Weber Kettle Modification: Firedome, (Part 1)

In the time-honored tradition of leaking communications inevitably to be republished in the form of a full disclosure, I present the first installment of the Weber Kettle modification. Firedome.

Some months ago, in an attempt to get my kettle grill to cook low 'n slow (ca. 225°F overnight with little or no attending, I tried taking advantage of a chimney starter's cylindrical shape to deliver urburned fuel to the heat source at a slow rate. It didn't work. That failure, however led to an interesting observation. Even if a single lit lump of fuel is placed on top of an unlit mass of fuel in a chimney starter, within a few minutes, the entire mass is ignited. The chimney is aptly named. It is the fastest means of initiating and maintaining fuel combustion.

With an entire chimney full of lit fuel, it was really hot. More so than a small equivalent mass of fuel placed on the lower grate of the kettle in a mound.

The heat source for this project will be contained, inside the kettle, in a chimney.

Upcoming:
-type of fuel
-Weber Kettle modification (you will need a grinder with a steel-cutting disc).
-Cooking surface
-Dry run temperature data
...
-Should be a fun series. Stay tuned.

New Weber Kettle Mod coming soon

tossing dough

A friend invited us for pizza the other night. They had a real live pizza oven. It was 800°F once fired up. I have found a new obsession.

I have started sketching out ideas for a modified Weber Kettle so I too can have a domed pizza oven that can achieve 800°F. That's pretty frigging hot. I'm not even sure if the old reliable kettle is spec'd for that kind of temperature, but we'll see. With my home oven running at 550 and convection, I can get 600 pretty steady. The extra 200 is going to be challenging. Keep you posted when I get some pilot data.

Aubergine, to salt or not to salt?

Roasted eggplant slices on the baking sheet

My favorite preparation of eggplant is roasting or grilling thickly-sliced rounds. There are two prominent schools of thought among auberginophiles. Some salt, some do not. Salting, it's touted, is the way to remove bitterness. Not salting is the method of the lazy Philistine who can't tell the bitterness has been removed (me).

I am now a salter. Last night was salad night. A bed of greens topped with aldente, fenugreek-laced puy lentils, some Egyptian-style feta on the side and a grilled veggie on top; dress the salad and it's dinner time.

Busily speeding around the kitchen the other night, I sliced the eggplant and decided to give salting a try. A heavy brine is the fastest way to brine anything in the shortest time. Don't mean to be arrogant, but I don't need a 30-comment rambling thread on Chowhound to be convinced of the proper method. This is a matter of chemistry. And, I'm right.

I immersed the slices in the brine beneath a heavy plate (the brine was made from about 1/2 C salt and a couple cups of water). They stayed submerged about 15 minutes.

Here is a really big sentence because I'm in a hurry:
The slices were rinsed,
dried by paper towel,
tossed in oil [the first difference observed immediately, the oil coated the eggplant, the oil didn't get sucked into the flesh],
peppered (salt from the brine),
tossed into a single layer on a sheet pan and roasted for 20 minutes at 400°F/convection, no flipping.

WOW! My complaint with not salting and roasting (aside from the oil thing) is the texture - real mushy. The texture this time (and it should've brined longer) was tighter and more dense. It crisped well too because of the even coating of oil.

If you're not a salter - go ahead and try it.

Baking Techniques: Rounding

My rounding method with tonight's dough


Final Pie (with my homemade sausage)

Beef

Brisket and fixings

While Andrew, Jim, Zach and myself try to settle on a date for a winter grilling podcast, I thought I'd show you a meal I prepped in a few minutes the other night while preparing another meal.

I bought a 1.5 lb of brisket (don't know if it was the point or flat), put it fat side up in a large cast iron pan, added a bunch of shrooms, carrots, bay leaves, 1/4 cup water, salt, pepper, rosemary and left it out until I went to bed. Then, I set the pan with a snug lid on in a 225 degree oven overnight (7-8 hours). The house smelled pretty special during the night. Next morning, I didn't even peek at it. Tossed it in the fridge. Later that night, I warmed it up and roasted some taters and asparagus.

The brisket was fork tender - it did not fall apart. VERY nice texture. Surprisingly the carrots were soft but far from mush. The next time I do it, potatoes go in with the meat. Low 'n slow - not with smoke - but not too bad. Give this one a shot!

Cafe Bella, 2593 N High St,. 267-1998

I've never done a restaurant review in this space and I'm not going to start. I don't want the responsibility of damaging a restaurant's chance of success in a brutally competitive business. I would like to offer my observations on a pleasant experience we had the other night at Cafe Bella on N. High. It's currently situated in the middle of Columbus' Big Dig. This city project is endangering a number of businesses from Lane to Arcadia.

We got there on a Tuesday night after Frankie's soccer practice. We were all pretty hungry and it smelled wonderful. Cafe Bella is a casual Italian diner. To me, Italian comes in two flavors. Authentic and Boston/American Style. The latter has lots of red sauces and lots of pasta and bread; what I grew up eating. I make this distinction cautiously and not to sound like a snob. The difference is regional and the regions are very far apart. I absolutely love any Italian cuisine. Cafe Bella is the American style, but a little lighter. The tomato sauce is nice and fresh, just lovely.

Our genial host (owner too?) pulled up a chair, chatted a while and told us what he had to offer. We decided on two pasta dishes, one with breaded eggplant and one with meatballs. The pasta was spaghetti and we all decided to serve them in one dish, family style. He had many other offerings and would've cooked us anything; his display case was filled with fruit and vegetables. To this point, the only difference between visiting Cafe Bella and going to my mother's is I didn't get a hug before sitting down. It was special. No menus, plates like we'd have at home, talking to another couple down a table, and everyone enjoying themselves.

Having taken our order, our host and chef zipped up quickly and purposefully to get to work on our dinner. Eating with a child is tricky. We'd all like to dine for hours and relax. However, if that relaxation extends beyond 6-7 minutes, we're considering the takeout containers, starting the "1 ... 2 ... ", you know. Fortunately, we were served with time to spare. A big plate of pasta topped with breaded, sliced eggplant and meatballs in tomato sauce.

As I mentioned earlier, I was in heaven with the tomato sauce (I just finished my leftovers yesterday - right out of the fridge - cold, yum). The eggplant was thinly sliced, not oily (baked?), flavorful with a tenacious coating of light crispy breading and oh, sooo, ... I'm salivating excessively. Hey, where's Frankie? NO whining. The meatballs could be seen atop her fork, one by one being eaten as excitedly as if each were a sucker. She's five. This was a big deal. She nibbled them dutifully until they were finished. I think she ate about 3% of her body weight in meatballs alone. Trish and I dispensed with the small talk and got busy. I rarely get pasta outside because it's often over or undercooked. I believe there is no absolute specification when it comes to cooking pasta. It's perfect when it tastes good. The spaghetti was cooked exactly as I would cook it. Not too hard or soft.

I left feeling so damn satisfied and happy. Not because the meal was perfect, it was awesome, but it wasn't the familiar feeling of leaving a restaurant. It was like we had visited a friend and had dinner. The staff gave of themselves for our comfort.

Note: There is parking in back and can be accessed by High St (by Shreiner's) or up an alley from Neil.

Panini Press (for the frugal)

Cooking on cast iron with a cast iron press

My mother made us "grilled" cheese sandwiches using Velveeta, Italian bread and pressed it between sheets of foil using a hot iron. The same iron used for clothes. They were sublime - Velveeta and all. Since my wife started hiding the iron when I used this method, I had to find an alternative.

Today, I made a light lunch of small sandwiches with various meats and cheese. I lightly oiled a cast iron skillet (on bottom) and placed another cast iron pan on top. In this case, I used a dutch oven because it was pretty heavy. While a true panini press would have a heated top element, I can simply turn the sandwiches and cook them one side at a time. The top weight is nice because it insures the sandwiches make good contact with the bottom skillet and get nice and crisp. The whole sandwich melds together physically as flavorfully (I know it's not a word). They were very nice. A nice variation on this would be to use a ribbed cast iron pan to give the nice looking grill marks; they're cheap too.

Finished product - one mortadella, one ham, one salami and one turkey - yum

happy bday to me

Just when I thought I knew absolutely everything about my wife, she surprised me with an instrument capable of grinding 176 pounds of meat per hour. I am without words and am a rich man.

Thanks my love (and thanks Andrew). Sniff.

Just pasta, tomatoes and basil.

One of our favorite, yet simplest meals of the Summer uses lots of basil and tomatoes. I take a bowl of chopped fresh tomatoes, a couple slivers of garlic, toasted pinenuts, lots of basil, s+p, and a good slosh of olive oil. While that sits a bit, I cook some pasta and toss the hot pasta over this mixture. The heat of the cooked pasta warms up and gently cooks the tomatoes. Once the mixture cools a bit, the flavors have mixed and we eat a wonderfully simple meal.

We usually use a macaroni of some kind for the pasta. When I got home the other night, I had an itch for some fresh pasta. 2 C flour (1 wheat, 1 white), pinch of salt, olive oil (1T) and 3 eggs later (and the use of my trusty spackle knife) I had these noodles for the dish.

A very nice pasta option for this dish.

weber_cam: School Lunch Edition (part 1)

This past weekend was good to catch up with friends and share school lunch suggestions. We never had to pack lunch when Frankie was in daycare, now we're faced with trying to make something interesting a few times a week. She actually likes mini corn dog day.

This takes a little thought, but I'm enjoying finding variety in the supermarket for her lunch. Tomorrow's main course is a couple romain leaves wrapped around smoked turkey and provolone. With this is a couple sides of grapes, tomatoes and a little dessert of cantuccini. The cold cut rolls were suggested by Christa (thanks!). I think they're a nifty alternative to a sandwich.

I'll be listing various options we learn of on the sidebar under "Plat du Jour" for you parents.

To bed with me - school night.

Sweet Italian Sausage

Sweet Italian sausage about to be tied off.

I think I know what Cliff Clavin felt like walking into Cheers. When I walk in to Weiland's Gourmet Market, I shoot the breeze with the butcher. He told me the other day of the US's problems with hog casings. They're really expensive these days. The pork's stable, but the casing's have doubled in the past year. I've told them of my recent sausage making endeavors and they share my enthusiasm. They make Weilands for me.

This was my first pork sausage attempt. Fresh ground pork butt (4 lbs), some garlic, smoked sweet Spanish paprika, fresh basil and some other spices. The critical spice was salt. If you add too much, too bad, batch ruined. Too little, still a problem. Incorporating more involves additional mixing and maybe overmixing. This one, I just followed the recipe and hoped for the best. The sample quenelle (alright, it was a good sized patty), I just cooked was fabulous. I'll be carting these off to our cookouts this weekend. Recipe by Ruhlman, followed to the letter with the addition of chopped fresh basil.

If you have a Kitchen Aid, the attachments are cheap (or get a dedicated grinder/stuffer under $100) and get into this hobby. It's fun and the final product is quite simply better than you can find anywhere.

Tilapia on a bed of ratatouille

The other night I was roasting cauliflower for one of our favorite dishes. While the cauliflower roasted, I tossed in a few more pans to roast zucchini, green peppers, and eggplant chunks. I tossed the latter 3 roasted veggies/fruits into a large bowl for the next night and went on to prep the cauliflower dish.

roasting up a storm

The next night, I took all the roasted veggies and simmered them with some garlic, basil and tomatoes for about a half hour. Nice and soft, I took the mixture and ladled it into a shallow bake pan and place a few tilapia fillets on top. The entire mixture was baked with the fillets getting a small squirt of lemon juice and olive oil half way through the 20 minute bake at 350°F.

The entire dish rested and 3 portions were served up. I saw this pairing in a magazine the other day and couldn't imagine the ratatouille would be good with the fish, but it was wonderful ... and fast. Definite new favorite for us.

Tilapia on ratatouille

mmm ... kielbasa in the making

mmm ... kielbasa in the making, originally uploaded by Seligmans Dog.

The gang bought me all the stuff for kielbasa for Father's day: stew beef, fat back, spices, hog casings. The works!

A few weeks back, I diced the beef and fat and got it ready. Doing this on a parental time scale in which weeks pass between steps, I finally got to break into action yesterday. I ground the beef and fat coarse, added spices, mixed and stuffed. A few complications during stuffing, but nothing big (I assembled the stuffer incorrectly which caused a delay), but the product never suffered.

I took a sample of a quunelle and a short kielbasa and smoked them to "take a peek" at the batch. Smoked kielbasa is from the gods. This discipline is amazing. Stew meat (cheap) and pork fat (usually free) combined to give a delicacy. The fresh sausage is a great deal of fun and a lot more fun than the dry-cured effort because of the immediate feedback.

Next? Sweet/hot Italian sausage.

No Knead Focaccia

I couldn't seem to get another Weber Stephens commercial, so I had to do the production myself. Here's a quick kneadless focaccia. REMEMBER - the camera adds 10 lbs (seriously, I need to drop a few - I look like a slob).

And, here's a sample of one of these type of focaccias using 1 C unbleached white and 1 C King Arthur's White whole wheat.