How to Make Easy and Yummy Feta Cheese Dip for Chicken Wings or Vegetables

Feta Cheese Dip with Our Grilled Wok Chicken and Celery

Some of my friends were asking how I made the feta cheese dip to go with our grilled wok chicken this week. It's super easy to make this Greek inspired dip (yes-I lived in Greece), and here is the recipe for the dip.

Feta Cheese Dip Recipe

- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup feta cheese
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegarette (or red wine vinegar but may want to go with some added seasonings in that case)
- 2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce (or Zing sauce)
- a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper (maybe 3/4 teaspoon of each)
- other seasonings are fine and fun to play with (barbecue rub, garlic, hot sauce)

Directions:

Just put everything in a bowl and mix. On the feta cheese, my friend Angelia gave me a beautiful block of feta (THANKS!) which I shreaded with a hand grater pretty fine. Crumbled would work as well. If you don't want any chunks or pieces, then use a food processor or blender.

I spooned the mixture into another bowl for serving so that there would not be white goo up the sides of the bowl. Not a biggie. It just looks nicer.

This amount is good for 4 to 6 people. You can cut it in half for a couple or double, triple etc for larger groups.

I absolutely loved this dip, and I'm not a huge dip person. It was a hit with everyone, so even the feta haters (gasp) could handle this balance to get that kick without it being overpowering.

Our feta cheese dip was perfect with both the chicken with had a little zip from the seasonings used when I woked it on the grill as well as with the celery. So, you could serve this delicious dip with fried hot or buffalo wings, grilled chicken wings, or just with fresh cut vegetables. It could also be used a nice condiment for something like a chicken or lamb sandwich. Yum. I need to put that on my to-do list.

A REAL Grill Wok by Wilton Armetale - Beautiful and Versatile

Wilton Armetale Grill Wok from the Grilling Gourmet Collection

Last night I tried out the Wilton Armetale grill wok from their Gourmet Grilling collection. This is a traditional wok that you use for high heat stir fry, although the piece is bowl shaped so can also be used for other types of dishes like stews on the grill where you want to get a nice smoked flavor.

Jes had emailed to see if I'd like to check out something from the Wilton Armetale grilling collection in exchange for doing a fair review. I wasn't familiar with this line, and I look at loads of grilling gear. I checked out the grilling items and listed several that I found interesting and said any would be fine. Jes went with the true style wok which I'm sure many folks may consider a harder-to-use grill item. Really a wok is not hard if you know what to do with it.

Gotta See This Grill Wok to Appreciate It

You really don't get a feel for the wok from the web page. I was expecting a rather small piece which is fine for a family. When it came in, it was large though. I'd say about a foot across or close. And. the grilling wok was just beautiful. I don't know really what I was expecting, but this wok just made me want to run round the house and high five all the guys. In fact, it was so pretty that I kind of hated to put it on the grill. I just wanted to sit and look at it which if you read my blog would not be my usual style.

Grilling Isn't Just About Pretty

Looks aren't everything though, and I'm not into knickknacks. I had to fire up the grill and put the Wilton Armetale wok to the test. In fact, I thought I'd go with a hard test - over charcoal. It's harder to regulate charcoal, and you're likely to black up a pan that way. I kind of cringed, but I took the plunge.

First I marinated some chicken strips in red wine vinegarette with some spicy seasonings. Chicken stips sans skin and bones can be kind of bland, but they are healthy, and if you flavor them, you've got a great meal.

Seasoned Chicken Strips in the Wilton Armetale Grill Wok

I fired up the coals and then sprayed the wok with Pam spray and let it heat. The grill woks you usually see at stores with holes in the bottom (which I do love too) do not need the preheat time or not as much. With a traditional enclosed type grill wok, you need to heat the pan. It's just a different style of grilling or cooking.

After about 15 minutes, the grill wok was nice and hot. This metal is really pretty but also is super at heat conduction. Think of a metal like cast iron. It takes a while to heat up, but then it's nice and hot and ready for making some interesting and tasty dishes.

Since I had marinated the chicken, I just poured it in. If not using a marinade, then put some olive oil etc in the pan to quick flash fry wok the food. You don't need or want much liquid, so pour off excess from the marinade if you did marinate as I did.

Once the chicken (or whatever you are woking) hits the pan, stir fast. The heat is high as it should be, and you want traditional woked foods to cook up fast and hold in the moisture.

Yummy Chicken Grill Wok Dinner with Sides

We were feeling really fancy last night with this great dinner featuring the chicken from the Gourmet Grillware collection. The chicken was perfect - nice and juicy with flavor from the marinade and seasoning. And - done quick.

I shared some photos at Facebook where I'm under cyndi allison. My grilling friends were asking about this really neat grill wok and also about that feta cheese dip I made which was great with the chicken and celery.

After my Wilton Armetale grill wok test drive, I read up on WA and was even more impressed. While the prices are a little higher than some grill products I own, Wilton Armitale offer a lifetime guarantee and are out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. That's what I'm talking about. I love a U.S. company that stands behind products.

This grill wok did everything as I expected while looking fabulous which is why the company sells these as grill to table products. They look wonderful to use for serving and also hold the heat (and the cold too if you want to use this as a kitchen piece part of the time).

What About Clean Up?

Clean up, which I was kind of worried about, was a breeze. We just washed the grill wok in the sink with Dawn and dried it off as suggested. They don't recommend a dishwasher, and I don't have one anyway. Even when I did have a dishwasher, I did not put my good stuff like my old cast iron in there. It's much easier to just quickly hand wash a nice piece, and I don't trust a dishwasher to get good stuff clean and not mess it up.

But - I Don't Wok Much or At All

The Wilton Armetale is a wok, but it is bowl shaped as traditional for that style of cooking - but hard to find for the barbecue grill. It is perfect for high heat wok grilling, but it's sized and shaped fine for chili, stew, and other one pot dishes that can go on the grill and get a lovely smoked flavor.

I did my meal over charcoal, but this would be great for a gas grill. In fact, it would be easier with the heat control over gas (but I took it on the hard road test first). The BBQ wok can also go on a side burner or on your kitchen stove or even in the oven (for a baked dish). And, it hold cold just as it does heat, so it can be a cold salad or dessert dish as well.

Regular readers know that I only have a hand full of products or lines that I fall totally in love with. There are many grill and barbecue products that I like. There are a few where I just wonder: What the heck? (and I tell you about those). Wilton Armetale made my BEST OF list. Yes. You will pay a little more than some similar items, but you get much more variety, beauty, and a lifetime of fun. Check out Wilton Armetale (which includes lots of other useful and fun grill pans), and you be the judge. If you aren't blown away too, then color me shocked. This is the real deal!

Grilled Pork Chops with Fischer & Wieser Havest Peach Sauce

Fischer & Wieser Peach Sauced BBQ Grilled Pork Chops

My son popped in from college last night, and a package from Toni Leigh had just arrived with Fischer & Wieser Harvest Peach Hatch Pepper Sauce (long name huh?). Toni sends me new products from Fischer & Wieser to try out on my grills, and I test them out and see how they go over here at the Barbecue Master house.

I hadn't really planned to grill, since it started raining, but my youngest son is a real peach freak. He even planted a peach tree in the yard, but the squirrels keep stripping it bare before we get many. My son isn't much of a squirrel fan due to that. In fact, he has suggested grilled squirrel, but I like the squirrels even if they eat the peaches, so we still just try to chase them away from the peach tree - unsuccessfully.

Fischer & Wieser is marketed as a finishing sauce with some heat from cilis from Hatch Valley in New Mexico that are roasted and then mixed with fresh sweet peaches. So, it's one of the newer sweet heat combo sauces.

I opened up the bottle. The smell was devine. It really did small like fresh peaches, and that' coming from a Carolina girl. I could also pick up the lighter heat notes. Yum.

Since I'd not planned on griling, I pulled out some thin cut pork chops. I needed something I could thaw quickly (in the sink in cool water) but also that would go well with the peach flavor. Pork hit me as perfect.

Since the chops were thin, I used the sauce as a pre-marinade. With thicker chops, I likely would have waited and lathered on sauce. Sugars in sauces can burn on the grill if over the fire too long.

The peach sauce looked really amazing when I poured it out. The texture was smooth but with chunks of peaches. And, the smell filled the kitchen. I was hoping this quick meal was going to taste as good as I was anticipating.

I put the pork chops on the Portable Kitchen cooker. It's cast aluminum and holds heat really well. Since it was cold and rainy, I needed that heat retention. My coals were still running a little cooler than I would have liked, since the rain was blowing in sideways.

With these chops about a half inch, it took about 3 or 4 minutes per side. Time varies on the thickness and the heat. I grill so much that I can eyeball items like pork chops, but you can always use a thermometer to double check. Dried out grilled pork chops aren't too tasty.

These pork chops were spot on. Juicy and tender. The Fischer & Wieser Peach sauce was terrific. The chops were perfectly peachy with just enough heat to taste great but not so much as to cover up the nice pork flavor.

The company has a halibut recipe using the peach sauce which sounds really good too. I may have to try that out soon.

If you're looking for a nice sauce to make your pork, fish, or chicken taste gourmet without having to spend hours making up your own sauce, I would highly recommend Fischer & Wieser Peach. It tastes yummy, and it grills up really nice as well.

Here's a photo of the bottle, so you'll know what to look for, or they also sell online which is always nice, since some of the best sauces are not available at many grocery stores.

Nephew's Peachy Potle' Barbecue Sauce

Tonight I broke out the Nephew's Peachy Potle' barbecue sauce. I'd been saving it back for a special evening, and since some of the guys were in for the holidays, it seemed a good night to test out this sauce from Garner, North Carolina.

Since I had some nice boneless pork chops, I went ahead and sauced them and let them rest for about a half hour while I started up the charcoal. With a sauce with a sugar base like this one, I would not sauce ahead with a larger cut of meat that takes longer to grill. These little cuts of pork grill up fast, so it works out perfect to sauce them ahead.

I had the charcoals good and hot and let the grate heat well, since it was very chilly outside. You want the grates hot regardless, since meat is likely to stick to cold grates and then your barbecue sauce doesn't stay on.

The Nephew's peach barbecue sauce set up nicely in 3 or 4 minutes. Then I flipped the chops and did the other side. All told it took about 10 minutes to grill these done but not dried out. The biggest mistake with the little pork chops that I see is grilling them too long. The USDA recommends 145 degrees F on grilled pork now. Remember though that pork continues to cook a bit after being pulled off.

Our grilled pork chops looked and smelled great, and the flavor was terrific. The peach flavor is natural with a nice sweet taste and just a little kick of heat. The balance is there. This sauce enhances the meat without overpowering it. It's a shame to grill a perfect pork chop and then not even be able to taste it. With Nephew's the sauce simply takes the flavor up several notches.

I'm glad I saved back the peachy potle' for an evening with the guys home. I was pretty certain it would be a hit, since the cherry potle and ghostly pumpkin by Newphew's had both been winners. The cherry barbecue sauce by Nephew's is our all time favorite on country ribs in the smoker. I think the peach would be really good too, so that's the next thing I want to do with the peach barbecue sauce.

Nephew's is a rather new sauce and growing. They were in the Raleigh/Chapel Hill area close to Garner, but I think they are available in Charlotte as well. If you're not close by, you can buy Nephew's barbecue sauce online, and it's well worth it. I ordered in the Cherry Potle' to give for Valentine's Day gifts. It's a beautiful red sauce, so it went well with the heart theme.

Here's a picture of the Nephew's barbecue sauce jar. I know it helps to know what you're looking for. The red headed guy in the blue cap is on all the labels.

Barbecue Lover's Guide to Austin - Book Review

Texas is a big barbecue state, and Austin has a terrific selection of barbecue joints. While you can spend hours online looking up information on barbecue restaurants in the area, I'd recommend getting Barbecue Lover's Guide to Austin by Gloria Corral.

Gloria's guide is her first book, and it's a basic guidebook. It includes all the information you'd need or want without a huge amount of fluff. Austin is divided by area with maps for each marking the barbecue restaurants included. Each restaurant gets a double page spread with general data like times open and whether they take credit cards etc. Then, Gloria gives the inside scoop on each. This is the kind of information you don't usually get. Some little barbecue places can be hard to spot, so she gives extra descriptions. She includes data about other specials like homemade banana pudding or peach cobblers. You don't know to order those goodies if someone doesn't check it out and tell you.

This is a book that is small and easy to pack to take along. It has a solid index of the barbecue restaurants which range from ones I've heard of like Stubb's to others that are not as well known like The Salt Lick BBQ and Bee Caves.

I used to live in Texas, and I sure do miss that beef barbecue. I'll have to take a road trip one of these days, and I'll have to save up some calories, so I can try out all these neat barbecue restaurants in Austin or at least a few of them.

If you live in Austin, TX or close or are moving there or just taking a trip, this is a very handy book to have on hand or in the glove box.

For more information on the book and Austin barbecue or to buy a copy, visit Gloria's barbecue web site. You can also follow her at Twitter under bbqloversguide.

Top Ten Christmas Gifts for Grilling and Barbecue Guys n Girls

If you have a grill guy or girl on your holiday list, there are loads of great gifts that are sure to make your special barbecue person want to fire up the charcoal or hit the gas button. Best of all, you can get great grilling gifts in a big range of prices from just a few dollars to off the charts.

I'm sharing some of my favorite barbecue items drawn from years of outdoor cooking here at home. I don't sell grilling products (or make a profit on these top picks), so my links will be to reviews I've written (for more info) or to home sites for the companies.

Top Ten Christmas Grill Gifts - On a Budget 

1. Barbecue sauces - There must be thousands of barbecue sauces on the market. I was amazed when I started looking around and trying out new ones. Wow. I've had the opportunity to try out some absolutely fabulous sauces, and I can't begin to name all the great ones (sorry to all you great sauce makers that I can't get in a single post - I'll do a sauce only post one of these days).

One of my favorite barbecue sauces for this year is Nephew's which is out of Raleigh, NC. I especially love the Cherry Polte that we enjoy on country ribs. They have a yummy pumpkin barbecue sauce and a peach sauce that I'm planning to try out soon.

 If you're on a tight budget you can get your griller a new sauce and put a whole new twist on a favorite grilled dish.

2. Marinades - Marinades make a big difference when it comes to grilling or smoking. Marinades add moisture and flavor. It is hard to find really great bottled marinades, but I found a line that I fell in love with when my son gave me a gift certificate to Southern Seasons (a high end food/cooking store in Chapel Hill). That marinade was Allegro Spicy. It's still my all time favorite, but all the Allegro marinades are super.

After I wrote about Allegro marinades, Food Lion added them. So, you may be able to find Allegro at your local grocery store. If not, you can order online. The prices are very reasonable, and these marinades turn even cheap meat into something really special.

3. Oils - This may seem an odd pick for a top barbecue item list, but a rub of a nice oil seals, crisps, and adds flavor to grilled foods. I brush olive oil on boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and they come out really moist and full of flavor.

I've tried and liked a lot of oils, but my favorite for oils would be Garlic Gold. They have all natural products with American grown garlic. The flavor is so smooth, you may not even be able to pinpoint that you have a garlic product. This stuff really is like liquid gold.

I'd recommend the sprinkles too. I use the oil and sprinkles on my Greek grilled potatoes, and they are wonderful. I lived in Greece years ago, and I built on what I learned there along with these products to come up with our favorite potatoes on the grill.

4. Grilling and Barbecue Cookbooks - There's nothing much better than kicking back with a great grill or barbecue cookbook. I like to page through and read at night before I go to bed. Then, I have visions of ribs and burgers dancing in my head when I dream.

Again, there are loads of cookbooks to pick from. You can't go wrong with the Weber brand grilling books. I have several and often give them as gifts.

If have a low and slow person on your list, then I'd highly recommend Peace Love Barbecue. It is chock full of stories as well as great recipes.

5. Bear Paws - While I've got low and slow on my mind, I have to mention Bear Paws. If you do pork butts or shoulders, then you'll know that it can be hard to chop them. You need good knives and space to do a nice chop. I've found it easier to shift over to Bear Paws. They are a really simple idea, but they do a great job. It only takes a few minutes to pull the meat and have it on the table.

 
6. Basting brush - I much prefer the silicone basting brushes out now over the bristle brushes that always seem to leave some bristles behind. Clean up is also easier. You can also get recplacement heads for some of the silicone brushes. There are several basting brushes that I like and use. The ones from Oneida have been solid.

7. Grill Gloves - Outdoor cooking is hard on kitchen gloves and mitts, so it really does pay to spring for a real grill glove. There are two that I especially like. For general outdoor cooking with gas, I love the Oxo grilling mitt. It can go on either hand, and it has a magnet so can be stuck to the side of the gas grill. For charcoal, smoking (especially with larger meat cuts), and for Dutch oven, I go with the Lodge red gloves. They are super sturdy and stand a whole lot of heat.

Here is the Lodge Dutch oven glove:

And, here's the Oxo grilling mitten:

8. Chimney Starter - If your favorite grill guy uses charcoal and does not have a chimney starter, it's an excellent purchase. It's low tech, but it really works. I never buy lighter fluid. The charcoal starts right up with perfect coals in about 10 minutes with my Weber chimney starter. Charcoal starters are under $20 and pay for themselves in just a few grillings. If you want to know more about charcoal starters, I wrote a guide showing how cchimney starters work.

9. Grill Wok - I find that a lot of my barbecue gear gathers dust, but my grill wok gets constant use. It's much easier to wok shrimp, meat chunks, and vegetables rather than thread them on skewers. I usually put them in a marinade beforehand, wok them quickly on the grill, and serve over rice. Quick and easy meal - and really yummy.

Yes. This dinner made in a grill wok was great. In fact, just posting the photo makes me want to go out and find some shrimp.

Here is a photo of my grill wok. I would share the company, but I've had this wok for years, and I don't know who made it. You can find similar woks at most big box stores.

10. Cast Iron Skillet - This may sound odd, but you can do a whole lot with a cast iron skillet on top of a grill grate. I've been using my Lodge skillet on the grill for years. Since it's black, it does not mess it up to have it over flames. If you have more bucks to spend, then Weber came out with a really neat grate system with cast iron drop ins. I don't have that for my Weber kettle, but I hope to get that set one of these days.

Merry Christmas - And Happy Grilling!

See there. Shopping for the barbecue fan or grill guru in your life isn't hard, and it won't break the bank. All of these ideas are inexpensive but very nice to have if you grill or smoke.

If you have a bigger budget, then your outdoor god or goddess likely has his or her eye on a fabulous new grill or a smoker to add to the arsenal. That's terrific too. I won't name out any best grills or smokers, or this post will be a book. Plus, different units work for different people. I have more than 20 grills and smokers, and I love them all (-:

Making a List - Checking it Twice

If you follow my blog, you'll know that there are loads of products that I've tested out and loved. Please feel free to add your products here and tell us about them. Or, if you have a favorite I've not mentioned, toss it out.

Thermapen - Barbecue Master Finally Finds the Perfect Outdoor Grilling Thermometer

Thermapen Splash Proof Digital Thermometer

Finding a good thermometer for outdoor grilling and smoking has proved to be quite a challenge. Over the years I've tried thermometers ranging from cheap pocket models (forever to get a reading and often not accurate) to a deluxe probe model with an indoor alarm (a bear to program and again not particularly accurate).

Some of my barbecue friends had been buzzing about Thermapen, but I'd not had a chance to see or use one. I was toying with the idea of springing for yet another thermometer when Jesse got in touch to see if I'd like to test drive one and share my thoughts. I did a little more research, and this sounded like a thermometer that might work here in the land of multiple grills and chronic smoking.

Jimmy was drafted to smoke a turkey that my step-dad won at the turkey shoot, and I hooked him up with the brand new red Thermapen. The colors on these thermometers are just terrific. They even have a pink one, but my guys aren't so keen when I start snagging pink stuff. They can't wander off with my pink gear (or not so easily).

Checking a Smoked Turkey with the Thermapen Thermometer

This was Jimmy's first turkey on the Big Green Egg. He whipped up a nice brine and let the bird rest overnight and then put it on before I got out of bed. He's the early bird, and I'm a night owl. This works out well for smoking but not so much for movies.

Smoked Turkey on the Big Green Egg - Not Ready Yet

The Big Green Egg is a lid-closed outdoor cooker - convection but with more moisture and with the smoke of course. Opening the lid drops the temperature, so the fast read on the Thermapen was terrific. It only took three or four seconds to get an accurate reading, so it was a fast in and out when the turkey was getting close to done.

Eyeballing a large cut like a turkey or pork shoulder is one sure way to get undercooked meat or dried out sawdust. You can see here that the turkey looks like it could come off. The head room in the Big Green Egg is not huge and with the natural sugars in the brine, the bird browns up really fast. We were several degrees out from a fully smoked turkey at this point.

Jimmy finished smoking off the turkey while I mashed up some potatoes and made gravy, and then we headed over to Mom's house for a big family dinner. Everyone loved the turkey. It was spot on, since the Thermapen made it easy to check the temperature.

Thumbs up Thermapen

I'm really impressed with the Thermapen. It's super easy to use. You just snap the probe out, and the reading comes on. Then you wash and close it to turn it off.

The reading is really fast, and the numbers are large enough to see. My vision is not as good as it used to be, so it's a blessing to be able to easily read a thermometer.

Likewise, the battery compartment is big enough to easily open and replace batteries. I hate items that are so scaled down that I need a magnifying glass and tweezers to try to work on them.

On the flip side, Thermapen is compact and easily fits in my hand or pocket. I have one set that is really big and has wires and probes, and I have to box it up to keep the thermometer set together. I'm not thrilled about the cabinet real estate that one takes up, so I'm a lot happier with the Thermapen which fits right in my kitchen catch all drawer.

The price of the Thermapen would be the only ouch. But, if you wreck a few steaks or a couple of briskets, then you'll find this investment well worth the money. You're getting a custom hand made product out of England that is top quality and accurate. Thermapen has, as an added bonus, the cool factor with the nice design and great colors. After using the Termapen, I'm sold.

I'd also note that Termapen is not just for outdoor grilling and smoking. It's also popular with the kitchen crowd. My next project will be making some homemade candy. I've been using the cold water ball trick which is not always a winner.

You can check out Thermapen and see the thermometer that I tested out as well as some other cool thermometers that they sell. No. I'm not connected with the company in any way. As always, I'm just sharing what I find - the good and the bad. This one goes on my happy list (-: