What's Cooking

[GoingMyWay]

On Saturday my wife made Banh Canh with homemade Banh Canh noodles.

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On Sunday we made Ragu alla Bolognese with Papardelle.

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[GoingMyWay]

Last night I went a little crazy with the grilling.  I made rotisserie turkey breast along with hamburgers, brats, potatoes, and broccoli rabe.  I had always wanted to try these prepackaged burgers because they look so good.  Unfortunately they weren't that good - especially not for nearly $10 for 4 patties.  At least the brats were on sale for $3.

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[peter halle]

Well last night was frozen pot pies. 

BUT
[member=66216]GoingMyWay[/member] has reminded me that I haven’t done a turkey breast rotisserie style in a while and he speared his a different way!  So maybe this weekend the Weber with it’s rotisserie attachments will come into play.  Yum.

 

[GoingMyWay]

This was actually my first time ever roasting a turkey breast before (in the oven or on the grill or on a rotisserie).  I'm quite happy with how it turned out.  I had planned to spear it the traditional way initially and then I realized I wasn't going to be able to push through the breast bone.  I had seen a YouTube video where they speared it basically through where the wing was so I used that method instead.  It worked out fine.

The turkey breast came pre-brined so I just seasoned with a little bit of kosher salt and black pepper.  I've used Weber Beer Can Chicken Rub before on both beer can chickens as well as rotisserie chickens and the skin always seems to get too dark.  The skin came out just how I like it yesterday.

I hope to see your rotisserie turkey breast pics this weekend!

 

[Cheese]

That turkey looks delicious.

I've never seen that grate setup on a Weber before with a round briquet holder in the middle along with the central door. I'm familiar with the grate that has 2 end doors and the 2 briquet holders are half-moon shaped so they can be pushed together or pulled apart for indirect cooking.

 

[GoingMyWay]

It came out really nicely.  I surprised myself actually!  I'm thinking about making the Thanksgiving Turkey on the rotisserie this year instead of using the indoor electric turkey fryer that we've used the last 3 years.  Thought my understanding is that it may be harder to maintain the cooking temperature when it's cold outside.

That grate is part of Weber's Gourment BBQ System:https://www.weber.com/US/en/accessories/cooking/gourmet-bbq-system/.  It came with the new charcoal grill that my wife got me for my birthday last month:https://www.weber.com/US/en/grills/charcoal-grills/performer-series/15301001.html.  I had been wanting another grill for a while.  Now I can cook something on the rotisserie, ribs, or use my Vortex to make wings on one grill while I cook something else on the other  [thumbs up].

This is also the first grill I've had with a built in thermometer in the lid.  That is a game changer!  Before I was totally flying blind not having a clue how hot it was inside.

 

[Cheese]

Though my understanding is that it may be harder to maintain the cooking temperature when it's cold outside.

Ya, be careful...several Christmas eves ago we had people over for dinner and the plan was to grill the steaks outside. Unfortunately it was Zeroº out and windy. The Weber just wouldn't get hot, gas probably would have worked better. At any rate, when dinner was 1 hour late "the boys" decided to move the Weber into the garage and leave the door open to help the process along. When dinner was now 2 hours late "the boys" then decided to close the garage door to further help the process along. Consequently, the garage filled up with smoke so completely that we couldn't see each other let alone the food we were cooking. We stunk from all that smoke, it permeated everything, our clothing and our hair. The garage still smelled 5 months later.  [tongue]  Live & learn.

I have an older Performer model, it has a stainless side cover under which is a bin for the charcoal. It can be seen in the very top part of the photo. It's 15-18 years old and still just hums along. I do try to enjoy it year round.

Thanks for the info on the Gourmet System. That sear grate and griddle look pretty interesting.

 

[GoingMyWay]

Methinks a Big Green Egg might be ok in the cold since it's so heavy and thick.  I've never used one, but I know they can really hold the heat.

Yikes!  Couldn't you all have died from smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning?

I kinda wanted the super deluxe Performer grill with the ignition system and the charcoal holder, but space is at a premium and we already have the other Weber so we decided to get the smallest Performer.  The foldable table is good as we can also always use more table space.

I'd be interested in the Sear Grate, but I have the Grill Grates that work really well over my Slow N' Sear.  The pizza stone might be cool.  I have a baking stone for our oven.  It mostly just sits in the bottom, under the rack to act as a heatsink. I need to check and see how well my wok fits into the opening.  Weber offers a cast iron wok, but from my understanding that seems to be the opposite of what you want.  The wok should be able to quickly absorb and dissipate the heat - the cast would really hold the heat even if it was removed from over the coals.

I seem to recall Alton Brown showed how you can use a Charcoal Chimney Starter as a "burner" for a wok.  Speaking of Alton Brown, has anyone else seen that his show Good Eats is back?  It's called Good Eats Reloaded.  I watched the first episode and I was quite disappointed.  I was expecting a complete reboot of the series.  It ended up being him just revisiting clips from the original episode adding his commentary as to how what he originally said might have changed.

I just realized that the Weber website doesn't show all of the Gourmet BBQ System accessories that are shown in the brochure that came with the grill:

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[Gregor]

A little quiche, always tasty.
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[PeterJJames13]

Big Green Egg is definitely great in the cold. Years ago, when I was new to egging, I was smoking a pork shoulder in late January. Mercury was -3 F. I figured I'd use more charcoal than I normally use on a smoke like this. I couldn't keep the temps low enough - I most definitely underestimated the insulating properties of the ceramics. Rookie mistake on my part. Now I'm well aware and trust what it can do - I also sell them.

 

[GoingMyWay]

Yesterday was my wife's birthday. We made a roast beef, sauteed mushrooms, haricots verts, oven fried potatoes, popovers, and homemade gravy. 

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[peter halle]

Yesterday was my wife's birthday. We made a roast beef, sauteed mushrooms, haricots verts, oven fried potatoes, popovers, and homemade gravy. 

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YUM!  Except for the mushrooms.  Surprised you didn't sous vide the beef.  But it looks delicious!

Peter

 

[GoingMyWay]

I guess mushrooms are one of those love em or hate em kind of things.  I hated them when I was a child, but I like em now.

I think I have made a sous vide roast before.  It's a little less than ideal since the big piece of meat sits in its own juices for so long it really makes it had to develop that nice caramelized crust you get from the dry heat of the oven.  I did miss having that perfect edge to edge pink however.  It was in fact a little overcooked to our normal liking.

We were in a little bit of of a hurry yesterday so I first seared it on the stove and then put it into a 375 degree oven.  It was supposed to be about 15 minutes per pound for medium rare.  I used a probe thermometer set to 125 degrees.  I think it was closer to 1:30 to reach 125.  From the doneness of the meat, I think I should have actually set the target temp to 120 degrees.  I've also used the reverse sear technique for roasts, but that takes longer since the oven is much cooler.

I've heard the "best" way to make prime rib is to crank the oven as hot as it will go, throw the roast in for a short while and then turn the oven off completely and let it very slowly cook like overnight.  I've never tried this, in fact I had also read that the technique doesn't even really work on modern ovens since they don't hold the heat in like they used to.

 

[peter halle]

[member=66216]GoingMyWay[/member]  If you are into roasting rib roasts, here is an interesting read:  https://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/the-food-lab-how-to-cook-roast-a-perfect-prime-rib.html

His cookbook “The Food Lab” is a great cookbook and gift for those who get into food science and enjoy reading in addition to cooking.

Peter

 

[GoingMyWay]

Thanks for that link.  I think I used his Perfect Prime Rib with Red Wine Jus recipe for Christmas one year.  I don't recall if I had seen the article that you sent or not.  His technique is very good, albeit a longer cook time at only 200 degrees. 

One of the things that I was trying to do by making the turkey and roast beef this week is get more practice / experimentation in before a major holiday meal.  I was just telling my wife that the problem is we normally only cook a turkey and prime rib 1 time a year.  Usually for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm always afraid to try something new or test something out for fear of ruining a meal for multiple people.  This past week was a good opportunity to "live free" and not be too worried about a complete failure since it was just the 2 of us eating.

Yesterday we finished up the turkey breast by making turkey club sandwiches. We also made home fries by cooking the 2 leftover grilled potatoes in the bacon fat.

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We made a little turkey stock that we froze from the turkey breast carcass.

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For dinner we had a simple split pea soup that was made with just ham hocks, split peas, and water.  The last couple times we have made pea soup it ended up being very thick.  This time I added extra water to thin things out.  Unfortunately, I ended up adding way too much water so the soup was very very thin. 

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[Cheese]

Talking about the Weber Performer grills and particularly the stainless tray/table off to the side, I always assumed the tray was manufactured from 304 stainless. First because after 15-18 years of outside exposure there isn't a trace of rust and secondly, because 304 is a lot cheaper than the equivalent amount of 316. Both of these stainless products are very non-magnetic.

Well this last weekend I was going to grill some marinated flank steaks and I wanted to use the SysLite with the magnetic adapter and try to find a place on the bevel cedar siding where I could mount the SysLite. After fumbling around for a while I decided to place the light on the grill table and then mark the area on the siding where I would mount the light...the SysLite stuck to the stainless table.  [eek]

Here are some shots, so [member=66216]GoingMyWay[/member] , this may be an alternative for you if you need some localized lighting when grilling at night.

 

[GoingMyWay]

That's a nice setup.  There have been several instances when I needed more light while grilling after sunset.  I usually had to struggle to use the flashlight on my phone.

Any idea now what kind of stainless steel or other metal the table is made out of?

Are you telling me I need to buy a SysLite now???  I had seen some kind of Festool lights come up on the recon site, but never really paid attention since I didn't think I had a need for it.  I may need it now...

 

[Cheese]

Any idea now what kind of stainless steel or other metal the table is made out of?

I still think it's 304 stainless because there's absolutely no rust after all these years. The only thing I can figure is that during the stamping/forming process, the molecular structure is changed as far as magnetism is concerned, (maybe a kind of work hardening process) , yet the corrosion resistance is not affected. If that's the case, that could be a big processing bonus for many items and manufacturers. I'm thinking specifically the boating industry.

The Festool mount holds good and tight as I rotated the SysLite 90º on the mount (parallel to the stainless surface) and it never moved or tipped. I think your situation may be the same. Take a very small refrigerator magnet to the surface and if it sticks, you'll have no problem with the Festool magnetic mount.  [big grin]

 

[GoingMyWay]

I don't know anything about metallurgy, but a molecular structure change from hardening sounds interesting.

I just checked.  The magnet stuck fine to my table also.

 

[Cheese]

I had seen some kind of Festool lights come up on the recon site, but never really paid attention since I didn't think I had a need for it.  I may need it now...

If you decide to purchase from the recon site, just be aware that I've seen both the original KAL (600 lumen) and the newer KAL II  (770 lumen) for sale and the price differential was literally $10. The older KAL has 6 LEDs with a run time of 90/240 minutes, while the newer KAL II has 12 LEDs with a run time of 130/290 minutes.