beef neck bones!

[HankB]

We met at the Bavarian Lodge (*) in Lisle, IL last weekend and both SWMBO and I had liver dumpling soup. That's a very Czech recipe and something I enjoyed when I was little. The liver dumplings were a bit on the firm side - hard to beat grandma's cooking! I resolved to have a go at liver dumpling soup myself. One ingredient is beef stock which can be made from beef neck bones. Of course I'm looking for a Weber kettle angle on this one so I decided to smoke the neck bones before making the stock. I had 8 pounds of neck bones so I chose to use the 26" kettle and fired it indirect using some left over lump, Stubbs briquettes and chunks of oak, maple and apple for smoking wood.





This ran about 400°F for an hour and I cut the top vent to about half, bringing it to about 300°F. After a total time of an hour and a half, I pulled the meat to make stock. I sliced a little meat off one bone for a taste. It was tough but delicious!

As an aside, I have really grown to like the firebrick for indirect cooks. I can put a couple aluminum pans on the charcoal grate and the firebrick protects them from burning. I collected all of the drippings to go into the stock. At the same time, I get amazingly even cooking across the grate.I used this to make jerk chicken last week (with 2°F ambient temperature) and today with 22°F temperature and both times there was no need to rotate the meat for even cooking.

I'm really starting to like my 26.

(*) The Bavarian Lodge is highly recommended both for their food and beer. My son tells me they get pretty crowded in the evening but they're practically empty on Saturday afternoon. I'd recommend them for the next meetup.

[salad]

I don't think I've ever seen this cut of beef.  Very interesting.  Maybe you can do the soup on a kettle? 

[HankB]

You probably have to look for them or you'd overlook them. Or ask. At a regular butcher shop they might not be on display. I don't recall ever seeing them at Sam's though.

Here's the recipe I'm using: http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/soups/r/Czech-Liver-Dumpling.htm. I don't see any point in boiling the stock on the kettle. I'll do that part on the stove.

[HankB]

Here's the reason I smoked the neck bones. I needed beef stock for liver dumpling soup. The dumplings are floating. I hope that's a good sign!