Tag Team eG Foodblog: Light My Fire!

[lancastermike]

The ribs are rubbed and in the fridge for now.  I'm going to do broccoli again, but this time with hollandaise and baked potatoes.  We still have cake for dessert.  My dishwasher is running (again).  The sun seems to be trying to peek out.

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Do you brine the ribs? I know some do, as with butt i usually do not.

[snowangel]

Hot dogs sound great.

The bacon has been on for almost 4 hours, and it is at 130 now. I'll take it to 150 and then pull it off and get the second half on. Hopefully the second one will be done so we can eat at a decent hour! I don't know what the cure does for nasty critters, but I sure won't hesitate to eat this bacon!

[Marlene]

I don't bother brining them and half the time I forget to remove the membrane as I forgot today. They'll go foiled on the grill for a couple of hours using indirect heat then unfoiled and glazed for the last 10 minutes or so.

[lancastermike]

Hot dogs sound great.

The bacon has been on for almost 4 hours, and it is at 130 now.  I'll take it to 150 and then pull it off and get the second half on.  Hopefully the second one will be done so we can eat at a decent hour!  I don't know what the cure does for nasty critters, but I sure won't hesitate to eat this bacon!

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150 internal ought to more than do the trick on any nastys. I was not sure you brought the internal up that high. I need to get the book and read the thread, i think

[lancastermike]

I have decided to go ahead and stop for lunch. The work never goes away, so i may as well eat.

I knew I would be real busy today so I packed light. Some celery sticks, a piece of cheese and a tangerine. And a diet Sprite.

No photos as we left early today to vote before work. The new machines were easy to use. lancaster County moves kicking and screaming towards the 21st century.

This blog should recieve an award form the pork producers of America. Remember when Les Nessman received the "Silver Sow" Award.

Pork tenderloin, pork belly bacon, pork ribs and most important of all pork butt.

No kickbacks or gratutiies were received from the pork lobby to produce this blog. At least not yet.

[snowangel]

Lunch:

Smoked butt on a tortilla with cheese and salsa. I wish I had gotten lettuce when I was out earlier (but I really didn't want a Costco sized package of lettuce) because one of my favorite ways to eat leftover butt is on a bed of shredded iceberg with salsa. My lunch needed lettuce and no cheese.

I reheated some butt in the microwave, which is not a preferred method, but if I do it on the defrost cycle, it works fairly well.

Back to my yard and weeds. It is just spectacular outside today.

[Marlene]

Tell you what Susan. I'll deliver cake if you come and do my gardening We had a half hour of sunshine and now it's clouding over again and getting that dark look that it gets when it's just about to rain.

I think lunch is going to be a slice of left over prime rib.

[snowangel]

Ta Da!

About 4.5 hours to get it to 150 (actually just under 150). The second half is on right now.

The instructions in Charcuterie say something about trimming and squaring up the belly before smoking, but I really like those odd bits on the end, and I want to maximize how much bacon we have.

Edited to add: I really don't care of using these silicone hot pads because they aren't very flexible. But, they are idea for removing meat from the grill. Moisture doesn't wick up them to burn your hands. They work better than tongs and a spatula for the bacon because there's nothing to tear it.

Now, while this is still warm, time to trim the skin. This was smoked skin side down.

Edited again to add this:

The skin is off. I used a knife like this to get the skin off. It has a very thin, flexible blade that sharpens very easily. I think Paul has had this knife since he was about 12 years old.

[lancastermike]

Ta Da!

About 4.5 hours to get it to 150 (actually just under 150).  The second half is on right now.

The instructions in Charcuterie say something about trimming and squaring up the belly before smoking, but I really like those odd bits on the end, and I want to maximize how much bacon we have.

Edited to add:  I really don't care of using these silicone hot pads because they aren't very flexible.  But, they are idea for removing meat from the grill.  Moisture doesn't wick up them to burn your hands.  They work better than tongs and a spatula for the bacon because there's nothing to tear it.

Now, while this is still warm, time to trim the skin.  This was smoked skin side down.

Edited again to add this:

The skin is off.  I used a knife like this to get the skin off.  It has a very thin, flexible blade that sharpens very easily.  I think Paul has had this knife since he was about 12 years old.

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Susan,

That looks just plain wonderfull.

[Marlene]

As I mentioned, the ribs are rubbed. Like Susan, I tend to prefer side ribs to baby backs, although all ribs are good:

In the meantime, Don put together my Le Crueset stand that arrived last night. (I ordered it in Dec!), so I hauled all my LC upstairs. The braiser doesn't fit in it, but I managed to find a spot for it upstairs.

[Madge]

Great blog everyone. I have been away and just spent the last 1 1/2 hours reading. You have convinced me to give my barely used smoker another try. Thanks!!!

Marlene, as you have called yourself "The Princess" do you know that there is a company who will come and clean your bbq for you, plus check it out for anything that might need adjustment or replacement? I have had them once before and they did a great job and have them booked for the end of May. They are called "The Barbeque Guys"

[lancastermike]

Although the sun is out here now I just looked at the NWS radar. Their is a large band of rain stretching across PA into Ohio. The edge of it looks like an arrowhead pointed at guess were?

Also looks like some showers in Ontario and a small storm just north of Minneapolis.

Susan, I 'm glad you had a nice day for bacon and weeding. I fear buy the time I get home the rains will return.

[racheld]

Thank y'all for the week of smoking---it's been great. You'd all do Memphis in May proud.

[Marlene]

Also looks like some showers in Ontario and a small storm just north of Minneapolis.

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The rain showers seem to come and go here. One minute the sun is out the next minute it's raining. the ribs don't need to go on for another hour yet, so we'll see how it goes.

[Safran]

As I mentioned, the ribs are rubbed.  Like Susan, I tend to prefer side ribs to baby backs, although all ribs are good:

In the meantime, Don put together my Le Crueset stand that arrived last night.  (I ordered it in Dec!), so I hauled all my LC upstairs.  The braiser doesn't fit in it, but I managed to find a spot for it upstairs.

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Wow, Marlene! What size are the bigger ones?

[snowangel]

The second belly half is off, and the Weber is shut down. Need to cool it off enough to get the drip pan out so I can grill some homemade sausages!

The skin has been removed, and oops! The knife slipped on one of the knobby bits. Somehow, that always happens and I force myself to taste what "accidentally" came off.

Oh, bacon. Makes my heart flutter!

[Marlene]

The bottom one is the "risotto" pot. It's 6 quarts but looks bigger because it's wider. Next is the 7 quart, then the 5 quart, then the 2 quart and the babies.

[Marlene]

Great blog everyone. I have been away and just spent the last 1 1/2 hours reading. You have convinced me to give my barely used smoker another try. Thanks!!!

Marlene, as you have called yourself "The Princess" do you know that there is a company who will come and clean your bbq for you, plus check it out for anything that might need adjustment or replacement? I have had them once before and they did a great job and have them booked for the end of May. They are called "The Barbeque Guys"

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I did know that. Don likes doing that one and it didn't take that long. We do however, have "people" for most other things.

[snowangel]

It's looking nice enough that we might eat on the deck tonight.

On another and totally bizarre note, we've had 3" of rain this week (at least). Some guy down the street is watering his lawn. ?????

[Marlene]

It's raining again, quite hard this time. Fortunately I'm not in a hurry for dinner, but I'm beginning to think I may have to start the ribs in the oven and then finish them on the grill.

[Marlene]

The ribs have been on for an hour and a half over indirect heat. It has stopped raining, but at this rate, dinner will be a little late tonight!

In the meantime, what is it with me and icemakers? The icemaker on my fairly new KA fridge seems to have stopped working. Arrgh.

[lancastermike]

Susan,

I am indeed taken by your bacon. I do believe I am going to have to try it. In a little while. We are home and I did grill. Maggie had just time to eat and had to run out on an voting machine call. Just me and the dogs watching the ball game. Going to upload some pics.

[snowangel]

Mike, you really do need to buy Charcuterie. Become an addict like the rest of us! Dinner in progress. Paul got home quite late from work. And, yes, it is still grilling weather.

[Marlene]

We ran out of gas. Changed tanks. Back in business. We really are going to eat before midnight!

[lancastermike]

No not a repost of last nights picture. This is what greeted me as I lit the grill. I must confess that it did not rain here today, but it is cold and gloomy.

Tonights dinner features a couple of more local products. Diffenbach's Potato Chips. In keeping with the all pork all the time format, they are cooked in pure lard. Deep in the EGullet bowels is a potato chip thread. I said in it that Diffenbach's were amongst the best in the land.

Dynamite Dills from the Pennsylvania Pickle Co. They really are not all that hot. They make a habenero one as well. They are hotter, but not real hot either. They are good and fresh.

Wait a minute. Didn't we see these before. Yeah, but these are the long rolls perfect for these.

Hot Italian sausage. I often buy the big pack of these at Costco and re-package them in smaller bunches for the freezer. Since I have yet to receive my order from the S. Fahning Sausage Co. I got these at my local shop. They make them there and they are, no surprise here, pork

Sausage on the grill

Susan, please let Peter know. My butt is no longer stalled, but my buns are on the grill.

done, one extra sausage.

plated, grilled hot Italian Sausage with Creole mustard, lard potato chips, and dill pickles

Since Maggie had to go I thought I'd have a drink to help my sorrow.

Old Overholt Rye, Luxardo Maraschino and Fee Bros Orange Bitters. Note to Katie: This bottle of Luxardo is almost empty. However I have another full bottle which I keep secured against raids from a certain Aphrodite of Alcohol.

My drink in front of the pitcher my mother bought when she first got married. She gave it to Maggie and me when we were married. Maggie has since collected a whole lot of this pattern.

Dinner was good, but Maggie had to run. I am sipping my drink and relaxing after a long day at work.

Edited May 17, 2006 by lancastermike (log)