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Finally bottled this year's batch of aji yellow hot sauce. The color is natural. Just the homegrown peppers, some garlic, a dash of seasoning salt and Xanthan gum.

I've smoked jerky a few times. I place an old pan (meatloaf, pie, etc.) in the bottom and use just a few pieces of charcoal and wood in that pan. Gives better control of flame/temp. Also stay out of the wind. It can more or less pull a vacuum on the smoker making temp harder to control. YMMV

Looking good @tony b. I have many more chillis to harvest from the polytunnel. A nice bottled sauce like yours would fit the bill nicely.

Ribs and butternut pumpkin cooked the ribs for an hour and and a half then added butternut for half an hour then Hassel backed it and gave it some butter Sent from my SM-T835 using Tapatalk

Decided to make some pork chops today, I believe it was Tyrus who initially posted the info on how to brine them ? Well I was only able to brine for a few hours but the results were really good. Next time I’ll get a good 24 hour brine on them 😁 I patted them dry and used Lanes Apple Pie seasoning 👍

Pork tenderloin. Marinated for a day. Rubbed some honey mustard on it, dusted with Lawry salt and brown sugar. Cooked indirect with apple wood and reverse seared to finish. Extremely flavorful. I do the lawrys and brown sugar regularly but added the honey mustard base this time. My oldest daughter had a huge second helping she like it so much Microwaved last nights potatoes rainbow carrots with some spices and olive oil

An Old Farmer writes to his Son who is in Prison: "Dear Son, this year I won't be able to plant potatoes because I can't dig the field by myself, I know if you are here, you would have helped me". The Son writes back, "Dad don't even think of digging the field because that's where I buried all the money I stole." The Police read the letter and the next Day the whole field was dugged up looking for the money but nothing was found. The following Day the Son wrote again, 'Now plant your potatoes dad, it's the best I can do from here. '

My 5 & 7 year old girls were home sick all last week. So we started watching Masterchef Junior on Hulu. They got really into it abd are all about helping Daddy cook and they want to start making meals on their own because they are ready😀 so tonight I had them help me light the KK and season the potatoes as well as boil the green bean we did trio tip, marinated in Worcester and Montreal steak seasoning . Cooked in direct then finished/seared on lower grate tri colored potatoes with olive oil, truffle salt, rosemary and thyme. Cooked in the cast iron on the KK for 40 minutes then finished in the broiler in the oven green beans with sea salt and Parmesan cheese my 7 year old told me she wished the meat was less chewy (it’s not fillet mignon or wagyu beef….she notices) and that the potatoes needed to be more crispy but “it’s still good daddy” tough crowd……pork tenderloin coming tonight….hopefully I’ll do better

Did a pork back rib cook this afternoon, I should be doing this more often, it's so easy and very tasty. A friend brought me a batch of tahini swirls and I'm saving this one for breakfast.

my alfa runs on wood or propane gas, but i don't taste a huge difference between wood, gas, or electric. i'm with the group that says once you cook at such high temps, you don't really taste a big difference.. the effeuno is the better pizza oven in several aspects. it is basically a dream to operate an oven like this indoors. * push button operation (just turn on and wait for it to warmup). and keeps temp all day long with no intervention just like a home oven. * regarding browning and bottom scorch resistance, the Saputo stone (mined clay) is superior to the refractory brick on the alfa, or any other surface i've used (including steels, cordierite, and the kk baking stone). it's just a fat piece of mass to heat up that is very forgiving when browning bottoms. * less fuss to manage heat. no need to measure floor temp once the temps are dialed in. no gas bottles to replace. wood can maintain pizza heat for about 12-15 min, so no need to manage fire with electric. * almost no cleanup. just brush dusting semolina/flour after a cook. * in terms of speed, the effeuno can go hotter in less time (smaller oven to heat up). to get the alfa to pizza temps, it takes longer (bigger over/more thermal mass) and more wood. * excellent view of the food with 3 sheets of glass on the door and a very bright oven light. * parts are user replaceable and quality is restaurant level. however, the effeuno is not an outdoor oven. i probably wouldn't cook a steak or non-bread foods (too messy). pizza size is limited to 12-13". probably more expensive to run electricity, and as far as i know only runs on 220v grids.

I actually received my 32" Autumn Gold Pebble KK almost a couple months ago now. I had wanted it held at the warehouse until my patio was completed but some communications got crossed up there and it went out the door and arrived early! Not such a bad thing I guess. But it just had to be stored in my garage while the patio was being done. The driveway was also cluttered with pallets of pavers and stone. The whole patio remodel was done with receiving the KK in mind. Otherwise it would have been extremely difficult to get back there. So the timing of the grill purchase and patio was great. We also just had the deck redone over the patio with a TimberTech Dryspace installed which will help with grilling year round here in the Puget Sound area. Below are pictures of the the patio work, arrival of the KK, and the KK in it's resting place! I've just gotten some outdoor cabinets from NatureKast on order for a BBQ island that will go under the deck. Unfortunately it's an 8 week lead time but at least I can cook now! Old pathway and patio: Pictures of the new patio construction (new fence also)! IMG_4913.MP4 Now for the KK!

I've been making fermented Louisiana-style hot sauce regularly since 2005. I have some controversial views: Botulism is unlikely but possible. Most cases are people who don't know what they're doing, but think they do. For example, there are many cases in Alaska after fermenting in seal skins was replaced by fermenting in plastic Home Depot pails. C. botulinum cannot grow below a pH of 4.6, which can be achieved with mere tablespoons of vinegar in a large batch. This inhibits anxiety but not the fermentation process. I own a pH meter and typically bring my pH down to 4.2. Needless to say, this is heresy on fermentation forums. I have nearly always managed to avoid mold through scrupulous technique, and I don't like the taste as well when there is mold. I'd bet half my retirement savings that when there's visible mold on top, a sample from the bottom will be completely infested when viewed under a microscope. Scrupulous technique here means a sterile carboy with the chiles just submerged in brine, and a beer-making airlock as a one-way valve to ensure the gas in the carboy ends up mostly CO2. I have an argon tank for preserving wine, and I've considered using it to flush my carboy at the start, for the initial stretch before CO2 from fermentation flushes the carboy. I've been meaning to try a new technique I read somewhere, also guaranteed to remove unwanted oxygen and well-suited to arbitrarily small batch sizes: Vacuum pack the chiles with salt and a bit of fermentation starter, such as live kimchi liquid. Use a very large bag, as it will fill with CO2 from the fermentation. These suggestions go hand-in-hand: The hacks who chased me away from fermentation forums are going to be fine, as long as they know and use exactly the techniques their ancestors used in eastern Europe. Any idea that achieves an unheard-of modern efficiency at ridding the oxygen implicated in mold is an idea that C. botulinum may thank us profusely for having. So test the pH.

This year's batch of Aji yellow peppers for the hot sauce. Chopped up with the salt, garlic and sweet white wine - time for Mother Nature to do her thing and let the fermentation begin!