Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Sounds like a Chicago Italian beef sandwich. Gawd I miss them. I can kind of fake it but my beef is shredded instead of thinly sliced.

 

Last night was chili dogs before attending the Gator basketball game.

Tonight I am grilling ground chuck burgers on the KJ. I love the hint of smoke you get from the hardwood lump charcoal.

 

I usually mix in a little Worchester sauce to the ground chuck with a scant amount of salt when I make burgers.

What do you guys do?

It is hard to really screw up a burger except for over cooking.

 

What EVOO do you use? My sister and her Italian husband swear by Italian olive oils but I really like the California Olive Ranch EVOO that is 100% Californian. It is pricey but the same thing with an Italian label would be even pricier.

 

When you say that you are in Illinois for deer hunting I am assuming it is in southern Illinois. Fish to fry from around there might be panfish like bluegills and if you get a meaty one it is tasty. Rock bass is often caught. Of course they have catfish. And there are places to fish for walleye but not like way up north of there. Walleye can be good out of Reelfoot Lake but nowhere near as tasty as the cold water walleye from up in the north of Wisconsin or the UP.

BTW recently my friends that live in the middle of Gainesville had a well pointed stag appear in their front yard. LOL.

 

Tonight was a repeat of the ground pork with chilies and green beans. Tasty.

 

Monday I did some prep so that my wife could make sesame noodles. Last night was Tuesday so it was Tex-Mex tacos, my least favorite kind.

Tonight is ravioli with home made pesto.

 

And pork shoulder aka Boston butt was on sale at Publix today. Bought a 4.6 pound one. I am thinking pulled pork sandwiches on Sunday.

 

Had leftovers last night.

Tonight was my wife's birthday so we went to Blue Gill for dinner in their new location.

It was OK but not like the experience at their previous location. I liked that better.

Tomorrow I am smoking a Boston butt aka pork shoulder for pulled port sandwiches. Carolina vinegar slaw of course. And getting some baked beans from Sonny's.

 

Low and slow pork shoulder/butt for pulled pork. After a near disaster on Thanksgiving smoking a turkey (dome thermometer on my KJ got out of calibration was reading 50 F too low but I caught it early enough that we had roasted turkey with some smoke) I recalibrated my dome thermometer and am using a laboratory grade Omega thermocouple to monitor the temps. I actually should do this all the time. Duh.

Pork shoulder is lagging the 1.5 hours per pound guesstimate for cook time but I built in an extra hour. Cook times vary widely depending on how much connective tissue has to melt to give that wonderful taste.

Lots of Carolina vinegar slaw but I cut the sugar in half and double the amount of celery seeds to make it to my taste.

 

Once again pulled pork sandwiches with Carolina slaw and baked beans.