Whatcha Cooking today?

[karstopography]

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First installment of Jimmy Nardello peppers this season. Yum. Served with marinated skirt steak, queso fresco, pico de gallo, corn tortillas.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

The lovely and long suffering Mrs. Gotch assembled two (2) Open-Faced Single Johnny (brat) Reubens, and a few more of the Turkey variety, swathed in homemade Thousand Islands Dressing, replete with minced Famous Dave's Spicy Dill Pickle Chips, and topped with WESconsin Baby Swiss Cheese.

Standing by are three (3) Namio Heirloom Tomatoes from a Greenhouse-raised plant; ain't purdy, they, but heck, fresh Tomatoes in June in America's Dairyland? Fuggedaboudit!

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The Gotch

[karstopography]

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I couldn’t resist the heads on, colossal fresh gulf white shrimp and made Emeril’s New Orleans style barbecue shrimp. Yummy. Served with fresh, crusty, Italian bread.

[karstopography]

Smoking a brisket on the BGE. Froze the choice vacuum packed 14# $1.96/# Brisket a couple of months ago and it was time to cook this. Been thawing out in the fridge since Wednesday. My garage refrigerator is set to near freezing so it took a while.

Brisket smelled very fresh and looked perfect. Vacuum packing is a wonder. Had to aggressively trim, I always trim off any thick hunks of fat, from the brisket to fit it on the Large BGE. Put it on the Egg before 4 am, otherwise, there’s little hope it would be done and rested by dinner and we eat late, like 7 to 8 pm kind of late, especially in the summer.

I liberally Seasoned with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, nothing else. Let the beef flavor shine. Simple seasoning helps the beef take center stage. I see no real need for fancy 15 ingredient rubs or flavor enhancer injections. Cooking at ~250° over indirect heat from Lump oak charcoal and A few small chunks of Post Oak, the general favorite smoking wood for beef around here. Nothing better than the cool, blue smoky fragrance wafting from the top vent.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@karstopography; whaaaaaa, no pictures?

Tease...

The Gotch

[worth1]

I tried the 50/50 mix of black pepper and kosher salt on a brisket some time ago just like Aaron Franklin said to do and found it way too salty and no i didn't use too much.
And yes he measured by volume not weight.
So I dropped the salt content to one part salt to three parts black pepper.
I also think cumin is a good ingredient to add but not much else.
Cumin adds its own smokey meaty flavor to the overall profile.
It really is in the eye of the beholder as to what they like.

[worth1]

I had the homemade Chipotle glaze leftover from the shrimp I made awhile back but couldn't remember what the devil it was today.
So I had to go back and look.
It was sweet tangy and hot.
I decided to make some enchiladas with it.
Colby cheese and red onion on the inside and rolled up.
Then a homemade brisket chili on top.
Then the rest of the cheese and red onion.
Topped with cotija cheese
Will go in oven to warm up with wrap on the top.

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[karstopography]

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@karstopography; whaaaaaa, no pictures?

Tease...

The Gotch

Still a long way to go only 7 hours into the cook, bark will get darker.

[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

You's know I LUV to roast spuds, right?

The lovely and long suffering Mrs. Gotch picked up some spectacularly appointed, though (to no one's surprise) horribly overpriced, Baby Golds.

With outdoor temps an unseasonal high 50's F/~15C, using the oven was advised, with the ancillary benefit of its attendant heat.

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The Gotch

[worth1]

You could do a lot worse than making a giant container of Agua Piña for a cool refreshing beverage.
Easy and simple.
I made mine with a can of pineapple chunks including juice and a can of water added sugar to my taste and blend.
Makes about a quart.
Pour over ice and enjoy.
So delicious.

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[Cornelius_Gotchberg]

@worth1; the capacity of that container suggests it would serve well as *one* of The Gotch's favorite Beer Steins...

The Gotch

[worth1]

Something simple and cheap.
A can of red kidney beans.
Two cloves garlic crushed and chopped.
Chicken bullion powder.
Elbow macaroni.
Leftover pesto.
Paprika.
Black pepper.
Sliced bratwurst cooked until temperature of 155F.
No other spices keeping it simple.

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[karstopography]

Anyone made a Salsa de Cacahuate (peanut and chili sauce)?

I roasted some raw Tennessee red Valencia peanuts in the shell the other day on the Big green egg. They were so delicious on their own, but somewhere I ran across a mention of a salsa that is made in parts of Mexico from roasted peanuts and dried chili de arbol, among other ingredients. Anyone made this salsa and what was your take on it?

[pepperhead212]

Never used peanuts in Mexican cooking, but I've made a number of delicious Thai, and other SE Asian peanut and chile sauces, so I'm sure it would be good!

[pepperhead212]

I had some beans from last season, that I had in the freezer, vacuum sealed. I was going over to a friend's house for dinner, and she asked if I had any beans yet. I told her it was way too early, but I still had a bunch in the freezer from last year, I've been trying to use up! So I took out a pound, and put 1 1/2 c brown basmati to soak, briefly, then cooked it in the IP. While doing that, I got a large onion sliced, 2 very large cloves of garlic minced, a tb of ginger minced (plus 2 tsp for the chutney), plus a green and orange bell pepper, diced. Started out with the onion in some olive oil, then the garlic and ginger briefly, then the bell pepper, plus about 1/4 c tomato paste toward the end, with 2 tsp garam masala (just made a new batch of this last week!), a tsp of the coriander/cumin mix, and a tsp of turmeric, stirred for about a minute. Then the thawed and drained beans, and stirred until heated through and steamy, about 2 minutes. Then I stirred in most of the hot rice, until it looked about the right amount - probably about 7/8 of it - plus another 3/4 tsp garam masala, plus about 3/4 c chopped cilantro. I finished it with a tarka made with a tb of ghee with 3/4 tsp mustard seeds and 1 1/4 tsp cumin seeds cooked briefly, then about 15 halved curry leaves, and 3/4 tsp asafoetida, cooked about 10 seconds, then poured on the dish. Usually I have a bunch of dried peppers in this tarka, but someone couldn't eat that today, so we added heat with pepper flakes at the table.
Brown basmati rice and Thai red beans, with Indian seasonings. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Just before starting this, I made a super simple chutney - a mint cilantro chutney, with some yogurt added. I used two slices of the bell pepper instead of chiles, as someone who was eating couldn't eat heat.
1 1/2 c chopped peppermint
3/4 c chopped cilantro
2 tsp chopped ginger
2 small green chiles, sliced
1/2 tsp sugar
About 1 tsp salt
1 tb lemon juice
2-3 tb water (to get it circulating in blender)
1/2 c yogurt, whisked until smooth

Combine everything except yogurt in blender, or wet/dry grinder, and blend until smooth. Whisk this into the yogurt, and correct seasonings.

The main dish was a beef brisket, that was smoked for about 5 hours, at a low temp.; I went home, while the son was doing that, to work in my garden, then make these dishes to take back there. My Indian friend wanted these recipes, and said she wished she had some rotis to dunk in the chutney, to use it all up! She said this cinches it - she has to plant a mint patch, like I have!

[karstopography]

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Oven roasted Speckled trout with Jimmy Nardello and Corbaci Peppers.

[worth1]

I had a quarter pounder with pickles and yellow onion with mayonnaise.
Sprinkled with black pepper and chicken bullion powder.
My days of all the other stuff stacked on burgers are just about gone.

Brisket burger of course.
Plus homemade French fries dipped in mayonnaise as well.
Water for beverage.

[pepperhead212]

I made some more gazpacho, using frozen tomatoes, and garlic and a shallot, from last year, though I did have to buy cukes and peppers. Trying to use up all those frozen tomatoes (as well as other veggies) from last season, to make room for more. I had this for breakfast!
Gazpacho, with last sessions tomatoes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

Looks like it's going to be a Meatless Friday.
Got a cup of black beans soaking along with some Ancho Guajillo and Morita chilies.
More than likely served over rice.
Tonight is fried fish sandwiches.

[karstopography]

Making Pico de Gallo. Think I will use a combination of Beefmaster, Pink Fang and Sungold on the tomatoes, Red Onion, jalapeño, fresh lime juice and cilantro. No real one way to make Pico.

Then I’m going to stuff some Hatch type Chilis, I’ve got 6-4 and big Jim out there on the plants ready to harvest. I’m going to fire roast and peel those, fire roast corn on the cob, cube up the leftover delicious grilled whole chicken from last night, combine with Oaxaca cheese and serve with a cilantro cream sauce.

Excited about dinner.