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* a big red wine
* the hamburgers and brats are already off, ,,, turkey burgers, mushroom brats, chicken, a pork roast, (Well I hope there are left overs all week)
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* big red is a mulberry wine with a few percent lemon and 1/2 t per gallon chestnut tannin
* for those with a quick eye, the plate has press cake from black raspberry, this years big red (mulberry) is getting black raspberry polyphenols
 
I've tried a few ways of making them on the grill with the intent of a nice crispy skin. What I seem to have come up with experientially, is to sear the top and then flip it once to cook the bottom to a crisp. For some reason the skin just sticks to the skillet otherwise. I'm absolutely sure it's operator error... LOL
 
I've tried a few ways of making them on the grill with the intent of a nice crispy skin. What I seem to have come up with experientially, is to sear the top and then flip it once to cook the bottom to a crisp. For some reason the skin just sticks to the skillet otherwise. I'm absolutely sure it's operator error... LOL
Cast iron on the bbq is definitely underrated. You want a good sear on a rack of lamb? yup!
 
I've tried a few ways of making them on the grill with the intent of a nice crispy skin. What I seem to have come up with experientially, is to sear the top and then flip it once to cook the bottom to a crisp. For some reason the skin just sticks to the skillet otherwise. I'm absolutely sure it's operator error... LOL
This is how I make salmon. Season and sear the flesh side for a few minutes then flip to skin-side down and finish on the grill or in a hot (450F) oven. Serve with lemon wedges and a garlic dill sauce… to die for!
 
Made the guys burgers for lunch today... I have another pizza dough in the fridge, but I wasn't ready for that, so It got pushed.

The first real potato feed tonight and beet tops with pan fried cod. Kind of a burnt blanc. I heated it up enough to demulsify? so it wasn't so rich. Capers, time and lemon.

Might be ready for pizza after a good nights rest.
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Well, I finally did it. You know when something just seems like a big thing and one day I'm gonna try that? Well, that was me with firing this thing up.

Its a whole new oven! More even, holds the heat better. Cooks better in every way. I was worried I wasn't gonna have enough heat. I had a charcoal bed and ramped it up with wood right before I put the pizza in. It was too hot! But we're learning.

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Vs gas!


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I don't know if I will do gas again. It wasn't any longer to preheat, and likely the best pizza I have ever made.

As I said, too hot, but it was still tasty. I crossed @ceeaton dough recipe with mine. Added the olive oil from mine and brought it from 63% hydration to 68%. Mine was originally 74% so I split the difference and fermented in the fridge for 3 days. Way more spring with the olive oil. Much lighter and chewier, too.
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This is how much heat I had after eating, so once I learn to control that, were gonna be making magic. The rest of the pics got missed because I was distracted with the heat and focus on not catching dinner on fire!
 
Well, I finally did it. You know when something just seems like a big thing and one day I'm gonna try that? Well, that was me with firing this thing up.

Its a whole new oven! More even, holds the heat better. Cooks better in every way. I was worried I wasn't gonna have enough heat. I had a charcoal bed and ramped it up with wood right before I put the pizza in. It was too hot! But we're learning.

View attachment 102866
Vs gas!


View attachment 102867

I don't know if I will do gas again. It wasn't any longer to preheat, and likely the best pizza I have ever made.

As I said, too hot, but it was still tasty. I crossed @ceeaton dough recipe with mine. Added the olive oil from mine and brought it from 63% hydration to 68%. Mine was originally 74% so I split the difference and fermented in the fridge for 3 days. Way more spring with the olive oil. Much lighter and chewier, too.
View attachment 102868

View attachment 102869
This is how much heat I had after eating, so once I learn to control that, were gonna be making magic. The rest of the pics got missed because I was distracted with the heat and focus on not catching dinner on fire!
What kind of temps did you get with the wood fire?

Do you remove the wood prior to cooking? I know in a traditional oven you just push it to the back.
 
What kind of temps did you get with the wood fire?

Do you remove the wood prior to cooking? I know in a traditional oven you just push it to the back.
It is in a tray at the back and there are 2 dampers to control the heat. one in the roof of it, and one in the chimney. I suppose I could have opened the rear hatch to cool it down too. With wood and charcoal you can hit 950+ I was about 750 when I put it in. I cooked it in the high 600 range. With gas the temp fell faster as I was choking it down so the pie would cook before the top burned.
 
With the smoke hanging around, makes it look like a T-storm is eminent all the time. Took a chance and bought a fire sale chuck roast, 2.5 lbs, and prepped it like I would top or bottom round for pit beef. Cooked it slower on the Weber kettle than I normally would, put the spurs to it at the end with some hickory wood. Served with some tiger sauce and supposedly local corn, which was really good! Yum!

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And with the Phillies blowing out the Nats, made it taste all that much better!
 
I use semolina for the normal pies, can't use the peel for the GF one w/o the parchment paper. I can use cornmeal as long as it's GF, but I need to use a pan since the steel is used for normal gluten containing pizzas and most parchment paper can only go to 425*F.

This pizza making has been wonderful… Craig I see you’re making a GF option, do you have a recipe you like? I need to add one to my list for family members. I see quite a bit of options on how to do one and have zero idea so far. Just starting to work through understanding GF baking...
 
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