Made beer brats yesterday, they were delicious as always. And while I wanted to share the pictures of them, I also wanted to use this post to show y'all my new cutting board
Not too long ago my cousin opened a woodworking business. So we hired him to make us a really nice large cutting board for our kitchen, something we wanted for a while
To show scale, here is a picture with three racks of ribs on it where I was removing the membranes last night (smoking these today to take to my parent's house)
It’s a local brand of pork sausage made in south Alabama. It just has a great flavor and everyone who tries it, loves it. Conecuhsausage.com is the website but it looks like you have to buy in bulk on the website.
I have been craving Brunswick stew lately. So, I smoked a chicken yesterday, got some pulled pork out of the freezer and made some for dinner tonight along with some homemade bread. It hit the spot!
Rack of spare ribs on the PBC..
Bark got a little dark ( should have wrapped a little sooner), but inside still tender and juicy. Just short of fall off the bone.
served up with some mac & cheese, apple sauce, and football
Formerly upstate NY, Now residing in Southern NH, Live Free or Die!
My current cookers include a Shirley Fabrication 24x36 patio model; Weber Performer with the Slow-n-Sear 2.0 & Drip & Griddle; Pit Boss Series 2 propane smoker & SnS Travel Kettle.
Straight Whiskey: I'm a bourbon guy. All time favorite Pappy Van Winkle 12 year. Standard go to Blantons
Blended Whiskey: James Oliver American Whiskey
I also enjoy an occasional cigar
Full weekend of cooking in some pretty cold temps. It was -5° when I fired up the cooker yesterday morning 🥶
I made pastrami, baby back ribs 3 different ways (Korean, S&P and house rub), ground lamb sheekh kabobs, brisket point burnt ends, smoke turkey chili, smoked cheese, smoked devil eggs and gravlax. I didn't get pics of everything, but here are a few shots I did manage to take. ​​​​
Smoked grilled Buffalo wings, St Louis spare ribs with MMD and some smoked Italian sausages. Wound up losing a half a rack to the PBCgods as it fell off the hook (a first for me) but rest of the ribs were perfectly cooked. Clean bite through but not fall of the bone tenders.
I give you my first attempt at Detroit-Style Pizza! It was slightly unsuccessful in that I overcooked it. I used my oven set to 550 F (hottest I can ever remember setting it) for fifteen minutes. I should have checked at ten minutes. Oh well, but it is such an easy pizza to make, I'll probably try again next week.
The pizza was still good and the some of the edges that weren't overly overdone were quite tasty.
I am now starting to get confidence to branch out on my pizza making. I've done enough of STCG's basic dough to want to try other methods. (There is nothing wrong with Sam's basic dough....it exactly what he intends it to be: straightforward, simple, tasty, and repeatable by home cooks.) It does come out a bit on the cake-y side, though.
Here is the pizza set up for the oven. Dough had rested for two hours, then I let it rest another 30 minutes in the pan when it started to resist me and snap back, then it went to the edges nicely. The pan is one of those specially-made Detroit-style pans, 14"x10".
Here it is after 15 minutes at 550 F. I can already tell it is overdone.
BTW, cheese coming right out of a 550 F oven is practically molten! Let cool.
It wasn't terrible for my first attempt and I am sure I can improve it significantly next time. I also need to grate my own cheese. You can see the mozzarella is still very strand-y if you look closely. I did get some nice cupped pepperoni (I used thicker slices this time, which apparently is part of the secret to that.)
Game day wibs. Didn't have my usual BBQ sauce especially to glaze with, so settled for some sweet baby rays, which I do like, but doesn't glaze how I prefer.
Outside tools:
22" Weber kettle (2x)
Santa Maria grill attachment
2-burner Camp Chef Explorer propane stove
Temperature tools:
ThermaWorks Smoke
ThermaWorks ThermaPen Mk4
Inside tools:
36" Viking gas range
Anova sous vide
Lodge cast iron skillets, griddle, dutch ovens - several
Stupid expensive but very beautiful cast iron gifts for my wife - 4x
Other tools & accessories:
Buck Chef knife and serrated knife
Victorianox Fibrox Pro Chef knife - 3x
Cave Tools Metal Meat Claws
​​​​​​Meathead's book: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling
I got a chunk of raw steel plate from a buddy this weekend, and turned into a 16x20 baking steel. Wow. Who knew that was such an amazing tool. (besides Richard Chrz of course!)
Lisa made the dough Thursday, for a 72 hr ferment. I don't know much about dough, but damn. We'll do it again.
Gas oven on 500 for about an hour with the steel on middle rack. I had the broiler on for a few minutes before the pie went in, and left it on for 3 minutes. Broiler off for 3 more minutes and pull it out - not perfect but more than good enough for the first effort with this method!
(I've got a sweet video of the crust crackling when I cut it, but it seems gauche to post.... 😁)
Awesome! Is that the Baking Steel 72 hour dough recipe? I'm hooked on it. I do my bit of broiler at the end instead of the beginning but with similar timing. I also use the Lodge 14 inch cast iron pan instead of a steel.
Jim White Yes, it's the Baking Steel 72 hr recipe, and it was awesome. I let them rest on the counter for about 4 hours before baking, and the ease with which the dough stretched out perfectly was amazing.
Switching the broiler to the end is a good idea - I'll give that a try next time. I'm still amazed they're done and delicious in 6 minutes.
Lazy dinner tonight. Earlier in the week I wanted to pick up a pork tenderloin but they only had pre-marinated tenderloins. I don't usually buy anything pre-marinated but I got one anyway. My girlfriend frequently buys salads in a bag. So tonight they came together with a couple of sweet potatoes.
Applwood smoked bacon pork tenderloin, roasted sweet potatoes, and spiced apple chopped salad. The flavors were mediocre.
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