lol, I just love the interaction on this forum
Sunday morning is the big day for us; planning to smoke pork butt in the new SRG, fill the Bradley with cheeses, start the pizza oven, and use both fresh ingredients plus the pressure cooked pork/black beans/chiles from the day before - and oh yes, have two couples over for the festivities
Well, we started out Sunday morning at about 9am seasoning the new SRG, and then loading it with a pork butt - it was rubbed with smoked paprika, cumin, thyme, salt, and pepper - my intent is to let it go until IT of 190-195F
While the pork butt was going, I needed to cut the firewood of the day - tamarack this time, seasoned for several years.
I use one of the plastic outdoor storage containers for all of my wood and smoking needs (pellets, splitting maul, blowtorch, charcoal, etc.) - really handy and keeps the patio clean for the missus
SRG is smoking merrily away, and the Bradley is on one of the side counters of the grill unit - cheeses are smoking with pecan pucks - did 2 hours this time
Now back into the kitchen to prepare the pressure cooked pork, black beans, and chiles - here's the pork butt pulled with most of the solid fat removed - butter tender and moist - I had problems keeping the missus from high-grading the meat (which she did despite my best efforts)
Used a colander to separate the black beans from the juice - pulled out the chiles and had them in the pot to the right. The liquid from the pressure cooker was returned to the chiles. Black beans were placed in a container, and the pork was chopped for pizzas later in the day
A stick blender made quick work of the chile sauce
This is the consistency of the pork when chopped - relatively fine, but I plan to use it on the pizzas
Now segue to the cheeses that are loaded into the Bradley
Now back to the chile preparation - after adding Kosher salt and black pepper to taste, it was placed in this cool container - we'll use this "sauce" to paint pizza crusts, and guests will use the sauce as a condiment to taste on their pizza.
My wife absolutely loved this sauce - her first comment (OMG, it smells just like chili!) Any time you can get the wife to really like something is worth another smoking gadget
More on the sauce for the next day
Time to start the pizza oven - blow torch is the easiest method, and the fire was started in less than 2 minutes
Everything is now ready - the pizza oven is fired, and will gradually heat it for the next few hours until it is fully ready, the SRG is looking pork butt, and the Bradley (all four racks) is loaded with cheese. My sweetheart is ready for a snack.
We're finally ready for guests - football is in the TV, wine is in the chiller, and beer in the fridge
Pork butt is done! Took it to 190F, but I goofed it up though, parts were way too dry, and I should have foil wrapped. However, it is butter tender in the parts that were not overcooked
The cheese just above the smoke generator heated a bit too much, but it was hot outside - greater than 90F. However, most of the pieces turned our great, and I can't wait to taste. Guests were intrigued with the process - and although this batch is not ready for tasting, they did sample cheeses we'd smoked about a month ago - they loved it, especially the Gouda
The fire in the oven was just mesmerizing - as always
My sweetheart loves to pop the cork on Champagne - we did pomegranate mimosas with frozen blueberries to keep everything cold
Here's one of the pizzas - this one started with a crust painted with the chile sauce, then topped with smoked pepper jack, black beans, and finally the chopped pork
Here I'm chopping the pizza into bite sized morsels that everyone can sample
Another pizza consisted of cheese, heirloom tomatoes, mushrooms, black olives, and capers - this was many people's favorite
Here's the gang - it doesn't get better when it comes to entertaining friends
I'm showing this one because it shows the pizza well - it is half heirloom tomato, and half pork/black bean/chile sauce
One of our friends is a Hope's cookies representative, and she brought these cookies that we baked in tiny cast iron pans in the pizza oven - they were unbelievably good.
Finally, here's my mound of cheese that is going into the fridge for as long as I can stand it
