snowangel

Abra, one of the reasons I like my big old ugly yellow/gold Tupperware bowls is that I can use plastic wrap and press the diced meat mixture (as well as the mixture once it's been ground) around the sides of the bowl, stick it in the freezer, so that the meat is uniformly cold without some of it being frozen and some of it being just a bit cold. My instant read indicated I was at about 32 when I bound the stuff, but it wasn't frozen. Just hand-numbingly cold. And, as I've saud somewhere uptopic, the advice about 150 (for red meat) or 160 (for poultry) sausage temp when cooked is worth the price of the book alone.

I was just about ready to head to bed and I realized that there was yet one more task before I could smoke bacon over apple tomorrow. I have a great source of applewood. One of my best friend's family owns an apple orchard. But, what I get isn't split. Hand hits forehead. Need to split applewood. Not all of bacon making happens in the kitchen or on the trusty Kettle. A trip to the garage is necessary (we are lucky to have a double deep garage, so we can keep our cars in the garage, but have this extra garage on the backside -- insulated and with heat!) for a woodworking shop and general storage area). First up, sharpen the axe. Power tools rock. Then, Pipes (Diana, who is lettering in weight training) does her thing: Keeps kids off the street and off drugs. Bacon tomorrow!

Yes, pizza on the grill would be worth it, especially now that I have the damper/vent control. It would help if it wasn't gale force wind. I have learned a lot about this from my co-bloggers. Remove crust to top it. Remove crust to top it.

Back to the saga of my pan. I did the baking soda and water thing. I would have worked much better had I not started to mow the pan and the pan boiled dry. But, it did get that mass of crud off. I just now have some other stuff to deal with, and stuff that Bar Keeper's Friend should easily take off.

Absolutely stunning. I think I need to crank things up a notch so I can serve platters like this at the cabin and don't have to cook up there. Just call me a lightweight.

Abra, don't quote me on this, but I just make chicken sausages (again). Although I haven't cooked any of the stuffed sausages, one did burst during the twisting, so I had to suffer and cook it up for breakfast. It does not seem crumbly, but just as sausage should be. This is what it looked like just after I paddled it. The verdict will be in tomorrow night when I grill some of them. But, although I was not careful at all to keep things frigid while I cut up the meat, the meat was very cold when I ground and bound it (like just about freezing). And, it needed just over a minute to get to the point at which I photoed it. I also ended up adding a bit of water, even after the rest of the liquids. Llike I said, the verdict will be in tomorrow night. I will, as I've been wont to do, keep a close eye on the internal temp of the sausages. It just makes a big difference.

I want cake. Now. You really need to start delivering, Marlene.

One pork butt (bone in, skin on, almost 9 lbs): US$9.00 Charcoal: US$2.00 (estimated) Wood chunks: US$1.00 (estimated) Water for soaking chunks: who knows and who cares? Having teenage daughter excited about getting her hands on that butt and helping pull it by hand?: Priceless. Eating the pork?: Priceless. Sorry for the crumby photos. It was just too alluring to mess around with the camera and make sure the photos were right. Nice smoke ring. Oh, and as Paul will say later tonight: crawling in bed with a smoke infused wife of some 25 years: beyond priceless. Although I had potato salad, no one ate anything but pork on buns with sauce. Why waste precious stomach space on veg?

I kinda feel like I can do better on the stone, but I will try this again, but in less than gale-force winds. In the woulda, shoulda, coulda department, I wish I'd removed the crusts to top them. And, trust me, hotter isn't necessarily better! I had way too much char. Clearly, grilled pizza is a huge learning curve, isn't it?

Some most curious and puzzling butt news over here. Please chime in on the science of this!

Nancy, the temp on the Kettle did not drop. All I can think is that there is something with the collagen melting. Who knows. But, further to this, I'll be damned. This is the oddest thing I've ever seen. The first photo is when the butt was at 160 and stalled. See, the skin covers the top of the butt, right? So, I checked it a few minutes ago (and about 50 dandelions ago), and look see! Although the temp is up to 180 again, the skin just broke loose and shrunk. The thing is off the Kettle and in the oven (with the light on and foiled) for a bit. This is so strange. I've never had the skin just break loose and do a serious shrink on me. Oh, well. The bone wasn't really wiggling, but the fork test said "remove me." The fork test also told me that this butt might have an odd and big bone. Truth will be told in a bit.

The temp on my butt has DROPPED. It was 180, and is now 170. I goosed the fire up to 250. I just might goose it up a little more. It's like I'm learning a new grill/smoker.

Oy. The unloading the dishwasher. And, the getting the family to realize that it sure doesn't take much more effort to open the door and deposit glass than it does to just set the glass on the top of the dishwasher. Burn those extra calories, kids and husband! I'm not doing anything else for dinner except serving potato salad (made on Saturday) and tossing a salad. I'm ready for the butt to be done.

My butt passed the 160 mark, but has been at 180 for a long time. The bone is still not wiggling, so I've goosed up the fire, so it goes just above 250. I've held steady at 200-225 easily all day and I'm really proud of that.

Vodka tonic with a ton of lime here. The lawn is mowed, I'm off to weed. And check my butt.

My butt is at 180, but I'm not getting the right wiggle from the bone. So, I'll finish haying. In the meantime, I think I deserve a cocktail or a beer!

Marlene, thanks for the reminder that I need to think of food for this weekend at the cabin. Hmmm. I'll have butt. I've got sausages. I've got bacon. Time to delegate to the other family who will join us. Marlene, I know you've urged me to just get a new Kettle. The performance on this old one is just perfect now. The bottom vents are nice and tight, and the top ones are still nice and loose, so I can smoke at lower temps than ever before. I think I'm the Kettle Queen! I'm out of BBQ sauce (=Mark's South Carolina Mustard BBQ sauce). Better get the teen going on it while I finish haying the back yard. This is the toughest mow I've ever done. The grass is way long, and I realized that if I bagged the stuff for compost, it would have taken me all night. Makes me think I just might need to go and buy a new lawn mower. The butt is at 170, coming out of the stall. Time to finish haying, then get the butt off and foil it.

The salmon was actually very wonderful. By the time I posted, I was absolutely exhausted (having unloaded the dishwasher three times in one day). It was moist, and Paul took it off at just the right moment. I chose not to season it at all, other than some cracked black pepper, and served lemon wedges and a great tartar sauce (from Fine Cooking) on the side. Cooking it on the plank over indirect heat is the way I will go with salmon and other fish in the future (other than sunnies, which I will continue to fry!). Petite, do pull out the Weber. Like I've said above, mine is 25 years old, and with a new part of two, is better than ever. Let me know if you need smoking details. It's far easier than anybody would let on. Nancy, do become a Charcuterie person. This is one of the most addictive "sports" there is. Now, I do warn you. You will need to devote a portion of the freezer to this. There's the freezing of the bowl. The grinder attachment for the KA (which lives in the freezer, nowadays), the space for the back fat. But, geez, the results are...no words to describe. My butt is about to come out of the stall. Weber holding steady between 200 and 225. I don't need a bullet. I've got this Kettle nailed.

I think that charcuterie and smoking meat are just about top 2 in my list of 20 cooking skills.

Beautiful cake, Marlene! Do you deliver?

I've ordered from Amazon for part of my Mother's Day present. Charcuterie and Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions. I'm also getting a climbing hydrangea, but I won't get that until next weekend.

As I got the mower out, the skies opened up. It is raining. I need to mow. The grass is way too long. My butt is stalled (in more ways than one!).

My bacon is out of the cure. It was cured in a mixture of salt, dark brown sugar and pink salt. Into a zip lock (each half in it's own zip lock) for a week. The bags are flipped over every other day. Then out of the zip locks, rinsed, pattied dry and sitting on racks on baking sheets in the fridge overnight, so it gets a sort of sticky surface. The two hardest parts about making bacon are finding the 2 gallon ziplock bags and making space in the fridge -- 2 shelves worth of precious fridge real estate. The sun is shining! So, I think I'll go out and hay the yard.

Butt after 3 hours It's at 140 and the trusty old Kettle is running between 200 and 225, and I could get it lower if I want. I am absolutely thrilled with my new vents. This thing is requiring far less tending. In fact, there's no reason I couldn't get it going and monitor it for a bit and then go out for a while! Happy dance!

When I twisted the sausages last night, one split. So, it meant I had to "force" myself to fry it up in patties for today's breakfast/lunch. Mighty tasty. This is only the third batch of sausage I've ever made, and I was much more careful about keeping things cold for the grind and bind, and it sure paid off. Not crumbly at all. Absolutely outstanding. Sausage making is fun and rewarding, and what's especially neat is that I control what goes into them. I had made these sausages before, and this time I was able to adjust for salt and the other stuff that went in them. A little less salt, a bit more basil and more sun-dried tomatoes.