Saturday BBRibs, Potato Salad & Corn

Apr 03 2017

Saturday night’s supper was baby back ribs, old fashioned potato salad and corn on the cob. I was getting hungry for some summer food. I also wanted to try the pink butcher paper to wrap the ribs for 2 hours. In the morning I cleaned out my Traeger smoker and found my fire pot had rusted through some. I got a new one ordered today. Not bad for 6 years of cooking.

I made up the potato salad early using one of my favorite recipes and used some yellow potatoes. The corn was some I get at Wall Mart and is usually good steamed but this time it turned out pretty tough.

I seasoned the ribs with some red wine vinegar to wet down and Blues Hog Rub about an hour before going on the grill. They went on my Traeger preheated to 200 deg. for an hour. I then raised the temp to 225 deg. for an hour. I then wrapped the ribs in two layers of butcher paper and went to 235 deg. My Traeger runs about 20 to 25 deg. hotter at grill level than my Savannah Stoker says. After 2 hours wrapped I unwrapped and went to 250 deg. for an hour a total of 5 hours.

It all tasted pretty good, the ribs were some of the meatiest I have done and were done with a good bite through. If you are not familiar with competition ribs; to be ideal they must be done to give a clean bite through pulling from the bone but not getting more from the sides. My wife had some of my butchers BBQ sauce with hers. Personally I prefer more fall off the bone done. Like I said the corn was a little tough, now I can’t wait for some good fresh seasonal corn.

Click Here for printable potato salad recipe

Ribs ready to smoke

For the potato salad

Dressing for the potatoes

All in but the eggs, added later

The corn

After 2 hours of smoke, ready to wrap

Ribs resting

My tough corn!

My supper

Had a clean bite

Skillet Burgers and Bacon Wrapped Pickles & Mushrooms

Mar 07 2017

Yesterday I had hoped to do smash burgers on my gas grill but then the rain came so had to do them inside. I had a pound chub of ground round I forgot to put in the freezer so had to use it.

My sides would be some small dill pickles stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon. I got the idea from LTBBQ member Old Dave. I had some Claussen mini dill pickles, I cut the top off, scooped out the seeds and filled 2 with cream cheese and 2 with some beer cheddar spread, sprinkled some Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle over, wrapped in center cut bacon. I secured them with toothpicks and some more seasoning on top.

I had some baby bella mushrooms and removed the stems from 4, added some seasoned stuffing mix and wrapped in bacon. The bacon would provide moisture for the stuffing mix.

I preheated my convection oven to 400 deg. and added the pickles and mushrooms. I heated up a skillet with a little olive oil spray and did 4 smash burgers using about .2 pound for each seasoned with Weber’s gourmet burger seasoning. After about 4 minutes I flipped the burgers and added some provolone cheese after 3 minutes.

The pickles and mushrooms had been in for 15 minutes but the bacon needed browned some. The burgers were done so set off the burner and put the pickles and mushrooms under the broiler to crisp up. I had toasted some buns cut from hoagie buns, added mustard and two of the burgers.

That was a good supper; I was hungry for a good burger. The wife and I both loved the pickles, both cheeses were good but we both thought the cream cheese was a little better. Thanks for the pickle idea Dave, delicious and will be making them again!

 Pickles & mushrooms ready for the oven

 Making the pickles

The mushrooms

Burgers are on

Turned & cheese added

The buns

Pickles & mushrooms done

Burgers done

My supper

BB Ribs, Baked Potato and Cauliflower

Feb 15 2017

We had a great day yesterday to cook out, 48 deg. and sunny. I was glad since I was getting hungry for some pork ribs. It was the first I had use the smoker since before Thanksgiving.

I had a rack of BB ribs I cut in half; I wanted to freeze half to use with kraut later. I got the ribs out a half hour before going on the smoker; I forgot to pull the membrane! The half to freeze was a little red wine vinegar to wet, salt & pepper. For the half to eat were a little red wine vinegar and some seasoning Brad from Beer & Wine Depot gave me to try.

My sides would be a baked potato stuck with a potato rod and baked for 1 ½ hours at 260 deg. You get some nice potato to eat and then a crispy potato skin to eat. It was large enough to split in half and share with the wife. I also had some cauliflower I nuked with some butter and then in my Air Fryer; it was done in 5 minutes.

I did the ribs in my Traeger at 200 deg. for 1 ½ hours then went to 245 deg. this was giving me 255 to 260 at grill level. At 2 ½ hours I pulled the half to freeze after checking temp. With an hour to go I mopped with dome of my Butcher’s , Kah Meats, BBQ sauce and went to 255 deg. for about 280 deg. grill level. The ribs were on a total of 5 ½ hours. Kah’s BBQ sauce is my favorite, a little like Sweet Baby Ray’s but has a little more tang to it.

I would not have had to up the temp. on the ribs the last hour they were fall apart tender. Leaving the membrane on made them hard to slice without pulling the meat off. They were sure tasty though; Brads seasoning was good but I like my Galena St. rub better. The potato was good as usual. The cauliflower got a nice brown in the Air fryer but I was not that impressed. For all the butter I had on them you could hardly tell it.

The Ribs

2 1/2 hours in pulled the one half

4 1/2 hours in added sauce

Done and resting

Sliced to serve

The potato

Cauliflower

My supper

Creole Shrimp & CP Grits

Feb 05 2016

I am a grit lover so when I saw this recipe for stone ground grits in a Crockpot had to try it. It would save a lot of time standing at the stove stirring.

I had found a can of Creole Fixins by Margaret Holmes. She has a lot of good seasoned canned products. I had some good wild caught jumbo shrimp from Krogers to add to the sauce. I thought this will be a super easy meal to fix.

I got my grits in the Crockpot at noon for eating at 6:00. I greased the pot with a half stick of butter and added what was left of it. I always use a whole stick when doing stove top.

I got my skillet with a little olive oil on at 5:30 to heat the sauce for the shrimp. Here I was surprised when I dumped in the can of sauce; it had rice in it too. Oh well we had Creole shrimp and rice over grits!

At 20 till I checked my grits and they were way too thin; I went to high to try and get them thickened some.

It tasted pretty good even though the grits were too thin. We had a salad and bread and butter with it.

Next time I will leave the extra butter out of the grits; I had a lot floating on top that may have slowed down the evaporation of water. I will not rinse the grits, never heard of anyone doing that anyway and maybe cut the water to 3 cups. I think I would go to high the last hour too. I may just jump to using my Instant Pot on slow cook low. If they come out too thin I could probably thicken them up quick by using Sauté low.

Anyway some of you grit lovers may want to play with the recipe. If you search “Crockpot Grits” there are a few recipes out there.

Click Here for printable grit recipe

ingredients

Grits at 5.5 hours

The shrimp

Ready to serve

My salad and bread

My supper

Beef Trisket (Tri Tip) Baked Potato & Skillet Asparagas

Dec 02 2016

I never heard of a beef tri tip and I grew up around my Uncles slaughterhouse and grocery. I guess they have been popular in California for a long time; and done over a red oak wood fire on an Argentina style grill. They are done kinda hot & fast to the desired doneness. I have done 4 so far and they were done for an hour of smoke at 200 deg. then went to 325 deg. to an IT of 145 deg.

I enjoyed getting back out on my smoker even though it was a cold damp 39 deg. I was glad when I went to my butcher the other day and he had a beef tri tip roast in the meat counter. I have wanted to cook one like a brisket since most in LTBBQ forum have tried it and says they are great.

It weighed 2 ½ lbs. and I trimmed a ½ pound of fat off. Thursday night I rubbed on a little olive oil then seasoned with salt, pepper, granulated garlic and parsley. I wrapped in plastic wrap and in the fridge overnight.

I got the Traeger heated to 210 deg. and after the roast had set out about ½ hour I got it on at 1:00 PM. I planned to eat at 6:00 and hoped to get it done by 4:30, wrap in towels and in the micro wave so I could do the sides.

A half hour in I knew it was going to get done early; I should have known it was not as thick as other tri tips I have done. At grill level I was running 225-230 deg. I was going to wrap at 140 deg. IT but decided to wait until 150 deg. In an hour and 15 minutes it hit 150 deg. IT. I laid it on two sheets of foil, added 3 pats of my gorgonzola garlic chive butter, double wrapped and back on.

To slow it down some I just went to 250 deg. at grill level I usually go to 300 with briskets.  It hit 200 deg. IT at 3:45, 2 ¾ hours total. I wrapped in towels and in the microwave.

At 4:30 I put a potato with potato rod in the oven at 350 deg. to bake 1 ½ hours. I cleaned the asparagus and made the sauce. I found the recipe at Seasons and Suppers by Jennifer and was called Skillet Asparagus Supreme. We love asparagus and this was a little extra good! It went into the oven at 5:30 to bake for 25 minutes. I forgot to get a photo of it out of the oven; I had already plated our plates. It does make a nice presentation.

It all came together at 6:00 and we sure enjoyed it. I served the wife first and poured a little of the pan juice over the beef but it would not have needed it. I sampled a piece while slicing and it was beefy tasting and moist. I toasted some English muffins and we had the gorgonzola butter on it. Before I got set down with my plate the wife said the beef sure is tender! 

Click Here for asparagus recipe link

The trimmed tri tip

Seasoned & ready for the fridge overnight

At 150 deg. IT ready to wrap

Some good butter added

My Skillet Asparagus Supreme ready to bake

Beef ready to slice

Slicing across the grain

My supper

BLT's and Old Fashioned Potato Salad

Aug 19 2016

Looks like my big beefsteak tomatoes are near their end so BLT’s for supper tonight! I should call them BTBLB’s that’s how I stack them bacon, a slice of tomato, bacon, some lettuce, more bacon and I have mustard on the bottom bun and mayo on the top one. Tonight’s were on toasted white bread and sure tasted good.

I made some of my old fashioned potato salad early to have with the sandwiches. I bought Instant Pot’s glass lid that fits my pot. I wanted to be able to use it without the locking lid for some things. I steamed some eggs and that didn’t work out the way I expected. I put in 1 ½ cups of water and the eggs on the steam rack. I set the pot on steam and for 15 minutes. It never went to the timed mode until they were about done and the water was almost all gone. I guess the timed mode in Steam relies on pressure to activate it. My eggs did turn out good though.

I used the regular lid to steam my potatoes for 7 minutes and let cool down before opening.

I did a pound of bacon on my Traeger at 300 deg. grill level and took just over an hour. If I am lucky I should get one more BLT before all my garden tomatoes are gone.

Click Here for printable potato salad recipe

Steaming the eggs

Potatoes steamed

All mixed up

Bacon on the Traeger

Ready to serve

My supper