Friday, March 10, 2017

Spicy Hot Meat Loaf / Cobb Grill

This cook was done on my little Cobb Premier Grill.

 photo IMG_0225.jpg

Sure made a fine lunch. 

 photo IMG_0213.jpg

The ingredients were as follows:

About 1-1/2 lbs of hamburger
About 1 pound of my homemade hot and spicy Italian sausage
Diced onions
Diced bell peppers
Diced smoked red peppers
Egg
Salt & Pepper along with some SGH rub
Chili Sauce
French’s Crispy Dried Jalapeno Peppers for the filler

 photo IMG_0214.jpg

Made a pretty picture.... just before I mixed it all up for the pan.

 photo IMG_0215.jpg

Used the handle end of a wooden spoon to put several indentations in the top of the loaf to help hold more of the chili sauce. 

I applied peanut oil to my potatoes and then sprinkled on some sea salt and butcher cut black pepper and I was ready to put it all on the grill. 

 photo IMG_0218.jpg

Has some misting rain and a temp of about 35 degrees for the start of my cook.

 photo IMG_0219.jpg

The cook about done on the Cobb Grill.

 photo IMG_0223.jpg

Sliced the loaf into about 1/2” thick slices for sandwiches. 

 photo IMG_0224.jpg

Put a nice thick slice of my meat loaf on a sesame seed bun, added lettuce, tomato, and some horsey sauce. Wife did the potatoes with some cheese and sour cream with some chopped green onions. 

 photo IMG_0227.jpg


Was one great sandwich...will do this cook again.

Stuffed Dill Pickles / Cobb Grill

This appetizer cook / bake was done on my Cobb Grill. Idea from a recipe I saw on the web. 

 photo IMG_0262.jpg

Dish as ready for serving.

 photo IMG_0254.jpg

Ingredients:
About 10-12 Baby Dill Pickles
1 block of cream cheese
1-1/2 c shredded sharp cheddar
1 clove of garlic
1 slice of pre-cooked bacon for each piece
Rub of your choice

 photo IMG_0255.jpg

I used a mellon baller to scoop out the centers of the halved pickles. Mixed all the ingredients except the rub in a bowl. Stuffed them and sprinkled on some rub and then wrapped them in bacon and used a toothpick to hold the bacon on each piece.

 photo IMG_0258.jpg

I baked them for about 35 minutes and this picture is just before they came off of the cooker.

 photo IMG_0264.jpg

These things are great!!


Lasagna Loaf / Cobb Grill

This bake was done on my Cobb Grill using Wicked Good all hardwood briquets. 

 photo IMG_0235.jpg

Ingredients:

About 1 lb of my homemade Italian sausage
12 oz marinara sauce
15 oz ricotta cheese
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
8 slices of mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 oz pepperoni
2 eggs
About 8 oz lasagna noodles

 photo IMG_0236.jpg

Ready to go on the Cobb.

 photo IMG_0237.jpg

A cool morning at about 30F degrees. Used a charcoal chimney to start this cook. 

 photo IMG_0238.jpg

Needed a baking temperature of about 350-400 degrees so I used the larger charcoal basket and about 20 briquets for this bake.  

 photo IMG_0240.jpg

Just about ready to come off of the grill.

 photo IMG_0242.jpg

As cut for serving.

 photo IMG_0253.jpg

 photo IMG_0249.jpg

I dribbled on some more sauce and served this treat with a slice of garlic toast and some mixed fruit. Turned out that the second piece of lasagna was a little too much for this old fellow. Was a great lunch...


Slow 'N Sear / Competition Steak Cooking

I did this cook today in my Weber Gen 2 Performer Kettle in another one of those middle of the Winter warm and wonderful Spring like days. I think it’s our third day at about 70 degrees. 

 photo IMG_0266.jpg

Trimmed up a couple of steaks that weighed about one pound each and were about 1-1/8” thick and applied two different competition rubs. The top steak has a rub with dill seed in it and is my wife’s favorite and the bottom steak is my favorite and has a little heat in it. Both are very good rubs for competition steaks. 

 photo IMG_0267.jpg

I moved the Slow ‘N Sear as far to the middle of the cooker as it would go and then foiled each side of the unit to force all the intake air up thru the center of the accessory for maximum air flow and heat. I filled a Weber chimney full of all Kingsford Professional  all hardwood charcoal briquets for this cook and lit if off for this cook. I would rather use all lump but I think that SCA and Kingsford will team up again this year and offer the additional “double your contest purse” if you win and I sure can’t pass on this great offer. 

 photo IMG_0269.jpg

My tools for this cook. I decided to try two different methods of cooking the steak in the Weber Kettle to see which one might be the best for the setups I had on hand. 

 photo IMG_0271.jpg

I did the first steak on my standard size Grill Grates after a 15 minute warm up (to 625 degrees) and this took a total of 10 minutes to get it seared up and looking good. 

 photo IMG_0272.jpg

After the first steak was done, I setup the kettle with my cast iron steak grid setup and let it warm up for about 20-25 minutes to my cooking temp of about 500 degrees and this steak took about a minute less to get to my pulling temp of about 136-138 degrees for that perfect finish temp of medium that the SCA rules call for. 

 photo IMG_0276.jpg

You know...I think both of them looked great and would be competitive in a contest. 

 photo IMG_0275.jpg

 photo IMG_0274.jpg

Both steaks in the presentation box and ready for turn-in. 

 photo IMG_0278.jpg

 photo IMG_0279.jpg

The results of the cook looked about right on the doneness of warm and pink in the center (medium) and my sear marks on both steaks came out well. For ease of cooking, I thought the steak on the cast iron grid was the easiest to cook. I also found out that I could have used much less fuel (maybe 2/3rd chimney of charcoal) for this type of cook. 


I sure feel that a fellow could do quite well with either of these setups and method for cooking a competitive steak in a SCA contest with the Weber Kettle and the Slow ‘N Sear accessory. 

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Smoking Cheese / Cobb Grill

This little cheese smoke was done on my Cobb Premier Charcoal Grill. Was a challenge  to keep a small fire burning hot enough in the small confined area to keep a piece of smoke wood burning without heating the cooker up to my top temperature of about 80 degrees which is my top limit for this task. The ambient temperature during this cook was about 32 degrees which also helped with the cook.

 photo IMG_0284.jpg

My cheese for this smoke was the following: 

1 lb Extra Sharp Cheddar
1 lb Colby Jack
1/2 lb Hot Pepper Cheese

To prep the cheese, I cut the blocks into smaller rectangular square lengths which works best for this task. 

 photo IMG_0286.jpg

I started by heating up a few all hardwood charcoal briquets in a chimney and placing 3 of them in my charcoal basket and and then laying a big piece of hickory on top of the hot charcoal. 

 photo IMG_0287.jpg

I added the standard cooking grate, a raised cooling rack, and then a large pan of ice to help keep the cooker cool enough for this smoke. 

 photo IMG_0290.jpg

Next step was to add my two dome extensions and then the BBQ grate with the roast rack and my cheese. 

 photo IMG_0289.jpg

The little grill doing it’s thing..the smoke took about 85 minutes to complete. 

 photo IMG_0293.jpg

 photo IMG_0291.jpg


The results of my cook / smoke. Sure beats that old store bought smoked cheese that hasn’t even been close to any smoke and is done with chemicals. 

Hot Fatty / Cobb Grill

I did this cook on my little Cobb Grill yesterday on a very non-typical middle of January Winter day with a temperature  of about 60 degrees. 

Some of the pictures and information used in this article were from a previous cook. 

 photo S9EDSC00457.jpg

The ingredients for my extra hot fatty:

One pound of Bob Evans hot sausage
About 1-1/3 pound of bacon
Bell pepper
White onion
Jalapeno peppers
Smokin’ Hot rub
Three Alarm Cheese from Sam’s Club

 photo S9EDSC00408.jpg

For the folks that haven’t tried this wonderful cheese, I can tell you it is even better smoked. This is a Colby Jack cheese with Chipotle, Habanero, and Jalapeno peppers. It is very hot and flavorful in about anything. 

Since I am not sure if all of the folks on the forum have seen how a Fatty is made, I will include some pictures with information on how it is done.

 photo S9EDSC00458.jpg

Made up a bacon weave on wax paper.

 photo S9EDSC00459.jpg

Sprayed the inside of a one gallon freezer bag with cooking spray, cut a small corner off of the bag so the air would go out,  and then added my pound of sausage and pressed it out as even as I could. Next step was to cut the seal end and the top portion of the bag off and then placed some wax paper over the bag and turned it over and removed the balance of the freezer bag. This leaves the pressed out sausage on the wax paper and makes for easy rolling after stuffing. 

 photo S9EDSC00460.jpg

I added my onions, bell pepper, and my jalapeno peppers.

 photo S9EDSC00461JPG.jpg

I fried up 12 slices of bacon and then broke it up into smaller pieces and this went on my fatty next along with about 1-1/2 cup of the shredded Three Alarm Cheese. 

Rolled up my stuffed sausage roll using the wax paper to make for easier rolling and then placed this roll on the bacon weave. Again, using the wax paper, rolled it up in the bacon and then added my hot rub. 

 photo IMG_0192.jpg

Added some smoke wood to my fire and placed my hot fatty on the Cobb grill and closed it up and this cook was on its way. 

 photo IMG_0193.jpg

Picture just before it came off of the grill. It cooked for about 2 hours. 

 photo IMG_0195.jpg

Sliced for serving.

 photo IMG_0197.jpg

 photo IMG_0207.jpg

Served with some black beans and rice and some veggies.


And it was pretty hot but sure tasted great.