1st Cen Tex Que & Brew Event Day Two: The Main Event (More Insane Q-View)

[drdon]

I might be in the same mind set of gross....or at least weird. But pizza probably sounded gross to people before they "tried" that too!

 

[bluewhisper]

Oh this board is fun to read.

 

[snakehead]

That spicy garlic is now on my super short list of things to do! so good!

also... The salsa... man o' man. I never knew what I was missing until I had that. When a salsa is really garlic mixed with onion and a bit of tomato... such a thing of beauty! I need to try the spicy version next. And I also need a 55 gallon drum of it. maybe two...

Such an amazing time overall. I may have had life kick me in the face at the last second and had to pivot, more than once, but I still think it was a huge success!

tx smoker - MVP- Huge shout out to you for helping (read Running) the event. Could not have done it without you. You and Tracy are amazing for opening your house and home to all of us. I am forever in debt and can't say thank you enough.

@TXRick - The man with the carbon fiber Axe! The jams were amazing and I'm still jamming to Radar Love in my head today! Thank you for the entertainment! Glad I finally got to meet y'all and hear first hand what Robert raves about.

@woodwindricky - The turkey, even reheated in my case... phenomenal! The cheesecake squares... I mean, come on. Amazing. Tell Connie thank you again and again. Thank you for the assistance on cooking and all the awesome vittles!

@Matt_Tex - It was great meeting you and yours as well and glad y'all made it out. I'm looking forward to the next time already. I know y'all had to make the arduous trek down the hill but it was a great time.

@Thorpd01 - Great meeting you and Sue as well! Was a great time conversing and hanging out. Will definitely have to do it again. Work will not get in the way again.

@tareed94 - Thank you for making the trek up to the event. I know it takes a lot to travel to somewhere new to meet new people on a whim like this. I mean... I did the same not too long ago and I still have both my kidneys! Next time I will be able to swing camping the whole weekend and we can knock out some Jenga and cornhole.

snakehead - hey... look up... it's me! Great putting a face to the name. I'm not sure how I left and didn't get your contact info as I need more of that salsa in my life! and the spicy version you spoke of is a must for me now. Great meeting you and look forward to another meetup.


Really, in all, it was truly an amazing turnout and full of great people. We laughed as we just had to pick what will probably be the hottest weekend to do this. Next year it was mentioned to move it to earlier or later in the season, but it isn't a TX gathering if it isn't 110°F+!


Thank you again to everyone that made this happen and I look forward to doing this time and time again!

-Zach

It was great meeting you too Zach

Here ya go Steve....and all you pepper heads out there. Try this if you dare

View attachment 403167

I plan on using this for my spicy pickled hard boiled eggs.

This is gonna get me in a LOT of trouble,
Robert

I put some of this this on my burger it thought it was pretty good!

 

[snakehead]

Welcome @cc

also... The salsa... man o' man. I never knew what I was missing until I had that. When a salsa is really garlic mixed with onion and a bit of tomato... such a thing of beauty! I need to try the spicy version next. And I also need a 55 gallon drum of it. maybe two...

snakehead - hey... look up... it's me! Great putting a face to the name. I'm not sure how I left and didn't get your contact info as I need more of that salsa in my life! and the spicy version you spoke of is a must for me now. Great meeting you and look forward to another meetup.

-Zach

Thanks @Misplaced Nebraskan, it was great meeting you as well and thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I totally forgot to get yours as well. I'll see if I can figure out how to message you directly with my contact info, otherwise I'll have tx smoker send it to you.

 

[snakehead]

Ok, you and snakehead are likely to think I've totally lost my mind but I had a thought. Like you, I love the super high garlic flavor in Gerald's salsa. That's really what sets it apart for me. You mentioned both my spicy pickled garlic, the garlic in the salsa, and wanting to get hands on the spicy version of it. I can't help but wonder how it might be to use the spicy pickled garlic in the spicy version of the salsa. Hmmmm....

About to get in trouble....again,
Robert

tx smoker If you hook me up with some of your pickled garlic, I'd be willing to make a small batch of my salsa with it and see how it comes out. :)

 

[snakehead]

Here is my cheesecake square
View attachment 403182


View attachment 403185
View attachment 403186

View attachment 403187
View attachment 403189 Here is some of the pictures of me making my cheesecake squares and I will be posting a step by step of it on the dessert section.

Cici

Welcome to the forum CiCiGriddle ! Thanks for bringing the cheesecake as well as posting recipe. Been wanting to ask you for that for awhile.

 

[snakehead]

Sorry everyone for the absence on the forum, just had a lot of stuff going on since coming home from the event. First off, I'd like to send a huge shout out and thank you to tx smoker for putting the event together, not to mention hosting it as well as letting me stay over for the weekend. And let's not forget about the food and beverages!

If I were to pick the stars of the show, it would definitely be Ricky's Turkey and Robert's Ribs. Everything was great, but those two items were simply amazing. I simply must coerce them into giving me the recipes!

I'm glad folks enjoyed my salsa. I think next year however I'll bring some of my other salsa varieties as well such as my salsa verde (made with fresh green chiles, not any of that stinking tomatillo crap) as well as my Southwest Style Salsa which uses chipotle peppers, so has that smoke flavor that would likely go quite well with the smoked meats.

Cooking my often asked for biscuits and gravy recipe on the grill was quite interesting. I've never done that before, and using tx smoker breakfast sausage definitely took it up a notch. I've gotta get his recipe for that! The gravy went up yet another notch when I put the dutch oven with the gravy in it on the Big Green Egg while I cooked the biscuits on the grill. The smoke from the BGE took the gravy to a whole new level. I'll have to try that again sometime!

I loved @Thorpd01 Dougs' jam. I don't eat jam very often, and I love my biscuits and gravy, but I had a tough call between my gravy and his jam. I think he said that was his first time, and he definitely nailed it. Great stuff! Now I just have to see if I can convince him to make some with added jalapeño next time! :)

And let's not forget about the Pedmontese burgers on the grill Friday night. They were amazing, especially with the bacon on them. Although I have to admin, I did steal a few nibbles of the bacon while we were cooking before I had my burger. Sorry, but who can resist the smell of bacon??

It was great meeting everyone, and once again a huge thank you to Robert for hosting and working his tail off all weekend.

~ Gerald

 

[CiCiGriddle]

everyone, I've posted my cheesecake square recipe step by step in the dessert section. I'm new at posting and not sure how to make a link to the dessert post

Cici

 

[Steve H]

everyone, I've posted my cheesecake square recipe step by step in the dessert section. I'm new at posting and not sure how to make a link to the dessert post

Cici

Here you go!
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/cheesecake-squares.289905/

 

[CiCiGriddle]

Thank you Steve for making the link for me to the cheesecake squares.

Cici

 

[snakehead]

If anyone wants the recipe for my blackened fish, I've posted it on my blog: https://geraldskitchen.com/recipes/blackened-fish/

Please note that my seasoning was adapted from Paul Prudhomme’s Blackened Redfish Recipe. I want to be sure to give credit where credit is due.

 

[Steve H]

Thank you Steve for making the link for me to the cheesecake squares.

Cici

My pleasure. And welcome to the forum!

 

[forktender]

I use a lot of P.P. blackening seasoning, we love the stuff in our home. So this is great because the P.P. comes in that tiny bottle and it ain't cheap.
Thank you very much for the recipe.
I really appreciate you sharing this with us. If you haven't tried it the stuff in awesome, we use it on fish, fowl, and veggies and soup its i very versatile seasoning, try it.
I can't wait to throw a big batch together. Thank you once again for the great recipe.

Dan

 

[tx smoker]

"I can't wait to throw a big batch together. Thank you once again for the great recipe.

Dan"

Here is another similar but slightly different version of Gerald's recipe. This came to me from a forum member who was born, raised, and still lives in Southern Louisiana. I just love this stuff!! In addition to the fish, I use it on grilled shrimp....and a bunch of other stuff. Gerald....correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you use this on the first batch of bacon we did for you and it came out amazing?

2 Tbsps. Paprika
1 Tbsp. granulated Garlic
½ T Onion powder
1/2 tsp. dried Thyme
1/2 tsp. dried Oregano
1 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 tsp. cayenne pepper

Here is a pic of dinner I made one night when Tracy was out of town (she can't eat fish) that is blackened Tilapia, BBQ shrimp, parsley potatoes, and grilled asparagus topped with Parmesan cheese

It's good stuff!!
Robert

 

[forktender]

Damn, that sounds amazing.
Im a blackened shrimp freak.
I have family NOLA, one of the tricks they taught me how to do is to soak the raw deveined shrimp in plain old tomato juice for a few hours then add the blackening seasoning. Oh, my it turns out insanely good. I love blackened shrimp and blackened red fish sandwiches with homegrown tomatoes out of the garden they are so much tastier than store bought.

Ill cut the salt in half and add a touch on aniese to the mix.
It adds a unique taste to it.
Yummy, thanks for sharing.

Dan

Sorry about the mistakes, Im pecking away on my phone and Im fat fingering it. And Im camping so Im typing on the damn thing in the dark. LOL

 

[tx smoker]

"Ill cut the salt in half and add a touch on aniese to the mix.
It adds a unique taste to it.
Yummy, thanks for sharing."

I'm about to the point of needing to make another big batch. Something else I'm giving some serious consideration to doing is adding some Chipotle to it. I love the flavor of that stuff and can't help but think it'll bring a bit more depth of flavor to the party.

Hmmmm...
Robert

 

[tx smoker]

"If you hook me up with some of your pickled garlic, I'd be willing to make a small batch of my salsa with it and see how it comes out. :)"

Gerald, I have some of the pickled garlic left from last weekend. I don't know how much you'd need to make a small batch of your spicy salsa for Zach and I to sample some though. If I don't have enough on hand, it takes a month and a half for the stuff to pickle properly. Give me some idea of what you'd need and I'll check to see if I have that much.

Geez....one day on the lake away from the computer and I'm 40 posts behind :-)
Robert

 

[forktender]

Damn Robert,
That plate looks amaZing.
Tracey is missing out.
For sure I'll be making up a batch of that as soon as I gather a few ingredients. I have a freezer full of
King Salmon, halibut and lingcod to test it out on. My bro in law has a super nice custom built 25' Salmon boàt. We fish the ocean for Salmon Lingcod and Albacore in the ocean then the San Francisco Bay for Halibut and striped bass.
And I have two buddies that are commercial Salmon and Halibut fishermen so we got the fish covered around my house.

I'll let you know when I have a chance to try it.

Thank you.
Dan.

 

[forktender]

"If you hook me up with some of your pickled garlic, I'd be willing to make a small batch of my salsa with it and see how it comes out. :)"

Gerald, I have some of the pickled garlic left from last weekend. I don't know how much you'd need to make a small batch of your spicy salsa for Zach and I to sample some though. If I don't have enough on hand, it takes a month and a half for the stuff to pickle properly. Give me some idea of what you'd need and I'll check to see if I have that much.

Geez....one day on the lake away from the computer and I'm 40 posts behind :-)
Robert

For sure the stuff I made 5 days ago is not even close , its good but it's still very hot.

 

[forktender]

"Ill cut the salt in half and add a touch on aniese to the mix.
It adds a unique taste to it.
Yummy, thanks for sharing."

I'm about to the point of needing to make another big batch. Something else I'm giving some serious consideration to doing is adding some Chipotle to it. I love the flavor of that stuff and can't help but think it'll bring a bit more depth of flavor to the party.

Hmmmm...
Robert

Hahahaha, we think alike.
That is the first thing I though about adding as well. Or a little dried Poblano chile.