Isolation cooking

[UncleTim]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

Have you ever tried smoked spam or smoked bologna or sweet pickled cured and smoked pork shoulder ?

Got the smoked pork shoulder covered. All the others would be new to me. What a joy it would be to go out back, cut out some apple wood (the best kind) and start smoking. Wow!

I bought two spare ribs, not quite St. Louis cut, but nice. Gonna smoke them up this weekend with a chicken or two and invite the kids up to distance with us. Got the idea from you guys. Thanks for that.

Pics to follow cause this is definitely gonna happen!

[gbaglo]

I use hickory for pork ribs. Apple for chicken.
https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitc...d-smoking-meat

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I use hickory for pork ribs. Apple for chicken.
https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitc...d-smoking-meat

I usually save what I trim off the trees in February. I’ve smoked whole small trout using chips from a Spring Snow Flowering Crab that we had at our first house too. Worked well. There’s a lot of shagbark hickory in eastern Iowa in the small timbers. My son has a small smoker that has the water pan included and he’s pretty good with it. I bought him a bag of alder chips a year or two back and he’s used that wood since. Alder will grow here but it’s not native. Some like it for pork or chicken. Smoking brine recipes and smoking wood can get pretty esoteric whether they need to or not.
Iowa Dave

[Vermilye]

You guys stick with your Spam. I've got a rack of baby back ribs on the grill as I type!

[padlin]

Got a pork butt to put on around midnight, we could have a pretty good party tomorrow.

[UncleTim]

Smoking ribs tomorrow.

[gbaglo]

Comment in one of my BBQ books says that hickory makes everything taste like ham. Which, I guess, is why I use it for pork ribs and shoulders.

[Iowa Dave]

I don’t think you have native hickory out in your area do you Glenn? I did not look in the book for the range on varieties. Pecan is a hickory too. We have a little bit of native pecan in extreme SE Iowa. It Will grow in our area but depends on a micro climate situation to thrive. The pecans are very small on the Carya Illionensis but tasty. About a fifth the size of commercial pecans. Takes a bunch for a pie. Hickory nuts are plentiful and very tasty too in cookies.
Iowa Dave

[gbaglo]

I buy the hickory in bags at an outrageous price.
I picked up a pork shoulder on sale once and paid more per pound for the smoker chips than the meat.

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

I don’t think you have native hickory out in your area do you Glenn? I did not look in the book for the range on varieties. Pecan is a hickory too. We have a little bit of native pecan in extreme SE Iowa. It Will grow in our area but depends on a micro climate situation to thrive. The pecans are very small on the Carya Illionensis but tasty. About a fifth the size of commercial pecans. Takes a bunch for a pie. Hickory nuts are plentiful and very tasty too in cookies.
Iowa Dave

Hi: Iowa Dave... We have a lot of "Native" nuts!!! Some of them even blow a lot of smoke. Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[mcdonner]

Wow, that price is a steal. Sounds like you are ready for some fine eating. Hope all is well. Stay safe and wash your hands.

[mcdonner]

W went camping with the same group of work friends for 20+ years. The group varied between 10-20 people depending on the year. The highlight was the Spam cook off. Many delicious and inventive dishes over the years. From appetizers to entrees, from sweet to savory, from main dish to dessert it was always the best part of the weekend.

[cpaharley2008]

I think we have another spammer..........

[Iowa Dave]

Hi Ralph
And to think we’ve camped with you about a half a dozen times or more and never knew you were a SPAM family. Hope you’re holding up ok during this Covid 19 pandemic. Not much fun getting refunds on the credit card for camping reservations. Hope
To see you on the road soon.
Iowa Dave

[Jim Bennett]

Man, you guys have me wanting to get that replacement smoker. I used to do so much but had to abandon a worn out and rusting cheaper smoker. Just love the foods I smoked in it.

A new beginning



And just before the feast

[stephen99]

I've been learning how to bake bread. Finding yeast and flour has been a bit of a challenge as lots of people apparently are doing the same.

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by stephen99

I've been learning how to bake bread. Finding yeast and flour has been a bit of a challenge as lots of people apparently are doing the same.

Both are finally becoming more available here. I had ordered a pound of yeast a few weeks ago and checked the other day and it was now available for half as much, sooner, so cancelled the first order and reordered. (I have four packets left to last me until that comes.) I always bake so it was unexpected to me to have a run on flour and yeast! March 7 when I first stocked up for the duration I just bought one bag of flour and figured I had enough yeast. It more than a month before I found flour on the shelf again and I still haven't seen yeast on my weekly trip to the grocery.

[stephen99]

Originally Posted by Bobbie54

Both are finally becoming more available here. I had ordered a pound of yeast a few weeks ago and checked the other day and it was now available for half as much, sooner, so cancelled the first order and reordered. (I have four packets left to last me until that comes.) I always bake so it was unexpected to me to have a run on flour and yeast! March 7 when I first stocked up for the duration I just bought one bag of flour and figured I had enough yeast. It more than a month before I found flour on the shelf again and I still haven't seen yeast on my weekly trip to the grocery.

I had to order a pound of yeast for an inflated price on eBay. It will easily last me a year or more (good until Nov 2021) so even at 3x normal price it was worth it to be able to bake the bread.

[Bobbie54]

Originally Posted by stephen99

I had to order a pound of yeast for an inflated price on eBay. It will easily last me a year or more (good until Nov 2021) so even at 3x normal price it was worth it to be able to bake the bread.

I used up all mine but a dear friend sent me 6 packets and those will get me through until the lb arrives from Amazon (likely the same day it reappears in the store!)

I used the limited availability of flour to try a few more expensive bread flours. Picked up Bob's Red MIll Artisan bread flour finally- it's interesting, the gluten develops more easily than their regular, but I didn't think the flavor was any improvement and it was actually. harder to use for pizza dough as it wouldn't stretch as easily. Haven't broken into the King Arthur bread flour yet. Also got a "cheap" bag of generic white and that was nowhere near as good as the regular Bob's Red Mill.

I like seeing other people learning to bake- I learned with the bread machine! Trying to figure out how to get consistent results, I would stop after the knead cycle and check the consistency of the dough, and either add water or flour or knead again. It gave me a good sense of what bread dough should look like and feel like and made me aware of how sensitive it is to atmospheric conditions. Then a few years ago I started baking again with rolls.

Still working on the perfect cinnamon roll- has to be something I can do camping and bake in a Dutch oven.

[h2owmn]

Bobbie, I volunteer to be a tester for the Dutch oven cinnamon rolls. I will do the dishes.

Just name the time and place.

Maybe the rally can be a spam and baked goods one!