What are you cooking for dinner this weekend?

[rwsaunders]

Charcuterie plate, a few IPA’s, dinner and a bonfire on a crisp Fall evening at the Gibson’s.

[robin3mj]

Tomahawks. Three at about 2 1/4 pound each.
One hour on the Egg @ 275-300, indirect. Removed them, wrapped the ribs, took the Ceramic Shield out of the smoker and cranked it up to 600. About 90 seconds each side.

I always thought it this cut as more for the visuals than the taste but these were incredible, and not overly difficult. Will probably do them again over the holidays when the in-laws visit.

[Coppercook62]

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Eggs flourtine

[mg2ride]

Recently got my self a pellet smoker so I have been learning the craft. Some wins and some not so much.


1st attempt was some mouth watering ribs. I wrapped them for a bit during cooking and will try it without wrapping next time.


2nd attempt include a whole chicken*, section of pork loin, 4 steaks, 2 slabs of Black Drum and 12 bacon wrapped scallops. Every thing was taken out at different times. *I know, cooking the chicken above other things will very likely cause me to die a terrible death.


I wasn't a big fan of the smoke flavor with the steak and the fish would have been MUCH better blackened. Live and learn


Still working to see if I can ever get crisp skin after a slow smoke.


The pork loin was cooked Great but the rub (basically Paprika) SUCKED.


I crisped the bacon over a very hot grill for a minute or so after smoking and these were GREAT.

[Tom]

Never use somebody's packaged rub. Get good fresh spices and screw around with stuff and find your own palette. My typical starts with cumin, coriander, cardamom and turmeric and riffs from there. Brown sugar to make it stick and whatever pepper profile I think fits. Garlic and onion powder always works.. Nutmeg, allspice and other goofy stuff will make an appearance. Dry mustard adds good notes. Then you can get into dry lemon and other strange things.

[htwoopup]

Recently got my self a pellet smoker so I have been learning the craft. Some wins and some not so much.
I wasn't a big fan of the smoke flavor with the steak and the fish would have been MUCH better blackened. Live and learn

On the fish, when smoking I have always preferred an oily fish.

For instance, when pan cooking bluefish I always skin the filet and cut out the grey/brown section of meat because that is where the oils from the bunker the fish eats get stored. That turns bluefish into a delightful white fish.

But when smoking it, I leave that “oil repository” in and it turns it into a delightful smoked fish.

I think drum may be not oily enough for smoking heavily. But that may also just be my tastebuds.

[mg2ride]

Never use somebody's packaged rub. Get good fresh spices and screw around with stuff and find your own palette. My typical starts with cumin, coriander, cardamom and turmeric and riffs from there. Brown sugar to make it stick and whatever pepper profile I think fits. Garlic and onion powder always works.. Nutmeg, allspice and other goofy stuff will make an appearance. Dry mustard adds good notes. Then you can get into dry lemon and other strange things.

True that. I have a great family recipe that I use but I had ran out of it doing the ribs. Thought I would try something new and something on sale. Should have done exactly as you describe.

On the fish, when smoking I have always preferred an oily fish.

For instance, when pan cooking bluefish I always skin the filet and cut out the grey/brown section of meat because that is where the oils from the bunker the fish eats get stored. That turns bluefish into a delightful white fish.

But when smoking it, I leave that “oil repository” in and it turns it into a delightful smoked fish.

I think drum may be not oily enough for smoking heavily. But that may also just be my tastebuds.

I kind of figured that when I was smoking the Drum but thought I would try. It is still pretty good as a "tune salad" meat and I also played around with a spread that came out ok. Salmon with skin on will be the next victim.


Tonight will give Jerky Beef a try.

[dgaddis]

Have made this 'brothless ramen' a few times now and it's BANGING!!! There's noodles under all the toppings I promise haha.



This is the 'base' recipe I followed. One big change - we used way less sauce than they say. We used three servings of ramen, not just a single serving. We did it on accident the first time, but it works, you get the flavor but it's not overpowering (the sauce is pretty highly concentrated, a little goes a long way) :: https://www.seriouseats.com/xo-mazemen-recipe

Easy XO sauce recipe here (I couldn't find canned scallops so used all canned tiny shrimp) :: https://inthekitch.net/easy-xo-sauce...rJFzXxM#recipe

How to cook the egg (I didn't do the broth, just cooked it in the sous vide and then chilled them) :: https://www.seriouseats.com/onsen-ta...ked-egg-recipe

As for 'toppings', here's what we've been using:
pork tenderloin sliced about pencil thin, cooked with some 'Japanese BBQ sauce' I found at the grocery store and use sesame oil instead of olive oil (this is the exact sauce)
Egg
Roasted asparagus
Snow peas (sauted in the same pan the pork was cooked in)
matchstick carrots
radishes
kimchi
green onion

[mg2ride]

My pellet smoking journey continues. Today did a small turkey and some butternut squash.

Good, crispy skin!!



Maybe better than sweet potatoes.

[nick k]

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[robin3mj]

Tomahawks again. Still tasty, but my Egg was running hotter than the some thermometer was reading so the smoking part ended up shorter than planned and they cooked a little too fast. Ordered a TruTemp replacement part that will hopefully do the trick. The original is over ten years old.

[echappist]

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Curious minds would like to know: foraged or store bought? Also, how are you preparing them?

[nick k]

Curious minds would like to know: foraged or store bought? Also, how are you preparing them?

Foraged (not by me!) and dried. I’ve had plenty of morels, even fresh, and these are the best I’ve ever encountered. The aroma was something like campfire truffles or…otherwise amazing.

I sweated some leeks and button mushrooms in butter, added these and sautéed for a bit. Placed a roasted chicken breast in the middle of the pan and added some homemade stock and the morel soaking liquid. 10 minutes later I took off the lid, reduced the liquid a little and added a pat of butter and cream. Served all with Alberta potatoes. Seems right for -27°C this week.

[echappist]

Good stuff.

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As for myself, I think I've finally gotten a hang on osso buco. I first started my attempts ~3 years ago, and it came out okay but not great. Tried it with beef shanks in an InstaPot two years ago, and it was bad enough that I started a thread here, soliciting advice. We have since swapped wholly to baking the shanks.

I've also finally got a hold of some saffron. Alas, latest attempt.

Used a bit of Amarone in the braising. Served on saffron risotto and topped with gremolata. The risotto took forever to take on color of the saffron, and I think instead of "a pinch", which I took to mean 10 threads max, I probably need 20-25 threads next time.

It ended up being relatively easy to prepare as well. We used lamb shanks (~2" thick) in lieu of veal, which made the initial frying more manageable. 75 minutes for the osso buco (as set-as-forget as it gets), 30 minutes for the risotto, and 5-10 minutes for gremolata. Just a tad over two hours with clean-up included. Certainly appeared easier to do than other holiday meals.

[TMB]

Recently got my self a pellet smoker so I have been learning the craft. Some wins and some not so much.


1st attempt was some mouth watering ribs. I wrapped them for a bit during cooking and will try it without wrapping next time.


2nd attempt include a whole chicken*, section of pork loin, 4 steaks, 2 slabs of Black Drum and 12 bacon wrapped scallops. Every thing was taken out at different times. *I know, cooking the chicken above other things will very likely cause me to die a terrible death.



Still working to see if I can ever get crisp skin after a slow smoke.

Answer is no, you will never get crispy skin off a slow smoke. You will be lucky if it doesn’t come out like rubber.

Chicken, you need to finish it off over direct heat to get the crispy skin.

[mg2ride]

Answer is no, you will never get crispy skin off a slow smoke. You will be lucky if it doesn’t come out like rubber.

Chicken, you need to finish it off over direct heat to get the crispy skin.

After some more attempts I have come to this sad conclusion. I tried 225 for an hour and finishing at 350 and it was still rubber. Only upside is that since I don't get to eat the skin, it get's added to the broth when I boil the bones/etc. It doesn't got to waste.

[rwsaunders]

We had two good friends over for dinner this evening to celebrate one of their 65th birthdays…Mrs. RW’s sausage/vegetable/tortellini soup with Chianti and a few sides including her version of a Waldorf salad, bread and flourless chocolate cake.

[echappist]

We had two good friends over for dinner this evening to celebrate one of their 65th birthdays…Mrs. RW’s sausage/vegetable/tortellini soup with Chianti and a few sides including her version of a Waldorf salad, bread and flourless chocolate cake.

What went into the recipe? Are the tortellinis home made?

Trying to find different ways of upping my vegetable intake, and your soups (this one and others from the last month) piqued my interest.

[rwsaunders]

What went into the recipe? Are the tortellinis home made? Trying to find different ways of upping my vegetable intake, and your soups (this one and others from the last month) piqued my interest.

My wife’s been using this recipe from a Pillsbury cookbook that she’s had since 1985. The tortellini are handmade, but not by us. We are fortunate to have an Italian market about 5 miles from our home that makes tremendous specialty pastas and cured meats. The soup is pretty simple to make and is a very welcome treat this time of the year.

[rydesteel]

Ginger, BokChoy soup with dried Shitakes, garlic, and lemongrass, drizzled with some of Jess's friend Ben's homemade chili oil (Ben lived in China for 10 years). Very Tasty and just a bit spicy with a dollop of Chili Garlic paste.


Ben owns a small club/restaurant called RozzTox in downtown Rock Island if your ever in the Quad Cities.