First cook on the Grilla Pellet Smoker

This is my brand new pellet grill called "Grilla" and manufactured by Fahrenheit Technologies.  This thing will cook all the choice from 140 degrees to 550 degrees.  In actual practice, these temps will vary with different fuels and ambient temperatures.  I also have a "Louisiana Grill Whole Hog" pellet smoker so I am looking forward to comparing them.

Here is a link to the Grilla.

 http://mygrilla.com/

 

Here we are in my little outdoor kitchen, on the nicest day so far this spring, getting warmed up and using American Hickory pellets made by Bear Mountain.

When you choose the "smoke" setting, there are 16 different levels of smoke to choose from. Today is going to be a low and slow cook.

This hopper will hold a full 20 lb bag of pellets so you can do a lot of cooking without having to worry about running out of fuel.

 

My dry rub is equal parts course ground black pepper and dark chili powder with lesser parts (measured by eyeball only) of onion powder, granulated garlic, dried sweet basil, Cayenne pepper, ground ginger and kosher salt.

 

Lets stir it up and hammer these pork spare ribs with some spicy flavor.

 

I like to season both sides of pretty much everything I cook.

Our smoker is up to 200 degrees so the ribs go in. We will be cooking at around 225 degrees for most of the cook. 

After 5 hours these babies are falling off the bone tender and not dried out.

My conclusions?This machine is 2 or 3 steps above any pellet grills Ive been around. It gets up to temperature very quickly.  I turned it and my Louisiana Grill both on at the same time, set on high.  10 minutes later the LA Grill was up to 150 degrees and Grilla was up to 450 degrees.  Also the LA Grill will not get as hot as advertised, but Grilla does.  The ribs we cooked today at 225 degrees for 5 hours came out ridiculously good.  I caught my wife (Little miss "I dont like ribs") in the kitchen chowing down on one of these smoky succulent ribs. In all fairness, I havent cooked with every brand out there but I have enough friends and relatives using pellet grills to get a good idea of what some of the more popular brands will and wont do.Thanks for stopping by my blog! Happy cooking!

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Senin, 20 Juni 2016

Big Green Egg Table

Speaking of woodworking and good eats, my Big Green Egg is one of the best grill/smokers available.  Many BBQ competition winners have won using this incredible ceramic machine. Visit their website here, and really,  you should buy one of these.They are an amazing cooking machine. http://www.biggreenegg.com/

 They sell tables for the Egg, but I love woodworking so I wanted to build my own.I built the basic frame out of treated lumber and then had my sweet Connie help me lift it over the Egg before finishing construction. 

Everything is on castors so its a piece of cake to roll it around wherever you want to put it.

Here is the table top after I used my router to cut the hole in it and then split it in half so it would fit over the Eggs hinge hardware.The top is very simple to build.  Just 1/2 inch plywood with a border of 1X2 pine glued and nailed on.

 Here is the other half. If you would like to see what Connie did with the round piece that I cut out see her blog here.http://crafty-home-cottage.blogspot.com/

 I stained it with Minwax Puritan Pine #218. After that I hammered it with 6 coats of tung oil.

 I have had these horseshoes for quite awhile now and have been wondering about how to incorporate them into my Cowboy/Mexican Restaurant themed outdoor kitchen. I think they look absolutely great on my Big Green Egg table.

Like I have said before, our motto around here is "We aint buildin no piano". But I think youll have to admit that this table looks pretty dang good

 Looks to me like a good combination of "Woodworkin and good eats"Dont you think?Come by again soon to see what I cook on the Big Green Egg!I love it when you visit and then I get to visit your blogs.

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Kamis, 09 Juni 2016

Dollar Saving Ideas

How do you like my utensil rack.An old garden rake makes a great place to hang your equipment or pot holders.  

I built these lamp holders out of scrap fencing and inserted those little solar garden stakes.  They dont give a lot of light, but they do light your pathchoice and provide a nice ambiance. 

Just another view of our solar lights. 

My crafty wife surprised me with this menu board. She used chalkboard paint and built it from scrap fencing and a scrap of plywood. We enjoy using it when we throw a dinner party. 
We have a family motto,"Never throw out scrap lumber",You would be surprised at all the things we have built with wood from our scrap bin. Have a wonderful day!Keep improving your home and making it you,and please leave a comment.Steve

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