Ho hum

Been some boring weekends lately. We had a block party over the weekend with a great turnout and fantastic weather. Met some new neighbors with young kids, always a welcome addition to the block, as well as some neighbors I've been waving hi to for over five years and never actually met. To keep it simple, we did another batch of chicken drumsticks marinated in Goya's mojo sauce - it's darn near impossible to make that go wrong. Wife spent way too much time making cookies and things. I'll stick to the stuff that requires fire.

I actually have the next couple of weekends off, for now at least, so I want to plan another good day of Q soon... I just need to figure out what to make and who to invite. I think I need to try some pork shoulder, and I'd like another round of grilled pizza. But, it's going to start getting cooler here, and cold soon enough, so beyond a few weeks I'll probably have to just stick with grilling instead of barbecuing.

Still, there are worse things than perfecting some steak recipes over the winter.

Patio party

Our patio party yesterday came off really well. Everyone we invited made it, the weather was unbelievable, though a bit windy, and there was more food and drink than we knew what to do with. I guess that means we did it right.

I set up the Smokenator as such, with two racks on the bottom grate and a 6-rib rack on top. Temperatures fluctuated between 220 and 300 the whole time, and I was feeding it a lot of new, already-lit coals. I was ready to ditch the whole thing and just pile some charcoal inside the kettle, but fortunately I planned enough time for something to go wrong, and in the end was able to get the ribs off in time. They were tender but still meaty, great flavor too. The only downside was that I didn't have time to get that back membrane off like I usually do, and it really needed to have been removed. Still, they were a hit.

As I told my guests, this is why you have a big grill. This is all the chicken we marinated overnight in Mojo sauce. Cheap and easy, and a world of flavor when you let it sit in the marinade for at least 12 hours. I'd even recommend going 24 hours - ours went about 18. It's so juicy and flavorful, and cheap. Sometimes, store bought is good. And, although the skin looks burnt, it was really tasty and crispy.

Burgers, dogs, fresh Jersey corn, and some chorizo sausage in case a grown-up wanted something a little different.

      

More pics of festivities - the bounce room was some of the best $200 ever spent three years ago. Who doesn't like to bounce?

What was nice was that even with kids, some people stayed until about 8, so we were able to get the firepit going when it was about 60 degrees. That is the best way to end the night for me - food, fire, and drinks. In all I think we had 24 people over - our largest party yet. And I've got all four October weekends open - probably a first. So I guess it's time to work on beating the numbers....

You got 16 pounds and what do you get?

Smoked baby backs!

We're hosting a patio party tomorrow for friends we used to work with. Total of 27 people expected, kids and adults. Should be a blast - it'll be our biggest party ever. I've got 8 racks of ribs in a neighbor's fridge - there's not enough space in ours. Come to think of it, there's probably not enough space on my kettle for all of them. I've got a standing rib rack that should hold 6, and maybe I'll jury rig the other two on the Smokenator's second grate level. Somehow...

We've also got chicken thighs and drumsticks marinating in mojo sauce overnight, and your basic burgers and dogs... you know, for kids. Wife is making her specialties for app's - salsa and guacamole, plus a chili cheese dip I could eat all day, and a crab dip I won't touch.

I know there are other sides she bought (you can only prep so much), but I just finished 2 pounds of BBQ macaroni salad, a recipe from Cook's Country. It is quite simply the best macaroni salad I've ever had. Considering it's only the third or fourth I've had, it doesn't really say much. But it does rock.

Tomorrow I only need to make my BBQ sauce, which hopefully won't be necessary, and do a ton of setup work before people start arriving around 2:30p. Fortunately, the Hoegaarden beer is already in the cooler....

I. Love. Fall.

OK, it's not really fall yet, but it's been a fantastic couple of days here in central NJ, with sunny skies, low humidity, and highs in the 60's and low 70's. I can't think of any better weather to spend a few hours outside, firepit a'blazing, and ribs a'smoking. Son and I played some golf this morning, right after I seasoned some baby back ribs I bought yesterday and threw them in the fridge. The kettle temps were kinda high, mostly around 400 degrees,and I forgot to soak my wood chunks so they smoked out pretty quickly. I also didn't brine these ribs, which my favorite recipe says to do.

They were a bit over done, I will admit. Certainly low and slow is the best way to go, but I also needed to feed the family at a reasonable hour. I may try again next Sunday, as on the last Saturday of the month we're having a pretty big patio party here, and my goal is to have a couple racks of ribs to serve as an accompaniment to your basic burgers, dogs, and chicken dishes. Those are easy to cook but don't impress friends much. And I'm looking for an ego boost.

Side note...

My father ordered some Lobel's brisket that we had Monday night. It was tender for sure, but for all the $ spent, it had no char, no taste of rub, a lot of sauce, and an odd recommendation for a vinegar-based mopping sauce to drizzle on it.

Again, I stand by anything I've ever bought from them (what little I do because it's so expensive) - their steaks are unbeatable. But I wasn't too pleased with their brisket.

Especially knowing what I can do with one.

Guess what? Chicken Butt.

Had a nice weekend off. Sunday and Monday were spent in the Poconos where my Uncle has been building and renovating a cabin for 30 years or so. Aunt made a great whole tenderloin, and my cousin and I contributed grilled potatoes that needed about 30 more minutes on the grill, and lightly grilled romaine lettuce. There's nothing like crisp mountain air on a cloudless day to do a person good.

But Saturday we had some friends over and Wife asked if I would grill something. I wanted to do a tri-tip, but the butcher was sold out. Mental note - don't go food shopping around noon on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. So I picked up 2 fryer chickens, some asparagus, corn, and hamburger meat, and started prepping. I've learned that there isn't a whole lot that needs to be prepped for beer can chicken, and I made a bunch of seasoning a few chickens ago so it's always on hand.

I'm slowly learning how to manage the temperatures correctly...

So that I get results like this.

The 620 with a burger for the kid, grilled corn basting in a butter/BBQ sauce, and marinated asparagus.

Mmmm, corn....

Some olive oil, lemon juice, pressed garlic and minced rosemary does wonders for asparagus. You almost can't leave it on the grill long enough, because it tastes good even when charred.

Had some leftover challah bread and an idea...

 

For Jewish Toast. It was a little stale to start and not as tasty as the frozen stuff, and it may not be the best bread for a Texas toast substitute, but I'd like to try it again with fresher bread.

With some time off this weekend too, I'm looking to try my hand at some grilled pizza. Salud!

Results are in

Yesterday's schedule was just plain hectic. Since Wife and Son were leaving for Miami early this morning, Wife spend all day prepping for her 20th HS reunion, and all night packing. Dinner was pretty much her time off. So I had Son with me most of the day, taking him to tennis, getting my haircut, having lunch, doing some food shopping - all while making the brisket.

I wanted to really give it the time in the grill it needed, but because of the cooler temperature and the constant wind, the kettle was cooling off much faster than I expected. So I did spend quite some time reloading briquettes to keep the temperature up. And as good as the Cook's Illustrated recipe is, if the procedure deviates from the recipe, they don't really tell you how to get back on track. Honestly, I'm still pretty new at all this to be able to throw caution to the wind and play it all by ear.

Nevertheless, 7 hours on the grill gave a great char and a brisket just on the north side of getting dry. It had great taste, but just wasn't as tender as I was hoping. I did take it off heat at around 195 degrees internal temp, but that was at the thickest part, and the thinner areas were the ones that were a little drier. Still, that simple salt/pepper/sugar seasoning crisps so well, and their Texas-style BBQ sauce is such a perfect blend of tomato-sweet and vinegar-tang, that putting the sauce on made for a fantastic combo.

The goat cheese toast points came out really well - just a hunk of softened cheese with chopped parsley, chives, and thyme mixed in. Not much different than what you can find in a store, but fresher.

Asparagus was really good grilled, but I lost 2 or 3 spears through the grates on the gas grill. Will be cleaning that today.

And although I had forgotten about them and was too full anyway, the smoked potatoes were awesome. My mom and I pecked at half of one while we were cleaning up. The skin was really crisp, the the potato inside was just perfectly done. They took over three hours, so I should have put them on earlier in the brisket's timeframe, but then the temp inside the grill may have been too hot and they may have cooked too fast. Since the brisket is so big and needs to stay away from the heat, the potatoes naturally must be placed closer to the coals. Experience will tell, because I'll definitely try them again.

All in all, another really pleasing meal, especially given that I just didn't have the time all day to nurse and watch over the kettle. No pics either, unfortunately. But I'm sure I added a few pounds to the waistline yesterday as a nice memory. That's a picture no one needs to see.

Oops

Totally slept through the alarm at 5am. Looks like we'll being eating 2 hours later than I had hoped.

Brisket prep

At 10pm tonight, I just finished rinsing the brisket and scoring the fat cap. Alarm is set for 5am to get it into the brine for two hours... hopefully I'll actually wake up before 6am (pinched spinal nerve + pain killers & muscle relaxants = tired grillguy).

My wood chunks are soaking as of now as well.

Tomorrow I'll brine some corn for the grill, and the rest of the menu should be:

• Grilled goat cheese garlic toasts
• Asparagus with goat cheese and rosemary
• Smoked potatoes
• Texas-style BBQ sauce

If all goes as planned, it should turn out better than my first (and only other) attempt at smoked brisket. Much of the main menu points are the same. This time though, I want to start earlier and let the whole thing finish in the kettle, as opposed to having to heat it in the grill to get to temperature. Hence the way-too-early start time.

Plus, I've got the pinched nerve, which does make maneuvering a little painful. What we do for good Q....

Saturday's weather report...

Calls for a short brine, lots of rub, steady heat in the 300's and some smoke in the air. Chance of mopping sauce about 80%. Moisture level in my brisket, high.

An hour or so later...

Target temperature was reached, but I was again unhappy with the charring. Not sure if I used too much rub or not, but thinking back to my first brisket, that was what I was hoping for - great char on the outside, awesome tender flavor on the inside. So, I took some quick action:

Some new coals at the ready, I put them down so I could finish the tri tip over some direct heat and get some searing. Worked pretty well after 10 minutes or so:

And I can't complain with the results:

My first smoke ring!

 

It smells a bit like jerky with the seasonings in the rub, but tastes pretty darn good. I think it would actually go better with some BBQ sauce, which I may whip up tonight. It is a very beefy-tasting cut of meat, and seems to be able to take some strong flavors. I'm not sure if searing last helped the smoke penetrate better or not, but it does have a smokey taste - I wound up using cherry wood instead of mesquite, just for kicks.

All in all, not bad for two hours work. Back to cleaning.

On your mark...

250, just as I wanted it. The thermometer on the side suffered an unfortunate heat accident, making it unable to switch to Fahrenheit. Thanks to the internets for conversions of a target temp of 135 or so.  

Smokenator setup

Here's the basic Smokenator setup. I use the coal grate to hold it in place on the bottom, and nudge it under the cooking grate tabs. Not how it says to position it in the manual, but that way doesn't work, at least in the Performer. Four dozen unlit briquettes placed inside, then the dozen lit coals are added with soaked wood chunks. The pan of water is put in place. I've used warm to hot water so far, figuring the heat of the coals won't be wasted trying to heat the water.

This does produce very consistent temps, and long smoking times, with very little charcoal used at all. However, I've noticed only a little radiant heat, so charring doesn't seem likely using this. But as I get more experienced with smoking, this will probably become a valuable tool.

Feelin' dirty

With wife and son gone, I've got about 10 useful hours to get stuff done around the house. I wanted to give the Summit a good cleaning, after receiving some Hot & Foamy cleaner. It works pretty well, but you definitely don't want to breathe the stuff. A simple wipedown with a vinegar/water solution cleaned everything up.

Here's the starting mess after I cleaned the grates.

I covered the burner tubes with the wide version of tin foil that fits perfectly front to back, which I thought was actually pretty smart of me.

After maybe 45 minutes total, it doesn't look half bad. I have some other product that would really get the grates clean, but I would need to let them soak in boiling water, and I don't have anything large enough to hold them.

I'm now soaking some wood chunks for the attempt at tri tip. I'm debating using the Smokenator or not, but since it's not even 11am, I can try smoking it and if it doesn't finish for lunch, then it's on until dinner. I'm just afraid that the Smokenator doesn't allow the rub to char any because it keeps the temp so low, but I'll try to keep it around 250 this time. I also just cleaned the Performer, and I'm still amazed at how little charcoal I used for that 7-hour first attempt at ribs last weekend. It'll at least pay for itself that way...

Oddly, more laundry beckons...

Tri tip vs Smokenator

Wife and son are in Florida visiting family, gone since Wednesday until Sunday. Sadly, instead of living out a Risky Business sort of temporary bachelorhood, I've been working, getting house stuff done, and getting to some long-needed cleaning. Tomorrow isn't even a real Saturday off, because I have to head down to work around 8p. I've got a whole list of things I need to get done tomorrow, and I don't get home until Sunday evening, so amidst all this work I've set myself up to do I'm going to try smoking a tri tip.

Paprika, chili powder, cayenne, garlic powder, ground ginger, dry mustard, kosher salt and pepper - recipe from here. No idea how the rub will turn out, but it was one of the few recipes I found online for smoked tri tip, versus regular grill roasted. This is sitting in the fridge overnight, and could wind up either tomorrow's lunch or dinner.

Hopefully, I'll get a little more experience with the Smokenator tomorrow, as even though I still want to do this low & slow, I don't want it as low & slow as my first time using it. Not sure if a new recipe with a cut of meat I've never tried is the right way to go, but I have to learn somehow.

Back to folding laundry.

The day after

OK, the ribs did not hold up as leftovers nearly as well as the last time I made them. For being on so long originally, they were a little dry and not really tasty at all. I actually required BBQ sauce, something I've learned I should be loathe to use.

I think the culprit is the time. Low and slow at 220 or so might be good for brisket and shoulder and all, but I think ribs need a little more heat and less time, maybe a mopping as well, at least if you plan on smoking for 4-5 hours max. But that's the fun in grilling & BBQing - learning and modifying, perfecting & eating.

My son actually liked the ribs tonight though. Maybe his 5 y/o palette needs a little developing, but it's nice to have a fan...

Seven hours later...

Well, it wound up taking seven hours before my wife and I decided it was time to eat. I could not believe how well the Smokenator worked, but I guess I was not ready for ribs done at such a low temp and figuring the amount of time they would take. Had they been started in the morning, this would not have been a problem. But I started at 2:30 pm and just couldn't wait to eat any longer.

I was easily able to hold the temp around 220 the whole time with very little vent management. But these two baby backs were on the heavy side to start with, and I'm thinking that next time I'm going to let the temp hover around 250-275. They didn't get any crisping from the dry rub, and even after 7 hours when I picked them up, they bent, but the meat did not pull away.

When I'm ready to try a brisket, this will be great. But next time for ribs I need to accelerate things a bit. I'm definitely a believer in the product though - you use very few briquettes overall, and the control really is amazing.

After such a long wait, I owed wife some dessert. Thanks to a good friend I visited the weekend before in Cleveland (hi Matt!), I learned that pineapples are actually something worth eating... as long as they're soaked in coconut milk, sprinkled with turbinado sugar, and grilled for a bit longer than I did them.

Not much is as pretty as a blue flame at night. I also learned that the grill lights on the Summit are pretty useful, as they do light up the front 2/3rd's of the grill quite nicely, especially since my grill is set up such that the patio light is directly behind the cover. Have to work a bit more on that dessert, but it's the only time I'll willingly eat pineapples.

Four hours and counting...

 The Smokenator is proving to be an awesome accessory to have in your arsenal. About 50 coals have provided four hours of 220-240 degree smoking so far, and some of them haven't even caught "fire" yet. It's a bit unwieldy to work with under the main food grate so it'll take a few more runs before I've mastered where the coals and chunks go to require as little maintenance as possible, but per the manufacturer instructions I only lit about a dozen coals and added them to the unlit ones, meaning the unlit ones slowly catch on over a few hours. My baby backs are taking much longer than I would have hoped for, but when they eventually finish I'm sure they're going to be incredible. More to follow!

Anticipation

It's been quite a while since I've been able to do any real grilling, other than some burgers or dogs. This weekend is kinda shot, and I was expecting to play some golf tomorrow with some friends coming into town. But their schedule got messed up and they couldn't make it. Wife and I are going away for the night, but we should be back around lunchtime tomorrow, so I decided to defrost some baby backs and spice them up, refrigerate them overnight, and smoke them tomorrow using the Smokenator for the first time. I want to try it out and get some practice runs in leading up to Labor Day weekend, and a patio party we're throwing at the end of September. Can't wait until tomorrow around 5 pm....

Ye olde turkey legge

Somehow wound up at a Renaissance Faire in Cleveland while visiting friends this weekend. I guess medieval culinary skills were pretty poor 600 years ago...