Texas Toast from Scratch

I just had to try some baking on my 40+ year old model 130 Hasty Bake cooker.



I just found out from a Hasty Bake Guru that my cooker is older than I thought. He said it was made in the late 60's or early 70's. Heck, it is more than a classic...it's and antique as well!



I figured I would need a good head of steam due to the weather conditions so I loaded the firebox full of lump for this higher temp bake.



I placed the heat deflector right in the middle of the grid and added a raised grid on top of that to get my baking grate higher up inside the dome or lid of the cooker.



It was probably about 4-5 inches up into the lid where I figured I could get a better and more even browning on the bread.



I used our favorite recipe for our regular bread which is the Old Order Amish Bread and had it ready at about the time I got the cooker up to temp.



It baked up fine although it did take a little longer than I expected but the outside temp was about 37 degrees with light rain and I am sure that caused some of the increase in the baking time.



I really got the bread browned up nicely and very even and it came off the cooker looking great. I then cut one loaf of the bread into about 1" thick slices for my Texas Toast. Added a stick of butter to a bowl, then some garlic, and a little garlic salt, heated it up and brushed it on both sides of the slices.



Moved the heat deflector over to one side and put the bread back on the cooker. MY...MY the smell was wonderful and I couldn't wait to get at it!



You just can't beat some great home made bread turned into Texas Toast.



Served it up with a burger and sure enjoyed the meal.

That 40+ year old cooker is doing me a fine job and I am enjoying fooling around with it.

Maybe Pizza next??

Flat Iron Steak Meal / Weber Performer

Around the first of the year, Lowe's Hardware chain put a few Weber Peformers on sale for about half price at $199.00 dollars and I did find one at this great price and bought it. I really wanted a red one but I had to settle for the black.



For my first cook, I wanted to do a total meal on the kettle so here it is.

My menu was to be the following:

Flat Iron Steak
Thick slabbed potatoes
Marinated and grilled veggies
Fruit
An Italian Flatbread

Prep



For my bread, I kinda crossed one my focaccia recipes with my bruschetta flat bread recipe and just made up the dough with some Italian herbs and then added some olive oil, a bruschetta tomato topping, some tomato slices, and shreadded mozzarela cheese. I also sprinkled on some dried Italian herbs.



The bread ready to go on the cooker.



I made up a sweet marinade for my veggies and also added some pineapple to the mix and got it soaking. I had slab onions, bell peppers, and pineapple in the bowl.



I then prepped my slab potatoes. I used peanut oil as a sticker, and then added some dried Italian spices, fresh cracked black pepper, sea salt, and some parmesan cheese.



I sprinkled on some garlic salt and then cracked up some fresh tellicherry pepper on top of my 3 pound flat iron steak.

The Cook



My slab potatoes will take the longest so they went on the cooker first. I then put the bread on the cooker on a raised grid to get it closer to the top of the cooker for the best baking results. I was running the temp at about 400 degrees.



This was the first cook on a brand new Weber Performer Grill.



The bread just off of the cooker. Man, did it smell good!!



Just as soon as I got the bread off, I opened up the vents to get the cooker up to as high temp as possible for the steak.



It only took a few minutes a side to get the steak to about medium rare- medium and then off the cooker and wrapped in foil and rested for about 30 minutes.



The potatoes were done at this time as well.



The veggies went on next in my veggie pan.



At this high temp, they only took a few minutes to cook.



After the steak rested, I cut if for the serving plate. Looked great!



Mommy wanted some more fruit with the meal so she added some tangerine slices to the plate.

Ya just gotta love those Weber kettles...

Portabella Pizza

I was cruising around the bbq forums a few days ago and on the "Addicted To BBQ" forum, I found this great looking treat. A gentleman who uses the handle of "a26guy" put up a post with pictures of this great looking personal sized pizza.



The unique part of this pizza is that the crust is just a plain portabella mushroom which makes it great for all low carbers as it is about impossible to make a low carb pizza crust out of anything that is edible. It is just great for your regular pizza as well and should please all guests.

Anyway, after seeing the post, I couldn't wait to try it for myself. I also did a couple of regular pizzas with this new treat in the pellet cooker using pecan for wood.



I started by using a mellon baller to cut and scrape the gills from out of the underside of the portabella caps. I then cut each stem off down to the caps. For my toppings for the six portabella pizzas and the two regular 14" pizzas, I browned up a mixture of one pound of hot sausage and one pound of hamburger. I then cut up some onions and bell peppers and opened a can of black olives and the sauce to go on the pizzas. I also used 6 cups of mozzarella cheese on the pizzas.



I sauced the caps and then added the blend of hot sausage and burger.



I added the onions and bells peppers.



Next came the black olives and plenty of cheese and then I added a piece of pepperoni on top.



The six portabella caps ready to go on my pellet smoker.



I brought the smoker up to about 350 degrees for this treat and it took about 18-19 minutes to get the pizzas done to my liking.



This is just before I pulled them off the cooker.



Sure did look great!

After the portabellas came off the cooker, I raised the temp to about 425 for the regular pizzas and loaded them on the smoker.



These things are KILLER!!



Was a little cold outside to screw around setting up a couple of baking hearths so I did the regular pizzas on a pan.



Good stuff!!