What's cooking?

Hey, Brian, if ya got it, run with it.

This morning I decided to cook breakfast on my old portable charcoal grill.  
There's just something about that smokey flavor that makes breakfast taste better.

Pulled out the cast iron skillet and went to work with some turkey bacon, hash browns, and ended with some scrambled eggs.

This morning I decided to cook breakfast on my old portable charcoal grill.  
There's just something about that smokey flavor that makes breakfast taste better.

Pulled out the cast iron skillet and went to work with some turkey bacon, hash browns, and ended with some scrambled eggs.

nice. my grandfather used to make some fantastic scrambled eggs on the grill.

This morning I decided to cook breakfast on my old portable charcoal grill.  
There's just something about that smokey flavor that makes breakfast taste better.

Pulled out the cast iron skillet and went to work with some turkey bacon, hash browns, and ended with some scrambled eggs.

nice.  my grandfather used to make some fantastic scrambled eggs on the grill.

I'm getting used to it.  That cast iron skillet gets hot VERY quickly.  I'm trying to get away with using just one skillet, but it might be a good idea to have a second one out there just to bring the eggs up in temperature slower.

Do you remember how your grandfather seasoned his eggs?

Nothing special tonight, or maybe it was since it's been awhile since we've done this.

A SV steak, treated with the browning solution then torched right in the kitchen and under the exhaust fan, some carmelized onions and what can't be seen is the hotter than hades supersweet corn on the cob that is still cooling down since it's straight out of the microwave and can't be shucked. The onions were done in the steel crepe pan and as usual, no stick.

I did try something new in the browning solution, just a smidge of Marmite, but I detected no large difference.

[Image: DSC04289_zps2krgu41o.jpg]

looks great.

Yup! Ceramic is our pizza oven too. For some reason it just works better than the indoor oven. I still don't understand why. I use them at much the same temperature so it makes no sense. Of course the heat remains outside on a hot day and that's a plus.

Nice looking pizzas! I'd take a few slices!

Yup! Ceramic is our pizza oven too. For some reason it just works better than the indoor oven. I still don't understand why. I use them at much the same temperature so it makes no sense. Of course the heat remains outside on a hot day and that's a plus.

Nice looking pizzas! I'd take a few slices!

I think it will be our go to from now on too.

The only thing we will change next time is, add some wood chunks to give it even more wood fire taste.  We just did straight lump this time with the heat deflector in place, 450-500* for 15 minutes.

I wasn't going to try and get it up to 600-800* like I have read some guys do.

All evidence has been buried.  All tapes have been erased.

Bruce I don't know what you have for a gasket on your cooker, but for the longest time Primo had felt and a rubber adhesive. I provide the Cotronics replacement gasket to the planet and I would hear from folks wanting gasket about how a high temp' pizza cook caused their gasket to part company with the cooker. The Cotronics is a one time replacement, but still, high temp did in many miles of gasket over the years.

Unless you're making Italian street pizza with almost nothing on it, those temps make no sense anyway. The toppings and the crust need to finish at the same time and too high a temp will yield a burned crust as the toppings are done, or leave the toppings uncooked if the crust is done. I can't tell you how many folks don't understand that relationship and complain about burnt crust, yada, yada.

I make a NY style pizza most times and I don't over load my pizzas with toppings and I shoot for 400 - 425°F. I also do them on a pizza stone designed for ceramic cookers with a heat shield below to turn the cooker into an oven.

Do you use the Cooks Illustrated pizza dough recipe? The reason I ask is that it has fantastic flavor from the long slow ferment, and despite what CI says, I can make it one day, and turn it into pizza anytime from 3 days to 10 days later. That makes homemade pizza super convenient. The dough is ready with that long a window. I've made it for guests and they all said that it was the best pizza that they ever ate. FWIW, I never prompt anyone. If you need the recipe (or anyone else reading this) just let me know. I can't post it because of copyright, but I can send it privately. If you have hands in your home that open the refrigerator door every 10 minutes the dough won't last that long in the fermentation stage because it never stays cold. I put it out in the shop (BBQ) refrigerator and the temp' out there hovers near 32°F.

No pix, but I swear it really did happen. :-)

Last night I did 2 8# roaster chickens in the ceramic grill. One change; I normally never use a pan to put the roasters in when out on the grill. This time I did use a pan in an effort to make gravy. But I salted the chickens too heavily and the future gravy would have been far too salty. Next time I'll do better. For those who want the data: 350°F - 400°F indirect for approx' 2 hours. I used the pop up thingy bobs and the looks of the skin for the doneness gauge. Why the variation in temp? The cooker was 350 when I put them in , and I wanted 400° , so while the chickens were in I slowly brought the temp up to the desired point. The only flavorings were S&P and the little smoke that came from the lump charcoal.

We had a guest over and the menu was the ceramic cooked chicken, gratin potatoes with cheddar, and home canned supersweet corn. It was pronounced delicious by our guest. She brought dessert over, but was too full to have any. Many hours later I found out that her apple crisp was excellent, made from volunteer apples from her tree. I love apple crisp; one of my all time favorite desserts and Jane's a good cook.

All simple fare, but the point was to spend some time with a friend of ours. Oh, the pre dinner cocktails were "Cape Cods", or some such, as I've been told; Vodka and cranberry juice. They're delightfully sweet/tart. I thought I invented it, but I guess not. That's what happens when one mixes booze with pretty much anything on the planet to experiment. :-)

Lovely time to BBQ here in Austin so picked up a flank steak and riffed on a soy marinade:

Soy sauce
Olive Oil
Fresh Ginger
Quartered White Onion
Crushed Garlic Cloves
Sectioned Jalapeno
Lemon 1/2 plus juice
Lime 1/2's plus juice
Splash Balsalmic for more acid
Salt
Pepper

24 soak, on the grill for ~ 5 minutes a side and rested for 10min. Grilled lemon and limes, removed veggies and sauteed.

Served with fresh corn tortillas, extra sharp cheese, lime cilantro rice and black beans.

Nice way to close out the weekend!