Start the new year off with a big contest!

Big Poppa

Administrator
OK Kids here we go again....what happened to winter? There is no excuse for not piling it on this week!

First place $25.00 store credit to Big Poppa Smokers
Second Place $15.00 Store credit to Big Poppa Smokers
Third Place $10.00 Store credit to Big Poppa Smokers

Every other entry gets $5 store credit just for entering!
 

bflodan

Member
A Little Crab

OK, Ill start it off.. We havent had a nice crab dinner in forever and we where suppose to hit LV Strip tonight for one but since my folks where sick we had nowhere for the kids to go.. Headed out to the Market and bought some nice Dungeness and Snow Crab Clusters...

I did a couple dungeness clusters for crab cakes on the smoke setting for about 45 min.

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While that was on I made a tarragon aioli using evoo, fresh lemon juice, 1 egg yolk, fresh garlic, salt, a dash of pepper sauce, plus about 1/4 cup almost boiling water all into the processor and then stirred in fresh chopped tarragon....

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Pulled the crab and deshelled it also chopped up a green onion... Combined that with some of the aioli and some panko... Formed into cakes and coated with some more panko..

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Put the rest of the legs on smoke for about 20 min then up to 300 for about 10min as i basted them with some clarified butter, fresh garlic, bps garlic salt w/p and soileaus ca fe cheaux..Put them in the box and cranked it to heat up the mak griddle.. A little evoo and then put the cakes on for about 4min per side..

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Served the cakes atop the aioli with a little drizzle of it also and a little mesclun salad... also made some more clarified butter for dipping..

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It was excellent!!! Tasted as good if not better than some of the dinners we get on the Strip!! Its all in the MAK!!

My 3 year old son Insisted that I get a picture of his meal and post it on hear also.. He enjoyed some dinasaur chicken nuggets, steamed carrots and applesauce...

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Deb

New member
Lasagna - the healthy one

started by making a sauce - it's a fairly quick one. Ground turkey, onion, garlic, red pepper, carrots, zucchini, oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, crushed red pepper, cayenne, s&p
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into the MAK
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after the turkey is cooked & veggies soft add two cans of hand crushed tomatoes
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some of the ingredients
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I don't like most fat free products but the ricotta in the picture is good. It's made by a CT company and they don't add a bunch of extra ingredients, it's milk, starter and salt. since it's non fat it's a little drier than whole milk ricotta but the flavor is good.

Cheese filling - I took a little more than 1/2 the qt of ricotta, egg beaters (an egg worth), salt, pepper, garlice, some milk to make it a creamier consistency, and a couple handfuls of chopped baby spinach

A layer of sauce, a layer of whole wheat lasagna, ricotta mix, a little part skim mozzarella (I only used ~ 1/3 lb total), the 2nd layer of ricotta had some shredded parmesan instead of mozz
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ready to bake
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ready to come out (it's starting to get dirty in there)
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dinner
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Rip

New member
Shrimp on the barbie

Trying to eat a little healthier...

We decided to have shrimp for dinner. The shrimp was marinaded in Gradassi's garlic EVOO and Plowboys Jerk. While the shrimp got happy, I made an avocado aioli to go with it. Avocado, lime juice, lite mayonnaise (just a 1/4 cup), serrano, jalapeño, cilantro, roasted garlic, and a little salt & pepper. Into the food processor. It took a lot of will power to not just sit and eat this with some chips and another Pacifico!
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Cooked up some red onions with garlic EVOO on the MAK Griddle. Half will be used for the shrimp and half will be added to black beans.
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Doing the shrimp on the griddle today.
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All done.
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Crisp up some tortilla's, did both flour and corn ones. These are flour ones.
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Time to assemble! Fixings were: tomatoes, onions, avocado aioli, avocado slices, smoked jalapeño cheddar, lime slices, and black beans with onions. Here's Nancy's plate.
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And here's mine.
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Maybe not exactly diet food, but fairly heathy, and the flavors were awesome!
 

sparky

New member
sparky's mak-dinner

my god i believe he's gone mad. you can't use those rubs like that. theres a fine line between madness and genius. you decide.

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da players

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guess i been craving potatoes lately. potatoes, onions and halabenos w/ annies and desert gold. if it works don't fix it.

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and oldie but a goodie. remember the video. i do.

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was that to much?

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ribs, tri-tip, potatoes and screamin onions. can he do no wrong. i believe the boys a genius.

tri-tips done. oh, juicy. nice job sparky.

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and waa laa. the perfect meal and this weeks winning entry. thank you, thank you. tri-tip, wicked potatoes, screamin onion, broccoli and my moo juice.

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one more pic. i like this one.

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.

the rib was for a late night snack.
 
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FLBentRider

New member
French Onion soup, Polenta and Ribs

Time for a little appetizer
Some onions
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A while later, with some beef stock, wine, etc...
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Received some crocks for Christmas
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After some time under the broiler
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Three racks of baby backs. Trying to adapt an Alton Brown recipe to the MAK. This one uses a rub, with a foil wrap and a braising liquid that will be a version of the foil love.

I put just a dusting of the rub on, put them on the MAK @250F with perfect mix for about 1.5 hours
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Two layers of foil, the rub, and a liquid consisting of White wine (chardonnay), white wine vinegar, honey and garlic. The original recipe calls for worchestershire, but that stuff is verboten with me.
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After 2 hours in the foil @275F. I put the ribs on SMOKE to keep them warm.
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This is where I think it gets interstesting. Carefully pour the liquid from the foil into a sauce pot. I de-fat it at this point, using a fat separator. Bring this to a boil and reduce. Once it starts to thicken it will thicken quickly, so watch it closely.

After the sauce thickens, I basted the ribs with the sauce and let it set.

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To be continued
 

RickB

New member
Well I'll give it a try. Got the craveing for a little lamb.

Rubbed with a little evoo, garlic and rosemary.

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On for a little smoke

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One hour later up to 450 for a little crust. Time to put the potato gratin on also

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A little veggy and some lamb aujus

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One hour later it's time to eat.

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squirtthecat

New member
Smoked Chicken and Wild Rice Faux Red Risotto stuffed peppers...

Got all that? (just winging it here)

Split Chix and Head Country.

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Some of this, some of that.

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Some of those.

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Looks like Risotto. Sort of.

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Pulled chicken.

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Smoker Sentry in training. She has some sleep disorders we need to address.

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Everyone in the pool, hot and ready to go.

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Peppers are stuffed (thank goodness I had 1 more in the fridge) and into the 350° MAK.

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I made WAY too much filling... Hope it's good.

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1 hour later - Let's eat!

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smokerjoe

New member
Breakfast Fatty

This is the first fatty I've tried to make. The filling is potatoes, onions, cheese, and some smoke house mushrooms that I forgot to take pics of.
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Had it on a piece of toast with egg on top but forgot to take a pic of that I was hungry and it was good!
 

CarterQ

Moderator
Leg o Lamb and Artichokes

My kids have interesting palates for their ages so tonight we did a request dinner- My 4 yr old son wanted lamb and my 2 yr old daughter wanted "chokies", fine by me, that will make a meal!

Store had small boneless legs of lamb so I took one and hit it with Desert Gold and Provencal seasoning and let it sit overnight-

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Onto the MAK running oak @275

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Steamed some Artichokes while the lamb is cooking, the brown is frost damage, it gives them a great flavor, I love winter artichokes!

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Lamb looking good

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Pull at 150 and let rest while we fire up the MAK for the chokes-

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Artichokes on the sear grate after getting some garlic EVOO and Desert Gold love-

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Slice the lamb, little more done than I like but it will work

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All served up with a nice Pinot and some wild rice-

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This was a great dinner, it blows my wife and I away that our kids will eat things like lamb and artichokes but battle us when it comes to basic weekday dinner items! Oh well can't complain, just got to keep them from becoming Foodies!
 

Chili Head

New member
Dang you guys knocked it outa the park this week!! Well done everyone!
I wish you all could win, all the entries looked great and I wanted to try them all.

The players:
bflodan - crab with tarragon aioli
Rip - Shrimp with avocado aioli
Sparky - Tri Tip
FLBentrider - French Onion soup and Ribs
RickB - Lamb and potato graten
Squirtthecat - Chicken stuffed peppers
Smokerjoe - Breakfast Fattie
CarterQ - Lamb and Artichokes



I'm starting with third place..

Third place goes to Sparky!
Sparky that tri tip looks really good! I like the onion with the habenero sauce too. I'll be trying that next time I fire up the MAK.

Second place goes to RIP!
Rip those little shrimp had me drooling! The avocado aioli with the serrano, jalapeño, cilantro, roasted garlic ect.. had to be outstanding! Nice flavors you had going there.
That meal looks perfect!

First place goes to bflodan!
Dan your crab cakes and crab legs with tarragon aioli looked outstanding!
I was sitting here trying to decide between you and Rip for the top spot and I kept going back to yours wanting a bite of those crab cakes! With fresh garlic, bps garlic salt with pepper and soileaus ca fe cheaux seasoning they had to have been tasty! Your entry has inspired me to try making this myself!

Seriously guys..everything looked really good! GREAT JOB!!

Thanks BP for hosting!
 
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