What We’re Smoking (or Grilling, or Curing)!

[audreyh1]

^Those were beef back ribs photographed above, not baby back ribs!

 

[flintnational]

^Those were beef back ribs photographed above, not baby back ribs!

I just thought you have bigger pigs in Texas than we have in Georgia.

First thing I asked the DW this am, what do you want to grill this weekend?

 

[Z3Dreamer]

Normally, I smoke Boston Butt, sausages, an occasional chicken or turkey. Have recently begun making pastrami. It has been great. Skipro33 had some interesting ideas. I use the smoker to convert cheap meats into great tasting dinners. Had experimented with more expensive cuts of meat but I found that I liked things like salmon or filet mignon cooked in the kitchen. I can do Boston Butts for 97 cents a pound all day.

 

[audreyh1]

Decided to try smoking trout whole this time. Came out good.

 

[audreyh1]

HEB is selling their own brand of grass fed (& grass finished) beef. Picked up a couple of great looking ribeye steaks yesterday. Grilled them today. Excellent!!!!

Sorry - fast cooking so forgot to take pics.

 

[RobbieB]

The local grocery always has good stuff on sale for the holidays. Got a whole bag of grillin' oysters, 2 dozen. Gonna pop 'em on the barbie and wait till shell pops then remove the half shell and baste 'em with butter, Tapatio and garlic sauce and go a couple more minutes.

 

[audreyh1]

The local grocery always has good stuff on sale for the holidays. Got a whole bag of grillin' oysters, 2 dozen. Gonna pop 'em on the barbie and wait till shell pops then remove the half shell and baste 'em with butter, Tapatio and garlic sauce and go a couple more minutes.

Tricky and you need really good heat gloves and shucking knife - but the way an oyster farm in WA did it was grill over high heat for a few mins and before the oyster popped open they would shuck it, put on a sauce, and return to the grill for a minute.

We were able to successfully replicate this technique at home and used a basil butter.

 

[RobbieB]

Yup, otherwise you burn your fingers real good!

They are delicious and at least you don't have to pry them open like when raw.

 

[DektolMan]

Smoked Prime Rib to celebrate our birthdays!

 

[Bamaman]

I'm jealous of you guys that have heirloom pork available. All we have locally is the "Tysonized" pork--the new white meat with not enough fat to make decent tasting smoke when barbequed.

And I'm disappointed in all the commercial barbeque restaurants using hybrid natural gas/1 log fires to cook their barbeque on a timer. I liked it when a pittmaster would spend ever other night until daybreak making great smells. I seldom smell any decent food cooking--other than Texas Roadhouse.

I had barbeque for late lunch. Cooked burgers for supper. Tomorrow it's ribeyes on the grill.

 

[audreyh1]

Smoked Prime Rib to celebrate our birthdays!

Nice!

 

[audreyh1]

I'm jealous of you guys that have heirloom pork available. All we have locally is the "Tysonized" pork--the new white meat with not enough fat to make decent tasting smoke when barbequed.

And I'm disappointed in all the commercial barbeque restaurants using hybrid natural gas/1 log fires to cook their barbeque on a timer. I liked it when a pittmaster would spend ever other night until daybreak making great smells. I seldom smell any decent food cooking--other than Texas Roadhouse.

I had barbeque for late lunch. Cooked burgers for supper. Tomorrow it's ribeyes on the grill.

Honestly, if I can find a meat market in rural central GA that is sourcing heritage pork from local farmers, it would seem like you could find the same in Alabama unless Tyson has put them all out of business.

 

[Jerry1]

Had some baby back ribs in the freezer. Obviously nothing gourmet, but I’ll be smoking them on Saturday. I’ll also be trying out my new pit thermometer so that will be fun. I’ll be going through my rub recipes tomorrow to make sure I have the spices I need.

 

[pacergal]

(yesterday) Smoked Brats with sweet spicey Bavarian mustard, and had hot German potato salad and sauerkraut along with them and shared a delicious slice of mocha mousse cake for dessert with DH

 

[audreyh1]

Did you smoke the brats?

 

[RobbieB]

The oysters came out wonderful. Wifey is not so fond as I and she even cuts the big ones in half so as not so intimidating.

She suggested I go get another bag! We both stood by the grill and I was shucking and saucing and reheating and then we would eat the plate and I would fire the rest.

 

[pacergal]

No, they were already smoked--just grilled them up.
The Bavarian sausage deli had some uncooked, that will be our next plan--actually smoke them ourselves. Bet they will be delicious!

 

[Markola]

One tip is, I’ve been exploring more of Trader Joe’s several spice blends. Last night was a new one for me, Chili Lime on some chicken thighs on the grill. Just the right amount of tiny heat rounded off with a nice tang.

 

[audreyh1]

The oysters came out wonderful. Wifey is not so fond as I and she even cuts the big ones in half so as not so intimidating.

She suggested I go get another bag! We both stood by the grill and I was shucking and saucing and reheating and then we would eat the plate and I would fire the rest.

Awesome!

Our in shell oysters come from the Gulf and we are out of season.

 

[audreyh1]

No, they were already smoked--just grilled them up.
The Bavarian sausage deli had some uncooked, that will be our next plan--actually smoke them ourselves. Bet they will be delicious!

I once smoked some sausages because they were a bit boring. It’s quite easy and fast to do. It definitely improved the flavor!

 

[qwerty3656]

Did up some sous vide drumsticks for supper. Salt & pepper & garlic powder, 155F for 3 hours, then whipped 'em on the hibachi for the skin browning / crisping.

Amazing, going on regular rotation. Next time pics, we ate the evidence this time.

Love sous vide. I've got the Anova sous vide and then I finish steaks off with a weed burner (from harbor freight).

 

[audreyh1]

Wow, RobbieB is a sous vide convert!

 

[youbet]

Tricky and you need really good heat gloves and shucking knife - but the way an oyster farm in WA did it was grill over high heat for a few mins and before the oyster popped open they would shuck it, put on a sauce, and return to the grill for a minute.

We were able to successfully replicate this technique at home and used a basil butter.

We do the same except we leave out the grilling part......

 

[audreyh1]

For some reason DH has turned off eating them raw.

 

[braumeister]

For some reason DH has turned off eating them raw.

Seems to be really binary -- you love it or you hate it.

I grew up eating raw clams on the halfshell in NYC, but I never had an oyster until I was in my 30s. Found out they were even better than clams (still raw on the halfshell). I don't think I've ever had a cooked one (apart from clam chowder), but DW has always loved smoked oysters.