Saturday, December 25, 2021

Dinner and Fire Christmas Eve 2021

Play video Dinner and Fire Christmas Eve 2021
▶️ Play Dinner and FireChristmas Eve 2021

It was floating around 50°F yesterday afternoon under heavily overcast skies. It was quiet with little going on anywhere nearby. I got the coals heating up just after 9:00AM and the 3-pound boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt is another name for it though I’ve no idea why) was ready to be placed inside the Weber Kettle. I hoped I had the temperature close to where I wanted it but was pretty sure I did not (I’d ruined my Thermoworks thermometer by leaving it attached to the grill and it melted the housing). Hope for the best.

Pulled Prok Coated in Dry Rub Photo taken December 23, 2021 at 12:41
Pulled Prok Coated in Dry Rub Photo taken December 23, 2021 at 12:41

About 3 hours later the pork was creeping towards 160°F whih was pretty good proof that it had been generally cooking at a lower than I had aimed for. Oh well, add more coats, spritz the meat, and go do errands for a while. That is when I found out with Lil, where the real action was: parking lots around grocery stores. It’s good I didn’t need anything (or so I thought).

When we got back the meat was cooking steadily along though slowly. That’s when I decided to wrap it and basically braise it for the rest of the cook. What I had hoped would be a 5 or so hour cook would end up being more like a 7-hour cook. That doesn’t include the resting time.

As the meat cooked we dove into the soup course, chatted around the Breeo Fire Pit, and drank more beer than we probably should have as we discovered that it is really hard not to just devour high-quality kettle potato chips.

Photo taken Dec 25, 2021 at 1:42 PM

More like a seven hour cook than a five hour cook which is what I was hoping for. But the pulled pork looks good. First bite was also good. But, remember let the meat rest for longer than you think it needs. We did not let it rest long enough.

--December 25, 2021 at 1:42 PM.

Cooking is always an experiment. Cooking over tempermental coals more so. But while we could see where it could have been better our afternoon and early evening dinner by a fire was still a sucess. The pulled pork was tasty, the coleslaw superb, and the homemade vegetable soup certainly hit the spot while we waited for the meat to finish cooking.

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