Super Steak

Sometime you just need a Big Cut of Beef...

I really punched the spices into this T-Bone.  Something different, extremely tasty...  Steak, and Taters...

And, yea, Taterz...

Gas Grill Ribs

Cooking Ribs, in this case Pork Baby Back Ribs, has a bunch of rules attached to it.  If you have ever searched for a Rib recipe you know what I mean.  I'll agree that Ribs are difficult to cook because they are full of connective tissue.  This requires a Low, and Slow technique to make the Ribs tender, but I've gotta say I've seen Low, and Slow taken too far.  Even I have taken Low, and Slow too far.  Well, what I am looking for here is good Ribs that don't take all night to cook.

 

In restaurants Time is Money, and they don't want to mess around with an inefficient cooking method.  It literally  could cost them money when they are trying to make money.  The idea of smoking Ribs for many, maybe even more than 10 hours seems pretty inefficient.  Now if you are going for competition Ribs, maybe.  What I want has to be a whole lot quicker.

That means the Gas Grill.  I'm going to take a store bought rack of Pork Baby Back Ribs, season them with a store bought Rub, then put them on my Baby Q, on low.  I want to mark both sides with some Chargriller Marks, and start bringing them up to temperature not so slowly.  We are really looking for a specific internal temperature, and not merely serenading them with smoke.

I'll grill the Ribs for maybe 20 to 25 minutes per side total, but I flip them over frequently to prevent burning the outside.  There is only Rub on the Ribs at this point.  You don't want to sauce them before the grill.  After the grilling is done I wrap the Ribs in foil, and put them into the oven at 325 F for an hour.

 This first attempt at this process has yielded good results.  The Ribs are fully cooked.  The meat comes away from the bone easily.  There are some of the bones sticking out of the Ribs.  However there are some dry parts of the exterior that are overcooked, dry, and sort of Jerky like.  Not bad though.  Next time I try this I am going to spend less time on the Gas Grill, and a little more time in the oven.  I want the Chargrilled flavor, but not the dry spots on the outside of the Ribs.  More time in the oven, perhaps at a lower temperature will help to breakdown the connective tissue a little more, and expose some more bones.  I'm adding a little sauce, in a cup, when I serve the Ribs.

Zetecus Hot Sauce

I made a new Hot Sauce.  This one is scary, mean, evil, HOT!  Carolina Reapers... Whoa man...

So, I made this sauce in my do everything stir fry pan.  Then, directly afterwards, I made some noodles in the same pan for dinner.  Even though I scrubbed that pan thoroughly the Reapers are infused into the pan.  I didn't add any Hot Sauce to the Noodles directly, but they were excruciatingly HOT!  LOL!

This is the it don't mess around at all Hot Sauce...

Clean It Up

Fifty percent of cooking is cleaning.  You made a mess, clean it up...  This is especially true when you are making smoked meats.  A Smoker makes an amazing mess.  First you are burning wood, which has all sorts of compounds within it, and some are oils.  Then, you are cooking meat, another source of oil, fat.  This stuff gets all over everything you have, and you have to clean it off when you are done.  Well, OK, I can do that, but the space that I have to do that is not adequate.  My sink is about half the size that I need to clean the grates from the smoker.  So, whatzit I do?  You need a portable sink...  A Bus Tub...

A Bus Tub is something you can find in any restaurant.  Usually there is a "Busboy" that cleans off the tables after customers leave, and he uses a Bus Tub, on a Bus Cart to stow the dishes, leftover food, and any other mess that is left before leaving the table ready for the next customer.  These "Bus Tubs" are literally a portable sink.  It's a large, plastic bucket that can hold water for some sort of culinary duty.  For me it is a sink that is larger than my kitchen sink.  I got the biggest one I could find, in the color black for Grill Service, and it fits the grates from my Smoker perfectly, both the food grates, and the fire grates.  Amazing luck, LOL!

With my kitchen sink the grates only fit diagonally in the sink, and I can only soak them one half at a time.  I wanted to submerge all the grates simultaneously, and let them sit for an extended period of time to dissolve all of the grungy stuff that builds up on them during the smoking process.  With the Bus Tub, all of the grates can be submerged simultaneously, and this helps to get them really, really clean for the next cooking process.

No one wants the crud from a week ago on their barbeque this week, LOL!  With my previous smoker I would literally burn off the old crud by bathing the cooking grates in fire to immoliate the crud, and then scrap off the residue with a wire brush.  Well, OK, that works, but it literally destroys the grates over time.

With my new Oklahoma Joe's Smoker there are nicely enameled cooking grates that they recommend washing, rather than the purification by fire process.  So, OK, I agree, and being in the Food Service Business makes a lot of sense to me.  We want a nice clean place to put the fresh meat when we go to smoke it...

So, it's a process...  Make some food, clean the kitchen.  Make some more food, clean the kitchen again.  Any process in the kitchen requires the "Clean the Kitchen again" subroutine.  Sometimes we do the "Clean the Kitchen again" subroutine just as maintenance, even though we didn't make anything.  LOL!  Clean up that Mess!

Garlic Shrimp with Brussels Sprouts

I've been doing a lot of Food Service stuff this year, and it's hard on all the equipment I have.  I've actually had to replace a lot of it because my old equipment just failed because its old, inferior, or I just broke it.  My Smoker was 20 years old, rusted, with a broken leg, and the weekly Food Service literally killed it.  The refrigerator in the garage has been reliable for more than 30 years, and Food Service killed it.  My favorite End Grain Cutting Board broke in half, and even my Ladle broke...

So yeah, I've been pushing the limits in the Kitchen lately, but there is a complimentary side effect... I have become much better at cooking food.  And this side effect benefits me directly.  When I want to make something special, that I like, it's not a chore, or a pain, but simply a autonomic reaction.  Like, for instance, I say "I want Garlic Shrimp", and there is a little whirlwind in the kitchen, then there it is...

I love Gulf Coast Shrimp, and one of the best ways to treat it is Chinese.  Garlic Shrimp is something you can get at any Chinese Restaurant.  I put my own spin on it, of course.  Brussels Sprouts are another personal favorite.  Maybe we'll throw some Red Onions in there too.    Brown Rice?  OK...

So, on Friday Night, on a whim, and I had all the right ingredients, and made Garlic Shrimp with Brussels Sprouts.  The Stir Fry started with Butter, Olive Oil, Red Onions, and quartered Brussels Sprouts.  Then I added about six cloves of Garlic, sliced, and the ginormous Gulf Coast Shrimp.  Serve all that with a side of steamed Brown Rice, and mui nomlishous...

Lilac Smoked Meats

Over the weekend I tried a new wood in the new smoker, Lilac, well Texas Lilac.  It is a flowering tree that grows around this area.  Now that I know what it is I realize that I have known this tree for decades, but didn't know the name.  You probably know it also...

It has woody stems, and a fairly rough bark.  It's smoke smells kind of acidic but otherwise similar to a hardwood smoke.  I started up the smoker the way I usually do with charcoal, and let that burn until the briquettes are white, then added the wood.

So I smoked some Chicken Thighs as a baseline food so I can taste the smoke flavor well.  Then also smoked some Pork shoulder steaks.  So I think I like the Lilac smoke flavor, but I don't know if I can use it all the time because I haven't found a place to buy it.  To use it I would have to keep on the lookout for people trimming their Lilac trees.  I noticed some things about the new smoker this time as well.  The Thermometer glows in the dark.

This is a neat feature if you are out there schmoking in the middle of the night.  I am really impressed with this Oklahoma Joe's Smoker.  The other feature that I knew about, but hadn't got to work yet is the fat drain.  The smoker is on a incline, and was leveled the wrong way, so the fat moved away from the drain.  So, anyway the legs of the smoker are attached to tubes on the body of the smoker.

So I used my hydraulic jack to raise the side fire box to a level which let the fat drain toward the drain side of the smoker, then loosened these bolts which hold the legs onto the smoker.  This let the legs drop down to the patio, and I tightened the bolts again.  Then I removed the hydraulic jack, and the smoker was leveled in a way that let the fat move to the drain side of the smoker.

I think it's really neat that this smoker has leveling legs.  Now the fat can drain out of the smoker, and doesn't build up on the inside.  I had a grease fire inside of my gas grill a couple weeks ago, and I don't want to repeat that.  That happened pretty regularly in my last smoker.  This one is much better in that aspect.

Schmokin' in the middle of the night

Texas, August, yeah it's really hard to be outside when the Sun is looking at you...  So what do you do?  LOL!  Work in the middle of the night.  It's still hot, but not beat you down, relentlessly hot.  So, anyway, I'm making some smoked meats in the new Smoker, and got up around midnight to start it.

I'm making some Chicken Thighs, and a Pork Butt.  They get a nice rub with Adams Spices. I used the Texas Style Smoked Chicken Rub on the Chicken Thighs.

Then also used the Texas Style Smoked Pork Rub on the Pork Butt.  These spice mixes are very flavorful with not too much heat.  When they are mixed with the wood smoke are very flavorful, and really highlight the flavor of the meats.

Then they both go into the Smoker for an extended ride.  The Chicken was in there for a couple hours at about 225 F.  Then I let the Pork Butt ride out the rest of the fire overnight.  I pulled the Pork Butt out of the smoker the next morning, and let it ride in the Crock Pot for another couple hours.  Both the Chicken Thighs, and the Pork Butt were absolutely delicious.

Then I take my smoked meats, and integrate them into Lunch Bowls that I take to work, and sell for $3.  It's a 12 ounce portion that is about half smoked meats, and half side dish like my Frejoles del Fuego, Texacali Salad, or Mexican Rice.  They are all good, and I generally have good reviews.  Mainly the only complaint is that they are too spicy.  LOL!  Spice is Life...  Wutcha complaining about?