Feeding 6 on the Mini

Cornfed · April 2001

Hey, everyone. Going to see the Yanks beat the Red Sox on Sunday with 5 friends. The 5 are counting on me to take care of the food since they know I go all out for Jets tailgates. I'm thinking of taking only the mini. Here's one idea that I think will work. We're planning on arriving at around 10ish. We're planning on heading into the stadium at about 12:30 so we have roughly 2.5 hours. Subtract a half hour of wasted time from BS'ing/misc occurrences and figure 2 hours of cooking.[p]One surefire way I can think of feeding 6 in 2 hours is to do 8-10 sausages on the mini at a low temp for about an hour. I'm thinking 10-15 minutes to start the mini then 45 minutes or so to do the sausages. I'm hoping to jam a pan of veggies on the grill to go along with the sausages to make make some good sandwiches (sausages + veggies + Q sauce = sammies). I'm thinking 10 sausages should easily make 6 sammies.[p]After this (maybe it's 11:30 by now) I'm thinking of opening up the grill for some burgers. I figure 5-10 minutes to get to burger temps then, say, 3 burgers at a time for 5-10 minutes each. Going by this, we should be done cooking by noon and have a half hour to eat/clean before walking into the stadium. I'm thinking of accompanying this with some homemade tater salad with a Julia Childs recipe I enjoy.[p]These people have never tried Egged food. My questions are 1)do you think this is a good basic plan and 2) any ideas for improvement?[p]I was also kicking around the idea of precooking some stuff on Saturday to simply reheat on Sunday for the game (ribs??? pork loin???). Also, maybe I can do a big london broil instead of or after the burgers??? Or maybe I can try and fit some wings in there, somewhere???[p]Any logistics ideas? I can always pick up a $10 charcoal grill for reheating or cooking non-essential foods....[p]Any ideas?[p]Thanks!
Cornfed

djm5x9 · April 2001

Cornfed:[p]You may be a bit optimistic cooking for five on the Mini . . . What if you pre-cooked (not quite 100% done) and used the Mini to reheat? This way food would come off the grill quicker for those hungry folk. Or you could still pre-cook and use your larger BGE to reheat and eliminate grill space problems and get the food out even faster.[p]I cannot tell you how many times I have cooked ribs for a couple of hours one evening only to pull and referigerate and three days later cook them another two and a half hours and serve for a Saturday lunch. No one knows the difference . . . Just me and you. You won't tell will you?[p]Hey, you gonna share that tater salad recipe of Julia's? My Princess has a wonderful one, but I just want to make sure!

Finger Lickin' Tom · April 2001

Cornfed,
Since they have never tried Egg Food, they should try some Ribs, but you don't seem to have the time. I would suggest Q'ing a rack of Ribs the day before and reheating them when you do the slow sausage cook in the beginning. Nothin'like Ribs and plenty of Beer!
FLT[p]p.s. LETS GO YANKEES !! !!!

Char-Woody · April 2001

Cornfed, You have me brain storming...Since buns don't spoil, and you can put sourcrout (sp) in a thermos, and you can pre-cook brats in beer and onion broth, and stick that in another glass lined thermos, and take along a cooler chest..finish off the brats in the mini, and ya got it made.
Now you have me thinking of inventing a rotating brats merrygoround rotisserie for the Mini.
C~W

Unknown · April 2001

Char-Woody, thats sauerkraut!! yer shadow...C~W

Cornfed · April 2001

djm5x9,[p]Here ya' be going: Julia's American-Style Potato Salad[p]I've made this more than 10 times. I've tried modifying amounts but honestly, I like the original version better than my mods. Actually, the one thing I've done that I like better is increasing the amts of bacon (gotta love bacon). I've tried increasing the amount of eggs (since I also love eggs) but that seems to change the overall character of the salad.[p]As for my tailgate situation, I don't think I can take the Small BGE. I'm not driving and I don't think these friends want to transport more than one grill (they wanted to take a small hibachi but I've convinced them of the mini, at least). If I completely cooked ribs on Saturday, can I simply reheat them in foil on Sunday without noticeable loss in flavor/texture???[p]Thanks,
Cornfed

Cornfed · April 2001

Char-Woody,[p]Thanks, this is just the type of thinking I was hoping to see from my question. I'm trying to think of way to feed 6 hungry people (inlcuding myself...OK...6.5 hungry people since I count for 1.5...) in a small amount of time on a small grill (the mini BGE) while also impressing upon these people the virtues of the Egg. I've talked up a storm to these folks about how cool the Egg is...now I want to deliver.[p]All this while watching the Yanks pound on the Sox (sorry Boston fans...just have to say that since you guys pounded us last weekend...and two of the 6 going this Sunday are Sox fans...).[p]Later (go Yanks!!!),
Cornfed

djm5x9 · April 2001

Cornfed:[p]When I have cooked the ribs for a couple of hours they are cooked, just not "low and slowed" enough. The two and a half or so hours three days later bring them to that point. Remember, I baste in my favorite "Q" sauce for the last hour and a half. The low temperature and moisture from the sauce seem to help this "second day cook" seem like the first day.[p]You should not have a problem reheating in the foil, maybe brush with a light coating of your "Q" sauce? If your folks complain, hand them another beer . . . Thanks for the recipe and enjoy the game![p]

Cornfed · April 2001

Finger Lickin' Tom,[p]FLT, I think you may be right about bringing some pre-Egged ribs. Like you say, maybe the ribs can reheat alongside the sausages. This would definitely add to the "wow, smoked food is AWESOME" effect that true Q often has on people that have only tried grilling but never smoking.[p]Feel like cooking some ribs/drinking some pre-Yanks victory beers on Saturday in prep for Sunday's game???[p]Later,
Cornfed

Cornfed · April 2001

djm5x9,[p]Thanks for the advice. I strongly suggest you try that recipe. It is definitely my current favorite and I've tried a bunch. I actually bought the book and just found the recipe on the web after you asked since I wanted to save myself from typing (...now I'm wondering how many recipes from that awesome Julia and Jacques book I could have had for free from the web...).[p]Anyway, Julia knows what she's talking about. Further, Jacques is the man with the master plan! I've seen him on PBS with his daughter on his more recent show. That dude can cook like it's going out of style! He's been the personal chef for French royalty.[p]I idolize the likes of Jeter/Bernie/Clemens for their baseball skills but I also idolize Julia/Jacques for their cooking acumen,
Cornfed

Smokin' Todd · April 2001

Cornfed,
I agree with FLT, and due to time constraints make sure the rolls are sliced.
ST

RhumAndJerk · April 2001

Cornfed,
The sausage can be cooked in about a half an hour. I cook them at 325 for 10/10/5/5 minutes per side. The last ten minutes serves to brown the outside. This may not be needed on the mini due the closeness to the fire. If the sausage is smoked, then you are really just heating them up. If it is fresh sausage, then make sure that it is done. Toss some woodchips on the fire to freshen up the smoke flavor of the sausage.[p]Instead of a London broil, a Tri-tip should fit on the Mini just fine. Better yet, make some jerky to cover the beef, that way you can enjoy the pre-game rather than cooking for two hours straight. [p]Skip the $10 cheapie, you will waste more time with it and it will not help you.[p]In this case, Go Sox’s! Anyone that beats the Yankees is the team to root for.[p]Go Tribe!
RhumAndJerk

Dr. Strangelove · April 2001

Cornfed,[p] I don't know what kind of sausages you plan to cook, but in my experience the mini will hold six at most of the Johnsonville "Beer and Bratwurst" size sausages in a single layer on a single grid. I can usually get four hamburgers on at a time unless I get wild with the size. I cooked five of the aforementioned sausauges on Monday night, you may want to do the burgers first, as the sausages greased up the mini to the point I had to open the vents up and let it self-clean! You should have seen the smoke pouring out of that rascal as the sausages were cooking. Point is, the mini is a great cooking machine within limitations.[p]JET[p]

Unknown · April 2001

Cornfed,[p]Where the heck are you going to set up for this gala event?[p]Yankee stadium has no parking. You have to use either the external lots or parking garages around the area. As the Yanks are playing the Bosox, you can expect the lots to be filled to capacity.[p]I'm not trying to rain on your parade, just pointing out the logistics beforehand.[p]As for the Yanks, the season is way too young to get nervous, but it would be nice to beat teams other than the Royals.[p]GO YANKS!
Jobu[p]PS: Hey Rhum and Jerk, if you are reading this, I now hate Manny Ramirez more than when he was with the Tribe.

Cornfed · April 2001

jobu,[p]We'll be in one of the external lots. Since we're now planning on leaving NJ at around 9am, we should make it to the stadium by 10am. I'm hoping the lots aren't filled at 10am for a 1pm game. At Jets games, the lots are usually pretty empty at 10am and that's for 78 thousand people and most of them tailgate. We're actually taking two cars so as long as we park next to each other, we should have enough space for a mini and a ton of beer.[p]Other than that, though, we're going pretty lean. No chairs and I think I'm just bringing two tiny knee high foldup tables.[p]Should be fun.
Cornfed

YB · April 2001

<p />Cornfed,
You need to make a extra grid for your mini egg,you can cook twice as much at one time.If you can't get a 1-1/2"x9" ring made you can use three 1-1/2"x1/4" carriage bolts for legs,good luck.[p]Larry

RhumAndJerk · April 2001

jobu,
He is fun to watch. It always looks like he just not trying, but that could not be further from the truth.[p]I do have a theory… The Yankees will win the World Series again this year and I hope that they continue to win the World Series for every year until Baseball does something about economics. Do not get me wrong, Cleveland winning would be wonderful, but the Yankees are an October Team. They still have the best pitching staff.[p]I am heading to the CLE vs. ANA on Tuesday. My next game is versus the Yankees in May. I am not sure that I like this unbalanced schedule.[p]Go Tribe!
RhumAndJerk[p]

Unknown · April 2001

Cornfed,[p]Sounds like a blast. Hopefully the Yanks will have started winning some games by that time.[p]Later,
Jobu

Feeding 6 on the Mini

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