col klink

Nice! It's always cool to see us quoted in the traditional media.

D'oh! Too much going on, can't make it tonight. Have fun!

He's throwing out the ball for the game! Tonight or tomorrow?

Any date that works for him works for me.

Does this work for you? It does for me.

Butchering is in my family too and my grandparents are still alive. Unfortunately it was my great grandparents who did the butchering in their Polish grocery store in Detroit. They used to have chickens in the back yard and you could select the one you wanted and g'grandmama would stalk it down, clean it, dress it and you'd have your fresh chicken in the blink of an eye. If you wanted kielbasa for Easter you had to order 3 months in advance!

Sweet! I can feel the love already. edit: I wish it was Wednesday, I'll be down there already for the M's game. MsRamsey, pm mamster and he'll do it.

The texture I prefer really isn't about what I like but what's best for the meat. For smaller butts where it's really difficult to get the pulled texture, I prefer roasted otherwise you end up with dry and chewy pork. Those kielbasa of yours sound awful tasty. Did you make them yourself? I've tried making them myself with a modicum of success. Here's my last diary about it if you're interested. edit: re: brine. Basic brine recipe. Don't be fooled by folks who throw all sorts of spices and herbs in their brines, they're just wasting a lot of money. Smoking will mask out any of the subtleties they would add.

Short answer yes. However 1. Depends. If you want pulled pork then yes, but it's more of a matter of time than temperature; you need long slow cooking for the collagen and muscle fibers to break down properly. 4.5 lbs needs closer to 7 hours to hit a decent "pulled" texture. However, I get better results from larger butts between 7 and 10 lbs and smoked closer to 10 hours. With something as small as yours, you really should mop it as well because it won't contain enough total fat. 2. By all means yes, brine and brine often.. Coffee isn't bad but when I tried it it really didn't do much for me so I didn't think it was worth the effort. Molasses is good, given enough time you can get some ham flavors in there. Vinegar on the other hand doesn't add much for flavor but it detrimental to texture. I used to use vinegar all of the time but removing it from my brines I realize it gives a chewiness to the meat, almost a rubbery texture that's slight, but noticable. I've read that this can break an otherwise prize winning bbq entry. 3. The higher temperature didn't kill you here, like I said above, it was lack of time in the smoker that did it. However, that's only if you wanted pulled pork. Often times I prefer more of the "roasted" texture, something that doesn't fall apart which can still be very smokey and very juicy. For that texture though even 180 is overkill, 160 is enough to fully cook pork but 145~150 is what I like for a "roast" style pork. 4. Not really, longer time over a just lower temperature is what you want for pulled pork The dryness was because of not brining and not mopping, the non-pulled texture was because of not smoking long enough and (possibly) not a large enough cut of shoulder butt. Hopefully this will help you the next time you smoke a pork butt. BTW, those kielbasa of yours, did you buy those fresh or did you double smoke them? edit: btw, =Mark is very right, smoke first then transfer (if you have too).

Batgrrrl and I missed you guys after the show but we didn't stay too long. We basically had the zombie and then took off; I wanted a second but Batgrrrl was pretty tired. All of that moshing during the show really knocked her out.

Batgrrrl and I are looking forward to petting the fluffy kittens tonight.

Nope, I wouldn't dream of it except in one condition, the brisket has been stripped of all of its fat and it needs to keep as much moisture as possible. But usually in that instance I'm more likely to mop the brisket with something I've come up with in the kitchen using plenty of evoo mixed with vinegar and whatever I feel like (usually hot sauce and mustard).

guajolote, sorry but your images aren't coming through. I was going to suggest that possibly my pork had a "mealy" texture but I was too embarassed to admit it.

Yup, just this morning. I thought it was very tasty but Batgrrrl thought it was too tart. But isn't that what lemonade supposed to be? To keeps things on track, Shielke, have you tried the Thomas Kemper root beer? If I have, I certainly can't remember but I recall a couple of people liking it.

I just recently learned how important brining is for even pork shoulder. On Monday I did an impromptu smoking and didn't have time to brine the shoulder overnight so I just threw it on. The larger muscle masses that didn't have a lot of marbling came out dry though the smaller muscle masses with plenty of fat around them came out just fine. It was a pleasant reminder to brine every piece of pork you ever want to smoke. Congrats on your first shoulder guajolote! Don't forget, not only was the shoulder I sent you frozen, but it was also shipped across the country over three days. When you say that your shoulder had better texture, how is it better? Did your shoulder have more of a pulled texture? Or was it more like a roast? And where did you find my shoulder in that spectrum? Or was it something else?

If you're nice enough and there's enough of a bribe (hint: think gin ), Blue Heron will tell you where she and Mr. Heron like to go.

I recently received a question about brisket that I don't believe has been addressed before so I'll post about it here. Whole briskets come in sizes between 10 - 14lbs and they're considered "untrimmed." The pointy end is called the "point" and is about twice as thick as the "flat" end. Most sources will tell you to trim the excess fat and leave within 1/8" to 1/4". I however don't trim any of the fat off. If somebody doesn't want the fat, I'll let them trim it off after I smoke it because if I trim it, it'll be more likely to dry out. Most sources don't even mention the point so I assume they toss it. Me? The point is my favorite part. It's positively riddled with fat but after it's been smoked it has lost more than half it's weight leaving behind the juiciest and most tender part of the brisket. What I find deplorable is that some sources say to trim off the fat after it's been smoked. That's where all the flavor is!!! It's not like chewing on gristle but it alsmost is as soft as butter but 10 times tastier. As for the point and the flat, yes I usually do cut the brisket up. For big parties I normally don't cut it up and leave it whole, but that takes 10 to 14 hours to smoke. So most of the time I do cut it up into about 3 or 4 pieces. This way the brisket will smoke in about 6 or 7 hours and will end up being smokier. It also smokes the point more evenly and gives you more control over smoking the flat which is far leaner, allowing you to pull it off earlier.

Anyone who's tried the bacon candy wouldn't say that. Unless you're a freak like mamster or trillium.

I'm willing to bet that "curing" is nothing more than brining, which is one of the best things you can do to pork, especially the loin. The other very, very important thing they've done is to serve it medium rare. Know what else is rare? Trich in pigs, that's why you can serve it medium rare. So, did they serve it with a sauce or straight up? If straight up, that's very impressive. Unless they quick cook the loin to order that is, which sounds probable since they mentioned a shorter cooking time.

I'm in and so is Batgrrrl. The usual 11:30?

Thanks Lauren!

I'm not sure about the liquor laws for the restaurants but bringing that bottle of wine back to your car could break the open contain law here. "To comply with the federal requirements, a state's Open Container law must prohibit the possession of any open alcoholic beverage container, or the consumption of any alcoholic beverage, in the passenger area of any motor vehicle (including possession or consumption by the driver of the vehicle) located on a public highway, or the right-of-way of a public highway, in the State. The law must be enacted, in effect and enforced." from http://www.ncsl.org/statefed/ocfaq1.htm I'm not sure if Washington has added any additional requirements like California and Texas where you can't have any open alcoholic beverage anywhere in the inside of the vehicle. When I was in Texas though you could drink in the back seat. 10 years ago a cop could pull you over with a beer in hand and as long as you weren't over the limit, you were let go.

Glad I could help and welcome Matthew!

Hot dog! A&W's are pretty rampant over in Michigan and Wisconsin and I loved going there as a kid. What I particularly enjoy now about them is you can still get an ice cold glass mug of root beer. Where else can you get that? Even still I'll get one with a float every once in a while. You can get fried cheese curds out there as well.

I hit the bar menu for the first time last night and was very pleasantly surprised. My drink was the San Sebastian which is Saphire gin, brandy and capers. Before I tried it I thought it was blasphemy to mix Saphire with anything but the brandy gave it a subtle sweetness that was pretty tasty without diluting the gin too much. I can't remember what Batgrrrl ordered but it was poundable and probably had cranberry juice in it. I ordered the steak frites with cabrales butter, medium rare. I was surprised that it was a pretty decent steak but the star was the frites. Batgrrrl ordered the fried squid with a marinara sauce and a creamy garlic sauce. These were possibly the best fried calamari I've ever had but I've never really been a big fan of fried calamari. I prefer mine sauteed in bacon fat and served with cilantro and lime juice. I'm really embarassed that this was our first time for the bar menu, it's sweet! Afterwards we ordered the spanish donuts and hot chocolate dessert. The donuts came right from the frier hot and creamy. We dunked the donuts in the small hot chocolate which together made for something a little too sweet but the hot chocolate straight was perfect. Rich, dark cocoa flavors without a lot of sugar but plenty of cream. Unfortunately the dessert menu is half off during happy hour. But it was still worth it.