Tell your aunt, I'm still really sorry and mortified about the table.
The table was an annoyance to her so she hasn't ever mentioned it/I think a glass artist develops a huge sense of indifference to things like that.
edit: OH I set fire to welly's brand new grill on its maiden voyage during that RP meetup in Canada. Justine immortalized it and the watercolor may still be hanging on the wall at their old place.
Post Mortem:
This meat was ready to eat at noon, but we weren't eating until 5. The things I read say that's just fine: Wrap it up and put it in a cooler and it might still be warm several hours later, if not, reheating it will be just fine. Well it was warm-ish but pretty dry. Not as good as it was at noon so I don't know where the moisture went but anyway, live and learn. It tasted great. A bit too salty and oversmoked for my taste, but Martha thought I forgot to smoke it at all. So tastes.
The beans were awful, the peach cobbler I made was still batter after an hour in the oven so seriously, this meal was a failure but I learned a couple of things and the cooked brisket will go into the freezer until we need to make hash or soup and some will make a fine sandwich.
I have a long way to go before I can say that Cooper's is a waste of money..
Pretty much everyone I know has a Traeger smoker/grill or some such and they seem like absolute slaves to them if they're really doing a brisket etc. I'm not that way. But on Memorial Day, my family had a gathering and my aunt and sister were doing baby back ribs and absolutely ruined them because they can't leave shit alone. By the time we were gathered 'round the table, the ribs were pork jerky.
Fast forward to Labor Day, and the memory of Memorial Day had apparently faded because my sister bought 6 racks of pork ribs and asked me to prepare them. I said Holy Shit I can't believe you want to relive that and she went "oh shoot, I forgot!" and the same Aunt was here for this day too. I have always just done ribs in the oven because I don't have a smoker but it's been hot lately and didn't want to heat up the house all day. I was about to go to Ace Hardware and get a rack for the grill, to put the ribs in vertically because who doesn't need another single-use kitchen tool?
As I headed for the door at 8 am, JFW said "Martha has Don's old smoker she wants you to use" and I groaned because Don (RIP) had given me a smoker already and a cat pissed in it because the bottom still had some ash in it etc etc. so I quietly discarded it (set it next to the dumpster because that's how the City used to do recycling of metal stuffâand a guy driving down the alley saw it and threw it in the back of his truck. So so sorry about that!). and I thought that's the one we were talking about. Anyway I drove past Martha's and she's got the garage door open and was dusting off a nearly-new
And forget learning how to do it: See the knob there on the top? And the badge to the left with some writing on it? Those are recipes! Ribs, Brisket, Chicken, and I think cheese. Time, temp, that's it. So I loaded up all 3 racks (one's missing maybe) with half-slabs of ribs, seasoned with 3 different rubs, set it at 225 and there we go! They were fantastic. So good that even though there were a lot of leftovers, I got zero because the family all just grabbed some tinfoil and smuggled them out.
So yesterday I told JFW that if she was going to the store to look and see if there's a brisket. She came home with a "manager's special" whatever that means but it meant a 7 pound brisket for $50. The directions say to season it and put it in at 190 for 14 hours. Other directions say 225 until it's 195 internally. I put it in at about 11pm last night at 190; it's at about 175 now (13 hours) so I'm going to take it out and wrap it and stick it in a cooler to hold. Will report back!
Great story. I only have a little stainless steel box to fill with wood chips and set on the burners of the gas grill. Well, I don't have the gas grill anymore because I decided to do some Korean style cross-cut ribs. So I marinated them in some sort of brown sugar and other stuff, I found in an online recipe. Set them on the grill and fired it up. A few minutes later, smoke was wafting out. A few minutes after that, flames started licking out of every opening, including from the drip pan underneath. By the time I got the flames out, the heatproof paint on the lid was blistered all around and I had a nice plate of vaguely rib shaped charcoal. The grill was never the same and is now a rickety piece of scrap metal, waiting to take to the tip shop, where one of the vultures who frequent the place will probably grab it and try to do something with it.
Tell your aunt, I'm still really sorry and mortified about the table.
Pretty much everyone I know has a Traeger smoker/grill or some such and they seem like absolute slaves to them if they're really doing a brisket etc. I'm not that way. But on Memorial Day, my family had a gathering and my aunt and sister were doing baby back ribs and absolutely ruined them because they can't leave shit alone. By the time we were gathered 'round the table, the ribs were pork jerky.
Fast forward to Labor Day, and the memory of Memorial Day had apparently faded because my sister bought 6 racks of pork ribs and asked me to prepare them. I said Holy Shit I can't believe you want to relive that and she went "oh shoot, I forgot!" and the same Aunt was here for this day too. I have always just done ribs in the oven because I don't have a smoker but it's been hot lately and didn't want to heat up the house all day. I was about to go to Ace Hardware and get a rack for the grill, to put the ribs in vertically because who doesn't need another single-use kitchen tool?
As I headed for the door at 8 am, JFW said "Martha has Don's old smoker she wants you to use" and I groaned because Don (RIP) had given me a smoker already and a cat pissed in it because the bottom still had some ash in it etc etc. so I quietly discarded it (set it next to the dumpster because that's how the City used to do recycling of metal stuffâand a guy driving down the alley saw it and threw it in the back of his truck. So so sorry about that!). and I thought that's the one we were talking about. Anyway I drove past Martha's and she's got the garage door open and was dusting off a nearly-new
And forget learning how to do it: See the knob there on the top? And the badge to the left with some writing on it? Those are recipes! Ribs, Brisket, Chicken, and I think cheese. Time, temp, that's it. So I loaded up all 3 racks (one's missing maybe) with half-slabs of ribs, seasoned with 3 different rubs, set it at 225 and there we go! They were fantastic. So good that even though there were a lot of leftovers, I got zero because the family all just grabbed some tinfoil and smuggled them out.
So yesterday I told JFW that if she was going to the store to look and see if there's a brisket. She came home with a "manager's special" whatever that means but it meant a 7 pound brisket for $50. The directions say to season it and put it in at 190 for 14 hours. Other directions say 225 until it's 195 internally. I put it in at about 11pm last night at 190; it's at about 175 now (13 hours) so I'm going to take it out and wrap it and stick it in a cooler to hold. Will report back!
I got the bright idea to put blackberries in some BBQ sauce I made for BBQ beef sandwiches. I made them last weekend and family came over and ate it all so JFW suggested I do it again today and not tell anyone. Great recipe and I put some berries in it that time too but this time I used the pressure cooker because it takes all day. Trivia: Blackberry seeds don't break down in the pressure cooker but they do in the oven for 6 hours at 300°. So today was like getting tiny bone fragments in every bite.
I got the bright idea to put blackberries in some BBQ sauce I made for BBQ beef sandwiches. I made them last weekend and family came over and ate it all so JFW suggested I do it again today and not tell anyone. Great recipe and I put some berries in it that time too but this time I used the pressure cooker because it takes all day. Trivia: Blackberry seeds don't break down in the pressure cooker but they do in the oven for 6 hours at 300°. So today was like getting tiny bone fragments in every bite.
In process, homemade ravioli pasta with ricotta cheese and an egg yolk nestled inside. Cooked them briefly in boiling water, then cooked a little in a broth/butter/sage mix that becomes the sauce. When you cut into it, the soft cooked yolk spills out over it.
Served it with a halibut and julienned vegetables cooked en papillote.
nice