I’m inspired as well. There will have to be palm trees in my next food pic.

Thanks! Our kitchen and dining room are so cluttered that I usually go to the little terrace patio we built just outside the kitchen for food photos.

Grilled prime tri tip
grilled onions
grilled sweet potatoes
salad with romaine , hearts of palm, kalamata olives, goat cheese, grilled avocado
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...e969dff8b8.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...45ee6420d2.jpg
so purty

Gorgeous tri tip Corky - I’m tempted to try grilling it.

we were stuffed from our hot dog luncheon ...

watermelon
Susiecakes chocolate cake
Vanilla ice cream
popcorn

Thank you. As long as you have a meat thermometer (preferably a probe) you can do it. Such a flavorful cut of meat...it was delicious.

Did you just grill it or give it some indirect heat as well? It's a pretty thick cut of meat to just put straight over coal I would've thought.:confused:

Looks great either way.

Actually it was very flat and kind of puffed up when I cooked it...flatest one i have ever bought. I marinated and then dry rub. Put over direct coals and wood chips to sear and then moved to indirect to finish. It was done in about half the time I expected which is why I never could do without a thermometer. Weber kettle. I use my Weber gas almost every night so it was nice to dust off the old charcoal.

Ahh understand. So you did let it have a bit of time to chill on the indirect side.

Agree on the meat probes. I think I could do a something I want falling apart without a probe because you can just sort of poke it and know it's done, but if you want a nice steak on a big cut like tri-tip you got to have that probe!

Cooking with charcoal is so much more fun than gas.

Well cooking with charcoal is definitely a high wire act compared to gas. I had just added some charcoal to the grill as mine was burning way down and 5 minutes later it was done so I did that for nothing...hard to predict & control the temp but the flavor is the best.
I debated whether to do indirect first or last...I think the conventional wisdom is to do indirect first and sear later but I wanted to use my coals while they were hot and worried that they wouldn't be going enough for a sear at the end.
I can do a steak or piece of chicken or fish w/o a probe but little else. Whole chicken or roasts can be unpredictable.
Are you using briquettes or hardwood chunks?

IME, searing at the end 30 seconds a side or so works much better than at the start if you want to avoid a grey band on the meat. That picanha I did a few ago and posted a pic of was done with a quick sear at the end.

Do you use a pit probe as well? My Thermopro has two probes so you can measure pit temp and internal meat temp. That can really help you make adjustments to the air vents to get the temp where you want it. On long slow cooks knowing the pit temp is as important as knowing the meat temp. I wouldn't worry about overfilling with charcoal. If you're worried about not having a sear ready then just have some charcoal heating up in a starter chimney that you can pour in for your sear. Whatever you don't, use charcoal wise, you can use next time.

The way I do a reverse sear is pull it off the BBQ, put some oil and pepper on the steak while the charcoal gets lots of air and starts to get really hot again, then quick sear 60/90 seconds a side and that's it. It would be more difficult to do it that way with a whole tri-tip without adding some hot charcoal to the kettle, because of the area size of the TT.

I use briquettes but they're more like some sort of extruded charcoal (pic here: https://mysliceoflife.com.au/wp-cont...brickettes.jpg). I only use wood for smoke.

I very rarely grill big cuts of food anymore so I am going to pass on the pit temp. I have in the past started a second chimney of coals but it all gets to be suck a mess with trying to remove the hot grill and someplace to put the chimney etc. I am not dealing with a lot of room. Fortunately my grill gate has the hinges so I can add charcoal without lifting the whole thing...I usually pour in some hardwood because it gets hotter faster. My sear was a lot longer than yours...maybe about 3-4 minutes per side and then it only needed 5-10 over indirect. I was shocked...I used another thermometer for insurance and they were both correct. I cooked the onions, sweet potatoes and avocados first so that is when my fire was at it's best...if it was just the beef, I could have had a bit more control.
What's the deal with those charcoal extrusions? I have never seen those anywhere. Is there an advantage?

Dunno. That's just how they come. They do generate more heat from smaller amount, that could be a quality issue though more than a shape issue.

I would think the shape helps them burn hotter; it gives them more surface area, and maybe somehow the hole draws air through them, too, during burning.

I find that since Kingsford changed their formula a couple years ago, their briquettes burn too hot and too fast...I used to get a much longer heat from them without adding coals...now they burn down way too quickly. I use hardwood chunks when I want super high heat but I would prefer the briquettes to burn slower so maybe those extrusion things aren't for me.

You could be right. I know most top restaurants that use charcoal use that type of charcoal, actually I think most of them use that particular brand "Firebrand".

It's more expensive/kg but I use far less than when I buy regular briquettes. And I know I can get it a good 60c degrees hotter than I can with regular briquettes which makes a difference when trying to cook pizzas.

The company claims a 10 hour smoking time and 5 hours of grillin' from a 10kg box. I'd be very surprised if I couldn't get substantially longer on a smoke than 10 hours. (I usually use mostly briquettes when I smoke, just because I use wood to flavour so why waste good charcoal.)

https://firebrandbbq.com.au/product/...-bbq-charcoal/

Penne with parm
pizza (1/3 cheese and 2/3 “greek” with feta, green olive, and red onion)
watermelon

susiecakes chocolate cake
haagen daaz chocolate in waffle cone
Coolhaus cookie crumb & Haagen daaz strawberry in waffle cone

I hope you have had better luck with watermelon than I have. The two I bought ended up being really bland. They were a nice deep red but had no flavor.

Chinese takeout

1/2 roasted duck
crispy pork
char siu pork

get those little personal ones...it has the word heart in the name.

Mine were delicious but also finished.

any starch or vegetable with these? I love these with rice. Usually at a restaurant i’d also have a steamed vegetable or any other vegetable entree.

i just bought some mini watermelons (Sweetheart brand by Kandy - grown in Arizona) and it’s chilling now. Planning to have it tonight. Hope it’s good.

What? I thought you didn't eat veggies...is that just at home?
I have not heard of that watermelon...let us know if that variety is good.

Those are Thaan Thai-style logs (aka Pok Pok). They take a longer time to get hot, but they burn really long. They are available here in the States, on Amazon but you might be able to get them locally.

corky you are so right about Kingsford Blue Bag. I've favored Royal Oak for years for standard briquettes and got a 15# bag on closeout at a Lowe's in May for $3.98, but I did see 24# pack of Blue Bag for $10 during the same week and the price was too low not to buy. I have not used it yet as the house also has some Royal Oak private label stuff.

Herb crusted rack of lamb, roasted veg, and creamed spinach with a bit of Gigondas to drink.

I was mega stuffed from luncheon so...

watermelon (“Sweetheart” by Kandy - grown in AZ)

bowl of ice cream with a waffle cone
safeway organic butter pecan
robbins Icing on the Cake
haagen daaz fresh mango

Quote:

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Originally Posted by corky (Post 32522283)

What? I thought you didn't eat veggies...is that just at home?

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we eat veggies and fruit all the time. So the Sweetheart watermelon is great but it’s hard to imagine bad watermelon right now. We do refrigerate it because we enjoy cold melon.

I agree...watermelon needs to be cold. I have gotten many a bad watermelon. I find that if it is really flavorless a tiny bit of sea salt or fleur de sel helps it. Or vodka.
Or better yet...make a watermelon and feta and mint salad with balsamic. yummmmmmmmmy

Yeah they are harder to get going. Pretty much have to use a chimney or they just won't light. Once they're going though they put out a decent, consistent amount of heat that makes it really easy to cook with. Much better than using lump charcoal which is so variable.

I didn't know they were a Thai invention. The premium charcoal around here seems to always come as extrusions not briquettes.

I found potato soup in the freezer, so I'm thawing that for dinner. I've been exhausted this week (late night on Wednesday, early morning on Thursday, late night last night), so the comfort food aspect appeals to me.

Tonight is street concert night and I invited a friend over to sit distanced in my front yard. I am picking up some yummy antipasto salad from an old school/red leather booth Italian place. I roasted some tomatoes and garlic &basil for bruschetta and I can't decide whether to order garlic bread from the restaurant too. She is bringing wine and cookies (not the funny kind).

if you’re already making bruschetta, then no need to order garlic bread because you can also just make your own :-)

I am not going to make my own tonight...making the bruschetta was enough although I still need to toast the crostini.

I ordered the garlic bread. I put the salad and the bread in my trunk. I got about 10 minutes from the restaurant and the wonderful garlic smell was in my car...heavenly but making me hungry so I pulled over and put the top down.

we drove to fetch Souvla for my spouse - mediterranean fast casual in sf that was closed since middle March. They reopened today and were very popular. I declined and I’m grilling.

lamb gyros pita
new roasted potatoes
frozen Greek yogurt with sour cherry syrup

The rest of us:
cheeseburgers on roll-ppang
evergood hot link
johnsonville spicy sausage
sauerkraut
potato salad (deli)
mustards
crisps

cantaloupe melon balls

future ice cream dessert for me

I can’t believe you drove a closed convertible in the first place!

possibly Thai. It's noon and I'm already thinking of dinner

The obsession this city has with Thai food baffles most visitors. It's even stranger because there isn't that large of a Thai population.

Haha...A) it was really hot and B) I had just taken a shower and didn't feel like getting all greased up with sunscreen--that's why the top was up.
I can't believe that you passed up lamb gyros for cheeseburgers. Spouse sounds like she knows where to eat.

I’ve had good Thai in MEL last year. There seem to be quite a few Asians living in Australia that I’ve seen during my visits. I guess if people want Thai food, restaurants will provide it.

There's heaps of Asians, but not many Thais as compared to Vietnemese, Chinese, Malaysians, Koreans.

No doubt you can get some of the best Thai food anywhere in Australia.

It's just strange how this obsession with Thai food started, because in most places ethnic foods start where there is a large ethnic population catering to itself that then gets more widespread appeal. I guess people went to Thailand and wanted it when they got back.

I do prefer Vietnemese over Thai. A trip out to Cabramatta will get you some of the best Viet food in the world.

I guess by the same token, I'm surprised how few Greek restaurants there are in Sydney. Loads of Turkish places running the length of fine dining to hole in the walls, lots of Balkan restaurants but few Greek places.

Marinated some prawns in some chimmichurri we had in the fridge and served it with a nice salad. Nice way to end our weekend.

Shrimp on the barbie. :D

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...39177e69b5.jpg

I seem to recall that the Thai government actively paid Thai emigrants to open Thai restaurants far and wide, in order to spread the culture and get people interested in visiting Thailand.

It worked on me! I love Thai food.

Don’t you have AC and a hat during open convertible driving in the sun? I guess it’s ok to close the convertible during rain.
We have such a wealth of food at home that it was EV- for me to get Souvla. I’m happy for my spouse to have what they want and to drive out for it. I already know what’s in the fridge, and some meats have limited shelf lives :-)
the cheeseburgers were for our child - I enjoyed the yummy sausages!

Ooh this sounds like a fun truth or urban legend. I love Thai food but primarily spicier things and curries. I’m not a thai salad type of person. That said, even though my 1988 Bangkok visit was enough, I loved The Hangover movie with Zach saying Thighland and of course “Bangkok’s got him” pretty nonstop. I love that series.

I don't have the top down all the time. I don't want hat hair or it making my head hot or have to worry about a hat flying off. And I would still have to put sunscreen on my arms and legs. I am pretty careful about the sun. But I do love the top down...especially on longer drives. The route home from the restaurant was on a small road that is full of big shade trees.