Sunday, October 4, 2009
We are at a crossroads....The Road less Traveled By
"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just
as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the
passing there
Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step
had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if
I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads
diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. "
- Robert Frost
3:36 pm est
Friday, September 18, 2009
A very busy summer...
Well, it has been a very busy summer, with cooks almost every weekend. We have fed over 1000 people the last three
months and enjoyed every minute of it. One thing that we are painfully becoming aware of is that we need a BIGGER SMOKER.
The setup we have now is designed for cooking in competitions and to feed 100 plus people 4-5 different meats is asking a
bit much of it (and us).
We have booked two big parties next year so far, so we anticipate an even busier summer
than this one. We will probably take the plunge and invest in a mobile catering trailer that will allow us to vend at
fairs, rodeos, races, etc. also and who knows from there. All I know is I am doing what I love and loving what I am
doing. Thanks to all our friends and supporters and customers this year. We feel truly blessed with all the support
we are getting.
We are getting ready for our final competition this coming weekend at Clarence, NY (Oinktoberfest)
just outside of Buffalo, NY. Hopefully we turn in a good box or two. My mom is also helping out the team for this
event and I am looking forward to spending some quality time with her and the boys...
Saturday, June 27, 2009
First Calls!! Boston Hills
Well we made it up to Boston Hills for our second KCBS competition.
Had a great time.
Weather was very hot and windy
Friday and I had trouble getting the smoker up to temp.
I needed to sweeten it up before the food was to go on Friday
night.
Once it was up to temp, it ran flawlessly for the duration of the cook.
We got our first calls
ever, coming in both Brisket and Pork - 9th place in both catagories.
Marking one of my goals off the list....
Check out the
pics page for images.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Roc City fun
We had a great time in Rochester at Roc City Rib Festival.
It was our first KCBS competition and we were not sure what
to expect, other than what everyone told us to.
The weather was beautiful and the folks we met were all friendly
and very helpful.
Special thanks to Rob at Green Mountain and Penalty Box. With these great people all around us
it really made us feel welcome and more relaxed.
I posted our results on the comeptition page. Our best
score was 11th in chicken and finishing 20th over all out of 41 teams.
We learnedan awful lot about what the judges
are looking for and hope to do better in Boston this weekend.
11:02 pm est
Sunday, March 15, 2009
10:01 pm est
Jordans B-Day BBQ
10:01 pm est
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Quick Cook
After making the trip down to Humphreys Charcoal in Brookeville last Friday I have been
(im)patiently waiting for the rain to stop long enough to fire up the SS. Did dogs and burger the last three nights on the
grill trying to help curb my SS craving...
Well, that happened to be today.
Rushed home from work, calling the
misses on the way to run over town and get some chicken thighs, and before coming in the house I a chimney of the hardwood
briq's on the burner heating up.
Unfortunately, I have no preparation pics, only the remnants of the 8lbs. of smoked
chicken to share...
Took @45minutes to heat up to 275 degrees with door wide open, 36 degrees air temp and 15 mph winds.
Put rub on chicken during preheat and hooked up the new maverick to the SS to monitor preheat time.
After hitting
275, I put the seasoned chicken on racks 3 and 4 (from top), probed the largest thigh, added 4 chunks of apple and shut the
firebox door. Closed valve @22.5 degrees from wide open.
Pit temperature after loading dropped to 210 degrees.
It
was back up to 251 within 5 minutes w/o any forced air.
Held at 251 for 1 1/2 hours, and then cranked valve wide open.
Temp rose to 285 over the next 45 minutes when the chicken hit 180.
My apologies for only showing the left over’s,
but in the blink of an eye, the bulk of the chicken disappeared leaving me with only looks of satiated approval.
PICS
9:17 pm est
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Well, I finally got the web site up and running. There are a few more things that I want to add to it, and will consider
it a "work in progress".
Welcome to all who may wander there way here.
Jim
6:00 pm est
