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ronnie_suburban

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by ronnie_suburban

  1. Thank you, lizard, for the truly informative post. =R=
  2. Congrats on the sweet purchase, Chris. I'd definitely try (another) bacon -- especially if you can really cold-smoke with the Bradley. Having hot-smoked several slabs, I'd be curious to know the differences. And yes, the gouda seems mandatory too. Also, as you mention above, I'd want to try some smoked andouille. That's really become the central sausage in my cooking lately. And cold-smoked salmon would be another great thing to attempt. You clearly mastered the gravlax recipe; maybe some lox should be next on the schedule. =R=
  3. BTW, Chris, congrats on the purchase. I hope you'll provide some detailed reports as I've been really interested in the Bradley units. And thanks, Bombdog, for the tip. =R=
  4. According to the book, you are looking for an interal temperature of 150 F. In my various bacon runs, I've had it reach that temperature in as little as 4 hours and as long as 8. It really depends on a variety of factors like the wind, the proximity of the meat to the heat, the temperature of your fire, etc. =R=
  5. James, I wish I could provide some guidance. I hope to learn a bit from any information which flows your way. And welcome, ojisan. What I've learned from hot-smoking bacon with the skin on is that it provides a nice insulation which prevents the meat from getting too hard -- because I can face the skin side toward the heat source in my smoker. Of course, there's a lot of fat under that skin which probably would protect the meat from overcooking and hardening. But, as long as the skin stays on, the fat beneath it doesn't melt and run all over the inside of the smoker cabinet. I think that in a cold-smoking situation, the skin probably isn't quite as useful. The meat isn't likely to harden at the lower temperature and likewise, the fat wouldn't melt. Yes, the smoked skin can be boiled until soft and eaten. It's actually quite delicious and provides a great foundation for a pot of beans or jambalaya-type dishes. =R=
  6. The 4 woods I try to keep on hand are: Hickory - prefer it for larger cuts like pork butt or beef roast. Apple - really nice for pork ribs or chops. Cherry - my favorite for turning cured pork belly into bacon. Alder - excellent for fish and seafood. I'd like to try some nut woods like pecan or walnut but I rarely seem them in any of the shops I frequent. Does anyone have a good on-line source for cooking woods? =R=
  7. Welcome to the eGS, APLF, and thanks for the additional input. Moms' methods are usually tried and true; no recipes needed. =R=
  8. Tim, it looks like a cube of butter is added after the liquid is introduced. Is this accurate? =R=
  9. Thanks, Mike. I agree with you that Marlene shouldn't give up on ribs yet. I suggest that next time out, she smoke her preferred meat and also try another slab of ribs in addition. Really, as much as I've read about smoking foods, it's only through trial and error that I have approached results which make me happy and I still learn something new every time out. I remember one batch of ribs I made 2 summers ago, after bragging to my family about how good my ribs were. Well, these were barely edible. It was the only batch of ribs I've ever blown and it happened with a hungry audience standing by. They were way too salty and completely dried out and stringy . . . like bad rib jerky. On a purely subjective note, I too dislike mesquite. I definitely prefer fruit wood when it comes to pork but do occasionally use hickory too because of how easy it is to source. If I were forced to use mesquite, I'd do so only with a hearty cut of beef. Susan, sorry also to hear about your "lost" weekend. You are often my inspiration when it comes to smoking, so I'm very sorry you couldn't join in this time around. As for Easter, I'm not sure what our plans are but if we're in town, count me in for any sort of on-line smoking collective which forms. =R=
  10. Still using the KA grinder but I can already foresee wanting to upgrade. It works well but it only comes with 2 sizes of blade wheels. When you read Bertolli's Cooking by Hand, you begin to understand that while those 2 are adequate in most cases, it would be useful to have more variability. And, I love the stuffer I bought but even there, maybe the 10# unit would have been better than the 5# unit . . . =R=
  11. No, Dan. I'd advise against the KA stuffer. Check out this thread: Sausage stuffers - what to look for?, Recommendations, please =R=
  12. I had a good rib run today. I ended up hot-smoking my ribs over a hickory-cherry blend for a little over 6 hours at about 210 F. After cooking, I did wrap them in foil to keep them warm but I didn't cook them any further. The meat was tender but firm, and provided a slight resistance when being tugged from the bone. My wife and son both proclaimed them the "best batch ever" but that's because this was the batch which happened to be in front of them at the time. A few pics . . . 3 slabs baby back loin ribs, brined, cut into half slabs, rubbed and smoked for about 6 hours. A closer look. The surface of the meat is crusted but still moist. Here, you get a better sense of the additional meat provided by the loin. Still moist inside and the smoke ring goes almost throughout. The bone shows that the meat wasn't quite FOB, but it was perfectly tuggable. =R=
  13. I ended up soaking the whole brisket in cold water for a couple of hours. After that, I placed it atop a bed of whole carrots and thickly-sliced onions -- along with about 6 oz of Bass Ale -- and braised it for 4 hours. In the last hour, I added some small potatoes and cabbage wedges. It really was great; the best I've ever had but that's probably because I bought it at Zier's. =R=
  14. Not if nobody busts you on it, it's not. Yeah, he should have tasted them, but he didn't have time - instead, he decided to execute something with a flourish and he won. I don't want to marry the guy or anything, and I think he's probably a great bullshit artist, but I have gained some respect for him. He's smart and creative. In a competition, that's better than being cuddly. He might hurt himself by shoving the wine pairing angle down everyone's throats for the duration, though. ← Plus -- and I had forgotten this for a moment -- the challenge was described as being <paraphrasing> 'all about presentation.' Given the description, I'm not sure the fact that Stephen's stuff may have tasted bad, should have made a difference in the end. It was deemed the best-presented plate. Does anyone remember any of those fruit plates being tasted by the judges? =R=
  15. Regarding foil, it's not necessary to the process but sometimes it can be helpful. The meat is released from the bone more easily if steam is used. Wrapping the slabs in foil for an hour or 2 at the end of the process will create steam and accelerate this process. You have to be careful, however, because if you cook them for too long while they're wrapped the meat will become totally FOB (falling off the bone) and that's usually not preferred with ribs. FWIW, the cooking which takes place while the meat is wrapped can be done in a regular oven at about 225 F. In either case, if you do foil-wrap them, I'd suggest, crisping them up on the grill (or under the broiler) for a few moments after you unwrap them. This will aid the crusting of the meat's exterior and mitigate some of the moisture created by the steaming. And if you must use sauce, I'd apply it at the very end of the cooking or even better, after the cooking is entirely completed. I've also taken ribs successfully to the 'almost-FOB' point without any wrapping at all but in my experience, that takes closer to 7 hours to happen and a very even temperature must be maintained in the smoker. I think this would be more difficult to acheive with air temps in the typical winter range and easier in the warmer months. As for the dried garlic, knowing Klink, he probably meant to use fresh, dried garlic. I think you can substitute garlic powder but I wouldn't do so unless I was certain I had some fresh, high-quality garlic powder on hand. In lieu of dried-fresh, or high-quality powder, I'd simply omit it entirely. My ribs have been smoking for about 90 minutes over a mixture of hickory and cherry wood. The smoker temperature is about 210 F, so I do anticipate a 'foil phase' in my routine today. The air temp isn't too cold here but since my smoker is on the north side of my house, it won't see any direct sunlight at all today. I'd have to take the water pan out of the smoker to really drive the cooking temperature up today and that would require far more frequent checking than I feel like doing. Ultimately, the meat stops taking on smoke when it reaches 140 F, so the cooking method after that point isn't quite as important as the earlier stages. =R=
  16. I think you're onto something. Charcuterie has been nominated for a Beard award in the Single Subject Book category. Brian Polcyn was also nominated this year in the Best Chef - Midwest category. Congrats, gents. =R=
  17. No sugar Ronnie? I've got ribs. 2 racks of spareribs and one rack of surprisingly meaty baby backs. So I'll do all three. Brine for a couple of hours, rinse, let dry and rub. Let the rub sit overnight? Ive got sumac thanks to a very kind friend. No mop? I'm ready to smoke! ← No white sugar, generally just brown sugar but it depends (so, sometimes yes). I don't mop because I like a slightly crusty exterior on the ribs. I also find that constantly opening the smoker to mop does more harm than good because you tend to lose temperature by doing so. If you only brine for a few hours, I'd up the salt to 1 C per gallon of water but I'd not let them brine longer than 4-5 hours in that case. Letting the ribs dry before you smoke them will help the the smoke ahere to the surface of the meat. As for when to apply the rub, I'd hold off until the last minute because as long as you're brining, it shouldn't make much of a difference and they'll dry better un-rubbed (especially if the rub contains sugar). =R=
  18. I was thinking last night, as I analyzed the results of my steaming experiment, that a pressure cooker might be just the thing. Unfortunately, I don't have one. ← Well, I have one but it's much smaller than the 8# corned beef I have waiting in the fridge. My butcher, who corns these briskets himself, recommended cooking it at a hard boil for about 2.5 hours and adding any vegetables with about 30-45 minutes to go. Based on what I've read here, that doesn't sound like the best way to go. Maybe I'll cut an appropriately-sized piece off and cook it in the pressure cooker. =R=
  19. That's my fave too and what I'll be using this time around. =R=
  20. I loved the first, cooking-intensive episode but I didn't enjoy the second one nearly as much. I thought the 'theme' in the second installment felt completely glommed on and sent the erroneous message that food and cooking -- without the additional titillation factor -- aren't compelling enough on their own. Rather than focusing on "restaurant food," this exercise evoked memories of bad caterers and lousy bakeries. And I'll bet that if one interviewed 100 top chefs, less than 5 of those chefs would equate food with sexiness. Still, I'll stay with it for now because, based on the first installment, I'm hopeful that the focus of the show will remain on the food and the cooking. And is it just me or is Tom Colicchio a dead ringer for Cal Ripken Jr? =R=
  21. Would you pre-simmer/boil it or do something else to mitigate the salt/cure? =R=
  22. I disagree and always brine pork. =R=
  23. I'll brine 3 full slabs in a gallon of water and 2/3 C of Kosher salt for about 12 hours in the fridge -- and I remove the membranes from the backs of the slabs before the brining. After the brining, I rinse the slabs, dry them and let them sit on a rack in the fridge so they can dry a bit further. I, like many others, have a rub recipe that I really like (basically consists of sweet Hungarian paprika, Ancho powder, salt, brown sugar, black pepper, ground oregano, etc.). Regardlesss of which rub you use, I think the main issue is to cut back the salt in the rub if you're brining. =R=
  24. I made my weekly Thursday stop at Zier's earlier today and was delighted to see Dave's house-cured corned beef briskets for sale. I picked up a large, 8#, cryovacked flat which I will make tomorrow or over the weekend sometime. Last time in I tried the cooked Brats which I thought were the best ones I've had outside of WI. =R=
  25. Ron, you may very well be correct. I wasn't asking to be a smartass. I was asking because I don't know the answer . My gut feeling is that oxygen would enhance the curing process, but I'm not sure. Where are all the SSBs when you need them ? Edited to add comment that might or might not sound semi-intelligent . ← Oh, I didn't interpret it that way at all. And yes, I'd genuinely like to know the science behind this concept too. Indeed, where are all our resident SSB's today? Is there some sort of convention going on? =R=
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