Living the Life

Today is WSM Smoke Day IV, it's an event, hosted by the virtual weber bullet , where over 400 Weber Smokey Mountain owners worldwide make real barbecue. I lit my coals at noon, when the WSM was at the right temperature I put in 6 racks of ribs. Two hours before the ribs were done I added some brats and BBQ beans. After five hours the ribs were done, I used a new sauce I made from the Jack Daniels Barbecue book. It was ok for me, the others liked it a lot. For me it lacked depth so I'll have to make a batch of my regular sauce before the next barbecue. I served rosemary garlic potato wedges on the side.

Today, for the first time in a week or two, the weather was nice enough to light my weber kettle grill. There was a little wind, but that has never stopped me from grilling something. Every once in a while we eat fish, not as often as we should, but we do our best. During summer my supermarket sells cedar planks to use on the barbecue and I always stock up on them. Barbecue is not as hot here in Europe as it is in the US so when ever I see something like that, I get a lot of them because you never know when it's sold out and if they will restock them. The cedar plank gives a nice flavor to the fish, protects it from the heat and you'll have no fish sticking to the grate. My recipe for cedar plank salmon is Mediterranean inspired but a cajun style would work fine too. Ingredients: salmon fillet (enough for 4 people) 1/2 cup olive oil 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon thyme 1 food grade cedar plank Preparation: Soak the cedar plank for at least 2 hour...

I had some chicken that was left over from the barbecue and decided to make quesadillas with it. A quesadilla is a toasted tortilla with melted cheese inside, but you can put a lot more inside, like chicken, jalapeno peppers, zucchini flowers, chorizo, mushrooms etc. I went through the fridge and found besides the cheese and chicken, pickled jalapeno's and taco salsa. Ingredients flour tortillas grated cheese vegetable oil Additional chicken (cooked and shredded) jalapeno slices (fresh or pickled) mushrooms zucchini flowers etc. Preperation On medium high heat, heat up a cast iron skillet and put a tablepoon of vegetable oil in it. When the oil is hot put your flour tortilla in the pan, flip it over every 10 seconds until it starts to puff up. Add your grated cheese, I used a medium sharp Dutch cheese, and the rest of your ingredients. Cover the skillet with a lid and turn the heat to low. There should be plenty of residual heat to melt your cheese and to brown your tortilla. Give ...

Yesterday I made an all time favorite here, my butterflied chipotle chicken. This time I did some experimenting, last weeks I smoked two chicken legs and used barbecue sauce on them and liked it a lot, so this time I tried one chicken with sauce and one naked. Well the sauced one was the first to go, so it looks like we have a winner here! Also I used apple wood for smoking this time instead of the hickory I normally use for this recipe, no complaints about that either! Best thing is that I have lot of apple wood that I bought dirt cheap locally and the hickory comes from weber and is 8 euro a tiny bag! Ingredients For the chipotle spice rub: 1/4 cup sea salt 1/4 cup paprika 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 3 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon union powder 1 tablespoon garlic powder 2 freshly ground chipotles (stems and seeds removed) For the glaze: barbecue sauce (I used Jack Daniel Barbecue Sauce) honey olive or vegetable oil 2 chickens 1 bottle or can of beer Preperation B...

Yesterday we had lunch at Skeeter Barnes in Kearney, Nebraska, what a fabulous bbq restaurant! Loved the pulled pork and the Texas sausage. We had a sample platter called the Skeeter Feeder which was plenty for the three of us. Today is a special day I turned 40, to celebrate we had lunch at Chap's Grill and Chophouse in Vail, Colorado for my birthday, I had sirloin steak topped with a salsa with ancho chile's which was very tasty! As a birthday cake I got an enormous chocolate chip cookie baked in a skillet with vanilla ice cream. Spending the night in Grand Junction, Colorado and tomorrow we head on to Vegas which is "only" 500 more miles.

We left last Saturday to meet up with our friend in Chicago and to travel with her to Las Vegas. Unfortunately she fell down her garage stairs just 5 minutes after we got to her place and broke her wrist so bad that she had to be operated on. So with a few days delay we hit the road and are now on our way to LV. This is the first time I saw on the tomtom that I didn't have to make turn for another 1019 miles! Today we passed by Earlham, Iowa home of the Master Griller's Homestead, the place where we ate the best pulled pork sandwich ever. Too bad they close at 2:30 PM and we arrived at 2:50 PM. Oh well maybe if we are in the neighborhood on the way back... If you are ever in the neighborhood this is their address: The Master Griller's Homestead 142 S. Chestnut Earlham, Iowa

Yesterday was the 3rd Annual International WSM Smoke Day. It's an event initiated by the Virtual Weber Bullet site and invites people to smoke something that day, and I did! Last week I had two smokes that didn't went very well, rabbit legs on Sunday that should have been on, according to the recipe for 1.5 hours, but took over 5 hours to reach the right temperature and beef ribs on Thursday that should have taken 4-5 hours but ended up like beef jerky (they looked right after 3 hours and probably were), so I decided to do my tried and tested rib recipe Noskos' Classic Baby Back Ribs. The recipe is an altered one from Steven Raichlin's book: Raichlen on Ribs, Ribs, Outrageous Ribs Ingredients: Rub: 2 tablespoons sea salt 2 tablespoons paprika 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar 1 tablespoon black pepper, freshly ground 2 teaspoons garlic powder 2 teaspoons mustard powder Mop Sauce: 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup apple cider 3 tablespoons soy sauce Glaze: Noskos' Sw...

Last Sunday I had my first cook on the weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. I had decided to follow a well tried recipe from the Virtual Weber Bullet site, the B.R.I.T.U. which stands for the Best Ribs In The Universe. At 11 AM I fired up the weber and at 1 PM the temperature had stabilized at about 250 F, that is about 50 F too high but that is normal for a new WSM. The reason for the higher temperature is that the inside is still shiny and reflects the heat back inside, when the WSM is used a couple of times, the inside will become dull from smoke and grease and will conduct the heat out. At 1 PM I put on 3 racks of ribs and closed the lid for 3 hours, the temperature hardly changes, it did get a bit lower but that must have been the layer building up on the inside. After 3 hours I turned the ribs, checked the water pan, which had still plenty of water, and opened the bottom vents a bit to take the temperature up to 275 F for the final stretch. One hour later the ribs were done, suck of t...

On Sunday April 22nd I ordered a WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker), according to the website they had one in stock and it would be delivered within 3 to 5 days. But when I sent them an email after a week they told me it was on back order and could take a little longer. One of the members on the Virtual Weber Bullet site had ordered from the same company, called them and was told that he had to wait until the end of the month because they were still on their way. So I was very surprised when the mailman delivered my WSM today! I called my nephew if he wanted to help me put it together, he helped my with the weber kettle too, and he arrived with another friend of ours a little while later. We unpacked and assembled the cooker in about 20 minutes. I hope we'll have nice weather this weekend so I can do a test run with some ribs! My two barbecues, the 22.5" One Touch Gold Kettle and the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker.

Since my weber WSM is on back order I did my ribs the way I do them most of the time, which is indirect grilling in my weber kettle. They are based on the First-Timer's Ribs recipe from Steven Raichlen's Raichlen on Ribs, Ribs, Outrageous Ribs book. Rub Ingredients: 2 tablespoons sea salt 2 tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons sweet paprika 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 2 teaspoons mustard powder 2 teaspoons garlic powder Mob Ingredients: 1 cup apple cider 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons dark soy sauce Glaze: Noskos ' Sweet Hickory Smoke B-B-Q sauce (or any other smokey barbecue sauce) You'll also need: 4 slabs of ribs 2 fist size chunks of hickory smoke wood The night before remove the white papery membrane from the back of the ribs, this goes best with your fingers or a butter knife, once you have a little piece loose grab it with a piece of paper towel and tear it of. Wash the ribs under cold water and dry them with paper towel. Mix the rub ingredi...

I love barbecue , I love to barbecue and until now I used my trusty weber kettle for that. But it's hard to maintain a low steady temperature for a long time on a regular barbecue . So I ordered a WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker) today. I wanted one for quite a while but the reason I waited for a long time was mainly a financial one. In the US these babies go for $199 and if you are lucky a lot cheaper on sale. Here the regular price is €449, at the current rate $610!! But yesterday when I checked the local online barbecue store they had them on sale for €299, which is still $406 but I thought what the heck let's get one! So now it's waiting for it to arrive, put it together and start with all the great recipes I have laying around. A great place to find info on this smoker is the Virtual Weber Bulletin Board , They have lots of info on modifications, recipes etc.