Grillin Surprise

I did some charcoal grilling over the weekend and thought I would share it with the group. 



This is a large stuffed portobello mushroom.



This is 17 oz rib-eye along with a “crashed” potato, some cheese chunks, fresh fruit, and cottage cheese.

All this cook was done on my Hasty Bake cooker with some Wicked Good charcoal and some hickory chunks for smoke.



The Hasty Bake doing it's thing...great cooker.



I cleaned all the gills out from the underside of the mushrooms with a mellon baller. I then mixed up the stuffing which contains cream cheese, mild cheddar cheese, green onions, chopped up bacon pieces, smoked bell peppers, and some thinly sliced and diced Prosciutto. 



I stuffed the mushrooms and topped with a slice of tomato.

I also sliced up another portobello and mixed it up with some caramelized onions and some sauce for my topping for the steaks and burgers.



Next step is my crashed potatoes.....I took some small red new potatoes and just washed them and threw them in a pot of boiling water and cooked them about 20 minutes until I could get a fork in them easily and then placed them on my greased cookie sheet with my portobellos. Took a potato masher and carefully pressed down on each potato until it split open and was slightly flattened on the sheet. I brushed on some olive oil, and added some green onions and cheddar cheese. 



These potatoes really looked great!



Mommy made up about (13) 1/3 pound burgers and also sprinkled on some garlic salt and fresh cracked black pepper on my two nice rib-eyes. 



I had the cooker set up with both an indirect and a direct side and also added my warming shelf for the potatoes and mushrooms. I loaded the potatoes and mushrooms on the warming shelf in the cooker.



I then cooked the steaks for a few short minutes over the direct side right over the charcoal flame.



I did the burgers next on the direct side of the cooker.



Burgers looking good.





Pots and shrooms next off. Really anxious to try the potatoes as this is the first time I had fixed them.



A little sour cream on top and WOW....



The stuffed portobello was wonderful and makes for a nice low carb meal.



This is my plate and I am a sucker for a good fatburger along with my mushroom and caramelized onion sauce on top and then one of those crushed potatoes and some fruit and cheese.

You gotta love a good charcoal grill....

Smoked Cheese on the CB 940X

I smoked a few pounds of cheese in the Char-Broil 940X yesterday and it came out well.



This is what was used in this smoke:

3.40 pounds of Alpenhaus Swiss
1.16 pounds of Danish Havarti
4.93 pounds of that wonderful Three Alarm Colby Jack
4.00 pounds of Sharp Cheddar
1.13 pounds of some extra, extra, sharp 4 year old Cheddar



This is the other tray of my prepared cheese.

I started this cook by starting six Stubbs brickettes with a propane torch in my small charcoal chimney, After they were ashed over pretty good,  I placed them in a pie pan on the ash pan of the CB940X.



I had some mild hickory out of Maine and placed a few chunks on top of the coals in the pie pan for my smoke wood.



I placed the charcoal grate back into the cooker.



I used three half pans to keep the smoke indirect and I also use the pans for ice in the warmer weather. I was cool that morning with the temp around 52 degrees so I didn’t have to use ice on this cook.



I then placed the cooking grids back into the cooker and also a raised grid and loaded the cheese on my two layers in the cooker.



Was a nice morning although a little cool.



This batch took about 55 minutes and I removed it from the cooker.



Looking good just off the smoker.





All sealed up and ready for the fridge.

Where’s the crackers........?

There is additional information on my blog on the methods and technique used for this great treat. Find it in the Table of Contents under “Smoking Cheese”.

Grillin

I needed to grill up some meat for the rest of the week and I also wanted to try a new brine for my competition chicken thighs so this is the results of this cook. This cook was done on the Char-Broil CB 500X cooker with Wicked Good all hardwood brickettes. I also used a little hickory for my smoke wood. I used about 2/3rd full of my smaller charcoal chimney for this cook and poured them in when they were all ashed over. The setup used on the cooker was both direct and indirect with a tin foil half pan on the left side for drippings and to keep that side indirect and then nothing on the right side which was the fire side or direct side
.

 Was a pretty day outside with the temp around 50 degrees.
 The chicken was trimmed up and then brined for about 3 hours.  
I started the chicken thighs on the direct side with a good sear to help with the skin and then they were
placed on the indirect side to finish.

 While the chicken was finishing up, I put four 1/3 pound fat burgers on the direct side for their short
cook.

 Fat burgers looking good and sucking up that hickory smoke.
 Next were my Allen Brothers 1/4 pound all beef steak dogs. Very pricy but also very good.
Steak dogs about done. Gota be very careful not to split the skin so that when you bite into one of these
things, the juice will squirt all over your mouth.

 Next were the all purpose chops and these were kinda ratty looking but they did cook up well.
More chops.

Here are the results of the cook.


.



 What a slick little grill.......

Black Iron Beef Po-Boy on the Char-Broil 500X

Nice cool morning with a heavy frost and the temperature at about 24 degrees. Suppose to warm up a little later in the day. Just one great day to be outside and cooking.

This is another cook inspired by my hero's....The BBQ Pit Boys.

Got the Char-Broil CB-500X out of the garage at about daylight. I set it up for both indirect and direct cooking. I used a half pan on one side to keep that side indirect and then used the other side for my direct cooking over the coals. I put about 32 of the great Stubb’s charcoal brickettes in a charcoal chimney and lit it off.



Went back inside to prep my meat.



The ingredients for this cook were as follows:

About 1-1/2 pounds of chuck roast
Small onion diced
About 4 large cloves of garlic sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tsp cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Box of beef broth plus one can
2 tsp corn starch
olive oil
Bottle of Gravy Master



I cut about 1-1/2 pound off of this 4 pound chuck roast. I then rubbed it good on all sides with olive oil. Added the salt and fresh cracked pepper to all sides of the meat and it was ready to go on the cooker.

I poured the charcoal into the cooker and put the grid back in. I then placed the meat on the direct side of the CB500X as I wanted to sear it well.



After the sear, the meat went into my black iron pot on the indirect side of the cooker. I then added a little butter and poured in the onions and garlic slices.



I cooked the onions and garlic for about 10 minutes and then added the box of beef broth and the balance of the spices.



I cooked this about 4 hours keeping the cooker at about 300-325 degrees and I did add about 10-12 more brickettes each hour.



This is the meat at the four hour mark into the cook.



At this point into the cook, I pulled out about a half cup of the liquid in the pot and added the corn starch to the bowl, mixed it up good and poured it back into the pot to thicken it up some. I also added about 2/3rd of the bottle of the Gravy Master. I the let it cook about another 20 minutes and pulled it off.



I had made up some of my famous crusty hoogie rolls and I sliced it right down the middle for my sandwich.

I then added mayo to both pieces of the bread.



Next up was the tomato.



Add some shredded lettuce.



I added a very generous portion of the meat to the roll.



Put the sandwich together.



Went back on the grill to crisp it up a little as we like it crunchy.




Now, that is some good eating....

I just never get tired of using this slick little cooker.