DerHusker

Thank you gotzero. I like it. Thank you Bgosnell. No the cheddar didn't overpower the shrimp. the first flavor you get is the bacon followed by the shrimp and chile. The cheese taste is in there but only slightly.

Thank you ck Thank you Rob

With the “Just Stuff It!” Challenge going on I searched for what might be on sale at one of the local stores. Sprouts had U15 shrimp on sale for $7.98 per lb. so I purchased a pound. I decided to prepare them my two favorite ways of cooking shrimp. The first is what I call Atomic Shrimp. (Which is bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed with cheddar cheese and a slice of jalapeño. As the jalapeño doesn’t make it very “Atomic”, I switched it out for slices of serrano chilies. Here are most of the ingredients. I peeled and deveined the shrimp and then butterflied them. I also sliced the cheese and serrano chilies. I carefully placed the cheese and serrano in the shrimp and wrapped them with a slice of bacon. Once I had 10 of them done I placed them on the preheated kamado. I grilled them for approximately 5 to 6 minutes per side and once the bacon looked crispy I plated the 5 biggest ones up with a cilantro garnish and a Negra Modelo. Here are those pics. Delicious!!!!! I had 9 shrimp leftover so I skewered them, sprayed they with some EVOO and sprinkled them with some Tajin seasoning. Grilled them for approximately 3 minutes per side. Here are the plated pics with the Negra Modelo. These were also delicious but not quite as good as the bacon wrapped ones. Thanks for looking.

Yes you can go the horizontal route. The problem going horizontal route are you need to press it together tight to hold the meat in. This pressing together pushed out much of the marinade. then as it turns and heats up the juices also will leak out more than a vertical spit might. Regarding my spit: the juices still leak out but definitely not as much as a horizontal spit might.

Thank you &riod. I started it out slow, like at 250. I slowly ramped up the temp to mostly 350 but it once got as high as 415 and hear the end was down to 300. I didn't put any wood on the coals as a Mexican Taquero using a real trompo doesn't have any smoke. Just using the charcoal briquettes was cheating enough.

I love Tacos al pastor but have never made them myself. They are a popular street food here in SoCal and Mexico and I finally decided to try my hand at making some. Forgive me as this is a long one. I started out by thawing a Pork Butt I had in the freezer that I had purchased on sale for $.99 a lb. (7.93 lbs.) I unwrapped it and found there was still some ice crystals on it. (which is what I was hoping for to make cutting it easier) I cut it in half and deboned the other half. I proceeded to cut it all up into approximately 3/8” slices. I placed this into a large container, covered it and placed it into the fridge. I now gathered up the ingredients for the al pastor marinade. Here’s the recipe I used. (It’s a combination of several recipes I watched on YouTube) Not shown in the picture are the pineapple juice and the vinegar. 8 lb bone-in pork shoulder (deboned) 4 tablespoons achiote paste (I used 1 – 3.5 oz. brick) 2 guajillo peppers (seeded and re-hydrated) 2 ancho peppers (seeded and re-hydrated) 3 Chipotle peppers + all the adobo sauce from 1 - 7 oz. can 5 garlic cloves ¼ small white or yellow onion 1 oz. Piloncillo (substitute brown sugar if you can find it) 1 tbsp. dried oregano (preferably Mexican) 1 tbsp. cumin 1 tbsp. salt 1 tbsp. pepper 1 tsp. cinnamon (preferably Mexican) 1 tsp, cloves ½ cup pineapple juice ½ cup white vinegar ¼ cup OO ¼ cup of the water from re-hydrating the peppers ¼ cup orange juice ¼ cup lime juice 1 pineapple, skinned and sliced into 1-inch (2 cm) rounds (for the spit/trompo) (Note: I only had some small guajillo chiles so I used 6 of them) Everybody went into the pool for a spin. I poured some marinade into the bottom of a very large bowl and then some pork slices. I repeated this process until all the pork was in the bowl and pour the rest of the marinade over the top. I then stirred it until everything had a nice coating. Now how will I cook this? Tacos al pastor is a dish developed in central Mexico that is based on shawarma spit grilled meat brought by Lebanese immigrants. It is traditionally cooked on a vertical spit known as a trompo. I don’t have such an exotic grill, so I had to improvise. I had found this indoor grill plate at a local thrift store for $2.17 and used it to create a vertical spit. I now peeled and sliced up the pineapple And started my vertical trompo stack adding a slice of pineapple and red onion after every 6 or 7 layers of meat. I place the stack in the center of my weber redhead with coals all around it. I then setup my craving station. Here it is after approximately 30 minutes. After approximately 75 minutes I removed the trompo and craved off the outer charred layer. (The char is an important part of the taste profile) I then placed the trompo back in the redhead to char the outside again. So pretty! I then repeated the process another 3 times. After I had trimmed off the outside 3 times I set up my taco cart errrr bar and started to assemble my street taco plate. Oh Yum! Here it is served up with a Modelo Especial. This was a little on the spicy side but oh so delicious! Thanks for looking.

The same day I cooked my Ribeye I also grilled up some chicken thighs for my wife and sister in-law. I had purchased a 1.5 cubic foot bag of almond wood. I pulled out 5 nice looking pieces to make the fire with. I lit up a small chimney of smallish lump pieces and dumped this into my fire pit to start up the almond logs. I then placed the almond logs on top and waited for them to start burning. While I was waiting I seasoned up some chicken thighs and some asparagus spears. I placed the potatoes on first. Then the asparagus over the fire for a while to give them a little head start. I then moved them back into the foil tray to finish up and placed on the thighs. Flipping the thighs every 3 to 4 minutes until they were at 160 it. No plated shots as I was eating the steak. Thanks for looking.

So one of my local markets had Rib Roasts on sale. I decided pick one up and cut some Ribeye Steaks off it. I unwrapped it and cut the twine holding on the bones and removed them. I cut 3 2” steaks and the end piece ended up at approximately 1.5”. (I chose the second one from the right to cook) I seasoned it with some Primo Chicago Stockyard Dry Rub. I wrapped this in plastic wrap and let it rest for 4 hours. I had made a fire using some almond wood in our fire pit. After it was nice and hot I placed the steak over the flames. After approximately 1.5 minutes I flipped it. After another 1.5 minutes I moved over to the other side of the grill an let it come up to an IT of 130 degrees. I then brought it inside and let it rest on the counter for 8 minutes. I then sliced it in half. I then sliced it into approximately 3/8” slices and plated it up with some asparagus, a baked potato and a Stone Coffee Milk Stout. It was delicious. Thanks for looking.

Thank you Ron. Thank you riverfish Crema is the Mexican version of French crème fraîche. Both are slightly soured and thickened cream, milder and less thick than American sour cream, with crema being the thinnest. Thank you SmoovD. I'll try and remember that for next time.

Thank you TexasBlues. I airfried the fries for approximately 7 minutes at 350. If anything they were to crispy after that. Thank you Ed.

I had a bunch of fries’ leftover from eating at a local burger place that I had saved so I decided to make a popular burrito here in San Diego. It is known as a California Burrito and typically has Carne Asada, French Fries, Frijoles, Cheese, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, and Mexican Creama. (A 7-layer burrito if you want) Any way I started out making everything and was taking plenty of pics with my phone camera but somewhere in the middle of my cook I somehow (and I have no idea how) set my phone back to “Default” mode. Anyway, I don’t have access to those pics as of now and may never have access to them as they may end up being erased. So, I whipped out my Canon 70S and took the following pics at the end of the cook. I had purchased some Carne Asada and flour tortillas from the Mercado. I made up a bowl of Pico, A bowl of guacamole and some Mexican Rice. (No Pics) I then grilled up the Carne Asada. Here it is on the grill. I brought this in and diced it up into small squares. I then started to assemble the burrito. Started out with a nice layer of Mexican Cheese. Then the Carne Asada, Fries and some Pinquito beans. Then some Pico de Gallo, guacamole and some Mexican Creama. I rolled it up and placed it on the grill. Here it is done and ready to cut. And here are the plated shots with some spicy carrots, Mexican rice and a Modelo Negra. And a close-up shot. This was delicious! Thanks for looking.

Life is very hectic for us these days and I don't get the chance to cook much these days and much more so to document those cooks when I do. It is the season we're living in for now with taking care of my 93 year old M.I.L. with Alzheimer's. Anyone who's gone though this knows how difficult it is. Anyway, last weekend I decided to remake the Blackened Chicken Torta I made a few years ago. First thing I made was some Pickled Red Onion. Pickled Red Onion recipe link: https://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/27438-pickled-red-onion/?tab=comments#comment-367726 I then made up some Blackened Chicken rub and proceeded to make up the Blackened Chicken and Torta. Blackened Chicken Torta recipe link: https://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/26599-blackened-chicken-torta/?tab=comments#comment-355872 I pounded some chicken breasts out to around 1/2” thick. I placed my CI skillet on the on side burner of my gasser and let it get smoking hot and blackened the chicken. I then toasted the torta roll and spread on some Frank’s Red Hot Mayo, a chicken breast and some pickled red onion. Then some avocado, tomato slices, some lettuce and the lid. Here are the Plated shots with a Stone Xococeza Mocha Stout and some Sun Chips. Delicious! Thanks for looking.

I’ve made these numerous times and I’ve posted the recipes as well so I’m only posting a few pics of this cook. See Links: Enchiladas / Sauce: https://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/12654-enchiladas-verde-con-pollo/ Rice: https://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/24634-mexican-rice/ Started out making the sauce. Roasting the veggies and cooking the chicken. Once everything was done I mixed the chicken with some slivered onion and some cheese. I rolled / wrapped up a dozen enchiladas. I covered them with more sauce and some cheese and baked them on the kamado for 25 minutes. I plated some up with some fresh made Mexican rice, Frijoles’, some radish and a Modelo Negra. Muy Delicioso! Thanks for looking.