My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
Someone here is going to tell me that they've been doing this for years, but on an episode of Crazy Delicious, a guy used a BGE to smoke a peeled watermelon scored to look like a ham. Used rub on it and everything. I want to try that just for grins and giggles. It actually looked like a smoked ham until sliced. Unless that was just the magic of television.
And I thought injecting watermelons with reagent (USP)-grade ethanol in my college years was the only way to make a watermelon taste even better.
I saw that episode, he put some type of jerk seasoning on it and cooked it in a BGE. it even cut a bit like ham. Looked pretty good. If you figure it out, let us know
I’ve got to admit that my interest in smoking and joining this forum in large part started from experimenting with different ways to prepare Lionfish, which is an introduced invasive exotic species currently impacting our waters in a way that most people don’t know, particularly because something that is out of sight, is usually out of mind.
The good news is that Lionfish is excellent eating. I consider it to be The Kobe of fish, or Wagyu of the sea.
It’s delicious as sashimi... fresh from the filleting table, with a kiss of soy sauce. It’s ceviche is excellent, frankly speaking, like nothing else. Fried with minimal seasonings, breaded and deep fried, steamed, sous vide, or any which way you want, it’s top notch.
I wanted to try smoking it into a fish dip, and it was by trial and error that I got to discover this website. I purchased Meathead’s book, and that led me here. We don’t just eat Lionfish, and have of course, since reading and studying this a bit, learned how to better prepare bbq, grill meats, etc.etc. so this resource has been a win-win for my family and I.
We fix our dip using cherrywood smoked Lionfish, cream cheese, sour cream, diced sweet peppers, red onions, cilantro, habaneros, freshly squeezed lime juice and usually serve it chilled with some pita chips, or corn chips to bring it all together.
I start by marinating our Lionsfish catch in soy sauce and brown sugar overnight in the fridge. After 24 hrs. it’s pretty much cured and firm. I give it a good cold water rinse and smoke it low and slow... 210F tops, for just under an hour or better stated, until I have achieved the right color and texture. It’s like fish ham. Hard to describe... it’s superb.
My wife and I join forces when preparing this, we proceed to crumble the smoked Lionfish fillets and incorporate them into the rest of the ingredients to make our dip. At times, my wife brings some of our dip to work and her colleagues keep asking for more.
Catching Lionfish is part of the fun. If you want to see how that part of the job is done and why, here is a video that PBS put together several years ago. My wife and I contributed to this video production, we donated a good portion of the underwater footage. We are in the video many times, particularly underwater, catching them or rolling video on getting that done, we are on the boat and part of the team, etc.etc. but we purposely stayed quiet and opted to just be in the backgrounds. Here is the hyperlink if you want to see and hear more about the Lionfish in our waters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSd7pgvOV3M
Here is a photo of a good Lionfish catch:
Here is one of some fillets being smoked:
This one shows the finished product once served:
Cheers,
Ricardo
PS: This one is a photo of them in their natural condition:
They are really invasive and a big problem over in Florida. You should have some tee shirts made up with a Lion fish enjoying a cig with the caption "I smoke Lion fish"
Whole canned tomatoes. I will throw some in for a couple of hours when smoking something else. Puree them up afterward and they can be used in a variety of applications including homemade BBQ sauce.
willxfmr It's super easy. When I first did this I put an entire can, including the juices, into a loaf pan. The BBQ sauce was good but too watery. Now, I drain the juice (and use for some other purpose) and cook the tomatoes directly on the grate usually for a couple of hours. Thoroughly puree them afterwards. It freezes nicely.
I Smoke my meatballs now rather than the tomato. I finish the meatballs in the sauce. It’s more subtle but really good. CaptainMike has taken that recipe. Tomato and smoke is awesome.
Mice - unintentionally, lol. Apparently, they think a pellet grill burn pot is a good nest. Luckily, I haven’t seen any more in past 2-3 years since the neighborhood has been completed...or I bbq’d them all. Either way, glad they are gone.
What I cook intentionally is pretty boring, Tilapia or shrimp is about as wild as it gets. I’m not into many protein sources you wouldn’t find raised for consumption. However, I have cooked Pecan Pie and Pineapple on the pellet grill.
a guy at work smoked up a beaver for thanksgiving, not my thing but ya gotta try new things or you'll never know.
Weirdest thing I smoked was the pop up timer on a chicken... didn't know it had one and somehow it got under the skin fully. Luckily it popped up at the end of the cook before I had to resharpen my knife
This weekend, we smoked an assortment of things, and amongst the different items we prepared were some beef cheeks. A first for us fixing, but not a first for me trying. I had tried beef cheeks once before at a street taco stand in Cozumel about a year ago or so, but it had some other non-choice cuts in them... and while I really liked them, it was not possible to distinguish exactly what the beef cheeks were about.
So, in preparation for the Fourth weekend, and while checking Sams’s club, I saw for the first time ever, 2 bags of beef cheeks, and one came home with me.
I found a video on Malcom Reed’s HowToBBQRight YouTube channel and essentially followed his instructions to the "T". They turned out really good.
Most of the content of the package was inedible tissue, all kinds of knife work involved to free up the edibles. My fish filleting practice came in handy with these cheeks. Lots of knife work and in the end, we had several pieces of muscle, all sizes but principally small cuts. It’s about 40% keep.
We smoked the cheeks for color, then when they got to 160-170ish, in an aluminum pan they went with some vegetables and beef broth, covered in tin foil till they reached 210F.
They taste like some type rough chopped soft fatty brisket point mixed with spare beef ribs. We have them vac packed and frozen at the moment, and will be giving them a formal try soon, when their number is up. I used KillerHogs rubs and smoked them using a few Cherrywood chunks for flavor and Southern Live Oak throughout. Beautiful color and flavor, soft, fatty in a good way, kind of a comfort food thing, and an amazing smoke-ring to boot.
Gave a little piece to my daughter when she was helping me prep the vacuum bags for freezing. She did not know what it was, and I did not tell until after she had tried them, she liked them until she heard us say... beef cheeks. Will see what she has to say when we thaw them for dinner 🤣.
This photo has them getting the KillerHogs treatment
Here that they are getting a sprits of 50:50 apple cider vinegar and Jack Daniel’s Apple Whisky, with some disolved dark brown sugar. The cheeks are the ones closer to the camera:
Here they are getting the final vegetable and beef broth bath, and once they had achieved the color I was looking for. Cover with tin foil and back in for some BTUs:
Unfortunately, I don’t have any more photos of the beef cheeks. It will have to be when they come out of the freezer.
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