Costco Food Court - Cheese Pizza Slice

The $1.99 Costco Food Court Cheese Pizza slice is my guilty pleasure.  While it is not the best pizza around, it's fast, convenient and tastes pretty good.

I eat way too many of these pizza slices while on my diet.  Perhaps that's why it's taking me so long to drop a few more pounds!

This one is fresh out of the oven.  You can tell since the cheese is oozing all over the plate!  So good though!  700 calories per slice.

Beef Bulgogi at So Gong Dong Tofu & BBQ - Glenview IL

This is the second time I've been to So Gong Dong Tofu & BBQ in Glenview, IL.  The first time, I ordered a Soondubu Jjigae with Seafood and Ramen noodles.  No big deal really...

This time, I ordered the Beef Bulgogi.  While it was good, I could have made this myself and it would have been the same thing.  $1 extra for the 2nd bowl of rice.

There were lots of ban chan dishes (typical of most Korean Restaurants) but I don't usually eat these.

Overall, I suppose most people would consider this pretty good, but It was average for me.  Perhaps I just need to be more educated in Korean food.  Personally, I prefer to do Korean BBQ where I get to cook it myself at the table.  That's just more fun, but you'll end up smelling like the restaurant if you go to these types of BBQ restaurants.  I'm ok with that!

Arby's Beef 'N Cheddar

I remember during my Freshman year at the University of Illinois, our dorms did not offer food service for Sunday dinners.  Because of this everyone who normally ate at the cafeteria had to fend for themselves.

My brother was my roommate and my cousin resided on our dorm floor.  Because my cousin had a car, we would go out for Sunday dinners, many times to Arby's.  All three of us would order the same thing "Two Beef and Cheese, please!"  That's how we would say it!  Back then, the Beef 'N Cheddar was called Beef and Cheese.

My wife and I went to Arby's tonight for dinner.  Guess what I ordered?  :)

Chicken Leg Quarters on the Weber Spirit E-310 Gas Grill

Lunch!
OK, breakfast, lunch, dinner... every meal until it runs out. Cooked on the Weber Spirit E-310 propane grill this time! Used the Weber "Kick'N Chicken" seasoning.

Baby Back Ribs on the 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain

And away we go! Once again... Baby Back Ribs on the 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain smoker!

The rub is Kick Butt Rib Rub - "Chipotle Honey" version. Water in the water pan. Smoking at around 280 degrees pit temp on average.  Apple wood for smoke.

Going for 2-2-0.5 on these ribs. (2 hours unwrapped, 2 hours wrapped in foil and Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce added, 1/2 hour back on the grate unwrapped.)

Beer Can Chicken

Beer Can Chicken... only it was actually a Root Beer Can with Apple Juice in it!

Indirect heat with the two-zone technique having the charcoal placed on one side of the kettle and the chicken on the opposite side.  I kept turning the chicken a quarter turn every 15 minutes and kept doing that until the internal temperature of the chicken reached 165 -175 degrees.  About 1.25 hours, give or take of total cook time.  Very easy to do and the results were great!  Nice crispy skin!  I'll be doing this more often for whole chickens now that I see that the results turn out so good!

I'm not sure that the apple juice was really necessary, however.  I think even just water would do just fine in the can!  You just want the liquid for added moisture.

Pulled Beef Using A Rump Roast

Trying to do some "Pulled BEEF" using a Rump Roast! Usually Chuck Roast is used for this, but rump roast was on sale for $1.99/lb, so I thought I'd see how it would turn out. Rump roast is usually tougher, but we'll see. I injected some beef broth into the meat and cut it in half to speed up the cooking process.

I'll cook this until it stalls (or around 160 degrees) and then I'll put the meat in an aluminum pan and add beef broth and wrap the pan up with foil. I'll keep it in the smoker until the internal temperature hits around 197 degrees or higher.

The rub was McCormick Grill Mates Montreal Steak rub. Beef Broth was Swansons. I'm using the 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain this time with Pecan Wood for the smoke. I have water in the pan.

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Wrapped at 155 degrees and 3 hours into the cook:

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The finished product. 4 hours, 15 mins. I think I cooked it too fast. While I was able to pull it, it seemed tougher to pull than pulled pork. Perhaps Chuck Roast is still better to use. Still, this isn't too bad. Taste is great, but a little tougher than I like. I think I'd recommend Chuck over Rump for this! Still flavorful and good though!  :)

Boiled Chicken with Ginger

I boiled a whole chicken today using instructions from my brother-in-law Michael.

The flame on the stove was turned up until the water reached a boil and then turned way down.  The chicken continued to simmer on the stove for about 45 minutes until the internal temperature of the chicken was at least 165 degrees (it was actually over that).  By the time I had taken the chicken out and took the photo, the internal temp had already dropped to 160 degrees.

The water was only flavored with chopped ginger and salt, but lemongrass and onions would have also been nice if I had some.  Many Chinese will mince up garlic, scallions and soy sauce and use it as a dip.

Turned out great!  Remember to cover up the chicken after taking it out from the water or it will dry up!

Thanks to my brother-in-law Michael for the instructional tips!!  Worked out great!

12.76 lbs Boneless Pork Butt on the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker

(Commentary written as the cook happens...)

And... we're off! Once again, the pork butt is on the smoker! 12.76 lbs (two pieces) cut in half for more bark and faster smoke time. Going to try to keep the temp around 225 to 250 range. Smoking on the 22.5" WSM this time with hickory and water in the pan.

I'll wrap at the stall and keep going until I get to around 202 degrees.

I'm using two rubs. The middle rack is using Kick Butt Rib Rub - Hickory and the top rack is using Kick Butt Rib Rub - Chipotle Honey (which is really hot in comparison to the Hickory rub!) I want to see what the difference is on each rub. And, I put the rub on the day before to let it soak into the meat.

The pork is Swift Premium, boneless from Costco.

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Three hours into the cook, the pork has stalled at 159 degrees, so I placed the two pork butts into separate foil pans and covered the pans in foil. A bit of water was also placed in each pan for moisture (didn't have any apple juice or anything else.)

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Four hours into the cook and the internal temp is starting to move again. It's now at 164 degrees. The stall seemed to last only one hour this time. It might stall again though. I also added some additional coals to bring the pit temp up as well.  I also unlocked the Cajun Bandit door so a little more air could get into the smoker. I wanted to raise the pit temp up. As of this writing, the pit temp is now at 275 degrees. I'll lock it down again soon.

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I let the pit temp rise to 300 degrees and then locked down the Cajun Bandit door.  Internal meat temp is now at 175 degrees.  The pit temp continued rising after the door was locked down and got as high as 306 degrees before heading back down.

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Five hours into the cook and the pit temp is at 269 degrees. The internal temp has hit 199 degrees! So I'm done! But I'll let it go to 202 degrees anyway to be sure it pulls nicely.

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Well, I thought I was done, but I'm not!! Using my Thermapen Mk IV, I was able to quickly determine that the middle grate meat was only at 183 degrees, but the top grate meat is done at 203 degrees. I swapped the position of the middle to the top and removed the top meat and it's resting. Here's a photo of the top grate pork butt...

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The middle grate pork that was moved to the top grate finished at 7 hour 15 minutes. It is shown below:

Well, I learned a couple of things with this cook. First, the middle grate doesn't cook nearly as quickly as the top grate. I've read this before, but now I know firsthand. 5 hours for the top grate meat, 7 hours 15 minutes for the middle grate meat and that's after moving it to the top after 5 hours.

Second, I learned that even if the rub is rather spicy if tasted before adding it to anything (straight out of the bottle), it is nowhere nearly as spicy after you cook with it. Between the two rubs I used on this cook, the Hickory was too mild and the Chipotle Honey wasn't as spicy as I thought. Between the two, I'd go with the Chipotle Honey for pulled pork.

7.25 lb Pork Butt on the 14.5" Weber Smokey Mountain

Got a late start cooking at 3 PM this time... this will likely run until 11 PM or 12 midnight or later... who knows!

7.25 lb pork butt on the small 14.5" Weber Smokey Mountain smoker for pulled pork! Trying out the "Kick Butt" Hickory rub for the first time. Smoking with Kingsford Original with chunks of Hickory wood on the charcoal. Water in the pan. Pit temp is around 220 degrees currently. The smoker is wrapped with a welder's blanket today... it's cold and a bit windy.

I cut the pork butt in half to speed up the process for pulled pork and for a bit more bark. I also injected the butt with apple juice too.

Hit the stall 3 hours, 45 minutes in at 156 degrees. Wrapped in foil and added some apple juice for moisture.

The pork stalled for a second time 5-1/2 hours into the cook.  The temperature was 182 degrees.

The cook finished at 12:30 AM.  The meat never hit 202 degrees as I had hoped, but rather only made it to 185 degrees.  Still, it pulled with no problems and the bone came out cleanly.

The rub seemed rather mild, but worked fine.  I think it could use a bit more salt on it, but I'm ok with it.

Pauline's Pizza - San Francisco, CA

My sister, brother-in-law, nephew and I went to Pauline's Pizza in San Francisco.  Very interesting California style pizza!  Very thin crust except for the edges.  My sister also had their Nightly Special Salad as well which was grown in Pauline's garden!  We also met Pauline too!

We ordered an Italian Combination Pizza and also Chef's Special Meat Pizza (with Quince).  Never had a pizza with Quince, but it was very unique!