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After a morning of Geocaching with my youngest son, we stopped by Sams for some baby backs.
Baby backs were $3.something/lb and spare ribs were $1.79 "Reduced for quick sale" SOLD.
After a trim I put "Salt lick clone" A 3:3:1:1 ratio of Kosher salt:Black pepper:Granulated Garlic:Cayenne pepper on 2 of the racks, I left one "plain" for 2 reasons. 1. That mixture is a little much for my 7YO, and I wanted to see what just "foil love" would do by itself.
Onto #106 with Perfect mix
After an hour
time for some "foil love", then back onto the MAK for 2 hours
I drained the liquid from the foil into a pot, defatted and brought to a boil, reducing by 50%.
The ribs turned out great. The "salt lick clone" is very bold, and the sauce that the foil drippings makes is just great, a must try if you are going to do the "foil love".
The plain ribs are a great canvas for sauce, and a real hit with the kids!
the 7YO plate
It's all about cravings this week........ I have been craving a meatball sub for much of the week and then I was flipping between the cooking channels and cupcake wars was on..... chocolate cupcakes..... I need one.............. soooo, here we go
this morning I mixed up some meatballs and threw them on the MAK, cooked them almost all the way through
then brought them inside and simmered in spaghetti sauce for a few hours... smoky pasta sauce is the most incredible smelling food......
these are ready to go back on the MAK to heat up while the cupcakes are baking.
mixed up some chocolate cupcakes and put them in the MAK with the meatballs&sauce
started prepping the sandwich stuff
we have this incredible roasted garlic ciabatta bread - look at all the chunks of roasted garlic - yum -- I spread some butter on this after I took the picture
three weeks ago I smoked some cheese in the warming drawer of the MAK - I had done some fresh mozzarella and a chunk of regular - look at the color on these - the log is the fresh and the shredded is the regular
the cupcakes came out and the bread went on over the flame zone
the sandwich -- fresh mozz on the bottom, meatballs&sauce, regular mozz , a little more sauce - under the broiler for a minute
knife and fork was needed
then dessert: did I mention cravings? chocolate too - I didn't feel like regular frosting so I made some chocolate ganache - one with 60% chocolate and one with white chocolate and spread and drizzled and swirled while it was still warm ............
I started off yesterday dusting my brisket with some CYM and John Henrys texas brisket rub then into the MAK burning hickory.
I tossed in a few turkey legs to take for dinner while at work last night too. These were dusted with garlic olive oil and desert gold.
Today to kick this off I chopped some mushrooms,carrots,garlic,celery,onion and a few sprigs of rosemary.
Next in a dutch oven with some EVOO I slowly cooked the onions. Once the onions were done I turned up the heat and added 2 pounds of cubed brisket and the rest of the chopped veggies, rosemary and 1 1/2 bottles of guiness. I then added some water just enough to cover the ingredients.
I let it simmer for 15 minutes then I covered it and put it into the oven for 2 hours at 425º
I had the MAK set on high for an hour to get it all pre heated up and ready. My bad for not checking on it earlier but I had just smoked some cheese a couple hours before without issue. Anyway.. I go out to put the pie in the MAK and it's beeping and flashing an error code..YIKES! After dumping the pellets (love the pellet door) and looking to make sure the auger isnt jammed I was out of time and I had to get the Brisket Pie going. So plan B went into effect and I cooked the pie in the house oven at 375º for 45 minutes.
It turned out fantastic! The pie crust was buttery and flakey and the filling with the brisket and guiness was so savory and rich. We loved it!
I have no doubt this would have been even better finished off in the MAK with some more smokey goodness but I'll have to try it again another day.
I wasnt going to post this at all since the finished product wasnt cooked with Pellets but I thought the brisket was and that may be good enough to be a valid entry. Plus it looks rock"n awesome! Hehehe
welp, this weekend is getting off on a good note. the wife has class, daughter has a study group to go to. son, well its friday. he came out of the shower smelling like a french @&*#e and now he's gone. a quiet house. what should i have for dinner. i got it. pork, it does a body good.
fired up #336 and away we go.
broke out my 2 favorite rubs
found a BB rib and some guy fiate tequila lime chicken sausage.
bonding going on here.
sausage are done. yes. i believe this is going to be good.
put some horseradish sauce, spicy mustard and chipolte tabasco on the plate. ate all four sausage. i did offer to share but no one was home. lol, lol.
rib came off. oh, shiny. look at the spices on it. a friend of mine makes his own sauce. he gave me a jar today. good stuff.
look how nice that looks.
nice smoke ring buddy. yes, smoking is something i'm good at.
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i must say a very fine evening. i was long in bed before anyone got home. vun di pa.
Chicken Enchilada Lasagne tonight. It starts with a MAK'd chicken. Hit it with olive oil and The Rub Co Lemon Herb rub
Now pull the chicken into pieces and assemble the rest of the ingreds. Some non traditional enchilada ingreds in there to tip the scales into the healthy side. this is part of what we eat to loose weight!
Cook the vegis then add the meat and some of the sauce
Picked up some nice Bone in Chicken Breasts, stuffed with some Herb Goat Cheese and seasoned up with some of the favorites and onto the MAK at 275
I chopped up an onion and 2 pears and sauteed in a little evoo... I then made a balsamic reduction and added it the mixture..
I added it to the MAK along with some fresh green beans that where tossed in a little evoo and some Little Louies with pepper..When the Chicken hit 150 I turned up the MAK to 325 until it finished..
Done, served with a Parmesan Risotto
Came out great!!! We have done these before.... The balsamic pear reduction just goes so well with the goat cheese and chicken!!
Today was our annual Church luncheon & business meeting. I was tasked with bringing something smoked off the pit. Ok, how about a Beef Brisket?
A 15 pound full packer started at Midnight last night... Trimmed, homemade beef rub applied, and tucked into bed for the night on the MAK 1 Star @ 225° with Black Walnut pellets.
Time to tuck ME into bed. Sweet dreams!
7 a.m. - She's looking (and smelling) good!
Braising liquid mixed & onions sliced...
All into a foil pan, covered tightly with foil and back in to braise until time to leave.
At Church we got the Weber/Stoven setup and the brisket back on. It might look sunny, but it was very cold (well below freezing) and windy. My Big Poppa hoodie kept me warm!
Time to trim & separate the Flat from the Point.
Flat, Point & Burnt Ends - Trimmed, re-dusted with some more rub & put back on a hot grill to finish.
Trimmed three ways: Flat - sliced, Some of the Point was sliced & the rest Pulled. The juice was poured over top, and the onions put in a bowl. It's hard to tell but there was a smoke ring - Sorry about the grease on the lens.
Folks waiting in line to get food got to sample some of the burnt ends. They were like candy!
Where's the Plated Shot? Well it didn't happen. Hopefully this shot shows says it all!
Hey, at least I figured out there was grease on the lens!