any charcoal grillers here?

[kc7jty]

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/bag59s.jpg

this stuff is quite good. The bag I got seems to be 100% red oak. Imparts a very nice, full flavor to the meat, lasts a long time, and hotter than hell.

A drawback is, since it's not briquettes, the chunk sizes range from quite big to crumb small, but still worth the bother.

Got mine at Wally's but Ace hardware and other places carry it.

If you get some, please do not use lighter fluid to start it. That would be sacrilegious.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/EX/bbq-starter-chimney-lg.jpg
a charcoal chimney works best

[NQ6U]

I love the smell of charcoal lighter in the evening...

[kc7jty]

I love the smell of charcoal lighter in the evening...

I'll bet you are fuzzy keen with the laundry vent perfume in the hood as well.

[N2CHX]

Oh my! Pretty funny. I was using lump charcoal all summer and just yesterday bought a bag of this exact stuff. Right now I'm about to grill some steak that has been marinating in Guiness since yesterday morning.

[n2ize]

I use this...
http://www.cowboycharcoal.com/

It's probably quite similar to what you are using...

Advantages over compressed briquettes ? Seems to burn cleaner, hotter, ignites fast, better taste. Disadvantages, doesn't last as long as briquettes, burns out faster, Not a problem for cooking burgers or steaks. Could be a problem if you are doing something that takes a long time to cook, such as a chicken or a roast on a spit. In such cases you might have to throw some fresh coals on the fire now and then to keep it going.

[KG4CGC]

"Clean burning Propane. It's God's gas."

[NQ6U]

Oh my! Pretty funny. I was using lump charcoal all summer and just yesterday bought a bag of this exact stuff. Right now I'm about to grill some steak that has been marinating in Guiness since yesterday morning.

I'm leaving for your place right now. Be about three days.

[kc7jty]

There are some natural Mesquite charcoals made in Mexico that are quite good, but scarce in the north country.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/bag50s.jpg

[n2ize]

"Clean burning Propane. It's God's gas."

ugghhh.... That's almost as bad as making pizza in a microwave. To make good pizza you need anthracite coal. To grill you need wood.

[kc7jty]

"Clean burning Propane. It's God's gas."

no flavor

[KG4CGC]

ugghhh.... That's almost as bad as making pizza in a microwave. To make good pizza you need anthracite coal. To grill you need wood.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/hank-1.gif

[KG4CGC]

no flavor
"Taste the meat not the heat."

[kc7jty]

Right now I'm about to grill some steak that has been marinating in Guiness since yesterday morning.

what da hell zat taste like? You're using cheap steak right?

[NQ6U]

There are some natural Mesquite charcoals made in Mexico that are quite good, but scarce in the north country.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpdatabase/bag50s.jpg

Common as all get-out down here on the Mexican border; you can get it at any supermarket. It can impart an overpowering flavor to the meat, though, so if you're cooking a real nice piece of meat like a good rib eye, it's best used in moderation along with something more neutral.

[n2ize]

"Taste the meat not the heat."

Yeah, but ya gots ta have that taste of the wood. It's like what I said above. Pizza tastes best when it's baked in a hot brick oven fired with anthracite coal. The way it cooks, the flavor , etc. just can't be duplicated in a gas or electric oven. Ditto for grilling You just got to have that wood.

[KG4CGC]

Yeah, but ya gots ta have that taste of the wood. It's like what I said above. Pizza tastes best when it's baked in a hot brick oven fired with anthracite coal. The way it cooks, the flavor , etc. just can't be duplicated in a gas or electric oven. Ditto for grilling You just got to have that wood.
Well you can always do your grocery shopping at the hardware store.

[NA4BH]

Yeah, but ya gots ta have that taste of the wood. It's like what I said above. Pizza tastes best when it's baked in a hot brick oven fired with anthracite coal. The way it cooks, the flavor , etc. just can't be duplicated in a gas or electric oven. Ditto for grilling You just got to have that wood.

Nothing like getting some major wood and slapping some pink meat on it. :whistle:

[kc7jty]

ugghhh.... That's almost as bad as making pizza in a microwave. To make good pizza you need anthracite coal. To grill you need wood.

+100

[kc7jty]

Common as all get-out down here on the Mexican border; you can get it at any supermarket. It can impart an overpowering flavor to the meat, though, so if you're cooking a real nice piece of meat like a good rib eye, it's best used in moderation along with something more neutral.

Not me baby...I can't get enough of that Honey Mesquite flavor on my steaks.

When I spent my winters in Yuma, AZ I'd cut GREEN Mesquite wood then dry it out indoors without any rain on it. This made it very tasty for the meat. If it was cut after it was dead for any amount of time it would loose it's flavor.

[W3MIV]

... if you're cooking a real nice piece of meat like a good rib eye, it's best used in moderation along with something more neutral.


Like, uh... propane gas?

[kc7jty]

anybody ever cook marinated pork chops over a smokey fire made with natural hickory wood? Now that's divinity right there.

Marinade: (should be thin like water, never use a thick, sweet, sticky for it will burn and ruin the show)
in a saucepan heat a quality apple cider vinegar with a bit of water and light brown (not too much) sugar. just make it warm (don't boil or simmer) enough to blend in the sugar. Add salt and black or red pepper.
The meat only needs to sit in the sauce for 15 mins then paint it on as you cook.

[kf0rt]

Best pizza I ever et was grilled over propane. It was a steak and feta cheese pizza my nephew made some years back - he insisted we use the grill. And you can burn wood over gas, do it all the time. Use a natural gas grill more than propane these days. Lazy bastardos thing. I do think charcoal or straight wood is better, but not generally worth the extra time it takes.

[KG4CGC]

Best pizza I ever et was grilled over propane. It was a steak and feta cheese pizza my nephew made some years back - he insisted we use the grill. And you can burn wood over gas, do it all the time. Use a natural gas grill more than propane these days. Lazy bastardos thing. I do think charcoal or straight wood is better, but not generally worth the extra time it takes.
Last April I did clear out half the lava rocks in my gas grill and inserted a lower rack over half the flame area for the purpose of adding charcoal and mesquite wood chunks.

[AA0CX]

I'd love to charcoal grill, but I have to have gas, because the city has an ordinance where we can't have charcoal grills in apartments with wooden decks (even though I live on the garden level, and my "deck" is concrete. I would move, but the building owner of this 18 plex is a nice guy, lets me load up his three-story gutter and downspout, and all is good. If I want a good charcoal grill taste, I head over to the park.

[KG4CGC]

lets me load up his three-story gutter and downspout, and all is good.
Now that there sounds like a fun time!

[kf0rt]

Last April I did clear out half the lava rocks in my gas grill and inserted a lower rack over half the flame area for the purpose of adding charcoal and mesquite wood chunks.

This will prolley offend Bill and Albi, but for years, we've smoked meats on a propane smoker. How it's done: Get wood chunks of your favorite variety. We like Hickory or Mesquite, but our tastes run to the pedestrian and that's what is easily purchased. Soak the wood for at least a half hour in water. Make a bunch of tinfoil pouches, filled with the wet wood. Pouches should be about the size of the remote control on your TV. Poke lots of holes in the foil pouches with a fork. Add the pouches just above the flame with the ceramic/lava rocks. Move the rocks if necessary to give the pouches better access to the flame. The rocks and the pouches should be brothers, not enemies.

The smoker I use has a water pan just above the heat. Helps direct the heat away from the meat, and keeps the humidity high. When fired up, the wet wood pouches will generate smoke, and eventually the water will boil. Takes about 4 hours to do pork ribs or Cornish Game hens this way, and I usually put new wood into the grill a couple times. We've done big turkeys this way, too but it's an all-day job.

In particular, the game hens and the turkeys come out looking like something out of a Home & Gardens spread, and in my experience, are the first to be gone when there's company.

[KG4CGC]

The rocks and the pouches should be brothers, not enemies.








+ eleventy bizillinity inturwebz

[W3MIV]

This will prolley offend Bill and Albi...

No offense on this end of the continent. I have a cast iron box that has holes in the lid that I use in a propane grill. My grill does not have lava rocks -- it is an all-stainless job with flame shields over the three burners. Soak the wood chunks, load the box and insert it on the flame shield just over a burner. It is not a smoker, and I have never tried to use it as one, but it gives decent service on fowl and fish with various types of wood in the box...

When my in-laws are up for a visit, I generally favor thick bits of local vines, which, if fresh, need no soaking. Thick lengths of toxicodendron radicans work especially well with some of my sisters-in-law.

[KG4CGC]

Radical Toxiwhatsitscraps, indeed!

[NA4BH]

Radical Toxiwhatsitscraps, indeed!

That's whats kept me happy.

[W4RLR]

what da hell zat taste like? You're using cheap steak right?If it were cheap steak, she would be using Pagan Pink Ripple.

[n2ize]

Best pizza I ever et was grilled over propane. It was a steak and feta cheese pizza my nephew made some years back - he insisted we use the grill. And you can burn wood over gas, do it all the time. Use a natural gas grill more than propane these days. Lazy bastardos thing. I do think charcoal or straight wood is better, but not generally worth the extra time it takes.

Depends on the type/style of pizza. What is generally considered New York/New York-Neopolitan style pizza (thin crust & tomato & cheese) the best taste comes from a coal burning brick pizza oven. They don't burn wood/nor charcoal they burn actual anthracite coal. On the floor of the over is actually a heap of red (bluish) hot burning coal pile and the pizzas sit not far away from it as they are baked. The combination of the very hot oven floor, the heat convection, and the direct radian heat from the coal lends itself to toasting the pizza in such a way that makes it quite unique and quite good. I have yet to see it duplicated with anything other than a true coal fired brick oven.

[kc7jty]

I've never seen the coal in the same chamber with the pizza but I have seen the bricks so hot from the coal (underneath them) that they actually glowed red.
Many years ago an Italian friend took me to such a place in Philadelphia. When the large diameter thin pie was served I remarked it was burnt in a few places. My friend just looked at me like I was out in left field and said "that's what makes it good" one bite and I had to agree.

It's a real shame that good food, one of the greatest enjoyments known to man, is at such a premium in this country. ..and in some places, like where I am, is virtually non existent.

BTW: I highly recommend this with a good pizza:
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/7323/1000974a.jpg
hey, this wine has lots of dregs (sign of good stuff) at less than 3 years old.

[kc7jty]

If it were cheap steak, she would be using Pagan Pink Ripple.

In my world anything other than salt & pepper on a quality steak is sacrilegious.

[NQ6U]

In my world anything other than salt & pepper on a quality steak is sacrilegious.

F*ckin A (I Agree With You Completely)!

[N2CHX]

If it were cheap steak, she would be using Pagan Pink Ripple.

It was sirloins I got on Managers Special cheap at our local grocery store.

[KG4CGC]

Sirloins can be nice but sometimes it's a crap shoot. Tenderizing is a meticulous process as I have often during recent years been served tough as shoes sirloins. I like a rib eye because I usually know what to expect within a closer quality parameter. Best going out for dinner steak has consistently been Steak & Ale. Unfortunately they are all closed in this area and no other place has matched their quality and consistent quality.

[kc7jty]

k




































************************************************** ************************************************** ****************

opps...was meant for Kelly's post.

[KG4CGC]

k







































************************************************** ************************************************** ****************yeppers

[kc7jty]

bestake (sounds Mexican don't it?) is a Porterhouse. It gives you the best cut of beef (The New York strip) AND the melt in your mouth tenderloin.

[kd8dey]

If it's not charcoal it's not grillin
Might as well use the oven broiler

[kd8dey]

I've heard of marinading steak overnight in buttermilk then washing them off to break down membrane and tenderise the meat....

[kc7jty]

I've heard of marinading steak overnight in buttermilk then washing them off to break down membrane and tenderise the meat....

not Kosher

[kd8dey]

not Kosher

Neither am I :)

[N2CHX]

If it's not charcoal it's not grillin
Might as well use the oven broiler

Amen brotha! lol

[W3WN]

Well you can always do your grocery shopping at the hardware store.
Walmart?

[W3WN]

I've heard of marinading steak overnight in buttermilk then washing them off to break down membrane and tenderise the meat....Trafe.

[n2ize]

I've never seen the coal in the same chamber with the pizza but I have seen the bricks so hot from the coal (underneath them) that they actually glowed red.
Many years ago an Italian friend took me to such a place in Philadelphia. When the large diameter thin pie was served I remarked it was burnt in a few places. My friend just looked at me like I was out in left field and said "that's what makes it good" one bite and I had to agree.

YES!! That is how a good well done pizza comes out of a coal oven. The cheese will be bubbling and slightly browned on top and the crust on the edges and bottom of the pie will be well done, crisp, and sometimes even burned in spots. And yes, that is actually what makes it good.


It's a real shame that good food, one of the greatest enjoyments known to man, is at such a premium in this country. ..and in some places, like where I am, is virtually non existent.

A friend of mine who lives in upstate New York can;t find a real New York/Neopolitan style pizza up where he lives. So whenever he comes down this way he always makes a stop at for pizza down here. Likewise, not every pizzeria down this way uses a coal fired oven. Most use gas ovens. Some are not bad but, for the ultimate in pizza it has to be done in a coal oven. It's not just ingredients alone, it's how they are cooked/baked. For one reason or another the coal oven does it right.

When in or near the NYC area and vicinity Here are two places in the that I recommend

http://www.pepespizzeria.com/

and

http://www.totonnos.com/Aboutus.html



BTW: I highly recommend this with a good pizza:
http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/7323/1000974a.jpg
hey, this wine has lots of dregs (sign of good stuff) at less than 3 years old.

Definitely looks good. It's making me hungry right now. The wine, a nice antipasto, and, a good brick oven pizza.... Definitely good eating.

[kc7jty]

Definitely looks good. It's making me hungry right now. The wine, a nice antipasto, and, a good brick oven pizza.... Definitely good eating.

And how brother. Here's the place I had my first burnt pizza:
http://www.tacconellispizzeria.com/

[kc7jty]

The older Italian generation in Philadelphia always called spaghetti (or any pasta) macaroni, and tomato sauce, gravy.
So when you were invited over for Macaroni & gravy you knew it was spaghetti with tomato sauce. Anyone else ever heard those terms used?

[NQ6U]

The older Italian generation in Philadelphia always called spaghetti (or any pasta) macaroni, and tomato sauce, gravy.
So when you were invited over for Macaroni & gravy you knew it was spaghetti with tomato sauce. Anyone else ever heard those terms used?

Yeah, my Italian grandparents used to say that, although sometimes they'd refer to the sauce as sugo.

[KG4CGC]

http://www1.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/465ebef62be4c28785831f67481c08dd6g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=32rvc97gg69u3m5&thumb=4)









I just wanted to put up this crappy cellphone pic.

[kb2crk]

they called it gravy due to all the meat they would put in it. my ex wifes family called the sauce gravy and it was sacralidge if it came out of a jar.

[kc7jty]

That's expensive for that low grade stuff, but I haven't kept up on Loo-wee Sja-doe prices for years.

[kc7jty]

they called it gravy due to all the meat they would put in it. my ex wifes family called the sauce gravy and it was sacralidge if it came out of a jar.

yes on both counts.
a friend taught me to make a simple sauce with whole extra ripe tomatoes (quality canned work ok too), fresh chopped garlic, dried basil, EV olive oil and red pepper flakes. Only simmer about 10 mins for canned tomatoes, 15/20 for fresh (salt if fresh tomatoes or the canned have no salt). It's quite good for not having any meat in it.

[KG4CGC]

That's expensive for that low grade stuff, but I haven't kept up on Loo-wee Sja-doe prices for years.
Our alcohol tax is pretty high and from 2003 to 2009 it climbed further at a pretty steep clip.

[W3WN]

Our alcohol tax is pretty high and from 2003 to 2009 it climbed further at a pretty steep clip.Be glad you don't live in Pennsylvania, Land of the State Store.

[KG4CGC]

Be glad you don't live in Pennsylvania, Land of the State Store.
No you're not. SC is.

[kc7jty]

In PA you can't even buy beer or wine in the supermarket. And, unless you pay a very high price at a specialty store, you MUST buy beer by the whole case.

[W3MIV]

Maryland will not permit sales of any alcoholic beverage -- except salted cooking wines -- in the supermarkets, either. Judging from my time in VA, there is not, however, too much of a cost differential from what I paid in supermarkets there and what I pay in wine and booze emporia here. The selection is far better in a good wine shop (which always sells beer and booze, as well) than in a supermarket.

[KG4CGC]

Did not know that.
We just did get past 3.2 (ABV) beer in the mid 80's. 4% was considered a party!
Sorry to hear about those state stores in PA and elsewhere. Does that cut down on DUI's?







( I know the answer, it is rhetorical)

[n2ize]

The older Italian generation in Philadelphia always called spaghetti (or any pasta) macaroni, and tomato sauce, gravy.
So when you were invited over for Macaroni & gravy you knew it was spaghetti with tomato sauce. Anyone else ever heard those terms used?

NO!! Never ever heard it called "gravy". And I come from a very Italian family and it was always called "sauce". I also grew up in a very Italian neighborhood and never heard it referred to as "gravy", always "sauce". I suspect it may be a regional thing.

[n2ize]

And how brother. Here's the place I had my first burnt pizza:
http://www.tacconellispizzeria.com/

Looks good. Looks like he's got all the right stuff for a good pie. If I head down to Philly I'll have to make a stop there.

[n2ize]

yes on both counts.
a friend taught me to make a simple sauce with whole extra ripe tomatoes (quality canned work ok too), fresh chopped garlic, dried basil, EV olive oil and red pepper flakes. Only simmer about 10 mins for canned tomatoes, 15/20 for fresh (salt if fresh tomatoes or the canned have no salt). It's quite good for not having any meat in it.

Some of the canned tomatoes these days are too bitter. You sometimes need to add a little bit of sugar to the sauce. I suspect the fresh ripe tomatoes are good as is and you probably don't need the sugar.

[W3WN]

< snip > Sorry to hear about those state stores in PA and elsewhere. Does that cut down on DUI's? Nope.

[W3WN]

In PA you can't even buy beer or wine in the supermarket. And, unless you pay a very high price at a specialty store, you MUST buy beer by the whole case.
Actually, that is no longer true. Kinda.

Due to a loophole, if the supermarket or grocery store or whatever has a sit-down restaurant, they can now sell beer. There are a lot of limitations and restrictions which I won't bore you with, but it is finally happening. Yes, Pennsylvania has finally moved out of the 1930's End Of Prohibition thinking. They've made it up to circa 1943.

But you still pay a way too high a price.

Not only does the Liquor Control Board hold a tight-fisted monopoly on distribution of alcoholic beverages above the level of beer (yeah, you can buy booze in places other than the state store, but THEY still have to buy it from the LCB), but that tax it outrageously. Sales tax, booze tax, and my personal favorite, the 10% Temporary Emergency Tax on booze imposed after the 1936 Johnstown Flood. It was supposed to expire after a year. Not only is it still around, it's now up to 18%.

AND -- in Allegheny County, poured drinks have an additional tax (about 7% now, was 10% last year) that's supposed to help the county cover it's share of mass transit funds. Didn't increase revenues to mass transit, though, despite all the politician's promises (thank you, candidate for governor Dan Onorato, we won't forget this one at the ballot box!). Every dollar raised by the tax is now offset by a dollar that had been allocated from the county general fund towards transit -- net gain: $ 0.

Oh, almost forgot... you can buy beer at a beer distributor, but only by the case or by the keg. You can buy beer from a bar, or a restaurant connected to a bar, but only up to 2 six packs (half a case) at a time. And the bar will charge you a huge markup, because they can.

[kf0rt]

In CO, they can only sell 3.2 beer in the grocery stores and C-stores (and it's usually just the way overpriced Bud/Coors swill -- they're probably the only ones still making 3.2). Don't have restaurants in grocery stores here, but every little strip mall with a grocery store will have a liquor store so close, you won't have to move your car to do both. There's been a fight for years to get liquor in the grocery stores. I don't think the legislators care one way or the other, but keeping that restriction helps a lot of mom-and-pop liquor stores, so it's still in place. Most liquor stores here appear to be small family owned enterprises.

They did get rid of the "no alcohol sales on Sunday" law a few years ago, though.