Sunday, April 17, 2016

Cobb Grill / Competition Steak Cooker??

Well...maybe. I think if set up right, a fellow could come pretty close to producing a competition quality steak. This is my attempt at this task with the little Cobb Cooker.

Those great folks at Grill Grates make their product for about any grill or cooker and sure enough, they had a pair of grates to fit the Cobb Grill so I did order a set for my grill.

 photo DSC03545.jpg

For my first try at a good competition steak, I started with a 16oz ribeye and got it out of the fridge about 45 minutes before the fire. Applied a great steak rub and set it aside to a cooling rack. I also had one of those nice big Indiana pork chops (1” thick) that weighed about a pound so I applied some salt and pepper to this chop as well for the wife. To complete the cook, I made up three of my homemade 1/3rd pound 60/40 fat burgers as these are always great on any cooker.

 photo DSC03544.jpg

Rather than using the standard lighting procedure for the Cobb Grill fire, I decided to use a small charcoal chimney to be sure I had all of the fuel hot at the start of the cook.

 photo DSC03546.jpg

Poured the lump into the grill and spread it out evenly and my fire was ready to cook.

 photo DSC03547.jpg

Placed the Grill Grates on the Cobb and waited for about 15 minutes to allow the grill to get up to about 600 degrees which is ideal steak cooking temperature and then placed the steak on the grid at the 10am to 4pm position for the first phase of the cook. Let it cook for 2-1/2 minutes and turned it 105 degrees to the 2pm to 8am position on the grill. After another 2-1/2 minutes I turned the steak over and cooked that side the same as the first and took the steak off of the grill after about 9-1/2 minutes at 135 internal which should come out to about a medium steak as the contest requires.

 photo DSC03550.jpg

This is the steak just before it came of of the Cobb Grill and I think it looks great. That answered my question and I do believe a competition quality steak can be cooked on the Cobb Grill.

 photo DSC03557.jpg

Here is the steak as I would present it at a SCA event.

Next up was my big Indiana pork chop.

 photo DSC03549.jpg

I used the same procedure as with the above steak as it was about the same thickness of the steak and I wanted it cooked to about 140 internal so I figured it would need about the same amount of time.

 photo DSC03555.jpg

Didn’t come out as pretty as the steak but did look good.

After the chop, I turned the Grill Grates over to the smooth side for my three fat burgers.

 photo DSC03554.jpg

About 600 degrees at the cooking surface on the backside of the Grill Grates is searing excellence at it’s finest for my fat burgers. Cooked the burgers to medium rare at about 3-4 minutes a side.

 photo DSC03553.jpg

The smoke pouring out of the cooker with the burgers on it kinda reminded me of an old steam locomotive climbing a hill many years ago.

Let’s eat...

 photo DSC03560.jpg

 photo DSC03561.jpg

Wife wanted the chop so I fixed her up with some peas and fruit and she had a nice meal although she couldn’t eat the whole chop.

 photo DSC03558.jpg

 photo DSC03559.jpg

While steak and chops are good, I live for my 60/40 fat burgers cooked to about medium rare as they are about my favorite meal coming off of a grill. I dressed the burger with a slice of tomato, a slice of cheese, a slice of onion, and some lettuce and then added some chips and a couple of deviled eggs and I was one satisfied old man.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Stuffed Peppers / Cobb Grill

 photo DSC03533.jpg

The ingredients for this dish are as follows:

One pound of 70 / 30 burger
One pound of my homemade spicy Italian sausage
Two cups cooked rice
Chopped onions
Chopped bell pepper tops
Chopped celery
Can of chopped tomatoes
Garlic
Bell peppers
Cheddar cheese
Jalapeno Catsup
Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco sauce
Italian spices, salt, and pepper
About a half cup of water

I started this cook by par-boiling my bell peppers for about 5 minutes to make them a little more tender.

Next step was to cook the rice.

I oiled up a cast iron skillet and put the onions, bell pepper tops, celery, and cooked this for about 6-7 minutes and then added the spices and garlic and cooked another minute or two and placed the results into a large mixing bowl.

Added all but my sauce components into the mixing bowl and just mixed it up. Next step was to make the sauce be combining the Jalapeno catsup, some Worcestershire sauce, and a few squirts of Tabasco.

 photo DSC03534.jpg

 photo DSC03535.jpg

I stuffed my bell peppers and then used the leftover mixture for a small meatloaf.

 photo DSC03537.jpg

Added my hot and spicy sauce.

 photo DSC03480.jpg

 photo DSC03538.jpg

As soon as the Cobb was up to temperature, I placed the stuffed peppers along with a couple of baked potatoes on the grill.

 photo DSC03540.jpg

Just before the peppers were ready, I added some shredded cheddar to the top of the peppers and gave them enough time for the cheese to melt and pulled the treat off of the grill.

 photo DSC03541.jpg

Followed the peppers with the meatloaf and added the cheese to this as well.

 photo DSC03542.jpg

 photo DSC03543.jpg

Added some fruit and a buttered up bun half and along with a good ale, had a great meal.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Roadside Rotisserie Chicken / Cobb Grill

I started with a 5.49 lb whole frozen chicken the day before my cook and after I got it thawed, I trimmed it up a little and then placed it into a one gallon Zip-Lock bag and poured about 12 oz of Wishbone Robusto salad dressing over it and put it back into the fridge for the overnight stay.

 photo DSC03520.jpg

On the morning of my cook, the chicken was removed from the marinade and installed in my rotisserie setup for the cook. Nice feature about this setup is that all the prep and setup work can be done in the kitchen and then the whole unit is just carried out and placed on the cooker base when the temperature is where I want it. Anyway, once I got it installed on the spit, I just turned the rotisserie motor on and sprinkled some Smokin’ Guns Hot rub all over my chicken and we were ready for the fire.

I also started my fire in the Cobb using 14 Stubb’s briquets and then added a little hickory for a light smoke.

 photo DSC03521.jpg

Was a cold morning at about 25 degrees and we had an overnight dusting of snow as you can see in this picture. Loaded the chicken into the Cobb Grill and turned it loose for the first hour.

 photo DSC03526.jpg

My baste or mop for this cook was “The Roadside Chicken Sauce” which is a great baste, marinade, sauce, and overall chicken enhancer that can be found on the web. After the first hour of cooking, I mopped the chicken building up layers of flavor at about every 15-20 minutes until the chicken was done. I had to add a few more briquets during the cook.

 photo DSC03527.jpg

Chicken looked good coming off of the cooker.

 photo DSC03530.jpg

Cut up the chicken and got it plated.

 photo DSC03531.jpg

 photo DSC03532.jpg

Plated up my chicken and added some mashed potatoes and gravy, sliced tomatoes, and a roll and had one fine meal.