What's cookin' boys?

[RCW]

Today is some BBQ shrimp on the grill, along with some salt potatoes (minus the salt), coleslaw and some sweet corn.

I can often get the frozen 16-20 shrimp for ~$7/# on sale. Works well for just two of us.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Gypsy is on a special diet. Super sensitive stomach. The canned dog food is about $4.50 a can, and she gets 2 cans of dog food a day plus a cup of kibble.

The canned dog food is right at $200 for a 4 week supply, and the kibble is $50 for an 8 week supply.

That's why i'm gonna ask my friends wife for her recipe for the dog food. The stuff she makes up is pretty darn close to the chicken and veggie dog food that gypsy gets now. Including the peas, carrots and rice.

My wife is big into this making healthy dog food. We would love to see the recipe. Dogs don't live as long as they did 30 years ago, my wife is convinced it's the common dog food and the vacs they pump into the dogs. Other than rabies and Parvo shots, that's all our dogs get.

My wife won't buy 95 % of the dog food available. She has researched it down to a science.

I did some calculation. We have two little cat sized pooches now. Feeding them the.. ship to door, high end stuff, was working out to about $6 a day, or $180 a month. For 2 small dogs. And they didn't like the food. Picked at it until it was gone, but they were not big fans.

We usually have Labs or Sheperds, and we will again next year once we find a puppy.
I want a Weimaraner to add to the pack. So the price will only go up with more pups to feed.

 

[BBFarmer]

About to get a batch of red beans and rice going.........

 

[Daren Todd]

Today is some BBQ shrimp on the grill, along with some salt potatoes (minus the salt), coleslaw and some sweet corn.

I can often get the frozen 16-20 shrimp for ~$7/# on sale. Works well for just two of us.

View attachment 161737

My favorite potatoes are the baby yellows, sliced thin. Throw in a zip lock bag with some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and oregano.

Wrap in tin foil and throw on the grill.

 

[JimDeL]

Gypsy is on a special diet. Super sensitive stomach.

My girl is on the Science Diet "Sensitive Stomach" formula kibble and cans. About US$85.00 for 35 pounds of kibble, and US$4.00 per can.

 

[Daren Todd]

My girl is on the Science Diet "Sensitive Stomach" formula kibble and cans. About US$85.00 for 35 pounds of kibble, and US$4.00 per can.

Gypsy is on the exact same stuff.

 

[BBFarmer]

@RCW how'd that shrimp turn out?

I cannot for the life of me get any of my girls, wife included, to indulge in the amazing side that seafood has to offer. That mussel soup i mentioned the other day, is really the only seafood they'll ever eat.

Back in our neighborhood days, i used to grill EVERY single weekend. Being inexperienced, it was all i knew how to do. But I could get the wife to try several things. The girls were too young and wouldn't, always had to make sure i had some hot dogs going LOL.

But would often grill lobster, a bourbon style salmon, i'd stuff crab shells, and have occasional tuna steaks when my pops would ship them out to me after a successful fishing trip.

These pics are like 12+ years old (kinda hate how google photos "tracks" you all these years) but atleast still have access to them.

I would just spend my afternoons grilling IN MY GARAGE LOL, hanging out, and having the best of times.

 

[BBFarmer]

Got everything all put together. Although i used a fully cooked smoked sausage, I still prefer to brown them before throwing them into the mix. Seems to elevate the flavor a bit. Basic seasonings with the addition of a couple bay leaves.



Time for a few hours of simmering, she thickened up quite nicely



Final shot.... Kroger was out of green onions, had to improvise with some left over chives, not quite so traditional. Taste was actually spot on though. Wife and kids ravaged it!

 

[BBFarmer]

Y'all thought we didn't have any dessert huh LOL! NEVER!!!

I was going to make some lava cakes tonight but our youth pastor gave me a blueberry pie this morning after service.



At some point during fellowship before service, someone will ALWAYS start a conversation with me pertaining to blueberries. It's what I'm known for there.

Every year around harvest, my oldest will bring in bags of berries. I kind of let him control that. This year i think we took in roughly 30 quart bags of berries to give away to everyone one wednesday night service.

 

[Daren Todd]

Got a couple racks of ribs seasoned and on the smoker.

Need to coat them with apple juice, apple butter and a little sweet baby rays in a couple hours, and then bring them up to around 220° to get them to fall apart

 

[BBFarmer]

Got a couple racks of ribs seasoned and on the smoker.

Need to coat them with apple juice, apple butter and a little sweet baby rays in a couple hours, and then bring them up to around 220° to get them to fall apart

View attachment 161790

I WANT SOME!!!!

Our local BBQ place in town shut down a couple months ago. Only place around I could get amazing ribs.

We all knew it was coming.

He was an already retired fella who actually owned a few Dickies BBQ restaurants for a decade or so prior. Mr. Ray started an awesome thing here that unfortunately his youngins had no interest in taking over.

I don't know how to do any smokin....YET! I do plan on getting a smoker to play around on though eventually.

 

[Daren Todd]

I WANT SOME!!!!

Our local BBQ place in town shut down a couple months ago. Only place around I could get amazing ribs.

We all knew it was coming.

He was an already retired fella who actually owned a few Dickies BBQ restaurants for a decade or so prior. Mr. Ray started an awesome thing here that unfortunately his youngins had no interest in taking over.

I don't know how to do any smokin....YET! I do plan on getting a smoker to play around on though eventually.

Smoking is super easy with a pellet smoker. But you do need to pay attention to average cook times, so you can make sure it's ready for when you want it.

Start with something easy like a pork butt.

Rub the pork butt with a dry rub of your choice.

Get the smoker going. I usually set the smoke temp for around 180° to 200°. My pellet smoker has preset burn times for the pellets when set to smoke. So I had to reference the chart in the manual that came with the smoker to set to the temperature I wanted based on burn time.

Insert a meat probe into the middle of the butt. Smoke it until it reaches 180°.

Wrap the pork butt with tinfoil. Turn the pellet smoker to bake and set the temperature to 250°.

Once the temperature of the pork butt reaches 220°, remove the Butt and let it rest, wrapped for about a half hour.

Once the half hour is up, unwrap the butt and shred it. You can add BBQ sauce or more dry rub at this point to give it more flavor.

There are tons of videos online, as well as written articles on smoking. It's actually really easy.

I had no idea what I was doing when I started. And I started with a chargriller charcoal/ wood fired smoker. I used both in that.

Ribs are easy though. Look at the 321 method. And all you need is an instant read thermometer, so you can check the temperature. You want ribs done somewhere between 200° and 220° so the fat renders and makes them super tender.

 

[RCW]

I WANT SOME!!!!

Our local BBQ place in town shut down a couple months ago. Only place around I could get amazing ribs.

We all knew it was coming.

He was an already retired fella who actually owned a few Dickies BBQ restaurants for a decade or so prior. Mr. Ray started an awesome thing here that unfortunately his youngins had no interest in taking over.

I don't know how to do any smokin....YET! I do plan on getting a smoker to play around on though eventually.

I haven’t a clue on how to use a smoker either.

A lot of guys are great with them, including @Daren Todd.

You asked about our shrimp BBQ the other night.

Was fantastic, as always. Probably posted the BBQ sauce recipe in the past….real simple.

Folks that shun seafood don’t know what they’re missing. Of course, there are allergy issues that are a serious problem.

Our DIL is allergic to shellfish and I’m very careful with that.

That said, it’s something you need to grow up with or have positive experiences with.

We didn’t eat out much as a kid, but if I could get fried shrimp I jumped on it….

Got some great exposure while a teenager in restaurants.

We’re so fortunate that our kids always ate what we did (or not at all).

Our daughters, now early-30’s, will eat anything except baked beans for one and chipotle for the other.

Son at late-20’s has an allergic-type aversion to avocado.

Our kids’ daycare was run at the home of a local independent automotive shop.

Friday’s they’d order in hot buffalo wings and pizza for lunch sometime.

At about 4 or so, my daughters ate all the mechanics’ wings……

They were begging for them. One of the guys says…”give them one to shut them up…”

Didn’t realize they had wings at home many times!!

Ate ‘em all…..

 

[Daren Todd]

I haven’t a clue on how to use a smoker either.

A lot of guys are great with them, including @Daren Todd.

You asked about our shrimp BBQ the other night.

Was fantastic, as always. Probably posted the BBQ sauce recipe in the past….real simple.

Folks that shun seafood don’t know what they’re missing. Of course, there are allergy issues that are a serious problem.

Our DIL is allergic to shellfish and I’m very careful with that.

That said, it’s something you need to grow up with or have positive experiences with.

We didn’t eat out much as a kid, but if I could get fried shrimp I jumped on it….

Got some great exposure while a teenager in restaurants.

We’re so fortunate that our kids always ate what we did (or not at all).

Our daughters, now early-30’s, will eat anything except baked beans for one and chipotle for the other.
Son at late-20’s has an allergic-type aversion to avocado.

Smoking is super easy. The next time you need to upgrade your gas grill, switch to a pellet grill instead.

Then it's a matter of learning the smoking process which is pretty easy.

With your experience with seasonings and grilling as is. Transitioning to smoking meats is child's play.

The only difference is your cooking at lower temperatures and a longer time.

It's literally cooking the meat at low temperatures to allow it to absorb the smoke. Then wrapping the meat and increasing the temperature to render the fat and make it tender.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

In 2 words... Pellet Stove

Smoke, grill, etc

Ours is a Traeger brand. Others are excellent too.

Had it several years. Did beef brisquet 1st time using the machine. Took 12 hours.... meat candy.

Talked my sister and brother into getting one. They use theirs several times a month now. Theirs are better than mine, cuz they control it with a phone app.

 

[Daren Todd]

In 2 words... Pellet Stove

Smoke, grill, etc

Ours is a Treager brand. Others are excellent too.

Had it several years. Did beef brisquet 1st time using the machine. Took 12 hours.... meat candy.

Talked my sister and brother into getting one. They use theirs several times a month now. Theirs are better than mine, cuz they control it with a phone app.

I second the pellet grill Mines a Pit Boss Navigator.

At a minimum, make sure it has the meat probe option on the display.

But, if it doesn't accept the meat probe to plug into the display, you can purchase blue tooth meat probes that will connect to your phone.

 

[RCW]

In 2 words... Pellet Stove

Smoke, grill, etc

Ours is a Traeger brand. Others are excellent too.

Had it several years. Did beef brisquet 1st time using the machine. Took 12 hours.... meat candy.

Talked my sister and brother into getting one. They use theirs several times a month now. Theirs are better than mine, cuz they control it with a phone app.

I second the pellet grill Mines a Pit Boss Navigator.

At a minimum, make sure it has the meat probe option on the display.

But, if it doesn't accept the meat probe to plug into the display, you can purchase blue tooth meat probes that will connect to your phone.

Been around pellets a while. I burn about 5 tons of wood pellets for heating each winter. Probably close to 100 tons now.

I know different pellets, but haven't been sold on another grill to store, service, etc.

If a Pellet Smoker/Grill could do all I need, I'd be there.

Just can't get there.

 

[Daren Todd]

Been around pellets a while. I burn about 5 tons of wood pellets for heating each winter. Probably close to 100 tons now.

I know different pellets, but haven't been sold on another grill to store, service, etc.

If a Pellet Smoker/Grill could do all I need, I'd be there.

Just can't get there.

I can grill, smoke, seer, bake, and roast with my pellet grill

I've done everything from smoking with it to baking pies and making bread in it

Here's the two racks of ribs

 

[BBFarmer]

Smoking is super easy with a pellet smoker. But you do need to pay attention to average cook times, so you can make sure it's ready for when you want it.

Start with something easy like a pork butt.

Rub the pork butt with a dry rub of your choice.

Get the smoker going. I usually set the smoke temp for around 180° to 200°. My pellet smoker has preset burn times for the pellets when set to smoke. So I had to reference the chart in the manual that came with the smoker to set to the temperature I wanted based on burn time.

Insert a meat probe into the middle of the butt. Smoke it until it reaches 180°.

Wrap the pork butt with tinfoil. Turn the pellet smoker to bake and set the temperature to 250°.

Once the temperature of the pork butt reaches 220°, remove the Butt and let it rest, wrapped for about a half hour.

Once the half hour is up, unwrap the butt and shred it. You can add BBQ sauce or more dry rub at this point to give it more flavor.

There are tons of videos online, as well as written articles on smoking. It's actually really easy.

I had no idea what I was doing when I started. And I started with a chargriller charcoal/ wood fired smoker. I used both in that.

Ribs are easy though. Look at the 321 method. And all you need is an instant read thermometer, so you can check the temperature. You want ribs done somewhere between 200° and 220° so the fat renders and makes them super tender.

Thank you so much for that advice sir!

I will definitely be referencing this post in the future.

I make a "poor mans" pulled pork in my dutch oven. Braise down a whole shoulder. Takes about 6 hours or so to do, then I usually like to ruin it by dousing it in a store bought sauce LOL. Its a passable pulled pork, but nothing like the real thing.

 

[Daren Todd]

Thank you so much for that advice sir!

I will definitely be referencing this post in the future.

I make a "poor mans" pulled pork in my dutch oven. Braise down a whole shoulder. Takes about 6 hours or so to do, then I usually like to ruin it by dousing it in a store bought sauce LOL. Its a passable pulled pork, but nothing like the real thing.

View attachment 161824 View attachment 161825 View attachment 161826

Following the temps the way I posted, it comes out super moist and you can shred it super easy with a couple forks.

Someone else told me about the temperatures when I mentioned i was struggling getting the pulled pork to turn out right.

A 5lb butt takes about 8hrs.