MY FAVORITE RECIPES: Meet Mike Jepson

Mike Jepson (and his twin brother Rob) were born in Carmel, Calif., while their father was attending the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey. His parents met while his father was a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. From California, Mike moved to Guam for his first two years of elementary school and then to Annapolis, Md., for the remaining six years. He spent his high school years in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, a bit northwest of London, England. He participated in sports and church activities there and traveled extensively through Europe and the British Isles.

Mike earned his B.S. in Biology from a small liberal arts college in southern Maryland in 1980 and earned his master’s degree in Marine-Estuarine Science from the University of Maryland in 1988. He studied zoology at WSU for a couple of years before accepting a job with the University of Idaho where he has researched the impacts of dams on salmonid migrations in the Columbia-Snake and Willamette River basins. He married into an old, Whitman County farm family in 1993, and he and his have wife have settled into country life just south of Kamiak Butte.

These days, Mike is happy to have his traveling days behind him. He is content to split and stack firewood, raise fruit trees, vegetables and turkeys, and hang out with his old bassett hound, Daisy. While Mike is a poultry man, he has neighbors who raise hogs and cattle, thereby providing him with delicious fare for his grilling pursuits. Mike is a charcoal purist and perhaps to the chagrin of his wife, has four different grills, each with their own unique qualities. He shares some of his favorite grill-themed recipes with us.

Recipes

Huli-Huli Chicken

3+ pounds chicken pieces

¾ cup Sherry (dry) (cooking sherry is ok)

¾ cup soy sauce

3 cloves mashed garlic

3 cups water

¾ tsp powdered ginger

3 TBSP sugar

Put all ingredients together in a large pot and bring to a boil.

Simmer 30 minutes.

Cool, cover and refrigerate.

Skim fat off the top before cooking

Grill and serve.

Notes: You can marinate it for a good while (I’ve kept it for approximately five days in the sauce) or cook it up straight away. It should not take too long to cook, depending on the heat level of the grill (15-25 minutes). Since the chicken is already partly cooked (parboiled) and pretty tender, you should minimize turning it on the grill as it has a tendency to break apart and fall off the bone.

Christopher Kimball’s Better Than A-1 Marinade

Makes enough to marinate 4 to 6 individual steaks or one 2-pound steak (also good for beef kabobs).

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 TBSP dark brown sugar

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

4 tsp minced garlic

2 TBSP minced fresh chives

1 ½ tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Combine soy sauce, oil, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, chives, and pepper in a medium bowl. Remove ¼ cup marinade and combine with vinegar in a small bowl and set aside. Place the remaining marinade and steak in a gallon sized zip lock bag, press out as much air as possible and seal. Refrigerate 1 hour, flipping the bag after 30 minutes. Remove steaks from marinade shaking as much marinade off as possible. Discard marinade. Grill steaks as desired. Transfer steaks to a shallow pan and pour reserved marinade over top. Tent loosely with foil and let rest 10 minutes, turning meat halfway through. Slice or serve steaks whole. The reserved marinade can be served as well if desired.

Peanut Butter Ribeye Steaks

2 bone-in ribeye steaks

Mix 1/3 cup soy sauce

2 cloves minced garlic

5-6 heaping tablespoons chunky peanut butter

1/3 cup water

Combine and heat in a small sauce pan until peanut butter is dissolved. Let the sauce cool. Put in a zip lock bag with the steaks. Marinade from 2 hours to overnight. Grill steaks to desired doneness. Proportions of each ingredient can be changed to suit your taste.