Father's Day Weekend

This weekend has turned out exceptionally well.  My Friday was about as perfect as you could get.  I passed my Security + exam.  And then I learned my best friend will be down and might go see Phish with me in Atlanta. 

Today we spent the day swimming and patting at the beach.  We swam in the pool most of the day.  And I got to see some friends from Huntsville that I haven't seen since my brother's wedding 7 or 8 years ago.  And now I've just learned Jimmy Buffett will be doing a free concert at Gulf Shores.

I think I will cook some ribs tomorrow.  It's that or a hot'n'fast  brisket.

Trying out BlogAway on my Droid.

This is an app that lets you access your blog from your phone.

Been a While

It has been over a year since I've done anything here. My daughter, Kaitlyn, was born last September. Two babies can really keep you busy. My wife started blogging recently about life with 2 kids. Her blog can be found here:

http://lifewithjandk.blogspot.com/

I picked up a new smoker earlier this year. I got a 22" Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker. I still love my Big Green Egg, but I wanted something that would have a bit more volume for smoking meat. I've done all my smoking in the WSM since I got it to try to get cooking it down. But I'll be using both of my cookers this weekend. I'm cooking for 40 people for a family reunion. I'll be doing three pork shoulders and two briskets. I plan to do three shoulders and a brisket in the WSM and a brisket in my BGE. I may throw some ribs in the BGE as well.

In a few weeks, I plan to smoke some turkeys. I'm looking forward to that. Smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving is what gave me the BBQ bug to begin with.

I had a busy weekend

Back in May, my friend, Clark helped me build a table for my Egg at his house. I finally got it to my house and got the Egg in it. To celebrate, I cooked 4 Pork Butts totaling up to 30lbs. I got them on the Egg around 5pm Saturday and took them off around 12pm Sunday.

I took two of the butts to a picnic held by the Gulf Coast Magicians Guild on Sunday. We pulled the butts at the picnic. Those magicians made that pork disappear in about 15 minutes. Everyone raved about the pulled pork. Some had some questions on how I cooked it and I told them about how easy it was to cook low & slow on the Egg.

Tomorrow, my work is having a "Pig Out" celebration to celebrate May & June birthdays. I'm bringing the other two butts for that. I've got them in Foodsaver bags right now. I plan on heating them up in a crock pot tomorrow morning, with some of my mop and some BBQ sauce.

I'm trying to decide what to cook this weekend. I thought I was going out of town, but we can't afford that right now with gas prices so high. I'm thinking about smoking a chuck roast to use in chili.

We're having a girl!

The due date is September 8, 2008 but we'll have the baby before then because it will be a c-section. I'm excited.

Ribs

I did St Louis style ribs on the Egg yesterday. I used the Magic Dust rub from the book Peace, Love, and Barbecue by Mike Mills. For his Apple City 17th Street Ribs, he says to use Apple wood but I couldn't find any around here. I did find Cherry though and used that for smoke.

Wow, low and slow cooking is so easy on the egg. Once I got the temperature on the egg to 250, it stayed there for 6 hours. The ribs had great bark and great flavor. Stephanie said this was my best batch of ribs yet.

Along with the ribs, I did a batch of Dutch's Wicked Baked Beans. I thought they were great but Stephanie thought they were just okay. She thinks there's just too much stuff in with the beans.

Eye of Round Roast

Yesterday, I cooked an Eye of Round Roast on the Egg. Saturday night, I coated it in salt & pepper before marinating it in a little Moore's and some Roasted Red Pepper Italian Dressing.

Before the cook, I cut slits into the roast and stuffed them with garlic cloves. I also added a little more salt, pepper, and onion powder. I put it on a V-rack over a drip pan. In the drip pan, I put in a whole beer and the leftover marinade. I cooked it on my Big Green Egg at 375F indirect. I cooked it to an internal temperature of 130F.

I put the Roast in foil and let it rest for 30 minutes. Then I put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes to get it to set up to slice.

While the meat was chilling, I sauteed an onion, a red bell pepper, and a green bell pepper in my dutch oven. I then sliced the meat and put it on top of the peppers and onion. I added the juices from the drip pan and about 1 cup of beef stock. Then I let it simmer for about an hour uncovered.

I then mixed 1/2 cup of mayo with 3 tablespoons of horseradish and 2 tablespoons of sourcream. I put that back in the fridge to set up.

These made great roast beef sandwiches. I'll be having roast beef sandwiches all week!