Ham 15 Bean Soup

Ham 15 Bean Soup

Just Jeremy here with a recipe I'd like to share.  This is a nostalgic piece for me, as it is one treasured from my childhood.  Growing up I called this "Ham Fart Bean Soup" (for the obvious reason).  I even remember angering the bus driver the day after with the after effects of this delicious dish while sitting in one of the front bus seats.  Anywho, back to the story.  We had ham for Christmas this year and I was like, "holy crap! We have so much ham leftover!"  So I remembered ham fart bean soup and gave mom a call.  I put my own spin on it of course with the fancy pantsness of fresh herbs and garlic.  Beware if you venture into this dish.  Take the Beano if you need to.

You will need:

-         Ham bone and 2lbs of leftover Christmas ham chopped (more if you want more).

-         2 bags of 15 bean dry mix

-         1 cup of fresh oregano finely chopped

-         1 cup of fresh basil finely chopped

-         5 fresh cloves of garlic finely chopped

-         ¼ cup of Lawry’s season salt

First you will need place the dry mix in a 6 quart stock pot with 2 quarts of water and soak the beans overnight.

The next day, rinse the beans and return them to the pot.

Add the ham bone, chopped ham, herbs, garlic, and season salt and cover the entire contents in the pot with water.

Place on the stove on low heat, covered, stirring occasionally for at least 4 hours.

Serve and enjoy.

Taste analysis:

Deeeeeeeeeeeelicious!

Shrimp Po Boy with Hand Cut Steak Fries

Lance and Jeremy are back in the kitchen together.  We began tonight's adventure as we always do with a trip to Publix, where shopping is a pleasure.  We got our essentials, and returned to Lance's place to prepare this amazing dish.  It's been over 6 months since the two of us got together in the kitchen, but it was well worth the wait.  We learned tonight that both of us have grown tremendously as cooks.  Lance has exquisite knife skills and tastes everything as he prepares.  It was like poetry.  I would say it almost flowed like a professional kitchen.  So tonight's menu was shrimp po boy with hand cut steak fries.  Here it is folks.  Enjoy.

Shrimp Po Boy and Hand Cut Steak Fries

You will need:

- About 6 large potatoes

- 2 lemons

- 4 cloves of fresh garlic

- 1 shallot

- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

- ¾ cup mayonnaise

- 1 tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce

- 2 tablespoons of yellow mustard

- 1 head of romaine lettuce

- 2 large tomatoes

- 1lb fresh shrimp (we used local never frozen)

- 1 stick of butter

- Vegetable oil

- Fresh baked hoagie rolls

Sandwich Prep

- Slice the two tomatoes and then slice those slices in half (half moon style)

- Wash the lettuce and prepare about 4 leafs

- Slice your hoagies sub sandwich style, like they do after they ask you what bread you want at subway

- Make some delicious Remoulade

Remoulade (Do this before you start cooking)

- Chop that shallot really fine and put it in a bowl

- Finely chop that fresh parsley and scoop 2 tablespoons into the same bowl

- Add ½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper to that bowl
- Add ¾ cup mayonnaise to that bowl
- Add 2 tablespoons Plain mustard to the bowl
- Add 1 tablespoon of your favorite hot sauce to the bowl
- Add juice of ½ lemon to the bowl

- Mix it all up

- Put it in the fridge

Shrimp, Scampi style (We recommend starting the shrimp after the first batch of fries are done)

- Begin by deveining and shelling your shrimp. 

- Get a large skillet.  In that skillet begin melting one stick of salted butter on medium high heat. 

- While your butter is melting, finely chop 4 cloves of fresh garlic. 

- Now add the garlic to the butter. 

- Slice in half one of the lemons and squeeze the juice into the skillet.

- Add the shrimp to the skillet

- Cook on each side for about 4 minutes

Steak Fries (We recommend making fries about 10 minutes before you start cooking the shrimp)

- Then slice your potatoes long ways. 

- Then, divide those long halves in to 4 long pieces. 

- As you slice your potatoes put them in a large bowl of cold water. Doing this will prevent browning.

- Now, get a medium sauce pot going with vegetable oil about half way full.  Turn that on medium heat. 

- Put about 6-8 fries in the pot at each time for about 8 minutes.  Cook longer for crispness desired.

- Place the fries on a plate lined with paper towels and season with garlic salt, or whatever you like.

Sandwich Assembly

We started with a generous portion of remoulade on the hoagie.  Follow that with a leaf of romaine.  Next, add the shrimp.  Following the shrimp add the tomatoes.  If you loved the sauce as much as we did, then add some more sauce on top of the shrimp.  Enjoy it.  We sure did. 

Savory Cheddar Garlic Cornbread

This is a little something I made for the office last week.  It was goooooooooood.  Try it folks.  Simple, savory, delicious and great with chili.

Savory Cheddar Garlic Cornbread

You will need:

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup of all purpose flour (gluten free sub with gluten free Bisquick)

- 1 cup of cornmeal

- 1 stick of salted butter

- 1 cup buttermilk

- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

- cup shredded cheddar cheese

- 3-4 cloves fresh garlic

- ½ can of cream corn

- cooking spray

MMMMM Cornbread

- Begin by preheating your oven to 375

- Now finely chop your garlic cloves

- Next, melt the stick of butter in the microwave in a mixing bowl

- Now beat the two eggs in with the butter

- Add the rest of the contents and whisk well (order doesn’t really matter) Just whist until there are no clumps

- Now grease a loaf pan or muffin pan, whichever you like

- Pour in your batter, and bake for 30-40 minutes

- Check your dish at the 30 minute mark with a butter knife into the center.  If it comes out clean, it is ready.

Enjoy.

Bacon Wrapped Quail with Quail Gravy and Simple Risotto

Hello friends.  Just Jeremy again.  Nothing much bro about this bromantic episode.  But I want to share what is probably the best dish I've ever made.  My father in law gave me about 6 quail this weekend and this is what I did with it.  I'd never had quail before, so this was definitely an adventure.  I decided to make a bacon wrapped quail with simple risotto.  The gravy was a last minute decision, but a wise one.

Here it is...

You will need:

- About 6 Quail

- 8-10 sprigs of fresh rosemary

- About 7 cloves of fresh garlic

- 1 cup Arborio rice

- 1 and ½ sticks of butter

- Salt

- Fresh ground pepper

- Red pepper flakes

- 2 cups chicken broth

- Flour

- 1 pack thick cut bacon

- 1 small yellow onion

- About a handful of fresh basil

- 1 cup fresh or frozen peas

Let’s get started.  First we are working on the quail. 

- Preheat your oven to 325

- Finely chop 4 cloves of garlic

- Finely chop 5 sprigs of rosemary

- Melt 1 stick of butter in a mixing bowl (I used the microwave)

- Add the garlic, rosemary, salt to taste, about 5 grinds of the pepper mill, and about a tablespoon of red pepper flakes to the mixing bowl and whisk well

- Now clean your quail

- Now toss your quail in the butter bath, toss it good, real good

- Now get a large casserole dish

- Line it with bacon

- Wrap one quail for every two pieces of bacon

- If you are using a standard pack of bacon you will end up having one extra piece.  I just wrapped the 6^th quail in 3 pieces.

- Now put it in the oven

- Set the kitchen timer for 45 minutes

Now it’s risotto time!!!!

- Get your chicken broth warming in a small sauce pot, about medium heat, then reduce to low when it’s cooking time.

- Chop the rest of that garlic, rosemary, basil, and the little onion.

- Chopped?  Good.  Put that ½ stick of butter in a large skillet.

- Add the onion, rosemary, basil, and garlic.

- Get that business simmering on medium high.

- Let this simmer until the onion is translucent.

- Translucent now?  Add the cup of Arborio.

- Using a ladle scoop out one ladle of broth and add it to the skillet.

- Stir constantly (I like to risotto with a wooden spoon).

- Continue to stir, when it appears that the Arborio has absorbed that ladle of broth, add another and continue the process.

- Keep going until you are almost out of broth.

- Keep stirring.

- On the last ladle (by this time your quail should be about 2 minutes away from being done), add the peas.

- Stir it in really well and turn off the heat.

- Take the quail out of the oven.

- Empty the broth pot.

It’s GRAVY TIME!!!!

- Add the drippings to the broth pot.

- Turn burner on medium low.

- Add about ¼ cup of flour at a time to the pot and whisk.

- Continue until the gravy is either as thick or thin as you like it.

Now plate it up and enjoy.

The Southern Gentleman

Just Jeremy here.  So I tried Gruyere cheese for the first time this week and was inspired.  Gruyere is a sharp Swiss cheese, tangy with a bite.  So that got me thinking about a simple ham and Swiss.  Then I thought, how can I fancy pants a simple ham and Swiss?  Then it hit me, prosciutto.  Prosciutto is a dry cured Italian ham.  So there we have it a fancy pants ham and Swiss.  But I didn't stop there.  I wanted to put a southern twist on this.  Enter, the fried green tomato.  In college I worked at a restaurant that had a fried green tomato sandwich on the menu.  It was amazing.  I think what really set it off was the aioli.  So here we have it, assembled together is the Southern Gentleman.  It is a toasted prosciutto and gruyere on sourdough with fried green tomato and aioli.

Gruyere and Prosciutto Toasted Sandwich with Fried green tomato

Thick sliced Gruyere cheese

¼ lb slice Prosciutto

Firm green tomatoes

Sourdough bread

Breading

1/3 cup Corn meal

1 cup flour

1 egg

½ cup buttermilk

Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare in one bowl the corn meal and flour with salt and pepper mixed.

In another bowl the egg and buttermilk.

In a frying pan heat a shallow bath of oil on medium.

Slice tomatoes and first in buttermilk bath then the flour/cornmeal, then fry

Flip the tomatoes in the oil about a minute on each side.

In another pan butter one side of the sourdough slice and brown.

In another pan heat 1/4 lb of prosciutto topped with grated Gruyere.

Remove bread from pan and generously spread aioli on each untoasted side.

Now top the prosciutto and Gruyere, then tomato and serve.

Aioli

2 egg yolks

½ juice of lemon (or white wine vin)

1 cup olive oil

Tbsp Dijon

2 Cloves garlic

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Fresh basil

Fresh oregano

Follow the link here to prepare: http://youtu.be/MgqIlFlYLxc

Taste analysis:

Best sandwich ever!

Q Competition Practice

Thomas and I (Jeremy) will be entering an amateur BBQ competition August 18 in Jacksonville, FL.  This will be each of our first competition.  The grand prize is $100 and a custom built smoker.  We will be competing with ribs and chicken leg quarters.  Today we practiced.

We began yesterday by making a brine for the chicken and brined the chicken overnight.  For those of you who don't know what a brine is, it is an acid free marinate composed mostly of water and salt.  We used apple juice, chardonay, rosemary, thyme, fresh garlic cloves, salt, and water.  I will not release the recipe yet because the competition is watching.  So here it goes.

First we got the charcoal chimney going.  While the chimney was going we prepared the ribs and chicken to be put on the smoker.  First we removed the sausage casing like membrane from the back of the ribs and rubbed it down with our rub.  Once again, I'm not releasing the rub recipe yet.  Then we rubbed the chicken leg quarters.

Once the meat was rubbed the charcoal was ready to go in the firebox.  Then we added 2 logs of firewood to the firebox.  I like to let the dampers wide open until the temp is right.  I like to smoke between 225 and 275 degrees.  Once the temp is ready the meat goes on.

I usually smoke both chicken and ribs for 4 hours on this temp.  About halfway through the smoke I wrapped the meat in foil.  Then I added some extra ingredients (not telling), and let it smoke for another 2 hours or until its reached an internal temp of 180 degrees.  

Here's the final product:

Ribs!

Chicken!

Till next time....

Introducing Thomas

Dinner Bromantic is getting a little more bromantic.  Introducing Chef Thomas (for real, he's a chef).

Salmon Thai Style

Salmon Thai Style

     Just Jeremy here.  But Thomas is here through choice of ingredients.  I asked Thomas to give me a "mystery box."  For those of you unfamiliar with mystery boxes, they are when a cook is given a list of ingredients they must use in a dish.  The ingredients Thomas gave me were Snapper (I subbed Salmon because I couldn't find Snapper fresh, and I wasn't about to pay $10 for frozen), Rice vinegar, Ginger ale, Peanuts or Cashews, jasmine rice, and daikon raddish. So I got to thinking, I've got vinegar, I've got rice wine, I've got jasmine rice, I've got peanuts, I've got daikon radish, and I've got seafood, what do I make?  I was thinking this has Thai written all over it.  So I googled a simple peanut sauce and put my own spin on it.  Then I thought about the raddish.  A raddish has a nice bit to it, and if I added some cabbage to it, it could be a delightful Asain slaw.  Well....Here it is.  

You will need:

Fresh salmon fillet

1 tbsp Olive oil

Salt

1 ½ cup Rice vinegar

1 cup Ginger ale

Juice of three limes

½ cup peanut butter

¼ cup chopped green peanuts

1lb daikon radish

1 small head of cabbage

1 can lite coconut milk

Water

This is the order you should do it in so all the ingredients are ready at the same time:

Rice:

-In a rice cooker add the jasmine rice (about ½ cup).

-Add 1 cup of water.

-Turn on rice cooker.

(if you can get both sauces going at once, do so)

Peanut Sauce:

-Begin by peeling about 7 green peanuts in a food processor (I use the Ninja).

-Chop peanuts with the processor.

-In a sauce pan add ½ cup rice vinegar and peanuts and bring to medium high heat.

-Add half the can of coconut milk and whisk well.

-Add two large spoonfuls of peanut butter to the mix whisk till blended well.

-Add juice of one lime whisk well.

-Add water a little bit at a time until it reaches the consistency you want and blend.

-Reduce heat to low until serving.

Slaw Sauce:

-In a sauce pan begin with 1 cup of ginger ale.

-Turn on medium heat.  Stir it.

-Add juice of two limes.  Stir it.

-Add the remaining coconut milk.  Stir it.

-Add 1 cup of the rice vinegar.  Stir it.

-Place in freezer to cool.

Slaw:

-Using a cheese shredder, shred your daikon radish and cabbage in a large mixing bowl.

-Add the slaw sauce a little bit at a time and toss the slaw.

-Add until the slaw is saturated.

-Strain the slaw.

-Place slaw in fridge.

Salmon:

-Score the salmon skin.  You do this by slicing down about half way through the filet on the skin side of the salmon.  Place your scores as close together as you can.

-Season the scores with salt.

-In a medium hot pan add the tablespoon of olive oil.

-Place salmon skin side down and season the top the filet with salt and pepper.

-Cook on this side until the color has changed from orange to a cloudy pink ¾ of the way up the filet.

-Flip the filet and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Plating (begin once you’ve flipped the salmon):

-Place about ½ cup or the jasmine rice on the plate.

-To the side of the rice, place about one cup of the slaw.

-Salmon should be ready now, place it on top of the rice.

-With a ladle scoop your peanut sauce on top of the salmon.

-Now enjoy, it’s delicious.

Herb and Garlic Butter Rubbed Chicken

Finished Dishes

Close up on the finished chicken

Pre-cook chicken rubbed and ready to cook.

Herb and Garlic Butter Rubbed Chicken With Homemade Stuffing and Vegetable Caserole

You will need:

1 handful of fresh thyme

1 handful of fresh parsley

4 cloves fresh garlic

1 stick of butter salted

Olive Oil

1 whole chicken

1 baguette

1 whole red onion

3 yellow squash

4 cups of snow peas

½ cup of shredded cheese

Salt and pepper

Begin by finely chopping your herbs and garlic.  Divide your herbs and garlic in half.  In a microwave safe bowl heat a cold stick of butter for 1 minute.  Keep the butter in the bowl.  Add half of the herbs and garlic to the bowl of butter and mix with a whisk, then place in the fridge.  Add the rest of the herbs and garlic to a large mixing bowl.  Rip your baguette in half.  Begin tearing half of the baguette into a food processor.  Then process your bread and add to the bowl.  Continue with the remaining baguette and add to the bowl.  Now drizzle the bread crumbs with olive oil.  Mix the bowl contents, drizzle and again and mix again.

Preheat the oven to 350

Now that the butter has had a chance to chill remove from the fridge.  Now get out the chicken.  Remove the gizzards and neck from the bird cavity.  Give the bird a rinse.  Now its time to rub the bird.  First we are going to rub under the skin.  Place your fingers up under the skin in between the meat and skin and loosen it all up.  Now liberally rub under the skin.  Try to get under the drum sticks too.  Now it’s stuffing time.  Stuff the bird with as much stuffing as you can fit in there.  You should have less than ½ a cup of stuffing left over.  After the bird is stuffed, you can rub the outside of the bird.

Put in the oven uncovered for 1 and ½ hours or until internal temp has reached 180.

Vegetable casserole

Cut one red onion and 3 yellow squash.  Add red onion yellow squash and snow peas to a mixing bowl.  Drizzle with olive oil, shake a good bit of salt to taste, and fresh ground pepper, mix up with some shredded cheese, add to a casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.

Plate it all up and enjoy!

Bourbon Pineapple Glazed Pork Chops

The finished dish.

The glaze cooking.

The magical ingredients.

Grilled Pork Chops with Bourbon Pineapple Glaze

You will need:

1 whole red onion

½ fresh pineapple

2 large cloves of garlic

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup bourbon

1 Handful of fresh rosemary

Let’s get started.  You will begin by chopping the red onion and the fresh pineapple.  Chop both the onion and pineapple into bite size pieces.  Place the onion and half of the chopped pineapple into your food processor.  Dice 2 large cloves of garlic and add to the food processor.  De-stem your fresh rosemary and add to the food processor.  Add 1 cup of brown sugar to the food processor.  Now blend finely the entire contents.

Next combine the pureed ingredients along with the bourbon into a sauce pan.  Heat to a rolling boil, reduce to medium heat and continue to cook for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and let cool.  I placed mine in the freezer because I was pressed for time.  When your glaze has cooled it is ready to marinate your pork chops.  Next you will need to violently stab your pork chops with a fork on both sides.  Then combine in a bag or tuperware container with the glaze.  Marinate for at least an hour. 

About a half hour before you are ready to grill your pork chops get your grill ready.  I use charcoal so it takes me the whole half hour to get it ready.  Grill the pork chops till internal temp has reached 170 degrees or until you are sure they are fully cooked.

For my side dish I chose a very simple side, grilled corn on the cob in the husks.  I begin by unsheathing the corn from the husks, but make sure you don’t rip off the husks.  Then I take a stick of butter and rub it all over the corn.  Then close up the corn in the husks and grill. 

Plate up and enjoy.

Taste analysis:

If you like bourbon flavor, then this is the dish for you.  The pineapple and bourbon balance well.  It's not too heavy on the garlic flavor or the rosemary. I would definitely marinate the chops overnight if I was to do it again.  Overall it was pretty good.

We're back!

Well, at least Jeremy is...  I, Jeremy, have had this idea for a recipe up my sleeve for some time now.  So here goes the preview.  The wife likes when I grill.  I like when I grill, and tonight she wanted to grill some pork chops.  The sweet sweet recipe I've been cooking up in my mind is a pork chop recipe.  The ingredients are bourbon, brown sugar, rosemary, garlic, fresh pineapple, and pork chop.  You can use your imagination.

Brisket Chili, The taste analysis

Oh my dear Lord Jesus! That is the best chili I've ever had. The flavors balance so well with a mild heat. Improvements I would make may be a few cans of tomato paste to make it thicker, add more jalapenos or a hotter pepper to give it more heat, and maybe a can of beer to it. There is definitely the smoke flavor there from the brisket. It's not too salty, not over bearing. All around delicious. We'll see what the office has to say about it tomorrow.

Smoked Brisket Chili!

Smoked Brisket Chili Rough Draft

1lb Smoked beef brisket

2 8oz cans stewed tomatoes chopped with juice

2 Red onions Chopped

5 Jalapeno peppers sliced

3 8oz cans of kidney beans (strained)

2 cups water

¼ cup dry rub

Combine in slow cooker for 3 hours on high stirring occasionally add more rub to taste a tea spoon at a time.

Analysis soon to come. I've tasted some of the broth, and it's glorious, so we'll see.

Coming Soon, Smoked Brisket Chili

Right now I'm smoking a brisket for an experimental chili. It's the practice chili for the Camden Chili Cook Off. Taste testing by the office on Monday. Stay tuned.

Porterhouse Steaks, Twice Baked Tatos, and Roasted Asparagus

Porterhouse Steaks, Twice Baked Tatos, and Roasted Asparagus

This time on Dinner Bromantic we have a special guest. I don’t even know if one could call it “BROmantic” as we were making dinner for our ladies. Our special guest this time was Thomas Waldrop, a chef in training at Coastal Georgia College here in Camden County Georgia.

We began our evening with a trip to Kingsland Meats. Thomas’ idea was to just go in and browse the selection to see what inspires us. As we scanned the beef selections Thomas mentioned Porterhouses. A Porterhouse is from the same cut of the T-Bone. A T-Bone and Porterhouse both have Fillet on one side of the bone and Strip Steak on the other. The difference between them is that a Porterhouse has nearly equal portions of Fillet and Strip. We purchased the steaks and 6 baking potatoes from Kingsland Meats. Then we went to Publix.

At Publix we got the ingredients to make our sides: asparagus, cheese, a variety of spices and sauce bases, sour cream, unsalted butter, scallions, pineapple juice, and bacon. Then off to the house.

When we arrived I poured Thomas and I a glass of my new favorite bourbon and gingerale (Jim Beam Double Aged). Then we prepped the potatoes for baking while we waited for the oven to heat to 400. It’s important to get the potatoes in the oven first, as they take the longest to cook. While the potatoes were baking, get started on the terryaki sauce (optional). We made terryaki sauce because my wife Amber loves some terryaki with her steak.

For the terryaki sauce:

You will need: 1 cup of soy sauce, ½ cup of brown sugar, 14oz of pineapple juice about 1 ¾ cup, ¼ cup of mirin (sweet cooking rice wine), ¼ teaspoon of ginger (add more to your liking), ¼ cup diced scallion (steeped), and 1 large clove of garlic whole and steeped in the sauce.

Combine all the ingredients into a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a medium high heat simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce has reached a desired thickness.

For the twice baked tatos:

You will need: 6 baking potatoes, ½ cup chopped bacon bits, 2 cups sour cream, 1 stick unsalted butter, ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce, ½ lb shredded cheddar, ½ lb shredded mozzarella, 1 spoon full of bacon grease.

-Bake the potatoes whole for an hour and a half at 400. Check them about 1 hour into cooking as ovens vary.

KEEP THE OVEN ON FOR LATER

*GO START YOUR GRILL IF IT IS CHARCOAL

-Once baked take out of the oven to cool for about 5 minutes.

-Once the potatoes go from piping hot to warm slice them in half long ways and hollow out each half potato.

-Combine the potato into a mixing bowl with the rest of the above contents (if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer, it speeds up the process) If not you can mash them by hand in the bowl.

-Once completely mixed, scoop out the mixture into each of the potato skins.

-Wait for the asparagus to be prepped before putting the potatoes back in the oven for the amount of time it takes to cook your steaks.

For the asparagus you will need:

Whole asparagus, sea salt, garlic powder, olive oil, black pepper.

-Trim the asparagus about a 1/5^th of the way up from the bottom.

-Wash and place in a large roasting pan.

-Lightly dust with olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder, and fresh ground black pepper.

-Place in oven with the potatoes while you are grilling steaks.

Steaks:

-Make sure the grill is hot.

-Place your steaks on the grill and season the top with Weber Chicago Steak seasoning.

-Grill to your liking on the first side, then flip season again and grill to your liking (for a good medium, I like to do about 3 minutes on each side).

Hope you all enjoy!

BBQ Pork Shoulder Part 2

And we're back.... After about 6 hours take a meat thermometer and stick it deep into your shoulder. If the temperature is 170, the meat is cooked all the way through. The meat is good to take off at this time, but if you like pulled pork rather than chopped pork, let it smoke for at least 3 more hours.

Once you pull the meat of the smoker wrap it in aluminum foil and let it rest in a cooler or oven for at least 15 minutes. While the meat is resting you could check on whichever side items you choose to have with the meat, or toast some buns for a sandwich.

Now that some time is passed, take out the wrapped meat and unwrap it. Now you can pull out the bone and get chopping or pulling. Serve it up with your favorite bbq sauce. I recommend a sweet mustard sauce.

Take it off the grill once the meat core temperature is 170 F

Let it rest for at least 15 minutes then unwrap.

And chop it up. If you cook for a very long time (9 hours or more) you may be able to pull the bone right out and pull the meat apart with your hands or shred with a fork.

BBQ Pork Shoulder Part 1

Ideal temp

We're cookin'

Firebox open

Jeremy here with a special guest (chef in training) Thomas Waldrop. So here it goes... For Christmas/Birthday, since my birthday falls 2.5 weeks before Christmas I wanted three things: Smoker with fire box, bike rack, and mountain bike. I was blessed with all three. So I put my smoker together in my living room the day after Christmas (with no extra parts left over). Tuesday night I decided to smoke some baby back ribs. Sadly, that was a fail. When I've rigged up my Weber grill to smoke with, I have used lighter fluid to get the fire started. I thought that would be ok with this smoker. Unfortunately I was well corrected when my baby backs started making one's tongue numb from the taste of lighter fluid. Once you got past that first tingle, they weren't that bad. Anyway.... So I went to Lowes this week and bought a charcoal chimney, and two bundles of hickory firewood. For those of you not familiar with a charcoal chimney, it is roughly the size of a large paint can, with a grate to hold the charcoal, a handle and vents throughout to get the fire going. What you do is load the charcoal on top and pack the bottom with balled up newspaper. You then set the chimney on a well ventilated surface with a fireproof bottom. Your driveway should do. Then you light the paper and wait. Once your coals are ready you pour them into your firebox. Then add wood chunks to the coals. Adjust your dampers till your temp is maintaining between 225 and 250 degrees F.

Prepping the shoulder:

Get a sharp knife. Very sharp!

-Skin the pork skin off

-Heavily coat the pork shoulder with rub.

-Place on grill for 6-9 hours. (we are cooking ours for 7.5 hours)

-Continue to add wood and adjust dampers to maintain temperature for the whole cook time.

Rub:

Sorry guys and gals, I'm not giving our my rub recipe but I will tell you the ingredients so you can come up with your own.

-sea salt

-garlic powder

-onion powder

-chili powder

Oh man, I almost forgot and this is KEY! You must, must, must, must keep a large foil pan with water in it under your meat. Dry meat is no meat of mine. Keep an eye on it too. Don't let it dry up. You can also add beer or apple cider vinegar to the moisture. I've tried both. It turns out well.

More to come....