Garbage can smoke...er, freezer clean-out...Chucks, Meat Loaf and Chix pieces: progressive Q-view

[forluvofsmoke]

I had time for tossing a few smaller items in today on my day off work, so I went digging in the freezers lastnight for something to thaw.

I found armloads of single to multiple serving items which were frozen after taking what was needed for a meal...lots of stuff to cook, just in smaller batches, so were having a smoked buffet for dinner tonight. BTW, I still have lots more freezer space to free-up, so I can do another smoke like this anytime I want...gotta love it!

Anyway, I'm doing this all on the fly today...no real plan of attack just yet.

The meatloaf is pretty basic...4lbr with yellow and green onion, seasoned with leftover rub from the rest of the goodies, as it went into the smoke last...it'll probably be a dinner item for this evening.

The dry rub is a toss together as well. I figured I may as well stick to the theme...no plan, no recipe, no special treatment or fuss with anything in particular...minced garlic, CBP, kosher salt, paprika, ground Jalepeno, chili powder, freshly ground dried onion...I think that's it...oh, I tossed in just a pinch of cumin...no measures either...hah-hah!

The two chuckies weighed approx. 4# total...the small one looked like it was about a 1.5 pound, and I'll probably go for sliced with it for lunch, and the larger one for pulled beef for dinner.

The chix pieces are various sizes of boneless/skinless breast and two med/large leg quarters.

Today also marks the recommisioning of my SV24 after it's return voyage from our family reunion more than 2 weeks ago...I needed an excuse to get it out of moth balls anyway, so today's the day.

About 15 minutes in with the Smoke Vault @ 225* with hickory and a wet pan...meat loaf just hit the jerky grate:

I'll likely pan/tent the chicken to let it steam to finish for pulled chicken...that should be a nice change, as pulled chicken is great for sammies, just like beef or pork. The leg quarters I'll leave intact for a straight smoke, I think...we love 'em that way.

See ya with more as this develops...

Thanks!

Eric

 

[lucky13]

I'm probably only about 9 hours away...be there in time for a late evening snack!

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I'm probably only about 9 hours away...be there in time for a late evening snack!

Yea, you can make it...I'll be up 'til about 10 tonight, and we'll probably have about twice as much food for dinner as we can eat. Come on over!!! Heh-heh!

The chicken is now out of it's no-plan smoke and into a cheese-sauced steam pan. I was sitting at the 'puter thinking there's gottta be something different I can do with that yard bird meat...then it came to me...a butter and garlic/onion cheese sauce, so here goes!

Again, no measuring, just sliced up some cheese and butter, tossed it into the pan with the cheese on ttop of the butter and put it into the smoke vault to warm up for 20 minutes before tossing the chicken in:

The butter is melted and the cheese is just starting to soften up, so it's time for a rich and creamy bath:

I decided I'd toss it all in there and find out how well the leg quarters pull apart after some low & slow in this sauce...I know the breast meat will be great this way:

Everything is back in the vault...the small chuckie I'm thinking will go into a pan shortly, then be joined later by it's larger brother...lunch came and went, so it's be pulled beef chucks and pulled garlic/onion cheese-sauced chicken for dinner:

Updates to follow...later!

Eric

 

[forluvofsmoke]

The mini Chuckie is in the pan for it's tenderization process with a splash of water...nope didn't measure that either...why ruin a good procedure? LOL!!!!:

All together again...mini chuckie in the left pan, chicken in the right:

I stuck a probe into my meat loaf, and it was lagging just a touch @ 140* after 4.25 hours:

Chuckie and meat loaf getting happier by the minute:

Did I mention that I had a ~2oz fragment of the smaller chuck on the grate? I didn't? Well, the micro-chickie made a nice sampler:

Getting closer to dinner now...

Eric

 

[mballi3011]

Now that's a mess of smokey goodness there Eric. I wjust wish I was closer then Mobile or I would have to run over. Now I'm stuck in this motel room with just some resturant around here that are let say less then prett good. I know I don't know where to go so can someone here help me........

Hungry

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Now that's a mess of smokey goodness there Eric. I wjust wish I was closer then Mobile or I would have to run over. Now I'm stuck in this motel room with just some resturant around here that are let say less then prett good. I know I don't know where to go so can someone here help me........

Hungry

Thanks Mark, dang, I've never had the opportunity to travel to that area, so can't help with finding the good eateries...wish I could PM you some smoke from Wyoming.

Getting pretty hungry here, too...I took a peek at the chicken after I popped the larger chuckie into the pan @ 151* I/T:

And, the partners...reunited for their final display of greatness before getting the fork-pulled treatment:

The cheese I used didn't melt down as I thought it would have, being a process cheese...maybe this would be a good cheese for cold smoking...hmm.

Just playing the waiting game before dinner now........

Eric

 

[beer-b-q]

That all looks great Eric...

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Thanks Paul, man, I sure do wish we could send out smoke with PM's!

What a great way to start a freezer clean-out...yea, I still have more to do another day.

Anyway, since I didn't have a rock-hard plan, everything was finished and eaten a bit different than I thought we'd do, but, hey, it was all great eating non-the-less.

I left the chicken pieces as is, not that they wouldn't have been pullable, I just decided to go for the super-tender fall apart texture like you'd get from an all-day slow cooked whole bird...and that's exactly how it ate, too:

And, the meatloaf came out at 165* for a foiled/toweled rest before dinner...forgot pics of it on the board, but the plated shot makes up for it:

 

Chuckies, in all their glory:

I pulled just the larger one for dinner...just a few pieces left of it after we ate, so if you can make it here in the next 2 or 3 hours, it's yours!!!!

Meat loaf is in the upper right...smoked up a nice ring into it...chicken thigh to it's left:

Well, I can't think of a better way to spend the day, just doing some "cleaning"...enjoy, folks!

Eric

 

[rdknb]

wow now that looks great, what a fun way to spend a day off

 

[scarbelly]

Ok I need to send you my addess so I can get some of that deliciousness

 

[forluvofsmoke]

wow now that looks great, what a fun way to spend a day off

Oh yea!!! And the best part of doing the whole smoke was that there was no plan/recipes or anything of the sort to follow. So I was able to just go with the flow and do what ever I felt like at the time...can't go wrong, cause there's no right way! LOL!!!

 

Ok I need to send you my addess so I can get some of that deliciousness

Don't know if I could get enough dry ice into a shipping cooler to make the trip or not...what would be better is if you can convince the administrators to squeeze out smoke deliveries through PM's. Now THAT would be a thing of beauty!!!!!!

Mmm...just I'm starting on a leftover meatloaf sandwich for an appetizer before dinner...never did a smoked meat loaf before, but this won't be my last!

Thansk guys!

Eric