Gauntlet... thrown!! Bring out ALL of your cookers!!

shtgunal3

Blackstone Burgers

shtgunal3

@cazzy those ribs look awesome man!

20stone

cazzy said:

Smoking some ribs on the vault.   

Great looking ribs, @cazzy

caliking

@cazzy , nice rack!

I’ll say this again,  it makes me happy that it took this thread to have you pop back in. 

caliking

20stone said:

Not my cook (beyond bringing the sausage), but I was witness to another box being ticked.

@The Cen-Tex Smoker commented that @caliking has cookers that even @caliking doesn’t know about. Apparently, this old Lodge tailgater is one of those, unearthed among the shelves of Kettles. 

It was putatively a handoff of the H-town crew’s share of prosciutto, meeting at a quiet spot in La Grange (a hea hea hea hea).  It turned out to be a perfect spot for a quarantine cookout...just us and the cows.

The masalawurst and beef merguez were from AW/SS6, and were served on homemade buns. I think someone else has the table shot. 

Great time had by all. 

Da eats...
Clockwise from bottom left: healthy stuff, campari tomatoes, lactofermented ketchup, lactofermented veg (red onions, serranos, japs, cauliflower,  carrots, GARLIC), homemade garlic mayo, homemade hand sanitizer ( I tried a shot of it... still farting aloe), buns baked at 1am...
...and the star(s) of the show... beef merguez sausage + masalawurst 2.0 (or is it 3.0?)

What a meal!

 And what a beautiful day, spent with great folks, whom caliprince misses dearly. 

SciAggie

@caliking Those are some food eats for sure. I love all the fermented products. And - homemade bread of any kind is always a winner. 

caliking

@sciaggie, there is some truth to what @20stone said above. About weekly, I find myself in the garage muttering “ I know I used to have _____.”

The Lodge Sportsman is a fun little grill. Mine is a bit rusty, but does what it’s supposed to. It’s compact, easier to transport than an egg or Weber, and relatively bomb proof. 

This thread has made me realize that I do miss some of my old cookers. 

Foghorn

SciAggie said:

@Foghorn @cazzy I’m looking at the ribs y’all cooked and thinking about the last few spares I’ve cooked. 

Why do you get pull back on some and not on others? It seems the ribs I’ve cooked on my offset running at about 225-250 seldom show pullback. When I cook on the egg it usually settles at around 275 and I seem to get pull back. 

I really can’t tell any difference in taste or texture to speak of. 

Just wondering if y’all (or anyone else) has any observations to share. 

I’m just making conversation and trying to learn something. 

@SciAggie, I don’t know the answer to your question. I can guess that it might be related to the fat vs protein content. Here’s an example of some beef ribs I did recently. They started as a square and ended up as a triangle.  The part that pulled shorter seemed to have more fat.  

Foghorn

@caliking, was this your first taste of the beef merguez and this iteration of malalawurst? If so, what say ye?

caliking

Foghorn said:

@caliking, was this your first taste of the beef merguez and this iteration of malalawurst? If so, what say ye?

Yes first taste of both. Loved the beef merguez! Possibly better than the lamb version we made way back when.

As for the masalawurst, I thought it was great, as well. Caliqueen thinks the nutmeg and mace could be toned down. 

 I hear the rumblings about it being too aggresively spice. Its a misunderstood sausage. Its full potential is not realized in the way sausage is usually eaten. I'll elaborate on that later.

 As an aside, I have thoughts about a kababwurst line, i.e. different flavors/types of kabab in sausage form. 

JethroBodeen

Went Old School this morning. Buckwheat waffles on the G.E. that my mother used when I was a kid...

Canugghead

USDA Prime striploin with S&P, low and slow in baby Traeger...


Fired up the Edelmetall, hit almost 500F easily even on low flame. Primed pan with ghee, then seared the fat before the flat sides...


Nothing goes to waste, dumped some instapot-wok precooked herbed potato in the pan to soak up the precious juice after searing the meat...


Closer to medium, not big fan of rare, crispy fat turned it up a notch...


No cook dessert...


Have a great week and stay safe everyone!

SciAggie

Nice cook Gary. Way to keep the thread alive!

caliking

Nice, @Canugghead ! 

Taters cooked in meat drippings are da bomb. 

smak

Last week I had an opportunity to pull out the pot for some crawfish to celebrate the wife's birthday. It was raining on and off but we had a good time.



3

SciAggie

That looks delicious. 

Botch

No one here has one of these?
 

 

JethroBodeen

Botch said:

No one here has one of these?
 

 

No, but after some of the hot sauce in Lacto Fermentation thread, its close...

Canugghead

Sputnik sold by IKEA eons ago, turkey spiedini, pulled at 150, tasted great but no char due to height of grill from small fire.

SciAggie

That’s a neat little cooker. 

caliking

That’s a cute lil cooker, @Canugghead! 

The vent holes seem undersized. Can you hit high grilling temps?

Canugghead

Identical vents at bottom, lid on for low temp cook. Lid off with more charcoal attains high grilling temp no problem. Wasn’t into charcoal cooking then, picked it up decades later at a yard sale 😀 Tight lid with clamps snuffs out fire easily after cooking just like eggs. Clamps also allow sphere to be carried by the lid handle.

caliking

Canugghead said:

Identical vents at bottom, lid on for low temp cook. Lid off with more charcoal attains high grilling temp no problem. Wasn’t into charcoal cooking then, picked it up decades later at a yard sale 😀 Tight lid with clamps snuffs out fire easily after cooking just like eggs. Clamps also allow sphere to be carried by the lid handle.

I'm an idiot.   Want a grill to get hot? Open the lid! I like the clamps - lids sometimes fly off grills when they're placed in open truck beds.

caliking

I think this counts... Salmon steamed in the IP

Drizzle of sesame oil, mirin, dark soy ( I hit one filet harder). Seasoned with  DP Peking. Scallions. Steamed x 8 mins. IT was about 125ish. 

Caliqueen made cold soba noodles, and a ginger miso dressing to go with. Hastily plated, but it was delicious. 

About 25 mins,  all in!

Foghorn

Got a sous vide for Fathers Day - so a new cooler for me. 

Had a large sirloin from a friend. 

caliking

Foghorn said:

That's a purty Australian salad, @Foghorn. 

Have fun with the SV. Which one did you get?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Some fun cooks on here. Great thread. 

Foghorn

I got the Anova Precision cooker - gift from my son.

We cooked that sirloin for 1hr 45 min at 125 and then seared it.

Is there any advantage to going longer on the sous vide?  I've read that up to 4 hours is good, but I've also heard of some famous chefs going for 6 hours.  Does a sirloin soften up and have the texture of a ribeye or filet if you cook it longer?

SciAggie

@Foghorn I believe the benefit of prolonged SV is to break down collagen without over cooking or expelling moisture from the meat. Since the rendering of the collagen is slow at that temperature range, it takes many hours (6-72). If temps are bumped into the 132-137 range it is my understanding you also essentially end up with a pasteurized product. I don't believe pasteurization will occur at 125 degrees - at least not in any reasonable time window.
*All the information above may be complete BS and is subject to doubt*

The Cen-Tex Smoker

SciAggie said:

@Foghorn I believe the benefit of prolonged SV is to break down collagen without over cooking or expelling moisture from the meat. Since the rendering of the collagen is slow at that temperature range, it takes many hours (6-72). If temps are bumped into the 132-137 range it is my understanding you also essentially end up with a pasteurized product. I don't believe pasteurization will occur at 125 degrees - at least not in any reasonable time window.
*All the information above may be complete BS and is subject to doubt*

130 is the number for pasteurization but 131-132 to be safe on thicker cuts. Steaks don’t benefit much from a long cook and they can get mushy If left in too long. I think 4 hrs is about as long as I would go on a steak but you are safe at 6 or more over 130 degrees. The real benefit to longer cooks is for things like brisket/butts where it can really work on all the connective tissue in there 

on another note- I like my SV steaks at 135 or even a little higher. They are tender like a rare steak but it renders the fat and breaks down the proteins quite a bit better in this temp range. They are still bright pink wall to wall at this temp but they eat Way better than SV steaks cooked in the 120’s