Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Pork tenderloin marinaded in a sesame teriyaki sauce, baby bok choy sauteed with garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes with soy sauce, fish sauce, and chicken stock. Finally some jasmati rice.

 

Barbacoa today.

I don't dig a pit, but cooking in a kamado is not too far off.

Following a Rick Bayliss recipe, but he is WAY off on cooking time. More like 6 hours instead of 2 and one half. He does say 250 F to 300 F and with a 3 pound piece of meat and I am cooking a 3.3 lbs tied roast at 250 F.

The soup made from the drip pan with carrots, onion, redskin potatoes, garbanzos (chick peas) and epazote is really good.

 

Been there and done that. 4 am is really early if you have a big one. I can't lie.

 

I like to get them to about 200 F cooked at 250 F.

Close to the same thing and a huge butt like that takes a long time.

 

I still like to cook it slow so it is cooked even.

 

I have reverted to wrapping and ramping up the temperatures when I have had a pork shoulder that has just sat forever (well over the usual 1.5 hours per pound with no end in sight) on the 165 F plateau and folks were getting hungry. Some pork shoulders have a lot of connective tissue and they take longer. I have also had some that finished two hours early. Must have been a lazy hog. You have to cook by meat temperature and not time. Best thing I ever bought was a Thermapen. It is what America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated use. I have used others and they are nowhere near as good.

I have to say that while the results with wrapping were good, they were not as good as cooking it slow the whole way. Even wrapped the outer bits get over done by the time the inner bits have melted the collegen.

That being said I have watched how they Q a brisket at Franklin's in Austin and they wrap part way through, but keep the temperature the same. But brisket and pork shoulder are very different. Brisket is a lot leaner. I think that they do this to keep moisture in.

 

I bought one and my wife asked why because we had one already at was inferior. After the first perfect medium rare steak she changed her mind.

 

We will disagree on lots of things, but the love of Gator baseball and the love of good cooking are things that we will always see eye to eye on.

And the importance of family.

 

I am going to fire up the KJ soon for some higher temperature cooking: 400 F to 450 F. Most of the time I use it to smoke stuff at 250 F or even lower. I will be grilling some thin-ish pork chops and to do that right requires high heat and perfect timing. Also grilling some Brussels sprouts. First you blanch them in salty boiling water for about 5 minutes and then coat them with oil and spices and finish cooking on a hot grill.

Wild rice pilaf as another side, but that is on the gas range.

The plan is to have one extra pork chop to use for making escarole soup tomorrow.