We slice our beef up in about 1/8” thick pieces and make our sauce with soy sauce, brown sugar, and an Asian sweet chili sauce, garlic, ginger, and peppers . We also add broccoli, thin green beans, and thinly sliced water chestnuts. We serve it over fried rice.
Tonight is clam linguini with caprese salad. Since bone-in pork shoulder was half price at Publix I bought a four pounder for making pulled pork tomorrow. I will also be making Carolina vinegar slaw, of course. I don't make it as sweet as they do in NC, though. Mine runs to the tart side. I'd make my own baked beans but my wife prefers Sonny's baked beans. I do have to admit it is the best thing on the Sonny's menu followed by fried okra. I never was a fan of their smoked meat. Some of their BBQ sauces are decent.
Tonight we’re going with grilling wings with a side of a cold tray. Changing it up just a touch-going with sea salt and lemon pepper for the seasoning. Pure summer time weather today-a pleasant 60* this morning and 86* was our high. Ms. Jan’s requested her Moscow Mules tonight so I will have the Kentucky version. Life is good in Gator Nation!
An uneventful week planned. Time to clean out the freezer prior to Thanksgiving. Had what was left of the Texas chili last night. The wife wanted Panera for tonight so I had a sandwich. Tomorrow will be meatball subs. I also bought a pork shoulder today (Mrs Scooter was a little disappointed) and not sure when I’ll grill/smoke it but I couldn’t pass on the 99 cents a pound. Oh well I’ll work in somewhere.
Speaking of Thanksgiving there will be a shortage of big birds this year. Anyway my son put in his idea of me smoking some ducks instead. I like that. I did have a duck disaster once cooking a Christmas Eve dinner for a large group and was smoking two ducks. Ducks render a lot of fat and a spark must have flown into the grease and ignited it. The result was that there were two cinders. I rushed out and bought two chickens and smoked them instead and saved the day.
My can't resist price is $1.99 per pound. I do have to say that when I get that at Winn-Dixie they are 8 to 10 pound Swift pork shoulders and pretty fatty. At the times I get them at Publix I can get 4 to 5 pound pork shoulders and much leaner. Those big and fatty pork shoulders around 10 pounds make great pulled pork, but they take a lot more planning to cook. Either wake up really early or get a good smoke going for an unattended overnight and a midday finish for resting.
Do you put the beef in the freezer for about 20 inutes to stiffen it up to help with the slicing? I have found that it really works for thinly slicing meat with a knife and not a deli style slicer..
Mine is a 7.5 Swift. I’ve gotten used to the overnight smoke. This may be small enough to start at 5am and finish up before supper.
But every pork shoulder is different. We can't smoke these by time but 1.5 hours per pound is usual. Sometimes less and sometimes more.
So what temp does everyone smoke pork shoulder at? I smoke at 250 F but some swear by 275 F and others smoke at 225 F for the duration. I even know one guy that smokes at 250 F until the plateau and then wraps and puts into a 350 F oven with a drip pan. This guy was a commercial chef that needed to process a lot of meat every day and told me that by that point all the smoking of the meat is done.
And one of my favorite jokes about the rub for pork shoulder is why does everybody insist on kosher salt? Kosher salt on pork? WTF? The answer is that it doesn't have iodine in it. It has nothing to do with Jewish dietary laws. It is not getting any iodine taste. I get my iodine from seafood and not salt, BTW.
My temp same as yours. I’m ok with it being anywhere between 225 & 250. But if I’m doing an overnight smoke I sleep more comfortably if it’s closer to 250. Whenever I can get it locked in at that for 60-90 min I know it’s time for bed.
We are running on the same back roads. 250* for the long haul-when my internal temp reaches 185 I will bump it up to 270-275* to reach my preferred 192-195 internal temp. I think that is the ideal internal temp for pulled pork.
This afternoon I’ll be putting Beef Plate Ribs on the BGE for supper tonight. I use Franklin’s Beef Plate Ribs recipe and needless to say they turn out top shelf every time. If you’re not familiar with the recipe and curious just Google it-it will give you a choice of different length YouTube videos-the one that’s 5-6 minutes long is all you really need IMHO. Our sides will be Ms. Jan’s homemade Mac N Cheese, a pot of fresh zipper peas and crescent rolls. The back porch Yeti is restocked and Ms. Jan’s wine is chilled. Life is good in Gator Nation! Ms. Jan decided she wanted her lemon meringue pie for desert-so, there ya go!
Leftovers from last night tonight. Tentative plan for the next few days: Tomorrow is a red Thai curry with chicken Tuesday is pork tenderloin marinaded in a sesame teriyaki sauce, srir fried broccoli and rice.
More freezer purge tonight. Gotta make room for the bird. Sunday sauce on thin spaghetti with meatballs and small side salad. After that …and a 6.4 mile hike this morning, I feel like I want to cry. I hurt everywhere. Tomorrow morning should be fun.
Taking a break from the Great Purge …having grilled Oklahoma smash burgers and home cut fries for tonight. I pre smash my burgers ahead of time. Don’t know why, just feel they come out more thin when I do it that way.
Tonight I’ll be grilling bone-in country cut ribs indirect over cherry wood smoke seasoned with coarse black pepper and Everglades seasoning. Our sides will be a pot of petite butter beans and corn and a pot of white rice topped with Rotel tomatoes. Pure summer time weather here today-86* and sunny. The back porch is fully restocked open and ready for your leisure. Life is good in Gator Nation!
