Grilled Brisket with Applewood Smoked Bacon Mashed Potatoes topped with Chives & Au Jus

After my experience at Capt. Len's, my wife and I returned to the food truck park to sample some of the other delights offered by the trucks in the SoHo Food Park where I worked with Capt. Len and the crew. We tried a delicious Chicken/Bacon/Ranch pizza from Fiore Pizza's mobile, wood fired oven, cleverly made in a clear sided, wood covered truck. It was delicious and perfect for the two of us.
It was a great evening.

But I wanted some of Capt. Len's brisket, so I bought a half pound of it to eat later.

So the next day I took the brisket and placed it on my new stove-top grill that my wife gave me for Father's Day, to both heat it up anew and give it some nice markings to add to the smoke and rub, for which Len is famous.

As an appropriate side dish, I chose to make some applewood smoked bacon mashed potatoes to which we would add our home grown chives and REAL butter. No other accompaniment was needed, but I chose to make an Au Jus  from soup base & seasonings cooked down to a thin glaze.

We drizzled the Au Jus on both the potatoes and brisket, and ate very well indeed! 

I have said that I prefer the Ribs followed closely by the pulled pork from Capt. Len's, but after having this delicious dinner, they all are equally tasty and satisfying. No matter what you get, the smoke will bring you back!

Earl Cooks Grilled Dogs - Hot Doggity!

Hot Dogs Looking Good but Onions a bit raw

It's no secret that my wife and I LOVE hot dogs. They are a nearly perfect food! They can be grilled, fried, baked, deep fried and on and on. Why then is it getting hard to find places that sell them? My favorite used to be Arctic Circle restaurants' foot long, which they cooked until a bit crisp, cut in half, on a griddle (flat-top). Sonic has a great selection and theirs is pretty good and we have a dedicated hot dog restaurant called the "Dog Haus", what they call a craft, casual restaurant. And while I think they have a wide selection, it is about the price of steak dinner!

My wife and I used to go to Sonic for dogs EVERY week as a sort of "date night", but their menu changed and we got out of the routine we seemed to be in, skipping going out for hot dogs.

The new indoor grill/griddle my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") gave me for Father's Day may change all of that! The first thing I wanted to cook is Hot Dogs. I buy some Bar S Classic Bun Length Franks. These may not be as good as the ones we had as a kid, since they are now loaded with cheaper cuts of meat (mostly chicken), but I am going to bring the best out of them I can. They do make a beef version, but "Turkey says she doesn't think it is as good. A word of caution here: DON'T BUY the 12oz. package! They are not going to feed your family and they are maybe 10% cheaper but 33% less meat in the package!

Here is the low-carb version of hot dogs. I topped mine with a pickle, tomato wedges, and onion chunks. Getting used to this new grill/griddle will take some experimenting, but with experiments like this, who cares! The hot dogs were great but I didn't time the onion right. It tasted fine, as onion always does, but was a bit on the raw side except for one wedge, which was perfect and my wife left it for me!

This shows that even cheap foods can taste good when properly prepared and cooked and that bargain "franks" can be good! Thanks "Turkey" for the great Father's Day gift you let me pick out!

Earl Cooks Grilled Romaine Dinner Salad - EEK!

My dear wife a.k.a. "Turkey" knows I love to buy cooking equipment, and she hates to shop...for me! She says I am impossible to buy for, so we usually end up going shopping together and picking our own stuff out. Well this year for Father's Day, I knew exactly what I wanted...an indoor grill/griddle for our stove top.  Ever since I dog sat for daughter #2, and used hers, I have wanted one. See post Earl Cooks Grilled Ham Steak and Two Squashes while Dog Sitting . We have a gas grill and a charcoal grill/smoker, but what a hassle to drag them out, clean them up, prep them and finally cook! The TV chefs use them all the time, so I thought it would be a tool we could take advantage of!

I have never grilled lettuce before and didn't know what I would end up with. There were several
recipes, but I don't need no stinkin' recipe! I heated up the grill and gather the items together we like in any salad. What you see are great grill marks and I just used a bit of olive oil and salt & pepper. The good stuff will come later!

What we used to top our salad was light balsamic vinegar, then (from top left going clockwise), mozzarella pearls, Parmesan chunks, bacon bits, hard cooked eggs (I like mine sliced, "Turkey" likes hers diced), and finally, bottom left grape tomatoes! 

 I usually put my homemade croutons in our dinner salads, but I couldn't find room! It filled a PLATTER!...oh, and ME TOO!

Results & Conclusions:
This was very good. If you make this get VERY crisp lettuce. Top it with what you like. This was ALMOST meatless, but VERY satisfying!