Weekend Smoking

Last weekend, we finally had nice sunny weather. I have a ton of yard work to do so I was happy to finally get working on it. Since I was going to be in my backyard all day, I decided it would be a good idea bust out the smoker for the first time in 2012. Last summer I worked a lot on pork shoulder and ribs. This summer, I am going to focus on Sausage (see previous blog) and brisket. I am not going to go into detail on all the recipes on what I made but just a run down on what I made. Whenever I smoke, I try to keep the smoker filled to capacity in order to maximize the coals and wood. Here is a list of what I made.

8 lbs brisket
4 lbs Corned beef (to make BBQ Pastrami)
St Louis Cut Baby Back Ribs
Smoked Salt
Chicken Apple Sausage (homemade sausage)
Goat Cheese & Ricotta Stuffed Baby Bell Peppers
Bacon wrapped stuffed Jalapeno Poppers
Baked Beans

I purchased everything on Thursday and started prepping a few things that night. On Friday during the day, I worked out my time schedule for when everything should go on in order for everything to be done around 6-7pm. When I was making the schedule I realized that I am smoking a ton of food but hadn't invited anyone over to help me enjoy it. I sent out a mass email to all of my friends and only had a few people respond. When Saturday rolled around, more and more people let me know that they were coming. They all asked if they should bring something so I told them a side dish or some sort of salad. Luckily all of my friends are good cooks and the side dishes were amazing. Here is a break-down. All of them were scratch made.

Cole Slaw
Kale Salad
Red Potato Salad
Fruit Salad
Tomato Cobbler w/ Almond Biscuits (see recipe on her blog here)

Overall, I would say it was a success. The meat turned out great and the sides were all amazing. I think the highlights based off of peoples comments was the Pastrami and the Tomato Cobbler. I will write individual posts on a few of the items I made. Unfortunately, I was too busy in the process of cooking to take pictures.