The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

mad max beyond eggdome

well, it was a long weekend of cooking on the egg with some new experiments/trials. .. here is how it went in a nutshell[p]The GOOD - friday night, cedar planked salmon. .. this was excellent.. .bought some cedar planks at williams sonoma, soaked one for about 3 hours... .took salmon filet, coated with olive oil and dizzy ragin river. .. .put the wet plank on the egg at around 400 degrees dome temp, let it start to 'crackle' per the instructions, put the salmon on for about 15 - 20 minutes. . .squirted a little fresh lemon on it about halfway through the cook. . .the flavor and moistness was unbelievable (while it smelled like it would absorb a lot of smoke, in fact the smoke infusion from the cedar was very subtle).. .this was a huge winner the whole family loved and told me that this was the ultimate way to prepare salmon from now on. . .[p]The GOOD - 2. . .last night, t-rex sirloins with shrimp skewers. . did my standard trex with kosher salt and dizzy cowlick.. .always eggsellent!. . .took the shrimp this time, skewered with pineapple chunks and red peppers. . .sprinkled with dizzy tsunami spin. ..made a glaze with pineapple juice, honey, soy sauce and more tsunami spin.. .brushed it on the skewers while cooking. . .another winner. . .[p]The BAD. . .experimented doing hash browns for the eggfest. .. cut up yukon golds, onions, coated with olive oil and dizzy raging river and kosher salt. . cooked them in the grill wok. . ..didn't turn out so good. ...i think the problem was that the potatoe pieces weren't cut up small enough, so that when the onions were done, the potatoes were still hard. . .had to zap the whole thing in the microwave for about 3 minutes to make sure the potatoes were softned up. . .gonna try again this weekend, but using shredded potatoes instead. . .see if i can get the right consistency. . .either that, or use a pan and let them 'roast' in the egg. . .gotta get this one right since i'm committed to breakfast at waldorf ;-)[p]The UGLY. . .brett came over yesterday and we tried out the naan recipe from the forum (flatbread done in the dome). . .took a couple of tries to get the technique down. .. had a pretty easy time applying the dough to the dome top (of course, my arm is now missing whatever hair it once had. . .looks kinda like a newborns head at this point). . .but it doesn't let go of the dome as easy as we might have thought. . .trying to get the finished bread off the dome with only a pair of tongs, it kind of came off in chunks. . .after the second one, we got smart and used the tongs with a spatula to scrape underneith. .. by the last couple we were getting the hang of it and it was looking pretty good. .. .brushed it with butter, and the taste was terrific. . .it would have been great with hummas or a yogurt sauce. . .this is one worth trying again. . .kinda labor intensive, but it was fun and worth it. .. [p]all in all a great weekend. . .and like i alwasy say, if everything was great, it would all be average :-0[p]

Smokey Bob

mad max beyond eggdome, One trick I have used when doing potatoes on the egg is to parboil them for 5 min. before cooking them on the egg.[p]SB

mad max beyond eggdome

Smokey Bob,
thanks sb .. .my wife said the same thing, but when do i ever listen to her? . .. but since a fellow egger said it, i just might have to listen now. . .heeeee

QBabe

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]I also pre-cook potatoes most of the time, but bake them in the egg, then cut up as needed, then back in the egg for the finish...[p]We also did some practice runs for Waldorf this past weekend. The LeCreuset dish, a baked cavatelli (also known as "snakes and worms"), turned out WONDERFUL! I can't wait to debut it there and hopefully it'll turn out as well...[p]Looking forward to seeing you this weekend at the Nature Ranch after class feast![p]Tonia
:~)

mad max beyond eggdome

QBabe,
thanks tonia, and me too. ...yep, nothing i enjoy more than showing up to eat everyone else's food. .. you guys get to work and take notes all night long, and i get to come and appreciate your efforts. .. it doesn't get much better than that. . .[p]btw. . .what are you and larry doing between nature ranch and waldorf for a week?. .. touring this area? or going elsewhere?. . .

Nature Boy

<p />Wow Max.
Sounds like quite a lineup! And like you are getting some good use outta dem rubs. Way things was going in your story, I thought you were gonna Dizzy up your naan bread er sumthin![p]For the taters, 1/8-3/16 inch slices seem to work best for me.[p]See you Sunday. I am sure there will be over 100 pounds of meat to consume.
Chris

mad max beyond eggdome

Nature Boy,
thanks for the tater advice. . .since its for breakfast at waldorf, i'm gonna still try to do the hash kinda thing. .. .something like 'planks' will be my fallback. . ..my family is gonna get tired of tater 'speriments the next two weeks. . ..[p]btw. . .100 lbs of meat. .. ok, is 10 lbs gonna be enough for everyone else???... .i think i'm gonna go on a starvation thing for the rest of the week so that i can consume my full share. . .haaaaa

JSlot

Make that 80 lb. of meat, Chris. Rembember, I'll be there. LOL![p]Frosty Ones!
Jim

Cornfed

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]That starvation idea may be a good one considering the 100 pounds of meat next weekend followed by Eggfest the following weekend. I think I may go on a water and crackers diet on the weekdays between those two events...[p]Heee,
Cornfed

QBabe

mad max beyond eggdome,[p]Well, sad story there..."we" aren't doing the class...just me. We couldn't get someone to take care of the dogs for that prolonged period (would have been 12 days), plus I couldn't afford it....so, I used frequent flier miles and am flying up for the class, then coming back home on Monday after the class. Then on Thursday, we're driving up (gonna stop for the night and finish the trip on Fri) to Waldorf...then drive back home on Sunday after the 'Fest.[p]We even called the hotel to see if they allowed pets, but the one with the group rate doesn't allow them, nor did anyone else nearby...[p]I'll be doing the zigzag thing back and forth, but we'll likely do a few day trips here between the two trips north.[p]Tonia
:~)[p]