Star Wars and burgers that were bigger than my head.
He'd have thought this was small.
But it's a half pound of prime ground chuck
American cheese and hatch green chilies.
May the 4th be with you!
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My best friend that passed away 8 years ago loved 2 things.
Star Wars and burgers that were bigger than my head.
He'd have thought this was small.
But it's a half pound of prime ground chuck
American cheese and hatch green chilies.
May the 4th be with you!
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Green chile cheese burgers are a great tribute on May the 4th!!! -
I'm sorry about your friend BFlynn. Your burgers look like a delicious tribute.
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Hi strangers,
Things have been kooky, between the water line replacement and experiencing current events as a work issue. That’s new in my experience as a 19 year vet of federal employment, still employed, though much has changed. And that’s all I’ll write about that as it gets political quickly.
Any rate the weather cooperated and the motivation and the energy were there.
Went to the local Wild Fork, picked up two packages of outside skirt steak, some Argentine bombon sausages, some shrimp (for later use) and some chicken (ditto).
I fired up the slow and sear, no water reservoir, heaped with lump. I don’t know why I buy lump, when I prefer briquettes for most of my grilling and smoking needs. But I bought a bag, and have to use it. ;-)
I put the sausages on, gave em a few minutes of direct, and then flipped em. They’re for sandwiches during the week.
My go to prep for skirt is Rick Bayless’s charcoal grilled skirt steak taco recipe, only I don’t always make tacos with it. The marinade is the way, the truth and the light. Made the marinade, only put the meat in it when I started the fire, to keep it under the hour.
i also did some chicken tenderloins for my wife, in the Raichlen “Only Marinade You’ll Ever Need.” Not entirely true, but close enough, especially if you use it more like a blueprint for playing with flavors. If you squint, you can see that Baylees’s skirt marinade is basically the same formula.. swap lemon juice for lime, swap the fresh herb for Mexican oregano, swap the chili flakes for cumin. Voila.
I thought to take pics after I’d cooked most of everything. Out of practice.
that’s the last one getting its cook done. I flip it frequently to get it right, about once a minute or two.
Here are the rest, keeping warm.
Cooked on Saturday, served the steak with a cheesy rice. Tonight, had tacos, with onions, cilantro, lime juice, and El Yucateco Chipotle hot sauce.
first got the Chipotle hot sauce at a restaurant a couple weeks ago, and finally got my own bottle. It’s somewhere between a mole, a hot sauce, and ketchup. Really amazing stuff.
still employed, very stressed, but finding my moments.Comment
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Looks delicious. I have to get a bottle of that hot sauce. I too would like to know how you like the sausages. I've come close to buying them from Wild Fork online before (no local stores here). -
SheilaAnn I got them a few weeks ago for a big skewer cook, and the Wild Fork guy sold me on them. They are a nice sausage flavor. I slice em up and put em on a French roll for lunches. Gonna add some chipotle sauce to them this week.
The Argentine spicy sausages are good too. Similar flavor with some picante flavor. -
Michael_in_TX highly recommended. Enjoy. Not every store that carries El Y here has the Chipotle. My main grocery store sells four different habanero sauces: Red, Green, Caribbean, and Black Label.
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Chops spent a couple hours in Blounders brine, onto the gasser with some homemade sauce.
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Rack of pork, seasoned with Midyett Rub, curried roasted cauliflower, and brown basmati.Attached FilesComment
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Ran across this stuffed pork loin at HEB today. It called out to me, and I was no match for its siren call…🥸 Bacon wrapped, stuffed with shrimp, andouille and pepper jack cheese, I wilted at the knees. Smoked on the kettle with hickory and a jalapeno, sides were potato salad and green beans….
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Thanks guys! surfdog It really didn’t have much seasoning on it that I could detect. In fact, I sprinkled some Tony’s on it before eating.
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More like what's curing. The tender side of a pork butt opposite the bone. 20+ day swim starting now. Will be double smoked like a ham. Scored the fat cap. Will get rub on the initial smoke to 160 running 280-300. Second smoke will get a glaze towards the end and probably run 225-250 on that. 3.1 pound hunk.
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Ever since we ate at Tejas BBQ at the recent Meat Up, I've been wanting to try my hand at pork belly "brisket." As luck would have it, while rummaging around in my chest freezer last week, I discovered a ~3 lb slab of pork belly I had forgotten about.
This morning, I trimmed it up a bit and then put my rub on. Last week, I did a smoked turkey in the style of Goldee's (16 mesh + Lawry's), it was good but there was something about the rub ratio or the seasoning that just didn't fully work for me.
So for this cook, I went nearly classic Central Texas-style. Two parts 16 mesh pepper, one part kosher salt, and one-half part garlic powder. I tried to keep the application as even as possible and only did two passes (I've been over-seasoning things lately for some reason). I let the pork belly hang out in the fridge while I fired up the Kettle w/SnS.
(Every since I repaired my Weber blades, I've fallen back into using the SnS, after nearly not using it for three years. This thing can turn out some good food and if you're careful, it'll rock 225 - 275 F for six+ hours easily.)
Here we are after I just put it on. Two chunks of post oak for smoke, spaced out so they don't both light at once.
I basically then let it roll. I rotated it 180 degrees at the two hour mark. Here's the graph of the cook. Slow and steady. I love stalls in which the temperature actually starts going down lol. I only adjusted the vents once when it started to get close to 300 F.
When it hit 190 F, I went out to probe it and the freaking thing was literally like very soft butter. I was astonished! I've never had a piece of meat do that! (I wish my briskets did!)
Here we are right before I was about to pull it.
I wrapped it in foil and placed it in my oven in its warming configuration to rest for half an hour.
Here we are after a few slices. Even some "burnt ends."
Plated up with some borracho beans.
Verdict? One of the best things I've ever cooked. Very close to what I remember having at Tejas. It literally is a white brisket. I nailed the rub. That is Central Texas-style bark. I think my restraint helped out by not overseasoning it. You can see it does not take much 16-mesh pepper to get major bark. If I were to add anything, it would be just a bit of one of Flat Iron Pepper Company's products.....a little smokey heat would have been perfect here.
I also wish I had taken just a little bit....just some shavings of the fat cap off. The ratio of fat-to-meat was just a bit more than I would have liked, but this was not a particularly meaty pork belly to begin with.
While very good, it is also incredibly rich. I barely could eat those three small slices by themselves. It really needs to be in a taco/sandwich/what-have-you. (The "burnt ends" in the beans was quite tasty.)Last edited by Michael_in_TX; May 4, 2025, 08:10 PM.Comment
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Here's a rack of baby back ribs I did on Saturday, and it might just be the last rack of ribs I cook here at this house before we move. These were Villari brand Duroc ribs, which Harris Teeter has been stocking recently along with their pork butts. The latter are some of the best pork I've ever had, so I was keen to try their ribs when I saw them on the case.
Standard process, dry brine overnight, cleft in twain for easier handling, liberally doused with Jenni In A Bottle, running the SnS kettle with B&B coals and some cherry wood chunks. Kettle was nominal AF all day, super steady and cooperative.
Not easy to see in the pics but these ribs were just pouring out juices as they cooked, you can see them collecting in the foil below. I decided to forego the foil boat and just let them ride.
They came out perfectly, tug off the bone, incredibly tender and juicy. I goofed and forgot to remove the membrane ahead of time though, but it lifted right off each rib on the plate so no biggy.
Plated with McCain's beer-battered onion rings and some asparagus. Delish!
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So it seems that I’m terrible about posting to this thread…
Cameras…off the clock? Ugh LOL
Well, here’s a couple that I did manage to grab.
Decided the other day that wings were on the menu. One is a garlic lemon Parmesan thing…and the other is a more traditional Buffalo style. Both tasty, but I prefer the Buffalo style myself. I had to snap these shots in the bowl because they were going fast. Cooked on the Performer “Deluxe” with a Vortex. Still the best 40 bucks one can spend on an accessory. I thought I had a picture of the setup, but apparently I don’t. Derp. The Performer handled the job mostly great… It’s definitely smaller than my WCSGC. 89 sq in might not seem like a lot…but it WAS apparent with 4 lbs of wings. Turning the lid every 5-minutes or so wasn’t a major hassle. So, all in all, it worked.
The other shot is fish tacos. She found some mahi mahi and wanted fish tacos…so fish tacos it was. ;-) Cooked in CI pan…breaded with the usual suspects…cumin, garlic, chili powder, S&P.
Completely managed to forget about the stuffed pork chops. Guess I’ll just have to make them again. ;-)Comment
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One daughter asked for chicken Katsu, another daughter wanted tacos. I made both of them happy.
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Sorry SheilaAnn yes, I could of and should of trimmed more fat.
Sorry mrichie1229 as much as I do shout ..., ..., ...! these were cooked on a Weber Performer.
When I was cutting off the induvial bones from the rack, I somehow lost track of bone orientation and as I was making my last cut hit bone.
Had to break out the hack saw to finish the cut. 
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Short ribs seasoned and brined with Meatheads red meat.. these came from a 1500lb steer we bought from the local fair.. they were melt in your mouth good..
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Baby backs. I’m experimenting with some of Smoking Dad’s kamado variations; today I did the double deflector + raised the rack above the gasket line about 2”. I also put the wood chunks at the bottom of the lump and scattered wood chips underneath the basket, where the ashes fall.
I’ll do a full writeup when I think I’ve got it the way it should be. These are much more like ribs from an offset… or more accurately, less like ribs from an oxygen regulated fire. But it’s not there yet.
First good corn of the season! Chili lime is a nice way to get some southwestern flair without all the hoopla of making street corn. And Max Good’s Black Swan Sweet Cognac sauce in the ramekin.
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They’re Cheshire. My favorites. I was in and out all day, had my audiologist Zoom meeting earlier, decided to do these late morning. Had ‘em on by quarter after 12, did some other stuff, decided to wrap (I don’t usually wrap) so I wrapped them and left for the gym around 2PM. got back around 4, unwrapped and they were pulled back like that. So I unwrapped, bumped the temp a bit, showered, and around 5 glazed ‘em, made the sides, and made Mrs a grilled ham & cheese because that’s what she wanted.
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