A successful Father's Day BBQ
Work and a course at UVM have had me balls to the wall lately, so I have been remiss in my postings. That said, it's time to get caught up!
Fathers day BBQ
As part of my training for the Harpoon competition, I planned some events that would allow me to practice while having a good time! This Sunday, I hosted a fathers day barbeque for my many father figures, family and friends.
As a son, I am blessed by having more than one father figure. I have, of course, my biological father, but also a step-father and a helluva good father-in-law. Not to mention a few really dandy uncles on my wife's side of the family.
The gathering, which was originally supposed to be about 12 people, grew in only a few hours to about 20 people including small children! It was a fantastic success! We had our guests bringing in the salads. My wife made hush puppies and a number of desserts. I whipped up a batch of grilled vegetable gazpacho (from the Thrill of The Grill) and then there was the meat…..
I got up at 5:00am and smoked up two pork shoulders and a beef brisket. In hindsight, I should have pulled the meat out to thaw the night before. It turned out that the core of the pork shoulders were a mere 36 degrees (yikes!). In the end, this forced me to "push" the meat by popping it in the oven in foil for the last hour of cooking. Otherwise, I think I would have had another two hours of cooking to get it all up to temp. But, as you can see from the picture, it all came out great.
I had some good comments about my brisket, including one from a guest who was from Louisiana. He said that his Grandfather had worked on his brisket recipe for years and perfected it when he was pretty old. He told me that I was well on my way to one heck of a brisket. I rarely get someone from the south - where REAL BBQ can be found - to taste my stuff, so it was good feedback for me. I also got a compliment from Farmer Girl's uncle, the Junkman. After years of razzing me about my crappy brisket (in the beginning it WAS pretty lousy), he finally paid me a compliment! Success!
Lots of fun was had, and I had another round of practice for the competition!
Fathers day BBQ
As part of my training for the Harpoon competition, I planned some events that would allow me to practice while having a good time! This Sunday, I hosted a fathers day barbeque for my many father figures, family and friends.
As a son, I am blessed by having more than one father figure. I have, of course, my biological father, but also a step-father and a helluva good father-in-law. Not to mention a few really dandy uncles on my wife's side of the family.
The gathering, which was originally supposed to be about 12 people, grew in only a few hours to about 20 people including small children! It was a fantastic success! We had our guests bringing in the salads. My wife made hush puppies and a number of desserts. I whipped up a batch of grilled vegetable gazpacho (from the Thrill of The Grill) and then there was the meat…..
I got up at 5:00am and smoked up two pork shoulders and a beef brisket. In hindsight, I should have pulled the meat out to thaw the night before. It turned out that the core of the pork shoulders were a mere 36 degrees (yikes!). In the end, this forced me to "push" the meat by popping it in the oven in foil for the last hour of cooking. Otherwise, I think I would have had another two hours of cooking to get it all up to temp. But, as you can see from the picture, it all came out great.
I had some good comments about my brisket, including one from a guest who was from Louisiana. He said that his Grandfather had worked on his brisket recipe for years and perfected it when he was pretty old. He told me that I was well on my way to one heck of a brisket. I rarely get someone from the south - where REAL BBQ can be found - to taste my stuff, so it was good feedback for me. I also got a compliment from Farmer Girl's uncle, the Junkman. After years of razzing me about my crappy brisket (in the beginning it WAS pretty lousy), he finally paid me a compliment! Success!
Lots of fun was had, and I had another round of practice for the competition!
