Birthdays and pizza party

Celebrating Edward’s 2 year birthday and a special note from Grandpa to Marcella.

cake-note

 

Build your own pizza. Had a multitude of toppings to choose from. Was going to cook them all on the grill but only managed to do one as it looked like we were going to get a pretty good storm.

Toppings

toppings

Getting the stone heated up (scrap piece of soapstone)

stone

Getting the crust rolled out and brushed with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and parmesan cheese.

crust

First pizza and the only one done on the grill was pepperoni for the kids

first-pie

The rest were done in the oven at the highest temp (550)

pie2

more-pies

Another Brisket

Fire is already going. I have hickory and cherry chunks for smoke. Brisket is just salt, pepper, and garlic.

 

brisket-rubbed

 

At the 3 hour mark, brisket was 130 degrees internal. Smoker is running around 225 degrees.

brisket-3-hours

 

 

It is getting there. The brisket hit a stall 7 hours in. Bumped up the smoker temps to 300.

getting-there

 

It was done in about 9 – 9.5 hours. Internal temp was 192 or so. Let it rest for 45 minutes while I cooked the remaining items

brisket_done

sausage2

 

Sliced flat then point.

slice_flat slice_point

Table with sides

table

 

Beef Ribs

Picked up some beef ribs at Walmart the other day. Rubbed them with Oakridge BBQ Black Ops, oil, a little extra salt, and a few dashes of worcestershire sauce. Waiting on the smoker to come up to temp right now.

 

beef-ribs

 

Rubbed

rubbed

 

 

At about the two hour mark. Going to mix up a little spray to keep them moist.

 

2-hour

 

A while later, ready for sauce

almost

Sauced

sauced

Checking the sauced ribs after 20 minutes, almost done

sauced2

Gave them another 15 minutes and removed

done-sauced

Some cut shots

cut2

cut1

I had them on the smoker for about 4.5 hours with temps ranging from 250-300 using lump charcoal and hickory. I think they could have used another 45-60 minutes before getting sauced but they were good, but just not as fall off the bone as I would have liked.

Half sour pickles

Wash and prep your cucumbers.
– Use cucumbers bred for pickling. They have a firm crisp flesh and a good skin
– Pick them at the proper size. If they get too big the seeds can be obtrusive
– Trim the vine end from the cucumber. It contains an enzyme that will cause soggy pickles, a small slice off is good, no larger than quarter inch.
– Make sure they are clean
– I like to slice them in quarters so I can pack them tight

You do not have to slice the cucumbers but it can take a bit longer for them to ferment and they will not pack as tight which will require more brine.

For the brine, you do not want to use city tap water because of the additives can cause texture and color issues. Likewise unless you have tested using your well/mineral water I would avoid it.

– 1 pint bottled purified water. The cheap stuff is fine.
– 1 TO 1.5 table spoons pickling salt
– 6-8 cloves of garlic slightly smashed or diced
– 8-10 whole peppercorns
– a head of dill or some of the braches

Clean your jars thoroughly. Place half your amount of garlic at the bottom then add your cucumbers. Pack them tightly but not so much you crush them. Depending on slicing you may have to pick and choose what fits best where. Put in your dill head or dill then the remaining garlic cloves. Add the salt and water to top the pickles. Water level should be about a half inch under the cap, but I have gone a bit higher when needed. Put the top on and shake to combine and distribute the salt. I like to shake them periodically throughout the first day or two. Loosen the cap slightly and place on the counter under a cloth or in a cabinet for 24-48 hours. The way I tell how long is by smell and color. You can tell pickles are starting to ferment by the white bubbles that form and by the flesh of the cucumbers changing. The longer they are kept at room temperature, the more fermented and sour they become. This process does not stop when they go into the refrigerator but slows.

After 48 hours I put them in the fridge for at least a week and check on them daily to make sure nothing unusual happens. After a week I taste them to see how they are progressing. Sometimes they are ready in a week, sometimes two.

In the fridge they keep for a couple months.

In the picture below, the larger container is the wide mouth 64 ounce ball container and the two smaller are 32 ounce. The smaller ones are just packed and the larger is a week old.

 

IMG_20140731_152436731

Steaks

It has been awhile since I cooked some steaks. So picked these up at Sam’s club. Seasoned with oil, pepper, salt, garlic, and a dash of red wine vinegar. Skewered some mushrooms seasoned with oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic. Fried up some salt pork for some brussel sprouts and red onion.

Used frontier brand lump charcoal and hickory.

 

Steak-uncooked2

 

saltpork

seasoned2

brussel-sproats

 

brussel-sproats-cook

Started indirect

steaks-indirect

 

Moved over to direct for final sear. Maybe a minute per side. Fire was really hot.

 

steaks-direct

steaks-resting

steak-fork

 

plated

 

Some tater tots

tater-tots-2

 

 

Also used my new knife

 

knife

2014 Camping – Pymatuning

Some pictures from my camping trip to Pymatuning.

Got back on Monday. I managed to get some pics but a lot of the food went fast. No fish was cooked cause we probably had one keeper out of the bunch.

The fatty consisted of, italian sausage, ground lamb, cheese, onions, mushrooms, bratwurst, and wrapped in bacon and seasoned with Old Thompson steak and burger seasoning.

The chuck was seasoned with Oakridge BBQ black ops.

The wings were done with Oakridge BBQ habanero death dust and cayenne hot sauce.

http://www.oakridgebbq.com/

tents

cook_setup

IMG_20140811_082938057_HDR

camp_site5

camp_site4

camp_site4

camp_site3

fatty

hash

wings2

chuck

 

chuck_wings

 

chuck_ends

 

bacon

 

wings_cook

 

sunset

Beef

It was good

“London Broil”

Koshered the meat for 10 hours

Marinated overnight in italian dressing, worcestershire sauce, and Sriracha.

Direct heat on very hot grill 8-10 minutes per side (internal temp 140-142). Rest in foil for 20 minutes

.IMG_20140615_193606650_HDR

IMG_20140615_190810473_HDR

Making pumpkin seeds

I was not going to make the seeds this year, but did not want to waste them. So I ended up making a bunch (we had 5 pumpkins).  Made them the normal way by rinsing, salting generously while wet and then putting them in the oven for 10-15 minutes at around 275. Found this method though to boil them slightly first before roasting to break down the outer shell a bit. May try that next time.

 

http://ohsheglows.com/2012/09/17/how-to-roast-perfect-pumpkin-seeds-easy-crunchy-addictive/