Month: January 2004

Tomatoes in January

Posted by Doug – January 25, 2004

My verticillium wilt-challenged creole tomatoes continue to soldier on in spite of their malady. Today, I counted 17 fruits set on the ever-expanding vines– 18 if you count the one I knocked off by accident. Pulling down the shadecloth on that end of the greenhouse last week seems to have been a good idea.

I downloaded several winter kale recipes today in hopes of harvesting and consuming most of it before I turn my attention to a spring tomato crop– one that does not include the apparently-resistant-to-nothing creoles. I may try Better Boy, Celebrity, plum, Roma, cherry or Sweet 100’s.

I plan to convert the 5-gallon containers from last summer to Dutch pots, which should comfortably house tomatoes, and perhaps some cucumbers, bell peppers and squash, all of which should hopefully do nicely on the same nutrient.

[January 31st: Make that 30 tomatoes.]

[February 8th: I stopped counting at 40.]

[February 12th: 51.]

Weber Bullet Quick & Tasty Chicken Thighs

Posted by Doug – January 21, 2004

I bought a pack of chicken thighs to try something different on the Bullet. Lately, it’s been mostly pork and beef, with the odd holiday turkey thrown in. And, of course, my favorite: pastrami.

I had read that most BBQ teams use chicken thighs in competition. And it makes sense– they’re relatively quick cooking and somewhat forgiving on over-doneness, so you can concentrate on flavors of seasonings, marinades, etc. without worrying about the dryness often possible in over-done white meat.

The pack I purchased contained a dozen small bone-in thighs– 3 lbs. total. I prepped them 24 hours in advance by placing them in a large ziplock bag with 8 oz. of Paul Newman’s Parmesan & Roasted Garlic dressing.

Figuring I wanted to cook quick and hot, I made use of a single Weber chimney-full of leftover used briquets, which is essentially the same as using hotter-burning lump charcoal. I was shooting for 300*, measured at the top grate. I figured the hotter coals and short cooking time would make this amount of fuel sufficient.

While the charcoal fired up, I removed the thighs from the marinade, and lightly sprinkled them on both sides with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning.

In 30 minutes, the charcoal was ready, and I dumped it into the charcoal ring. I assembled the cooker, leaving the foil-lined water pan dry. I added two small chunks of hickory to the top of the coals, and placed the chicken pieces on the top grate skin-side up.

Outside temp was 42*. The cooker temp stabilized at 250* with all vents wide open, so I employed a rarely-used trick of propping the access door open about a half-inch to allow more oxygen to the fire. The temp increased to 290* in short order.

At the one hour mark, I checked several of the thighs with an instant read themometer, and they all read 176-178*– done, and with a perfect golden brown color.

The result was fabulous. Tender and flavorful, the combination of marinade, seasoning and smoke were perfect. No sauce was necessary. I had seconds, and thirds.

This is an example of a great quick cook on the Weber Bullet, and cheap, too. The thighs were $.69/lb, and the charcoal was essentially free. I look forward to doing more again real soon.