That is one Smokin' Butt!

So ever since my char broil grill started acting up last week I can't get the thought of a smoker out of my head. My options were to fix the grill and buy the necessary replacements or replace the grill altogether or build my own smoke such as the one in the Good Eats Episode with Alton brown. I ended up fixing my current grill as it turns out it was just gunked up with cob webs causing the gas to backfire into the knob. I still can't get the idea of a smoker out of my head. I can't exactly afford my ideal set up which would be a "Big Green Egg" but the idea of a cheap home project started sounding pretty darn good.

As a huge BBQ lover I decidedly began my trip down the Smoking road. I've smoked as a novice using my old charcoal BBQ and offsetting the heat source but I think I'm ready for a whole new experience. Smoking in Ceramic! Well, Terra cotta too broke to go for ceramic.

It begins with the following hardware from your favorite hardware/garden center.
1 20 inch unglazed Terra cotta planter extra thick preferable
1 17 inch unglazed Terra cotta planter extra thick preferable
1 Commercial metal handle one you can screw in
1 small unglazed Terra cotta saucer one that would fit the whole on the bottom of the 16 inch planter
1 16 inch Weber replacement grill
1 hot plate
1 Weber smoking Joe replacement grill
1 bag of lava rocks
1 replacement thermometer
1 5 qt iron dutch oven
1 bag of smoking hardwood.
3 bricks
Drip tray I used an old pie pan
Screws and washers that will fit the hole size of the handle

Tools:
Drill with Masonry Bit

It started one night at 11 PM when I decided to just put some of the pieces together. I couldn't help myself I assembled the whole thing and it only took minutes. Here's what you do.

Take the 16 inch planter and mark the handle holes over the bottom of the planter. Moisten the clay with water and drill enough hole to fasten the handle. Use the washers to give you extra grip.

Set the small saucer on top of the hole.

Next using the masonry bit drill a hole big enough to slide the thermometer into.

Next disassemble the hot plat and disconnect the wiring. Fit it through the bottom of the 20 inch planter leaving the heating element and the drip try inside and the base and knobs outside. It should be tight but just enough to make it so you can control the heating element from the outside preventing overheating of the whole base.

The heating element will be uneven so lay the lava rocks down enough make the heating element flat.

Arrange the bricks in a "C" shape to provide a base for the larger planter and leaving an opening for the control knob of the hot plate.

Set planter on top.

Set dutch oven on the heating element and rocks.

Fill with chunk wood and set small grill on top. ( I placed some wood chips in too to provide instant smoke)

Set drip tray on top of small grill.

Set large grill.

Top with small planter upside down.

Okay so I couldn't help it. By the time I was done it was close to midnight and I was working from home the next day to take Chelsea to the pediatrician. I had to do it. I went out to get a pork butt.

Brine:


8 ounces or 3/4 cup molasses

12 ounces pickling salt

2 quarts bottled water

6 to 8 pound Boston butt

Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6 quart Lexan. Add Boston butt making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.


Using the above brine solution I let it sit from 1 AM to 7 AM.

First thing in the AM I set the hot plate one until it started to smoke. After about an hour I took the pork out of the brine and used the below rub.

Rub:

1 teaspoon whole cumin seed

1 teaspoon whole fennel seed

1 teaspoon whole coriander

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon paprika

Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder and grind fine. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.

I placed the pork skin side down on the grill with a wireless thermometer set to 160 degrees. It started smelling great but I noticed the heat was too hot. It got up to 350. Way too hot for smoking. It took me too long to correct it and too late 4 hours later the pork was too tough but if you can get over gnawing off a piece it tasted great. Next time I'll keep it low at 210 for 10 hours. Next time I'll get you pork!!!! I still ended up with a flavorful piece of meat that I ended up chopping up and putting into baked beans like bacon and made a sand which out of it. Try it for yourself.

Some ideas that were nixed. Castor wheels to roll around the smoker. Concerned too many hole on the bottom might compromise the the structure. A damper using a corner shelf bracket. Decided to go more low tech with the Terra cotta saucer.

..and the secret ingredient is ketchup!

This weather in New Jersey has been strange.  Last month we had balmy weather with beautiful sunny days.  Now it's back to being cold and rainy again.  There is something to be said with global warming messing up the weather.  And when it's cold and wet, comfort food is always what drives the cooking.  Looking through a variety of recipes, I came across one that looked simple enough (and I had the majority of ingredients already.  The secret ingredient seemed to be ketchup in the recipe's I looked through.

Software:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground veal
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons spice mixture (3 tbls paprika, 2 tbls salt, 2 tbls parsley, 2 tbls onion poweder, 2 tbls garlic powder, 1 tsp black pepper, 1tsp oregano, 1 tsp basil, 1tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp  celery salt)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup fine dried bread crumbs
• Glaze:
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Hardware:
Global 8-Inch 20cm Cook's Knife
Cutting Board
Measuring Spoon Set

Mixing Bowls Large Blue

Haeger Natural Stone Baking Dish, Square: Blue

   Chop the vegetables up and add them to a large skillet with the vegetable oil.  Add the spices (garlic, salt, basil, thyme, pepper) and cook until they are soft and golden.  Turn off the heat and set aside.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Next in the first mixing bowl, combine the meat together til the pork, veal and beef are blended well together.  In another bowl, mix the ketchup, heavy cream, spice mix, dijon mustanrd and worcestershire sauce together.  Then dump everything together into the 'meat bowl' (in my case the blue bowl) along with the vegetables from the stove as well as the breadcrumbs.

Mix well together until you get a blend.  If you have an extra pair of hands like I did, it makes it that much easier.  Spread the mixture into your casserole dish  and smooth it out.  Top it off with the glaze (ketchup, brown sugar and worcestershire sauce mixed together). 

Bake for about an hour and 15 minutes.  There will be a pool of excess grease coming out.  Let rest for about minutes before serving.  Freeze or refridgerate any left overs.

NE Clam Chowder nothing to clam up about

Another wonderful day here in NYC. After a warm spell this past week it finally dropped a bit into the 70's with lowered humidity. Today's itinerary took me into the 9th avenue street fair. It was awesome! In about 2 hours I went to Mexico with Chicken Tacos, America's south with fried chicken and soft shelled crabs, the Caribbean with Currey Goat, maduros and Rice with Pigeon peas, Thailand with Pad Thai and Thai ice coffee, Coney Island with a corn dog, and France with a banana nutella crepe. My final destination home to cook some New England clam chowder after picking up some fresh sourdough from Amys' bread on 9th Avenue.

Software:
large can of clams
1/2 stick of butter
4 strips of bacon diced
1 small onion diced
3 celery stalks diced
3 medium potatoes diced and skinned
2 garlic gloves minced fine.
1 sprig of fresh Thyme
1 quart of Half and Half
1 can of corn
SnP

Hardware:
Cutting Board
Chef's knife
Peeler
Dutch oven or pot of you choice

Start by heating up the bacon on a medium heat until the fat has rendered off approximately 15 minutes.

Scoop out the bacon and leave the fat.

 Add the butter and let it melt.

 Add the onions, garlic and some SnP. After 5 minutes add the potatoes and Celery. Sautee for about 5 more minutes and add the Thyme, corn, clams with juice. SnP to taste and cook it down uncovered until the potatoes are tender approximately 20 minutes.

Once all the veggies are soft pour in the half and half and warm it up for 10 more minutes. Ladle yourself a bowl, sprinkle with the crispy bacon and tear off a piece of sourdough. Enjoy as a stick to your gut meal.

Are you Amish?

A friend of my daughters dropped off the 'Amish Friendship cake' recipe.   What makes this recipe interesting is that it requires a starter (similar to making sourdough bread) and the starter requires to 'sit' for 10 days before use.  On day 6 of your starter, you need to add additional ingredients to make more of it.  Every day you're also to squeeze out any excess gas that has built up in the bag.  You can only make the cake if you have a starter, so if anyone wants it, drop a line to Eddie or myself.

Baking cakes are pretty straight forward. Usually you just dump all the ingredients in a bowl, stir, then pour into a baking dish.

Starter work:

Day 1:  Do nothing, make sure bag is dated

Day 2:  Mush the bag

Day 3:  Mush the bag

Day 4:  Mush the bag

Day 5:  Mush the bag

Day 6:  Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk.  Mix the ingredients in the bag

Day 7:  Mush the bag, let the air out of the bag

Day 8:  Mush the bag, let the air out of the bag

Day 9:  Mush the bag, let the air out of the bag

Day 10:  Use the mixture!

Pour the starter into a non-metal mixing bowl.  Add 1 1 /2 cups mile, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups flour and mix well.  (note this recipe calls for a lot of sugar!).  You can reduce the recipe by 1 cup sugar and I'm told, still tastes fine. 

Mix the starter then dole out 4 x 1 cup bags of starter. Label the bag with today's date. That is day 1 or your starter for next time. Give the other 3 bags to friends.

Preheat oven to 325.  Add the following to the remainder in the bowl:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2  tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 large vanilll pudding instant mix.

Stir well and put into greased baking pans. Make a mixture of 1/3 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle in the bottom of the pans then pour the batter in. Sprinkle the remaining mixture on top

Bake for 1 hour or until the cake loosens from the pan.

Not so sure about this recipe, I mean, do I have to keep making this cake every 10 days?!?!?

Stop Grillin' that Drunk Chick.

Today is a beautiful day in New York. The sun is shining and its like 85 degrees out. Today the plan is to go out and get some planting done. We need some soil and some annuals for the front of the house and some herbs for the back of the house. First things first lunch. I had some Chicken thighs and legs so thats a start my freezer had some limoncello from a trip to italy 4 years ago. Thing it would work together? Why not? Lets do it.

Drunken Limoncello Grill Chicken

Software:

1/2 Cup of Limoncello

SnP to taste
3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme

Hardware:

BBQ Grill or Oven
Vessel to marinate

First salt and pepper the chick and set aside. Pour the limoncello over the chicken and evenly coat. Let it set aside for at least 30  - 60 with the fresh Thyme covered in room temperature.

Set your grill to full blast on all burner for at least 20 minutes. Then turn off the middle burners. Gently place the chicken skin side down in a 45 degree angle pointing left for 3 minutes and 3 minutes to your right in a covered the grill. Flip the bird on its back and let it sit for another 20-30 minutes with the Thyme on top. Its hard to overcook dark meat on the bone due to its fat content so don't worry about drying it out.

What your doing by turning of the burners directly under it is cooking with an offset fire. What that does is creat a convection like effect in your grill much like the expensive ovens out there with a built in fan. The air is able to circulate better and the air brushing gently against your food will allow it to cook evenly and quicker then if you would under a hot fire directly. This is a more gentler way of grilling and will result in a cripy skin rather than a charred skin. The sear in the beginning is largely for the cross hatch appearance resulting in a pretty grilled chicken look. Remember you eat with your eyes as well as your mouth.

A fun Side: Roasted scalloped potatoes

Software:

4-5 Potatoes

Onions or Shallots

2 Gloves Garlic

1/4 Cup of Olive olive

2 Tablespoons of Butter

SnP

Hardware:

Swissmar Borner V-Slicer Plus Mandoline V-1001, 6 Piece Set set to thin slice

Lodge Logic Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron 8-Inch Skillet

Slice up the potatoes (I like them skin on). Place them in rows in an oiled iron skillet. Slice the onions and garlic up thinly and wedge between the potatoes. SnP and drizzle with melted butter and olive oil. Place skillet in your grill closed with an offset heat for 30 minutes.

I need a beer....in a can!

Not the best opening shot as some of the skin came off as I was trying to remove the beer can from it's innards.  This is one of the easiest and strangest dishes to make. It's a beer can chicken or otherwise known as the poor man's rotisserie.    

Ingredients:

1 beer can

3-4 pound roasting chicken

Your favorite seasoning, (old bay, salt & pepper etc...) The one I used below:

• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1 tablespoon firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 to 3 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder

I have bought a Empire Kosher chicken, which on the label said, best tasting chicken.  I had bought this before and it really is a delicious and juicy chicken.  Though at $3.00 / pound, it's pretty pricey for chicken.

For the beer, I bought a mexican beer.  Normally any beer works well, but believe it or not, this was on-sale and was even cheaper then budweiser!  Open the can and drink about a 1/4 of the beer.   Make some additional holes in the top for further ventilation

Cover the chicken completely with the rub and coat the inside as well if you can.   Turn the chicken on it's head and make sure the opening can fit the beer can.  Holding the chicken, place it on top of the beer can.  Now here it gets tricky, place the whole chicken with the can onto your grill.

It should remain upright and you should be able to close the lid.  Keep the burners on medium to cook around the 350-400 degree mark.  You do not want to have the chicken over the heat.  You basically want the flames on the side of the chicken, so place it accordingly. 

Let it cook for about 2 hours and the meat should fall off the bone.   After you remove the chicken, be careful removing the beer can as there will still be beer and it will be *hot*.  Let the chicken sit for 5 minutes before carving and serve!