Social Saturday is BBQ Day V3 - How big is your meat?

[MASShole]

I have a bunch of different temperature monitoring equipment. I'll have my normal bluetooth probe in which has helped tremendously. I generally start to check around 195 to see how it's looking and gauge off that. I'll probably wrap as well around the 4hr mark and add some beef stock for moisture.

I wrap at 160, not a set time. Also, I like the toothpick/probe trick, but I find the "rotate the fork" trick even more telling. I've put in thermometers and toothpicks into the meat in the past with no resistance, but it still wasn't ready. The rotate the fork trick will tell you if it pulls/slices easily. Put a fork in half way down the tines, rotate it. If it rotates with no resistance, you're good.

Also, put your brisket in a disposable aluminum tray. I've found that for people who aren't doing this shit all the time and monitoring everything it's an easier way to keep the brisket moist. Fat side down, then when you wrap, put the fat side up. Little trick I learned watching some BBQ competition shows.

Good luck!

 

[Judoka1532]

6-6.5''

 

[MASShole]

6-6.5''

Doesn't even fit in a regular hot dog bun.

 

[usmctanker242]

Sure, what would you like to hear? Tickets are incredibly expensive, but you get 5 "grand tastings" to attend, 8 seminars of various things to choose from, and you get to meet all kinds of people.

I watched Martha Stewart speak, Jacque Pepin and his daughter Claudine put on a seminar (got a signed book), watched Geoffrey Zakarian do a simple short rib roast (got a signed book), Alex Guarnaschelli put on a seminar (got a signed book), Marcus Samuelson put on a seminar, Richard Blais did a seminar (got a signed book), Gail Simmons did a seminar, Huch Acheson did a seminar and more. They were all so open and friendly, so that was great. I got pics with a lot of them, and learned quite a bit along the way. No BBQ people.

All the wines were fantastic, as you can expect, being in Aspen and all with all that shitloads of money. On Fri we passed out at 745p in our hotel room, woke up at midnight, undressed, turned everything off and woke up again at 7a. It was a great time.

Oh and I got my wife to eat a THC chocolate on Thursday. yeah buddy!

Wow, sounds like a good time! Gail Simmons....Mmmmm, I've got a weird little crush on her...sexy as all hell.

So do you cook a lot of "fine dining" type food?

 

[MASShole]

Wow, sounds like a good time! Gail Simmons....Mmmmm, I've got a weird little crush on her...sexy as all hell.

So do you cook a lot of "fine dining" type food?

We hung out with Gail's parents in line and they told us some fun stories. And yes, she's a babe, like the super hot neighbor mom. She was very sweet too. Our shuttle driver worked at the FW classic for years and had to manage her one year and said she was a bit high maintenance, and I said "no shit, she's the FW special events coordinator!" It's not surprising.

I try to fancy it up a bit at home, and not do just BBQ. I made spicy pea soup the other day just because we had a couple lbs of peas in the freezer and I made pork bone broth from the 60lb portion of a whole hog I got from my chef buddy. I'm not great with sauces, but the owner of Plymouth Beer Company is a friend, and he gave Sauces to me so I'm trying to up my game on that. All of my cookbooks at home are more of the fine dining variety. Last year my wife got me Master Class to Thomas Keller. Now Aaron Franklin is on there too.

I'm about to make a smoked tomato vinaigrette in a few mins for my presentation this weekend.

Edit: it's made.

View media item 31471

 

[Judoka1532]

Doesn't even fit in a regular hot dog bun.

Girth game strong tho

 

[MASShole]

Girth game strong tho

Ok Oscar Meyer.

 

[MASShole]

I put on a food and beer pairing event at the Vail Craft Beer Classic this weekend, partnered with a Fort Collins, CO brewery called Horse and Dragon. Here's what we made:

Course 1: arugula salad with sesame crumbles, grapes, cotija cheese, grilled pineapple lemon vinaigrette paired with a pineapple ginger lager.

Course 2: spicy pork belly skewers with grilled peaches and green onions over a romesco sauce paired with Adventure on IPA (west coast, lots of dry hopping)

Intermezzo: frozen Almost Summer ice cube with herbes de Provence, touch of sea salt with more Almost Summer blonde ale poured over. Quite an herbaceous refreshing break.

Course 3: smoked then sous vide 72 hour short ribs with a grilled corn salad with a smoked tomato vinaigrette paired with 5 Cheers Russian Imperial Stout.

Course 4: homemade glazed donut with a blonde Baltic Porter in the batter with chocolate dipping sauce (with the beer) paired with High Horse Blonde Baltic Porter.

 

[MASShole]

Today I partially smoked a pork belly, cubed it, put into homemade pork bone broth with a touch of red wine and mirepoix, cooked at 400* for 1 hour, then 200* for 5 hours. I put it over baked potatoes, along with crispy broccoli. I took the broth, blended it, and reduced it to make the sauce. It was so damn good.

 

[MASShole]

It's a surf and turf kind of week. 15 lb brisket and 3.5 lb salmon getting done this week.

 

[AznTrojan]

Today I partially smoked a pork belly, cubed it, put into homemade pork bone broth with a touch of red wine and mirepoix, cooked at 400* for 1 hour, then 200* for 5 hours. I put it over baked potatoes, along with crispy broccoli. I took the broth, blended it, and reduced it to make the sauce. It was so damn good.

damn.. that sounds awesome.. i made some pork belly burnt ends the other day.. i would be smoking the 4th but i'm gonna fire up my grill instead

 

[MASShole]

damn.. that sounds awesome.. i made some pork belly burnt ends the other day.. i would be smoking the 4th but i'm gonna fire up my grill instead

You could do both! Pork belly burnt ends only take about 6 hours

I was scrolling through Facebook marketplace over the weekend and scored a twice used 22" weber charcoal grill for $30. It's basically brand new.

 

[AznTrojan]

You could do both! Pork belly burnt ends only take about 6 hours

I was scrolling through Facebook marketplace over the weekend and scored a twice used 22" weber charcoal grill for $30. It's basically brand new.

only 4 hours for me.. just smoke it at 275 for 3 hours and then covered/sauced for an hour..

 

[MASShole]

only 4 hours for me.. just smoke it at 275 for 3 hours and then covered/sauced for an hour..

I like to open it up for 30 or so after to help caramelize the rest of it. So good! Whenever I make those they're the fastest piece of meat to go.

 

[MASShole]

only 4 hours for me.. just smoke it at 275 for 3 hours and then covered/sauced for an hour..

One other thing I'd do besides just sauce is to add honey and butter to it. It makes it just so decadent.

 

[Te Huna Matata]

Tomorrow will be my first go at homemade bacon. I have 4lbs of belly curing in a vac bag for the last ~10 days. Going to smoke it over cherry and slice it up.

 

[MASShole]

Tomorrow will be my first go at homemade bacon. I have 4lbs of belly curing in a vac bag for the last ~10 days. Going to smoke it over cherry and slice it up.

Only advice I have is to chill it a bit before slicing. It's easier to slice that way. Let us know how it goes!

 

[AznTrojan]

One other thing I'd do besides just sauce is to add honey and butter to it. It makes it just so decadent.

yup.. got extra honey, bbq sauce and butter when i cover it.. i uncover and cook it for another 15 afterwards to firm up the sauce

 

[MASShole]

Brisket and salmon update: NAILED IT. Both are just melt in your mouth delicious.

I usually take the brisket out earlier, but I couldn't do it yesterday. 15 lb brisket was in the smoker for 11 hours, then oven for 5, put at 170 for 9 hours (overnight, had to), and it was beautiful and juicy. The salmon was 200 for 2 hours, mopped 3 times, after third mop left it in for another 15 mins to firm it up a bit. So good.

 

[Te Huna Matata]

Wings drying out with baking powder in the fridge overnight.

Smoked for about 2hrs on cherry and maple then charred on the grill.

2 slabs of pork belly (4lbs total) also smoked over cherry and maple. Flipped one for a top and bottom look.

Slicing time. Could have left it in the freezer a little longer to firm up but it worked.

Quick fry in the cast iron. Cold pan, put the bacon in, turn on to medium heat until done.

Wings were top shelf as always. First run at homemade bacon came out oversalted. I washed the cure off before smoking but it was still very salty. In the future, I'll definitely cut down on the amount of salt in the cure. Still excellent but not as good as it could have been.