eG Foodblog Tag Team IV: Marlene, Dave, snowangel - Cold Turkey, Three Ways

[Marlene]

Marlene, that's a beautiful bird. What Susan means about the tendons is that if you run a knife around the bone just above the knob on the drumstick, the tendons are severed, and shrink into the leg, giving you a much nicer finished product without the strings and stretchy things. (It doesn't work for turkey, unfortunately. Sever all you want, and a denuded turkey leg still looks like a broken umbrella.)

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Sounds to me like it's a presentation thing, which doesn't concern me a whole lot. I can't say I noticed any strings or stretchy things, but then again, I don't carve it.

[snowangel]

Susan, that's the same exact rice cooker that I have!!

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This makes me so happy to know that someone else has such a worthy appliance. It is low tech. No fuzzy logic (lord knows, I have enough of that right no!). It just plain does a good job, and is an appliance which has done a good job for almost 25 years. I love this rice cooker!

And, I have many of the same condiments (ingredients?) as you, including the brands. Outside of the counters, I could be looking at my kitchen!

[Marlene]

I don't apologize for using pre shredded cheese, I use it a lot. A busy mother, wife, CEO, and volunteer can use all the shortcuts she can get. Plus Susan, as you say, it's great for kids. Ryan can use it to sprinkle extra on his pizza's or other snacks that I let him use the toaster oven for.

And tortillas are great for tortilla crisps and are Ryan's choice for tacos usually.

[snowangel]

Trust you are set for tomorrow morning, Marlene. You have a chimeny. You have charcoal. You ahve newspaper. You have matches, a lighter or a propane torch.

Fill the top part of the chimeny with charcoal. Wad up some newspaper and stick it in the bottom part. Light the newspaper, and put the chimney on a grate in the bullet.

Make sure the bottom grates are open.

Marlene is going to need help with this folks. She's a smoking virgin.

[tejon]

The Super Slaw recipe over at Epicurious is really, really good. All peanut and ginger flavors and crunch. My mayonnaise-hating husband adores the stuff, as do I.

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This link doesn't go to the Super Slaw recipe, by the way. Unless of course I am missing something here...

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Agggh! Went back and fixed the link, which should be this.

[Rebecca263]

I suppose I'd have to augment my newspaper grill if I wanted to smoke something. I would like to smoke a turkey, I had one a few months ago, and it was delicious! Does everyone really adore the Bullet?

[snowangel]

I suppose I'd have to augment my newspaper grill if I wanted to smoke something. I would like to smoke a turkey, I had one a few months ago, and it was delicious! Does everyone really adore the Bullet?

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Rebecca, there is much to love, I suppose about a Bullet, but me, I've had great luck with my trusty Weber Kettle.

What I like about the Kettle is that is serves as a smoker and a grill. One less piece of equipment for me. I'll admit that my first couple of attempts on the Kettle were less than pretty, but I figured it out, in large part due to Klink's excellent ECI course in Smokin' Meat at Home.

Trust me. You don't need a Bullet. All you need is a Weber Kettle. Mine is almost 25 years old and has smoked a boatload of succulent treats. You'll see a couple more tomorrow.

[Dave the Cook]

Dayum.  I missed you by a day, Dave.  I did a truly wonderful mess of moules au Lady T last night -- mussels steamed in butter/shallot/garlic/white wine, tossed briefly in the pot with diced tomato and chopped parsley.  Drank a cold cava therewith, and followed with buttered steamed asparagus for salad course, and sliced apple with sliced Havarti for dessert.  Heaven.

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I thought about mussels, actually, and that sounds good. But I felt cheated for gulf fish, so I sniffed out a couple of decent filet pieces (please don't ask for a proce comparison on this, Susan; this was by far the most expensive thing I've purchased in the course of the blog). I rinsed, dried, pinboned and salted them, and set them aside for a while:

I hate paying out-of-season prices, but Marlene's early-blog asparagus has haunted me. These spears aren't quite as fat as I like them, but at least the tips were intact, and the stalks were crisp. I trimmed them, splashed them with olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper. I set them aside, too:

Then I made a cocktail, my first disappointment of the week. This is an Applejack Daisy, a combination of applejack (duh), brandy, lemon, sugar and grenadine. It was a lot of work for something that tasted like apple juice with lemon in it:

Kind of pretty, though.

I decided on a variation of the Really Simple Potato Gratin I did in my first blog (thanks for the entry, Susan!) I was short of the requisite cheddar, so I used a combination of blue and gruyere, and subbed some of the cream with sour cream (a suggestion made by zilla369). First, boil red potatoes (golds or waxy whites work fine, too) until almost done. Drain and let them cool enough for handling purposes. Very lightly crush them in an oiled baking dish:

Pour the cheese/cream mixture over and toss just a little. Shred some parmesan on top:

While prepping this, I had put the asparagus on a low shelf under the broiler for seven minutes, turning after four. When I took it out, it was very slightly blistered and brown (bit otherwise as bright green as it would have been had I blanched it), with crunchy tips:

I ratcheted the oven down to 375 F, then put the potatoes in. At the 15-minute mark, I put a saute pan over medium heat. Once it was really warm, I added about a half-ounce (free-poured) of olive oil, and a tablespoon of butter. While the butter foamed, I floured the fish on both sides. Just as the butter started to brown, I added the fish to the pan, presentation side down:

Four minutes, then flip:

Three more minutes (I turned down the heat, becasue it seemed to be cooking too fast) and out. I made a pan sauce with white wine, scallion ends, thyme and butter. A quick run under the broiler to brown the potatoes (maybe I should bake them at 400?), and 30 seconds in the microwave to heat the asparagus:

As you can see, the fish was a little overtoasted, but grouper is forgiving, and it was still moist inside.

[Rebecca263]

Trust me.  You don't need a Bullet.  All you need is a Weber Kettle.  Mine is almost 25 years old and has smoked a boatload of succulent treats.  You'll see a couple more tomorrow.

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All righty then! That's the next item on the agenda, after a massive quantity of feathers for the upcoming masquerade ball mask. ah-choo!

[snowangel]

Better you than me on the cocktail, Dave. I hate apple juice. Just like I hate banana. Must have been too much wiping of that ick off of babies faces.

Fish. I love fish. I just happen to be married to someone who shuns fish that one has not caught oneself. Sort of leaves me prey to the seasons, and the ice fishing season is coming to an end.

I'd be asleep, but one is up and down with an icky tummy. Ah, motherhood.

My smoke cravings, BTW, have moved from late night to during dinner preps and that smoke with my honey out on the deck just after dinner.

I'm wondering how you, Maggie, Matt and Marlene are doing.

[Dave the Cook]

Dave, shredded cheese and tortillas are a necessity with kids, if you want them involved in the kitchen.  I'm all about making them more sufficient in the kitchen, and I'm sick of bandaiding scraped knuckles and sick of sweeping up the bits and pieces that fly everywhere when they grate it themselves (they try, but...).  Plus, there's Heidi, who has a hard time eating a lot of different foods, and quesadillas are a fast and easy snack to beef her up.

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I don't apologize for using pre shredded cheese, I use it a lot.  A busy mother, wife, CEO, and volunteer can use all the shortcuts she can get.  Plus Susan, as you say, it's great for kids.  Ryan can use it to sprinkle extra on his pizza's or other snacks that I let him use the toaster oven for.

And tortillas are great for tortilla crisps and are Ryan's choice for tacos usually.

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Ladies, I'm sorry. I don't think anyone needs to apologize for or explain anything. I've used tons of shredded cheese, I just don't use it these days. I also buy tortillas for fajitas and quesadillas (and now I will for tortilla crisps); I simply don't know what they cost.

[Dave the Cook]

My smoke cravings, BTW, have moved from late night to during dinner preps and that smoke with my honey out on the deck just after dinner.

I'm wondering how you, Maggie, Matt and Marlene are doing.

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I still want one with morning coffee, and after dinner, and with cocktails. Also, the rest of the time I am awake. I've managed to avoid bringing cigarettes into the house, though, so I'm safe for now.

Like you said earlier, smoking without smoking is going to be tough.

[Pan]

Susan, you said a venison curry wouldn't be traditional in Thailand. Thinking back to my days in the Malaysian countryside, I remember that jungle deer were hunted (especially pelanduk or barking deer, but I'm not sure that's really a species of deer). Is it that deer are really uncommon nowadays in Thailand, or that other recipes (like jungle curry?) would be traditionally for venison?

[Marlene]

All right, we're off and running. Pics just as soon as I go turn on my main computer. It's cold out there, baby!

Don is getting ready to go to work. Ryan goes back to his dad's at noon today. It's going to be just me and the smoker. Be afraid, be very afraid.

(am I the only one of my partners to be up this early? Am insane? )

[snowangel]

No, you're not insane, Marlene. I'm off to church in a few minutes, then hurry home to start smoking. I think things take less time in the Kettle than the Bullet. But, I'm no expert!

[snowangel]

Change in plans. Peter doesn't feel good, so I'm getting set to smoke.

[Marlene]

Ok, it's been on for almost two hours. The internal temp of the butt is reading 103 right now on my thermometer. I need to go out and check it soon, but there's still smoke coming out, so I assume the chips are still good. Last time we checked, the temp was sitting around 225-230. This is all good right?

[Safran]

(am I the only one of my partners to be up this early?  Am insane? )

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Good morning Marlene!

Hope it isn't quite as cold where you are as here in Ottawa...brrrrrr.........

Good luck with the smoking!

[snowangel]

Ok, it's been on for almost two hours.  The internal temp of the butt is reading 103 right now on my thermometer.  I need to go out and check it soon, but there's still smoke coming out, so I assume the chips are still good. Last time we checked, the temp was sitting around 225-230.  This is all good right?

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Very good! Is that bullet temp on the grate or up at the top?

[Marlene]

I don't know about Ottawa Safran, but it was plenty cold when we started:

We're getting set up:

Don starts the chimney. Let me tell you folks, this man is an absolute gem!

Ready to go:

After two hours:

[snowangel]

Beautiful! I love the "high tech" oven thermometer. That's what I use, too.

No big breakfast here. Peter and Heidi had cheereo's. I'm contemplating what to have. Maybe some leftover curry.

Marlene, I used the classified ads to start my chimney, too. I'm not taking pictures of the chimney. I've posted countless of those!

[Marlene]

Ryan was up early for some very strange reason. He had doughnuts for breakfast. I am contemplating food as well, but I think I really need another pot of coffee.

[snowangel]

I'm in business. I took the meat outside to sit as I was getting ready to start the chimney.

It's quite a dance when the chimney is ready to, without help, get the water pan in, filled, while holding the full chimney, but I've done it many, many times.

The meat is on.

The butt that really is a mongo shoulder blade as well as that odd piece of venison that I tied up.

Temp on the grill is running at 200, so I need to go and goose this thing up a little bit. There is a lot of fiddling when smoking on the kettle, but once I get things right, it's good to go. It's really very, very easy.

Edited to add: I took these photos using the nifty "snow" setting on my camera! This camera is great.

[Pam R]

I suppose I'd have to augment my newspaper grill if I wanted to smoke something. I would like to smoke a turkey, I had one a few months ago, and it was delicious! Does everyone really adore the Bullet?

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Hrm. What's a newspaper grill?

[lancastermike]

Ok, it's been on for almost two hours.  The internal temp of the butt is reading 103 right now on my thermometer.  I need to go out and check it soon, but there's still smoke coming out, so I assume the chips are still good. Last time we checked, the temp was sitting around 225-230.  This is all good right?

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Wonderful Marlene. I have one on my WSM. However I woke up to a foot of new snow this morning so I got alate start. Yours looks lovely. You will no doubt hit the famous butt stall soon. Just wait and watch you cooker temp. 225 is perfect on the grill