eG Foodblog: Smokeydoke - Seven Days and Seven Nights in Fabulous Las Vegas

[Smokeydoke]

Dinner tonight will be meatloaf! I'll return later tonight with pics. Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

[Shelby]

What didn't you like so much about the BBQ?  Meat not tender enough or the sauce?   I think BBQ is such an individual like/dislike food...everyone likes a different sauce...texture...meat etc.  Did you like the mac and cheese?  

 

We have a friend that has for years been trying to talk us into buying one of those Kamado (sp?) Joes that you have been looking at.  I've been tempted but my husband has not been on board.  We have a very very old grill....and a very very old smoker  and he's happy with that.  Me, on the other hand, I'd kind of like to have one...but one must pick their battles lol.

 

 

[kayb]

I'm intrigued with what Las Vegas style barbecue might be, as well. The pulled pork LOOKS fairly similar to Memphis style. Did it have a nice crust/bark on it? What kind of sauce was served with it?

 

[Smokeydoke]

2 hours ago, Shelby said:

What didn't you like so much about the BBQ?  Meat not tender enough or the sauce?   I think BBQ is such an individual like/dislike food...everyone likes a different sauce...texture...meat etc.  Did you like the mac and cheese? 

 

 

 It was incredibly tender, sauce was great, but excuse my ignorance, I think I could've imitated the pulled pork in my crock pot.

[Smokeydoke]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

I'm intrigued with what Las Vegas style barbecue might be, as well. The pulled pork LOOKS fairly similar to Memphis style. Did it have a nice crust/bark on it? What kind of sauce was served with it?

 

 

I didn't detect a bark on the pulled pork, the rib tips and brisket had a nice bark.

 

They served it with God sauce, it was excellent, I don't know what to compare it to? Baby Ray's? They also served a white BBQ sauce that reminded me of ranch and a vinegar sauce.

[Smithy]

"God sauce"?

[Smokeydoke]

23 minutes ago, Smithy said:

"God sauce"?

 

http://eat24hrs.com/restaurants/order2/menu.php?id=68508

 

I'm not a BBQ aficiando, but I would guess Kansas-style BBQ sauce? It was much thicker than their vinegar-based sauce.

[gfweb]

I mean no offense. 

But to me most barbecue is too sweet and overcooked. 

I do better with sous vide. 

BBQ is tasty and all, but mostly not worth standing in line for. 

But then, most things aren't worth standing in line. 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Smokeydoke said:

 

http://eat24hrs.com/restaurants/order2/menu.php?id=68508

 

I'm not a BBQ aficiando, but I would guess Kansas-style BBQ sauce? It was much thicker than their vinegar-based sauce.

 

Thanks for the link. I was wondering whether there was a Higgs Boson connection somehow.   Now, seeing the choices on the menu, I'm reminded of a series of salsa marketed for a while under the brand name "Religious Experience".  I don't remember any of the stages except their very hottest.  It was titled "The Wrath", and the label was hot pink with lightning bolts.  

 

Back to barbecue sauce:  I'm with gfweb about sweet sauces; most of them (IMO) are too sweet.  I have been known to stand in line for good 'cue, though.  It's a mystery to me how some places manage it profoundly well and others end up drying or shredding or undercooking.  I'm still trying to get it right myself.

[kayb]

FWIW, I think good barbecue, and here I mean specifically pork shoulder, has to be smoked for a long, long time, so the smoke taste permeates the meat. Memphis-Mid-South style involves rubbing it down 24 hours or so in advance with a dry rub and letting it marinate. Then it's "mopped," or basted, with a thin, vinegar-based sauce periodically as it cooks. This combination seems to yield a good flavor and texture. A full shoulder (or grill-full of shoulders) should be cooked 18 hours starting at 180F and gradually working up to 220F. Some variations in taste can be achieved by what cooking medium is used -- charcoal, hardwood, a combination, specific types of hardwood, etc.

 

A "table sauce" here is an entirely different thing from a cooking sauce. It never gets anywhere near the fire. Most table sauces are tomato based; some are sweet, some are hot, some are in between, and most barbecue joints will serve at least two -- a hot and a mild. I've never seen a mustard-based sauce east of the Appalachians (although when I tried it in South Carolina, it was surprisingly good; I just couldn't look at it and eat it). In Alabama, they make a white barbecue sauce, but I think that's mostly for use with barbecued chicken. Recipe is here. I think it sounds disgusting, and have never felt the necessity to try to make it (nor sample it at the restaurant, when I've been down that way).

 

[Smokeydoke]

Last night's creations: Rose Beranbaum's Money Dunkey Bread

 

      

 

This was fabulous, well worth the effort. It's Rose's brioche dough (best I've ever made and, of course, the hardest and most time-consuming) rolled into balls with dark chocolate inside. Then it coated in a caramel sauce and put in an angel food pan and baked. Lastly it is topped with more caramel sauce. Decadent? Definitely. But surprisingly, not too sweet. The brioche is dreamy soft and buttery. She makes it the hard way, using a starter, then slowly adding all the butter till it's incorporated, then chilling it again till it's a sticky mess. You can taste the difference, the final product is so fluffy. It really didn't need the chocolate and caramel, but it's a nice way to gild the lily.

 

Edited February 25, 2018 by Smokeydoke (log)

[Smithy]

Ooh, I want that!  

[Shelby]

Me tooooooooo

[Smokeydoke]

Dinner was my meatloaf!

 

 

I'm actually embarrassed to post this, as I created this recipe years ago as an adaptation to a horrible AllRecipes.com recipe. Mine is not great either but it's a household staple and I keep making it.

 

Meatloaf

1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp bp
3/4 cup saltines
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork

350F for 1 hour, last 15 mins, baste in sauce

 

Red Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
dashes of hot sauce
dashes of worchester

 

Edited February 25, 2018 by Smokeydoke (log)

[Smokeydoke]

Tonight, we're having a Korean feast! That other-we-do-not speak-about foodie website is having a Maangchi cook-along that just happened to coincide with my blogging. Since my heritage is Korean (even though I never cook Korean food, I mostly cook Thai, if any Asian) I decided I want to something Korean. I'm going all-out Maangchi and doing bulgogi ssam, japchae, fermented pickled oyster, kimchi,  and rice. I never eat this way except for the holidays but I wanted to cook something special for eGullet. And I highly recommend Maangchi's website, her recipes are legit.

[ElsieD]

30 minutes ago, Smokeydoke said:

Tonight, we're having a Korean feast! That other-we-do-not speak-about foodie website is having a Maangchi cook-along that just happened to coincide with my blogging. Since my heritage is Korean (even though I never cook Korean food, I mostly cook Thai, if any Asian) I decided I want to something Korean. I'm going all-out Maangchi and doing bulgogi ssam, japchae, fermented pickled oyster, kimchi,  and rice. I never eat this way except for the holidays but I wanted to cook something special for eGullet. And I highly recommend Maangchi's website, her recipes are legit.

 

Looking forward to this.  I agree, her recipes are great.

[suzilightning]

49 minutes ago, Smokeydoke said:

Dinner was my meatloaf!

 

 

I'm actually embarrassed to post this, as I created this recipe years ago as an adaptation to a horrible AllRecipes.com recipe. Mine is not great either but it's a household staple and I keep making it.

 

Meatloaf

1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp bp
3/4 cup saltines
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork

350F for 1 hour, last 15 mins, baste in sauce

 

Red Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
dashes of hot sauce
dashes of worchester

 

 

F the monkey dunkey bread .....give me the meatloaf - especially if made with ground bison mixed with some 93% beef

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, Smokeydoke said:

Tonight, we're having a Korean feast! That other-we-do-not speak-about foodie website is having a Maangchi cook-along that just happened to coincide with my blogging. Since my heritage is Korean (even though I never cook Korean food, I mostly cook Thai, if any Asian) I decided I want to something Korean. I'm going all-out Maangchi and doing bulgogi ssam, japchae, fermented pickled oyster, kimchi,  and rice. I never eat this way except for the holidays but I wanted to cook something special for eGullet. And I highly recommend Maangchi's website, her recipes are legit.

What site is that of which we do not speak?

[Okanagancook]

Chowhound I think.

Too many advertisements for my liking.

Edited February 25, 2018 by Okanagancook (log)

[gfweb]

4 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Chowhound I think.

Too many advertisements for my liking.

 

 

We have spoken of it in the past . I used to like it for restaurant advice, but the new management a few years ago started being very controlling/authoritarian. Many previously active local groups said the hell with Chowhound. Its dead to me at this point.

 

[Smokeydoke]

I like eGullet much better, but I still post to Chowhound occasionally.

[Smokeydoke]

Last night dinner required a trip to the Korean supermarket Greenland. Here was my haul

 

 

Sweet Potato Starch Noodles for the Japchae. They have to be reconstituted, then pan-fried.

Dried Shitake mushrooms, same as above
Perilla leaves for the ssam.

Raw frozen oysters, these are surprisingly good

kimchi, of course

and toasted sesame seeds.

 

As you can see, Korean food requires a lot of ingredients and a lot of hands, which is why I never make it.

[Smokeydoke]

Here's the spread: homemade Japchae, bulgogi, salted daichon with raw oysters (I never make this except for special occasions but it's traditional), red leaf lettuce and perilla leaves. It doesn't look like much but that is the culmination of three hours of work.

 

     

 

You eat ssam by tearing a piece of lettuce, then adding a perilla leaf. Next you slather some dangjang or chochujang (traditional korean pastes) and layer with rice and your choice of meat. Lastly you put the whole thing in your mouth like a taco.

 

Edited February 26, 2018 by Smokeydoke (log)

[Shelby]

Looks delicious!!!  

[TicTac]

Looks great.  I love perilla - very prominent in Japanese cooking (see; Shiso - unless I am mistaken).

 

Recently grew some this past summer, saved seeds - fantastic in salads - very unique flavour.

 

Great blog - thanks for sharing. 

 

As an aside, if only EG local boards were busier, then I wouldn't have to go to the dreaded CH (cant stand that place and its dictatorship rule!)