Here Piggy, Piggy, Piggy

The Cen-Tex Smoker

TFJ, #1 son, and I met @20stone, @20stonespice, @pigfisher, @caliking, Mrs. Caliking, Caliprince, and Calikings dad at the farm today to check on the piggies. We are 6-7 weeks from turning the Mangalitsas from livestock to dinner fodder and they are looking great. The Mangalitsas are the larger, hairier pigs and the smaller are Mangalitsa/Swabian Hall mix. 

I have a ton of oak trees in my yard and it has been raining acorns for weeks. I loaded a bunch up in a bucket for them today and they were some very happy pigs when the acorns hit the ground. Caliking made some killler Gai Yang wings and maybe the best beans I've ever had. We threw down some sausage and I brought a SRF brisket that was smoked over oak in the dishwasher then wrapped, cooled, and then finished this morning in the egg. I think this is the best one I've ever done. For those of you with stick burners, take heed: after 12 hours in the dishwasher it was around 165 and still stalled. I pulled it, put it in the freezer for about an hour, wrapped it up and put it in the fridge overnight. I lit my egg and set it for about 250 last night (well, at 2 am) so it would be ready to roll this morning when I got up. Woke up, egg locked in at 250, threw the brisket in and it took 3 hrs to finish up. It was one of the best, if not the best I've ever done. Gooey, juicy, great bark, AND I didn't have to stay up 20 hours straight to feed the beast oak logs all night. I'll never do any other way again. The food was amazing, the pigs are doing great, and we got to catch up with good friends over a few beers on the tailgate of a few pickup trucks. Pretty good little Saturday if you ask me. 

The pigs crushing about 30lbs of acorns



Cali's Gai Yang style wings. Wife and son both said these were the best wings they had ever had. I scolded them in the car about their Judas  inspired comments and how Cali is going to be all uppidy every time I see him but they did not back down. They were freaking good, I'll give them that. 



He also made some homemade bread and those beans. Damn. 

Here are a few brisky shots. Highly recommend using the start/stop method if you don't want to stay up all night feeding the stickburner. The quality of the smoke is sublime. it makes a huge difference and finishing on the egg the next day (or several days later) makes no discernible difference in quality.  Great way to show up at a party with brisket or butt and you can finish there in an egg or oven. It will turn out as if you cooked the whole thing for 20 hours at their place. 

SGH

Show off

Fred19Flintstone

Nice!  You could shear them pigs and knit sweaters!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Fred19Flintstone said:

Nice!  You could shear them pigs and knit sweaters!

They are nappy!

20stone

The food was killer.  It had been awhile since the Hairy Hog Club for Men has gotten together.

As for the brisket, @The Cen-Tex Smoker has his game together, and it was AWESOME.  I may retire from brisket. As for the wings, I would like to try @caliking's side by side w @Foghorn's datil pepper wings, for a HHCFM wingoff.  We could have done it today, but @Foghorn was "indisposed".  The rumor of his whereabouts rhymes with "T Nile rim plant", but he will say he was busy "saving lives"

Miney and Moe are on the clock, with nibbly bits and lots of "pig butter" on the way. 

CPARKTX

Impressive work all around. Tell us more about the stop/start method?

bgebrent

Very Nice!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

CPARKTX said:

Impressive work all around. Tell us more about the stop/start method?

I put the brisket on my Karubecue at 2pm yesterday afternoon at 225 and let it roll until around 1am this morning. It was in the stall and around 165-ish. I took it off, put it in the freezer to rapid cool it for about an hour. Then I wrapped it in paper and put it in the fridge overnight. I lit my egg before I went to bed and it settled in around 250. I got up at 7:30 and threw the brisket in the already lit egg to finish it up before taking it to the farm. Took about 3 hours to finish. You don't have to preflight the egg but I was very pre-lit myself and didn't want to spend an hour lighting the egg and getting it stabilized. It was perfectly ready to go when I rolled out of the rack. 

caliking

Dude, that brisky was in truth the best I have had. I said that I was going to give up chasing the brisket holy grail, and SWMBO said that we should just gorge on your brisky a couple of times a year. I agree. 

The Cali clan had a blast today. My pops loves the country, and  caliprince being his kindred spirit, does too. Joann and my dad are best buds now. The prince thinks "Eenie is the best piggy".  

SWMBO missed the frantic food prep last night, so when I finally told her the all-night saga of the beans, she also shook her head and said " beans don't cook in 4 hours." I'm apparently the only one who didn't already know that. Glad they turned out well though, since I've never made them before. Amping up the recipe with more garlic, mole, cumin, and some DP Cowlick helped. 

Egghead gatherings always rock! 

caliking

20stone said:

The food was killer.  It had been awhile since the Hairy Hog Club for Men has gotten together.

As for the brisket, @The Cen-Tex Smoker has his game together, and it was AWESOME.  I may retire from brisket. As for the wings, I would like to try @caliking's side by side w @Foghorn's datil pepper wings, for a HHCFM wingoff.  We could have done it today, but @Foghorn was "indisposed".  The rumor of his whereabouts rhymes with "T Nile rim plant", but he will say he was busy "saving lives"

Miney and Moe are on the clock, with nibbly bits and lots of "pig butter" on the way. 

@Foghorn isn't saving lives as much. He's been busy plotting how to terrorise future residents. 

I remember his datil pepper wings as being damn good, so that's quite a compliment if you think my gai yang version would stand up to a wingoff. If he shows up, that is.  

The Cen-Tex Smoker

caliking said:

Dude, that brisky was in truth the best I have had. I said that I was going to give up chasing the brisket holy grail, and SWMBO said that we should just gorge on your brisky a couple of times a year. I agree. 

The Cali clan had a blast today. My pops loves the country, and  caliprince being his kindred spirit, does too. Joann and my dad are best buds now. The prince thinks "Eenie is the best piggy".  

SWMBO missed the frantic food prep last night, so when I finally told her the all-night saga of the beans, she also shook her head and said " beans don't cook in 4 hours." I'm apparently the only one who didn't already know that. Glad they turned out well though, since I've never made them before. Amping up the recipe with more garlic, mole, cumin, and some DP Cowlick helped. 

Egghead gatherings always rock! 

cali prince was hilarious. He was right at home on the farm with the pigs and the dogs.

I was telling Janell on the way home that "I think I finally have a brisket that I won't change- It only took about $10,000 in miscellaneous equipment and 20 years to get there". Pretty much true. We have been talking about those wings and beans all day. I think there were a lot of "best of" going on today. 

DMW

Nice piggies there. Have you introduced them to the bolt yet to get them comfortable and not scared?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

DMW said:

Nice piggies there. Have you introduced them to the bolt yet to get them comfortable and not scared?

We are outsourcing the deed because we want it to hang for a few days and they split it longways for us as well. Saves time

Fred19Flintstone

DMW said:

Nice piggies there. Have you introduced them to the bolt yet to get them comfortable and not scared?

That's a good nom de plume for @SGH.  "The Bolt."

NPHuskerFL

Mickey

@caliking please pass on how to do the wings

blind99

Very nice.  Awesome piggies, and I'm super jealous of the dishwasher.  I was hoping it would be as good a cooker as I've read about.

The start/stop method could be a game changer.

Foghorn

It's still killing me that I was unable to attend the gathering.  I love the idea of a wingoff at some point at a future gathering.  I don't even care who wins.  I just like the idea of lots of good wings and fun people.  I'm sure there will be some adult beverages involved as well.

caliking

@Mickey - sorry its taken me all day to get back to you, but just now got a moment to get the recipe together and post. Based on a Serious Eats recipe, but modified according to what sounded good in my head. 

Gai Yang - style Chix Wings

Garlic                                   10 cloves
Cilantro stems (with leaves)  20
Thai chilies                           5-10
Coriander powder                 1 tsp
Pepper                                   2 tsp
Lemongrass                        2 x 4" pieces (tender part of the stalk)                    
Brown sugar, light                 3 TBSP
Fish sauce                              2 TBSP
Dark soy sauce                       1 TBSP
Mirin                                       2 TBSP
Rice wine vinegar                    2 TBSP
Sesame oil                              2 TBSP

Chicken wings  4 lbs

- Blitz all of the ingredients in a food processor. 
- Add marinade and wings to a ziploc freezer bag. Squeeze all the air out, and massage the marinade into all of the pieces.
- Marinate overnight, preferably 2 nights. 

- Fire up the egg, raised direct, 375°F
- throw the wings on the grid, and reserve the marinade. I usually pour it into a small foil pan and bring it to a boil on the grid. Boil the marinade until it reduces and thickens a bit. 
- Cook until the wings are done (170°F-ish). Get a little char on the wings by moving to a hot spot on the grid for a minute or so, or moving to a lower level, prior to pulling. 
- Pour the reduced marinade over the wings and toss to coat them.
- Squeeze a lime over the wings and serve. (I forgot this part on Saturday). 

And whatever you do... don't take a nap this time!!

Mickey

@caliking No naps, No (not a whole lot) adult beverages. 
Thanks