I’m familiar with the mountain known as Brasstown Bald that’s pretty steep in that area. Is that where you’re referring to?
North Georgia is beautiful. Blue Ridge, Ellijay and Dahlonega, where The Smith House Restaurant is located, are great places to visit, explore and EAT!
Grilling ground chuck burgers tonight. Also pickling some red onion as a topping for those that like it. Bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt) was on sale for $1.99 per pound so I bought a seven pounder. I'd have to get up extremely early to have pulled pork ready by first pitch tomorrow with a 6:00 PM start time. Maybe wait until Wednesday for that unless my puppy gets me up before 5 AM: 90 minutes to get the KJ dialed in, 10.5 hours of smoking, 1 hour rest and this is cutting it close because sometimes a pork shoulder takes longer than the nominal 90 minutes per pound at 250 F. Also need to make some bird blocks. The catbirds are getting fat in prep for their migration and I even saw an oriole at my block feeder a couple of days ago. Certainly not one that spends the winter in Gainesville as they left about a month ago but had to be a very late migrant from further south. Never saw one that late in previous years. Added in edit: Just saw that there is no TV for UF vs FSU baseball. Damn. In a normal year there would be. I can have my garage stereo on and listen to the game while the pork shoulder finishes.
I finished off the rest of the gumbo tonight… and the last biscuit to go along with it. Also had a salad. We had one last bone-in pork chop left in the freezer, from the bunch I picked up on sale a couple months back. My wife had that along with her salad.
Woke up at 5 AM so I decided to get the KJ started and take the pork shoulder out of the fridge. Back to bed at 5:30. Up at 6:30 to rub the meat and put it on at 6:45. Made vinegar slaw to top the pulled pork sandwiches. Either coffee or a nap is in order.
Ran out of coals before the pork shoulder was done so finishing in the oven at 275 F with convection sitting on a cookie sheet. I know a real chef that smokes his for two hours and then wraps it and finishes in a 350 F oven. I get why he does it because he needs to turn things around quickly and he gets the smoke but it is so much better to take it low and slow all the way. Otherwise the deep meat is too chewy. Perhaps he uses that meat for something else on his menu.
Tonight we are being treated to Ms. Jan’s smother-fried cubed steak and gravy, a cooked pot of freshly snapped green beans and petite Yukon gold potatoes, and homemade biscuits. We’re still having mid-low 40’s every night up here in Jasper, Ga. It does promote tumblers of good Kentucky Straight Bourbon….. Life is good in Gator Nation!
I do pulled pork a little differently. I usually do 3 to 4 lbs., marinate for a day or so with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon pepper salt, black pepper, Big Easy (like Slap Yo Mama), rosemary, thyme, celery salt, basil, sage, Italian seasoning, garlic salt and yellow mustard. Then put in the crock pot on low for 6-7 hours. Then I shred it in a pan, mix in around 8 ounces of hickory smoke barbecue sauce and about 8 ounces of Cattleman's Carolina tangy gold (mustard-based) barbecue sauce, then let bake in the oven at about 200 for about 90 minutes.
Fired up the BGE and had grilled shrimp, andouille and kielbasa, with a generous drizzle of chimichurri sauce. Also, grilled veggies… summer squash, zucchini, onion and red & green bell pepper on the side, along with cucumber & tomato salad. My wife was kind enough to share it with me as her meal, without an added request of another kind of meat. Doesn’t happen often.
Bone-in rebeyes were on sale so firing up the KJ was a no-brainer. Also making leek and potato soup and roasting some broccoli.
Making 2 small pizzas for tonight… 1) white clam pizza with arugula and chopped shallots… 2) standard pepperoni with red onion & black olive. Making a tossed salad as well. The wife will have blackened tilapia with her salad. I have taken a 30 day time out from any alcohol. Don’t know why, just felt like doing it. Have 1 week left but really wish I had a beer right now. Beer & pizza go together like peanut butter & jelly.
I really like the way I can set up my KJ grill with half down low for searing steaks close to the coals and the other half up high to finish but really I would like to have two grills with one set up for searing and one set up for finishing. I never get my KJ as hot as I would like for searing and even then it is hotter than I would like for finishing. It is always a compromise. Having two grills would solve that problem. Not that it isn't really good the way I do it now, but I know it could be better. Yes I know that gas grills solve that problem but you don't get the flavor from cooking over lump charcoal.
Lurk— Dyna-Glo makes a dual chamber charcoal grill that you can regulate each chamber as desired-you can see them on-line @ Home Depo or just type in DynaGlo charcoal grills. It’s what I use for steaks to accomplish this on one grill. Also great for indirect grilling.
Interesting. Saw it on sale from WalMart for $194 with free shipping. Lots of cooking surface but not equally spaced. Steaks will be limited to the smaller surface but the ability to cook two different things at different temperatures is still a big bonus. Another thing that takes a two temperature cook is jerk chicken. It needs a quick sear and then a slower cook. Does it seal up like a BGE or other kamado style grill to stop the coals from burning when you are done cooking? One thing I really like about my KJ is that it is super efficient with fuel both with the ceramic liner and being able to stop the coals and use them again. This being a good sized grill might be too big for most of my cooking needs but really good for larger cookouts.
Chicken tagine tonight. With cous-cous and a salad. The leek and potato soup last night was a huge hit but too much for just the four of us.. Even my son loved it. Next time it will be for a larger party or I will cut the recipe in half.
