A simple and good supper

[brothers]

Grilled a couple of 12 ounce rib eyes outside tonight on my 35 year old Japanese hibatchi pot. It's made of terra cotta about 1.5 inches thick. This was the big green egg before anybody ever called it that. I've had it 35 years, and who knows how old it was then. It's probably one of the originals that the inventor brought out of Japan in the planes he was piloting. Lit the fire, pounded the steaks and sprinkled on a few pinches of my meat rub. Grilled the steaks for about 15 minutes or so, brought them inside and sliced up a couple of big fresh tomatoes. Put a little butter on my hot steak, along with some salt and pepper. Sprinkled some dried basil on the tomato slices, and that was our supper.

I add wood chunks for smoking some meats, like pork and chicken, but steaks make their own. I could smoke 'em if I wanted to, but usually I don't.

[ShadowsDad]

It's getting to be that time of the year Gary. My Primo (ceramic) is out of the ice and has been, but I'm still playing with SousVide. We can only eat just so much.

If it's a BGE it's not terra cotta though; it's ceramic and they're made in Mexico. Maybe at one time they weren't? Maybe I misunderstood? BGE is a good ceramic cooker.

I love lightly cherry smoke/grilled ribeyes. My favorite steak by far. I use cherry smoke used just as a spice and high heat (as opposed to temperature) for a great sear.

Tonight, since the wife is headed 600 miles to the south to attend a wedding, I'm on my own. That means I cook just for myself using ingredients she can't abide.

Simple supper hear as well. I had leftover vermicelli and SV beef, so I bought some veggies for stir fry and made LoMein. Since the wife isn't home I included a bit of egg and mushrooms. I'll eat what I made for few days, but I love the stuff. Plus all I need to do now is to just nuke a tray of it. LoMein is incredibly easy to make. It's 30 minutes of knife work for 10 minutes of stir fry. At least for the quantity I cooked up.

Anyone wanting to make LoMein probably already has all of the hardware required to make it in their kitchen. Might need some ingredients though.

When the wifes flight day was getting close I looked at her with an absolute dead pan face and asked, "But who will cook for me?". We both know that I cook 99.9% of what we eat, so it was an inside joke.

Anyway...


I wish other gents would step up and tell us what they cook. The cooks on this forum can't be only the 2 of us.

BTW, there's no recipe I use, but if anyone wants the ingredients I can provide that. There are recipes on line to get one going. When I make LoMein I use what I have and no dish is exactly like any other. Tonight I used Moroccan harissa for the hot pepper instead of sambal, but the harissa also had red bell pepper as the primary ingredient and the musky/sweet/hot was quite welcome (and different) in the LoMein.

[brothers]

It's NOT a BGE and it IS a Hibachi Pot. When I got it, the original paper sticker was still glued to the lid. That's how I know what it was called when it was new, and that it was made in Japan. It has a beautiful Japanese logo hand-scraped in the terra cotta on the front of the lid. BGE is similar in appearance and is the brand name of a product that of course is ceramic, a copy of the original. Mine is one of the originals that were made of terra cotta, as I say. There is a written history of these cookers. The original product is still made, but now is porcelain and available for sale for at least twice the price (probably three times) of the BGE products, which are not cheap. I have had to completely refurbish mine at least three times because of the nature of terra cotta (some kind of clay). The primary terra cotta fire pit insert disintegrated into a thousand pieces and my late brother and I made a replacement out of quarter inch steel, which has lasted at least 30 years now. I've replaced the grate(s) a number of times. The little removable smokestack lid disintegrated and was replaced by a series of functional but not pretty terra cotta flower pots until I got tired of breaking them too, and now I use a flat piece of wood, which works perfectly to regulate the air flow. It has none of the frills that seem standard on all of the modern day cookers. I don't need any frills.

[ShadowsDad]

I misunderstood. I thought you wrote that it was the BGE before it was called the BGE. Now I understand; it's a kamado, meaning a generic type of oriental cooker and not a brand. Yes the genuine kamados are indeed terra cotta.

[brothers]

I misunderstood. I thought you wrote that it was the BGE before it was called the BGE. Now I understand; it's a kamado, meaning a generic type of oriental cooker and not a brand. Yes the genuine kamados are indeed terra cotta.

Yes! Kamado! Thanks Brian! The years haven't been kind considering the cobwebs in the dark corners of my brain. I love my Kamado. I bet you knew that from seeing my passion.

[ShadowsDad]

Quite understood! I love my kamado, but mine is ceramic and has a modern brand name on it. I wouldn't use anything else since I grilled my first seared steak with it. In fact that very night I called my neighbor to see if he wanted my DuCane gasser that I just rebuilt, for his camp. Of course, as you know they do more than grill.

I understand entirely! If anything happened to mine I'd replace it in a heartbeat! I absolutely WILL NOT (!) be without one.