Pepper Stout Beef on 18'er

[addicted-to-smoke]

I had some Guinness. I had some peppers to use. I saw some beef on sale (porterhouse, not standard fare for this but it called to me.) Two pieces of meat less than 3lbs total. The 18.5" kettle asked me if I could use it with a snake and I said, "sure."

Turns out the 18'er is a touch small for this, as flat meat takes up horizontal space (who knew?) ... no matter, we're all-in now.

Half snake of K Comp unlit, 2 rows, with 1 more row on top, vents open,




Seasoned with McCormick's Grill Mates Montreal Steak (which seems to work well for any beef!)




10am, some alder chips sprinkled just because, meat is on: Yeah they look enormous here but that's the camera's wide angle aspect ratio, mostly. I'll rotate and fiddle later as needed.




More later ...

[Saugust]

More! More! More! I've got a couple chuckies in the freezer (not ideal I know) I'm going to smoke and I really want to give the the pepper stout a go.

[1911Ron]

Interesting grate, who makes it and where did you get it?

[TexasOnion]

http://www.charbroil.com/cast-iron-kettle-grill-grates  can catch them at academy on clearance around winter  @1911Ron

[addicted-to-smoke]

More! More! More! ...

Get the cameras rollin', get the action going!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVZKJt4WzxM

No new pix yet, I got stuff to do this afternoon. Beef looks good and juicy, kettle not running hot.

I just put a dish of Velveeta/Rotel on to warm up for snack later this afternoon maybe. If we didn't run out of corn chips.

1911Ron the Char-Broil grate can be used with either 18 or 22. Fits a bit loose on the 18; haven't felt like trying it on the 22 until I find a better method of lifting it off when hot. Little side handles would have been welcome but for only $30 whatya gonna do?

[addicted-to-smoke]

This thread has been paused because jalapeño nacho cheese with leftover sliced NY strip steak dip.

I ... may need a moment alone here.

[austin87]

Nice cheese dip! Porterhouses (porterhomes?!?!  ) are starting to get a great crust too.

[addicted-to-smoke]

Austin I cribbed a few notes from yours here: http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/psb-and-pulled-chuck-on-the-22-5'-kettle/

In my case here the beef was 5 hrs on the snake, which died at that point. Going by the oven thermo on the grate it had been cranking along at about 225 max.

After this the PSB went in whole, to a 5 quart cast iron dutch oven with:
-sliced yellow onion
-sliced yellow bell
-sliced red bell
-sliced orange bell
-6 garlic cloves
-bottle of Guinness Extra Stout
-3-4 tbsp Worcestershire
-fresh cracked pepper

Sometime within the hour I'll remove the beef, cut it up and put it back in.

[addicted-to-smoke]

After about 30 mins in the DO I got a cutting board for the meat.

And didn't need it. Meat fell from the bone so I just cut it up in the pot. Had to take it out into daylight to capture the color better.



This one's a keeper. So easy to make and has a crazy rich flavor profile.

[Saugust]

Are you going to put it on some heat and let the liquid reduce? I don't think I could wait anymore at that point!

[austin87]

Gorgeous, I can almost smell it! Nice smoke ring too

[addicted-to-smoke]

Saugust there was just enough liquid to meet or barely cover everything, as that last photo showed. So the additional heat was a high-simmer with the cover on so that it could all mesh.

And mesh it did. The last hour in the DO brought it all together. A touch too much Worcestershire perhaps but here's the thing, it was one of the best things I've ever cooked.

With brown rice from the rice cooker seasoned with a little curry powder and some rice seaweed seasoning stuff and streamed broccoli florets.

[Saugust]

@addicted-to-smoke, That stuff looks SO good! I didn't think to do it over rice, instead of on a bun/roll, but that'd go over great around my house. I'm going home and getting some beef out of the freezer stat! Did you do the DO heating in the kettle still?

[SmokenJoe]

What a great cook.  Can't wait to try this version ...

[addicted-to-smoke]

No Saugust I didn't use the dutch oven on a kettle. By the time I had veggies cut and DO ready it was 4pm and I didn't want to have to light more coals and go down and up the staircase to my outdoor setups. Meat stayed on almost an hour longer than I perhaps intended because I had to run an unexpected errand at 2:30 and so, decided to just let the last of the coals run their course at that time. Grill was down to 150 by 3:30 and I yanked off the meat.

If it's part of a coordinated cook where there's time, yes, I always do as much as I can outside. But I needed time I didn't have for that. In retrospect I could have taken the beef off the grill earlier, even 1 pm maybe (2 hours prior) and had plenty of time for more outdoor stuff, but I was busy, so the ratio of beef on kettle vs food in dutch oven shifted to less time in the dutch oven.

My philosophy is, do it outdoors and with charcoal where it makes the biggest impact. Cooking in a DO with the lid on with charcoal is no "better" than doing it on the stove as far as taste is concerned. On the other hand, using a DO with lid off or baking with lid off (kettle lid on) nets you that charcoal goodness you can't get on a gasser or inside your house.

You're still cooking the meat in both scenarios, so you have freedom to spend more time in one spot if needed. austin87 did something similar the other day when he put meat into a DO and finished inside as a braise. What I did may be part of the PSB "recipe" but using a covered DO is also a method for creating tender meat where BBQing or grilling alone won't/can't.