Sausage Sandwich w/Cahills Irish Porter Cheddar

Apr 29 2015

Fellow LTBBQ member Sandman had given me a generous sample of some Cahills Irish Porter Cheddar to try. I ate one slice and wanted to use some for a cheeseburger. The wife said she would rather have a brat burger. I went to my butcher to get some fresh brats to use but he was out. He had some fresh sausage patties made up so I bought some; since I had to mow grass today that would save me a step making them up.

I asked for suggestions on a condiment to use and got some good replies. I decided to go with about 2/3 mayonnaise and 1/3 Dijon mustard. I know I like mustard with cheddar. I deep fried some onion straws to top the sandwich. They were cut 3mm thick and dusted with a little flour before frying in a saucepan with vegetable oil.

 I heated my Weber up to 350-400 degrees. I seasoned the sausage patties with a little Penzey’s 4S salt and sprayed with a little olive oil. They went on the backside of my Grillen Grates for 5 minutes then flipped. After 4 minutes I topped the patties with the cheese and put my olive oil sprayed buns on to toast. After 2 more minutes the cheese was melting and the buns toasted. I put my mayo mustard on the bottom half of the bun. I took them inside and topped with the onion straws.

We heated up some of my leftover hash brown bake for a side. Those were some great sandwiches, we both liked them. The sausage was moist and the cheese tasted good on it.  I didn’t have a porter but had a Deschutes IPA that was good! I still have two slices of that great cheese left. Tomorrow I will go to Sandmans and get some good porter, set the cheese out to warm to room temperature and enjoy the flavor of the cheese and a porter to wash it down. Thanks Sandman for a great sample!

The last cook I did on the Weber I didn’t get pics of the food on the grill. With me hobbling around like Grandpa Walton it’s a major feat for me to cook in 12 minutes, get a couple of pics, a sip or two of beer, and get the food inside to serve and a final pic. I did it though!

My next burgers will probably be on my Traeger, I have turned out some great burgers at 300 deg. on the Grillen Grates and I have time to drink a beer!

Beautiful mosaic of cheddar and porter

Onion straws

Ready for the grill

One side done

All done

Sandwich

My supper

BBQ Meatloaf and Hash Brown Bake

Apr 28 2015

After lunch today I mixed up a meatloaf and in the fridge to chill a while. I just made it up from the recipe listed below. I had to trim my yard today so the meatloaf could be cooking on my Traeger while I worked. I had some Or Ida frozen hash browns and a recipe from Or Ida sounded good and that would be easy to do at supper time. I had a can of Freshlike sliced small beets I could heat up too. I like the Freshlike brand, just about as good as fresh beets.

I heated up my smoker to 205 deg. and got the meatloaf on at 1:30. After 45 minutes I went to 225 deg. I was trimming grass in the meantime and keeping an eye on my temps with my Maverick ET-732. I was taking a few beer breaks too! When the meatloaf was 100 deg. IT I went to 250 deg. I went to 300 deg. for the last 15 minutes to an IT of 160 deg. The grill level temps were running about 20 deg. hotter than my RTD on the Savannah Stoker V3 but it was holding pretty well with some good smoke cycles. It was done a little after 3:00 about 1 hour 40 minutes total I took it inside and tented to cool and then in the fridge.

I did better at trimming than I thought with my bum leg. At 5:00 I sautéed the onions and peppers and let cool. My wife was at an auction with our son and called to see when she would be home, said she was just leaving; our son had bought a washer and dryer and loading on my truck. I waited until she pulled in the driveway and put the potatoes in to bake and heated the beets with a little butter, salt and pepper.

I nuked some meatloaf for each of us and served supper. Tasted pretty good and note; not my usual amount of bread and butter. Only two slices left and the heel so I took the heel. Wife said the potatoes were extra good so I’ll have to make those again.

Click here for printable recipes for both

Ready to serve

Ingredients

Ready for the smoker

Done at 160 deg. F

Onions and peppers for the hash browns

Hash browns done

My supper

CP IPA Shredded Beef Sandwiches

Apr 26 2015

It was a nice sunny 57 deg. today; nice enough to cook out but I had some chores and just wanted to relax. Supper would be a beef arm roast in the Crockpot all day, some oven fast food fries and corn on the cob.

I am not sure how long ago I started using beer whenever braising meat but I just about always do now. I like to use dark beer but lager is good too if I don’t have dark on hand. I had some Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA to use. I never tried IPA, India Pale Ale, before but I like this one that has a citrus undertone. I thought it would go good with the beef.

I seasoned the beef with some fresh ground pepper and coated with flour; then seared in a hot skillet with a little olive oil 3 minutes on each side. It went on top of some sliced onions in the Crockpot. I sprinkled some dried garlic flakes on top. I mixed a packet of Lipton’s beefy onion soup mix with some of the beer and poured over the roast. The rest of the beer went in the pot and was enough liquid to come up half way on the meat. The onion soup has enough salt that you don’t need any extra. I topped it with two stalks of celery, and put the lid on. I set it on high for a half hour to get it heated up then down on low for the rest of the day.

It was on for 7 ½ hours when I took the meat out to cool a little, remove any fat, shred and back in the pot. I removed the onion slices and cut up and back in the pot. It was in another 1 ½ hours, 9 hours total when I served it.

Two easy sides were some Or Ida fast food fries in the oven and steamed corn on the cob. Fresh corn is only in season here about 3 months in the summer. I would love it all year around. I don’t like the frozen stuff and any fresh shipped in is usually too tough. For a couple of years I have steamed my fresh corn for the best taste so I tried some of the fresh shipped and it comes out pretty darn good; not as good as fresh but eatable.

My wife and I had the beef on some whole grain Ciabatta buns with mustard and Claussen dill pickles. I seasoned the fries with some Penzey’s 4S salt and I had Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle and parmesan cheese on my corn. That was an easy supper that tasted good.

Ingredients

Searing the beef

On sliced onions and garlic added

Beer, soup mix and celery added

After 7 1/2 hours

Beef and onions to add back in

Beef shredded to add back in

The corn

Seasoned corn

My sandwich and fries

CP Chicken Ramen Noodle Bowl

Apr 21 2013

It was a cool windy day; winds 20 to 40 mph all afternoon so it was an inside cook for our supper.

A lot of the food blogs and sites have been posting a lot of ramen noodle bowl recipes.  It was making me hungry for some. I could not find true Japanese ramen noodles here so I ordered some from the internet. The LTBBQ member Willy posted his version of a beef noodle bowl. Looked delicious but was more trouble than I wanted so I found a faster easier way to make some chicken ramen. I wanted to use chicken since I knew our veggie daughter in law would eat some.

I was sure I could get a good broth using store bought broth an adding seasoning. I used half chicken stock and half vegetable broth. It took just 4 hours from start to finish preparing and turned out pretty darned good.

I made a couple of parmesan wafers to go along with the soup. A shredded cheese in fine threads works the best. Use a couple Tbs. for each one, sprinkle in a little flour. Heat a skillet on medium high with a little cooking spray add the cheese and spread out thin. When the edges start to brown flip over and do the other side. It only takes about 1 to 2 minutes per side.

The wife and I both liked it and she said the broth was good. We both would have liked a couple more of the parmesan wafers. Out daughter in law and grandson stopped in after his soccer practice and ate a bowl; she said the broth was good too.

Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients

Browning the chicken

Chicken and veggies, seasoning added to the broth

Meat removed from the bones

Sauteing the mushrooms

Parmesan wafers

Ready to serve

My bowl

Pile of Brazilian Caipirinha Ribs

Apr 17 2015

Ever since Cliff and then Tommy, fellow members of LTBBQ, posted their pile of ribs I knew I had to try it. Cliff said he got the idea from the BBQ Pit Boys video on YouTube. Their idea was to be able to do a bunch of ribs in a smaller space by cutting the ribs and smoking them in a big pile.

I just happened to have a recipe for some Brazilian Caipirinha ribs I wanted to try and adapt to the smoker. The recipe was by Denise Browning at honestcooking.com. His method of cooking was to cut some baby back ribs in single rib sections, marinate them in the fridge 8 to 12 hours, then brown them all up in oil and then add them to a stove top pan along with the reserved marinade and steam them.  His marinade of white rum, lime juice, garlic, brown sugar, parsley salt and pepper sounded great to me. He said typically the Brazilians did not add the honey at the end but he said he liked it to offset the acidity.

I thought this is perfect to try the pile method. I made up the marinade but didn’t have annatto powder; it is mainly for color but it does have a slight flavor. I pulled the membrane off and cut the 12 ribs. They went into a small roasting pan and poured the marinade over turning to coat well. They were covered and in the fridge for 12 hours turning half way through. Tasting the marinade I felt it did need the honey at the end of cooking. I had some local raw honey to use.

I placed the pile of ribs, and 3 slices of bacon on top in my Traeger that was preheated to 220 deg.F for 1 ½ hours, 230 for an hour, 240 for an hour and 250 for an hour. I turned them and brushed on some marinade every 45 minutes. With 40 minutes left I brushed with honey and turned; then once again with 20 minutes left.

My side was sliced up white yam, Dutch baby potatoes cut in half, sliced onions, red and green peppers topped with butter and in a foil pan. I had planned to do them in the oven covered for a half hour at 350 deg. and then uncover and move to the smoker for an hour. When I checked them the potatoes were not done enough so I just left them ride in the oven.

We had some Ciabatta buns for bread and butter. Sure was good, but with a cold I don’t think my taste was up to par. My wife said they were her second favorite ribs I ever made. To me the ribs had a nice crust all over with a little soft meat left. I thought a little heat may have helped the flavor for me.

Once again I was very happy with my Savannah Smoker V3 controller keeping the temps within 10 deg. of the set temp.

Click here for my recipe

Click here for original recipe

Ingredients for marinade

Pulling the membrane

Cut and in the marinade

12 hours in the marinade, ready to smoke

After one hour

After 2 1/2 hours

15 minutes before pulling

Savannah controller working good

Side ready for the oven

Sides are done

Ribs are done

My supper

Yummy!

A batch of Kimchi

Apr 18 2015

This week I made a batch of Kimchi for the Ohio Buckeye Gathering June 5-6-7^th in Loudonville Ohio. At the present 10 to 12 of the members of Lets Talk BBQ forum plan to meet for some good outdoor cooking and fun. I have not met any of these people but feel like they are old friends since we have chatted on the forum for the last 2 or 3 years. It will be great to finally meet my friends face to face.

I wanted to make some of my Kimchi to take along; it is a great condiment for BBQ; just as a side dish or on top of a brat, pulled pork or brisket sandwich. My version is probably a little Americanized or tamed down from what some people like. The original version called for fish sauce and ginger; I omitted the fish sauce. I didn’t care for the ginger so I don’t use it anymore. It still tastes close to what I used to get from a Korean neighbor years ago.

It is an easy and quick method for making Kimchi. You just clean and cut up the Napa cabbage the size you like; for a side dish 1 to 1 /2 inch pieces works well. If you would like it more for a sandwich topping ¾ inch pieces are better. After you get it chopped you just add coarse Kosher salt; mix well to evenly coat and let set for 30 minutes. Then rinse well; add the rest of the ingredients; I do this in a sealable Tupper ware bowl; and let it set for two days. It will stain the plastic so I have a bowl dedicated to making Kimchi.

I then put it in Mason quart jars; top with some filtered water to cover and in the fridge. It will continue to ferment slowly in the fridge and I think it is best to let set at least 4 weeks. It should keep 3 to 4 months. Once I get into it I can never let it set that long!

Click here for printable Kimchi recipe

Napa cabbage

Chopped and salted

Additional ingredients

Half added at a time

Mixed and ready to set for two days

Placing in jars

Done and will set in fridge for a few weeks