Outside the dugout: What's cooking?

Going to a friend's house for dinner.

 

Oops. Brasstown it is.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Making italian sausage with scallions and arugula over penne tonight.

 

More pulled pork sandwiches tonight. A 7 pound pork shoulder is a lot of meat.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.