Zachary's smlog and other bits

Lamb steaks et al

2009-04-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

2X 1# lamb steaks, asparagus spears, zucchini and blue oyster mushrooms

Marinated steaks at 1:30PM

Marinade Recipe:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1tbsp rosemary (fresh, chopped)
1tbsp honey
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper

I blended all the ingredients in a bowl and then put the steaks in the marinade in a pyrex, and in the fridge for about 5 hours.

Zucchini and Asparagus marinade
1/2 of a meyer lemon (juiced)
1/4 cup EVOO
3 tbsp balsamic
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp black pepper
Zucchini quartered lengthwise, woody ends of asparugs snapped off.
In marinade for about an hour.

Blue oyster mushroom marinade
larger stems removed tossed in a tupperware with a splash of EVOO, balsamic and a salt and pepper. Let sit with the other veg for about an hour.

At about 5:30PM Traeger set to 400 to heat up. Hickory pellets.
5:45 -6:00PM, Lamb steaks put on grill still soaking in marinade. Grill turned down to 325.
after about 10 minutes put mushrooms and veggies on a wire rack in the grill and spread them out.
Flipped steaks, tossed mushrooms and veggies.
Took steaks off when internal temp was about 150. Wrapped in foil for about 10 minutes.

Veggies came out great. Nice and grilled. Juicy and slightly crisp at the same time. Mushrooms nice and meaty. Should have got more of them.
Lamb steaks slightly overdone for Tabs taste. She likes her meat bloody. Flavor was good, the cut was a little tough. I thought it needed more salt, Tab said it didn't.
Next time 140 or 45 on internal temp, and maybe a little salt in the marinade. Or salt the steaks when they go on the grill.

4# Free Range Chicken. Whole.

2009-04-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

4# Free Range Chicken. Whole.

In brine at 12:00PM
Brine Recipe:
3 Qts water
2 cups brown sugar
1.5 cups pickling/canning salt
1/2 Onion (big slices)
Cloves (some, whole)
Peppercorns (some, whole)
4 Cloves garlic (minced)
Celery seed (some)
Mustard powder (dash)
Garlic powder (dash)
Onion powder (dash)

Out of brine at 4:00PM. Patted dry.
Traeger filled with hickory set to 425 for half an hour to bring unit up to temp.
Stuffed brine onions inside chicken and put it in the Traeger at about 4:30 PM
Turned the thermostat down to 225 for about an hour and a half.
Then set to 375 for another half an hour to 45 minutes to crisp skin.
Taken out of Traeger when internal temp reached 160 degrees.
Put on platter and wrapped in foil for about 20 minutes.

Chicken came out amazingly delicious. Crispy skin, meat super juicy and tender with good flavor.
Was even better the next day cold.

The New Revolution

2008-11-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

So, its upgrade time here at the ranch.
I came across a slightly used but still fully functional Traeger Pellet Grill, and I had to make it my own.
A little paint and some new hardware and I was in business.
Whats neat about this grill is that you fill it full of wood pellets and it has an electric auger that automatically feeds a firepot in the center. Basically hands off. And all the cooking is done as if over a wood fire. No propane or charcoal required.
Plus its got a digital thermostat for perfect, consistent cooking temps.
And the wood pellets come in all different types. So far I've got Alder, Apple and Hickory.

Tabitha and I have been trying to buy a grill for almost 5 years now.
We hate the crap grills that are available at most home centers. The small ones are made from crappy pot metal and aluminum and are still too big for my taste, and the large ones are 87 sheets of stainless steel folded into the size of a moon lander. I don't need 200 sq feet of grill area, 4 extra burners and a beer fridge. I also don't need a grill that's going to turn into an ugly pile of scrap metal that I'm going to have to throw away in a year.
We have a small house, and a small deck and yard. Not a lot of room for an impractical grill.
Enter the Traeger.
So far I love it.
It grills and smokes and it sits on my porch and doesn't hassle me. No gas bottles, no briquettes.
I still need to practice with it a bit, but so far burgers, a pork loin and some salmon have come out great.
I haven't given up on my manual vertical box smoker yet, but stay tuned, as the new revolution gets underway.

5# Alaskan Coho 3# Alaskan Halibut

2008-11-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

Was out toodling around, so I hit up my local favorite fish market for some fish to smoke.
Ended up with a 6# plank of frozen Coho and just for the heck of it, a slab of frozen halibut.
I have never tried smoking a white fish, and I've heard great things about the Alaskan halibut, so I thought I would give it a try.
I used the same brine recipe for both fish.
The recipe I adapted slightly from a fish brine recipe I found online that was written by an Alaskan fishing guide.
Here's what I used:
1.5 Gallons water
1 1/3 cups pickling salt
1 3/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
6 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 fresh onion (large chunks)
<1/8 cup red pepper flakes
<1/8 cup blakc pepper flakes
Splash of OJ

I put both types of prepped and de-boned fish in the brine (about 9:30PM) and then in the fridge.
Pulled it out about 8:00AM and rinsed the fish and let it dry on a rack until about noon.

Smoked it at about 225 degrees for approx 3 hours, using alder pellets.

It came out pretty good. I think maybe a bit salty on the thinner pieces. I have to figure out the salt flavor difference between kosher salt and pickling salt. I think the pickling salt leaves a much saltier flavor.
The halibut was good, but a much more delicate flavor than the salmon. I think maybe it could have done better with a shorter brine time, and maybe not such robust brine flavors.
Moisture on the salmon was perfect for the larger pieces and a bit dry on the thinner ones.
I think when I buy fish I should lean towards multiple smaller ones, a opposed to one really large one. Ill try that next time.
All in all it was a successful smoke.

6# locally caught Coho - Fresh

2008-10-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

Went to Barleans while doing errands yesterday and picked up a whole, fresh caught Coho. Before filleting it was 6.25 pounds.
In my quest to be able to make great (not just pretty good) smoked salmon I took a slight deviation from my usual routine. I decided that instead of my usual brining overnight (usually about 10-12 hours) I would try it for a shorter period (~6hrs).
So I only just put it in the brine a half an hour ago (Sun. 8AM)

Here's the brine recipe I just used. Its slightly modified from one of my previous salmon batches.

6 Cups water
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup Caning/Pickling salt
1/8 cup Molasses
3 Tbsp Sriracha
< 1/4 cup honey
< 1/4 cup Kikkoman Soy Sauce

This salmon came out kind of flavorless. I think the extra short brine time, totally didn't work.
The fish didnt really have any of the brine flavor, and it got kind of mushy when I smoked it.
I think because there was still way too much moisture in it.
Oh well.
Still ate it all though...

18# Turkey

2008-09-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

This turkey was also given to us by our neighors when they moved.
On the rare occasion that we do cook a whole turkey, we like to get a fresh one. This was frozen store bought, and free, so I thought I would try smoking it.
It was pre-salted/buttered or whatever it is they do to super market turkeys, so I thought I'd leave well enough alone.
I defrosted it, propped it up in the smoker and went at it.

Smoked it for about 5 hours at approx 300 degrees. Used a mixture of apple and alder chips. Didn't have much on hand so I threw a handful of chips in just about every hour. Spritzed the skin occasionally with a mixture of cider vinegar, cranberry juice and maple syrup.

Came out pretty good. A little dry and not super flavorful. If it was a fresh turkey, I would have brined it for sure, and probably wouldn't have gotten anything bigger than a 10-12 pounder.
I think at 18#'s it was a little big for my smoker.

Pork Loin

2008-08-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

2 pound pork loin given to us by our neighbors when they moved.
Frozen
Dry rubbed at about 11:00AM

Rub recipe:
2 tbsp paprika
.75 tbsp cayenne
1 tbsp ground pepper
1.5 tbsp garlic powder
.75 tbsp onion powder
1.5 tbsp kosher salt
.5 tbsp oregano
.5 tbsp thyme

Wrapped in foil and put in fridge for about 1.5 hrs.
Smoked at 180-200 with apple chips
Went into the smoker at about 1:00,
Came out at about 4:00. Probe thermometer said 156 degrees.
Wrapped in foil and let rest for about an hour.
Slices look good, good smoke penetration.
Rub is a little spicy for my taste though.
Maybe less cayenne?

Alaskan Sockeye

2008-08-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

Alaskan Sockeye from a fisherman at work (Caught in Bristol Bay)
two fillets about two pounds each flash frozen and vacuum packed.

In brine at 9:30PM

Brine Recipe:
1 Qt water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup pickling/canning salt
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp sriracha
1/4 cup wildflower honey
1/4 cup kikkoman soy sauce

Out of brine at 10:00AM. Put on rack to dry.
In the smoker with alder chips at about 11:00
Smoked at 180-200 degrees for about 2 hours.

Came out pretty good.
Tab says its too salty. A bit too much smoke flavor. Tends to numb tongue.

Smlog?

2008-08-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

So there's been a bit of a hiatus over at bigblackvan.com while we plodded along and worked on the house and the yard and the boat and uh, work.
There was never really anything new to report, so I got bored.
Well, here's the next step in the evolution.
Meat.
Is it a step forward or step back, who knows. Really, who cares...

Anyway, here's the back story.
Last winter I bought a smoker, mostly because I couldn't get as much smoked salmon as I wanted without going completely broke. ($18.99 a pound!)

So I wandered around the endless aisles of Ebay until I found a scratch and dent Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Series Propane smoker. Got it for $6.00, plus $30.00 shipping.
Not too bad.

The scratched and dented box arrived Christmas-ish 2007 via UPS and I put it together. I straightened the bent bits fixed the broken bits (took me all of 15 minutes) and gave it a try.
Love it! Totally hooked.

So since last winter I've smoked pork ribs, pork loins and tons and tons of salmon.

I never really kept good track of my recipes and whatnot, so I've had mixed success. Its all good, and it all got eaten, but some was definitely better than others. So instead of continuing to shoot in the dark, I thought I should start keeping a smoking log... or blog... or smlog.

So here it is.

Welcome to my smlog.