Dinner Party

Well, it was our turn to host supper club so I was faced with the somewhat daunting task of cooking for about 20+ people. Everyone was bringing a different side item or dessert but I was responsible for all of the meat and so the most practical choice in my mind was Boston Butt.

After having practiced a few weeks ago without using my BBQ Guru, I was prepared and I will skip to the end to tell you it was excellent both at the dinner party and as leftovers a few days later. Here is what I did.

I started with 2 Butts that were between 7-8lbs each. After applying a light coat of yellow mustard, I rubbed the butts down with Evan's Spice. I then refrigerated the meat for approximately 6 hours.

I am now also using some new charchol called B&B, which I get at Academy Sports...I find it to be bigger chucks that work better for longer cooks, and it is cheaper than BGE branded coals. So I filled the fire box to the brim and put the butts on at 8:30 pm. I placed a drip pan beneath the meat, on the plate setter, filled with apple juice (not sure how much this helps with moisture, but it makes me feel better). For smoke I used a mixture of Hickory and Pecan (my personal fav).

The painful part about not using the Guru comes when I stay up from 8:30 to a little after midnight keeping an eye on my temp, which I kept around 230 degrees, and also had to set the alarm for a temp check at 3:00 am and 6:00 am. Once I was up the next day, I would check on the fire every few hours or so anxiously waiting for the meat to hit 200 degrees.


Finally, the meat hit 200 degrees at 4:30 the following afternoon....20 hours on the BGE! The bark was incredible on these butts.


These wound up being the best butts that I have cooked to date and the real secret for me was in the presentation. I pulled the pork like normal but took the extra step to chop the pulled meat and that made all the difference. I also made sure (unlike some dinner parties I have been at) to chop up lots of the bark to mix in with the meat. As I said, everything was excellent, I got lots of compliments....and best of all, I do not have to host supper club for another year!

Suck Creek Wings

I had my father in law in town the other night and realized that I had cooked my whole repitoire of food for him (all 6 items) except wings....so it was time to bust out the Suck Creek Wings sauce!

I cooked a batch of hot wings with the Suck Creek sauce and a batch of sweet soy wings. I have gotten into the habit where I cook my wings with a minamalist spirit. I take the wings out of the pack, rinse, and throw them on the grill over direct heat at about 300 degrees. I cooked them for about 25-30 min flipping them every ten min or so. After 30 min, I increased the heat to 400-425 degrees and cooked the wings for an additional 10 to 15 min to really crisp them up (that is how my wife likes them).


I then took the wings off and cut them up and dipped and coated them in either the warm sweet soy sauce or the warm Suck Creek Wings sauce. I served these with my current favorite side, sweet potato fries, and had a great meal.

Simple dinner from Food-Fire.com

As I always struggle with new ideas for dinner, I was especially appreciative to see a post on a blog that I follow, Food-Fire, that discussed cooking a quick simple meal. Basically following the lead, I dusted a couple chicken breasts with some dry BBQ rub and threw them on the grill and served them with some sweet potatoe fries and home made BBQ sauce.

Nothing fancy, but a good quick meal none the less!

Boston Butt with no Guru

First let me say that I have not been posting much recently, but it is not because I have not been cooking but rather, I have not been cooking anything new. And while I have posted on Butts before, this time I got it right.

I was doing a large Boston Butt for mothers day (the meat was over 9.5 lbs) and I was also practicing for a large group cook that I have to perform in a couple of weeks. This time I just rubbed the butt down and threw it on the egg for 18.5 hours at 225-235 degrees. I did not have any problem losing the fire and did not have to add any coals. I know this is not unusual for most eggers but I have had that problem the last two cooks. This time (although it pained me) I did not use my BBQ Guru. I assumed the blowing of the fan on the coals was causing the coals to burn faster. It seems like I was correct, although I am now beat from getting up at 12, 2, and 5:00 am to chedk to make sure the fire did not go out. While that is a pain, it is a bigger pain to lose your fire late in the cook.

Anyway, have a look....it was delicious!