Wow, this blog is really dead

Dec. 5th was last time I posted, I am really lazy I guess, getting into that winter rut and just not getting anything done, Have done quite a few BBQ's but just guess nothing memorable enough to blog about, will be doing a brisket tonight for lunch tomorrow, maybe I can make it memorable.

Figured out the Brisket

Well, had tried Brisket before and not happy with the results, the way everyone raves about it on the BBQ forums I just gotta get this right to see if it's as good as everyone says.

fired up the pit around 9:00, am I crazy look at that thermometer


















rubbed down the 13 1/2 LB brisket I picked up







got everything going and went to sleep, woke up a couple times during the night and checked it out, everything looking good.




about 6:00 I took it off and separated the point from the flat, a packer brisket which is what I'm using is actually 2 pieces of meat hooked together, Spud asked me to make some burnt ends someday, so this is what I'm doing with the point.

I wrapped the flat up in foil with some beef broth and put back in pit.

I cut the point into little cubes, sprinkled more rub on and poured on some BBQ sauce, then back on pit for a couple more hours, these are great for making BBQ brisket sandwiches







Burnt ends are done and I'm still not getting the "Butta" feeling that everyone talks about when I stick my thermometer in the flat, it's past the temp it should be done, I think I just got a tough piece of meat, I'll give it another half hour, I'm not feeling good, this brisket thing just doesn't work for me.

45 mins later "BUTTA" I did it, probe slides right in with no resistance,





Now I know why everyone talks about brisket so much, if done right it is great, and I finally done it right

nothing new

Think my blog is dead, I never get around to it much, will be cooking the Thanksgiving turkey on the pellet grill, but probably no pictures, always too hectic and forget to take any.

only thing new around here is new puppy, had Bailey so long, seems like we need a dog around here, so we got Barkley, He's gonna be bigger that Lynn wanted, but when the owner said both his parents caught moles, I was sold, thought we had him house broke after one day, but he regressed again, and he definitely is busy, supposedly a dachshund and jack russel terrier mix, he does look like some of the jack russel's I've seen online.




Here is what happens when you lock him up in the utility room for too long without properly puppy proofing it.






He's a handful, but if he gets rid of the moles will be worth the trouble

Getting ready for the Wedding

Well, somebody talked me into pulled pork for Shawna's wedding, gonna do it up ahead of time, food saver it and freeze, then re-heat for wedding, on vacation this week so gonna try to get it done, did 6-10Lb butts yesterday, here they are after first being put on, pretty much maxed out my pit.



This is just too much meat to cook at one time, everything was OK til time to pull and package up, if I did this too many times, might break me from barbecuing, I hope it turns out good for the wedding, people on all the forums I read say they do this and turns out good.

Was gonna do the rest today, but after yesterday I need a break, will finish up Friday

Tuna

Well Mom was expecting me to post something about the alderhouse pic nic but never got around to it, we had the surprise party for Lynn the night before and was pretty worn out from drinking Tequila all night, OK just til 1 am, that turned out really well, thank you Heather, Aubree and Shawna for giving your mother a special day, I got the crazy idea around 11:00 to make some bacon wrapped meatballs and nobody talked me out of that either, so at 12:30 we were feasting again, but man were they good. went to bed about 4:00 then got woke up at 7:15 to make breakfast, so wasn't really in top condition to have another big grilling adventure.

The alderhouse pic nic was over quickly, was still in the 100's then, just grilled some burgers and dogs, everyone ate, sat around talking for a little while and left, just too damn hot.

This weekend Lynn and I went out to Ocean Shores, Aubree & Hazen rented us a room there for our birthday presents, we had a really nice time, other than it kinda drizzeled all day, got up Sun. morning and ran around town a little more making sure we did everything there was to do, Then off towards Westport, they are catching Tuna there and I have been wanting to get out there for about 3 years now during tuna season, I've never had fresh tuna and everyone that has just raves about it, we walked around town for a while checking out the gift shops, woo hoo, then down to the docks to find some tuna, we found a guy selling it for $2.25 a lb, $2.50 a lb if he fileted it, being as I've never fileted a tuna I paid the extra 25 cents a lb, we had to wait an hour for the boat to get in so your not gonna get ant fresher than this.

We got a 21 lb fish, probably lose about half that after fileting out so probaly figures out to around $5 a lb for it, seems reasonable for fresh fish if you've ever bought it anywhere else, well today (Mon) for lunch I cut some steaks off, drizzeled them with olive oil, a little salt and pepper, seared 'em on the grill at really high temp, this is what I found on internet was best way yo cook 'em, people saying to cook 'em medium rare, I have never been a fan of undercooked fish, but everyone saying they get dry and lose their flavor if overcooked, I cooked 'em a little longer than recommended but still a little pink inside, all I can say is amazing, this was probably some of the best fish I have ever eaten, I may cook the next ones even a little more rare, It had a completely different texture than most fish, not mushy, reminded us more of really tender beef texture.

been wanting to get the fresh tuna for a long time, will probably be a yearly event now that we've tried it.

I don't think I've ever been through the highway from Aberdeen to Westport before, usually either go out to Westport/ Grayland area or to north beaches, but there is a sausage shop north of Westport we stopped at that makes a lot of different types of sausages, we bought a couple different kinds but haven't tried them out yet, hope they are good, might have found another reason to go to the coast.

Our trips are always about the food, I picked up a big fresh salmon filet too.

too lazy to post

Been having a lot of BBQ's lately, but just never take pictures and if I do don't get around to posting anything if I do,

Ryan and his brother Evan rode in STP last weekend, made big pot of spaghetti with homemade meatballs and some Italian sausage in it, Just mushrooms in Evan's, he's a vegetarian, Mom and Dawn and Shawna all stopped by too for dinner, I burnt both loaves of garlic bread so that kinda $#**@d me off, but they were edible

The italian sausage looked too good for just spaghetti, was gonna be grilling up some burgers and dogs on sunday and figured it was a good time to make a fatty, and a little Italian sausage couldn't do anything but help. so one less sausage in the sauce.

I split the sausage open, stuffed it with cream cheese, flattened out a Lb of my homemade pork sausage, covered it with shredded mexican cheese, a layer of pepperoni, then the Italian sausage in middle.

rubbed it down with my favorite rub and smoked it 2 1/2 hrs. no pics of it when it was done, it disapeared too quick,

2 Weeks after Mothers Day BBQ

Well it was the annual 2 weeks after Mothers Day BBQ, a week late, Big Menu planned, Ribs, Brat's, Beans, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, cornbread. everything done on the pellet smoker and gas grill except the beans, no room and was to busy to fire up the charcoal grill, so crock potted them, they turned out runnier than usual, so if doing it again will have to fire up another grill, OK cheated on the cornbread too, did it in oven.

I decided not doing ribs for a 1:00 meal any more, didn't think it through before putting ribs on the menu, gotta get up too early, pulled pork and brisket can put on and sleep til it's done, but haven't been happy with any of my rib attempts so far and gotta try again,

Heather and Ryan showed up about midnight Sat night and sat around talking til after 2:00, had to get up at 5:00 to start the pit, almost didn't make it, but somehow pulled through, was gonna go back to sleep after putting 'em on, but wide awake and ready for the day, never took many pics and not any good ones, here's the ribs rubbed down and ready for cooking.



6 racks of St Louis cut spares, Memphis style, just rubbed, no sauce, using the 3-2-1 method, on the smoker 3 hrs, wrap in foil with 1/2 cup apple juice for 2 hrs, then 1 hr in cooler to rest, well after 2 hrs in foil they were already overdone, everyone likes their ribs overdone so no problem, but was looking for perfect ribs this time, so back to the drawing board. gonna check 'em after 1 hr in foil next time.

threw the Brat's Hazen and Aubree gave me on the smoker, I told everyone they were made out of Antelope Hazen shot, I think that's what they were, hope I wasn't lying but not intentional, everyone really liked them. you got a good sausage man, I would use him again.

Mom, Dawn, Lumpy & Sunshine, Bonnie & Wane, Buzz, Drea, Damon, Erik, Andy, Heather & Ryan, Spud & Shawna, Me & Lynn, Thought was gonna run short on ribs so made a lot of other food, guess I made too much, had 2 full racks left over, sent one home with Heather and Ryan, Ryan was especially pleased there was so much left over, Me and Lynn had lunch for 2 days on the other, here was lunch on Tuesday

Heated up ribs on the gas grill, grilled some french rolls with garlic butter





pulled the bones out of ribs




put ribs on one half, poured on some sweet baby rays, mozzarella cheese on the other half, under broiler til cheese melted



now that was a good sandwich, will be making extra ribs from now on so we can have this again.

So Happy Mothers Day Mom, even if it is 3 weeks late,