Official 2018 BBQ, Smoking, Grilling, Baking and Beer thread

[Lykly]

Wow... that’s CrAzY!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Wow... that’s CrAzY!

I’ve akready skimmed about 5lbs of wet leaves and junk off the pool. The bottom is full of leafy debris. Mr T will be thrown in the pool tomorrow for a 2.5hrs Floor Only cleaning cycle....

 

[Uncle Flappy]

I’ve akready skimmed about 5lbs of wet leaves and junk off the pool. The bottom is full of leafy debris. Mr T will be thrown in the pool tomorrow for a 2.5hrs Floor Only cleaning cycle....

The wind is definitely a challenge but I for one am pleased to have a couple days of cooler weather. 95 degrees last Wednesday was just nuts! It's going to be a warm summer...

 

[JoyfulNoise]

The wind is definitely a challenge but I for one am pleased to have a couple days of cooler weather. 95 degrees last Wednesday was just nuts! It's going to be a warm summer...

Maybe we’ll get some freakish climate-change catastrophe - all of our heat will happen in April & May and then a polar vortex will descend only on the the southwest bringing snow in July. That would be a nice change of pace...

 

[Brentr]

Maybe we’ll get some freakish climate-change catastrophe - all of our heat will happen in April & May and then a polar vortex will descend only on the the southwest bringing snow in July. That would be a nice change of pace...

Polar vortex nice word

 

[Brentr]

Cabbage steaks. Salt pepper and olive oil or spray butter. Put in oven for 15 mins at 350-400. Turn once and enjoy :cheers;View attachment 75020

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Flank Steak

I pin tenderized and vacuum marinated 3-1/2 lbs of flank steak in Sweet Korean BBQ sauce. I also prepped some cauliflower in the pressure cooker to make my delicious whipped cauliflower (better than mashed potatoes!) -

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Gasser set to all flames on high. Grilled the flank on each side for 5mins and cooked to an internal temp of 135F. Here it is sliced and plated -

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[Arizonarob]

The Official Start of the BBQ Season

So I hate my gas grille because I got the “contractor special” - my landscape contractor that installed it got it for a very “special” price and I paid more full price for a poorly built grille that uses lots of cheap, overseas components. Anyway, at the end of last year I noticed it was getting more and more difficult for the gasser to achieve a quick high temp (so lots of gas spent) and the flames were tinged with a little orange. Rather than deal with it then, I just closed down for the winter and figured I’d deal with it in the spring.

Today was that day!

Basically I had to strip the grille down to the firebox and clean it all up as well as repair some broken parts that were assembled using cheap aluminum pop rivets. Here’s the photo series -

Grille stripped down-

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Ceramic flame arresting briquettes remove (need new ones as these are disintegrating)-

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Cleaned up and opened up all the holes in the burner tubes. I also adjusted the air intake opening by an additional 1/16”

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Reassembled and grease cleaned off with Easy-Off

(Note to all the pool sissies that whine about MA vapors .... breathing in aerosolized caustic sodium is way worse!!)

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As for the inaugural meal -

Bacon-wrapped filet mignon, boiled corn on the cob and jalapeño poppers!!

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Ok, Matt, I’ll trade you your jalapeño poppers recipe, for my wife’s and I mesquite grilled chicken on a bed of tri colored linguine, with a jalapeño cream sauce! What say ye?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Ok, Matt, I’ll trade you your jalapeño poppers recipe, for my wife’s and I mesquite grilled chicken on a bed of tri colored linguine, with a jalapeño cream sauce! What say ye?

I think I’d be getting the better end of that deal....but sure, I can PM you the recipe

 

[Arizonarob]

Ok deal. And to note on your cold brewed ice coffee, I’m addicted to Stok coffee. You can get it at Fry’s. It is hands down the smoothest cold brew ice coffee I’ve ever had!! It literally says “geeked out” on the side of the bottle!! You wanna talk about painting the outside of your house in a half hour on that stuff, giddily up!!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Shout-out to Arizonarob - awesome mesquite grilled chicken over tricolor pasta with a jalapeño cream sauce!!!

Here’s the dish -

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Here’s how I embellished the dish -

- Used a mix of Serrano & Jalepeno pepper
- Roasted all cream sauce ingredients on the grille to add smokiness to the flavor
- Added steamed asparagus and roasted red bell pepper to the dish
- Used grated Parmesan cheese in the sauce (as per recipe) but also added some shaved Parmesan on top.

HOLY COW THIS TASTES AWESOME!!!

If you help out Rob in the threads he might repay you with his awesome recipe!! I over-complicated it a bit with the add-on’s because I love grilling peppers and adding some flare but the base recipe process is really easy and would be fabulous without any of my flourishes.

Thank you sir, you are a scholar and a gentleman

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and the recipe is meant to be served over tricolor fettuccine but none of the basic super markets around here carry it (you’d have to go to a specialty Italian shop). So I used tricolor rotini which works out fine because the kids can eat it with less mess...kids + noodles = floor full of food

 

[Arizonarob]

Matt, you added a new spin on the pepper angle. I’m going to grill them up next time, cause I like what you did there!

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Matt, you added a new spin on the pepper angle. I’m going to grill them up next time, cause I like what you did there!

I love roasting peppers!! I love it when September rolls around down here because all the stores sell the Hatch green chili’s from the harvest season and usually they’ll set up huge gas powered drum roasters. Hatch chili’s are great for making verde sauce and I love making pork chili verde in my slow cooker. It’s one of those sticks-to-your-ribs kind of comfort foods...:chef:

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I’ll add this picture of the veggies before and after roasting -

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The roasting definitely adds a nice dimension to the flavor. When I do my fall chili verde I usually roast the peppers, onions and tomatillos on the grille. Roasted veggies of all kinds are my favorite.

 

[Brentr]

I’ll add this picture of the veggies before and after roasting -

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The roasting definitely adds a nice dimension to the flavor. When I do my fall chili verde I usually roast the peppers, onions and tomatillos on the grille. Roasted veggies of all kinds are my favorite.

Matt I am intrigued by your love and passion for peppers. I personally love the flavors however I usually pay for them the next day. DW loves hot peppers, perhaps I can find a medium. In your opinion, when you get a chance, can you post your favorite peppers and how hot they might be and how do you cook them?

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Matt I am intrigued by your love and passion for peppers. I personally love the flavors however I usually pay for them the next day. DW loves hot peppers, perhaps I can find a medium. In your opinion, when you get a chance, can you post your favorite peppers and how hot they might be and how do you cook them?

It's funny but we are the opposite - l like a little spiciness to my peppers and the wife dislikes spicy. So we compromise and I'll often make poppers using both jalapeno peppers and the little cocktail bell peppers.

Everyone has a different sensitivity to capsaicin, the active component in hot peppers. Even sweet bell peppers produce minute amounts of it, it's too low to detect. For example, my mother can not eat raw bell peppers as they will give bad indigestion and can only eat red bell peppers in small quantities when they are thoroughly cooked. I, on the other hand, can eat both raw and cooked peppers alike. However, I have definitely become more sensitive to capsaicin with age - when I was younger I could eat spicy foods with little external side effect; nowadays, if I eat any spicy peppers, I sweat profusely from my head (I "get wet" as the pepperheads like to say...). That development occurred over the last 10 years I would say.

When cooking with spicy peppers, I don't ever use the high heat peppers like habanero's (and certainly not the silly ultra hot peppers like the ghost peppers or Carolina Reapers....that just dumb!). I feel those peppers are best left as a garnish to a dish or, in minute quantities served on the side for those that want to add a little extra heat. Adding peppers like that to any dish thoroughly ruins the food in my opinion because the intense heat and discomfort it causes overwhelms any enjoyable aspect to eating. Leave those peppers for making hot sauce & pepper spray!

My go-to peppers are - Serrano, Jalepeno, Poblano and Bells (those are in order of descending heat). To adjust the heat of the dish, I find that I will usually cut open the peppers and strip out all the seed and white pith/ribbing as that is where 99% of the capsaicin resides. Fully cleaned out peppers will be a lot less hot and then you add back in a regular pepper to increase the heat. Roasting the peppers also helps to degrade the remaining capsaicin and leaves behind a mildly spicy and smokey flavor. The best way to roast a pepper is on the grille; ovens work too but I feel they take a lot longer and, in the summer, just heats up the house. Simply rub the pepper with a bit of vegetable oil and roast the peppers until the skins blister and turn black. Then seal them in a glass bowl and let them cool all the way down to room temperature. The sealing is important because it keeps the steam in which helps to separate the charred skin from the flesh. Then just clean out the pepper insides. Some people clean them out under running water which helps to remove all the seeds and ribbing. I like to clean them out over strainer and bowl to capture the juices that come off the peppers when you clean them out (the strainers captures all the charred skins, seeds and ribbing). The juice can be added back to whatever dish you're making with the peppers (great addition to fresh salsa mixes). Whatever you do, roasting the peppers helps a lot in revealing the flavor and reducing the heat.

When I make poppers, I use cheese as the main ingredient of the filling. I always mixed whipped cream cheese with shredded cheese (and add bacon!!) and stuff the peppers with that. The oils and milk in the cheese help to reduce absorption of the capsaicin by your mouth and so it makes them very enjoyable as a side dish or snack. When I make my chili verde, I use roasted peppers and I slow cook it. Slow cooking helps to also degrade any capsaicin. When I make fresh salsa verde, I use roasted tomatillos and roasted peppers with olive oil, lime juice, a little bit of white sugar, salt and roasted garlic. The heat is easy to adjust by simply adding in some fresh jalapeno while it's blending. I get lots of compliments on my fresh green chili salsa.

 

[Brentr]

However, I have definitely become more sensitive to capsaicin with age - when I was younger I could eat spicy foods with little external side effect; nowadays, if I eat any spicy peppers, I sweat profusely from my head (I "get wet" as the pepperheads like to say...). That development occurred over the last 10 years I would say.

.

Same here especially the next morning if you know what I mean Thanks for the write up, I will definitely be experimenting this summer

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Same here especially the next morning if you know what I mean Thanks for the write up, I will definitely be experimenting this summer

Definitely turn the heat down and use milder peppers. Try reducing your intake of dairy as well. Spicy foods are often eaten with a lot of minimally aged dairy products and so the lactose levels can be a lot higher. Aged hard cheeses and yogurt have lower levels of lactose. I found that as I’ve aged, I’ve also become more sensitive to lactose and lactose can have very .... extreme .... effects on your digestive system.

 

[Brentr]

Definitely turn the heat down and use milder peppers. Try reducing your intake of dairy as well. Spicy foods are often eaten with a lot of minimally aged dairy products and so the lactose levels can be a lot higher. Aged hard cheeses and yogurt have lower levels of lactose. I found that as I’ve aged, I’ve also become more sensitive to lactose and lactose can have very .... extreme .... effects on your digestive system.

Check on that

 

[Arizonarob]

It's funny but we are the opposite - l like a little spiciness to my peppers and the wife dislikes spicy. So we compromise and I'll often make poppers using both jalapeno peppers and the little cocktail bell peppers.

Everyone has a different sensitivity to capsaicin, the active component in hot peppers. Even sweet bell peppers produce minute amounts of it, it's too low to detect. For example, my mother can not eat raw bell peppers as they will give bad indigestion and can only eat red bell peppers in small quantities when they are thoroughly cooked. I, on the other hand, can eat both raw and cooked peppers alike. However, I have definitely become more sensitive to capsaicin with age - when I was younger I could eat spicy foods with little external side effect; nowadays, if I eat any spicy peppers, I sweat profusely from my head (I "get wet" as the pepperheads like to say...). That development occurred over the last 10 years I would say.

When cooking with spicy peppers, I don't ever use the high heat peppers like habanero's (and certainly not the silly ultra hot peppers like the ghost peppers or Carolina Reapers....that just dumb!). I feel those peppers are best left as a garnish to a dish or, in minute quantities served on the side for those that want to add a little extra heat. Adding peppers like that to any dish thoroughly ruins the food in my opinion because the intense heat and discomfort it causes overwhelms any enjoyable aspect to eating. Leave those peppers for making hot sauce & pepper spray!

My go-to peppers are - Serrano, Jalepeno, Poblano and Bells (those are in order of descending heat). To adjust the heat of the dish, I find that I will usually cut open the peppers and strip out all the seed and white pith/ribbing as that is where 99% of the capsaicin resides. Fully cleaned out peppers will be a lot less hot and then you add back in a regular pepper to increase the heat. Roasting the peppers also helps to degrade the remaining capsaicin and leaves behind a mildly spicy and smokey flavor. The best way to roast a pepper is on the grille; ovens work too but I feel they take a lot longer and, in the summer, just heats up the house. Simply rub the pepper with a bit of vegetable oil and roast the peppers until the skins blister and turn black. Then seal them in a glass bowl and let them cool all the way down to room temperature. The sealing is important because it keeps the steam in which helps to separate the charred skin from the flesh. Then just clean out the pepper insides. Some people clean them out under running water which helps to remove all the seeds and ribbing. I like to clean them out over strainer and bowl to capture the juices that come off the peppers when you clean them out (the strainers captures all the charred skins, seeds and ribbing). The juice can be added back to whatever dish you're making with the peppers (great addition to fresh salsa mixes). Whatever you do, roasting the peppers helps a lot in revealing the flavor and reducing the heat.

When I make poppers, I use cheese as the main ingredient of the filling. I always mixed whipped cream cheese with shredded cheese (and add bacon!!) and stuff the peppers with that. The oils and milk in the cheese help to reduce absorption of the capsaicin by your mouth and so it makes them very enjoyable as a side dish or snack. When I make my chili verde, I use roasted peppers and I slow cook it. Slow cooking helps to also degrade any capsaicin. When I make fresh salsa verde, I use roasted tomatillos and roasted peppers with olive oil, lime juice, a little bit of white sugar, salt and roasted garlic. The heat is easy to adjust by simply adding in some fresh jalapeno while it's blending. I get lots of compliments on my fresh green chili salsa.

#Takingnotes