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I spent a bit of time resurrecting my old cold smoke generator. Thinking of smoking some cheese that I haven’t gone for a number of years.  
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haven’t l told the wife that I stole her blow dryer yet; but she’ll get over it. (She knew what I was like when she married me 35 years ago) now that I got the generator going I’m looking for a box to smoke in. The last time cold smoking things I used a cardboard box. It worked OK but crumbled after a few smokes. 
the max temp in the box never went above 70 after a 4 hour smoke. The moisture killed the cardboard box. Thinking of a hard plastic tote? Just unsure of what chemicals that might be released during a 70-80 degrees smoke? Yes wood would be the best; but I want to keep this assembly as light as possible so I can move it around. Let me know of any alternatives. When the smoker box is not in use I’d like to store everything inside that same box?

Thanks. 
Dan. 

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A stout cardboard box should be just fine.  I use a thick cardboard box over top of my electric smoker when it is really cold or really windy (or both of course).  That is a hot smoke, so there would be less moisture than a cold smoke but it should still work just fine.  I sure as hell would not use plastic.

Doug

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Thinking about it and I have to agree; a plastic smoke chamber is asking for trouble. 
I just want this to be as light as possible and self contained when not in use. Plus I’m cheap and afraid. Cannot spend anything that may be caught on the wife’s radar!! LOL Not joking really; she’s had my boys in her purse, since I bought my 50 Chevy; without asking  OOPS  LOL

Dan   


 


 

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I have yet to make a box for the top of my smoker, but I know it will work as a cold smoke for cheese. There is a hole on top that allows the smoke to escape. The box I build will fit on top and have a few drilled holes on top to allow the smoke to escape as well. So IMO, this will work as a cold smoke.

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13 hours ago, nofish4me said:

just hook it up to that old Pizza oven you resurrected. 

Oh yeah that'll happen; already know how I'm going to attach the generator's hose to the oven. I guess I could do the same with my propane smoker. Then all I'd need to transport is the smoke generator to and from the trailer park; that's where the pizza oven is going to live. This time I should've thought inside the boxes, I already have; instead of outside like I usually do? LOL

Dan.   

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Tossed a pork butt in the slow cooker this morning so I could have pulled pork sammiches fer dinner. Kinda bummed I didn't have my slaw but the roads were a gong show and I wasn't going to sit in traffic just to pick up a bag of slaw fixin's. It was very good even without the slaw though.

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Since the weather forecast was a lot cooler for Sunday I thought it would be a good day to smoke a beef brisket. Here's it is, kosher salt and pepper rub with a small amount of bbq powder all held on using a mustard glue. I used a mix of apple and mesquite wood over charcoal. About 8 hours start to finish including 2.5 hours wrapped to beat the thermal stall. I let it rest for another 1.5 hours until the temp was down to about 140F. The bark was still fairly crunchy even though I wrapped it. Turned out great...man I love this stuff!

 

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Busy,busy day in the kitchen

 

Today,s menu was,Chicken Lo Mein ,with veggie egg rolls and chicken balls. Even made my own sweet and sour sauce for the chicken balls.

Lightly fry veggies, and let cool

 

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Wrap

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Onto the chicken balls

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Deep fry everything

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Blanch noodles and make mien sauce

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Prepare veggies and chicken for chow

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Make sweet and sour sauce

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And well

 

Enjoy some eats

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4 minutes ago, akaShag said:

HARD labour!!!

Truth be told,I tied fly's til 9:30 this morning. Started them at 5 am. Then looked at the clock and packed the fly stuff away and got to cooking. I enjoy it. Just crank some Travis Tritt and Cash,and good to go. Hope that fisherman don't see this,he,ll be wanting me to come over and cook for him. LMAO

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15 minutes ago, misfish said:

Nice 2lb loaf with a honey mustard glaze tonight.  Enough left over for hot sandwiches tomorrow.

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Beef/pork blend?  I see it is on special at Food basics right now.  I'd have bought some but have no freezer space..........

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Straight lean. Just meat tenderizer,HP, garlic powder , salt & pepper. Done. Was one of those last day buy bulk packs. Saved 8 bucks. Beef price is crazy right now.

Oh,I have tried that beef/pork mix. CRAP IMO.  If I want beef,I buy beef. If I want pork,I buy pork.

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9 minutes ago, misfish said:

Straight lean. Just meat tenderizer,HP, garlic powder , salt & pepper. Done. Was one of those last day buy bulk packs. Saved 8 bucks. Beef price is crazy right now.

Oh,I have tried that beef/pork mix. CRAP IMO.  If I want beef,I buy beef. If I want pork,I buy pork.

Hmmm.  I don't generally buy ground meat because I have ground venison.  But I did buy some of the lean ground beef/pork mix a year or two again and I thought it was just fine.  I know I made a meatloaf out of some of it, or maybe I made two meat loaves and froze one.  I do recall there was slightly more shrinkage than I would have expected with commercial ground meat - there is very little shrinkage with ground venison - but I thought the flavour and texture were just fine.  Don't believe I ever bought ground pork except one time I needed one more pound of pork for a bunch of venison sausages, and I bought ground pork.  And it wasn't cheap!!!

Doug

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6 minutes ago, akaShag said:

Don't believe I ever bought ground pork except one time I needed one more pound of pork for a bunch of venison sausages, and I bought ground pork.  And it wasn't cheap!!!

Doug

I will be doing a ground pork ( Russian ) meat this weekend.  Meat,cheese and fried mushroom as a stuffing. Also can be made with chopped boiled egg/green onion as a stuffing .

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I was getting tired of re-heated meals that I put in the freezer when all this covid crap started, so I said to the wife that I would like to order a pizza tonight for a change of pace.  We have take-out food less than once a month, on average, but I do like the pizza from the one small pizzeria that is in our neighbourhood.  ANYWAYS, a number of her friends had been telling her about this Middle Eastern restaurant maybe a mile and a half from our house, so I said OK, go for it.  Buy local and all that, I'm good with this.

So if I never eat shoe-warmer chicken again it will be too freakin' soon.  Succulent, moist, tender chicken blah blah blah in their advertising, crap, the chicken was as dry and tasteless as cardboard.  I don't eat most of the sides that came with this monstrosity, hummus, garlic sauce, a salad-looking plate covered in muck....  What a disappointment!  But on a positive note, the pita that had been wrapped around the shoe-warmer was quite good with a bit of margarine on it.

Next time I won't be talked out of pizza!

Doug

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6 hours ago, misfish said:

Oh,I have tried that beef/pork mix. CRAP IMO.  If I want beef,I buy beef. If I want pork,I buy pork.

I think it was like maybe a dozen years back that I tried a "Cowboy" burger recipe that called for a mix of pork and beef to raise the fat content. Well let me tell you I was hooked right away,  I often use it now with game or lean beef in burgers, meatloaf and meatballs. It makes a noticeable difference. I have ground my own mince pork in the past, if I see it on sale in bulk I will buy it and separate into small packages of maybe 3/4 lb. Plus we use it for making our own egg rolls as a meat base along with some chopped and fried coleslaw mix along with garlic, ginger and spices. We like them, look the same as yours.

Back to those beef/pork mixes, I have on occasion bought some on sale from freshco for the convenience factor too,  in 10 minutes you've got fresh meat loaf or meat balls on the fry pan or grill or oven. Granted it would be my third choice overall, but I can't recall anything real negatory with any that we've used. Well...,  there was that one meat loaf that I just put down to wifey over doing it, it had some good shrinkage factor hehe  :)

Cheers

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I use a beef and pork mixture in my Meat Loaf. I also add ketchup, mustard, tomato sauce, chopped onions, and a bunch of stuff I would have to kill you if I told you!

One thing that everyone likes is adding hard boiled eggs to the centre of the loaf. Each slice will have egg in the middle.

I also add a pound of bacon in a weave on top of the loaf.

The guys at our GTG's always ask me to make meatloaf on our trips...

HH

PS... left overs get a grilling on both sides and a couple of slices of Swiss Cheese melted on top.

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1 hour ago, Headhunter said:

PS... left overs get a grilling on both sides and a couple of slices of Swiss Cheese melted on top.

Doing the grill with the left overs tonight, placed on home made bread,cover with gravy and a side of fried sunny side up eggs with fries. :)

Maybe the pack of mix I got of pork and beef was not good. I just did not like it. I can try again, I guess.

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I conquered another today. I love  sesame buns. Weather hamburger or hotdog/sausage. Those big buns.  Always nice and fresh.

 

WELL

 

I made my own today.  My local Zhers butcher ,finally brought back home made sausages. These things are the bomb IMO. Great flavor,nice course chunks, and they are great for the BBQ.

 

I was so happy, I decided to make my own  buns for them. Bun prices are not friendly these days. Well nothing is really. Scroll through you tube and see what fancy's me eye. Found one and well, BINGOBANGO, SPOT ON.

It is a different texture then bread dough,but my oh my,talk about fresh and soft.  Finished baking them at 10:30. Left out on the rack til 4. They were like I just took them out of a plastic bag .Hell, even the wife had no idea I baked them. LOL

Made a tuna salad for a side. I have had many ask how I make it. I keep it simple, but the trick , is to not drain the tuna juice from the can. I keep the juices. That is all the flavor IMO.  The noodles will absorb the juices. The rest is green onion,celery salt, salt and pepper and club house salad seasoning. I added my grown chives as well today . I mix everything together . I let the noodle and ingredients get happy happy for like an hour before adding the mayo. You need to let the flavors absorb before adding the mayo. If you do not,well, you get mayo flavored tuna salad. LOL

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Anyhoo

 

Got to go and get the plants under cover. We are under a storm warning with heavy rain and possible hail and possible whipper tonight.

 

Eat well,stay safe and well, be happy happy happy,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

 

Side note

 

This looks like your happy weed,but it is my tomato cut off leafs. Anyone every try to roll ? They smell earthy .LMAO

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