Dinner 2022

[TicTac]

1 hour ago, Duvel said:

Thanks - I also suspect the temperature. I can choose anywhere between ~40 oC and 135 oC. I was tending towards 107 oC (225 F) as suggested by Franklins BBQ book, but had to shorten the time a bit and did 115 oC. Next time more patience 🤗

You have ventured down a deep.....DEEP rabbit hole, my friend.

 

Though a truly enjoyable and rewarding one, no doubt!

 

How long did you smoke them for at that temp?  I do not have a smoker, but a Weber charcoal grill (who knows how to smoke like a chimney!) - did 2 racks on the weekend, at about 2.5hr right around 250-275 and they came out great.  Used Argentinian hardwood.  Always opt for the heaviest rack with the most fat.

 

But yah, you certainly need some wireless thermometers, perhaps an infrared one, maybe some cherry, mesquite....oh and don't forget bourbon.

 

 

 

[Raamo]

New York Style pizza from Modernist Pizza!

 

My side sausage and red pepper, my wife is not mentionable... (since not pictured)

 

So good!  Wine pizza (glass bottom is visible) is a 2018 Malbec from Repris in Sonoma.

[gfweb]

5 hours ago, Duvel said:

I decided to venture into the topic of smoking and bought myself an entry level electric smoker. I was certain to sneak the purchase by the missus, but it’s difficult to hide a black monolith on the terrace that expels smoke at a visible rate for hours. She knows me so well: she deducted that 1) it’s probably another toy for cooking, 2) it probably didn’t cost much per se but 3) probably will lead to significant investments into more equipment and time in the foreseeable future. My wife 🥰

 

 

Anyway, first try with beech wood (German standard) and pork ribs. Flavor was good, both “dry” and sauced.
 

 

 

Needs a bit more tenderness and maybe a more complex and expensive setup 😜

Looks great. 

The bones often are more exposed by meat contraction during smoking so perhaps the lack of tenderness could be solved by a longer or hotter cook. 

 

But its easy to over cook it too. 

 

I see pastrami in your future. 🙂

[KennethT]

5 hours ago, Duvel said:

I decided to venture into the topic of smoking and bought myself an entry level electric smoker. I was certain to sneak the purchase by the missus, but it’s difficult to hide a black monolith on the terrace that expels smoke at a visible rate for hours. She knows me so well: she deducted that 1) it’s probably another toy for cooking, 2) it probably didn’t cost much per se but 3) probably will lead to significant investments into more equipment and time in the foreseeable future. My wife 🥰

 

 

Anyway, first try with beech wood (German standard) and pork ribs. Flavor was good, both “dry” and sauced.
 

 

 

Needs a bit more tenderness and maybe a more complex and expensive setup 😜

To appease the Barcelonian you could smoke some seafood.  Lightly smoked mussels/clams.... yum.... percebes????

[weinoo]

34 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Lightly smoked mussels/clams.... yum.... percebes????

 

Do they smoke percebes?

 

38 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I see pastrami in your future. 🙂

 

Speck?

[KennethT]

59 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

Do they smoke percebes?

 

 

Speck?

Speck for sure.  Percebes - who knows.  I had them grilled at Etxebarri and they were amazing, so why not lightly smoked?  Or cook normally and serve with a smoked butter?

[Honkman]

Rutabaga Curry with leeks, garlic, curry powder, coconut milk and vegetable broth served over rice

[Dante]

Slow cooker mac and cheese topped with crumbled old bay potato chips

[Dante]

Pork nuggets with a pineapple juice/soy sauce/brown sugar/sriracha sauce, side of sauteed chard.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Pretty, but a disappointment:

 

 

 

Kenji's Easy Skillet-Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Bacon, The Food Lab p252.  Easy I suppose is relative, but that does not excuse the other faults.  For one thing, the bacon is cooked three minutes and transferred to a plate.  Thence never to be mentioned.  Kenji is not one to pass up on bacon.  He probably ate it all, waiting for the chicken.

 

I braised the chicken almost twice as long as called for.  Still pink.  It was supposed to be falling off the bone.  It wasn't.

 

 

[Duvel]

12 hours ago, TicTac said:

How long did you smoke them for at that temp?  I do not have a smoker, but a Weber charcoal grill (who knows how to smoke like a chimney!) - did 2 racks on the weekend, at about 2.5hr right around 250-275 and they came out great.  Used Argentinian hardwood.  Always opt for the heaviest rack with the most fat.

 

But yah, you certainly need some wireless thermometers, perhaps an infrared one, maybe some cherry, mesquite....oh and don't forget bourbon.

 

 

 

 

I did 3.5h, but truly think longer would have been better ... 

Will try 275 F (or 135 oC) next time, with about 2.5h as per ypur experience. Thanks !

 

 

13 hours ago, weinoo said:

Is that the temp. the book recommends for ribs and/or brisket, because it seems pretty accurate?

 

And - any dry rub on the ribs, or were they smoked naked, as it were?

 

They give a range, starting at 225 F. As a fan of SV, the lower end of the range looked more appealing to me (bias, I know), and reading through the book again he clearly references the higher end (275F to 300F) as his preferred range, just as @TicTac does. So, next project is on ☺️

 

And yes - I used a rub made from brown sugar, salt, celery salt, paprika, pepper, granulated garlic and granulated onion, with just a touch of chipotle and cinnamon, sprinkled more or less evenly on a thin slather of mustard.

 

[Duvel]

9 hours ago, KennethT said:

Speck for sure.  Percebes - who knows.  I had them grilled at Etxebarri and they were amazing, so why not lightly smoked?  Or cook normally and serve with a smoked butter?

 

I think all kinds of seafood should do well with cold smoking before grilling/frying ...

 

Project #2 (though maybe not with Percebes 😋)

[weinoo]

26 minutes ago, Duvel said:

 

I did 3.5h, but truly think longer would have been better ... 

Will try 275 F (or 135 oC) next time, with about 2.5h as per ypur experience. Thanks !

 

 

They give a range, starting at 225 F. As a fan of SV, the lower end of the range looked more appealing to me (bias, I know), and reading through the book again he clearly references the higher end (275F to 300F) as his preferred range, just as @TicTac does. So, next project is on ☺️

 

And yes - I used a rub made from brown sugar, salt, celery salt, paprika, pepper, granulated garlic and granulated onion, with just a touch of chipotle and cinnamon, sprinkled more or less evenly on a thin slather of mustard.

 

 

I'll just post this here, @Duvel, from a book written by one of the great pitmasters in the U.S., before BBQ got co-opted by every hipster from Austin on north.

 

 

With the caveat that every smoker is most likely different, every rack of ribs is most likely different, weather, type of wood, etc. etc. 

 

Oh, the book is Peace, Love and Barbecue (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), by the late, great Mike Mills. (RIP, Mike).

 

Here he is, hard at work, at the Big Apple BBQ, back in 2011...

 

 

 

[weinoo]

And for what it's worth, not that I am any sort of pitmaster, but when a friend invites you over to "make some ribs" and he has one of these in his backyard...

 

 

I can do a pretty decent job...

 

 

Pork spareribs, and beef short ribs. 

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

 

Interesting, thanks for that. Yes, Aaron Franklin is aiming usually for 275 F+, hence the 50 F difference is significantly prolonging cooking times ...

 

At the end the smoking process of cooking protein  is the same as SV (or any low temperature cooking technique, at least from my viewpoint): maintain a longterm stable temperature environment, and wait until your internal temperature reaches its target. I think there is no magic involved (and yet you could envision Modernist Barbecue, with the first 500 pages dedicated to defining the term ...). The other variables, e.g. bark formation, "smokiness", mouthfeel, authenticity (?)... at the end determine where you settle for your conditions. 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[Duvel]

4 hours ago, weinoo said:

beef short ribs. 

 

I was not aware that beef ribs are a thing to barbecue/smoke (prior to watching Chef's Table: BBQ). This is actually something I would like to try on the upcoming weekend, as my dad is coming around and I know this would be exactly what he likes 🤗

Edited May 3, 2022 by Duvel (log)

[weinoo]

21 minutes ago, Duvel said:

(and yet you could envision Modernist Barbecue, with the first 500 pages dedicated to defining the term ...)

 

Go ahead - give them a reason...

[rotuts]

@Duvel

 

you are certainly correct re SV // BBQ  and temperature.

 

one thing SV does not do is Bark .

 

too bad , I say.

[liamsaunt]

I said I was not going to fry again until the renovations on my house were completed but I guess I lied.  Fish and chips

 

[weinoo]

39 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Duvel

 

you are certainly correct re SV // BBQ  and temperature.

 

one thing SV does not do is Bark .

 

too bad , I say.

 

But are they really the same? I mean, sous vide is in a closed environment; pit barbecue is hardly that...much more to think and worry about...in no way is it set it and forget it (with all due respect to Ron Popeil). 

[gfweb]

15 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

But are they really the same? I mean, sous vide is in a closed environment; pit barbecue is hardly that...much more to think and worry about...in no way is it set it and forget it (with all due respect to Ron Popeil). 

 

The same but different?

 

Getting meat to a desired doneness and texture is the goal.   You can do it the easy way(SV)  or the hard way (BBQ). You can pretty much SV any meat (not that you should), but BBQ is pointless on tender cuts eg beef tenderloin and will wreck something like chicken breast where you have to smother it in sauce just to choke it down.

 

I think we have been trained to like the limitations of BBQ and call over-cooked crust (bark) desirable; but if I got bark on a restaurant steak, I'd send it back.

 

I used to BBQ quite a bit, now I tend to smoke and then SV meats

[Duvel]

23 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 

But are they really the same? I mean, sous vide is in a closed environment; pit barbecue is hardly that...much more to think and worry about...in no way is it set it and forget it (with all due respect to Ron Popeil). 

 

I think for pit barbecue you are also striving for a constant & controlled cooking environment, but you certainly have to work for it.

 

The smoker I use - as I said: entry level - has automatic temperature control, timer, a reload feature for wood chips and feels pretty much like a SV setup.

[rotuts]

I cold smoke after SV

 

just  because 

 

one thing BBQ // Oven Roasting ( baking ) // etc

 

have is Aroma while cooking .

 

I used to do vertical chicken on my 3 burner Weber 

 

w stents , on GrillGrates , w wood-pellet smoke 

 

6 chickens fit     325 F until done 

 

one hour  - 1.5 hours 

 

this was on my back deck  .  Hidden from View

 

drove the whole neighborhood crazy.  

 

I did pass around 3 of the chickens ...

Edited May 3, 2022 by rotuts (log)

[Shelby]

Breakfast for dinner using asparagus from the garden.  Fruit salad and lemon posset for dessert.

 

 

 

 

 

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

Getting meat to a desired doneness and texture is the goal.  

 

You forgot flavor!