It Just Fell Apart

RhumAndJerk · January 2000

Two Days of Cooking for this glorious Holiday Weekend…[p]Start at Start.[p]Saturday morning. Help my buddy move into his house, after which my son and I went to the West Side Market to buy the necessary guests for the Holiday Party. I was having a hard time deciding what to make. The people who were coming for the Superbowl Party were expecting a deep fried turkey, but my stomach was requesting Pulled Pork. Well, we ended up with both. The butt weighed in at 6.5 pounds and the turkey weighed in at just under 12 pounds. Let me tell you that fresh is best. The bird was one of the nicest that I have seen.[p]Get home. Early Afternoon.[p]Run to the Pepper store to pick up the injectables for the turkey. It was Chef Williams’ Cajun recipe and some Cajun Shake.[p]Get home around 6:30PM. Now comes the fun part. We had to pack the kids up and head to a party by 8 PM. This part went quick. Start a chunk of Red Oak and Hickory soaking. Dump some fresh lump in the Egg after briefly stirring the old. I had the bottom of a bag of BGE lump that was mostly small pieces and dust, so I dump most of it in. I light the fire starter and headed in fix the butt.[p]I only had enough EW’s Rub to do one side of the butt. I wanted it for the crust on top, so I used Chef Barclays’ Chelsea Blend on the bottom and the rest of EW’s on the top and sides. I reverted back to my baking tiles to setup for indirect heat. I just did not have time to see how my kiln shelves would work.[p]I do not know what temp the egg was at when I put the butt on the grill; it had to go on regardless. I poured a can a beer in the drip pan, and left the bottom vent open and the daisy wheel opened slightly. [p]At this point, it was around 7PM and I still needed to make the slaw. I ran the ingredients through the food processor and cheated by using Marzetti’s Original Slaw Dressing. I checked the dome temp and it was getting to 200, so adjusted the vents to where I thought that they should be.[p]Got all three kids ready with the help of the wife. Right before we left I checked the dome and it was sitting at 210, so I left it alone.[p]By the time that I got home it was 1AM (we drove separate cars). The dome was right around 220 and then I plugged the polder in and the butt was at 140.[p]When I woke up on Sunday at 7AM, the dome was at 210 and the butt was at 156. Thanks to KennyG’s Turbo Grate the fire burned all night. Now I was excited, my butt was actually going to cook the whole time at the right temperature.[p]Sometime around 11AM, I noticed that the dome temp was dropping. I was basically out of lump, so I reloaded and lit the new charcoal with a blowtorch. If I had the time to build the fire according to EW instruction, this would not have happened. Oh well, I was happy everything was going good. About two hours later I dumped another can of beer in the drip pan.[p]So after much other stuff, shift to 4PM.[p]Time to get the oil going for the Turkey. I cleaned and measured the oil level for the turkey. I started the oil heating on the stove inside while I setup the stove outside. I moved the oil outside. And checked the butt. It was about 4:30PM and the polder read 206. Since the weather was anything but friendly, I keep the probe wire in a Ziploc and just checked the temp every now and then. I took the pork inside, injected and rubbed the turkey[p]The oil was ready, so submersed the turkey. I had used the correct amount of oil so I created far less of a mess. I went inside to pull the Pork.[p]The pork just fell apart; it was a thing of beauty. I think that the butt was actually afraid of the fork because as soon as I touched the butt with the fork, it quivered and then just fell into a pile meat. Really, I didn’t do a thing. If you believe that one, the is a certain piece of prime real estate in NYC that has a bridge on it…
Seriously, it was the tenderest butt that I have ever made.[p]Anyway, here is where I stop everything. I got a roll, some of the sauce that had been on the stove all day and I ate a sandwich. I did not care who was there and what else going on. I ate it with a barley pop, of course.[p]At this point, the turkey was ready so I brought it inside and fried the veggies. It was a little after kick off when the blue potato chips were done.[p]Watch a very exciting Super Bowl. [p]By the time everything was cleaned up it was 2 AM and I was very tired.[p]Could some one tell me what to use to filter the oil with? It is the worst part of the job.[p]I hope that everyone had a fine Holiday Weekend.[p]RhumAndJerk

Bama Fire · January 2000

RhumAndJerk,[p]Sounds like you need a week to recover from your weekend! :~)[p]My culinary adventure began Thursday night with BUTT prep -- mustard and some spices.[p]Friday BUTT meets EGG.[p]Saturday -- Chili. Two batches: one black bean and mildly sweet (GFW's recipe)-- one pinto and spicy (also GFWs). I added green peppers and crushed fresh garlic to both. I simmer them on the egg for hours on sunday prior to kickoff.[p]Late Saturday afternoon , the butt was ready (finally).[p]Pulled it. Made JJ's Q Sauce - -nice.[p]Sunday. I am a Glutton. I can't walk now -- I just tuck my chins and roll everywhere.[p]Bama Fire

RhumAndJerk · January 2000

Bama Fire,
I just want to sleep. The butt and the turkey both came out perfect.[p]It sounds like you cooked as much. What meat did you use for the pinto chili?
RhumAndJerk

Bama Fire · January 2000

RhumAndJerk,[p]I chopped up about two pounds of round steak for each batch. It's more work than using ground round, but it keeps the fat content low. I'll do it again the next time I make chili -- the flavor was GREAT!

King-O-Coals · January 2000

RhumAndJerk, hey, I use a propane torch to ligh up everytime. I use a small piece of fireplace starter log, but the torch gets it going fact. Long, slow, uniform heat,(with the daisy) hee,hee, caused the same thing to happen to my butt. Grab it by the bone and shake it into a pile on the plate. Pantyhose and cheesecloth will filter your grease just fine. I get my oil back up to just warm, it flows better. I know, that sounds gross, but I'm in the south, we do things different down here. Oh!,, washed ones work better, ump,hummmm! Sounds like you had a successful day.. Way-to-go.

Grillin' Bill · January 2000

RhumAndJerk,
When I deep fry turkeys, I filter the oil through a cone filter that is held by a cone shapped apparatus made of metal wire. Maybe its called a wire filter cone holder. They are 8-10 bucks. Box of filters were a bout 15 bucks. I bought at a restaurant supply store. I always filter oil when its warm to touch, not hot!! Hope this helps. I can get two frys and sometimes three out of my oil.

RhumAndJerk · January 2000

King-O-Coals,
I like the pantyhose idea. I have been using a two liter pop bottle and sterile gauze. It works very slow.[p]Thanks for the idea,
RhumAndJerk

RhumAndJerk · January 2000

Grillin' Bill,
Thank you, that is exactly the info that I am looking for. I have wanted to get to the Restaurant Supply store for a while now. This will give the excuse that I have looking for.
RhumAndJerk

King-O-Coals · January 2000

RhumAndJerk, you are welcome. I'm surprised I didn't get smaked for that one,, but it does work, You can stretch them over a large pot, bucket, or can, (ouch! ouch! ouch!, my wife smacked me for each one of those references), and put the cheese cloth inside and it gives you "a lot" of surface area(ouch!) to allow for the oil to drain. Man!, this post's killing me.. (Okay honey, I'll tell him!) Oh, and please remember to ask permission first. Last time I picked a new pair.. It took several washings to get the peanut oil out,, and now when she wears them, the cats follow her all around.. :^)

BBQfan1 · January 2000

RhumAndJerk,[p]I spent a short while working in a fast food restaurant in my high school days, and being low man on the totem pole, I usually had the job of dumping/skimming/changing the oil. I never learned the 'correct' name for the apparatus used to filter the oil, but it looked just like a collander, such as you would use to make applesauce, tomato juice or the like, only with an added cloth filter. I think if you went to a restaurant supply place and asked for an oil filtering collander, they'd set you up with what you need. Or if you want to go the pantyhose route, at least use L'Eggs (do they still have that brand?) [p]

Dr. Chicken · January 2000

King-O-Coals,
I am surprised you bothered to make sure they were empty before you used them!!! Yuk! Yuk![p]Dr. C

It Just Fell Apart

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