Some like it HOT!

Not all cooking is about BBQ or even a gas or charcoal fired grill. I'm fooling around with some Habañero recipes. Mostly I'm posting just to show off their incredible colors.

The red peppers in particular look great but the orange Habañeros are no slouch either when it comes to intensity of color.

The first recipe I tried was a simple recipe from Rick Bayless which included carrots, onions and some garlic in addition to the Habañeros. It really packs a punch. I had some on reheated beef and chicken Fajitas for lunch and it was pretty good. (One change - I used shallots instead of onion as that's what I had on hand.

For the next recipe I wanted to try something that would be good with chips. For that I went with a fruity concoction called Aunt Lindy's Habsolutely Mango. It uses a lot less Habañero for the volume of salsa. It has a nice fruity flavor and the heat doesn't gob-smack you when you first taste it. Instead the heat builds as the fruit flavor fades. It eventually gets fairly hot but not unbearably so.

I've got some canned peaches so tomorrow I'll have a go at some Habanero Peach salsa. And with all of the tomatoes that are ripening I might make some of that. I might even add some Jalapeños to the mix. I have one Jalapeño plant that suddenly decided to set a couple dozen fruit. I guess the weather a couple weeks ago was conducive to Jalapeño fruit set.

The red peppers above? Those are for drying. They're Red Rockets and I've strung them on some string and they're hanging in a warm oven to dry.


Update:  I figured I better do something with the remaining Habañeros. I split them in half, seeded them, boiled them for about 15 minutes and pureed them. Wow! Just seeding them I had to open a window as the fumes were making me cough and sneeze and my nose was running!  The particular variety of capsaicin found in Habañeros is subtle but potent. When I boiled them I had to turn on the exhaust fan or I couldn't stay in the room. It makes me wonder what kind of protection they use in plants where they process these commercially.

I also made some peach salsa. I used:

• 1 15.5 oz can of peaches (drained)
• 2 medium tomatoes peeled and seeded. (*)
• about 1/4 C sautéed onion.
• 2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate.
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar.
• a small amount of the following spices:
• cinnamon
• allspice
• cumin
• powdered ginger
• 1 Tbsp of the pureed Habañeros. That's probably between one and two Habañeros.

That was plenty of heat for something that I didn't want to be particularly hot. Again, it starts with the fruity flavor and the heat comes on slowly and builds to a nice hot crescendo.  (That's on the initial tasting. The flavors may change as the spices meld.) Now I wonder if I should have put some vinegar in the salsa. I'll have to try some with a little vinegar added. ... Yes! About 1 Tbsp white vinegar and 2 Tbsp frozen orange juice concentrate brighten this up nicely. I'd consider adding lime or lemon juice, but the peach flavor is subtle and I don't want to overpower it totally. I'm going to call this salsa done. Now I guess I need to run out and get some more chips.

I've got two cups of pureed  Habañeros on 4 oz. containers in addition to the hot sauce and two fruit salsas I've already prepared. I think think I have plenty of "hot stuff" to last me a while.

(*) I dropped the tomatoes into boiling water for a minute or so to loosen the skin. I also stroked them with the back of a knife to further loosen the skin and they peel easily.

ABTs for a party.

I decided to bring some ABTs (Atomic Buffalo Turds) to a party as a side dish. I started by going to a local Mexican grocery to buy a dozen jalapeños. I figured that if I went there, I'd be most likely to get some hot (picoso) ones. Some that I've gotten at regular groceries have been disappointingly mild.

I followed pretty much the recipe I used previously including the spicy sausage. this time I chopped the sausage and mixed it in rather than quartering them and pressing them into the cheese mix. I sprinkled with a little Ancho chile powder.

Outside conditions are 61°, sunny and wind at about 10 mph.

I'm cooking in the mini using briquettes left over from a previous smoke to which I added some lit lump I used to roast some red peppers for another recipe. I used some Mesquite chips and a couple chunks of Hickory for smoking wood. The ABTs are going on the top grate with no water pan. This is a kind of indirect cooking due to the distance from fire to grate. Temperature was measured with a Maverick probe just below the grate.

time	temp	comment
2:10		ABTs on. I closed the bottom vents to about 1/3 and left the top vent full open.
2:29	289°
3:01	321°	Should peek in soon.
3:14	325°	And they're done. Probably could have taken them off sooner, but I do like the bacon a bit crisp.

They seemed to be well received by the party goers. I put them in a large cast iron skillet and reheated them on a stove top. They weren't as good as when they came off the grill, but none were left and I did get compliments on them. They varied in heat from pretty mild to hot.

For the benefit of anyone not familiar with the mini-WSM, (Weber Smoky Mountain) this is a Smoky Joe to which a middle section has been added using a Tamale steaming pot with the bottom removed. It's a very convenient size for cooks like this.

Beef today

Today's primary project is to make some  Gaucho Beef ribs for family. Before I got those on however I started with some beef heart. I was going to braise it (w/out flour) in the small Dutch oven but once I started, I decided to put it on the smoker for a bit. This is a tough piece of beef that is going to take a lot of cooking before it is ready to eat. I'll smoke it for a while and then bring it inside and simmer it in the Dutch oven until tender. Prep was simple. I cut it into cubes approximately 1.5" across. Pieces vary in thickness up to about 1" thick. I added no seasoning as there will be plenty of time to do that during the simmer. Eventually I'll either make soup or chili with the meat.

Cooking is on the mini-WSM, top grate with water in the bowl. It's fired with Stubbs briquettes (and some Kingsford Blue left over from a previous smoke.) Smoking wood is a couple pieces of Mesquite.

Weather at present is a very pleasant 61° and sunny with winds at 7 knotts. Temperature is expected to get up to 70° this afternoon.

Beef heart is about 3-4 lb that was frozen and thawed in the refrigerator.

Temperature is measured with a probe inserted through the lid and a Maverick ET-73 probe at the grate. The Maverick provides a remote readout. I'm not sure there is any benefit to the lid temp. The probe is short and I don't think it reflects smoker temp in any meaningful way.

time	temp	comment
10:17 AM		Beef Heart on
10:34	238°/175° (grate/lid)
10:58	238°/?
11:19	272°/170°	Grate had been holding pretty steady at ~240° F and seems to have jumped. I put another thermometer in the lid vent to project about 4" into the cooker to see if I can get a better reading. I'm about ready to start the beef back ribs and want to use the Maverick to monitor temperature in the Platinum.
11:30	284°	Removed the Maverick probe to move to the Platinum for the ribs.
12:50	250°/275°	Meat off. Temp measured in the lid using two thermometers which read 250° and 275° (longer one.) The meat is in the Dutch oven and back on the stove to continue to cook.
9:16		The chunks of beef are still simmering in the small Dutch oven and are still pretty firm. They're going to take a bit longer to finish! Perhaps adding some tomato sauce will help things along. The acid in the tomatoes may help to soften the meat.
9:45		Added a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes to the meat in the Dutch oven.

After simmering for about half a day I gave up on the beef heart. It was still pretty firm and didn't even taste good. I pitched it.

Today's main event is going to be beef back ribs prepared Gaucho style. Those will be cooked using indirect method in my Platinum (which has the sort of standard 22 1/2" kettle.) I'll be fioring that with some lump (Steakhouse and Mesquiite) and using Mesquite and oak as smoking woods.

time	temp	comment
11:30		Lump in the basket and grate in place. Bottom vent about 1/2 open. Almost within seconds the temp shot up to 400°. I closed the vent to 1/4 while I prep the ribs.
11:45	395°	Ribs on! I also threw some oak and mesquite chips on the coals. Temp dropped to about 290° with the lid closed but looks like it's climbing back up.
12:09	306°
12:50	300°	Ribs look well along. They're just starting to pull back on the bone. I think I'll turn them now. I also closed the bottom vent to a bit less than 1/4.
1:30	268°	Turned the ribs back up. They're pretty much done and I'll just leave them on a bit longer to color up part of one that was covered due to overlap.
1:45	270°	Ribs off to rest. While they do, I'll spread out the coals and roast some spuds.

Note to self: Remember to use a drip pan with these ribs. Otherwise when the coals are spread for direct roasting, the grease ignites and must be left to burn off before anything else can be cooked.

The ribs were a bit of a disappointment meat wise. They had been trimmed a bit too diligently by the processor. In fact, there were complete gaps between some of the bones. Flavor was otherwise very good.

The ribs and roasted potatoes were served with a tossed salad which rounded them out very well.

Chicken Liver => Smoked Liver Pâté (plus ABTs)

I got several pounds of frozen chicken livers so I decided to try some smoked chicken liver pâté. I put some on the counter for a bit and then in the fridge overnight to thaw. Unfortunately in the morning I found that I had thawed some chicken hearts. :( I grabbed a bag (2 lb?) of frozen chicken livers and put them in warm water to quick thaw. By this time I had already started my fire so I was in a bit of a bind. Eventually I decided to put the partially frozen livers in a Corning Ware casserole in the smoker at as low a temperature as I could muster. After they were thawed and separated, I could raise the temperature.


Seasonings included a fairly large thinly sliced shallot. I forgot the garlic, but I think the shallot may be all I need. I also added three bay leaves and a sprinkle of dried thyme. Inspiration for this recipe came from Jacques Pépin. I modified it of course, using the chicken livers on hand, not so expensive brandy and not nearly so much butter.

Smoking will be done in the mini-WSM using briquettes and some hickory and a little mesquite. I figured the liver was strong flavored and should stand up to a strong smoke flavor.


Weather is a very pleasant 66° and sunny. Wind is light at 10 mph.


Fire started using the Minion method and left to burn about 10 minutes before putting the meat on. At that time I closed the bottom vent about 3/4. Temperature is monitored via a lid thermometer and the Maverick remote.

time	temp	comment
4:30	215°/155° (grate/lid)	meat on!
4:45	215°/155°	Tried to separate the meat. Still frozen so I put it in a larger casserole.
5:17	222°/155°	Separating again. All livers are thawed.
5:45	262°/155°	Stirred the livers up a bit to expose more to the smoke. There's a fair bit of liquid in there now which I'll leave there. It's bloody now but should look like cooked liver when the liver is done. Grate temp seems to be coming up nicely w/out any adjustment necessary.
6:09	302°/180°	Starting to look more done. Not cooking so evenly so I stirred them about a bit to even things out. I also note that the water in the bowl is gone but that's no big surprise since the temperature is climbing. (Water helps to keep the temperature down.)
6:25	331°/190°	Stirred again - almost done.
7:06	328°/190°	Looks done - I'm taking the liver off.
		Next food on...

I pureed the livers with some brandy and butter and a little water until smooth. I'm sure I didn't use nearly as much butter as Pepin recommends, but that's too much for me anyway. I got nearly 4 C of pâté out of the process and it tastes good!

While I've got the smoker fired up, I'm going to make another batch of ABTs. I picked up some Jalapeños at a Mexican grocery (Rosita's? La Rosati's? Across from Menards in Bloomingdale at North Avenue and Bloomingdale Road.) I hope that this way I'll get hot jalapeños and not really mild ones like at Meijer in Owosso, MI. I'll use the Neufchâtel cheese that's been in the refrigerator for months? Years? Still tastes OK or I'd use the no-fat cream cheese I bought today. Again I'll mix in some shredded sharp cheddar and honey. Instead of onion flakes, I'll use chopped shallot. (Yes, I have extra shallots left over from making Salsa Verde over the weekend.) This time I have some Chile Ancho powder that I'll use to dust on the ABTs before cooking. I also have some pulled pork to chop and mix in the cheese spread. I did come up 4 ABTs short of having enough bacon to wrap all so those got some bacon bits (TVP) instead. The ABTs will go on the smoker when the liver is done.

7:10	330°/190°	ABTs on!
7:59	302°/190°	ABTs coming along nicely. maybe another half hour or so.
8:35	310°/190°	ABTs off!

.
ABTs came out good again. They're a little on the sweet side but that's not really a bad thing. The jalopies are hot and a little sprinkle of ancho chili is nice. The ones with the bacon bits were good too.

BRITU

That stands for Best Ribs In The Universe. Not modest, are they? ;) I got the recipe from The Virtual Weber Bullet. It's a little different for me since I usually don't put salt or much sugar in my rubs, but I thought it was worth a try.

RANT - I hate recipes that specify chili powder. That's mostly because I do not have any on the shelf. It's easy enough to make with paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano ... Why not just list those ingredients instead? Is there something magical about letting some spice packager mix it? They probably add the magic salt. IMO it's like listing "cake mix" as an ingredient for a cake recipe. /RANT

Also I'm not slavishly following the recipe as so many have recommended. I skipped the MSG in the rub. I guess I should call my variation  NRBITU (Next Best Ribs ...) I'm also not going to run out to buy KC Masterpiece sauce when I've got perfectly good Sweet Baby Ray's on the shelf.

I got two cryovac packages (3 racks each) of baby backs from Caputos for a total of 15¾ lb of baby backs. I will add a third grate to my WSM so I can lay them all flat. I've also cut the racks of ribs in half to make them easier to arrange on the round grates. It's nice to put a whole rack on a platter to serve, but I'm making these as a 'bring along' to a corn roast so they'll be sliced down to individual bones once I'm done. It turned out that 6 racks fit well on three grates with four half racks on each grate.

There are two more grates under the top one.

At about 9:30 AM I got the rub on the ribs just as the storm moved in. Weather is not really with me today. We might even get a tornado. I'm going to situate the cooker in front of the garage and maybe pull it under the overhang for some rain protection. I have two hours to get the smoker ready and the fire lit. The rain should last longer than that.

Weather at the time the meat went on: 71° (From the meat probe on the Maverick.) Light rain tapering off and wind light at 10 mph.

time	temp	comment
12:45 PM		Coals on a Minion lay using some BK Blue, some lump and some Stubbs Briquettes. Poured about a gallon of hot water into the bowl.
12:55	210°/??? (grate/dome)	Temp hit 210° on the remote so I put the meat on and closed two of three bottom vents.
1:21	214°/185°	Temperature had recovered higher about 15 minutes ago and seems to be dropping so I opened another bottom vent about half way.
1:47	242°/205°	Climbing slowly.
2:31	236°/???	Temps seem to be wandering up and down. Ambient reads 86° F. Must be in the sun.
2:51	267°/215°	Temps jumped as a new storm cell starts passing through. Probably a reaction to the wind providing extra air for combustion. I'll leave it be for now as the rain will likely cool the smoker.
3:00	209°	Heaviest rain  yet has taken cooker temps down.  Radar shows us about the middle of the storm cell.
3:15	212°	Rain has stopped and temps are recovering after dipping below 200°.
3:58	227°/215°	First peek - ribs look good and there is no pulling back on the bone as of yet.  As per directions, all bottom vents open full for rest of cook. Temp is already climbing.
4:13	302°/???
4:35	303°/215°	Quick peak -
4:50	267°/215°	Temp drooping a bit - stirred coals and threw in a couple more pieces of wood.
5:06	276°	Temp starting to recover a bit. And it sure smells good!
6:28	228°/245°	Need to peek! Surprisingly the ribs in the top rack were not done. They didn't flex that much when picked up. They resisted a bamboo skewer poke. And they measured about 155° between the bones. But they are fairly meaty ribs. So I closed the smoker back up, stirred the coals and left it to continue the smoke.
7:26	259°
7:43	256°/245°	Meat off! As I took the ribs off, I sauced them with 4:1 Sweet Baby Ray's and honey.

"(grate/dome)" refers to the Maverick ET-73 remote reading vs. the Weber thermometer in the lid.

Comments on Quantities:

• 6 racks of ribs fit well on three grates when cut in half.
• I doubled the recipe for the rub and that was just right.
• I made 2½ C BBQ sauce and that was about triple what I needed, but I bottled the rest in a squeeze bottle to be used as a condiment when they are served.

Initial taste impressions: These are good. They don't seem too hot but they leave a hot sensation in your mouth. Maybe I should lighten up on the cayenne if I use this rub again. Overall, I'm not sure this is much better than the rub I usually use which has no salt or sugar and includes rosemary, fresh garlic and oil. (And no chili powder!) Overall, this seems to be a more conventional recipe.

Having three grates in the WSM worked well. They're spaced almost 4" apart and that seems to be good spacing for ribs.

Pork Butt and Beef Brisket

They both looked so good in the meat case at Sam's. :D

I got a 17 ¼ lb package consisting of two trimmed butts. Add to that a 6 1/3 lb brisket (flat cut) and a 5 lb package of raw Usinger brats to fill any empty space on the grate.

Brisket on the coffee rub at 4:30 PM the day before the smoke .I use the coffee rub described by Steven Raichlen.
The ingredients he lists include

• 3 tablespoons ground coffee
• 1 tablespoon coarse (kosher) salt
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder

I did not lay any strips of bacon on the brisket since it has a pretty thick fat cap. For paprika, I used Hungarian Paprika.

I'm also using his mop recipe minus the beer. I haven't bought any beer since we got back from vacation. One of these days... It's certainly beer weather.


Seasonings for the pork are:

• 1 Tbsp black Pepper
• 1 Tbsp Rosemary
• 1/2 Tbsp Coriander
• 1 Tbsp Hungarian Paprika.
• 1 Tbsp ground Sage
• 1/2 Tbsp Cayenne pepper
• 1/2 Tbsp Cumin
• Almost a full garlic bulb (crushed.)
  

Fire on the big smoker is mostly left over lump and briquettes from previous smokes. Included in them is some chunks of smoking wood. I added some briquettes and some Hickory, Cherry and Box Elder to round things out.
Weather conditions at 10:00 AM: 84° F, sunny and wind light at about 7 mph.

time	temp	comment
10:00 AM		Lit coals on fire lay.
10:20	220°/200° (grate/dome)	Meat on! It all seems to fit on the big smoker, though the two pieces of pork barely made it. Corners are almost touching the middle section but they'll pull back as the cook proceeds. I added some brats around the brisket. At this time I also closed two of three bottom vents.
10:35	194°	Noticed that I forgot the meat probe in the beef so I opened the smoker to insert it in the brisket. It looks to be getting off to a nice slow start.
10:55	215°/180°/71° (grate/dome/meat)	Coming along nice and slow.
11:40		First mop of the brisket. Swapped in a bunch of raw brats. The brats that came off measured from 120°-145° internally so they will need more cooking (probably when they are reheated.) I suspected they were not done by the limited amount of shrinkage. I'll leave the next batch for 2 hours.
11:50	246°/225°/125°	Fast recovery probably due to opening the smoker twice for mopping and brats. If it doesn't drop off, I may close the bottom vent a tiny bit. But let's not be hasty!
12:16	243°/215°/137°	Nice progress. No adjustment required. (and I just had a brat with onion and Dijon mustard on whole wheat - Yum!)
1:00	250°/225°/152°	Ambient temp is now 90°. Mopped brisket again, turned the brats - almost done, and closed the remaining open bottom vent to about 1/2 from full open. Will need to monitor in case that's too much.
1:16	252°/?/155°	Looks OK.
1:30	248°/235°/158	Going to pull the brats and put more on.
1:42	240°/?/160°	Temps came up a bit (255°+) and then began to settle once again. If I see it drop below 220° I'll intervene.
1:58	233°/?/161°	Temp bottomed at 229° and now begins a slow recovery. Looks like no adjustment needed.
2:29	241°/?/165°	Time to mop and turn the brats.
3:20	241°/210°/167°	Time to pull the remaining brats off the fire. Outside temp is 91° F, wind freshened a bit to 7 mph and still full sun.
3:57	234°/?/168°	That's 5 hours on the brisket. What temp should I shoot for?
4:19	228°/215°/169°	Time to open the bottom vent a wee bit.
4:49	223°/?/170°	I think I need to stir the coals a bit. maybe not - temp just popped up to 226°.
5:09	222°/?/170°	Heading out to stir the coals.
5:35	274°/225°/172°	Seems like stirring the coals had the desired effect and I just closed the bottom vent a little bit. I'd like to keep the grate below 250°.
6:09	240°/?/176°	And all seems well.
7:35	207°/180°/167°	Sheesh! Go for a little bicycle ride and temp drops off... Stirred coals and opened one bottom vent full. Looks like temp is recovering. I wonder if I should just take the brisket off and rest it.
7:58	199°/170°/165°	Doesn't look like recovery is going to happen w/out more coals so I'm bringing the brisket in to rest. I'll swap the meat probe to the pork to see where it is.
8:06	172°/?/162°	Probe in the bigger butt. I need to add some more lit charcoal.
8:17		Added about 1/2 chimney partially lit briquettes. Went back to one bottom vent about half open. Let's see where she goes. (I love using a charcoal chimney on my old Coleman propane side burner.)
9:07	233°/225°/161°	Recovery is slow but there is no hurry. Check that. Thunder storms are on the horizon and I can see lightening. Heavy rain can have a big cooling effect on the smoker and if that happens, I may finish the butts foiled in the oven.
9:25	235°/230°/163°	First drops of rain starting. I opened all bottom vents full to try to offset the cooling effect from the rain. Ambient is reported as 86° right now.
9:32	246°/?/164°	Heavy wind driven rain just started.
9:47	189°/?/165°	Still raining, but radar shows a single line of storms that will hopefully pass so I can continue my smoke.
9:54	204°/?/166°	Rain letting up. Still smoking! Ambient now reported as 75°.
10:14	228°/?/168°	Looks like meat's back on the menu boys! (Closing down one bottom vent, leaving 2 of three wide open.)
10:44	231°/?/171°
11:15	234°/?/174°
11:53	228°/?/179°	Perhaps I should stir the coals again...
12:08 AM	245°/?/181°	Looks like stirring helped.
12:56	236°/?/187°	Time to bring the meat in. I'll foil it and put it in a cooler to rest/cool overnight and then pull it in the AM. Some of the meat fell off on the bottom where it stuck to the grate. That may just be the best tasting part of the entire butt!

The brisket was still firm but juicy. Perhaps it would be more tender if brought to a higher temperature, but I'd risk drying. I'm pretty satisfied with it in it's present state. It tastes really good. I also made a batch of the Red Eye Sauce and it goes with this really well. (I substituted non-fat sour cream for the heavy cream. Last time I used skim milk + butter. That other batch came out more red color while this one is sort of tan color.)

The butt was on about 14 /2 hours which seems about right. It took a bit of fiddling to keep the fire going and I had to deal with a rain storm, but all's well that ends well and from the few little tastes I had of the but, it's going to end well.

Atomic Buffalo Turds

Basically Jalapeños stuffed with cheese and meat and smoked

Recipe from The Virtual Weber forum.

<<<<<<<<<<
About 2lb. fresh Jalapinos
2 8oz blocks cream cheese(room temp)
1C shredded sharp cheddar
1 heaping tblsp dry onion
1tblsp. granulated garlic
1/2 c or more Pulled pork or fine chopped little smokies
1 or 2 tblsp. Honey. (secret ingridient)
bbq rub
2 lb bacon thinner the better

Cut peppers in half lenth wise scoop out seeds and membrain set aside. Set bacon out and let come to room temp. Mix all remaining ingridients except bbq rub throughly. Fill peppers with mixture. Cut bacon in half. Wrap half slice around each pepper. (I do not use tooth picks to hold together. The bacon holds together well if it is at room temp.)Sprinkle with bbq rub. I like to refridgerate overnight. Cook at about 225 - 250 untill bacon is done about 1 hour.
>>>>>>>>>>

I made about half a batch with 8 oz of no-fat cream cheese and about 6 oz. sharp cheddar which I shredded. For sausage I got some spicy smoked sausage and cut them in thirds and the resulting pieces lengthwise in quarters. After cleaning and stuffing the pepper halves with the cheese mix I put one sausage piece on each and wrapped with half a slice of bacon.

7:45		Coals in the mini with some chunks of hickory.
7:55		Turds on! I lit all of the charcoal in a chimney so the smoker shot up to temp. 300° F before I cut the bottom vent from the initial 1/2 to about 1/4.
8:06	249°/275° (grate/dome)	Off to a good start.
8:23	242°	Quick peak and they look good!
8:50	245°	Done!

They came out pretty good.