Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

How many cook on the Egg for future meals

robnybbq
robnybbq Posts: 1,911
edited January 2014 in EggHead Forum
Do any of you cook a meal on the Egg and not eat it for days?

Meaning if I had time between 9PM and 1 AM to cook something (Spatchcock, steak, pork loins, etc) but will not eat it for a day or two instead of right after cooking it.

If the intent is NOT to eat it for a day or so how would you cook the meal - all the way to completion?  Almost all the way and heat it up/finish cooking in the oven inside the house when ready to eat it?

How do you make leftovers come out good?  Spatchcock chicken is very juicy and tender the day you cook it - the next day - not so much and usually dry - I have made chicken salad out of it but in that case just cook a breast on the stove.

_______________________________________________________________
LBGE, Adjustable Rig, Spider, High-Que grate, maverick ET-732, Thermapen,


Garnerville, NY

Comments

  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Just foodsaver pork, stews, roast.. The foodsaver will keep it from drying out.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • Saturday or Sunday I'll almost always cook something after my first cook that I will use in lunches during the week.  And +1 with the foodsaver.  It probably paid for itself in just a month or two.

    Damascus, VA.  Friendliest town on the Appalachian Trail.

    LBGE Aug 2012, SBGE Feb 2014

  • buzd504
    buzd504 Posts: 3,824
    I'm going to do a spatchcock chicken this evening primarily for making gumbo tomorrow.


    NOLA
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    I've never cooked something just for a subsequent meal - I always enjoy it fresh off the grill first - but I often cook enough for several meals. Whole chicken, package of chicken breasts, thighs, etc. Most things, while not AS good, are still acceptable. I just put the excess in a ziplock or foil and into the fridge and eat it until it's gone. Slice up a chicken breast, wrap in a paper towel and nuke it for a minute or so. Never dried out. Or eat it cold. Cook some fresh veggies to go with the leftover protein. Nice, easy meal.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    I've read that it is not good, safetywise, to partially cook items, and then finish them later. I don't know if cooking a stake to just past rare, and then saving it in the fridge is the best idea, but I find that the cold steak, sliced thin, and served w. a horseradish sauce is really good.

    I've had good luck cooking top round to 130 - 135, and chilling. Then, for serving, sliced as thin as possible and dunked in simmering broth.

    Many meats can be tightly sealed w. a bit of sauce in a zip bag, and then tossed in hot water to bring back to eating temperature. Very little flavor is lost. Sometimes the flavor intensifies. The texture ends up different, but the meat comes out as juicy. My experience has been that meats just cooked to medium rare such as beef or pork survive the storage and re-heat reasonably well. For poultry, I use thighs, chicken, or turkey when I can find them. I marinade them, and that helps the meat stay succulent when used later.
  • robnybbq
    robnybbq Posts: 1,911
    I guess most meals cooked like chilli or stews could be reheated to taste the same. 

    I have a food saver and pulled pork can be stored with some success other meals I have not been lucky to have a good meal reheating.  Many have said to make something else with the stored cooked meat like a dipping sauce or mixed with something. I am going to try to get back to low carb and dont want sauces added to the meat.

    I have yet to make a chicken and vacuseal/store it and have it come out the same - buried in mayonaise for chicken salad its passable but not grilled chicken by itself.

    Also would you vacuseal the whole meat or slice it up into individual portions before storing?  I am not even sure what meat I could try that would be good for a few days that I would enjoy and not be disappointed.  A pork loin will be dried out.  Even a brisket that is juicy the first day I have sealed and reheated and its dried out requiring BBQ sauce to make it not cardboard. 

    What are the secrets to keeping the meat moist? Especially lean meats like a flank steak, chicken, brisket - I dont want cold cuts but more complete meals for later in the week or frozen for a few weeks.

    My thoughts are how can I cook some pork chops on Monday night at 10 PM and freeze them and reheat them down the road or am I just better off cooking them in a frying pan on the stove top.

    Same for plain chicken breasts.  Better to bother to reheat or just chop and cook fresh in a frying pan?



    _______________________________________________________________
    LBGE, Adjustable Rig, Spider, High-Que grate, maverick ET-732, Thermapen,


    Garnerville, NY
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    If you freeze cooked meats, when re-heated, they will be even drier. Most cooked meats still have about 50% of the original water in them, more if the meats are cooked only to rare. When frozen, the remaining water forms ice crystals that further breaks down the muscle cell. Upon re-heating, they loose water at a faster rate

    Many modern "sauces" have lots of sugar in them. I like Sweet Baby Ray's, for instance, but ingredient 1 is HFCS. Also, classic gravies have a starch base. So those will add carbs.

    There are many sauces that can made just with some fats and acids and spices. Very early BBQ sauce was butter, cider vinegar, salt, black pepper and cayenne. For chicken, you can go with Alabama style sauce, which uses mayo as a base. If you want a sweeter sauce, check out stevia extract. 10 times sweeter than sugar, and no carbs. Just some herbed butter in the bag will make the re-heated food much better.

    Also learn to make stock. A good stock will have enough gelatin in it that when re-heated, the liquid gel will add a succulence that compensates for the inevitable dryness of cooked meats.

    There isn't anything wrong w. a pork chop pan seared. But for something w. more flavor, I marinade some pork "steaks," pork shoulder slices, and sear them on the Egg till they are just past rare. That reduces the amount of fat in them, and makes them very savory. Then, I cut away the fat, and cut the meat into smaller slices just before pan searing them. Then I make a quick pan sauce w. just a splash of wine, which does add some carbs, but only a tiny amount.
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273

    We keep bags of brisket, pulled pork, and rib meat in the freezer.   Quick thaw out in the microwave, chop, and into taco's, baked potatoes, enchilada's, appetizers, etc.

    When we start running low - I will cook specifically to restock the freezer (note, will eat what we want that day LOL).

    Greater than 60% of the meat that goes across my Egg is not consumed that day.

    Cookin in Texas