Sunday, January 8, 2017

Cooking Up A Storm......

Happy Sunday everyone.   If you don't know it by now, we had a little snowstorm around these parts.  It started snowing late Friday night and snowed till nearly noon on Saturday.  The precipitation started as sleet, changed to big fluffy snowflakes, then finished off with several hours of a dry powdery snow.  Then Saturday night, the temps took a nose dive, bottoming out at about 10 degrees with cold, way below freezing weather predicted for the next several days.   As we sit here writing this blog, we just found out the local school system (our employer)  has cancelled school for the next two days!!!


Now, back to the title.  This past Wednesday, Rob received his Christmas present to himself.  A Green Mountain Pellet Grill and Smoker (GMG for short).  After assembling it Wednesday afternoon, Rob has proceeded to cook up a storm, or cook during the storm for the past couple of days!!



As with most things ordered, it came "some assembly required," which was no problem at all.  In very short order Wednesday afternoon, Rob had the grill assembled and heating up on a test run. 


Of course, you can't just buy the grill, but you HAVE to have a the right cover,  a neat-o camo carrying bag (not pictured), several bags of pellet fuel, and food to cook on the grill.




The very first thing Rob choose to cook on the GMG was to grill some very fresh Salmon....


The results were just perfect.  Next was a small pork tenderloin which somehow or another, not a single picture was taken of while, during, or after cooking.   Needless to say, it's all gone now, haha.

Next up was two racks of pork ribs.  By now, there was a nice layer of snow all over everything, so it was a perfect time to cook something that would take awhile......







As you can see, the results must have been pretty good, because very little was left!!

Today was a simple pork loin.  It only took about two hours from start to finish and it is resting now, wrapped in foil while the Mexican Cornbread bakes.  Add a side of crower peas, homemade coleslaw, and baked (on the GMG) sweet potato, and lunch will be just right.



Rob has already ordered another 100 pounds of pellets (these are burned to provide heat and smoke).  He ordered pellets made from Hickory, Apple, Cherry, Pecan, and Oak woods, with plans to create his own custom blend of pellets.  


This version of the GMG, is also Wi-Fi enabled.  Rob still had a go-phone smartphone we bought a couple summers ago while camping where Verizon had no cell service but AT&T did.  He is able to use the old phone as a dedicated controller for the GMG after downloading the proper app, and setting it all up.


Rob also discovered when cooking in very cold windy conditions as the past couple days have been, you have to put an old towel over the grill to both hold in heat, and to keep the wind from blowing out the fire.  Now the GMG will be going camping with us, so you'll be hearing more about Rob's cooking exploits with it. 

Well we're off to finish getting lunch together.  We hope everyone  has a great snow day, week, etc. or if no snow, just a great week. Thanks for checking in and as always......

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.