Home Cooking Too Good Not To Share

zehn
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Anchorage, AK US
8/6/2019 11:43am Edited Date/Time 8/6/2019 12:03pm
Yep as TX implied, you shouldn’t soak your wood chips/chunks prior to smoking. This is a myth and unnecessary for all applications other than grilling on cedar planks. When you get a thin blue smoke coming out of your grill, that’s when you know you’ve hit the right smoking environment.

And yeah briquettes/lump alone won’t give you a smoke ring but they help produce the gases that do give you the ring. By far the biggest contributor to your ring is your chips/chunks that generate your smoke.
zehn
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8/6/2019 4:45pm
Out on the ocean today, caught 4 chrome Alaskan silver salmon. Gonna grill one on the beach tonight. More to come. Living in Alaska has its perks

5
TXDirt
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8/6/2019 5:25pm
^^^ that’s awesome! Living the dream there brother!!
plowboy
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Norwich, KS US
8/6/2019 5:29pm
zehn wrote:
Yep as TX implied, you shouldn’t soak your wood chips/chunks prior to smoking. This is a myth and unnecessary for all applications other than grilling on...
Yep as TX implied, you shouldn’t soak your wood chips/chunks prior to smoking. This is a myth and unnecessary for all applications other than grilling on cedar planks. When you get a thin blue smoke coming out of your grill, that’s when you know you’ve hit the right smoking environment.

And yeah briquettes/lump alone won’t give you a smoke ring but they help produce the gases that do give you the ring. By far the biggest contributor to your ring is your chips/chunks that generate your smoke.
Couldn't agree more. Wet wood tends to leave a sooty coating on the meat. It's bitter and nasty. That's with my stick smoker. I can't speak to electric/gas units. I use a good dry cured wood. I've used "green" wood and it's horrible. Especially mesquite...really bitter.

The Shop

plowboy
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8/8/2019 7:29pm
NvHermit wrote:
[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/forums/2019/08/08/365316/s1200_IMG_4361_1.jpg[/img]

Summer sausage? Did you cold smoke it? What did you use for casings? Looks delicious by the way?
NvHermit
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8/9/2019 9:39am
It's venison jalapeno summer sausage in mahogany casings from my grand daughters first deer. The first hour I smoked it at 125, 2nd hour at 140, 2 hours at 155 and then 175 until sausage reached 160.
TXDirt
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8/9/2019 9:47am
NvHermit wrote:
It's venison jalapeno summer sausage in mahogany casings from my grand daughters first deer. The first hour I smoked it at 125, 2nd hour at 140...
It's venison jalapeno summer sausage in mahogany casings from my grand daughters first deer. The first hour I smoked it at 125, 2nd hour at 140, 2 hours at 155 and then 175 until sausage reached 160.
How did it turn out? Looks amazing!
zehn
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8/10/2019 8:47pm Edited Date/Time 8/11/2019 4:44pm
I did this chicken on the Weber kettle tonight

via GIPHY


2
G-man
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Mesa, AZ US
8/11/2019 9:46am
zehn wrote:
I did this chicken on the Weber kettle tonight via GIPHY
I did this chicken on the Weber kettle tonight

via GIPHY


Wow that looks good seeing how I do not own a smoker just a Weber like you wondering if you did the beer can chicken or just place the chicken on the grill like that any other tips?
Thanks
1
zehn
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8/11/2019 12:28pm Edited Date/Time 8/11/2019 12:40pm
zehn wrote:
I did this chicken on the Weber kettle tonight via GIPHY
I did this chicken on the Weber kettle tonight

via GIPHY


G-man wrote:
Wow that looks good seeing how I do not own a smoker just a Weber like you wondering if you did the beer can chicken or...
Wow that looks good seeing how I do not own a smoker just a Weber like you wondering if you did the beer can chicken or just place the chicken on the grill like that any other tips?
Thanks
It's hard to tell from the picture but I put two bricks on the coal grate and then pour all the coals into the little compartment that the bricks create to make a 2 zone fire. This is basically copying a Slow and Sear except it costs $2 to buy bricks at Lowe's and not $100+ for an actual Slow and Sear.

Once you have your fire set up like that, I put a a chunk of apple wood directly onto the coals for some smoke and then place the chicken on the opposite side of the grill from the coals like you see in the picture. Doing this allows the chicken to cook using the indirect convection heat. That chicken was 6 lbs. and it took exactly 2 hours to cook using this method.

This style of cooking takes some getting used to but once you have it down, you can make basically any kind of barbecue you want. I made those two racks of ribs I posted earlier using this exact same method. I adjust the amount of coals I use based on my desired cooking temp. Obviously chicken needs to be cooked at a much higher temp than ribs so I used a chimney and a half of coals for the chicken but only half a chimney for the ribs.
zehn
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8/11/2019 12:56pm
Also RE: beer can chicken

https://amazingribs.com/beer-can-chicken

This article is about better ways to cook chicken. It's kind of long but contains a lot of discussion about how and why you should consider something other than the beer can for making fabulous chicken.

Also, that site in general has a TON of incredible grilling suggestions, from history and techniques to technical discussions and recipes. Anybody who wants to up their 'cue game would do well to sit down for a couple hours and read through this site.
zehn
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Anchorage, AK US
8/11/2019 1:05pm
Setting up the salmon to dry for 24 hours before smoking. These are the left over scraps from the filets that we froze. Also there’s some bellies in there too. Homemade smoked salmon is the tits!

1
avidchimp
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8/11/2019 2:57pm
zehn wrote:
Setting up the salmon to dry for 24 hours before smoking. These are the left over scraps from the filets that we froze. Also there’s some...
Setting up the salmon to dry for 24 hours before smoking. These are the left over scraps from the filets that we froze. Also there’s some bellies in there too. Homemade smoked salmon is the tits!

She's a beaut, Clark.
1
zehn
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8/12/2019 7:17pm
All done. Smoked these on a 40 year old Little Chief, basted with maple syrup for a little added sweetness


1
zehn
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8/16/2019 7:08pm
Buttermilk fried chicken tonight

2
TXDirt
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Plano, TX US
8/16/2019 7:37pm
Looking good! What kind of oil do you like to use?
zehn
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8/16/2019 7:55pm
TXDirt wrote:
Looking good! What kind of oil do you like to use?
That was canola. I would have preferred shortening but I couldn't sell everybody on it Tongue
TXDirt
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8/20/2019 4:18pm
It’s Hatch pepper season so my wife roasted these and made chili rellenos. Our local grocer will roast them for us. Bought three cases of x-hot this year. Bag them and freeze them to use all year in various dishes. And of course her hatch green chili stew is amazing.



Breakfast sandwich.
plowboy
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Norwich, KS US
8/20/2019 4:24pm
TXDirt wrote:
It’s Hatch pepper season so my wife roasted these and made chili rellenos. Our local grocer will roast them for us. Bought three cases of x-hot...
It’s Hatch pepper season so my wife roasted these and made chili rellenos. Our local grocer will roast them for us. Bought three cases of x-hot this year. Bag them and freeze them to use all year in various dishes. And of course her hatch green chili stew is amazing.



Breakfast sandwich.
Breakfast on Chinette....look who's richSilly
1
TXDirt
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9/17/2019 10:04am
Breakfast this morning.

TXDirt
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9/17/2019 10:30am
^^^^^^^good looking stuff you got there!!!
t_baum88
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Decatur, GA US
9/17/2019 11:02am Edited Date/Time 9/17/2019 11:06am
TXDirt wrote:
^^^^^^^good looking stuff you got there!!!
Thanks boss. I was a line cook in a restaurant for two years after I retired, so thankfully I did learn a thing or two Tongue

Here’s some random dishes I’ve made in the restaurant, not at home. *food by me but most pics taken professionally.

Egg Bendict, Pimenton/Idiazbal Biscuit, Spinach, Hollandaise, Serrano


Salmon, Salsa Verde, Shitakes, Frisée



Octo, Cannelini beans, Bean purée, Chorizo, Creme frainche


Smoked Duck legs with Salmarejo and Blue cheese sauce


Trout, Chantrelle mushrooms, picked turnips, peas shallots, garlic, piquillo emulsion sauce



Chicken and Churros with maple honey glaze, spicy pickled peppers and orange segment
2
newmann
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US
9/21/2019 8:27am
Cut a tree down with youngest son to save Thomas after being up it 4 days through 45 inches of rain and flooding. Sweating my ass off!




Now enjoying the best bacon egg and cheese sammich ever as I try to save the pool.


3
JAFO92
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BFE, TX US
9/21/2019 12:23pm
Good job saving the kitty.

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