Everyday Misc Cooking Photos w/ details

[tony b]

Rah-stah time again, mon! 3 day marinade of the jerk chicken. Direct, on the main grate, smoker pot with pimento wood, pimento leaves and berries (aka allspice), 325F.

Plated with "rice & peas" (Jamaican curry rice and drunken black beans). The surprise of the dinner was the garlic toast! Yes, really! Probably some of the best that I've ever made. I think that I stumbled on the trick - low & slow in the oven - 275F for 15 minutes and then shut off the heat and let it ride until serving time. 

Righteous, mon! 

[MacKenzie]

Tony, tasty looking dinner and thanks for that garlic bread tip. 

[Troble]

@Braai-Q that is one fine looking burger!

I grilled up a few lobster tails tonight, basted with butter, garlic, rosemary & thyme. Cooked on half grate at 375 with mesquite wood and coffee char. Served with sour cream Parmesan & rosemary mashed potatoes and Kono Sauvignon blanc from Trader Joes

[Troble]

8 hours ago, tony b said:

As a last resort! I'm not a baker and don't pretend to be one. Plus, to do it properly, one needs to plan several days in advance. I was looking for a better option than Papa Murphy's for a last minute decision for pizza for dinner. 

But, yes, in the future, I'll likely make my own when I plan enough time ahead. 

I got a great recipe from @MacKenzie that I use takes at least 24 hours advance but I usually give it 48. It definitely got me on the path to good dough https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/07/basic-new-york-style-pizza-dough.html

[Braai-Q]

13 hours ago, Troble said:

@Braai-Q that is one fine looking burger!

I grilled up a few lobster tails tonight, basted with butter, garlic, rosemary & thyme. Cooked on half grate at 375 with mesquite wood and coffee char. Served with sour cream Parmesan & rosemary mashed potatoes and Kono Sauvignon blanc from Trader Joes

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the screen, this is me:

They look awesome. 

I just dropped that picture to my wife and I can tell when she opened the picture as I just heard 'Oh come on....'.

Last seen finding somewhere to deliver.

[Braai-Q]

13 hours ago, Troble said:

I got a great recipe from @MacKenzie that I use takes at least 24 hours advance but I usually give it 48. It definitely got me on the path to good dough https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/07/basic-new-york-style-pizza-dough.html

Out of interest @Troble is the dough quite sweet or salty? I ask because I've not had NY style dough or pizza so it's a blind spot with my palette.

Looking at the proportion of sugar and salt, I get that the sugar is necessary for proving up to a point with instant yeast but it still feels like a lot and by volume that looks like a lot of salt. I use 2 level teaspoons which is about 8g but my volume is a third greater. Mine is a classic Italian that I've tweaked slightly so a different style. 

[tony b]

I bought a copy of The Pizza Bible by Tony Gemignani. I've read through most of it, but haven't tackled any of his recipes yet. 

I've tried various methods before to keep it simple, including the 2 ingredient one (AP flour and Greek yogurt) and some "no kneed." I just don't make pizza that often to hone in on a "go to" recipe. Not just the work to make the dough, but the amount of charcoal that it takes to heat soak everything up to cooking temperatures for a 12 minute cook (I'm normally just cooking for me) just rubs me the wrong way. Plus, having to buy more ingredients than I need for one pizza (pepperoni, mozz, etc.) only to not use it all up - I hate wasting food. I'm just too miserly! 😜

 

Edited November 9, 2020 by tony b

[tony b]

Spun a chook in the dark last night. Rotisserie basket, 375F, direct, injected with Seasoning Stix and outside rubbed with Slap yo Daddy, apple wood chunks.

Another squirrely MEATER+ performance on the ambient temperature. Meat temps were good, just really odd behavior again on the ambient probe. I'm beginning to wonder if it's gone off somehow? 

It started out weird - very slow increase, then shoots up after 30 minutes, but plateaus out well below dome temperature (375F). Probe wasn't overly gunked up after the cook, as I had made sure to put it in as parallel to the axis of rotation as possible, so juices wouldn't run down it and bake on (my theory on the last cook with it.)

OK, onto the plated pics - garlic mashed potatoes (sous vide) and sautéed green beans. Chicken was falling off the bone and very moist. Decent crispiness on the skin, too. 

[Troble]

3 hours ago, Braai-Q said:

Out of interest @Troble is the dough quite sweet or salty? I ask because I've not had NY style dough or pizza so it's a blind spot with my palette.

Looking at the proportion of sugar and salt, I get that the sugar is necessary for proving up to a point with instant yeast but it still feels like a lot and by volume that looks like a lot of salt. I use 2 level teaspoons which is about 8g but my volume is a third greater. Mine is a classic Italian that I've tweaked slightly so a different style. 

@Braai-Q I’d say it’s a bit on the sweet side but I like it like that. I’ve never really played with the ratios too much other than to increase it to 1.5x and I usually make 5 pies. As the recipes calls for it makes 3 dough balls. 
 

but truth be told. I roll out the dough with a pizza roller because it’s fast and I bang out the pizzas in 5-10 minutes while each one cooks individually on my KK. 

Edited November 9, 2020 by Troble

[Braai-Q]

1 hour ago, Troble said:

@Braai-Q I’d say it’s a bit on the sweet side but I like it like that. I’ve never really played with the ratios too much other than to increase it to 1.5x and I usually make 5 pies. As the recipes calls for it makes 3 dough balls. 
 

but truth be told. I roll out the dough with a pizza roller because it’s fast and I bang out the pizzas in 5-10 minutes while each one cooks individually on my KK. 

No judgement @Troble, I was just interested as to the difference in taste. I'm not sure if you saw earlier on this thread that I'd bought a book on Neapolitan Pizza and what I found interesting was that for such a simple recipe, the level of variation through what appear to be very small changes. The book goes into the chemistry and food science so you understand why making it easier to adjust with a much lower failure rate. It's more of a scientific dissertation but invaluable. 

I like sweetness on certain pizzas, particularly on a margarita but try and achieve this using sweeter tomatoes. But sometimes, I really can't be bothered with the amount of effort it takes.

[Braai-Q]

4 hours ago, tony b said:

Spun a chook in the dark last night. Rotisserie basket, 375F, direct, injected with Seasoning Stix and outside rubbed with Slap yo Daddy, apple wood chunks.

Another squirrely MEATER+ performance on the ambient temperature. Meat temps were good, just really odd behavior again on the ambient probe. I'm beginning to wonder if it's gone off somehow? 

It started out weird - very slow increase, then shoots up after 30 minutes, but plateaus out well below dome temperature (375F). Probe wasn't overly gunked up after the cook, as I had made sure to put it in as parallel to the axis of rotation as possible, so juices wouldn't run down it and bake on (my theory on the last cook with it.)

OK, onto the plated pics - garlic mashed potatoes (sous vide) and sautéed green beans. Chicken was falling off the bone and very moist. Decent crispiness on the skin, too. 

Looks great Tony. I must share the conversation I had with the Meater engineer, it'll answer your question on temperature. 

[MacKenzie]

Looks lovely, Tony.  

[Troble]

@Braai-Qi did see that post and I have yet to attempt neopolitan pizza yet. It’s on a list in my head of things I want to but haven’t yet. That and whole hog. But i am eager to try as I love neopolitan. For me though NY style is my favorite and at this long I did it almost every week from may-October andI just got the process down and have gotten comfortable 

[Troble]

@MacKenzie doesn’t speak to me when I cook seafood but tonight was grilled salmon dusted with garlic and rubbed with a local fish blend served with day old microwaved mashed potatoes and de thawed pesto I made a few weeks back....I never thought you could have too much pesto but I definitely served too much here 

[Basher]

You must have sore teeth after that meal Troble! lol........ or blunt knives?

[Braai-Q]

7 hours ago, Troble said:

@Braai-Qi did see that post and I have yet to attempt neopolitan pizza yet. It’s on a list in my head of things I want to but haven’t yet. That and whole hog. But i am eager to try as I love neopolitan. For me though NY style is my favorite and at this long I did it almost every week from may-October andI just got the process down and have gotten comfortable 

I shall take that as an endorsement and give it a go. I'm probably overthinking it because I read that book. Hit me up for a good dough when you get to it, I'll send you some snaps from the book to help you. Think a pizza steel is the way forward for this type of pizza.

[tony b]

22 hours ago, Braai-Q said:

Looks great Tony. I must share the conversation I had with the Meater engineer, it'll answer your question on temperature. 

I'm all ears!

[tony b]

Another cook in the dark (it's that time of year and we're a month away from the winter solstice!) Tonight - snags in the dark. Lower grate, direct, 325F dome. No smoking wood. Snags are beer brats and bacon/cheddar brats (2 each).

Plated with homemade potato salad. 3 mustards - Dijon, spicy brown and Stone Brewery's smoky chipotle. Top it off with a side salad, crusty bread and a tasty IPA (Stillwater's 420 Series Hoppy Pilsner.)

[MacKenzie]

Wonderful looking dinner, Tony.  I love a hoppy beer.

[Troble]

Grilled some chicken breast dusted with garlic powder and chicken shit rub cooked 350 on half grate with mesquite wood 

used some of the chicken tonight to make an orecchiette  pasta with heavy cream, butter, pancetta, garlic, red onion, peas and then finished in the broiler with Panco bread crumbs....

will be using leftover KK chicken to make fried rice later this week 

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Troble