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Any Time is Grillin Time

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?

I've tried crabcakes a couple of times with poor results. The problem is the cakes tend to fall apart and even when they didn't , suffered from poor texture. If I do them again, I'll probably throw them in a cast iron pan on the grill and pan fry them.
 
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I'll have to try crab cakes on the Traeger. With it's convection heat I might have some luck with cooking them without them falling through the grates.

My wife doesn't eat much red meat and when I grill burgers I most always grill turkey patties for her. They are hell to cook over propane... they melt through and stick unless I put them on frozen. On the Traeger... they cook great and I can cook them thawed in the same time frame as my beef patties. It gives me hope for crab cakes.
 
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I smoked some pork steaks out tonight. I followed the Traeger recipe and was pleased. I smoked them for an hour and fifteen minutes then turned up the heat to 325 and grilled them for 35 minutes. I used Bad Byron's rub on them... something new to me. I liked the flavor and the steaks were very tender and juicy.

Tomorrow I'm smoking some ribs. I'm trying something different. The grandson of Oscar's Smoked Ribs.. (Long time business in Oklahoma) grew up down the street from me. He smoked ribs for a living as well for a number of years. I ran into him the other day and he came over tonight to see my Traeger and brought me some of Oscar's "secret" spice. He calls it spice and not rub. He will not reveal what's in the spice but it's now on my ribs sitting in the fridge. Tomorrow I'm smoking them as per his directions. Smoked for four hours at 325 turning them every hour. His ribs are to die for and he was my rib source for years. He's even set up and done a couple of parties for me... I'm talking 20+ racks. His commercial smoking retirement prompted me into my smoker acquisition. I'm anxious to see if they turn out as good on the Traeger as they do his smoker.
 
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Will be doing pulled pork two ways for the fourth. Traditional north carolina and colchanitsa(sp?) pibil. Basically everything will be done Tuesday so Wednesday will be heat and eat. Accompanyments will be slaw, bbq sauce,rolls and pickles for the pulled pork, xnipic (insanely hot roasted habanero salsa), pickled red onions and tortilla's for the pibil. There will be many many cold beverages, so limiting my time near fire is self preservation.
 
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Will be doing pulled pork two ways for the fourth. Traditional north carolina and colchanitsa(sp?) pibil. Basically everything will be done Tuesday so Wednesday will be heat and eat. Accompanyments will be slaw, bbq sauce,rolls and pickles for the pulled pork, xnipic (insanely hot roasted habanero salsa), pickled red onions and tortilla's for the pibil. There will be many many cold beverages, so limiting my time near fire is self preservation.

You make me feel like a slug.:boring: I work Tuesday... that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I'm very curious about your dish "colorants Pablo"
Is it this? Cochinita pibil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Man if it is... it looks so dang good!

My son's wife is Hispanic and has an arsenal of killer dishes. Most are pork or chicken based and are slow cooked vs smoked. I never know for certain what she's fixed but when wrapped up in freshly made tortillas and her hot pico de gallo salsa... who cares?
 
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That's pretty much it. Got turned on to it watching Rick Bayless make it about 10 years ago. I've tried a ton of different recipes, many making the achiote paste fresh. I've never been able to grind the annatto seeds to a fine enough texture, it always ends up gritty. I've given up and use pre made achiote paste instead. The dish is actually very easy to make. Pork shoulder off the bone, onion, saville oranges (or orange juice + lime juice), banana leaves and the achiote paste. Marinate the pork in the paste and sour orange juice, place pork in a container (large dutch oven works great) lined with the bananan leaves, top with sliced onion, wrap up the leaves and cook it ~350 for 3-4 hours. once the chunks hit ~ 200, remove, pull apart and mix in some of the cooking liquid. It's traditionally served with pickled onion (sliced red onion in orange juice, vinegar and lime juice) and roasted habenaro salsa (xnipec) which I usually temper with some roasted tomatillo's since I seem to be the only person I know who likes this pure fire condiment. We grow habenaro's in the garden just for this. I wonder what they'll say when i substitute the habenaro's with the ghost chili's I also have growing? :D Grill up some good hand made tortilla's, a little pork, some onion, salsa and make the perfect taco.
 
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That's pretty much it. Got turned on to it watching Rick Bayless make it about 10 years ago. I've tried a ton of different recipes, many making the achiote paste fresh. I've never been able to grind the annatto seeds to a fine enough texture, it always ends up gritty. I've given up and use pre made achiote paste instead. The dish is actually very easy to make. Pork shoulder off the bone, onion, saville oranges (or orange juice + lime juice), banana leaves and the achiote paste. Marinate the pork in the paste and sour orange juice, place pork in a container (large dutch oven works great) lined with the bananan leaves, top with sliced onion, wrap up the leaves and cook it ~350 for 3-4 hours. once the chunks hit ~ 200, remove, pull apart and mix in some of the cooking liquid. It's traditionally served with pickled onion (sliced red onion in orange juice, vinegar and lime juice) and roasted habenaro salsa (xnipec) which I usually temper with some roasted tomatillo's since I seem to be the only person I know who likes this pure fire condiment. We grow habenaro's in the garden just for this. I wonder what they'll say when i substitute the habenaro's with the ghost chili's I also have growing? :D Grill up some good hand made tortilla's, a little pork, some onion, salsa and make the perfect taco.

That does sound wonderful. I do like a kick from my salsas as well. I'm growing Apache peppers this year. Not as hot as a habanero but a lot better tasting.. IMO at least. I've yet to try a ghost pepper. I've heard they are hotter than hot.

I smoked ribs today and was going to try a commercial cooks recipe. I found my Traeger unable to deliver. I was to smoke at 325 for four hours... turning every hour. At 325 the Traeger is more of a grill than a smoker. Not much smoke at all and the ribs were grilling. I gave that up after 30 min and went back to a lower temp smoke. I finished them up with a little apple juice and water wrapped in foil. I've got to figure out this guy's "spice" that I put on the ribs yesterday. I loved the flavor and the ribs were extra tender.
 
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We went to this new Mexican restaurant down the street from us (awesome by the way). They do simply street food and had a dressed up grilled corn cob:
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My guess is, queso fresco, cilantro, and a mayo/butter sauce with some heat to it. Give it a shot if you're doing any grilling this week!
 
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That does sound wonderful. I do like a kick from my salsas as well. I'm growing Apache peppers this year. Not as hot as a habanero but a lot better tasting.. IMO at least. I've yet to try a ghost pepper. I've heard they are hotter than hot.

I smoked ribs today and was going to try a commercial cooks recipe. I found my Traeger unable to deliver. I was to smoke at 325 for four hours... turning every hour. At 325 the Traeger is more of a grill than a smoker. Not much smoke at all and the ribs were grilling. I gave that up after 30 min and went back to a lower temp smoke. I finished them up with a little apple juice and water wrapped in foil. I've got to figure out this guy's "spice" that I put on the ribs yesterday. I loved the flavor and the ribs were extra tender.

It's not the Traeger. At 325, your grilling regardless of the device. 4 hours @325 sounds like an awful long cooking time too. I've never smoked ribs that high, but I have done pork butt high and fast. Going from ~250 to ~325 cuts the cooking time in half, maybe even a little more than half.
 
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No plans yet. We live in a tourist area so we are overflowing with people and it will probably only get worse. I hate HOT though so maybe it will be a 2 LaBatt day at the grill. We live in the forest and fire danger warning is currently very high. There is a $250 fine for setting off any sort of fireworks in the woods, but that has not stopped people from doing it.
 
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It's not the Traeger. At 325, your grilling regardless of the device. 4 hours @325 sounds like an awful long cooking time too. I've never smoked ribs that high, but I have done pork butt high and fast. Going from ~250 to ~325 cuts the cooking time in half, maybe even a little more than half.

I have no idea if four hours is too long but I KNOW 325 is too hot. The ribs were frying they were so hot. I'll never do that again. I was afraid it was too hot so I checked them thirty minutes in.. and shut it down.
I went back to my 225... much more to my liking.

The hotter my pellet grill is the less smoke you get. Between 185 and 250 there is lot of smoke. When the temps are up to grilling temps there is very little smoke. I doubt you have that problem with a two stage smoker. I will have to do pork butt at or below 250 or I might as well place it in the oven.
 
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I hope everyone had a great 4th of July BBQ! We had 7 Adults and 8 kids at the cabana and they ate ~ 9lbs of pulled pork! I guess it tasted ok? Along with that went 3 packs of buns, 40 tortillas, 3lbs of coleslaw (Neelies recipe), 10 ears of corn, a skirt steaks, 6 burgers and 4 hot dogs. I'm surprised anyone could move after that pig out!
 
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I hope everyone had a great 4th of July BBQ! We had 7 Adults and 8 kids at the cabana and they ate ~ 9lbs of pulled pork! I guess it tasted ok? Along with that went 3 packs of buns, 40 tortillas, 3lbs of coleslaw (Neelies recipe), 10 ears of corn, a skirt steaks, 6 burgers and 4 hot dogs. I'm surprised anyone could move after that pig out!

Good grief!! I guess they came hungry :) They certainly didn't leave that way... wow. I grilled out some burgers and fixed some Kielbasa sausage
onions and peppers with a bit of bbq sauce. Nothing fancy.. just easy grilling to leave max time for the pool and brews. You gotta love the 4th.
 
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Good grief!! I guess they came hungry :) They certainly didn't leave that way... wow. I grilled out some burgers and fixed some Kielbasa sausage
onions and peppers with a bit of bbq sauce. Nothing fancy.. just easy grilling to leave max time for the pool and brews. You gotta love the 4th.
i like the pool and brews part, tht's what we did all thurs afternoon. off till monday, nice!!!!!!!:D
 
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