I had seen many huli huli recipes saying 24-36 hour brines --- I think that is where I went off the rails --- not realizing the difference between a brine and a marinade..... there is a reason they dilute the brines down so much.
_________________ Plan B is actually repeating Plan A.... it just involves much more alcohol.
Of the ten voices I hear in my head, only three keep telling me NOT to shoot.... Do I go with the majority or common sense?
Sat Apr 23, 2022 8:44 am
MadPick
Site Admin
Location: Renton, WA Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 Posts: 52039
Real Name: Steve
Well..... cooking that chicken last night ended in a pretty big disappointment.
Everything went well as far as I could see.... smoker ran well - took a bit longer than I thought.... but I was not expecting what happened at the end..... Cooked it as usual - planned on popping it in the oven to crisp up the skin - pulled the chickens off the smoker and they were literally falling apart - after broiling for ~10 minutes, I pulled the pan out of the oven and noticed that the skin had disintegrated!!! Let it cool - went to pull a leg and the whole bird just fell apart --- lifted up the breasts and the backbone just fell apart - it didn't even move off the bottom of the pan..... Meat was 'flavorful', but incredibly mushy.... Boy --- did I fuck up.
Thinking about it last night --- the only thing I could come up with is all the acid in the pineapple juice and OJ 'ceviched' the meat during the 40 hour marinade...... Googling around this morning and sure as shit, I find "The acids and enzymes in the marinade break down tough fibers and tenderize the meat, which makes it soft and melty after it's cooked. But if you keep it in the marinade for too long, it over-tenderizes the meat so that it has no texture and falls apart when cooking." Fuuuuuck..... what a rookie mistake.....
So.... I learned something out of this experience..... Just stick with rubs when smoking --- and if you feel like you HAVE to marinade, no more than 24 hours.
I owe my neighbor a new chicken.
The meat is still edible - and as it cooled, it seemed to firm up. I'm thinking I'm gonna make a batch of chicken enchiladas and some chicken salad with whats left of mine.
Whole chicken is .99lb at Safeway right now...for the replacement JMB. Not everything goes right when you are cooking, we have all been there.
_________________ Mr. Q wrote: so basically, if you have to smoke some asshole, make sure they become fertilizer and then Bounce? got it.
Guntrader wrote: Huh, maybe I was an asshole.
NRA Member/RSO SAF 5 Year Donor GOA Member
Sat Apr 23, 2022 8:57 am
JohnMBrowning
Location: Bothell Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 Posts: 4874
Yeah --- I held back from using the excuse 'it must have been the chicken since thats the first whole bird I've had from SW'..... I knew that wasn't the case.....
_________________ Plan B is actually repeating Plan A.... it just involves much more alcohol.
Of the ten voices I hear in my head, only three keep telling me NOT to shoot.... Do I go with the majority or common sense?
Sat Apr 23, 2022 9:27 am
usrifle
Site Supporter
Location: RENTON Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 Posts: 20771
Real Name: John
Yeah --- I held back from using the excuse 'it must have been the chicken since thats the first whole bird I've had from SW'..... I knew that wasn't the case.....
Live and learn brother, plus it's still usable. With all the successful cooks, one minor let down is no big deal. Next batch of huli huli, try grilling it. that's what the Locals do.
_________________ Mr. Q wrote: so basically, if you have to smoke some asshole, make sure they become fertilizer and then Bounce? got it.
Guntrader wrote: Huh, maybe I was an asshole.
NRA Member/RSO SAF 5 Year Donor GOA Member
Sat Apr 23, 2022 9:35 am
Pablo
Site Supporter
Location: Everson, WA Joined: Sun Jan 6, 2013 Posts: 28178
Real Name: Ace Winky
Oh yeah . . . pineapple will do that, it will disintegrate meat.
Yep, proteases - proteolytic enzymes, papaya and pineapple enzymes work by breaking protein molecules into their constituent amino acids..............yeah I learned that when I was quite young. Entire ham ruined.
_________________ Why does the Penguin in Batman sound like a duck?
Because the eagle sounds like a hawk.
Sat Apr 23, 2022 10:49 am
JohnMBrowning
Location: Bothell Joined: Sat Sep 12, 2015 Posts: 4874
Chatting with my neighbor --- he said it was still totally edible and that they have the breasts left - planning on making sammys out of it..... So I'm feeling better. He said not to worry about it - he said it sounded like a solid plan when I told him about it..... so we both learned about pineapple. We were both just happy that a FU like that was with cheap chicken instead of some pricey meat.
usrifle wrote:
JohnMBrowning wrote:
Thats where they came from on wednesday....
Yeah --- I held back from using the excuse 'it must have been the chicken since thats the first whole bird I've had from SW'..... I knew that wasn't the case.....
Live and learn brother, plus it's still usable. With all the successful cooks, one minor let down is no big deal. Next batch of huli huli, try grilling it. that's what the Locals do.
My other neighbors are from Hawaii ---- I told her that I was going to smoke huli chicken..... she said 'You know...... huli means turn, don't you'..... and then proceeded to razz me by saying 'Let me know how your UNturned chicken turns out'.....
I would have grilled parts, but whole chickens go on the smoker.....
_________________ Plan B is actually repeating Plan A.... it just involves much more alcohol.
Of the ten voices I hear in my head, only three keep telling me NOT to shoot.... Do I go with the majority or common sense?
Sat Apr 23, 2022 12:18 pm
cmica
Site Supporter
Location: I-5 /512 Joined: Thu Dec 8, 2011 Posts: 15231
Real Name: chris
I spent all damned day in the kitchen, it feels like . . . .
It started at 6:30 a.m., when I put one pork butt on the smoker. Then I started a gallon of yogurt in the Instant Pot. Then I took a two-pound eye of round out of the freezer, sliced it up (on my old slicer, still waiting for the new one!), and it's now marinating for teriyaki beef jerky.
Then I cooked three pounds of ground beef with some finely-diced carrots and sweet potatoes for the dog.
Then usrifle came over, and we ground up another pork butt, made breakfast sausage out of it, and split that up. (We had to do a couple of taste tests to make sure we go the spices right, of course!)
I made a bowl of cole slaw, and put it in the fridge for a few hours.
Then about 8:30 p.m. the first pork butt was finally ready, so I pulled that, and had some soft tacos with pulled pork and cole slaw . . . which were damned good.
I'm planning to start making some breakfast sandwiches and freezing them, so I made a single "test sandwich" tonight, which is now in the freezer so I can try it tomorrow morning. This was a test run, and there is obviously some room for improvement.
But it sucked down pretty good when I wrapped it:
I definitely have a few changes that I'll be making, though.
That Slaw looked awesome, i really wanted to try some.
Thanks for the education on Meat grinding and Sausage making, (Not to mention i got to bring some home) it was time well spent! That Breakfast sammie looks delicious, i know what i'm making in the morning.
Steve? You have some Kitchen skills my friend, and i like the idea of the soft pulled Pork Taco's. I have never eaten pulled Pork that way.
_________________ Mr. Q wrote: so basically, if you have to smoke some asshole, make sure they become fertilizer and then Bounce? got it.
Guntrader wrote: Huh, maybe I was an asshole.
NRA Member/RSO SAF 5 Year Donor GOA Member
Sat Apr 23, 2022 8:46 pm
cmica
Site Supporter
Location: I-5 /512 Joined: Thu Dec 8, 2011 Posts: 15231
Real Name: chris
steve why not get some vac pac bags and seal them, toss in in freezer when ready pop in microwave 1 min
We'll see, maybe I'll get there. I'm hoping that the plastic wrap (and then inside a Ziploc) will do it. I know it's easy enough to make a sandwich, the tricky part is making one that won't go to hell when you microwave it. And microwaving it is a requirement for me . . . I could compromise on half-power microwaving, but that's as far as I'll go.
This morning I pulled the frozen breakfast sandwich out of the freezer and microwaved it for about four minutes at 50% power. I just couldn't seem to get the center of it warmed up, and by the time I did the outside was basically molten English muffin leather.
So today I made six more, but decided to do it a little differently. I toasted the muffins with a spray of olive oil on them, scrambled eight eggs with dried onion flakes and Tony Chachere's seasoning, then baked the eggs along with six sausage patties. The result:
I assembled the first sandwich:
And wrapped it:
So . . . my theory is that if I assemble it "inside out" like that, then which I microwave it the egg and the sausage will get hot without overcooking the muffin. Then after it's warmed up, I can flip it around to eat. Who knows, we'll see.
And yes, I realize that all of this is a giant waste of time and money, and I'd be better off just buying something from the freezer section at Safeway.
And then I also smoked the teriyaki jerky that I put in the marinade yesterday . . . yum. Before and after:
This morning I pulled the frozen breakfast sandwich out of the freezer and microwaved it for about four minutes at 50% power. I just couldn't seem to get the center of it warmed up, and by the time I did the outside was basically molten English muffin leather.
So today I made six more, but decided to do it a little differently. I toasted the muffins with a spray of olive oil on them, scrambled eight eggs with dried onion flakes and Tony Chachere's seasoning, then baked the eggs along with six sausage patties. The result:
So . . . my theory is that if I assemble it "inside out" like that, then which I microwave it the egg and the sausage will get hot without overcooking the muffin. Then after it's warmed up, I can flip it around to eat. Who knows, we'll see.
Nice!
Some thoughts…
As far as reheating, most recipes I’ve tried tend to suggest defrost/50% power for a minute, then full power for a minute or minute & a half.
Others recommended taking out of the freezer the day/night before, and letting them thaw overnight in the fridge.
One idea that just occurred to me is, how about making & freezing the proteins, and then nuking them while you toast the muffins? That way you could control the temp of the proteins, plus have the fresh taste of the muffins…
Just a thought, though obviously it’s a little less “grab & go”
Sun Apr 24, 2022 8:35 pm
MadPick
Site Admin
Location: Renton, WA Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 Posts: 52039
Real Name: Steve
Yeah, I think thawing overnight is ideal, and generally I’ll do that if I can. However, I’d love to have something that is capable of being nuked from frozen if necessary, so that’s my goal.
Heating parts separately is a possibility, but not ideal. I may yet get there, though….
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