Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details

[Saison]

[Syzygies]

Biagio's Artisan Farms

So Thursday has become chicken night, because these guys bring an extraordinary chicken to our local Thursday Farmer's Market.

Once, or twice, I could write off as coincidence, my imagination, or the Lake Wobegon "my dog is above average" effect. But three times? Our part-shepherd mutt gets very animated and barks the precise minute that barbecue needs to come off the Komodo. She is paying better attention than me, but is this a gift one can encourage in special dogs?

(The first nick off the chicken on the board was part of her reward.)

[johnnyboy]

He/She's got the nose, Syzy!! Neat story, may even be a first!!

[Loquitur]

I had a 4 lb corned beef taking up room in my freezer so I thought I'd try my hand at pastrami. I soaked it for an hour, applied a generous amount of cracked black peppercorns and coriander seeds with a little Montreal Chicken Seasoning, and cooked it at 325 deg according to Doc's sticky post re fast brisket. It took 2 hours to get it to 160 and another two hours in the foil to get it tender. It was super spicy which is good for us. Now if I could only get my hands on some killer rye!!

Coming off the grill

Sliced but not yet steamed

[Syzygies]

Yum! Leftover pastrami makes great hash.

[Loquitur]

Cooking chicken is the one thing I've been struggling with on the KK. It's been particularly frustrating because my former gas grill made fantastic chicken. That grill, a Vidalia, was designed for indirect cooking with a burner on one side, a water pan on the other side and vents to promote convection air flow. So I've tried a couple different things with the heat deflector in place trying to duplicate the chicken I've cooked in the past and then basically gave up since I make so many other things on the KK which are outstanding. I just got my adjustable pins for the rotisserie and picked up a couple of 6 lb chickens for it but then saw Firemonkey's post and pictures in the Chicken Fat topic about cooking chicken on the upper grill at 400 deg direct, which I decided to try feeling lazy about setting up the rotisserie deal. It came out fantastic!!! All I had on it was olive oil, Montreal Chicken Seasoning and a little salt and pepper. After 45 min I turned it and it looked sooo beautiful. I would have taken the temp then but both my Thermapens got wet and were reading the air temp funny so I just figured I would keep it on another half hour since it was a large chicken. When I took it off, both "wet" Thermapens were reading 20.0 in the breast, which was probably 200, so I thought I really overcooked it and it would by dry. But I was still happy since I knew I had the basic technique. I'm trying to show with the 2nd picture from the bottom of my platter that it wasn't dry AT ALL. I did not baste it during the cook or do anything at all except let it rest about 20 min. after it came off the grill. Thank you Firemonkey!!! Chicken is back!!

[LarryR]

Two 8lb Butts, Chris Lilly's Championship Pork Shoulder Rub, Red Oak and Cherry 2:1, Frontier Lump (loving this stuff), Stoker controlled, 20 hour cook. Results = PERFECT!!!

I'll use the file uploader later, can't figure out how to upload more than three pictures to a post (sorry Dennis).

[Syzygies]

Fish tagine in a soapstone pot in the KK. Why run an oven indoors, in this heat?

[Saison]

All that food is off the hook. What's the fish tagine recipe?

[Syzygies]

What's the fish tagine recipe?

It's from Paula Wolfert's Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. One pounds a charmoula of 2 tsp toasted cumin seeds, garlic, salt, paprika, parsley, cilantro, pulp of a preserved lemon, and olive oil. Rub half on a pound of fish (we used halibut) and set aside to marinade. Add a bit of water to the rest, layer in baking vessel with tomatoes, sliced bell peppers (we substituted), carrots, celery (we always substitute fennel), the fish and more of everything. Top with preserved lemon peel and bay leaves. Bake at 300 F till done.

She gives proportions and I do slavishly follow recipes the first time (sometimes). Responsibility is on you however both to cook the fish properly, and get the proportions as tasty as possible. It was great, but I'd wing it next time from memory of the above description, not her exact proportions, paying more attention to how I think it'll taste. Also, I like my fish just done, so it would be tempting to precook the veggies a bit, then go much slower in the KK, uncovering the cooking vessel to cautiously take on a bit of the smoke. Water is a smoke magnet, so be very cautious here. The tagine knows it was cooked over charcoal (and so do you!) even with the lid on.

[Edit] Tried this again, uncovered, and the fish drew in too much smoke, in a very unflattering way. Proceed with care!

[Syzygies]

After a second fish tagine that was overcooked and too smoky, this was a tagine that we really liked: Lamb shoulder with carrots, zucchini, chickpeas. Cooked on the lower grate in a covered 10" cazuela, using a fire I'd then use later for a 19 lb pork shoulder. A Kitty Morse Cooking at the Kasbah (half) recipe, swapping chickpeas for the potatoes.

Using the lower KK grate is a nice approximation of a tagine over a Moroccan charcoal brazier. The heat comes mostly from below, but the enclosed KK can contain the fire so it doesn't need continual feeding. We did rip through liquid faster than the recipe said, eventually just plopping the rest of a 3 cup packet of frozen stock onto the tagine to melt.

[Saison]

Indonesian spice chicken, sweet potato fries, corn.

[Syzygies]

There are nights we don't light the fire...

[LarryR]

Did this at 350 over a mixture of Rancher, Frontier Lump and Oak Red Wine Stave. I've learned this is a tough cook because you're balancing meat temp with the cheese melting out of the tri. Tri was stuffed with cheese, seasoned bread cubes, green peppers, sausage and a couple other items. Really like doing these but really have to watch them.

[DennisLinkletter]

Needed some meat for slicing and chicken for salads..
Chris Lilly's pork butt rubb under the chicken skin with some salt, same with the pork loin.

CoCo Char and a big chunk of Coffee wood for smoke.
Burned off the thick grey stuff before putting the meat on about 250º
Ran until the chicken hit about 150º
Then cranked it up to about 350-375º
Waited for the chicken to hit 185º and pulled it.
(if I pull them 165-175º Sai complains the meat is too wet;-)
Pulled the loin at 160º