The trick is to smoke the meat and not make the meat smoke
GS3-2010_Blog_Header-HDR-960x500
December 2010

2010 Blog Archive

Here is the ARCHIVE OF BLOGS for this year with links to all of the entries listed chronologically.
Comments

Why Do You Take So Many Pictures?

12-27-10-Blog-420x200
If you’ve been elsewhere on this site, the title of this blog may seem self evident. But what caused me to have to answer this question, was a visit from a friend when I was doing a practice run for a Christmas side dish. I was snapping multiple pictures of every phase of what I was doing and he finally said: “I had no idea you shot so many pictures of the things you make. Why do you take so many pictures when you could just take the pictures you need to use on your site?” While I was answering his question, it occurred to me there might be a blog in this. Some of the answers are obvious and some equally good reasons are not obvious. So here is a list of the reasons I document in pictures all the new recipes I make, from start to finish. Read More...
Comments

Zero Tare Scale Tip

IMG_3080-Blog-420x200
Now here is a case where I may just be slow and I am the last person to pick up on this capability of a zero tare scale. But in case I am not, here is a way to make quick work out of measuring out ingredients for a recipe where you have the weights. A couple clarifications first. A zero tare digital scale has the ability to ignore the weight of the items on the scale’s platform and reset itself to zero. This allows you to put a plate or a bowl on the platform. The scale is zeroed out so it ignores the bowl and just weighs the content you add. As you may have noticed, I tend to pre-measure my ingredients into bowls. Baking recipes often have the measurements by volume and weight. I like to use weight because it is more accurate than volume. The zero tare feature made it easy: I would put the bowl for that ingredient on the scale, zero it out and add the ingredient. I would do this for each ingredient and then add them to a large bowl to mix together. This was a fairly fast and accurate way to work for sure, but today I found a better way. Read More...
Comments

Emile Henry Pizza Stone

IMG_3052-Blog-420x200
I never thought I’d own a pizza stone. After all I don’t make pizza in my oven, and I like making pizza on the grill without the stone. I like being able to grill both sides of the crust as opposed to baking one side like you do with a pizza stone. Until two weeks ago I had no reason to want a pizza stone. Then I started making bread from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. This book recommended using a pizza stone for the crispiest crust. Since I was really happy with the results so far on the recipes that didn’t call for a pizza stone, I figured these authors knew what they were talking about. My initial breads were made in loaf pans and a stone wasn’t required. I was going to be graduating to loaves cooked without a loaf pan. The authors said you could use a metal pizza pan, but highly recommended a pizza stone. So suddenly a pizza stone was on my radar. The author’s web site had a blog entry on pizza stones and the Emile Henry Pizza Stone was a dark horse favorite. I noticed it was sold at Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table, which meant it was a serious pizza stone. Poking around and looking at critics reviews of pizza stones on the internet, I found this topped many lists as the best pizza stone. Santa came early this year and I picked up my stone. I really like it a lot and while I may not grill with mine, I figured there are others out there with smaller or round grills who may need to use a pizza stone. That is the reason for this blog. Read More...
Comments

Be Prepared

IMG_3017-Blog-420x200
Perhaps I’m a chicken, but when it comes to holiday meals or other special occasions I like to play it safe. I like to do dry runs ahead of time for dishes that are new to me so there are no last minute surprises. I don’t want to be one of the family holiday horror stories that get retold every year. There are enough things that can go wrong when you are prepared, there is no sense adding in a whole bunch of surprises to the mix. This blog will talk about some of my reasons for advanced prep and test runs, complete with real world examples. Read More...
Comments

Artisan Bread - A Follow Up

IMG_2966-Blog-420x315
Two weeks ago when I wrote the blog entry ARTISAN BREAD IN 5 MINUTES A DAY I had only just begun to use this book. I am back to report that it is just too good, not too good to be true. I can’t tell you how nice it is to be able to reach into the fridge, pull out a ball of dough and in about 2 minutes you have a loaf of bread started. About two hours later, after a rise, a bake and a cool down your are cutting into fresh baked bread as good as any I’ve tried. This process really works well. You make a particular “master dough recipe” which can be stored for up to two weeks in the refrigerator. On baking day you cut off a piece of the dough and make the bread. Many recipes have variations for the types of bread you can make from the master dough recipe. The same loaf you get a baguette from, can make a delicious pizza crust from. In fact let me say not just delicious, it was the best pizza crust I’ve ever made or tasted. I’ve now made this bread for several people who are long time bakers themselves and they were blown away when they tasted the bread. Read More...
Comments

2010 Year of the Hot Dog

12-17-10-BLOG-420X200
I’ve noticed in the past how certain years seem to evolve into a cooking theme. It isn’t even intentional, it just happens. A new cookbook, a new piece of gear and suddenly you are doing a lot of similar items. This year actually had several themes: Grilled Paella, Grilled Pizza, Comfort Food and perhaps this is a subset of Comfort Food: Hot Dogs. I certainly didn’t start out the year with that in mind, it just happened. I started making so many dogs, they quickly rated their own section on the site. Then I had to add a second page on the site for hot dogs. Next thing I knew I was buying a book about hot dogs. So in this blog I am going to summarize the year I went to the dogs. I will provide links to the picture entries for each item I talk about. That way if you want to see more - just click on the picture link for that item. Read More...
Comments

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

IMG_2913-Blog-420x315
This blog title is the title of an amazing cookbook I just picked up that sounds too good to be true, but so far it sure doesn’t seem to be. Now before you wonder why I am talking bread in my barbecue blog, just think about it: Bread plays a key part in most everything we eat. This book uses a series of simple starter recipes to create all types of breads from A to Z. With the recipes in this book I will be able to make rye breads for grilled paninis, pizza dough for grilled pizza, flatbreads, rolls, etc. Read More...
Comments

Plank Grilled Meatloaf

12-11-10-Blog-420x200
In early October I was looking for recipes and I stumbled upon a recipe for cedar planked meatloaf. While this wasn’t what I was looking for, it did intrigue me. A few days later when I was in a bookstore I saw a cookbook dedicated to plank grilling. When I looked inside I found it had a recipe for plank grilling meatloaf. I figured it had to be a sign and picked up the book. Of course the first thing I wanted to make was meatloaf. Read More...
Comments

Sweet - FoodSaver Canister Tip

IMG_2798-Full-3648x2736-Blog-420x315
This blog entry is a quick tip on a great use for FoodSaver canisters. I figured this one was a no brainer, but I’ve found many folks with FoodSavers only use them for leftover food that they’ve cooked. I’d mention this use and often they hadn’t thought of it before this. So I’m sharing it here as a quick tip. Read More...
Comments

My 200th Blog Post

12-07-11-Blog-420x200
Within the last 2 weeks my site has reached two milestones. The first was my 300th unique picture post. Today I am writing my 200th blog entry. Back in 2006, you might have heard me calling writing 200 blog entries a millstone, not a milestone. Back then blogs had been around for a few years, but were still somewhat new. I really didn’t know if I would be able to find enough things to write about to keep it interesting for me or the potential reader. Several things have changed along the way. Read More...
Comments

Fried Chicken on the Grill??!!

12-02-10-Blog-420x200
It’s funny how you wake up some days and the day goes totally differently than you expected. I visited the Barbecue Bible message board just after getting up. I found a post there by a gentleman who’s handle is SCBBQBIll, who’d made fried chicken on his Weber Kettle. I was skeptical when I saw the post title, but intrigued as well. Up until that point, I thought the only way to get crispy skin was to deep fry the chicken. I had seen a recipe on the America’s Test Kitchen TV show for making deep fried chicken in a Dutch Oven. It was actually on my short list of things To Do. Reading the post I saw the original recipe came from the Virtual Weber Bullet web site, which was a good sign. Best yet the recipe was simple, You prep the chicken just as you would to fry it. Next thing I knew it was off to the supermarket to get chicken and batter. I couldn’t wait. Read More...
Comments

Getting Better All The Time

It's Getting Better All the Time Collage
When I was writing this year’s 5th annual Looking Back, Looking Ahead blog entry I realized I has a really good year. I have been trying to analyze why this year worked out so well. It certainly wasn’t any one thing, I think it was a combination of items that may have come together to make the total greater than the sum of the parts. Writing this down on the form of a blog entry may help me understand it better too. Read More...
Comments