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

[fzxdoc]

Wow, looking good! I bet that skin was nice and crispy indeed. I see you've got Mr. Maverick doing his job too. Congrats on your new(est) toy! I really like the looks of it! Why did you want to add it to your arsenal of smokers/grills?


Kathryn

[smarkley]

Kathryn my main purpose for this cooker is to bake bread and pizza. As you may know, a high temp is critical for really good bread (I am talking artisan stuff) and I thought maybe with this I could have more hands on control of that.... time will tell.

[fzxdoc]

I'd love to hear your results as you try the bread especially, Smarkley. It sure looks like it gets up there, temperature wise.

Kathryn

[Jon Solberg]

Lookin good steveo!

[The Burn]

Grilled fajitas (recipe courtesy of Kenji at the Food Lab/Serious Eats) - used flank instead of skirt steak. Cooked direct over a full chimney and then moved to cooler side while I started the veggies



Had mine with low carb tortillas, shredded cheese and sour cream



(No, that is not a bite out of the top tortilla - it stuck to another in the package.)

[smarkley]

Whew... major drooling action going on here.

[Huskee]

I concur w/ smarkley. Drooooool.... Fajitas are one of my favorite 50 things to eat. More specifically, they are in one of my 50 top 5 lists of favorite foods. Yes, this makes sense to me.

[Jon Solberg]

..., you bit it!

No really, looks AWESOME!

[David Parrish]

Man those grilled Fajitas are something else. Bravo!

[The Burn]

Thanks guys. The thing about the fajitas is that they're a nice, fast contrast to the long cooks we usually do. The marinade is simple and Kenji recommends between 3-10 hours - I did about 4 hours, vacuum sealed with my FoodSaver, and then it's maybe 10 minutes with regular flipping of the meat and 10 minutes with some occasional stirring of the vegetables. Kenji actually uses a cast iron skillet on the grill, but I don't have one and I did have the wok. I even just eye-balled the measurements since he uses 2 lbs of beef and I had 3 lbs and they still came out great.

Here are the links to his discussion and the recipe. I like Kenji - he's like Meathead as far as knowing the science and experimenting and testing his recipes and not being stuck in myths. For example, in this discussion, he points out that marinades really only seep a few millimeters into the meat.

[Rlasky]

Kenji is amazing. Same ability as Meathead to explain and demystify difficult processes while never losing the reader

[Eastonbeef]

Huskee, we got about 6 inches at my place. Hard to tell with the drifting. We had rain first, not sure what I like better... 2 feet of snow or 6 inches with ice under it... too bad the ground is still muddy under it, the snow will insulate, can't imagine January getting firewood in 2 feet of snow and sinking in mud!!!!
Eugenek, we all start somewhere in barbeque, I consider myself a newbie. Read Meatheads articles, he gives you everything to make yourself a hero. The big thing in my mind is... do you like to eat barbeque? Does your mind wander... how can I improve this... to make myself...lover of barbeque happy. Congratulations on your addiction to good food!!!

[Huskee]

Cool! None here in central MI, except flurry dustings. Not a soul wants any just yet.

[Huskee]

Tonight I'm running a test on wood smoke. I have 12 boneless/skinless chicken thighs. 6 of them are on my baby Weber with apple wood. 6 of them are on my Yoder firebox doing a trial on ash wood, which I've never used before.
All of them were dry brined with my rib rub for about 3 hrs prior. Sides are fresh sauteed broccoli with minced garlic, and good ol mac 'n cheese.

The family and I will get a side by side taste test of the same chicken, same rub, two different woods from two different cookers.

And I have a large bottle of Woodbridge cabernet to pop too...

[Eastonbeef]

Thighs are the best part no doubt, Glad you think so... heritage breeds do not grow the abnormal breasts of a bird that doesn't fly. But the meat actually has taste, kinda like good commercial dark meat.
I'd love to sell you some, but I'm just shooting for a local market. Mail order fresh cut chicken???

[Huskee]

You sent snow here, we now have about 4 inches. [angry face]

I imagine shipping fresh cut chicken would be difficult. I was figuring frozen.

[Eastonbeef]

Sorry bout the snow! I'm not ready either. On good thing about snow on wet ground... I have fence to build yet! I have the start of my beef herd ( 2 bred cows)coming in March. So yes, it's turkey day and pounding posts.
When I have some chicken for you to try, It will be frozen fresh.
Once fence is done, it is winter bbq...

[The Burn]

I picked a wonderful day for starting a low, slooooowwwww cook in the afternoon. I've got a couple of chuck roasts on the kettle. Temperature outside has dropped to 35 (at 6:15 pm) and there's been a steady drizzle for a few hours. The chucks have been on for about 3 hours, had made it up to 160, dropped to 151 during the recent addition of coals, and have climbed back to 158. I refuse to crutch these as I want to see what will happen with BBBR with stevia (which doesn't caramelize or maillard-ize). At least I've been able to keep my kettle steady with my bottom insulation boards and welding blanket on top (I've got some Thermofelt on order that I'm hoping to custom fit to the kettle lid), and my patio umbrella keeping everything dry. (Started snowing - though nothing is sticking)


(It ain't pretty, but it does the job. The GOSM is in the garage for gasketing and maybe some other insulation - just in case I ever use it again)

@Huskee - I'll be curious to know what you think of the ash wood. I had a tree down this summer that I'm thinking is either ash or beech, and could provide a lot of smoking down the road.

[The Burn]

Here's the end product. The rundown of the cook is over in the Beef threads, i.e., here



Gotta say, this is some good stuff.

[David Parrish]

TB great method, post what you're doing here, then afterwards post the recipe you used and your thoughts on the recipe in the recipe section. Thanks!

BTW, looks good!

[Huskee]

Here's last night's boneless skinless chicken thighs smoked with ash wood. The ash turned out great on the chicken, very mild.

And who doesn't love box mac 'n cheese...

[fzxdoc]

Box mac&cheese--brings back childhood memories. I couldn't get enough of it, and of fried bologna either, for that matter. That was my fav supper. Your chicken is a huge improvement on the fried bologna, for sure!

Kathryn

[Huskee]

Thanks Kathryn! I promise I don't have a Peter Pan complex, but I could eat box mac 'n cheese every day of my life, I love it. My wife makes an amazing homemade one (we have yet to try Metahead's but I suspect it too will be amazing) but I am just as happy with the box. Fried bologna and fried spam, I won't turn it away either!

[smarkley]

Awesome! Looks really good!

[Huskee]

Thanks !

[Spinaker]

Ribs tonight, I want to try a tri-tip on saturday or sunday! Never done a tri-tip before, looking forward to it big time!!!

[Huskee]

Tender steak-roast. No way it cannot be good!

[eugenek]

Good luck on the tri tip! I'm going to cook it up on Sunday, too. I made some last week and ended up overcooking it although the family said it was still yummy.

[Marauderer]

And who doesn't love box mac 'n cheese...

Me!! I really dislike it but, I respect others rights to eat what they want!! My wife usually fixes it Charleston, SC style and I have grown fond of it over the years.