Pitmaster T - Cooking on the MKT

[pitmaster t]

Well I had to get it up and running today. It's nice to undo one of these MKTs when you took the time to put everything back according to the instructions. I am going to have to remove those awful travel covers as they are a bear to get rolled right and I can see myself simply doing what Sarge said on some tarpaulins.

I hope this will be a great thread for some Bulk Recipes you might want to do on the MKT. That is what I do... and until I remake all my bulk items on the MKT some of these may work for ya!

First up its my skirted Cheese burger. You will note there is a principle to even just the way I make the basic burger, ice cream scoop size 80/20 then rolled into meatballs. No salt - no nuthing. And do not compress. I used a infrared therm (Harbor Freight 35) to tune in my temps on my griddle... 450 on one side, 350 on other. But for y'all, ... 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock.


I use melted butter 2 parts butter to one part oil (olive is good).

My custom burger press is packed away somewhere so as you can see I immediately cover with a wax paper sheet and compress. Peel off the paper and sprinkle on your seasonings. I like to accentuate the beefiness and NOT take away the beef flavor so I mix kosher salt (course grained), medium mesh pepper, granulated garlic and onion, a small bit seasoning salt or ......................................................................beef gravy mix (just a dusting).

You see the patties cook like a pancake... drawing that flavor in. Oddly enough it may LOOK too thin.

I then scrap it off the griddle at a 45 degree angle. YOU NEED A TURNER FOR THIS AND THE ARMY SUPPLIED TURNER IS NOT UP TO THE TASK.

Flip it, no need to re-season... and in the case of the cheese burger, place a handful of coarse graded sharp cheddar cheese right on the burger with an ice cube or two and cover with your turkey roaster lid. I often put the bun on to steam.

Scrape up the cheese and serve. Many eat the skirt (its crunchy) or they fold it in the burger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSLTCp0Upqg&feature=youtu.be

Totally forgot the SPLASH GUARD TODAY!!!
Enjoy.

 

[pitmaster t]

Beans..... this recipe here is a natural for the MKT. I would use the roasting pans but be able to cut off TONS of time cooking the bacon and onions on the griddle. These would be cooked in the oven. I don't really need the smoke as I use a smoked Tomato Past I can add to beans, collards and stuff when I need to make a smoke flavor that is better than liquid smoke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O72OgnEr9gY

 

[rustystud]

Well I had to get it up and running today. It's nice to undo one of these MKTs when you took the time to put everything back according to the instructions. I am going to have to remove those awful travel covers as they are a bear to get rolled right and I can see myself simply doing what Sarge said on some tarpaulins.

I hope this will be a great thread for some Bulk Recipes you might want to do on the MKT. That is what I do... and until I remake all my bulk items on the MKT some of these may work for ya!

First up its my skirted Cheese burger. You will note there is a principle to even just the way I make the basic burger, ice cream scoop size 80/20 then rolled into meatballs. No salt - no nuthing. And do not compress. I used a infrared therm (Harbor Freight 35) to tune in my temps on my griddle... 450 on one side, 350 on other. But for y'all, ... 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock.


I use melted butter 2 parts butter to one part oil (olive is good).

My custom burger press is packed away somewhere so as you can see I immediately cover with a wax paper sheet and compress. Peel off the paper and sprinkle on your seasonings. I like to accentuate the beefiness and NOT take away the beef flavor so I mix kosher salt (course grained), medium mesh pepper, granulated garlic and onion, a small bit seasoning salt or ......................................................................beef gravy mix (just a dusting).

You see the patties cook like a pancake... drawing that flavor in. Oddly enough it may LOOK too thin.

I then scrap it off the griddle at a 45 degree angle. YOU NEED A TURNER FOR THIS AND THE ARMY SUPPLIED TURNER IS NOT UP TO THE TASK.

Flip it, no need to re-season... and in the case of the cheese burger, place a handful of coarse graded sharp cheddar cheese right on the burger with an ice cube or two and cover with your turkey roaster lid. I often put the bun on to steam.

Scrape up the cheese and serve. Many eat the skirt (its crunchy) or they fold it in the burger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSLTCp0Upqg&feature=youtu.be

Totally forgot the SPLASH GUARD TODAY!!!
Enjoy.

That's looks absolutely delicious !!! By the way, are you using a spackle spreader in this video ? I'm also going to be trying your bean recipe. YUUUMMMM !

 

[61sleepercab]

Thanks for the posts on cooking on the MKT trailer. I have a MKT 85 that was mostly bare with no burners or ovens. I started watching Ebay and Gl auctions for equipment and I lucked out with two brand new in the box range sets complete with all the hand tools and I have enough burners to try them out. I learned that if you have the awning up with no sides in place it makes a heck of a kite with the sides and roof poles. I am going to use nylon pull straps to connect the roof to the cat walk next time. I am ready to clean it up and try it out after July4th as I grind cornmeal at a craft fair. QUESTION: What do you use for sinks when you set up? How long will a burner run at 50% setting? I WILL SHARE RECIPES AND TIPS: Tangy Chicken cooking baste sauce.-1 gallon vinegar, 1 gallon water, 2# tub oleo butter, and 1/2 box of salt. You can baste with this and it will not burn even over direct charcoal heat. Tastes sweet/sour citrus taste and you could add herbs-----from WVU agriculture colleges cookouts . Spaghetti serving tip prepare noodles and hold cooked noodles in fresh warm water, to serve dip cooked noodles in clean boiling water in a strainer to reheat and drain and plate----tip from truck stop owner.

 

[25thIDAirAssault]

61Sleepercab,
There is a small field sink to the left of the griddle, but no running water out of a tap. Some guys use medical field sinks, or make a Field Sanitation trailer out of another MKT that is stripped. As far as the MBU and how long it will run at 50% power, it will run a long time. The longest I ever cooked on a burner was 12 and half hours. That was on one tank of fuel or 2 and half gallons of diesel, but with a friends home made additive.

Pitmaster T, those are cool video's and thanks for the tips. Food looked awesome! Looking forward to more of your demo's and recipes. Your MKT is in really nice shape from what we can see in the video. Nice trailer!

John

 

[SCSG-G4]

How long will the MBU's run? At the GA Rally we start with them full and cook 10 meals and some of them don't need a refill. However, we do refill them on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning - just-in-case. The only ones that are thirsty for fuel are the ones under the rinse and sanitize sinks (set at 1 o'clock and 10 o'clock respectively) and they get by far the most hours since cleanup takes more time than cooking. We are operating 10 burners and go through about 15 gallons of diesel for the rally (Wed supper through Sun breakfast). HTH!

 

[SCSG-G4]

Just for the sake of the great unwashed masses, the 'hotel pan' in your baked bean recipe is a 15 cm deep 1/1 GN (gastronorm) pan, just so they know what to ask for and get the correct item. I totally agree about the aluminum foil pans - they are nice to look at and cheap, but cannot hold anything that has more than a few pounds of product in them. The military went with the GN standard when they got sky high bids to make more of the Mermite cans which used proprietary stamping dies owned by the DOD. With standardized sizes, they can purchase replacement pieces from anywhere in the world and there is a much larger variety of shapes and sizes available. To learn more about GN, see > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastronorm_sizes

 

[pitmaster t]

No, They are all cooking tools. That thing you are talking about is a dough knife.

 

[pitmaster t]

As soon as I get an excuse to do it, I will reshoot the Beans video, using all the elements of the MKT. I am going through my mind all the things that are made easier due to the griddle.

 

[pitmaster t]

1. I saw your post on this and put up the screens. It actually tightened everything up I was complaining about and I can see it would hold own the canopies and poles well in an average wind.
As it turned out I am missing only ONE (one panel) 5 hook screen. And the screens I spoke of that we talked about having 15 hooks actually have only 13... so its 13, 7, and 5. I think.....I am wrong often,,,, but that is what I am counting.

2. the Chicken baste recipe - yo would be surprised how this makes sense to me. 1 gallon or water, one gallon of vinegar, #2 tub of margarine, 1/2 box of salt.... what type of salt?

3. On the spaghetts... I make a thing called Cosmic Slop--- which is really BBQ Spaghetti...pulled pork, sauce, etc. But I use a china hat, cold-precooked spaghetti, dumped for a minute into a pot of hot water.

 

[SCSG-G4]

In the corners of the roof canopies there are some triangular pieces with velcro on them, They are to secure the corners down over the walls so it is more air tight. Biggest problem in getting it all secured is having an eight foot ladder or a scaffolding so Soldier "B" can be on the outside helping to secure the velcro along the top of the wall sections. And I should have a canvas (not vinyl cloth) five hook screen section somewhere in the storage trailer - will have to dig it out and post a picture.

 

[swbradley1]

That thing you are talking about is a dough knife.

FYI That dough knife is invaluable for cutting sticky buns.

 

[61sleepercab]

1. CHICKEN DIP SALT- we were using 1/2 box of regular salt (26oz size round box) so really about 12 oz salt. We were cooking farmers so nothing fancy like smoked sea salt scraped from turtle backs. The chicken ends up with a vinegar/citrus /sweet/sour combination. We used brand new toilet bowl brushes to fling the sauce on the chicken in racks. We turned and tucked the wing tip back under the wing itself raising the wing off the breast surface to supposedly allow the breast to cook evenly. We cooked in wire mesh racks with handle rods that stuck out and rested on the pit sides on the charcoal fire. You had space at each end of the pit open and to turn you and a partner crossed your arms grabbed the handles ,flip rack over and set back down. Chicken split haves were what we cooked and bone side will stand longer cooking time before flipping. Chicken livers out of chicken box were wrapped in bacon and grilled for the grill staff. Doneness was tested by grabbing the leg bone and twist to make sure leg/thigh joint would easily turn meaning dark meat was done. This makes a good bbq chicken.

2. Bake beans add frozen pepper/onion stir fry mix and fry it for a little color and add to beans. The pepper /onion mix is prepared in strips and if you want smaller pieces smash up strips with the freezer bag unopened. Cost about $2.00 a pound bag but easier to use and cheaper than trying to buy fresh peppers and then cook them anyway.

3. ADD REGULAR TABASCO TO SAUCES, DRESSINGS, SOUP, BAKE BEANS ETC. Tabasco used to have kitchen size bottles labeled "Chef Secret" with amounts to add for a taste other than scorch your pipes, like 1 teaspoon to gallon of salad dressings etc. Tabasco.com has a food service section with great ideas and bulk recipes . I am on my third gallon cooking over the years. My mom and dad bought the first gallon as a Christmas present and was surprised when I used it up.

4. RECIPE OF THE WEEK...... WHOLE BEEF BRISKET....... Coat meat heavily in Canadian/ Montreal coarse steak seasoning, (salt cracked pepper onion garlic spice mix) Next (OPTIONAL) Sear meat on grill both sides, now Place brisket in full deep steam pan, dust with garlic salt ,seasoning salt , pour on top up to 1 cup regular Tabasco and one half bottle regular Italian oil and vinegar salad dressing, add one cup of vinegar into bottom of pan and add peppers, onions on top . Seal with foil and place in oven 225 to 250 degrees for 10-12 hours or use temperature probe if you want less than well done. DO NOT PEAK INTO,STIR,BASTE OR OTHERWISE MESS WITH PAN WHILE COOKING......LEAVE IT ALONE AND LET OVEN AND SAUCES DO THERE THING. Pull when done remove fat cap and slice thinly on longest side (across the meats grain) and hold/serve in juices with beef fat spooned off. This has been repeated and served at church functions with little left overs. Roasted carrots ,onions celery and potatoes can be added at end for pot roast or these can be added 4-6 hours before serving into main meat pan. Adjust salt if adding vegetable and dust with steak seasoning. Give it a try only downside is eating a 15 pound brisket for a week at home! Sliced brisket covered with BBQ sauce makes great Beef BBQ .

Mark I will find my mother's cold spaghetti salad mix that is a good picnic food.

 

[pitmaster t]

In the corners of the roof canopies there are some triangular pieces with velcro on them, They are to secure the corners down over the walls so it is more air tight. Biggest problem in getting it all secured is having an eight foot ladder or a scaffolding so Soldier "B" can be on the outside helping to secure the velcro along the top of the wall sections. And I should have a canvas (not vinyl cloth) five hook screen section somewhere in the storage trailer - will have to dig it out and post a picture.

I have been successful in the velcro paradox What I do is attach three or four hooks at first just to get it aligned. Then what I do is go back to the left (or I suppose the right if you are left handed) and push my hand through so I can work one, one or two foot section at a time, attach hooks then get the next section. this works well 'til you get to the end, then all you have to do is reach from the other side. I then do not need a ladder - at least for this. I think it helps take the stress off the hooks too.

I will take some pictures. of the screens I have put up. But I have canvas screens as well.

 

[pitmaster t]

YOUR ADDITIONS TO THIS TOPIC ARE STELLAR!!!!!!!!!!

1. CHICKEN DIP SALT- we were using 1/2 box of regular salt (26oz size round box) so really about 12 oz salt. We were cooking farmers so nothing fancy like smoked sea salt scraped from turtle backs. The chicken ends up with a vinegar/citrus /sweet/sour combination. We used brand new toilet bowl brushes to fling the sauce on the chicken in racks. We turned and tucked the wing tip back under the wing itself raising the wing off the breast surface to supposedly allow the breast to cook evenly. We cooked in wire mesh racks with handle rods that stuck out and rested on the pit sides on the charcoal fire. You had space at each end of the pit open and to turn you and a partner crossed your arms grabbed the handles ,flip rack over and set back down. Chicken split haves were what we cooked and bone side will stand longer cooking time before flipping. Chicken livers out of chicken box were wrapped in bacon and grilled for the grill staff. Doneness was tested by grabbing the leg bone and twist to make sure leg/thigh joint would easily turn meaning dark meat was done. This makes a good bbq chicken.

2. Bake beans add frozen pepper/onion stir fry mix and fry it for a little color and add to beans. The pepper /onion mix is prepared in strips and if you want smaller pieces smash up strips with the freezer bag unopened. Cost about $2.00 a pound bag but easier to use and cheaper than trying to buy fresh peppers and then cook them anyway.

3. ADD REGULAR TABASCO TO SAUCES, DRESSINGS, SOUP, BAKE BEANS ETC. Tabasco used to have kitchen size bottles labeled "Chef Secret" with amounts to add for a taste other than scorch your pipes, like 1 teaspoon to gallon of salad dressings etc. Tabasco.com has a food service section with great ideas and bulk recipes . I am on my third gallon cooking over the years. My mom and dad bought the first gallon as a Christmas present and was surprised when I used it up.

4. RECIPE OF THE WEEK...... WHOLE BEEF BRISKET....... Coat meat heavily in Canadian/ Montreal coarse steak seasoning, (salt cracked pepper onion garlic spice mix) Next (OPTIONAL) Sear meat on grill both sides, now Place brisket in full deep steam pan, dust with garlic salt ,seasoning salt , pour on top up to 1 cup regular Tabasco and one half bottle regular Italian oil and vinegar salad dressing, add one cup of vinegar into bottom of pan and add peppers, onions on top . Seal with foil and place in oven 225 to 250 degrees for 10-12 hours or use temperature probe if you want less than well done. DO NOT PEAK INTO,STIR,BASTE OR OTHERWISE MESS WITH PAN WHILE COOKING......LEAVE IT ALONE AND LET OVEN AND SAUCES DO THERE THING. Pull when done remove fat cap and slice thinly on longest side (across the meats grain) and hold/serve in juices with beef fat spooned off. This has been repeated and served at church functions with little left overs. Roasted carrots ,onions celery and potatoes can be added at end for pot roast or these can be added 4-6 hours before serving into main meat pan. Adjust salt if adding vegetable and dust with steak seasoning. Give it a try only downside is eating a 15 pound brisket for a week at home! Sliced brisket covered with BBQ sauce makes great Beef BBQ .

Mark I will find my mother's cold spaghetti salad mix that is a good picnic food.

Great Oven Brisket recipe there. I am famous for the revival of the Hot and Fast BBQ Style made famous by the Texas Meccas.... one of my elements is in fact something called "Dirty Dalmatian Rub" -- for folks like the Famous Bigmista - the one you see on Arby's commercial and BBQ Pitmasters - he is a long time friend and competitor. When he set up his business in Cali he made use of my rubs... then one day In called him and saw we could get Rest Depot Montreal for less than we could make the DD rub.... the rest is history!.

By the way..... a UDS should go with EVERY MKT for events..... even if you are par smoking.

Popdaddy Brisket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMVK0-aR2sA&list=PL-FMdthfYNpSrC35gdboeeEgwqGrHtt53

A UDS Smoker - mine can cook 20 plus hours without touching it.... you could leave the state and come back and the Brisket is perfect (12-13 hours).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAv7XZRXFAE&list=PL-FMdthfYNpRi1nM9wDSuG8AElI2p3Ror


There is also a PBC Cooker.... even lighter. My UDS will be getting a metallic Army Green paintjob soon.

PBC Cooker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rczuSyIRmK4&list=PL-FMdthfYNpRi1nM9wDSuG8AElI2p3Ror&index=5

 

[pitmaster t]

And forget finding choice brisket at 88 cents a pound.... this is why I am shifting to the MKT strategy. Got to make money somehow... and full BBQ biz don't cut it with the cash I like to pull in.

 

[pitmaster t]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBKzoEQS7uM&feature=youtu.be

Train on REAL steel maybe 20 years ago... I HAVE to stop dinging the **** flat top on this cast aluminum piece. I ding a nick in it every time. The Turners are the worst.

 

[SCSG-G4]

Train on REAL steel maybe 20 years ago... I HAVE to stop dinging the **** flat top on this cast aluminum piece. I ding a nick in it every time. The Turners are the worst.

It's not cast, it's rolled and welded plate aluminum. Some of them were pieced and welded right down the middle (end to end). Look carefully at the fillets on the edges and you will see it's welded. I've had both kinds, but prefer the single plate variety since it's smoother in the middle.

 

[zout]

Not meaning to hijack your thread - but as soon as I heard Velcro it brought up some memories.
For those old enough might remember this - and when it was investigated Velcro was one of the leading causes of these 3 folks to perish on a landing pad at Cape Kennedy years ago - I went to high school with Roger B Chaffee:

http://www.space.com/14379-apollo1-fire-space-capsule-safety-improvements.html

Now back to the OP thread (sorry but it brought up memories).

 

[pitmaster t]

Thanks, didn't realize that... just assumed it was because of the sides sort of roll up... but that can simply be weld and ground to look that way. In any case, it's a lot softer than steel.

After releasing the burger video, there are a lot of older locals wanting to drop by and have me make a burger for them today - mostly because they saw it and they read an article I published not long ago about were our 1940s 1950s 1960s burger joints went to and how that "taste" and technique is lost in all the fast food noise that is out there.

After that I am stripping a couple of the cubes out (that you put the burners in), one M59 range, the power converter, and storing ALL the burners here at my house....

I will take the Funkotorium (MKT) to storage for a while so my neighborhood can relax and get busy training on these stoves and griddle here at home without the whole set up. I will probably weld out a rac with wheels to cart two burners and griddle.