Some recipe as below, but:

• Nearly double the number of tomatoes. Ended up with three layers and filled in the gaps with cherry and pear tomatoes.
• Put the basil and garlic only on the first layer. Half the amount of garlic. Do not mince the basil leaves. Pile tomatoes on top.
• Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning instead of crushed Thyme and considerably less dry spice than before.
• Cook for about 2.5 hours at about 220 – 270 degrees.

That’s right, smoked tomato sauce.

As we are in the midst of a kitchen remodel, we have no oven. Or, I should say, we (and by “we”, I mean “I”) are using some combination of the Big Green Egg and the Cobb to do our baking and baking-like cooking.

Coincidentally, my community garden plot is producing Tons of Tomatoes. That is about it. Everything else this year has been a failure due to weird plant mojo and neglect. But tomatoes? I got em!

In any case, if you want to make a tangy, slightly smoky, incredibly tasty tomato sauce, it is quite easy! No need for a Big Green Egg, either, as this sauce could be made quite easily on a gas grill, in an oven, on a charcoal grill, or in anything else that can hold a temperature between 300 and 400 degrees for a couple of hours.

n[ate]vw asked about “off flavors”:

Could you elaborate a bit on tomatoes getting “roasted such that the heat totally changes the flavor”? When we’ve made tomato soup and spaghetti sauce, they’ve both ended up with an unexpected “off” flavor from what we’re used to — hard to describe, but it’s almost like the sauce is too fresh or something. Could this have something to do with the cooking temperature? Or would it have more to do with things like the tomato variety, us blending the skins and seeds together, or that we don’t pump HFCS into our mix like the store bought stuff?

The sauce had no off flavor, but I know what you are talking about. The food mill I used prevented almost all skin and seeds from making it into the sauce. I could easily imagine that pulverizing the seeds could quite distinctly change the flavor and in potentially unfavorable ways.

As I’m interested in this subject, I did a bit of research and found that tomatoes are exquisitely complex little beasties. They have dozens and dozens of uniquely identifiable organic compounds that contribute to the flavor, texture, aromatics, and cooking qualities of the fruit.

In particular, it seems that storage temperature can grossly impact tomato flavor. Specifically, cold storage — in the fridge — for any length of time can radically change the flavor, and not necessarily for the better!

Of the numerous articles I found, this one was particularly informative.

Given the acidity of tomatoes, I would also recommend avoiding cooking in aluminum or reactive metals. I could only get away with cast iron because the wok is both well seasoned, providing a layer of oil as a seal, and I was cooking a relatively large volume for the surface area involved. But, still, there was a hint of iron flavor in the final sauce — nothing unpleasant as cast iron is a relatively non-offensive metal — but it would be really bad with aluminum or other reactive metal.

Read on for details!

I used a large cast iron wok to cook the tomatoes. In the oven, a couple of baking dishes would work fine, too. Whatever you use, make sure it has relatively high walls as the tomatoes will ooze out a ton of juice.

Start by cleaning a bunch of tomatoes. The amount depends entirely on how much volume of tomato cookery you have at hand.

Halve the tomatoes and lay them out in the cooking container(s).

On top of the halved tomatoes, toss on some finely diced garlic, basil, olive oil, salt (tuffle salt works well), black pepper and, optionally, some thyme, oregano, and/or a touch of chile peppers.

If you have a particularly deep baking container, lay down a second (or third) layer of tomatoes, covered in the various ingredients at hand.

Once I had created a double layer of tomatoes, I remembered I had some eggplant on hand, too. Thus, I diced the eggplant and tossed it on top of everything.

Into the oven or grill the tomatoes go.

Roast for about an hour and a half at somewhere around 300 to 350 degrees. I would suggest cranking the temperature a bit near the last 15 to 30 minutes — I opened the vents and let the Egg crawl up to about 400 degrees before pulling off the wok.

The end result will be squishy soft tomatoes that have been roasted such that the heat totally changes the flavor, bringing out that distinct tanginess of cooked tomatoes.

If you look closely at the picture to the left, you’ll see that the tomatoes are sitting in quite a bit of juice. I highly recommend spooning off some of the juice and soaking some bits of bread in it!

Take the tomatoes and most of the juice and run it through a food mill into a deep sauce pan. I used hand cranked food mill.

Bring the mixture up to a boil, mix in a liberal amount of white wine, and then simmer for a while to thicken the sauce.

Works great on pasta. The chefs at Apple — whom I gave a taste in our ongoing food adventures — suggested that it would work really well as the sauce over baked red snapper. Gotta try that!

This weekend, I’m going to make another batch of sauce and then slow cook a hunk of beef roast in it. Should be good!

When we arrived home yesterday, there was a generic USPS flat rate large box. As I wasn’t expecting a package, I had no clue what it might be.

Within about 5 yards of the door, I knew exactly what it was. There was this delicious, sharp, fresh, slightly spicy smell in the air.

Could it be?

Yup — it was a box full of fresh New Mexican Chile Peppers from Andrew Stone. Awesome. Brought back vivid memories of the summer (1992 or so) some friends and I lived with Andrew and worked on Stone Studio (now Stone Works). We lived on black beans, chile peppers, eggs, goat cheese, and fresh baked bread, mountain biking in the Rio Grande river valley every day. Good times.

Chile peppers are a celebration in New Mexico every bit as much as Garlic is a phenomenon in Northern California. And late summer is chile pepper season. Slashfood has a good summary of the chile pepper scene.

And, of course, with fresh chiles at hand, it was obviously time to make Chile Rellenos!

When people hear Chile Rellenos, they often think of the soggy, over-breaded, deep fried chile rellenos so often served at mexican restaurants. Personally, I can’t stand that type of rellenos. It is a disgusting, greasy, mess that lacks distinctive flavors and any kind of texture. Yuck.

But it doesn’t have to be that way! Baked or grilled chile rellenos is much better. And it is really easy to do.

As with many chile recipes, you first need to skin the peppers. I like to use a plumber’s torch.

Torch Skinned Chiles

For each pepper:

• With a plumber’s torch, sear the skin of the chile pepper until it is black and/or bubbly all over. A long pair of locking hemostats can be clipped to the stem end to keep the flame away from your fingers. Blue flame is Hot!
• Once seared, immediately drop the chile pepper into a paper bag and close the bag. A grocery bag with the top folded over works well.
• Repeat for each pepper, then wait about 5 minutes after the last pepper is dropped in the bag.
• To skin the peppers, simply rub with a dish towel or non-metallic scrub pad (something abrasive, but not so abrasive that it’ll shred the peppers). The skin should peel off really easy. Don’t worry about getting every last bit.

End result? Chile peppers ready to be used in whatever recipes you can imagine; chopped up in an omelette, on a burger, or… of course… CHILE RELLENOS!

Grilled Chile Rellenos

• Prep: You’ll need three large plates for dredging action; one covered in flour, one in a couple of thoroughly mixed eggs, and one containing bread crumbs and/or finely crunched fritos.
• Prep (if grilling): Make a little baking dish out aluminum foil. Oil it with canola oil or some other relatively high heat oil.
• Slit each chile pepper down one side.
• Remove some of the seeds, if there are a lot. I never de-vein the peppers, but you can do so if you want to eliminate some of the spiciness.
• Slide a strip of cheese into the pepper. I usually use jack cheese, but sometimes cheddar or smoked gouda. Or a mix.
• Optionally add smoked pork, crab, or onion. Or other yummy stuff.
• dredge the chile in flour, making sure all of the exposed outside is floured
• dredge the chile in egg, making sure all the flour is moistened with egg.
• dredge the chile in the crushed fritos / bread crumbs / dry spices.
• Place chile, slit side up (so the cheese doesn’t escape), in the oiled baking dish.
• Toss on a 300 degree or so grill for about an hour.

Resulting is cheesy chile deliciousness with a bit of crunch on the outside. Depending on the chile peppers used, they may be mild or spicy.

Often, the rellenos will be hotter closer to the stem end. Always fun: “Here is a mild one! Chomp… WHOAH!”

While in Missouri, My mom taught me a neat trick for stuffing garlic (or other chunky spices) deep into a piece of meat. We made a roast leg of lamb on Dad’s new Big Green Egg and it was delicious.

Upon my return home, I decided to recreate the magic, so to speak.

Pictured at left is the result. Rare, garlic infused, leg of lamb. Smoked over big chunks of rosemary wood, which is evident by the beautiful red smoky color of the end piece on the far left.

I paired it with a bit of mint jelly (of course!) and some baked aspargus that had been tossed with salt, pepper, and sesame oil.

Delicious. Click on through for pics/instructions on jamming the garlic yumminess into the meat.

First, you’ll need a nice sized leg of lamb (or leg of pork, etc). I started with about an 8 pound leg.

Trim almost all the fat off the outside; fat blocks smoke flavor uptake.

Skin and slice a lot of garlic into fairly thin strips.

You’ll also need a clean pair of stainless steel needle nose pliers. Such a tool can easily be found at Radio Shack, Fry’s or Amazon. Again, make sure they are clean. You might want to boil ‘em.

Grab a chunk of garlic with the pliers and shove it into the meat. Or use the pliers to puncture the meat and open them to make a cavity, then fill with garlic.

I shoved about a full head’s worth of garlic into the meat.

Finally smoke the lamb until it has an internal temperature of about 135 to 140 degrees. Tent it and let it rest for a good 10 minutes.

Last Wednesday, Dad and I went out and bought Dad a medium Big Green Egg.

Since then, I have cooked (while teaching Dad how to use the egg):

• Lamb chops — basic chops
• Beer butt chicken — rub on the outside, stuffed with spices under the skin. Juicy and delicious.
• London Broil — Salt, pepper, and oil rub. Took it to an internal temp of about 135 and tented it for 10 minutes. End result was perfect medium rare london broil.
• Salmon — covered it with dill, a touch of dried peppers, and thin slices of orange with the skin side heavily salted. Cooked to an internal temp of 135. Excellent.

Next up? We might try a pie or baking some bread. Dad picked up a plate setter which, when reversed, makes an excellent surface for cooking pizzas, breads, and pies.

Of course, we picked up a probe thermometer to go with the BGE. It appears that Taylor has largely moved to using silicon covered probe wires. Awesome! Not only can the probes handle slightly higher heat — though not flare-ups — but they also don’t fray over time.

Without the Stoker, I’m not sure if I’ll attempt pulled pork. But I might do some ribs.

Yes, yes it does. Pictured at left is 75 lbs of smoked pork all wrapped up and ready to be picked up by a friend as the main course in their friend’s daughters wedding.

It took me four days — 3 overnight cooks — to produce 75 lbs of smoked pork. Each round was about 30 lbs of smoked pork (4 shoulder cuts each round) that had been dry rubbed with my special blend of salts/sugars/spices, then smoked for 22 hours over hardwood lump charcoal with bits of apple wood (that had been soaked in gin and red wine for several days) at a bit over 200 degrees.

Delicious stuff. Took a bit of eating logistics to clear out the fridge enough for the pork.

Now that I have exchanged food for payment, can I drop “professional chef” on my resume?

Nah — probably not without offending real professional chefs.

Christine brought home 4 beautiful thick cut pork chops with a request that I grill ‘em. They were of a quality that I didn’t want to mask their porky goodness with too much goo.

So, I mixed up a sauce…

• Soy Sauce
• Honey
• Dried Powdered Ginger
• Apple Cider
• Salt
• Pepper

… in a bowl. It should be slightly thick, but not goopy. Drizzle over pork chops and let sit for at least an hour, flipping them periodically to make sure both sides are coated.

Toss chops on a medium hot grill. Simultaneously, set extra sauce in a sauce pan on low heat on the stove. You want it to bubble, but not boil.

Whenever you need to flip the chops — I flip them 3 times so I can make that classic criss-cross sear makrs on the outside — baste the chops with some more of the now-simmering sauce.

Grill to an internal temperature of 140 degrees.

Ridiculously good chops are the result.

Update: Scott recommends a simple brine. Totally agree. If you have excellent quality meat and want an overall Very Meaty Experience, brining is totally the way to go. I simply wanted something with a bit more flavor.

Between the soy sauce and the salt, my sauce is very brine-like in that it has quite a bit of moisture and a whole lot of salt. No, the end result is not salty.

I’m thinking the same sauce would go brilliantly on salmon bellies or hamachi (yellowtail) collars/heads. Maybe with a little lemon juice.

A while ago, I wrote about some pretty funny / cool hot dog roasters sent to me from the folks at roastmyweenie.com.

Work well enough, and pretty amusing, but not exactly practical for even a modest sized cook.

I really wanted a roaster that could hold more than one dog. After thinking about it a bit, dawned on me that some creature with tentacles would be perfect and easy enough to cut on roastmyweenie’s water jet based cutter.

Now, I could have a gone with a squid based design as they will, in fact, eventually rule the living world.

But, nah….

Then it hit me! Cthulhu! Perfect! Tentacled devourer of souls and bastion of chaos would be perfect for roasting dogs!

We went back and forth a bit on designs, eventually settling on the one you see here. It looks a bit more Punisher-esque in steel than the original designs on paper. But suckers on bendy tentacles are hard to water-cut and don’t really lend themselves well to roasting dogs anyway.

It works brilliantly, to. Plenty of support for th dogs, keeps them nicely off the grill surface, and looks pretty damned chaotic evil sitting on the grill hissing away as little bits of grease shoot out of the ends of the dog to spatter and explode on the hot food grade steel.

Completely kicks ass. For the moment, it is unique. This is what it looks like before being bent into shape.

I’m sure that if you were to contact the folks at Roast My Weenie, they might make a few more.

(I also really like their Dog Cooker design).

Byron from Roast My Weenie also posted this video to YouTube of the Cthulhu weenier roaster being cut on their Water-Jet cutter.

If you are considering the purchase of a BGE or kamodo style ceramic cooker, go have a read of said article as it might help.

In other news, Ben Holt has completed the documentation of his Terra Cotta Smoker. It is quite well constructed and he has done some great cooks on it. Next up? He is going to hack together some kind of simple temperature control system that can be used to do longer term cooks without having to futz with the cooker every 10 to 15 minutes. Nice hack!

Update: In a post responding to this one, Auroralux indicated interest in constructing a terra cotta smoker. Specifically:

I know we already have the biggest part, the large terra cotta pot, because we purchased it several years ago to help heat our oven evenly for making roasts.

Neat. I hadn’t heard of doing this, but it certainly sounds like a good idea. Anyone have any more information?

Excellent. I might have to build a second cooking device using some combination of prefab ceramic and bricks.

Actually, given the ease of casting adobe or clay, I bet it would be fairly straightforward to build your own controlled and effective cooking device to whatever specifications you need.

First up, however, is the cold smoking rig using the Egg, a dryer duct, and a cooler.

I made Atomic Buffalo Turds [ABTs] for the first time today. Nope, I didn’t name ‘em, but I did refine ‘em a bit over the typical recipe found around the net.

Delicious. Each one is a half of a jalapeno stuffed with something meaty, something cheesy, wrapped in bacon and smoked for 45 minutes on the Big Green Egg.

They were only mildly hot as I thoroughly de-veined them. Normally, I wouldn’t do that, but there were a number of people at the gathering who don’t do hot (and I was feeling nice today).

Details on the click through…

Start with a big pile of fat jalapeno peppers. Wash and cut the stem off (but not the end).

Add a bit of cheese to each. I randomized a bit; adding one of cheddar, swiss, or herbed goat cheese to each.

Add some kind of meat. I two types; boston butt from a cook earlier in the week and Dungeness crab that I had in the freezer.

It actually worked better to put the meat in first, and then the cheese on top. The cheese will melt down through the meat.

Wrap each stuffed pepper with bacon. I used about a strip per pepper half, wrapping it around a couple of times.

No need for toothpicks to hold it together. The bacon kind of sticks to itself.

Stack the ABTs on a cookie screen or fish grid or something. Makes ‘em easier to remove once done.

Preheat your BBQ — preferably a smoker or Big Green Egg — to 300 or 325 degrees.

Put the racked and stacked ABTs in the BBQ for about 30 to 45 minutes. You will want to check them at the 25 minute mark to make sure that there isn’t a hot spot causing problems and to check the relative doneness.

Unless you have a well sealed smoking or grilling device, you will want to put some kind of drip pan under the ABTs. The bacon will drop grease all over the coals and flares up are a very real risk. Trust me — I have seen a Weber with an uncontrolled bacon fire. Not a pretty site.

Take the ABTs off the BBQ and let them sit for a few minutes. The bacon will crispy up a little bit and this will also avoid nuclear hot cheese burns.

I would suggest serving them in something wide / large. Not only does this prevent stacking and sticking, but it’ll prevent a lot of fighting over the ABTs as there will be several people reaching for them at the same time!