FOOD

[Tronic]

Thanks, it was beer canned on the grill.
Here's dessert:

[slim]

Okay. Question for anybody with cooking experience.

We got this fucking magnum of cheap red wine that a friend gave to us. I was saving for a Coq au Vin or a Bourguignon or something.

So I was marinading some meats for a test of the smokinator that just arrived and wanted to try out a some red on this brisket I'm marinading. Leaves a lot of vino left over, but it was cheap, so who cares?

We just got this huge coffin shaped deep freeze and its 80% empty. Can I freeze the wine? I mean I won't DRINK it after I freeze it, but I would use it for the Coq or some other marinade. Does anybody see any problem with freezing it and marinading later?

[600#gorilla]

something tells me you might have dipped a bit in to the marin-aiDe, yourself.

[slim]

I would not drink this shit even if I DID drink!

It's like an 8 dollar magnum of conchai toro. Freeze or spoil?

[Tronic]

I guess it wont hurt to try if you've got the space. Perhaps transfer it to a plastic container. My dad keeps open wine on its side in the fridge for a week or so and its ok. I have two bottles of spoiled red wine deep in the pantry that are becoming delightful vinegars which we use for cooking sometimes. Maybe you could poach some eggs in it. Back in the day, my roommate and I poached eggs in white wine once cause we had a surplus and we wanted to try a recipe that called for burgundy. I have never tasted anything worse in my life except for maybe white wine grits.

[600#gorilla]

my wife's family is greek and she has an ancient uncle that grows grapes. every year he makes a reddish wine and gives it out during the hollidays. the wine is not real good for drinking. however, we keep it in the back of the pantry - just like tronic - and my wife puts it in her spaghetti sauce. she says it's her signature.

just keep your shit wine in the back o your pantry like everybody else.

[slim]

Okay wine is in the freezer. I'm sure it will be okay for marinading.

So I got the smokinator. I had some buyers remorse, since it probably wont smoke that well, but for doing indirect heat this should be quite a nice piece of kit. I got a single rack of babybacks and a really small 4 lb brisket that I'm going to try out for a test run. I will be doing the ribs on the top rack and the brisket in a cooking pan on the lower. Construction is nice, and it comes with a nice manual that obviously took some time. When it comes to the vent holes on top the guy has done the math to figure out the AREA of the open portion of the vent holes. Pretty funny.

I have a pecan tree in my back yard, and we had a limb thats been sitting in the yard for months. I chopped some up and I am using pecan as the wood for smoking. I will be attempting a 6 hour cook. Will update.

Pics:






Will be spraying hourly with:


Which is a mixture of vinegar, orange juice and beer.

[600#gorilla]

six hours is just enough time for me to fly to your nearest airport.

set the table for one more.

lol.

keep us posted.

[pmahnn]

small 4 lb brisket

Dry rub?

[slim]

Dry rub on both. Of course. Is there another way to do things?

[slim]

My one complaint thus far. The legs on the upper grill are too short. I had to put some 3 inch thick stones on the lower grate to raise it up a bit. This should only add to the stability of the cooking however, as the stones will retain heat while the lid is off.

[pmahnn]

Dry rub on both. Of course. Is there another way to do things?

In the photo, the ribs looked a little sauced. It's good to know you're not ruining the meats with invalid methods.

[slim]

There will be no sauce. Dry rub has drawn out lots of liquids as you can see. If I did use a sauce it would only be applied during the last hour of cooking.

I will be serving this BBQ with fried rice. I know it's not a standard issue side action for American Q, but it should be quite delicious. I will be using farm eggs and onions, frozen peas (unfortunately) and green onion (yummy). The rice has been sitting out for 24 hours so that it gets nice and dry:



I am also making potato chips fried in peanut oil (as a southerner should):



Temp is holding SOLID. A couple sprays here and there to lower coal temp but pretty low maintenance.



Couple update pics:

[pmahnn]

Your meat looks delicious. Has the smokinator met your lowered expectations?

[slim]

In terms of involvement yes. I've been checking it twice an hour and temps have been consistent between 225 and 255.

In terms of product? I'll get back to you in 4 hours.

It is certainly nice not to have spent $1K on an egg, and it's nice to utilize the kettle for some good indirect cooking. I think this smokenator will excel at beer can chickens. I will be trying that later this week...

[slim]

Three hours in or thereabouts.

[600#gorilla]

lookin' good.

i think you and i are spending too much time at home....

your posts are making me crazy.

gonna put a whole chicken on the grill in about an hour or two.

[slim]

heh.

I wouldn't trade the life of a freelancer for anything right now. I've worked 3 days in the last 45. Epic vacation.

However my life is about to change starting next week. You gotta pay bills though, even with a sugar momma.

The smokin is going good. It's going a bit slow, but thats fine. The ribs are still pretty damn tough though. I hope they start to soften.

[600#gorilla]

slim, you oughta make spacers for your two-tier system like pmahn's

[600#gorilla]

curious lack of BBQ updates from down south...............