Category: BBQ

2017 International Home + Housewares Show Review

Last Sunday Rachel, Elliott (Rachel’s husband), and I went to the International Home + Housewares Show at McCormick Place on Chicago’s Museum Campus.  For those of you not from around these parts, McCormick Place is the nation’s largest convention center with 2,600,000 square feet of prime exhibit space.  Needless to say there was an insane amount of walking involved.  We walked about 10 miles in 9 hours.  Once we got there, we met up with Gabriel Prero and his wife Lena. Gabriel is very long time friend of mine (since preschool) and a very talented industrial designer.  If you ever have the chance to walk a trade show with an industrial designer, I highly recommend it.  While I tend to concentrate on either form or function, Gabriel is able to look at a product and truly appreciate the marriage of the two.

To be honest, we did rush through the show due to its size. One could easily spend two full days at this show, as it fills all three major halls at McCormick Place.  Here are some of the highlights:

Anova is coming out with some cool new items including a $99 immersion circulator. Anova was one of the first companies to bring the immersion circulator/sous vide cooking to the home kitchen, and at that price, this new product really makes sous vide cooking accessible to the home cook.

Aervoe was showing a temperature-controlled induction cooktop for $124.  While it is not as accurate as PolyScience’s THE CONTROL °FREAK™ ,at a fraction of the cost, it is be a good option for the home cook.

The Loki Smart WIFI Thermometer, a magnetic ball that can read up to four (internal or ambient) temperature probes and transmit to your mobile device, was something I found interesting.   It also has a social media component for finding and sharing recipes.  They are currently in pre-orders with prices starting at $99.

PicoBrew was there showing off their Pico Personal Craft Beer Brewery.  These things are super slick.  It is a totally hands off system from start to finish with cartridges that can be purchased to produce your favorite style of beer.  The cartridges can also be customized for your own secret recipe.  Unfortunately, at $800 it is out of my price range. Of course, if they wanted to send me one to review I’d be happy to oblige.

Mason jars and fermentation were a running theme throughout the show.  Some standouts in that space were mason jar top companies Masontops, Kraut Source, and reCap.  Kraut Source takes the win in the fermentation department with their lid that includes a spring loaded disk that holds your vegetables below the waterline to prevent any nasty bugs from getting to them. From an aesthetic standpoint, Masontops comes out ahead with some great colors, a wooden cap with a plastic liner, and a chalkboard top.  Finally, from a range of functionality standpoint reCap was impressive, with a wide variety of lids including a sprayer and a pump.

The Party Bar from Igloo
Trailmate from Igloo

Igloo is celebrating their 70th anniversary and showing off the Trailmate, which is best described as the SUV of coolers, and the Party Bar, the ultimate cooler for entertaining.

Like in past years, SodaStream was there giving out their sample bottles and showing off the new MyWater Flavor Essence.  I really love these, as they are unsweetened, making them, a great way to add flavor without added sugar or nasty tasting artificial sweeteners.

We had some time to hang out with Chef Randall Smith at Ergo Chef, and play with their innovative knives. They make a line of RaBBi-Q knives developed in conjunction with my buddy, the winningest man in kosher BBQ, Mendel Segal. Chef Randall also competes in the kosher BBQ circuit on Team Shiva Que.  I look forward to sharing a few drinks with him in the future as we cook brisket late into the night.

Finally we ran in to a few food celebrities including Fabio Viviani from Top Chef,who is absolutely hilarious, Jeff Mauro AKA the Sandwich King, a Chicago native from the Food Network, famous Emeril Lagasse, as well as BBQ legend Steven Raichlen.

 

For Rachel’s take on the show see here: Recap: 2017 International Home + Housewares Show!

Happy Pi Day: Smoked Duck Personal Pot Pie

Pot Pie

Happy Pi day (at least for another few hours) to my math nerd friends, not to be confused with National Pie Day, which next year will be on Tuesday, January 23rd according to Google. For those of you who don’t remember, Pi (π) is the Greek letter used to represent the magical number needed to calculate the area and circumference of a circle.  Its approximate value is 3.14, hence Pi day is March 14th.  See this link for a much more accurate value for Pi: Pi to a million places. Now that the math lesson is over, on to the food!

Many people make pie for Pi Day because they sound the same and they are generally circular (and who doesn’t want an excuse to eat pie!), and therefore Rachel has challenged me to Pi Day throw down. I had some leftover smoked duck from my Very BBQ Purim Se’udah, and figured pot pie was a great way to use it up.  And yes, this recipe will work fine with roast duck, roast turkey, or even chicken.

Pot Pie Mise

5 from 1 vote
Cut Pot Pie
Print
Smoked Duck Personal Pot Pie
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
3 hrs 20 mins
 
Course: Appetizer, Main Dish
Cuisine: BBQ, Homemade
Servings: 12
Author: Daniel Peikes
Ingredients
Duck Stock (Or Just Use Chicken Stock)
  • 1 Duck Carcass Leftover
  • 2 Duck Wings
  • 1 Tablespoon Celery Salt
  • 1 Tablespoon Whole Mustard Seed
  • 1 Teaspoon Dried Dill
  • 1 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns
  • 2 Bay Leaves
Filling
  • 2 Cups Duck (or Chicken) Stock
  • 2 Smoked Duck Legs and Thighs Bones Removed
  • 2 Carrots Diced
  • 11 Oz Canned Corn
  • 1 Medium Onion Chopped
  • 6 Medium Mushrooms Chopped
  • 2 Stalks Celery Chopped
  • 4 Cloves Garlic Chopped
  • 3/4 Cup AP Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
  • 24 Puff Pastry Squares or Rounds
  • Cooking Spray
  • 1 Egg Beaten
Instructions
  1. Take all the ingredients for the stock, put it in a large pot, and boil for couple of hours. Strain out the solids and preserve the liquid.
  2. Put the oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. After 2 minutes, add the flour and whisk until the all the flour is coated in oil and there are no dry pockets. This is called a roux.
  3. Turn the heat down to low and cook the roux until it starts to brown, stirring regularly to prevent burning.
  4. Add all the vegetables, the stock, and the duck meat to the pot and stir, making sure to incorporate the roux into the mixture. Cook until the vegetables have softened.
  5. Spray 2 muffin pans (they usually hold 6 muffins) with cooking spray. Press one puff pastry square into each muffin compartment to form the bottom crust. Add the filling, about 2/3 of the way to the top and cover with another puff pastry square, tucking the ends in. Brush egg on top.
  6. Preheat the over to 350°F and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Cut Pot Pie

Let me know what you think of the recipe in the comments.  Also, let me know if you liked my recipe or Rachel’s better.  You can find hers here: Happy Pi Day! Chocolate Sweet Potato Pudding Pie with Maple Coconut Cream

A Very BBQ Purim

So what you may not know is Rachel and I have a kosher BBQ team known as 5 Dudes and a Vegetarian and until recently I was living in condo where I could not grill or smoke.  On the first of the year I finally moved in to a house, and I bought myself a new grill and smoker. So for Mishloach Manot  and the Purim se’udah this year I decided to do a BBQ theme. Check out my menu below.

Appetizer:
Vegetable Soup: Pulled out of the freezer

Proteins:
Cherry Glazed Smoked Duck: I am going to put 2 ducks on new 22” Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker for a few hours at about 250°F basting with apple juice every hour or so until they hit an internal temperature of 160°F.  Then I will glaze the ducks with some homemade cherry jam and finish them over high heat on the Weber Original Kettle 22″  to set the glaze and crisp up the skin.

Smoked Top of The Rib Roast:  I refer to this cut as a poor man’s brisket.  It usually comes netted and rolled, but if you take the net off and unroll the roast, it is a thin striated piece of meat very similar to brisket.  I plan on applying a dry rub of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, ground cumin, salt, pepper and brown sugar.  The roast will be cooked alongside the duck on the 22” Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker at 250°F until it hits about 200°F and then I will let it rest and slice it.

Beef Burger Sliders:  Seasoned with just salt and pepper and grilled on the Weber Original Kettle 22″. Served on a pretzel bun with all the fixings including slow cooker caramelized onions and home pickled jalapenos.

Romanian Hot Dogs: Because the kids love them! Grilled of course on the Weber Original Kettle 22″.  Served on a poppy seed bun, but no ketchup. (We are in Chicago after all)

Sides
Sides are being brought by guests.
Brought By Rachel:
Super Spicy Drunken Noodles
Raw Falafel Balls with lemon za’atar dipping sauce
Cauliflower Tabbouleh
You can see her Purim se’udah menu ideas here:  Purim Se’udah Menu – the Rachel way

Being brought by another guest:
Roast Potatoes
Squash Kugel

Dessert
Dessert by my wife, Ronit:
S’mores Turnovers: Puff pastry triangles filled with chocolate and marshmallows, and baked until golden brown

And of course plenty of wine, beer and whiskey to go around.
Let me know what you think about the menu in the comments.  Happy Purim everyone!

Barbecue Chicken Hamantashen

In honor of the upcoming Jewish holiday of  Purim I challenged Rachel to hamantaschen throw down.  I figure I should be able to best her easily, as they are usually high in sugar and carbs which are Kryptonite  to my compadre.

While hamantaschen usually take the form of a sweet triangular cookie, I went in a completely different direction creating a savory appetizer version.  For the BBQ sauce I recommend my Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce .

5 from 1 vote
Print
Barbecue Chicken Hamantaschen
Prep Time
1 hr
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
2 hrs
 
A great a savory twist on a traditionally sweet cookie. It makes a great appetizer.
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish
Cuisine: Asian, BBQ
Servings: 4
Author: Daniel Peikes
Ingredients
  • 12 Round Won-ton skins Thawed
  • 1/2 Chicken Chopped (Roasted, Grilled, or Smoked Store bought rotisserie or leftover chick works great for this
  • 2 Cups BBQ Sauce
  • 1 Whole Egg Beaten
  • Vegetable Oil for Frying
Instructions
  1. Add the chicken and BBQ sauce to a pot and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
  2. Add a teaspoon of the chicken to the center of the won-ton skin, brush egg on the edges, and fold the edges to make a triangle with an open center. Repeat for all 12 won-tons.
  3. Fill a heavy frying pan with about a 1/2" of oil and place over medium heat. Fry over until golden brown on each side and serve immediately.

Please let me know what you think of the recipe in the comments. Also let me know if you liked my hamantaschen recipe or Rachel’s better.  Her’s can be found here: Not one, but TWO healthy Hamantaschen!

Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

This is a great all purpose sauce that takes advantage of that special something you get from the 23 secret flavors that are combined to make Dr. Pepper.  If you don’t want to take the time to reduce Dr. Pepper to syrup you can use Soda Stream’s Dr. Peter Sparkling Drink Mix.

I love this on chicken and often use it balance out spicy rubs on wings.  It also makes a great condiment for burgers.  Please let me know how you like it in the comments.

5 from 1 vote
Pulled Beef Doughnuts
Print
Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
15 mins
 
Course: Sauce
Cuisine: BBQ
Author: Daniel Peikes
Ingredients
  • 1/2 Cup Dr. Pepper Syrup You can reduce a 2L of Dr Pepper or use Soda Stream Dr. Pete Sparkling Drink Mix
  • 1 Cup Ketchup
  • 1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
  • 1/4 Cup Cider Vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp Smoked Paprika
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic powder
  • 1 Tbsp Onion Powder
  • 1 Tsp Ground Nutmeg
  • 1 Tsp Ground Cumin
  • 1/4 Cup Molasses
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pot and simmer for about 10 minutes on low heat while stirring regularly.