Greek BBRibs, Potatoes & Mush

Nov 10 2016

With the cooler weather my new Stargazer CI skillet and Instant pot has been my cooks lately. I was ready for something from my smoker. I was hungry for ribs but different from my regular and when I want that I go with Greek style BBRibs. With lemon juice & zest, garlic oregano, salt and pepper gives a great taste to pork ribs. This time I added a little fresh ground coriander seeds.

My sides were not Greek but had leftovers to use so it was some potatoes and carrots and cornmeal mush. I pulled the membrane and got the ribs seasoned and in the fridge for two hours before getting them on my Traeger pellet smoker.

I had planned on 5 ½ hours for the ribs; 2 ½ on smoke at 200 deg. 2 hours at 250 deg. and 300 deg. for the last hour. At 3 ½ hours in I thought the ribs were getting too done after checking temp with my thermopen so the next hour was at 250 deg. grill level. After 4 ½ hours I added some cornmeal mush and eased the temps to 300 deg. grill level for the rest of the cook.

At 5:50 I pulled the ribs and took inside to rest. I nuked the potatoes and carrots then brought the mush in. I served with some cheese bread and butter.

The ribs were great, a little fall off the bone but tasted great. The mush was not as good as crisp fried but still tasted good with the meal.

Click Here for printable recipe

Ribs seasoned

2 !/2 hrs. of smoke

Mush added, 300 deg. for last hr.

Done and resting

Slicing to serve

My supper

2nd Seasoning My Stargazer with Grape Seed Oil

Nov 08 2016

I seasoned the Stargazer skillet with Crisbee cast iron seasoning. I have cooked in it twice and was very happy with the nonstick quality of frying in it. It turned a dark brown instead of black. I noted after my first cook there were some light spots; I thought some of the egg whites or flour I used had stuck. It was still smooth and used some 0000 steel wool to see if they would come off but did not.

My second cook was pork chops and fried potatoes and all went well; no sticking at all. After cleaning with hot water and a blue Scotch pad, which are non-abrasive, it looked like most of the brown had come off the bottom. It was a grey color. It looked like the seasoning was coming off.

I had got the idea of using the Crisbee from Jeffry B Rogers, the Culinary Fanatic, who is pretty sharp on cast iron. He had used it on a Stargazer Skillet and I never saw any results on his UTube site but found on his Facebook page he had the same results after his first cook. Some of the finish had come off.

I am not sure what I will do, I just did a seasoning using my grapeseed oil on top to see the results. I liked the results so I am going ahead and do it over the top with the grapeseed oil. I have it in now for a second round and will do at least 4 and maybe 6 times total.

I did it 5 times and quit there it looks pretty nice. Now I need to cook with it and see how it holds up. If it doesn’t I will strip it in my self-cleaning oven and start over; I think I will try the old Crisco if I do.

I fried my lunch in it today. I did 2 batches of bacon then fried 2 pieces of cornmeal mush. I had a bone in pork chop to fry for a sandwich. I was going to pour off the ¼ of bacon grease but decided to shallow fry the chop. I did it for 5 minutes per side. The sandwich was great; I had gotten the idea from my BBQ forum Lets Talk BBQ. Everything fried up nice and after it cleaned up easily.

I am happy with the skillet and will cook through the Holidays with it and see how it turns out before deciding to strip and redo.

After the 5 seasonings

Made my Lunch

Cleaned up afterwards

Instant Pot Meatloaf Stuffed Onions W/Carrots & Potatoes

Nov 07 2016

I am re-seasoning my new skillet so it was cook in the Instant Pot tonight. I found this recipe on Cowgirl’s Country Life blog by Jeannie. It looked delicious so decided to try it. She did hers outdoors in a Dutch oven so for you outdoor cooks that do Dutch oven cooks it will work for a one pot meal.

Her meat loaf was from Lipton Onion Soup Mix, and you can find the recipe on their site or on the back of the package. I cut the recipe in half for just one pound of ground chuck. I used the beefy onion soup mix. I cut a large onion in half and was able to get enough rings separated to hold the pound of ground chuck.

I diced about a pound of baby Dutch potatoes and 3 large carrots cut into ½ inch dice. They went in the pot with enough water to cover. I placed the stuffed onions on top. I locked the lid on and did on Meat/Stew normal mode for 18 minutes. I let them set on warm hold for 5 minutes while I cut and puttered some cheese bread. I released the steam and checked the meat temp and was overdone a little and the veggies were tender. I think 15 minutes would have been plenty.

I served the wife and I and always like to mash my potatoes and carrots, add a little butter, salt and pepper. Tasted great, we both thought the meatloaf was extra good too.

Getting the onions stuffed

Carrots & Potatoes in the pot

Stuffed onions added

Done in 18 minutes

My supper

Now I am ready to eat!

Pork Chops Fried Potatoes & Applesauce

Nov 06 2016

This has been the wife and I’s favorites over the years; pork chops fried potatoes and applesauce. I used to let her fry the potatoes because it’s one thing she can cook better than me. She always got a nice crisp to most of them.

This was my second cook in my new Stargazer CI skillet. I browned two pork chops in a little lard. They went into a casserole dish. I deglazed the skillet with a little beer and poured over the chops, covered and in a 350 deg. oven while I fried the potatoes.

I sliced the potatoes on a mandolin; a 1/8 inch thick. I soaked them in cold salt water for about 15 minutes then drained and dried with paper towels. I added some more lard to the skillet for the potatoes. I covered them for about 5 minutes then removed it to finish. I didn’t do too bad on the potatoes.

We had some bread and butter with the meal and enjoyed it. It had been a while since we had it.

I am loving my skillet, no sticking at all tonight and cleaned up easy.

Browning the chops

Frying the potatoes

My supper

Veggie Night for the DIL

Nov 03 2016

Our son was away on business so told the daughter in law I would cook for her tonight. I was not going to post this but it turned out colorful and I haven’t done a veggie cook for her lately. I did it in a skillet and cooked some Jasmine rice in my rice cooker to serve it over.

My veggies were onions, red & yellow peppers, carrots, a couple of green onions, broccolini, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, water chestnuts and baby corn. I beat up 3 eggs and fried for topping. I did them in a CI skillet with some olive oil kinda in steps as listed. When all was in I added a little soy sauce and corn starch in water for a sauce, I covered and cooked to heat all through.

I served the grandson and then myself and the DIL and wife got what they wanted. The grandson finished what I gave him then went back and ate the rest of the rice and eggs.

It tasted pretty good but told the DIL I may have to fry some meat later! I did get some protein from the eggs.

The veggies

All in the skillet

My supper

My New Stargazer Cast Iron Skillet

Nov 03 2016

I am a happy 74 yr. old kid today; I got my new Stargazer 10.5 Cast Iron Skillet in the mail. It is a beauty!

Peter Huntley and two friends started the company in 2015. Their goal was to make a quality cast iron skillet 100% made in the USA. I ordered mine back in June or July and was supposed to be shipped in August. My skillet would be from a second run.

They ran into problems with the foundry supplying the raw castings on time so had delays in shipping. I was glad to finally get mine and looks like it will be worth the wait. They since have went with a different foundry and should be getting caught up with the orders.

You can get the skillet bare or seasoned and I got a bare one wanting to season it myself. It came lightly coated with their seasoning oil for protection. It also included a Crisbee seasoning puck; I had already bought some Crisbee sticks and planned to use it. The inside was perfectly polished to a smooth finish and the back side was a pretty smooth surface with nice detailed writing and their logo.

I didn’t waste any time getting the first seasoning done. I first washed it in hot soapy water and rinsed well to get rid of the oil on it. Don’t grimace about me using soap; if you have a Lodge the last step they do before seasoning theirs is a soapy water bath and then a rinse. I heated my oven to 400 deg. with the skillet in it. When it got to 200 deg. I took it out and applied the Crisbee; I wiped it all off with Scotts blue towels; which are highly absorbent.  I left it in for an hour then shut the oven off. I let it set a half hour before opening the oven to cool down.

The Crisbee seasoning contains beeswax and oils that they claim will help keep CI from rusting when stored along with a good nonstick surface.

I just got it out and it took on a step of darkening. I plan to do three more seasonings the same way before I use it. Mt first cook with it will be a batch of bacon and some eggs. I will update this post through my first cook.

In the box

First look

Smooth inside

Smooth on the back too

Cleaned and ready to season

Heating up

Applying the Crisbee

In at 400 deg. for an hour

First seasoning

Shown with my well used Lodge skillet

Second seasoning

Third seasoning

Fourth seasoning, ready to cook

I did a fifth seasoning of the inside

Nov 05 2016

I did the first cook on my Stargazer skillet tonight. I am more than pleased with it! Our daughter was here and we had breakfast for supper. I had to get some bacon in the skillet first! I did bacon, cornmeal mush and eggs. I fried some breakfast links for the daughter; I did them in my Lodge CS skillet so it all was done timely.

I fried up two skillets of bacon, about a half pound with some olive oil spray in the skillet. I left the grease in to fry the mush; I had dipped the mush in flour, it keeps it from popping so much. When I put the mush on I started the sausage links. I did the mush about 8 minutes per side on medium heat. When both were done they went into a 200 deg. oven to keep warm with the bacon. The bacon never stuck at all; even my old cast iron it will stick some.

I poured off all the grease but about a tablespoon and fried two eggs for the wife and daughter and served them. I then did two eggs for myself, the cook got two! I covered the skillet with a glass lid that fit to self-baste. None of the eggs stuck at all, came out easy. We had some English muffins with all.

It all tasted great and I was very happy with my skillet! After supper I cleaned it as usual with hot water and a blue Scotch pad. After I dried it I noted some light spots and rubbed it some more, I thought some of the egg whites had stuck. I had some 0000 steel wool and rubbed a couple of the spots. They didn’t come off but neither did any of the brown around them. I placed it on a hot burner and rubbed with some grape seed oil and heated until it smoked and wiped well.

The light spots are still there but I will continue to use it and if it cooks as well as did tonight I won’t worry about it. Maybe the spots are just part of the seasoning process and either from the egg whites or the flour I had on the mush.

I would sure recommend this skillet. You will not find one of better quality at this price.

Frying the bacon

Frying the mush

Some eggs

Eggs came out clean

My supper

After washing

After stove top seasoning

Grilled Pork Cutlets W/Salt & Vinegar Potatoes

Nov 01 2016

A great day for Nov. 1^st; a sunny 77 and windy. I was hungry for pork tenderloins and had buns on hand.

My butcher’s cutlets make the best tenderloin sandwiches; they are boneless chops run through a tenderizer.

I did a lot of them breaded and skillet fried but anymore we like them just with salt and pepper and dredged in flour then grilled. My side would be some baby Dutch potatoes. I trimmed the ends and quartered 6 of the bigger ones and soaked in 1/3 cup malt vinegar and water to cover about 5 hours.

We also had some cauliflower raw with salad dressing, I had blue cheese on mine and the wife had Italian.

At supper time I boiled the potatoes in the vinegar water until fork tender about 15 minutes then drained and tossed with some butter.  I had my weber Spirit heating on med. and added the potatoes in a wire basket while it was getting hot.

By the time I put the cutlets on the potatoes were browning so they went to the warming rack. I did the cutlets 4 minutes per side on the back of grill grates and toasted the buns. I sprinkled coarse salt over the potatoes and served with more malt vinegar.

The wife and I both agree tenderloins or cutlets just need mustard and dill pickle. We like Claussen’s dill pickles. That tasted good and was nice to get in some grilling before the cold comes.

Cutlets w/salt pepper & corn flour

Ready to take in and serve

My salad

My supper