2016 Smokin' Grillin' and BBQ Thread

[WettCat]

Interesting ideas for new items to smoke, the olives, potatoes, cheese and boiled eggs sound the most interesting to me. Could see firing up the smoker and doing several of these at once. FWIW, had refresh the page a couple of times before the slideshow was active.

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/10-things-you-didnt-know-you-could-smoke.aspx

 

[BBdK]

:fire::fire::fire:imp:imp:imp:[smoke][smoke][smoke][cheers][cheers][cheers]

It's on!

-catholicback

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Do you guys have this?

 

[anthonys735]

No.

Breasts are for simpletons. Either cook a whole bird or go with thighs.

 

[Kooky Kats]

No.

Breasts are for simpletons. Either cook a whole bird or go with thighs.

*wings.

 

[anthonys735]

Wings are fine, but I'm not really cooking wings for dinner. I'll do them for a party or something. We cook chicken every week and make extra for a few lunches.

 

[BBdK]

I agree when it comes to having fun on your grill or preparing an actual poultry dinner of some sort -- but breasts definitely have their place for healthy lunches/mass cooking. They hold up a little better over the long week, imo.

Anova is great for those, gives you a blank canvas of perfectly cooked bird to make whatever with the rest of the week. Pretty much never grill them.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Fish is great on the Egg and for some reason I just don't do it enough. Seabass or Salmon on cedar plank is great.

Paella. Grilled octopus. Steven Reichlin's Gulf Coast shrimp are awesome.

I guess I don't do it much because it's kind of expensive and it's a tough sell to kids.

 

[anthonys735]

I agree when it comes to having fun on your grill or preparing an actual poultry dinner of some sort -- but breasts definitely have their place for healthy lunches/mass cooking. They hold up a little better over the long week, imo.

Anova is great for those, gives you a blank canvas of perfectly cooked bird to make whatever with the rest of the week. Pretty much never grill them.

Yeah we make them as well. Just throw them in convection roast style for lunches BUT it's not something I'm posting pics of.

I've been making buffalo chicken thighs weekly and it's a big step up. Cover in seasoning, slather with buffalo, sprinkle on a little parm, roast for 30 minutes to 180, few bleu cheese crumbles and waf. Left overs even better.

 

[BBdK]

^ Ha, just put mine in the fridge to marinate.

Bone-in (and skin on, if available) is always better no matter what you're doing overall, but man, those boneless/skinless thighs are awesome...and easy. Basically a rich man's breast in terms of versatility.

I use them on little potato bun sliders (which are about double the size of a normal slider, but smaller than a regular bun) for a decently-healthy sambo.

 

[Kooky Kats]

So Stoops is grilling like 30 steaks on an Egg. I bet his steaks suck.
Just sayin'.
He should stick to burgers on a propane rig.

 

[Hank Camacho]

I'm a noob so I am sticking with a Weber kettle until I can justify upgrading to a komodo style grill... but today I did something that was pretty awesome.

I had already upgraded to cast iron grates on the Weber and I had bought a nerd chef pizza steel. Today was hot but we like to keep the windows open on weekends if at all possible so cooking inside was out.

I took the pizza steel (a whopping 35 pounds or so of hot seasoned griddle) and slapped it on the grill to saute, etc all of the stuff I normally do as prep.

In the words of John Calipari: Wow. Woooooooooow!

From Pikeville to Paducah, it was the best result I have ever had grilling. All of the cast iron soaked up the heat and it was a dream to sear, saute, etc.

Loved it.

 

[Get Buckets]

So Stoops is grilling like 30 steaks on an Egg. I bet his steaks suck.
Just sayin'.
He should stick to burgers on a propane rig.

Think he's trying to teach his wife how to grill?

 

[Kooky Kats]

Think he's trying to teach his wife how to grill?

Maybe... But she'll most likely spit the bit on the second half of a long cook.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

OK, so some dumbass propped my plate setter for the large egg up against the table while he was grilling a couple of steaks Sunday night. Now it is broken.

Do I replace it with another ceramic, or do I go cast iron? Also, didn't Anthony say to get a spider as opposed to the adjustable rig? I have the 13" pizza stone already and I intend to make my own AR with my large CI grid and a smaller CI grid using threaded rod, sleeve, washers, and wing nuts. Should be able to swing top grid out of the way if it works the way I think it will.

Do I even need a plate setter if I have a spider and a pizza stone?

 

[BBdK]

^ not really, but I kinda miss mine still after I cracked it. Feel like it provides better 'protection' for a big piece of meat, but maybe that's in my head.

You want the Spider AND the Adjustable rig. The spider allows you to fit the adjustable rig in there for indirect (with the stone) -- it will not fit w/ the plate setter in.


Been saying I'm gonna master Pizza forever, but can't make myself get around to it. Most of the pics I see online look awful...when I do it, it will be correct.

Josh Moore (Volare) has a Big Green Egg inside his restaurant kitchen, that they used for all their special bar pizzas. Caught him on 'Secrets of Louisville Chefs' the other night, and his pizzas looked :fire:


-Used to roll my eyes about the people getting fancy/elite with their lump, but man, the bad stuff is REALLY bad. I bought a bag of Kroger whatever, and I swear it burns out in about an hour if I'm really cooking -- not to mention the pieces are either the size of a brick or a pebble. Either that, or something is really wrong with my Egg. Will never buy that **** again.

-Wish I was handy enough to make my own **** -- would be so dope and fun to visualize something and then make it happen. My Agency Manager made an AR and a pimp *** table over the weekend for himself, and it's dope AF.

 

[Ribsandwhitebread]

I'm a noob so I am sticking with a Weber kettle until I can justify upgrading to a komodo style grill... but today I did something that was pretty awesome.

I had already upgraded to cast iron grates on the Weber and I had bought a nerd chef pizza steel. Today was hot but we like to keep the windows open on weekends if at all possible so cooking inside was out.

I took the pizza steel (a whopping 35 pounds or so of hot seasoned griddle) and slapped it on the grill to saute, etc all of the stuff I normally do as prep.

In the words of John Calipari: Wow. Woooooooooow!

From Pikeville to Paducah, it was the best result I have ever had grilling. All of the cast iron soaked up the heat and it was a dream to sear, saute, etc.

Loved it.

The Weber kettle isnt really noob at all, its awesome. The only reason i sold mine was bc we were moving and I had the Egg so my wife basically said to get rid of it. Wish I still had it.

Somebody posted a site with a bunch of reviews on basically every type of charcoal imaginable and it was pretty spot on with the few that I have used. I keep a few pickle buckets filled with the better stuff, and I keep some of the cheaper stuff around if I'm just doing something small and quick. The Publix lump coal is fine for a couple chicken breast or heating up something on the cast iron skillets.

I've never been to one of the "Egg-fest" events but I saw there were a couple later this month in Frankfort and Shelbyville. Obviously out of my range, but would probably be something worth stopping by. Surely there is some absolutely obnoxious and ridiculous setups.

New house has an indoor wood burning pizza oven built into the brick. Will likely never really use it but I like the novelty of it. Previous owner took the 48in gas range they had built in to the kitchen as well so I have to buy a new one immediately. Probably should have priced those before we bought the house.

 

[BBdK]

.

New house has an indoor wood burning pizza oven built into the brick. Will likely never really use.

Why TF not? That's unreal.

My cooking dream is to have one (outdoors) some day, but indoor would be just fine. That's restaurant style ****, man. Get it together

(A commercial style island flat-top griddle is my other)

 

[Get Buckets]

d to roll my eyes about the people getting fancy/elite with their lump, but man, the bad stuff is REALLY bad. I bought a bag of Kroger whatever, and I swear it burns out in about an hour if I'm really cooking -- not to mention the pieces are either the size of a brick or a pebble. Either that, or something is really wrong with my Egg. Will never buy that **** again

Brownsboro hardware last year had a half off coupon last, went and got a bag of bge lump everyday during the week. Hopefully they do it again, think it was in the fall.

Think I'm going to cook in the eggfest competition up there this year.

 

[Ribsandwhitebread]

^ I really think its something that I will use early on but the novelty of it would wear off... We rarely make pizza on the egg bc it doesnt turn out great for me and the crust always pisses me off.

 

[UK 82]

It may have already been noted in this thread but Charcoal & More in Sellersburg, IN has a fantastic collection of premium lump charcoal. Humphrey, Wicked Good, Ozark Oak, The Good One and my favorite Real Montana. They have a hell of a lot more too including a great selection of wood. It's about a 20 minute drive from my house in St. Matthews (depending on the traffic) but well worth it. I usually stock up whenever I go.

 

[BBdK]

The Royal or whatever at Lowes has always been fine for me, but the few times I've picked up emergency bags at the grocery it's been pretty bad.

 

[Hank Camacho]

I've occasionally researched bulk good charcoal and come up bupkiss.

Might be a good business opportunity. The market is slapdick.

 

[anthonys735]

-The Naked Wizz Lump Database is the website clark is talking about. It's deadly accurate because he takes a ridiculous scientific approach to all the factors. Size, burn time, ash production. Remarkable.

I like Ozark, I need to order some. Always forget, mainly because I don't do frequent long cooks any longer. Cowboy is the best easy to buy brand although I use whatever Fresh Market has on the reg.

Personally I think BGE is over priced but it's solid lump. Wicked is by far the best I've ever had. The heat that stuff put out is unreal.

-An adjustable rig would be pretty easy to build. I've seen some really cool ones. A stand would not be very easy to build.

-Spider + Adjustable rig is basically mandatory, it makes it so flexible.

-I need to buy a new bottom grate, mine is fractured about 3" wide. Also need to buy a cast iron cooking grate.

 

[ThePhoenix_rivals211191]

Yeah we make them as well. Just throw them in convection roast style for lunches BUT it's not something I'm posting pics of.

I've been making buffalo chicken thighs weekly and it's a big step up. Cover in seasoning, slather with buffalo, sprinkle on a little parm, roast for 30 minutes to 180, few bleu cheese crumbles and waf. Left overs even better.

Whenever I'm smoking anything (be it ribs or fish, etc) I will sometimes throw a couple boneless skinless breasts on there and smoke those. Then I use them to make chicken salad the next day. The smoky taste gives the chicken salad a unique taste.

 

[anthonys735]

Thighs will hold up much better if you're smoking chicken for an extended period.

 

[drxman1]

Have done a few deep dish pizzas on the egg. They turn out great, but by the time I'm done I've spent $40 on ingredients and 2 hours of my time.

Meh.

 

[anthonys735]

First off, deep dish pizza is a waste of time.

Second, I've been pretty disappointed in 75% of the pizzas I've attempted. Only nailed it a couple times with a few catastrophic results. Guess I need to try again soon.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

I'm going with the CI plate setter found here. Buck ten with free shipping.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Have done a few deep dish pizzas on the egg. They turn out great, but by the time I'm done I've spent $40 on ingredients and 2 hours of my time.

Meh.

Pizza casserole.

 

[weused2luvhim2]

I've done pizza on my Akorn a few times. Not that wild about the smoke flavor on pizza. Only had an issue the first time with the crust sticking.Once I learned to sprinkle corn meal on my stone that never happened again. You have to keep an eye on it. If you have the temp cranked up it will be done in short order.

 

[BBdK]

Looking into the Blackstone or uuni2 -- there are a few others out there as well. After 4hr NYC pizza class, I'm really gonna have the bug.

I haven't tried myself, but Egg pizzas just seem so inconsistent after browsing countless threads/ec...every cook is a little different for me on the Egg anyways, so many variables, and I don't think I'd ever be consistently happy with the results

-Smoked chicken salad is amazing...and yes, breasts are preferred for that, for sure.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Anyone ever do pork belly? That may be my next attempt.

 

[anthonys735]

Anyone ever do pork belly? That may be my next attempt.

Amazing. Candy the fat cap.

 

[Kooky Kats]

Amazing. Candy the fat cap.

Any recipe you follow?

 

[AthensCatFan]

Anyone ever ordered anything from Snake River Farms? I got a gift card for my birthday so I'm definitely going too use it, but just not sure what to get. I'm leaning towards rib cap.

 

[ukwildcat2004]

Think I'm gonna try a beef tenderloin on the grill tonight. Any good tips or recipes?

 

[anthonys735]

Any recipe you follow?

Sorry, pal. Just checked back. Not sure which one I used, it's been 2 years. One with brown sugar and cayenne as the rub.

 

[RacerX.ksr]

Fashioned myself a swing out grid today. It's a novelty but will come in handy from time to time. Smoked up 12 bone in skin on thighs. Used some rub I had made before, just added some things to it to make enough to go round. Planned on buffalo and bbq on half, just went with the rub and butter.

Put corn in husk and potato bombs on the top shelf.

I haven't ordered the CI platesetter yet so I just used the broken one. It split down the middle and still sits in there fine, especially with the weight of the grids on top of it.

 

[weused2luvhim2]

Been up cooking since 6. Put a butt on at 7. Did some atomic buffalo turds for a snack. Butt is at 170 now. Wrapped it cranked the temp up and put a spatchcock chicken for tomorrow nights dinner. Been busy but a great way to spend a Sunday.