What's for Dinner?

[JohnT]

Opening day I got my buck. Lots of work butchering and wrapping the Venison. Tonight I reminded myself why its worth it. Thinly sliced floured backstrap lightly fried in olive oil, served alongside mushroom fried rice, steamed veggies, and my SF Sourdough bread. Life is good!!!

Feel free to send me some back strap any time!!!

 

[ceeaton]

You all make me hungry. Wrong thread to view when restricting my caloric intake.

 

[Boatboy24]

Lazy man's fish tacos. Trader Joe's fish nuggets, with some home made sauce, store bought pico de gallo, cilantro and cheese.

Still delicious, and exactly what my 8 year old birthday boy wanted.

 

[montanaWineGuy]

Still delicious, and exactly what my 8 year old birthday boy wanted.

Yeah, right? More likely he wanted an all hotdog sandwich, i.e. extra ketchup, no bun, no silver/plastic-ware, just the DOG. Come'on fess up...

 

[Boatboy24]

 

[Steve_M]

I like it!

Steve

 

[JohnT]

He is not nearly as good looking as his brother!

 

[ceeaton]

Friday, Pizza night. After abstaining from grilling a pizza last week, had to make one, so I back engineered the process. Try to reduce calories, so I reduced the pizza size. The "two meal" pizza; dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. Used one cup of flour to make the dough, still turned out larger than I expected. Mushrooms, pepperoni, broccoli, onions and a few "pizza" pepper flakes.

Next week I'll need a seeing eye dog or a better light in the garage. Added to this weekends project list.

 

[ibglowin]

Made the Chicken Pesto Bake once again. This time, pounding the breast meat flat, and seasoned the breast meat with some Emeril's Essence. Winner winner chicken dinner for sure!

 

[bakervinyard]

"cool and either freeze or eat.."
Hey John you will get a better pie if you freeze it raw, then thaw in the refrigerator over night, then bake it. if you freeze it after baking the apples will get really mushy.
thanks Bakervinyard

 

[Runningwolf]

Beef Brisket coated in mustard then sprinkled Montreal Steak Seasoning, ground pepper and kosher salt on it. Next I capped it off with brown sugar. It'll go in the smoker 7 am tomorrow!

 

[Runningwolf]

Brisket finally hit 155° internal temp. Now to wrap in foil and put it back in till it reaches 185°

 

[ceeaton]

Dan, I haven't done a brisket yet (I know, just not my wife's favorite meal). Is the foil @ 155*F to help preserve some moisture in the meat until it hits 185? Just wondering because in the picture it looks plenty moist.

How did it turn out?

 

[Boatboy24]

Need some sliced pics, Dan!!!

 

[Runningwolf]

Forgive me guys but I started carving and forgot all about pictures. I got it at GFS and it was about 14 pounds. I cut it in half and froze half. Below is the recipe I follow taken from a facebook page for smoking.

The night before, I spread out several sheets of plastic wrap and laid the brisket on top. I trimmed some of the thickest fat deposits down so that the fat was about 1/4" thick.

Next, I rubbed a generous amount of yellow mustard all over the brisket and followed that up with Montreal Steak and Cajun seasoning. Finally, I put a layer of brown sugar on the brisket. I wrapped it tightly with the plastic wrap, stuck it on a rimmed baking sheet (this is important as some liquid will leak out of it while it sits), and put it in the fridge overnight. The next morning I took it out of the fridge a little over an hour before I wanted to put it into the smoker.


Ready for the Smoker
Outside on the deck, I got the smoker fired up to 225F. The recipe called for 250F, but I was not in a hurry and decided to turn a down a notch, having seen 225F for most other smoked brisket recipes I'd looked at.


Brisket in the smoker, fat side up. Protip: don't stand there with the door open for five minutes taking pictures!
With the smoker heated, I put the brisket in fat side up. This ensures that the fat bastes the meat as it melts and runs off. I added some water in the steel dish below the brisket to help keep the brisket moist, stuck the temperature probe into the deepest part of the brisket, and closed the door. Before heading inside, I added a cup of hickory woodchips to the chip tray via a hopper that inserts in the side of the smoker. With this smoker there's no need to worry about soaking the chips before adding them, which is convenient.





The temperature sometimes rises a few degrees above the setpoint as the wood chips are burning
I monitored the meat's internal temperature with the remote control unit that comes with the smoker. After roughly 2-1/2 hours the temperature hit 155F and it was time to wrap the brisket in foil. Using these fantastic insulated food gloves, I was easily able to remove the brisket, wrap it up and put it back into the smoker. The goal was to get the internal temperature up to 185F, which came about 1-1/2 hour after I'd wrapped the brisket in foil.


Ready to slice!
Once I removed the brisket, I kept it wrapped and let it rest for 30 minutes. I then sliced it, cutting across the grain of the meat. Served with some BBQ sauce, it was as good a brisket as I've had! And incredibly easy, too.

 

[JohnT]

"cool and either freeze or eat.."
Hey John you will get a better pie if you freeze it raw, then thaw in the refrigerator over night, then bake it. if you freeze it after baking the apples will get really mushy.
thanks Bakervinyard

I have to remember that in future. Just made the last 3 pies on Saturday...

 

[JohnT]

On top of making pies on Saturday, I also made Eggplant Parm (you taste even better)

I started by making the sauce...

I fried a batch of (whole) sweet Italian sausages in olive oil,
Removed the sausages and poured off most of the fat.
Added diced onion and red bell pepper and added one of my "flavor packs" (summer herbs that I froze with some water).
After reducing a bit, I added 2 quarts of home-canned tomatoes.
I added a small shot of sugar, and added the sausage back into the pot.
I let the sauce simmer for 3 hours, then added 2 cans of tomato paste.

Then I made the eggplant parm...
I peeled and sliced the eggplant.
place each slice between paper towels for 30 minutes to remove some of the water.
Dredge each piece in flour, then egg, then Progresso Italian Seasoned bread crumbs.
Fry each piece until GBD.

Then I assembled ...
spread layer of sauce on bottom of roasting pan.
place a layer of fired eggplant.
add sauce to each eggplant slice.
all mutz cheese to each slice.
Repeat.
Every 2 layers, add dusting of garlic powder, salt, red pepper flake, and parmesan cheese.
top the whole dish with extra cheese.
bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Man, was this good (pic 1)! My mom used to make this and it was my favorite dish. It was the first thing I learned how to cook.

After so many hours of cooking, I relaxed the best way I know. (pic 2), then went "around the world" (but that is another thread)

 

[JohnT]

Forgive me guys but I started carving and forgot all about pictures.

Man, If I had a brisket that looked that good, I would forget about the camera too!

Honestly, that is the thickest brisket I have ever seen!

 

[Steve_M]

Dan, I haven't done a brisket yet (I know, just not my wife's favorite meal). Is the foil @ 155*F to help preserve some moisture in the meat until it hits 185? Just wondering because in the picture it looks plenty moist.



How did it turn out?

Wrapping brisket in foil once it reaches155f will allow brisket to power through the stall. This is where the moisture from the fat cap is insulating the meat not allowing it to rise in temperature. You don't have to cover, but it can and has for me stall at anywhere from 155f-162f for 2-3 hours!
The drawback to this is it can also "soften" the bark/crust. What some will do is crank hear up then give it a quick go of it in the hot fire.

Steve

 

[Runningwolf]

Steve you're right and that stall sucks. You wonder what the heck is going on when the temp doesn't move a bit for hours.