Cooking
Outdoor cooking experiments—primarily on my Big Green Egg and new Traeger grill—are documented here. Posts recount brisket attempts, sous‑vide pork butt sessions and holiday tenderloin traditions, with candid notes on smoke, temperature and results.
Two porterhouses going on Big Green Egg for Christmas Eve dinner.
The magic of Christmas, via Big Green Egg.
Three racks of St. Louis ribs on the Big Green Egg.
Smoke.
Sauce.
Surly Sÿx! Thanks Kurt!
Ribs done. Delicious.
Tofu joins the Jalapeños. Big Green Egg.
Looking forward to popping some of these in my mouth! Big Green Egg.
Corn and asparagus on Big Green Egg. Simple today.
Typing Big Green Egg on iPhone
Have a Big Green Egg? Have an iPhone with iOS 5 on it? Then you absolutely need to go here Settings - General - Keyboard - Shortcuts
Then create this shortcut to save your thumbs significant effort.
Chile Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu
I seem to have a food, movie, food, movie, food, movie stream going here so why not add one more food. 😀 Last night we turned to the Veganomicon for dinner inspiration again. You may be thinking that we only have one vegan cookbook, we don’t. We have a handful and actually the Veganomicon hasn’t been the dominant one. But it’s been my favorite since it was so highly recommended by my friend John. I decided to make Chile Cornmeal Crusted Tofu with Southwestern Corn Pudding.
The tofu was easy to prepare and really all about technique. It came out okay, but I think I could do better. I don’t think I got the tofu pressed enough, and the cornmeal I used was really coarse, too coarse. There were little hard bits in the crust of the tofu that were distracting. I also wanted some sort of sauce of the tofu. As a bonus there was extra tofu left and I think it will go great on a sandwich.
The Southwestern Corn Pudding was a star! It’s in the picture above in the casserole dish behind the wok. It tasted really good, had jalapeño to give some nice flavor and color. The sweetness of the corn was great. This is the kind of dish you could make for anyone and they wouldn’t miss the cream and butter typical in corn preparations. It was also pretty easy. I used a bag of frozen corn and the whole preparation only took about 15 minutes and then baking time. I missed an opportunity to use some of my New Mexican smoked chiles too. Next time I’ll bake this on the Big Green Egg to impart so smokey richness to it and use the premium chiles. My mouth is watering just typing that.
Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh
Our month of eating vegan has gone really well. Tammy has tried all sorts of new recipe and made some really great meals. This past weekend I wanted to cook something but I wanted something specific. I wanted to use my Big Green Egg and I wanted something spicy. For some reason eating vegan has resulted in me seeking out spicy food more than ever. The flavors are just awesome.
I paged through the Veganomicon and found the recipe for Hot-Sauce Glazed Tempeh. We had some tempeh that we didn’t have plans for so I went for it. It had the promised spice, and the preferred method of cooking it is on a grill.
I made the marinade which was really easy. Boiled the tempeh for 10 minutes and then let it soak for an hour. I fired up the Big Green Egg and got it up to 450 °F with the cast iron grid and cooked the tempeh with some nice searing and caramelization. I served it with a side of Messsy Rice (vegan alternative to Dirty Rice). The result looked nice and had great flavor. There wasn’t a lot of “glaze” to it though, so I think the next time I may add a little extra pepper and a touch of sugar to the marinade for basting on the grill.
Ratatouille on Big Green Egg
Our month of eating vegan has a lot of new challenges. One of the biggest is what to do with my cherished Big Green Egg’s. I liked that ratatouille is naturally vegan, and it seemed that cooking it on the Big Green Egg would be really good. I followed the Ratatouille’s Ratatouille recipe on Smitten Kitchen and instead of putting it in the oven I put it on the large Big Green Egg set up for indirect cooking.
It came out really good with a nice, light smoke flavor infused as well. I served it on a bed of couscous.
Vegan? Check. Grill? Check. Delicious? Check.
When it comes to grills and eating vegan there isn’t much overlap. However, the Big Green Egg is unique since it can do anything an oven can do, but better.
LoFerno Fire Pit
Last weekend I bought my last fire pit. A number of years ago I saw Jeff Lohaus LoFerno fire pits at Art Attack in the Northrup King Building. I instantly admired the quality and design. However, I had just bought a chiminea. And not just any chiminea. I had bought the Big Green Egg Chiminea and I love my Big Green Egg products. A LoFerno and a chiminea seemed excessive, especially at the same time so I didn’t get it. Additionally, at our old house I had a proper fire pit in the far back yard so I could always have fires there.
Since moving to our new place I don’t have a large yard with a fire pit and I’ve been stuck with just the chiminea. The chiminea is fine, but you don’t get that sense that you are having a real fire. I started searching for a good fire pit. I knew I didn’t want something made of thin metal. I wanted something with weight and thick steel. The LoFerno is 120 pounds and made of 1/4" steel. Check!
The cool thing about the LoFerno is the fire tower. That’s a big part of the weight too. The bowl is 70 pounds and the tower is another 50 pounds. The tower allows you to be pretty sloppy with getting your fire started, and the logs burn in a vertical position and seem to start a lot easier that way. The pattern in the tower is interesting to watch as flames weave around it. The tower just sits in place, so remove it to move the unit or clean and your ready to go again. It would be pretty easy to put a grill grid on the tower and cook over the fire if you wanted, but I haven’t tried this yet.
The best thing about the LoFerno is that you really feel like your sitting around a fire. It’s stable and heavy so you know everything is safe. It’s made of ridiculous steel that will last longer than any of us will. And it’s made by a local artist who seems like a cool guy making some great stuff. I highly recommend one if you’re looking for something to enjoy the fall nights with.