Porkapolloza II: High on the Hog announced

greg — Fri, 21 May 2010 13:35:57 +0000

Created a new website to announce the date for Porkapolloza II: High on the Hog. You can check out the details over at releasethecracklins.com.

My hope is to find some time to build out a quick site to post all the information on this year’s big BBQ party being held on Saturday, July 31st.

I’d love some feedback on what information you’d like to see available on the site…

Ale’d Pork and Sauerkraut

greg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:02:50 +0000

Just the stuff you need

1 jar (32 ounces) sauerkraut, undrained
1-1/2 tablespoons sugar
12 ounces of amber ale – i used a Leinenkugel Amber Ale
3-1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder or pork butt roast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Paprika

What to do with that stuff

Place sauerkraut in 5-quart slow cooker. Sprinkle with sugar; add beer. Place pork, fat side up, on top of sauerkraut mixture; sprinkle evenly with remaining ingredients.

Cover; cook on HIGH 6 hours.

Remove pork to serving platter. Remove sauerkraut with slotted spoon; arrange around pork. Spoon 1/2 to 3/4 cup cooking liquid over sauerkraut.

source: Cooking With Beer

I like big butts and I cannot lie…

greg — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 22:30:41 +0000

Right now, as I start writing, its 6:10 PM on Sunday, June 14th. I’m 3° away from finishing my first run at smoking an 8+ pound pork shoulder. The end goal is to enjoy a nice pulled pork sandwich – topped with my very own coleslaw. The coleslaw has been marrying in the fridge for some time now.

However, I know just enough to remind myself to be patient. Watching my digital thermometer climb every so slowly up to 190 isn’t going to make the pork cook any slower. I’ve had plenty of time today to reflect on how I got to this point. Both as it relates to today and the past few months as well. oh wait… 188!

15 hours ago – I set a huge slab of pig on the grate of my Weber Smokey Mountain cooker. I woke up at 3 AM in order to put fire to my charcoal chimney and light what would become the longest fire I’ve maintained to date. it wasn’t easy keeping the temperature right where I wanted it. The first 7 hours were uneventful. I slept for half of them. The addition of more Royal Oak charcoal was a first for me. I’ll have to go back and review what I could do better to prevent the temperature from spiking to almost 300° at one point. I suspect it may have been due to an overabundance of hickory and mesquite chunks. Lesson learned. 189!!

But as I wait for that last degree – I find myself feeling a lot of gratitude to some very fine folks. Chief amoung them – Curt McAdams who took time out of his day and his life to speak to a complete stranger on the phone (for almost 45 minutes) about what kind of smoker might is best for someone new to the BBQ game.

I’ve been grilling for ten years and consider myself quite accomplished when it comes to “Propane and propane accesories.” This was different. Spending $300 doesn’t always come easy for me and Curt did a tremendous service by offering to speak to me about why I should reconsider my original pick and instead choose a Weber Smokey Mountain, or WSM.

I met Curt (@cmcadams) through Twitter. In fact – I’ve met a lot of great BBQ folks on Twitter. I’ve even had the opportunity to help some of them the only way I can – on their websites. And I hope to continue to repay them for the information, recipes, the wisdom of their experiences… but I have to go now, my butt is 190° and I have to foil up!

I’ll come back later and post some pictures. Right now, I’ve got 4 pounds of pork to shred and a hungry man to feed. So I’ll leave it like this…

Thank you to all the BBQ folks out there who are all too eager to help another learn.