04/08/16
MOTIVATION:This section is a bit of an experiment. It occurred to me that there are certain procedures that are done regularly when cooking, which become second nature to you. For someone just starting out, or someone who is trying a new procedure for the first time these procedures are a bit of a mystery. Since I take pictures during my cooks, it occurred to me I might be able to take a few extra pictures and use them to document some of these procedures. The result is this new section on Tips & How To’s.
Time will tell whether I expand this section or not. To help get things rolling I used some quick tips from my 2011,2010 & 2009 blog. The first two new tips were more time consuming than I bargained for, so I will have to see if they are helpful to folks or not. I have activated commenting on this section of the site. Please add a comment to let me know if these tips are helpful to you.
INDEX OF TIPS LINK:
All Tips Indexed Alphabetically
02/01/14 Filed in:
BGE Tip | Smoking I recently learned a valuable lesson using my BGE low & slow for smoking. Fortunately I didn’t learn it the hard way. I was lucky enough to save my bacon, or in this case: Ham. I was making
DOUBLE BAKED HAM WITH APRICOT GLAZE. The recipe called for a total of 3 hours smoking time at 235 degrees (113 C). After the first two hours you applied a glaze twice, at the 2 hour and 2 1/2 hour marks. At the same time, I was also smoking some baked beans using a doctored beans recipe called
SANDI’S SWEET ’N’ SPICY BAKED BEANS. Both recipes called for a 235 degree (113 C) smoking temperature. I “knew” I couldn’t fit the two dishes t the same level on one Egg. I had considered trying to use my Adjustable Rig to try to do everything on one Egg, but I wasn’t real sure about using the rig extender and putting the beans high up in the dome. So I played it safe and fired up both Eggs about an hour early and got them stabilized at 235 degrees (113 C).
Learn More...31/12/13 Filed in:
BGE Tip | Grilling I recently discovered an unexpected use for the BGE Half Moon Cast Iron Griddle Grate: As a panini press. For the last several years I have been using a sheet pan weighed down by one or more foil wrapped bricks. This method gives you paninis that look like they came off an indoor panini press. But unlike a panini press, this is a two-step process. You must do one side at a time. So you got “grate” results, but it was more work than using and indoor panini press. While I wasn’t actively looking for a better solution, one came to me when I was making a panini recipe from a new cook book.
Learn More...Tags: Panini Press
13/06/13 Filed in:
BGE Tip This is a basic tip about the Big Green Egg, plus several Tips within that tip. And to be 100 percent clear I am referring to the BGE being topless. not you. The basic tip is to not use the Dual Function Metal Cap when you are warming up your Big Green Egg. This seems obvious when you think about it, but it seems a lot of folks don’’t actually do it. With the cap off the chimney on top of the dome is wide open for maximum draft. If the lower draft door is open you are going to get the maximum airflow through the Egg and the maximum amount if fire and therefor temperature rise. So for the quickest warmup times, leave the top cap off...
Learn More...11/03/13 Filed in:
BGE Tip One of the things I pride myself on is being able to come up with “thinking outside of the box” solutions. I recently came up with another couple of uses for my Large Spider (from the Ceramic Grill Store) for the Large Big Green Egg, but it took me a while to do it. So I thought I might mention it here as a tip in case other owners of the Large Spider only thought of it as a support for a wok. I know I did until a couple days ago.
Learn More...Tags: Large Spider
08/02/13 Filed in:
Tips | Grilling One of things people look for in a grilled meal is the grill marks on the food. Many folks have heavy duty cast-iron or enameled cast iron grill grates that can lay on some great grill marks. But I’ve found that many folks do not know that these grill grates are often two different grates in one. They can be used on both sides and the side you chose allows you to deal with different types of grilled foods.
Learn More...Tags: Grate Tip
14/01/13 Filed in:
BGE Tip I am told that many folks visiting the site these days are BGE newbies who see links to my site in my posts on the Egghead forum. I am a relative newbie myself & I had something happen the other day that I didn’t know anything about. I have since found out it is not uncommon. What I am talking about is that the stock dome thermometer on the BGE is capable of going past the highest temperature listed of 750 degrees. It turns out the long time users on the Egghead forum call it Thermometer Wraparound.
Learn More...Tags: Thermometer Tip
06/01/13 Filed in:
BGE Tip This tip is not something I came up with. It was a piece of advice I saw on the BGE Egghead forum from long time user Mickey. A BGE dealer near Boston also suggestted something similar too. Basically the theory is this: you don’t want to put a baking or casserole dish, or a pizza stone directly on the ceramic platform of the BGE plate setter. The bottom of your food, baked item, pizza crust etc will cook to fast. Having a slight air space between the plate setter and dish or pizza stone solves this problem and the bottoms of the food don’t cook up faster than the rest. I will admit that I didn’t understand why there was a problem in need of a solution here and initially I resisted doing anything about it. But enough people tried Mickey’s elution and posted on the Egghead forum that it had indeed worked, that I finally gave it a try. I will have to admit the bottoms of my baked good,s pizza crusts and other foods are indeed coming out better and more evenly cooked.
Learn More...Tags: Even Cooking
12/11/12 Filed in:
Tips | Smoking | How to's | Post Prep This was a very happy accidental discovery that I made years ago concerning my FoodSaver and pulled pork leftovers. I thought I’ve written a blog about this in the past, but after looking unsuccessfully for it today I figured it would make a good tip. So this tip will discuss how you can actually make better pulled pork by cooking it ahead of time and eating it as leftovers. I know this sounds like it is the reverse of what should be true, but read on.
Learn More...Tags: FoodSaver Bags
This tip involves using some pictures to help you learn a new grill. What I am doing just seemed like common sense, but when I told a couple folks what I was doing they thought it was a great idea and it hadn’t occurred to them. At that point it sounded like a perfect candidate for a new Tip Section Entry.
Learn More...Tags: Grill Settings
23/06/12 Filed in:
Tips | Prep This quick tip comes from a recent experience trying to make a classic Queen Margherita Pizza. One of the elements of a Queen Margherita Pizza is provolone cheese, ROUND slices of provolone cheese. Until this particular day I don’t think I’d ever seen a square piece of provolone cheese, so imagine my surprise when there wasn’t a round slice of provolone cheese to be had at the supermarket. Not at the deli, the cheese bar or the packaged cheese slices in the dairy aisle. So I had some square slices of provolone cut for me at the deli and decided “Necessity is a mother". The solution to getting round slices from a square slice was unexpected, but proved to be rather easy.
Learn More...Tags: Cheese
16/06/12 Filed in:
Tips | Gas GrillIf you’re like me and you have 20 pound propane cylinders you need to get refilled, you’ve probably questioned their design. The cylinders have a very narrow base that makes them prone to tipping when they’re moved. Yes the narrow ring that forms the base can be clamped and held in place on the grill, but that doesn’t help when you need to move the cylinder to say get refilled. Well for the last 4 years I have been using an accessory the sells for less than $10 and serves to give a 20 pound propane cylinder a steady base and can help prevent tipping. If you are like me, you may have lots of grill tools and don’t have to visit the grilling department of your local stores very often, so you may not be aware of this product.
Learn More...Tags: Propane Cylinder
12/06/12 Filed in:
Tips | Grilling | PrepI’ve been making quesadillas out on the grill for at least 5 years now and I pretty much have them down to a science. I posted some pictures of one of my last quesadillas & somebody commented the grill marks looked so good I must have used a Sharpie marker to make them. Quesadillas are actually easy to do well if you follow a few simple steps I will list here.
Learn More...Tags: Quesadillas
05/06/12 Filed in:
Tips | Carving | Post PrepCleanly cutting a quesadilla
can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. Grilled quesadillas feature a crispy but somewhat delicate grilled tortilla. The tortilla can be very flaky in texture and can be a challenge to cut. Then there are the fillings which can range anywhere from soft and delicate (egg) to somewhat stiff (chunks of meat) and everything in between. The act of drawing your knife back and forth can start tearing things apart. If you try to chop through the quesadilla you could end up squeezing the ingredients all over the place. There is a rather simple solution, particularly if you already own an electric knife. An electric knife can be the perfect device for quickly and cleanly cutting a quesadilla.
Learn More...Tags: Quesadillas, Electric Knife
31/05/12 Filed in:
Tips | Grilling | Smoking | Prep Do you need some more temporary work space out by your grill? This need may come up for any one of several reasons: Your grill may not have much in the way of side table area. You are using the grill’s rotisserie which cuts down on the available side table area. You are doing all of your prep out by the grill and not in the Kitchen. Your are using the side burner of your gas grill which means you are down to one side table for prep, storage and everything else. Lastly it may be a combination of the two: You are making something like a paella and you need to heat the broth on the side burners and you have lots of ingredients, pans and utensils to have out at the grill. The point is, you don’t have to think hard to come up with reasons you might need more work space out by your grill.
Learn More...Tags: Portable Table
26/05/12 Filed in:
How to's | Prep This simple knot is often used to tie up roasts in the Kitchen. Sometimes you are tying up a roast you have butterflied in order to add a filling to the middle. Other times it is used to tie up a roll up type roast like a matambre. Other times it is used to give a piece of meat a more cylindrical shape suitable for rotisserie roasting. The knot can be tied in less than 5 seconds once you get the hang of it, It is a slip knot in that you can always tighten it more, but if you have tied it correctly it shouldn’t loosen up at all.
Learn More...Tags: Knot
26/05/12 Filed in:
How to's | Prep | Chicken Spatchcocking a chicken sounds a bit scary on first blush, but it simply means butterflying the chicken. The reason you do this is because cooking a whole chicken is very difficult to do well without a little help. The chicken consists of several pieces large and small, from wings to breasts. These pieces will cook up at different rates and the end result is a bird with over cooked wings & undercooked breasts. One solution is to butterfly or spatchcock the chicken. The chicken is spread open and presents a more uniform thickness for cooking. To spatchcock the chicken, you cut along either side of the spine and remove the spine. At this point the chicken is flipped, spread open a little and you push down hard on the breast bone. This breaks the breast bone and allows you to now spread the chicken out so it lays flat. Some recipes will call for you to remove the breast bone, but breaking it is sufficient to spread the chicken out flat. See the tips & tricks below the pictures for some addition things to know.
Learn More...Tags: Spatchcock
26/05/12 Filed in:
Tips | Prep This is a quick tip for those of you with a FoodSaver. It seemed perfectly obvious once I thought of this use, but like me you may have thought of the FoodSaver as a food storage device. The FoodSaver also has a very valuable use in food prep: Making custom sized marinade bags that don’t leak.
Learn More...Tags: FoodSaver Bags
26/05/12 Filed in:
Tips | StorageThis 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.
Learn More...Tags: FoodSaver Canisters