12 Nov 2015

Chopped Brisket Enchiladas

by | posted in: Beef, Recipes | 0
chopped smoked brisket enchiladas
Smoked Brisket Enchiladas
Brisket Enchiladas prep
Smoked Brisket Enchiladas Prep
Brisket Enchiladas
Brisket Enchiladas Casseroles
Brisket Enchiladas and Refried Beans
Brisket Enchiladas and Refried Beans

Chicken, Carnitas (pulled pork), beef (pulled), shrimp, spinach, verdes, and cheese are some of the more common stuffing when preparing your favorite enchiladas. There are a gazillion recipes for enchiladas using various sauces. I don't profess to be an expert in Mexican cuisine but I'm always looking for new ways to use up leftover chicken, beef, and pork. Had me some chopped smoked brisket in the freezer and figured that enchiladas would be a delicious option. After all, who doesn't like enchiladas?

With the help of my sous chef (my bride of 43 years) we configured a prep station. Nothing exotic ... mixture of chopped smoked brisket/sauce/olives/onions, shredded cheese, softened corn tortillas (briefly fried in hot oil on both sides and dried), and red enchilada sauce. Dipped both sides of tortillas in sauce, used small portion of brisket mixture, cheese, rolled the enchiladas, and placed them seam down in a shallow bed of red sauce. Topped casserole with additional red sauce and an ample amount of shredded cheese. Covered the casserole tightly with foil. Baked enchilada casserole in a preheated 350ºF oven for 60 minutes. As an example, serve with a side of beans, rice, salad, and/or guacamole.

Best of all there's plenty of enchiladas to graze on for the next few days or vacuum seal them in small portions for future use.

9 Nov 2015

Leaner the Meat – Higher the Heat

by | posted in: Pork | 0
Roasted Pork Loin
Roasted Pork Loin

Leaner the Meat - Higher the Heat ... Not all wise sayings hold true but you'll find that naturally lean pork loin roasts are well adapted to roasting at 350ºF. Smoke the pork loin at 180º to 225º for an hour before cranking up the pit temperature to 350ºF if desired. Either way you'll enjoy an exquisite meal.

Jan's Dry Rub Pork Loin
Jan's Dry Rub Seasoned Pork Loin
Pellet Grill Roasting Pork Loin
Pellet Grill Roasting Pork Loin
  • Season - Score the thin layer of fat on a 3 to 4 pound pork loin before rubbing all sides with roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil. Dust the loin with a generous amount of Jans Dry Rub.
  • Rest - Wrap the seasoned pork loin in food grade plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours allowing the seasoning to permeate the pork.
  • Roast - Preheat MAK 2 Star General wood pellet smoker-grill to 350ºF using Pacific Pellet Gourmet Apple wood pellets. Roast the pork loin for approximately 80 to 90 minutes until the Internal Temperature reaches 145ºF.
  • Rest - Remove the roasted pork loin and rest loosely under a foil tent for 15 minutes before carving.
  • Slice - Carve the pork loin to your desired thickness. I prefer to slice mine thinly in order to use the leftovers for some great sandwiches.
  • Serve - The Money $Shot$  ... Roasted pork loin, fried red onions and diced leftover infrared baked potatoes, and a nice green salad with avocado slices.
  • Vacuum Seal - Depending on your family needs vacuum seal the rest of the pork loin and freeze for future use. Great way to build up a wonderful stash of meat.
Roasted Pork Loin
Roasted Pork Loin to 145ºF
Pork Loin money shot
Roasted Pork Loin dinner
7 Nov 2015

Grilled Cold Smoked Strip Steaks

by | posted in: Beef | 0
Grilled Cold Smoked Strip Steak
Grilled Cold Smoked Strip Steak
Smoked New York Strip Steaks
Cold Smoking Strip Steaks
Seasoned New York Strip Steaks
Seasoning Cold Smoked Strip Steaks
Grilling Strip Steaks
Grilling Cold Smoked Strip Steaks

Started by cold smoking some strip steaks on my MAK 2 Star General using the Super Smoker Box accessory. See Cold Smoked New York Strip Steaks post. Refrigerated the hickory cold smoked steaks for a day to allow the smoke to mellow out through the meat. Setup the MAK 2 Star for direct cooking by uncovering the Flame Zone and using a Searing Grate. Set the MAK 2 Star to HIGH and preheated the pit with Pacific Pellet Hickory Gourmet barbecue wood pellets. Pit temperature reached 475ºF plus which is ideal for grilled cold smoked strip steaks.

Removed the steaks from the refrigerator 30 minutes before grilling to allow them to come to room temperature. Rubbed the steaks with roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil and seasoned them with Pete's Western Rub. You'll find the recipe/ingredients for the rub in my upcoming Ulyses Press The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook coming out in the Spring of 2016 just in time for barbecue season.

Grilled the steaks for ~ 3 minutes, rotated them 90º to get the cross hatch grill marks, and grilled for an additional 2-3 minutes before flipping. Once flipped, grill the steaks for 3 to 7 minutes until cooked to your preference. Use a digital thermometer to check your Internal Temperature. I find that 135ºF gives me a nice medium rare steak. Rest the steak loosely under a foil tent for minutes before wolfing it down!

Served steamed fresh green beans and a loaded ultimate infrared baked potato with the grilled cold smoked steak.

6 Nov 2015

Ultimate Infrared Baked Potatoes

by | posted in: Vegetables | 1
Infrared Baked Potatoes
SRG Infrared Baked Potatoes

Ultimate SRG Infrared Baked Potatoes

If you're like me you love baked potatoes as a side with virtually any type of meat, poultry, or by itself loaded to the gills. The question is which cooking method is best? Oven, microwave, wood pellet smoker-grill, or charcoal/propane grill? Yes there are a multitude of ways to bake a potato but I prefer another method which is foolproof. This ultimate infrared baked potato is my method of choice.

Idaho baked potatoes
Scrubbed and dried Idaho Potatoes
Idaho baked potatoes
SRG with lid open

Pickup some evenly sized Idaho or Russet baking potatoes and clean the potatoes using a vegetable scrub brush. Allow the potatoes to dry prior to continuing. Fully rub each potato with roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil. Season all sides of the baking potatoes with salt and pepper but for an increased flavor profile I recommend using Fagundes Seasoning.

Set your Char-Broil Smoker, Roaster, Grill (SRG) to HIGH and keep the lid OPEN. Place the rubbed and seasoned potatoes on racks and bake using infrared for approximately 1 ½ hours until the Internal Temperature of the potatoes reach 210ºF. If the rest of the meal is not ready wrap the potatoes in foil and they will stay hot for quite a while.

The SRG infrared baked potatoes have crisp skin and you'll find that you won't need to season the potato as the Fagundes Seasoning, salt and pepper, or your seasoning of choice permeates the skin. I wish I could take credit for the ultimate infrared baked potatoes recipe but I duplicated this recipe years ago after reading it on one of the cooking forums that I frequent. The SRG is great for so many other things beside baking potatoes - It's fantastic for turkeys, chickens, beef, pork, casseroles, etc. It's a very useful and versatile grill to have in your stable.

4 Nov 2015

Cold Smoked New York Strip Steaks

by | posted in: Beef | 0

New York Strip steaks

Fall in Northern Central California brings cool evenings and mornings perfectly suited for cold smoked New York Strip steaks in my MAK 2 Star General Super Smoker Box accessory. With an ambient temperature of 50ºF I decided to cold smoke two New York Strip steaks for grilling tonight. I've seen many grilled steak recipes using cold smoked meat and tonight I plan to add this to my ever growing repertoire. I've used my MAK 2 Star Super Smoker Box for cold smoking cheese and salmon to perfection and looking forward to these steaks.

New York Strip Steaks
Choice grade New York Strip steaks
wood pellet smoker-grill
Preheated to 180ºF with Hickory
Smoked New York Strip Steaks
Super Smoker Box

Started with two Costco Choice grade 1½ inch trimmed New York Strip steaks which were previously cut from a full New York Strip. Preheated my MAK 2 Star General with Pacific Pellet Gourmet Hickory wood pellets to 180ºF (Smoke setting on the MAK). With the ambient temperature in the 50s it afforded me ideal weather conditions to use my MAK Grills Super Smoker Box.

MAK super smoker box
Smoker Box Thermometer
New York Strip Steaks
Cold smoked steaks

 

The trick to cold smoking is to keep the temperature inside your smoker below 100ºF. With a temperature of 180ºF ± 5ºF in the wood pellet smoker-grill pit the smoker box started at a temperature in the low 60s and after 45 minutes of smoke reached a high temperature of about 75ºF. The MAK 2 Star General Super Smoker Box has it's own very accurate thermometer to monitor it's box temperature.

As you can see, the cold smoked steaks were not cooked at all due to the low temperature environment. I placed the New York Strip steaks in a freezer plastic bag to allow the smoke to mellow and penetrate the steaks. Wrapped the bag with plastic wrap to keep any hickory smoke from escaping the bag and permeating into the refrigerator. The steaks can be used thereafter or frozen.

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