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Any Time is Grillin Time

Back from Costco and have everything divided and vac sealed and in the freezer. I put up 14 pounds of ground beef, a couple of racks of spareribs, a couple of packages of fresh caught cod, a rack of beef back ribs, and a package of 4 thick cut ribeye steaks. Fish fry tonight with some fried potatoes and onions. The beef back ribs I'll smoke up Sunday. The rest of the goodies will have to wait their turn for the smoker or grill. :)

Their briskets looked just okay unless I bought a whole packer. I thought about buying one but I'm just not that fond of the flat. Their pork butts were huge. A smaller butt works best for the wife and I. We will do a couple of meals on half of one and freeze the other half for the future. A butt that big is just too much meat for two. They had some lamb chops that I was tempted to buy. I've never eaten lamb and doubt my wife would be fond of it at all. So, I passed up some pretty chops but they were packaged in a big package which would have to be two or three meals worth. Not worth the gamble.

As I was paying for my purchase, an employee came over to inform me that if I had the premium membership.. or whatever it is... I would be saving 2% on every purchase. He went on to say that my transaction triggered his approaching me in that I had spent enough at Costco this year to pay for the up charge for the card. The extra cost for the gold card or whatever they call it is $60. I find it difficult to believe that I've spent three grand in there this year. I don't track my expenses as I should so I honestly don't know. It felt like a come on... never experienced such at Costco before. We shop at Costco about once a month. Just guessing I'd say we spend an average of $300 a trip. Times 12 that's $3,600 a card cycle. If my guessing is correct, I'd be saving a whopping $10.80 each year:) Perhaps I'll give the upgrade some consideration when my card renews. I've had a Sam's Club membership for many years. Though I haven't shopped much there since joining Costco and don't intend to renew it this year. I guess I have that money to put towards the upgrade.
 
olbriar said:
Back from Costco and have everything divided and vac sealed and in the freezer. I put up 14 pounds of ground beef, a couple of racks of spareribs, a couple of packages of fresh caught cod, a rack of beef back ribs, and a package of 4 thick cut ribeye steaks. Fish fry tonight with some fried potatoes and onions. The beef back ribs I'll smoke up Sunday. The rest of the goodies will have to wait their turn for the smoker or grill. :)

Their briskets looked just okay unless I bought a whole packer. I thought about buying one but I'm just not that fond of the flat. Their pork butts were huge. A smaller butt works best for the wife and I. We will do a couple of meals on half of one and freeze the other half for the future. A butt that big is just too much meat for two. They had some lamb chops that I was tempted to buy. I've never eaten lamb and doubt my wife would be fond of it at all. So, I passed up some pretty chops but they were packaged in a big package which would have to be two or three meals worth. Not worth the gamble.

As I was paying for my purchase, an employee came over to inform me that if I had the premium membership.. or whatever it is... I would be saving 2% on every purchase. He went on to say that my transaction triggered his approaching me in that I had spent enough at Costco this year to pay for the up charge for the card. The extra cost for the gold card or whatever they call it is $60. I find it difficult to believe that I've spent three grand in there this year. I don't track my expenses as I should so I honestly don't know. It felt like a come on... never experienced such at Costco before. We shop at Costco about once a month. Just guessing I'd say we spend an average of $300 a trip. Times 12 that's $3,600 a card cycle. If my guessing is correct, I'd be saving a whopping $10.80 each year:) Perhaps I'll give the upgrade some consideration when my card renews. I've had a Sam's Club membership for many years. Though I haven't shopped much there since joining Costco and don't intend to renew it this year. I guess I have that money to put towards the upgrade.
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As far as the pork butt being too large, throw the other half through a meat grinder and make breakfast sausage. I actually make it from whole butts, but you could easily cut the mix in half. I use a hamburger press to form nice sausage patties, freeze them, then seal a meal them so they keep the shape. I learned from experience to freeze them first. :p

I have the premium membership at BJs (regional place but same concept as cosco or sams) and the credit card. I shop enough that it more than pays for the membership.
 
Your breakfast sausage use of the extra butt is a good one! That is something that I will have to try.

I don't think I'm a big enough consumer to make the premo membership worth while. I did look into the benefits of the card a bit last night out of curiosity. At a glance, it seems instead of an instant savings at the register, you receive your savings in the 11th month of your card cycle to be used only at Costco. I did not see that hearing and optics was on the non discount list like alcohol tobacco and gas but it wouldn't surprise me. My family of six is now just two. The card, though seems a bit hokey, would have been worth while back in the day.
 
I did a long cook on my beef back ribs today. I moistened the rack with some avocado oil first and rubbed the rack generously with a rub I purchased last summer some time. It was called Texas Sweet and Bold. I had given it a taste and thought it a bit sweet for my liking so it has set waiting for the day to I'd give it a try. The rub was actually pretty good and my wife loved it. I hope they still sell it . :) I smoked the ribs for three hours at 250° then backed the temp down to 225°. I kept the rack spritzed with apple juice only. I pulled them off the smoke at the seven hour mark and let them rest for fifteen minutes before we ate. They turned out to be the best beef back ribs I've smoked.

Beef Back Ribs1.jpg
 
Early in the summer the Mrs. and I were in Lowes looking for flower pots or something similarly girly, and she spies this compact infrared gas grill from Charbroil on sale. Since it's only the two of us on most days, this was perfect and we've been using it so much we're already on our second tank of propane.

Tonight's fare was an 18oz. ribeye. Rubbed with her mother's secret seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and basil) at room temperature. Grilled for 7 minutes over high then flipped and finished over medium for another 5 minutes and rested for 10 more. I'd show you pictures, but there's nothing left. *burp*.
 
lunatic59 said:
Early in the summer the Mrs. and I were in Lowes looking for flower pots or something similarly girly, and she spies this compact infrared gas grill from Charbroil on sale. Since it's only the two of us on most days, this was perfect and we've been using it so much we're already on our second tank of propane.
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I wish I had such a wife. She just shrugs her shoulders when I'm wanting a new or different cooker. Cooking is my thing... not hers but she is always ready to eat whatever I smoke or grill. I far prefer cooking out.. I'm also the clean up guy. :)

Speaking of clean up, I put some clean on both my grill and smoker today. They were both way ready for some maintenance. I'm cooking ribeyes tonight. I'll slow smoke them until I see about 105° then toss them on the grill for a reverse sear. I made certain the steaks were of the same weight this time. Last time my steak was perfect and the wife's was a bit over cooked for her liking.

Tomorrow I'm smoking a rack of St Louis ribs. I searched for the rub I used on my beef back ribs but couldn't find it so I mixed up something similar. We like our ribs dry so I'll rub them generously and just smoke them. I might wrap them well into the cook depending on the time.
 
My ribeyes were yummy. They were cut it with a fork tender and I got a great sear on them without getting them too done. Wonderful delicious steaks.

@lunatic59 I was going to ask you about your grill. I followed your link and thought it was a good looker. It sounds like you are really liking it. I had a few questions... are both burners infrared?
How hot does it get? Can you do low temp cooks on it? How much trouble is it to clean?

I had a Jenn-Air grill that had an infrared burner on the back plane. It was designed for rotisserie
use only and could not handle any drippings. It was a great heat source and produced a very even heat across the grill. It did what it was designed to do very well. With it being vertical and above my cooks, there was no cleanup or maintenance to the burners. I'm very curious as to how that works under your cooks.
 
olbriar said:
I was going to ask you about your grill.
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To answer your questions ... yes, very, no, easy. :p

Seriously. Both burners are infrared. Actually quite an ingenious design. The infrared plate is corrugated with vent holes in the upper part of the rib and drain holes (for grease) and the lower ends of the ribs. The rib are covered by the grill grates that prevent grease from clogging the vent holes. The grates are enameled cast iron and as long as you get them up to the proper temperature, nothing sticks. I did throw some burgers on there a little too soon and had peel them off to turn them, but that was my fault and my only misstep (so far).

As far as temps go, it gets plenty hot and puts a great sear on beef and lamb (we had grilled lamb chops two weeks ago ... extra yummy). With the lid down on high it heats up to over 500°F in about 10 minutes. I haven't tried a slow cook with it yet, but on low it hold around 200°F. When i do I'll probably put it in a pan.

As for cleaning, they include a tool to scrape out the infrared plates, although they drain so well, I haven't really needed to to that often. Any residual drippings get converted to ash pretty quickly.
 
Unforgiven said:
Funny how you divvied up the steaks. :p
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Funny how it works out. :) I get the big baked potato too! :)

lunatic59 said:
To answer your questions ... yes, very, no, easy. :p


Seriously. Both burners are infrared. Actually quite an ingenious design. The infrared plate is corrugated with vent holes in the upper part of the rib and drain holes (for grease) and the lower ends of the ribs. The rib are covered by the grill grates that prevent grease from clogging the vent holes. The grates are enameled cast iron and as long as you get them up to the proper temperature, nothing sticks. I did throw some burgers on there a little too soon and had peel them off to turn them, but that was my fault and my only misstep (so far).

As far as temps go, it gets plenty hot and puts a great sear on beef and lamb (we had grilled lamb chops two weeks ago ... extra yummy). With the lid down on high it heats up to over 500°F in about 10 minutes. I haven't tried a slow cook with it yet, but on low it hold around 200°F. When i do I'll probably put it in a pan.

As for cleaning, they include a tool to scrape out the infrared plates, although they drain so well, I haven't really needed to to that often. Any residual drippings get converted to ash pretty quickly.
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It sounds like the real deal. Cleaning can't be avoided no matter the cooker. It's nice when it's designed not to be torture. I like those cooking temp ranges. That should allow all sorts of cooks which makes a cooker more fun. Congrats by the way!
 
My rack of St Louis ribs are getting there. They might make temp without a wrap by dinner time.
If not, I'll wrap and crunch the temp.
My son sent me a pic of the cook he has going today. He's smoking a whole chicken today to chip up into chicken burritos. He's smoking it in a pan so it doesn't muck up his smoker. The interesting part of his cook is he has wrapped some onion rings with bacon and has them on the smoker. I never thought about such a hors d'oeuvre but with bacon... it can't be bad. :)
 
So I was able to score some swordfish steaks for $6.99 / lb which is unheard of. They are normally between $16 & $20 / lb. I put some bourbon and soy sauce on them, and I'll be either tossing them on the grill or searing them in a cast iron skillet. I haven't decided yet. :thinking: Either way, I'll serve them with parm garlic cous cous and garlic parm broccoli. It's nice when premium fish is cheaper then bad steak. :thumbsupdroid:
 
Fish demands a premium in Kansas... go figure. :) Costco has been my best outlet. Fresh caught salmon and cod is all I've tried. My local market has farm raised catfish now and then. It isn't fresh flathead (my favorite fish of all) but it isn't bad. I have a package in the fridge that I'm frying up tomorrow. I've never eaten swordfish.
 
Last night I was at the cabin with some friends. I grilled out some pork blade steaks and baked some potatoes. We had a tomato pepper salad and some cottage cheese to round off the meal.

I didn't get back home in time to do a long cook so I'm trying something new to me. I'm, smoking a beef bologna log. I scored the log in a cross hatch fashion and rubbed it down with my favorite rub. I'm an hour and 45 minutes into the cook and smoking at 180°. At the two hour mark my plan is to turn up the heat to around 300° and let it crust up for an hour or so. I've seen this cook on youtube and it looked fun, fast, and good. When done, I'll cut the bologna into third or half pound slices and serve them on onion buns with lettuce tomato and a slice of medium cheddar.
Pics to come.....

Two hour mark

Beef Bologna 1.jpg


Finished product. 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Beef Bologna 2.jpg
 
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You got it visually appealing, but whenever my sone buys beef bologna I nearly gag at the smell, so I'm not sure that's a recipe I'll be trying. :p
 
Unforgiven said:
You got it visually appealing, but whenever my sone buys beef bologna I nearly gag at the smell, so I'm not sure that's a recipe I'll be trying. :p
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Well five pounds of bologna is a lot of bologna.:) I learned a lot from the cook and if I ever revisit I'll be making some changes. First and utmost... there is a limit to how many meals you want to have of bologna. I'll cut a log in half and freeze half of go partnership with my son when I buy. A couple of pounds is still a lot of bologna. I will not score as deep next time, season, then slice it precook. I want bark on all surfaces next time. I'll use a sweet rub vs the saltier rub I used this time. Bologna is salty enough and needs no addition. I might just use coarse pepper as a rub.

I served the smoked log on onion buns. I had lettuce, tomato slices, and dill chips for garnish. The sandwiches were ok.. nothing to brag about. Last night, trying to eat up some more of my bologna investment, I grilled my slices before serving. It was much more to my liking. I again served them on onion buns but I left the mayo in the fridge. Instead I used Louisiana hot sauce which really complimented the sandwich. It was still served with lettuce and tomato, I passed on the dill chips.

Tonight I'm frying my slices, I'll make bologna, egg, and cheese sandwiches. I don't have any onion but I do have some pepper rings that will likely find their way onto my sandwich. After tonight... I'm done and over it. The dogs will get the remainder of my smoked beef bologna log. It might take them a night or two to work their way though it but I know I can count on them. :)
 
My bologna and egg sandwiches were pretty darn good. Would have been much better if I was just a little bit hungry for bologna. :) I vac sealed the remainder. If it keeps.. okay... and if not.. okay. I didn't weigh what's left but guessing at least a couple of pounds. I have no idea what I'll do with it if anything.
 
I went to the cabin yesterday to mow and water the fruit trees. I was about finished when my son called and offered to bring dinner if we and would hang out. How do you say no to free ribeyes? We went to fire up the old Traeger to put a slow smoke on the steaks before searing them on the grill but the smoker wouldn't go. It kept tripping the GFI on the deck. There is a lot of stuff on that interrupt so I brought an extension cord from a different circuit. It didn't trip the breaker but was a no go. My son slow cooked the steaks on the grill and then put a reverse sear. They were excellent but I did miss the smoke.

I have a buddy that has repaired that Traeger numerous times. He said he would work on it again no problem. I'm going to explore my replacement options tomorrow. I'd like to buy the Green Mountain Danial Boone. I want the original design and not the upgraded Prime version. The Prime has some nice features but it's not worth the extra dollars in my opinion. The old version is getting harder to find and I'd like to buy from the folks that do all of my mowing repairs and supplies. I might weasel a discount there. We shall see tomorrow.

The Traeger has been a good smoker. It burns way too many pellets per cook but that's not a biggie. It's on it's third controller, second hot rod, and second burn pot. The fans and auger motor are original. Not too shabby considering it's been heavily used. I noticed when I was cleaning it prior to it not working that the rail holding up the high end of the grease ramp has rusted away. The cabinet doors have rusted and swing on replaced hinges. The magnetic latches holding them gave up a few years ago... or should I say the doors got so rusty the magnets no longer held the doors closed. I McGivered some cabinet catches as substitutes.
It has been through a flood and though covered its been in the elements for nearly a decade.
No complaints. I'm sure my buddy can figure out the electric problem, and I can use a couple of partially screwed in stainless screws to hold the ramp. However, it may be a good time to upgrade. I'm guessing its done around 900 cooks. It might be tired. :)
 
I didn't have any luck with my mower dudes. They sold the last old style "choice" Daniel Boone last spring from their leftover stock. They told me that the choice models were likely being phased out for that hadn't received one all summer. They wanted $699 for the "prime" version. I punted.
After I finished mowing I went to the Green Mountain site and they still show the model with a suggested sale price of $599. I followed their link to dealers near me and called the first and closest one on the list... an automotive parts store. They had a choice in stock for $499. I ran right down there... basically down the street... and bought it. I hauled it to the cabin and will put it together Friday so I can get a full day of smoke on a pork butt Saturday. Sometimes things work out.

images
 
olbriar said:
I didn't have any luck with my mower dudes. They sold the last old style "choice" Daniel Boone last spring from their leftover stock. They told me that the choice models were likely being phased out for that hadn't received one all summer. They wanted $699 for the "prime" version. I punted.
After I finished mowing I went to the Green Mountain site and they still show the model with a suggested sale price of $599. I followed their link to dealers near me and called the first and closest one on the list... an automotive parts store. They had a choice in stock for $499. I ran right down there... basically down the street... and bought it. I hauled it to the cabin and will put it together Friday so I can get a full day of smoke on a pork butt Saturday. Sometimes things work out.

images
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I, too, purchased another grilling apparatus over the weekend. I bought a Napoleon Rogue 425 gas grill to replace my disappointingly rusting Weber Spirit 310. 15 year screw to everything warranty. So far I grilled some strip steaks and chicken breasts on it, the steaks were a bit overdone to my liking but the chicken boobies were perfect.
 
jhtalisman said:
I, too, purchased another grilling apparatus over the weekend. I bought a Napoleon Rogue 425 gas grill to replace my disappointingly rusting Weber Spirit 310. 15 year screw to everything warranty. So far I grilled some strip steaks and chicken breasts on it, the steaks were a bit overdone to my liking but the chicken boobies were perfect.
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Nice looking grill. It's always a learning experience to cook on a new grill... but fun. Congrats!
I hope it serves you well.
 
Okay, the last warm weather holiday is next weekend. What's on the menu? I'll be smoking a pork shoulder for pulled pork and baking some beans. I'll likely make up a potato salad to round out the meal. I'm meeting friends at the cabin for beers, dinner, and a good time this weekend.
We'll likely hang out there the entire holiday weekend so burgers and dog and leftover pulled pork for Sunday night.

I hope that you have something yummy planned. And, if you are traveling, be safe and enjoy.
 
Baseball, baseball, baseball all weekend. I may get to some burgers and dogs. I'm camping in a couple weeks. I think I'll bring my tailgate smoker and make a breakfast fatty. Something like this...
https://www.costcogrilldad.com/p/be...mpaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter
It will work out because we usually do more of a brunch, so I won't have to wake up early. Prep it the night before, toss it on the smoker around 7 and plenty ready by 9-10 AM
 
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