Pastrami

Safeway had corned beef on sale for St. Patrick's day, had read about people smoking 'em so you know I gotta try it, that's what Pastrami is, smoked corned beef, but I think there's a few more steps, I'm making backyard pastrami, just picked up a 4 Lb'er, at $1.49 a LB shoulda grabbed a couple more, soaked it in water overnight to take some of the salt out, then ground up the seasoning packet that came with it in the bullet, added some extra pepper, rubbed it down, wrapped it and let it sit in fridge overnight





Fired up the pit and threw 'er on Sun morning, smoked for about 5 hrs. then I notice temp dropping on the remote thermometer, went and checked, pellet hopper empty, first time I done that, I must not have filled it as full as normal, it usually lasts 6 to 7 hrs before adding more, instead of restarting it just took in house and put in oven, it should have taken enough smoke already, just sit back and wait til it got up to temp.




doesn't look like Pastrami, but tastes good, Rueben Time




got the fixin's together, I found this marble Rye bread at fred meyer, Kit Carson uses it and really liked the Rueben they make, threw 'em together and grilled 'em up




very tastey if I do say so myself, next year gotta remember the St Patrick's corned beef sale and pick up a few, will definately do this again

Chili Dogs

Ok, so it's not Barbecue, it's my blog though I can do whatever I want, I have just recently discovered the wonder that is the Chili Dog, never even tried 'em before, they just didn't sound good, Boy was I wrong, I was making some taco meat a couple weeks ago and wound up with something that tasted like chili dog sauce so got me thinking about trying to make one, the weather is so nasty outside anyway, not good 'cue weather.

well got out the cast iron dutch oven, threw in 1 1/2 lbs hamburger, 1 1/2 lbs ground pork, and started seasoning it up, covered and let it simmer for about 4 hrs stirring occasionally, probably didn't need that much time, but not doing anything today so just let it stew, well wasn't to happy with the taste, threw some more stuff in and simmer a little longer, much better

















Mustard up a couple buns.


















Boil hot dogs for 4 minutes, all the chilli dog research I have done says this is the perfect time, people get ridiculous, they're just hot dogs, get 'em warm and throw 'em on the buns



















Dump on some chilli sauce, sprinkle on some grated cheddar and enjoy

















Gonna freeze the leftover and whenever I get the chili dog craving got the cure ready

I made the mistake of missing out on this culinary masterpiece my whole life til now, if you too ignore the noble chili dog, just give him a chance, he won't disappoint

more sausage

We tried our hand at stuffing sausage, found a recipe for Texas Hot Links I wanted to try, got some hog casing and off to work, well to make a long story short, bad recipe, they looked good, but really tasted bad. I really can't explain it.
















smoked a few up with some beans, at least the bean recipe was good, I invited Gene and Linda down for dinner because I thought they were gonna be so good, what an embarrassment. I poured some BBQ sauce on em and helped a little, but definitely not trying this recipe again. but we played cribbage til wee in the morning and had a good time.

















that was a couple weeks ago, tried again last weekend, figured we'd try some brat's instead, no pics but would just look the same anyway, Heather came down Sun. smoked a 10Lb pork butt and had pulled pork sandwiches, and some mac 'n cheese to die for, if anyone wants a good mac 'n cheese, try this,
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guy-fieri/mac-daddy-mac-n-cheese-recipe/index.html

doesn't re-heat well though, so have some people around to eat it down.

then about 8:00 PM we were getting hungry again, so smoked up some brats, they turned out very good, smoking didn't seem to help em a lot, so just probably grill em next time.

Superbowl

We go to Gene's house every year to watch the superbowl, he's been promising it's gonna be in high def for about 4 yrs now, he finally came through, high definition on his new 52" LCD, game looked great, lots of good food, Linda always makes a ton of food, this year she made some kind of chicken wings, never asked what she called 'em, but they were good, she made these little pizza cup things, flattened out biscuits in a muffin pan, they were good, chips, dips, veggies, fruit, a bread that she always makes called beer bread, it's really good, I know there was something else, but can't think of it.

We always bring something to eat when we go, Gene had been hinting around that I need to bring ribs, so I did.

Here I'm pulling the membrane from the bone side, very important for tender ribs


















put a rub on 'em

















wrap em up and in the fridge overnight
















got up early Sun. morning and got the pit going, here's a few hours later
















they turned out really good, I should just left 'em dry, but Gene likes sauce on his ribs, I was out of sweet baby rays, had a big jug of kc masterpiece, figured it would work, last time I do that, there's just no substitute for SBR's, everyone enjoyed 'em though, made a lot of ribs and didn't bring that many back home.

hot links coming next, will be making 'em later today, but who knows when I'll get 'em on here

1st sausage

Well, have been searching internet since Christmas for sausage recipes, think I have found some good ones, time to start trying, gonna start out with just an easy breakfast sausage to make sure grinder is gonna work out, cash & carry had pork butts on sale for 99 cents a Lb. so stocked up. got out a 8 Lb'er and went to work, diced it up so it would fit through grinder
















didn't know how recipe was gonna turn out so just gonna make 5 Lbs in case it doesn't taste right, 1st 3 Lbs just frozen as ground pork, always use 1/2 ground pork & 1/2 beef when making lasagna or meatballs, so this will come in handy too, then on to grind the other 5 Lbs.
















Mixed spices together, then worked it into meat.
















let it sit in fridge about 4 hrs to let the flavors all distribute, took a small piece and fried it up for the taste test, this stuff has great flavor, better than any I have bought in grocery store and only 99 cents a Lb, plus a couple cents in spices.

Well, when I see pork sausage anymore, all I can think of is a Fatty, let's do it.

flattened a Lb out and searched the fridge, not much to be had, a couple green onions, some cheese, and some pickled wax peppers, Lynn didn't want any peppers, so only on half.
















rolled it up and put my rub on it

















in the smoker for a couple hours, looked good coming out
















sliced it up

















Man this thing was good, I might even say it's the best I've ever made, I hadn't ate all day so that might have had something to do with it, I was starved, but the taste was incredible, all I could keep saying was "I kicked Jimmy Deans ass" as I ate it

next projects will be pepperoni, polish, and summer sausage in no particular order.

I'm still Smoken'

Had quite a few good BBQ's but just never get around to post anything about em', Smoked the Thanksgiving turkey, a couple pork butts, beef roasts are always smoked now, I can't remember em all but my smoker is definably getting good use.

got a good deal on pork loin over at shop and cart a while back and thought I might see what I can do with that, so lean that it's really easy to dry out and taste like eating sawdust, I know, let's wrap it in bacon, the bacon grease should keep it moist and add some flavor.

put some rub on and got the bacon action going,
































cooked about 4 hrs with oak and apple pellets, looked pretty good coming off the smoker


















wrapped in foil, in the cooler chest to rest for an hour, Shawna and Spud came over for dinner so slice it up and see how it turned out,

moist, juicy, and great flavor, Spud said it was the best thing I ever cooked, but he always says that, he is addicted to my smoker, was really good though if I do say so myself.

next big smoke is for super bowl, go to Gene's every year to watch it, I think he's expecting ribs, on sale at cash and carry so his wish is gonna be granted.

going to start a new phase in my smoking adventures, got a meat grinder attachment for the kitchenaid and gonna try my hand at sausage making, will update a little more often maybe til that just starts becoming the same old thing too, actually got someting going on right now that will be posted soon, I can smell it.

Brisket

Haven't updated in quite a while, have done quite a bit of griiling and roasting on my smoker but didn't get around to taking any pics, I did make a top round roast that I couldn't believe how good it turned out, never thought top round could be that good.

Well, finally time to try a Brisket, supposedly the holy grail of BBQ, so picked up a 13 1/2 LB'er and time to get to work, researched quite a while on this, people telling you to marinade, inject, fancy rubs, but everytime I read what a real Texan said it was basic bub and smoke it, so got out the Bourbon and lemon lime soda and time to get to work, eating at 2:00 Sun, fired up the smoker at 9:30 Sat night.

trimmed some excess fat off and left 1/4 layer of fat across the top side, mixed up salt, pepper, garlic powder, & onion powder and rubbed it down, put it in smoker at 10:00
















Checked about an hour later and temp is holing steady where I want it, back in the house, more bourban and watch TV, fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6:30, here's what it looked like
















stuck my remote thermometer in it that the girls gave me for my birthday and just ignore it till it beeps at me, this thing is so sweet, don't know how I got along without one
















never set the time on it, really about 8:00 here

Well about 1:00 it started beeping, pulled it off, wrapped in foil and into the cooler chest for an hour to rest (not to cool, to keep warm)

look how much it shrunk from the top picture, barely fit in pan earlier
















invited Rocky and Laurie over because they have been to Texas a couple times and had the real thing, wanted to know how it compared, they said it was perfect, Heater just got back from Boise and drove down just in time to get in on it
















Now I'll be sacriligeous, I don't see what the big thing is about Brisket, it was good but I like Beef medium rare, would rather buy a good quality roast and cook it that way, now pork is another story, but now I can say I did a brisket and was successful, gonna go make another brisket
sandwich now