Last night it was brussel sprouts, mushroom and onion skewers and ribeyes on the 2009 Weber Performer Deluxe.
Decided to swap out the standard Weber grates for the cast iron ones on the STOK. Worked out well using the STOK veggie basket insert to grill the brussell sprouts which were lightly coated in evoo , Atlantic Saltworks Salt and crushed black pepper.
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2 x 18.6 lb bags of Kingsford Blue Bag for $12.99 is roughly 34 cents a pound and a great deal. Sale ends April 11th
Verified- Got two 2-packs today at Danvers MA Lowe’s-
First to scrape ‘er down with the razor blade
Before-
She was in pretty decent shape to begin with but the blacks were faded, there was cobwebs and the bowl, lid and ash pan were all encrusted in crud.
After a good scrape with the razor and scrub with the extra fine steel wool-
Next to clean all the black trim including legs, wire grate shelf on the bottom and charcoal basket and then apply Back To Black to restore the original deep black luster.
All the aluminum was scrubbed with the extra fine steel wool as well. I didn’t spend any time on the thermostatic table as it will be replaced with a newer metal style Performer table when it arrives.
Fired up the gas assist to light a chimney of charcoal. It was nice to not have to use paper or lighter cubes to get the chimney going. Just placed it on top of the gas assist tube filled up the chimney and let it light the coals. After about three minutes the gas assist was turned off and the chimney dud the rest of the work. Dumped the chimney into the Weber charcoal baskets and put them in the center.
The grates that came with the Performer were already in decent shape but I gave them a quick scrub and oiled them down with Peanut oil before placing the rubbed chicken tenderloins offset the coal baskets around the perimeter of the bowl. Placed a small chunk of mesquite in the center for smoke.
When they hit 165 internal they got pulled off to eat.
Waiting for the new style metal table to be delivered tomorrow and handle from Brian😀
You can get these at the Dollar Store. They work very well to protect the unit on your remote thermometer sensor from the rain which will ruin your investment in a hurry.
I know it’s not some high tech revelation but sometimes there are simple solutions that we can pass on. I hear many stories of semi-expensive remote thermometers getting destroyed by rain.
Being transparent they allow you to see the temps without having to take the unit out if the container.
The cord on the probe goes right out the corner and the container can still be locked down to protect from the elements.
This one was $2 and I got it at Ocean State Job Lot in Peabody.
4:40AM Light The Chimney with about 12 Kingsford briquettes and set up the pit for snake method smoking using mesquite chunks and cherry wood chips.
Outside conditions 39 degrees with a light drizzle.
I’m trying a little something different as the beef ribs are so rich and I wanted to cut back on the salt so I put together a beef rub consisting of-
3 tbsp restaurant grind black pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp ancho powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
At the dollar store I picked up this $1 sugar shaker to use to disperse the rub.
First a light slather of yellow mustard for the rub adhesive and then I applied ground Himalayan salt to the ribs as if I was seasoning a steak ( a lot less salt than the 50/50 pepper salt ratio I was using before). Once the salt was on I shook on the rub using the sugar shaker.
5:20AM Ribs Hit The Kettle-
6:57 Update: Temps have fluctuated from 250- 325. I’m not sweating the temps, they’ll be done when they’re done.
9:40AM. Probably the first time ever that I didn’t lift the lid once start to finish. The temps within the first hour varied from 250-325 but after exactly two adjustments she settled into a much tighter range of 270-289.
They were fantastic but probably could have benefited for spritzing at 20 minute intervals during the final hour. I also will absolutely use this rub again as they had a much better pepper/salt flavor.
I was looking for a set of grill gloves to handle the Lodge Cast Iron Skillet. When opening up all the vents on the pit and getting that cast iron searing hot, the last thing you want to do is forget that it isn’t a stove top skillet that you can grab the handle. Often times you want to lift the skillet to redistribute the butter or cooking oil in the bottom of the skillet to coat the bottom. Or you may just want to move it off the direct heat and over the section of the grill that doesn’t have the coals under it.
After a little research I came across these X-Chef Silicon mitts for $9.99 There were similar mitts that looked exactly like these priced anywhere from $12.99-$54.00. I decided for $9.99 I’d give them a shot.
Yesterday when cooking the smash burgers with my daughters I needed to press down on the back side of the spatula to flatten the hamburger and get a good sear on the meat. I first placed the loosely formed round mound of hamburger down on the cast iron pan and then put a piece of parchment paper down and then used my hand to press the spatula down to flatten the meat into a patty. After about ten seconds I felt the heat on the tips of my fingers get very hot very quickly. So I slipped the X-Chef silicon gloves on and had no problem whatsoever. I also lifted the large super hot cast iron skillet up no problem without feeling any heat at all.
For $9.99 I highly recommend them
Buy them on Amazon here-
Follow along the live smoke all morning at www.northeastbbq.com
5:30AM Set up the kettle with a aluminum pan filled with water and briquettes set up snake style around the bowl for a low and slow sesh. Lit 12 briquettes inn the chimney and dumped them on the left end of the trail of briquettes which we’re looking to gradually catch and provide steady even heat between 275-300 degrees. using cherry chips and mesquite chunks.
I’m not sure if it’s just our local Stop and Shop market that pre-cuts the racks of beef ribs or if it’s done elsewhere as well. I buy what’s on sale usually and they had 2.4 lbs on sale for $2.24 per lb so I couldn’t pass them up (you can’t see the sale tag in the first picture).
Slathered them up lightly with yellow mustard and applied a generous coating of coarse salt and black pepper (Texas Style rub).
The pit set up and getting up to temp. Water in the pan to keep a moist smoking environment-
6:24 The Beef Ribs Hit the pit.
8:39AM Cranking along Grate temp 284 degrees. Only adjusted the vents once since 6:24AM Got a ways to go. Haven’t opened the lid once. “If you’re looking-you ain’t cookin.”
9:54AM 3.5 hours in-
11:45AM- They’re all jiggly and the probe slides right in so it’s time to take ’em off-
Northeast BBQ 