Kamado Grilling and Smoker Thread

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by Vansen, Aug 11, 2022.

  1. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    I spend a lot more time in the kitchen cooking and trying new things than I do with headphones on. Over the past year, one of my favorite recipes that I have dialed in is a Moroccan Kefta Kebab Lavash Wrap. The concept for the whole wrap was put together by a friend and me, but it’s not an original idea and there are many similar recipes out there.

    The composition for the wrap as I make it is:
    • Lavash bread
    • Lamb and Beef Moroccan Kefta Kebab (recipe linked)
    • French Fries (linked what I usually use)
    • Kebab Shop Garlic Sauce (recipe linked)
    • Fresh cut tomatoes
    • Chopped red onion
    • Leafy Greens
    • Cilantro, sometimes
    For the lavash, I have been buying pre-made lavash at the store, but I plan to make my own lavash starting with Serious Eats' recipe. Rather than using a broiler to cook the lavash, I am going to use my homemade pizza oven since it has a very large working surface.

    When I prepare the Lamb and Beef Moroccan Kefta Kebab, I always use a 50/ 50 combination of flanken style beef short ribs and whatever whole lamb meat I’m feeling at the time. I choose the flanken short ribs for its high fat content, which really balances out the wrap. To grind the meat, I use a Kitchen Aid mixer with a grinder attachment. I place the grinder in the freezer about an hour ahead and run the meat through the grinder twice. To cook the kebabs, I use hickory charcoal with some applewood on the Big Green Egg and set it at 170ºC.

    When it comes to French Fries, I have found that Kroger’s frozen Shoestring French Fries are my favorite low effort French Fry. I fry these on my deep fryer in peanut oil and the ROI from a time and money perspective make this option a no-brainer in most of my recipes.

    The garlic sauce recipe included suggests that you use a mortar and pestle or other method to crush garlic, but this can lead to mild or bitter tasting garlic. If you really want the garlic flavor to pop, I suggest grating or mincing it. I always use a Microplane to grate my garlic.

    To finish off the wrap, I add chopped tomatoes, red onion, and lettuce. For the lettuce, I like picking something crunchy without a bold flavor. I add lettuce for texture, but don’t like adding the white parts of iceberg and typically use something iceberg adjacent. In the photo below, I forgot to buy lettuce at the store, but had arugula growing in the garden.

    I’m interested to see what other variations people have in mind, or other recipes like this that I should try.

    IMG_4470_1.jpg

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    ...we definitely go heavy on the garlic sauce.

    Sources:
    https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-shoestring-fries/0001111087524 (lol)
    https://www.seriouseats.com/lavash-armenian-flatbread-5206283
    https://www.thespruceeats.com/kefta-kebab-recipe-moroccan-ground-beef-2394668
    https://thatspicychick.com/kebab-shop-garlic-sauce/

    I can always merge this thread into to “what did you cook?” thread, but wanted to make sure this was easy to search for in the future. I'm also going to update the photos in this post with better ones in the future.
     

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  2. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    Reserved for future notes when I make my own lavash on the pizza oven. Need to make naan on this thing, too...

    IMG_5277.jpg
     
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  3. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    That oven looks niiiiiice
     
  4. penguins

    penguins Friend, formerly known as fp627

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    Small difference but I'd try with pickled onions
     
  5. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    I'm renaming this thread to the Kamado grilling thread and inviting @ChaChaRealSmooth and all others to post in here. I'm going to post some notes on chicken wings here soon, since Chacha's profile post encouraged me to start cooking wings again. In the mean time, I'll leave you with a post of the last two things I cooked on my Big Green Egg.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
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  6. RKML0007

    RKML0007 Friend

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    PK360 with Innovations By Chance Game Changer deflector. With this mod, it's Kamado-ish.

    -Ron
     
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  7. RKML0007

    RKML0007 Friend

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    The setup is well suited for yardbirds!

    -Ron
     
  8. Amfibius

    Amfibius New

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    Chinese people will recognize what I am cooking here :)
     
  9. RKML0007

    RKML0007 Friend

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    Surf n Turf — shrimp, spinalis cap steaks, tenderloin, calamari steaks.

    -Ron
     
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  10. Walderstorn

    Walderstorn Friend

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    What is it? Got me curious.


    Looks delicious!
     
  11. dBel84

    dBel84 Friend

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    Love my Kamado grill - family bought it for my birthday in 2021 and have been using every opportunity to get more accessories - have the pizza oven as well as the rotisserie

    upload_2023-3-12_16-3-24.png

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    a few pics that were easily retrieved - most of the recipes come from kamado you tube successes.

    ..dB
     
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  12. Thad E Ginathom

    Thad E Ginathom Friend

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    If it were possible for a dead, cooking chicken to be happy.... It really looks as if they are!
     
  13. Amfibius

    Amfibius New

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    Chinese pork jerky. It is a mixture of minced pork, spices, salt, and sugar. Roll it out to a flat sheet, then dry it until it becomes rubbery. Finish it in the oven, or ideally over a charcoal grill (the traditional method). It is very labour intensive to make, but worth it because it is expensive if you buy it in shops. Recipe here: https://www.malaysianchinesekitchen.com/bak-kwa-chinese-pork-jerky/
     
  14. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    As mentioned earlier in this thread, @ChaChaRealSmooth's post about chicken wings inspired me to start cooking wings again. There are quite a few methods out there for smoking wings and I’m wondering what everyone here has settled on.

    For my recipes with wings, I always follow the concepts that James Whetlor has for his wings in his book Cooking on the Big Green Egg:
    • Make wet or dry rub to apply to the wings before cooking.
    • Make a baste to baste the wings twice during cooking.
    • Set the egg up with the conveggtor and bring up the egg up to 190ºC
    • Apply the rub of your choice to the wings. If using a dry rub, mix it with a bit of olive oil first.
    • Place the wings in a single layer on the grill and cook for 15 mins.
    • After 15 mins, turn the wings over and apply some baste.
    • Cook for 10 to 15 minutes longer, until done (74ºC is needed for this cook time), apply the baste once more during the cook.
    I highly recommend James Whetlor’s Cooking on the Big Green Egg for people of all experience levels. If you’re new to using a Kamado style grill, it will walk you through all of the important concepts of operating your grill. If you’re very experienced with Kamado grills, I recommend the book as a reference guide to keep on hand for referencing cooking concepts for each type of meat you are smoking. If you read books, forums, or websites for your recipes, you’ll find that there are many opinions on how to cook each type of meat. I’ve found the concepts in this book to be the most reliable across the board when comparing to other material/ sources.

    The actual recipes in this book are very good, but I find myself using my own recipes from my head for most things I smoke while following the cooking concepts of the recipes in the book - there’s one recipe for almost every type of cook. The recipes in this book don’t follow traditional American/ African recipes that many of us expect in barbecue. Instead, many of the recipes in this book fall into a fusion category that feel like they were written by an English guy with a passion for Indian and Pakistani dishes. I like following these recipes, but I usually bring my own recipe to the table with a rub/ baste/ whatever that follows the theme of the meal I am cooking instead.
     
  15. loki993

    loki993 Facebook Friend

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    Big green eggs? Kamado cooking? Something I know far more about than headphones. Ive had an Egg for 7 or 8 years now. Ive done all kinds of stuff on mine but I mostly use it to smoke. Ive cooked just about everything on it at one point or another.


    As for the chicken wings that recipes interesting I may have to try that next time I do wings.

    My usual method is a dry rub and smoke. I use a couple different rubs depending on mood and whos eating them or if I want Buffalo wings, I will just salt, pepper and maybe some garlic powder. I've found that when I do a dry rub, the ones I use don't really go with buffalo sauce well. IMO.

    IF I have time and plan ahead, which is relatively rare, I give them a light dusting of aluminum free baking powder and put them in the fridge overnight. This sucks some of the moisture out of the skin and it will get nice and crispy when you cook the wings, PS, this also works for wings in the oven. HOWEVER, you HAVE to let them sit overnight, Ive tried doing it quick and I can always taste the baking power. After an overnight sit its mostly sucked up all the moisture its going to and you can wipe it off, its done its job.

    I cook wings somewhere in the range of 300F(148C) to 325F(163C) depending on where the Egg settles down at and how much time I have to cook them. Poultry takes smoke well and doesn't need to cook for a long time to break down colagen to get tender and juicy, you can cook it pretty hot and it will still be good. I've pushed it to 350F on turkeys before if I had to get one done quick and they always come out great. Though I do generally prefer to be in the 300Fish range most of the time.

    I take the wings all the way up to around 195F(90C). I find them more texturally pleasing when I pull them at that temp as opposed to a lower one like 165F, they got a bit more bite to them and they can handle it and not dry out because they have plenty of fat in them. The skin probably comes out better too but I cant really remember since its been so long since I actually pulled wings at 165. It usually only takes about an hour and a half or so for them to cook if I do it at 300ish.

    then once they're done you eat. BBQ sauce if you want, honey mustard, ranch, buffalo whatever. They're really super simple and come out great...honestly I probably even prefer them to fried wings, even if I didn't get a chance to get the skin crispy.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2023
  16. Velomane

    Velomane Acquaintance

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    I've cooked a lot of stuff on my kamado but never wings, so thanks for posting. How do you get the rub to stick?
     
  17. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    I mix my dry rubs with a small amount of light olive oil to get them to stick.
     
  18. loki993

    loki993 Facebook Friend

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    Can't say that's a problem I've ever had. The wings I use generally have a bit of moisture on them to stick rub. If it was a problem probably a little neutral oil like Canola or vegetable or olive like Vansen said, butter would probably work even. Don't go too hot on butter though it will burn and that probably tastes bad.
     
  19. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    I’ve been wanting to make an Indian fusion dish that utilizes my green egg and pizza oven for a while now. This weekend I finally made good on those plans and made vindaloo smoked pork tacos and a couple of naan pizzas.

    For the tacos, we made naan in the pizza oven and used it as the taco shell. The taco base is pulled pork shoulder smoked in vindaloo spices. I made my own vindaloo sauce to use on the tacos and as a pizza base.

    For the tacos, I layered them as follows, with all of the toppings being fresh made at home for this dish. This is more complex than I’d usually layer something, but it worked so well:
    • pizza oven naan
    • smoked pork shoulder
    • zhug
    • pickled red onion
    • pickled cucumber and radish
    • raita
    • vindaloo sauce
    • cilantro
    IMG_9506.jpg

    IMG_9496.jpg

    We hadn’t planned on making any pizza this day, but we decided to set 370g of naan dough and try out hands at a naan style pizza. This was my first time making naan, so i’m not used to the dough enough to make perfect circles yet.

    For the pizza, we layered it as follows:
    • naan (still brush with ghee)
    • vindaloo sauce base
    • pulled pork
    • zhug
    • red onion
    • Beecher’s flagship cheese (it was all I had enough of, lol)
    image000000.JPG

    IMG_9501.jpg

    I was impressed with how well all of this turned out. I was particularly impressed with how well the vindaloo sauce turned out. I followed the vindaloo sauce recipe in James Whetlor’s “Cooking on the Big Green Egg” in spirit, since it seemed like a decent recipe. I made a few changes, including using freshly ground whole spices for this recipe and adding vinegar and ghee to the sauce.

    For the side dish, we made a southern Indian green bean dish.
     
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  20. Vansen

    Vansen Gear Master (retiring)

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    Latest creation - Smoked Jerk Pork Tortas
    • Jerk Spice Rubbed Smoked Pork Shoulder
      • I make my own jerk season and the only thing special I add is Yamaki Katsuo Dashi powder and Dark Muscodavo sugar to standard jerk season recipes.
      • The dashi ups the glutamic acid content which enhances meat flavors and no fishiness comes from it.
      • I added a little more jerk seasoning after pulling the pork.
    • Torta bread from a local Mexican bakery
    • Mango and Red Pepper Salsa
    • Chimichurri
    • Mayo (sometimes)
    This makes for a fantastic sandwich.

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