olbriar

Doing KC strips at the son's today. They were gifted to me from a business acquaintance. I hope they are good. They came in a slab and had to be cut into steaks. I'm anxious to see if they are any good. I'm looking forward to sitting back and relaxing as my son tries to impress me with his grilling skills.

__________________
Site Rules/How To Use Android Forums

cwhatever

no matter what is still a fathers day thing!!!

__________________
EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON/TODAY IS THE LAST DAY BEFORE TOMORROW SO USE IT WISELY !!!!!!!!! Thanks Button Is The Right Thing To Do!!
The One Who Dies With The Most Toys WINS
At First If You Don't Succeed Maybe This Is Not For You!!!!

Epicurean

Happy Father's Day guys! Yesterday's rib throw down was awesome. My "Texas style" ribs turned out better than I had hoped and got a few converts. Using my BIL's grill, they cooked a little faster than I would have liked so I used the Texas Crutch foil technique to keep them from over-cooking. It was also a good thing I brought a rib rack - no way 3 racks would have fit on his smaller, yet adequate grill.

I also went with 50/50 mesquite/hickory and it turned out to be a very nice blend of smoke. Not as sharp as 100% mesquite which can turn some people off. But the flavor was definitely there and the hickory smoothed it out. To finish it all off, I brought out secret weapon #2: the BBQ sauce from Schoepf's BBQ in Belton, Texas. It's a thin tomato/vinegar sauce that's real tangy. They won't sell their rub (a trade secret), but they're happy to sell you as much sauce as you want. Did I mention that I live in Maryland? So I had to freeze it before I could bring it back on the airplane (no liquids!) so I wasn't sure if the freezing would ruin it it. Turns outs that wasn't a problem either. The ribs tasted just like the ones I get there, but not quite as dry. Mmmm...

The competition was not as tough as I thought, either. Uncle showed up with Italian sausages (wtf?) and Brother tried beef ribs because he didn't like the looks of the local pork ribs. They were greasy and fatty because he had less luck with the charcoal grill. Oh well, next year's competition will be better since I set a high bar for them, lol.

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice. I can't wait to make some more!

Epicurean

I've tried the Salt Lick at the Austin airport and, to be quite frank, that stuff is awful. The locals claim that the airport is nothing like what you get at their main Austin location. But I've had the memory of that taste frozen into my brain and if I ever taste it again (I actually tried it several times before I realized it really wasn't any good), I think I would get sick.

cwhatever

just did shrimp on cabobs with cherry tomatoes and peppers from garden, marinaded shrimp in whorchester, soy, and teriake, balsamic vinegaret, pepper, garlic, and a hot sauce(ricky's hot sauce). after about 6 hours, grill to perfection, mmmmm great.

olbriar

Good show! I'm glad your ribs turned out great. You had best be ready for next year. If your family is anything like mine.. the war is on.

Shhhhhh... not so loud. My wife hears ya and I'll be doing shrimp tomorrow. Does sound good!

My son grilled my KC strips today while I sat and watched. They turned out pretty darn good. It's difficult to mess up a great cut of meat and thank goodness he didn't.

cwhatever

well good,hope all was a great day!!

olbriar

Looks like I'm doing your shrimp tomorrow night cwhaterver. I'm not a huge shrimp fan so I'm doing some polish sausage and macho nacho peppers from the garden.
I'm leaving out the pepper in the shrimp marinate. My wife doesn't like peppery stuff.
I'll stack her shrimp between pineapple chunks.

cwhatever

yes i keep meaning to do pineapple too and polish sausage sounds great. my last name ends in sky and mothers maiden name ski, so talk about polish!!!!

Epicurean

You marinade your shrimp that long? I'll go 15 mins to 1 hr before grilling. I just use soy, vinegar and garlic, but I think I'll try your recipe this weekend and see how it goes. Sounds yummy!

AntimonyER

I agree with the hour time limit on shrimp marinade. I do a nice tomato basil marinade with a little cayenne, and red wine vinegar for some kick. Kids love it.

__________________


Site Rules & Guidelines
Got some help? Hit Thanks!
See something you like? Hit Like!
See something you hate? Hit Report!

cwhatever

just seem to like to marinade things for while, nobodys way is the wrong way!!!!

cwhatever

like i said, nobody's way is the wrong way!!!!!!!

olbriar

You should do you some sausage then by golly. Onions and hot peppers and chunks of polish sausage... not bad at all... especially if you have some fresh tortillas to toss your grilling efforts into.

I'm a big fan of pineapple chunks with chicken chunks and mushroom
k-bobs. Some bell pepper is good in there too. There is nothing wrong with soaking the chicken chunks in the pineapple juice before grilling if you really like that sweet taste... like my wife.

Epicurean

Chicken, pork, beef I agree. But I think the shrimp gets tough after a while. (maybe its all the vinegar I use)

cwhatever

Could be all the vinegar or maybe just whatever your marinating with, mine seems to come out good. It may even be the cook time?

olbriar

My K-Bobs were great. I did polish sausage, onion, and macho nacho pepper chunks. The pepper is much larger, thicker walled, and hotter than a jalapeño.
Together they were perfect. I also did shrimp, mushroom, and pineapple for the wife and visiting daughter. I marinaded them in pineapple juice, soy sauce, and garlic. I had a skewer worth myself... not my thing but they were tasty.

It was my first attempt at K-Bobs on the pellet grill. I couldn't be happier. There was no need to turn the skewers because of it's convection cooking. Talk about a finger saver... I always try to man my way through cooking my Bobs without gloves.
Using metal skewers = sore fingers and thumbs.

cwhatever

wow!!!!! my mouth is so watering and gonna have to try that pineapple juice, and gonna look into a pellet grill too.

olbriar

It's not the grill to end all grills but it sure is a fun cooking option. A year from now when the new has been worn away.. I'm sure I could give you a better critique. Right now I like the way it cooks and it's all a new grilling adventure. I read up about them a full year before I bought mine. I just couldn't make myself buy one. Then I heard of a heck of a deal from a friend and drove by and got last year's model at a huge savings.
It wasn't the brand I had decided I wanted or anything. Just shows you what a little research will do for ya.

I've never owned a real smoker. I imagine I'd be better judge of the grill if I owned a nice smoker and was schooled at smoking. I think the pellet grill is a great rookie entry into the world of smoking. Getting the right temp and keeping it constant is a matter or setting the dial. Even I can do that. From there it's a matter of rubs and mops and the like. That I am trying to learn. I'm sure the smoke is less than a smoker but it's good.. and easy. The best part about the cooker is you can crank up the temp and grill a steak or burger. Versatile... I like that.

cwhatever

well thanks for th advise, word of mouth is the best out there. and yeh it took me a year or so to get the grill i have now that is 4 years old and looking into another or something else. but thx again!!

olbriar

Chicken thighs tonight. Rubbed with some chicken rub, garlic salt, and brown sugar. I'm doing some potato and onion chunks with butter and garlic salt and coarse ground pepper wrapped in foil. Cooked the potatoes around fifteen minutes on 400 degrees and now I'm cooking the chicken and potatoes around 250. Looking great after thirty five minutes. Now I'm really hungry!

cwhatever

a mixture of a bunch of leftovers here, kinda like a buffet.

pastafarian

Prep time for this weekends BBQ. I've got about $400 worth of meat in the fridge and 3 coolers. Already made ~3lb's of rub. Now all I have to do is peel and trim 16 racks of ribs, prep 4 brisket flats, 4 pork butts, a gallon of beans, the same of sauce, a pile of slaw (cheated and bought shredded Cole slaw mix). Should only take 15 minutes or so?

Looking forward to having all the gear in play at once. Ribs and at least some of the brisket in the offset, pork butts and brisket that won't fit in the offset in the propane smoker. Then wait for the first neighbor to come and warn me that my house is on fire (happened twice so far).

__________________
The RULES, follow them and prosper!

Did you forget to kiss a Mod today?

olbriar

Man that's a lot of meat! You will have the fire department on your door step. You've never elaborated on your propane smoker... how do you like it?

Best of luck man. That should keep you off the streets this weekend.

cwhatever

now thats a cookout!!!!

MacFett

Perhaps the bacon explosion.

Bacon Explosion: The BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes - BBQ Addicts - BBQ Blog

__________________
Sign up for dropbox and we each get a bonus 500megs

Nexus 4 Purely Merged AOKP ROM

olbriar

Small world but I would not want to paint it Oddly enough, the guy that came up with that recipe is my wife's cousin's son-in-law. And what is more odd than that... I have yet to try one. I first saw the recipe in a family Christmas letter lol. The guy's business took off after the notoriety of that creation. You KNOW that would have to plug an artery or two.
But oh how it looks good!

pastafarian

It's one of these, though an older model-

Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Gas Smoker - Walmart.com

It works fine, once it's fitted with larger smoker box (x2) and a larger water pan. The biggest drawback is that the water pan that comes with the unit is too small. Besides needing to constantly fill it, it causes the edges of the cooking area to get very hot. it's also a bit of a chore to move items around inside which is necessary due to the aforementioned hot spots and the temp differential between the top and bottom shelf's. I used it for several years with good results. Since replacing it with a "real" offset smoker Trailmaster Limited Edition (855-6305-S) | Brinkmann , it's used as an outdoor stove, warmer and occasionally put back into service as a smoker. It's very easy to maintain temp, but you still have to watch the water and use wood chips, so it's no easier to use than the coal/wood fired unit.

olbriar

I've seen those but never stopped and gave them a serious look. If I ever graduate from my Traeger, I like the looks of your offset smoker. Sweet!
The real deal IS the real deal.

olbriar

My cooking for the masses worked out well. The people supplying the meat purchased precooked pulled pork instead of doing burgers and dogs.
It wasn't completely cooked.. was in chunks. I cooked the pork down in foil roasters... keeping the grill around 250 and doing some beer and bbq sauce. I spiced the tubs up some with honey and a drop of DaBomb hot sauce. Turned out real good. When I pulled the pork I did a few burgers and dogs for the kiddies.
Breakfast I went the easy route and made breakfast burritos. Browned my potatoes first.. then my sausage and bells.. then added my egg mixture and added back my potatoes when done. Grilled the tortillas on the grill for a few then filled with burrito mix and shredded cheese.. wrapped each in foil and turned the grill down as low as it would go. It was smelling good enough that by the time they were ready to serve, most everyone was up and about.

How did all of your smoking turn out? I bet if the fire department showed, they were looking for the plates and napkins

pastafarian

No fire dept, but the BBQ was a smashing success. Worked my butt off, but it's a labor of love. A lot of people had the meat sweats last night! My only regrets were that I should have made 4X the slaw and 8x (+/) the beans. Both disappeared in an instant. The pulled pork didn't last much longer either. It's very gratifying (and hilarious) when you have several people approach you with barbecue sauce smeared all over their face telling you that was the best meal they ever had. Personally, I tasted everything during prep and had one end rib but had no time for anything else. Everyone was complaining about being stuffed at party's end, I was hungry.......and happy!

olbriar

Fantastic! You don't mind being hungry when the crowd is stuffed and happy. I bet that did work you pretty hard. I lucked out and my weekend was a breeze. My only problem was the heat and an unfamiliar grill. The grill was a cheapie three burner Uniflame with a side burner.
It hung right in there and exceeded expectations for a cheap grill.
I'm sure I'd be singing a different song if I had tried to cook 200 burgers on it. I would have no problem recommending the grill for the occasional bbq guy on his patio. It's around the $150 range and performed well. It had very thin porcelain grates and stamped orifices. It did have a temp gage on the hood and individual battery powered ignition. All in all it was a lot of grill for a cheap one.

Epicurean

Did chwhatever's Shrimp Kabobs on Saturday - a smash hit! (marinaded for 4 hrs, btw). So the question of the day is:

Do you peel the shrimp before marinading or after cooking?

I like to cook with the shells on so they don't dry out. But its a bit of a mess to peel while you're eating.

AntimonyER

So was raining yesterday, but had been promising the kids smores all weekend, so I pulled out my miniature grill (10" round), and put it out on the front covered porch. showed them the various ways to roast a marshmellow. Of course their favorite was the "flaming" method

BigCiX

Today's dinner from the grill...........Carne Asada.

__________________
I hate at&t!!!!

olbriar

I did mine peeled. Just for the ease of eating mostly. That and I figured they would take the marinade better cleaned and shelled. I don't know what the given method is however.

cwhatever

I always peel them first ,makes things just easier. But whatever you like, no wrong way!!

cwhatever

There is no wrong way. Lol!

Sharondippity

Maybe it's the primate in me, but I enjoy food you have to pick apart. Crab, shrimp, artichokes.

Makes you slow down and enjoy it more.

__________________
In space, no one can hear ice cream.
http://sharondippity.com

Sharondippity

That's it! I'm definitely having BBQ shrimp tonight for dinner. Dang that's three hours away.

Epicurean

Agreed on all points. After we briefly debated the subject when I served them up (I was the only one in the peel/before camp), nobody complained and tore right into 'em!

olbriar

I'm a big fan of tearing into my meal and never slowing down. But, the above got me to thinking. I love lobster and crab legs. My wife is even a bigger fan of both. Soooo.. I had to search the net and sure enough... lots of recipes to smoke both. I've got to try smoking some. Has anyone tried smoking crab legs or lobster?

cwhatever

No I have never tried that, but man that sounds pretty good. sounds like the next thing to try though!

pastafarian

Grilling? Yes! Smoking? No. I'm not sure that smoke is appropriate for something with such delicate flavor. Certainly, I would treat it like a delicate fish and cold smoke it on the stove top rather than in the pit. I've grilled lobster on several occasions....easy (split and grill hot) and good as long as you avoid over cooking. I've grilled whole softshell crab, but never just legs. Should work as well as lobster, but you'll probably have to lick the shell to get any grill flavor.

Granite1

I've enjoyed cold smoked crab. My buddy has a smoker grill with the separate fire box. Does the low temp smoking like no other. He did a bushel of Maryland bay crab in that sucker, my god ! Natural smoke flavor mixed with old bay seasoning. Dynamite!

At least I thought so....

__________________
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." Albert Einstein
Help BabyBlues reach her goal - click her button below:

olbriar

The pellet recipes I'm seeing call for oak or hickory. They are basically steamed on the smoker with butter/lemon/garlic. There can't be that much smoke taste but the author of the recipe I'm looking at eludes to a gentle smoke enhancement. I can live with that lol. It has to beat steaming them inside this time of year!

cwhatever

you can still steam them outside on grill too. and smoking them is what i think ill try?

Granite1

We used straight up split cherry from my back yard, a little bit of oak and mesquite, did the job nicely.

It wans't the same as smoking a ham or anything, it was more of a subtle smoke. We steamed em first and just did the smoke out for flavor. Worked beautifully.

I will tell you, if we didn't have the extra cash to throw at this venture, I'd have done em the traditional way and be done with it. It really was an expensive experiment that fortunately did turn out well.

Last time I looked a bushel of bay crabs was creepin near $150!

Epicurean

Anybody tried grilled crabcakes? We're doing crabcakes on Friday but it's gonna be 104 here so broiling in the oven is out (20 year old A/C can't take it). So I volunteered to grill 'em outside. I was thinking of trying the cedar planks trick but may be too smokey?

olbriar

Ouch! Fresh seafood is always expensive in Kansas. I think it's our lack of a decent sea port.

Luckily, when I do crab legs there are only two to feed. I have never tried grilling crab.. sure haven't tried smoking. I'm really excited to give them a try.