jmolinari

The Steelhead trout i smoked this weekend (5 hours cold smoke, trout sitting on ice packs) was unbelievably good.

The BGE is a great grill, no doubt, but it's no pizza oven. It may make a delicious pie, but it can't replicate a 2 minute neopolitan pie.

i'm not convinced that the dust has to be THAT perfect. I think any finely ground sawdust will do just fine....not necessarily from ProQ

Dougal, i didn't notice you're in england. I think sawdust for the pro-q is easier to get there than it is here.

any saw dust that's made from untreated hardwood will work. Butcher-packer has large bags, pretty cheap.

Thanks scoobadoo, the idea to ae ice gel packs is genius. Nice setup. Similar to what I did with my weber bullet. I had a separate box to make smoke that I ducted in. I just got a proq cold smoke generator. Take a look at it. It's pretty neat

Scubadoo, that's my plan..to cold smoke it. I just got a ProQ cold smoke generator. Unfortunately i have to wait until night time, since day time temps here are in the 90s, which is too high for a cold smoke. Night temps are in the 70s, so that should be OK. I remember you said you only cold smoke for a couple of hours. That seems really short for cold smokign where 12-48 hours is more the norm. Do you also track weight loss of the product to make sure it reaches a certain amount? How long does your salmon keep in the fridge? How are you cold smoking in florida in summer? What's your rig?

I'm sorry, i don't feel sorry for him in the least. As JeanneCake said if he has written something along the lines "we were lucky enough to have chef friends who cooked for us...." instead he chose to brag about it, and tell people that everyone should do it, knowing full well that it's basically impossible for any normal person to do. He just comes off as an ass.

I think the worst part of his article was the sentiment that "you shouldn't hire caterers, you should hire big name chefs, like I did". That just shows pure condescension towards every reader.

MY local costco has been carrying nice looking steelhead fillets, farmed, so i was wondering about making gravlax or Nova out of them....sounds like i should go for it.

Are you referring just to their use in dry-cured items? I find synthetic casing to be rather off-putting both appearance and texture for fresh sausage. Yes, dry cured stuff.

I think you're looking for beef or hog middles. Beef middles are easy to you, hog middles from what i'm told are fatty and smell very strong. You should soak them in a water/vinegar mix overnight. that said, i'm gravitating towards artificial (not really artificial, since they are made from collagen...not plastic). They are shelf stable, come in any size you want, and are all the same size. It's very convenient. I did a side by side taste test, and there was no discernible difference between artificial and natural casings.

Wild Copper river Sockeye here in ATL for $15/lb. It goes fast when they get it in, and they never know when they're going to get it.

I've been using my Little black egg for a few years now, and i just posted instructions on how to make one on another food forum for Atlanta folks, 285foodies.com , and i thought i'd post it here too in an attempt to spread the gospel:) I didn't come up with this. Some folks on pizzamaking.com did, i just implemented the concept. This will get you to the mythical 90 second neopolitan pie (assuming a proper dough), with proper char and flavor, for a small investment ($150 or so, possibly less). It's extraordinary. The only disadvantage is that it's 1 pie at a time, so the cook usually isn't eating, he's cooking and serving. Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/jasonemolinari/LBE You'll need: 18.5" weber kettle grill (standard grill at home depot) 1 6" unglazed quarry tile (home depot) Bayou Classic Burner - http://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Classic-SP10-High-Pressure-Outdoor/dp/B000291GBQ/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1220027326&sr=8-2 Instant non-contact temperature gun - http://www.amazon.com/Raytek-MT6-MiniTemp-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B000O80B5M/ref=pd_cp_hg_1?pf_rd_p=413863601&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0002198GY&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=06JJE2PPDFZG7NV3Y3AD OR http://www.amazon.com/KINTREX-Clear-Temp-IRT0421-Non-Contact/dp/B0017L9Q9C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1220027403&sr=1-1 they seem to be pretty much the same. 15-16" pizza stone. I used the Old Stone Oven round pizza stone, 16". Google for it. It's expensive, but about 5 times heavier than the cheap ones, and i cracked 3 of the cheap ones before i bought this one. I think Gadget Geek had some links for some serious pizza stones as well. 16" aluminum pizza pan (like the ones they serve pizza on at restaurants). You can get them for about $3 at restaurant supply stores..otherwise you'll have to mail order it. Heavy duty aluminum foil. I think that's it. The assembly is as follows. Cut a 10" or so hole in the bottom of the kettle grill. Use a bowl or something to give you an outline to cut to. Try to make it so the hole is "flat" relative to the grill...so it sits level when you put it on the burner. I'm not sure if I'm explaining what I mean. Where ever you're going to cut the grill, cover it in masking tape so the enamel doesn't crack and propagate all over the grill. How you cut the hole is up to you. I used heavy duty dremel cutoff bits..it took about 10 of them! When I ran out of those I tried a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, and it seemed to sail through the stuff like butter...but I didn't use it much as I was basically done. Wish I had! Cut a vent like in my pictures on the side of the top, across from the premade top vent. My vent is about 1.5" by 8". I don't think size is super critical...just approximately that size should be fine. The original top vent is always closed. Line all inside surfaces with HD aluminum foil..shiny side viewable. Drill a hole in the center of you 16" pizza plate/pan and a hole in the center of the lid too. Try to make this centered. You can do this by taking the plastic off the handle, and using the screw hole that is on the metal handle as a guide. Mount the pizza pan to the top using a long bolt and a wingnut like you see in my pics. The goal of this is to reduce the volume of the top lid where hot air would end up. I reduced it even further but also putting in the lid the ash catcher that came with the grill. That's that weird small dome you see in my lid picture. If you want to do that too, just make a hole in the ash catcher, and use a longer bolt to go through that, then the pizza pan then the lid. The grill comes with 2 grates. The cooking grate and the charcoal grate. Put the charcoal grate in the grill, and then put an UNGLAZED 6" quarry tile (available at SOME home depots) on the charcoal grate, directly above the burner. I'm using this so that the burner flame doesn't impact the pizza stone. Put the cooking grate in put the pizza stone in. Put the pizza stone towards the front/vent size of the grill, so there is a larger opening on the back side of the grill between the stone and the grill walls, which will force the hot air up on the back side, then out towards the front vent and over the pizza. Close it up, light the fire, and on low-medium heat preheat for about 15 minutes...raise the heat a little, and keep preheating until your stone is at about 750 deg (use the new temp. gun). It takes a good 25-30 minutes to preheat it somewhat gently and so that the stone is pretty evenly heated and doesn't crack. Slide your pizza on, close the lid quickly, and CRANK up the gas to max. This will create a huge roaring flame that will generate tons of heat, that will be forced over the pizza and out the vent. Watch out...the air coming out is REALLY hot. You'll have to turn your pizza about every 30-45 seconds to get it to char up evenly on the top. Do this by quickly opening the lid, grabbing the pie with some tongs, twisting it then closing the lid. Repeat as necessary. The pizza should cook in about 1.75-2.5 minutes. Depends a lot on your dough and your toppings. You can watch the pizza as it cooks and chars through the vent. The goal is to get the bottom charry and done at the same time as the top. You might have to mess around with what your stone temperature needs to be before putting the pizza on. My best one has been stone temperature 700-750. I let all my toppings, cheese, tomato, come to room temperature before baking. I use about 220g per dough ball, spread to about 11". I use a wet mozzarella as the dry stuff would not to so well under the high temperature. You'll end up with something that looks like this: And produce goodies like this: Margherita Prosciutto: Zucchini, ricotta, pancetta:

Me too...just waiting for it to come to Amazon! Thanks Douglas.

I've read, and agree, that GOOD mold on salame actually penetrates the meat and reduces the pH by breaking down lactic acid. That's why i spray my salami with good molds. You can purchase these or even wipe them with a piece of Camembert cheese crust

I cook basmati in my Zoji 10 cup neuro fuzzy, and i soak the rice for about 20 minutes before hand. It comes out fluffy with separate grains. If i don't soak it, it comes out stuck together.

doodad, what resto in ATL is it? Just wondering cause i'm in ATL as well.

has anyone thought of using it in a bread dough, in a miniscule amount, to simulate the bread having been cooked in a wood oven? Or in a pizza dough?

A piston stuffer is a better investment (and cheaper) than a new grinder. I still use my kitchenaid grinder...

I disagree, well...partially. I think most of the definition is lost by using a screw fed stuffer instead of a piston type stuffer. The grinder helps, but even with a dedicated grinder if you use a screw fed stuffer, you'll wreck your definition.

I watched the buffalo wing episode, but the judging made no sense. They asked the 2 superfans which one htey liked, and then revealed which dish was from which place to everyone before everyone had voted, it was therefore, not really blind tasting. Weird

You don't NEED casings, but the item will tend so dry out faster. I think wrapping in cheesecloth could help that. It's worth trying.

We ate at B&B a few weeks ago and were also very disappointed. Don't feel like detailing, but quality was not in the right league for the price, and not even close to Babbo. It was also offensively expensive for the portion size and quality of food.

fanning the coals makes them a lot hotter...the better to sear the meats.