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Please do give us the recipe if it is not copyrighted. And consider putting it into RecipeGullet. There was a recipe linked some time ago that was a simple pasta recipe with mint and parmesan that was billed as one of those things that is much better than it sounds. This one sounds similar. There were many raves about that one. I haven't tried it yet. For some reason, we are having trouble getting mint established in my sister's garden. (Having googled eGullet, it looks like it was in the NY Times Digest. That thing is just too long for me to scroll through and find the hit. If anyone knows where it is, please chime in. It appears to be in the same "family" as this one.)

Thanks! Good point about the fat side. I hadn't thought about that. Hmmm. When I get ready to slash & sauce I'll take a good look. If it looks like I'm losing too much fat I'll slash the fat side and put it on top again. If it still looks pretty healthy, I'll keep the fat side down and slash the underside. The underside had plenty of fat, too. Chad Whoo boy... Who knew that the topic of slashing a butt could get so complicated. Now I am conflicted. Edit to add: Well, that does clear up what Villas does.

Most of us scientific types don't really believe in "vitality". We think that what we derive from the food is nutrients -- and that these can de divided into various macronutrients, micronutrients etc. There is a lot of evidence though that caffeine and alcohol affect fertitility. However there is some evidence that caffeine improves male fertility, so you might want to allow yourself to cheat on this (at the appropriate times ). Good luck though Moby and my suggestions are cheese soufflee fish 'n' chips cassoulet (maybe in a few months) as well as any of the other family of pork + beans/pulses dishes like cotechino and lentils. grilled vegetables and mozzarella You can also cook pretty much all of Thai food with those restrictions; except for getting some of the organic vegetables. Roger that, balex. Ironically, a lot of the things that are written, and believed, by the general public is just plain wrong. Fortunately, most of the folks reading that stuff are not on marginal diets so no harm is done. But when you get extreme, harm can be done, and indeed, has been done. A few examples: Whole grain versus "refined" (e.g. white versus whole wheat): As it turns out, the ancient assumption that whiter=better is indeed true. If you analyze what is in whole grain flour, you will find higher minerals and other nutrients. However, it doesn't work out that way in the human gut. Certain components of the whole grain tie up other nutrients and make them unavailable for absorption. Also, the higher fiber "moves things through" the gut faster. There have been outbreaks of rickets and other nutritional diseases (Ireland, Iran, Egypt, other parts of Africa) where marginal diets were heavily dependent on whole grains. The same thing happens with corn. Too much untreated corn in the diet and you get pelegra. Corn that is processed (oh the horror) with lye (pozole) releases those nutrients for absorption. The ancient americans were not dummies. Raw vegetables are good for you: Well, like everything else, in moderation. The same availability of nutrients issue raises its head again. Low digestibility and added fiber don't allow for optimum absorption of what is there. Then the veggies can throw us another curve. They have evolved wicked chemical weapons to keep us from eating them. That was their choice since they can't run away. These compounds fall into the categories of nutrition blockers (e.g.spinach--oxalic acid ties up the calcium and iron that spinach is so famous for), toxins, mutagens, and carcinogens. I don't think that learning how to cook was coincidental to the success of the human race. Low fat = good: Again, another one of those things that if taken to the extreme is harmful. Some fat is required in the diet to facilitate absorption of the fat soluble vitamins. Up until about the age of four, the human body requires a high fat diet for optimal developement of brain and nerve tissue. We don't really know how much damage has been done by misguided mothers insisting on a low fat diet for the kiddies because they have a horror of having a chubby kid. It makes me wonder if there is an increase in learning and behaviour problems and, if true, can be linked to low fat consumption early in life. (With thanks to McGee, Steingarten, and Wolke who have done the hard slogging legwork through all of the scientific literature and presented the information in a palatable form.) Sorry for the rant. I just can't stand it. All of that being said, these extremes short term probably won't hurt any of us since we are incredibly well fed otherwise. My observation is that if you think you feel better, you do.

That is looking excellent. Does the Minion method seem to work out ok with this set-up? I agree that wind can wreak havoc with temperature control. I remember that from doing the same thing on the kettle. You also have a larger surface area to volume ratio that works against you. On my WSM, there are 3 vents along the bottom. If the wind is coming from a particular direction I can deal with it by closing off the vent on the windward side. That doesn't always work if it is gusty and making eddies around the building. The good news is that pork butt is very forgiving of temperature fluctuation. Don't forget to photo the slashing. (That sounds pretty gruesome now that I read it. ) Are you going to slash the fat side or the "bottom" side?

Thanks for the report. From an investment standpoint that all makes sense. And if the numbers back up the success of their business plan over time, sounds like a good deal. We got into some investor discussions on this thread. The reaction to changing tastes was discussed there. It kind of reinforces the "stay neutral" theory that they are using.

I have no idea if they use Prudhomme's seasonings but, if they do, that is not exactly a bad thing. Prudhomme is well known as a master at blending spices and peppers to get just the right effect. The interplay of peppers to get the right progression of the different heat sensations overlayed with the other spices is sheer genius. It is not a random process. Maybe Ms. Hesser just "doesn't get" the cuisine. Heat and fat is what it is all about. Jacques-Imo's (New Orleans) is not a place you go to for "healthy" food. It is a place to go over the top.

For cripes sake, fiftydollars. Did you really have to mention shallot confit? Do you realize that you might precipitate the same madness as the onion confit thread? (Hmmm... Now I am intrigued. Off to Hong Kong Market for a bag of shallots.)

I concur. Hell, Chad. You have the bucks to buy all of that photography equipment for that macro of your salt cellar. Go get a WSM and be done with it. And... edit: to delete comments about magic stones.

My mother was putting black pepper on strawberries many years before it was cool. Salt and pepper on watermelon is something we also did on occasion when I was a kid. Same for cantaloupe. Especially for cantaloupe. There is something about black pepper on cantaloupe that just fits. Powdered ancho chili on mangoes is sublime. They have street vendors in Mexico City with mangoes on a stick, cut to resemble a flower and dusted with ancho. They are delicious AND beautiful.

Funny you should ask about the "James Villas method". I just finished reading that book and thought that sounded like a good idea. In fact, I intend to try it the next time I do a pork butt. I think you will do fine with the kettle. That is where I started. I used the pan of water under the meat in the middle and coals on each side. I think that having the meat and pan on one side and the coals on the other may be easier to mess with. I put a thermometer in the top vent to give me at least a guess at what was going on "inside". Leave the top vent wide open and adjust temperature with the bottom vents. I have discussed trying to adapt the Minion method of burning the charcoal for a kettle with a friend that only has a kettle. I think it can be done but we haven't tried it yet. While I don't think you have enough space to get that many hours in one load, adapting the concept may save some hassle.

Beats the hell out of me. I have always wondered. I think it is something like a spork. This is the only poem that I can recite from memory. I do it at inappropriate times to aggravate my kids. "Oh God! She is going to recite The Owl and the Pussycat!"

Actually, this is a good practice. Especially with cantaloupes since their rind is rough and has lots of little hidey-holes for the buggles. I can see how you could have gotten a bad bug from a melon. A lot of folks don't think about the slicing operation tranporting the bugs to the portion that you actually eat.

Good point, fiftydollars. I am pretty spoiled with the WSM. I just load it with charcoal, get the temperature settled out and pretty much forget it. All I have to do is maybe add water to the pan a couple of times. With a Weber kettle, I would probably be inclined to move it to a 225 oven to finish. Would you wrap it in foil to do that?

We were an ignorant lot in Texas in the 50's. What shows up in the stores here as "spring onions" are really small whitish onions with the tops still attached, not dried like regular onions. I think this is a Mexican thing. Interestingly, this link shows what we call a green onion as a spring onion in Asian cookery. Also interestingly, a lot of the google hits are calling what we are calling green onions, spring onions. These are closer to what we see in the market here labeled spring onions but ours seem to always have a little bit bigger bulb. This is all so confusing.

In my experience, an 8 pounder will probably take a lot longer than 8 hours. I run my Weber Smokey Mountain at 225F at the grate (about 250 at the top vent). You really shouldn't have temperature "at the meat" much above 225. I also pull it off at an internal temperature of more like 200. I use one of those remote probe thermometers in the meat. I currently have a Redi Chek Remote that works well now that I have replaced the batteries that came with it. If you are not monitoring temperature, you can see that it is at the "pulling" stage when the bone practically comes out (or does) when you wiggle it. I have never tied one and can't think of a good reason to do so. I do, however, highly recommending brining for about 24 hours before you start this.

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat: They took some honey, and plenty of money Wrapped up in a five-pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, "O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!" Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl, How charmingly sweet you sing! Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?" They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the bong-tree grows; And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood, With a ring at the end of his nose, His nose, His nose, With a ring at the end of his nose. "Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." So they took him away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on bacon and more slices of bacon, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand on the edge of the sand They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon, They danced by the light of the moon. (I have always wanted to have them eat that damn pig.)

Come to think about it, maybe nicotine tea helps them stop smoking.

OK... I just read this thing in detail (not just the bold face). This is really stupid. No. They are not breeding grounds. They are carriers. And viruses can't "breed" on vegetables. WTF does moving it to a fresh package get you? Nada. And a week is too long. Two to three days max if it was sliced on the deli slicer. (Not the prepackaged stuff.) Uh... Wrong. E. coli is a companion in the gut of all warm blooded animals, and some cold blooded ones, too. It is used as the indicator bug for fecal contamination, for chrissakes. Almost all of the strains are benign. There are a few that have evolved to become virulent. I could go on but it would get close to quoting too much. This kind of drivel masquerading as information is shameful.

I have wondered about that as well. I remember seeing some pictures here (or in a link from here) with the trays sitting out in the vineyard. Then I remembered our experience years ago when I was at FDA. There were big shrimp drying operations down in the grassy swamplands. They cooked little bitty shrimp in salty water then spread them out on mesh trays, just right out there in the swamp. You know... birds... critters... maybe we have an E. coli or Salmonella problem here. Well, we never found a thing. We attributed that to the salt. The same thing may be true of raisins because of the high sugar content. It is an osmotic problem for the bugs.

And let us not forget theabroma's theabroma Travels and Cooks in Mexico, Notes between near-death experiences There are many total incapacitaion events in there.

Oddly enough, a bunch of us at work were talking about these types of eating places. We all agree that when we are traveling, we often default to one of these because, it has been a long day, we are tired, we really don't want to think too much, and we certainly don't have the energy for an adventure. We started giving our opinions about the various chains. (I think TGIFriday's, Outback, Chilis, and Applebees were mentioned. There may have been some that are more regional.) Applebees came in dead last. The typical phrase... "Well, if it is the only thing I recognize near the hotel." Some said that the quality was really spotty. I have only eaten lunch at one in Brenham, TX several times and have to go EH! on the food and can't say on consistency. All of that is just more verification of what others have said. As an investor, I would be concerned about a place that seems to exist in an ill-defined middle ground and I can't see where they can go with that in the next few years. Maybe if they changed the name. Applebees? EH!

But can anything match Onion Confit, Slowly Simmered for shear obsessiveness? 10 pages on onion confit!!!??? I know, I know... I contributed to the mayhem.

Here in Texas, my mother and grandmother always called green onions shallots, or sometimes green onions, or sometimes scallions. (No wonder I am conflicted. ) Oddly, we never called them onion tops like they do in Louisiana. We didn't know what a "real" shallot was until my mother started growing "weird stuff" before it was cool.

From Jaymes... OK... I am doing about the same thing. I have about five pounds in a big Le Creuset pot simmering on the top of the stove. I added lime juice, orange juice and tequila in about the same proportions, then chicken broth just to cover. I seem to have an awful lot of liquid. How long should this take to cook off?

Probably one of my all time favorite posts is the one from Jaymes' bio thread here. Scroll down on page 2, the Sept 3, 2002 post. Warning, do not read this post with a mouth full of anything. I also recommend that you preposition yourself on the floor.