Smoked Pecans with Smoked Bacon Salt

Oct 29 2014

I had my wife buy me some pecan halves at Sam’s the other day. I wanted to find a good recipe for smoking some for the holidays. I ran across one that had hickory bacon salt added so knew that had to be good. Most recipes were using JD’s hickory bacon salt I looked for a recipe to make your own and found one at Honestly Yum by Karen Chan that looked great so I used it. I don’t remember where I got the recipe for the pecans but it was for oven baking and I smoked mine in my Traeger.

I smoked some of my butchers thick cut smoked bacon yesterday on my Traeger at about 325 deg. grill level for about 50 minutes and thought it was well over cooked as the recipe calls for. After cooling it was a little moist yet so let it dry in the fridge overnight. I was not going to do the pecans until today anyway.

  Just before noon I processed the bacon until I got a med coarseness to it. It still seemed pretty wet to me so it was spread on a plate and in the fridge about two hours before I mixed it with the salt and pepper.  I think next time after it’s well browned I will lower the smoker to smoke mode about 170 deg. and do for an hour or more to dry it some. My final mix looked about the same texture as the photos with the recipe.

I got all my ingredients measured out and mixed all with the pecans, spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I didn’t have the same chili peppers as the recipe so I used a teaspoon each of Penzey’s ancho ground pepper, regular chili powder and smoked paprika. I did them on my Traeger pellet smoker for an hour at 250 deg. grill level for an hour. I stirred them half way through.

I let them cool about 20 minutes and then separated the pecan halves and let them cool and dry another couple of hours before placing them in the jar. There was a lot of sampling them before they all got in the jar! Dang are they good! The recipe said they will keep for two weeks in a sealed jar at room temp. I don’t think so!!

Click here for printable recipes

The bacon

Bacon processed

Spread out to dry some in the fridge

The bacon, salt and pepper

All mixed up

Jar for storage

Ingredients for the pecans except brown sugar

All set to mix up

Ready for the smoker

All done smoking

Cooling

Ready for munching

Smoked Peach Braised Pulled Pork

Oct 26 2014

I found the recipe at Saveur.com and liked the sounds of it since I like peaches. I changed it to smoke the pork roast until I would normally wrap it and braise it instead to get to final temp. Since I was eating alone, the wife went to Dayton to see the grandson play soccer and then shopping, I made a pot of baked beans on the smoker while doing the pork.

I used a bone in pork loin roast and a butt would have been better. The beans did not turn out good, I was using some Jacob’s cattleman’s beans, and they turned out mushy. I had burnt instead of caramelized onions so I was not real happy with my supper.

The pork was not as good as I thought it would be but some of you who like sweet BBQ might like this. I tend to like my pork and beef on the savory side. A little more heat to balance the sweet some may have made it better for me.

I used a photo of my lunch sandwich I had today. I did like the combination of the peach jam and Dijon mustard for the spread.

Click here for printable Recipe

Ingredients to braise

Pork roast ready to smoke

After an hour on smoke

159 deg. IT ready to take inside

Searing

Onions and seasoning sauteing

A little beer added to deglaze

Roast rest of beer and peaches added to braise

Pork's ready

Roast cooling

First pull

Final pull, peaches and some juice added in

My sandwich

Ready to enjoy

Smoked Beer Braised Beef Short Ribs

Oct 24 2014

It was a little chilly but a nice sunny day to cook out. For tonight’s supper I would do it using my pellet smoker, gas grill and indoor stove top and oven. I found a recipe for beer braised short ribs by Liren on Food52. I changed some of the ingredients and the cooking method. Some German spaetzel noodles to serve the ribs and gravy over, fried cabbage and red beets on the side and multi grain bread and butter would make a good meal.

I got my short ribs from my butcher and got them seasoned with some Savor Spice’s Top Secret rub by Tim at 10:30 and in the fridge. I got them on my Traeger at 11:30 for an hour of smoke then on my Weber gas grill to sear.

I was using Cookinpellets 100% hickory pellets to smoke, grill grates on my Weber to sear the ribs and Deschutes Black Butte Porter to braise the ribs.

After I got all in the oven to braise for 3 hours I took an hours nap. When I was cooking down the gravy I baked a loaf of take home and bake organic multigrain bread.

At 5:15 I cooked about ¾ head of cabbage diced about 1 inch in a little olive oil and butter with bacon bits added in. I cooked the German spaetzel noodles and heated some red beets. I served it all at 6:00.

The wife and I both thought this was a great supper, meat was seasoned good and very tender but was a little too greasy with the fat left in the ribs to separate at the table. Like I say in the recipe next time I will make this a two day cook.

Printable rib recipe

Click here for original recipe

Ingredients

The ribs

After one hour of smoke

Searing on the grill

Onions and garlic sauteing

Carrots and celery added

Flour and mushroom powder stirred in

Beer added

Ribs and chicken broth added

After 3 hours in the oven

Ribs resting

A flour slurry added and reducing

My bread

Frying the cabbage

Ready to serve

My supper

Good!

Wok Chicken Pad Thai

Oct 23 2014

Getting tired of eating out I had to cook tonight bad leg or not. I have plenty of my Thai Kitchen Pad Thai kits so bought some chicken breasts to do all in my wok. Once I have all prepped the cooking would go fast so wouldn’t have to stand up long. I like the Pad Thai kits, the right amount of rice noodles to serve 4 and the sauce is good with tamarind in it.

Our son came down and mowed grass for me this afternoon and had to work tonight so the grandson stayed here. I figured his Mom would eat Pad Thai too with us. Here the grandson didn’t have school today, fog, so he and Dad met Mom for lunch and had sushi. She said she ate so much for lunch she was not hungry but the grandson ate some.

I cut the chicken breast into bite size and marinated in a little lime juice, soy sauce and cornstarch while I prepped the rest. I had two eggs to scramble, 5 green onions cut in 1 inch pieces, two cloves of garlic minced, some sugar snap peas, and a can of bean sprouts. I had crushed cashews for on top and I added some Mae Ploy’s chili sauce to mine for a little sweet heat. If you like a lot of heat use 2 or 3 Thai chilies or add hot sauce at the table.

I like the rice noodles since all you need to do is drop them in boiling water then set off the burner until ready to add to the wok. After I had all in I put a lid on the wok and let it steam a few minutes before serving. All cooked up nice and was pretty tasty! Next time I’ll use shrimp, I like it better than the chicken or I have used both.

Ingredients

Eggs scrambled, removed to add at the end

Green onions and garlic added

Chicken added then the snap peas

Bean sprouts and sauce added

Noodles and egg added

My supper