lancastermike

How so, Marlene? Better in the preperation or do you mean the butt itself was better?

Nice work, Bruce. I have a probe thermometer that works well. It is a redi-check but I know I did not pay 40 bucks for it. I either got a different model from the one Marlene linked to or I bought it on sale. The one modification I made to my WSM was to buy the eyelet kit from the people who sell the guru unit to allow the cable to go into the cooker without having to be pinched by the lid. It was a very easy item to install. Once I think I said that everytime one fires up the smoker there is always the chance of a pure disaster. I don't think that anymore. Smoking pork butt in the WSM is as close to a sure thing I can think of. The transmitter and the display unit pictured. I also use the plain old meat thermometer stuck in the top vent hole to give a a reading on the cooker temps. The temp at the dome is a little higher than the grate temperture.

We all know well what Susan did for E-Gullet. Tireless effort that helped keep things moving. It has been my pleasure to get to become Susan's friend and I must say her greatest contribution to EG is her ability to express her love for her family and her love for her life in such detail for all of us to see. That is why I am thrilled to hear she will be giving up her duties so we may see more of her postings about her life and her dear family. I know she will send Diana to college with pride, love and nuture dear Heidi and take Peter to the state fair and hope he won't hurl. And laugh and love and smoke pork through it all. I really cannot express here the admiation I have for Susan Fahning. She is a wonderful person

When I smoke chicken I do like a short time in the brine and I prefer the bird spatchcocked. Depending on the size of the chicken it won't take long. Temperture of the cooker can go between 225 and 325. There is no real benefit to a real long slow cook. The bird does not have all that connective tissue that needs converted as does the pork. Sauce is always best served on the side. Rubs are a good option for flavor.

If one can locate Pikesville rye I would reccomend it as a good alternative to the Rittenhouse. I can't get it in PA but can in Maryland. I was once told the Pikesville is ONLY distributed in Maryland, but that I cannot confirm. Of the ryes I have had, I find the Pikesville to be my favorite with a spiciness some others seem to lack

We were in Baltimore the other week and ate at Pazo. The food was very good. We ate tapas and a pizza. Tapas were not of the same quality we had at Amada in Philadelphia, but the food was very good. As to the scene. Pazo is clearly the place for lots of hip people to be hanging out at. It is big, and loud. We are gatting to old to worry about hip, but if the stylers and the noise don't bother you the food itseldf is really good. Nice selection of mostly Spanish wines that are mostly overpriced. I did with trepidation order an espresso. I have found that almost every single place I order a shot in turns out to be wretched. However, the espresso shot these guys pulled was very good.

I echo the merits of the WSM for overnight smoking. Get it going and stable and snnoze away. The WSM will do a wonderful job. Have done it many times and it takes the worry out of having the butt done in time to eat. Start it at 9PM and at 9AM you already got 12 hours in. Even if you need another 4 or more still plenty of time till you need to eat.

We were at the game Friday night and it was a thrill to see Jason Werth hit three home runs. Not as thrilling was the food. We arrived early and due to the rain batting practice was canceled. So, we went into McFaddens. Beer in plastic cups? And the food was, to my taste, worse than what you can get in the park. I had a hamburger that clearly was pre-cooked and it was dry. Fries were also pre done and held under a lamp. The staff was trained by vultures as they kept trying to clear stuff long before we were done. I know they need to turn those tables but give me a chance to eat first please. Well, at least we were dry.

Should've given me a shout-out, Mike! You know I'm always up for wings, and Moriarty's has three floors open on weekends now. ← we ended up at Moriarty's after the game to dry out and warm up. Soup and desert and coffee. I was driving so I had nothing stronger

Echoing Katie we are coming to town for the Phillies game Friday and we usually like to stay over and also eat some nice food. This year due to the Penn graduations there is not a room to be found in town and everybody is booked at the places we wanted to eat. Looks like a night of Schmitters and a late night drive home this time

I buy and drink raw milk from a local farm here in Lancaster County. They have license to sell it and run a very clean operation. It is for sale at other places that I would NEVER buy it from. Regulation can be a bad thing, but when the public health is at stake, I do not oppose it. Others may differ, but I think the PA dept of Agriculture tries to be fair in this matter. As Bob says sale of raw milk is outright banned in several states

Article regarding new wine advisory panel at the LCB. I think we all here should contact Stapelton to urge him to appoint Katie Loeb to this group. LCB wine panel

Talked with a few of my OB connections and nobody has been there recently. All I know is the place had a real big ticket. Maybe things changed for the better. Perhaps someone else can give you some updated beta.

One word: Oreos I NEVER buy them anymore. But, dear lord I can eat them, Please don't let me have any! Someone stop me.

This does not compare with some of the very inventive creations posted here. I won't suggest that I was the first to try this, but I made it last night for sipping on the patio after work 2oz mae de ouro cachaca 1oz St Germaine Elderflower 1oz fresh lime juice. shaken with ice and served in a salt rimmed glass with a lime garnish. This came together very nicely. Just a margriata variation, but quite tasty and refreshing.

I believe that's how it works for a straight SLO order. The SLO stock is part of the distributor's inventory rather than the Commonwealth's inventory. The LCB merely acts as the middleman for collection of shipping charges and steep taxes, and as the "end retailer" to the consumer. ← I have one to pick up now at my local store and I'll ask Paddy, the manager, when I stop for it. I have done a fair amount of SLO ordering and I am not 100% sure of the answer to this. My suspision is, like always, Katie is correct. However, i'll stop for it in the next day or so and get confrimation ← I picked up my order and Paddy confirmed to me that SLO items are shipped directly to the store. This only proves what I suggested above, that when it comes to alcohol information, Katie is indeed omnipotent. I asked him about the availability of the St. Gemaine Elderflower liqueur, much discussed here: St.Germain and he informed me it is a SLO item. The bad news is the distributor has a six bottle minimum to ship it. I have found this to be true with other items I wanted to SLO, for instance the Rittenhouse bonded rye, has a minimum of a full case for the distributor to ship. ← Update to an update. I got home from work last night and had a call from Paddy infoming me the St Gemain will now be stocked in the stores. He had just gotten some and wanted to know if he should hold it for me. I called him back and asked him please to hold me a couple of bottles. I will leave it to others to decide if the store manager knowing my name and number and calling me about this item is a sign of good customer service or a sign that i spend too much time in the liquor store.

Way to go Chris. A wonderful blog. Pennsylvania produces great blogs. Chris, Katie, Sandy, Lori have been great PA bloggers. And I was happy to share one with Marlene and Susan. However, we need more from PA. Fellow PA EG posters please contact the head blogger, Susan, and offer your services. Chris set a high bar, but there are lots of stories out there to be told

Having blogged I agree that you may be scaring potential bloggers off. What a herculean effort this is. If this a normal week, I believe I want to move in with you. In the sausage photos did I see pink salt? Even though you hot smoked? How much did you use?

I believe that's how it works for a straight SLO order. The SLO stock is part of the distributor's inventory rather than the Commonwealth's inventory. The LCB merely acts as the middleman for collection of shipping charges and steep taxes, and as the "end retailer" to the consumer. ← I have one to pick up now at my local store and I'll ask Paddy, the manager, when I stop for it. I have done a fair amount of SLO ordering and I am not 100% sure of the answer to this. My suspision is, like always, Katie is correct. However, i'll stop for it in the next day or so and get confrimation ← I picked up my order and Paddy confirmed to me that SLO items are shipped directly to the store. This only proves what I suggested above, that when it comes to alcohol information, Katie is indeed omnipotent. I asked him about the availability of the St. Gemaine Elderflower liqueur, much discussed here: St.Germain and he informed me it is a SLO item. The bad news is the distributor has a six bottle minimum to ship it. I have found this to be true with other items I wanted to SLO, for instance the Rittenhouse bonded rye, has a minimum of a full case for the distributor to ship.

Dude, You are one organized man. Even your spices are neat. My kitchen was, and never will be, that in shape. We do have the same brand of baking powder. Great blog, Chris, great blog.

I believe that's how it works for a straight SLO order. The SLO stock is part of the distributor's inventory rather than the Commonwealth's inventory. The LCB merely acts as the middleman for collection of shipping charges and steep taxes, and as the "end retailer" to the consumer. ← I have one to pick up now at my local store and I'll ask Paddy, the manager, when I stop for it. I have done a fair amount of SLO ordering and I am not 100% sure of the answer to this. My suspision is, like always, Katie is correct. However, i'll stop for it in the next day or so and get confrimation

Story in NY Times about aged Cachaca. Cachaca in NY TIMES

Maybe at some places, but they would have to have a supernaturally fast grill man in the back to get me the sticky as fast as they did this morning. Do you recall the texture when you had one? The one this morning could easily have been microwaved, it had no crispness to it at all, like I would expect from grilling. It's fun taking input from everyone here about things they want me to eat this week: keep the suggestions coming! I may complain about it, but I'll try to do it! ← Here in Lancaster a grilled sticky bun is a diner item as well. And it is sliced in half and grilled on the flat top with butter. A good grill guy will get it nice and crunchy and brown on the outside while still being soft and sweet in the middle. I must say that I have never seen them served with ice cream here. Oklahoma City will be much different than State College. I hope in good ways. If you mentioned this forgive me for asking. Are you from PA or did you just arrive at State College for grad school?

I was once a bouncer in my youth. I still have some battered and arthritic fingers to show for my efforts. I worked with some individuals who really were just sort of lunacy. Some of my co-workers just lived for the action and the danger and really wanted to fight and put a hurting on people. I would mostly give a little wider berth but when all hell broke loose I was in there punching, wrestling and kicking just like the rest of them. This was in the days well before HIV and other blood borne pathogens were known. Lots of blood was shed and much of it ended up all over us. We worked a a place that had swinging doors into a foyer and than another set going out to the parking lot. We had a move we called the torpedo. Several of us would grap the miscreant as best we could and use them to slam open both sets of doors and toss them into the lot. Not the kind of thing I should be bragging about but in my crazed state of those days it did happen. I could tell much worse stories of events gone by that would make some gasp. I think I'll refrain from doing so I too took some real ass whupings in these events. But generally we knew that was the cost of doing business. These days with the average tough guy much more likely to packing a gun or knife or other weapon I can't imagine doing the things we did. Toby, your story sent me down memory lane, but I am very glad to have those days behind me.

Happy to see a fellow PA resident blogging. Have fun this week Chris. Pork is wonderful stuff I just smoked up a big hunk o pork on Sunday. Unlike lots of folks I am not a Penn State guy. I went to Millersville, but enjoy visiting State College to watch the old guy's boys try to play in the Big 10. I m looking forward to following along.