What's for Dinner?

Tuna steaks were mid-rare and wonderful.

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Have a casserole in the oven. I took ichiban eggplant, pattypan squash, zucchini, cut thick slices, tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper and seared them in my instant pot. Layered them in a foil pan, topped with thick slices of homegrown tomatoes and some tomato sauce. Added some sliced fresh mozzarella, seasoned and toasted sourdough breadcrumbs, then finally added some shredded italian cheeses. In the oven at 350 for 45 minutes. All the vegetables grown in the backyard. Should be good.
 
Half smokes last night. I like these because they are a DC classic. I prefer the ones from downtown at Meats & Foods which are made fresh daily by hand. The ones from Meats & Foods are the best in the region. A bit of a drive for me. But these made by Stachowski are very good. Sold at HT. There's a lot of flavor in them already so you don't really need mustard. They're also good at the tailgate. I smoke them indirect low and slow on my SnS kettle to about 180F. The skin does not split. Served these with grated cheddar and chopped onions. They're also good with a little chili but she didn't want the chili. Boarman's also sell half smokes - one brand is made by Binkert's which is located just outside the Baltimore beltway on the east side. It's a family business - 100% German. Boarman's also carries Manger's half smokes which are made in Baltimore on the west side which is the company that makes half smokes for Ben's Chili Bowl. The founder is also German. You can get legit Ben's Chili Bowl half smokes (and chili too) at Giant Food. I forgot to take photos so these are generic.

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My first attempt at a Picanha roast.
I dry brined it w/kosher salt the other day and the intention was to cook it like pit beef, slow smoke then sear.
The rain prevented that, so I made some deep cuts in the fat, rubbed a lot of kosher salt into the slits,seared it, fat side up on a smoking hot skillet, covered it in foil, popped it into a 400° oven, took it to 128° then crisped up the fat under the broiler.
I don't think edge-to-edge pink was possible with this one because it's shaped like a chunk tri-tip, (and the uneven fat cap), but it worked out because I still got med-rare slices & Non-FB Fran got hers well-done.
It's pretty damn good!
I can't wait to smoke one...

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Mark The Homer said:
I'll be honest with you. This damn rain is pissing me off. But the beef looks great! Sliced perfectly.
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Amen & thanks!
Fingers crossed that it holds off tomorrow long enough for me to smoke a ham. They were practically giving away Smithfield spiral-cut hams a few months ago, at Weiss, and it'll be completely thawed by tonight. I'm headed down to Va Beach Thursday and volunteered to bring Mom some smoked ham & soft crabs...
 
My last prime rib from the holiday's. We bought an extra three of these from Walmart to freeze and this one will be thawed for tomorrow night's dinner. The wife and I will get three meals out of this one so not that expensive at their holiday prices.

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Skinsfan1311 said:
No use heating up the kitchen in this weather....
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Amen to that! I almost never use my big oven, I make everything in the toaster oven cuz it's just me. But I've used the big one here in the new place a couple times that I cooked for 2 and it's taking some getting used to. It's all new and push-buttony and weird.
 
I'm still going to preach the importance of learning how to cold smoke whole cuts of meat. You can cold smoke a whole prime rib and then cut it into steaks and cook the steaks on the grill. You still get all that smoke flavor with all the benefits of the grill. Win/win.

Hear me my brothers. I learned this at the Library of Congress studying Jefferson's menus and it was very enlightening for me.
 
Skinsfan1311 said:
My first attempt at a Picanha roast.
I dry brined it w/kosher salt the other day and the intention was to cook it like pit beef, slow smoke then sear.
The rain prevented that, so I made some deep cuts in the fat, rubbed a lot of kosher salt into the slits,seared it, fat side up on a smoking hot skillet, covered it in foil, popped it into a 400° oven, took it to 128° then crisped up the fat under the broiler.
I don't think edge-to-edge pink was possible with this one because it's shaped like a chunk tri-tip, (and the uneven fat cap), but it worked out because I still got med-rare slices & Non-FB Fran got hers well-done.
It's pretty damn good!
I can't wait to smoke one...

View attachment 11781
Click to expand...
That can be a difficult cut to work with
 
Skinsfan1311 said:
Non-FB Fran picked the leftover crabs and we made crabcake BLT's....

View attachment 11758
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Sounds really good man. My son makes a bacon mayonnaise using only bacon fat. Sometimes he will fine chop the bacon and add it into the mix along with other things (think remoulade). The base concept is using egg yolks lemon juice rendered bacon fat and some veg oil s+p. From there you can expand. But I'm going to tell you that shits the bomb
 
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