Memorial Day, what are you cooking?

[Chris Cognac]

Well....What is everyone going to be cooking for the holiday weekend?. I am leaning towards skewers of shrimp, sausage and meats with various sauces...I dont know what to make as a starch, beans, rice, or maybe a nice soup...or chili....or gumbo...tell me what you are making, it will help me decide!

Edited May 29, 2004 by Chris Cognac (log)

[Dana]

I have to work Monday, but we're having a Mexican pot luck (my idea) and I 'm bringing Jaymes enchiladas. I'm sure they'll be a big hit!!!

[redfox]

We are going to a little cookout. I have no say in the main dish items, but am queen of side dishes. I'm bringing my X-tra special potato salad with mustard seeds and preserved lemon, my favorite cole slaw (which is also the most basic cole slaw known to man), and an imporvised rice salad to ensure that the vegans do not starve. The latter features onions, garlic, carrots, and summer squash sauteed in olive oil, plus romaine, basil, slivered almonds, and lemon juice.

[snowangel]

Sounds like several of us are Smokin' butts.

[budrichard]

Leg of Lamb ala Robert from Pepin 'The Art of Cooking' vol 1. Bascially a butterflied leg of lamb marinated in soy, honey, garlic, jalapenoes and whatever else. Spread out on the grill until charred, let rest and serve. -Dick

[ronnie_suburban]

Sounds like several of us are Smokin' butts.

Close ....smoking some ribs here.

Doing a fairly basic BBQ-type event. In addition to the ribs, we also made cole slaw, tomato-cucumber-onion salad and baked beans with smoked bacon. Guests are bringing beverages, desserts and appetizers.

Too bad it's 50 and rainy but the ribs must go on!

=R=

[snowangel]

Too bad it's 50 and rainy but the ribs most go on!

Same here, except with butt. The battle to get the ole Weber Kettle fired up during rain was difficult, but things are progressing nicely. That was until Paul noticed that the roof in our "new" house has a leak. Oh well, keeps life interesting.

[ronnie_suburban]

Too bad it's 50 and rainy but the ribs most go on!

Same here, except with butt. The battle to get the ole Weber Kettle fired up during rain was difficult, but things are progressing nicely. That was until Paul noticed that the roof in our "new" house has a leak. Oh well, keeps life interesting.

I'm glad to have this new smoker (currently set-up with gas propulsion) today. I like smoking with wood only but it's very nice having the gas fueled system today while the weather's so lousy.

That really sucks about the leak. I suppose it's better find out about it now than in the middle of the winter (when some ice starts melting). I have a 'special' place in my heart for everyone from whom I've ever bought a residence. Those bastages!

=R=

[chezcherie]

Close ....smoking some ribs here.

Doing a fairly basic BBQ-type event. In addition to the ribs, we also made cole slaw, tomato-cucumber-onion salad and baked beans with smoked bacon. Guests are bringing beverages, desserts and appetizers.

Too bad it's 50 and rainy  but the ribs must go on!

=R=

oh my god, that's a beautiful photo. just beautiful. thank you.

now i have smoker envy.

[Chris Cognac]

Wow that is some smoker...I just have the little red R2D2 looking electric smoker...I think it gets too hot as well....Man I have had some extra coin I would be getting me one of yours!

[ronnie_suburban]

Wow that is some smoker...I just have the little red R2D2 looking electric smoker...I think it gets too hot as well....Man I have had some extra coin I would be getting me one of yours!

R2D2? LMAO! I have one of those too, CC and I absolutely love it. I've used it dozens and dozens of times. I stumbled upon it about a year and half ago at Home Depot for $29--quite possibly the best $29 I've ever spent--and certainly the best $29 I've ever spent on anything food-related.

This new one seems very nice--today is its inaugural voyage--so we'll see how it goes.

Also, forgot to mention that I am making 1 hot appetizer today...Lamb Meatballs in Brandy Sauce from Penelope Casas' Tapas...not smoked, however

=R=

[snowangel]

Too bad it's 50 and rainy but the ribs most go on!

Same here, except with butt. The battle to get the ole Weber Kettle fired up during rain was difficult, but things are progressing nicely. That was until Paul noticed that the roof in our "new" house has a leak. Oh well, keeps life interesting.

I'm glad to have this new smoker (currently set-up with gas propulsion) today. I like smoking with wood only but it's very nice having the gas fueled system today while the weather's so lousy.

That really sucks about the leak. I suppose it's better find out about it now than in the middle of the winter (when some ice starts melting). I have a 'special' place in my heart for everyone from whom I've ever bought a residence. Those bastages!

=R=

I should have mentioned that to date, in new house, we have replaced all of the kitchen appliances (we've been here two months), have picked out a granite slab to replace the really crumby, ugly leather texture (read all sorts of cracks and crevices) formica counters. Furnace and A/C are next. But, we got a really, really good deal on the joint and it is a wonderful house.

So, tell more about your smoker. I didn't see wood in the photo, but then again, I'm not wearing my reading glasses.

Here's where I am on the smoking: My butts

[andiesenji]

The smoker looks great, Ronnie.

I will be spending part of the day with friends in Orange County. Their son is just home from Irac and they are having a party in his honor.

I have three ducks from my freezer now thawing, will cook them tomorrow and prepare the meat for duck tacos, one of Greg's favorites.

His mom is making other favorites of his, a sort of tamale pie, made with fritos, layered with ground meat cooked with onions and alternate layer of black beans and also a mac and cheese casserole. Side dishes prepared by sisters-in-law, I have no idea what, and his brothers are bringing beer. I will take my ice cream machine and pre-mixed batches so all I have to do is plug it in, pour in the stuff and turn it on.

The poor kid has lost almost 40 pounds since he left home. I haven't seen him yet but my friend says the first night he was home he drank almost a gallon of milk and ate 3 cheeseburgers from Fatburger plus two orders of their fat fries.

[Mabelline]

I'm doing Jaymes' Carnitas with slight modifier, and andiesenji's pitas, some couscous, and tsatsiki, fresh mozzarella,and frozen canned fruit sorbet from another thread. Big fire and rescue day, so I have the day to geek around and take my time. Am re-reading Colleen McCollough's The First Man of Rome, and playing with the critters. My diet's restricted Monday, because I'll be nearly all day Tuesday at Hematology-Oncology, so I am porkin' it royal tomorrow!!! Let the pigtimes roll!! Everybody enjoy good times, good friends, good food!! If not, tell us about it!

[ronnie_suburban]

So, tell more about your smoker.  I didn't see wood in the photo, but then again, I'm not wearing my reading glasses.

Here's where I am on the smoking:  My butts

Those butts look great Susan! No question, butt is the trump card of smoked meat.

As for your question, the wood, in the form of chips and/or small chunks, is housed in the black, cast iron box positioned just above the burner unit (and below the water bowl). The entire smoker is also convertable to wood/charcoal by removing the burner unit and sliding a cast iron box into the bottom of the smoker cabinet. That said, today's effort went very well and I was delighted with the precise control that the thermostat and dampers provided. I was able to keep the temperature at 250 F with very little effort.

About 5 hours in, the meat started FOB'ing and the finished product tasted no less smokey than it does when I use my wood only smoker. The ribs (on the new smoker) were a success!

Here is a pic of the finished product...

They were pretty darned good. We and our guests ate most of them and we sent a few half-slabs home with our friends too. Still have about 1.5 slabs left which we'll gnaw on over the next few days. The other dishes came out pretty good. I loved the baked beans (my first attempt at 'scratch' beans) and the cuke-tomato-onion salad was good. The slaw needed something, though. It was good but could have been better. Even a generous squirt of sriracha couldn't revive it. Oh well, overall it was a very good food day

=R=

[snowangel]

Ronnie, perhaps this should be moved to a smoking thread, but I'll start here. Somewhere, you (I'm sure it was you) mentioned a Char Broil smoker you'd gotten at Home Depot (if not you, I apologize). How would you compare the smoker you photoed here to that one in terms of bang for the buck?

Ribs are good. I always try and hide the leftovers so the rest of the family can't find them.

What sort of smoked thing did you put in your baked beans? I have a meat market that sells double-smoked bacon ends ($.99/lb !) that really make them sing.

[ronnie_suburban]

Ronnie, perhaps this should be moved to a smoking thread, but I'll start here.  Somewhere, you (I'm sure it was you) mentioned a Char Broil smoker you'd gotten at Home Depot (if not you, I apologize).  How would you compare the smoker you photoed here to that one in terms of bang for the buck?

Ribs are good.  I always try and hide the leftovers so the rest of the family can't find them.

What sort of smoked thing did you put in your baked beans?  I have a meat market that sells double-smoked bacon ends ($.99/lb !) that really make them sing.

It was me. Very briefly:

I love the Char Broil and it does a GREAT job but it's very challenging to maintain temperature with it (especially when it's windy), so sometimes foods which are smoked on it require additional cooking (gas grill or oven) after they come off. Not a big deal, but an extra step regardless. With the new unit, that wasn't true--at least not this first time out. The ribs received good smoke and consistent temperature and they required no additional cooking after they came out of the smoker.

As for the beans, I started them with some locally-produced, Hungarian-style smoked bacon called Kolozsvari. It's made by Bende & Son in Vernon Hills, IL. Very smokey, very nice. And, for the record, I'd like to state that this was my first time specifially baked beans from scratch. In the past, I've made all sorts of other bean dishes from scratch, using dried beans. I was very happy with the way these turned out.

I'm making a few other appetizers to take to my friend's house today. But, he reads eGullet--and I want what I'm bringing to be a surprise--so I'll stop back later and elaborate on those. Only bad thing is that today's weather is making yesterday's weather seem glorious. It is dark here today. It's been raining non-stop and there's plenty of thunder and lightning going on too. Oh...and I had a kinda' nasty mandoline accident about an hour ago.

=R=

[fifi]

I am late getting started. I am embarked on a new adventure. I got curious as to what-the-heck-is-a-pork-brisket-anyway. That all started on the Texas thread here. Well... Now I know. Think really ugly ribs. Oh well, I am just after pulled pork meat so that will probably work out ok. I will just have to wing it on timing because there is more meat there than typical spare ribs.

I will be taking stuff over to a friend's house tomorrow so today is the cooking orgy. A friend called and said that Kroger had really good peaches so I am thinking about doing Mayhaw Man's peach cobbler.

I bought some weird beans, Goya brand Bola Roja Beans, while I was at Fiesta and will probably do those using the russ parsons method discussed at great length here.

It's gonna be an eGullet weekend.

I will post pictures later.

[nessa]

I'm going to smoke my first brisket. I've an electric red bullet smoker thingie, and I'll use mesquite. I've yet to decide about the sides....

[andiesenji]

My ducks are just about ready to come out of the oven. I have been salivating for an hour. My dogs have been "guarding" the oven for some time. They are expecting "fall-out" when I go to work on the birds. I have already cooked the custard for the ice cream. Costco had lovely raspberries, 6 boxes in a flat for 6.99 so I bought 2 flats. And they also had Ranier cherries for 6.99 for a 2-pound box, so I bought two of those. Raspberries and cream, Cherry with dark chocolate bits, and butter pecan ice cream for the party.

I am running a test batch now to make sure the coolant is working. I haven't used the machine since Christmas, however I had it recharged last fall and it should be fine, but I want to make sure. I should have checked it Friday but didn't think of it till this morning.

[Chris Cognac]

I'm going to smoke my first brisket. I've an electric red bullet smoker thingie, and I'll use mesquite. I've yet to decide about the sides....

If its the one that looks like R2D2 then you have to make sure you watch your temps and flare ups inside...also the water does not lasty long so check that...good luck!

[Bicycle Lee]

I get to cook french bistro food because my boss is a goddam caplitalist and will not close. Even though we only have 2 on the books, he insists that we be open, since on a beautiful, sunny, memorial day EVERYone wants to have escargot, right? BOO!

[Alex]

Beautiful smoker, Ronnie. Now I'm doubly sad that I can't make it to Nero's send-off.

Today I'll be celebrating Memorial Day with Copper River salmon ("only" 14.99/lb for filets, 13.99 for the whole fish) and asparagus.

[bleachboy]

Cooking lasagna today with my mother-in-law.

[mnebergall]

I'd like to see what the inside of that brand new, multi-rack smoker looks like after its maiden voyage.