Category Archives: Traeger

Bitchin’ Sauce

I spent most of Saturday morning on the pickleball courts. I played in the men’s round-robin 3.0-3.5 matches and ended playing a total of nine games. I was pretty worn out by the end. Later we met up with Mike and Jodi Hall for a late lunch on the patio at Lucky Lou’s. We caught up on things – we haven’t seen them since before Christmas. Mike and I enjoyed a cigar and a few beers.

Afterwards, we made a stop at Winco where Donna restocked groceries and I found a nice cut of beef top round for jerky. I cut the steak across the grain with a my 240mm sujihiki (Japanese slicer) and was able to achieve very uniform strips for jerky. The right knife makes all the difference. I mixed up my usual marinade and refrigerated it overnight.

On Sunday morning, I made a Costco run to restock the liquor cabinet. I made an impulse buy at Costco – I saw a large container (of course it was large – it’s Costco) of Bitchin’ Sauce. Bitchin’ is a Southern California slang term from the late ’50s or early ’60s and was usually heard among the surfer crowd. It meant really cool – better than good.

I haven’t seen Bitchin’ Sauce in the store before. It’s made in Carlsbad, California and we used to buy it at San Diego County farmers’ markets. It’s an almond based chipotle dip – gluten free and kosher! It’s great with tortilla chips or crackers – in a word, it’s bitchin’.

Bitchin’ Sauce

I put the jerky on the Traeger in the afternoon and had it on the smoke setting P0. After two hours and forty-five minutes, I had a superb batch of jerky. I think it’s my best effort ever. I really think the evenly sliced strips contributed to the final outcome.

We also bought a whole chicken at Winco and I broke it down Sunday afternoon. It was fairly easy and didn’t take too long. Although whole chicken is a little cheaper than buying pre-cut chicken, we didn’t buy it to save money. I think you get a fresher product that’s arguably better quality than pre-processed chicken thighs or breasts. Once the chicken is cut up, it begins to oxidize and lose fluids. Pre-processed chicken may have been cut days earlier at a processing plant and who knows how long it’s been in transit before you finally buy it. Whole chickens broken down at home are definitely fresher. Plus, I can cut it the way I want it for yakitori.

I stayed off the pickleball courts Monday. I had to drive to west Mesa where I signed documents at Rocky Mountain Cummins for my refund. Mesa has a population of about half a million people spread out over 139 square miles. It really sprawls – it’s a 15-mile trip each way to get from our location in east Mesa to the west side of town. It’s the third largest city in Arizona and the largest city that isn’t a county seat. It has more people than Minneapolis.

While I was on the west side, I made another stop at Asiana Market. I picked up some nori (seaweed wrapper) and also mirin for yakitori tare. Back at home, I got to work on my kitchen knife handling skills. I made Japanese fried rice while Donna grilled baby bok choy and Jerk shrimp.

Diced ingredients for fried rice

The results were outstanding – a fine dinner plate.

Grilled Jerk shrimp, bok choy and Japanese fried rice

I paired the dinner plate with a Japanese beer I bought at Asiana.

Kirin Ichiban Japanese beer bomber

The weather on Monday was a little strange. The temperature reached the low 70s, but it didn’t feel like it. I was outside in my ham shack under the canopy and the cloudy skies coupled with a fairly stiff breeze made it feel a lot cooler. I had an interesting conversation with a guy named Frank in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. Frank and his wife are from Placitas, New Mexico and spend their winters in Puerto Vallarta. He told me that last year on the NFL Conference Championship weekend, they went to a local club which is like a large sports bar. He said he estimated there were around 200 patrons there. This year, they went to the same place last weekend. There were eight people there.

Many people that usually winter in Puerto Vallarta didn’t return this year due to Covid restrictions. Canadians in particular – their government requires citizens returning from Mexico to quarantine in a hotel at a cost of around $2,000. No choice – mandatory quarantine at a hotel selected by the government! He also told me that they usually go to the Walmart near their condo to stock up when they arrive for their winter stay. This year, they were stopped at the entrance and had to show identification. Anyone over the age of 60 was denied entrance to the store! This put a wrench in their shopping plans! They had to order contactless grocery delivery.

Donna and I hit the pickleball courts this morning. We were treated to excellent weather although it was a little more humid than usual. It’s sunny and 78 degrees as I type this at noon. The forecast calls for 80 degrees today, a high of 75 tomorrow and low 70s through the weekend. I can handle that!

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Goodbye 2020

Happy New Year! January 2nd already! The new year is always a time for reflection and also for looking ahead. The last 12 months have been interesting, and not in a good way. It’s an old Chinese curse – may you live in interesting times! For us, it started around March as dire pandemic predictions were being made and people reacted.

First, there was the run on toilet paper. Then there were lines to get into stores and new rules for social behavior. Eventually we had lockdowns. You all remember this. It also meant a change in our plans for the year. We stayed here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort until the end of April – a little later than usual. We felt like we were fairly isolated from the general public in a bubble here.

Our original thought was to leave by mid-April and head over to San Diego. Lockdowns changed that plan. We decided to stay out of California for a while. We went to the northeast part of Arizona, then headed up through the Navajo Nation to western Colorado. We stayed out west and went up through Wyoming, western Montana and parts of Idaho we hadn’t visited before.

By mid-July we found ourselves in familiar grounds at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. By staying in rural areas up to that point, the pandemic was less bothersome and we didn’t meet anyone that had symptoms of the Wuhan flu. In western Washington, we visited family and I took up ham radio as a new hobby.

We left Washington in mid-August and came back through Idaho on the west side, staying mostly rural again. We saw some awesome sights along the way and came down to Utah – where we saw more awesomeness. We spent October at Lake Pleasant, Arizona, then Buckeye before settling back in at Viewpoint on November 14th.

We managed to avoid coronavirus symptoms along the way. We stayed at fewer places than we usually visit and only traveled about 4,100 miles in the coach in 2020. We stayed healthy for the most part – until I hurt my back a few weeks ago.

Looking forward, things will change again. We’re purchasing a park model home here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. It’s a small unit – about 800 square feet – on the nine-hole golf course. Our back deck will face the fairway just before the 6th green. There are two golf courses here – the nine-hole and an 18-hole course. There are also swimming pools (four), tennis courts, pickleball courts and shared areas like banquet halls and so on that are currently closed down.

The plan for the future is to travel during the summer months when we can find good weather up north and escape the desert heat. We’ll store the coach and stay here over the winter months.

Meanwhile, life goes on. And it’s not such a bad life. The pandemic is affecting everyone and everything but we aren’t complaining. Donna continues to cook great meals and I still get to man the Traeger for smoked meats. In fact, I cut a two-pound London broil and made jerky a few days ago. Donna thinks it’s my best jerky ever.

We had a couple of setbacks though. Our microwave/convection oven broke and needed to be replaced. With that done, it was only a matter of time before something else came up – Murphy’s Law and all that. A few days ago, the entry door latch started sticking. Then Donna opened the door and said something went “pop” and the handle didn’t feel right.

I took the door panel off and found a broken door latch mechanism. When you pull the handle, a part of the mechanism rotates in the door latch housing. This rotating part is what levers the door lock pin to release the door. The part has a stamped pin/axle that fits in a hole in the housing. I found the housing had broken – a piece of metal separated and opened the hole for the pin/axle so it no longer captures the pin/axle. This, in turn, allows the rotating part to just flop around instead of levering the door latch pin in to allow the door to open.

I found a source for the TriMark door latch and lock assembly at RV Parts Center. But, the catalog was unclear and although I thought I had found the correct replacement part, I was unsure. On Wednesday morning, I called RV Parts Center and talked to John. He thought I had the right part in mind, but wanted a photo of the old assembly to be sure. I was pressed for time. I had re-assembled the door panel and I had to coach my pickleball session in half an hour – and I needed to have lunch before I went to teach the pickleball lesson. John told me if I couldn’t get him a photo soon, they wouldn’t be able to help until next week – they were closing for New Year, Thursday through Sunday.

I scrambled and got him a photo.

TriMark door latch/lock assembly

John confirmed the part match and shipped the part Wednesday afternoon. It’s scheduled to arrive January 5th, but it was shipped via USPS priority mail. I haven’t had much luck with USPS lately. I ordered cigars on November 28th and they were shipped priority mail. On December 5th, the update just said “In transit.” On December 20th, they were still “In transit.” I called the shipper and they sent me a replacement order, which shipped out on the 22nd. On the 23rd, I received the first order – 25 days in transit! On the 26th, I received the replacement order – four days in transit! So, it’s hit or miss. Donna missed with USPS on Christmas cookies she sent out to family. None of them arrived before Christmas although she sent them on December 15.

Giving the pickleball lesson turned out to be a mistake. I got a little too “hands on” in the session and Thursday I could hardly move without intense pain in my lower back. I’d been taking naproxen to counter the inflammation for a week and needed to stop. Naproxen is hard on your stomach and kidneys. Donna heard about a natural pain reliever called Curamin. A woman here at Viewpoint takes it for chronic knee pain and she swears by it – it allows her to play pickleball pain free. Donna found it at Sprouts Market and bought a bottle for me. I started taking it Thursday evening and it works! I’m experiencing less pain than I had while I was taking naproxen.

Curamin

Now I just need to rest my back and allow the strain to heal. I’ve been taking it easy, spending a lot of time reading. I read the Knife Engineering book cover to- cover and learned much about steel chemistry and manufacturing. Donna joked that it must be a real page turner! Seriously, I hope I never lose the thirst for learning.

We continue to enjoy good home-cooked meals. This week Donna prepared a delicious chicken dish – spinach and cheese stuffed chicken.

Spinach and cheese stuffed chicken

She kicked off the new year with a breakfast frittata that had asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, ham and Italian cheese with herbs.

Breakfast frittata

Last night we had great Italian sausage lentil soup. Super tasty! She got the recipe from a friend who says it’s a New Year’s tradition in their Italian home to make this soup. It’s supposed to bring good luck in the new year. The soup can also be made with cooked ham or smoked sausage. The original recipe called for ditalini, but Donna substituted orzo.

Italian sausage lentil soup with cheese

Today, I think I’ll drive over to west Mesa to the Lotus International Asian market. I want to buy some ingredients for Yakitori – I want to make some Japanese dishes. The weather had remained on the cool side and I’ve left the top up on Midget-San. Our daily highs have just been breaking into the low 60s with overnight lows in the high 30s. Brrr. There’s a warming trend forecast though – we should be back in the 70s in the next week with lows in the 40s.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Good Gravy!

The week since I last posted was mostly routine, nothing too special. At least it was until Thursday. I played pickleball in the morning with the 3.5 group and planned to head to Costco before lunch. I wanted to look for a beef brisket flat. I thought about getting another tri-tip, but Donna thought I should smoke a brisket. She was right, as usual. It’s been a while since I’ve done a brisket in the Traeger.

My last game Thursday morning changed my plan. On the last shot of the final game, my opponent hit a lob to the back right corner of the court. I beat feet from my position on the left side of the court, caught up with ball as it bounced and twisted my body to the left to make the return shot. When I did this, it felt like an electric jolt ran through my spine. I limped home after the game.

A trip to Costco was out. I was afraid if I got into the Midget, I wouldn’t be able to get out. I popped a 500 milligram naproxen tablet that I had left over from a previous injury and sat outside with a heating pad on my lower back. After dinner, I took an Aleve pill and wasn’t good for much.

Friday morning I felt better, and took another naproxen with breakfast. By 11am, I was feeling pretty good and decided to make the Costco run and check out the briskets there. Once again, the Costco foot traffic was fairly light. I didn’t expect this a week before Christmas. I think the lack of snowbirds from Canada is having an effect.

Costco had whole packer briskets in the 16- to 20-pound range and flats cut in the seven- to nine-pound range. This was way more than I wanted to buy – it’s just Donna and me. The brisket was USDA Choice and I think it was $6.79/lb. They had USDA Prime tri-tips, but I passed on them and thought I would go to Chuck’s Fine Meats again and see what he had. I wrote about USDA meat grades in this post and everything you ever wanted to know about brisket here.

At Chuck’s, I found USDA Prime brisket flats. The butcher selected a four and a 1/2-pound hunk of flat (HOF) for me. I don’t recall ever seeing USDA Prime brisket before. It wasn’t cheap at $10/pound. Back at home I found it needed very little trimming – they had already trimmed most of the fat cap to less than a quarter of an inch. I seasoned it with the Kinder’s Blend – salt, pepper and dehydrated garlic granules – wrapped it in cling wrap and put it in the refrigerator. I didn’t do much of anything else Friday. I wanted to rest my back. Meanwhile, Donna played pickleball in the morning and tennis in the afternoon.

Saturday morning, I filled the hopper of the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker grill with CookinPellets Perfect Mix – a blend of hickory, cherry, hard maple and apple wood pellets – and fired up the Traeger. I put the brisket HOF on at 8:30am on the smoke setting. I mixed up a mop sauce to baste the brisket. I used a base of eight ounces of Pepsi cola and added two ounces of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I used Pepsi as a base instead of the usual beer because I wanted to add some sugar for the bark. I spritzed the brisket every hour with the mop sauce from a spray bottle.

I left it on the smoke setting for two hours, but I wasn’t getting much heat. The pit temperature was only about 150 degrees, so I increased the temperature to 180 for the next hour. Then I stepped it up to 225 and continued to spritz the meat every hour. At 1:30pm, I checked the brisket with an instant read thermometer in the thickest part and found the internal temperature to be 150 degrees. I checked it again at 2:30pm and found it was stalled at 169 degrees. I pulled the brisket off the smoker and double wrapped it in foil, basted it heavily and put it back inside.

I didn’t open the smoker again until 4pm when I carefully peeled back an opening in the foil and checked it again with the instant read thermometer – I was close, it read 191 degrees. I closed it up and waited another 25 minutes. When I checked it at 4:25pm, it read 201 degrees. Perfect!

Next I bundled the foil-wrapped brisket in a heavy towel and packed it away in the microwave/convection oven. I didn’t turn the oven on, I just wanted to pack the insulated brisket in a confined space so it would hold its temperature for a long while. It would re-absorb some of the moisture in the foil while it slowly cooled. Meanwhile, Donna cooked red potatoes and made southern fried cabbage with bacon. After resting for an hour and a half, I pulled the brisket out of the oven and opened the foil. It was still steaming hot and the bottom of the foil held about a cup and a half of au jus from the rendered fats and collagen.

Brisket HOF with au jus in the background

Donna calls the au jus “gravy.” That works for me. I sliced the thin part of the flat off – I’ll cube it for use in other dishes later – then I confirmed the grain direction so I could slice across the grain. This was the most tender hunk of brisket I’ve ever encountered.

Sliced brisket served with smashed red potatoes and southern fried cabbage with bacon

The brisket displayed a beautiful pink, or magenta, smoke ring penetrating a quarter-inch or more into the meat. It was absolutely delicious and tender – there was no need for steak knives. We cut it on the plate with regular table knives. Donna had a glass of California merlot while I paired my dinner with Four Peaks Kilt Lifter Scottish ale. I have about a cup of au jus leftover and plenty of brisket for sandwiches and whatever else Donna comes up with. I guess the premium price for USDA Prime at Chuck’s Fine Meats is worth it.

The weather has been on the cool side. We’ve had daily highs in the low to mid 60s with overnight lows down to the upper 30s the last couple of nights. A warming trend should begin today and we’ll see mid 70s again if the forecast holds true. I’ll take it easy again today and hit the pickleball 3.5+ round-robin tomorrow.

Have a safe and merry Christmas. That reminds me – Christmas presents. Sometimes I’m at a loss to think of a good present for Donna. I still have a few days!

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Pickleball Santa

We’ve been playing pickleball most mornings here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. With the Covid-19 restrictions in place, the round-robin play has been a little different. Round-robin games this year are timed events – we play for 13 minutes, then rotate players. First team to 11 wins, but play continues until time expires. If there’s a tie with less than 11 points scored, the team that reached the tying score first wins.

This is done to prevent everyone from huddling together inbetween games to get the next court assignment and record scores. The real downside to this is the lack of records of wins and points scored. We usually record this info to help establish what level you should be competing in. For example, if your average score with a variety of pickleball partners in round-robin play is five or six, you are probably dragging your partner down and should move down a level. On the other hand, if you average eight or nine points per game, you’re fine at that level.

We’ve been playing at the 3.5+ round-robin on Monday mornings and hold up at that level. Last week, Donna signed up for 3.0 play on Friday. They didn’t have enough people signed up so I told the organizer, Dennis, that I would fill in. I had an unfair advantage – I won all six of my games fairly easily. Yesterday they were short a player again, so I sand bagged again. It was fun. Donna played in a Santa Claus outfit.

Pickleball Santa
Covid correct pickleball Santa

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Basha’s for some pork – specifically a Boston butt, also called pork butt, for pulled pork. I wrote about Boston butt in this post – Boston butt is a name for the upper shoulder portion of pork.

I went to Basha’s, but they were out of pork butt. I remembered a new butcher shop that opened last year on McKellips at Power Road, it’s called Chuck’s Fine Meats. I stopped there and found a super selection of meats. All of their beef is USDA Prime. They had one pork butt left, but it was a nine pound cut. That would be way more pulled pork than I wanted for Donna and me. The butcher said “No problem, what size would you like?” He proceeded to cut the shoulder in half for me.

A lot of guys like to keep about a quarter-inch of the fat cap on one side of the shoulder. The theory is the fat will render and keep the meat moist. I don’t subscribe to that theory. I think leaving a fat cap means one side of the pork is unseasoned and can also dilute the seasoning on the rest of it as it drips off. Plus, there is more than enough intramuscular fat on pork shoulder to keep the meat moist. I prepped the pork by trimming it and seasoning Tuesday afternoon. I wrapped it and put it in the refrigerator.

The next day, I put it on the Traeger around 11am, thinking it would take five or six hours to cook. I had the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill set at 225 degrees to cook the pork low and slow. There’s always an unpredictable point in the cook where it stalls. When the internal temperature of the meat hits 160-170 degrees, enough of the fats and moisture content begin to evaporate and provide evaporative cooling and the temperature quits rising. Pork shoulder should be cooked until it reaches an internal temperature of 195 to 205 degrees – just like brisket.

Some cooks will increase the pit temperature to break through the stall or wrap the meat in foil at that point to reduce evaporative cooling. I don’t like to do this, because raising the temperature too much can toughen the exterior of the meat. Conversely, foiling the meat can leave the surface a bit mushy and ruin the bark formation. I waited the stall out. I ended up cooking the pork for more than seven hours! We ate late, but it was worth the wait.

Boston butt pork with a nice bark

When I took the meat out of the Traeger, my instant read thermometer registered 195 degrees in the center, away from the bone. A couple of weeks ago I ordered a new utensil from Amazon called Bear Paws. These take a little bit of practice, but they’re great for shredding pulled pork.

Bear Paws
Moist, tasty pulled pork – the bone in the upper left pulled away cleanly

The result was tender and tasty! Lat night, Donna made a favorite comfort dish again – piggy mac. This is mac and cheese laced with lots of pulled pork. Delicious!

In my last post,I hinted at something we were working on. After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided to purchase a park model home here at Viewpoint. This will become our winter residence. We made an offer on a unit with one bedroom and a large Arizona room. It’s about 800 square feet and it’s on the golf course on the east side of the fairway for hole 6 of the nine-hole course. We have a golf course for our back yard! There’s a new deck in back and a large patio deck by the entry. We’ll sign on the dotted line this afternoon, but we won’t take possession until March. Moving forward, we intend to still travel in our motorhome in the summertime and stay here in the fall and winter months.

The weather forecast held true. We had rain on Thursday as a cold front moved through. The thermometer only reached 64 degrees on Thursday and Friday. The forecast calls for clear skies, but the daily highs are predicted to be in the mid-60s for the remainder of the month.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!