I made this last Friday, but some recent unannounced Photobucket changes have prevented me from posting pics to the forum (I'll touch on that at the end of this post).
It's been about 10 years since I've made this (I did post it way back in 2010). I recall it being the most difficult dish I'd ever attempted on the Bubba Keg, some of which was due to my inexperience as a cook, some due to following the recipe too closely. This time it was a lot different.
Moussaka is one of those Greek recipes with regional interpretations. Some include a layer of potatoes. Many insist on frying the eggplant. Since I've pretty much learned to cook how I want and use recipes as a guideline instead of an absolute, here's my 2019 Moussaka.
Potatoes? Yes, included. But not boiled. I gave them a head start in the microwave like I do for baked/grilled potatoes, then finished them out on the Weber kettle. Makes prep a lot easier as I don't need to wait for water to boil and wash another pot.
Eggplant? Yes, obviously a key ingredient. But it's grilled out on the Weber and the Goldens'. No frying or baking in the oven here.
Bechamel? Yep, but it no longer gives me nightmares to prepare. For temp control this gets made inside on the stove. Still requires lots of whisking, but I've got plenty of time.
Here goes.
Most of the ingredients. I wound up carting these all outside since all the cooking was done on the Weber Kettle and the Goldens' Cast Iron -
The eggplants are peeled with stripes, then thick cut. To tone down some of the bitterness, they're salted and left in colanders for about a half hour -
Two grills put into use for this one. The Weber's role was for the potatoes and most of the eggplant, though any eggplant that didn't fit (it's only an 18") was grilled on the Goldens' -
I've left out a few pics here, but ground beef, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and all the herbs (allspice is primarily what gives Moussaka that distinctive taste) was browned and simmered in the Lodge skillet on the Goldens' -
Back inside to make the Bechamel Sauce (butter, flour, half n half and after it cools to room temp, egg yolks) -
Layering. A thin sprinkling of bread crumbs, then potato slices, eggplant, meat mixture. I stopped partway to take a pic of the layers at this point. Then more eggplant, more meat and finally the Bechamel on top -
At this point I placed the searing plate in the Goldens' for indirect baking, brought the temp to around 350 or so and let it bake for a little over an hour -
Since a Kamado isn't that good at broiling/browning the top, it was finished in the oven under the broiler for another 8-10 minutes to brown the top -
And plated -
As always, thanks for checking out this post!
Regards,
-lunchman
-----
Ok, now for the Photobucket issues. There's a thread in the Technical section that I posted about picture sizes placing the blame on an android upgrade from Oreo to Pie. That wasn't it. Photobucket now allows full resolution pics to be saved to their site.
When I first attempted to post these, the previews were huge (larger than my 24" monitor). No way could I have posted these without irritating all the members. I contacted Photobucket asking if the issue was due to them (as pics taken with my Nikon camera exhibited the same problem) and they admitted they'd made the recent change.
The workaround is listed in the thread in the Technical issues section. I tried using the BB width=800 code but vBulletin doesn't honor it.
I may have to change my hosting site to something other than PB as posting a thread which used to take 10-15 minutes is now on the order of 30-45.
It's been about 10 years since I've made this (I did post it way back in 2010). I recall it being the most difficult dish I'd ever attempted on the Bubba Keg, some of which was due to my inexperience as a cook, some due to following the recipe too closely. This time it was a lot different.
Moussaka is one of those Greek recipes with regional interpretations. Some include a layer of potatoes. Many insist on frying the eggplant. Since I've pretty much learned to cook how I want and use recipes as a guideline instead of an absolute, here's my 2019 Moussaka.
Potatoes? Yes, included. But not boiled. I gave them a head start in the microwave like I do for baked/grilled potatoes, then finished them out on the Weber kettle. Makes prep a lot easier as I don't need to wait for water to boil and wash another pot.
Eggplant? Yes, obviously a key ingredient. But it's grilled out on the Weber and the Goldens'. No frying or baking in the oven here.
Bechamel? Yep, but it no longer gives me nightmares to prepare. For temp control this gets made inside on the stove. Still requires lots of whisking, but I've got plenty of time.
Here goes.
Most of the ingredients. I wound up carting these all outside since all the cooking was done on the Weber Kettle and the Goldens' Cast Iron -
The eggplants are peeled with stripes, then thick cut. To tone down some of the bitterness, they're salted and left in colanders for about a half hour -
Two grills put into use for this one. The Weber's role was for the potatoes and most of the eggplant, though any eggplant that didn't fit (it's only an 18") was grilled on the Goldens' -
I've left out a few pics here, but ground beef, onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato paste and all the herbs (allspice is primarily what gives Moussaka that distinctive taste) was browned and simmered in the Lodge skillet on the Goldens' -
Back inside to make the Bechamel Sauce (butter, flour, half n half and after it cools to room temp, egg yolks) -
Layering. A thin sprinkling of bread crumbs, then potato slices, eggplant, meat mixture. I stopped partway to take a pic of the layers at this point. Then more eggplant, more meat and finally the Bechamel on top -
At this point I placed the searing plate in the Goldens' for indirect baking, brought the temp to around 350 or so and let it bake for a little over an hour -
Since a Kamado isn't that good at broiling/browning the top, it was finished in the oven under the broiler for another 8-10 minutes to brown the top -
And plated -
As always, thanks for checking out this post!
Regards,
-lunchman
-----
Ok, now for the Photobucket issues. There's a thread in the Technical section that I posted about picture sizes placing the blame on an android upgrade from Oreo to Pie. That wasn't it. Photobucket now allows full resolution pics to be saved to their site.
When I first attempted to post these, the previews were huge (larger than my 24" monitor). No way could I have posted these without irritating all the members. I contacted Photobucket asking if the issue was due to them (as pics taken with my Nikon camera exhibited the same problem) and they admitted they'd made the recent change.
The workaround is listed in the thread in the Technical issues section. I tried using the BB width=800 code but vBulletin doesn't honor it.
I may have to change my hosting site to something other than PB as posting a thread which used to take 10-15 minutes is now on the order of 30-45.
