Lockdown Cuisine Thread

Somebody who determines appropriate warranty terms for gas powered blenders. Kind of a niche job description. Maybe there is only one.

 

A week ago I finally bought something I've wanted for years: a Masterbuilt electric smoker. My future son-in-law, the Applebee's chef, and I have been learning and experimenting almost every day. So far we've done a couple of different jerkies, mac 'n cheese, a salmon fillet and some pork chops. Those were just following recipes found on the internet. Starting today we plan to play around with various "off-the-wall" combinations and see what works. Tonight is going to be hickory smoked chicken breasts rubbed with a McCormick maple rub. The maple + hickory combo smells awesome. I haven't decided whether or not to baste it the last hour. The only barbecue sauce I have right now is P.F. Chang's Mongolian BBQ Sauce. I'm not sure that will complement the other flavors.

 

That's what I use for all of my smoking recipes. Not the easest smoker to use for cold smoking, but if you want to do hot smoke, it can't get any easier. Our Thanksgiving turkey has been smoked in the Masterbuilt for the last five years. I use it for bacon (both cold and hot smoked), cold-smoked salmon, smoked and roasted turkey and chicken, smoked herring, skippers. They are just so much better than store-bought.

 

mmm, that looks good.

i have to say, our diet hasn't changed yet. 99%

 

pizza night

 

My favorite cuisine is Indian. I've been perfecting Indian staples like chicken vindaloo and recently butter chicken.

For you grillers, try picking up some Tandoori chicken mix. A little spicy but so much for grilled chicken. Do it!

 

Well done! Where's the naan?

The gf prefers lamb dishes and I love Indian spices so I will definitely give that recipe a go. . I have an Instapot and I highly encourage any chef to add one to your arsenal of tools to use in the kitchen.

I currently have some Tandoori drumsticks marinating. Its chicken drumsticks with the Tandoori spice mix, fresh pressed ginger, fresh pressed garlic, fresh squeezed lime, olive oil and avocado (yogurt substitute). It's going on the grill tomorrow. I'm salivating as I type this. Easy recipe but so much flavors!

 

Anyone tried making Instant Pot wine?

How to Make Wine in Your Instant Pot From Scratch—Yes, Wine | Real Simple

Makes lock down a lot more enjoyable

.

 

That would be amazing if we had a tandoor oven to make naan or some kabobs. Mine would go right next to the wood fired pizza oven. Maybe I'll add them both on my next home.

I was talking about the indo/pak variety.

The Tandoori chicken was amazing! Instapot beef ribs tomorrow.

 

Hit the jackpot with a great smoked salmon last night.

Salmon fillet brined in glass Pyrex overnight. Brine consisted of
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
freshly ground pepper over the fillet

Smoked it over apple wood chips at 200*F for 1 hour. After 1 hour, began basting salmon every 1/2 hour with bourbon barrel aged pure maple syrup. Continued until salmon reached an internal temperature of 145*F.

It was awesome.

 

I'm a rookie at smoking and will gladly accept any suggestions you might have. I currently have bags of hickory, mesquite, apple and cherry woods. I'll have to look around for alder. They didn't have any at Ace or Lowe's. Maybe I'll just pick some up online to "play" with.

So far meats for dinner (pork tenderloins, chicken breasts, pork ribs) have been pretty good but I've made some pretty lousy beef jerky. Only one out of four batches has met the family's approval.

 

I know almost any smoker recipe site will recommend to use "right" type of wood chip to impart the flavors on the meat or fish you are cooking. In beginning when I started using a smoker, I tried different wood chips for different smokes. I then quickly came to a conclusion that they all tasted great smoked flavor but could not distinguish any difference by the chips used. I currently use mainly maple and oak, just because that's what I have in abundance in my back woods. As long as well dried hard wood is used, any chips will produce great smoked flavor, IMHO.

 

Like ChapmanF, we have a bread machine. I've been mainly sticking to basic white, wheat, wheat bran or egg breads. I have made some very good orange and lemon breads though. The other day I tried a peanut butter bread. It's ok but the peanut flavor isn't nearly strong enough for our tastes. I'll try it again soon and double the amount of peanut butter the recipe calls for.