jmcgrath
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Posts posted by jmcgrath
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One more question: I could not find any major feature differences between the WSM and some slightly less expensive varieties. I suppose I just need to get hands-on with several models. What sets the WSM apart from the other bullets?
There is probably not much difference. For a long time, there were just cheap, annoying bullets and the Weber, so many of us ended up with Webers. There is a web site dedicated to cooking with a WSM.
Jim
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The advantage of the "side box" usually referred to as an offset is cooking area. An offset is a lot more labor intensive and has a higher learning curve.
There are bullets and there are bullets. Most people consider the Weber Smoky Mountain aka WSM to be the best in class. It retails for around $180. The very cheap bullets have no means of temperature control. Avoid them. The same goes for an electric bullet without a thermostat control. Look for a bullet with adjustable vents on both top and bottom if you go the charcoal route. I've never used an electric bullet, but have heard they can not keep up with winter time temperatures.
You can cold smoke fish in a charcoal bullet. You need to minimize the amount of fuel, and keep the vents throttled down. It's easiest during the Winter.
A thermostaticaly controlled electric bullet is your simplist to use option. However, barbecue purists sneer at them.
Jim
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There's a place in Waltham Mass. called Solea that serves tapas, hot and cold, and some entrees, and I thought it was very good. I've only been there once but it was packed. Its website, http://www.solearestaurant.com/
Solea is new to me. I will certainly check it out. Have you been to Dali In Somerville, MA? How do the two compare?
Jim
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In:
jmcarath - boston
jmcgrath - Boston
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I made a Costco run today, and picked up a rack of lamb for the go-go on Sunday. I'm just starting to think about how I will cook it. On the charcoal grill of course, maybe a crust of panko, garlic and rosemary. Butter or evoo? Perhaps some mint. Mint, garlic and rosemary are too much. Still thinking.
They were sampling mango chutney. Excellent! Thanks to whoever mentioned it. Of course, I bought a jar.
Jim
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Boston suburbs.
With just Linda and I at home now, Costco vegetables are going to be problematic. The minimum quantity I can buy is just too large. That leaves me two options, do a half assed job using only Costco meat and vegetables from elsewhere, or team up with others from the area. I prefer the second option if anyone is interested. I already have plans for Saturday, so the dinner would halve to be on Sunday.
I can host, and it would not be unreasonable for folks from parts of NH, RI and CT to attend. I'm also willing to travel if someone else wants to host.
Jim
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My wife and I went to a barbeque/party and I prepared a paella
on the side burner of a Weber gas grill. I was unsure of how hot
the burner would run and if I could control it to my needs, but it
all worked nicely. My only disappointment was that the saffron
didn't color the rice very well.
Mark Bittman in one of his "Minimalist" columns pointed to saffron source. I ordered from them and must say it is the most briliantly colored and fragrant saffron that I have ever run across.
Jim
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We had a neighborhood block party on Sunday in the park at the end of my street. There were about 30 families, with ages running from mid eightys down to two year old toddlers. People brought their own meat and sides to share. I made curried chicken breast kebobs. Everyone else brought burgers and dogs, with a few steaks thrown in. Some of the sides were quite good. A lot of people brought home made cookies, but I'm not a big cookie fan. Beer and soda, of course. Interestingly, not a single bottle of Amstel light was touched. The Sierra Nevada and Heineken were hit pretty hard. Corona was the third most popular choice. On the soft drink side, the IBC root beer and cream soda were the first to go. Minute Maid pink lemonaid got cleaned out next.
Jim
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You know this thing is going to take forever, right? Even a conservative 1.5 hours per pound puts you at 24 hours of smoking. Or 6-7 hours of smoking (until the meat reaches 140) and many more hours in a 225 degree oven.
I would suspect that you'd have better luck cutting it in half. Two 8lb shoulder chunks will come up to temp a little sooner than one 16lb slab o' meat.
Chad
I haven't found that whole shoulder take significantly more time than a butt. A shoulder has a lot more surface area than a butt. Cutting a shoulder into a butt and a picnic doesn't add that much surface area. If you have a small pit, it may be convenient to cut the meat into two pieces, but I don't think much else is gained.
Jim
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sometimes, if i'm not mistaken, there is poo or something similarly unknown and brownish/green in color in the tail when you split them open after steaming. Can anyone confirm this? And I'm not talking about the tamale either in the body. I do think the skewer in the tail is just so it doesn't curl, correct?
There is an intestine running along the top of the tail. There is also a strip of flesh covering the intestine that can easily be peeled away to allow cleanout.
Jim
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The East Coast Grill is not a good place for barbecue anymore. They do turn out excellent seafood, and I highly recommend them for that. A while back, they ran a little joint next door called Jake and Earl's that had very good Q. They expanded into and closed that spot. The Jake and Earl's on Moody St. in Waltham is not associated with ECG as best I can determine.
Jim
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Any suggestions for the best restaurants for barbecue? specifically, burnt ends, pulled pork or pork ribs?
Redbone's in Somerville, MA (especially pork iterations). Their chopped BBQ beef is excellent. Never seen burnt ends, but never asked.
I think Redbone's is overrated. In order to say something nice about them, they do have a very good selection of beer. I'll second gallygirl's recommendation of Blue Ribbon. Unfornutately they are mostly takeout, and not a place where you can sit down for a meal. I also like Jake's Boss BBQ in Jamaica Plain, across the street from English HS. Firefly's in the western suburbs is good.
Jim
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In the NJ Pig Pickin' thread, galleygirl asked about a barbecue contest in Lowell, MA that I mentioned. I'm starting a new thread to discuss that.
Barbecue in New England is alive and well. By barbecue, I mean tough cuts of meat lovingly cooked for hours and hours with a wood or charcoal fire. I don't mean burgers, dogs and steaks cooked hot and fast on a gas grill.
I'll first start by introducing the New England Barbecue Society web site. For a list of our activities, click on "Upcoming Events".
To answer the original question, the city of Lowell has a number of festivals throughout the year to attract people to the downtown area. The "Rib 'N Brews" festival is one of them. The Massachusetts State Barbecue Championship on September 11 and 12 is part of that festival. There are two contests, a grilling contest on Saturday, and a barbecue contest on Sunday. The barbecue contest on Sunday has been sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society.
Jim
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Artichokes (not that any grow around here, but at least they become affordable in season).
You can grow artichokes in colder climates, they just need to be treated as an annual. Start from seed indoors, move to a cold frame, transplant. It's a bit labor intensive, but seeds are cheap.
Jim
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As for honeymoon salad, it was something my dad always said. He was kind of famous for his "Bill-isms" but I can't vouch for him having coined that particular phrase. He was very found of homegrown head lettuce wedges with a simple dressing and that was what was served as honeymoon salad: lettuce alone.
That term was around at least 50 years ago during my childhood. Our definition was "Lettuce alone without dressing" followed with a snicker.
Jim
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Sorry, bleu. You're imagining it.
Steam gets significantly hotter than water. Ever hear of the Steam Engine? Geothermal Energy?
I thought the power of those was because it is steam UNDER PRESSURE. Think "pressure cooker" -- it's the pressure that tenderizes the meat faster, not heat.
The temperature of the water and steam are pretty much equal at any given pressure. It is pressure that determines how hot water will get before it boils. It is the higher temperature within a pressure cooker that cooks things faster.
Jim
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I do love a great filet of fresh salmon! I'm from the PacNW, and grew up on trout and salmon. Ever try gravlax?
I love gravlax. I was introduced to it many years ago by Pepin's "La Technique".
Jim
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Really good seafood doesn't need a recipe. Grilled hot over a charcoal fire is all it takes. For dinner on Thursday, I had wild Alaskan king salmon flown down from Sitka, AK, courtesy of a friend of a member of my sportsmen's club. I hardly remember the sides. Asparagus with hollandaise and rice pilaf, but they were so inconsequential compared to the salmon.
I wire brush my grill, but never use soap and water. A well seasoned grill is a thing to cherish. If the grill is greasy, the fire may not be hot enough.
Jim
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Should be...150F/65C for 6 hours plus. Heston Blumenthal cooks his for 72 hour sealed in a cry-o-vac bag (sous vide).
Pork is traditionally served more well done, although I don't think it needs to. The old argument was that you needed to kill parasites, but that is not really a problem for the majority of the western world
I'll give it a try as soon as things warm up enough. Temperature control on my pit is good enough that I should be able to hold a steady 150F. Because of airflow through the pit, I may have to foil the meat part way through the cooking process to prevent dehydration.
137F is a safe temperature for pork and I normally cook loins to 140 to 142F. It will be interesting to see if I can get collagen breakdown in a shoulder with a long hold at 150F. Common wisdom is that it starts at around 165F.
Jim
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You have really started me thinking. Would medium rare beef brisket be a possibility?
You mentioned above that pork shoulder needs to go to a higher temperature. I take it to around 200F for shreding, but is this really necessary?
Jim
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..., it was slow to generate smoke, especially when reloading with fresh wood chips. The end result was nice and tender but had less smokiness than on previous attempts done with a charcoal grill/smoker.
The convenience of gas for maintaining a temp is unbeatable, but I'm not so sure about the potential for nice, smoky BBQ.
Anyone have any tips to try?
If you are soaking the chips, don't. Anticipate the current load of chips burning out and start a new load before it does. Remember that most smoke flavoring is going to occur early in the cooking cycle. Use more chips then, more than you are currently using. Don't use chips after the first few hours, it is a waste of money.
Jim
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I saw no mention of Bufalo Chipotle sauce. Also, horseradish sauce, not horseradish mayonaise or prepared horseradish. Blues Hog barbecue sauce.
Jim
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Bread holds quite well in the freezer, and doesn't take long to thaw. For some reason, it does not hold well in the refrigerator.
Jim
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from the looks of the snowshoe challenge, you have got a head start in this type of thing...if we could pull this off, I think it might be the first of its kind and I know my editor will give it a push in the paper...we have to make sure we all take good pics so we can print them...I really do think this sort of thing would express the spirit of e gullet quite well dont you think...and how else but e gullet could something like this get organized?
How do people see this working? It could be a single team from each region, or regional contests composed of many teams leading up to a national championship contest. It is early enough in the New England BBQ season that I could add an Iron Chef category to one of our contests. We have done this a few times in the past and it has worked well.
Jim
Smokers - Electric vs Charcoal
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
You can replace the Weber water pan with a Brinkman charcoal pan for greater capacity. I guess cross posts are against the rules so you will have to find your own source.
Jim