Killing Two Birds With One Smoked Turkey On An Egg

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and what better time than to practice cooking a turkey...and to clean out the fridge. It is time, sister, to clean that thing out.

Think of all the people without kids who are coming over to your house in two weeks, looking for ice for their drink. I realize that they should be looking in the freezer, not the fridge, but go with me.

You know the kind of people I'm talking about - they have time to work out and clean their refrigerator on a regular basis. But they can't cook worth a bean so the task falls upon you, like you are some sort of expert on cooking the big American heritage meal just because you nursed your children. A little too long, in their opinion, but that is another story.

Here's a recipe that helps you clean out the refrigerator weeks before Thanksgiving and will give you a practice run so you can take Martha Stuart down on the day. I cooked this turkey on my Big Green Egg, but any smoker will do, though I do love the irony of cooking poultry in an egg.

Please don't limit yourself to the ingredient list below - that's what came out of my fridge. And no, I'm not showing you a photo of all the crap I threw out. Jonathan Bloom over at Wasted Food would have my head if he saw that shot. Hopefully this post will balance the scales so to speak. As long as you have the three flavor profiles of sweet, hot and zing, then you can add other bits in your collection of condiments that need to be used up and out.

While you are at it, you might want to take the refrigerator drawers out and clean underneath them. Yeah, those.

Incidentally if you have any spices that are older than ten years, throw them out. Or make a big pot of chili and use them, for gawd sake. I recently found some chili powder in my mom's house that was date stamped 1972. I was four when she bought it for some chili recipe that apparently has never been tried again. The cloves from 1978 were surprisingly still aromatic so she put them back in the drawer. Oi.

Recipe: Condiment Turkey

Ingredients
Some of these could be place in multiple categories, but you get the idea. The intention is not for you to use all of the items listed, but examples of what you could use.

SWEET: Teriyaki, Thai chili sauce, ketchup, roasted pepper soup, honey, jams
HOT: Hot sauces, salsa, wasabi paste (sparingly!)
ZING: Mustard, all varieties, barbecue sauce, tangy marinades, pickled beet juice

One turkey, 10-12 lbs, pre-brined. For info on thawing and brining, look at the blog post directly under this one.

Olive oil, canola or any vinaigrette salad dressing

Salt, pepper

Directions
1) Clean out the fridge. Throw away the nasty bits, but any ingredient that isn't growing new life forms or smells putrid can be set aside for your marinade. Use the dregs, the weird buys that you soon regretted, and the duplicate purchases. Be sure you have at least one from every category: SWEET, HOT and ZING.

2) Mix your condiment soup and set aside.

As you can see, before you mix the condiments, you can make a swirly art project first.

3) Rub turkey like a boxer after a match with oil or vinaigrette.
4) Slather on the condiment soup and let the birdy sit in her condiment spa while you make your fire.

5) Make an indirect fire with room for a drip pan in the middle or to one side. Make fire for a hot smoke of about 325 degrees.

6) For the egg, place the indirect plate upside down and place a drip pan inside it\. Once it reaches 325 degrees, place turkey sitting up on grates and put down lid. Leave it. The Egg will do the rest.

7) While the turkey smokes, finish cleaning your refrigerator thoroughly. Pull everything out, get in the nooks and crannies. That way you will only need to give it a quickie clean before Thanksgiving. Aren't you glad we're friends?

8) Also, make stock while the turkey smokes. Use any "fresh" herbs that have cold-dried in your refrigerator or are still miraculously alive in your garden. Save the stock for the soup you will make with the turkey carcass because Martha Stuart can kiss your ass, thank you very much, and you can bring home the bacon and serve up homemade soups without ever having to wear prison orange. Even if it's the new black.

9) Smoke the turkey for approximately three and a half hours until the internal temperature reaches about 155 degrees in the thigh. It will reach the proper 165 degrees while it rests. Let turkey rest for approximately 20 minutes before slicing, because we want to let all those juices hovering at the edges to flow back into the meat.

While the turkey rests, give yourself a pat on the back. No one else is going to, right? Except me. Good job! What used to be all you were supposed to do for your job, cleaning and cooking and taking care of the kids, is now what you do around your money making job, your shift at your daughter's preschool and volunteer days at your son's school. You go to bed at midnight and hit snooze three times on the 6 am alarm.Yep, we've come a long way, baby.

But for now, at this moment, let your family ooh and aah. Enjoy what you've made. When dinner's over, place the leftovers in your sparkly clean fridge. You can make soup tomorrow.

Pacific NW Eggfest

I had a ball at the 6th Annual (my 2nd) Pacific NW Eggfest on June 11. I went with a single item - Kalbi Beef Short Ribs, served with rice made on my Egg. Eric cut the ribs for me on the bandsaw in our walk-in at Pete's, so they were thick and meaty. The ribs marinated for a day. They could have used another day, due to their size, but I had plenty of compliments, including "These are the best short ribs I've ever had." I'll take that.


My two neighbors were Egg-o-matic machines. Every time I looked over, they were coming out with a new dish. I think I might have to step up my game next year and at least add a breakfast or dessert item like these: apple crisp, giant pancakes, and my tent buddie's Planked Twinkie Chocolate Marshmallow Bonanza thingy.

For those of you that haven't been to an Eggfest, it is a meeting of Eggheads, cooking on Eggs. In this case it was open to the public for the purpose of selling Eggs. Folks could purchase the grills we cooked on, at a discount. A good deal when you figure we helped season their grill for them.

Brian from Left Hand Smoke was there again, representing the PNWBA, as were the Butt Rub folks. -Brian brought some tasty home-cured bacon, and the Butt Rub dude is shown here with a mouthful of his own biscuits and gravy.

 And the bonus? It's held right across the street from IKEA, so I was able to pick up a few more platters for the shop, along with a giant wheel of Skandinavian cheese and five other things I did not need.

My Eggnest in honor of the Eggfest 2011

For the second year in a row, I cooked at the Pacific NW Eggfest. The week prior, Eric made our Big Green Egg a perfect nest.

This old fire pit came with our house and used to have a wishing well roof. It would have needed a lot to make it a working grill, though it does have an ash/access door, but the Egg fits just perfectly in it.

I'd always worried that someone might roll off with our Egg. I know that's silly. The thought of a drug addict rolling a Big Green Egg into a pawn shop is comical. But our neighborhood has had issues with theft. It's getting better, but we've had many things disappear from our yard. Eric knows my paranoia so he made this protective nest as a surprise.

It's the little things, or in this case, the really big heavy things, that keep a marriage fresh.

May Day Virtual BBQ: 9:30am, 11am, 12:20am....Moppin' Time

The mop, a total throw-together recipe from the fridge: Apple cider vinegar, bit of ketchup, puri puri spice (hot!), and the end of the orange-mango jam.

Two-Parter Apricot Glazed Baby Back Ribs

It's time for some meat, y'all! Enough of my waxing and waning about the New Year. It's a barbecue blog dammit so today I've smoked up some baby backs.

What is different or interesting about these ribs? Why post about them, as opposed to others? In every post I try to use a recipe to teach a technique. It's what I do in the book, so it is what I continue to do here on the blog.

These ribs were smoked with a dry rub the day before. I pulled them to chill in the fridge when they were technically cooked, but needed another hour plus to tender up.

The next day, I put them back on the smoker, indirect heat, for 30-40 minutes, then glazed them once hot and left them for another 40 minutes or so.

This is a great way to prep ribs for a party, or to have ribs on hand for a weekday dinner. Smoke them on the weekend while you are doing house projects, chill, then reheat and add sauce for dinner on Tuesday. I actually think the spice and smoke sink in to the meat better this way.

The rub: Use any simple spice rub you have on hand. I grabbed kosher salt, cumin, chili powder, and a small amount of paprika and tossed my racks in them. Last month I reviewed Charbroil's Basic Rub, and liked it for it's simplicity. If you are going for "wet" or glazed ribs, the rub doesn't need to stand alone, and you don't need a lot of competing flavors with the sauce.

The meat: I used baby back ribs, but spares really do well with this technique. When making ribs for a party, you can easily misjudge how long spare ribs need, and have the rest of the food timing thrown off. By smoking them a day ahead, you have more control of the end time.

I'll be honest...I didn't take off the membrane. I usually do, but the first one was so thin, it kept tearing. I was in a rush to get them in the rub and to make it on time for pick up at my son's pre-school. Know what? It didn't matter.

The equipment: I used my Big Green Egg! She's a beaut, especially on these rainy, colder months. Eggatha keeps her heat like a champ. I only smoked two racks, so no other equipment (rib rack, indirect plate, drip pan) was needed. I made a small charcoal fire in one spot, and place my racks indirect from the fire.

The wood: Cherry wood trimmings from my yard, of course.

The glaze: Now here is where you really can mix it up. I use 50% preserves with 50% barbecue sauce, store bought, or home spun. Heat it up and whisk together. The owner of Ole Ray's Apple Cinnamon Barbeque Sauce sent me a case of his sauce once after he read that I recommended it in Woman's World Magazine. It was a sweet gesture, but I get so many bottles of sauce here and there, my fridge has little else. I wanted to move some of the product, so I used it in my glaze. His sauce is a sweeter, molasses-y sauce that works well in a glaze.

The result: Tender, flavorful ribs...by 6pm on a Tuesday.

Recipe: Smoked Stuffed Trout with Farro & Greens

The very first night, within an hour of unloading my new Big Green Egg, I fired it up. Eric had bought some wonderful looking Rainbow Trout, and we decided to smoke-roast it on the Egg as a christening.

I'm also on a latent farro kick. Latent because back when every food blogger was bowing to the hip "new" Italian grain, I was digging in my heels, saying, "Why should I spend $8.50 on a little bag of stinkin' grain?"

I still kind of think that, but I do see what all the hub bub is about. The kernels are so...meaty. And they take on flavors so delicately. E' bellissimo, the farro. Farro, by the way, is a generic word for wheat in Italy, and they note it as farro small, medium, or large. The stuff that we get in the expensive little bag at the fancy grocery store, is a very large variety. It may actually be some variety of spelt.

Eight plus bucks for a small bag, though. Come on! This is something I'll only cook with something special, like the trout I'm about to show ya, if I'd stop yapping already.

This recipe is easy. With a Big Green Egg, you can do it blindfolded. At least after the charcoal is lit. This works perfectly well on a gas grill too, cooked indirectly.

Smoked Stuff Trout with Farro and Greens
© Julie Reinhardt

2 Rainbow trout, book cut (see below)
2 cups cooked farro
1 cup Swiss Chard, chopped fine
3 tablespoons chopped tarragon (or herb of your choice)

2/3 cup grated Parmesan

4 tablespoons melted butter

salt and pepper

Step-by-Step

1. Cook farro in salted water, set aside.

2. Book cut trout, meaning cut down one side of the bones as if filleting the fish, only don't cut all the way through. This way the fish opens flat like so:

3. Mix remaining ingredients together and stuff fish.

4. Smoke-roast at 250-300 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour. (I used plum wood because we have plum trees and other fruit trees that give us year-round free smoking wood. Use what you have on hand. Alder is nice for fish.)

What I loved about this dish, aside from the lovely smokiness of it, was that it made a whole meal! The grain, greens and fish are all in one. I made a simple heirloom tomato salad with nothing but salt on it to balance out the flavors.

I must add one note that the pictures on this post, and for the next week or so, will be sub-par. I've lost my camera. Lost it! I can only hope it's buried under something in my office and will re-surface soon, which tells you a little about the state of affairs in my office. I'm left with my phone camera, which is fine for a quick shot of the kids, because they are cute no matter what, but doesn't quite capture food well enough.

I really don't want to buy another camera. Correction, I do want to buy another camera, but can't really afford the one I want. But I digress...

Happy cooking everyone!

Baby Eggatha

I've wanted a Big Green Egg since before I had babies, and now she's finally here. Everyone, meet Eggatha. Isn't she pretty?

A huge thank you to the folks at Associated Energy Systems for making this happen. I've done a few Egg events this year, from giving one away on CBS Better Mornings Atlanta, to making MOINK balls at the Pacific NW Eggfest, to a demo with AES, and I hope to do more, especially now that I'm a card grill carrying Egghead.

In my book I call the Egg an "insulated barbecue womb", because it holds temperature so evenly. I also love its versatility. Most grill/smokers do one or the other better, but the Egg truly is both. You can make pizzas fast and furious one night, and slow cook a pork shoulder the next day.

I'll post my first recipe on the Egg next. We christened it with smoked stuffed trout. It was eggcellent. OK. I promise to get these egg puns out of my system. Really.

Our smoker, our oven

I'm embarrassed to admit this. Back in April, in April, our oven elements at home went out. I tried out the self-cleaning function on the oven, and apparently four years of grime was too much for the thing, so it quit.

It was right before the book tour, and then I went to Memphis, and then catering season hit three seconds after I landed (while I'm admitting embarrassing things: suitcase still not entirely unpacked).

I also checked and they don't carry the elements at Home Depot or Lowe's. All appliance parts live in a place called Tukwila. If you are in the Seattle area, that is. There is an actual town, south of Seattle, that hoards appliance parts and to get them you have to go there. Yeah right.

We haven't missed it much. Eric is the king of the one pan meal, and we have a bevvy of grills and smokers in the back yard. The two things I miss, though, are frittatas and baked goods, if "baked goods" can really be counted as one thing. Two categories then. Fluffy egg dishes and yummy baked things.

But guess what? I don't have to miss a thing. I can do it all on the grill (and so can you).

Today, I did both. Well, I kind of cheated on the baked goods category. I baked Pillsbury dough ready-made cinnamon rolls, which were yum, and besides it was work-related. Yeah. Sorry about your cubicle.

I'm doing an all-day demo at the Big Green Egg dealership in Kent on Tuesday, and needed to time my breakfast choices. I'm going to do the egg dish from scratch, but needed something easier than pie for the second item. Everyone loves a cinnamon roll, so I figure no one will bust me on the store-bought with a mouthful of buttery icing.

Both dishes were so easy and were enhanced by the imparted charcoal flavor that I must share them with you. The first is a Southwest Frittata with Yukon Gold Potato Crust.

I baked on my Weber Smokey Mountain (I don't have an Egg...yet, but it's coming). It maintains heat really nicely, but it likes 250 degrees. I can get it higher, but it takes management, and I had both kids solo today.

Both recipes are timed for this lower heat. If you have a smoker/grill that can maintain 325-350 degrees easily, halve the times. Of course you can do both recipes in the oven, but that's missing the point.

Southwest Frittatta with Yukon Gold Crust

Ingredients*
3 Yukon Gold potatoes
salt to taste
3/4 lb sausage
2-3 T vegetable oil
8 eggs
2 T milk
4 oz grated cheddar or Colby
2 T diced green chilies
1 T diced jalapenos
4 T enchilada sauce
4-6 slices Oaxaca cheese (or other mild, slightly creamy cheese. I like the Oaxaca because it gets nice and smoky, but it's somewhat pricey and not always available)

*A note about the ingredients. I get annoyed by recipes that have you buying all sorts of ingredients where you only use a tiny bit. Just. Like. This. One. The green chilies and jalapenos do freeze well. Buy the smallest jars, or skip one of them. The enchilada sauce is nice for color and flavor, but is optional. Use what you have in the fridge and pantry! Substitute freely!

Step-by-Step
1) Cook potatoes until just done, but still firm. Cool for 1 hour.

2) Cook sausage and drain on paper towels.

3) Slice potatoes in about 1/4 inch slices and fry until just starting to brown in pan. (Remember: Hot Pan, Cold Oil. Don't add the oil until the pan is hot, then add the potatoes. This way they won't stick or get saturated with oil). Salt lightly, if at all. The sausage and cheese will add salt to the dish as well. Set aside.

4) Get coals hot and, when ashed over, spread evenly in charcoal smoker (or in half of a grill so you have an indirect cooking space). I used a water pan and think it helps keep the eggs from drying out.

5) Whisk together 8 eggs, milk, cheese, sausage, green chilies, and jalapenos (sauteed onions and garlic are also nice with this recipe. I was just out. Saute them with the sausage).

6) Place potatoes in an oiled pan that you don't mind getting a bit sooty. A 10-inch pie pan works well. Cut some potato slices in half so the "crust" goes up the sides of the pan.

7) Pour the egg mixture in the pan and place on grill.

8) Bake for 30-40 minutes. Add slices of Oaxaca cheese in a sun pattern, and alternate stripes of enchilada sauce. Bake for another 20-30 minutes until center doesn't wiggle.

9) This is important: Let cool for at least 10-15 minutes.  Cut around edges with a dinner knife.

10: Getting it out of the pan: Place one plate over it and flip. If you oiled the pan well and let the frittata cool enough, it should fall out. Don't worry if some of it doesn't. Scrape any remains and pat back into frittata. Place another plate on top and flip over again. Now the pretty part will show and most mistakes will be hidden. Slice and serve.

Cheater Baked Good Recipe on the Smoker
1) Open a can of ready made cinnamon roll dough.
2) Place in oiled pan as directed.
3) Bake in smoker at 250 degrees for 1 hour, icing it in the last 10 minutes. If you bake at the directed 325-350 degrees, follow time on can.

Eat 'em up. Hopefully you ripped the calorie/fat content part off the wrapper when opening.
You don't wanna know.

Hanging out with Eggheads in Kent

Saturday, the rain parted for a day, just in time for the Pacific NW Eggfest. I spent the day cooking MOINK balls on a Big Green Egg, and sampling what other "Eggheads" were cooking.

Here is my "Egg for a day"

You wouldn't believe the variety of foods cooked on these all-in-one smoker grills. Besides the "regular" barbecue fare of all things pork, I had bites of omelet, cornbread pudding, salmon, pizza, and even french fries!

There were plenty I didn't get to try, like this man's apple pancakes.

It was nice to see so many egghead women in the ranks. Some brought their kids, others wore tiaras.

This BBQ Queen Bee is Renee O'Harran, the Director of Food Services at The Northwest School. She smoked up her own brined bacon.

The next egglady, Jill Van Berkom, is truly a Jill of all trades. She's an artist AND she churned out fabulous pizzas all day. Notice her hand crafted bead...of a Big Green Egg...on her necklace.

The Fire Fighters For a Cure won everyone over with this CUTE watermelon egg. Like we need any more reasons to drool over the fire fighters. Their makin' mini eggs out of watermelons, raising money for breast cancer, saving lives, all while in uniform mind you.

But the best, in my humble, chocolate addicted opinion, was the dessert by father and daughter team Troy and Hayley. They baked this out of donut dough, mixed with chocolate and who knows what else (I need to ask for the recipe), topped with ice cream. Oh yeah. You see them slicing like mad because they had a line out their tent.

What a fun day. If you get a chance to come to Eggfest 2011, do! I know I'm going to be there.

Recipe: MOINK Balls ala The BBQ Grail

For those of you following, you know that this Saturday is WORLD MOINK BALL DAY! In honor of that, I made MOINK balls this week, and will be making them at the Smokin' in Seattle Eggfest.

I made them according to the recipe by the MOINK master himself, Larry Gaian of The BBQ Grail. Besides sharing these tasty wonders with you, and preparing for the Eggfest, I had a third motivation: I want my MOINK ball certification.

Certification? Yes! As Barry "CB" Martin explains on the Char-Broil blog, Larry will send you a commemorative certificate if you follow his three simple instructions listed there by June 7th. Hey, maybe you could pass it off at work as a "continuing education" credit. It's worth a shot.

On to the MOINK balls. First, see Larry Gaian making his MOINK balls on Fox 40 Live here. If you want to read the whole story, recipe, and background of the MOINK ball, check out WikQuepedia.

Per the recipe, you must buy all beef, fully cooked meatballs. Finding meatballs without pork or "soy protein" can be tough, but I found a nice product at Trader Joes.

Another must is a thick sliced and meaty bacon. Cut the bacon in half, and wrap a half slice around each meatball. Secure with a toothpick.

Rub generously with rub of your choice. I used my own "Cocoa Bliss" rub from She-Smoke, because I have a lot of it in the house. That is so important in barbecue. Use what you have. Innovate from the shelf.

Smoke at 225 degrees on a charcoal or wood smoker. I didn't pay exact attention to the time, but I think Larry's estimate of 90 minutes total cooking time is what I did. After about an hour, I turned the balls. It's not necessary, but I wanted my bacon a little crispier.

I made a simple glaze of BBQ Sauce and grape jelly (I used the sauce Pork Barrel BBQ gave me at Memphis in May. Thanks guys - it's delish!). The original BBQ Grail recipe calls for a Chipotle-Raspberry-Balsamic glaze, but I wanted to keep mine mild for the kids.

I dipped each MOINK in the glaze and cooked them for another 20 minutes or so. OMG! I ate way too many. I can tell I'd better get a lot more meatballs for Saturday. They are going to be devoured.

.

Psychic MOINK Balls

The planets have aligned and two spectacular events are colliding together on Saturday, June 5th. You guessed it: World MOINK Ball Day AND the Smokin' in Seattle Eggfest.

When the Big Green Eggfest folks invited me to "come on down with some books and cook on an Egg", I immediately thought, "I know, I'll cook MOINK balls. Those bacon-wrapped, rubbed-n-glazed meatballs will draw the crowd to me like trouble finds Charlie Sheen."

Then, at Memphis in May, I had the pleasure of cooking (and losing) to Larry "MOINK Ball" Gaian, the inventor of the tasty meaty treat, who informed me that June 5th is in fact, WORLD MOINK BALL DAY! How did I know? I must have tapped into some collective world consciousness, or something.

Was that a shiver I saw run down your back?

Seriously, I'm totally egg-cited. I love the Big Green Egg and have never attended an Eggfest.

OK, everyone who has no idea what I'm talking about, raise your hand (hi mom!). Let me back up.

1) A MOINK ball is a delicious barbecue appetizer that is a beef meatball (MOO), wrapped in bacon (OINK), dry rubbed, smoked, then finished with a glaze of one's choice. MOO + OINK = MOINK!

2) An Egg, or formally, A Big Green Egg, is a ceramic charcoal cooker that can be used to smoke slow and low, or to grill on high heat. It looks like an egg. People who love cooking on BGE's are called Eggheads. Gatherings of people who like/buy/sell/cook on BGE's are called Eggfests.
Come find me Saturday, from about 10-2pm in Kent (click on the link above for more info), and try some MOINK balls.

Tomorrow I will post a batch of MOINK balls with a link to Larry's recipe.

CBS Better Mornings Atlanta

Getting up at 1am for work is a little rough, but spending the wee hours with the crew of Better Mornings Atlanta was a blast.

Together host Tracye Hutchins and I smoked baby backs on a Big Green Egg, made chocolate barbecue sauce, pork sliders, Island slaw, and talked about my book event tomorrow....all before 7am.

The Big Green Egg folks gave us an Egg to give away - a generous prize worth close to $1000 - for which over 500 people entered on the website. Not only that, but they sent representative Jonathan, who helped me immensely. Three hours of sleep and no coffee (I didn't want to ruin the prospect of a nap later on), made me a little foggy, so having Jonathan there to talk things through was great.

I'll post the video on the website when I get it. You can also view the footage on their website, though the specific links will change.

We will spend the day relaxing in Atlanta. Tomorrow night I'll be at the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club with A Cappella Books for a book signing at 7pm. If you are in the area, come for some barbecue, beers and books!