tinyfish Posted July 23, 2015 Report Posted July 23, 2015 I had a craving for some wings so I did the Wilburpan wings plus some grilled apricots for dessert. The wings Has anyone ever eaten zucchini flowers. I dipped them in a batter consisting of flour, egg and water then fried. Now on to dessert. The recipe calls for peaches but since I was given a huge bag of apricots from my parents I thought I would use them instead. 1
MacKenzie Posted July 24, 2015 Report Posted July 24, 2015 tinyfish, what an awesome cook and every single thing looks delicious. Did you parents grow those apricots? You must have had your wing craving satisfied.
CeramicChef Posted July 24, 2015 Report Posted July 24, 2015 Tony - WOWZERS! What a beautiful cook. And yes! I love zucchini blossoms and yours look wonderful. Very nicely done. An absolutely killer money shot there if ever there was one. Very nicely done cook from start to finish. Kudos, kudos, kudos!
tinyfish Posted July 24, 2015 Author Report Posted July 24, 2015 tinyfish, what an awesome cook and every single thing looks delicious. Did you parents grow those apricots? You must have had your wing craving satisfied. Apricots and zucchini flower all courtesy of mom and dad. Wing craving now satisfied.
ckreef Posted July 24, 2015 Report Posted July 24, 2015 You hit a home run with this all around. Never tried zucchini flowers. Seen them on a few different cooking reality shows and have always wanted to try. Most excellent post.
tony b Posted July 24, 2015 Report Posted July 24, 2015 Excellent job! Love zucchini blossoms. Next batch, stuff them with some nice soft cheese (ricotta, Camembert, Rondele, or cream cheese) with some herbs (thyme, savory, tarragon), then batter and fry them.
wilburpan Posted July 24, 2015 Report Posted July 24, 2015 That looks great! I’m going to have to try grilling fruit soon.
tinyfish Posted July 24, 2015 Author Report Posted July 24, 2015 It just dawned on me I messed up!! I used corn starch instead of baking powder.
tony b Posted July 24, 2015 Report Posted July 24, 2015 It wasn't that big a "screw up." I often use corn starch to flour food before frying. It's a standard Chinese technique. I've done Wilbur's method using both, some in corn starch, some in baking powder. In the sample that I did (Jamaican Jerk), you didn't notice much difference. I'm planning a whole chicken this weekend. If I decide to spatchcock it, I'll do one side in corn starch and one side in baking powder, with a simpler rub on the outside (Sucklebuster's SPG) as another experiment.
tony b Posted July 26, 2015 Report Posted July 26, 2015 Up front disclaimer, no pics - I know, my bad! Thought about it, but it was soooo damned humid last night that I didn't want to hang out by grill making pictures. So, did the whole chicken spatchcocked. Left side was dusted with Cornstarch, Sucklebuster's SPG, granulated roasted garlic, salt, and fresh rosemary. Right side, same spice mix, but with Baking Powder. Rested in fridge on drying rack for 6 hours before the cook. Chicken on the upper rack, skin side up, direct, with smoker pot of pecan and peach woods. Put the chicken on the KK early, about 225F, while it was slowly coming up to temps (back story below). After about 30 minutes, flipped over skin side down, dome around 300F. 15 mintues later, flipped back to skin side up, KK dome at 375. Left on for another 15 minutes (1 hour total). Interesting note - after the first 30 minutes, the skin on both sides was covered in white dust. Was a tad concerned, but had planned to flip the chicken over anyway. After the 15 minutes of skin side down, the white dust was now starting to turn brown. Results - extremities were all nice and brown, skin on the breast was a bit pale. However, ALL the skin was crispy, even the breast! Skin on the leg and thighs was like cellophane! Crazy moist meat, as always! My call, it's a dead heat. Use cornstarch or baking powder, doesn't seem to make any noticeable difference in skin texture. Back story - shouldn't have tried to do two, separate experiments at the same time; but, patience is not one of my virtues! Recently acquired the new dual dial draft door from Dennis. This was my first cook using it, so I was experimenting with the different hole sizes to learn the new vent settings. Hence, the reason that the KK was slow coming up to my final cooking temperature. Initially, had fixed the top hat at the "normal" position I'd use for a 375F cook (3/4 turn open) and was just changing the draft door vent holes. Started with the 2nd largest hole. KK parked at 200F. Went to the largest hole, KK stopped at 225F. Closed the holes and went to the left knob (semi circle). Started at 25% open. KK went to 275F. Went to 50% open, KK went to 325F. Based upon my observation of smoke coming out the temperature probe hole and a couple of other spots, I suspected that I'd reached a choked flow situation with the top hat, so further opening of the draft door would not have further increased the dome temperature. So, I bumped the top hat another quarter turn open and the KK finally reached 375F. Will sit down one afternoon soon with a cooler of adult beverages and do a full mapping session. It's like learning a new grill all over. Feedback from those of you with the dual door would be helpful in setting up the matrix of sample points.
CeramicChef Posted July 26, 2015 Report Posted July 26, 2015 Tony - you cook like an engineer! And that's not a bad thing. As you know, I'm an engineer myself. And I'm a very impatient man myself. I like your dual experiment. You get a side by side comparison that is easy to compare. Nicely done! And thanks for the info. Once you get that new dual dial manifold figured out, you're going to wonder how you ever got along without it. Enjoy!
tony b Posted July 27, 2015 Report Posted July 27, 2015 Tony - you cook like an engineer! And that's not a bad thing. As you know, I'm an engineer myself. And I'm a very impatient man myself. And I'll die like one, too! 1
