WAA LAAA Baby Sparky is the judge this week Come pick my pockets!

Big Poppa

Administrator
OK Sparky....Im upping the ante to get some really good cooks and I know how much you like judging So....cisco....Garth.....Thisw week is doubled!



First place $50.00 Store credit to Big Poppa Smokers
Second place $30.00 Store credit to Big Poppa Smokers
Third Place $20 Store Credit to Big Poppa Smokers

Everyone else gets $10 store credit to Big Poppa Smokers just for entering!

Get the FT ready Spark!
 

CarterQ

Moderator
Nice! Work has been a bear the last few weeks so I am looking forward to getting some cooking in this weekend!
 

smoker pete

New member
Smoked Salisbury Steak

I'll go ahead and start it off this week ... Will not predict a win like Sparky did last week but hopefully it will inspire many of you to post and make Sparky work for his $$ :D:D

Salisbury Steak is one of the ultimate comfort food items of all time IMHO! Does it get any better than having your own little Meatloaf drenched in a succulent Brown Gravy and smothered with Mushrooms and Onions? I think not!!

My Meatloaf ingredients consist of 2 lb 80% Lean Hamburger, Eggs, Bread Crumbs, Crushed Garlic, Pepper, Fagundes Seasoning, Worcestershire Sauce, Onion Soup Mix, Tomato Sauce, sautéed Onions and Red Bell Pepper.

SalisburySteak1.jpg


Preheated the MAK 2 Star Pellet Grill with Hickory to 250ºF. Formed 7 Salisbury Steaks and a large meatball for the Pit Master. Would have used Oak pellets but ran out and you can never go wrong with Hickory! Waited a ½ hour for the Salisbury Steaks to firm up before inserting meat probes. Took 1½ hours at 250Fº to reach an Internal Temperature (IT) of 150ºF. When making a Meatloaf I take it to an IT of 160ºF but the Salisbury Steaks will be going back into the MAK for the finishing touches. Bumped the MAK temperature to 350ºF for the next phase.

SalisburySteak3.jpg


The components consists of Hickory Smoked Salisbury Steaks, 6-7 cups of Brown Gravy with Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions.

SalisburySteak4.jpg


Placed the Smoked Salisbury Steaks back in the MAK at 350ºF for 45 minutes.

SalisburySteak6.jpg


Now honestly, can anyone resist diving in?

SalisburySteak7.jpg


The money $shot ... A Hickory Smoked Salisbury Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Brown Gravy with Mushrooms and Onions, a side of Corn on the Cob, and some Orange Flesh Honeydew Melon washed down with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon ... Life is good ... Bon Appétit

SalisburySteak8.jpg
 

FLBentRider

New member
Fajitas three ways
Beef - Flank steak ($6.99/lb) instead of Skirk steak ($9.99/lb) and (IMHO Flank steak makes better fajitas)
Chicken - chicken breast cut into strips
Shrimp

All marinated in a mixture of lime juice, tequila and spices (the Mrs did the marinating)

Chicken goes on MAK #106 first - cooking hot and fast with Perfect mix.
DSC_1322.jpg

DSC_1323.jpg


Steak is next
DSC_1324.jpg



Shrimp was last due to short cooking time and allergy issues
DSC_1325.jpg

DSC_1326.jpg


I staged the chicken and beef in a foil boat in the MAK warming area while I cooked the shrimp.

Done!
DSC_1329.jpg

DSC_1327.jpg

DSC_1328.jpg


The Mrs made some onions
DSC_1330.jpg


To be continued...
 

FLBentRider

New member
Time to assemble

Beef
DSC_1331.jpg


Shrimp
DSC_1332.jpg


I missed the shot of the chicken, but you get the idea.

The flavor was great, and having all three meats was a treat. There were few leftovers.
 

Deb

New member
Chicken Parm........

took some chicken breasts, dragged them through a little egg, into a bag that contained bread crumbs, grated parmesan cheese, oregano, granulated garlic, basil, thyme, rosemary, crushed red pepper, salt & black pepper.....

put a griddle in the grill, turned it up to 450 and let it heat up, sprayed the chicken with a little olive oil and then onto the griddle
this is after turning
photo-33-1.jpg


when chicken was almost done I took out, put in pan with some spaghetti sauce, topped with a little more sauce, some mozzarella & some parmesan cheese - back in, a little bit later added some garlic sourdough bread
photo-33-2.jpg


Kevin's dinner plated with some whole grain linguine... (he was hungry) but there's some left for you Sparky!!
photo-37-1.jpg
 
Last edited:

Chili Head

New member
Filet Mignon With Lemon Hollandaise Sauce and Roasted Red Twice Baked Potatoes

Hello everyone!

My entry is a Filet Mignon with a home made lemon hollandaise sauce, baby red twice baked potatoes and grilled asparagus.

002.jpg


First off I started with the potatoes. I baked them until partially done then sliced them in half. Once cool enough to handle I holed out the center.

012.jpg


013.jpg


014.jpg


015.jpg



I mixed the scooped out potato with some shredded cheddar cheese,butter, salt and pepper. Next I just put that into the hole in the potato, put a little onion on top and it's ready to bake.

016.jpg



Into #390 at 450° until they start turning brown.

017.jpg


018.jpg


While those are baking I washed and trimmed some asparagus. This went on #390 as well.

020.jpg


Now it's time to get the hollandaise sauce going.

1 cup of unsalted butter
1 TB spoon of minced onion
1/2 ts ground sea salt
1 TB water
1 TB plus 2 ts of fresh lemon juice
3 egg yolks
2 ts white wine vinegar
1/8 ts of cayenne pepper

First I melted the butter and set it aside to cool to room temperature.

003.jpg


To be continued..
 
Last edited:

Chili Head

New member
Next in a small sauce pan over medium - high heat I cooked the onion, 1/4 ts of the salt, cayenne and vinegar until the liquid evaporated and the onion was dry.

007.jpg


006.jpg


After that I removed the pan from the heat and added the water and stirred it in.

008.jpg


Into a food proccessor goes the onion mixture, three egg yolks and 1 TS of the lemon juice.

005.jpg


While the proccessor is running on low add the butter and run it until the mixture is smooth. You can season the sauce with the remaining 1/4 ts of salt and the lemon juice.

009.jpg


010.jpg


Now it's time for the asparagus to come off and the filets to go on!

The filets only got a little fresh ground pepper and ground sea salt.

021.jpg


022.jpg


The potatoes were nice and toasty and had to come off.
Whoa! Looks like a couple spears decided to jump into the fire! I didnt see it until the flash from the camera gave them away ;)

To be continued again..
 

Chili Head

New member
Ok it's now time for plating!

The filet was cooked to a nice medium rare to medium and I put a dollop of sour cream and some onion on the potatoes. The asparagus got a drizzle of the hollandaise sauce as well as the filet. I added the lemon slices as a garnish.

024.jpg


025.jpg


031.jpg


The potatoes had a nice crust to them, the asparagus had a bit of a bite to it not mushy at all.
The filet was melt in your mouth tender! It's a shame I cant afford to eat it every day :D



I hope you all enjoy looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed cooking and eating this! :D

C'mon Sparky give me a WAA LAA :p
 
Last edited:

sparky

New member
cut off is 6pm pacific today ppl. will post winners by 6:30 pm. i have to be at work on monday at 4:15 am so a early bed time for this old dude. :(
 

squirtthecat

New member
Cali-Caprese Char Siu Chicker Club Stacker

Bottom up..

1/2 Baguette, chipotle mayo, Char Siu chicken from the other day, smoked bacon, fresh garden tomatoes, mozz cheese, fresh basil and a chopped Cali avocado.

IMGP4757.JPG


Warm the bread and layer on the hot chicken/bacon. Add tomato and mozz cheese and put under the broiler for about 90 seconds. Pull and top with basil and chopped avocado.

Quite tasty!
 
Last edited:

Deb

New member
Last week when judging Kevin uttered these words ...

To me, ribs are possibly the greatest food in the world

so being the nice mom that I am and the fact that it is the last full weekend that Kev is home before he goes back to school I had to buy ribs. We decided do them two different ways, each doing our own.

I was inspired by Squirts Char Siu chicken last week - I did a little googling and came across a char siu marinade recipe at amazingribs.com. I gathered together the ingredients (I was missing the five spice powder but had 4 of the five spices so went with that, missing star anise)

photo-31-1.jpg


mixed it up, into a bag with one of the racks of ribs (cut in 1/2 to fit in the bag), into the fridge for about 6 hours

photo-32-3.jpg


meanwhile Kevin rubbed the remaining two racks with Big Poppas double secret steak rub

onto the pellet grill for a few hours, then onto some foil love time (Kevin's ribs are Sparky/TH inspired)

my FL shot , into the foil with some more of the char siu marinade and some honey
photo-31.jpg


Kevin's Fl shot , into the foil with honey, brown sugar, & butter

photo-34.jpg


out of the foil - mine had another layer of Char Siu and Kevin did a glaze of the foil drippings and bbq sauce

photo-33.jpg


a little later.....

IMAG0031.jpg


busy weekend so sides were simple - brown rice salad (brown rice cooked with some soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, added scallions, red pepper, peas dressed with dressing made out of soy, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, garlic , ginger), cole slaw and corn on the cob

Sparky - take your pick or have some of both (Kevin did), there is one FT hiding in the beer fridge

IMAG0039.jpg
IMAG0034.jpg
 
Last edited:

Susan

New member
Simply Healthy

A spatchcock chicken seemed like a good way to get back to eating some healthier food. I simply sprayed it with some Annie’s Garlic EVOO and mixed up some balsamic vinegar with Dijon mustard and fresh garlic and spooned it under the skin of the bird and then plopped on the Weber with a mix of apple and oak pellets in a foil packet.
DSCN1914.jpg


Looking good.
DSCN1913.jpg


I plated it with some red Quinoa salad mixed with diced shallots, cilantro and a bit of fresh lemon juice. And as the tomatoes are coming in fast an furiously, some sliced tomatoes.
DSCN1929.jpg


I enjoyed it! Hope you did too.
 

squirtthecat

New member
Took the MAK on a little road trip this weekend...

Some members of the Bradley Smoker Forum got together for a Midwest 'smoke out' up in Cascade Iowa. (just down the road from Dyersville, where the Field of Dreams was filmed)

I offered to help cook, so I packed the MAK and headed North.

20110818182808.jpg



My MAK plus the host's (used to be Nepas') Traeger, fogging the neighborhood.

IMGP4825.JPG



Spare rib trimmings, hit with Soileau's and Meadow Creek rub.

IMGP4898.JPG


Into the MAK. Hot and fast.

IMGP4902.JPG


Done.

IMGP4931.JPG


IMGP4956.JPG



The next morning, time for some tri-tips..

Using some of Candy's new Charcoal pellets.

IMGP4964.JPG



Trimmed up and ready for some Gunpowder rub.

IMGP4979.JPG



And stacked in the MAK.

IMGP4991.JPG



Done.

IMGP5066.JPG


To be continued...
 

squirtthecat

New member
Took the MAK on a little road trip this weekend... (cont)

Meanwhile, short ribs on the Traeger. (and BACON!)

IMGP4989.JPG


Couple hours of smoke and we boat them with some rib and brisket foil drippings, plus a bit of Amish BBQ sauce.

IMGP5075.JPG



Couple hours later...

IMGP5203.JPG



We ate well!
 

383inTheD

Member
Fish Friday

Fish Friday

My bucket list was telling me I needed to experiment more with seafood so I thought why not? I stopped by the local fish market and picked up some supplies. I first saw they had some fresh sockeye salmon so that immediately went into my brain cart. Next, I thought what about something to accompany that nice filet … I know I’ll get some shrimp.


I cleaned up the shrimp and made a marinade using fresh parsley, lime juice, olive oil, fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Into the bath they go for a couple of hours. Next is the salmon prep. I decided to go for a sesame ginger marinade – yea it’s old school but always tasty. After washing the fish and deboning, into the sauce she goes.


Okay, I’ve got the proteins covered now what to do for carbs … Well the garden is just busting with fresh tomatoes at the moment and there’s continual sweet basil shooting skyward so I guess it’s time for a tomato-basil-garlic salad. Alright, got one cold dish and why not a sweet potato for a starch. I made up some cinnamon butter to top it off.



Food009-2.jpg



The whole meal was delicious. The fresh tomatoes and basil was a great reminder to enjoy summer while it’s here. The sweet potato and cinnamon is – well – always a good side. The sockeye was just outstanding cooked to IT of 165. And then there are the shrimp. Man those shrimp smelled simply phenomenal coming off the MAK. But that was just the teaser; I was really impressed by the flavor even after de-shelling the shrimp. Man this is fun!
 
Top Bottom