Today I made my first batch of beef jerky on the Rec Tec pellet grill. It was the first time that I've made jerky in a loooong time.

First step was an almost 4-lb top round roast from Costco. Then, I pulled the meat slicer out from the back of the cupboard and dusted it off, then sliced the roast across the grain about 1/8" thick (after some freezer time, but not quite enough) and cut up the pieces a bit.

I put Dillo Dust rub on it, front and back, and then put it on the smoker at 180-190 degrees for about two hours. Here's the result:



Lessons learned:

- The meat quality is pretty good; it tears easily and isn't tough to eat.
- Some of the pieces that were around the edge (not protected by the drip pan) got a bit over-done. You can see the darker pieces in the photo.
- The taste is okay, but it needs more flavor. More salt, more spice, maybe more garlic.

I cooked just over half the meat tonight, and that's what you see in the picture. I'll try the rest of it soon (tomorrow maybe), and make it a little different.

I'm trying to stay away from a bunch of sugar, so I don't really want to soak it in teriyaki sauce or anything like that.

Father's Day BBQ at my place - Picked up some Nice 3lb. Tomahawk Ribeye's and stuffed our faces.

I just whipped up a 20 pound batch of homemade sausage. I am thinking that would make a HUGE batch of biscuits and gravy. Well maybe to big a batch so tomorrow will be a normal batch of biscuits and gravy

All right, so batch #2 happened tonight:



I kept the pieces away from the edge of the smoker, so I didn't have the over-done pieces that I did last time.

Today batch had liberal doses of Rec Tec Scream'n Pig rub and garlic powder, and some cracked pepper. And . . . yup, this batch is definitely spicier! Probably TOO spicy, my mouth is burning a bit!

I've discovered that you need to wait until the next day to really test it, so I'm not passing too much judgment just yet. But so far, it's better than the first batch but maybe a bit too spicy.

That's some good-looking jerky. I should probably figure that out, for hiking food.

I tried my hand at fried chicken. Brined in buttermilk and hotsauce mixture, breaded with 00-grade flour. Pieces left at room temperature for 90 minutes after frying still have a very crisp crust.



Served with caramelized-honey butter, and a shake of spice.

Got a Sous Vide for Father's day and cooked several meals with it. All have been delicious. This was the second meal I cooked with it, Tri Tip Pot Roast with heirloom carrots, mixed baby potatoes, and pearl onions.

^ That's a nice-looking meal.

Was it finished (seared) in that frying pan? That seems like a lot of food to cook so quickly in that pan.

Brisket's in the smoker. When it gets wrapped, it'll make room for ribs to go on. When they need wrapping I'll transfer them to the oven to make space for the pork belly. Chicken is cooking sous-vide, so that it's impossible to screw up when searing over the coals.

Photos later.

^^ That sounds great WW. Nothing like ribs and brisket on a summer day.

I've been cooking a lot of New Mexico/Southwest cuisine lately. Since South Central Texas sits smack dab in the confluence of the South and Southwest decided to look towards Louisiana for my next recipes.

All my prior exposure to red beans and rice has been from the Zatarain's box mix or Popeye's Was thinking there must be something better. So cooking a big Dutch Oven of red beans and rice today. Lifted straight from this recipe:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/johns-red-beans-rice

Couple pics of final stages of cooking:


All the prep and initial cooking is done and the beans, meat, and vegetable base is now cooking for a couple more hours. First time cooking red beans & rice from scratch. When done will serve over a base of steaming hot white rice. When they say folks from Louisiana cook heavily with onion, green bell pepper, and celery they aren't kidding.

We've also got most of the ingredients prepped for Gumbo based on this recipe:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/216888/good-new-orleans-creole-gumbo/

Cooking gumbo is a LOT of work. First need to produce bacon drippings. Anything that starts with 1/2 - 3/4 cup of bacon drippings can't be bad lol. Anyhoo you make a roux, wife coached me on this. Then you add andouille sausage and diced onion/bell pepper/celery to the roux and cook till tender. Then this goes into a base of chicken broth, tomatoes, and spices. That cooks for a while with some gumbo file. Then in goes crab meat and shrimp with a bit more file at the end to thicken up the soup.

Pictures now posted near the end of cooking:

Yeah. I'm just waiting on the summer day, to be honest.

I just made a cumin, chipotle and caramelized-honey butter to go on the cornbread, too.

Is the weather still gray up there? We're over a hundred degrees and humid here ugh. It's not all yellow roses living in Texas let me tell you.
The spiced butter sounds incredible. I've been cooking a lot with cumin and chipotle in various chili recipes. Sounds like that would be amazing with cornbread.

Realizing that creole gumbo is a LOT of work here. Just finished the base which is simmering now. Next got to cook the okra, then that goes into the base along with crab meat, shrimp, and gumbo file.

We had a couple 90* days, then settled back into 70's... Today is overcast and 60's..

Yeah 60's and 70's sounds pretty good to us right now. I'm just amazed how people lived in Texas during frontier days before the advent of air conditioning. Have always been a fan of colder weather so the Texas summer's are the single hardest part of living here. You guys have it good in the Northwest. Summer is a long time coming but great when it arrives. Western Washington has dibs on best summer weather in the US and Canada.

Sounds great

One of my go to sites for Louisiana/ N'awlins recipes & info is below, if you're interestd.

It's from the paper down there, The Times-Picayune, and they have a great Food Section. Both Chefs and locals share recipes & techniques.

There is a sign up at the bottom, where they send out recipes & articles periodically, just make sure to check the box that says you don't want other stuff emailed to you.

I generally start there and get several base recipes, and compare them with others online. Usually there's an ingredient, a trick, or a technique, that comes to light that can make the dish better.

The site is nola.com/food