Cooking Related: Agree or Disagree

Johann said:
That site lost me when they called this cooking with charcoal:



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It's a great way to use a Weber kettle as a smoker. The meat goes on the upper rack opposite the coals. Light the coals in the center (use a quarter chimney full, pour it on the coals in the kettle when ready) and it feds itself for several hours. You can leave the lid in place.
 
ateamer said:
It's a great way to use a Weber kettle as a smoker. The meat goes on the upper rack opposite the coals. Light the coals in the center (use a quarter chimney full, pour it on the coals in the kettle when ready) and it feds itself for several hours. You can leave the lid in place.
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My problem was not with the cooking method, but with those square chemical things he called charcoal :nono:
 
Turns out the three female members of the family aren't all that impressed with ribs in general. Like I said. these weren't great ribs, but they were better than most restaurant ribs. I was thinking of getting a smoker, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort when three fourths of us would rather eat something else.
 
FormerHangie said:
Turns out the three female members of the family aren't all that impressed with ribs in general. Like I said. these weren't great ribs, but they were better than most restaurant ribs. I was thinking of getting a smoker, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort when three fourths of us would rather eat something else.
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You make me want to cry.

If you've never had good smoked ribs, we ought'a pass a law ...

I could take your women folk away from you. ;):lol:
 
You can only add natural charcoal to a fire once the meat is on.

Briquets flame off a bunch of crap that will ruin the taste of the meat.


post-6769-aint-nobody-got-time-for-that-YPjg.gif
 
Lump charcoal is wood (typically scraps from the flooring industry, etc...).
Briquets are charred sawdust compressed with some binder. Typically a starch (often from root crops) is used but it's also mixed with tars recovered from the kilns used to char the sawdust. They're also some non-burnable clays and the like added. The match-light stuff typically has some petroleum wax and sodium nitrate added. There's traces of borax and other stuff from the manufacturing process present.

Nothing that's really bad for you (or at least any worse than the smoke is) but people can still argue. Charcoal really should burn inertly. It contributes nothing to the mix. Smoke comes from wood that hasn't already been baked into oblvion.
 
Johann said:
My problem was not with the cooking method, but with those square chemical things he called charcoal :nono:
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Stick with the ones that are 100% hardwood.

And for anyone that can't wait that long, toss on a package of brats or Italian sausage, or a pork tenderloin, and crack open a few cold ones. Appetizers will be ready soon enough.
 
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txflyer said:
3-2-1 method on a smoker @ 195 degrees.



3 hours on the rack. 2 hours wrapped in foil. 1 hour back on the rack with BBQ slop all over them.



mmmm,mmmm, good!
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I use this, except at 225 degrees. When I wrap in foil, I pour a little apple juice in the foil.

And I only add sauce about 20 mins before they are coming off


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dell30rb said:
I use this, except at 225 degrees. When I wrap in foil, I pour a little apple juice in the foil.

And I only add sauce about 20 mins before they are coming off


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Next time - use a spray bottle with apple juice and spray the ribs every now and then as they cook. When you wrap, give them another spray, then drizzle on a little honey followed by a handful of brown sugar sprinkled over the whole mess, then wrap.
 
For those of you who live in the Atlanta area, Publix has spareribs for $2 a pound this weekend. If you have some time tomorrow, I'd have to say some ribs would go nice with an evening football game. Me, I'm going to try to find something the female members of my household like.
 
FormerHangie said:
For those of you who live in the Atlanta area, Publix has spareribs for $2 a pound this weekend. If you have some time tomorrow, I'd have to say some ribs would go nice with an evening football game. Me, I'm going to try to find something the female members of my household like.
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Sounds great, what time should I come over. :)
 
Toss a whole bone-in turkey breast in the smoker when you do the ribs. That always goes over well.

Fresh asparagus, a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper, and some garlic powder. Then toss onto a very hot grill for about 2-3 minutes. They'll get a little charred, but stay crunchy. The ladies seem to like that, too.
 
If you or your wife like salmon, find some cedar shingles and put the salmon on top of the shingle with some butter on top with the skin down, and smoke it.

OMFG!

:yes:
 
txflyer said:
If you or your wife like salmon, find some cedar shingles and put the salmon on top of the shingle with some butter on top with the skin down, and smoke it.

OMFG!

:yes:
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Even better - the wild Coho salmon from Costco is SO much better than the farmed stuff you won't want the farmed stuff again. A little salmon rub from the spice store and it beats the cedar plank. Its that good.... Eve if you buy it and freeze it.
 
txflyer said:
If you or your wife like salmon, find some cedar shingles and put the salmon on top of the shingle with some butter on top with the skin down, and smoke it.

OMFG!

:yes:
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That is currently on my grill right now. Eating in less than 10 minutes.
 
Matthew said:
Toss a whole bone-in turkey breast in the smoker when you do the ribs. That always goes over well.

Fresh asparagus, a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper, and some garlic powder. Then toss onto a very hot grill for about 2-3 minutes. They'll get a little charred, but stay crunchy. The ladies seem to like that, too.
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I made a smoked turkey breast last year, got a bunch of meh reactions. I think they just don't like smoked foods. When I was growing up one of the treats of the year for me was going to Ted Peters in St. Petersburg Beach for smoked mackerel.

My wife likes what she refers to as "ooey gooey" stuff, creamy tasting stuff with cheese. Of the things I make, she likes a risotto that's made with butter, minced onion, chicken stock, and Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheese best. On the grill, I'd have to say her favorite is pork chops that we marinate overnight in molasses, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. My younger daughter wants steak, preferably sirloin, she'd have it every week if I'd make it. My older daughter favors seafood, she'd like the planked salmon, but the younger one wouldn't eat it.

I think I'm not going to bother with smoked foods for them, I'll just go out and get some when I want it.
 
txflyer said:
If you or your wife like salmon, find some cedar shingles and put the salmon on top of the shingle with some butter on top with the skin down, and smoke it.

OMFG!

:yes:
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Three of the four of us would like that a lot, I'll give it a try sometime soon.
 
Speaking of risotto, I have an original recipe for a chicken risotto:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
Italian salad dressing
Four 14 ounce cans of reduced sodium chicken broth, or one 46 ounce can and one 14 ounce can
Additional hot water
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups rice
¼ cup cilantro leaves, minced
1 large tomato, seeded and diced
Lime juice


Slice the chicken breast into slices ½ inch thick. Marinate in Italian salad dressing for one hour at room temperature, or two to six hours in the refrigerator. Pour the chicken broth into a pan and heat it to just below boiling. Next, begin the rice: Put the olive oil, chili powder, and minced garlic in a large sauté pan or wok. Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is just beginning to turn golden, do not overcook. Add rice and stir until rice is coated with oil and starting to become slightly translucent. Add approximately one cup of stock, and stir. Cook the rice uncovered at a temperature slightly above a simmer. As the rice absorbs the broth, add approximately one half cup of stock and stir, do not let rice dry out. It will take 30 to 40 minutes to absorb all the stock. Once almost all the stock has been added, taste a few rice grains, rice should be creamy. You may need to add some additional hot water to get the rice to the desired texture.

After the rice has been cooking for 20 minutes, heat a medium sauté pan and sauté the chicken until it is opaque on all sides and slightly firm. Remove from heat. When the rice is almost completed, cut the chicken into bite size pieces, and add to the rice, along with the tomato and cilantro, and stir. Serve with lime juice, to be sprinkled on according to the diner's taste.
 
FormerHangie said:
I made a smoked turkey breast last year, got a bunch of meh reactions. I think they just don't like smoked foods. When I was growing up one of the treats of the year for me was going to Ted Peters in St. Petersburg Beach for smoked mackerel.

My wife likes what she refers to as "ooey gooey" stuff, creamy tasting stuff with cheese. Of the things I make, she likes a risotto that's made with butter, minced onion, chicken stock, and Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheese best. On the grill, I'd have to say her favorite is pork chops that we marinate overnight in molasses, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. My younger daughter wants steak, preferably sirloin, she'd have it every week if I'd make it. My older daughter favors seafood, she'd like the planked salmon, but the younger one wouldn't eat it.

I think I'm not going to bother with smoked foods for them, I'll just go out and get some when I want it.
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Try cooking up a batch of ABTs. There are lots of variations:

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6253

http://www.theblackpeppercorn.com/2012/03/atomic-buffalo-turd-jalapeno-poppers-aka-a-b-t/
 
wsuffa said:
Even better - the wild Coho salmon from Costco is SO much better than the farmed stuff you won't want the farmed stuff again. A little salmon rub from the spice store and it beats the cedar plank. Its that good.... Eve if you buy it and freeze it.
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Coho? People eat Coho? We were using it for bait in Alaska.:rofl: See if you can get some Red or King salmon.:yes:
 
FormerHangie said:
None of them have any tolerance for spicy foods, so there's no point in those. Tonight we're back to steak and baked potato. :sleep:
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Nothing wrong with a good ribeye or KC strip.

Hmmm, mild food on the grill/smoke for peope that don't like smoked food...

If you don't add wood or coals unless it's ashed over, you can cut down on some of the smoke.

A 7-10 lb pork loin. Trim off the silver skin, use a mild rub, put it on the smoker for a couple hours. Too long and it will dry out. Let it rest a good while, then slice thin for pork loin sandwiches or nice and thick for boneless chops.

Pork tenderloins are really good (pig candy) and can be seared on a hot grill or smoked for a short time.
 
FormerHangie said:
None of them have any tolerance for spicy foods, so there's no point in those. Tonight we're back to steak and baked potato. :sleep:
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Speaking of steak and cooking in general, any of you guys have any basic rules or tips for steak cooking? I have been trying to follow recipes online but I don't understand the goings on in each or the reasoning. I also use a meat thermometer which has gotten a lot of laughs out of the taste-testers. Not sure why.

I'm not sure on what steak is what, or what seasoning to use, or how often or when to flip etc. I do almost all stove top cooking since I don't have a BBQ or anything, but I'd like to learn. A strong new type rating to add to my man card :rofl:

http://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2012/07/15/better-than-restaurant-quality-new-york-strip-steaks/

I followed this recipe last time I did steak (first NY steak ever) and it turned out pretty good (really liked the thyme over the top), but didn't have quite the flavor of the top sirloin I tried last time. I used bottled marinade for that stuff and the montreal seasoning for the NY strip. It was great but not worth the price over the sirloin I think.

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This was also my first time not using non-stick pans. I tried reading up on a lot of the steak stuff and it said non stick isn't really that great for good steak, so I took a trip to walmart and I spent 10 minutes trying to find a single non-stick pan in the place! The crust ended up awesome but I didn't try to get the pan-stuck seasoning and crust removed between each set of steaks so the next few sets didn't crust over as nicely. Any advice or tips or anything would be great :P
 
Steak just needs S&P .

You can set the oven to 400, sear on a stove top cast iron skillet a couple minutes on one side, flip, and put the whole skillet in the oven to finish. For a fatty steak like ribeye, a dry skillet works just fine, otherwise I *might* use a very little oil.

Put your left hand palm up and relaxed, then use your right index finger to poke the meat below your left thumb. That's rare. Touch you left thumb to left index finger and poke again for med-rare. Repeat until thumb is touching pinky for well done. You have now calibrated your poking finger to tell how done the steak is. (Doesn't work well on thin or very thick steaks, though.)
 
RIBS A LA HENNING:

Okay, like right I tried it. Got the coals good and hot, and cut the rack in to three pieces to more closely match the form factor. I wasn't able to peel the film thing off the backside of the ribs, but I figured it would burn off anyway on the coals. I was right. I threw a little season salt on them and stuck them on the coals and covered it.

It took more than ten minutes, more like 20-30 minutes, but it worked. They weren't fall of the bone tender (not that I was expecting so) but they were reasonably tender.

Given that the other alternative takes a minimum of four hours, I can recommend this method to those needing ribs right now. I've had those stupid store bought pre-cooked ribs and these are better than that.
 
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Peeling off the membrane is a lot easier if you use a paper towel to help grip an edge.
 
Matthew said:
Peeling off the membrane is a lot easier if you use a paper towel to help grip an edge.
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Yeah I know but this one was sliced in to pieces. Tonight's batch (Ribs a la Sac) were a snap to peel. This time I'm using the coal holders and slow cooking them. Rib cook off.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Yeah I know but this one was sliced in to pieces. Tonight's batch (Ribs a la Sac) were a snap to peel. This time I'm using the coal holders and slow cooking them. Rib cook off.
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Mmm. Don't forget a spray bottle of apple juice, spritz as they cook.

I have a slab of spares in the freezer I keep meaning to cook. Note: spareribs are generally cheaper than back ribs, and if you trim them St Louis style they fit better on a smoker and you get some riblets to snack on.

I'll be doing one more BBQ contest in a couple weeks and will take care of all the ribs I'll need to get me through the winter then.
 
Matthew said:
Mmm. Don't forget a spray bottle of apple juice, spritz as they cook.

I have a slab of spares in the freezer I keep meaning to cook. Note: spareribs are generally cheaper than back ribs, and if you trim them St Louis style they fit better on a smoker and you get some riblets to snack on.

I'll be doing one more BBQ contest in a couple weeks and will take care of all the ribs I'll need to get me through the winter then.
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Yeah I know but a) I like back ribs, and b) they were on sale for the same price. Sooo....

Dammit I forgot about the apple juice trick. Might have to run out and get some. Wait a minute, I might have some.....
 
ribs have been on the smoker for 2:15 now....no apple juice but have steamer going so they will be moist...the bark is darkening nicely...will sauce in a couple hours....

bacon -n- back bean soup is totally "awesome" ('nother thread) while waiting for the ribs...
 
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Sac Arrow said:
Yeah I know but a) I like back ribs, and b) they were on sale for the same price. Sooo....

Dammit I forgot about the apple juice trick. Might have to run out and get some. Wait a minute, I might have some.....
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If you do go out, get some brats, Italian sausage, or even hot dogs and fill in the gaps.
 
Matthew said:
If you do go out, get some brats, Italian sausage, or even hot dogs and fill in the gaps.
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Good advice, also adds more moisture to the mix. I did not locate apple juice, but I did locate some pineapple chunks. Which won't work. The sliced pineapple is great, just put two on each half slab and you're done. The juice will migrate down and tenderize the meat. My neighbor with a smoker taught me that trick.
 
Here's a bunch of slabs of spare ribs about to go on.

And when your ribs look like this, call me! (Our June contest - this was just for our Friday night party. Very little left over.)
 

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For ribs, I take the broiler pan that came with the oven. The two piece things with the slots in the top part.

Pour a can of Coke or Dr. Pepper in the bottom. No diet sodas here. Place the top piece of the pan on top. Lay the ribs, rubbed with a dry rub of choice, on top of the rack. Now cover the whole thing with foil. Bake in a 300 degree oven until the ribs are tender, but not falling off the bone.

Light the grill. I throw the ribs on the grill for a couple of minutes to heat up and then I sauce them. I turn the ribs at least three times, so each side gets two chances for sauce.
 
Matthew said:
Here's a bunch of slabs of spare ribs about to go on.

And when your ribs look like this, call me! (Our June contest - this was just for our Friday night party. Very little left over.)
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That brings me pain and hunger.
 
overdrive148 said:
Speaking of steak and cooking in general, any of you guys have any basic rules or tips for steak cooking? I have been trying to follow recipes online but I don't understand the goings on in each or the reasoning. I also use a meat thermometer which has gotten a lot of laughs out of the taste-testers. Not sure why.

I followed this recipe last time I did steak (first NY steak ever) and it turned out pretty good (really liked the thyme over the top), but didn't have quite the flavor of the top sirloin I tried last time. I used bottled marinade for that stuff and the montreal seasoning for the NY strip. It was great but not worth the price over the sirloin I think.

This was also my first time not using non-stick pans. I tried reading up on a lot of the steak stuff and it said non stick isn't really that great for good steak, so I took a trip to walmart and I spent 10 minutes trying to find a single non-stick pan in the place! The crust ended up awesome but I didn't try to get the pan-stuck seasoning and crust removed between each set of steaks so the next few sets didn't crust over as nicely. Any advice or tips or anything would be great :P
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Between steaks if you have that nice crust going, deglaze the pan with your favorite booze, I like using a stout and a bourbon or brandy, or just plain wine or beer; just pour them in and scrape around with a spatula to clean the surface, then pour it off into a bowl on the side for adding to a sauce. This way you start with a fresh metal surface for each and get a good sauce. :yesnod:
 
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