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Still trying to find a good wine pairing for sauerkraut.........

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Starting to work on dinner for tomorrow evening. Weather is supposed to suck later in the day and I think I have everything I need to survive (beer, wine, food, wine, beer, more beer, charcoal, smokin' wood). So to fulfill my yearning for an all day cook, I bought a pork shoulder (aka butt, boston butt). It's bone in and a bit smaller than normal (only 5.55 lbs (@ $0.99/lb)) which works perfectly since my biggest eater is currently at Eglin AFB in FL. Just rubbed it with equal parts of kosher salt, pepper, demerara sugar and Hungarian paprika. Will let it sit overnight in the fridge, then drop it on either the WSM or Weber kettle tomorrow morning in hopes that 8 or 9 hours @ 225*F with an hour rest will get it up to 190*F internal temperature.

Not sure what wood I'll add to the cooker, but I have pecan, apple, hickory or mesquite to choose from. I like mesquite better for beef, so I'll stick with one of the other three. Leaning towards hickory at this point (been cooking a lot with pecan and apple, need to mix things up a bit).

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Edit: @ibglowin, is that pastrami? Yum, you just made me hungry and I ate about an hour ago! My wife and I like Pinot Grigio (I also like a nice grassy Sauvignon Blanc).

Edit 2: My inspiration:
 
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Apple and either Pecan or Hickory (mix) for sure!

Not sure what wood I'll add to the cooker, but I have pecan, apple, hickory or mesquite to choose from. I like mesquite better for beef, so I'll stick with one of the other three. Leaning towards hickory at this point (been cooking a lot with pecan and apple, need to mix things up a bit).
 
Yes all the way around. Pumpernickel/Rye swirl, pastrami, swiss, 1000 Island........ Could have eaten two! (really small bread.... LOL)
 
Starting to work on dinner for tomorrow evening. Weather is supposed to suck later in the day and I think I have everything I need to survive (beer, wine, food, wine, beer, more beer, charcoal, smokin' wood). So to fulfill my yearning for an all day cook, I bought a pork shoulder (aka butt, boston butt). It's bone in and a bit smaller than normal (only 5.55 lbs (@ $0.99/lb)) which works perfectly since my biggest eater is currently at Eglin AFB in FL. Just rubbed it with equal parts of kosher salt, pepper, demerara sugar and Hungarian paprika. Will let it sit overnight in the fridge, then drop it on either the WSM or Weber kettle tomorrow morning in hopes that 8 or 9 hours @ 225*F with an hour rest will get it up to 190*F internal temperature.

Not sure what wood I'll add to the cooker, but I have pecan, apple, hickory or mesquite to choose from. I like mesquite better for beef, so I'll stick with one of the other three. Leaning towards hickory at this point (been cooking a lot with pecan and apple, need to mix things up a bit).

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Edit: @ibglowin, is that pastrami? Yum, you just made me hungry and I ate about an hour ago! My wife and I like Pinot Grigio (I also like a nice grassy Sauvignon Blanc).

Edit 2: My inspiration:


You always give me some inspiration to cook as a big leaguer [emoji4]

That will be my next “project” ... LOL

Temps are getting too cold for the grill though....
 
Got a full packer prime brisket chilling in the fridge as we speak. Injected with a quart of marinade and seasoned on the outside as well. It’ll get slathered down with “Better Than Bouillon” Sunday morning and hit the Primo around sunrise. Thinking mesquite chunks for the smoke. Should be perfect by kickoff for the Saints game......
 
Temps are getting too cold for the grill though....
It's never too cold, just add some more charcoal and figure another 15 mintues per hour to give you a "safe" time buffer. The great thing about the larger cuts of meat, like the brisket that @Johnd is doing, you can wrap it and put it in a cooler and let it hang out for a couple of hours if it gets done early. Plus a nice 30 to 60 minute rest lets those juices get reabsorbed and redistributed through the meat so you have nice tender juicy meat in every delicious bite.
 
Got to sleep in this morning, which is rare, I got an 8h15m sleep, very very rare. I'm rare-ing to go today. Got my shower and it dawned on me that I was supposed to have put the boston butt that was marinating in the fridge on the WSM/kettle by now. Chose the WSM, did a modified snake (needed to go to the store to watch people gathering bread and milk). Found a hidden package of cherry wood chips, so did a mix of hickory and cherry with straight cherry in the first clump that the snake would burn. Current numbers are 290*F ambient in the smoker with the butt @ 165*F (as of 1:15pm EST), wrapped at 160* in heavy duty foil. Should have no problems reaching 190*F by dinner, only variable is that the wind picked up and pushed the WSM up to 300*F when I was out. Have since adjusted the bottom vents to 100-25-25 and the temperature is dropping a bit.

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Now researching a venison/veal/pork sausage recipe. Think it might end up going towards a sweet Italian sausage, Bratwurst is the second choice (we've been making too much Kielbasa, backlog needs to be eaten). Youngest Son said he'd eat any sausage recipe I made, I think I'm starting to like him more and more!

Edit: removed the butt out of the WSM when it hit 190*F, put a towel in the bottom of a pre-heated cooler and placed the wrapped butt inside. Carryover went to 199*F, amazing. Now at 185*F 90 minutes later. Should easily hold above 140 until dinner is at hand and I can pull the butt. Also mixed up a country sausage recipe with venison and veal (small test batch of two pounds) from a really cool book I just bought a week ago. Will probably stuff it later this evening, and by directions smoke cook to 153*F tomorrow, if the wind allows it, otherwise will not smoke and finish off in a 170*F oven (which is as low as my oven goes).
 
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Temperature was 163*F when I removed the cooked butt from the cooler. I imagine it could have hung out in there for at least another hour if not longer. Shredded the pork with my Oklahoma Joe's bear claws (they work really well) and put on the stove top to keep warm until the salad is made (wifey) and the Bush's vege baked beans are heated through. Hope to make some Cubano sandwiches for lunch tomorrow if I can get to the store for some kosher dill pickle slabs (got everything else required).


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Turned out incredibly moist, not too spicy, but made an Aaron Franklin's inspired bbq sauce for those who require sauce:


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The Primo Oval XL is a pretty darn big grill, this giant packer brisket is no slouch, weighing in over 22 pounds after trimming. Chopped some hickory chunks into flat, wide slivers to smoke it pretty heavy here in the beginning. Kinda had my heart set on mesquite, until I was reminded what % of the time I use mesquite. Oh well, no big deal. Brisket was injected and dry rubbed two days ago, slathered down with Better Than Bouillon this morning, and on the grill at 6AM CST, 250 F, hickory on board.

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I got no dog in this fight as they say but I decided it had been long enough and I decided to break out the Pit Boss today even though it was a balmy 16F this morning. No half a cow like @Johnd but a small 7lb pork butt, a rack of BB's and a rack of spare ribs, and maybe even a link of snausage at the end. My trusty electric starter finally gave out this AM, it was looking bad for awhile so I pulled out the big gun. Propane Torch. Took all of 5 mins and that thing had the charcoal going like crazy and I had a temp of 300F in like 15 mins. Usually takes about 40 mins with the electric starter. Might just stick to the torch from now own! More pics to come.



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I got no dog in this fight as they say but I decided it had been long enough and I decided to break out the Pit Boss today even though it was a balmy 16F this morning. No half a cow like @Johnd but a small 7lb pork butt, a rack of BB's and a rack of spare ribs, and maybe even a link of snausage at the end. My trusty electric starter finally gave out this AM, it was looking bad for awhile so I pulled out the big gun. Propane Torch. Took all of 5 mins and that thing had the charcoal going like crazy and I had a temp of 300F in like 15 mins. Usually takes about 40 mins with the electric starter. Might just stick to the torch from now own! More picks to come.

Before the Looft, I used a propane torch as well, but it was pretty big and heavy to move about. Found a small torch that fits one the small propane bottles, used for brazing and the like. It’s a pretty solid lighting method as well, creating a beautiful bed of glowing coals in just a few minutes.
 

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