What's Smoking?

I will caddy for pastrami and beer.

Report back on the lamb. Pictures if possible.

busy w/e!!

If you fly out, you get the lamb along with the pastrami and beer.

I would really be interested in the leg of lamb. I was thinking about giving that a try.

I second the interest in the leg of lamb. I got one in the freeze, that needs to get eaten.

It's a boneless leg of lamb, and I've got a jar of Greek spices I used last time. Don't remember what recipe I used to make the rub, but I'll report back next week when I do it.

Almonds, pastrami, and pig candy the next few days. Almonds smoking now.

Whenever you need help eating any of that, just let me know. Pittsburg is only 2 hours from Roseville.

In the meantime, here's a link to a site with a lot of lamb recipes. Got it from a previous post from this forum:

Sheepscreek

Hit "Leg" if that's what you're interested in. I just may use one of these recipes and smoke it after it's prepared.

If you like the Greek style, and it's delicious, you could also find recipes for a Greek blend online. Cavender's is a good Greek seasoning. Apply olive oil to the leg and spread some Cavender's on it. Before you do that, make 1/2" deep cuts in the lamb about an inch apart and insert slivers of garlic. Smoke till done. Hmmm. Hmmm.

The Armenian BBQ Lamb recipe looks real good. I'd smoke it instead of grilling it once it's done marinating. Light on the smoke.

Between you and SkiPro, it's nice having Cookshack smoking partners nearby.

What's smoking?

I'm smoking some chicken breast halves on Saturday. I'll use my simple salt, brown sugar, black peppercorns, and bay leaves brine for 4 hours, then smoke at 225 with mesquite until I get 165 internal temperature. I'll use the CS spicy chicken rub, and put it both on top and under the skin.

On Sunday I'll smoke some BB ribs to take to a memorial service. After removing the membrane, if it isn't already removed, I'll rub with the CS rib rub a couple of hours before. Then smoke at 225 for 3 hours with hickory. I'll FTC them and finish up on a gas grill at the house where the memorial service will take place. I'll bring some BBQ sauce for anyone who wants it. But for me, I'm enjoying the smoky flavors all by themselves.

I stopped off at Sam's this morning and picked up a prime whole beef tenderloin. Going to cook it in the FEC for dinner tonight. Yum!

So John. How did the beef tenderloin turn out? How did you prepare it and smoke it? You just can't tease us like this.

Went down to the market in Downtown Detroit this morning. Got some Ribs for this afternoon and a 17 LB Pork Butt for the freezer. Both items were as fresh as you can imagine. The little Pigies were slaughtered Thursday.

I just trimmed it out like the instructional video over on virtualweberbullet.com shows you to, tied it up and just straight old kosher salt and fresh ground pepper on it. Then smoked it at 225 until it hit internal of 130. Let rest for twenty minutes. Sliced it and ate it! Served it with a sour cream and horseradish sauce. It was so tender, you did not need a knife to cut it. It had just enough smoke too.

Usually, I will also sear it off on my BGE after coming off the FE but I forgot to fire the egg off last night. Did not stop me from eating it. Or anyone else.

Served it with olive oil rubbed and salted baked potatoes, and some great roasted asparaus.

BTW, if you have never roasted asparagus, you are missing a treat. Just put some olive oil on the asparagus on a sheet tray, salt and pepper it, and shove it in a 425* oven. AFter about 15-20 minutes, it will start getting crispy and darkened. It is excellent cooked this way.

Sounds delicious. Thanks.

I've baked potatoes with olive oil and garlic on the outside. Sometimes foil, sometimes not. Roasted the asparagus with the olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Both on the grill. Both great. Pick up that grill flavoring.

Going to have to smoke that beef tenderloin.

Bubbasz1. Now we're taking pictures at the meat market. Your meat person's going to think you're reporting for NBC news. Most people take pictures of family, vacation, or pets. Not us barbecue types.

I filled my coleman cooler today and I didn't even go to the beef area and I still bought two packers and a corned beef. OMG, my wife probably won't let me go alone again. Pastrami tomorrow, ribs tonight. I just loaned some tools to my neighbor, says his buddy is picking up 500 LBs of corned beef for the K of C, and he can get spairs for 40 cents a LB. I told him to get me 30 Lbs, freezer is going to fill up fast.

Dang. That's a great price on those spares. Dang.

I just got home with a brand new Waring Pro meat slicer to handle tonight's pastrami. The one my wife has been using for years didn't look manly, I mean, strong enough to me.

She's starting to roll her eyes at me now. Need to move softly the next few weeks.

RibDog,

THANKS!, I have to try the Asparagus. It won't be long, I can go by some old home places and get fresh Asparagus free. I like it fresh!

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Dang. That's a great price on those spares. Dang.

I just got home with a brand new Waring Pro meat slicer to handle tonight's pastrami. The one my wife has been using for years didn't look manly, I mean, strong enough to me.

She's starting to roll her eyes at me now. Need to move softly the next few weeks.

I needed one when I made my bacon, my wifes sister was over when we were discussing it and she goes I'll go in half's with you. So off to Costco I go, got a slicer and a vacuum saver for 1/2 price>>sort of anyways. We'll see about the spares, see if they actually materialize.

I brined the chicken for more like 6 hours. Didn't rinse it, and liberally applied the CS spicy chicken rub under and over the skin. Big mistake. While I love really spicy food, the rub was way too spicy for my wife. She ended up rinsing the rub off her pieces. Note for next time: mix the CS spicy chicken rub with a mild rub. The wife can take a little spice, not just as much as what I put on.

I pulled the chicken at 165 degrees, foiled it, and let it sit for an hour or so while I prepared the rest of the dinner. Parts of it were a little dry, and other parts just right. Note for next time: pull at 160.

The 1 oz. of mesquite gave the chicken a really nice flavor. Both the wife and I enjoyed it a lot. Note for next time: try cherry or hickory and see what the difference is.

The ribs are smoking as I write this. 2 oz. of hickory is smoking like a stack. I set the temperature to 225 and will pull at 3 hours. I'll FTC them over to my friend's house, then finish on the grill. It should be a memorable memorial service.

quote:

Originally posted by Bododio:
What's smoking?

I'm smoking some chicken breast halves on Saturday. I'll use my simple salt, brown sugar, black peppercorns, and bay leaves brine for 4 hours, then smoke at 225 with mesquite until I get 165 internal temperature. I'll use the CS spicy chicken rub, and put it both on top and under the skin.

On Sunday I'll smoke some BB ribs to take to a memorial service. After removing the membrane, if it isn't already removed, I'll rub with the CS rib rub a couple of hours before. Then smoke at 225 for 3 hours with hickory. I'll FTC them and finish up on a gas grill at the house where the memorial service will take place. I'll bring some BBQ sauce for anyone who wants it. But for me, I'm enjoying the smoky flavors all by themselves.

I smoked a whole packer corned beef brisket this weekend. Pastrami like? Black pepper rub and the included spice packet with the meat over night in the frig. Smoked about 11 hours to 185 internal. Sliced thin for St. Patty's day ruebens. Rye bread, Guiness braised cabbage and I used prvolone instead of swiss this time. Deli pickle and potato salad.

Have 6 Cornih Hens in the AQ as I type.
Soaked them in orange juice, garlic powder, salt and pepper for 2 hours. Then put my rub on them, then into 225* smoker with 1 oz. of apple and 2 oz. of sugar maple wood.
About 30 more minutes and it is diner time.

The ribs were still steaming hot when I took them out of the foil packs to put on the grill. The fire was very hot, and it took only 2 minutes on each side to get the charring I was looking for. The meat was tender and juicy with a nice charred crust.

I had set out a bowl of BBQ sauce on the table with a paint brush. Not only did the crowd devour every one of the ribs, but they also managed to down an entire bottle of sauce. Everyone declared the ribs to be the best they'd ever had. All in all, a huge success. Thanks SM025!! Thanks, CS!!

I ate at Johnny Garlic's last week, that's a small restaurant chain owned by Guy Fiere with one here in Roseville, CA. Roasted asparagus was included similar to the one's RibDog mentions above. They were large, coated with olive oil, and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and then roasted. As a finishing touch they were lightly sprinkled with grated Romano or Parmesan cheese. Believe Romano. Interesting touch. Very tasty.

OK. Here's the question. Has anyone tried smoking asparagus?

Ribdog and I served them, along with standing rib, at a teaching class a while back.

Don't know if you consider "smoking" ,but we did cook them on FECs.

I've never smoked asparagus on the CS yet, but I've done it plenty of times on a charcoal grill. Steamed ahead of time to al dente. Indirect heat on the grill, light olive oil and salt/pepper, Jack Daniels barrel chips, about 10 minutes. Finish them off on the plate by drizzling on a little browned butter. Pretty yummy, if I do say so. I'll bet the CS will do pretty good, too.

I think they'd pick up a good flavor from a seasoned smoker with no wood. They'd probably go great with a nice grilled steak.

Tom, Bododio. How do you know the asparagus is done in a smoker. Probe? al dente? Apprx. time?

We're having steaks grilled for tomorrow's dinner. I'll give the asparagus a try. Garlic bread. Beans.

With the FEC you can open doors,without much heat loss,so trying a 1/2 pan of spears is good.

Check any cookbook for approximate cooktime,and do a trial run with several pieces.You can bracket,with your cook temp,quickly.

Fresh,trimmed/broken stalk asparagus can almost be eaten uncooked-so it isn't a long trip.

If you are grilling,that answers the question-pick up one and try it.

Ribdog may be closer to his notes,than I am to mine.I apologize for not keeping every small vegetable in memory-but the other 97% of product that actually benefit from the smoker usage seems to clog my memory.

As we cook more,we find that not everything lends itself to a "smoker"/slow and low cooking.

Yes,we want to "prove" we can smoke anything,i.e. the baby's formula,the dogs kibble,the teenagers popsicle,the brides raw veggies,the grandparents' poached eggs.

Many items are far better to play off of a major smoked entree,and allowed to stand on their own quick cooked/grilled flavors.

Just a thought,but quick cooked,fresh spears do seem to go well along side many meats.

Just don't eat them ,before the guests arrive.

With my method, you steam the asparagus ahead of time to al dente. I use an ice bath to stop the cooking -- just dump the steamed asparagus into the ice water. Then take them out to drain. Then leave at room temperature until ready to smoke or grill. You can do this hours ahead of time. Right before you put them in the smoker, drizzle a little olive oil on them, then some salt and pepper. All you really need in the smoker is to heat them up and give them the smoke flavor. The steaming already cooked them. Maybe 30 minutes in the smoker ought to do it? I'm guessing. On the grill it took only 10 minutes or so.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Tom, Bododio. How do you know the asparagus is done in a smoker. Probe? al dente? Apprx. time?

We're having steaks grilled for tomorrow's dinner. I'll give the asparagus a try. Garlic bread. Beans.