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Well Summer is in full swing and I figured that 2 things are going on in the OT lately:
1.It's pretty dead
2. We're pretty much getting along
Time to stir the pot with something I wager most of us are passionate about: Food.

I chronicle a lot of my epicurean adventures in food, mostly to taunt my friends and family. I apologize in advance that most of my pictures are out of focus. Mostly because of greasy or dirty hands and medium to severe inebriation ( they looked as clear as real life). Summer started and one of my favorite treats has always been smoked fish. Nothing special or especially difficult in the making, Fish fillets laid on cookie sheets coated with salt, sugar, and a touch of garlic and put under some bricks for 3 days then smoked with alder. I used Salmon and Tilapia...as usual I despise the Tilapia but it was for sale next to the deliciously fatty salmon.

I love ribs, to be specific I love pork loin ribs. I coat them in a rub and broil them instead of grilling. Often when I go to a party I've been asked to cook at and start the oven for ribs I get odd looks, they go away upon consumption. Preparation is the key.

For this go around I decided to try out my new toy...the electric smoker from the fish pics was a recent gift from my wife. Notably because while using wood pellets for smoking in my kettle grill it exploded and burned the hair off my hands, arms, eyelashes, eye brows and a significant portion of my head was singed. Think fuel air bomb. It was most unpleasant, but I digress.
So half I broiled

and half I smoked with apple

My wife and I prefer dry ribs so I did not make a sauce. The noticeable difference in the two was a much more pronounced tang than I had predicted. The smoked ribs needed a sauce and I had not prepared one. Normally I make a mustard,merlot, and brown sugar sauce that would have cut the smoke perfectly....next time I suppose.
Our next adventure was around Mother's day. Beef tenderloin is a treat anytime of the year, but seared over a hardwood fire in summer is always best. I cheated a little and bought a trimmed tenderloin saving me the time and irritation of stripping the chain and silverskin. It was a good cut right out of the bag.

Preparation on beef tenderloin is as simple as can be. I cut mine to be slightly smaller than the bacon they are wrapped in and lightly salt them with coarse seas salt.

I usually leave them to sit for a few minutes so the salt can be absorbed, and also to lather the cook up.

They seared nicely leaving a warm but very red center to be eaten on smokey but soft bacon.

And then there's today. I bought these beers thinking they sounded delicious.

They were not. It's not BAD beer it's simply not something I enjoy drinking. It does have marvelous potential for something else though. Bratwurst is a tad bland for me, and I don't prefer it myself. If I have to buy it I get a cased Italian sausage, in this case mild. These have been happily sitting on low heat in this bottle of oatmeal stout for 3 hours soaking (and defrosting)

Shortly they will hit the grill, and I have little doubt that they will be delicious.
Now it's summer...share your delicious summer foodery!

Wanna try a good grill food? Brussels sprouts and chopped onion grilled with a balsamic vinegar, olive oil and garlic marinade. Soak for 2 hrs, throw on a sheet of aluminum foil and grill for 20 minutes. I could eat that all day...

I need to smoke me up a Brisket.

I still have a couple corned briskets in the fridge that need to be pastrami soon. I'm also planning a boston butt in the none too distant future.

I just made up a couple T-bones (or whichever cut it is with the bone, but not the T part of it) tonight....

I marinated them both in an 18 year old Glenfiddich Scotch Whisky, then, right before putting them on the grill, I rubbed some cracked black pepper onto both sides... OMG it was probably one of the most amazing tasting chunks of meat to ever enter my digestive system

I've already thought that, next time I do this, I'll marinate them longer (as it was only around a half hour, not much juice got in), maybe even overnight if I can.

Ensis Ferrae wrote:I just made up a couple T-bones (or whichever cut it is with the bone, but not the T part of it) tonight....

Is it Porterhouse Steak?

Maybe a New York strip?
I'm kind of confused too, but it sounds delicious.

It may be a New York Strip... the vendor who sold us the boxes of meat was telling us the various types of meat in them, and it rings a bell to me.

On a T-bone the smaller part is a slice of the Tenderloin and the larger part is the short loin or something like that ( I butcher, I'm not a butcher) which seperatly are the tenderloin (always boneless) and the New York or Delmonico Strip( which may be bone in or boneless) a strip looks something like this:

Does that seem right?

definitely a NY strip then

SMOKER THREAD


Alriight.

Last summer, early on in the summer, I picked up a little electric bullet smoker to try smoking. I found the results to be satisfactory, even if the mechanism was not (it kept popping my breakers). I then switched to this bad boy. It was awesome - for the the first 3 times I used it. It got stolen off my porch before I could use if a 4th time. Anyway, you could turn it on\off from in the house, monitor the temps and adjust while sitting in the AC inside, and the water pan would last for an entire smoke no matter how long it was (on the bullet smoker you'd have to reload the water and chips halfway through, which was difficult and dangerous). Also, it didn't pop my breakers even once.

I'm going to get a replacement imminently, and haven't yet decided on this exact one, or a different model. While I did like this one, it was pretty extensive for what it did. The glass door only looked nice the first time and was totally blacked out by the second, which you'd expect really. Also, once the temp was set it really didn't ever need to be adjusted. So I'm kind of thinking about getting a propane one this go-round, which seems easy and also allows me to put it in the back of the house (surrounded by a fence and can be easily chained to something).

My favorite was pork ribs. I used to try marinating them overnight, but one time I did a comparison between ones that had been marinated and ones that had not and found minimal taste was added by marinating (my wife actually found the marinated ones to be "too vinegary"). So my current method is slathering them with mustard, and then covering them with rub and salt and pepper. I like to use hickory or apple chips; I found mesquite wasn't really the flavor I was looking for.


edit: I also made a bunch of Boston Butts to hone my techniques. Eventually we got totally, utterly sick of pulled pork; but I think I might be just about ready to have at it again.

edit2: I found some pictures






Automatically Appended Next Post:
edit3:

Fish fillets laid on cookie sheets coated with salt, sugar, and a touch of garlic and put under some bricks for 3 days then smoked with alder. I used Salmon and Tilapia...as usual I despise the Tilapia but it was for sale next to the deliciously fatty salmon.

Could you expand upon that? I don't like fish but my wife sure does an this thread has convinced me I need to pick up a smoker on the way home from work. .

Homemade beef kebabs. I enjoy cooking up a spicy marinade and let the meat soak it up overnight.

Red pepper and tomato soup, also spicy and very easy to make. Boil a potato or two in it before blending and you can make some tasty potato wedges to go with it.

Dessert: Fresh summer berries with yogurt and garnish with passion fruit.

d-usa wrote:I need to smoke me up a Brisket.

It's more difficult than you expect.

My first one was dry and tough, I think I had the temperature too high. The second one took forever and the outside got too dry, while the inside was just right.

As to Austin's comment...I love me some smoked ribs. Just put a rub, throw them in the electric smoker, and cook for a few hours. No need to broil or wrap in aluminum foil. Beef short ribs (mesquite smoke) also are pretty decent, although they take longer and aren't as tender.

edit: Also: grilled watermelon. Unexpectedly awesome.

biccat wrote:

d-usa wrote:I need to smoke me up a Brisket.

It's more difficult than you expect.

My first one was dry and tough, I think I had the temperature too high. The second one took forever and the outside got too dry, while the inside was just right.

As to Austin's comment...I love me some smoked ribs. Just put a rub, throw them in the electric smoker, and cook for a few hours. No need to broil or wrap in aluminum foil. Beef short ribs (mesquite smoke) also are pretty decent, although they take longer and aren't as tender.

edit: Also: grilled watermelon. Unexpectedly awesome.

I don't actually wrap mine in foil, the grease burns on the bottom and it's a total PITA to clean out so I foil it. I loves me some short ribs too...also broiled. The advantage is when it's too hot or cold outside I can still cook delicious barb b que.

I also found this on my phone:
French style Filet Mignon (pork) which is pan fried with salt and pepper.

Quite delicious.
I'm also trying to bake instead of fry my hot wings with mixed success.

Pork filet mignon is a blasphemy against all that is good and holy. I don't wrap bacon around my beef filets. I suppose this makes them "tenderloin steaks" rather than filets, but they're better without the bacon wrap.

Also: Baked chicken wings: 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Flip halfway through. I prefer to bake them naked and add buffalo sauce (hot sauce + butter) after. Some other flavors (teriyaki) work better with a marinade.

I love pork filets, IIRC filet mignon originally applied to pork which makes a certain amount of sense they are decidedly more delicate. Bacon makes everything better. I line the bottom of my roasting pan with bacon when I make lamb chops...delicious.
My "mixed results" were actually flavor related. My hot wings are delicious as always, but I tried lemon pepper and it just didnt work. I may have to use real lemon juice in addition to the seasoning.
Ive been doing 425 for 40, I may try lower heat.

I've been contemplating smoking a bag of wings.

biccat wrote:I've been contemplating smoking a bag of wings.

Probably do it like you do short ribs. There is an awful lot of fat and connective tissue in wings. For frying or baking that makes them hard to dry out, but smoking that could really soak up the smoke...which can make you sick. I smoked some turkey wings with mesquite once instead of live oak...I was miserable for days.

Summer time, so I've been grilling steaks and chicken. I have a propane grill instead of coals, but I like to grill my dinner during the work week in the summer and I don't have time for coal grills.

I grilled up some pineapple slices to go with some rather thick t-bone steaks a few weeks ago. Last night was a simple boneless/skinless chicken breast with a steak rub for something different. Grilled corn on the cob is the bomb, but my GF hates corn. So more corn for me!

biccat wrote:
edit: Also: grilled watermelon. Unexpectedly awesome.

Praytell me...how does one accomplish this?

Ensis Ferrae wrote:

biccat wrote:
edit: Also: grilled watermelon. Unexpectedly awesome.

Praytell me...how does one accomplish this?

You only put the watermelon on the grill for about 10-20 seconds. Just enough to get a char.

AustonT wrote:one of my favorite treats has always been smoked fish. Nothing special or especially difficult in the making, Fish fillets laid on cookie sheets coated with salt, sugar, and a touch of garlic and put under some bricks for 3 days then smoked with alder. I used Salmon and Tilapia...as usual I despise the Tilapia but it was for sale next to the deliciously fatty salmon.

What does "under some bricks for 3 days" mean?

I have smoked a couple of Briskets so far, they all turned out pretty well.

I don't usually wrap mine either, I smoke it fat side up which keeps it nice and moist as the fat slowly melts away. I usually do a simple mustard and spice rub on it prior to smoking.

My favorite is smoking turkey breast, I get hit up each year for various thanksgiving parties and end up smoking at least 3 of them through the week.

I need to get an actual smoker sometime. I do all my smoking on a Webber Kettle grill, which actually works surprisingly well. Even bake pizza on that thing.


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biccat wrote:

Ensis Ferrae wrote:

biccat wrote:
edit: Also: grilled watermelon. Unexpectedly awesome.

Praytell me...how does one accomplish this?

You only put the watermelon on the grill for about 10-20 seconds. Just enough to get a char.

Pineapple goes delicious from some grilling with all that sugar caramelizing, I can imagine watermelon doing something similar.

Do you slice it or do you grill chunks?

I just ate lunch (from an Asian Bistro in NYC) and you guys are making me hungry again!! I'm trying to lose weight and this thread isn't helping! AustinT, how do you go about making your wings? Everyone does it differently. Also, I'm going to recommend beer-battered pickles to everyone on here-skip the Vlasik pickles, get the real kind and dip em in a mix of beer (I'm gonna try Guiness next), egg yolk, a bit of hot sauce and flour, then deep fry em til the outside is cooked. Can't go wrong. Also, beer battered deep-fried hot dogs are amazing too. I can't even begin to describe the food-gasm you will endure from such an unspeakable act. Nobody refer to it as a corn-dog. Somebody did once, and I won't say what happened to him...but we don't see him around much anymore

Ouze wrote:

AustonT wrote:one of my favorite treats has always been smoked fish. Nothing special or especially difficult in the making, Fish fillets laid on cookie sheets coated with salt, sugar, and a touch of garlic and put under some bricks for 3 days then smoked with alder. I used Salmon and Tilapia...as usual I despise the Tilapia but it was for sale next to the deliciously fatty salmon.

What does "under some bricks for 3 days" mean?

I wish I had taken some pictures of that step. I use red clay half bricks to add weight and press out some of the moisture while curing.

timetowaste85 wrote:I just ate lunch (from an Asian Bistro in NYC) and you guys are making me hungry again!! I'm trying to lose weight and this thread isn't helping! AustinT, how do you go about making your wings? Everyone does it differently. Also, I'm going to recommend beer-battered pickles to everyone on here-skip the Vlasik pickles, get the real kind and dip em in a mix of beer (I'm gonna try Guiness next), egg yolk, a bit of hot sauce and flour, then deep fry em til the outside is cooked. Can't go wrong. Also, beer battered deep-fried hot dogs are amazing too. I can't even begin to describe the food-gasm you will endure from such an unspeakable act. Nobody refer to it as a corn-dog. Somebody did once, and I won't say what happened to him...but we don't see him around much anymore

It depends on the wing. For boneless wings I bread them twice in flour, paprika,and ground chili. Chill for 20 minutes and rebread. With actual wings I fry or bake naked for hot wings. My sauce is pretty basic 60/40 Franks/butter. I'm branching into other stuff. I've used Soy Vey for some teryaki which is great, and tossing some wings in lemon pepper seasoning.
Believe it or not I'm on a diet too, I have to eat like a rabbit most days to treat myself once or twice a week.

AustonT wrote:

Ouze wrote:

AustonT wrote:one of my favorite treats has always been smoked fish. Nothing special or especially difficult in the making, Fish fillets laid on cookie sheets coated with salt, sugar, and a touch of garlic and put under some bricks for 3 days then smoked with alder. I used Salmon and Tilapia...as usual I despise the Tilapia but it was for sale next to the deliciously fatty salmon.

What does "under some bricks for 3 days" mean?

I wish I had taken some pictures of that step. I use red clay half bricks to add weight and press out some of the moisture while curing.

Wait, so... is this in the refrigerator?

As a side note, I got my new smoker ordered and it will be here on thursday. This thread has inspired me.

I started my summer outdoor cooking season fairly simple:



Chicken sausage, bell peppers, onions & tomato, squash, mushrooms.

Quick, tasty, healthy, delicious.

And in the back you can see my outdoor cooking project for the summer. Building a brick oven for baking bread and pizza.

Ouze wrote:

AustonT wrote:

Ouze wrote:

AustonT wrote:one of my favorite treats has always been smoked fish. Nothing special or especially difficult in the making, Fish fillets laid on cookie sheets coated with salt, sugar, and a touch of garlic and put under some bricks for 3 days then smoked with alder. I used Salmon and Tilapia...as usual I despise the Tilapia but it was for sale next to the deliciously fatty salmon.

What does "under some bricks for 3 days" mean?

I wish I had taken some pictures of that step. I use red clay half bricks to add weight and press out some of the moisture while curing.

Wait, so... is this in the refrigerator?

As a side note, I got my new smoker ordered and it will be here on thursday. This thread has inspired me.

Yeah, in the refrigerator but uncovered. I change the parchment in the cookie pan every day. On the tail end it makes the fish last longer.


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d-usa wrote:I started my summer outdoor cooking season fairly simple:



Chicken sausage, bell peppers, onions & tomato, squash, mushrooms.

Quick, tasty, healthy, delicious.

And in the back you can see my outdoor cooking project for the summer. Building a brick oven for baking bread and pizza.

Do I see the future site of your brick oven?

Chicken... sausage. Where do you fit the meat into that? I mean, chicken is practically fish, and fish is pretty much a vegetable.

d-usa wrote:Do you slice it or do you grill chunks?

I usually just slice it then throw it on the hot grille for a few minutes. Easy to cook and eat.

Apparently you can oil it, salt it, and actually grill it through, takes about 5 minutes (google grilled watermelon). Could make an interesting accompaniment to a salad.