Getting My Priorities Straight - It's Shoveled for a Turkey Cook!

With the first snow, you just got to get your priorities straight!  Yes, it's shoveled and ready to go!

I decided to smoke a 13 lb Butterball turkey on this first snow day.  The pit temp hovered around 350 degrees and only dropped to 300 degrees after the cook was around 2.75 hours.  I monitored the cook with two ThermoWorks Smoke thermometers.  I kept an eye on the pit temp and three other probes were set in the turkey.  One probe was in each breast and one was in one of the thighs.

I decided I would let the breasts' internal temperature get to 167 degrees in the breasts before taking the turkey out of the smoker.  Throughout most of the cook, the thigh was always 5-10 degrees hotter than the breast.  One breast was almost always 10 degrees hotter than the other, but towards the end of the cook, the two breasts were only 1 degree different from each other.  The thigh however ended up 10 degrees higher than the breasts.

I used Weber's Kickin' Chicken rub on the turkey and sprayed it with Canola Oil spray to help the skin crisp up and get a nice brown tan.  The wood was Apple wood.

Took 5 days to thaw.  I brined it in salted water overnight.

1/2 Hour into the cook:

2 hours into the cook.  I decided to tent the turkey with some aluminum foil to keep it from getting too dark.  I just laid the foil on top lightly.

Monitoring the pit temp, thigh temp and both breasts:

The final product.  3 hours for a 13 lb turkey.  Not too bad.

I believe the key to the quickness of this cook was the high temp of the pit. 

I cooked with the water pan in place, but did not put in any water.  The higher temp crisped the skin.

A Second ThermoWorks Smoke Thermometer

Thanks to a Facebook forum member for selling his ThermoWorks Smoke to me for half the retail price!  With my other Smoke thermometer, now I will have one monitoring the middle grate food and  one monitoring the top grate food on my WSM or I can run one on one smoker and another on a second smoker!  I put a piece of electrical tape on one to distinguish the middle grate set from the top grate set.  Or, I can monitor three sets of meats while one probe monitors the pit temp.

Looking forward to trying it all out together!

Thanksgiving Day - Nov 22, 2018

Thanksgiving Day started out with my wife and me making cookies.  Ok, she did most of the work.  Later, I made fried rice to bring to the Thanksgiving feast at my brother-in-law John's home.

As usual, there was an abundance of food!  I'm sure I didn't even photograph all of it!  Very thankful to have wonderful family to celebrate with every year.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Believe it or not, but that's 12 eggs in that wok!

Added dark soy sauce and salt and chicken bouillon.

Two pounds of frozen mixed vegetables added.

The finished product... lots of fried rice (a mix of long grain and basmati rice).

Turkey!

A whole pig!

New Weber Cover for the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker

My old cover for the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain was cracking and way too tight on the smoker.  The last time I used the smoker, I could barely get the cover off as it was getting colder outside.  The cover being made of a harder plastic-coated material just would not let go of the smoker.  It took me quite a while trying to get it off, so I decided to get another cover that is more similar to the one on my 18.5" WSM.

I purchased it for only $19.95 on eBay and it arrived in three days... just as very light snow flurries started to fall!  Sadly, my 14.5" WSM has the same type of hard plastic coated cover as the old 22.5" cover was.  It will eventually crack like the old 22.5" cover, but being smaller and looser fitting, I don't think it will be too much of a problem.  Maybe in time, I'll need to replace that cover too.

Engagement Party with Six Slabs of Baby Back Ribs on the 22.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker

Smoking up baby back ribs today for my daughter and future son-in-law's engagement party! Six full slabs in a rib rack on the 22.5" smoker. The ribs were rubbed with Kick Butt Rib Rub (Hickory) and the wood for the smoke is apple. We'll see how that combination works out.

All six full slabs fit on the top rack of the 22.5" using a vertical rib rack. I'm monitoring with a Thermoworks Smoke thermometer. The pit temp is at 268 degrees. Outside temp is 29 degrees. Not cold enough to wrap the smoker with a welder's blanket.

I'm going to do 2-2-0.5 for these ribs. Yum!

We will be ordering several party trays of Chinese food so we won't have to cook that too. I will post photos later!

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2 hours, 20 mins and time to wrap. Here's what it looks like just before wrapping.

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The final rib product... my brother-in-law decided to use scissors to cut them!

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Here is the "spread" of food at the engagement party:

Coho Salmon In A Fish Rack on the Weber Spirit E-310 Grill

My wife purchased this fish rack for me and this is the first time I've had a chance to try it.

I grilled up a coho salmon that was caught on my charter fishing trip with my photography students.  I sprayed the rack with oil and put the fish in.  I then seasoned the fish with Old Bay Seasoning.

This was the easiest way to grill a fish!  Non-stick all the way!  Great!  I left it on the grill a little too long though, so I dried out the fish a little.  Not a problem... I put some Honey Mustard on it as a dipping sauce and it was fine.  Never tried it with honey mustard, but it really wasn't too bad with it!

Even after eating a whole fillet, I was still hungry so I made some eggs and peas with rice.  Also a good thing and quick too!  I used the Blacklock #8 cast iron skillet for the eggs and peas.

Boiled Chicken with Ginger and Scallions

I made my brother-in-law's boiled chicken once again.  Water and salt (sparingly) in a stock pot with chicken, ginger and scallions... cooked on high until boiling and then turned WAY DOWN for 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.  Easiest way to cook a chicken!

Cana Cuban Parlor and Cafe - Oakland, CA

For my final evening dinner with my sister's family we went to Cana Cuban Parlor and Cafe in Oakland, CA.

We first went to my brother-in-law's Mandolin / Guitar concert nearby and then to dinner afterwards.  The concert was a lot of fun and I sat right up front.

Cana Cuban Parlor and Cafe wasn't too far away so we decided to try it.  Reviews had said that the food was great, but not the service.  They were right.  While the waitress was very friendly and nice, we had to ask for items to be brought to us.  Plates, fried plantains, bread... all things that we had to ask for.  The food came out slowly too even though there weren't many diners there.  We figured that the food needed to cook so we were ok with the waiting for that but not so much for the waiting for basic necessities.

But... the food was very good.  My brother-in-law did not feel his plate of Paella Valenciana was really that good, but my sister's Ox Tail and my Puerco Asado was very good.  The Ox Tail was very tender and my pork was also.  Very tasty as well.  The chips of fried plantains were good, but sparse.  We ordered it twice.  The bread was toasted, but it would have been better if they also brought out some butter or olive oil or something other than just dry toast.  Yes, service and execution was a bit lacking.

We did note that the smell of cigar smoke (and whatever else they were smoking in the back of the restaurant) was a bit overwhelming at times.  I would have preferred no smoke at all, but I guess that's to be expected if you go to a Cuban restaurant!  Still, I'd recommend the restaurant if you know of these things in advance and are ok with those issues.

Sorry for the photos not being good... my iPhone 6s+ struggled in the low light.