Friday night fish fry. Yellow perch from Lake Huron that we caught in September. Didn't take the time to organize them or make them pretty on a plate. They have to be eaten hot 
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I did a quick weeknight dinner that turned out fantastic. I took some bone-in rib pork chops and seasoned them with HEB's cajun seasoning and some extra ground pepper (dry brined for about two hours), then grilled them over post oak....
.... and after a few flips......
Once I got the crust/char I wanted, I finished indirect for just a bit more until I got to ~140 F.
Prior, I made some homemade breaded & baked okra, using Charlie Andrews' recipe as a guide (https://www.charliethecookandrews.co...en-baked-okra/).
I took a pound of thawed cut okra and got it coated in an egg mixture of two eggs and some more of that cajun seasoning. I then took it and got it all coated in a mixture of corn meal, flour, more cajun seasoning, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne. I put that on a rack on a sheet pan and baked at 375 F for an hour. (That seems long, but it is necessary to crisp up the breading and dry out the okra.)
Here we are, all plated up!
Wow, this was good! First, the pork chop blew my mind. If you had blindfolded me and told me I was eating a steak, I would have believed you. They were that good.
And the okra was near perfect. No trace of sliminess. I also really liked the southern vibe the corn meal gave it. It isn't the same as fried, but I think it is just as good. And sure as heck is a lot healthier!
Definitely doing this again, probably next week. The one thing I am going to change is use my own cajun seasoning, keeping the salt separate. This was slightly salt-forward. (Standard problem with commercial rubs....to get the flavor concentration you want, you end up over-salting slightly.)Comment
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This might be shocking to some, but I cooked a steak tonight! 😳 Did a blackened Prime ribeye from Costco. It was delicious and tender, but too much fat for me. I’ve decided from here on out I’ll stick with Choice ribeyes, they already have enough fat, I just don’t see the need for Prime ribeyes anymore.
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The longer it sits the more mellow the smoke gets, but I find if using for shredded cheese you can get away with the next day. You can test a slice once a week until you're happy with the result. My friend is fine with it a few days later, his wife won't touch it for over a month. I'm usually happy at about a week -
Andrrr you could light a single coal and use that to generate some smoke from a chunk of real wood. IMO it makes a big difference. On my MAK I'll run a piece of Cherry or Apple on top of my heat deflector. If doing a chunk of wood in a normal cooker I'd probably only go an hour or two since it is much stronger smoke. Cheese is like fish really, it'll soak up whatever you throw at it. Using Ice I can smoke cheese as long as it's below 75F or so outside but I haven't tried my coal cookers
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Hosted a Christmas party for our church life group (think “Sunday school”) here at the house tonight (I am the teacher), with a potluck and white elephant gift exchange. My contribution was a Boston butt, smoked kinda hot and fast on the SnS Kamado.
Dropped on the grate at 8am running 275 to 300 all day.
I normally don’t wrap butts, but did so when this one hit 165, to get the timing right for pulling off the grill at 4pm, and pulling the meat at 5pm. The results were pretty good!
The pork went into a slow cooker for serving….
I personally didn’t feel it was the best price of meat I’ve cooked, as it seemed a little dry in spots while pulling, but I tossed it with the juice from the foil and an hour or so later it seemed nice and moist. Most folks doused it with Blues Hog Smokey mountain bbq sauce anyway. And despite an insane amount of other food available, just a few bites of the pulled pork were left afterwards.
That said, between what leftover pork there is and a pan of chicken legs my friend left for us - which he smoked and seared on his blue Kamado Komodo - we are set for the weekend.
My only complaint is I lost every item I wanted to steals in the dirty Santa exchange! I lost a beautiful German beer stein, and an immersion blender. Bah humbug. 😂Last edited by jfmorris; December 6, 2025, 12:04 PM.Comment
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Baloney and American on a Martin’s potato roll, with a cup of ramen brick soup.
Sometimes you just gotta.Comment
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Sirloin Steak with a Mushroom Onion Gravy over Egg Noodles. Made in the oven on a chilly Minnesota afternoon.Comment
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Dino Bones aka Beef Plate Ribs or 123A cut.
Seasoned, dry brined over night
Now that is a low carb dinner
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Had an early Christmas dinner with my daughter’s in-laws. Waygu prime rib from Snake River, butt from a friend’s 4H project pig, and homemade Mac n cheese. All cooked on the pellet grillComment
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Mushroom and Swiss burger on Sourdough bread from last night. My wife loves these. Also in the picture is the sourdough loaf I made for communion at church today.
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Home made Sriracha using Meathead's recipe from the free side: https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...iracha-recipe/
I used minced garlic from a jar instead of garlic powder. I used this converter: https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/garlic-converter
I made this with what I call the "other" peppers that I grow but do not use in my Texas Dave's hot sauces. This batch is mostly red jalapenos but also has Big Jims, Chimayos, Cow Horns, Fish Peppers, and Rezha Macedonians. I didn't measure proportions so this is a one-off batch. Total weight of the peppers was 6.35lbs, total yield of Sriracha after straining is four quarts plus two squeeze bottles. With that many peppers I just threw them into the food processor rather than hand chop.
This is really really good, I encourage everyone to make this recipe. Mine is a bit hotter than regular Sriracha due to the cow horns and fish peppers but it isn't that hot.
Two gallon stock pot was 2/3rds full.
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Oh man, this was the best tritip I've had in years. So beefy, so tender... honestly if I had a time machine I would have done two of these instead of the creekstone wagyu prime rib on turkey day! And the real kicker is, it was 9 bucks because it was the sell by date. I wish I woulda grabbed all of them now.
Reverse seared with some little louies garlic salt. Potatoes rode the whole way, drizzled in avocado oil and a stick of butter with some sage, rosemary, s&p. The taters stayed on the MAK for about 15 minutes while the tritip rested up to temp.
(This is just to prove why ya shouldn't rely on external temp readings for wireless probes, and the only finished seared pic I kept)
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Andrrr I try to tell my wife I'm smokin' hot, but alas it wasn't me this time
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