lancastermike

Last week my wife and I went to the Baltimore Museum of Art and than ate at Gertrudes. I agree with the pricey part, however both our food, and in particular the service, were very nice. I had a rockfish with crab imperial and the crab was real as was the fish and both were well made. I agree there are lots of better restaurants in Charm City, but Gertrudes was fine with us. My cocktail, a perfect Manhattan, was also cold and well made.

As Rocket J. Squirrel said to Bullwinkle the Moose. Brooks, Glad you still have your sense of humor. It does look pretty tasty as well.

I too hope your wife can get better. Just one year ago I remember talking with my dear sister Chris as she prepared for her surgery. She was so excited about the new life they had promised to her. She had bought all the medicine, all the protein shakes gone to all the classes, met people on a web site. Some of my familywas not happy with her for going forward with the surgery. I supported her because I knew how much it meant to her. She had the surgery on Oct 4 and died in the hospital two days later for reasons still not clear to me. The surgeon never once in the past year had the decency to talk to me, my brothers and sister and most heartbreakingly, my mother, who has never gotten over losing Chris. I would not advise against it if you feel it is right for you. Just please be careful and have the procedure done at a large teaching hospital were you will receive good care

One of the joys of living here is Martin's potato rolls. I had a tomato and swiss cheese sandwich on a Martin's roll for today's lunch. Another great central PA specialty, sweet Lebanon bologna goes great on martin's rolls. When I smoke pork butt and have folks over I get Martin's rolls for those who want a sandwich.

The esteemed Mr. Perlow is 100% correct. If you go to a real BBQ place you are most likely getting two slices of white bread. Soft and squishy is authentic. And Varmit is right not buns at all for real Q

Mixed this last night and found it to be very nice, a modified Fancy free 2oz borboun 1/2 oz Luxardo Maraschino a dash of both orange and Angustouro bitters AND a splash of homemade Limoncello. The limoncello added a real citrus taste to this. I did not find it overly sweet, but some may. In any case it was pretty darn good

Wonderful blog, thanks very much for all the hard work to let us see Maine

About how long should I plan to smoke this turkey? Any advice per pound? Also, given that you pull the breasts out earlier than the dark meat, how do you keep it warm for service? Or do you rehea it? Thanks, Ian ← A turkey does not have a stall like a butt or a brisket. There is no tough connective tissues to break down. Here is something I learned on the Virtual Bullet site when somone asked how long till it was done. The reply it is done when it is done. Very true, use a thermometer. The one smoking gadget I have obtained is a remote probe thermometer. Turkey is not an all day deal like butt and brisket. Perhaps three or four hours, but as all smokers know, conditions vary.

I smoke spatchcocked chickens all the time, it is my favorite way to do chicken. Not sure if a spatchcocked turkey would fit on my WSM, but if you have a cooker large enough to do it I am sure it would be great

My wife has taken a shine to the vanilla flavored vodkas now available. Anyone make their own? Just a couple of beans in a bottle of vodka or is there more to it than that. Any help for a potential infuser? Is that a word? I have made limoncello and we love that.

Hey Ian, Don't make your thanksgiving turkey your first one. You should have at least one practice smoke before the pressure of making it for Thanksgiving arrives

I used apple wood to smoke my turkey, for poultry of any kind a fruit wood is better than hickory or oak. Many people smoke turkey with cherry wood. I save my hickory and oak for pork and beef. I would avoid mesquite at all cost for poultry and I am not crazy about it for pork either

Just a few weeks ago I smoked a turkey at the request of my wife who got sick of an endless supply of smoked butt and spareribs that my WSM has been spewing out all summer. It was brined for at least 12 hours and I used apple juice and salt with no additional sugar. I took the advice on the Virtual Bullet site and smoked it at 325 or so instead of my usualt 225 for pork. Although it came out great, if not for the brine I fear it would have been overcooked and undersmoked. Next time I will go back to low and slow. Linda and Susan may consider smoking to be the work of women, however I think men can do it to. At least ones like me who do not have to poke, prod, fidget with the meat. Just let it go, and let the smoke do its magic. I did butt this weekend, pictures on the butt thread, and I went to the hardware store, took my mother to a viewing of her deceased friend, walked the dog and watched the ball game while my butt smoked. I understand that I had almost nothing to do with it. Just let it go. Do the turkey Susan. You will love it. Brine away, it makes it wonderful.

Here is the final result, a big pile of pulled pork, all smoky and wonderful. A nice day and a nice smoke. We won't be able to finish all of this so some will be given away to some lucky friends. Arlo may even get a piece or two if he is a good dog.

Here they are a full twelve and one half hours after they started, the WSM is still holding at 250. They are now resting in foil, prior to being pulled.

I think Arlo's protecting what he feels is HIS butt! How long will the butts be smoking in total? I'll live vicariously through your smoking this time ... I'm away for two weeks of vacation next week and there's no room for the smoker A. ← They have now been on for 5 and one half hours and temp is right at 170 in the famous "plateau" Hard to ssay how much longer as each smoke is different. However I was thinking about 12 hours or a little more total. This also depends on wether or not I use the foil to help things along.

Not sure about Georgia, put in Pennsylvania and food prepared on premisis means your kitchen needs to be approved and inspected by the state. I would check into this before you do anything. Many of the ideas folks have mentioned would not pass inspection here in PA

That is one impressive bunch of meat. What wood are you using for your smoke? The cooker is gas fired?

Was at Costco yesterday and bought a cyro package of boneless pork shoulder. Two pieces, total weight 18 lbs. as ususal one a little bigger than the other. Fired the WSM using the minion method with Kingsford and hickory and apple chunks. It was foggy this morning at daybreak when I started. Temp at 225 and holding. One on top rack one on bottom rack, this is about one hour in remote temperture transmitter on table picture of Arlo the Dog, assistant to the smoke, he has the proper idea of what to do when the butt is smoking After 3 and a half hours internal temp has reached 144. That stall will arrive soon and do not expect these to finish much before 7pm. More pics to follow

I have posted this before but Tim is now working in the wilderness of Lancaster at the "Taste" at the Hotel Brunswick. That's a good piece of information, and a real gain for Lancaster; have you checked out what he's been up to there? ← They have only been open a couple of weeks and are only open on weekends right now, I am planning to get in and will report back when I do

I have posted this before but Tim is now working in the wilderness of Lancaster at the "Taste" at the Hotel Brunswick.

The end was reached before I understood one word of it. It is my regret I have not achieved the level of consciousness needed to relate to this. My education in food and life have clearly been deficient at some point. Pehaps if Akwa blogs in the future I will have advanced to a level of understanding. However, I doubt it. Instead of Mozart I am going to listen to a Kinky Freidman CD. Him I understand.

I would bet you were looking at the same stuff entered twice. I had a similar experience just this past week. On Friday last we checked the inventory looking for Luxardo maraschino. One place it is listed as an "imported cordial" and is listed as SLO. Under the "imported specialities" it shows as speciality. Each a different code, each a different price. We thought we would have to SLO it. Instead we bought two bottles at the store on Ridge pike. It seems it may simply be once something gets in one way it stays that way and can than be entered another. Someone someplace may SLO something because it is not in a store near them even though it may show up somewere else as a speciality.

I had two bourbons after work. It STILL makes no sense to me. Maybe I need a kit-kat to understand him

I was thinking the same thing. I believe this may be a little to inside for us commoners