Do you daisy-chain any of your cooks? What I mean by that is this....for example, I will pick up a four-pack of chicken breasts. On the first day, I will use two of the breasts for chicken enchilada soup and I will use the other two breasts the following day for a pan-fried chicken cutlet.
I like this as it knocks out two days worth of cooking and I really don't have to think about it. It enters in my cooking rotation like clockwork every three weeks or so.
I think of daisy chaining more along the lines of what I'll do... a chuck or a pork butt first thing in the morning, then later in the day I'll throw in some steaks or chicken breast for reverse sear, and then maybe some ingredients for something else... all to make food for that night and later in the week. Or I'll do a brisket and my saved up fat to render at the same time. When possible I try to get all my smoking done in one 24 hour period and will try to time things so it all lines up.
I believe my longest cook was running my MAK non-stop for almost 72 hours. Kept just throwing different things in for later on.
I do it all the time. We set our weekly menu every Friday. And set it primarily by what’s the special of the week at out local Krogers. This week the special is Chuck roast. So our menu next week (Sunday- Thursday) is pot roast for one meal, hamburgers another. I even get the dog involved. Thursdays Kroger has a whole rotisserie chicken at $5. So I bought the chicken on Thursday, pulled the chicken meat for the dog and used the bones, skin and fat to make a broth for pork posole I’m making for dinner tonight.
Last edited by TripleB; November 1, 2024, 02:25 PM.
Almost all our meals are daisy chained. Any leftovers from one dinner becomes the basis of the next. Also I hate wasting time and fuel so if I’m cooking a protein then I’m cooking enough for multiple meals.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
Not sure if that counts as "daisy chaining" cooks in my opinion, since they are cooked totally different ways, on different cookers, but if it works for you, do it!
I have a "daisy chain" smoker plan for this weekend:
1. 9# Boston butt onto the SNS Kamado at bedtime tonight, for a 4pm potluck and bonfire tomorrow (Saturday) night.
2. 14# brisket onto the SNS Kamado tomorrow after the butt, with a plan to have it done by 9am Sunday morning and into cambro for the day for 5pm dinner.
3. 4 racks of baby back ribs onto the SNS Kamado after the brisket, to be done early Sunday afternoon, holding in cambro or oven until 5pm dinner.
Does that work as a daisy chain smoking plan? I plan to keep the SNS Kamado going from bed time tonight until 5pm Sunday. I just gotta decide if I want to do it in Kamado mode, and deal with pulling the deflector for refueling, or if I want to use the SNS insert for each fueling, but with only 7-8 hours capacity per load of fuel.
I may change it up and extend the brisket cook until 12-1pm, and not put the ribs on until 1, bumping the temp to 275 or so to get them done in 4 hours.
Large Big Green Egg, Weber Performer Deluxe, Weber Smokey Joe Silver, Fireboard Drive, 3 DigiQs, lots of Thermapens, and too much other stuff to mention.
I will cook 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs on my BGE, cut them into strips to freeze them in portions for the wife and me to use in things like tacos, salads, rice and pasta dishes.
Yep, usually skip a night then come up with something for the left over dish. Sometimes we freeze but usually create another dish. Tonight is leftover meatloaf with a side of leftover pesto pasta which originally was dinner with grilled scallops. Warm spinach salad tonight from our greenhouse. Leftover pork roast Sunday which will become roast pork sandwiches on home made rolls with provolone cheese and Anaheim peppers. Sometimes the second time around is better than the original, especially a roast pork sandwich Philly style.
My term 'daisy-chaining' was a bit odd....I guess what I was really referring to is you buy one food item (in my case, the chicken breasts) and then nearly always make the same two or three things with it over multiple days.
With pulled pork, yes. lol. We have 3 or 4 things we do with it. I'm always looking for something new to do with it. I love tacos, but that, sammiches and nachos does get a little old at times.
Every few weeks I smoke a whole chicken. Then I use it for most of the week. Chicken and rice, soup, tacos, sandwiches. Pasta with some kind of sauce. Same with a chuckie or pulled pork.
Every few weeks I smoke a whole chicken. Then I use it for most of the week. Chicken and rice, soup, tacos, sandwiches. Pasta with some kind of sauce. Same with a chuckie or pulled pork.
I like to smoke 2 or 3 chikkins at a time, then I can pull them apart, chunk them up, whatever, use the meat for all kinds of things, essentially just like most things I make with pulled pork - nachos, tacos, etc. I will make chikkin salad, too. The other night, what did I make?.. sumthin'.... hmmm.. oh, right, now I remember.
First, I mocrowaved a couple of potatoes to be 'nearly done', then chunked them into about 1/2" chunks. Tossed them in a bowl with slight drizzle of avocado oil, the stuck them in the toaster oven on 'air fry', turned them a couple times, got 'em good and crisped up. Then I took them out and added chunked leftover chikkin, chunked up some ham, added... some leftover broccoli pieces, Tony Chachere's and Ranch powder and mozz and muenster, then back in the toaster over to get all melty and gooey. Came out pretty good for just a thrown together, buncha leftovers kinda mess. lol
22” Blue Weber Kettle with SnS insert
Kamado Joe Jr with Kick Ash Basket
Char-Broil Smartchef Tru Infrared Gasser
Anovo Hot Tub Time Machine with Custom Hot Tub
All the time! Oh, the places you go with a whole chicken! Legs and thighs for a braise-style dish (CCV or jambalaya or scarpariello). B/S breast for sandwiches or a stir fry. Wing tips and remaining bones for broth. Wings: stock pile in the freezer for a mess ‘o wings in the future.
About once a month, maybe little more often, I get the Costco two pack of organic roasting chickens. Put in my propane turkey roaster, I have a little dangling shelf to go in it, so I can stack two chickens in there. Let those roast out on the patio, takes about an hour. I then take off the large pieces of white meat, slice some to put on salad, or make into chicken salad, take the little bits and put in a container for soup (I usually make a pot of cream of chicken with white/wild rice), put the dark meat in a container for dog snacks, then put one carcass in the Instant Pot to pressure, then slow cook all day, for broth. Put the other carcass in Ziploc, in freezer, for next batch. I make an IP of rice about once a week, spread out on sheet in garage fridge overnight to cool/dry, then in container in fridge for stir fry or fried rice over the week. If I make a stir fry, over rice, and have any left over, I save that and just toss into the next batch of fried rice (I make fried rice a lot.) Any roasted veg, esp asparagus, leftover, gets tossed into the fried rice too. I just really keep a string of things working off each other, most of the time.
Last edited by acorgihouse; November 2, 2024, 12:24 PM.
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