Show Us What You're Cooking - 7/16/2014 through 3/13/2015

[Marauderer]

<<My only problem is I like buying the thick cuts and my wife is the "well done" kind and I'm medium rare. Waste of money.>>

If I am splitting a steak with my DW I cook it the way I want it cooked. I then give her the choice of what she wants and then put that back on the grill and cook it to where she wants it done. It use to be she would fight me and I would just say fudge it we won't have steak today, then she came back with, I didn't want you to go to all that trouble, and then I would say, you didn't want me to go to any trouble you just wanted me to have a steak that I wouldn't enjoy. Then I would tell her I don't mind getting your steak done enough the way you enjoy it. Since we worked that out she gets a medium piece and I get the rest rare. Win, Win!! Neither one of you should be unhappy with their steak.

[Huskee]

<<My only problem is I like buying the thick cuts and my wife is the "well done" kind and I'm medium rare. Waste of money.>>

If I am splitting a steak with my DW I cook it the way I want it cooked. I then give her the choice of what she wants and then put that back on the grill and cook it to where she wants it done. It use to be she would fight me and I would just say fudge it we won't have steak today, then she came back with, I didn't want you to go to all that trouble, and then I would say, you didn't want me to go to any trouble you just wanted me to have a steak that I wouldn't enjoy. Then I would tell her I don't mind getting your steak done enough the way you enjoy it. Since we worked that out she gets a medium piece and I get the rest rare. Win, Win!! Neither one of you should be unhappy with their steak.

There's no splitting in my house. If we do steak, she gets her own. I toss hers on 5 min before mine. But truth be told I like them anywhere from rarish to medium. You seem to have figured out the secret to a long happy marriage via steak, Barry!

[The Burn]

GF commented the other day how she's moved to pinker and pinker meat since I started grilling (i.e., reverse searing) steaks. The 14-year old has moved down too - but just to a touch of pink in the center. The big problem with her is that she'd probably prefer standard grade - she trims off any remnants of fat and then inspects each bit for fat running through it and dissects it out. I'll get her to enjoy Prime eventually.

[Marauderer]

I apologize for my callousness in this comment. But, I have to tell the truth.

[Ernest]

No apologies necessary Marauderer, "truthiness" is appreciated.

[milobeto]

I just made the best pulled pork ever using my Smoke Hollow smoker. The night before I used canola oil to cover two 5 pound Berkshire pig butts and then salted them. In the early morning I added Thyme and brown sugar. I warmed up the smoker to 225 including a water bath. Then I added approximately 4 oz of Applewood chips and let it begin to smoke, then I added the pig butts; I added another 4 oz every 30 minutes thereafter for the first 2 hours. Then it was beer time for roughly 10 hours. I then started to check the temp of the pork and waited for the thermometer to read 195 degrees. DONE! I let them rest for 45 minutes and used my bear claws to pull it apart. I included some pics below.

[Huskee]

That bottom pic looks like it belongs in front of me! Nicely done!

[Jon Solberg]

I concur Husk!

Ummmmmm Berkshire besides!

[Marauderer]

The pic with the pulled it it is awesome. Great presentation!!

[The Burn]

Then it was beer time for roughly 10 hours.

For you or the butts?

Mmmmm, love the sheen on that thing.

[Marauderer]

Well, we have company coming over today and I didn't get everything done I wanted to yesterday. I did get to the store and got a few specialty beers and got the small shop vac cleaned out. Yes it was 35*F in the Atlanta area this morning.



So I stumbled outside around 7:30 and evaluated what I needed to do.


So I took the current pellets out of the Davy Crockett and replaced them with 100% Hickory and checked and add some Cookin Pellets Perfect mix to the Rec Tec. I use the CPPM mostly for everything. I want to see if I get a little more flavor of the smoke using the Hickory. I have a bone in pork butt in the DC. It's about 4.5 lb and I used a conglomeration rub. MMD, Huskee's rub and some Greek rub I made up. We will see how it goes.


So I then got the Rib Rack ready to put on the Rec Tec. With pellet grills the box metal on most are not very thick and when you open them they cool off really fast so you stage every thing before you open it and then get your business done and get it closed as timely as possible.



I put them on and then rubbed a little more brown sugar on them and got it closed up. I will look in on them in three hours just to check



Big Smoke and Little Smoke. When I get my "Stick Burner" I will the have Gargantuan Smoke!!

[Chriscrna]

At least you were able to secure some beers!

[Ernest]

Keeping it real simple today


Israeli couscous salad

[David Parrish]

I see lump charcoal. Sound the KBB stick to the basics fanatics in 3... 2... 1...

Oh wait, that's me! lol

[Ernest]

LOL! Lump charcoal, PBC and chicken make a perfect match!

[Jon Solberg]

Girlfriend loves strip steak. Fast RS strip, seared on the gasser. Wrapped and packed in the cooler with some pouched sweet potatoes for her and her partner's lunch.

[Jon Solberg]

and a couple of turkey tenderloins for lunches tomorrow:

[Marauderer]

It was a very enjoyable afternoon. Henrik from Sweden was in town on a business trip and Brenda and I invited him over for lunch. I had a butt and rack of regular ribs. The Butt stalled and is still working but the ribs were done and we had a very good lunch. The potato wedges were done from the smoker but tough as all get out on the outside and I will not do it that way again. The cole slaw was my recipe and I will post in the appropriate section with pics and narrative. Everybody thought the ribs were excellent and wanted the recipe for the rub. I told them I couldn't as it was a mixture 3 rubs and that's the way it goes.



Henrik and my wife Brenda enjoying the lunch out on the deck at the "Reade Ranch".

[Huskee]

How cool is that! Henrik, did you make any of your famous sauces?

[Meathead]

This is so absolutely kewl!

[Henrik]

Yeah, that was a great afternoon! Nope, no sauces this time, Huskee.

[David Parrish]

There is a LOT of awesome looking food being had by The Pit Nation this weekend. This whole page deserves a PBA!

[Chriscrna]

Well after yesterday's smoking extravaganza, I took it easy today. Pizza for the kids, then a chicken and rice casserole that my wife whipped up.

She's suddenly taken a vested interest in "my" Primo and starting to ask a lot of questions....ie.... "Can I bake a casserole on the Primo? Can you bake cookies on that grill? How do you control the temp?" Etc and so forth. I fear that my short lived Primo monogamy may become Primo polygamy before I know it. I'm not ready to share......

[Marauderer]

That's great that your darling wife is interested. Now you can either give her the Primo and go get yourself another grill or just get another Primo. Win Win, can't get any better than that!!

[Ernest]

Tasty!!

[Ernest]

LOL! Jon, Israeli couscous is just a type of pasta but in balls form. Not to be confused with the other couscous.

[Jon Solberg]

Thx, I'm all over it!

[Ernest]

Jon, here's what I do
Heat some butter (I use ghee for most of my sauteeing coz it doesn't burn like burn does) toast the Couscous until the turn golden brown. Season with salt and some pepper. I like chipotle pepper instead of black pepper in most of my seasoning. Pour chicken stock, bring to a boil, turn heat down to low, cover pot and cook until the balls are tender but still slightly chewy. takes about 12 - 15 minutes, set aside. If there is still liquid in the pot, let them sit in there and soak up the liquid goodies while you prep the rest.
Now for the rest of the mess it's all up to you. There's no recipe.
I diced some red onions
Triangled some cucumbers
toasted some pine nuts, I love pine nuts
halved some cherry tomatoes
and tossed in some raisins

drain the couscous and mix it with your other mess.

use your favorite vinegar/ acidic based dressing.
My favorite is homemade dressing is a combination of pomegranate molasses, lemon juice and olive oil.

Goes great with anything grilled, especially lamb.

[Marauderer]

It all looks great! My Butt hit the stall twice and is at 194*F after going on at 10 am this morning. Hopefully it will be done in the next hour. I still refuse to use the crutch.

[Steve]

This post is long overdue... About three weeks ago I smoked a pork butt on my MAK 1 Star. Figures rain was coming the night before and this was going to be an overnight cook. I wasn't about to leave the cooker in the rain with the Pellet Boss' electronics exposed. So I brought the MAK into my garage and told mother nature she wasn't raining on my parade (thats not what I really said, if you could imagine..I was angry). The pictures pretty much tell the story, but needless to say, I never got a picture of the finished product before we tore into it. Must of been good..
Window fan hoping to pull a perfect draft and throw all the smoke outside...



Worked perfectly



Neighbors hated me.. But it was obviously because they were jealous they couldn't eat the delicious pork they were smelling and not because of the huge cloud of smoke blowing out of my window for 14 hours...



Guard dog...



What was left after the initial attack



Why not have bacon wrapped jalapeno and cheese tater tots with your pork butt?

It was a successful football Sunday I'd say

[Huskee]

Love it !

[Jon Solberg]

Thats hardcore! WTG Steve.

[Marauderer]

<<Neighbors hated me.. But it was obviously because they were jealous they couldn't eat the delicious pork they were smelling and not because of the huge cloud of smoke blowing out of my window for 14 hours...>>

​Steve you need to keep the neighbors happy. Next time fix extra and take to the neighbors. Being an emissary of good will for the "Pit Nation" will go a long way in promoting the good smells and food with the neighbors.