Todays cooks. faux Cochon de Lait and some shoulder bacon

Cookinbob

I have been wanting to do this recipe from Nibblemethis for some time, decided today was the day.  Bought a pork shoulder and removed the bone (butchered it), then cut off the end where the bone was and tied it up for the Cochon De Lait.  I had an extra piece that fell off as I was trimming the remainder so I tied it up too.  Got the egg and DO Stabilized at 300, did a sear on all sides per the recipe, then added the milk, cream, and spices. this will be on the egg for 2-1/2 hours or so, I am turning it every 30 minutes.

The remaining piece of shoulder is now dredged in Ruhlman's basic cure, and will spend about 10 days curing after which I will hot smoke and slice.

One conclusion I drew, I don't think I will do my DO sear on the egg in the future.  All that time with the lid open gets a roaring fire going, and it took a lot of time to get the temp back down to the 300 I wanted.  When the pork is done, I will reduce the sauce either on the stove or a side burner, and will grill some zucchini slices for a side.  I'll try to get another pic or so towards the end f the cook.

Cookinbob

This one is done, it was good, but I probably won't do it again.  Really reminded me of Stroganoff, if I did it again, I would add mushrooms to the sauce - they would have been good.  Sauce did not thicken as described so I had to resort to corn starch.  But to be honest, I did not follow the recipe where it called for 2 cups of heavy cream.  At 800 calories per cup, I just did not want that much fat, so I used 1 cup of light cream, 1-1/2 cups of evaporated milk, along with 2-1/2 cups of milk.  I will have left overs for lunch tomorrow probably over noodles.

Sorry, no plated pics, it gets crazy at plating time.

Jstroke

I will have to say that looks excellent. Nice way to push the envelope a little bit.