If you are not familiar with “Santa Maria” style tri-tips, you are missing a treat. There are a variety of excellent histories on the internet, and one of best can be found at here.  My first impression upon opening the bottle for the first time was that it was loaded with garlic. Maybe too much. I love garlic as much as the next guy, but the garlic smell was a little overpowering. I ventured forth and seasoned my tri-tip with a good dose of the seasoning. In the end my fear of too much garlic was unfounded. It was perfect.

As you can see, there are a variety of other seasonings in addition to the garlic, salt and pepper that you would normally expect to see. Once it was on the meat and had sat there for awhile, it took on a nice little “crust” for lack of a better term.

I used my new 26 inch Weber kettle with a full chimney of hot coals on one end to give the tri-tip a good sear. I think the sear is vital to pulling out the full range of flavors from both the meat and the seasoning. The “Santa Maria Style” seasoning gave the crisp (burnt) edges a wonderful flavor that screamed grilled perfection.

After searing both sides for about four minutes each, I shifted the meat to the far end of the grate and added a couple chunks of almond where I cooked it indirect until it reach 140 degrees.

I normally like to baste my tri-tips with a little butter during the indrect cooking time so I took a stick of butter and melted it with a heaping tablespoon of the seasoning. What a wonderful flavor this gave the meat.

Once the meat was to the desired temp, I stuck it over the hot coals for a minute or so on each side to “crisp” up the butter and then let it rest for 15 minutes.

This was a wonderful way to cook a tri-tip. The new seasoning from The Rub Co. is a welcome addition to an already fully stocked seasoning shelf in the pantry.

If you want to really bring out the flavor of your beef products and give it the Santa Maria style treatment, then give it a try.

You can purchase all their products direct from The Rub Co..

Threw some neufchatel cheese into a bowl:

Added some onion and a good dose of additional “Apple Rub”

After adding the smoked chicken and mixing very thoroughly, I put the mixture into a mold and let it set. There is also mayo, lemon juice and some tabasco added. When it was time to serve, the “pate” was unmolded and sprinked with a little more “Apple Rub” and then drizzled with “Blue Hog” sauce.

This nice little appetizer was simply fantastic.

Give it a try.

Smoked Chicken Faux Pate

1-1/2 cups smoked chicken thighs, rubbed with your favorite rub (use something sweet), chopped very, very, fine.

Mix smoked chicken with 8 ounces of Neufchatel Cheese, softened.

Add 3 tbls finely chopped onion

2 tbls “rub”

2 tbls mayonnaise

2 tsps lemon juice

Hot sauce to taste

Combine all the ingredients. Transfer to a 2 cup mold coated with “cooking spray.” At serving time, turn out onto serving plate and sprinkle more rub and drizzle with your favorite bbq sauce.

Close up of the rub fantastic rub:

The ribs are on cooking over an in-direct fire. I only used one side of the kettle for heat and it seems to be okay. The thermo in the kettle reads 275 while the digital on the grate reads 235. We shall see how hard it is to keep the temp up.

Using some avocado wood from a friend in So Cal.

I have already figured my first mod for this large kettle. The lid needs another handle on the front of the lid. I’ve already burned by arm twice lifting the with one hand.

Here they are about half way through…

Ribs are done…
(and eaten for that matter)

The 26″ Weber Kettle performed as an indirect smoker just fine. Tending the fire wasn’t that hard. I used what was left of my Lazzari lump and it went through it pretty good. I’d like to give it a try with some briquets to see what that’s like.

What was interesting is that the thermometer in the lid never got above 300 degrees but the digital thermometer I had on the grate varied in temp at times by 25 degrees. I’m going to pop the thermo out of the lid and test it to see if there’s some wrong there.

Over all this 26″ Kettle rocks. It’s big enough that I don’t think I’ll need a Ranch Kettle any time soon and because of the size you can do an adequate indirect smoke.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread the lid of the kettle needs another handle. It’s to big to move with one hand and when trying to hold a thermo or tongs it would be easier to lift the lid with the top handle and then slide it on the guide with the front handle.

I would have liked to see the charcoal baskets (char-baskets in Weber terms) a little larger, maybe about 50% bigger. It would have got the kettle up to temp faster and would have been easier to maintain with a little more charcoal. I’m probably going to use some expanded steel and try to make a little bigger basket.

Now that we have a 26″ kettle could the new 26″ WSM be all that far behind?

Here’s the ribs all done and ready to cut:

Close up:

They look pretty good. Don’t they?

All plated and ready to eat:

This rib dinner is in honor of my friend Big Brother Smoke. My wife and I had planned to take off for a few days off this weekend and BBS had offered to open his home to us. My wife selected a nice hotel instead. (For some reason she didn’t buy the “it’s just a coincidence that a BBQ buddy lives there.”)

Any way we were planning to have a nice dinner at Steph’s house tonight and were actually planning to break in the kettle. However, my daughter’s sudden wedding plans put a halt to the weekend get-a-way.

So, I salute you Big Brother Smoke with ribs rubbed with your rub and sauced with your sauce. Thanks for the offer and after the first of the year we will be down.

Nice texture:

Went looking through the refrigerator for something to make a sandwich and found a leftover hard boiled egg. How about a simple egg salad sammie on good old plain “Grandma Sycamore’s White Bread.”

Dug out a couple of ABTs from the freezer. Mixed some Baconnaise with chipotle for a sauce on them:

On the egg salad it rocked. On the ABTs the sauce, even with chipotle mixed in was overpowered by the bacon, cheese and jalapeno.

Tried it on a simple piece of celery. It was really good.

Tried it on a simple Baconnaise Burger:

Some tomatoes, pickles, onions and other stuff:

Got a couple more ideas up my sleeve, but they are going to have to wait for me to be hungry again.

This new 26 inch kettle is huge. Here it is with a whole bag of lump in it.

Got a nice rib eye, seasoned with Just “Southern Flavor” and salt.

Rib Eye and boneless chicken thighs seasoned with Plowboy’s Yardbird.

Lots of shrimp and a couple of jumbo sea scallops. Shrimp is seasoned with “Cajun Blast” and the scallops with “Crabby Dirt” and spritzed with Cajun Blast “Herb and Butter” spray.

Look how much room is still available on the picture above.

Here’s the plated and final pictures. And yes, I can still get fresh corn on the cob!

My wife’s steak…

And here’s the rubs, seasonings and stuff I used:

I can’t even imagine needing something bigger. For those that have a Ranch Kettle I can’t even picture cooking that much.

I’m going to love this Kettle. This weekend I’m going to smoke some ribs to check out the thermometer in the lid and see how cooking indirect works.

You just gotta love a Weber Kettle…

Little center cut pork loin with a nice sear on high heat. Moved it to indirect with some guava wood. Nice and slow until internal reached 155 degrees.

Some nice little guava smoke on the kettle

Used Wolfe Original Rub and then when it reached 135 degrees started glazing with a new sauce I picked up.

Glazed and almost ready…

Check out the close-up. Bits of chipotle and bacon. What better to go on a pork loin?

Now for the internally self basting part. Stuffed the pork loin with a couple of mild italian sausage. Man, did that make for a juicy and flavorful bite of pork…

Dang this was good…

Just walking up to the place made me feel at home.  You immediately can see they take their low and slow serious with numerous pits right out front for the world to see.

You could smell the smoke.  My biggest disappointment with most BBQ restaurants is that they are void of any resemblence of a smoke smell.  Smelling the smoke is part of the atmosphere.  If you don’t smell the smoke, chances are you aren’t going taste it either.

Upon entering the place you just knew you were in a “honky tonk rib joint.”  I loved the place immediately.  I was greeted by Johnny and showed my table.  I explained that I had flown in from Sacramento, California pretty much just to eat there.  The wait staff is fantastic, friendly and stopped by just to chat a couple of times.

I ordered the wing appetizer.

When the wings arrived I tasted them.  The sauce was hot, real hot, yet it didn’t mask the smoke flavor of the wings.  The wings are smoked and then grilled.  That combination gives them a great texture and provides for a nice “bite through” skin.

When I started taking pictures of my plate Johnny wanted to know what I was doing and I explained about my blog.  I asked if I could see the pits and while I was waiting for my main course he ushered me outside where I got a tour of the pit area.

What a treat.  Lot’s of apple wood along with hickory.

I ordered the combination plate so I could taste everything.

It was all so amazing.  The brisket may have been the best I have ever eaten.  The pulled pork was divine.  The ribs were pretty much like I can get anywhere.  But after the brisket and pork anything would have been a little less tasty. The cole slaw and beans were first rate too.

I finished my meal off with a slice of Sweet Potato Pecan Pie.  I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture.  I guess it was that good.

Is Dinosaur BBQ the best restaurant BBQ there is?  I don’t know, but I would defy anyone to produce anything better.  I can’t wait for another chance to head to Rochester “on business.”

“Whose There?”

“Fed Ex”

“Fed Ex Who?”

“Fed Ex with your brand new 26 inch Weber One Touch Kettle” Oh Yeah! Baby Oh Baby!”

The first cook is coming up.  I’ve got to come up with a special menu to break this baby in with.

Here’s the first picture with the box open:

What’s missing from the picture above? What’s missing is some packing material between the lid and the kettle. The lid is placed upside down and everywhere the lid touched the tabs that hold the grill, it was rubbed all the way down to bare metal.

Three places. Talk about a downer. I found the packing material in the bottom of the box. It’s obvious that whoever packed this thing didn’t pay much attention to detail. Here it is all put together. It’s huge!

The thermometer in the lid is going to be nice. And I’m going to really like the heat shield on the lid handle. It is big enough to do some real indirect type heat. Will even give it a shot at some low and slow.

Here’s the difference in size compared to the 22 inch:

I called Weber and they will send me a new lid as soon as they are available. I’m sure glad their Customer Service is first rate. More soon on the first grill session.

A few months ago I came across the digital probe thermometer at IKEA. At first glance, I was little worried about quality. I mean, at a cost of only $6.99, just how much quality could it possibly have?

Well, let me tell you I can’t think of another thermometer on the market that will give you better accuracy for under $7.00. There just isn’t a better value out there. I purchased one as a test and it worked so well that I went back this week and bought five more.

How good are they?

I took the five I purchased this week, inserted a new battery in each one and stuck the probes in a pot of water on the stove. Each and every one of them monitored the water temp exactly the same. All five came to 212 degrees at exactly the same time. I couldn’t believe it.

The thermometer can be set to Fahrenheit or Celsius along with a beeper that tells you when your meat comes to the desired temperature. It also has a timer. The downside is that the thermometer doesn’t have an on/off switch. You have to take the battery out after each use. Considering the accuracy and cost ,this is an easy thing to overlook.

The IKEA Fantast Meat Thermometer is available for mail order at www.ikea.com.

As I was getting the butter out of the fridge to saute the onions in I spied a little left over fatty.  I decided that a couple of diced slices would go nice.

One cup of diced onion, the fatty and 3/4 of a stick of butter cooking away in a pan.

After the onions were cooked I added a little over 1/4 cup of flour and cooked the roux for about 3 minutes.  When that was a nice brown color I added 2.5 cups of chicken stock and 1/4 cup of milk.  When that had thickened up nice I added 2 cups of smoked chicken, 2 cups of frozen veggies and 1 tablespoon of Todd’s Dirt.

The filling then went into a larger crust filled ramekin.

Added a top crust.

Here the pie is in the oven.

Lots of good stuff in the pie.

And on the way to the mouth…