BF made really good pesto last night with basil that had to be used, so tonight I made a fettucine pesto dish with blanched FM tomatoes, FM fresh corn, parm regg and chili flakes. Inhaled!
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Nicely dressed Maria . Just the right amount of pesto.
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I’m scratching my head. Right now I have half of it, too fibrous for certain dish, no idea at all what to do with it.
Maybe shred and bake it in a quick bread, sweet or savory?
Shred it and make fritters.
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Preparing pulled pork N Carolina style tomorrow, friday as guest leaves sunday, returning to Amsterdam. Starting writing this thread as I am preparing the butts.
2 Boston butts, bone in. 10 lbs each. In the past, I always buy the whole butt from Costco. It consist of a butt and a picnic, that has been deboned, so the meat is cut in the center to remove the bone, makes it convenient to apply salt and rub both on the exterior and interior of the meat. It usually takes me 14 hours , usually very juicy, with a fantastic delicious crust and a pink smoked ring below the crust. It is very8 easy to pull the tender moist pork apart with bear claws,
This is the first time I bought my meat from Harris Teeter ( newly opened store in my County this week). Their butts are just plain butts, no picnic., but bone in. Decided to give it a try. Meathead suggest that splitting them would give more surface for that delicious crust , however , may lost lost some moisture. I decided to split it into 4 pieces since I have to cut it open to apply my salt and rub to the interior.
I used 1/2 tsp of kosher salt /lb, 12 hours ahead, then oiled with peanut oil, and Meathead’s Memphis rub recipe all over
Usual smoking time to reach my target temp of 203 degrees is 14 hours for a bone out whole butt at 220 setpoint. At 150 degrees, it hits stall whereby The internal temp won’t go up for hours. That’s because the moisture evaporating from the surface is cooling the meat at the same rate as the hot air is warming explaining the stalls. You can just ride it out or you can bust through by cranking the heat to about 300°F or by wrapping the meat tightly in foil. This is called the Texas Crutch. I have never used Texas Crutch technique to hasten cooking time, rather stay up and start cooking in the middle of the night. Once, when smoking a brisket, restless guests could not wait for the brisket to reach internal temp of 195 ( took 18 hours) despite seeing them drinks and appetizer. I had to cut a piece of brisket , cooked it in the oven to reach temp o 203 for those restless guests who wanted to leave. I learned my lesson, cook ahead of time and placed them in cambrio.
I placed the 2 butts in the smoker at 2;30AM hoping it would finish in 12 hours rather than 14. hours since they are thinner, place them in faux cambrio for 2-3 hours. At 6:00 AM, the thinner piece without the bone hit temp of 169 without going thru the stall at 150 degrees. Googled, found one guy who states that he lowers temp so it would not finish too early or I would have to take the thinner piece out earlier, wanted my nap and not risk overcooking , so I lowered temp to 200 from 220 to catch a 3-4 hour nap. No such luck, had unknown phone call in a foreign language at 8 30AM. It hit stall and both butts were 164 for thicker, 169 for thinner piece. ( double check with my digital thermometer) although my probes are fairly accurate.
Acc to Meathead who I follow religiously when smoking, unadulterated, hot from the smoker, is unmatched in the culinary world. It is the quintessence of porkdom. Serve it nekkid. Urge people to taste it nekkid. Then, if they wish, a splash sauce on the top is all. Smoke the pork Saturday, serve it Sunday? He calls that serving leftovers!!! I am serving them with home made Carolina vinegar sauce and offer Stubbs BBQ sauce ref the guests prefers with coleslaw and often enough, gust would just stand around , pick the meat out and eat as is dipped in the sauce.
If you are more than 2 hours from mealtime, wrap it in foil to keep it from drying out and hold it at 170°F. If you are taking the meat to a party, use a faux cambro, which is nothing more than a tight plastic beer cooler in which you can hold the meat. Leave the probe in the meat, wrap the hunk tightly in foil, wrap the foil with more towels, and put it the whole thing in the cooler. Fill up the cooler with more towels, blankets, or newspaper to keep the meat insulated. Make sure it never drops below 145°F. Just know that this technique will soften the bark and change the texture of the meat very slightly. I have smoked brisket that was finished at 11:00AM, prepared it this way for my son to take to a party 5 h ours away in NY. I was told the brisket was perfect and in fact, had some of those friends from NY requesting for smoked brisket again.
First picture ( may only be only one if I do not forget when guest arrives if I get busy ), is at 8:30M, 6 hours later. It is at stall after 160 degrees, So, it may stay at that temp or another 3. hours , so hopefully it will reach 203 degrees by around 2;00-3:00PM, gives me time to go out for errand to PO ,
Hfor sliders and coleslaw
I
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My brother has a 4 year old 48 " wolf, and has a similar problem with the stove top grates. I know he did order replacements, and the same problem with the powder coat type of finish as you describe…His solution…“I will be selling the house in about a year”…
@ Don Fillipos’ of course…
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@ccj I’ve been using the cooler holding method for a while as well. Pretty much same as you. The meat holds very well even if you lose a little texture in the bark. It’s worth it to get started earlier and have it resting when guests arrive
well, it is now 1:50Pm, the temp last checked for the larger pieces are 195 and 197 degrees
I had taken the smaller pieces into a faux cambrio lined with tons of tea towels, very well insulated
Am waiting for the temp to turn to 203, then, will place them in another cambrio
Just frustrated over this studio USPS system, cannot seem to get in touch with them, losing mails, very important art sculpture broken, cannot file a claim, did so but the post master did not send the item to for damage report, and now, statue of limitation is over but newest postmaster is on indefinitely. leave??? no new postmaster?? items taken to post office exactly 7 days ago ut he has not filed report, nobody can help me!!!
Any one else has these frustrations with their postal service?
I have lost so much stuff, have a group of incompetent clerks, post master ( since our post master died in a motorcycle accident, very efficient!) , have installed a SS D Vault locking mailbox for incoming, outgoing mail and large packages but still losing them!
Butt wil be ready , guest arriving at 5:00PM , probably will go and have drinks at the pier or boat and wait for everyone to arrive. My son says not to worry about slaw , sliders or desserts.
Just finished making vinegar sauce .
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I had a mail lady that would always have my mail screwd up. I would get other people’s mail also . It was pretty much every delivery. Same thing , banking, contractor licence renewal among other was all messed up . Finally made a complaint to the post office . That straightened it all out .
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I have but useless
I understand from a very reliable source ( lawyer’s secretary) that the whole group of postal employees came from another branch in Annapolis that closed. They cannot fire them, so, they were moved here. There is no post master, or they never stay , somehow they all move away, become sick or whatever!!!
Obvs. I don’t even bother with inferior versions any more!!
USPS and Sears in the same model…in this economic environment it just does not work anymore…Evolve or become a “dinosaur”… I agree with your son…as I make cream of Broccoli soup on a 87 degree day here in NYC…
WFD…Cream of broccoli soup, grilled porterhouse pork chops with a mustard vinaigrette, simple baked Idaho potato, sliced tomato from the garden with splash of EVOO and a few drops 15 year old Balsamic from Italy…
Trying to loose some weight, so I will forego the usual French Baguette tonight…
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Store bought spinach & cheese ravioli tossed with backyard tomatoes and basil.
A little olive oil and garlic. And some wine. Easy-peasy and pretty tasty.
We are really enjoying our tomato garden!
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The pork butts turned out good, still warm many hours later, the thinner pieces were cooked by 1:00PM, the thicker pieces by 3:00PM. Kept them in cambrio till 6:15PM, still warm with lots of tea towels. Here are pictures of them, eaten with vegetable a guest bought with some lemon EVOO from Capri, potato sliders, smoked jalapeño , store bought greek peperonci. Guest started arriving 4:00PM, went out to the boat and had appetizers, ( cheese, chips, wine ). I am done, only 2 of the pork were shedded with ebay claws . They re now watching our beautiful sunset, Someone brought fresh cucumber salad, fresh corn ( but do not know if we an eat that , too much meat and cheese etc to eat) Plenty
( very good but very of red Wine and rose wine from South Africa. !Picture shows 4 pieces, only shredded 2 with 2more to go. They loved the cider vinegar dressing better than the white vinegar dressing. Perhaps they will have midnite snack
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When 3 days of work feels like 5, you go easy for dinner:
Cream cheese scrambled eggs with chives and parsley, toasted English muffin, and a few slices of Sugar Cube cantaloupe (which weren’t sweet at all and I tossed the rest of it - sorry, Ward’s Berry Farm, this was a bust).
Oh yeah. There was a glass of wine.
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Yes to sauced pasta, unsauced pasta is a pet-peeve.
No judgement, that’s my go-to meal too, if I feel real ambitious, I’ll add bacon!
The eggs look dreamy, that’s how I like my eggs, small curds too. 
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