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Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details

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I have a good friend from Barcelona and he has been schooling me in the nuances of paella cooking... Looks like I should be learning from you!!

 

Actually, this was the first time I got a decent socarrat, and it leaned black for my tastes, though the assembled crowd was torn. The women thought the previous olive, caper, chorizo paella was better, more strongly flavored. The menfolk liked the socarrat. We did figure out all on our own that one monitors the socarrat by sound. A chef can lose their smell and taste, but they can't go deaf!

 

Please grill your friend on the nuances of socarrat and report back. My understanding is golden and very crunchy. I'm still not sure how to get there...

 

Of course, it took me like 50 loaves of sourdough, home ground flour bread to nail it. Only very obscure books delved into the perils of "green" flour. And it took me 50 pizzas to be happy. I'm nowhere near 50 paellas, and there's so much we love, I wonder if I'll get there. Some nights I wake up in a panic, and realize that if I'm nearly sixty, I should also be cooking lunches or I'll run out of time.

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Just a meatloaf...

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Check out all that fine gray ash. Saw a sale on huge bags of frontier brand charcoal, so gave it a shot. Noticed the white haze forming on the grates and inside of the grill after the pumpkin cook. I used to get Lazarri mesquite lump ($12 for a 40# bag) from the food service supplier. Mesquite forms that white crust all over everything - must be high mesquite content in the frontier. First time I've noticed it on food. Must be the dark sauce and flash highlighting it - guess it's back to royal oak after this bag.

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Just a meatloaf...

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Check out all that fine gray ash. Saw a sale on huge bags of frontier brand charcoal, so gave it a shot. Noticed the white haze forming on the grates and inside of the grill after the pumpkin cook. I used to get Lazarri mesquite lump ($12 for a 40# bag) from the food service supplier. Mesquite forms that white crust all over everything - must be high mesquite content in the frontier. First time I've noticed it on food. Must be the dark sauce and flash highlighting it - guess it's back to royal oak after this bag.

I noticed that too using B&B Oak. I think it is the initial smoke while coming up to temp. Once up to temp and stable I don't think it lays that down anymore. Never seen it on the actual food. I have a another 50 lbs of B&B Oak to go through before I make my mind up on that.

I've used Frontier before and didn't notice it.

Charles - Prometheus 16.5", Cassiopeia 19" TT

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I think there is some variability within all these nationwide lump brands, where whatever happens to be in the pile on a given day is what becomes charcoal.

Royal oak seems to be consistent, and is my usual. I just wish more local retailers carried the bigger bags of RO. My lump habit is such that I benefit from buying in bulk.

The only charcoal I try to avoid is cowboy. Too often those bags are full of what is clearly milled lumber. Sure it's wood all the same, but I feel better when I'm cooking my food over sticks and branches, not 2x4s. I've found cotton ball sized pieces of fiberglass insulation in a bag of lump before (think it was royal oak) which really makes me question how certain I can be that treated lumber never makes it to the burn pile, and why I just avoid brands with milled lumber altogether.

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That meatloaf was big last night, so gotta eat the leftovers. Tonight's cook is a pan of dinner rolls and some baked potatoes- russet for me, and sweet for my wife to go with it. Once the bread comes off I will remove the HD sitting on the main grate, and replace that with some slabs of yellow squash to round out the feast

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