Cooking and Dining

[tifosi77]

The self-clean cycle of ye oven has been activated, so we'll see how this plays out in four hours.

[tifosi77]

Doesn't show well in the photo, but self-cleaning knocked about 85% of the rust off.



Just needs a light hit with steel wool and it'll be ready for reseasoning.

[blackjack68]

Cooked my first test run beef brisket. Just a 5lb cut.

Indirect heat on charcoal grill with hickory chips. About 3.5 hours there to get some smoke. Then I went for the Texas Crutch and finished it in the oven wrapped in foil.

It’s resting now.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I bought this thing for scrubbing my cast iron and I love it:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1AQGVI/re ... 5941095488

Very interesting. Does this thing do a good job of getting off the blackened crusties? I hate scrubbing those things off but i dont want to leave the crust on either.

[blackjack68]

Cooked my first test run beef brisket. Just a 5lb cut.

Indirect heat on charcoal grill with hickory chips. About 3.5 hours there to get some smoke. Then I went for the Texas Crutch and finished it in the oven wrapped in foil.

It’s resting now.

Probably the best thing I've ever cooked.

Perfect smoke ring, juicy and flavorful.

Need to go buy more brisket.

Giant photos are giant.

[mac5155]

I bought this thing for scrubbing my cast iron and I love it:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1AQGVI/re ... 5941095488

Very interesting. Does this thing do a good job of getting off the blackened crusties? I hate scrubbing those things off but i dont want to leave the crust on either.

Yes it does a great job at that.

[Viva la Ben]

Good pics on the brisket. My youngest sil had bbq at her wedding reception last month. The brisket wasn’t in slices, it was chopped; I thought it was pulled pork at first. This was catered where she tasted samples beforehand. I’ll have to ask her if the samples were in slices because honestly it could have been any other cuts from the chuck.

[mac5155]

That looks like the flat... do a whole brisket then eat the point. Your life will never be the same...

Also, when crutching, I've found butcher paper to be better. Traps enough heat but leaves moisture to escape, maintaining the bark.

[blackjack68]

That looks like the flat... do a whole brisket then eat the point. Your life will never be the same...

Also, when crutching, I've found butcher paper to be better. Traps enough heat but leaves moisture to escape, maintaining the bark.

I read about the butcher paper, but didn't have any on hand. (adds to shopping list)

[blackjack68]

Good pics on the brisket. My youngest sil had bbq at her wedding reception last month. The brisket wasn’t in slices, it was chopped; I thought it was pulled pork at first. This was catered where she tasted samples beforehand. I’ll have to ask her if the samples were in slices because honestly it could have been any other cuts from the chuck.

I cooked some pork belly last night and overshot what I wanted to do, but it fell apart like pulled pork and was awesome. Sometimes mistakes are good!

[mac5155]

That looks like the flat... do a whole brisket then eat the point. Your life will never be the same...

Also, when crutching, I've found butcher paper to be better. Traps enough heat but leaves moisture to escape, maintaining the bark.

I read about the butcher paper, but didn't have any on hand. (adds to shopping list)

DOOO EEEEEETTTT

[eddy]

my brother in laws spent a couple weeks in Japan and brought back some fun snacks for the kids and us to try. It was a blast!

[tifosi77]

The wakame packs are fun to keep on hand. Good snacks.

[eddy]

The wakame packs are fun to keep on hand. Good snacks.

they certainly are interesting.

[blackjack68]

Went to lunch at a smokehouse near work for the first time. Got a pulled pork sandwich, which was good, and the C. Rock special... one rib and a sip of soda for $1.15.

#imgonnagityousucka

[count2infinity]

Made some crispy harissa roasted potatoes tonight. Whooooooooo boy were they spicy, but fantastic. All I did was roast some potatoes like normal and then for the last 15 minutes in the oven I coated them with some trader joes harissa.

[Freddy Rumsen]

That sounds yummy.

[mac5155]

I tried boiling potatoes in baking soda prior to roasting and the results were fantastic

[tifosi77]

Yeah, just changing the pH of the boiling water makes a TON of difference. So much more fluffy bits to crisp up in fat when roasting. If you don't have baking soda you can just cook the taters more thoroughly and then toss them lightly in a bowl; they'll get roughed up a bit and create a similar coarseness. But the baking soda bodge is really tops.

[count2infinity]

So we have a local fish monger that gets stuff in fresh weekly, which is really, really nice. I go, I tell the dude what I want to make and he recommends a fish. For someone like myself and my wife who are inexperienced fish eaters and cookers (she hates fish but knows that it's good for you so wants to try and get into eating it), it's really nice to have him to talk to. Tonight I grilled up some black grouper. I have never had a fish that had a texture like that. If you had given me a single flake of that fish, and it had absolutely no taste to it, I'd have sworn I was eating something between chicken and porkloin. Now I know why he recommended grilling it. I was being so delicate with it on the grill. I probably could have flipped that thing 10 feet in the air and let it land, and it still wouldn't fall apart like a lot of fish I've tried.

[mac5155]

I'm frankly somewhat fearful of people who are proficient in the black art of real BBQ, so I'd suggest SV with liquid smoke and Prague curing salt. But of course I would, because that's my character here.

Either way, retherming SV is great. Such a handy cookout crutch.

If I do souls vide then smoke to finish, can I leave the pork butts whole? Bone in BTW... I just know when I do carnitas I cube the pork. If I have to cube up it will be harder to smoke.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/07/foo ... ulder.html

[tifosi77]

Absolutely. Some of very first ChefSteps recipes were carryovers from their Modernist Cuisine days, which featured whole cuts finished in smoke. That's actually my favorite way to cook tri-tip. But if I do that, I cold smoke (meaning, smoke at a temp that's not hot enough to cook the product, certainly much lower than your sous-vide temp).

[count2infinity]

Making cold sesame noodles with a ton of fresh veggies in them tonight for dinner. Topping it with some grilled chicken. I've been excited to try making this for a while and I figured the hottest day of the year so far would be a good day to do it. Will take pics and update.

I had a dish last summer when I was in the outer banks that is inspiring this. If memory serves it was a sesame oil, peanut, and lime combo. Probably some vinegar, fish sauce, and soy in there too. Gonna play around with a sauce to see if I can replicate it.

[count2infinity]

Noodles were just frozen ramen noodles that I boiled for a minute or two and then rinsed with cold water to chill. Veggies were snap peas, green and red bell pepper, scallion, and cucumber. I put the noodles and veg together then tossed in the sauce (approximation below), topped it with left over grilled chicken (cold), scallion, peanuts, sesame seeds, and clover sprouts.

Sauce guess:
1/4 cup soy, 1 lime zest and juice, 1.5-2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1.5 tsp harrissa (sambal or sriracha would work too), 1 tsp of minced garlic, 1 tsp of grated ginger, and then I tried whisking that, but the peanut butter made it really thick, so I added just enough water to make it whiskable (~1/4 cup). I gave it a taste and it was a bit too tart for me, so I added ~1.5-2 tbsp of brown sugar. Whisk that ish up and pour it over the noodles/veg.

It was delicious.

[tifosi77]

Noodles really are the best.