JoNorvelleWalker

Today's pork project is spareribs. I used the Profile's sparerib preset, thus absolving me of any guilt when the meat cannot be chewed. The sparerib parameters are 113C, 6 hours, smoke level 5. I'm using hickory, although there were a few mesquite pellets at the bottom of the hopper that I was too tired to take out. I woke up from my nap at 7:20. I started the smoke a little after 8:00. Dinner should commence a little after 2:00.

I use a blast chiller for drying stuff -- most recently the bluefish that I smoked.

I thought Nuri and Pinhais were the same company?

Beautiful result! Do I understand correctly that the smoking time was 6 hours at 200F?

Inside.

Tonight's Smoked Bluefish Salad was vile. The red onion was much too much and the salt from the smoked bluefish overwhelmed everything. It's headed to the garbage. I have more bluefish but it will have to be soaked to mitigate the salt.

Because of the oppressive heat I did not smoke spareribs tonight. Things have cooled off a bit and Lord being willing I shall reattempt spareribs tomorrow. If anyone has suggestions for time and temperature, now would be a jolly good time to share them.

I made the wrong recipe. It must be the heat. I had intended to prepare Smoked Bluefish Pate (Delish! p24). What I actually made was Smoked Bluefish Salad (Delish! p64). Oh well, I have more smoked bluefish. The salad is good, but I added far too much onion.

I don't clean my Anova. Except sometimes the front glass.

I rubbed it. With a paper towel.

Thanks to a suggestion from @rotuts in the GE Profile Indoor Smoker thread, I decided to try isopropyl alcohol on the glass windows of the Philips. For sometime I had been disappointed with results from the Philips, and cleaning the windows with alcohol made a big improvement. Last night I tested a new fish grilling basket by grilling a branzino on the Philips (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) The basket fits beautifully, almost like it was made for the Philips. Previously I'd always cooked branzini in the oven. This was better. For anyone wondering, six minutes per side. And, yes, I needed to wear dark safety glasses.

To follow up on my last post, the cheap nugget machine was unsatisfactory. It went back. It was replaced by an EUHOMY. Good as the EUHOMY is I found another brand, TUATNUT that I like better, possibly because the water is easier to drain. I make ice most evenings. This morning I ordered a different EUHOMY (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) This one makes crescent ice rather nugget ice. It will be fun to see how they compare. How do people feel about crescent ice vs. nugget ice?

I've been satisfied with every Mastronardi variety I've tried, though my favorite is still Campari. I can't grow Mountain Magic anymore because the plants are too big for my balcony. However this summer I am trying a relatively new tomato called Veranda Red. The little plants grow only a foot or so high, but they produce continuously. Recently I noticed the Veranda Red fruits resembled Sunset Flavor Bombs. Last night I did a side by side comparison. Both varieties are small, with, if anything, the Veranda Red being slightly larger. Unlike Campari, the Flavor Bombs are sweet, perhaps too sweet. Both Veranda Red and Flavor Bombs have good tomato flavor. The Veranda Red have less obtrusive skin. Then again, they don't have to be shipped halfway across the continent. Also the color of the Veranda Red was more red. Flavor Bombs in contrast are more of an orangish pink.

Last night I couldn't stand the temperature so dinner was hummus and tortilla chips. But tonight I smoked the hamburger. I will modestly assert that I have the method pretty well dialed in: Mesquite Half pound ground beef Smoker temperature 140C Target temperature 56C Smoking time 45 minutes, turned back to front half way through Measured final temperature 55C

Last night was not a good experience. I smoked pork spareribs. After two hours at 121C, the ribs looked good to me. Measured with a thermapen the meat was about 95C. But all the recipes I've found call for more time than two hours. I reduced the temperature to 77C and smoked for another hour. The result was unpleasantly dry, although I could still cut and chew it. None of the unctuousness I achieved smoking port belly. Any suggestions for time and temperature to properly smoke spareribs? I have three sections left from the full rack. Meanwhile I ordered a turkey breast from Whole Foods but they were out of stock. Tonight I will probably smoke hamburger again if I can stand the heat.

...And the start of an esculent rhyme.

Thanks to the expert enablement of @TdeV in the Indoor Smoker topic I now have Delish! by Philip R Craig and Shirley Prada Craig. Delish! is the first and only cookbook in my collection to have a recipe for water. I made some last night but then spilled it trying to swat a fly.

Ice cream and orgeat.

Camera taped over.

I shall never again eat crackers in bed while attending a work telemeeting.

I received a new homogenizer this evening. Unlike my other, this one comes with a stand.

Ship it to @Shelby to take apart.

If there is no obvious thickener in the recipe I assume the simmering step is for reduction. Neither the APO nor SV are noted for reduction. If it were me I'd use a Paragon.

I repeated last night's spare rib. But this time I set the temperature to 102C for an hour, then lowered the temperature to 82C for another hour and a half. The results were as lovely as last night's were not. Final temperature was about 80C. The meat was easily sliced and for the most part cut with a fork. Delicious. I could chew it. I saved the fat and bone, possibly as an addition to Rancho Gordo beans. So much to learn.

If the new Cuisinart was so quickly discontinued there was probably a reason.