Troble

I like the show Top Chef and it’s really the thing that pushed me to start trying to elevate my cooking. I binged watched the first 2 seasons over a couple days while staying with my then girlfriends family in South Africa back in 2008 and from that long on I’ve watched every season and it’s always inspired me to try new recipes or learn mew techniques at home one of my favorite chefs all time from that show was Gregory who does a lot of southeast Asian style healthy cooking. He just released his first cookbook and i received my copy the other day abs holy smokes am I excited. It could be because it’s very timely and that I happen to be in a period where I’m actively looking to Jeff up (no pun intended) my vegetable, sides & salad game or the fact that I’m increasingly finding a need to serve vegan dishes for at least one guest, but I found at least 20 recipes plus in his book that I am genuinely excited to try. There also some great poultry and meat dishes and the photography is visually stunning. I’m extremely excited to add this to my collection and try out a lot of these. I love southeastern Asian cooking and have been Thinking about how I haven’t made my red & green Thai curry pastes in 4-5 years, was planning on doing that sometime soon anyways. I make red & green pastes and store them in containers, vacuum seal it and they are amazing for a quick meal full of flavor anyways check out his book if you’re into that type of thing Everyone's Table: Global Recipes... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062984519?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

5 spokes over here

I could sustain off poutine & beer

Still had leftover tortillas from Cinco de Mayo so I made Brisket tacos for dinner with cotija cheese & homemade BBQ sauce

21 hour smoked brisket with mesquite wood. Sweet corn on the cob and fingerling potatoes with truffle salt, olive oil, rosemary, thyme and black pepper no plated pics but here’s the rest also made some bbq sauce using @Syzygiesbourbon recipe. I don’t normally do BBQ sauce on my brisket but I wanted to try a run before my whole pig cook in a few weeks. Sauce was tasty, could’ve been a bit thicker but I probably should’ve started it an hour earlier. Curious to try it again after it’s been in the fridge a few hours, I really want to develop my own signature BBQ sauce for pulled pork and ribs

I finally watched that whole MasterClass. Thanks for sharing. I am extremely jealous of you @Basher and your grill.

Whether you use a Trompo King or not it’s just great to cook vertical meat stacks. Glad to see so much enthusiasm on this topic @tony b what do you use when you smoke a brisket if you’re not using the double drip pan?

@tekobo it should be noted that my wife’s name is Kusi, which in the native language of Peru is Quechuan and means “happiness”. When you meet my wife you will see that she personifies her namesakes. So since I redid my yard last year but wasn’t able to share it with our friends, I started calling our house “club Kusi” last summer as I posted pics of the pool and the food that was being produced from my KK. I’ve gotten a lot of grief /ribbing from my family and friends about how serious I take my BBQ/grilling over the past year and this year I finally get to share that with them. So hence the title of the playlist is “Club Kusi” so I mostly entertain my wife’s close friends and the theme is middle aged parental dance grooves since we all got kids and can’t party too hard but we still think we’re young enough to be cool

@Donoi live 6 miles from the Mexican border and the market I go to has pre marinated carne asada and fresh tortillas so I usually just pick up from them

Nice job @tony b glad you got to have company over. Rolling out the red carpet by the looks of it Happy Cinco de Mayo all. Tonight we did the staple carne asada tacos with guacamole and a margarita. One thing to note for those keeping score at home is if you want to do truly world class carne asada one must use arrachera cut of meat which is skirt steak. They sell this at the Mexican market by my house for $11.99/lb vs the “other” marinated carne asada which I think is a rump cut of some kind and it’s $4.99/lb tonight in honor of Cinco de Mayo we went with the arrachera and man you can definitely taste the difference. Picked up some freshly made flour taco sized tortillas had my daughter help me make some fresh guacamole (she’s 3 and making guacamole is her biggest joy in life). Lightly toasted the tortilla, sprinkle some Mexican shredded cheese on it to lightly melt and toast. Serve carne asada with guacamole and top with Cotija cheese and siracha sauce. I will go to the grave telling you I can make world class tacos and tonight they were magnificent. Meat cooked indirect to start finished over coffee charcoal with post oak wood. Tastes just like Mexico. correlejo margarita with fresh lime and fresh orange juice...

@tekoboyou are welcome to listen, although I’m not sure you’ll like it or not. I have a very wide and eclectic taste in music and for this event seeing that I never got to really have a pool party or share our backyard with our friends last year I’m going for the “upscale hotel pool” vibe but obviously we’ll all be with our kids. So it’s all DJ music that is from the Ibiza/Mediterranean beach vibes. I put it on shuffle and let it play. It’s a celebratory playlist designed to celebrate the light at the end of the tunnel after a long year in isolation https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4S9o8L7ELUSzSBKmSSV4xc?si=9DY3srKOR92xv89t7Ttd0w&dl_branch=1

Congratulations @Forrest what’s gonna be the first thing you grill? Did you get rid of your Kamdoe Joe or are you keeping it?

Open faced breakfast sandwhich on sourdough (for the wife) and white bread for me. Over easy egg with truffle salt, black pepper and fresh thyme. Melted cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, arugula, avocado with suracha sauce

@Basher well cooked. How was the taste? Did the lamb absorb the marinade well? How long did you marinate it for?

Where you located @BOC that view reminds me of spending summers at my grandparents house on Mercer Island, WA. Looks like you’re set up to enjoy the weather. Beautiful View

@tekobo my wife and I sent out the evite today and curiously enough I found one that had a whole pig as the background and I put in the text that I’d be smoking a pig so I’m officially on the clock Sunday May 30th well be having our friends who were in our bridal party (the ones that still live in San Diego) over with their kids. Everyone’s vaccinated and it’ll be outdoor pool party....I even already made a Spotify playlist for the event

Cook them whole. The bone adds a ton of flavor

@jonj good looking cook. @BOC love the bruschetta looks tasty @MacKenzie thanks for the recipe. I bow in your presence 🙌

@Syzygies i was fortunate enough to have an office in Austin for a few years and was flying out there every 2 weeks and I got to eat a lot of BBQ. I ate at Franklin's, Stubb's Salt Lick, Slab BBQ, La Barbecue. I like Franklin's brisket, but that is because I am a brisket man and prefer the salt & pepper rub. I have had Carolina BBQ and as mentioned earlier I've eaten KC BBQ a number of times and I have determined that for me I am a central TX BBQ like guy but that is mainly due to the fact that I like brisket best and I am not the biggest fan of sauce. KC is all about the ribs and I agree with you that there were some great tiny "hole in the wall" shack type places that I went to that I can't even remember the name of now that were always consistently good. So for me I like TX, KC and Carolina BBQ in that order, with the asterik that I have yet to make the pillgramage to eat at Rodney Scott's place I do believe that some of the stuff us KK owners here cook on this forum is up there with the best of the best, however the one element that I am missing in my personal repetoiire is that I don't yet make my own kick ass BBQ sauce. It's one of my goals for 2021 to learn how to create my own "signature" BBQ sauce. I always appreciate your tips @Syzygiesthank you for sharing so much of your knowledge. I will definitely look into the BBQ book you recommended above.

@jonji need to do the roasted sweet potatoes those look great. You cook those in the oven? Great job on the tri-tip cook

Congrats on the most I’ve birthday. When’s the big day? thanks for the tip about the restaurant, fortunately for me I am a crazy OCD travel planner and my specialty is booking awesome things 1 year+ out. I definitely won’t be traveling a trip to AU unless it’s a year out and I’ll 100% be going to his restaurant. Dare I say Basher that we shall likely have to meet at said event. One of my best friends (who’s from Sydney) just moved out to the country there and bought some land with his mum. I’m not even sure what town it is but his Instagram pictures say “south gundurima”. I’ve promised him and my kids I’ll take them down there at some point but not for a few years when the kids can manage the long flight

@braindoc I’d be shocked if they didn’t have a pallet Jack. Take Forrest’s advice abs have some cash and I’m sure they’ll help you as long as they can sheen it around your pretty. If you need to go over grass or dirt run out and get a couple of sheets of plywood to lay down

I haven’t watched that link yet. Will try to get to it today but congrats on that grill. I want something like that but not sure I’ve got space (translation - the OK from the Mrs) I think I’ve made the joke before that if I wasn’t married with kids and was going and single I’d be stalking Lennox at his restaurant and figuring out how I could work in that kitchen. He is truly inspiring. Thanks for sharing I hadn’t seen or heard of that and I’m super excited to watch it when I get some time to focus on it

@Jadeite congratulations that’s a good looking grill

He’s my favorite @Basher you referring to this? https://www.theworlds50best.com/stories/News/50-best-masterclass-lennox-hastie-teaches-how-to-barbecue-like-a-pro-.html