cooking thread...

[smitty55]

Jeff Phillips from https://www.smoking-meat.com  just came out with a time/temp chart for smoking so I figured I'd post it here. It's includes chef recommended temps as well.

[misfish]

Thanks Smitty. Saved.

I just sealed 3 bags of cooked cutlets and froze. Was down at Starskys this morning. They have a machine that will turn pork cuts into Schnitzel for ya. Saves on the pounding and noise.LOL  I cheated as I did not get around to smoking bread crumbs, so bread crumbs and smoke paprika mix will do for now.Sorry, to busy to get pics, as I got pork belly and pork hocks on the go in cure as well .. Been a very busy day from buying to prepping to well, now a few cold ones.

BBQ is on for some German frankfurters and sauerkraut.

[misfish]

Lemon chicken, corn cob and tater salad. Simple as it gets. Have not had lemon chicken over charcoal in a long time. It was a fav as a kid. Pop made it many tines when we had picnic days at 6 Mile Lake. Those were the days,,,,,,,

 

 

[misfish]

Hey Smitty

Thanks for that schnitzel cook and freeze and reheat. Had a batch tonight and they were still nice and moist and delicious. Best thing was,just thaw and heat.

Thanks again

[smitty55]

Hey no prob Brian, wait till you try it with the smoked bread crumbs, that takes it up another notch. It's not quite as crispy after freezing and it doesn't take much of a reheat but like you said nice and moist and tender, doesn't even need a knife. I may even try a quick smoke on the meat next time to go with the bread crumbs.

[smitty55]

I'm sitting there watching overdrive late afternoon and this brand new looking bright red Ford 4x4 comes up the driveway. Then I remembered I recently saw one at my neighbour's just up the road and sure enough I see Jim getting getting out carrying something. He's been up there in a new gig with Ford now for at least six months and just recently got his new truck, it took that long.

So I go out front and meet him and he hands me this sealed 8x12 tray full of small bottles. It's truffle oil he tells me. 91 single serving size.  I kind of know what it is and I love mushrooms but I've never tried it before. Been doing some research and now I'm really looking forward to using it as a finishing oil. Anyone here ever use it much? Any experiences, advice, recipes and thoughts are more than welcome.

This is the exact product. Glass bottles even. https://www.terrefrancescane.com/gb/single-portion-dressings/129-terrefrancescane-italian-white-truffle-dressing-12ml.html?search_query=White+truffle+dressing&results=3

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by smitty55

[misfish]

Finally got around to buying one of those chimney charcoal things. What a game changer this thing is for getting the coals hot and ready fast . I have always been a pyramid stacker like my pop . Add fuel, let sit for 5 minutes and fire up,wait 40 minutes til coals go white. With this new addition,coals are ready in 15-20 min. Game on then.

Went indirect heat . It,s the only way to cook butt chops. Let that excess fat drip away. Once done, put them over the heat, bit a char and mop on the gooyness..

First got to get the corn and taters done

 

Then the meatfest begins.

 

 

[akaShag]

Those are lovely looking butt chops!

But what the hell is "CHARCOAL?"  😉

Doug

[Spiel]

Mmmmm, Smoked Fowl

Brined 48 hours then smoked with Maple and Cherry wood.

One young domestic Turkey and one wild Turkey Breast.
Both are delish. 

[mamona]

You are committing an art, love it.

[Headhunter]

I've been experimenting with my new to me Sous Vide. My turkey breast recipe, shown earlier in the thread typically has a two day marinade; with the Sous Vide, no marinade required! Dump the marinade into the bag with the turkey and slow cook it for an hour or two and all the flavour is impregnated into the turkey.

A quick 2 minute grill on my ceramic bbq side burner and done.

I am really liking using the Sous Vide!

HH

[Spiel]

5 hours ago, Headhunter said:

I've been experimenting with my new to me Sous Vide. My turkey breast recipe, shown earlier in the thread typically has a two day marinade; with the Sous Vide, no marinade required! Dump the marinade into the bag with the turkey and slow cook it for an hour or two and all the flavour is impregnated into the turkey.

A quick 2 minute grill on my ceramic bbq side burner and done.

I am really liking using the Sous Vide!

HH

I love mine as you know buddy, but I feel it is underutilized.
I need to up my game. 

Props for sharing the marinade as well, it's a solid winner. 

[Spiel]

A couple of Lasagnes today, made from my home grown garden tomatoes that I sauced and canned.
They are big, the one on the right is meat free for my youngest daughter and the larger one on the left is meat laden (ground beef and ground sweet Italian sausage) is to be shared with my oldest daughter and her BF who are still renovating the kitchen in their recently purchased first home. I raised 'em and I still feed 'em. 

[misfish]

Here I sit on a bank drooling buddy.

[akaShag]

3 hours ago, misfish said:

Here I sit on a bank drooling buddy.

I find I do that more often as I get older........😁

[smitty55]

On 9/4/2021 at 4:53 PM, Spiel said:

A couple of Lasagnes today, made from my home grown garden tomatoes that I sauced and canned.

Looks good, I can my own tomatoes as well using my heirloom indeterminates. So much flavour that jumps out at you even when opening the jars.

I'm curious as to what you use to lower the ph below 4.6 to ensure safe canning? Tomatoes used to be considered high acid but not anymore so I don't take a chance.  I used to use lemon but don't care for the taste in my tomato sauce. Since I started to use citric acid I've never looked back. The small amount needed doesn't affect the taste at all, it's only 1/4tsp for pints and 1/2tsp for qts.

Here's a good article for anyone who wants to can them. https://foodsafety.wisc.edu/assets/preservation/UWEX_addacidtomatoes.pdf

 

Cheers

 

[Spiel]

17 hours ago, smitty55 said:

Looks good, I can my own tomatoes as well using my heirloom indeterminates. So much flavour that jumps out at you even when opening the jars.

I'm curious as to what you use to lower the ph below 4.6 to ensure safe canning? Tomatoes used to be considered high acid but not anymore so I don't take a chance.  I used to use lemon but don't care for the taste in my tomato sauce. Since I started to use citric acid I've never looked back. The small amount needed doesn't affect the taste at all, it's only 1/4tsp for pints and 1/2tsp for qts.

Here's a good article for anyone who wants to can them. https://foodsafety.wisc.edu/assets/preservation/UWEX_addacidtomatoes.pdf

 

Cheers

 

I know little to near nothing about canning tomatoes as this was my first time. I did however ad the juice from half a fist sized Lemon.
The volume of sauce was just shy of 3 litres and it was all used up in just a few weeks, so no long term storage.

And thank you for the link, very helpful.

[smitty55]

3 hours ago, Spiel said:

I know little to near nothing about canning tomatoes as this was my first time. I did however ad the juice from half a fist sized Lemon.
The volume of sauce was just shy of 3 litres and it was all used up in just a few weeks, so no long term storage.

And thank you for the link, very helpful.

What I did find interesting in that article was that they stressed using only bottled lemon juice, not fresh squeezed. I figure it must have to do with the ph consistency.

[misfish]

Got around to my peppers and yes,extra lean, makes a world of difference. Next will be buying pure beef and grinding it up to make . Even slice some thin. Have to be careful not to make it to hard,teeth are getting old. LOL

I need to grab another box of peppers me thinks . I ran out last winter to soon . I would sooner do peppers, than tomatoes. The acid is killing me these days . Hope to get another real nice box like the one I got. They were nice . The peppers with the added few roasted cloves of garlic,make for a great easy dish of pasta. Just chop up the peppers and garlic,add some butter and parm, stir into the pasta. Perfecto. Some added steam muscles or clams, is a nice treat.

Doing over charcoal was a bit of a learn for me,as I did it over a propane grill before. Charing (sp?) happens faster.

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2021 by misfish

[smitty55]

Your jerky seems to be working out real well, right on.  It could be the pic but is that shine from an oily outer layer still? You mentioned going pure grind next.

I like that screen too, was that ctc you said? Looks reusable.

[misfish]

5 hours ago, smitty55 said:

Your jerky seems to be working out real well, right on.  It could be the pic but is that shine from an oily outer layer still? You mentioned going pure grind next.

I like that screen too, was that ctc you said? Looks reusable.

Yes still a bit of oil . I could of went another hour or swapped the racks as there were some real nice dried out pieces. That grate is suppose to be one use over a bbq, but it will last for a smoker as long as I spray the grates with pam and lay on the racks for the smoker.

[akaShag]

4 hours ago, misfish said:

Yes still a bit of oil . I could of went another hour or swapped the racks as there were some real nice dried out pieces. That grate is suppose to be one use over a bbq, but it will last for a smoker as long as I spray the grates with pam and lay on the racks for the smoker.

jerky gun?  I tried one of those but found it took forever to do a batch of jerky.

If I was going to make beef jerky I would wait for eye of round to come on sale in those cryovac bags, and use it.  Very lean, and straight-grained, lots of flavour, makes good whole muscle jerky.  And of course if you wanted to grind it you would get a very lean ground beef.

Doug

[Headhunter]

3 hours ago, akaShag said:

And of course if you wanted to grind it you would get a very lean ground beef.

Or you could put it in a Sous Vide for 24-36 hours, brown it on the BBQ and have fillet mignon.

HH

[misfish]

Remember those end cuts of the bacon I did a few weeks back and cut into cubes ? Well they got fried up to get most fats removed . There is a real nice sweet and smokey taste to them .

 

Well they all went into this cheesy mac and cheese . 1lb old and 1 lb mild . Lots of smokey cheesiness favor for sure.

[misfish]

FLANK STEAK TAKE 3

 

After doing 2 of these , so called, toughest cut meats and having the first one turn out well IMO, and the second over done using the new smoker ( more heat from a larger element ) I did both times at 5 hours . I wanted to try and get the cook right with the new . So picked one up once again for $25. Yah it,s pricey, but I can get 2 meals out of it. Pressed sea salt on one side,pepper on the other and mustard spread . In the fridge til the next day.

 

Home from a day on the river ( ya,it was not the best conditions with all this rain ), fire up the smoker, pop the rack full of meat in for 4 hours. 2 pans of smoke chips. Apple/hickory mix . Once the pans were done, cover the smoker with the box for 2 hours. 1/2 hour left,wrap in foil and finish. Leave in the foil til ready to cut. I did not look at this piece of meat til it was time to cut.

While this was all going on,I grabbed a bag of my roasted peppers and garlic out of the freezer,chopped and sauteed. 

Once I had everything put together,toasted buns,meat, cheese and peppers, it tasted like a sandwich I had at a an Italian place called Rosies in Etobicoke many years ago. Before I moved to Barrie, yup, that's many years ago .

Now back to the meat. 3rd try at cooking of this cut and I will tell you this for 100%. It was, melt in your mouth perfection.  I was like,stop cutting and eating. DANG it was so good.

Almost for got

I pulled a pack of my sliced bacon yesterday so I could try jerky bacon. I put a rack full in the smoker same time as the flank. Left it in for one pan of smoke, pulled and finished it off in the oven at 250 deg for 2 hours. ( rethinking,the dripping of bacon fat on the beef,might of been a nice bonus )YUMMY YUMMY.  More snacks when on the river.