May 2015 – imnotallowed

Beef and a garden

Took last friday off. Did some shopping. Picked up a package of beef ribs from Walmart along with some other items. Then stopped at Pinzone’s in Parma (they also have a stand at the West Side Market) for their anniversary sale. They had some nice bone-in strip steaks on sale along with some fresh brats and italian sausages. The sausages were only $2.50 per pound. I bought 4 large steaks (each one was 1.5 pounds), 6 brats, 6 hot italian, and three pounds of ground beef.

The beef ribs were done in Oakridge Black Ops rub cooked 4 hours on the smoker. They were not done yet so I wrapped them and stuck them in the oven at 250 for another 2 hours. Then they were finally tender and the meat seperated from the bones nicely.

Saturday we cleaned up the backyard and planted the garden. Picked up the plants from Rosby’s Garden Center which is right down the road.

4 type of tomatoes (beefsteak, early girl, roma, and grape)
kale
Cilantro
Pickling cucumbers
Sweat cherry peppers
Hot cherry peppers
Jalapeno
Brussel sprouts

We also picked up a lemon tree from Petitti’s a week or so ago.

Monday it was steak time.

Ribs and a fatty

Invited the folks over to watch the Cavs playoff game versus the Celtics and made some ribs and a fatty. My rib game has been week lately. I don’t give them enough time. These could have used another hour to loosen up a bit more.

A “fatty” is normally a ground sausage that is smoked in a log form. Variations on this range. Mine was rolled out flat, stuffed with onions and cheese. Rolled back up and wrapped in a bacon weave. I also seasoned the inside with steak and burger seasoning.

I also made what I am calling chili beans. This consisted of a can of baked beans, a can of chili beans, onion, chili powder, a can of chili (no beans), ground beef, and some hot sauce.

The Sausage Shoppe

Stopped in the Sausage shoppe two weeks ago because while I have always heard good things and it being about 2 miles from my house, I had never been there.

http://www.sausageshoppe.com/

They make pretty much everything they sell and have a nice selection. Some items are frozen while your normal items and some specialty brats are available fresh. Prices are on the high side at $8-$9 per pound. I picked up 4 links of Yuengling Beer and cheddar brats, 4 links of garlic and black pepper, and 2 pounds of fresh garlic kielbasa. I smoked the kielbasa and because the brats were already smoked (fully cooked) they just got a sear to heat up. The texture of both the kielbasa and brats was different then what I am used to. They both had a very firm texture from the leanness of the meat used in them but were very moist and tasted great. Well worth the price.

See inside the store using Google

Fried chicken

Marc’s had a sale on chicken quarters a couple weeks ago, .99 cents per pound. I froze a bunch and marinated three in italian dressing, salt, and pepper for some fried chicken. Then they went in a seasoned flour (garlic salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne). Popped in the oil and cooked till done. Did some fries for a side.

Flank steak

I wanted to check out meat prices at GFS for awhile. While there I picked up a new knife and some other supplied that I thought were a good deal. I also picked up a pack of flank steak.

Two of them got my normal treatment for london broil, marinated in italian dressing and salt/pepper. The other was rubbed with Oakridge BBQ black ops rub. Cooked indirect for a bit then seared.

Salsa making

I make salsa all the time and this is pretty much my standard recipe.

1 can chopped/diced tomatoes
half a red onion
cilantro
1 green bell pepper
3-4 jalepenos
juice from one lime
salt and pepper to taste
a few dashes of hot sauce

Roughly cut up the ingredients and add them all to a food processor. Pulse several times to desired consistency. Taste and add salt or pepper as needed. Let sit in the fridge for an hour.

Carne Asada Pork

This was from my first long smoke in the new smoker. Carne Asada pork butt. First I made a paste using oil, worcestershire sauce, store bought carne asada seasoning, some steak and burger seasoning, and some whisky.

Poured it all over the pork and wrapped it up for a bit. In the fridge overnight. Then onto the smoker for about 12 hours.

Turned out great