Oktoberfest!

[crowderjd]

The big party that the lovely wife and I host each year is Oktoberfest.  We invite a fair amount of our fellow teachers and their families to this event each year.  This year, we had 55 people come...

The menu:

Brats, Beer, Moinks, ABTs, pretzels from a German bakery here in Vegas, veggies, chips and dip...

I made a cream cheese/brown sugar/chili powder mix for the ABTs, and inspired by @Idahawk with his apricot ABTs, I decided to stuff mine with chunks of frozen mango. 




The grills:

I used the yellow 18 incher for the ABTs, and the Wood Dale Fleetwood for the moinks.  I have finally decided on a name for the Fleetwood:  "Old Reliable."  My goodness, it makes smoking things almost too easy.








And for the first time ever, I used my restored Ranch Kettle! 







The Ranch is amazing.  I grilled 36 brats at a time...with my beer/butter/onion bath waiting on the cooler side of the grill.  Got done with one batch of brats, put them in the bath, then put the next 36 brats on.  Finished that batch of brats, put them in the bath to let them simmer in the buttery beer goodness for a half hour, then I grilled 36 hot dogs to finish it off.  The Ranch was a showstopper.  Most people had never seen one.  They asked if it was a Weber...pretty much everyone agreed it is awesome.  I can't wait to use it again soon.  You may notice that I had to get creative with the grill.  I made a new charcoal grate out of expanded metal and some steel rods.  Then I bolted another piece of expanded metal on the existing grate, as the center of the original grate is nearly gone.  Someday I may get a new grate, but at $300 for a replacement, it may be a while.  This worked wonderfully.  I absolutely loved using it, and I'm looking forward to finding more excuses to put her into use.  If you were curious about the ranch, I've put links below to the rescue and restore:

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/$75-ranch-kettle-)-but/

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/ranch-kettle-restore/

And finally, a pic of the Oktoberfest gathering, right before we ate...sorry no completed food pics, I was pretty tipsy, and was having too good of a time to take any.  However, I will say this: the mango-stuffed ABTs were the best I ever made.  It will be the way I do them going forward.

[Idahawk]

Awesome cook man ! Love the ABTS


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[Travis]

Looks like a great time, man! That's some serious real estate for that ranch. Nice job!


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[JDD]

Very cool!

[HoosierKettle]

Did you provide the all the food that you cooked??  That must have been one expensive grocery bill.


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[crowderjd]

Did you provide the all the food that you cooked??  That must have been one expensive grocery bill.


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I did...it's a big expense...but it's super fun, and super worth it.  The one thing I usually ask is for everyone to bring a six pack of beer for others to sample...which usually means I'm left with tons of beer.  I bought 48 beers...as of this morning I have 54 beers left.  Some mine, but many are the leftovers that others brought to share.  So, that's a win.  I ended up with 17 leftover brats...kids usually eat just hot dogs.  But, that means my wife and I don't have to worry about making lunch this week. 

[WNC]

Impressive, most impressive indeed!
I know it's hard not to use a yellow when you got it, but I know you got some 22's for those ATB's


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[cumminfourya]

Looks great!!! Awesome cool


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[Travis]

@crowderjd @Idahawk @MikeRocksTheRed  Did some abt's this morning. Used frozen mango as well since we had some in the freezer. Wow, what a great compliment to these! Thanks for the idea! Definitely a keeper from now on!

[crowderjd]

@Travis awesome!  I'm actually catering a party this weekend and thinking of doing them again.

[Darko]

Beer in one hand, tongs in the other. Perfect!!!!

[jeffrackmo]

Beer in one hand, tongs in the other. Perfect!!!!

@Darko   Is there really any other way???