Gravy's Cooking Thread

joeboo_sl said:

I love swordfish. Has a nice, fairly mild seafood flavor, but is fairly dense almost like a steak. If alligator is like a cross between fish and chicken, then swordfish is like a cross between fish and steak(beef)

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This is also why I love Tuna steaks

Vitality_sl said:

Grilled some swordfish last night. I loved it, GF hated it, too fishy for her. I must've fked it up and over cooked it.

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Swordfish are a bottom-feeding fish. I absolutely will never eat this animal.

But halibut.

Yup. Halibut says you are foolish Azeth.

Made a Chinese pot roast last night, it was very tasty, even if I overcooked it a bit (it was medium).
Chinese Pot Roast Recipe - Allrecipes.com


Try it. Was delish.

Paired it with a stir fry with Udon noodles. Pretty straight forward - get fish sauce, soy sauce, vegetable oil hot, add minced garlic and ginger with shredded cabbage and broccholi, cook it a couple minutes, add bock choi and precooked udon noodles, another couple of minutes, and delish. Also had some mustard powder and red chili flakes.

lurkingdirk_sl said:

Made a Chinese pot roast last night, it was very tasty, even if I overcooked it a bit (it was medium).
Chinese Pot Roast Recipe - Allrecipes.com


Try it. Was delish.

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I'm totally going to try that roast, thanks! Also, that's my go-to site for ideas.

I'm smoking a whole pork shoulder today for the extended family. It smells so good at the moment, I'm at half-chub.

Also making Smokestack/Jackstack style beans today, which means nothing to most of you, but they will be delicious.

Thinking of smoking a bunch o meat next weekend - I have access to any part of pig or cow freshly slaughtered. What should I smoke? And what are your favourite recipes for said procedure?

A couple questions. What's your smoking source? Grill, smoker, Alton Brown special?

Does your family prefer fatty or lean? For pork, I prefer the fatty... actually for beef, too since they are both long cooking applications.

For pork:

Fatty:
I like the Boston Shoulder (also called Boston Butt which is strange since it comes from the front shoulder), not many people keep them whole if they get butchered, most guys make it into sausage. I also like ribs, and I prefer the untrimmed spare ribs, but some people get a little squeamish about the cartilage and bits. Any are fine though, St. Louis cut, or baby backs have less mess. Farther on down is the picnic shoulder, and then maybe a sirloin roast. The hams are great cured and smoked, but I've never attempted a whole ham.

Lean:
These are harder because the fat doesn't render since there isn't much in a lean cut. If you have a pork loin (not the tenderloin) with a decent fat cap on it, you can smoke this and trim it after smoking.


For beef:

I like a full brisket, with the deckle left on. A lot of times this also gets removed in butchering. A trimmed brisket is tricky business because it's so lean. Also, beef ribs are fun, and are monsterish and kids like em.


Doneness: It's a word, dammit. I like my BBQ falling off the bone tender (even ribs, which some people say needs to have some 'bite'). Do you all have a preference?

I built a cold smoker recently, and this will be the maiden voyage. I have a lot of chunks of hickory that I'll be soaking to create the smoke.

I like your recipes, and I tend toward the fatty myself, but I might do some of both, and I'm thinking of doing some fish, too. But we'll see.

My pork guy says he has a really nice pork butt (har har) that would be ideal for smoking, and my beef guy says he has brisket perfect for smoking. Some pork butt, some brisket, some salmon, and I also have a nice medium sized wheel of gouda that I think I might give a try, too.

chaos_sl said:

I made the inside out grilled cheese tonight after having a few beers and deciding "i need cheese". Dudes, a fucking revelation.

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This needs to be posted about once a month to make sure no one ever misses it.

It's goddamned amazing.

joeboo_sl said:

This needs to be posted about once a month to make sure no one ever misses it.

It's goddamned amazing.

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It really is. I've only done the one time, but it's time again.


Dirk, what temp will your cold smoker produce? Did you make it for sausages, bacon, etc?

The lowest temp I've done a pork butt at is 225 - 250F, and that was a long time to smoke. Overnight about 16 hours if it's a whole one (about 10-14lbs.)

Pork butt will be about 15 pounds, and the smoker will, I estimate, make about 225, maybe 240, so I'm hoping for about 18 hours of smoking time.

Slow and steady wins the smoker race.

Excellent.

This is my standard pork rub, and pretty close to the spices I use to make sauce:

Brown sugar
salt
cumin
garlic powder
onion powder
black pepper
ground red pepper
chili powder
dry mustard

I have no idea what quantities there are, I just add a spice until it looks and smells right. Brown sugar is the base so there's more of that than the others combined.

For the brisket, I'm a fan of just salt and pepper, and maybe garlic.

You're awesome. Can't + you just now. I'm going to use that combination of rub spices, will report back to the awesomeness. Planning to start the process about midnight on Friday.

8:3:1:1 is sort of the "standard" place you want to start with rubs. 8 of sugar, 3 of salt, 1 of chili powder, and 1 (combined) of other spices you're using.

So to use the above list you could do:

8 Tbsp Brown sugar
3 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground red pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard

Pretty flexible. I'd do it with that ratio at least once and see if you feel like it needs modifying.

The Master_sl said:

8:3:1:1 is sort of the "standard" place you want to start with rubs. 8 of sugar, 3 of salt, 1 of chili powder, and 1 (combined) of other spices you're using.

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That looks just about right to me. I use less salt cause of the ol' ticker, but it tastes better if you use that ratio.