August 2026 Grilling and More

Any month, any time, any weather... it's always a great time to fire up the grill and enjoy some of the best grilled cuisine west of the Mississippi River! Here are a few grilling sessions I've enjoyed during August, 2026 and earlier. Grilling is a wonderful pasttime!

Photo: I like to get the fire started by using a chimney starter, which is a great way to utilize the newspaper-style grocery adds that arrive in the mail as junk. I use a few commercial briquettes to get things started, but load up the chimney with either locally-gathered oak wood, or seasoned almond wood. I sometimes use a combination of both! I NEVER use liquid fire starter, as I feel uncomfortable with it, and I'm wary of any chemical taste it could implant into my meal.

Photo: After the charcoal and wood are fully involved, I empty the flaming contents of the chimney into the grill, with everything banked to one side. This creates two heat zones: Direct and indirect. The idea is to sear over direct heat and then move the contents over to the indirect side in order to finish cooking and to absorb the delicious wood smoke.

I built the grill stand myself, which makes life much more comfortable. The Smokey Joe sits on top of a metal pan, custom fabricated from an oil drip pan, which catches any ash the ash catcher under the grill misses. The stand is also useful for hanging tools and the shelf underneath hold a grill basket, for occasions where smaller size pieces of meat or veggies could fall through the grates in the grill.

Photo: It's late Saturday afternoon, August 15, 2026, and I'm a happy guy, as I'm grilling a great dinner tonight on my Weber Smokey Joe grill, which is my go-to grill of choice. Today I'm using seasoned almond wood, which works great with salmon.

Photo: Today, I divided the fire into direct and indirect zones, and I'm searing the salmon filet, corn and jalapeño chili pepper over the hot fire. Today's wood is seasoned almond from Merced County, thanks to my friend Steve.

This morning I parboiled the potato, and now it's mostly wrapped in foil, seasoned with olive oil and salt, and baking over direct heat.

Photo: The potato had morphed into stuffed, twice-baked potato, and it's baking over indirect heat and absorbing the delicious almond wood smoke. More on this in the next photo.

Photo: Tonight's dinner of grilled fresh, wild-caught Alaskan salmon, stuffed, twice-baked potato, sweet, fresh corn and a jalapeño chili pepper as an appetizer. This was enough food to feed two people! I saved about half of it to eat the next day, as I didn't want to indulge to excess.

I am fortunate to have great friends, as my friend Dan Weir gifted me the salmon, along with some of his home-crafted bacon, and my friend Steve Zeiders gifted me the almond wood.

As I mentioned before, I got the fire started with commercial charcoal, but most of the cooking/smoking used seasoned, Merced County almond wood, thanks to my friend Steve. I use oak wood much of the time, as it's native to Roseville and western Placer County, but I prefer almond wood when I grill fish, thanks to a somewhat milder flavor. Also, almond wood gives you a lot of smoke!

I marinated the salmon for six hours in a simple marinade of soy sauce, olive oil and lemon juice. I placed it on the grill, meat side down, seared it for about five minutes and moved it over to the indirect side to bake, and to absorb the delicious almond wood smoke.

Earlier today, I cut the potato in half and parboiled it. I seasoned it, wrapped it in aluminum foil and allowed it to bake over direct heat for about fifteen minutes until it was mostly baked. I removed it from the grill, and scooped out the insides, just leaving the potato skin. To the pulp, I added bacon bits - Dan's home made bacon... delicious - shredded Mexican cheese, butter, ranch dressing, diced white onion and diced jalapeño chili pepper. I returned it to the grill and grilled it over direct heat for about fifteen minutes, until the cheese was thoroughly melted and gooey.

The ear of fresh corn and the jalapeño chili pepper were simply grilled until finished, which wasn't exactly rocket science.

Dinner worked out great!

Photo: Tonight's dinner worked out to be enough food for two people, so I only at about half of it tonight and saved the rest for another meal. I did eat all of the corn, as I go crazy over sweet, fresh, grilled corn. I prefer to remove the kernels from the cob and simply season them with a little olive oil, salt and freshly-ground pepper. Look at the salmon fillet... isn't it beautiful?

Photo: It's late in the day and 100+ degree hot, on Monday afternoon, July 27, 2026, and I've fired up my Weber Smokey Joe and I'm grilling dinner. Tonight, I'm using Placer County native oak wood, which is perfect wood for just about everything.

Photo: Grilled pork, bacon-wrapped stuffed baked potato, sweet corn, along with a jalapeño chili pepper. You mean you've never heard of a baked potato, that's wrapped with bacon and stuffed with cheese? Neither had I until yesterday, when I was surfing the web and stumbled upon it, and I simply HAD to give it a try.

Photo: Grilled pork, bacon-wrapped, stuffed baked potato, fresh corn, and a jalapeño chili pepper for dinner.

I didn't do anything to the pork except drizzle it with olive oil, sear it over direct heat until attractive grill marks appeared - about three minutes - flipped it over and repeated the process. I moved it over to the indirect side of the grill to finish cooking and to absorb the delicious oak smoke. Same with the corn and the jalapeño chili pepper.

Alright... the bacon-wrapped, stuffed baked potato. Using a jalapeño pepper core remover tool, I bored hole through the whole potato, then placed it in my microwave oven and nuked it for four minutes. I allowed it to cool, then I inserted a stick of Mozerella string cheese inside the potato. Next, I completely and thoroughly wrapped it with bacon, and I ended up using nearly a quarter pound. I wrapped it in a sheet of aluminum foil and let it sit until on the kitchen counter until it was time to fire up the grill.

I grilled the foil wrapped potato over direct heat for fifteen minutes or so, then moved it over to the indirect side to mostly finish baking; about ten minutes. I removed it from the grill, split it open, and stuffed it with a slice of American cheese and diced jalapeño pepper. Then I returned it to the grill, on the indirect side, and allowed it to bake for about fifteen minutes, and for the cheese to melt. Dinner was finished.

I loved the pork, corn and jalapeño chili pepper... The baked, stuffed bacon-wrapped potato was simply deliciously decadent. Did I say delicious? The potato, in itself would be a meal. If I ate like this more than once a month, I'd most likely weigh 300 pounds before Christmas!

Dinner worked out great for this Monday evening.

Photo: Saturday, July 04, 2026. In order celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States of America, I grilled a special dinner tonight on my Weber Smokey Joe grill. Since the main course was lamb ribs, I chose oak wood, due to it's slightly stronger taste then almond.

Photo: As always, I divided the fires into two zones, direct and indirect which makes it easier to control the heat and allow for even cooking without burning.

Photo: Tonight's dinner of California lamb ribs, sweet fresh corn, Russet potato, jalapeño chili pepper, mushrooms and Pepper Plant brand "Chunky Garlic" hot pepper sauce. The oak wood worked great with this fine dinner.

Our local supermarket had lamb ribs on sale of $5.99 a pound, and I couldn't pass that up, so I purchased a package. I seasoned the ribs using Pappy's brand "Blue Label" seasoning, which is one of my favorites, chopped up a clove of fresh garlic, and marinated the ribs for six hours in straight red wine vinegar. I seared the ribs over direct heat, flipped them to sear the other side, and when they sported attractive grill marks, I moved them over to the indirect side of the fire. I basically did the same thing with the corn, potato, mushrooms and jalapeño pepper.

Along with a couple of cold beers, this was a great way to celebrate the 4th of July, 2026!

Photo: Sunday, August 03, 2025 it was a great day to pile oak wood and charcoal in the chimney starter, light the fire, and grill tripas, just like it's done in Mexico. Tonight's dinner will be "Tacos de Tripas." Muy sabroso...

Tripas is a cut of beef that I can actually afford, as I paid $1.99 a pound for this batch. After thoroughly washing my tripas, I rubbed the them with a generous helping of "Carne Asada Seasoning," and marinated them overnight using Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce, along with a little lime juice.

Photo: My tripas are almost ready to remove from the grill, after grilling for about 30 minutes.

The marinade I used, Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce doesn't have any sugar, so it was possible to grill the tripas over direct heat without the marinade carmelizing or burning. I grilled the tripas over direct heat to sear for around five minutes, flipped them over to sear the other side. As the tripas were grilling, I brushed Valentina on the meat, to add another depth of flavor. When the meat was seared, I removed it from direct heat, brushed on more Valentina, covered the grill, and allowed the meat to finish grilling using indirect heat. I rotated the lid to the delicious oak smoke would kiss the meat in smoke, for added flavor.

Photo: I'm a happy griller, as I lift the lid and admire one of the tripas. It looks like it'll be about another 10 minutes or so until they're ready to remove from the grill.

Photo: I toasted corn tortillas over an open gas burner, just the way it's done in Mexico. Naturally, each taco used two tortillas, to hold things together and to add superior taste.

Photo: My two "Tacos de Tripas," featuring grilled tripas, diced white onion, along with cilantro, all held together in two toasted corn tortillas. This is the most common way "Tacos de Tripas" are served on the streets of every Mexican city, town or pueblo, but you'll often find other garnishes such as diced radishes or shredded cabbage. Many taco stands offer crema or runny guacamole for added enhancement.

Photo: I hold one of my tacos and admire the juicy goodness of the delicious tripas. I was introduced to tripas years ago during a trip to Mexicali, Mexico, and I have grown to love them, especially when grilled. Fried tripas are amazing too!

Combine either Placer County native oak wood or almond wood imported from Merced County, along with my Weber Smokey Joe grill, and I have found the winning combination to fine food and dining! The food is delicious, the atmosphere is laid back, and, in the words of George Gershwin, "The livin' is easy..."

Anytime is grilling time at my place, but summer makes it especially enjoyable. Cheers!

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