Dinner! 2012

[mgaretz]

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.

[C. sapidus]

Mark – mmm, nice ribs!

dcarch - gorgeous as usual!

Caramelized minced pork from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen – onions, caramel sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and scallions. A favorite.

Jasmine rice and a salad with lettuce, tomatoes and avocado.

[avaserfi]

avaserfi - Ridiculously cool stuff every time, did you glue the skin after you boned? I need to set aside more time for projects like this, I'm getting Chef's Block.

Oh and I need more gojujang in my life...

I used the white meat from the hen some pork fat for the sausage. It was stuffed into a boned leg and thigh, I never took the skin off. I did use the breast skin to patch any holes as needed.

And I agree most everyone needs more gojujang in their lives.

[patrickamory]

Fantastic meals as usual everyone.

liuzhou: that looks like a dish I might try. What cut of beef did you use?

mgaretz: OMG those ribs! unbelievable.

[Paul Bacino]

Mark: Nice Ribs

Andrew: Great Photograpy and food work

dcarch: : You sucked me in on that "Black Hole " explanation.. always nice

Dave: I caught some Northern Pike this weekend.. but I would love to have your fish accessibility

[C. sapidus]

BBQ chicken wings – marinated with lemongrass, garlic, white pepper, turmeric, and soy sauce

Chiang Mai dipping sauce – for dipping vegetables, made with tomatoes, pork, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar

Vegetable plate – eternal cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro, and scallions. Mrs. C skipped the wings and made a meal of the veggies and dipping sauce.

[Kim Shook]

Chris T – Happy Anniversary! Lovely meal.

percyn – thanks for the bacon burger explanation. Doesn’t sound too hard. I was thinking it was one of those ‘woven bacon mat’ things.

Soba – I think that your bread looks perfect, actually. Great crumb, nice crust – it looks like it would have a good ‘bite’ without being tough. And your artichoke heart dish should be shown to everyone who says that fresh and frozen are interchangeable. Not for everything and certainly not for that lovely dish!

Prawn – your lobster is beautiful – it looks like the result of a liaison between a lobster and a lovely coral! And your steak made me faint.

dcarch – who knew that artichoke stems were so beautiful? The crust on that roast pork is gorgeous! What was in it?

Harry – love the lasagna! I really prefer a ‘deep dish’ lasagna and wish that I got that kind of browning when I make it!

Xilimmns – I’ve wanted to make that fried chicken and polenta ‘fries’ forever. They look delicious. Where you happy with the results?

David – I love the idea of serving chimmichurri over cod.

Avaserfi – I am in awe. Not only beautiful, but it sounds like an amazingly delicious bite!

Mark – I’ve been trying to get Mr. Kim to smoke some ribs ever since he got his smoker. I think if I show him yours and your amazing smoke ring, I might be having ribs soon!!

Bruce – that caramelized pork sounds like something that I need to try. When you say ‘caramel sauce’ – is that something that you make or buy? I’m assuming that it’s not the jar of stuff in the ice cream aisle? Or is it???

Dinner tonight was salad and hot wings. Mr. Kim’s with Frank’s and some crazy ass sauce called Spontaneous Combustion:

He was still feeling it more than an hour after we ate. Mine were MUCH tamer with Frank’s and honey:

And white peach and blueberry pie for dessert:

[ddelima]

Hi Kim,

Wings are my addition! Yours look great.

The fried polenta was one of the best I've ever had. Can't really go wrong with good Italian polenta, heavy cream, butter and chicken broth. Crispy on the outside and almost melting on the inside. If I have one advice on this is get a good polenta. I used Moretti.

The chicken was good but a little too salty to my taste. Since it was my first time using this recipe I used the exact recommended quantities and brine time. While the outside crust was great and well seasoned, the meat (specially the white meat) was more salty that I liked. The lemon and salt quantity on the brine could be reduced by half in my opinion. Definitely worth it, I hope to make it again soon.

[mkayahara]

It's kind of odd to me that, as long as I've been a member here, I don't think I've ever posted in this thread! No time like the present...

Lately I've been taking my first few steps in both Mexican and Thai cuisine, which makes for an interesting juxtaposition. Last night for dinner, I made a couple of dishes from Hot Sour Salty Sweet, but on Saturday, I made a handful of things from a Rick Bayless cookbook.

First up, queso fundido with chorizo and poblanos. (I finally found some poblanos!) Bayless' chorizo calls for a lot more ancho than, say, Ruhlman and Polcyn, and I'm finding it makes it hard to sauté: the chillis burn too easily. Still, the queso fundido was delicious.

Of course, to go with that, we had to have homemade corn tortillas.

To lighten things up a bit, we had some mahi mahi ceviche as well. It was good, but I'm not sure how I feel about olives in my ceviche. They just didn't seem to fit, for me.

And of course, what would a Mexican meal be without some salsa? This was a basic roasted tomato salsa with serranos, garlic, onion and cilantro.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Gorgeous food, everybody, particularly the ribs, BBQ chicken, and peach/blueberry pies. Droool.....

For me, fairly standard meals in the last week. You guys all make me feel like my day to day food is kind of clicheed "home cooking" stuff!

Chicken with Cheese-scalloped Potatoes (and obligatory asparagus), and a mound of fresh-pickled horseradish

Panfried Tilapia with Home Fries (and obligatory asparagus), and cauliflower

Meatloaf with Mac N Cheese.

Turkey Breast with Roasted Paprika Potatoes and steamed carrots

Turkey Soup with a fresh Black Bagel (my one concession to the not so ordinary. There's nothing like a hot bagel.)

And yesterday, probably to get me out of my ovens (I've been working a bit too hard of late) friends kidnapped me and took me out for dinner (how nice!) so I had the opportunity to indulge in one of the Ecuadorian specialties that I would never make at home: Cazuela de Mariscos. This was one of the best examples of this dish that I've ever eaten - for the curious, CDM is a thick peanut curry fish broth filled with chunks of mussles, clams, squid, octopus, concha, and sometimes lobster. This one, of course, had the whole meal deal. Very yum.

[Norm Matthews]

I have my smoker going with a small 2 lb. brisket. The picture is as of now, three hours in. I figure since it is so small it will be done in another three. Going to try making some potatoes O'Brien with some Sun Chokes added in as one of the sides.

Edited June 11, 2012 by Norm Matthews (log)

[robirdstx]

So many great looking meals! Very inspirational!

Here are some of the meals I have made over the last six weeks:

Sriracha Butter Shrimp

Tamarind Wings (Thanks to Anna N for posting the recipe link)

Nigel Slater's Curry Chicken over rice

Sichuan Boneless Chicken (a Martin Yan recipe)

Tangy Pan Fried Tilapia

Grilled Chicken Thighs, Cole Slaw and Green Beans

Grilled Lamb Rib Chops and Herbed White Beans

Spicy Beef in Lettuce Cups

Spicy Red Pork and Bean Chili over Pasta

Mesquite Smoked Spatchcock Chicken (on new electric smoker received as a gift from inlaws)

Grilled Rib Eye and Zucchini

[Anna N]

.......

Here are some of the meals I have made over the last six weeks:

...............

WOW - I want to eat at your house!

[rotuts]

stunning recent posts!

[robirdstx]

.......

Here are some of the meals I have made over the last six weeks:

...............

WOW - I want to eat at your house!

Thanks Anna! Come on down, anytime. We could even do lunch.

[mgaretz]

So many great looking meals! Very inspirational!

Here are some of the meals I have made over the last six weeks:

Mesquite Smoked Spatchcock Chicken (on new electric smoker received as a gift from inlaws)

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!

[patrickamory]

Bruce is that Chiang Mai dipping sauce a nahm prik? or something else?

And you know what my next question will be... which cookbook??

[C. sapidus]

Wow, lots of meals that look really good!

Bruce – that caramelized pork sounds like something that I need to try. When you say ‘caramel sauce’ – is that something that you make or buy? I’m assuming that it’s not the jar of stuff in the ice cream aisle? Or is it???

Kim – Thank you! You can buy caramel sauce at an Asian market, or you can make it yourself. It is simply sugar browned to a color somewhere between blackstrap molasses and black coffee. Might be interesting on vanilla ice cream . . .

Bruce is that Chiang Mai dipping sauce a nahm prik? or something else?

And you know what my next question will be... which cookbook??

Patrick – Yes, nam prik ong from Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook

Lively evening. Friends were returning from Russia, so Mrs. C picked up their son (a shrimp fiend) and welcomed them home by making shrimp salad with mango, avocado, tomato, onion, celery, Greek yogurt, and pear pickle, served on hoagie rolls.

Meanwhile, other friends stopped by to drop off their dog, and everyone hung out for a while. Eventually, everyone left and I made our dinner.

Red curry with bay scallops and green beans – kinda improvised, with shallots, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, brown sugar, white pepper, chopped almonds, coconut milk, chile matchsticks, and slivered lime leaves. Family approved, surprisingly.

Coconut rice, bean salad, and a delicious pickle of pear, bell peppers, carrots, ginger, and black peppercorns, home-made by one of Mrs. C’s co-workers.

Edited June 12, 2012 by C. sapidus (log)

[robirdstx]

So many great looking meals! Very inspirational!

Here are some of the meals I have made over the last six weeks:

Mesquite Smoked Spatchcock Chicken (on new electric smoker received as a gift from inlaws)

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!

Thanks Mark. I was a bit surprised at how dark the skin got but crispy it was not. This unit is just a basic Brinkman smoker and grill and cooked the chicken at about 275 F. I can't get it down to the temperature I want for real low and slow without making modifications or getting a variac (which we are considering).

[Kim Shook]

Xilimmns – I’ve heard other people say that about the Keller fried chicken. I need to try those polenta fries.

Elizabeth – I don’t find anything ordinary or pedestrian about any of your meals and I would gladly dive into that meatloaf and mac and cheese plate right this second!!

Robirdstx – gorgeous meals and I especially love the crust you got on those wings.

Dinner last night was nachos made with flour tortillas:

[Mr Holloway]

Great pics everyone

Got a new grid that will help with the wing cooks

Works pretty good

Shane

[rotuts]

WoW ! innovative NMC (Non Modernist Cuisine). they certainly look spectacular and Im guessing taste as good. I may borrow this and use it with Full Credits your way.

Would you fill us in a little more on the timings and what not? Maybe you can call this Stacked Wings and get a patent !

Did you 'rotate' the different grills? Baste?

This is really fantastic.

many thanks for sharing.

[Mr Holloway]

Thanks Rotuts

The wings were on for about an hour and 450 dome temp.

I did switch the racks halfway through, they also spin, which is handy

The rub for the wings was mixed with some cornstarch which helped the skin crisp up in the Egg

I normally do raised direct, but these work out as well or bettter(less tending/more beer )

Hope this helps

Your welcome to use anything you like

Shane

Edited June 12, 2012 by Mr Holloway (log)

[rotuts]

Well what's the rig you use that rotates?

The finest Low and Slow book I have ( ie BBQ) is this: By Smoky Hale no less!

http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Barbecue-Grilling-Manual/dp/0936171022/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339524092&sr=1-1&keywords=great+american+barbecue+%26+grilling

snap this up Toot Sweet! it has everything in it. including a pic I guess I cant post of having an old barbers chair that could be put flat for the Beer and the Snooze as you work low and slow.

you will be astonished with the book. Ever had BBQ Baloney? ITs all here

thanks!

[Kouign Aman]

dcarch, your food is so deliberately presented that I have to assume the hilariously funny oil-spill-on-a-plate is intential. Looks delicious, unlike the original.

Haha! very interesting reaction to my plate. As it was said, "it's in the eye of the beholder".

I of course will not tell you the hidden subliminal symbolism which I schemed to play games with your subconsciousness.

I suppose, If you were an astrophysicist, you might behold that that circle represents the Black Hole in which it sucks in all matter with a relentless force, so powerful that no electromagnetic energies can escape. No electromagnetic waves means the absence of color and the absence of color equals black. However, the mystery of this Black Hole, dark matter and anti-matter could be explained by the new String Theory, which is represented by the stringy scallions.

dcarch

Not with it surrounded by gulf shrimp. You'd need crab, for the nebula.