BBQ / Smoker / Deep Frying Thread

[tron777]

Post your recipes, techniques as well as brands, spices, rubs, and wood types. Charcoal and Propane too! What oil do you like for deep frying? Lots of good batters, spices, rubs, and injections out there! Let's eat folks! :D

[tron777]

I bought a new toy and it came today! It's a new wireless meat thermometer with 6 probes! I can watch 6 pieces of meat at once lol It also has a cell phone app that you can use to pair your device with the receiver (bluetooth) and I can monitor the temps of my meat on my cell phone. :grin:

[cloudy72]

I bought a new toy and it came today! It's a new wireless meat thermometer with 6 probes! I can watch 6 pieces of meat at once lol It also has a cell phone app that you can use to pair your device with the receiver (bluetooth) and I can monitor the temps of my meat on my cell phone. :grin:

That looks really cool Les! I assume you tested it out on this nice and mild evening?

[tron777]

I bought a new toy and it came today! It's a new wireless meat thermometer with 6 probes! I can watch 6 pieces of meat at once lol It also has a cell phone app that you can use to pair your device with the receiver (bluetooth) and I can monitor the temps of my meat on my cell phone. :grin:

That looks really cool Les! I assume you tested it out on this nice and mild evening?

Most certainly! :grin: Worked great! The phone app has alarm settings, temperature graphs and labels for 6 different pre-sets. Beef, pork, chicken, fish etc etc.

[tron777]

I am going to make Hardee's famous fried chicken this coming Sunday. Recall that Hardee's Fast Food restaurants back in the day, if you remember, they bought Roy Rogers restaurants in the 1980s and Burger Chef too. When Hardee's rolled out fried chicken in the early 1990s, when I worked for them as a teenager and into my early 20s, it was the best! IMO it beat Lee's Famous Recipe and KFC. Since Hardee's bought Roy Rogers out, the fried chicken recipe was actually theirs. I found a copy cat recipe online that I am going to try! IU want to see if I can make it taste the way it used to. We sure sold a lot of it and I made it every day, hundreds and pieces a day in fact. I couldn't cook it fast enough on Sunday's LOL Here's the recipe I will be using below.

https://www.food.com/recipe/roy-rogers- ... cat-123826

I am going to bread it, then dip it in the batter, then bread it again just like I used to it in the old days. We used to deep fry our chicken in vegetable shortening at 325 degrees for 13 minutes. I'll be using Crisco. :D

[WxMom]

Wow, Les!! First, that meat thermometer looks awesome!!! I thought I was going big time when I upgraded to a digital some years ago! I don't do the grilling or smoking like you do but for someone who does...that's awesome!! Have fun with it!
Your chicken sounds great!! Let us know how it turns out! Love your story about preparing it for your job!!! Makes me laugh!!! Trying to keep up with the Sunday crowd!!! Love it!

[tron777]

Wow, Les!! First, that meat thermometer looks awesome!!! I thought I was going big time when I upgraded to a digital some years ago! I don't do the grilling or smoking like you do but for someone who does...that's awesome!! Have fun with it!
Your chicken sounds great!! Let us know how it turns out! Love your story about preparing it for your job!!! Makes me laugh!!! Trying to keep up with the Sunday crowd!!! Love it!

Thanks Gina! I scored a 93% out of a possible 100% for my Chicken and Biscuits I used to make when I worked there. We had a Chicken Master Contest for all of the Cincy restaurants. I believe we had 32 restaurants at the peak of Hardee's popularity. I got 2nd place and represented our Burlington store. A guy from the Florence Store on Mall Rd beat me lol

[tron777]

IMG_20210307_153527908.jpg

Here you go! . Tasted awesome! Very juicey!

[MVWxObserver]

I am going to make Hardee's famous fried chicken this coming Sunday. Recall that Hardee's Fast Food restaurants back in the day, if you remember, they bought Roy Rogers restaurants in the 1980s and Burger Chef too. When Hardee's rolled out fried chicken in the early 1990s, when I worked for them as a teenager and into my early 20s, it was the best! IMO it beat Lee's Famous Recipe and KFC. Since Hardee's bought Roy Rogers out, the fried chicken recipe was actually theirs. I found a copy cat recipe online that I am going to try! IU want to see if I can make it taste the way it used to. We sure sold a lot of it and I made it every day, hundreds and pieces a day in fact. I couldn't cook it fast enough on Sunday's LOL Here's the recipe I will be using below.

https://www.food.com/recipe/roy-rogers- ... cat-123826

I am going to bread it, then dip it in the batter, then bread it again just like I used to it in the old days. We used to deep fry our chicken in vegetable shortening at 325 degrees for 13 minutes. I'll be using Crisco. :D

Sounds wonderful, Bro!! :grin:

There's a brand new Hardee's (our only one in town) that opened just down the road in Feb from my neighborhood here in Greenville.

I remember both Burger Chef and Roy Rogers chains from childhood. There was a Roy Rogers one during my preschool - K years located on Galbraith Rd in Finneytown (Cincy) and also was one on Route 4 in Fairfield during my years in Hamilton.

[tron777]

I worked at all of them in the Cincy market. From the Franklin, OH stores to out east in Amelia / Bethel to the south in KY Burlington and Florence. The Lawrenceburg, IN store was not one of ours. I never did venture into Indiana. Harrison was the furthest west I had to go.

[tron777]

Going to fire up the smoker tomorrow and do some baby back ribs! Should take about 6 hours for the entire cook running the smoker at 250 degrees. Going to use some peach wood for the cook as it'll bring out that nice red, mahogany color as the smoke reacts with the rub.

Prepare ribs by doing a little trimming and don't forget to remove the membrane on the underside of the rack. Slather a mixture of butter and mustard on the outside of the ribs doing both sides. Apply the following rub mixture:

Brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, black pepper, cumin, chili powder, and paprika.

Generously apply the rub mixture so it bonds to the butter and mustard mixture. Preheat your smoker and get the coals ready. Leave uncovered for about 3 hours. Then apply a little more butter and wrap the rack up with aluminon foil. Cook another 3 hours.

I apply the sauce at the very end over the firebox side on the grill of the smoker itself to re-apply some char and bark to the finished product. Helps the sugars in the sauce to caramelize as well for a nice shiny, glossy finish. The bbq sauce is usually Open Pit and I jazz it up a bit if I am pressed for time. If I make my own bbq sauce it's usually catsup, brown sugar, garlic, black pepper, onion powder, and a touch of strawberry jam/ sometimes honey can be used or molasses. Just a little bit to give it that stickiness all over your fingers!

Let it all rest for about 20-30 mins then enjoy!

[House of Cards]

Going to fire up the smoker tomorrow and do some baby back ribs! Should take about 6 hours for the entire cook running the smoker at 250 degrees. Going to use some peach wood for the cook as it'll bring out that nice red, mahogany color as the smoke reacts with the rub.

Prepare ribs by doing a little trimming and don't forget to remove the membrane on the underside of the rack. Slather a mixture of butter and mustard on the outside of the ribs doing both sides. Apply the following rub mixture:

Brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, black pepper, cumin, chili powder, and paprika.

Generously apply the rub mixture so it bonds to the butter and mustard mixture. Preheat your smoker and get the coals ready. Leave uncovered for about 3 hours. Then apply a little more butter and wrap the rack up with aluminon foil. Cook another 3 hours.

I apply the sauce at the very end over the firebox side on the grill of the smoker itself to re-apply some char and bark to the finished product. Helps the sugars in the sauce to caramelize as well for a nice shiny, glossy finish. The bbq sauce is usually Open Pit and I jazz it up a bit if I am pressed for time. If I make my own bbq sauce it's usually catsup, brown sugar, garlic, black pepper, onion powder, and a touch of strawberry jam/ sometimes honey can be used or molasses. Just a little bit to give it that stickiness all over your fingers!

Let it all rest for about 20-30 mins then enjoy!

This sounds amazing. Something I would like to learn is smoking meat. I finally got a really nice Weber gas grill for Father's Day. Now I would like to look at a good entry-level smoker next. If you have any suggestions on something not too expensive to get started, I'd be indebted to you....

[tron777]

Hey Dave... You can spend just a few hundred up into the thousands of dollars. I have what's called an offset stick burner type of smoker. I can burn wood or use Charcoal or both. I can control the temp and air flow myself. You can spend more money and buy pellet smokers where you feed the hopper with wood pellets, set the controls then "set it and forget it" basically. It runs itself almost. I prefer the offset stick burner option but everybody's different. The smoker I have costs about $500 (That was about 6 or so years ago)

The one I have you can't even get anymore. Smoke Hollow got bought out by Masterbuilt. But there's a ton of options out there so do some googling to find the size of the smoker, type of smoker, and the price that best fits your budget.

[House of Cards]

Thanks! My plan is to research it a bit this year with an eye towards either a birthday or father's day gift request next year. that is unless I see a "clearance" deal at the end of the season that i can't pass up.
But yeah, the options can be a bit dizzying to someone who doesn't know what they're doing yet.

[tron777]

Thanks! My plan is to research it a bit this year with an eye towards either a birthday or father's day gift request next year. that is unless I see a "clearance" deal at the end of the season that i can't pass up.
But yeah, the options can be a bit dizzying to someone who doesn't know what they're doing yet.

Yeah, take your time and do some research for sure.

[Bgoney]

Hey Les or any other grill expert. How do guys/gals do your sweetcorn. Do you soak it cold water, temp, time. I've always done it on the stove in boiling water like my mom and grandma did because it has always tasted so dam good , but want to give grilling a shot

[tron777]

Hey Les or any other grill expert. How do guys/gals do your sweetcorn. Do you soak it cold water, temp, time. I've always done it on the stove in boiling water like my mom and grandma did because it has always tasted so dam good , but want to give grilling a shot

I typically do it on the stove too honestly. It is good! The few times I have had it on the grill that other people have done, they just leave the husk on and grilled it over med heat and keep rolling it around for a while until the husk is browning and the corn is tender on the inside. I've never done it on my own to offer up any tips though. I'm curious to see if others offer up anything.

[Bgoney]

Well , didn't grill the corn yet, but did it in the microwave and turned out delicious also. Guess its hard to go wrong with fresh sweet corn. 2 minutes for each ear , I limited 3 at a time. Peel some of the outer layers while leaving a couple clean layers, deeeelicious.

[tron777]

Going to grill some steaks and baked potatoes for dinner tonight. Should be a nice afternoon for it once the humidity lowers a bit more. How do you guys like your steaks? Rare for me! Sometimes I keep it simple, a little garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper is all you need. Other times, I have taken some mayo and smeared it all over the outside. The flames from the grill sear your meat thanks to the oil in the mayo. It'll flame up on ya but that char is oh so good! Keeps your steak juicy too and it is a good tenderizer. I've also used taco seasoning (like a dry rub) then grilled it. Gives it a nice kick! I have also taken a cast iron skillet, get it really hot and put your steak in it. Use melted butter for basting. Freaking yummy folks! Just a few things that I have done using steaks. List your fav's

[Bgoney]

Medium for me , all those selections sound delicious. You get a quality cut and its hard to go wrong unless it's overcooked.

Making a batch of strawberry jam this morning. I can't eat store bought anymore with all the sugar. Its nothing fancy boil it down add pectin to a rolling boil, SOME sugar and honey to a rolling boil, touch of lemon juice, put in jars , let it cool , then in the freezer. Delicious

[tron777]

Medium for me , all those selections sound delicious. You get a quality cut and its hard to go wrong unless it's overcooked.

Making a batch of strawberry jam this morning. I can't eat store bought anymore with all the sugar. Its nothing fancy boil it down add pectin to a rolling boil, SOME sugar and honey to a rolling boil, touch of lemon juice, put in jars , let it cool , then in the freezer. Delicious

That sounds awesome! Strawberry and grape are my favorites for sure!

[Wxlrnr]

First time stopping in here. I have been doing steaks lately using Cook's Country method. I do a thick steak in a dry hot skillet and turn them every one to two minutes. You get a fantastic sear and an even cook. We do medium rare to rare. Also, Kroger's stocks wagu now. It shows up on clearance regularly. Not cheap but I normally cut into quarter pound pieces so two meals for my wife and I.

[tron777]

First time stopping in here. I have been doing steaks lately using Cook's Country method. I do a thick steak in a dry hot skillet and turn them every one to two minutes. You get a fantastic sear and an even cook. We do medium rare to rare. Also, Kroger's stocks wagu now. It shows up on clearance regularly. Not cheap but I normally cut into quarter pound pieces so two meals for my wife and I.

I did not know Kroger's carried Wagyu beef. I'll have to check that out. Thanks Linn for the tip!

[Wxlrnr]

Les, I am not sure if all the stores carry it. They stock it in the butcher case. On clearance, they don't label it as wagu, but look at the fine marbling and usually label as from Australia.

[tron777]

Les, I am not sure if all the stores carry it. They stock it in the butcher case. On clearance, they don't label it as wagu, but look at the fine marbling and usually label as from Australia.

10-4, thanks again!