EDF Cooking Contest--Grilling Challenge

[Mermade]

El Sapo--I tried to replicate your BBQ sauce tonight. I really liked the combination of flavors. It may be something I play around with. Very, very good. However, for some reason my sauce didn't achieve the same color or smooth consistency. Can you offer any more insight (cooking time, etc.)?

By the way, I used a combination of Fuji and Granny Smith apples. I was going for a little tang and a little sweet. The apple flavor really came through and, interestingly, I think the grilling did give the apples flavor. I snacked a bit on the raw apples while cutting them up, then gave a taste after they were grilled. That nice grilled apple flavor is what I got in the finished sauce.

[ElSapo]

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El Sapo--I tried to replicate your BBQ sauce tonight. I really liked the combination of flavors. It may be something I play around with. Very, very good. However, for some reason my sauce didn't achieve the same color or smooth consistency. Can you offer any more insight (cooking time, etc.)?

By the way, I used a combination of Fuji and Granny Smith apples. I was going for a little tang and a little sweet. The apple flavor really came through and, interestingly, I think the grilling did give the apples flavor. I snacked a bit on the raw apples while cutting them up, then gave a taste after they were grilled. That nice grilled apple flavor is what I got in the finished sauce.

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What was different about your sauce?

If the ingredients are relatively similar then I am going to guess it's the tomato paste/balsamic amounts that account for the difference. And I may have used more brown sugar than you, which might help it to thicken.

I didn't cook it long - maybe 20 minutes on the stove to really combine the flavors, more than anything else.

I made Guinness ice cream and coffee ice cream over the weekend - good stuff...

[Papa Perry]

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I am having a grill built out of a 300+ gallon water tank. Should be ready in 4 weeks. Will be awesome once it is finished.


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Wow. Please post pics when u get this thing

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I will. I can't wait for it to be completed. I think I will call my buddy who is fabbing it this week.

Before Pics




I'll be dropping off my film tomorrow.

Also, does real BBQ (smoking to some people) count for this?

I'll be Q'ing some pulled pork to send to my daughter at OSU.

[Mermade]

Papa Perry--Smoking is definitely allowed. Can't wait to see it. Regarding the new grill, how often to do you feed an army?

[Mermade]

El Sapo--




It very well may be that I used less brown sugar and balsalmic vinegar. I used a little over a quarter cup of vinegar and I was running out of brown sugar but I think I had at least a few tablespoons. I just used the rest of what I had. I used this many apples:



I think what happend was that the apples broke down, Giving it somewhat a texture reminicent of apple sauce. I'm not sure though. Whatever happened, it wasn't smooth nor was it the deep brown you achieved.

[AceLuby]

Someone mentioned camping and I have to give the best camping meal which we dubbed the 'hobo meal'.

Ground meat
Potatoes
Veggies of choice
Salt, Pepper & seasoning of choice (I like jerk or some Lowrey's will do)

Take a square of tin foil (2' x 2') put the meat on it & season. Put the veggies on next, followed by the potatoes, seasoning each. Fold all of it up, put it in the fire or on the grill and let cook for 20-40 min POTATOES DOWN toward the heat. Eat it w/ some ketchup and you've got an easy meal to get going while camping.

[ElSapo]

Hmm ... We have the same ramikens.

Obviously all those apples didn't go in that container, right? I think it's just a difference in ratios. Probably more balsamic and brown sugar - I used a lot more brown sugar I think, and probably more like 1/3 of a cut of balsamic, but maybe less tomato paste as well.

I left my apples in a rough dice, and didn't cook them long enough to really break down.

This weekend I may try and remake the sauce, and see if I can get more accurate ingredients. This is something I've been thinking about doing: taking recipes I make often and actually writing a recipe for them.

On the other hand, I'm not sure what good this would do. It would be neat to have a cookbook of stuff I make ofetn, all in one place, btu is it worth the time?

[Aces McGee]

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It would be neat to have a cookbook of stuff I make ofetn, all in one place, btu is it worth the time?


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It would be helpful to others, that's for sure!

My mother is a remarkable cook, but she's been doing it for so long she can't give me exact recipes. Every time I want to make something she makes, she tells me to use "some" of this ingredient and "some" of that ingredient. Drives me nuts.

-McGee

[SamIAm]

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It would be neat to have a cookbook of stuff I make ofetn, all in one place, but is it worth the time?


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It would be helpful to others, that's for sure!

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I have a couple cookbooks that I've worked all the way through, and the notes I took are incredibly valuable. We have two copies of Moosewood in the house, and I always make sure to use the ratty one. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

For a while I tried various recipe software. If I have all my recipes in a resource that can scrape from FoodNetwork and Epicurious and stuff, as well as let me edit over and over, it could be worth typing in the recipes that are analogue. For searching, I often say "I have time for an elaborate dinner tonight." or "I just want something quick." I never say "I want a recipe from this cookbook."

I never found an app I liked, though. I tried DVO's Cook'n most recently.

[Mermade]

My husband always says I should keep a kind of lab book for the kitchen--not for standard recipes but for dressings/bbq sauces etc. with which I'm experimenting. I'm contantly making variations of soem things, looking for perfection. Every once in a while I hit on something and my husband will say "I could have this every night." Unfortunately, while I have a rough idea of what I did, there isn't any guarantee that I can reproduce it faithfully since I didn't record the ingredients I used or the quantities.

Our recipe for Tom Kha Gai is one exception. We keep updating the recipe with cross outs and comments. It's great to look back and see how the recipe has been tweaked over time.