One fine day, as the song goes, I got a note from Colette Becker of Saucy Mama (@SaucyMamaCafe on Twitter). She invited me to participate in this year’s Saucy Mama food blogger contest. Well, it’s hard to say no when an invitation is extended so graciously and a promise of a heap of Saucy Mama products is part of the gig. So of course I said, “Count me in.”

When the package arrived a couple of weeks later, I ripped into all the bottles and tasted each one. I especially loved the Chipotle Mustard and the humongous Jalapeno Stuffed Olives, so decided to use them together in some sort of easy summer main course. This flavor packed Italian Panzanella is the result.

A traditional Tuscan summertime salad of day old, crusty bread torn into rough chunks, tomatoes, whatever else the cook decides to throw into the mix, all moistened with olive oil and vinegar–this strange sounding “salad” eluded me for many years. Frankly, it sounded awful. But a few seasons ago, inspired by the Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad in Judy Rodger’s The Zuni Café Cookbook, I gave it a whirl.

Wow, was I surprised! I’ve created so many varied bread salads since that fateful day that I barely remember all those years of self-imposed deprivation. It’s really one of the finest simple dishes I know.

Even though it may still be hitting the 90’s on some days in your neck of the woods, you’ll need 20 minutes of oven time for roasting the tomatoes. But the rest of the cooking is done on the grill. You can also oven roast the tomatoes in the cool of the evening, a day ahead. They are even more wonderful after marinating for awhile.

Grilled Prawn, Roasted Baby Tomato & Chipotle Mustard Bread Salad

This full-meal salad gets an extra measure of flavor from grilling both the prawns and the bread, and then roasting the tiny tomatoes to concentrate their essence. The Chipotle Mustard provides extra zing and a little spicy heat that I find appealing. The salad may be served either warm or cold.

Chipotle Mustard Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ cup cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil
½ cup canola or other vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 tablespoon Saucy Mama’s Chipotle Mustard (or 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard combined with 1 teaspoon mashed chipotle in adobo sauce)
freshly ground sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Grilled Prawns
16 large prawns (about 1 pound), peeled and deveined

Roasted Tomatoes
1 pound tiny grape or cherry tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
8 large Saucy Mama Jalapeno Stuffed Olives (or 16 pitted Calamata olives), cut into eights or quarters lengthwise
2 tablespoons capers
freshly ground sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Grilled Bread
eight, 1-inch thick slices, Italian Pugliese (poo-lee-ay-say) bread (or other rustic bread with thin crust)
2 tablespoons cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil mixed with 1 clove pressed garlic

Salad
1-3 tablespoons chicken stock, potentially
freshly ground sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon

Chipotle Mustard Vinaigrette
1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, vegetable oil, garlic, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.

Grilled Prawns
1. In a mixing bowl, toss the prawns with two tablespoons of the vinaigrette, cover, and frig for 20 minutes.
2. Just before serving, grill the prawns until pink and firm, about 1-2 minutes per side.

Roasted Tomatoes
1. Coat an edged baking sheet with vegetable spray of oil.
2. In a mixing bowl, toss the halved tomatoes, olives, and capers with two tablespoons of the vinaigrette, and add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Arrange tomatoes, olives, and capers on the baking sheet.
4. Roast tomato mixture at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until roasted but not dried out. After roasting, remove from the oven, cover with foil, and keep warm.

Grilled Bread
1. Brush the bread on both sides with the garlic infused olive oil. Grill to toast each side, and then remove from the heat and teat into rough 1-inch pieces. Reserve.

Salad
1. To serve, in a large bowl, toss the tomatoes, prawns, and bread together with ½ cup vinaigrette. If the bread is not moist enough (too hard to chew), add a little chicken stock, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved. The salad should not be wet, however.
2. Salt and pepper to taste, and then divide the salad between 4 large shallow bowls. Garnish with oregano and lemon zest, and serve.

Serves 4.

Resources

Bread Experience Blog: Pugliese
FoodGawker Gallery: Bread Salads
Napa Valley Mustard Festival
Saucy Mama’s Blog
Saucy Mama’s Products

Please leave a comment. We LOVE hearing from you!

This one is loaded with fire, spice, and smoke, and has that essential ingredient I call Big Taste. For the Summertime Beef & Brew Grilled Burgers posted earlier, I used beef chuck shoulder, but for my Fire & Spice Burgers, I was seduced by a mountain of well-marbled boneless beef short ribs in the butcher case. It was that luscious fat that got me all dreamy eyed.

Craigie on Main in Cambridge, Massachusetts makes a fabulous burger called Triple-Beef Cheeseburgers with Spiced Ketchup and Red Vinegar Pickles, which we loved on our last visit to Boston. Bon Appétit magazine features it in the September 2010 issue. The interesting thing about the recipe is the different beef cuts that are ground together to make the burger: 1 part beef brisket, 1 part boneless beef short ribs, 1 part hanger steak, one-fourth part beef suet, and one-eighth part beef bone marrow. The emphasis is on cuts that deliver plenty of beefy flavor. Tenderness is not an issue when you intend to grind the meat. So by all means, feel free to try out different beef cuts and combinations of cuts to see what rings your bell.

However, if you want your burgers to be tender and juicy, they must contain from 16% to 20% fat, and you must not overcook the burgers (medium rare at most). If you need to add fat to your grind, follow Craigie on Main’s lead and ask a specialty butcher for beef suet.

Oh yes, and you must grind the meat yourself, or at least select it and have the butcher custom grind it for you. A pound of ground mystery meat from the grocery case is not going to make a heavenly burger, no matter how much you doll it up. For a little more money and effort, you can have the best burger in the world, right from your own kitchen.

Because I wasn’t able to do a side-by-side comparison, I can’t tell you which is the better burger meat—beef chuck shoulder or boneless beef short ribs. I can say, however, that both have a full quotient of beefy flavor and are nicely juicy when sufficient fat is included in the grind. Next time, I’ll try a mixture.

We had already grilled and eaten a couple of the burgers and were surfing the web in tandem on our laptops when I spied a post on The Famous Shack Burger. I paid attention to the combination of cuts (beef sirloin, well-marbled beef chuck, and well-marbled beef brisket), but what really grabbed me was the Shack Sauce. Why hadn’t it occurred to me to make a sauce for the Fire & Spice Burgers? The grill was still hot, so I ran to the kitchen, whipped up a Chipotle Aioli in two minutes flat and yelled, “Hey, James, you want another burger?” He did. Of course.

Fire & Spice Grilled Burgers with Chipotle Aioli

There’s a lot of flavor going on in this burger, but not so much as to overshadow the beef itself. Heat, spice, and smoke, along with poblano and red bell peppers create a lip smacking experience. You can use store-bought mayo on the buns, but Chipotle Aioli really makes the burger sing and takes only minutes to prepare.

Neat Trick   If you have time, rinse the uncut meat under cold water and pat thoroughly dry with paper towels. Salt rather liberally (but don’t go crazy), place in a glass baking dish, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and frig for 18-24 hours (or longer). Then chunk the meat just before grinding it. The salt will have permeated every portion of the meat and your burger will thus be perfectly seasoned. No need to add extra salt to the mix.

2 pounds well-marbled beef chuck or boneless short ribs (or combination thereof), cut in to 1-inch chunks and well chilled (aim for 16%-20% fat)

2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 poblano pepper, stemmed, seeded, ribbed, and minced (1/2 cup diced)
1/2 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, ribbed, and minced(1/2 cup diced)
1/4 large red onion (1/2 cup finely minced red onion)
6 large cloves garlic, peeled and pressed or minced
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped to a mush

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons crumbled dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon fine sea salt (skip if you salted the meat beforehand)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

vegetable oil, for grilling

Garnishes

Chipotle Aioli (see recipe below)

7 soft, artisan buns (focaccia, ciabatta, seed rolls, or potato rolls), cut in half, lightly toasted (and buttered lightly if desired)
sliced aged cheddar cheese, optional
sliced ripe avocado
thinly sliced sweet or red onions
watercress (or arugula or baby lettuces)

Italian Giardiniera, optional

1. Put the meat, leaving space between the chunks, on an edged baking sheet and put in the freezer for 15 minutes. 
2. Using a meat grinder fitted with the coarse disk (largest holes), grind the very cold meat into a mixing bowl. Gently fold in the egg yolks.
3. Changing to the medium disk, grind the beef again.
4. In a large mixing bowl, break up the ground meat with your hands. Do this lightly as you don’t want to compress the meat.
5. Add poblano chile, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, and chipotle chiles and toss lightly to thoroughly distribute. Reserve in the frig.
6. To release the flavor of the spices and herbs, in a small saute pan, melt the butter and then saute the cumin, oregano, and coriander for about 1 minute, just until the full aroma hits your nose. Remove from the heat and let cool.
7. Use your hands to combine the burger mixture, spice mixture, salt, and pepper   together, being careful not to compress the mixture. There are photos of this process here.
8. To test the seasoning level, heat a little oil in a small saute pan and saute a teaspoon of the hamburger mixture to cook through. Let cool briefly and sample. If the mixture needs more of anything, especially salt or pepper, add it now.
9. Shape the meat mixture into six to seven, 3½-inch diameter, 1-inch thick patties. To obtain perfectly round patties, use a pancake ring to help with the shaping.
10. Wrap each patty in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook. The patties can be made the day before you plan to cook them. They actually seem to get better with some resting time.
11. Preheat a barbecue grill to medium-high. When it’s hot, brush the grill with vegetable oil.
12. Put the burgers on the grill, and adjust the heat so that they don’t overbrown while cooking through. Close the lid. It usually takes 3-4 minutes of cooking per side to achieve medium-rare burgers. Turn the burgers only once during cooking and do not poke or press down on them.
13. If desired, add cheese to the top of each burger during the last 2 minutes of grilling. If necessary, put the lid on the grill for a minute to melt the cheese.
14. Remove the burger patties to a clean plate and assemble the burgers.
15. To assemble, slather each bun half with Chipotle Aioli. Lay the burger patties on the bottom half of the buns and top with avocado, onions, and watercress.  Add the top half of the buns to the stacks, and serve immediately.

Makes seven, 3½-inch diameter, 1-inch thick burger patties; or seven hamburgers.

Chipotle Aioli

½ cup best quality mayonnaise (I use Best Foods)
4 baby dill pickles or equivalent (I used Vslasic Garlic, Dill & Onion Petit Pickles)
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce (available canned in Mexican section of grocery store)
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, peeled
¼ teaspoon smoked mild or hot paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne

1. Put all ingredients into a small processor or blender and process until smooth.
2. Taste for flavor balance and adjust as necessary.
3. Remove to a small container, cover, and frig until needed.

Makes about 1 cup.

Resources

Boston.Com: Burger War! 
Epicurious: The Best Burgers in America
FoodGawker: Burger Gallery
Oregon Live: Want a Good Burger? Portland Has Plenty.
Portland Hamburgers Blog
Saveur: Fifteen Heavenly Burgers
Seattle Met Magazine: Best Burgers
Serious Eats: The Fake Shack
Serious Eats: The Burger Lab: Mastering the Art of Burger Blending with Eight Cuts of Beef
Serious Eats: 12 Burgers in 8 Hours, a Burger Bender
Serious Eats: Where to Get Boston’s Best Burger
Sutter Home Build a Better Burger Contest 2010
Sutter Home: The World’s Largest Burgerbase
TasteSpotting: Burger Gallery

Please leave a comment. We LOVE hearing from you. ♥♥♥

Is there anything better in the glorious summertime than a big, juicy burger, straight off the grill, tucked into a soft, toasted bun, topped with all the fixings? Maybe with a cold, dark beer alongside? Not in my book.

But too often these days, cooks are cutting corners with the beef patties, sometimes even buying preformed patties at the meat counter. When I see someone in the grocery store reach for those predone packages of hamburger patties, I want to scream, “No, no don’t do it.” Because, well, it actually matters what grade of ground beef you buy and how you form the patties. It matters very much.

You may think it’s best to buy the leanest ground beef you can find, because that’s the most expensive and expense often indicates quality. But in the case of the humble hamburger, lean meat virtually guarantees a dry burger. Instead, look for packages of ground beef that contain 16%-20% fat.

And never, never purchase preformed patties. I don’t know what they do to those poor patties in the shaping process, but the resulting burger always tastes like cardboard. If you look closely at the patties in the package, you can see that the meat is ground to almost a paste. This is the opposite of what you want.

If you happen to have a meat grinder, by all means grind your own meat and grind it rather coarsely. It really does make a difference. Chuck shoulder is an excellent cut to use, because it has a lot of good meaty flavor and the right amount of fat. Or, have your butcher grind it for you. Then you know exactly what you are getting and it is always an improvement over packaged ground beef.

It’s much better to mix a few flavor and texture enhancers into your excellent quality ground beef and then shape the patties very gently by hand, being careful not to compress the meat.

And on a somewhat contentious note: If you cook your beef patties to well-done, they will NOT be juicy and tender, no matter what else you do to them. Buying your meat from a quality butcher is your assurance that the meat is safe to eat, even at medium-rare.

Beef , Beer & Fresh Rosemary Burgers

This burger pulls out all the stops. It is wonderfully juicy, tender, and flavorful, thanks to the stout, onion, chile, bread crumbs, fresh herbs, and seasonings. Plus there is a secret ingredient used here that I discovered recently: unsalted butter. If you have ever dipped a piece of steak into melted butter, you know the combination is dynamite. In a burger, the butter adds not only flavor but extra lubricant for the juiciest burger ever.

1 pound ground beef chuck shoulder (at least 16% fat), well chilled
¼ cup finely minced red onion
1 small jalapeno chile, stemmed, seeded and ribbed, and minced
½ cup  fresh breadcrumbs, processed until fine  
2 tablespoons stout beer (or a lighter beer if preferred, or beef broth)
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and pressed or minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold, grated
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon tomato catsup
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

vegetable oil, for grilling

Garnishes
crumbled blue cheese or sliced aged cheddar cheese, optional
4-5 soft, artisan buns, cut in half, lightly toasted
sliced ripe tomatoes
thinly sliced sweet onions
mayonnaise or aioli
baby lettuces
Dijon mustard
tomato catsup

1. In a large mixing bowl, break up the ground meat with your hands. Do this lightly as you don’t want to compress the meat.
2. Add onion, jalapeno chile, breadcrumbs, beer, garlic, butter, parsley, rosemary, Dijon mustard, catsup, salt, and black pepper.
3. Use your hands to mix everything evenly together, again being careful not to compress the mixture.
4. To test the seasoning level, heat a little oil in a small saute pan and saute a teaspoon of the hamburger mixture to cook through. Let cool briefly and sample. If the mixture needs more of anything, especially salt or pepper, add it now.
5. Shape the meat mixture into four to five 3½-inch diameter, 1-inch thick patties. To obtain perfectly round patties, use a pancake ring to help with the shaping.
6. Wrap each patty in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to cook. The patties can be made the day before you plan to cook them. They actually seem to get better with some resting time.
7. Preheat a barbecue grill to medium-high. When it’s hot, brush the grill with vegetable oil.
8. Put the burgers on the grill, and adjust the heat so that they don’t overbrown while cooking through. Close the lid. It usually takes 3-4 minutes of cooking per side to achieve medium-rare burgers. Turn the burgers only once during cooking and do not poke or press down on them.
9. If desired, add cheese to the top of each burger during the last 2 minutes of grilling. If necessary, put the lid on the grill for a minute to melt the cheese.
10. Remove the burger patties to a clean plate and assemble the burgers.
11. To assemble, slather each bun half with mayonnaise, mustard, and catsup, as desired. Lay the burger patties on the bottom half of the buns and top with tomatoes, onions, and lettuce. Add the top half of the buns to the stacks and serve immediately.

Makes 4-5, 3½-inch diameter, 1-inch thick burger patties; or 4-5 hamburgers.

Well folks, we are into Round 2 (final round) of the infamous (thanks to Twitter) Fried Chicken and BBQ Rib Throw Down. To check out the Twitter banter around the contest, go to #ThrowDown. If you want to know how this all got started, read the first few paragraphs of the LunaCafe’s Spicy Fried Chicken post, which was our Round 1 entry.

At the end of this post, you can also check out the throw down rules, list of contestants, and the recipe posts so far. Contestants have until end of day June 29^th to post their entries.

But in case you don’t make it to the end, I want to add a special note of thanks here to Mark LaPolla of the Life By Chocolate blog, who orchestrated the contest and the unruly, hooligan contestants. We somehow managed to break every rule, especially the “Don’t taunt Bobby Flay” rule, and yet he handled it all with exceedingly good humor. Thank you, Mark! We owe you, cowboy! J

Now, on to the ribs…

If my BBQ ribs have a “secret ingredient,” it’s definitely the brining process. I confirmed this for myself yesterday. I was in a rush to launch this post and thus decided not to brine the ribs. I mean, really, whose going to notice?

Everything was going swimmingly until MauiJim took his first bite of the beautifully glazed, incredibly tender ribs. I was expecting RAVES. But instead he asked what I did differently this time. Rather than tell him, I asked for his impression.

His response was spot on. He said,” It’s like the flavor is ON the meat, not IN the meat.” He was right. Not only did I not brine the ribs, I didn’t marinate them in the sauce for any length of time either. I broke all my own rules. Never again though. I’ve learned my lesson.

Unless you have access to a smoker grill that will allow you to slow smoke the ribs and thus infuse a marvelous flavor in that way, brining, in my opinion, is a must. It is the only way I know of, other than smoking, to ensure that your chosen flavors permeate the meat all the way to the bone. Even a killer sauce can’t do the entire flavoring job.

My other BBQ Rib “secret” is to slow-poach the ribs prior to grilling. With slow poaching, you break down the connective fiber, which fast grilling does not do. The ribs are then incredibly tender.

I also love this method because I never have to worry whether the ribs are cooked to the necessary internal temperature for safe consumption. Plus all major steps are done ahead. All you need to do just before serving the ribs is heat them through and brown the glaze. It doesn’t get any easier than this.

I almost forgot to mention that these BBQ ribs are over-the-top delicious. I have served them at numerous Fourth of July family gatherings, and they are always the star attraction. Folks are still talking about them even years later. I LOVE that. J

Grilling Tips & Tricks

• For the best grilled flavor possible, use wood charcoal alone or in combination with wood chips (which must first be soaked in cold water). Mesquite, alderwood, peachwood, and applewood are all excellent flavor producers.
• Charcoal briquettes vary widely in quality and are less desirable as a grilling medium– although they are so easily available, it is always a temptation to use them. With briquettes, look out for the smell of petroleum (motor oil). It is often used to bind the pieces together and it doesn’t always cook off before you are ready to barbecue. A greasy, smudged residue on your hands after touching one of these briquettes is a good indication as to the use of petroleum by-products in the charcoal.
• Be sure to start your fire in plenty of time to insure it is thoroughly active when you begin to grill. This will usually take 35-45 minutes; the coals should be covered with a coating of ash.
• Your grill should be cleaned thoroughly after each use to prevent a buildup of heavy, off flavors. Always brush the grill rack with oil before putting anything on it.
• 15-20 briquettes are plenty for a couple of chickens or two racks of baby back ribs; be sure to spread the coals out evenly before you begin to cook. The closer together the coals are spaced, the hotter the fire will be.
• With the advent of urban living, condos with miniscule decks or no decks at all, and gas grills, charcoal grilling is not always an option. That’s OK. You can get delectable (although not the same) results using a gas grill or even an oven.
• Although baby back ribs should be meltingly tender even without a brine, there is no way (other than smoking) to get flavor all the way into the meat without brining it. If you cannot smoke and grill over natural charcoal with added soaked wood chips, don’t even think of not brining.
• Whatever flavors you add to the brine will permeate your meat.
• Baby back ribs are a great choice for BBQ because they are succulent, tender, and a perfect size for eating with your hands. I prefer pork, but beef ribs are wonderful too.

LunaCafe’s Grilled Baby Back Ribs with Garlic-Ginger BBQ Sauce

These ribs are meltingly tender as a result of the brining and slow poaching processes specified here. They are also a snap for the host, because they are fully cooked ahead, thus requiring only a brief period on the grill before serving.

3 full racks baby back pork ribs (each rib should contain 12-14 ribs)

Brine

2 quarts unsweetened apple cider (unpasteurized if you can get it)

1/4 cup wildflower honey

1/4 cup fine sea salt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

5 star anise pods

Garlic-Ginger Barbecue Glaze

2 cups best-quality catsup

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup wildflower honey

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon cayenne powder

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

½ teaspoon anise, ground with a mortar and pestle.

1. Cut the racks into 3 or 4 rib sections. You should get 3 to 4 sections per rack.
   
2. Arrange the ribs in a large nonreactive container.
   
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cider, honey, salt, ginger, garlic, and anise. Whisk to dissolve the salt.
   
4. Pour cider mixture over the pork ribs, cover, and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
   
5. Up to two days before serving, drain the brine solution completely from the pork.
   
6. Put ribs in a large pot and fully cover with cold water.
   
7. Bring water to a bare simmer?just a bubble or two on the surface.
   
8. Maintain this bare simmer for 45 minutes, using a cover if necessary.
   
9. Using long-handled tongs, remove ribs from the water and place in a large nonreactive container.
   
10. While ribs are cooking, make the glaze by combining all glaze ingredients in a large saucepan and bringing to a simmer.
    
11. Stir until the butter melts, and then remove from the heat.
    
12. Dip each pre-cooked rib section in the prepared sauce and rearrange in the container.
    
13. Cover and refrigerate until ready to grill, preferably at least 6 hours.
    
14. To grill, prepare a charcoal or gas grill and brush the grilling surface with vegetable oil.
    
15. Arrange sauce-coated rib sections on the grill and lightly brown each side while heating through. Brush with sauce each time you turn. The glaze should look burnished and sticky, rather than wet, when the ribs are done.
    
16. Alternatively, place the glazed ribs on a rack set on an edged baking sheet. Bake or roast at 400°, turning once, until the surface of the ribs is nicely browned and the ribs are heated through, about 30 minutes.
    
17. Pile onto a platter to serve. Include additional glaze on the side.
    

Serves 6-10.

Fried Chicken or BBQ Ribs Throw Down Rules & Contestants

A huge thank you to Mark LaPolla of the Life By Chocolate blog, who master-minded this throw down, corralled the wild and woolly contestants, and kept a steady stream of hilarious Twitter banter going around the contest. This throw down has been a hoot!

Also, our apologies to Bobby Flay, the throw down king, whom we badgered mercilessly on Twitter for weeks. It was all in fun, Bobby! We were really hoping you would join our party. J As a peace offering, there’s a pointer below to your Asian Spice Rubbed Ribs, which sound fantabulous.

Rules: Virtual Throw Down: A Twitter and Blog Extravaganza

LunaCafe

SMS Bradley, Pacific Northwest

Twitter: @LunaCafe

• LunaCafe’s Spicy Fried Chicken
  
• LunaCafe’s Grilled Baby Back Ribs with Ginger-Garlic Barbeque Sauce
  

LifeByChocolate

Mark LaPolla, New York
Twitter: @LifeByChocolate

• Chef Mark’s BBQ Ribs
  
• Chocolate Barbeque Sauce To Die For
  
• Italian Pan Fried Chicken
  

Gluten Free Sanctuary
Leslie McLinden, Arkansas
Twitter: @lesliemac59

• Quirky Texas BBQ Ribs
  

Cre8tive Kitchen
Brenda Campbell, Washington
Twitter: @cre8tivekitchen

Fresh Eyes

Jan Richards, California

Twitter: @MrsRoadshow

Grandma’s Gluten-Free Baking N Cooking

Joyce Paige, Kansas

Twitter: @SilknPearls or @GFGrandmaBNC

Licorice, Chocolate and Other Foods To Love

Andrea Rowe, Pacific Northwest

Twitter: @LicoriceShrine

Sensitive Pantry

Nancy Kohler, New Jersey

Twitter: @SensitivePantry

The Router Guy
Twitter: @routerguy

Other Noteworthy Fried Chicken or BBQ Ribs Blog Posts

Forking Delicious

David Lawrence, Los Angeles

Twitter: @ChefDaveLA

• Ultimate Fried Chicken No Kidding
  
  

Food Network

Bobby Flay, United States

Twitter: @bflay or @bobbyflay

• Asian Spice Rubbed Ribs with Plum-Ginger Glaze