IS THIS WHAT THEY MEAN BY "HOG HEAVEN?"

Toronto James · June 2003

After much great advice and support from the forum I thought I should report on this weekend's Egging.[p]Saturday morning I grilled a bunch of red peppers and left them to cool. Then took out cores and seeds and sliced, kept the wonderful juice that collects in grilling, marinated with vinagrette and left to sit.[p]Then the exciting part. As per Ward Elder's directions I cleaned out the old lump and ash, sorted my charcoal filled the firebox and got ready. Two nice big boneless pork butts came home from the market and I rubbed them with Ward's rub. [p]And at 11:00 pm I started the fire. I put on one hunk of hickory about the size of a baseball put my platesetter legs up, a drip pan with a cup of water, the grill and when we had temperature I set the polder, put on the pork and closed the lid. Very anxious at first I kept checking the dome thermometer and got it stable about 225 before I went to sleep. 5:00 am I woke with a start and went to check and sure enough everything was as planned -- and in the still cool of the early dawn that smell of smoke and pork was a hint of great things to come. Back to bed for a few hours then spent the day getting ready for our party. [p]Slowly -- am I mean slow -- the internal temp climbed and at 2:30 we hit 200. I was a bit concerned as this was three hours before dinner but I wrapped the boys in foil and old towels and placed them in a cooler.[p]About 4:00 I fired up the remaining coals and direct cooked two butterflied chickens. I had brined them the day before and left to air dry in the fridge overnight but nothing else -- no rub, not even salt and pepper. I could have used some more lump as I couldn't get the dome much above 300 but just left them on a little longer.[p]I threw a handful of chopped cilantro on the peppers, my sister-in-law arrived with cole slaw and potato salad and then 5:30 the moment of truth.[p]I was amazed at how hot the pork stayed all wrapped up like that and when I unwrapped those babies well ...[p]Moist, fall apart, spicy, smokey, and so tasty![p]We doused with vinager sauce and served red sauce on the side (both again from Ward's post).[p]Being a bunch of pulled pork newbies -- not much of a tradition here in southern Ontario -- I'm not sure what people expected but boy were they happy.[p]We had a great party -- the chicken was a great compliment / contrast and also worked well with the sauces for those who wanted -- and now have 20 new believers in pulled pork and fans of the BGE. And the kids are off to school with pork on a bun in their lunches.[p]Now why am I writing this post? The food and the egg are great but the most exeptional thing I have experienced in my few weeks of egg ownership is the generousity and enthusiasm of the people on this forum. [p]Thanks to everyone and the next time you're in Toronto looking for some pulled pork all you have to do is call.

Tim M · June 2003

Toronto James,[p]It's great when it all works well. The next time you could skip that "sorting the lump" part and just try to avoid the bottom of a bag with all its little pieces. Happy eat'n[p]Tim

WooDoggies · June 2003

Toronto James,[p]Congratulations! Sounds as if it couldn't have turned out any better for you.[p]I know what you mean about the sweet scent of pork and hickory in the early morning hours....... hard to describe the satisfaction it gives you........
And I agree, the folks on this board are as generous as they come.[p]Looking forward to hearing of more successes.
John[p][p][p]

IS THIS WHAT THEY MEAN BY "HOG HEAVEN?"

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