Smoked Deviled Eggs

Posted on by April 28, 2016

Ingredients:

  1. 6 peeled hard boiled eggs
  2. ¼ cup mayonnaise
  3. 1 tsp Dijon or spicy mustard
  4. ¼ tsp garlic powder
  5. Salt and pepper to taste
  6. Smoked paprika for garnish

Directions

  1. Cold smoke peeled hard boiled eggs for 1–2 hours with Apple wood.
  2. Slice eggs lengthwise and remove yokes.
  3. Mix yokes, mayonnaise, mustard, garlic, salt and pepper. Fill empty egg halves with the mix. Dust with smoked paprika for garnish.
  4. Optional: Brine hard boiled eggs for 24 hours… see brine recipe page 16.
  5. Add: pickles and/or pimentos. Add: small piece of smoked salmon and wasabi roe.
  6. Tip: Fill small plastic bag with mix and cut off a corner. Use the bag like a pastry bag to fill the egg halves.

Roasted Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce

Posted on by September 28, 2016

First made on February 22, 2016. Credit for the base to the recipe below is to Ina Garten whose recipe is modified to some extent by Mary to achieve this To-Die-For (TDF) dish.

Ingredients

12 T unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
4 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
3 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 pinches of cayenne pepper
2 lbs. fresh asparagus
Good olive oil

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan.
  3. Place the egg yolks, lemon juice, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 3/4 teaspoon pepper and cayenne in the jar of the super blender. Blend for 15 seconds. With the blender running, slowly pour the hot butter into the blender and blend for 30 seconds, until the sauce is thick. (You can leave it in the blender at room temperature for up to 1 hour. If it is made in advance, add 1 tablespoon hot tap water and blend for a few seconds before serving.)
  4. Break off the tough ends of the asparagus and, if they’re thick, peel them. Place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, then toss to coat the asparagus completely. Spread the asparagus in a single layer and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
  5. Roast the asparagus for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender but still crisp.
  6. Pour the hollandaise sauce over the warm asparagus and serve.

Fried Cabbage with Bacon, Onion, and Garlic

Posted on by September 28, 2016

First made on February 18, 2016. It was GREAT and rated here as To Die For (TDF).

Recipe By:Kathi Richards Smith on AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients

6 slices bacon, chopped
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large head cabbage, cored and sliced
1 tablespoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon paprika

Directions

Place the bacon in a large stockpot and cook over medium-high heat until crispy, about 10 minutes. Add the onion and garlic; cook and stir until the onion caramelizes; about 10 minutes. Immediately stir in the cabbage and continue to cook and stir another 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes more.

My First Bacon Cure/Smoke

Posted on by December 21, 2016

Bought 3.5 lbs. frozen pork belly at B&W Meat Market. Thawed and cut into about 4″x6″ chunks.

2/14/2016 – Prep’ed 2 quarts of Pops6927 Regular Curing Brine from SmokingMeatsForum.com. Full recipe is below. Used 1/2 of all ingredients.

1 gallon of clean water
1 cup plain, regular non-iodized table salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon of Cure#1

Put meat and brine in deep SS mixing bowl, weighted meat down into brine with 1 gal. ziplock bag filled with water. Covered with plastic and into refer for 14 days per Pops.

2/26/2016 – After 12 days of cure soaked the chunks for 30 minutes in filtered water. While they soaked lit the Amazen tube with hickory in the Weber Kettle.

7:40 PM – Put the meat chunks and scrapes on a grid and placed the lid on the kettle. Sprinkled one of the chunks with course ground black pepper. Ambient temp was 54 and kettle internal was at 72.

8:15 – Ambient is 54 and kettle is 76. Thermometer is 50.20160227 first bacon

1:30 AM – 2/27/2016 No smoke coming from the kettle.

5:00 AM – Removed from smoker to refrig. Small areas on the scraps were burned from the Amazen. Ambient Temp is 41.

7:00 – After one chunk chilled in the freezer sliced five slices and fried. Strong smoke smell in the kitchen. Did not taste like bacon from the store and did not make as much bacon grease as that from the store. Edges burned easily likely from the sugar. Should have soaked longer as fairly salty.

Immediately after the slices I fried some of the trimmings and with them being thin they had a lot of hickory smoke taste and smell. Less salty as being thinner the more salt leached out during the short clean-water soak. Still not much bacon fat and the edges did burn easier that would have expected due to the sugar.

12 noon – As they are too smokey, salty and sugary soaked them in ice water for 30 minutes.

Next time…

See MeatsandSausages.com discussion about soaking to provide more even salt distribution inside of the meat. Scroll halfway down the long page.

Greatly reduced the sugar.

DaveO and DirtSailor say “I leave my bacon slabs on a wire rack, unwrapped, after smoking..  seems to intensify the flavor…. like dry aging beef……  usually for a week or so….”

Jalapeno Cornbread Poppers

Posted on by April 28, 2016
  • 12  Med/Large fresh Jalapenos
  • 1 Box of Cornbread Mix (use a sweet mix)
  • 1 1/2 Cup Shredded Cheddar (1 cup for the batter..1/2 cup for sprinkiling)
  • 1 Cup corn fresh OR canned is just fine

Directions:

  1. Slice each jalapeno down the center and carefully remove all the seeds and veins..set aside. To further lower the heat scrape out the pithy inside membrane. The majority of the capsaicin is in both of them.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix up the Cornbread batter according to the box instructions, add in the Corn and 1 cup of the Cheddar.
  3. Fill sliced jalapenos.
  4. Place them on a baking rack & sheet pan, bake them at 350 for about 15-20 minutes, or until the Cornbread is firm and cooked through.  They will be puffed and cheesy too!

Read more at http://www.ohbiteit.com/2012/08/jalapeno-cornbread-poppers.html#SEczBG3hkz4aTZjz.99

Smoked Pork Butts

Posted on by June 18, 2016

Afternoon the day before cut  a 9 pound bone-in pork butt in half. Rubbed on Memphis Dust and put in the frig in separate plastic bags. About 2 AM remember I had not sprinkled on salt for the dry brine so got up and did so.

2/7/2016 – Superbowl Day

  1. 5:10 AM  – Counted and lite 20 Kingsford blue bag briquettes. First time to actually count them and found 20 is less of a pile than my past guesstimated piles.
  2. 20160207_0533435:40 – Placed the two 4 lb. pork chunks on the grate after placing fully light coals in one end of SnS and filled it to near top with un-lite briquettes and a pecan chunk on the burning coals. The meat looked very wet now due to the salt added about 2 AM. Opened vents and it came up to 230 quickly so closed vents down so lower was at 1/4 mark and upper at a little less than 1/4. Ambient temp at this time was 36 degrees and very still.
  3. 6:25 – Checked on it and grate temp is 233.
  4. 6:55 – Grate temp was 246 and climbing very slowly. Closed top vent slightly. Sun is coming up soon.
  5. 8:40 – Grate temp is 233 and has been within 5 degrees of that for the past hour+.
  6. 10:50 – No smoke with grate temp at 240 so opened up and stoked fire moving pecan over coals. Checked internal temp with quick read and found at 155. A lot of juice came out both penetrations and chucks are wet with sweat.20160207_115110
  7. 11:20 – Grate temp is 244. Added bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers around the chunks. Added another chunk of pecan.
  8. Took Mary and her art stuff to the Studio in the Woods in the Woodlands for art week with her buddies. Had added more briquettes and wood chunks. Came back to Kelley’s for Piper’s 4th birthday party and went home twice to check.
  9. 4:35 – Grate 243, internal was 185.
  10. 6:15 – Grate 227 internal 178
  11. ~7:00 PM came home to stay. Grate temp is still at 240s but internal is barely 180+. Noticed the fire has fully burned to the end where the probe is clipped so it is seeing more heat than is really in the overall kettle. Removed the meat. Very dark and the bark seems a little tough like it is dried out. Wrapped them in foil and left on a rack to cool.
  12. Once cooled to warm I dug into one with two forks. The exposed meat strands that did not have any bark were all but black. But, once that layer was pulled back the meat below pulled apart nicely.
  13. BTW – Some of the poppers were good and some were painful. See separate post.

Chunky Egg Salad & Great Dressing

Posted on by February 29, 2016

Made 2/6/2016 and “dressing” or sauce was great. Mary added finely chopped fresh cilantro. The dressing would surely be great over boiled shrimp.

Base recipe courtesy of Food Network Kitchen

Ingredients

12 large eggs
Dressing

Dressing
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
1 stalk celery (with leaves), chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a small bowl, soak the onions in cold water, for 15 minutes. Drain.

Cut eggs into quarters then cut the quarters in half.

In a large bowl, mix together the onion, celery, mayonnaise, dill, mustard, lemon juice, cilantro and salt.

Add the eggs to the mayonnaise mixture and gently mix them together. Season with pepper to taste. Use in sandwiches, with lettuce and tomatoes, or in a salad.

From Food Network Kitchens

2016 Super Bowl Appetizers

Posted on by June 18, 2016

2/5/2016 – Made two smoked appetizers to take to Kelley’s for the game and smoked the third on gameday morning.

Beef & Pork Meatballs; aka moinks (moo+oink).

20160206_160523Ingredients

1 lb. 80/20 ground beef
1 lb. Hormel HOT breakfast sausage
1/4 cup 2% milk
1 large egg
3/8″ square cheese cubes for 1 per meatball
Thin sliced bacon cut in half
Meathead’s beef rub
Toothpicks

Mixed all ingredients together in a large bowl until well blended. Formed a golf-ball sized meatball then pressed in a cube of cheese in the center and reformed the meat around the cheese into a ball. Wrapped with half slice of bacon and secured with a toothpick pushed all the way through.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

Cut chicken breast into about 1? x 1? cubes and wrapped in 1/2 bacon strip secured with toothpick. Sprinkled on Best Stop cajun seasoning onto bacon strips then rolled and secured with toothpick. Once all assembled dusted with same season.

The First Cook

  1. Kettle was prepared with SnS coals burning in one end and fresh coals poured over and beside them with three chunks of pecan. Foil over exposed part of charcoal grate and boiling water in the SnS slot. Ambient temp for entire cook was about 52 with gentle breezes.
  2. 4:40 pm – Placed chicken and balls on the grate. Came up to 225 slowly (by 5pm) after opening vents fully.
  3. 5:35 – Grate temp was 215. Chicken internal temp was in the 250-260 range so removed and painted balls with Stub’s Sweet Bourban sauce
  4. 5:45 – Grate was at 230. Sauce had glazed so removed.

We ate two of the balls and two of the chicken chucks. The chicken seemed a bit dry but tasty. The balls were great. On both the bacon was well done but not dried out. Put them into seperate plastic containers to take to the game tomorrow.

Third Appetizer was Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

20160207_115110Sliced about a dozen large Jalapeno peppers in half removing all ribs and seeds. Mixed 8 oz. package of cream cheese softened with 1 cup of medium shredded cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup of chives finely chopped. Added an olive with pimento cheese in the stem end of some of them (did not remove the stem) then wrapped with half a strip of thin sliced bacon secured with a toothpick.

Added them around the butts and about an hour later the cheese was bubbling, some of the bacon had a nice color and doneness-some did not and the fat was white and uncooked. Left them on as long as could rsik the cheese to let the peppers get cooked. But they never really were much more than warmed. Hence, all were hot to very hot.

Results:

  • Beef & Pork Meatballs; aka moinks (moo+oink) – The ones we ate just off the grill were moist and tender. GREAT. The warmed up ones the next day were almost dry and tough. Maybe better if we had painted them with seasoned butter when they came off the grill like steaks. They also could have benefited from minced onion and garlic plus a cheese square that was larger ; i.e. 1/2″x1/2″.
  • Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites – Directly off the grill they were a bit more tender than re-warmed gently the next day when they were tough. Left them on too long. Should have watched and pull off when the chicken was still bouncy although the bacon would not have been done. Should have precooked the bacon before wrapping then seared them just before the chick was done.
  • Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers – By the time the fresh pepper began to soften the cheese was soup although on most the bacon was done nicely. This split style would work well coated and deep fried but for smoking low and slow could try pre-roasting the peppers. That would also even out the heat as me and another guy had ok ones and then each had one that was HOT. Could also try cutting out a 1/3 slice leaving a deep boat, remove seeds and ribs then fill it and wrap. with that deep boat could cut off stem end and plug with the olive. The olive was a nice flavor addition.
  • Overall – Should have had less smoke so the balls and chicken would not look dirty.

Three Thin Steaks

Posted on by June 18, 2016

2/5/2016 – This was the first time I tried the reverse sear method but only had three 1/2′ steaks found in the freezer. That was the wrong method for thin steaks. They should have been quickly seared and served.

The evening before salted 1/2″ thick steaks to dry-brine and covered with plastic.

Lite almost a half chimney of Kingsford Blue and when well lite poured into SnS.

Temp with grate ThermoChef came up to over 400 then settled down to in the range of 375. Closed off the dampers and it came down to 350 or so.

Put on two of the steaks on the side opposite the SnS and closed it up. Temp rose quickly back to about 350. Left them there until internal was at 135 or  so and moved them to over the coals. Flip them every 2-3 minutes and removed when “look right”.

Steaks were medium well done, moist despite the over cooking but had an ok flavor. The technique of reverse sear is for thick steaks and did not work for thin ones.

Next Time with such thin steaks:

  • Do not take them out of the refrigerator to warm any before cooking. Let the center be cold when it does on the grill.
  • If pre-cook on the off-coal side do it only to warm them-maybe to 100-with the lid on then sear over the coals fipping every minutes. Be sure the coals are blazing as this time they had cooled off and as the SnS was only half full with so the fire was well down the grate and smaller burning coals.

After we ate Mary lectured me on over cooking thin steaks and listening to the “ya-hoos” on the internet. So much for coming home early with her favorite bottle of wine.

White Bean Stew

Posted on by February 5, 2016

White Bean Stew

Based on a recipe from the Kitchen of DeepSouthDish dot com.

Ingredients

  1. 1-1/2 tablespoons butter, bacon drippings or extra virgin olive oil
  2. 1/4 pound quality andouille or smoked sausage (like Coneuch brand), diced
  3. 1-1/2 cups diced onion
  4. 1 cup diced carrot
  5. 1/2 cup diced celery
  6. 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  7. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  8. 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
  9. 1/4 teaspoon Creole or Cajun seasoning, or to taste, optional
  10. 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  11. 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  12. 1 bay leaf
  13. 3 cups cubed smoked ham
  14. 6 cups homemade or boxed chicken stock or broth
  15. 1 medium potato, cooked and mashed
  16. 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
  17. 3 (14.5 ounce) cans white beans (great northern, navy), drained and rinsed

Instructions

  1. Brown sausage in 1/2 tablespoon fat; remove and set aside. Add remaining fat to pan and saute onion, carrots and celery for 4 minutes. Add garlic, seasonings and ham; cook for 1 minute.
  2. Stir in stock or broth, bring to a boil, return sausage to pot, reduce to low simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
  3. Stir in potato until fully incorporated, then add tomato and beans. Continue to simmer until beans are warmed through and stew reaches desired consistency, 10 to 15 minutes longer; taste and adjust seasonings.
  4. Serve over cornbread, hot steamed rice or mashed potatoes, or serve as is, with a green salad and cornbread on the side.