



I threw some rosemary on the coals in addition to a tiny pinch ground onto the sofrito. *I left the rata de marjal out this time as well.

That time of year again, weather is supposed to be nice and hot. Whats on the menu folks?


Me, I'm undecided this year, I really have to check the ads on Wednesday and see what looks good and affordable. Probably no bbq as we are hitting Ribfest on Friday(not great bbq to be had, but it is what it is, & its nice to get back to my hometown of Naperville every once ina awhile).

I havent done any oysters in a while so I could see them making the list for one of the three days. Also I think some steak, wings, and shrimp could make it on a menu. I am kind of hoping to find some beef short ribs for some korean style bbq if possible.

I'm cooking for about 30-40 at a friends farm and am still making up my mind. Right now I'm leaning towards Al Pastor or possibly Cuban style grilled pork tenderloin sandwiches. Whatever I go with has to be utensil free (and I just did ribs for Memorial Day).

If we are indeed visiting Mr. Pie's dad this weekend, I'm bringing Berry-Apple Fantasy Pie.

My 4th, which will be on the 3rd to accommodate different schedules, is taking a Spanish twist

White Gazpacho (with almonds and green grapes)
Empanadas (one meat, one vegetarian)
Paella
Chocolate Cake with Dulce de Leche

and pitchers of Sangria (white and red)

A very happy 4th to all my LTH friends.

Jyoti

I am a dork. Because I am a dork, I like to do things that there is no reason at all to do: for instance, I like to go waaaay too far with the red, white, and blue theme. Easy enough to do if you count blueberries, of course, but it gets to be a challenge when you start moving towards savory dishes.

We will be taking a picnic to the beach, so a cold dinner is in order...I was thinking fried chicken (Hubby laughingly suggested I marinate it in paprika...and then I thought about a blue cornmeal crust, but that's just taking it too far) blue corn polenta with red pepper and stilton, a salad of jicama, blackberries and maybe red currants - and, of course, Sparky's famous Pie in the Sky for the Fourth of July.