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Got a big cook coming up on Friday. Cooking for 200 people for a pretty special event that I can give details about when it is over. We are cooking a 95 lbs whole hog, 100lbs of packer briskets and 35 lbs of salmon. All of it has to be done on site so that is going to be a challenge as it is out in the country. Weather should be nice. I will take pictures and post them as the cook progresses.
 
My kids love 'em. We halve or quarter them, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and then roast them for ~40 minutes in the oven at 425. Excellent stuff!
Kids are out of the house, but we got them hooked on brussel sprouts too by pretty much the same recipe.
We found http://www.pecanoil.com this and don't use olive oil any more.


@Brickman , hope it all comes together! Looking forward to the follow up!
 
Impromptu meat smoke. Ran out of gas and was going to cedar plank again... Anywho side loaded onto the fire hickory and cherry chips, nursing them from fire to smoke... sriracha and honey marinated... loin from fire at 145... Kids went nuts.

Awesome Applescrap!:) As long as you have one of those tall Eddyline double IPA's to wash down a gorgeous honey and sriracha loin like that, you can't go wrong!
:):mug::)
 
My kids love 'em. We halve or quarter them, toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and then roast them for ~40 minutes in the oven at 425. Excellent stuff!

I do them similarly, but use bacon fat instead of olive oil and garlic salt in place of the salt and garlic powder. KOTC and I can clear a roasting pan full of those things. I halve them, then nuke about 8 minutes til JUST tender, then toss in the melted bacon fat and onto a parchment paper lined rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle on the garlic salt and pepper, roast til browning up, tossing every 10 minutes or so to cook more evenly. They're sooooo good. If I want to amp it up a bit more, I toss on some bacon bits the last 10 minutes or so.
 
^i buy a cedar fence picket and cut it up with my chop saw for planks. Saves a nice little bit of money

Clean cedar shakes work nicely as well. I have a bunch leftover from a project long ago, stored clean and dry. I trim them down and run a side through a wood planer to make it smooth and expose fresh wood.
Works great for cedar plank fish. Might be too thin for longer cook times though.
 
The Wife has really started liking lobster this year. I'm OK with this :mug:

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So now that is is over I can give the details. My wife and I were asked to cook for about 45 Medal of Honor recipients and their families and guests yesterday. They are in my town for a big convention and this was one of the events set up for them. It was a "Ranch Rodeo" and it had to be cooked on site. We cooked a 90 lbs hog, about 100 lbs of pork butts, 120 lbs of beef brisket and 30 lbs of salmon for 250 people. So with the help of a couple of friends and my wife we cooked for about 18 hours to get it done.

We started prepping the hog on Thursday night. We cut the legs off and cleaned out the inside of all extra fat and silverskin. We also used a torch to burn off any hair that was missed when the processor scalded and scraped. We washed it and scrubbed the skin well. We then stuffed the body with sausage and trussed it shut. We would have cooked it belly side up but it was for a presentation so we has to cook it belly side down. It went in the cooker at about midnight. We kept it on the cooker at 250 and used pecan and apple for wood. The hog took about 16 hours to cook. The brisket and pork hit the smokers at about 8:00 am. We ran the cookers at 250 until we wrapped the meat and then we bumped to 275. They took about 9 hours to finish.

We pulled the hog and let it cool a little. We then dressed it up for the presentation. This was fun as the rack was greasy so it was slick and we had to carry it about 50 feet to present it while everyone watched. We presented the hog to the President of the Medal of Honor group. I was beyond nervous. I can't remember the last time I was that nervous.

Overall I am happy with how it went. It was an amazing amount of work but we were so honored to do it. My biggest disappointment was only getting to meet a coupe of the MOH recipients as we were so busy. They really are humble and just every day people.

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Been enjoying a Pit Barrel Cooker for the last year, but wanted another smoker that would cook a little lower for the few times per year where I do large cooks and need extra capacity. So I got a 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain. Burned it in earlier this week and had my first cook yesterday. Brisket turned out well.

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Tried to cook ribs and butt frozen. Straight from freezer. No sugar as temps are too high until end. Wish I would have gone indirect heat sooner. I think this is a decent enough method when in a pinch but eventually the meat must go indirect or it will char before inside is done. Not sure what to think really.

I think you don't have a clue as to what you do, frozen? Really.

Frozen veggies are a nice touch.
 
Tried to cook ribs and butt frozen. Straight from freezer. No sugar as temps are too high until end. Wish I would have gone indirect heat sooner. I think this is a decent enough method when in a pinch but eventually the meat must go indirect or it will char before inside is done. Not sure what to think really.

Generally you only cook ribs or butt indirect*.

Trying to cook them direct will char them before they get tender whether they start frozen or not.

* Ribs are sometimes finished over direct heat, but not until after they're cooked to tender.
 
The ribs and butt were tasty, albeit, a little plain. Dont know why I went direct,..hey pass the bbq sauce. I have done more than a couple butts on a propane indirectly at higher temps. I think they were doing well frozen but I should have backed off on the butt a little earlier. I think I would do both from frozen again with mix of direct and indirect. Preference being thawed, high quality, and fresh for sure though! Every time I buy in bulk I don't plan the thaw well enough.
 
So now that is is over I can give the details. My wife and I were asked to cook for about 45 Medal of Honor recipients and their families and guests yesterday. They are in my town for a big convention and this was one of the events set up for them. It was a "Ranch Rodeo" and it had to be cooked on site. We cooked a 90 lbs hog, about 100 lbs of pork butts, 120 lbs of beef brisket and 30 lbs of salmon for 250 people. So with the help of a couple of friends and my wife we cooked for about 18 hours to get it done.



We started prepping the hog on Thursday night. We cut the legs off and cleaned out the inside of all extra fat and silverskin. We also used a torch to burn off any hair that was missed when the processor scalded and scraped. We washed it and scrubbed the skin well. We then stuffed the body with sausage and trussed it shut. We would have cooked it belly side up but it was for a presentation so we has to cook it belly side down. It went in the cooker at about midnight. We kept it on the cooker at 250 and used pecan and apple for wood. The hog took about 16 hours to cook. The brisket and pork hit the smokers at about 8:00 am. We ran the cookers at 250 until we wrapped the meat and then we bumped to 275. They took about 9 hours to finish.



We pulled the hog and let it cool a little. We then dressed it up for the presentation. This was fun as the rack was greasy so it was slick and we had to carry it about 50 feet to present it while everyone watched. We presented the hog to the President of the Medal of Honor group. I was beyond nervous. I can't remember the last time I was that nervous.



Overall I am happy with how it went. It was an amazing amount of work but we were so honored to do it. My biggest disappointment was only getting to meet a coupe of the MOH recipients as we were so busy. They really are humble and just every day people.


Wow! That's impressive.

You cooked the pig without flipping it at all?
 
The ribs and butt were tasty, albeit, a little plain. Dont know why I went direct,..hey pass the bbq sauce. I have done more than a couple butts on a propane indirectly at higher temps. I think they were doing well frozen but I should have backed off on the butt a little earlier. I think I would do both from frozen again with mix of direct and indirect. Preference being thawed, high quality, and fresh for sure though! Every time I buy in bulk I don't plan the thaw well enough.

I prefer buying in bulk also. what you should do is season a couple racks/rumps and keepem in the fridge then freeze. like I told the wife when I smoked some chicken quarters. it may only cost 67 cents a pound but takes 24 hrs to cook (including brine time)
 
Smoked a chuck roast. Rubbed with a spice blend from gourmet deli. Pulled at 190, in little one. Little one a little dry, bigger one was perfect. Sooo good. 7.5 hours mix of 250 and 275. Cherry and hickory.
 
Smoked a chuck roast. Rubbed with a spice blend from gourmet deli. Pulled at 190, in little one. Little one a little dry, bigger one was perfect. Sooo good. 7.5 hours mix of 250 and 275. Cherry and hickory.

With all the pointers you got from the peanut gallery here I'm sure it came out great haha:tank:
 
Sam's Club had a killer deal on Pork Butts, so I grabbed a nice big 8+ pounder and smoked that sucker on Sunday. I spent way too long standing at the cooler picking through the meat until I found the right marbling.

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Dry rubbed the night before and gave it plenty of time to sit overnight

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I changed up my technique a bit and used a mixture of apple cider and apple cider vinegar to mop/spray on the meat instead of just water, I think it made the meat way more juicy than just using water

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Finished product

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And pulled apart, GF and I agree that this is by far the tastiest and juiciest pulled pork I've made yet

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Anyone with an MES have any suggestions for getting a better bark? Mine seems to be decent on pork shoulder, but virtually non-existent on brisket. I know it varies depending on your process, but even when Ive tried changing up rub, temp, foil vs non foil, etc I still cant seem to get a decent bark. I know from reading that I wont get as good a bark on an MES as I would on a wood burner, but theres gotta be a way to at least get some kind of bark
 
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