You may have heard about chicken wings or pork back ribs but what about chicken back ribs?  Maple Lodge Farms has created this amazing chicken wing alternative.  They have called them "Seasoned, Skinless Chicken Back & Ribs" but Jay Eatz is going to shorten it to chicken ribs.  I have tried these a few times and would put them right on par with chicken wings.  I like the white meat and the flavour that the rib bones infuse into the meat. One thing chicken ribs have over chicken wings is the price, I paid $2.09/lb (compare wings at $4.99/lb).  They are also very BBQ friendly and easy to make.
     I preheated the BBQ to medium.  Then placed the chicken ribs rib side down on the grill.

     During my last BBQ Spices and Rubs cooking class one of my students asked about doing baked potatoes on the BBQ.  We talked about twice baked mascarpone cheese baked potatoes which are amazing but not something you would throw on the grill every night.  What about something way easier and less expensive?  My easy BBQ baked potatoes elevate a simple baked potato to another level with few ingredients and even fewer minutes of prep time.
Ingredients:

• 1 Potato per person (I used red potatoes)
• 1 Onion
• 1/2 Clove of garlic per potato
• Stick of butter 
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Rinse and wash the potatoes and cut off any sprouts or bad spots.  Using a pairing knife, cut into the potato on a slight angle about half way through starting close to one end of the potato.  Now make another slice adjacent to the previous slice creating a small wedge in the potato being careful not to slice all the way through the potato.

     I was recently selected to take the "Can You Make The Cut?" challenge.  My mission: execute a challenging recipe featured in the Roundup App, a one of a kind app with a focus on what cut to buy and how to cook it.  This post is sponsored by Canadian Beef and I am being compensated monetarily and with groceries (don't tell the Canadian Beef people but I would have done it for the free beef). 
     Buying beef can be intimidating with all the choices available.  What if you are a late night shopper and the butcher has gone home for the day?  What if you shop at a budget grocery store that brings in pre-packaged meats and there is no butcher at all?

     To the regular followers of Jay Eatz you may be wondering why this post hasn't started with "So......."?  Jay Eatz has been instructing various cooking classes and has promised his students he would make the recipes and relevant course content available via the inter-web.  So rather than "So I taught BBQ spices and rubs class last night......." the post title follows the course description to make it easier for participants to find.  With that said here goes.

The first 2 rubs come courtesy of The BBQ Pit Boys, for other recipes from them visit http://bbqpitboys.com/.

Coffee Dry Rub Recipe

     I enter a beef cook off BBQ competition most years and decided to give Chimichurri beef a go.  I was in a rush the day before out buying ingredients for the Chimichurri marinade.  The recipe called for cilantro and the first store I went to was sold out.  I figured the Asian supermarket would have it because they have almost anything and everything.  In my rush I accidently picked up a pack of culantro instead.  Lucky for me culantro has a similar flavour profile to cilantro; it's just more pungent and stronger.    

     The good people at Grace Foods http://gracefoods.ca/ make an excellent bottle of Jerk Marinade for about $4.00.  This is usually my got to ingredient when I'm feeling jerk chicken.  You buy it, open the bottle and it's ready to use, convenience factor +10. 

     There is another way, all you need is about 16 ingredients and you're almost there (this is why Grace Foods is in business).  It will cost around $15 to make if you have some of the spices on hand, if you need everything expect double to triple that number.

       BBQ vegetables, steaks, burgers and more.  Before.....

       After.......

       That's right, Cheese Nips, the perfect ingredient for some cheese burgers sans cheese.  Probably not going to make the list of the healthiest burger but that wasn't going to happen with the burger toppings I had in mind anyways.  Here is what you will need:

       Everyone loves a good rack of ribs, that's why Rib Fests are so popular.  Every summer almost every city dedicates a weekend to celebrate the "RIB" but Rib Fests can be pricey, you can do it at home just as well if not better and who wants to wait for Rib Fest to enjoy a good rib?

       That's right Carib Lager BBQ beef shank.  My original intentions was to show case another under $6 a plate dish.  I figured something from the hooves or ass section of the cow would be my best bet.  I went slightly higher than the hoof and decided on beef shank but guess what?  Beef is expensive in Canada no matter what cut you are getting.  The shanks were one of the more reasonable cuts but still $12.10/kg.  I purchased two pieces costing slightly over $5 and weighing in at almost a pound each.  So the $6 a plate idea quickly went out the window.  I think this dish is coming in at about $10.50 per serving not including the two + hours of propane but hey, it was good.   

       If you are a true Canadian there is no end to BBQ season.  As long as you can shovel a path to the grill and have propane it's on.  On a brisk Canadian evening (and by brisk I mean -22 feels like -35) I cleared my path to the BBQ to grill up a t-bone and some zucchini.  Indoors I fried up some mushrooms to go with this BBQ delight.  

       First thing I did was rinse of my t-bone under the tap (as Jay Eatz has said before you never know where your steaks been before you've bought it) and marinated it in some Worcestershire sauce.

       While the steak was doing it's thing in the marinade I ventured out into the cold to clear the snow of the BBQ and get it started so it would be nice and hot by the time the steak was ready to hit it. 

       The weather outside is frightful but BBQ is so delightful and for 4 bucks how could one say no.  Feels like -21 outdoors might discourage some people, maybe our neighbors to the south currently experiencing their "nor'easter", but in Canada it's still prime time BBQ season.  The key is to keep it quick and simple on the colder days.  It's not the best time to do a 3 hour roast on the grill or anything that needs constant babysitting and will make you sit outdoors for the entire BBQ process.  I recommend simple items that you are familiar with grilling times to minimize outdoor time.  Two flip burgers or steaks make an excellent choice.  I opted for sausage which also kept the budget low like the temperature.

        I hit the grocery store up and scored a dozen hot Italian sausages for $7 which is about 60 cents a link.  Divided the pack into 3 parts, froze 2 bags of 4 and kept the other third ready for the grill.  I also picked up a small red pepper for about a dollar.  I looked in the freezer and saw a bag of mixed veg which consisted of green beans, yellow beans and carrots ($2.89 for entire bag, I used 1/5). Having my game plan established I fired up the grill at 7:04.  By 7:07 all the snow and ice on the lid had evaporated so the links were ready for the grill.  I placed them on and went inside to deal with the pepper.  I cut out the stem, de-seeded the pepper and cut it into about 6 pieces.  

         By the time this was done the sausages were ready for a turn.  Then I threw a handful of the frozen veg mix in the fry pan with a splash of olive oil and set it to low.  Back out to turn the sausage again, approximately 7:21.  At this point I added the red pepper to the grill, about 2 mins a side with the lid down.  When I turned the pepper I rotated the sausage.  In between the flips I transitioned the fry pan from low to medium and gave the veg a toss and a sprinkle of salt.  Then back out to pull the peppers and give the sausage one final turn.  Time, about 7:26.  The peppers joined the veg in the frying pan, tossed a few times to cover with the oil and seasoning.  Back out to the grill and sausages were done, shut down the propane, pull sausage and head indoors.  It's about 7:31 and the plate the sausage walked threw the door on is now the vessel for the veg on the fry pan.  7:32, sit down with knife and fork, a condiment or 2 for the sausage and enjoy.     

         Alternative, put key in ignition.  Drive to fast food place, drop $6 to $10 on a combo and maybe complete food run in 20 mins instead of 28.  Not tonight.