Show Us What You're Cooking! (SUWYC) - Volume 30, SUMMER 2023

[ecowper]

Bachelor Dinner #2 …. Stacy is gone until Monday ….. and, as I mentioned, arranged to be in San Diego as a hurricane is making landfall. She is hanging out with the boy and his girlfriend and will be perfectly safe. Meanwhile, today, she spent the whole day enjoying the San Diego waterfront. As revenge, I cooked this bachelor dinner.

Lamb loin chops were dry brined for 6 hours, sprinkled with Berbere (an East African spice mix) and grilled to medium rare. French lentils were cooked until just tender, combined with diced cucumbers and tomatoes, and then tossed in a vinaigrette of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar.

Had a Hemingway Daiquiri while grilling the lamb chops

[ecowper]

HotSun lentils are chilled. Pretty easy to do …. Boil and then simmer some French lentils with aromatics about 15 minutes. Don’t get them mushy. Drain, remove onion, garlic, etc. Allow to cool to room temp. Dice up cucumber and tomato, make a vinaigrette with olive oil, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar. Toss all that together, chill in fridge at least one hour prior to serving.

[HotSun]

Thanks ecowper !

[Bogy]

ecowper my wife said of her brother, who lives in Rancho Cucamonga, he'll either complain that they way overblew the predictions, or complain that they didn't give enough warning. They're gonna be wrong no matter what.

[2-7]

Chicken thighs on the Weber Kettle.

[SammyJ]

You can't find the recipe by searching flourless pizza crust. crust made with 3 cheeses, and eggs

[SammyJ]

Could not pick a piece up

[ssandy_561]

SammyJ we use Mission Carb Balance Soft Taco Flour Tortillas to make pizza on. We bake for about 5 minutes at 400° then put our toppings on and then bake for another 5 to 8 minutes. They also have Zero Net Carb Tortillas. We are a big fan of the Mission products when we are eating low carb. We use them for everything. BLT wraps, Egg Salad wraps, Garlic “Bread” tostadas, breakfast wraps, I’ll cut them into triangles and bake them for dipping in salsa or queso.

[texastweeter]

Use fathead crust recipe, precook crust, then top and cook your pizza...if you need my keto fathead crust recipe, let me know.

[mrteddyprincess]

This coming Wednesday I'm serving smoked chicken drumsticks to my third floor teaching colleagues. Mild, medium, and hot preferences as well as preference for how many each person wanted was collected via Google Forms.

I cooked today. 72 legs total in two batches on the Lang. They are cooling now, and I'm vacuum sealing them tomorrow to put in two SV water baths on Wednesday.

This is the biggest chicken cook I've done.

Brian




Sunday:

[RichieB]

Just checked, my calendar is wide open for Wednesday. I prefer hot. Thank you.

[Michael_in_TX]

Love this!

[hoovarmin]

Great job, Brian!

[STEbbq]

Amanda’s famous loaded bacon potato soup topped with more bacon, cilantro, and green onions with a garlic knot on the side for dipping.

[Panhead John]

She’s a keeper buddy…That looks great!

[hoovarmin]

I love potato soup and Amanda's looks terrific.

[snowswamp]

French toast and later apple butter; Round 1. So. Many. Apples…

[barelfly]

Yum!!!!! I’d eat that by the spoonful!

[Michael_in_TX]

I was about to ask when did you get the InstantPot with the hinged lid.....then thought for a moment, ran into my kitchen and.....how, on earth, have I never figured out to do that?!

[ssandy_561]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm, Apple Butter!

[Richard Chrz]

Smoked then reverse seared pork loin, on the 22 kettle.

[Michael_in_TX]

Mmm....I need to use rosemary on pork more often!

[barelfly]

I love this photo! Composed so well! And the pork looks excellent! Really lets the sear show against that perfectly cooked pork!

[Alan Brice]

Richard performs his cooks as art. Very nice Richard!

[BKYDBBQ]

Pork Butt on the PBC for a neighbor. Had a little extra so fixed myself a sandwich on white bread with pickled red onions, a splash of Carolina sauce and topped with some homemade sweet sauce..

.I cook a lot of pork butts, however, this is the first sandwich I have had that I cooked in a long time. Usually, I sample while I am pulling the butts and don't want anymore for a while after that...

[mrteddyprincess]

At any point did you wrap that butt?

Brian

[BKYDBBQ]

mrteddyprincess When it gets to the 160 - 170 range and the park looks good I put it an a half pan with a mix of apple juice and apple cider vinegar. Then I cover the pan tightly in foil and back on the pit. When it is all done I remove the butt to pull it and pour the liquid into a fat separator. Once the butt is pulled I add some of the liquid to the meat as well as some extra rub (modified MMD) and mix it all into the meat.

[mrteddyprincess]

Thanks for sharing your secrets! B

[DaveD]

Keeping the pork theme going, conducted a Pork-A-Palooza today, get-ahead cooking for our first gathering of friends at the house since the Before Time, coming up in a few weeks. My usual stupid amount of detail at the link. Did a pork butt and one rack each of SLC spares and baby backs.

It was a bit of a tap dance to start first the butt and later the two racks of ribs at three different times on the kettle, then foil-boat and transfer to the Pit Boss for the respective home stretches (nowhere near enough space on the kettle grate for all that), but it all worked out. But man, am I knackered (with a big contribution from testing positive for covid this morning, #$!%!!!!)!

Everything came out extremely well, juicy and tender and smoky, oh my! Plated with corn on the cob and string beans, with ample leftovers to round out the stock of BBQ I'll be reheating sous vide at the gathering (also on that menu: pulled chuck, sliced brisket point, smoked pork enchiladas, Rancho Gordo red beans & andouille, grilled veggies, salad).





Remainders for vac sealing tomorrow:



That'll do, pig... that'll do.

[barelfly]

double green chile cheese smash burgers

[barelfly]

Ha! DaveD - I mean…I’ve been told a time or two I have a big mouth…so…

And you don’t set this sucker down once you start!

[hoovarmin]

Terrific looking burger!

[Attjack]

Nice sear you have there.

[Panhead John]

Costco filet and shrimp…also cooked a baked tater. One of my favorite meals.

[Michael_in_TX]

Simple. Classic. Delicious.

[RonB]

So you cooked a baked tater? Does that make it a twice baked tater?

[texastweeter]

Put dem scrimps on some grits...

[jab688]

Vortexed some breaded wings tonight and used Hooters Wing Breading. 425-450 deg F, flipped at 20-25 min. Patted wings dry, shook in breading, then let sit for 30 min in fridge, vortexed, came out outstanding.
#hooterstallahassee #hooters #vortexchimney #teamchargriller #chargriller #chargrillergrills #chargrillerakorn #BBQPitBoysBigBendRegionofFloridaChapter #kingsford #Pwtallahassee #pigglywigglysouthtallahassee

[HotSun]

I made my first 'big' brisket today, having done other much smaller ones in the past. I documented it over here, so I'm not going to bore you with the details:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/beef-steak-brisket-roasts-prime-rib-etc/1470542-my-first-big-brisket

TL/DR: smoked a brisket overnight at 225F, totally unattended, no crutch until after 11 hours of smoking, pulled at 203F, 13 hours total smoking. I slept through most of it.

Here is the underside of the brisket after 4 hours in the warming/holding oven:



A slice:


Plating:


The cucumber salad is the same as the one SheilaAnn shared a few days ago. That was okay, but I used low-sodium soy sauce and should have used tamari instead.The cukes were so fresh I was getting sprayed while peeling and cutting. The brisket was okay, but a little dry. Eastern Carolina sauce I made a few weeks ago perked it up and saved the day. Fresh mango, some angel hair (my kid's idea for starch) with garlic, some dried herbs, and fresh Parm/Romano, and some other things not shown. Rolls were ready if I wanted a sandwich, but I decided against.

I screwed up and forgot to have the drippings ready with the meat, which would have saved the day. The drippings were not burned, thankfully, but I added some liquid to dilute them a little. The drippings were divine. You'll probably see them in the leftovers thread.

Overall, I give the meal a 7 out of 10.

Some ideas for improvements for the next brisket:

• Remember the drippings.... duh, that was so embarrassing
• Injection
• Longer dry brine without the rub; salt-free rub just before smoking

[WayneT]

For your first biggie, you did good! Shhhh, don’t tell the TX crowd you put eastern NC BBQ sauce on it. 😉

[Alan Brice]

7 out of 10?!?! I would go 8+ or mebe a niner! Nice cook!

[Michael_in_TX]

A few days ago, Matt Pittman (Meat Church) did a video on a gorgonzola cream sauce with a Denver steak. (https://www.meatchurch.com/blogs/rec...la-cream-sauce)

I thought that looked fantastic so I did it tonight, although with mini-Picanha steaks.

The recipe for the sauce looks like it will be way too much -- it calls for 32 oz of heavy cream -- but to my shock, it is the right amount for several steaks. After the requisite 40 minutes of simmering, it will be reduced to about a cup.

I decided to pair it with some roasted sweet potatoes. First, take a look at this potato next to my 7" knife:



That is, my friends, what we call a Texas-sized sweet potato! (I had my wife pick up two, not realizing they were so large! I only needed one!)

I diced it up into 3/4" cubes, drizzled them generously with EVOO, and seasoned with Meat Church's Holy Cow (salt/pepper/garlic) and some Italian seasonings. Into my Chimp they went for 30 minutes at 425 F.

The steaks I also seasoned with Holy Cow and did the reverse sear thing. I flipped every minute until I got the crust I wanted then finished indirect to 130 F internal. (It is curious that four years ago, I was terrified of doing steaks, on the grill or otherwise. Now it is like second-nature. Practice and experience is everything.)

Here they are after their first flip. I did have to move them around more than I am used to with a flank or skirt; that piece of fat on the side likes to flare up.



Nailed it.



And plated up.



The cheese-cream sauce, as you'd expect, is extremely rich, so a little goes a long way. Still, it is one of the better steak sauces I have ever made. It really does complement the beefiness of the picanhas.

The sweet potatoes were excellent, although I think I will peel them next time....the skin got a little too crisp. It has been quite some time since I've done sweet potatoes. Wow, oh, wow these things are sweet! Putting a little cheese-cream sauce on them, it was like eating dessert! So good!

Definitely a cook I will be doing again.

[Michael_in_TX]

ssandy_561 I really like your idea of combining the squashes. This, while delicious, was a bit unidimensional.

[Alan Brice]

Familiarity breeds confidence. You will be flippin steaks with yer eyes closed soon.

[mrteddyprincess]

My usual line is "I hate sweet potatoes," but you've convinced me to try roasting them in cubes. That has appeal to me. Nice cook!

B

[Attjack]

I used a Thai marinade on the chicken.

[Michael_in_TX]

This is the type of thing I keep working towards....a combination of protein, vegetable, and starch that just leaps off the plate at you.

[DaveD]

"Leaps" is exactly the word that (sorry not sorry) leapt to mind when I saw this poppin' pic. Beautiful work.