Two Inch Prime Rib Steaks Traeger Style

Prime rib roast was on sale this week so we up picked a few of them. Patti was thrilled. This was a two bone that I cut into two thick steaks. We seasoned them with fresh ground black pepper and garlic. Then, let them sit in the smoke for about 30 minutes with some sliced onions and garlic before we turned up the heat.  We like these on the rare side.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Smoke Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Grill: Direct High Heat

Pellets: Oak

Ingredients:

2 bone Prime Rib Roast

Your steak seasoning of choice

Directions:

Cut your roast into 2 steaks. The butcher had already cut the bone off ¾ of the way. I didn’t see him do that. I like to leave on the bone. But, it really doesn’t matter; it is good both with and without the bone. The bones are just big meaty ribs; we put them on the grill, too. Season to your taste and put them on the grill in the “smoke” setting for 30 minutes. Then, turn the heat to high for 25 minutes. These will come out a bit on the rare side, for medium give them another 5 minutes or so.

Sliced Garlic and Sweet Onions.

Cooking Directions: Traeger

Open the lid and set the dial to “smoke”, after about five minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up. Place everything directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the “COLD Smoke” and get happy for 30 minutes or so.

After 30 minutes, turn the digital control up to high for 25 minutes. These will come out a bit on the rare side, for medium give them another 5 minutes or so.

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Directions: Gas Grill
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Grill:  Low Indirect Heat & Direct Medium Heat

Cooking Directions:

Your cooking times and temps will be about the same. Here you will use two different grill settings, the same as above. You can skip the 30 minutes in the smoke, but you lose so much flavor. It’s sad!

Preparing Grill:  Low Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to low heat (180 - 225) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Preparing Grill: Medium Direct Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (300) you will be cooking with direct heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti

We loaded this thing up for its 1^st run

Patti and I are both excited. This weekend we purchased a Texas Style Traeger. Jacob Kappeler of T&H Meats and Sausage carries a full line of them. He was kind enough to make some good suggestions on the meats for our 1^st Time out with Traeger.

And, he gave us some great tips on “How To”. It all started when we were driving by on our way to our Uncle Buster and Aunt Luisa’s house. Driving past we smelled BBQ! Turned out Jacob attracts customers to his shop by cooking his various sausages and meats outside in his Traeger smoker/grill.

We, of course, had to stop and check it out. When Ken started to drool while tasting the samples, I knew we had to get one. Being our wedding anniversary is this week, it was the perfect mutual gift that keeps on giving. We’ll be back soon for more of his great sausages, too. You can go to: www.tandhsausage.com to check things out ….

We smoked a capon, a tri-tip and some assorted sausages along with our garlic pie. Then, topped it all off with our grilled peaches. I wanted to see this thing in action. And to tell you the truth, I don’t know yet how to dance with this grill as I do my others. (I have a wall of “Q’s” on our patio.) But, we are warming up quite nicely.

I was a little confused at first about how much the “pellet feed system” would need to hold a temp of 350 for an hour. A lot? A little? Everyone I asked just said to fill the hopper. Not being made of money I wanted to know if I was also stuffing money down the hopper.

 
The Hopper

The Digital Control Panel

Well, I was surprised to learn that I only used about 2 inches of the hopper to do the first burn in and cooked for about 2 more hours. I had a temperature range from 300 to 500 during this time. So it really can put out the BTU’s when you want them. I am more of a low and slow kind of guy so I am thinking that we are going to get along just fine. Queue the dance music, please.

We put Patti’s capon on first, sitting on a soda can of lemon juice and water to steam it from the inside. It kept things nice and juicy. I let it just soak in the smoke for about 15 minutes then kicked the temp up to 350 for half an hour. Next, we put our garlic pie on for a half hour.  After that we dropped the temp down to about 295 and added the tri-tip and sausages for 45 minutes or so until the internal temp was 130. (Remember, they will keep cooking after you remove them from the heat.)

Capon

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: About 2 hours

Ingredients: Capon

1 capon, this one was 8.5 lbs.

1 soda/beer can of lemon juice and water mix

Lemon Pepper

Worcestershire spray

Directions: Capon

I sprayed my Worcestershire mix on the bird then covered it with lemon pepper and rubbed it in as best I could. Taking the can of lemon juice mix, I inserted it up the chicken and just set it on the grill using its legs for balance.

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

                                                                                                           Garlic Pie
If you LOVE garlic, this is for you. This pie is packed with 3 cups of garlic,

½ pound of bacon and almost a pound of cheese…

And it was Hickory Smoked to perfection.

Ingredients: Garlic Pie

9” pie crust

3 cups peeled garlic cloves

½ lb. bacon (we like the ends and pieces)

1 large sweet onion, rough chopped

12 oz. grated cheese, I used a cheddar mix

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup cilantro, chopped

1 Tbsp. coarse black pepper

1 Tsp. liquid smoke

Directions: Garlic Pie

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Directions:

Patti did this one while I was out fooling with the grill, so it was real easy for me…

She used a ready to bake crust.

Sauté your bacon and garlic until the bacon is still limp tender and the garlic is golden brown, add and sauté your onions for 2 minutes or so and remove from heat. You don’t want to brown the onions. Drain the grease and set aside.

Beat the eggs and milk together with the cheese and cilantro, add the liquid smoke and pepper. Pour the garlic, bacon and onions mixed well into the bottom of the crust. Then pour the milk, egg and cheese mixture over that. Put it right on the grill for about 50 minutes or until firm.

Directions: Tri-Tip

I just put a simple rub on this guy and set it on the grill.  Smoking for about 45 minutes or so, or until the internal temp hit 130. Then, I pulled it, and covered with foil, let it rest.

(Remember it will keep cooking after you remove it from the heat)

Garlic Pie, Tri-tip and Sausage on the grill

Directions: Sausage

I just put them on where they would fit, again for 45 minutes or so.  Then, just let everything hang out in the hickory smoke for a bit…

It all came together perfectly (because yummily isn’t a word).

Plus, we did something we don’t normally do, we cooked on our brand new Traeger grill with foods we don’t normally have and we invited some of our favorite “crash test dummies” for dinner. The experiment was way more than successful.

Hickory Smoked Grilled Peaches

The ingredients for smoked peaches sound a little odd. You would not think that blue cheese, honey and black pepper would go together on anything much less a peach.  But they dance. This is a dessert from Heaven…

  Ingredients: Grilled Peaches

  1 Peach per person                              Honey

  Fresh ground black pepper                Blue Cheese

Cut peach in half and remove pit. Place cut side down on the grill with medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. Then, turn over again for 2-3 minutes. Cover with cheese and close the lid and turn the control to SMOKE. When the cheese is melted, plate the peaches and drizzle honey over them. Finish off with a good sprinkle of coarse black pepper.

I don’t care for peaches myself but Patti loves them. Every time I make these for someone the first time I get less than an ENTHUSIASTIC RESPONSE. But, in the end they always fuss over how good they were and always request them when they come over again.

This was a fun day. We picked up our grill and the whole time we were there Jacob was putting chicken, pizza and sausage on a grill to show us how it works, while he was feeding us. Patti was doing the wine tasting and you know me, we were talking BBQ.

Jacob goes by the title of Sausage Meister and he is not kidding. If you get a chance and you are looking for great meats and custom sausages check him out @ www.tandhsausage.com or call him, it will be a fun day trip.(Take an ice chest. )  Phone # 760 471 9192

                                                                                                Our Traeger Premier

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste. Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti

I have a Traeger BBQ075, hands down this is the best grill I have ever owned. I have been grilling and BBQing for the last 35 years so I have had both the pleasure to have some fine grills and I have also experienced junk. Traeger makes it easy for anyone to be a “Grillmaster”.

The first thing that got my attention was that the Traeger is a “Digital Smoker”. I had never heard of anything like that. I have always done my smoking were you are always feeding wood into the fire box and trying to maintain a steady temperature. This can be a real chore when you're smoking something like pork butt for 14 hours. The fun then becomes a lot of work. With the Traeger you just set the temperature you want , note the time and that’s it. I use a kitchen timer a lot.  It truly is all about “ Time and Temperature”. (Just like your oven.)

                                                                                 A Loaded Traeger

From the day we brought our Traeger home, I have been giving it a real work out.We smoked a capon, a tri-tip and some assorted sausages along with our garlic pie. Then, topped it all off with our grilled peaches. I wanted to see this thing in action. And to tell you the truth, I don’t know yet how to dance with this grill as I do my others. (I have a wall of “Q’s” on our patio.) But, we are warming up quite nicely.

I was a little confused at first about how much the “pellet feed system” would need to hold a temp of 350 for an hour. A lot? A little? Everyone I asked just said to fill the hopper. Not being made of money I wanted to know if I was also stuffing money down the hopper.

The Hopper




The Digital Control Panel

Well, I was surprised to learn that I only used about 2 inches of the hopper to do the first burn in and cooked for about 2 more hours. I had a temperature range from 200 to 500 during this time. So, it really can put out the BTU’s when you want them. I am more of a low and slow kind of guy so I am thinking that we are going to get along just fine. Queue the dance music, please.

Traeger Tips

We use our grill 4 to 6 days a week. We are always working on new recipes, most good and some we won't talk about. So I think we may use ours more than most folks.

This means that I need to clean it more often. Most of us will only need to clean out the fire box once a month or so, or you can think of it like every 4 or 5 times, if you have long cooking times. It is no big deal, but it heats and burns better if you do. It is easy to do.

Cleaning

1.      Lift out the cooking grid

2.      Lift out the drip pan

3.      Life out the fire pot cover

4.      Clean out fire pot with a shop vac. Make sure it is off, or even better unplug it

           (If you don’t have a shop vac you can use a bent table spoon)

5.      Clean out the V channel grease catcher

6.      Clean out the bottom by either using a vac or brush.

Clean Firepot Out with a Shop Vac

Always put clean foil over the drip pan every time you use your grill. Easy to do and keeps clean up simple.

Pellets:

I get a lot of questions about pellets, it’s real simple. Use what you like, there are no rules about what you have to do. Experiment , try a few different kinds , maybe mix a few until you find your favorite. Some wood leaves a heavy smoke flavor, like hickory or oak. Use that for beef of chicken. Others are lighter, try these on pork, fish or again, chicken. Go to our “Smoking on the Grill” page. There is a list of different kinds of wood and what they go well with . But all that’s important is finding what you like.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste. Take it and run with it….

Traeger Support:

I have not had the need to call Traeger before, but I thought I would just to see what they had to say. My drip pan is really warped, doesn’t hurt anything. But it makes it a little harder to get it in and out for cleaning.

 I talked to Joel and told him what was going on and that I probably use my Traeger more than most folks. He asked me for the Model # and serial #  and my address. He  said he would “send out a new one today”.

Again, this is something I have not experienced before. No argument, no hassle, just “I’ll send you out a new one”.  Awesome.

Send me your Traeger thoughts or tips and we will post them.

kenfisher@datenightdoins.com

Hey, if you are interested in learning more about Traeger Grills or for fine meats and sausages for your grill, go see Jacob. He is a Sausage Meister and we are not kidding. If you get a chance, go and see him. It will be a fun day trip. (Take an ice chest; we always fill up a big one.) Or check him out @ www.tandhsausage.com or call him 760 471- 9192.

Guest Chef Robyn ...but call me Rob
http;//housewifecooking.blogspot.com

Whenever I find ground beef on special or score a big bundle from Costco, I love to make a giant batch of meatballs. They're great to keep on hand in the freezer-- for appetizers, meatball sandwiches, to serve with ravioli or of course, with spaghetti. Try not to over handle your meat when combining ingredients, mix just until combined. These meatballs are tender, flavorful and I find they go perfectly with a variety of sauces.

BASIC MEATBALLS

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons butter
3 lbs. lean ground beef
1-1/2 cups fresh bread crumbs*
3/4 cup cream or milk
1-1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1-1/2 teaspoons Johnny's Au Sauce (or Worcestershire sauce)
1 teaspoon pepper
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup cornstarch
3 Tablespoons oil, more if needed

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Saute onion until tender but not brown. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together: beef, crumbs, cream, salt, au jus, pepper & eggs. Add onion and combine thoroughly. Shape into 3/4 to 1 inch balls, depending on your preference.

Refrigerate shaped balls for 30 minutes. Roll in cornstarch to cover meatballs lightly.
In a large skillet, heat oil. When hot, add meatballs--a dozen at a time-- and fry until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

When cooled, freeze in tightly sealed Tupperware or ZipLoc freezer bags for up to 3 months.

*I make my bread crumbs out of the bakery Cheddar/Jalapeno rolls. Each roll = 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs. Toss rolls into food processor or blender and pulse quickly until crumbs. Store crumbs in container in refrigerator for up to 2 months.

I love to serve these meatballs in a number of different sauces for appetizers:

Mr. Yoshida Original Sauce
Honey BBQ Sauce
Sweet & Sour sauce
Brown gravy with buttered egg noodles (delicious~!)
Spaghetti sauce
Marinara
Sweet & Sour sauce
Teriyaki sauce
Stroganoff sauce

Makes about 75-80 meatballs.

8 Different Styles of Ribs

For Valentine’s Day this year we had 4 couples and a few strays over for dinner. I had it all planned out. We would do 8 styles of ribs, plated real nice with a little card that explained what kind of rub and the style I was trying to create. Well, that didn’t work. We had so many ribs that I could only tell if they were beef, or pork spare ribs, St. Louis or baby backs. Plus, chipotle bacon bombs, homemade mac & cheese, Ken’s famous baked beans, a smoked a garlic skillet and grilled peaches.

I don’t know why I didn’t write down the rubs or seasoning for each one. I thought I could remember. Wrong, it got to be more than I could keep up with. At the same time Patti and I made a new Fatty we named “The South of the Border Fatty”, our famous baked beans and Patti’s Mac and Cheese. I am not going to give you the recipe for the Fatty here. Just too big and it would make this post about 20 pages long. I’ll post it by itself. And I am telling you it was good. Jam packed with over 2 lbs. of Pepper Jack Cheese, sliced jalapenos, sweet onions, 4 kinds of sausage weighing in over 6 pounds, and 4 lbs. of bacon. Taco seasoning, red pepper and a goodly amount of Country Bob’s, too. This big boy rolled up at a whopping 12 pounds.

A  Well Loaded Traeger: 8 racks of ribs and a 12 pound Fatty

Ok, back to the ribs. I trimmed them up and removed the tough membrane from the back side. Then, I seasoned each rack with a different spice rub, working it into the meat with my fingers. After that, Patti wrapped them and put them into the fridge overnight.

The rubs I used were Andy’s Own from T and H Meats (good stuff, we are definitely going to ask for more) a Cajun, chipotle garlic, pepper garlic, mustard and brown sugar, Traeger rub, and some that I had in our cabinet. You can use any rub that you enjoy and have great ribs. So use your favorite rubs and seasonings here.

One thing I did different this time is that I made a spray mixture of 50/50 Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce with apple juice in a spray bottle. The Country Bob’s adds tons of flavors and the apple juice is a natural tenderizer. I sprayed everything down real good before adding my dry rubs and worked it all in.

I put these on the Traeger for 6 hours at 225 degrees. It was fully loaded.

So, I fired up my Char Broil grill and smoked a garlic skillet along with about 4 dozen Chipotle Bacon Bombs. The recipes for these are on our site.

You can do these in the oven, too. It is all about time and temperature, low and slow.

8 Racks of Ribs in the Rib Rack

Prep Time: 1 ½ hours (this was a lot of ribs)
Cook Time: 6 hours @ 225 Degrees
Grill: Traeger

Pellets: Mix of Oak, Pecan and Garlic

Serving these up, we put out bowls of Grandville’s Sauces and let folks mix and match.  Normally I sauce my ribs up in the last ½ hour of cooking.

These guys were so good that they could stand alone. And they did ALL WEEK, which was fine for us and our dogs.

Pork Spare Ribs

Cooking Directions: Traeger

Open the lid and set the dial to “Smoke”, after about five minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up. Place ribs directly onto the grill, I used a rack. But, it is OK if you don’t have one.

Let these guys swim in the smoke for about 6 hours. Your weather will have some effect here. If it’s cold it will be harder to reach your temperature and maintain it. So, your cooking times may be longer. Here, it was a beautiful day ending at 79 degrees and lots of stars out.

Give everything a spray now and then to keep things moist.

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill, a mixture of 50/50 Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce with REAL apple juice in a spray bottle. The Country Bob’s adds tons of flavors and the apple juice is a natural tenderizer.

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like.

Baby Backs

Directions: Gas Grill
Cook Time: 6 hours
Grill: Low Indirect Heat

Preparing Grill:  Low Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to low heat (180 - 225) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Cooking time 6 hours at 225 degrees.

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Preparing Charcoal Smoker:

Get the smoker ready, you will want your temperature of around 180-225 degrees. Remember, you are going low and slow here. This will take all day (6 hours); make sure you have plenty of cold beer. Your cooking times and temps will be the same as above.

St. Louis Style

Cooking In the Oven:

We have been getting requests for recipe conversions for the oven. I tell folks all the time that cooking on a Traeger is just as easy as cooking in your oven. Just about anyone can do it and do it well. Think about it. You set your control knob to the temp you want, put your meat in and leave it for a set time.

It is the same thing, time and temp. is what it is all about. The Traeger is just like your oven except it uses wood pellets and has wheels.

If you were to smoke in your oven they sell oven smokers for that. I, myself, would not spend the money on one of those when you can make your own out of foil.

Foil smoke packets. (Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.) Just set it in the oven. You might want to make sure you turn on your vent fan or your house will fill up with smoke. You will give your alarms a good work out.

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills, including Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles will fit pellet heads, gas, and natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot. But, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. Though sometimes it does rain.

Beef Ribs

Grilled Peaches

The recipe in on our site

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti

Hey, if you are interested in learning more about Traeger Grills or for fine meats and sausages for your grill, go see Jacob. He is a Sausage Meister and we are not kidding. If you get a chance, go and see him. It will be a fun day trip. (Take an ice chest; we always fill up a big one.) Or check him out @ www.tandhsausage.com or call him 760 471- 9192.

Al Malekovic makes a fine all purpose sauce. Patti uses it for seasoning all kinds of things, but I like it on burgers and steaks. “Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce”

Check it out, for a free bottle go to his web site or email him. If you email him, tell him that you saw it here and we used it all up and to send us more...

 www.countrybobs.com      Al@countrybobs.com

For REAL GOOD BBQ Sauce check out Grandville’s Gourmet BBQ Sauces 

Steve 360 943 2861 @ www.grandvillesbbqsauces.com

I really like Grandville’s Gourmet BBQ sauces. First thing you think is that I am paid to say this. Wrong, I have NO PAID ADS on our site at this time. But I am lucky that a few folks think well enough of our site that they have sent us samples to review. To me it is real simple, the things I don’t care for I don’t use and you don’t hear about. The Good Stuff I use a lot. If folks keep sending it, I’ll keep using it.

I have no problem with any one sending money either … LOL.

4 Lamb chops, frenched and sliced into two ribs chops (double-thick cut)

2 cups bread crumbs

1 tbs salt

1 tbs pepper

4 tbs olive oil

2 teaspoons butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp fresh thyme

Sauce:

2 tbs grape jelly

2 tbs mustard

1 cup orange juice

1 tsp apple cider vingar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut lamb chops into double-thick chops.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Dredge in breadcrumbs.  Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet.  Sear chops for 2 minutes on all sides.  Remove chops and place on baking sheet. Then place in the oven for 15-18 minutes (depending on temperature preference).  To prepare the sauce, add the grape jelly, mustard, vinegar, and orange juice to the skillet, and whisk together until fully incorporated.  Place skillet over medium/low heat and reduce until half.  To serve, place small portion of sauce on the side.

Guest Chef 

PIZZA-A-CASA SPICY SALSICCIA MEATBALLS

Ingredients:  (makes about 30-40 meatballs)

Per 1 lb. of ground pork in a 3 to 1, lean to fat, coarse grind
1 Tbs fennel seed
1 tsp fine crystal sea salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C breadcrumbs
30-40 strips of roasted red pepper (optional)

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients (except red pepper strips) well. Form mixture into ping-pong sized balls and place in roasting pan. Bake at 350F until browned and just above pink inside (about 10-15 minutes).  Serve on toothpick topped with a roasted red pepper strip (optional).

(Throw these delicious meatballs at me any time of the year – except during Ash Wednesday and Fridays of Lent!)

Smoked Beef Tenderloin Stuffed with Broccoli and Blue Cheese

Smoked Beef Tenderloin Stuffed with Broccoli and Blue Cheese

It was a beautiful night for our date night BBQ. Tonight was a “Blue Moon”. Making things just a little more special. The odd thing about a Blue Moon is that most of the folks I talked to about this really had no clue what a blue moon was. One of my friends, not going to say her name, came out to see if it really was blue. Sometimes you gotta giggle a bit, then others you just have to laugh out loud. I learned what it was from Patti.

We found beef tenderloin on sale for $2.98 a pound. Can you believe that? That’s cheaper than hamburger! We bought 4 of them and can get two nice dinners and lunches out of each one. Now that is really good eatin’.

We took half of this one and stuffed it with broccoli and blue cheese; and cold smoked it for 45 minutes before turning up the heat.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 ½ hour

Grill: Traeger

Pellets: Hickory

Ingredients:

Beef Tenderloin (we cut it in two and froze half)
1 package frozen broccoli with cheese sauce, thawed
½ lb. blue cheese
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Country Bob’s seasoning salt
½ tsp. white pepper

Directions:

Mix broccoli, cheese and seasoning in bowl and set aside.

Cut tenderloin open the long way for stuffing, be careful not to cut all the way through.

Fill  opening with all the stuffing you can and still be able to tie it closed.

Using butcher’s twine, tie your tenderloin closed.

Season the meat and head for the grill.

Mix Ingredients

Add Stuffing

Tie with Butcher’s Twine

Ready For The Grill

On the Grill

Cooking Directions: Traeger

Open the lid and set the dial to “smoke”, after five minutes shut the lid. Give it about 10 minutes to heat up. Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up. Place tenderloin directly onto the grill and just let it hang out in the smoke and get happy for 45 minutes or so.

After 45 minutes, turn the digital control up to 350 degrees. You should have a temperature around 310 at the stack or dome thermometer

When the meat reaches an internal temp around 130 pull it off, cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. This will be rare to medium rare. Keep in mind that the meat will continue cooking for another 10 degrees after you pull it off the grill. So for medium pull it at 140 and overdone 160.

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need follow closely like when you are making bread, but most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like.

Directions: Gas Grill
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 ½ hours
Grill: Gas

Step 1: First 45 minutes:

Preparing Grill:  Low Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to low heat (180 - 225) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Step 2: Next 45 minutes or if you don’t want the smoke flavor, skip step 1.

Preparing Grill: Medium Indirect Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (300 - 350) and turn off one side so you will be cooking with indirect heat. Add your wet hickory chips over the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Preparing Charcoal Grill

Get the Grill ready, you will want your temperature of around 300 degrees. Remember, you are going medium heat here for about 45 minutes. Bank your coals over to one side of your grill. Add your “drained wood chips” and you are good to go… Your cooking temps will be the same as above.

About our Recipes

We do our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills. Including: Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles will fit pellet heads, gas, natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good BBQ.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can even do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But, sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Enjoy, Ken & Patti

Hey, if you are interested in learning more about Traeger Grills or for fine meats and sausages for your grill, go see Jacob. He is a Sausage Meister and we are not kidding. If you get a chance, go and see him. It will be a fun day trip. (Take an ice chest; we always fill up a big one.) Or check him out @ www.tandhsausage.com or call him 760 471- 9192.

                                                         Valentine Breakfast Biscuit

Valentine Breakfast Biscuit

On Valentine’s Day I always try to do something special for Patti. This year I thought I would start with breakfast. I made this last week to try it out for our Valentine’s Day. It was a hit! So, I thought I would post it in case anyone else wanted to try it…

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Oven and Stove Top

Ingredients:

Biscuits

Eggs, two for each biscuit you make

Muenster cheese or cheese of choice, sliced

Ham, sliced ¼ inch thick

Mayo

Biscuits Ready for the Oven

Directions:

You can either make biscuits or  buy packaged, I like the Pillsbury “Grands” for this.

Cut the biscuit dough into a heart shape, I used my egg mold for this. Then bake according to the biscuit instructions.

Trim the ham slice using the egg mold as a pattern.

The last 10 minutes of the biscuit cooking time start your eggs. I have some heart shaped egg molds that you can get at almost any kitchen store. Not to worry, if you don’t have molds these are good in any shape. Patti insists it really is the thought that counts. Bless her.

Eggs in molds, I like using a cast iron skillet

Spray the molds and skillet with cooking spray. Break your eggs into a bowl. I use 2 per mold. Then when the skillet is hot, pour them into the molds and season to taste.

After the eggs set up, slide a knife around the edges and remove the mold. Add the sliced and trimmed ham. It is precooked so all you are doing is heating it.

Eggs and Ham in Cast Iron Skillet

Try to time the eggs and biscuits to come together at the same time. Pull the biscuits and build your Valentine Breakfast Biscuits.

Add a little mayo, I used our garlic mayo. I also added garlic to the biscuits when I made them. You can see it in the biscuit here.

Add the hot ham.

Add the Muenster cheese

Add the eggs on top of the cheese. The cheese melts nicely between the ham and eggs.

Your Valentine Breakfast Biscuit is ready for your Baby.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken for Patti

Tabasco Chipotle Burgers

Tonight we just want a quiet simple dinner, a little beer for me and wine for Patti. I have my new Tabasco topper and am enjoying playing with that. The Tabasco chipotle sauce is full of flavor and on the 1 – 10 heat scale for me it does not register so I am a little free with its application. But for Patti I think it is about a 4, but Patti thinks it’s a 7. Anyway, after this she asked me do anything without Chipotle for a while. Again I am not sure there is any point in life without Chipotle but I am sure I’ll find out…

Chipotle is a jalapeno smoked in pecan wood. It adds a sweet smoky flavor to your food. I find it is really hard to find as a chili powder, but you can get it anywhere in cans packed in a sauce.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef

3 Tbsp. crushed garlic, or to taste

4 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Steak seasoning, to taste

Tabasco Chipotle sauce, to taste

Your condiments of choice

Directions:

In a large bowl mix your meat together with your seasonings. Here you can either return your meat to the refrigerator or make your patties first then into the fridge. You want to give your seasonings time to get happy. Also, burgers are best grilled right out of the fridge, they hold together better, unlike steak that you grill at room temperature.

When the time is good for you, put them on an oiled grill around 350- 400 degrees for 5 minutes or so on each side. This varies of course depending on how big the burgers are, how hot your grill is and how well done you want them. A big ½ pound burger will be a little pink inside on my grill, just the way we like them. Actually, Patti likes them a bit raw and our daughter Katie likes them burned. So, this recipe is a compromise for my two favorite women.

Splash some of your Tabasco sauce on them as they go down and when you flip em…

Remember to give them some time before you try to flip them. If they are not ready they will stick to the grill and flipping them will tear them up. When they are ready they will come up easily…

                                        Tabasco Chipotle Burgers Ready for The Grill   
 
                      

                                                                          Looks Good

Preparing Grill: Medium High Direct Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (350-400). Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to  suit your taste.

Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti