What are you cooking today?

Enjoy

like to see it.  I made my smoker out of plywood about 35 years ago; I also use my gas grill as a smoker box.

Hope your ribs came out well.  The two basic techniques are to cook them in the over, wrapped, then finish in the grill/smoker, or start in the smoker and finish in the oven.  I tend to do the latter a lot because it's easier to control the temperature. I also often cold smoke for a long time then add heat.

I don't cook them often. My son in law does. I think a big part is cooking them wrapped in tin foil sometime in the process--which is contrary to smoking--to break down the meat. You also need really meaty ribs; most aren't.

Pork Tenderloin 7-6-5  Note edited to change the numbers!

From my sister and BIl Sara and John:

marinate or rub a pork tenderloin as usual.  The ones that come in the sealed bag at the grocery store are fine. Note this is not loin (4"+ dia) but tenderloin (about 2").

Preheat grill to max

Put loin in and leave untouched and unobserved for 7 minutes.

Turn, and leave untouched and unobserved for 6 minutes.  OK to pour over leftover marinade.

Turn off grill and leave untouched and unobserved for 5 minutes.

If you're looking it ain't cooking.

I turn off the burner under the meat. I also put smoking wood in there always.

Slice in to 1" medallions to serve.  This cooks better than shishkakob chunks cut before cooking. Leftover make great Cubano sandwiches.

You can do any style: jerk, Asian, BBQ.  This would be a good camp meal if you have a good grill b/c  you can bring it marinated. 

Last time I did a sate'. Marinated the meat in fresh ginger, soy sauce, fresh garlic, squeezed orange and orange zest (grated rind) and hot: I used harrissa but any hot pepper stuff will do.
Saffron rice: basmati with a pinch of saffron and some harissa
peanut sauce:  heat peanut butter, soy sauce, red pepper flakes/harissa, garlic; add water if necessary for consistency, stir a splash of cream at the end.Make lots it's a favorite.
Asian simple salad (like gado gado): lettuce, cukes, vidalia onion, Asian dressing

I like to bridge the flavors of each course, so I used the harissa in everything. It's like cooking with the same wine you are going to serve. If I were doing jerk I might move cumin through each thing.

In the photo I put the peanut sauce underneath; to serve I put it on top.

I usually turn down or off the burner directly under the meat. But I'm not sure it matters since t'loin is so lean you don't risk grease fires. You want the drip/burn flavor so start hot: that would be direct heat initially and still good and hot on the roll over. You might even move the meat on the rollover to the next burner, turn it off and turn back on the other. or just drink beer instead. Or cook a bunch--they're cheap and make good leftovers--under the different combinations and compare.

But the third stage wouldn't work on a charcoal grill unless, I suppose, you hit the coals with the garden hose. There are a number of recipes where you turn a hot oven off and let the meat cook as the temps fall--usually with "no looking" as part of the process.

Hot Sauce!

I grew some ghost and cayenne and a friend gave me some more ghosts.

The first batch of ghost sauce--the orange one--I cut down with some red and yellow bell peppers. Although it seems strong in the making, it ended up right mellow, so crybabies will like it and you can really taste the flavor.  And I think ghost has the best flavor of the top hots.

Second batch--the red one--was almost all ghost; one red bell pepper just for volume.

Cayenne is almost all cayenne, with some red serrano's because I had them.

Hint: for sauce (not relish) don't mix red and green or you end up with mud.

Recipe: stem, core and seed the chilies. The white core and seeds have the most heat. put cut chilies, garlic cloves, distilled vinegar and salt in a saucepan; bring to a boil then simmer 20 minutes.

drain and reserve liquid; pulse chop the chilies/garlic into a liquid. strain through a screen strainer into a jar, mashing down the residue; add back the liquid for consistency as needed; bottle and refrigerate.  I made one bottle of the leftover liquid with an eye dropper for effect.

For whole chilies in vinegar, put them in a bottle and add boiling vinegar and salt. 

You can add xanthium gum as an emulsifier to keep it from separating, or shake.

I used apple cider vinegar for one batch for some flavor but it's not as pretty.

I have never worried about gloves and goggles until working with these. I ran the food processor outside. when simmering, have an outside exhaust going--while my ghosts were simmering I outside and from 40' away could feel them in my lungs. Don't use the sink sprayer to rinse. Work over newspaper. I felt like I was dealing with ebola making this stuff; thought I'd have to wait for the wife to come home to pee.

Photos: sauces-->gift packs-->tabasco chilies waiting for the next batch!

Note Sara corrected me it's 7-6-5

Yeah man. Firemen chicken. I used to do some of those BBQs. It's fun to drink at 6am.

Phish’s chef starts home delivery frozen burrito gig in Richmond.

www.eatsouscasa.com/

Ooh, I can make burritos!

Wednesdays covid pantry challenge resulted in what I'm calling Thanksgiving Casserole. Inspired by something my mom used to make called Chicken Divan, although internet research indicates that I'm not the first one to think of something similar. Pretty low-hanging fruit, after all. Sue and I usually try to stay away from overly-processed foods, but shelf-stable is still the name of the game on some level.

Anyways, starts with a level of green beans. Then mushroom soup with a little Worcestershire, thyme and extra canned mushrooms. That's topped with French-fried onions. Then a layer of ground turkey, seasoned with parsley. Then some shredded cheese (probably unecessary but it's comfort food so ytf not?) All topped with stuffing which I did make myself - toasted croutons I made from left-over camp Italian bread, chicken stock, onions & celery, rosemary and sage.

9/10 - point deducted for sodium level. Would make again.



Jeepers I love these newer phone cameras...