This really isn't about smoking meat but it goes along with meat that has been smoked so hopefully it won't be considered inappropriate
As with so many of the folks in this forum I'm constantly looking for new ways to cook, new styles of cooking, and new recipes to develop based on ideas I get from a variety of places. I recently got hands on a magazine that featured a couple hundred recipes for Ranch Style Cooking...basically right off the chuck wagons from the cattle drives out west. A large number of those recipes recommended using a Dutch Oven. After reading through a bunch of them the cogs started turning. My Christmas wish list was a full array of cast iron cookware, which included a large Dutch Oven. My wife, God bless her, made my wishes come true. Due to the fact that about 97% of the meals we eat are cooked outside, I had to conjure up a way to work this into my arsenal on the patio. Went on line and ordered a 25" tall, single burner cooker from Wally World. While waiting for that to arrive I took some measurements at one of the hard piped gas drops on the patio because I needed to re-configure it for the cooker to work. The entire gas line was changed around and a micro-adjustable needle valve installed for temperature control. As soon as the cooker arrived I had to convert if from the factory 4" high pressure burner to a 6" low pressure burner, which took a bit of modification to the frame of the cooker itself. I'd played with it a bit before yesterday but the wind had been fierce so I really couldn't get a feel for cooking on it. Yesterday was very cold but calm so I made my first run. We had a bunch of friends over for a brisket, which was done on the BGE. On the new cooker, made in the Dutch Oven, I did a big batch of baked beans. Nothing fancy compared to all of the incredible things you can do with a DO but a good start.
Here is a pic of the cooker with the Dutch Oven going and loaded with baked beans
The beans bubbling gently. I probably should have stirred them before taking the pic because all you can see is the gravy. Oh well...I'll be more on-the-ball next time.
All in all I'm REALLY looking forward to a ton of great stuff to crate to go along with the array of foods created on the smoker....and grills of course :-) I have a feeling that this is going to be a lot of fun!!
Thawing out in Lago Vista,
Robert
Here is a pic of the cooker with the Dutch Oven going and loaded with baked beans
The beans bubbling gently. I probably should have stirred them before taking the pic because all you can see is the gravy. Oh well...I'll be more on-the-ball next time.
All in all I'm REALLY looking forward to a ton of great stuff to crate to go along with the array of foods created on the smoker....and grills of course :-) I have a feeling that this is going to be a lot of fun!!
Thawing out in Lago Vista,
Robert
