Capturing prep for our first hosted gathering since the Before Time

[DaveD]

Howdy folks, next month we will be hosting about a dozen guests for an afternoon feed, the first time we've had a group over to our home since Before. It'll be happening on Thursday, 14 September, and the occasion is a full-band concert by James McMurtry (with the fabulous BettySoo opening) at the Birchmere, local legendary music hall, that evening. Some of you may recall that I'm a giant fan of his; our guests are fellow "McPeeps" (as we style ourselves) converging on our place from near and far (even a fan from Sweden!). These are folks who all got to know one another well during the pandemic livestreams that James did, yakking away in the chat window, and who now all come to my own that I put on every couple-few weeks. It will be the first time that most of us have met in person (we've met our relatively local guests at a James show last year).

I'm starting this thread to capture the prep and execution, largely for my own benefit, but of course input, comments, wisecracks, and moral support are welcome as always

Game plan is to do all the cooking ahead of time and vac seal & freeze, then heat everything up via sous vide on the day. The only prep on the day will be salad and some grilled veggies, and a pan of enchiladas that will be ready to go in the oven. One of our guests is an accomplished bread baker, and will bring a couple of boules, and our relatively local guests will also bring a side or two TBD. Here's the rest of the menu, some of which is already in hand, vac sealed in the freezer.

• ~2lb/1kg of brisket point left from a cook a few months back
  
• Pulled pork for sliders, ditto, although I may have to smoke another one...
  
• ...because I need some for a pan of smoked-pork faux carne adovada enchiladas, like these:
  
• A rack of SLC spares and a rack of baby backs, which I'll smoke up in the next weekend or two
• And these here chuck roasts, from Porter Road "dry aged" line, about which I'll be posting as the day goes on.

These are good looking hunks o'meat, and they were very helpfully tied with twine before packaging, ensuring equant shapes. Nearly identical weights of 2.7lb/1.2kg, dry brined overnight, and doused with home-mixed salt-free Hank's Bona Fide beef rub. We'll have some of this for dinner tonight, then I'll pull the rest and vac seal so that we will have both pork and beef slider fodder.





Running on the SnS kettle with B&B coals and hickory chunks. Got them on shortly after 8am.

About an hour in I remembered I needed to put some wagyu tallow in to pick up some smoke for a few hours, since I'm out of smoky tallow...

Everything is nominal, kettle running very stably and the ITs at about 150F/65C and just starting to flatten out for the stall. Textbook case: you can see the juice pooling on the surface, the dead giveaway...


More later! It's lovely day here in northern Virginia, currently 80F/27C on the way to a high in the mid-80sF/30ishC. Dew point is currently 68F/20C, but it's dropping to a forecasted 62F/17C, very easy to take. Pretty amazing for the first week of August, really... we've been very lucky not to have experienced much really hot weather thus far this season.

Thanks for riding along

[DaveD]

Oh, and I forgot to mention: In the "nobody eats for free" department, our guests will be forced to listen to me play and sing for a while after we eat

[texastweeter]

Look like the bear in the tutu at the circus. WayneT

[RichieB]

Yea, how about a duo with Panhead John.

[barelfly]

Ha….forced……

[Jim White]

Sounds like a blast! Are any of the other folks coming musicians as well? Will you be playing some for or with the group?

[Jim White]

Ha! Your comment above went up while I was typing mine.

[DaveD]

I don't think any of them play, but I anticipate some rousing sing-alongs!

[acorgihouse]

Sounds fantastic! Side question, no rush, looks like you have a full day. Any specific planned uses for the smoky tallow?

[DaveD]

Hey, not a problem, everything is nominal AF, plenty of time I'm going to use some to make Them Taters (the Jess Pryles roasted tater recipe), and then put the rest by just to have on hand.

[STEbbq]

I would like to try that roast potatoes recipe…it looks good!

[DaveD]

STEbbq, they're the best we've ever tasted, not close. Especially when using tallow instead of oil.

[WayneT]

Oy vey! That’s gonna be quite a throw down. Mazel tov!

[Mosca]

Let’s see:

McMurtry fan? Check.
Free Sept 14th? Also a check.

See you there!

[DaveD]

Wait, what?? You're going to come down for the show??

[Mosca]

Naw, just tryin’ to cadge an invite in jest. Love the guy, though, and tuned in to his pandemic livestreams now and then.

[DaveD]

Mosca Those streams were absolutely life-saving for me and my lovely bride. We didn't realize they were happening for the first few months, but once we did, we did not miss a one. Don't know how I'd have made it through without them and the community we became part of.

[DaveD]

About 3.5 hours in on the chucks, looking really good. Smack in the middle of downtown Stallsville:


Once again this morning, the Fireboard randomly restarted several times. The screen display is looking offset too, it's shifted down a couple mm, cutting off the bottom of the display. Plus two of the input ports have failed. I wrote to FB support this morning to see what my options are...

Bark is getting nice and barky.



Probably deploy the foil boats in an hour or so... thanks for the chatter!

[WayneT]

You are rocking that SNS. Smoke on.

[RonB]

I think yur gonna have a blast!

[Michael_in_TX]

::looks at calendar:: Someone is making sure they have plenty of time!

Also, I pulled pork enchiladas are really the only way I want enchiladas now. So good.

[DaveD]

Indeed, I'm getting way out in front on this, it would be just my luck to get rained out in the weekends just before. And once vac sealed and frozen, it'll keep nearly indefinitely. Reheating with the SV seals the deal, it's almost indistinguishable from on-the-day.

[Michael_in_TX]

DaveD Indeed....and early September is when our summer weather patterns start to change a bit.

[DaveD]

Update! First one of the chucks, and then thirty minutes later the other, reached super probe tenderness, so now they're in the Pit Boss pellet smoker with set point 175F/80C to hold for the rest of the afternoon. The proverbial warm buttah texture...

At about 4.5 hours in, they were nearly ready to boat.



Anchors aweigh, arrrr matey, at five hours in.



Into the vertical rig at 6.5 hours in, and I covered them with foil as best I could after this shot. ITs in the high 190sF/low 90sC.



Now they can hold while I prep the sides for dinner in a couple of hours. Very good timing all around. Wish I could post the aroma! After-action will be next...

[DaveD]

Aaaaaand here are the results. Fantastic! Chuckies in love. Moist, tender, with a meteoritic bark and wonderful smoky flavor. Could not have been better, probably the best chucks I've done. Them Taters came out great (used some of the wagyu tallow I smoked during the cook), and we had some string beans and a salad my lovely bride put together featuring cherry tomatoes and cucumbers from her tub garden. And a full pan of pulled beef left to vac seal up in the morning after it cools and coagulates in the fridge overnight. Victory is declared!

Carbonaceous chondrites right here:


First cuts are the deepest.



Nice to meat ya!


Plated.



The remainder. Our McPeeps are gonna love it.


Thanks for checking it out today! I'll be back here in a week or two for the pork rib cook.

[WayneT]

Excellent musical representation of your awesome cook.

[barelfly]

Hope you have a great time with friend! And excellent cook as well!

[painter]

Sounds wonderful and wish I could attend. The Birchmere--was that a venue the great bluegrass band The Seldom Scene would appear in the 80"s?

[DaveD]

Yes it is! And they still do from time to time