Is anybody smoking any meat this weekend?


 
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Sure is mighty quiet around here. It's raining, so I don't guess I will be firing up the smoker. I'll have to take out some spares from the freezer that have already been smoked and vacuum-sealed. It's the next best thing anyway.
 
WOW!! Let me tell you how my cook is going so far.......

Cooking 2, 12 lb. full briskets for party tonite at 6pm. Started last night at 10pm in balmy 65? weather with steady breezes. The WSM stabilized at 220? and was holding steady at midnight.

I went to bed. Awoke at 6am to pouring rain and the breezes had turned to 40 mph winds. Needless to say, the cooker had dropped to 155?.....for how long? Who knows?

THEN...everything went downhill. It dropped to 28? in a matter of hours, the winds have INCREASED to 60 mph gusts and there are snowflakes in the air.

All my patio furniture has taken a "waltz through the neighborhood", my Weber gasser has been blown off it's wheel and right off the deck into several parts sprawled around the lawn, I have chased my wood tarp clear to the pond and then had to drag it back..against the wind and snow!!

I tried fighting the good battle, but I was losing. The meat temp after 15 hours was only 161?...My pit temps were all over the map...mostly on the low end....much too long under 220?.

OK, so I got several guests coming to eat at 6pm...kids and everything......which means we gotta eat at 6pm. So I foiled, lit off one last FULL chimney and stoked the little guy up one last time. Waiting for the results.

I WILL NOT USE MY OVEN...has become the battle cry! I might just make it.

So...that is how my cook has gone..........
 
Hey Stogie,
Sorry to hear about your weather situation. Maybe you could add some lump or just extra charcoal briquettes and cook the last couple hours or so at around maybe 275 to make up for lost time. I would think it would be ok since you have them in foil.

Yeah, that lightweight patio furniture can be something when the winds get going real good. Usually around here it is our trash cans & lids plus lots of falling branches.

Good luck buddy, hope everything turns out ok for you and your guests.
 
Stogie,
Hang in there bud. Sounds like it really took a turn for the worst. I got the lawn raked and mowed this afternoon. Your a trooper, don't you dare put that thing in no gasser.

Jim
 
I WIN!!!!!!!

Finally got my little WSM chugging at 277?! Just what we needed. Meat is done and resting and the oven hasn't been touched!! I "flaunt my private parts into the wind"...that's supposed to be from Monty Python! LOL

Just heard the door bell!

SHOWWW TIME!!
 
WAY TO GO KEVIN!!!!

Rocky, I too have previous cooks thawing in their vacuum bags.... cold, windy, rainy here - not smoking weather and I'm bummed about that.

On a brighter note, my best friend is Greek and she taught me how to make her grandmother's Baklava -- I'm going to make up a batch tomorrow. At least I can have SOME cooking fun during this awful weather.

Kel
 
Hi,

Today I am finishing up the best ribs and a butt roast on my smoker. I was using the Carson method (baste from the beginning and frequently afterwards with barbecuse sauce)but have reverted back to the previous method I used.

I found the best mustard that I rub on pork, it is French's Sweet Onion Mustard. It is fantastic!

I then make a rub with onion powder, garlic powder, allspice, pepper, celery salt, paprika and just a little brown sugar (the onion and garlic powder has a sweet flavor to it). I rub the meat with the seasoning rub after having rubbed the mustard on ribs and the pork butt. The rub sticks nicely to the meat after having the mustard on it.

I baste the ribs and butt after 2 hours with JD Dundee's Honey Brown beer and a little vegetable oil.

Only when the ribs internal temperature reach 180F do I then baste the ribs with a barbecue sauce and let it sit on the smoker for another 30 minutes and then take it off the smoker.

When I want to slice the pork butt I take it off at 180-185F, if I want to pull it I take it off at 190F or greater.

I also made barbecue beans on the smoker in aluminum pans and also cut up veggies and put them in another aluminum pan with a drizzle of olive oil and topped with parmesan cheese.

I made a very nice cole slaw (I like it with a little taste of onion).

The ribs today were as perfect as the weather here in Daytona Beach...right at 70F and sunny with a slight breeze. Absolutely perfect! Life is good!

Take care,
PrestonD
 
Jeff, here ya go -- straight from Oly's e-mail. BTW, her name is Olympia Zopolos -- can you get any more Greek? Tip with this recipe; don't overlook any seemingly small details. Learning to make Oly's grandma's Baklava will always be a very fond memory.
________

Olympia's Grandmothers way of Baklava:

7 Cups ground walnuts
1/2 C sugar
1 LB butter
1 LB filo (dough) in the frozen food section of the grocery store- Athena brand is the best.
1 tbsp lemon peel
1 tbsp orange peel
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Whole cloves.
The above ingredients were put into measurement for you I always just use by sight how much more or less depends on your personal taste.

To ground walnuts add sugar, lemon peel, orange peel & nutmeg mix throughly & set aside. Melt butter, draw salt or buy unsalted butter works the same, saves one step. (remember when I showed you the first time how to make Baklava and I thought you weren't listening and you repeated the steps back to me, that was so incredible) anyway Line baking pan 10 x 15 with sheelt of
filo after buttering pan. Brush filo with melted butter & repeat this until you have 7 sheets of filo. Sprinkle a third of the nut mixture & repeat steps again with three or four layers of filo. Then add another third of the nut mixture & repeat. buttering each one until all used up. Cut the baklava into diamond shapes then insert a whole clove on the top of each diamond. Bake 300 degree oven or about 1 hour until golden on top .

While baklava is baking prepare syrup. When baklava is ready pour syrup over baklava. WHen all the syrup ( I usually don't use up all the syrup it makes it too mushy just until all is gentle blessed or saturated and then cut through once more to remove and put in paper cups. It is best to pour cool syrup over hot baklava.

Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 LB honey
touch of lemon juice and touch of brandy or Bourbon which ever you prefer (secret ingredient of mine).

(Edited by Chris Allingham to correct erroneous measurements in recipe)
 
You're welcome, Jeff. Please do let me know how it turns out! Thank you for posting it on your forum, and for giving proper credit. /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif

Kelly
 
Hey Stogie, those are the reasons my husband stays up all night watching the cooker. He is always afraid of what can happen will happen.
The other half of the cooking team will be cooking this Wed. He is cooking about 160 butts. We will not be smoking anything for a couple of weeks, got all the cookers cleaned up, packed getting ready for the first cookoff of the year, next weekend.
 
Hey Raine!

Good luck this weekend in the cookoff!

If I had not committed to this party several weeks earlier and had my meat thawed and ready, I would have never attempted to cook, especially an overnighter.

Oh well, it came out very good. I doubt I would have won any ribbons but all enjoyed nonetheless.
 
Kelly, thank you for posting this Baklava recipe. Baklava was always a childhood favorite around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. A friends mother - a full-blooded Turk - would make pan upon pan of the stuff. Every time I find a place that makes it, I buy a piece but have yet to find any as good as hers. And I never got the recipe from her before she passed away.

I do have a question, however. In the recipe you posted it calls for "1/4 Nutmeg" and "s cups sugar". Is that supposed to be "1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg" and "six cups sugar"?

Thanks for your help!!

Peace. Out.

Alan Bosch
 
Alan,

Jogging my memory... yes, 1/4 tsp nutmeg (I only use fresh grated nutmeg). I believe it should be two cups of sugar with one cup water, but I will certainly double check that with Oly.

Kelly
 
The other half of the cooking team cooked 1500 lbs. of bbq this past weekend.
 
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