We have been very lucky here in Knoxville considering the severe weather across the Southeast this week. We're under a tornado warning right now and have been under a tornado watch from noon today until 11pm tonight. But things have passed by us this week. A lot of folks have not been so lucky.
Somewhere between the storms this week, I managed to grill a few T-bones one night. I figured since I was doing a reverse sear and had about an hour of a 250f cook, I would try smoking some Yukon Gold potatoes for use in mashed potatoes.
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| Garlic mashed potatoes, grilled Tbone steak, and Sweet Mesquite Grillin' Beans |
Turned out to be a fail. Well, not a fail, they tasted fine. But I actually prefer our normal mashed potatoes, so the extra effort wasn't worth it that night. I think just roasting the garlic with the steaks would have gotten sufficient smokiness since potatoes have such a mild flavor anyway. So no recipe tonight.
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| I usually don't grill T-bones, I prefer ribeyes, strip, and fillet. But I got a good price on these at Sam's and couldn't resist. It's like they used some kind of Jedi Steak Mind Trick or something. |
It all went into the Big Green Egg at 250f like this on one tray.
The steak was seasoned with just salt and pepper. I oiled and salted the Yukon Gold potatoes and just oiled the head of garlic. Slow roasted it until the steaks hit an internal temp of 130f. I then prepared my mashed potatoes as normal, including boiling the potatoes since they weren't close to being cooked yet.
I switched my Big Green Egg to direct heat. To get a good sear, I used a Spider Rig and a small Craycort cast iron grate to get close to the red hot coals. The reason I usually stay away from the T-bone is that the bone keeps you from getting even contact between the meat and grate, causing uneven sear marks.
Everything was good and the food disappeared. I just wouldn't follow the same process on the potatoes again, I'd just boil them and add smoke roasted garlic.
Sometimes I like smooth mashed potatoes, but normally I like ours thick and rustic. I leave the skin on about every third potato and just coarsely mash them with some sour cream, butter, heavy cream, salt, pepper and garlic. Very basic. If I have Boursin cheese, I like to add some of that and cut the cream/butter.
How do you like your mashed potatoes, smooth or coarse? Any special tricks that you like to use for yours?
