Smoked Duck.....and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

This was a labor of love. :)
I haven't made smoked duck and andouille gumbo for awhile but finally found the time for it.

Slathered the duck in butter and sprinkled with smoked salt and cracked black pepper...

into the BPS drum at 325F...

I saved the duck fat and the drippings....the duck smelled sooooo good. :)

it was hard to not eat it all but I wanted to save some for the gumbo...

I cooled the duck, removed the meat from the bone and made a stock with the bones and trimmings..

made my roux using 3/4 cup of the duck fat and 3/4 cup of flour...

the onions, minced garlic, celery, peppers and parsley...

I used 6 cups of the smoked duck stock...

It came out pretty tasty...

The hint of smoke in the duck was really nice. I liked it even better the next day. :)

I need to make this more often!

Grilled Salmon Lasagna

I've made this in the past with leftover grilled salmon and really liked it. I decided to grill more salmon just so I could make it again. :)

I scored the salmon, drizzled with olive oil, seasoned with smoked salt and lemon pepper.

grilled on the Hasty Bake until flaky.....

sauteed some minced scallions and garlic in 5 TBS of butter until tender....
I used about 5 scallions and one clove of garlic.

added 4 TBS of flour and cooked for a few minutes to cook out the "flour" flavor..

whisked in 1 1/2 cups of milk, seasoned with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste...

stirred over low heat to thicken the white sauce...

The grilled salmon, no bake noodles, and smoked mozzarella cheese...

To build the lasagna I placed a small amount of sauce in the dish first...

then a lasagna noodle topped with grilled salmon...

then more sauce, lemon pepper seasoning, scallions, and a little bit of the smoked cheese...

then repeated...
I only had enough ingredients to do two layers...

then baked (in an actual oven!) at 350 degrees F until hot and bubbly...

I really love this stuff. It's almost a "comfort" food to me. :)

It was rich and creamy, and the flavor of the grilled salmon had just the right hint of smokey goodness that I love.

I'll definitely make it again...maybe a bigger batch next time! :)

Who woulda thunk.....he likes redheads!

New bull Persistent has been listening to one of the neighbor's sweet talking Red Angus cuties.

She's stands in the pasture across the road, hoping to catch his eye....

and it works. lol

I parked the pickup on the road in between the two, hoping to distract them for awhile, but..
I'm not one to stand in the way of love OR a raging bull.

Little does he know, he could easily walk through that fence. lol


So far he's staying home, but I'm keeping a close eye on him. :)

Breakfast Fatty on the BPS Drum

Had the chance to try out the new Big Poppa Smokers stainless drum. (Thank you again BP!)
I wanted to give it the breakfast fatty test for my first cook. :)

Fried some of my cold smoked back bacon, with cubed potatoes, onions, garlic and minced jalapenos..

Cooled the filling and added a bit of smoked moz cheese...
then filled fatty piston.

This was also my first chance to use the beautiful stainless fatty piston sent from talented outdoor cooking friend Rolf in Germany. Thank you again Rolf, it worked great!!

I let the filling chill while I rolled out the meat inside of a one gallon baggie. This time I used a mixture of beef and pork.

made the usual bacon weave...

wrapped and ready to smoke...

Into the drum at 275 degrees F with a bit of hickory..

Removed from the UDS when the internal temp reached 165F...

I like crisp bacon on mine.. :)

Sliced and ready to eat...

onto a toasted english muffin ...

topped with eggs and drizzled with hollandaise sauce...

The new drum passed the breakfast fatty test with flying colors!

The hardest part of this cook was getting the drum dirty for the first time.. :)