What's in your smoker?

[OLS]

Looked like a picnic to me....sorry.
I thought those ridges were the skin.

[mosesbotbol]

Here's a Paella I made last night on the WSM that included 3 broken up lobsters, 15 cherrystones, two chicken breasts, and half a chorizo. Lobsters came out really spot on.

I made broth with the cavities.

[Mattso3000]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

Nice, never done the paella with lobster. Looks damn good.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by Mattso3000

Nice, never done the paella with lobster. Looks damn good.

Actually, it was my first time doing it with lobsters as well. Next time I will put skewers through the tails to keep them straight. I forgot to pick some up. The tails were still flapping after I cut them off!

[jluck]

How about a recipe for that? It looks great!

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by jluck

How about a recipe for that? It looks great!

There's no real recipe for this, just standard paella cooking principles. All depends on the size of th paella pan. In my instance, the ingredient list was:

- 3 Chicken Lobsters, with tail and claws removed
- 15 Cherrystones (scrub them well)
- 2 Bonless chicken breasts (prefer thighs, but did not have handy)
- .5 Palacio Chorizo
- 1.25 cup of Calasparra Rice
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 small onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- .5 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 4 tablespoons capers
- 3 cups chicken and/or seafood broth
- .5 tablespoon of salt
- 1-2 roma tomato skinned
- Saffron (I buy them in 75 count packets, not sure how many gr. each one is)

As how to cook this all, it's too much for me to type and explain.

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

There's no real recipe for this, just standard paella cooking principles. All depends on the size of th paella pan..

IMO, Paella is 90% about the pan.

Looks fantastic Moses!

[pektel]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

IMO, Paella is 90% about the pan.

Looks fantastic Moses!

I was under the impression the 3 most important components were the pan (wide and shallow is the best), cooking method (grilled over a live fire), and having a rich lobster stock.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

IMO, Paella is 90% about the pan.

Looks fantastic Moses!

I'd put the percent pretty high as you need the pan to make it. Having the correct rice, saffron, and paprika is essential as well. I have done them with ribs, fish, beef, pork; you name it. Sometimes I season it with rosemary, other times with thyme or oregano.

I don’t follow any recipe except for the ratio of broth to rice which is about 2.5 broth to 1 rice. If I cook outside on WSM, it cooks hotter than gas burners, so I use a little more broth. Just 1/3 to 1/2 a chiminea of charcoal is all that’s needed. Sure makes cleaning the kitchen easier cooking it outside and heat is more even.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by pektel

I was under the impression the 3 most important components were the pan (wide and shallow is the best), cooking method (grilled over a live fire), and having a rich lobster stock.

I freeze lobster stock in 2.25 cup servings (my neighbors eat a lot of lobster and I take the remains to make broth), but if I am cooking with a lot of seafood, I like to use 50% chicken 50% lobster broth. I did not want drown out the chicken. It's not so much whether it's under a fire or a burner, but getting heat under the whole bottom of the paella pan. Fire works better. I'd imagine induction burners like in Europe must work well too. My large pan (as pictured) I put between two burners on my stove and turn the pan as it cooks. Paella pans are horrible at heat distribution. Perhaps the higher-end ones are better, but cheap ones have the steel that is preferred for taste.

[pektel]

To clarify, I was not criticizing your paella. Looks amazing. I'm just starting to research it, and have not made a pan of it yet. So I like discussing the options to learn as much as I can.

For kicks, this is the recipe I was looking at this morning:

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/how-to-make-paella

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by pektel

To clarify, I was not criticizing your paella. Looks amazing. I'm just starting to research it, and have not made a pan of it yet. So I like discussing the options to learn as much as I can.

For kicks, this is the recipe I was looking at this morning:

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/how-to-make-paella

I did not get the sense you were criticizing at all. Buy the stuff needed to make it right before trying at home. Pan, rice, saffron, paprika or the minimum. La Tienda or Hot Paella are two good spanish food supply websites.

I do mine very closely to Alton Brown’s method. Not that I am copying his style, but it ends up we do it very similarly.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Mr B

My bark is almost always 100% edible. No skin, just a thin fat-cap that mostly melts away during the 14-17 hr smoke.

This!

[Steve]

Originally Posted by mosesbotbol

[BigAsh]

Moses....looks great!!...

[BigAsh]

3 racks of spares....trimmed...rubbed....smoked over lump with some cherry...



rib tips....sauced and extra rub....snack time waiting for the ribs...

[Steve]

[T.G]

Nice food.

Horrible photo effects.

[OLS]

Hahaha, I was thinking that, too Adam. There are a lot of things that I would not holler about
seeing with photo effects.
FOOD is not one of them.

I was psychologically DAMAGED by those photos....FURTHER damaged that is.

[BigAsh]

hahaha....I was full...and bored...but ribs were tasty!!