Sweet Sweet Onions

You gotta have Onions to cook!

My Dad always said “You can’t cook without garlic & onions”. I find that to be true, I go through more onions & garlic in my cooking than any other item. I love onions prepared about any way you can think of. In my older age I don’t eat them raw as much, they give me indigestion, but I will suffer to have them on hamburgers, fried bologna sandwich, pork tenderloin sandwich, and chopped over ham & beans. In the summer I like to chop some garden fresh tomatoes, some Vidalia onions, & add them to cottage cheese for a delicious salad.

The Vidalia onion was first grown in Vidalia, Georgia, in the early 1930’s. I don’t remember when they first started showing up in the grocery stores here in Ohio. I would say about 1990. They were so sweet you could eat them like an apple. The only problem was, they don’t store well for long periods. In early fall they started disappearing from the stores and you had to wait until early summer to find them again.

Then there was a store that had imported onions from Peru called O-so-sweet in the winter months. They were large onions and very sweet. That store closed a few years ago so I lost my winter source of sweet onions.

Bland Farms is a grower of Vidalia onions you can find in the local stores here. I think this is the third year now you can find the Peru onions imported by them during their off season. They are as good as the Vidalia onions, so now I can enjoy super sweet onions the year around. These are smaller than the O-so-sweet onions.

I am not sure if you people in other countries can buy these onions, Vidalia, O-so-sweet, or Peru, but if you can be sure & try them. Like the saying says they only make you cry when you run out!

Chuck Roast Italian Beef Sandwiches

Tonight we had Italian beef sandwiches, one of my favorites, but then I have a lot of favorites! I did some awhile back using chuck, a large English roast. I did it as I would do pulled pork. I did it seasoned, folded & tied, on the smoker grate until 165 deg then placed it in a foil pan with onions, peppers & beef broth. I then covered w/foil & took to 190 deg. I pulled it & for the sandwiches I served the reserved au jus for dipping.

I thought I probably wasted a lot of good flavor by doing it on the grate first, so this one I did on a rack set over a foil pan to catch the drippings from the start.

I had bought some of Louie’s Italian Beef seasoning packs to try on this one. You mix it with 6 cups of water and say for 3 lbs of beef. I had bought two English cut chuck roasts, each a little over 2 lbs., certified Angus. They were pretty lean. I seasoned one up with, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, oregano & some pepperoncini peppers. I placed the other roast on top, tied, & seasoned. I wrapped it in saran wrap & in the fridge over night.

I did it while I was making a pot of pork, ham, & beans. I got it on at 9:30 am on smoke mode averaging about 185 deg. I had it in a rack over a foil pan; I had mixed a couple TBS of Louie’s seasoning with 2 cups of water & poured it into the pan. After 1 ½ hours on smoke I went to 225 deg & planned on staying there until done.

At 3:00 pm it was only at 153 deg IT, at 3:30 it was still at 153 deg so double checked it w/my hand probe. It was right so decided to cover with foil & I added a cup of water first. At 4:00 it was at 154 deg IT, I have never had one go into a stall at that low of temp. By 5:00 it was only at 170 deg. I decided if you want to be that stubborn you are done! I have a good pot of beans to eat for my supper.

I pulled it & wrapped in foil to let cool. I poured the au jus in a bowl & all in the fridge when the meat had cooled. I enjoyed the beans & cornbread and would worry about the beef for tomorrow’s supper.

I woke up to blowing snow, so I was glad I had the beef cooked. After lunch I untied & sliced it, I had 3 ½ lbs of meat. I planned to do in my Crockpot. I skimmed the fat from the reserved au jus. I had 2 cups so I mixed 4 cups of water with the rest of Louie’s seasoning & poured all into a sauce pan to heat up. I placed the beef in the Crockpot, some sliced onion, red & green pepper. I poured the boiling au jus over it & turned on high.

In 2 ½ hours my Chicago style Italian beef was ready. I served the wife & me; a generous portion of beef, some peppers & onions on a hoagie roll and ladled au jus over it. I served some oven baked sweet potato fries along with it. It was delicious, I was glad the meat was tender & with Louie’s seasoning about as close to an authentic Chicago Italian beef sandwich as you will get.

Louie's Italian Beef Seasoning

One Roast Seasoned

Another Roast on top, tied & seasoned

On the smoker & ready to foil

All done

Sliced

This shows the Smoke Ring

In the Crockpot

My Plate

Smokin Don

Pam's Baked Eggs

A recipe for baked egg, onions, mushrooms, & sharp cheddar caught my eye over on Pam’s site. For The Love of Cooking. This morning I woke up to blowing snow and had to sweep it in front of the door to let the dog out. A good day to stay in & fix the egg bake for an early brunch for the wife & I.

It was a good chance to use my new carbon steel skillet too. I remember my Mother using one & I have been wanting to try one. They were hard to find & expensive, mostly at outdoor cooking supplies. Now I found a lot of choices at Amazon & I settled for one of the cheaper ones from World Cuisine, a 10 inch one. It’s a purdy thing with a speckled handle. I washed it then seasoned it. My first cook was bacon, eggs, & mush. The bacon stuck a little but the eggs & mush did great. My next cook was fried potatoes, they always seem to stick for me, no sticking at all & got a nice brown on them. Easy to clean too, I used a scotch pad on it & re-seasoned it with a light coat of cooking spray, on a burner set at high until it starts to smoke then set off & ready to go again. I like the fact I can use metal utensils in it.

I sautéed the onions & mushrooms until browning some, added the ham then assembled in a ramekin. I baked for 5 min then under the broiler to set up the egg whites. I made one for my wife then did one for me, a larger one & did all in the skillet. We had some Arnolds flat bread toast with it. Tasted pretty darn good, Thanks Pam for the recipe!

Woke up to this today!

My new skillet

My wife's dish, not as purdy as Pam's was

My dish

Smokin Don

Pork & Ham & Beans

A good use for left over ham or pork bones & any pork is to make a pot of beans with it. I had a bone froze up from a Pernil Asada fresh picnic shoulder I made awhile back. I bought a package of spiral cut ham ends & pieces to add too.

I was busy today, I got 4 lbs of English cut chuck roast on smoking at 9:30. It’s wrapped & in the fridge. I will slice it tomorrow & add it to some Louie’s Italian beef seasoned broth, green peppers & onions for Italian beef sandwiches. I had soaked a lb. of great northern beans overnight for the ham & beans. I followed Mary’s recipe for Cajun white beans & rice on Deep South Dish. I basically do ham & beans about the same with the exception of adding chopped green pepper & Cajun seasoning. I think that takes it up a notch for some good eating.

At noon I covered my pork bone with water, some salt & pepper; brought to a boil & simmered about 2 hours. I removed it to cool & sautéed some of the ham, about 1 ½ cups, added it to the soup pot. I sautéed some diced pepper, onion, & celery; added it to the pot. I used my new carbon steel skillet & think I will really like it. I removed the meat from the bone & chopped, about 3 cups, then added that to the pot. I rinsed the beans & added them to the pot. Threw in about a teaspoon of Cajun seasoning.
Brought it to a boil then on low to cook couple of hours.

I mixed up some Miracle Maize cornbread & did it in a cast iron skillet. When the beans were done I covered & turned to lowest setting until supper time at 5:30.

I cut me a piece of cornbread, sliced in half, pork & beans over it and some chopped onions & Cholula hot sauce. Some of the best beans I’ve had in awhile, so good I had seconds. After I took the photo I added some of the good broth! My wife doesn’t know what is good, she had a Stouffers frozen soup & sandwich.

The Pork Bone

The Ham

The Trinity

The Soup

The Cornbread

My Plate

Smokin Don

Burger Hot Dogs

Yesterday I was looking through an old cook book, for a water smoker, for something different to cook. Hamburger wrapped around a dill pickle spear and served in a hot dog bun. I must have missed this; I would have tried them long ago.

The recipe was for 1/3 cup of crushed potato chips, 2 TBS of hot mustard, mixed with 1 ½ lbs. of ground beef. I used Grey Poupon country style instead of hot mustard and used ½ cup of crushed potato chips.

I would try some frozen sweet potato fries and do a stuffed Anaheim pepper wrapped in bacon. I stuffed it with a mix of my chorizo sausage, cream cheese, and 2 TBS. of Philly cooking cream, Santa Fe style.

I mixed the ground beef & put in a gallon plastic bag, rolled out as for a fatty. A good trick I read was to cut away one side of the bag, after rolling out, place a piece of wax, or parchment paper over it & flip over. Then remove the plastic bag and use the paper to help in the rolling up. It works well.

I started my smoker on smoke mode P1 & averaged 190 deg. At 4:30 I put the popper on; maybe I should call it a torpedo popper! In 15 min. I put the burger dogs on. I sprayed my sweet potato fries with a little olive oil & some seasoning salt, in a basket then on the smoker. At 5:00 I went to 225 deg. Then at 5:15 I went to 275 deg. At 5:45 all was done, a couple of my dogs had split open where I didn’t get the seam sealed good.

The wife & I both liked them, ½ of the torpedo popper was plenty for me. Bottom line on the burger dogs is, save the effort, a hamburger patty topped with dill pickles is just as good & much easier to do, unless you want the novelty of serving burgers on a hot dog bun. This is one that children might like to help with. This was the first time I tried the frozen sweet potato fries & they were good.

Frying the chorizo

Meat rolled out

Ready to assemble

Burger dogs

Pepper stuffed

All done

My Plate

Smokin Don

Muffin Pan Chicken Stacks No. 2

I decided to do my muffin pan chicken stacks. I got the idea from BBQ competitor, Myron Mixon, who did thighs in one. For mine I would use a slice of bacon, a piece of boneless skinless breast, some BBQ sauce, a slice of sweet onion, a slice of red pepper, more sauce, another piece of breast & fold the bacon over secured with tooth picks. I would cook them for a period in the pan then when they were set, place them on the grill to finish. My first ones turned out great. I had drilled holes in each muffin pan for the fat to drain but a pellethead friend said he did some without the holes & the fat would drain when finishing on the grill. I would do my second ones in a muffin pan without holes.

For these I would use my Peach Chipotle BBQ sauce, mild heat. My wife did not like the heat so I had to cook a batch for her without the heat & could take Mom one. I wanted to use fresh peaches but they are not in season so would use pears.

I put a thin pat of butter in each pan. A slice of bacon for each. This was the worst bacon I have seen, Hormel lower sodium. It looked like it was never cured but didn’t have time to get different. I didn’t think they would hold together but came out good. I did a slice of BSC breasts on the bacon, a little Cajun seasoning on mine, some Peach sauce, a slice of sweet onion, a slice of pear, more peach sauce, a piece of BSC thighs, then folded the bacon over. I used 3 toothpicks in mine & 2 in the others.

I did some baby gold potatoes, w/olive oil & garlic salt in my basket. I got them & the chicken on my smoker at 275 deg. After 45 min. they were at 160 deg IT so removed them from the pan & went to 300 deg. Another 15 min I added about a TBS of Peach sauce to each & went to 325 deg. After 25 more min. they were done.

I served them up & we reheated the fennel, quinoa salad. It tasted good the second time around. The chicken was moist & tender; the pear was good with it but still want to do peaches. I liked the breast & thighs together and thought the chicken was more moist than my first ones. I think I still prefer the onion & red pepper for best flavor pairing.

Building the stacks

After 45 min. at 275 deg

Ready to serve

My Salad

My Plate

Sliced

Smokin Don

Planked Salmon & Fennel salad

I had to post this to show we do eat something besides pork fat once in awhile! I am not that crazy about salmon but the wife loves it. I had some from Sams club that was wild caught, marinated in vac pacs. I found a recipe for a fennel, quinoa, & pomegranate salad at Bon Appétit I wanted to try. I was going to do it all inside but after reading the directions on the salmon I decided to do them on the Traeger. I did them on cedar planks for ½ hour on smoke about 180 deg. then went to 300 deg after 10 min. it didn’t look like they were cooking fast enough so went to 350 deg. & in 20 more min. they were done. A total of 1 hour 5 min.

During that time I sautéed the fennel, cooked the quinoa, & put the salad together. It was seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin, cilantro, mint, dill, & lemon, then topped with pomegranate seeds. I only used about an eighth cup of cilantro & mint instead of the half cup the recipe called for.

The salmon was just right, salad was great, & had some sliced beats on the side too. I have been using the cedar planks for fish, because I feel it lets the fish cook in its own moisture & doesn’t dry out. I can also use the planks over again, simply wash off, run through the dishwasher & ready to go again. This was about the sixth time using these & finally going to throw out & get new. I soak the planks in water at least 2 hours then dry & coat one side with olive oil.

Link to Salad Recipe

Getting the lemon pulp for the salad

Sliced Fennel

Dill, Mint, & Cilantro

Fennel sauteeing

Frozen Salmon on the Planks

After a half hour on smoke

Salmon is Done

My Salad

My Plates, My Supper

Smokin Don