When the weather begins to turn from the grayish winter to spring time, an annual phenomenon begins to take place as the man of the house, who rarely sets foot in a kitchen other than to sneak a forbidden drink from the juice carton, suddenly becomes champion of the backyard barbecue. Usually donning an apron with questionably clever sayings like, “Quest for Fire” and “Kiss Me, I’m the Chef”, and armed with his trusty set of 2-foot long grilling utensils, he ceremoniously fires up his coveted Weber in preparation for the charred masterpiece he is about to create, all the while smug in thought of his family and friends who will surely be in awe of a true BBQ King! Such men experience a certain satisfaction from cooking a meal over a blazing fire and receiving high praise for a feat that surely no one else could have accomplished, certainly not anyone within the realm of his own backyard!

What to do with a chuck roast that was too cheap to pass up at the grocery store. Chuck is generally a tough cut of meat and have to be prepared correctly to have it tender when you are finished.

• 3 to 4 pound chuck roast, 2-1/2 to 3 inches thick

• 3 cloves garlic, minced, crushed or put through a press

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/3 cup sherry (just regular, dry sherry - not “cooking” sherry)

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

• freshly ground black pepper (several healthy grinds)

• 2 tablespoons tomato catsup

Mix all marinade ingredients except the catsup. Pour over the roast (the one-gallon plastic zip-lock freezer bags are perfect for this) and marinate for at least 24 hours.

When your grill is ready, remove the roast from the marinade (reserve the marinade!) and put it on the grill, 4 to 5 inches from medium coals. Put the cover on the grill. Mix the catsup into the marinade, and baste 4 or 5 times during grilling. It will take about 1 hour and 15 minutes for the roast to reach 160 degrees (medium). An instant-read meat thermometer is a handy thing to have for this. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Shark Kabobs

1 lb black tip shark (or tuna steak, swordfish, mako, marlin)
2 lg carrots, unpeeled
pineapple slices, halved
1/2 c. orange juice
1/4 c. melted butter or margarine
3 tbsp soy sauce

Cut carrots into 1/2 in chunks, and blanch until barely tender.

Alternate fish, carrots, and pineapple on skewers til you have 4
chunks of fish on each one.  Again, how much of the other stuff
depends on you.  You should have 2-3 skewers full per person.

For marinade, mix the juice, butter and soy together.

Suspend skewers over a 13x9 pan lined with foil and spoon marinade
over kabobs.  Broil for 4 minutes, then turn and broil for another
4-5 minutes, spooning marinade over them periodically.

Serve over hot cooked rice.