Sunday with Big Joe

Been awhile since i posted last. Thought I'd get back on the forum with a little charcoal grill action.


Fired up the Kamado "Big Joe" today with some fajita meat to start.














With homemade tortillas and some avocado it made a great lunch!






After the "smoke" burned off and the big joe was running on more or less on purified charcoal, I threw a pizza stone on and some artisan loaves. These turned out great and were extra good with home made apricot preserve we squirreled away last fall.














All in all a really nice Sunday here in sunny New Mexico.

Got the Joe last year for Christmas and I've got to say it has been one of the best presents ever! Anyone else run a kamado?

Long time, no see your pictures.

Missed you during the Hatch season this year. I roasted a couple cases on my BGE - whole neighborhood smelled good.

Dave,

I've seen green chile season bring sworn, hardened enemies together and put aside their differences as they wait in line to get their chili's roasted at Safeway. Hatch chile really is the miracle food of the southwest. :biggrin::hungry:

Thanks for the warm re-welcome. I've got to think of more stuff to post!

hey..welcome back.

I almost shrieked with glee..when I saw Trader joes selling Hatch NM chili in the frozen section. bought a bag to test and besides being milder than I like, they tasted pretty close.

I have three quart ziplocs left of my Hatch batch..nice to know I have a backup.

Thanks for sharing, I am debating purchasing one, how do you like yours? Would you recommend it I don't really like gas grills and don't want to get a separate smoker so maybe this could fit the bill?

After the post exchange I was inspired to dig around a little in the freezer and find some of last year's batch of Hatch. A pt into 3 pounds of fresh ground chuck. Fired up the BGE and zippy to do da! About 6 pts left - May be a Posole weekend.

I have my green chiles shipped in 40 # boxes from my favorite NM vendor twice a year (for my home cooking). I used to travel to Abluquerque every few weeks for business and got addicted to green chiles!

Sadies.

superk17 said:

Thanks for sharing, I am debating purchasing one, how do you like yours? Would you recommend it I don't really like gas grills and don't want to get a separate smoker so maybe this could fit the bill?

Click to expand...

I put quite a bit of thought into this before purchasing. I was even thinking about building an Argentine style grill at one point. I went with the Joe because I don't really need another project and I really liked the flexibility of the Joe.

With the Big Joe I can put one grate close to the charcoal for searing and another further away for fish or vegetables such as asparagus. I can adjust the temperature with the vents to do a slow smoke on pork butt at 200-250 degrees or get close to 700 degrees for a sear. And of course with the pizza stone I can bake artisan bread. Grilled pizza is the bomb if you cook the pizza crust on one side first, flip it over and then put the toppings.

It also seems more economical than gas. A bowl of charcoal can be used about 3-4 times before adding more. Just shut down the vents and that kills the fire saving the charcoal for the next burn. And this past winter my gas grill didn't get used because the tanks kept freezing up whereas charcoal just doesn't have that problem.

I got mine at the Costco roadshow and for taking the floor model, the salesman threw in a bunch of accessories, a couple bags of opened charcoal and the smaller grill version as well (the Little Joe).

So yeah....... I would definitely do it again. The one thing I would suggest is getting the Weber chimney charcoal starters. It took me awhile to discover these. They really help in getting the grill going fast!

jacko9 said:

I have my green chiles shipped in 40 # boxes from my favorite NM vendor twice a year (for my home cooking). I used to travel to Abluquerque every few weeks for business and got addicted to green chiles!

Click to expand...

Yep, chile and coffee are my addictions. Visited the outlaws / inlaws for the past Easter Holiday. My father in law is in a league of his own when it comes to the hot stuff. I can hang with him for awhile but then the whole chile experience just becomes painful.

We are down to just 2-3 frozen packs of hatch chile. We patiently wait for August and September hoping that there is neither too much or too little rain in Hatch and that the chile season is great again!