Don’t mind the fact that it got up to 95° yesterday…when I woke up it was 52° so I decided to make chili!
Pulled out the Dutch oven and started some onions.
I like the flavor of naturally shredded beef, but I also like the texture of ground beef, so with 2.5lb of chuck I cubed and seared half, ground half.
My preference is for no tomatoes and no beans, but the rest of the family favors them. And let’s be real for a minute…in this economy I can’t afford to NOT put beans in my chili! Six hours later it was ready to serve!
Beans in my Chili
Beans in my Chili
black and pinto will do
add diced tomato too
there is no pain
the cans I do not drain
packaged chili seasoning is the best
Now you know the rest
Pay it no mind. Those of us who are the self-appointed chili border patrol grant you free access and all applicable reign in our great State. You have the Santa Maria grill. Enough said.
I am not worthy to see this. (Ironically, with as much a I like grilling seafood -- which I very much still stuck at -- I would have bankrupted my family had I known this was a possibility back in Boy Scouts!)
Bogy I take them every time we travel, on road trips, whenever the place that we're staying has a grill. I also bring a Thermapen, an IR thermometer and Grillgrates tongs. Everything fits in the Grillgrates carry bag. I wrap them in butcher paper so the bag stays clean. They make using "foreign" grills, gas or charcoal, much easier to use.
Yesterday my watch said it was time to smoke... so I did.
I needed to burn in my new grates, but once they were nice and clean I threw on some thighs.
I ate a couple of the thighs, but most were for tacos since we still had some fresh cilantro that needed using. Pulled and sliced the skin and chopped up the meat. I had also thrown some poblanos on for the last 20 minutes or so and those got sliced up as well. Camera blurred up the skin...
Today, I threw the skins in a pan and got them crispy again. Used the fat to get some tortillas happy. And then reheated the peppers, chicken, and some onion.
I just bought my first Dia de la Fajita bottle today and used it. I was expecting it be just another Mexican rub......I really like it. Yes, it is salty, as all commercial rubs are, but the 16 mesh pepper and other large flakes really drive it home for me. I like it!
I have been facing my fears as of late, as it were. I have always disliked soup. Like hated it, actually. (Unless I was sick of course lol.) But I made Brian Lagerstrom's chicken soup a few weeks ago and it was amazing. I can't wait until it gets colder an I have a legitimate excuse to make it again.
So now I know soup doesn't have to be that....whatever that stuff is under the Campbell's or Progresso label. (Yech....I will eat Chef Boyardee over that stuff in a disaster situation!)
You start by blackening the chicken with a Mexican-forward spice blend and get that thing, well blackened (not burned!) over medium-high heat....
Next get a pot going with onion, jalapeños, and garlic going....
Then we add a can of fire-roasted Rotel, a can of Hatch Chile enchilada sauce, and four cups of chicken stock....
Once that is brought to a boil, mix 1 cup of maseca/masa harina with 2 cups water and slowly pour that in. It will thicken the soup markedly. While this is heating up, dice up the chicken.
To serve, pour the soup into a bowl. Then add a handful of shredded Monterrey jack cheese, then a handful (or more) of the chicken, avocado and tomato slices if you have them (I didn't), some crushed tortilla chips, and cilantro.
That was some good soup!
If you follow the recipe I would quadruple the chicken used. Sam uses one chicken breast and I used two. I have two others still in the fridge and I may cook them up the same way as this recipe does generate a lot of soup. Or maybe I just like meat.
This is what I’m cooking: pulled beef. Went by my grocery store and found a very nice chuck roast with great marbling. It just HAD to be bought.
Rubbed it with The Bearded Butchers’ Hollywood rub. It didn’t make an impression at all when I used it on pork, Trying it out here on beef instead. We’ll see how it turns out.
Fired up my PK 300 with charcoal, using the FireBoard 2 plus fan for a fully automated cook. Running the grill at 260 deg F (125 deg C).
I will wrap it when it hits the stall, and add half a cup of beer. I never wrap pulled pork, but always wrap pulled beef.
Chuck roast
Chuck roast with Hollywood rub applied
The PK with a charcoal divider and cherry wood chunks for smoking
I took the left over carne adovada that I made the other day and added some Rancho Gordo Blue Hominy to make posole rojo. Both recipes are basically the same, just needed to add hominy and liquid to the adovada. I took some to work and the staff liked it. For lunch today I made a burrito with the posole and Spanish rice.
Drained the meat/hominy mixture and put onto a flour tortilla with the rice and some cheddar.
I used my old Griswold griddle to put a little color onto the tortilla.
Covered with sauce from the posole and with cheese, toasted under the broiler. Yum!
DaveD it was hard finding it because search engines suck but I have 20 oz. of dried Chimayo peppers on the way. There are only 500 acres under cultivation so they are usually unobtanium.
So, my pulled beef is done. It turned out really good. It was a truly enjoyable meal. I don’t think my pulled beef is better than anyone else’s, it’s just that eating a properly home cooked pulled beef is so good. I’m grateful for being able to buy quality meat and cook it using traditional barbecue methods, much thanks to this forum.
I keep a copy of "Barbecue, Fire and Smoke" out on the coffee table in my office. Great looking hard cover book, and I like to thumb through it and drool over the pictures and get ideas when I am kicked back on the couch in my home office... so you serve as an inspiration on an ongoing basis!
Pit Barrel Cooker
Weber Master-Touch
Blackstone Omnivore 4 Burner Griddle
Thermoworks: Signals, Billows, Thermopens, Thermopops, Nodes, bunch of silicone stuff, and more!
OnlyFire Rotisserie w/ Basket attachment for the Weber
Vortex for the Weber
Both of Meathead's books!
Way too many BBQ related accessories, tools, and doo-dads!
I don't know about you, but when I think of wings, it takes me back to the mid-eighties, when we used to spend too much time on Ohio State's campus, going to bars, then finishing the night off at the "only" BW3's (Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck) location right there on campus.
Back then, their sauces were medium, hot, hotter, and then ran into the stupid hot range, all displayed on a large hand-drawn thermometer on the wall. Atomic was pretty much their hottest at the time, but there may have been one that topped it, if memory serves me correctly (nuclear???, some of those memories were hazy!).
Most of the sauces was based on the original Buffalo sauce out of New York, with varying degrees of heat and probably some ketchup added for the milder sauces.
For me, I prefer the original (or close to it):
2/3 cup of Frank's Hot Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (I do 1/4 teaspoon)
Heated in a sauce pan, stirring, until the ingredients blend together. Whenever I do chicken wings, there's a heaping saucepan of this sauce nearby for anyone who wants it.
Today, I did double duty. 7 wings with the Simon and Garfunkel rub, and 7 with a recipe that is nearly the same as the Memphis rib rub (without the white sugar). Both handle the wing sauce very well.
I'm not a ranch guy, don't really care for soy-based/teriyaki sauces on wings, and most garlic sauces are overly heavy on the garlic. I'll have Blue Cheese on the side, but don't mind doing without. The buffalo sauce is really all I need.
For this cook, I took the wings to (roughly) 162 degrees on my Pit Barrel, let them rest a bit, then 3-4 minutes in the air fryer at 350 (just to crisp them up).
Then, with the warm buffalo sauce, coated them, and proceeded to devour them to the bone! Tender, juicy, and always good!
Hope everyone else is having a great weekend!
Attached Files
Last edited by dpearce; October 12, 2024, 04:41 PM.
Today I made a Prime picanha from Wild Fork 2-zone style. Dry brined overnight, and hit with Cowboy Crust a couple of hours before it went on. SnS kettle with a half-load of B&B oak/hickory coals at 200-225/95-105 (since it won't take more than 90 minutes to get to target) cooking indirect side until IT hits 130/54, flipping at about 90/32. Then sear with enough raging KBB to mostly fill the insert (about half a chimney). About 90-120 seconds per side by the time all was said and done, flipping every 30 seconds. Plated with twice baked tater (using bacon smoked yesterday, green onions, milk, sour cream, shredded cheese, butter) and broccoli. Super delicious! Juicy as all getout, and extremely tender. Only downside was that the silverskin between the fat cap and the meat was basically inedible, so we lost out on some of those tasty fat bites. Could be worse!
Cut was about 3.2lb/1.5kg, and the fat cap was quite thick and hard in places, so I thinned it out, removing about 7oz/200g before salting. We just love this Cowboy Crust on beef (thanks again Secret Santa).
Made a tri tip for my son and I. Usually I smoke it like a brisket, but wanted to try something different. Based on a few videos I had seen in the recent past, I made a poor man's version of a santa maria set up on my kettle.
using carriage bolts, I was able to raise the cooking grate about 3 inches above where it normally sits. I started with a bed of briquettes, and added post oak splits as needed.
the untrimmed tri tip
after trimming.
Seasoned with big bad beef rub
raised cooking grate using carriage bolts and wing nuts
cooked directly over the flame, flipping every few minutes.
took 30ish minutes to get to 135 or so. Honestly, the internal temp was all over the place depending where I probed it.
looking good
the finished product after resting for 15 minutes. Just shy of medium.
This was a fun cook. I had never tried open fire cooking over wood before. not sure if there was any flavor difference than if I had just grilled it over charcoal, but I enjoyed the process, and probably will try it again
Had some international visitors for work. Buddy had everyone over this weekend for some backyard fun and football watching. Brought some bbq (brisket and 5 racks last meal ribs w/ mmd) for the true American experience. It was a hit.
Six hours later it was ready to serve!
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