We have been importing Himalayan mineral salts for several years – loving the tangy mineral taste it adds to food.

Now we have a trio of spice mixtures.

The best is: No preservatives – only natural herbs and salt – truly basic spice mixes – hand mixed in small batches in Vermont, each has an individual taste direction.

Vermont Maple Salt – Pure Vermont maple sugar, natural evaporated cane sugar, and mineral rich Himalayan salt crystals make this combination of sweet and savory essential in your kitchen! Use it grilling on your Salt Stone and taste the caramelized maple and the tangy salt. Unbelievable!

Catamount Country Grill Salt – The rich taste of Vermont–filled with savory herbs. Shake on meats, fish or greens, before or after grilling.

Maple Spicy Garlic Salt – This spiced salt has it all – sweet, garlic, spice – popcorn, steaks, fish – they all benefit from this mixture!

Buy this super spice set now on our Vermont Lifestyle website.

Vermont Himalayan Spice Mixes

First make sure that your Grillstone is heated up – turn on your grill, add the stone and shut the top for about 10 minutes, season the grillstone by covering it with your favorite oil (spread with a spatula or a silicone brush). Continue heating until a drop of water sizzles on it.

Now the fun part – have your steak at room temperature (a 2” filet would be a treat – but you can use another thick tender cut), mix 1 tbsp soft butter with a pinch of salt (Himalayan or Sea salt is best), put a dollop (1 tsp.) of the butter on the hot Grillstone. Immediately put your steak on the butter. Leave it in place until the steak doesn’t stick to the stone (5 Minutes minimum).

Put another dollop of butter on a different empty spot on the Grillstone – take the steak, turn over and place the steak on the ungrilled side on the new dollop of butter.

Leave the steak in place until your desired doneness (5 minutes for rare).

This is a simple, pure, delicious steak –

You can use your Saltstone, don’t season the stone with oil, just heat – and don’t add salt to your butter.

Guten Apetit!

When you get them, they will be cleaned – so just cut them along the breastbone with poultry shears and spread them apart – they will look like little frogs! Don’t let them intimidate you, chop some garlic, rosemary, add a good olive oil, and fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Marinate the quails in this mixture for a bit – if not possible, just make sure they are coated with the oil. Using the Grillstone for these birds is perfect, the indirect heat will not burn them, and the marinade will grill itself into the bird, not drip onto the fire. You will taste the difference! Watch the following video -

Grilling Quails with Martin on the Grillstone!

 chop a bit of parsley and sprinkle over them.  There is no other way to eat them – pick them up like ribs and eat them with your fingers!
Serve with a Spanish Verdejo,  Albariño, or a Sauvignon Blanc.

Ingredients: 2 – 4 cups flaked cooked fish – we used Pike, but it could be salmon, trout, etc. (recipe that follows is based on 2 cups fish)
2 eggs, 1 cup chopped onions, 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1/2 cup chopped capers (optional but super!), 1/2 cup chopped colorful peppers (optional), 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, paprika & lemon juice to your taste. You can put 2 tablespoons mayonaise in for extra moist cakes.
Beat the eggs a bit, and put everything in a big mixing bowl and mix lightly. Put on your heated, oiled Grillstone and let them sizzle for about 6 minutes each side until browned.
Enjoy this light, summer burger!

Ingredients:

Rack of pork ribs cut into sections that can be wrapped in Aluminum Foil

Onions, Green Peppers, Beer, BBQ Sauce

These are the best ribs I have ever eaten, we are sad that Kurt is back in Germany – but I am sure he is working up recipes for his next trip to Vermont!

How to: Get your grill hot and brown

Kurt brings special American style/German Beer inspired Grillstone recipes with him from Munich.

the ribs on both sides without the Grillstone (about 15 minutes total).

Put the Grillstone on top of the grates of your grill and turn the heat to low and lower the cover. Now take large squares of Aluminum Foil and put slices onions and peppers on them, put one section of rib in each square, pour some beer and BBQ sauce over the ribs; then seal the Aluminum Foil loosely around the mixture.

This packet then gets put on the Grillstone and steams for about ¾ hour – don’t turn or anything.

When they are done, the meat falls off the bones and the sauce is delicious – but I love the vegetables at the bottom soaked into the sauce and beer. Enjoy!

Lake Bomoseen in Vermont - sunset grilling!

Ingredients:

Flank Steak, mustard, onions, bacon – that’s it!

Try this recipe for your next party – it is a real treat! Get a flank steak from your butcher; if possible, ask him to butterfly it – if that’s not possible, halve it yourself with a sharp knife – be really careful.

I then put the pieces between plastic wrap and pound with a meat hammer (or wooden mallet) – the thinner, the better.

Remove from the plastic and lay on a flat surface, spread the steak surface with mustard, sprinkle with chopped onions, and cover with strips of bacon.

Roll the flank steaks into cylinders, cut with a sharp knife into 1” thickness, and stick them on a wooden skewer like a lollypop. You can put as many as can fit, but if you have a lot of people, it will go further if you put one or two per stick.

When you have preheated your Grillstone on your grill, or in your oven, brush it with your oil of choice (use a silicone brush).

Grill until good and brown on both sides (in the oven, put the top grill on to brown them) – the bacon and filling keeps the flank steak moist and flavorful.

Ready to go - Flank Steak Pinwheels from the Grillstone.

Perfect crust, juicy pork, and the fat is grilled off.

Our friends, Kurt and Marta are visiting from Germany; we grill, talk, drink beer, and spend a lot of time outside – they want to share some authentic Bavarian recipes that are easy to replicate. The recipe works with any pork belly, but best with the skin on, which is hard to find. If you can find one, we have a great way to roast it on the Grillstone; if you can’t, pick a fresh pork roast, or pork belly, and give this recipe a try anyway!

We found our roast in a Chinese grocery store in Boston, the butcher was absolutely amazing, he had all fresh cuts of meat and fowl that you could want – so, if you are in a larger city, give that a try.

Pork Belly Recipe

Begin with this Rub: make a mix of salt, pepper, smoked paprika, oregano or marjoram, and caraway seeds.

If you have a pork belly with skin, cut the skin into a checkerboard pattern.

Rub the spice mixture into all sides of the roast (especially the top with the skin), wrap it in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight.

When you are ready to grill, heat the Grillstone with the cover down on your grill to about 450 degrees (really hot!), brush the stones with a vegetable oil (not olive), remove the plastic wrap and sear the roast skin side down for about 10 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Turn onto each of the sides for about 10 minutes each at the same temperature, then turn it bottom side down (rib side), turn the grill on low (it will go down to about 300 degrees), and roast with the cover down for about 1 ½ hours.

When the time is up, turn the grill off and you can let the roast rest for a bit (up to ½ hour).

This produces the same delicious roast you’ll find at the Octoberfest, amaze your friends with a roast pork belly from your grill!

Would you like the recipe for German Potato Salad or German Cole Slaw?

Flank Steak from the Vermont Country Grillstone

When it was first suggested to use milk as a tenderizer, I was skeptical – the image of meat and milk didn’t inspire me.

But, as I have faith -

We put our two flank steaks in a shallow container, covered it with 2% milk, and left it in a cool place overnight.

The next day, after taking the meat out of the milk, and drying it off, I laid the meat in a marinade made from:

2 cloves chopped or diced garlic

2 tbsp Soy sauce

1tbsp honey

3 tbsp Whiskey

½ tsp red pepper flakes

We left the meat in the marinade for the day, but try for at least a few hours.

We heated the Grillstone on high heat on our gas grill, but if you are using charcoal or an open fire, get it as hot as possible. Then pour some oil on the Grillstone (Grapeseed or Coconut oil hold up well in high heat, but any vegetable oil will work) and distribute it with a spatula, scraping any burnt on residue off the Grillstone.

When hot, scraped and oiled, put the Flank Steaks on the grill – save the marinade for later. The Grillstone will sear the total surface of the Steak, not letting any of those meat juices escape and drip into the fire! After 5 minutes (for med. rare), or 7 minutes (for med. well), turn the Steak over, pour a bit of the whiskey marinade over the steak, and turn your grill off (saves gas!) – leave the Steak on the 5 or 7 minutes as you wish.  Put the steak on a heated plate and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting across the grain for tasty, perfectly grilled Flank Steak strips.

It was delicious, and tender! We used the extra Whiskey marinade as a dipping sauce for the steak strips.

Grillstone advantage: Sears in the flavor on the COMPLETE surface of the meat – no uneven grilling, no unhealthy burnt spots; and always pour some marinade or sauce on the stone while cooking, it will reduce and thicken – sopp it up with bread or scrape it onto your grilled meat.