The ULTIMATE Surf & Turf with a Vortex

A Special week for us

This week on The FOGO Life, we have many special things in store for you.  First of all, we had the pleasure of having #TeamFOGO member William Horst, aka @Hooked_On_BBQ  join our very own, Captain Ron Dimpflmaier for some grilling fun that was way beyond delicious.  Will is an accomplished BBQ expert and first-class family man who has amassed an Instagram following of over 105,000 fans.  We are proud to have him on the team and proud that he was able to take some time and come cook with us.  Follow his Instagram for some outstanding grilling.  The man can grill anything perfectly, but he is a real lobster and steak grilling expert!

The Concept

When we first started talking to Will about filming some videos, it was natural that we had to do some surf and turf, as that is really his specialty.  Ron is no slouch either so we knew this would be something special.  While brainstorming, Will had mentioned that he had an idea for a sauce but had never tried it yet.  The moment he shared the ingredients that he had in mind, The Captain knew they had to make this together.  The flavor combination of the Japanese BBQ sauce (if you haven’t had it, you don’t know what you are missing), the honey and butter sounded too good to pass up.  Well when he arrived and we started cooking, he pulled out a surprise from his friends at Halteman Family Meats.  In addition to the incredible U.S.D.A. Prime ribeye’s that Halteman sent, he whipped out a couple of bone marrow bones to roast.  His idea was to cook them and add the gelatinous insides to the sauce.  Let me tell you, it took this tasty sauce from 5 star to about 137 stars!  The man is an evil sauce scientist!    

The Execution

All of these ideas that these two had come up with all sounded great but it seemed that it was going to be a delicious version of Surf and Turf.  The plan was to reverse sear the steaks and cook the lobster tails using the indirect method.  Well @CptnRon302 came up with the idea of showing how to cook indirect without using a heat deflector such as a plate setter or Conveggtor.  The Vortex was the answer that he was looking for.  The reason being is that the Vortex can turn just abut any charcoal grill into an indirect cooking machine.  Whether you are cooking on a Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, Primo Ceramic Grill (Will’s preferred choice of grills) or even a regular charcoal grill such as a Weber Kettle, the Vortex is a simple and inexpensive way to turn your grill onto and indirect grilling machine.  Don’t believe me?  Click the link for the video and watch and see for yourself!

The Steaks

These beautiful, fat ribeye steaks were provided to us by Will’s culinary partner, Halteman Family Meats.  They are a Pennsylvania  Butcher Shop that has been located in the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia since 1917.  They are purveyors of all sorts of high-end products, from Prime beef to turkey to items like scrapple and bacon.  They even just came out with dry aged beef.  I know this, the ribeye’s that they provided us with, and the bone marrow bones were top notch and I will be using their products again.  They ship all over so go ahead and check them out.  You won’t be sorry.

The Lobster Tails

 These tails that we used for this video just don’t get much fresher.  They were caught off of Pompano Beach, Fl. by my scuba diving expert friend Heather Schaefer just a few days before shooting the video.  Heather is also an artist featuring sea life and has some beautiful designs.  Check out her shop here.   

Being that we live in Florida, these were warm water, or spiny lobsters.  They differ from northern Maine lobster in that they have no claws.  Their body is covered in small spines that act as protection from predators and have a slightly different taste and texture than that of their northern, cold-water cousins.  Both are definitely delicious and there is always a debate about which is the better crustacean.  If you want to see our opinion, we made a video comparing the two, watch it here.

There are many different ways to prepare lobster tails and the boys decided on splitting them down the middle and cooking them like that.  This allowed for more surface area for the sauce to stick to, thereby increasing the level of flavor.  They were cooked indirect and basted throughout the duration of the cook.  You could also finish off the tails by turning them over and finishing them with the meat side down right over the flames but they chose to not sear them and to let all of the beautiful flavors shine through as they were. The choice is yours.

If you are looking to have one of the best meals of your life, look no further.  The reef and beef that Ron and William prepared were simply to die for.  The gorgeous marbling in the beef and the freshness of the tails all came together for one incredible experience.  We certainly hope that you will give this one a try and see for yourself.  I don’t think that Heather can go catch lobster for each of you but get yourself some tails and order some of these delicious ribeye’s and enjoy a feast that you won’t soon forget.  Until then, thanks for tuning in, remember to get out and grill and we will see you the next time on The FOGO Life.  

Directions:

1. Using the Kick Ash Basket, shake all of the old charcoal.  Place the Vortex, large opening down in the center of the charcoal grate and fill it with all of the old charcoal.  Add some new FOGO charcoal to fill it up if necessary.
2. Using a Blazaball and FOGO Fire Starters, light the charcoal and set the grill to 225-250°.  Place the cooking grate directly on the top of The Vortex.
3. Prepare the ribeye’s by wrapping a piece of kitchen twine around the circumference of the steak and tying it tight.  Insert the Meater thermometer into the edge of the steak until the point is in the center of the steak.  Next, coat with a generous amount of the Garlic Salt and Black Pepper.  Allow the steaks to sit out while preparing the rest.
4. Take the marrow bones and sprinkle with Garlic salt, black pepper and fresh rosemary.  Set on the grill away from the center to avoid direct heat.  Roast the bones with the lid closed until the marrow has softened and is bubbling.  Remove from the heat.
5. Prepare your lobster tails by first splitting them in half right down the center using your chef’s knife and then pulling the meat out of the shell.  Do not separate the meat from the tail.  Simply stick your finger in between the shell and the meat, then pull the meat up to separate it from the shell and lay it back in there.  Sprinkle each tail with a dusting of the Garlic Salt.
6. On a stove top or grill, make your lobster basting sauce by placing the carbon steel pan on there and adding the butter, Bachan’s Japanese BBQ Sauce, Hot Honey, and scoop all of the marrow from one bone.  Boil this down and reduce, stirring steadily until the sauce begins to thicken and then remove it from the heat.  Using the basting brush, brush a layer of sauce in between the lobster meat and the tail.  Be liberal with it as some of it will cook out.  
7. Place the steaks, bone side toward the heat on the grate around the outside of the grill so that they are not over The Vortex.  Close the lid and roast until your desired level of doneness is achieved.
8. When the steaks are just past the halfway point, place the lobster tails, shell side down around the outside of the grill, just like you did for the steaks.  We don’t want any part of the lobster over the vortex.  Baste the lobster with the sauce mixture using your basting brush a few times while they are cooking.
9. Once the steaks have reached your level of doneness that you are looking for and the tails have hit 140°(they will continue to cook while resting to the 145 desired temperature), use tongs to remove them from the grill and open the bottom vent all the way to increase the heat of the grill.  Once the fire in the Vortex is very hot, using the XL grill tongs, place the steaks, one at a time over the opening of the Vortex.  Sear for approximately 20-30 seconds and flip once the sear is where you want it.  Sear the second side the same way you did the first and remove them from the grill.  Slice the steak across the grain, cut up the lobster and serve.  Use the leftover sauce as a dipping sauce for the lobster.  Beware….it is delicious!