Leaderboard

So this week I was in Denver>Austin>Dallas>Denver>Denver there was a polar vortex Wednesday Thursday and I go to drive through black ice in Dallas then through a blizzard in Denver which was supper fun for this San Diego boy however I got to try this restaurant in Dallas called Loro https://www.loroeats.com that’s is a BBQ/Asian fusion place by Aaron Franklin. Unfortunately by the time I got there they were sold out of brisket, but I managed to order a brisket sandwich. The food was really incredible I loved it. Here’s some photos

this was my first sourdough on the kk. i hit around 475 on the upper grate when placing the loaf in. i threw in about 3/4 of a tall glass of ice on the main grate and down the drip tray. lots of steam for the first few minutes, then nothing. dome temp dropped to around 400f and when climbing back, maxed around 450. basically pulled the bottom vent drawer out and top vent open to maintain this. my bad for cooking with left lover coals from tonights chicken dinner but i was hoping for hotter temps and not struggle to maintain 500. i don’t know why the rise was so tilted. was it from excessive steam? this never happens when i use my bread cloche. the bread internal temp was done at over 200f, but the bottom looks under cooked, and that probably meant my stone wasn’t hot enough and i didn’t bother taking out my ir gun to measure stone temp. judging by the flat top, there may be some collapsed pockets inside. not my best loaf by far, and i’m completely out of my comfort zone when it comes to live fire bread baking. will post the crumbs once its cool enough to slice.

Took advantage of the rare "warm" day here in February (upper 50s) to do some grilling. Lamb chops for dinner. Scored these monsters (1 1/2" thick) at CostCo. Direct, lower grate, grape vine for smoking wood. Melting potatoes with shallot crack sauce and a nice side salad. Decent Merlot from Trefethen.

Traveling a lot in Texas as we launch our solar shingle product spent a lot of time in Austin this week went to La Barbecue yesterday but was eating while on a co fete me call so only ordered brisket & beans wasn’t really paying attention or thinking when I ordered also went to the original Salt Lick in Driftwood tonight for dinner with a client and ordered a proper sample plate. Will be back here a ton over the next few months but will also check out and post some San Antonio BBQ in the coming weeks

Mexican street corn - that's Cotilla cheese on top, with mayo, chile powder and lime juice. I was more curious about the last 2 "fritters"?

That is a rare 'spiral loaf', typically seen on saturn.

Noted!!!

@PoochieI went to Austin couple 3 years back before the pandi and a local took me to Terry Black's. Said you don't have to wait in line forever and it's just as good or better than Franklin's. At Franklin's - there's a line around the building starting early in the morning and they sell out during lunch time a lot of days. Only worth it if you have all morning. I was there on business - did not have all morning. Anyway Terry Black's was awesome. If Franklin's truly is the best for some reason, it would have to be completely mind blowing to beat what I had at Terry Black's. Truly inspiring BBQ. I got beef ribs and brisket. It is one of the reasons why I got my KK - because I wanted to try to match or beat the beef I had at this place. The beef ribs to me were the most amazing. Brisket was great too. I've done some good brisket, but I have not run across (or bothered to special order from my butcher) some big beef ribs. Got to try that sometime. https://www.terryblacksbbq.com/austin

smoked iberico baby back ribs. first time doing a bbq type food on the kk.

Did pizza in the kitchen oven yesterday-

Finally the blizzards let up enough so I could grill some pork patties today. Plated with steamed and roasted cabbage, rice and pickled beets. It sure was nice to cook on the KK for a change.

Had an excuse today to fire the Big Bad up. We made some Birria Tacos! Did not get any final pics but they turned out great 10/10! The picture Is about 2 hours In and she started to get pretty nice and MOIST. The grill was very easy to maintain the temp, It's was low 30's out here in Texas today and I was surprised on how easy it was to tweak the temperature. I think next I'll try and smoke a Pork Shoulder.

Shrimp marinated in Greek dressing, in the shell or with it off, it's good as change, tasty. This particular one has the olive oil. Crab cake, fish cake, stuffed Quahog with butter, cole slaw, Aldi asparagus and some tartar sauce.

You have to be from the South to know what "chiggers" are! Nasty, little tiny bugs that bite the sh!t out of you and leave a red bump that itches like crazy! They are worse than mosquitos! I really don't know what grave vine this is. I'm guessing that it probably doesn't vary too much between varietals? @Poochie - Definitely pick up a flat of these chops! I'll probably look for more on my next run to CostCo.

The Salt Lick is on my bucket list of BBQ spots. Bobby Flay says it's one of his favs. Unfortunately, didn't make it there on my only trip to Austin. Just another excuse to go back there!