HFD version 2: application of some technique

The landlocked wanted seafood. So, seafood it was. I'm with JW about the heat, and although I know I don't live in Augusta anymore, grilling on a black egg in the blazing sun gets a little hot. Not to worry, though...

The theme of this menu was ocean and farm/garden to table. Some of it came from my garden, some from the farmer's market, the rest from Whole Foods. We have had critical camera failure, so I don't really have any good pictures to share. Sorry, we're working on it.

Menu:

Organic microgreens with roasted red beets, heirloom tomatoes, and fried shallots
Red snapper ceviche
Seared diver scallops with basil/mint emulsion
"Lucques" style sauteed snow peas
Grill roasted whole chicken
Orange-fig gelato (store-bought)

Wine pairing: Chateau St. Michelle Riesling
Beer pairing: New Belgium Brewery: Mighty Arrow (sold out spring brew really great)

Nothing particularly difficult or time-consuming. Total meal took about 3 hours to prepare, eat, and clean up. Here's how it broke down:

Salad
We have been buying bulk salad greens from the grocery store (Harris Teeter) because it's about 1/3 the price of buying it in the plastic containers. Once you realize that almost all of the microgreen lettuce comes from Earthbound farms in California, even the bulk, you realize that you're paying for packaging. And I think it's easier on fridge space to store a bag of greens.
For the beets, I bought them at a traveling farmer's market that comes right to VUMC campus on Thursday afternoons in the spring and summer. The beets were half the price of what I can get at the store and higher quality, raised locally. I trimmed the greens off (which are very edible and present in many of the microgreen mixes you buy, whether you knew it or not) and parboiled them. Per Jamie Oliver, mix acid (vinegar or citrus), oil, and aromatic in foil with your root veg and throw on the grill for a while as you're cooking something else. My combo was balsamic vinegar, olive oil, whole crushed garlic, and red beets. Peel, slice, add them to whatever or eat them by themselves.
The Cherokee Purple tomatoes are an heirloom variety that I like, and I have some growing in my backyard, they're just coming in. I just quartered, salted, and placed on a wire rack over paper towels to drain excess liquid and concentrate the flavors for a couple of hours as I was working on everything else. Remember, water is the enemy of salads.

From Big 'Dawg Eats

The fried shallot is stupid simple, but really adds a nice edge to whatever you're doing, particularly greens. Literally, 1 shallot, thinly sliced on the equator, and fried at moderate heat. Don't burn it! Top your salad with it, you won't be sorry. It's like tiny flavor-packed onion rings without the breading.
Finally, fnished it with a balsamic vinaigrette that I used a spicy English style mustard for a binder. I don't stick to the 3:1 ratio as closely for vinaigrette, because I use a pretty strong oil that can overpower it. Just whisk and add oil until it firms up to the consistency of sour cream.

From Big 'Dawg Eats

Ceviche (sous vide che?)
I admit I screwed this up a little bit. We had some left over red snapper (DOG loves it), about one portion size. Skinned it, cut into a dice, and added to a ziploc bag with 2 fresh squeezed limes, a handful of diced onion, 1 minced jalapeno from the garden, and a healthy handful of cilantro. This was allowed to cure in the fridge for about 2 hours. Now, this fish could have been eaten raw as a "crudo" so it wasn't a big deal to have it completely cooked through (white instead of pink). To rush it a little bit, I threw it in the microwave to apply a little steam heat for 2-3 minutes. The mistake here was if I was thinking it wasn't cooked enough, then I ruined the herbs. The herbs had that wilted faded look. Ceviche is really a sous vide of fish using acid instead of heat to cook the protein. I also should have drained off the excess lime juice or added some oil, because it was really strong, and I could hardly taste the fish. I'll keep working on this one.

Seared scallops with basil/mint emulsion
For fun, I stuck my sautee pan on the grill as it was winding down to keep the smoke outside. Scallops are best cooked on pretty high heat to medium rare, in my opinion.

From Big 'Dawg Eats

This was really nothing fancy, just salt, pepper, and olive oil for the sautee fat. I did them in batches to maximize the crust of the sear. The emulsion is just a lower ratio vinaigrette done in the blender (eventually after the food processor and the immersion blender failed). I didn't execute it as well as I would have liked because I did it in too small of a volume, and it broke, and it wasn't the bright green like a pesto that I was looking for. I just used a handful of basil, handful of mint, handful of lemon balm (from the garden), lime juice, salt pepper, and drizzled in the olive oil while it was blending. I need an inert binder to help it "catch" and emulsify, but I don't think egg is the thing here.

From Big 'Dawg Eats

Lucques-style sauteed snow peas
For Lucques-style, I just mean that the base is thinly sliced onions in a couple of tablespoons of butter with salt, thyme, and a crushed, dry, small pepper like japones or something similar.

From Big 'Dawg Eats

Just add whatever other veg you want (in this we had some snow peas), give a quick sautee and you're done. Easy. Try yellow squash this way, you'll love it!

Grilled chicken
Whole chicken, pasture raised with a salty, savory dry rub, indirect at 400 for about an hour or so.

From Big 'Dawg Eats

There may be a subtle difference in the breast meat of these birds in that it doesn't seem to dehydrate as quickly, but I'm not sure about that. Maybe the marketing has gotten to me.

From Big 'Dawg Eats

Gelato
Well we were in too big of a rush to enjoy the dessert, but I did a couple of days later. Gelato and paletas are out there, just look around and find one you like, reproduce it at home. Haven't quite gotten there yet.

New charcoal

I went to a local restaurant supply store (the Cash n' Carry) and they were advertising this on the billboard outside. I figured, why not? I don't like going to Walmart in general, and I sure don't like buying the 10# bags because they run out pretty quick. My other problem is that the small bags of Royal Oak have too many small pieces and dust, so it takes FOREVER to light because the small pieces restrict airflow (fuel).
So, this one isn't even on the Naked Whiz' website. It is pretty much Royal Oak, which I'm sure is almost identical to what you might get in a bag of BGE, which I suppose I should compare it to. Burns great, hot, it is a little sparky, ash burns fine and white. Does great for low and slow and HHH.
It's distributed by Sysco who makes a lot of bulk items that restaurants I'm sure use (plates, canned veggies, frozen stuff, etc.). About 14 bucks for the 20# bag.
Now, if they'd just get rid of that orange bag....

Quick pizza dough and grill setup

There a bunch of pizza recipes for the ceramic cooker, and after a lot of trial and error (A LOT), I think I've hit on a good combination. JW was up to visit last week, and felt inspired to send me some goodies: King Arthur 00 flour, perfect pizza flour, sourdough starter, and a new metal pizza peel. That was after we made a bit of a mess with too hot of a fire and a couple of blackened pizza crusts. So, this is what I did with it.

"Quick" pizza dough. (adapted from Mario Batali's Italian Grill)

1 tsp of yeast mixed in a cup of warm water, 10 min until it bubbles, then add to the FP
1 Georgia cup (32 oz) of "perfect pizza" flour (King Arthur) or general purpose

(B)raising the steaks

One of the things that I really love about the winter is the one pot meal, and the need/opportunity to perfect your technique of braising and making soups. The more I've watched Jacques Pepin on the More Fast Food (see earlier post) I'm ever amazed at the precision with which he controls temperature, and knows when to sear and when to use steam to cook whatever he's making, simply by adding a little water and covering the pan. Add some aromatics (celery, carrots, onions, garlic, leeks, etc.) and bones/meat, and you've got meat stock. Add that appropriately to the right type of meat, and you're braising. It's really that simple. The complexity gets into what you want to put in your braising liquid. It can be milk, beef stock, water, wine, Guiness, whatever. That's the beauty.
Which brings me to a funny dish we threw together the other night. I'll never forget going camping one time, and my friend and I decided that it would be a good idea to buy round steak to cook over the fire. Good thing we had strong teeth, it was barely more edible than a shoe. Of course, over an open fire is not the way to cook that meat, just like you couldn't take a pork shoulder and cook it at 425 until it reaches temperature, and expect it to be edible. In St. Louis, a labor day thing to eat is pork steaks. They're sliced thin, cross-wise with the shoulder bone still in. It's like Boston Butt, sliced thin. They're supposed to be marinated for like a month, and then cooked wide open on the grill. The other ways to cook meat like this is slow roast at 225 or 250 (Kamado or not), smoker, or braise, sous vide, etc.
SO.....

Grill braised pork steaks

6 pork steaks (shoulder cuts) thinly sliced, room temperature
Salt
Pepper
Your favorite chicken roasting blend (something with some garlic and citrus like orange peel)
Apple cider vinegar 1 cup
Water 1 cup
Aluminum pan that will fit the steaks and your grill

What I did

Fire up the grill, max it out.
Rub the steaks with a little olive oil, and season
Sear until they're photogenic

Drop your grill down to around 300 or so
Put the aluminum pan with a cup of apple cider vinegar and water (optional)
Put the steaks in the pan, cover the grill and let it go for an hour or so
Taste the braising liquid again, and make sure there's enough salt
Pull the steaks out when almost falling off the bone.


Comment

Cooking them in the liquid (regardless of the grill temperature as long as they're covered with liquid) cooks them at the boiling point of water 100C, which is the temperature that you would roast your BBQ. This is an effective method of converting any meat that's too tough to something tender and yummy. It's the same as "slow and low" on the Kamado, it just applies the heat in a different way. Try it, I bet you'll like it!

Where do I buy charcoal?

This has been a question I've been working for a while now, since I bought my Dome. If someone else hasn't done the research for you, it's hard to know the answer to this question. You can ask the person that sold you your BGE, and guess what they're going to say? 20 dollars for a 10 lb bag wasn't particularly cost effective.
Maybe Walmart for Royal Oak, assuming I can get the one that's not from South America that has the proper size distribution. There's no web search that you can do for this, it's mostly word of mouth or stumbling across a good find. Take the dumb luck in my finding Fire King in STL. The BGE dealer was 30 min away, and I wasn't happy with the quality of stuff I was getting from chinamart. I called a local distributor of smokers and had to make up some story about how I would like to learn more about his products. Then again, he was using a lot of hardwood, so he couldn't help me. I happened across someone's blog that talked about buying it at the rival liquor store to the one that I had been going to, and there it was, 20 lbs for 10 bucks. Check nakedwhiz site, and you'll see it's decent stuff. Now, all of a sudden, Whole Foods, Fresh Market, World Market, Trader Joe's, etc is selling it, but a lot of that is Cowboy, which I've been told is terrible. I don't really like the idea of having to order charcoal. I'm not some environmental freakshow, it just seems kinda dumb to have to order "wood" by UPS or FEDEX.
For those of you that haven't moved for a while, you may not have ever had to answer a question like that. For me, having moved 4 times now since 2005, it can be a little more significant. I guess it's time to fire up the White Hawk and go a lookin'.

Perfect whole roasted chicken

I've struggled with this recipe because I've been trying so hard to get it right. I am a little defiant when it comes to sticking a beer can up the rump of the chicken. The biggest problem that I've had is the brine, and making sure that it's the right concentration of ingredients. Guess no more, here it is, adapted from a recipe in Suzanne Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques.

Brine for grilling poultry, pork

Take a big Georgia cup (quart) of hot water, bring to a boil in a stockpot of some kind.

Add 1/2 cup of kosher salt, 1/4 cup of granulated sugar

2 tbsp of ground pepper, red pepper flakes, and thyme

When it all dissolves, add three more quarts to make 1 gallon total.

Spatchcock and clean your chicken, add to the brine. Let it sit at room temperature for about 2 hours or so.

You don't need to drain it or dry it, just throw it on the grill.

The grill setup:

Inverted double decker grill with a 12 inch pizza pan and new high absorption roasting pans that I found at the grocery store(low profile, works GREAT as a drip pan). This is my new indirect setup.

Get your grill going at 400-450 (mostly open bottom, 1/4" slit on top), and throw the chicken on bone side down.

Wait till it reaches around 175 and flip.

Heat to around 195 with the probe on a bone. The bone side of the meat runs cooler and is more likely to be undercooked.

Notes:

JW describes refrigerating the chicken uncovered to let it dry out before you grill it, and I'm sure that works. However, I found that the skin was pretty crispy as long as a I let it reach that higher temperature, and I didn't even have to squeeze any of the water out of it.

Be careful letting your temperature any higher when you're doing indirect, because your drip pan will catch on fire and go nuts.

Use your giblets and backbone to make home-made chicken stock. You can brown them with some veggies (mire poix carrots, two onions, and celery, thyme and black pepper) along with some water. Do not use the liver for this.

I've also screwed it up trying to cook it skin side down first without flipping, bone side down without flipping, etc. This has given me the best result.

Artificial sweetener, honey, brown sugar can be substituted in the brine, along with whatever else you might want to add. Be careful adding alcohol because it can screw up the moisture and flavor.

Grilled halibut with chimichurri over wilted spinach with grill-roasted garlic

There are a lot of recipe books that call for halibut during the fall and winter. It just so happens that during the fall, we got a little reprieve on the weather even after our first frost. You know what that means: break out the grill! Besides, I need something to take my mind off the upcoming UGA/FU game, #6 vs #8!

Chimichurri

Since Goscar has been almost worthless when it comes to posting anything on here, I had to do some investigation of chimichurri on my own.

1/4 cup of finely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup of finely chopped flat leaf parsley

juice of 1 lemon or lime

tbsp of red chili flakes

1 minced shallot

2 minced garlic cloves

1/4 to 1/3 cup of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all in a cereal-sized bowl and whisk together like you're making a vinaigrette (see previous post). Can be made ahead of time, use this to drizzle over your fish when you finish it.

Wilted spinach with fire roasted garlic

You'll kick yourself when you see how easy this one is. Use your chef's knife to cut the butt end off a whole head of garlic. With your grill up to around 400-450F, put this with a little drizzle of olive oil and a little pinch of salt in a piece of foil and throw it on the fire. Let it go around 15-20 minutes. Pretty much the same recipe for making confit. Please, someone, tell me the difference.

Grab a couple of handfuls of spinach and heat a medium skillet with olive oil over medium heat. Put it in the skillet and take it off when you see the green turn pretty intense. Do not brown, take it off sooner than later. Put about 8-10 cloves of garlic in the spinach. Tip: if you finish this part too early, stick it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to turn it back "on."

Grilled halibut

The fresher the fish, the less seasoning you need. Simply, kosher or sea salt, extra-virgin olive oil, and maybe a little fresh ground pepper. Grill at 400-450, it'll cook in about 10 minutes or so at that temperature. Do not overcook, it's easy. It gets really flaky, so you may benefit from having a fish spatula so it doesn't fall apart like mine did.

Pretty easy, remember that outside temperature doesn't affect the ability of the kamados to generate a good temperature, so keep on grillin'!

Study Break; with QUAIL on the Grill

Well the Dawgs had won the Vandy game I was HAWNGRY;
Just so happened that I began a slow marinade for a few quail about 6 hours earlier.
These birds were from a cool morning hunt earlier this year ( SWGA).
I started with 5 handpicked quail in my marinade pan.
1. several heavy shakes of my favorite : coarsely ground black pepper
2. cover the bottom of the pan with my Uncle Tommy's favorite, " Zesty Italian Dressing"
3. 2-3 shakes of "Tony Chachere's Original"
4. bacon bits (I'll admit, these came from a bottle)
5.The best is next; I picked a handful of both: fresh rosemary and Lemon Balm from our Herb Garden (note: rosemary is easy to grow; try it in hamburgers finely ground)
6. Finally, using a tip from my Korean friend in Med. School I took one Kiwi thinly sliced and placed this all over the birds and allowed to marinate. The kiwi causes the meat to tenderize.
7. Grill time; about 7 minutes on each side at about 325-350 degrees with direct heat. (This all depended on how many times I took a peek).
As my friend from Arkansas says: "If you place a bit of this on your forehead your tongue will beat you to death. " I saved some for my wife to prove how well it turned out.
I finished the evening with my favorite cigar: a maduro wrapped La Flor-Dominica called "The Chisel"strong with much body and flavor, but very smooth with a great draw.

Love GOD
Grill often
Go Dawgs
kirk

Platesetters and grilldomes versus BGE

I hadn't figured out indirect cooking that well on the dome, and I'd broken a pizza stone or two in the meantime. I decided to do what about a bunch of eggheads do, and that's go out and buy a platesetter. I cooked on it a few times with the legs up and turned out some wonderful chickens and barbecue. Then I noticed the crack on my firebox and fire ring. The fire ring held up, but the box did not, promptly splitting in two pieces. It's still functional, but it's fragile. All this two months after having it.

I called and talked to the folks at Grilldome, and they thought it was the platesetter not allowing enough space around it, and setting a severely hot fire in the bottom with a cooler dome temperature. I'm not convinced but they're sending me a new one anyway. What I can't understand is the huge difference between BGE and GD with regard to how they are constructed on the inside. Should be about the same. Both have the fire rings and boxes.

The other thing I was doing was lighting using isopropyl alcohol. If you think it sounds like a good idea, it's not. I think there's too much heat shock as the dome temp gets to 700+ in a few seconds with this method. Now my indirect setup is a doubledecker grate that you flip upside down, put a drip pan on this, and there you have it. I've also noticed that it's harder to get it to that low temp with shutting the whole thing down for a while and then opening to paper thin slits. I guess I could put a pizza stone on it, and I ordered from GD which should be more heat resistant than the other ones that I had. Anyone have any comments?

Pancetta-wrapped asparagus with sauce gribiche

Wrap asparagus in whatever you wish: bacon, prosciutto. Typically something pretty fatty. A vinaigrette or something with a good acid content does great with the fatty yet mildly bitter asparagus. Mario's recipe calls for a citrus juice/zest sauce which balances nicely. Sauce gribiche is one I picked up out of Bourdain's Les Halles book, and it's like an egg salad vinaigrette. It gives a nice unusual flavor that you wouldn't otherwise have thought to put together, and is very distinctive.

Small aspargus, cut fresh on the bottom like cigars

Pancetta (see substitutions above)

Wrap the pancetta around the asparagus, and leave the tips uncovered. Put them on a baking sheet in the fridge and let them set for about 20-30 minutes or so.

Suacue Gribiche

One hard boiled egg, chopped fine

4 midget sweet pickles or cornichons, depending on what you have

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Olive oil (AB recipe calls for peanut oil)

Salt, pepper to taste

Tbsp of dijon mustard

Lemon juice from 1 lemon

Add the ingredients sans oil to a small mixing bowl, and whisk together. Drizzle in olive oil just like you would a vinaigrette, but you can do more like a 2:1 ratio instead of the traditional 3:1.

Grill the asparagus, careful to not overbrown the meat. Drizzle with the sauce, and serve. Mario says to serve with sea salt for dipping. If you're going to do that, then lay off the salt in the gribiche.

Grillin' cookbook

There's Boy Meets Grill, Boy Gets Grill, The BBQ Bible, Mastering the Grill. And then there's Italian Grill by Mario Batali. This book is awesome, and if you've ever seen his show, it's in a similar style. Ingredients are king while minimalist preparation is queen. Most of the stuff in here can be prepared quickly. There is no reference to ceramic cookers, and I think if he ever worked with one, the results would be pretty awesome.

Examples:

Mortadella with robiola "burritos"

Pancetta-wrapped asparagus with Limoncello sauce

Bistecca fiorentina

HUGE section on seafood, including mussells and calamari.

I can't recommend it enough if you're serious about grilling and you have any interest in Mario's cooking style, which I really happen to like.

Tomatillo salmon

Light posting, as I've been discovering the wonders of ceramic grilling, and let me tell you it's been pretty awesome. It has furious power that must be tamed and reigned in to keep it from going out of control, and yet if you adjust properly, it holds slow and low like a champ. My problem is what do I call the thing? It's not really an egg, it's a grilldome, even though it does the same thing. The black bullet? The BBQ time machine? The eggdome?

I've got some pictures and when I can put them together I'll put them in. Here's what's come off of it so far:

Tomatillo salsa salmon fillets
2 salmon fillets seasoned with salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded/cored, and minced
Put those ingredrients and 2 tbsp of butter in a foil pack and cook over high heat 10 min or so
When you take them off, squeeze a whole lime on the fish and finish with tomatillo salsa and cilantro garnish.

Tomatillo salsa
8-10 good sized tomatillos, husked and washed, 2 jalapeno peppers seeded/cored
Brushed with oil, blackened on the grill at high heat (450-500)
Throw them in the blender with 2 tsp of salt, couple of grinds of pepper, juice of 1 lime, a small wedge of shallot, and good portion of chopped cilantro (to taste).
Pulse low speed, but if you want it smoother then let it blend for a while.
I think there's a previous recipe on here for it, but you can check and see.

Serve that with herb salad, homemade balsamic vinaigrette, grilled bread, and the coldest beer you can find.

Semi-Korean short ribs, roasted Buffalo fish, summer salad, Burrata cheese and grilled bread

Really are the ones that you come up with on the fly, using the ingredients you have, and that you enjoy with friends. Don't get me wrong, a night out on the town is great, too, but when you by good fortune instead of preconceived notion come up with a good menu, it's something to celebrate.

I've been a little bit radio silent over the last couple of weeks. Let's just say that we're probably going to have to change the name of the blog nashvilleeats.blogspot.com instead of westnorthinstl.blogspot.com. I'll leave it at that. Also, I've been trying to cook almost every day on the egg to learn about it and how it handles temperature. As others on here can attest, it's relatively easy to get it hot, easy to keep it slow and low, but hard to get to both in the same time period. There will be many recipes to follow as the experimentation continues. I'm still trying to figure out ribs, having not quite gotten it right, yet.

In a spontaneous dinner with some good friends/neighbors we came up with this menu:

Korean-style whole short ribs

Miso paste marinated Buffalo fish fillet

Burrata cheese spread on charcoal-grilled Tuscan bread

Summer herb/tomato/cucumber salad with lemon-fennel vinaigrette

Peach cobbler ice cream

Korean-style whole short ribs

I wholly admit that I used the marinade recipe from Bobby Flay's Grill It! who was guest-hosted by Judianne Woo, a pastry chef in New York.

It's pretty easy, but here's the difference. I was at Whole Foods, and they didn't have the thin-sliced Korean style ribs, they just had the big ones. I decided what the hell, and tried it anyway. The recipe I used called for 5 lbs, and I think it would have worked fine for 6 whole short ribs. Brown sugar while you make the marinade, then soy sauce, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, whole pear, rice vinegar, and sesame oil round it out. Marinade overnight in a large gallon freezer bag in the fridge.

The hard part? What I've struggled most with is figuring out how long to cook ribs, and I have erred on overcooking because I hate having them undercooked. I set the dome up for indirect cooking by just placing heavy-duty foil over the main grate, then put the ribs on there. About 2-3 hours around 300 or so, and they were incredible.

Miso marinade Buffalo fish fillet

Have to admit, I've never had it before, and I wasn't really sure what it was. It's freshwater, caught recently and in a midwest farmer's Market (Soulard). Miso paste, fresh ground pepper, a freezer bag, and about 24 hours was all it took for prep. Dome to 400-450, and wrap the fish in foil. Poke holes at 15 minutes with a fork to let some steam out, and in about 25 minutes or so, you have some of the most buttery, creamy fish I've ever had. It's not a strong flavor, and it is bony, so watch out. Could conceivably do the butter/cilantro/salt/pepper treatment to it as well. It's fresh fish. Don't screw it up.

Grilled bread, burrata cheese

While I thought I had finally found buffalo mozzarella, I had not. However, it was better. Again, Whole Foods gets the credit for having it, but if you didn't know what it was or had not ever heard of it, it's stealthy. It like a combination of water packed mozzarella with a super creamy center. I thought if it were chilled enough that it could go on a salad, but really, it's too creamy for that. Think of it more as a spread for crostini with maybe anchovie, salt, and some olive oil. The bread, well, just find some good crusty Italian or French-style bread. The bigger and more dense, the better. Drizzle with good EVOO, sprinkle with sea or kosher salt, and I like to put some Herbes de Provence on there for good measure. Put on the grill at 400-500 and watch it carefully, because it will burn before you know it. Pull it off when it's got good grill marks and is golden brown, spread some of the burrata and maybe some veg from the summer salad, and you've really got a meal all by itself. Goes great with a Merlot, Cab, Cotes du Rhone, pick your favorite, just make it be RED.

I finally did it, the wait is over!

Well, after a long and drawn out saga, I finally have my ceramic cooker. I decided on a Grilldome XXT stainless. I was impressed with the response that I got from TK who runs the company when I asked him a few questions, and I liked the fact that I could them in red or black. Also, for me living westnorthinstl, the eggs were overpriced by 15-20%, and they wouldn't negotiate with me. Add a dash of Void warranty with shipped BGE, and voila, Grilldome.

So, what had happened was....

I ordered a red one, which was the last red one they were going to have for a couple of months. It was delivered and they DROPPED it and broke it. The following week, I got a shiny black one, and it's great!

First thing, cooked slow and low pork shoulder using the MCGDawg method with vinegar and drip pan. I was using WGC warrior blend, which is a little bit of a pain to light, but that's probably my inexperience more than anything. I woke up once with the baby and checked it out, noticing the temp had gone down to around 180-190, so I fiddled with it and got it back up. The next morning after 9 hours, it was at internal temperature of 200, so I took it off. I think it probably should have cooked slower, but it was still great. The next adventure: ribs, and these turned out even better. I didn't use wood chips or anything, just the flavor of the charcoal which is so different from gas (which has no real taste other than cooked meat) that I didn't notice that they weren't "smoked. The next day, tried some spatchcocked chicken, which I think I undercooked just a hair, but they were great, too.

For the last few days, I decided to build a table to Naked Whiz's specs, and I'm almost finished with it. I can tell you that it won't be completely out of red oak like his, but in retrospect, I probably should have used that as well as rented out or borrowed a mitre saw to make the cuts more precise. He does come clean about the way that he made his: it really doesn't work unless you have ultraprecise measurements, and even then, it's a struggle to make two identical boxes. It's almost done, but the cooker is on the table, and it's functional, ready to go!

So MCGD and JW, what's on the menu for the 4th?

Pulled Pork!

By request of the G-man, here's how I do pulled pork...No doubt that if you have the time and equipment, Haddock's 36 hour cooking method is the best, NO DOUBT. However, I generally lack patience and my spouse would murder me for spending this much time and effort on what she refers to as barbeque. She's from Misery remember -

Today, purchase bone in pork shoulder ~ 8 to 10 lbs and your favorite dry rub. I sometimes make my own, but more often use Stubb's. In your kitchen, prep the pig by carving off any skin and large layers of fat. Rub pig generously with your spices. Wrap in plastic wrap, atleast 2 layers and toss in the chill chest.

Monday morning about 12 hours before you want to eat (can be as little as 10 hours). Take pig out of fridge and soak your wood for smoking (I like hickory, apple, or cherry). Plan on about an hour for soaking and warming your pig. Light your egg and regulate temp to about 250. When ready to cook, toss on about 1/2 of your smoking chips and set your egg up for indirect grilling. Place an aluminum pan under the grill grate to keep the fat off the fire. Throw the unwrapped pork on fat-side up. Close the egg and go make your mop.

I like a simple mop:
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
A splash of Worcestershire or Dale's
A splash of oil
Salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste (about 1 tsp of cayenne is generally enough)

Mix these together and set aside.

After about an hour on smoking, quickly open egg, mop and close. Do this every hour. Somewhere between 2 and 3 hours toss on some extra soaked woodchips when mopping. Around the 4th hour, turn the pig upside down. Around 6 hours, start checking the temperature. You are trying to get to around 190 degrees. Be sure your probe is not touching the bone. You may want to check in a few places. Anything over 170 degrees is safe to eat, but will not have the same appearance as the pork that has reached higher temperatures.

When done, remove from grill and wrap in foil and toss into an empty cooler lined with kitchen towels. Let the pork rest for about an hour. Remove the pork from the cooler, unwrap and pull using 2 forks. If using BBQ sauce, toss about 1 cup of sauce in with the pork and transfer to an aluminum pan. If you finish early, cover and place in a 175 degree oven & drink plenty of beer until your guests arrive.

JW

Cinco de Mayo recipe

Sorry I let this one go by. I had some camera malfunctions as mama forgot to charge the bat'ry. It combines some good Mexican food with the grill. Inspired by last month's FW, in fact that's the link to the recipe as it was described. I'll just add some extra tidbits to it.

Arrachera a la parrilla; tortilla de maiz; crema de elote con rajas.

Grilled skirt steak, corn tortillas, salsa, creamed corn with roasted poblanos.

Skirt steak

Get two full pieces of skirt steak, make sure they're clear of silverskin. I have had some variable luck with finding this at the grocery store. If you ask, they usually have it, but it might be frozen. Not preferred, but it will do. Skirt is not the same as flank steak. Flank is oblique muscle, skirt is diaphragm, and hanger is diaphragm in contact with kidneys which does change the flavor.

Season only with salt, pepper, and lightly coat with olive oil. This is going to be quick, and you need a super-hot fire. Alton Brown on Good Eats describes actually putting these directly on the coals. Bold. Sear 5-6 minutes on one side. If it flames up, don't worry about it. 3 min or so on the other side. Cut on the bias. THAT'S IT! The idea is black outside, pink inside. Sounds like the punchline to a Newman joke. (insider MCG thing)

Options: you can marinate this overnight with some combination of ginger, lime zest (or deactivated lime juice), but a brining solution is probably overkill. The only other thing I'd say is that you have to think about how to serve this. You can make tacos with it, but think about the size of the meat and how it's going to behave with a taco. If you make it like this and cut it like it's described, you'll have two pieces about 3-4 inches long per taco. One bite, blows the whole thing up because it's a pretty chewy piece but it's got a bunch of flavor. I've been in restaurants that serve this alone.

Tortillas

When you buy these at the grocery store, how do you heat them up? You could throw them right into the microwave, but you'd be a moron. You could also wrap about 10 or so in a damp dishcloth and microwave them, that's better. Or, you could dampen them a bit and throw them suckers on the grill! That's what I'm talkin' about! Super hot fire, be quick about it, or you're going to have baked chips. Which isn't so bad, either. They do need some moisture because they get really dehydrated in the fridge. Alternative: on a skillet with a touch of oil or cooking spray. Don't let them brown. Like any good dough, they need to steam and blacken a bit. Or you can make your own. I'll get to that before to long. I just got a tortilla press that I bought at world market.

Creamed corn and poblanos

Take your pick. Cheat like I did and use a small can of creamed corn. Take two poblanos and throw them on the grill, too. Blacken them on all sides. Pull them off, let 'em cool, and then peel them. Seed, core the peppers, and cut diagonally into strips. Throw your large stainless skillet on your side burner or stove top, and heat it up to medium high heat (electric? 7/10). Add some oil to coat the base until it just starts to smoke, and throw in a diced onion. Let it go for a while, throw a couple of cloves of minced garlic, be careful not to burn them. Add a cup of sour cream, the corn, and the poblanos. Probably need a little bit of water in there, too, to give yourself a liquid that can reduce. This will take about 10-15 minutes total, and you can prepare it first while your stoking the coals for the other stuff.

Serve all with thin-sliced limes, and sprinkle a little cilantro over the top.

Viva la Matthew!

The Great Grill Debate

Highly encourage any of you to pick the latest Food and Wine. In it, there's a discussion about buying a grill with a detailed comparison of grills priced 300 vs 1000 vs ridiculous.

They also have an article about the ceramic cookers, and talk about a couple of other brands out there that are competition to BGE. I looked them up, and here's what I found:

Kamado ceramic. According to FW, the "Faberge egg that cooks." As you can see, quite ornamental, IMO outlandishly so. But it does make you wonder if you could tile a BGE. Price you ask? How about starting at $2000. Oddly enough, they also make gas versions.

Next is the Primo XL Oval. This is, to my knowledge, the only one that comes in this shape. It's kinda curious how 2 of the main companies that distribute these are in the Atlanta area. This is apparently the only one that's made in the US. 20 year warranty which is not as good as the BGE or Grill Dome. It does have adjustable cooking grates, boasts greater cooking space, has a firebox divider. You can get stainless steel shelves for it also.

Next up is the Dragon Fire Kamado grill. I don't really know antyhing about this company, and I don't think they have a website, but I do know it's Chinese. You can track this down on alibaba.com. The company is Szhongmao. It looks like a black BGE. The do add that the tables for it are made of bamboo which I assume is like kudzu over there, they're just trying to get rid of it. The stand and side table are included; who knows, maybe the lead smoking chips are free. 25 year warranty on ceramics, the link to the website didn't work. http://www.thegreenfeet.com,www.szhongmao.com

Finally, there's the Grill Dome which are distributed somewhere off 85 and Steve Reynolds Blvd in the Atlanta area, even though they're made in India. These have a shiny finish, they come in multiple colors, and they also have different heights available. The newest is an extra extra tall. They are comparable in price to the BGE, and in some instances cheaper. Oh, and they also come in a metallic copper color, even though it's not on their website yet, which is unique. Lifetime warranty.

And of course, the BGE. Everyone's familiar with them, but it still stands in my mind as the gold standard. Bunch of accessories, lifetime warranty if you buy from a dealer, etc.

There's a great comparison chart of all but the Kamado on egguys.com.

It's a typical situation In these typical times Too many choices... Well, everybody's happy, everybody's free We'll keep the big door open Everyone will come around Why are you different Why are you that way If you don't get in line We'll lock you away...It all comes down to nothing... DMB

Dawgs and BGE Advice

Sorry, OG, didn't see your post below before I made one about venison. Had I seen it I would have included it in that post.

DAWGS

G-Day was good. We were in Athens for all the festivities. Thirty minutes before kickoff we found ourselves at a table in the bar at Bissetts eating oysters and gumbo, the hot bartender was bringing my Abita Turbodogs at perfect intervals, and there were two TV's over the bar. Outside it was cold and raining. G-day was going to be televised. The executive decision was made to keep our 10 dollars of G-day tickets in our pockets and continue eating bivalves and drinking hoppy beer as I switched to Sweetwater 420.

We looked goodand we're loaded for bear. This season we could easily win it all. However, that takes some luck and good bounces of the ball to go along with the skill and talent on the field. We've got the skill and talent but with the hellacious schedule we have we'll need more than our fair share of favorable bounces and good luck. What is nice is we are receiving a lot of favorable preseason attention from the national press. Knowshon is being mentioned for the Heisman and Stafford is poised for a breakout season with hopes to overtake Superman . . I mean Tebow . . as the best QB in the conference.

Going to be one hell of a season, one we've waited a long time for. Already got reservations for the ASU game in Tempe, a house on the beach for GA/Fla, and a hotel in Auburn. Home games are another issue I'm working on for accomodations but regardless of where we sleeep I'll be at most home games. 126 days till kickoff.

Big Green Egg

Congrats on your egg. Best prices around on the egg are in Dalton but they're high on eggcessories. Can't recommend enough what I posted earlier on this forum about perusing the Naked Whiz website as well as the Egg Head Forum . They're invaluable resources.

I've got three "go to" recipes for dinner parties of 4-12 people.

1. Standing Rib Roast - one rib for every 2 people. Rub in EVOO, coat with seaonsings of your choice. I use salt, pepper, fresh garlic, rosemary, thyme. I sear it on all sides at about 650-750 for about 2 minutes each side directly over the flames. I then remove it from the egg and bring the temp down to about 300-350 and slow cook it till I have an internal of about 125 at most. Takes about 15 minutes per pound to get to this target. It will raise a good 4-5 degrees during the 10-15 minutes you should let it rest. This gives a good medium rare to medium which most folks can tolerate. Last one I did for me and the wife I removed at 118 degrees internal and it was more to my rare liking. For au jus I simply buy the beef stock that comes in the red wax boxes and reduce it down by 75%.

2. Whole beef tenderloin - buy a whole one from Sam's/costco and "butcher" it yourself cleaning all silver skin and the "rib" meat off of it. Prepare it the same way as described above or with any seasoning of your choosing. I cook exactly the same as above but it takes MUCH less time to hit the 125 or less internal. Lots of variations with this and mad max (naked whiz website guru) has a great recipe with stuffing the tenderloin with lobster tails and other such stuff.

With both of the above recipes you should time taking it off the BGE for when most folks have arrived but aren't yet done with their first cocktail. You'll get oohs and ahhs when you bring it in from the egg. During the rest period for the meat have everyone get seated with all side dishes on their plate. Carve the meat at the table or beside the table and individually serve. Makes you look like you worked harder than you really did.

Also, with both recipes I'll put a small handful of hickory chips in early in the cook to get a little smoke flavor. Careful not to use too much as the smoke will overwhelm the natural goodness of such premium cuts imo.

Finally, here's my all time favorite recipe on the egg. It's not fancy, it's not prestigious, and it shouldn't be served at a fancy dinner party. However it's my best tasting dish, one I do the best, and I have people requesting all the time for me to make them some.

3. Pulled Pork Shoulder - get a big ole chunk of dead pig. I prefer whole shoulders but in a pinch I'll use the "Boston Butt" which is just the back side of the shoulder. Rub the shoulder in mustard and then heavily coat in your favorite dry rub. I use Dr. BBQ's (Ray Lampe) standard dry rub . I do this the day before but it's not necessary.

Load up the BGE with as much lump as you can get in up to the level of the firebox. Add in a good healthy portion of pre-soaked hickory chips throughout the charcoal with the largest portion up top so the meat will get a good bit of smoke early and form a good smoke ring. Once the meat reaches 125 or so it'll quit absorbing smoke.

This cook needs to be indirect so put in your plate setter upside down. On top of your place setter put a disposable aluminum lasagna pan and fill with apple cider vinegar and apple juice in equal portions. Add your grate on top and you're ready to go. Of course you should light your fire BEFORE these steps as they'll cover up your charcoal. You want you BGE to cruise along at about 225-250 dome temp for this cook. You can maintain that by keeping the bottom and top air vents very slightly open once you've achieved desired temps. Another GREAT tool is the BBQ Guru. It comes with a thermostat controlled fan that hooks into your bottom vent and through temp probes in the dome and the meat and controls air flow to maintain the proper temp. The use of the guru has privided me with many a good nights sleep instead of waking up every hour or two to check the temps on the egg and make adjustments.

It'll take 1.5-2 hours per pound to get to your desired temp of 195. Don't fret when you reach somewhere around 170 degrees and it stays there for hours. This is the "plateau phase" and during this time all energy is utilized to break down connective tissue instead of heating the meat. It's not until all the connective tissue is broken down that your meat is tender and the temp will start to rise. A former Tech guy like OG can produce us some temp phase graph or something to explain it all but just understand that it's gonna sit at this temp for HOURS.

After pulling the meat off when it's at 195 the bones should slide right out. I prefer to pull the meat slightly to break it up and then I give it a nice light "chop" with a couple of heavy meat cleavers to give something that isn't totally pulled nor totally chopped. I prefer to serve with a traditional North Carolina vinegar based sauce I make at home or you can have some inferior tomato or God forgive a mustard based sauce as well.

If you have to prep ahead of time and serve later it's not a problem as I pull/chop mine, place in the fridge or a cooler with ice to cool rapidly, and later reheat in an oven or chafing dishes with a little bit of coke in the pan to add some moisture.

Expect a 50% yield of pre-cooked weight and about a 1/3-1/2 pound of pork needed per person.

Venison Backstrap

I'm not near the foodie that JW or OG are and I tend toward the simple more meat and potato recipes. Please indulge me as I periodically give my more simplistic fare a place to air out on the net. Here's a decent recipe for venison backstrap or any large piece of wild game such moose, elk, mule deer, deer, etc.

Soak the backstrap or loin (analagous to beef tenderloin) in buttermilk overnight. This further removes the blood left in the meat which will decrease the gaminess of the meat. Follow by placing in a marinade of 2/3 allegro seasoning and 1/3 coke. Alllow to marinate for no longer than 4-5 hours as you don't want to overwhelm the natural flavor of the meat. This marinade can be skipped altogether or shortened to reflect the taste you want.

Wrap the tenderloin in bacon and secure with butcher twine or toothpicks and lightly season with salt/pepper. Grill on your Big Green Egg at 550-600 till an internal temp of 125 which will provide a nice medium rare.

Allow the meat to rest for five minutes, cut into 1 inch thick medallions. I usually serve over grilled/roasted corn removed from the cob after cooking and mixed with a diced roasted red pepper along with grilled asparagus with fresh parmesean.

Good eats with a simple, easy prep that shouldn't overwhelm the natural wildness of the meat and provide something a little different for your table. Makes for a good conservation starter as well as the discussion of the hunt itself or of hunting in general always makes for interesting debate.

BGE or BUST!

To quote an 80's rap song by Digital Undergound . . . "so just let me introduce myself". Alas my name is not Humpty, I can't dance, and I never got busy in a Burger King bathroom. However, I am a long time friend, classmate, and colleague of the two rowdies that I believe gave birth to this small piece of the blogosphere. A very large tip of the hat to the JW and the OG for inviting me to contribute.

I don't claim to be an expert on anything food wise, drink wise, football wise, or any other wise. Fortunately for me and likely unfortunately for this blog I know just enough about these things to be dangerous.

Having seen today's post from the OG I feel obliged to espouse on the merits and unlimited benefit of the Big Green Egg (BGE). I've cooked on a wide variety of smokers/grills in my life including the following;

Weber Smoker (electric and non-electric)

A New Braunels Off-set

And finally the piece de resitance {insert funny french accents} my super sized, tow behind, large grill smoker big enough "to cook two pigs at once" {insert north florida 'neck accent as that's what the previous owner said when I bought it off of him}. This smoker had the privilege of being featured on the since departed Blue Ribbon TV show on Turner South. They did a show on tailgating at SEC schools and our tailgate and grill/smoker were featured along with a bunch of dead pig and chicken parts. That's me on the right and my beer on the left.

After many years and many, many cooks I've been absolutely BLOWN away by the versatility, the ease of use, and the quality of product you can produce on a BGE. I sear steaks at 800 degrees for but a few minutes, I slow smoke pork shoulders at 250 degrees for up to 24 hours, I direct sear veggies at 400 degrees, and a whole host of other options. No single piece of grilling/smoking equipment had been able to do what the BGE has done and the taste, texture, and moisture content is unaparalled in my opinion. I've got an expensive 4 cast iron gas grill that has gone untouched for 3 years. I'll never smoke or grill on anything besides me BGE ever again. It's the pinnacle, it's the top of the mountain, it's the evolutionary peak of mankinds use of fire to prepare food (politely ignore the fact they invented this process a thousand or so years ago in asia) . If you're not egging you're doing yourself a disservice.

Here's a couple of good links for all things egg related. First is www.greeneggers.net which is the repository for all things egg related and has a great forum /message board that is very active in giving advice, sharing recipes etc. Next is www.nakedwhiz.com by the famous poster from the aforementioned web page "Mad Max". Great resource for recipes, table design, and a FAQ page that is a must for any potential buyers and all newbie eggers.

As for me, I'm all set to add to my egg collection by buying a small BGE to complement my large thusallowing for cooking at two temps simultaneously as well as being small enough to travel with on camping/tailgating trips.

OG quit your deliberating, get yo'self an egg, and get to cookin'.