Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Real Country Ribs and More

Several months ago, I purchased about 15 pounds of REAL Country Ribs which are cut out of the loin and not just cut up pork butt and cooked about half of them and then froze the rest for a later date with the fire. Well, the later date is now and I am looking forward to this cook as these things are just money. 

 photo DSC01984.jpg

I had two 4 rib pieces so I cut between each rib section to separate each bone which gave me pieces that weighed about 3/4 to about a 1 pound a piece. I then sprinkled on a generous amount of SGH rub and they were ready for the fire. 

 photo DSC01986.jpg

My next step was to prep some Rick Salmon’s Pit Beans as I wanted these cooked right under the country ribs so the drippings would go into my beans for some additional flavor. 

 photo DSC01987.jpg

Next up was some scalloped potatoes with some chopped up Canadian bacon which should go good with the above items.

I decided to do this cook in my Hasty Bake Gourmet cooker and figured I needed about an 6 to 8 hour smoke so I setup a fuze burn for at least that amount of time. 


 photo DSC01982.jpg

I placed two fire bricks right down the middle of the firebox and then poured in a few pounds of the great Stubb’s all hardwood charcoal for the cook. On top of the charcoal, I placed some hickory chunks for my smoke wood. 

 photo DSC01983.jpg

I placed the firebox back into the cooker and lit the left side of my fuze burn with a propane torch. This will slowly burn down the first side and around the bricks and finish up back to the start on the right side of the firebox. Probably give me about 9 good hours of cooking without much attention.

I usually leave all the vents open and also the big service door open for about 30 to 60 minutes to give the cooker some extra air until I get it up to my operating temperature before I load the cooker. You don’t want to hurry a fuse burn.


 photo DSC01988.jpg

I placed 6 of the larger country rib pieces on the upper grid and then my pan of Pit Beans under them for the additional flavor. I then added the balance of the cook like you see in the picture. 

 photo DSC01989.jpg

The country ribs later into the cook. 

 photo DSC01991.jpg

Just before I took the country ribs off, I brought them down to the lower grid and glazed them twice with a blend of Blues Hog Tennessee Red, Blues Hog Standard sauce, and some clover honey. I took the ribs off at an internal of 160 degrees which is about perfect for this very lean cut of pork. Again, this meat is not cut out of a pork butt or shoulder.

I did let my beans go a little longer as I like them smoked for at least 6 hours if possible before I pulled them.


 photo DSC01992.jpg

I raised the temp for a short time to get my scalloped potatoes done as they were lagging behind. 

 photo DSC01993.jpg

 photo DSC01995.jpg

Country Ribs looked good coming off the smoker. 

 photo DSC01996.jpg

My all time favorite bbq beans.

 photo DSC01994.jpg

The scalloped potatoes just off the cooker.

 photo DSC01997.jpg

My plate and it was all great!

Now for you Hasty- Bakers, I charted this fuze burn and will show you the results if I can. It may not come out too clear as I tried everything to make it better but maybe we can make something of it the way it came out. I sure need to work on my graphs!


 photo ff8d7755-22a7-4a69-a1da-ffc0090c8b24.jpg

This graph shows about 5-6 hours of the cook. The red line is the temp of the meat. The white line is the temp of the cooker.

Starting with the temp of the cooker at about 175 degrees, it increased slowly to about 200 degrees about one hour into the cook, then to about 220 to 240 for the balance of the cook. The spikes are when I opened up the cooker to service something inside. Now, for what it’s worth, I never touched the cooker vents until I wanted to raise the temp at the end of the cook to speed up my potatoes. If I would have left it alone, it would have run about 9 hours without any attention and stayed in my cooking zone. Gotta love a fuze burn with this fine cooker.





Choice Whole Ribeye Loin

My local Kroger had both the whole choice ribeye loin and also their choice angus chuck roasts on sale last week and I picked up a 17-1/2 pound whole ribeye loin and then had to take a raincheck on four of the chuck roasts as they were out of them. 

 photo DSC01967.jpg

The loin was a very nice piece of meat and just needed some trimming and then sliced up into steaks. 

 photo DSC01971.jpg

The first thing I did was to cut the tail off of the meat. This tail along with a couple more I have frozen will be ground up and mixed with the chuck roasts to make my white burger. 

 photo DSC01968.jpg

 photo DSC01970.jpg

I sliced the steaks about 1-1/4 “ thick which should make for some fine eating. 

 photo DSC01973.jpg

I processed most of them for the freezer.

 photo DSC01974.jpg

I saved one back and sprinkled on some garlic salt and then cracked on some fresh black pepper. I also quartered a couple of potatoes and placed them into a couple of foil pouches for my little cooker.

 photo DSC01975.jpg

The Cobb Grill was handy so I filled it up with some lump charcoal and then loaded my potatoes into the moat beside the charcoal. 

 photo DSC01976.jpg

 photo DSC01977.jpg

I cooked the first side for about 4 minutes and then the second side for about 3 minutes to get my steak to a medium rare finish and then took it off the grill.

 photo DSC01978.jpg

Potatoes looked good coming off the cooker. 

 photo DSC01979.jpg

It made for a nice lunch.

Monday, August 19, 2013

ABT's / Hot Wings / Fried Sweet Corn

I fired the Char-Broil 500X up with some Stubbs all hardwood charcoal briquettes and then added some hickory chunks to the top of the fire. I have 1/2 the cooker direct and 1/2 indirect for this cook. 

I had picked some Hungarian hot yellow wax peppers and some jalapenos from my container garden and I got them made into ABT’s with some pulled pork, chopped onions, and creamed cheese. I also added a generous amount of rub and cayenne pepper and wrapped them with some bacon. “I’m a chili-head”.

 photo DSC01950.jpg

 photo DSC01951.jpg

I got the ABT’s loaded on two layers on the indirect side of the cooker for their cook. I had the cooker running at about 300 degrees for this short cook. 

 photo DSC01952.jpg

The fine little cooker doing its thing on a very nice and cool morning here in Central Indiana. 

 photo DSC01953.jpg

About done on the cooker.

 photo DSC01954.jpg

Can’t wait for lunch. Ate one and wow, it was hot!

 photo DSC01955.jpg

Next on the indirect side of the cooker was my breaded hot chicken wings. On the direct side is a black iron skillet full of fresh sweet corn just cut off the cob. I will be frying it is some real butter. 

 photo DSC01958.jpg

With the corn done, I finished up on my hot wings by brushing on some very hot sauce a few time during the cook. That breading sure holds a lot of sauce and that makes them gooder. 

 photo DSC01959.jpg

My pile of wings.

 photo DSC01960.jpg

I can see two or three meals out of this cook.

 photo DSC01961.jpg

 photo DSC01962.jpg

Lunch is served.


Roast Beef on the GMG Rotisserie

I did a couple of USDA Choice Angus Eye of Rounds on the rotisserie in my GMG Daniel Boone today and they came out great. 

 photo DSC01880.jpg

One roast weighed 2.57 pounds and the other came in at 2.95 pounds. After some trimming, I sprinkled on some garlic salt and then cracked on some fresh black pepper and mounted the roasts in my cage.

 photo DSC01882.jpg

I had the cooker running at about 170 degrees for smoke and I added the meat. Upped the temp about an hour later to 275 degrees to finish up my cook.

 photo DSC01883.jpg

The smaller roast on the left side got done  first at an internal temp of 120 degrees so I removed that roast. 

 photo DSC01884.jpg

Looked good.

 photo DSC01886.jpg

The second roast finished up about 25 minutes after the first one and I removed it from the cooker. 

 photo DSC01887.jpg

Gonna make some fine pit beef.

 photo DSC01888.jpg

Wrapped and rested both roasts about 90 minutes. 

 photo DSC01889.jpg

Put the roasts thru my slicer. 

 photo DSC01890.jpg

Made a nice pile of roast beef.

 photo DSC01892.jpg

Made up some horsey sauce and spread on my bun. Added a generous portion of the sliced roast beef to the sandwich and then added some cole slaw and veggies. 

 photo DSC01894.jpg

Coming along nicely.

 photo DSC01895.jpg

Made the Au Jus and added it to my meal.

 photo DSC01897.jpg

Dipped that first bite of the sandwich in the Au Jus and I was ready to eat.