Sundays Pot Roast

Sunday was a busy day of cooking. I had bought two beef chuck roasts each about 2 ½ pounds. I was going to fix them as one dish but decided to do them different. My son & family were going to a cook out Sunday evening so there would just be the wife & I for supper. I got one roast ready for a pot roast in the Crockpot. I sprayed the Crockpot with some olive oil; a coarsely chopped onion & some baby carrots went in the bottom. I seasoned the roast with some steak salt & garlic powder; seared it in some olive oil. It went on top of the carrots & onions. I cleaned some baby gold potatoes & placed around the roast. I poured in some beef broth to almost cover. This would simmer on low all day.

I didn’t take many photos of the steps but this is pretty basic. Most of the rest of the day I was busy smoking 2 pounds of pistachios & doing the other roast as Ropa Vieja on the smoker.

The kids got off to their cook out & the wife & I ate about 6:00. The pot roast was tasty along with some ciabatta rolls.

Pot Roast Ready to go

Meat cut up, fat removed, back in the pot.

My Plate, I like the potatoes & carrots mashed w/a little butter & broth.

Smokin Don

Smokestack Wings, Mush, & My Heart Salad

After a few cool days & night freezes we had a nice day today, 60 deg. It was a great day to be out cooking. My son loves chicken wings so I would make Smokestack’s wings. I made them for the first time back in January & thought they were the best I have ever done. I had found the recipe at Saveur.com.

The restaurant first opened in 1957 under the name of Smokestack BBQ, in St Louis, MO. Now their name is Fiorella’s Jackstack BBQ. If I ever get to St Louis I will have to eat there to see if my wings are as good as theirs.

I bought a tube of Yoder’s mush to have with the wings, mainly for the ease of preparing. I could do it on the smoker along with the wings. For a side I would fix my heart salad, a salad I made up awhile back of hearts of palm & artichokes, black olives, onions and bell peppers.

I made the salad early so it would have a chance to marinade. I cut an onion in half then sliced fairly thin; sautéed in 3 or 4 TBS olive oil. I take the onions just until they are starting to brown then I add the chopped garlic, stir a minute then add the bell peppers. I cook them a couple of minutes then set aside to cool some. I used red, green, & yellow peppers to give some nice color, about equal to one pepper. I slice them ¼ inch thick then in one inch pieces. I placed the canned ingredients in a bowl, added the onion pepper mix, the rice vinegar and seasonings. I placed in the fridge until supper time.

I get most all my chicken from a local grocery, Miller Bros. Amish chicken. It is pretty much organic & always cleaned well. I cut the wing tips off. I mixed all the spices and coated the wings, then in the fridge. The recipe calls for 4 hours but I didn’t get started early enough so 2 hours would have to do.

I had some time to relax & wanted to be at the bus stop to greet my grandson at 3:00. This was his second day in the first grade here in Wapakoneta. His mother took him yesterday but tonight he would ride the bus home. He gets off just two blocks away.

A little after 4:00 I got the smoker going & preheated to 225 deg. I got my 16 wings on at 4:30. Then I sliced the mush ¼ inch thick & got it on the top rack. I set my salad out to get to room temp and mixed up the hot sauce, butter, & Old Bay seasoning for the wings. I only used ¼ cup butter & ¼ cup hot sauce and 1 heaping tsp. seasoning since I was only doing half the wings for the son & me. My wife & grandson didn’t want the heat. My daughter-in-law is mostly vegetarian so didn’t want any wings, she ate the mush & my heart salad over some romaine mix.

At 5:30 I went to 300 deg, tossed half the wings in the sauce & back on the grill then brushed a little butter on the mush. I think most toss the wings in the sauce at the end then serve; but by tossing them and then back on the grill you get the benefit of the sauce but are not as messy eating. I did use smoked paprika in place of the sweet called for in the recipe. My cook method was 1 hour at 225 deg; add the sauce, then another 20 to 25 min at 300deg.

Everyone enjoyed the meal. My son said he thought they were the best wings he has ever had. He has eaten in some good wing places in Cincinnati, OH, Charlotte, N.C., and Las Vegas Nevada.

Link to Wing Recipe

Printable Salad Recipe

Salad Ingredients

Peppers & Garlic

Onions sauteeing

Finished Salad

Ingredients for the Wings

One package of Wings

Wings & Mush on the Smoker

My Plate

Smokin Don

My Kahs Easter Ham

Ham, one of my favorite meats! The tastiest is a whole bone in smoked ham, but that’s a lot of meat. It’s been a long time since I have fixed an old fashioned salt or sugar cured ham. I get my best ham now from my local butcher Kahs Meats. He does them whole bone in or boneless and they are good. They are about as close to an old fashioned ham you can get, not much water added during the cure. They only need cooked to heat up, if you over do them you can dry them out. I fix them for a meal & my sides are usually some good potatoes or sweet potatoes and scalloped corn. Leftovers make good sandwiches and ham salad.

Kahs takes orders for Easter hams but I went in at the last minute & Chris fixed me up with a 4 ½ pound hunk of boneless, plenty for the wife & me and some leftovers. My son & family went to his wife’s family for Easter day, they will be home tomorrow & the ham will be some good sandwiches for through the week. I made a glaze from about ¼ cup of molasses, 2 TBS. of honey, 2 TBS red wine vinegar, and a heaping tsp. of Grey Poupon course ground mustard.

I used a metal pie pan to hold the ham; I added a little water & could save the juices for a sauce. I put the ham on at 4:00 on smoke mode 170 deg. after 20 min went to 300 deg. At 5:00 went to 325 deg. At 5:30 I went to 350 deg. Then at 6:00 went to 375 deg. It was at 135 deg. IT at 6:30. I turned and scored the ham when it was 100 deg. IT I brushed on some glaze & added some more glaze when it was 120 deg. IT. The total cook time was 2 ½ hours.

I tented the ham with foil to rest while I fixed the sauce & Bob Evans mashed sweet potatoes. My scalloped corn was done in the oven. I strained the fat from the pan juices, added what glaze was left & some corn starch to thicken for my sauce.

I plated it up for the wife & me with some sauce over the ham. The cook got the end piece! It was pretty tasty & I didn’t dry out the ham. A slice of ciabatta bread was good with it.

The Ham

On the Smoker

Ready to Slice

My Plate

Smokin Don

Leftovers, Italian Beef Sandwich

It’s been pretty busy here lately! My son, wife, and the grandson have moved in. Oh their family dog too! They will be with us at least until the grandson finishes school here. The last two days we have been busy unloading a semi-trailer that came from Las Vegas. Being 70 I am not much help, but make a good supervisor!

So now instead of just the wife & me there are 5 of us plus 2 dogs! Tonight’s supper was Italian beef sandwiches. I had enough frozen from some I did on the smoker. I thawed it in the micro wave then heated in a Crock pot. For the bread I baked two loaves of Ecce Panis take home & bake ciabatta bread. My side would be some store bought potato salad, not too exciting, but easy to prepare! I had some celery salt, dill weed & pepper on mine for a little better taste. I caramelized some onions & red & green peppers to add to the sandwich.

I fixed the grandson his plate then we all fended for ourselves. My son added some provolone cheese to his sandwich. He & the grandson had some of the au jus to dip in. I had some of the beef over the bread, added onions & peppers then dipped the top half of the bread in the au jus. The grandson said “good sandwich Grampa”, I guess I did well for leftovers and a fast easy meal.

Ecce Panis Ciabatta bread

My Plate

Smokin Don

Smoked meatballs & polenta, with tomato sauce

Cooking for five now plus trying to take photos is a challenge. I have been posting three or four times a week but I may have to drop back some. It is fun though, more rewarding to cook and have everyone like your meal.

While in Las Vegas back in Feb. I cooked some frozen turkey meatballs with sauce & pasta. Everyone liked it so that is what I decided to cook. This time I would do the meatballs with tomato sauce & polenta squares and do part on my smoker.

I found a recipe on Food TV net by Alton Brown for savory polenta. I thought home made meatballs would be better but using the frozen ones is a time saver and would make this an easy meal. Early in the morning I cooked the polenta, poured it in a dish to set up in the fridge. I pureed a can of Muir Glenn fire roasted tomatoes & added an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce to it to make my sauce.

I fired up the smoker & got my meatballs on at 4:30 to smoke for 45 min. At 5:00 I cut the polenta into squares & got it ready to go on at 5:15. At 5:15 I took the meatballs off, turned the smoker to 300 deg. and put the polenta on. Oh I forgot to mention there is an extra dog in the family too; so now I have two dogs following me from the smoke deck to the kitchen. Especially when I am carrying food!

When I had the polenta on I sautéed some red onions & green peppers in some olive oil. When the onions were getting clear I put the smoked meatballs in to cook awhile. I added the pureed sauce and seasoned with some garlic powder & Penzey’s Italian Blend seasoning. When it was bubbly I partially covered & turned to simmer. I had some take home & bake ciabata bread I baked in the oven.

At 5:45 I turned the smoker to 325 deg. to finish up the polenta. It all came together pretty well & we ate a little after 6:00. I served it all up with some extra parmesan cheese for on top. A pretty good meal!

Some ingredients

Smoked meatballs

Red onions & peppers

Sauteeing

Meatballs & sauce simmering

Ciabata bread

Polenta squares

My Plate

Smokin Don

Smoked Pistachios

One of my favorite snack type appetizers besides smoked Cajun crackers is smoked pistachios. I smoke a pound at a time in my pampered chef wire basket. You need a basket type to get good smoke in them. I started out just eyeballing olive oil poured over and then adding the seasoning, stirring well to coat and then smoking for an hour & a half.

You can use butter but the olive oil works for me & it’s better for you. I have made them with just garlic powder or just Cajun seasoning. I like to use McCormicks coarse ground Calif. Style garlic powder; it has some parsley in it. About any of your favorite seasoning would work.

The ones pictured here I used 2 Tbs. olive oil, 1 Tbs. garlic powder, 1 tsp. Penzey’s BBQ 3000 seasoning and smoked them for 2 hours. The oil & seasoning to me was just about right for a pound of pistachios. Smoke temp should be 170 to 175 deg.

I like the longer smoke time. I store them in a Ziploc bag & when you open it the smoke smell jumps out! I like to pop them in my mouth to get some of the seasoning then crack & eat. Give these a try, they are addictive!

In the smoker

A close up

Smokin Don

My gyros & sweet potato fries

Sorry I was a little late getting this posted. It’s been a little busy around here; our son, wife, and our grandson moved in with us. They moved from Las Vegas and are staying with us so our grandson can finish school here & until they find a place to live. So now I am cooking for 5 instead of 2.

We had the gyros along with some sweet potato fries for our supper Sunday. The kids arrived late that evening. I thought my gyros were pretty good, maybe not as good as a good Greek restaurant fixes but decent.

When our son lived in Cincinnati, OH we ate in some good Greek restaurants; but since there are none close if I get hungry for a Gyro I will have to make my own. Our son thought they were pretty good; he had them for lunch Monday.

I use frozen sweet potato fries instead of making my own. It is a lot easier & less fuss to get ready to serve along with a meal.

I will use Alton Browns recipe again but next time I will only go to 155 deg. IT on the gyro loaf.

Gyro ingredients

Sliced gyro loaf

My Plate

Smokin Don