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[Cosmic Bus]

My wife wants a Hobart...

Listen to wifey.

 

[Mario]

Made a bacon and mushroom pasta. Fried chopped bacon with sliced mushroom and pine nuts, finishing off with a dash of maple syrup to give it some sweetness. Through the pasta I mixed a soft white cheese, grated Parmesan, and a raw beaten egg to create a light sauce, then chopped parsley and kale, before mixing in the bacon mixture.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Looks a little too nouveau-Michael-Graves-at-Target for my tastes. I dig their simple aesthetic in refrigerators a bit more.

My wife wants a Hobart...

Seriously nothing like a Hobart. In fact if you find a vintage Kitchenaid mixer check who made the motor, if its a Hobart its in fact better than the shitty ones made today.

 

[zbarron]

Made a bacon and mushroom pasta. Fried chopped bacon with sliced mushroom and pine nuts, finishing off with a dash of maple syrup to give it some sweetness. Through the pasta I mixed a soft white cheese, grated Parmesan, and a raw beaten egg to create a light sauce, then chopped parsley and kale, before mixing in the bacon mixture.

Damnit. I'm making pasta tonight and I know mine can't compare to that.

Seriously nothing like a Hobart. In fact if you find a vintage Kitchenaid mixer check who made the motor, if its a Hobart its in fact better than the shitty ones made today.

I hear this kind of thing a lot and it makes me curious. I have a new Kitchenaid mixer with a motor that really isn't that highly specced. What is the real world benefit of a strong motor in a mixer? Most of the time I use my mixer it is on speed 2-4, occasionally through 6 and only once did I push it to 8-10. I've never felt it lacking for my uses but if it's for attachments, things like a low hydration rye dough, or simply longevity I understand it simply hasn't affected me yet.

Also anyone here into BBQ'ing? I know CrankyJay is but I think he is still banned. I've never owned my own grill and all the ones I've used in the past have been gas. If I want charcoal I am thinking I should just get a Weber 22" One Touch. I like it's uses and it's conversions to bake pizza, make Korean BBQ, do a more traditional stir fry in a round bottom wok etc.

Does that sound good? Any recommendations? Money is a little on the tighter side this month. Should I just find one on Craigslist or is this an item you definitely want new?

 

[BriareosGAF]

Does that sound good? Any recommendations? Money is a little on the tighter side this month. Should I just find one on Craigslist or is this an item you definitely want new?

I have one of these and it's fine for occasional use but not really up to serious work, or feeding a lot of people at once. Doing the four of us I stage corn, then burgers, then buns, due to the size. We'll usually throw an eggplant or two on to roast when we're done with the main meal, and let it slow cook for a few hours and then make baba ghanoush out of that.

We're doing a major kitchen refurb this summer and I've been thinking about buying a nicer grill that I can cook on semi-regularly since we won't have our kitchen available for six weeks. We might try to setup a small stove in the garage (we have a second fridge there) but that sounds like a huge hassle too. Meh.

 

[Mario]

Damnit. I'm making pasta tonight and I know mine can't compare to that.

The above pasta both looks and tastes better than it should relative to the effort. 15-20 minutes with just a few ingredients. It isn't hard to learn and you'll achieve these results no sweat.

The keys I have found are

- after you put the pasta into the salted boiling water, ease back the temperature a little so the boil isn't crazy. And boil for 12 mins, no more, no less.
- while the pasta is cooking, use that time to prep/cook/finish your other ingredients to make the whole thing more efficient. I have used bacon, mushrooms, chopped ham, smoked salmon, etc. But also look to chop your parsley or tomatoes or whatever here too.
- after boiling I drain the water from the pot, and then just grate the Parmesan right in there. Grate a lot in. Then stir through. At this stage the pasta should be cool enough to tip in the beaten egg and stir through. This creates a nice light sauce that still feels rich. You could add a splash of cream here or some soft white cheese to mix through if you wanted to.
- then stir through the chopped parsley, then chopped baby spinach, and/or chopped kale.
- then stir through the bacon, chicken, salmon, baby tomatoes, whatever. You need to be slightly more gentle here is you have something soft like tomatoes or salmon and fold it through rather than mixing vigorously.
- serve straight from the pot to the plate. Be careful when you plate, and try to gentle heap the pasta into the centre of the plate which will overall look better. If you end up with too much pasta to other ingredients, just scoop some extra toppings out of the pot to sprinkle on top to make it look better. If you are doing spaghetti, then use tongs and lower your spaghetti gently to the centre, then twist as you do so the spaghetti sits up a little more and doesn't splay out.


Here is something I made with the same method with smoked salmon that literally only took 15 mins to make (just the extra egg yolk and garnish placed on top)

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I hear this kind of thing a lot and it makes me curious. I have a new Kitchenaid mixer with a motor that really isn't that highly specced. What is the real world benefit of a strong motor in a mixer? Most of the time I use my mixer it is on speed 2-4, occasionally through 6 and only once did I push it to 8-10. I've never felt it lacking for my uses but if it's for attachments, things like a low hydration rye dough, or simply longevity I understand it simply hasn't affected me yet.

For home use a regular kitchenaid will be fine but since I've used mine in a professional setting before I've pushed it to the limits where the motor began to overheat and cause problems grinding meat.

Also when preparing batches of food there's nothing like the satisfaction of getting it done in one batch of a 12qt mixer vs the typical 5-6qt home ones.

If you have the space and need a 12qt Hobart mixer can be had for $600ish used.

But there's always the Kitchenaid Commercial line of 8Qt mixers that had Hobart made motors but those run close to $600 too.

 

[le-seb]

I just got a new job and had to leave my mixer at home.

Hey, congrats. But does this mean you don't attend your pastry school anymore?

 

[zbarron]

I have one of these and it's fine for occasional use but not really up to serious work, or feeding a lot of people at once. Doing the four of us I stage corn, then burgers, then buns, due to the size. We'll usually throw an eggplant or two on to roast when we're done with the main meal, and let it slow cook for a few hours and then make baba ghanoush out of that.

We're doing a major kitchen refurb this summer and I've been thinking about buying a nicer grill that I can cook on semi-regularly since we won't have our kitchen available for six weeks. We might try to setup a small stove in the garage (we have a second fridge there) but that sounds like a huge hassle too. Meh.

Really? I figured a 22" diameter would be plenty of real estate to cook more than enough or BBQ/Smoke with the heat on one side.

Do you have a portable induction burner? Those are always useful. I got a cheap one on sale for $50 but you can find a nice one for under $100.

The above pasta both looks and tastes better than it should relative to the effort. 15-20 minutes with just a few ingredients. It isn't hard to learn and you'll achieve these results no sweat.

The keys I have found are

- after you put the pasta into the salted boiling water, ease back the temperature a little so the boil isn't crazy. And boil for 12 mins, no more, no less.
- while the pasta is cooking, use that time to prep/cook/finish your other ingredients to make the whole thing more efficient. I have used bacon, mushrooms, chopped ham, smoked salmon, etc. But also look to chop your parsley or tomatoes or whatever here too.
- after boiling I drain the water from the pot, and then just grate the Parmesan right in there. Grate a lot in. Then stir through. At this stage the pasta should be cool enough to tip in the beaten egg and stir through. This creates a nice light sauce that still feels rich. You could add a splash of cream here or some soft white cheese to mix through if you wanted to.
- then stir through the chopped parsley, then chopped baby spinach, and/or chopped kale.
- then stir through the bacon, chicken, salmon, baby tomatoes, whatever. You need to be slightly more gentle here is you have something soft like tomatoes or salmon and fold it through rather than mixing vigorously.
- serve straight from the pot to the plate. Be careful when you plate, and try to gentle heap the pasta into the centre of the plate which will overall look better. If you end up with too much pasta to other ingredients, just scoop some extra toppings out of the pot to sprinkle on top to make it look better. If you are doing spaghetti, then use tongs and lower your spaghetti gently to the centre, then twist as you do so the spaghetti sits up a little more and doesn't splay out.


Here is something I made with the same method with smoked salmon that literally only took 15 mins to make (just the extra egg yolk and garnish placed on top)

That sounds great. Tonight's was a simple penne cooked in 600g of water with 9g of sea salt in it, drained of most of the pasta water and finished in a home made red sauce. I made the red sauce yesterday with sweated garlic in butter, canned diced tomato spices and filtered drippings of the roast I posted yesterday. It was finished with grated parmesean and romano and a few shakes of parsley on top. Basic but tasty. No picture. My camera's battery is still dead. I am making an alfredo pasta later this week with those cheeses, heavy cream and pasta water, which I will post a picture of.

For home use a regular kitchenaid will be fine but since I've used mine in a professional setting before I've pushed it to the limits where the motor began to overheat and cause problems grinding meat.

Also when preparing batches of food there's nothing like the satisfaction of getting it done in one batch of a 12qt mixer vs the typical 5-6qt home ones.

If you have the space and need a 12qt Hobart mixer can be had for $600ish used.

But there's always the Kitchenaid Commercial line of 8Qt mixers that had Hobart made motors but those run close to $600 too.

Ah. Mine is a little 4.5Qt mixer which makes more than enough bread than I can make before it goes stale.

 

[InfiniteBento]

Hey, congrats. But does this mean you don't attend your pastry school anymore?

Thank you ! I dont start until July

Its a 6 month course on over 400 recipes in pastry. I should, hopefully, be certified in pastry art by this December.

 

[Funky Papa]

This problably won't be news for most of the thread, but I'd like to warn people about the risks of using store chicken broth.

I was recently making some chili chicken in my slow cooker when I realized that I didn't have any chicken bouillon, so I used some stock I purchased a long time ago just in case. Now, I tend to dislike any kind of supermarket-bought soup, but I had a carton in my pantry and I decided to give it a go after reducing it.

It totally ruined my chili.

Turns out, that particular broth had a lot of celery and other aromatic vegetables in it, which somehow mixed throughly in the slow cooker resulting in some rather disgraceful chili. I'm not exaggerating one iota: you couldn't eat more than a spoon without gagging. The resuling chili had a distinct taste of burned celery and something else gone bad, which blended with the mushy beans to create some truly unedible mess.

I decided to take a sip from the leftover broth in the fridge and noticed that it barely tasted like chicken. I used the rest to cook a well below average veggie soup and that was the end of my adventures with store bought chicken broth. Never again.

Next time I'll make mine or stick to bouillon.

 

[Datwheezy]

This problably won't be news for most of the thread, but I'd like to warn people about the risks of using store chicken broth.

I was recently making some chili chicken in my slow cooker when I realized that I didn't have any chicken bouillon, so I used some stock I purchased a long time ago just in case. Now, I tend to dislike any kind of supermarket-bought soup, but I had a carton in my pantry and I decided to give it a go after reducing it.

It totally ruined my chili.

Turns out, that particular broth had a lot of celery and other aromatic vegetables in it, which somehow mixed throughly in the slow cooker resulting in some rather disgraceful chili. I'm not exaggerating one iota: you couldn't eat more than a spoon without gagging. The resuling chili had a distinct taste of burned celery and something else gone bad, which blended with the mushy beans to create some truly unedible mess.

I decided to take a sip from the leftover broth in the fridge and noticed that it barely tasted like chicken. I used the rest to cook a well below average veggie soup and that was the end of my adventures with store bought chicken broth. Never again.

Next time I'll make mine or stick to bouillon.

Nothing beats homemade stock, but I like to use Better than Bouillon Reduced Sodium when I dont feel like making any from scratch

 

[zbarron]

Nothing beats homemade stock, but I like to use Better than Bouillon Reduced Sodium when I dont feel like making any from scratch

Second. I haven't tried the reduced sodium version yet.

 

[Funky Papa]

I think the closest thing I've ever seen to that is Bovril.

 

[le-seb]

It looks like what we call fond over here:

It's more or less bouillon cube mixed with potato starch (mines are veal and chicken).
Mostly used to make sauces very quickly.

Unless they're pastes?

 

[thespot84]

It looks like what we call fond over here:

It's more or less bouillon cube mixed with potato starch (mines are veal and chicken).
Mostly used to make sauces very quickly.

Unless they're pastes?

and fond is the browned goodness on the bottom of a pan that is deglazed, weird

 

[Datwheezy]

It looks like what we call fond over here:

It's more or less bouillon cube mixed with potato starch (mines are veal and chicken).
Mostly used to make sauces very quickly.

Unless they're pastes?

These are pastes:

 

[le-seb]

Yeah, what I suspected.
Ingredients wise, this chicken base looks almost exactly like my fond de volaille, though.

and fond is the browned goodness on the bottom of a pan that is deglazed, weird

Eheheh, funny how French can get hijacked sometimes.
This goodness, we call it sucs de cuisson (cooking juice/sap).
With French cuisine, fond is not meant as its literal 'bottom' translation, but as its foundation or base sense.

Today's dinner:

Spaghettis sautéed in a cherry tomatoes and basil sauce, with some fantastic minced pork belly.

 

[zbarron]

Sorry, BriareosGAF. I ended up getting an even smaller grill. Last night I picked up a 14.5" Smokey Joe Silver for $29. I figured it's a good way to dip my toe into the world of grilling. If it didn't work out I wouldn't be out that much and if it did and I decide to get a bigger one later I can use both at once to get more out at a time or even have two different heats entirely.

A little later when Ohio remembers it's Spring I will probably try to do the Mini Smokey Mountain conversion.

(Not mine...yet)

Similarly you can make almost the same conversion but cut out part of the 32 QT pot to make a small pizza oven.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Sorry, BriareosGAF. I ended up getting an even smaller grill.

No worries, although as a Penn State alum I'm probably honor bound to decry your choice of decaling... let us know how it goes!

 

[zbarron]

No worries, although as a Penn State alum I'm probably honor bound to decry your choice of decaling... let us know how it goes!

Haha. I'm actually not much of a sports fan. If I do decal it it'll probably be some Pokemon like Charizard or Wheezing, or even the Neogaf logo. If we had a specific IronGAF logo I'd do that. I was more of a fan of their two tone well done paint job and that sexy thermometer.

First step will be the conversion. After I do that maybe I'll give it a paint job.

Edit: I think Chairman Kaga taking a bite out of the Neogaf logo would be a fitting IronGAF logo.

 

[bucknuticus]

Ill take it!

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Edit: I think Chairman Kaga taking a bite out of the Neogaf logo would be a fitting IronGAF logo.

This would be amazing.

 

[Mario]

Made a birthday lunch for a friend and her friends. French toast with Nutella centre, bacon, banana, strawberries, raspberries, whipped vanilla cream, maple syrup and pecan nuts toasted in bacon fat and maple syrup plus a chocolate shake with cream, Hershey's chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles on the side

 

[Schrade]

Made a birthday lunch for a friend and her friends. French toast with Nutella centre, bacon, banana, strawberries, raspberries, whipped vanilla cream, maple syrup and pecan nuts toasted in bacon fat and maple syrup plus a chocolate shake with cream, Hershey's chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles on the side

My god. You are a good friend. That looks delicious!

 

[zbarron]

I forgot to post this last night. I made fettucine alfredo with sauteed mushrooms. I was out of room to cook them in the kitchen so I threw them in a cast iron skillet and threw it on some hot coals.

Tonight I "quick smoked" a chicken breast over hickory chunks. It was really tasty. The temperature was a bit high to consider it smoked though.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Show me your kitchen folks! Since I'm pretty happy with the state of my kitchen (just missing a "working" chamber vacuum sealer and hoping to secure a Winston CVAP for some crazy experiments) but at this point I feel good entertaining guests.

16927144856_cd2c259efb_k
kitchen-3911
Both table and butcher block are reclaimed wood from some former factories in the rust belt region USA.

 

[zbarron]

Show me your kitchen folks! Since I'm pretty happy with the state of my kitchen (just missing a "working" chamber vacuum sealer and hoping to secure a Winston CVAP for some crazy experiments) but at this point I feel good entertaining guests.

16927144856_cd2c259efb_k
kitchen-3911
Both table and butcher block are reclaimed wood from some former factories in the rust belt region USA.

I love it. I am especially jealous of your hood system and Searzall. I just crack a window before I start a smokey project and hope for the best. I'll post a picture of my kitchen tomorrow after I tidy up a bit. It's currently in shambles. I do think though that I will have the smallest kitchen of the regulars here. Hopefully more people will post so I can see if I am right or wrong.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I love it. I am especially jealous of your hood system and Searzall. I just crack a window before I start a smokey project and hope for the best. I'll post a picture of my kitchen tomorrow after I tidy up a bit. It's currently in shambles. I do think though that I will have the smallest kitchen of the regulars here. Hopefully more people will post so I can see if I am right or wrong.

Those two things you pointed out are the worst things in my kitchen. The hood has no suction at all despite the "high" CFM rating and the searzall was a waste of money, its not as cool as the videos make it seem. I mean if you wanna sear one steak its ok but if you want to do multiple things it sucks.

I'm hoping to set up my yakitori grill sometime later though once I get my balcony in shape (another project long overdue).

 

[OnkelC]

Show me your kitchen folks! Since I'm pretty happy with the state of my kitchen (just missing a "working" chamber vacuum sealer and hoping to secure a Winston CVAP for some crazy experiments) but at this point I feel good entertaining guests.

16927144856_cd2c259efb_k
kitchen-3911
Both table and butcher block are reclaimed wood from some former factories in the rust belt region USA.

Looks great!

VERY ordinary kitchen here:


But it's still a huge improvement over my first one



I made a simple pork tenderloin roast yesterday, bedded on apples, carrots and onions, with a mustard/Estragon/cream reduction:

 

[le-seb]

I made a simple pork tenderloin roast yesterday, bedded on apples, carrots and onions, with a mustard/Estragon/cream reduction

Mmmm, this sounds tasty!

Spring is back in the north hemisphere, my friends, and here come the baby veggies and baby sheep.
Let's celebrate and put them all in one plate!

Navarin d'agneau

Also, today's apple blossoms in the trees will make tomorrow's delicious apple tarts.

And here's the crime scene:

 

[hitsugi]

Zyzyxxz - that is bad ass. I'm in an apartment with what I'd say is an oversized kitchen but it does not have anywhere near the functionality that yours does. You should give a run down of how that's all set up some time.

And the post above mine - I'm kind of curious about the rest of your house because that is clean as fuck.

 

[le-seb]

And the post above mine - I'm kind of curious about the rest of your house because that is clean as fuck.

Well, two things:

1. I live in an apartment and the kitchen is part of my living room, so it has to stay clean (yes, as you can see, I'm still gaming sometimes):

2. There's literally a fuckton storage space in my kitchen's cupboards, like 10 linear meters of drawers:

So that's where I hide the bodies.

 

[zbarron]

Looks great!

VERY ordinary kitchen here:


But it's still a huge improvement over my first one



I made a simple pork tenderloin roast yesterday, bedded on apples, carrots and onions, with a mustard/Estragon/cream reduction:

I love it. It's very "home-y."

That pork also looks great. Willing to ship some across the world?

Mmmm, this sounds tasty!

Spring is back in the north hemisphere, my friends, and here come the baby veggies and baby sheep.
And here's the crime scene:

Speak for yourself. The two days after I bought my grill it snowed.

My wife loves your kitchen. Great color scheme and clean minimal look. I love the stools.

This is where the magic happens. It's about the size of the metal pan closet in the kitchen at the last restaurant I worked it, but every meal I cook comes from here. Don't mind the snowman towel but I have the projector in the next room and needed to lower the ambient light.

 

[OnkelC]

zbarron, your kitchen reminds me a lot of my first one where most of the cooking for this thread and its predecessors has happened.

I made a rather uncommon / traditional variant of Bolognese tonight, using no olive oil and just a hint of tomato puree:




anyone interested in the prep?


Edit:
And a big glass of Azerbaijdian Pomegranate juice!

 

[zbarron]

zbarron, your kitchen reminds me a lot of my first one where most of the cooking for this thread and its predecessors has happened.

I made a rather uncommon / traditional variant of Bolognese tonight, using no olive oil and just a hint of tomato puree:

Was yours tiny too?

I'd love to see the prep.

I grilled some burgers for lunch, cold be damned! I got 85%/15% burger patties from my butcher and some mild cheddar cheese from Amish Country.

My kitchen away from my kitchen

I used half a chimney of Stubbs Charcoal with two chunks of HIckory on top. I read that I should do 5-8 minutes per side and ended up doing 4 minutes each side with the lid on and it came out well done. Still edible but I think I'll tone down the time next time.

My perfect wife's perfect burger.

My monstrosity.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

And here's the crime scene:

Wow that looks nice, are you on induction range too? How's that exhaust hood working for you?

Zyzyxxz - that is bad ass. I'm in an apartment with what I'd say is an oversized kitchen but it does not have anywhere near the functionality that yours does. You should give a run down of how that's all set up some time.

Yeah when I bought my condo I wasn't quite happy with the kitchen size but I wanted to have all the toys here's a rundown of what I have to work with:

I decided to go with a cabinet-less setup because I work in restaurants so I don't cook as much as I'd like to therefore I only buy enough stuff to cook a few meals a week and that way the kitchen would have more airspace. I got 2 immersion circulators, a broken chamber vacuum sealer too when I wanna get fancy.

The stove is an electrolux induction range w/ convection oven so its been the best purchase I made. Underneath the butcher block where I do prep I keep a wine fridge that I use for dry curing meats. Eventually I plan to replace it with one of these:

Then I can make some awesome prime rib or pulled pork.

 

[le-seb]

My monstrosity.

Not sure why but it reminds me DoTT's purple tentacle. Must be the onion or the salad arm. I like it.

Wow that looks nice, are you on induction range too? How's that exhaust hood working for you?

Thanks.

Yes, its a De Dietrich induction stove with a fan oven. I had always been cooking with gas previously, but gas powered appliances are forbidden in my residence. And now that I'm used to it (and after replacing a bunch of pots and pans), I must admit that I don't miss gas at all. Induction is so amazing in its ability to either hardly warm the pot (so nice for melting chocolate or making sabayon without requiring a water bath) or get water boiling almost as fast as when using a kettle. And it's also so easy to clean...

Regarding the hood, due to lack of usable dedicated exhaust, I sadly can only use it in its air recycling mode. Which is rather good at catching grease, but not so much at dealing with fumes and removing odours. So, there are a bunch of meals I just won't cook because I don't want my living room to smell cabbage or cheese fondue for a while.

 

[Zyzyxxz]

Yes, its a De Dietrich induction stove with a fan oven. I had always been cooking with gas previously, but gas powered appliances are forbidden in my residence. And now that I'm used to it (and after replacing a bunch of pots and pans), I must admit that I don't miss gas at all. Induction is so amazing in its ability to either hardly warm the pot (so nice for melting chocolate or making sabayon without requiring a water bath) or get water boiling almost as fast as when using a kettle. And it's also so easy to clean...

Regarding the hood, due to lack of usable dedicated exhaust, I sadly can only use it in its air recycling mode. Which is rather good at catching grease, but not so much at dealing with fumes and removing odours. So, there are a bunch of meals I just won't cook because I don't want my living room to smell cabbage or cheese fondue for a while.

Yes the best part about induction is the cleanup, just wipe the flat surface and you are good to go. If I don't move within another year I may end up designing and building my own custom hood so I dont have to deal with grease buildup on the nearby surfaces.

 

[BriareosGAF]

As I've mentioned we're actually tearing this kitchen apart this summer (only thing staying are the appliances--floor, ceiling, it's all going), should be fun/terrifying.

 

[zbarron]

I smoked my other 2.5lb Chuck Roast. This was my first smoke. It came out pretty good but certainly nothing close to top tier. Still not bad at all for a first attempt on a tiny grill.

Bark:

Fat cap removed and sliced. The smoke ring was smaller than I'd like:

Served with 4 homemade BBQ sauces. From left to right: Honey BBQ, Original, Cocoa BBQ, and Golden BBQ:

 

[Zyzyxxz]

I smoked my other 2.5lb Chuck Roast. This was my first smoke. It came out pretty good but certainly nothing close to top tier. Still not bad at all for a first attempt on a tiny grill.

Bark:

Fat cap removed and sliced. The smoke ring was smaller than I'd like:

Served with 4 homemade BBQ sauces. From left to right: Honey BBQ, Original, Cocoa BBQ, and Golden BBQ:

Nice! I really wanna get into smoking meats but its hard at my place since I gotta do it somehow without my landlord noticing (who lives above me).

 

[LocknessMobster]

zbarron, your kitchen reminds me a lot of my first one where most of the cooking for this thread and its predecessors has happened.

I made a rather uncommon / traditional variant of Bolognese tonight, using no olive oil and just a hint of tomato puree:




anyone interested in the prep?

YEs please share!

My monstrosity.

YUM!

I smoked my other 2.5lb Chuck Roast. This was my first smoke. It came out pretty good but certainly nothing close to top tier. Still not bad at all for a first attempt on a tiny grill.

Bark:

YUM!

 

[zbarron]

Nice! I really wanna get into smoking meats but its hard at my place since I gotta do it somehow without my landlord noticing (who lives above me).

Thanks. I'm not sure if solving that problem directly is possible but you could try bribing with some of the meat. Do you have any parks nearby that would allow BBQing? Honestly BBQ is throwing me the most out of all cooking styles I've tried. I've never felt so little control over the process, granted that could simply be trying to smoke on a tiny grill. It's the anti-sous vide.

YUM!

Thanks. I got that bark by rubbing the roast with yellow mustard then applying a BBQ dry rub over the whole thing and wet smoking it.

 

[BriareosGAF]

It's maple syrup time. Collecting from the trees in the yard:

We're almost filling one of those buckets a day, which is around four gallons per tree. Buckets full of sap staying chill in the garage:

First batch cooked down:

The first draw of the season is very light--the syrup it produces is almost like a cross between a grade a maple and a vanilla syrup.

 

[zbarron]

First batch cooked down:

The first draw of the season is very light--the syrup it produces is almost like a cross between a grade a maple and a vanilla syrup.

Beautiful. Does it take much work? How much syrup do you get out of one of those buckets?

Dinner was leftovers. I took the uneaten half of the beef from yesterday and cut it into 1/2" cubes and coated with the beef juices and the honey BBQ sauce. I tossed that in the 8" skillet until coated and then put that to smoke at ~250*F for 4 hours.

Burnt Ends:

Burnt Ends Sandwich with Cole Slaw and Smoked Beans:

The cheese grater was dirty so instead of using my "sponge ruiner" I julienned the cheese on the mandoline. The Slaw was the serious eats recipe minus the onions and the beans were just a can of baked beans put in the burnt ends skillet while that rested mixed around with that flavor and put to smoke until we were ready to eat.

 

[BriareosGAF]

Beautiful. Does it take much work? How much syrup do you get out of one of those buckets?

Not much work, just time. That was about 8 hours of cooking down about 7-8 gallons of liquid to what you see there, which are pint mason jars (so ~20oz final 'product'). Luckily we have a heavy duty hood vent so we were able to do it all inside--many folks do it all outside (turkey fryers, etc.).

 

[Cosmic Bus]

Homemade maple syrup has to be a top five most-desirable thing on earth.

 

[H.Protagonist]

Made ribs for the first time. Used a dry rub of brown sugar, paprika, garlic, and the usual suspects. Topped it later with a brown sugar/chili flake glaze. Was unbelievably good.

 

[Rei_Toei]

zbarron, that is a proper beast of a burger. Nice.

I've picked up making sausages as a hobby with a friend. After fennel seed sausages, garlic and whiskey sausages, it was time for fresh Chorizo sausages. These were the best so far, so good. Minced about 3/4 of the meat and cut up the rest in tiny bits to give the sausages some more bite/texture. The blend of herbs (amongst them smoked paprika powder, oregano, cumin, garlic) and strong red wine gave it all a fantastic taste. Next up we're going to think up our own receipe, probably something pesto-inspired.

Also, filling intestines with minced meat is a strangely, somewhat perverse pleasure.