mgaretz

details please My basic vinaigrette but made with a black currant balsamic vinegar instead of regular (and leaving out the raspberry flavoring): 2 ozs vegetable oil 4 ozs olive oil 2 ozs balsamic vinegar 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning blend – or herbs to taste 1 tbs cream sherry 1/4 tsp sea or kosher salt 1 clove of garlic – medium sized, minced 1 tbs Raspberry Syrup (sugar free or regular) or 1 tsp strawberry jam (or raspberry) 1 tbs honey 2 tbs mustard More details here: http://markiscooking.com/?p=14 A viable alternate is to mix Wishbone Italian dressing with some extra balsamic if you are just using it as a marinade.

Simple dinner tonight of grilled chicken-apple sausages and grilled vegetables (zuchinni and red peppers marinated in a black-currant balsamic vinaigrette).

Sorry I didn't snap any pics, but dinner tonight was chuck steak done sous vide at 130F for 24 hours, mushroom sauce made with the reduced bag liquid, butter, cream sherry and sliced white and porcini mushrooms, served with steamed cauliflower.

I have been looking at a popular meat smoking site - www.smoking-meat.com by Jeff Phillips. He vigorously pushes his Jeff's Rub recipe which he sells for $9.95. Just wondering if anyone has bought/used it and if it was worth the money. He also has a book out on smoking, but he did not include the receipe in the book. That's a bit irritating! I have used Meathead's Memphis Dust recipe and have been happy with the results so far. Can anyone compare them?

There wasn't enough left over smoked pork for the "main course" for three, so I chopped it further and added it to fried potatoes, onions and eggs. I'm calling it a North Carolina Scramble! The picture doesn't really do it justice! (My wife had fourths!)

After making a few too many not very tender pieces of pork butt, my family has come to accept that that when I reply "Not ready yet," its worth the wait. Once above 180, if I need to serve, I increase the temperature to 275 or 300. I wait for 195, and 200 is better. I did exactly the same, except I stopped at 185. I fully expected the internal temperature to rise to 190 while it rested, but it didn't happen. In fact it immediately started to drop.

Mine was done with just Memphis Dust too.

Trial run of the new smoker. Here's the smoker: Tried to do pulled pork with a piece of pork shoulder. Smoked at 225F for about 7 hours to an internal temperature of 185F. It was only about 2.25 lbs and took much longer than I thought. Wanted to go to 190F but the family was hungry. Here's the meat just out of the smoker: It was tasty and not dry, but it also wasn't very tender and really didn't pull apart, so I had to cut it instead:

Nice! Did you get the smoke ring this time? ("They" say the secret with an electric smoker is to put a regular charcoal briquette in with the wood.) I just got a propane smoker, seasoned it today, and tomorrow I will be trying some pulled pork for its maiden run.

Once I used the Blendtec to grind some dill seeds. It scratched the hell out of the container. It was probably still just fine, but it bothered me enough that I got a new one. But now I have one to use for spices! (it ground them fine)

Wow that chicken looks great. I've been looking at smokers and the "common wisdom" on the web is that you can't get that kind of crispy skin with an electric. So what are the details? Time, temp, brand of smoker, etc.? Thanks!

I haven't posted in a while. I either forget to take pictures or I'm making the same-old-same-old. Anyway, I've been wanting to try real smoking and Scott's getting a smoker inspired me to get off my butt and try it (along with St. Loius ribs on sale for $1.99 (at Target, no less) and some perfect foil pans really cheap at Sam's club for the water trays). I basically followed the instructions at http://www.amazingribs.com/ for setting up my Weber gas grill as a smoker and for the rub and ribs recipe. Hear are the results: This was the full slab after smoking for 6 hours at 225F (well, that was the target anyway). I used applewood chunks and the ribs were rubbed with Memphis Dust (from the site above) and refrigerated overnight prior to smoking, Here's a side view of the slab cut into quarters showing the smoke ring: The ribs went back on the Weber after a rest (primarily to let the BBQ cool enough to convert it back to a BBQ and then reheat), basted with sauce and then baked to set the sauce. They were served with home made cole slaw. Here are the leftovers: I must say they were pretty amazing.

Blendtec has the Wildside jar on sale for $30 off through the 17th of June. I don't need the extra capacity, but for those who have used both, is it worth the $70 investment? What kinds of things does it do better than the standard four side jar?

What I love about the electric is you can set it up and basically wait for the beep to tell you it's done. I don't have to stress over the temp and pressure. Has both low and high pressure settings and you can also sauté and brown in the same pot.

I have the electric Cuisinart. I would not normally have bought it but I had a Williams-Sonoma credit I needed to use *that day* and I couldn't find anything else. That said I have been very happy with it and have used it quite a bit.

If it works anything like it's smaller siblings, it probably just needs adjusting. Here's a link to a service manual for the smaller models. http://www.kitchenaidparts.be/centers/servicemanual/mixer.pdf Skip to page 22 on how to adjust the control unit.

Anyone have any experience with the Whole Beast Butchery book? Not really interested in butchering a whole beast but wondered if it might be useful for general butchering. Hoping for something like the Ellis book but with better pictures.

I think this technique is also shown on the DVD that comes with his latest book: Essential Pepin

I have the Cuisinart and considered the waffle plates, but they cost as much as a complete waffle maker! (I actually have a GE waffle iron that works well.). The Costco version of the GR-4 (I think it's a GR-8) appears to be identical in every way except it costs about half. I got mine for even less when they had a coupon.

Try some Jever pils!

A friend of mine who used to own a burger joint always said to never press on the patty. It squeezes all the juices out and you get a very dry burger. Of course he was cooking them conventionally.

I saw a demo at Williams Sonoma. Pass.

At my second wedding my wife I wanted pie instead of cake. The caterer made a huge cherry pie in the shape of heart. There was no top crust so it was big red heart - served about 50 people.

Maybe salt would work?

So if I understand, the thighs will be pre-cooked on the BBQ and you're just using the bath to warm them to serving temp? If so, then you can go with whatever temp you want to seve at and in an hour they will be ready. Probably less but an hour works. I have used this technique to cook breasts SV and warm pre-cooked thighs in the same bath.