Smokin.....Oh Yeah !!!

[dmccarty]

I thought for awhile the trick or treat custom might slowly die out, but we had about 50 that night. When we bought the candy, I thought we were getting at least twice as much as we'd need, so we didn't run out, but we sure gave out more than expected. A neighbor who has lived in this neighborhood many years said they had more trick or treaters than they've ever had in the past.

Maybe YOUR neighborhood is THE place to go Trick Or Treating? There is a subdivision a few miles from us that gets LOTS of Trick or Treat traffic. Apparently many people who live out of town and don't live in a subdivision take their kids to this one neighborhood in town for Trick or Treating. Its supposed to be a real zoo with all of the traffic. I don't think this is the right thing to do and it sounds risky. There was a kid hit by a car in a city to our south on Friday. Kid just got excited and ran in front of a car.

The kids really liked what we did with hiding the candy this year. Said it was the best Halloween EVER! I AM the WORLDS GREATEST DAD according to them.

So it was worth thinking I burned the steak.

I have plans for Halloween next year....

Later,
Dan

 

[Bird]

Dan, of course I think what you did was a very good way to go. If I were younger and still had small children, I might have done something like that. In 1976 we were living in a neighborhood in which we had sort of a pie shaped lot and the biggest back yard in the neighborhood. So a couple of weeks before Halloween, the two teenage brothers across the alley asked if they could build a haunted house in our backyard. Naturally, I said they could. I thought they might put together a little cardboard, but didn't expect it to amount to much. However, they brought in 2 x 4s, cardboard, paint, ladders, and friends to help build a 4 room haunted house. Word spread throughout the neighborhood, the women fixed up sacks, as you mentioned, to give one to each kid, we had the sacks in the bed of a pickup to pass out, we had a number of games set up, such as "bobbing for apples" in a tub of water, and we had kids lined up all evening to go through the haunted house. One of the teenage girls, dressed as a witch, was stirring a boiling, steaming cauldron (dry ice), one room had a cardboard piano, but a teenager inside would reach from under the keys up to the keyboard, one room had a body and the kids were told to feel the guts (peeled grapes and spaghetti), etc. And I actually had nothing to do with it; those teenagers really surprised me and did it all on their own.

I don't know who told them about it, but the neighborhood newspaper sent a photographer and reporter a few days before Halloween to get a picture of the construction crew, and I still have that old yellowed newspaper. Kids and adults all had a great time.

 

[scott_vt]

On Friday I cooked/smoked three things.
- Oysters
- Port Butt
- London Broil which is really Flank Steak.

The flank steak was great. I ate some of it with the oysters while outside. It looked over done. But when cut some of the meat up in the house it was perfect. I sliced it up real thin. I don't know the name but the Japanese have a dish of thin sliced almost raw meat with scallions and soy sauce. So I did this with the flank steak. Very good.

So good I wanted more meat so I sliced off a few more thin pieces. Then I drizzled some of Rox's Boutilin(sp) olive oil on the meat. VERY VERY VERY Good.

I'm hungry again ....

Later,
Dan

Good Evenin Dan,
Glad to hear that the flank steak came out great ! We have used scallions and soy as a marinate, but then I grilled it. I have never done it on the smoker, but it sounds like you were quite successful so I may try it at some point ! Im wondering about how long you had it on and did you use a digital thermometer or just cut into it to check if it was done ???

Wish I could offer some help on the oysters but thats uncharted territory for me ! We do buy the tins of smoked oysters and eat them with crackers occassionaly but thats not much help to you !

Anyways glad to hear it went well !

 

[Bird]

When I smoked oysters, I first left them overnight in a "brine"; salt, water, worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and lemon juice, then I put aluminum going on the rack and punched it full of holes with a big fork, then spread the oysters on the foil to smoke. Any yep, they're quite tasty on crackers.

 

[dmccarty]

Scotty,

I don't think the Flank steak was cooking more than 20-30 minutes. I use an instant read thermometer. I have an electric one but lost the probe when we moved. It would really come in handy now. I did move the steak frequently to try to keep the ends from over cooking.

The 7n1 cooker we have is not real big, maybe 18inchs around on the grill. Cooking the pork butt and steak took up quite a bit of room. Whatever room was left was taken up by the oysters.

Lesson learned was if I was cooking the pork and steak was to put the steak on the grill much later than the pork. The fire would have been a bit cooler and the steak would have smoked a bit longer. It still was very good.

Work has been real busy lately so we are eating frozen pizzas a few times a week. Last night I dressed up the frozen pizza with dried Basil, cut up a bit of the steak in thin/small pieces, and put on some Provolone. That little bit of steak really made that frozen box pizza pretty darn good.

MAYBE tonight I'll cut up the pork.

The nice thing about using the 7n1 is that I can cook up a bunch of meat that will last all week. It does save time during the week night when we are trying to get the kids home work done, get them baths, etc....

Back to the oysters. I will try them one more time. But I don't really like the smoked oysters in a can. They are ok but I like fried oysters much better. The oysters I cooked tasted a bit like the smoked canned oysters. Not sure if that means I was successful or not.

Later,
Dan

 

[scott_vt]

Good Mornin Guys,
Sorry about bringin up an old thread, pullin a little LB this mornin ! Sorry LB !

Spring fever has hit ... 50 degs and gettin warmer... gonna try out some new Jack Daniels chips my son gave me for Christmas !

Todays menu is smoked chicken and ribs ... yum JD style !

Us newenglanders just lose it when the weather turns good...will post more pics later !

BTW I would love to be startin up a new BGE but yea got to use what yea got !

 

[jinman]

Scotty, that looks like a day full of "I can't wait," and a night following with "OMG! I can't believe how much I ate."

I smoked 6 racks of ribs a few weeks ago. We ate 1 rack over several days. (I'm on a diet, you know.) The others we froze. I'm thinking of takin' a rack out this weekend, let it thaw, and warm it up. I can eat meat one day of the week on my diet plan, and I can't think of any meat I like better than smoked ribs.

BTW: I like the snow on the ground. All you have to do is bury your 6-pack in the snow and check it often to make sure it's still cold.

 

[scott_vt]

BTW: I like the snow on the ground. All you have to do is bury your 6-pack in the snow and check it often to make sure it's still cold.

Good Mornin Jim,
Yeah Im pretty fired up about this event today, can yea tell !

Absolutely beer in the snow, and my wife gave me a taste of the JD marinate, and wow !!!

More to come !

 

[Thomas]

I'll be watching the sky for smoke and my nose to the wind sniffing you out Scotty.

Enjoy and step in some mud for me.

 

[Bird]

Scotty, let us know what you think of the Jack Daniels chips. I haven't tried the chips, but did try their pellets, but only once. I was not favorable impressed and went back to using regular old hickory and mesquite chips.

And you say 50 degrees? Our high yesterday was 82, the low was 64. But I don't plan on any outdoor cooking this weekend, since the south wind is currently gusting to 36 mph. We went to Fischer's Meat Market in Muenster, TX, yesterday (50 miles each way) and stocked up on the German sausage, Brats, Hot Links, and even a little smoked Cheddar cheese and a few steaks.