Show Us What You're Cooking! (SUWYC) - Volume 31, Autumn/Fall 2023

[Michael_in_TX]

This was a bit of an experiment. I decided to do some flautas with some leftover pulled pork I had.

I defrosted the pork and then rolled it into some tortillas, being careful not to overstuff them. I had made an egg wash in an attempt to use that to seal them, but that did not work at all, so toothpicks it is.



Into my little cute personal deep fryer they went. Three and a half minutes is all they needed. I did have to hold them down with tongs and a spoon as they won't stay submerged in the oil.



All plated up. They did need some salsa, which I added after taking this photo.



Not bad. The tortillas were delightfully crunchy, but the pork dried out a bit more than I liked (hence the need for the salsa). The beans were really good. I ran across this recipe online in which to a saucepan you add half a diced onion, a minced clove of garlic, an entire 15 oz can of black beans, and then a second 15 oz can of beans sans liquid. Bring to a boil, then stir in a ranch dressing packet, and simmer for five minutes. Surprising very good!

[Michael_in_TX]

Also, it should be pointed out, no chili was added to those beans.

[texastweeter]

Drop the floutas in the empty fryer and put the basket on top of them.

[Michael_in_TX]

texastweeter But of course...that an excellent idea! Not only would it keep them easily submerged, it would give them a bit more room in there. (The basket is just a tad smaller than the tank.) I would probably still hold the basket by the handle, just to make sure I'm not pressing them directly on the bottom of the tank as the heating element is right under that.)

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Steak... and cheese!

[barelfly]

Nice!!!!!!!!!!!

[Michael_in_TX]

Oh wow, that color on the cheese. This January I'm going to give smoking some cheese a try.

[Draznnl]

The first time I tried a wagyu brisket and WOW was it good. A 16.2 pound, SRF gold hunk of deliciousness. Seasoned with Kinder’s The Blend (SPG). The first pic is after it had been on the smoker a couple of hours. The second is when it was getting ready to be served with some potato latkes and grilled asparagus. Even though it looks crumbly in the sliced pic, it was as juicy as could be. What a difference a top quality piece of meat makes.

[theroc]

Damn

[bbqLuv]

Smoked Brisket leftovers make great, I mean GREAT chili.
You done good, PBR good.

[Richard Chrz]

Wow, not sure how I missed this. Beautiful, drop that mic!

[ecowper]

Ham and beans …. But the ham is the last of a ham that I smoked a couple months ago. And the beans are Rancho Gordo Marcellas …. Which are the second best beans in the world!

Ingredients
1 lb dry beans
4 cups chicken stock
8 oz lager beer
1/2 onion, whole, with 8 cloves stuck in it
3 cloves garlic, cut in half
8 oz ham
4 slices bacon
2 carrots, peeled, and cut in half
2 celery stalks, chopped
a bouquet garni with bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, celery leaves
1 tsp peppercorns
salt to taste at end

Directions
Cook bacon slowly in Dutch oven or stock pot until fat is rendered and bacon is crisp. Reserve
Cook cut half of onion in bacon fat on medium heat for 3 minutes, give or take, until beginning to blacken and aromatic
add garlic and cook another 1 minute until garlic is aromatic
Deglaze with Lager
Add carrot, bouquet garni, peppercorns, chicken stock, ham, beans, and reserved bacon to the pot. Add water until beans are covered by at least 1”
Bring to boil and boil, uncovered, for 10 minutes
Reduce to a simmer with a lid on and cracked open. A bare simmer, 3-4 bubbles per minute
Simmer for 90 minutes and then remove onion, ham, bacon, carrot, bouquet garni
Chop bacon, carrot, ham, onion and return to pot. Discard bouquet
Cook another 90 minutes, approximately, until beans are creamy, but skin is still firm.
Add celery, and cook 10 more minutes.
Serve with crusty bread and a nice red wine

[ecowper]

And yeah, if this post seems incongruous with my Happy Hannukah post ….. well, we are a blended family, ethnically and religiously. And we do not keep Kosher, but do celebrate that heritage.

[fzxdoc]

Looks so delicious. I bet that smoked ham put it up over the top. Usually I use a smoked ham hock when all I have is "city" ham. Nothing says comfort food quite like a bowl of creamy beans and smoky ham.

K.

[ecowper]

fzxdoc smoked ham or hamhocks is definitely the piece that puts this over the top

[Spinaker]

Brisket and Belly on the KBG! Life is good! Oh, yeah.........is that green grass in the background?!?! Is it still December in MN and I can see the ground........unheard of!

[Spinaker]

He alwasy seems to be hanging around when there is meat present! fzxdoc

[HawkerXP]

What did you put on the top shelf?

[Spinaker]

I put the brisket point on the top shelf. HawkerXP

[UncleSpike]

Yesterday I cooked the meat for a Christmas party. 35 adults, no kids. And they were a bunch of carnivores…
I got these new Drip EZ tubs for my birthday.
The XL one holds 30 lbs of brisket.
The regular one holds 20+ lbs of pork butt.
The junior held 12 lbs of pork belly.

These guys ate 90% of it. Wow!

Ive never cooked for this many people before, and had to borrow one grill from my neighbor.

[HawkerXP]

Looks like a great time and a lot of fun!

[DaveD]

Dang! Now that is Production right there. Great work.

[theroc]

Looks like you had the whole herd at work there.

[gboss]

Made an out of date ramen kit.
Pretty tasty.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

That looks good where does one find this?

[gboss]

ItsAllGoneToTheDogs I am not 100% sure because it as a few trips back, but I think I got it here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EXFP4UtR2mNwsusn9?g_st=ic

Added some fresh beef, green onion, and garlic.

[Spinaker]

Pork Belly is done!! And the brisket is progressing

[DaveD]

Looking great.

[gboss]

That is some fantastic color developing on that brisket, wow

[Clawbear57]

Fantastic!

[painter]

Made some pork pozole stew recently. I took a different (for me) approach this time and first cut the pork butt into steaks that were then grilled direct to get a bit of grilled goodness. Then the meat was cubed and combined with the other ingredients for a slow simmering. The result was mighty tasty!

[barelfly]

Love this! What kind of chiles did you use for the goodness!

[SheilaAnn]

Looks awesome! We do pozole on the last Sunday of the month. Traditional red and vegan green. Our green got written up in the New Yorker!

[painter]

Hey @barefly, I used a combo of Ancho, Guajillo, and Arbol with some chilpotle thrown in for good measure.

[Michael_in_TX]

Leftover salad for lunch: green leaf lettuce (from a recent smoked burger cook), pork tenderloin (from a recent pork tenderloin cook), black beans from last night, pepper garnish from last night, and cheese and hot sauce. (I promise there are pork tenderloin slices under all that!)

[Skip]

A huge shoutout to barelfly and Michael_in_TX for their recent posts on
Salmon Fried Rice. I made this tonight with leftover salmon and rice etc.YUM!

[Michael_in_TX]

Yes! Looks good, tastes good, and is incredibly easy to make!

[barelfly]

Heck yeah!!!!!!!! That looks excellent!

[DaveD]

Did an overnight brisket cook last night into today with a Prime brisket from Wild Fork. Ran it in the SnS kettle with B&B coals & hickory chunks overnight, then foil boated it and transferred into the Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker running Bear Mountain 100% hickory pellets the rest of the way. 18 hours at cooking temp with a 2-hour rest and it was fantastic. Incredible flavor, great bark and smoke, tender and juicy, whaddayawant anyway?? This was just my third brisket, and all three have been off the hook - beginner's luck I reckon.

[Clawbear57]

DaveD job well done. ( See what I did there) 😂

[Michael_in_TX]

Yep, and I am certainly going to give the foil boat method a try.

[Towering Inferno]

Mouth watering! Can't go wrong with B&B and Bear Mountain. Fantastic.

[HotSun]

I'm not a bourbon drinker, but while researching a smoking technique I saw a guy doing this in a YouTube video: smoked bourbon. I asked one of my brothers if he wanted to be my Guinea pig and he said yes, so he'll get the finished product and judge it accordingly. I picked up McFarlane's Reserve, 90 proof Kentucky bourbon today and cold smoked it with hickory blend pellets:



It doesn't get easier than this. Got the smoke rolling, poured the bourbon in the pan, and let it smoke for 45 minutes. I didn't track pit temp, but it was easily below 80 degrees, as the pan was cool. I filtered it through a paper filter and put back in the bottle:



Note the evaporation (a little was lost in transferring from pan to bottle, but only a smidge). I'm curious as to the proof now, as I would guess most of the loss was in alcohol, but I don't have the equipment for proofing and I will resist the temptation to blend it with anything else like grain alcohol. I'll just guestimate that it's somewhere between 80 and 90 proof and leave it at that.

I love the color. It did appear to darken after smoking, but that might be observation bias creeping in. I took a taste and it was really smooth, but I need to shower the smoke smell off before I get a real taste of it. I'll try it neat, then put a shrink wrap thingy on it and take it to my brother.

And that's what I'm (not) cooking.

[Michael_in_TX]

It has got to feel weird to pour an entire bottle of reserve bourbon into an aluminum tray!

[HotSun]

Michael_in_TX , yeah, it was weird, but oddly satisfying at the same time. I was going to use a cheaper bourbon, but the price was right at Total Wine and I didn't want to cheap out on my bro.

[fzxdoc]

Darn. I've got to try this!

K.

[TWBarbecue]

Bucatini Carbonara!

I’ve been craving this for sometime now and had some Bucatini Pasta on the shelf (spaghetti with a hole in the center). Decided to make up some Carbonara since I had the ingredients I wanted to use on hand (eggs, Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano Reggiano, & cracked black pepper)... used Pancetta since I didn’t have Guanciale. One of my favorite Italian dishes. SO DANG GOOD!

[SheilaAnn]

Ok TWBarbecue we need to have a conversation. This is by far, my favorite pasta dish. I feel like I have perfected my personal rendition. Pancetta is my favorite. I like guanciale. But my favorite Italian deli will have (on occasion) prosciutto ends. The flavor is so intense! So that’s a nice treat, too. I whip 3 eggs per one pound of pasta. And a splash of pasta water. I sauté the pork with 3 cloves of garlic and 3 heavy shakes of crushed red pepper. And copious amounts of pecorino.

[texastweeter]

Simple yet always delicious

[TWBarbecue]

I could definitely get down on your rendition SheilaAnn That sounds fantastic! 🤤

You are right about that texastweeter How can something so simple taste so good?

[Michael_in_TX]

I decided to try some more fried shrimp this evening. Adjusted some of my ratios and, as I am wont to do, simplified things.

My breading this time was equal parts cornmeal and flour. (Last time it was 3:1 cornmeal to flour, which was a bit much cornmeal.) For seasoning, I used just Tony Chachere's. I did a double dredge this time: dusted the shrimp, then put into the wet dredge (1/2 cup whole milk and 1 beaten egg), then back into the dry dredge.

Here we are all dredged up.



(Totally intended to do half the shrimp this way and half the way Panhead John suggested (flour and just enough water to make a ketchup-like paste, seasoned with Tony's), but I totally forgot until I had done all the shrimp!)

Into the cute little personal deep fryer with peanut oil at 350 F for 2 minutes.



Oh wow that is a lot of shrimp!



I like the equal parts cornmeal to flour; it's less "gritty." The double dredge is nice as you get all of the craggily bits all over the shrimp. I did use way too much seasoning, though. The shrimp were a bit too salty. It is so hard to judge the right amount of seasoning in a breading. I went with 6 tsp of seasoning; next time I will do four.

Still want to try Panhead John's version, too.

[Panhead John]

Looks good Michael! Personally, I’m not a fan of corn meal for shrimp batter, like you said, too gritty. And yeah….6 teaspoons of Tony’s was way too much. I’d cut it down to 3 actually, for a small batch. No corn meal! Just flour, water and a little canola oil.