Smoked Mac n Cheese and More

I like to fool around with simple tailgate style dishes that can be done in smaller grills or smokers and think the Mac n Cheese dish is about as good as it gets. I also did a few loin cut country style ribs and a quartered potato with this cook. 

This cook was done on my Green Mountain Davy Crockett pellet grill.

This Mac n Cheese recipe is very rich and is done from scratch without cooking the macaroni first. You just throw it all in a pan and then on the grill. 

Ingredients:

3 cups elbow macaroni
1/2 stick butter
4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 8oz package of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 8oz package colby jack cheese
salt
fresh cracked black pepper
tin foil half pan




These are the ingredients I started with.



I just poured the 3 cups of elbow macaroni into my pan.



Added the melted butter over the macaroni and then the sharp cheddar and colby jack cheese. 



Added the whole milk and the heavy whipping cream and then the salt and pepper. 



I sprinkled on some SGH rub on my loin cut country ribs and then brushed peanut oil on my quartered potatoes and then added salt, pepper, and thyme. To be able to use a half pan in my Davy Crockett, I have to have it on my lower grid as it is too large for the top grid. Since I didn’t want any drippings going into my Mac n Cheese, I had to use a pan for my ribs on the upper grid.



I fired the cooker up and brought it up to about 250 degrees measured on the lower grid and then let it go thru a few cycles to be sure it as burning clean. I just want to add a hint of smoke to this dish. I loaded my three treats on the cooker.

I stirred the Mac n Cheese at about 1 hour into the cook and then at about 1-1/2 hours and found it about ready. I let it go a total of about 1:45 hr and it was done to my liking. 



The Mac n Cheese just off the cooker....I like bacon and Jalapenos in my Mac n Cheese so I added that for the picture. I then crumbled the bacon up and stirred it into my dish.



I glazed three pieces of the country ribs with BH Smokey Mountain for myself and left two of them dry for my bride.





Served it up with some fruit and it made a nice meal. The Mac n Cheese was wonderful and just so simple to make. We froze about half of this recipe.

Large Tailgate Practice Cook

After being snowed out of my cooking patio for about 5 weeks, we finally received some warmer weather and it has melted the 2-3 foot drifts of snow on the patio. Time for a tailgate practice cook.

This cook was done on my GMG Davey Crockett pellet cooker and consisted of a total meal on one fire. Appetizer, main course meat, a couple of sides, dinner rolls, and a dessert. 



This is a big chunk of real country ribs cut from the loin...it was trimmed of some fat and then I applied a light coat of my favorite rub.



I then prepped my BBQ Pit Beans in a glass bread pan and covered them with brown sugar. The potatoes were covered with some peanut oil and then I sprinkled on some granulated garlic, sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper.

I also dipped and breaded about 2 dozen hot wing pieces for my appetizer. 



Rolled my little tailgater around to the cooking patio and fired it up. I set the temp at 170 degrees to get more smoke for the first part of the cook. Was a lousy cooking day with the temperature around freezing and winds and gusts to 25 miles per hour.



I got it all loaded up and I did have to use my raised grid for this cook. I have the beans under my country ribs so the drippings will add some extra flavor to my beans.

After about 90 minutes, I upped the temperature to 275 degrees to finish this part of the cook.



Potatoes came off first.



This picture was taken just before the first part of the cook came off of the cooker.



Meat sure smelled good!



My Pit Beans and hot wings.



While the first part of the cook was finishing up, I prepped my dinner rolls and dessert. The rolls were placed on a black iron griddle and I then made up my pineapple upside down muffin cakes.



I raised the temperature to 375 degrees and baked my rolls and dessert. 



The dessert.



And the rolls.



Now there are some real country ribs and cooked to perfection.



The plated meal...just wasn’t any room for a salad.



Another photo.



I added a dip of ice cream to my dessert.

That is one fine tailgate meal on one fine little tailgate cooker.

Cooks a pair

This first cook was done on my Char-Broil CB-500X and is my favorite small charcoal tailgate type of grill. It was setup on the left side indirect with a double layer of cooking grids and the right side with straight direct cooking on a single grid. The fuel was a chimney full of that great Ozark Oak lump charcoal and a couple of chunks of hickory for my smoke.  





The cook consisted of 4 nice big pork steaks, 4 of my homemade 60/40 white burgers, 8 regular 72/28 burgers, 4 of my homemade Texas hot links, and a plate of hot peppers. 



I started the pork steaks first on the indirect side of my 2 layer grill since they will take the longest and then added my peppers to the direct side so I can eat some of them during the cook.
I then grilled the balance of the cook on the direct side of the cooker.



Later in the cook, I glazed my pork steaks with a blend of sauce and some real maple syrup.

The results of my cook.













The cook came out great.
                                               -----------------------------------------
This second cook was done on my GMG Daniel Boone pellet cooker burning hickory pellets. I added my second raised grid for this cook.



This cook consisted of 3 slabs of loin back ribs over a pan of Rick Salmon’s Pit Beans.
I like to put meat over the beans so the drippings will go into the mix for additional flavor.

The bean recipe is killer!!

High Temp Steak, Burger, Tenderloin and more

This is a high temp steak, burger, grilled tenderloin, and homemade brat cook on the Green Mountain pellet grill.  



I added my steak insert which is two adjustable Brinkmann heat tents which I have sitting on a couple of firebricks for the correct height. They are used as flame tamers to keep the flame where I want it. 



Next step was to place the standard grates back on the cooker and then I added my Grill Grates on top of the standard grates. I didn't use any of the standard drip shield or the two wind deflectors that come with the cooker.

I fired up the cooker and set the controller to 350 degrees which is all I need for my high temp grilling. Remember, this setup will grill at the tip of the flame so a fellow doesn't need those crazy hot temps that will warp and spring the parts in the cooker. 



As soon as the cooker got up to 700 degrees which took about 10 minutes, I added the burgers. 



By the time my burgers were done of the first side (about 3 minutes), the cooker had reached my target temp of 775 degrees. Again, the controller is set at 350 degrees. My setup allows me to cook at the tip of the flame with my insert. 



Next up was two rib-eyes cut about 1-1/2” thick.



The rib-eyes cooked about 3 minutes on the first side and then 2 minutes on the second side. 



I then did my 2 grilled tenderloins and they took about 2 minutes to get done.

I also cooked 3 homemade brats on the indirect side of the grill. I didn’t want to break the skin with the high temps.

The results of the cook.









The burgers as served.



The steak as served.





Now that some good stuff!!

Along with my rotisserie mod, this high temp setup is one of the better modifications I have  done to this fine cooker.