What's for dinner?

[kwtoxman]

Did an Instant pot zuppa toscana soup, a copy of the Olive garden soup.

Wow. Really really good :agave:. One of my new fave soups for sure. It's been great to get some more variety and try new things. And I definitely enjoy the cream soups.

With this success, I'm going to source and add some Instant pot soup recipes for Orzo and Italian wedding soups as well.

Not my picture, but this is the soup and the recipe I used. Cheers.

The Instant pot is great and I'm getting lots of use. Highly recommended!

 

[kwtoxman]

After a bunch of grilling and a ribfest :tongue: I went on to some other meals lately. Here's a few pictures.


As a follow up to my last post, here is a picture of a reheat from my cook of the Instant pot zuppa toscana soup (like the olive garden). Really enjoy this soup. :agave:

With the garden going well, I did some cold pickled pickles and some simple sweet pickled carrots. Very tasty.

Cast iron skillet butter fried pickerel (walleye) in minced garlic, salt and pepper.

I had my eye on this recipe for a while. Instant pot General Tso's chicken, a scratch recipe. Awesome. :agave:

Cheers

 

[kwtoxman]

Hope everyone is eating well. I've done some good cooks recently but haven't taken pictures or posted since they are already on this thread, but you can look up the pictures if you're interested. I've got some good plans coming and will post up successes. My Instant pot is still kicking butt for awesomeness. Best appliance purchase since my outdoor grill; super recommended.

For restaurant eating, Red Lobster is just finishing up their crabfest. The southern king crab is the best king crab I've had in years.

I'm still eating garden vegetables daily and doing some cold pickling and sweet pickling of carrots and cucumbers.

I did another Instant pot roasted tomato soup with garden tomatoes and onions. Awesome.

I used the first batch of turkey broth from my last posted turkey summer cook to make Instant pot turkey carcass soup. The Instant pot makes incredible soups, especially these bone broth soups. Just amazing depth and such an awesome meal. It went real fast.

I grilled a few more racks of pork back ribs, 4 hr low and slow BBQ rack and lemon pepper rack. Awesome, ended up diving in and forgot to get pictures, lol.

Did another cast iron skillet pickerel meal. And some cast iron skillet baby garden potatoes with dill and onion.

I also made a few natcho meals, and I really enjoy adding fresh onion and chipotles in adobo sauce to the salsa for next level goodness.
I did another Instant pot mixed seafood risotto with a few twists to the recipe. Tasty tasty! :agave:

Cheers

 

[Joe Bass]

Still loving this thread!

sent from my Purple LGG4 on the GTAM app

 

[PrivatePilot]

Ditto, I've been cooking a lot on the smoker/que, but haven't been documenting it. Been enjoying a lot of brisket this summer, my wife found a cheap source in Peterborough.

Speaking of my wife, she got me a big cast iron pot a few days ago at a yard sale. I cook almost exclusively on cast iron so it's an interesting addition - need to figure out something to make in it.

On the restaurant front....still a fan of East Side Marios, but got irked when the wife and I went last week - was told that you can only have unlimited soup OR salad with your dinner now. I always used to have an Italian Wedding soup first, and then a Caesar salad afterwards - now you can't do that unless you pay extra - you only get to choose one, and you have to stick with it. I totally don't understand the logic behind that.

 

[stevie t]

Question for all the smokers....

For a pork shoulder, fat cap on top or bottom?
Standard gas grill, applewood chunks on indirect heat.
thx

 

[kwtoxman]

Question for all the smokers....

For a pork shoulder, fat cap on top or bottom?
Standard gas grill, applewood chunks on indirect heat.
thx

I've made the effort to figure that out . It's been a while and I couldn't remember off the top of my head, but my detailed notes say go fat side up. And it make sense thinking it keeps the cook more moist and tender by limiting evaporation off of the area most susceptible to drying out,... the top. Keep it trimmed to 1/8th inch or less and it kicks azs with a good dry rub too.

If you have hickory wood chips, use them as well. Pork shoulder is one of the absolute meat best cuts for a strong hickory smoke.

Enjoy. I love my weber summit on gas for smoking (smoker box is included). With a towel drape set-up it smokes excellently.

 

[stevie t]

thx
I went with fat up ...just checked, internal temp at 180 going since 11 am today, going for 190-200.
rub is brown sugar/coconut palm sugar/pink salt/cracked black pepper/granulated garlic/apple butter base before the dry rub goes on..then sits wrapped in plastic overnight.
my better half does not like the hickory smoke on pork,...so it's just apple wood on this one...use the hickory for beef and chicken.
I just throw the wet wood chunks on the heat shield and place the item to be smoked off the heat and wait...wait....wait....more chunks...wait.....wait....wait....

will post up a pic when it's done.

 

[kwtoxman]

thx
I went with fat up ...just checked, internal temp at 180 going since 11 am today.
my better half does not like the hickory on pork...so it's just applewood...use the hickory for beef and chicken.
will post up a pic when it's done.

Sounds like the awesome and best low and slow cook. Interesting wife preference, definitely outside the norm but not much of an issue. In my experience, wood preference is one of the least important inputs to an excellent pork shoulder cook. Sounds like your nailing the cook.

I use hickory wood chips often as well, but more of it in pork cooks (as the masses tend to do).

 

[crankcall]

I always do fat Up , as it melts it sort of bastes the meat. I hickory smoke pork, but less smoke. It can get pretty potent and under smoked is better than over for my tastes.

 

[bishop]

Question for all the smokers....

For a pork shoulder, fat cap on top or bottom?
Standard gas grill, applewood chunks on indirect heat.
thx

As someone said earlier. Always fat cap on top. The fat will baste the meat as it melts. Fat is where all the meaty flavour is.

 

[bishop]

Here was my exploit for dinner last night. It was a perfect weekend cooking day - CNE Airshow overhead + thundering metal on the stereo + a growler of Big Rock Traditional ale + hot grill + sizzling kitchen + a pup that followed my every move hoping I would drop something.

Kansas City-style ribs with a plum garlic barbecue sauce, grilled chicken with a mustard barbecue sauce, house pickles(okra, sweet onions, jalapeno, cucumbers, carrots), grilled onion, grilled sweet Ontario corn and smashed potatoes.

 

[Joe Bass]

Wow. Just...wow. That is my type of meal! Nice plating/ presentation as well @bishop

sent from my Purple LGG4 on the GTAM app

 

[kwtoxman]

Nice tasty there. A great spread is so appealing. :thumbup:

Custom 1/2 pound coarse grind chuck beef burger grilled on the weber summit. Added corn relish, mustard, garden cold pickled pickles, processed cheese slice and homemade donair sauce on a toasted poppy seed bun:agave:. It was too messy to take a picture of when eating.

 

[bishop]

Wow. Just...wow. That is my type of meal! Nice plating/ presentation as well @bishop

sent from my Purple LGG4 on the GTAM app

Thanks! There was a salad but you know - You don't win friends with salad!

 

[PrivatePilot]

Boring, but a staple. Seared at 600F and then finished at 450. Over wood, of course.

 

[Joe Bass]

Some fresh store bought sausages and frozen burgers. I know that it's nothing compared to what the rest of you are posting, but today is the first day that my vision has been good enough to even attempt to bbq. Yes, I know they are a little well done, but they were delish! Added some Big Mac sauce and processed cheese to the burgers. Saved a sausage for tomorrow.

sent from my Purple LGG4 on the GTAM app

 

[kwtoxman]

Nice stuff everyone.

Another great success here! I cooked a new meal and a favourite for the first time. A while back I realized the Instant pot is a natural fit to make Caribbean chicken roti. I love this meal, but have only ever eaten it out at restaurants.

So I went looking for how to make it. Unfortunately, no Instant pot recipes exist yet (which was surprising), so I ended up making up a recipe from scratch :thumbup: (with some help from reading up on a few oven and stove-top recipes).

Check it out. Came out really really great. Super tasty and very faithful to the best restaurant offerings I've had. :agave:

Click to zoom in on the pictures.
I did the roti shells from scratch as well for the meal :toothy7:. Very easy and quick which is great and important to me. This Instant pot Caribbean chicken roti recipe I put together is super simple and easy. A win on all fronts. I like this style; it has chick peas, chicken, onion and potatoes. I did the chickpeas from dry (not canned) for added awesomeness (much better texture).

I am tweaking the heat level (spiciness) and I simmered off too much liquid in this first try, so the next cook will be even better.

I love so much cultural food out there, and getting this great meal into my cooking repertoire is a big coup for me.

Cheers

 

[bishop]

The curry looks pretty authentic! Nicely done!

I am regretting not taking the Instant pot my friend offered to me as he had to 2.

 

[bishop]

After a long weekend of some pretty heavy and delicious meals - Chicken and ribs, uber-cheesy fried egg sandwich every morning, pork gyros, all the CNE food(the chocolate cover crickets with soft serve were awesome), AYCE indian food, etc. I decided I needed to go light today.

Hainanese Chicken Rice - ginger and garlic poached chicken. Shoyu egg, Crispy chicken skin and pickles. Had this at Jackpot Chicken on Spadina and wanted to try and replicate it. Needs some more work but the flavour is there is.