Dave's Labor Day Weekend Cook-A-Thon

[DaveD]

Not that I'm counterprogramming the Seafood & Dessert smackdown, but given that I'm not in on that one, I did make some plans for the weekend. Taking tomorrow (Friday) off to pad the 3-day up to 4. This is my thread for documenting it all and enjoying the sage counsel, wisecracks, and general kibbitzing from the peanut gallery. So please do bring it on

Tomorrow the main event will be a 6.25lb/2.8kg bone-in turkey breast I've had in the chestie since last Thanksgiving time, when I picked it up in case the whole bird we had wouldn't be enough (but it was). I'm using the Aaron Franklin approach with my Pit Boss vertical pellet smoker. Today I removed the skin and got it dry brining:





Tomorrow I'll douse it with coarse black pepper and put it in the p-smoker at 250F/120C for a couple of hours (after a while at the low-T "smoke" setting, see below) until IT is no higher than 135F/57C and a nice golden brown. Then wrap it in HD foil with a sliced up stick of unsalted butter, (former) skin side down, and back in the smoker until IT hits 165F/74C, then let it rest until it gets down to about 145F/63C, then slice and serve with some of "Them Taters" (the awesome Jess Pryles recipe) and broccoli.

Tonight I'll make up some poultry gravy on the stovetop, using chicken bone broth, chicken demi glace, melted unsalted butter & flour with seasonings and get it contained and in the fridge to use tomorrow. No drippings from the turkey of course, but this should be pretty decent.

I will also put the ~1.25lb/560g worth of chunks of brisket point meat I've had on hand as described in this thread right here in the smoker while the turkey is in there to get some smoke on it, with the first hour or so at the low-T "smoke" setting. I'll pull that off when the turkey is almost done and get it in the fridge to cool down, then vac seal it up for Sunday...



Sometime tomorrow morning, I'll dry brine a pair of mondo double-thick pork chops from Wild Fork. I did a pair of these a while back, and they were stupendous. This pic is of that first pair, the ones I have for the weekend are each about 1.5lb/680g.



At the end of my very busy day tomorrow, I'll vac seal them up with some garlic powder, coarse pepper, thyme, sage, EVOO, and a bay leaf so that they can be ready to go into the sous vide first thing Saturday morning. They'll run at 133F/56C all day, and then I'll sear the snot outta them over Kingsford coals on the SnS kettle and serve with corn on the cob and oven-roasted cauliflower. During the day Saturday I'll also roast & blister the green chile I've been posting about right over here.

Once the SV is done with those chops, I'll bump up the temp to 155F/68C and drop in the vac-sealed brisket point meat, and let it run overnight and into the late Sunday morning. That will be the fodder for my next batch of chili, which I'll make Sunday afternoon as per the same process I used in my most recent chili cook, using the Carroll Shelby chili mix and some of the roasted green chile.

Stay tuned for the further adventures...!!

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Just add a couple shrimp or a lobster dip to the spread and enter

[Panhead John]

“This is my thread for documenting it all and enjoying the sage counsel, wisecracks, and general kibbitzing from the peanut gallery. So please do bring it on “


Damn, I was gonna hit the strip clubs all weekend…but no way I’m gonna miss this!

[Sid P]

Unless you’re living in the 90’s, you can do both! 🤦♂️🤷♂️

[Panhead John]

Yeah Sid, but damn, you know how distracting it is, trying to check in with your phone right in the middle of a lap dance.

[WayneT]

Hire yourself a private dancer.

[Jfrosty27]

I’ve been eyeing those double thick chops from WF. Looking forward to your review on those.

[DaveD]

My first ones back in the first week of June were just the best chops I've ever made. The long sous vide is the key, I'll never do pork chops any other way again. For Houstonites, I was aiming at Perry's Grille pork chops, and got really damn close. Hoping to nail it completely this time.

[Panhead John]

Perry’s Steakhouse is killer! They are known for their chops, but everything I’ve had there was excellent.

[DaveD]

Panhead John My lovely bride and I actually tied the knot at the Perry's Grille in Clear Lake, back in 2001... second time around for both, so had just a small, immediate-family affair. Had the short ceremony out in the garden area and then moved into the private room they used to have in the back for the reception. Probably our very favorite restaurant in the area, both for food and sentimental value

[DaveD]

First step complete: Made the gravy this evening. It tastes AMAZING! Here's the process and recipe, gleaned from reading a bunch of recipes/techniques online:

1 32oz/0.95L box of chicken bone broth
4 tbsp/60ml chicken demi glace
1 stick unsalted butter
7 tbsp/100ml Wondra all purpose flour
1 tsp/5ml "poultry seasoning"
Kosher salt and coarse black pepper to taste

First, combined the demi glace and an equal volume of the bone broth, using microwave to get the d.g. to liquefy, then combined that mixture back into the main volume of broth so that it was ready to go.

Melted the butter in the dutch oven, then made a roux with the Wondra AP flour.



Then whisked in the broth/d.g. mixture slowly over about five minutes.

Once fully combined, stirred in the poultry seasoning (which typically consists of sage, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, nutmeg, and onion powder) with some salt and pepper, and brought to a simmer for about ten minutes, whisk-stirring all the while to prevent clumping.


Then added a bit more salt and pepper to taste, and it was FANTASTIC! My lovely bride loved it so much that she immediately volunteered to make mashed potatoes for tomorrow, but I demurred since I'd bought Yukon Golds, which are great for roasting but not so much for mashing. Really pretty amazing gravy for there being no drippings involved - that demi glace is the shiz.

All set and ready to reheat tomorrow when it's time to plate the turkey


That's it for today, but there will be plenty of updates tomorrow...

[DaveD]

Alrighty, been a busy morning! The weather is absolutely glorious, total perfection: Nearly cloudless sunshine, temps on the way to a high of 80F/27C or a touch more, and dew points in the low 50sF/low teens C, with just a breath of a breeze now and then. It does not get better than this! Wish I could send these conditions to all those poor people still suffering in the brutal heatwaves...

First up is getting some bacon smoked for BLTs for lunch. Just took delivery on some new A-frame bacon racks made of 304 stainless steel instead of the painted metal of the ones I got from Pit Boss. No matter how carefully I treated them, that paint would eventually chip in the troughs where the grease collects, letting the exposed metal start to rust, and I can't save any grease under those conditions. The SS ones should have no issues there since they're unpainted.




Got the turkey and brisket point meat all seasoned up after they dry-brined overnight. Just coarse black pepper on the turkey, and Henrik Hank's Bona Fide on the beef. They'll go in around 1:30pm.



Finally, got the double-thick pork chops salted and back in the fridge for their dry brining. Check out these babies!!



Back later with pics of the BLTs!

[DaveD]

As the genius Guy Clark sang, "Ain't nothin in the world that I like better / than bacon & lettuce & homegrown tomatoes..." Totally killer BLATCh sammiches.





That oughta hold body and soul together as I get started on the turkey cook in an hour or so...

[Henrik]

You’re definitely off to a good start 👌!

[DaveD]

And they're off! Got the turkey and the point meat in the Pit Boss on the "smoke" setting, running at about 140F/60C for the first hour. Got my taters cut up and in the cold water for parboiling later, and the broccoli cut up and in its cooking dish. Now it's just a question of riding herd...



Somehow looking at this cut makes me think of these guys...



And I have earned me a nice pint, as well... an Oktoberfest from the Devil's Backbone brewery, one of many excellent Virginia craft breweries.

[DaveD]

Cruising along, IT on the turkey is up to 105F/40C, probably needs another 45 min before I wrap it up. Brisket point pieces in the mid-140sF/low 60sC, just pulled it off. Enjoying the spectacular weather on the patio!

[Richard Chrz]

How far are you taking the point? I feel like I may have missed your decision on the SV side of it?

[DaveD]

Richard Chrz I pulled it off at the 145ish temp, and will sous vide it for about 18 hours at 155F Saturday night into Sunday. Following Kenji's recommendation for time and temp, and your recommendation for getting some smoke on it first. We'll see how it comes out on Sunday!

[DaveD]

Alrighty, update time for the turkey dinner. Bottom line up front: waaaaay more carryover than I was anticipating, so the result was pretty good, but definitely not great. Read on for details.

Everything was nominal as I was going through the Aaron Franklin process I'd read up on. Pulled off the piece when IT was about 120F/49C and wrapped it in two layers of HD foil with a stick of butter sliced into pats.




Jammed the Meater+ back in there after wrapping it tight.

Took a bit for the piece to catch up again, but then it ramped up nicely. Pulled it a few degrees under the target 165F/74C to rest while the sides were going.

BUT! The carryover just kept... carrying... over. Fully fifteen degrees F, all the way up to 180F/83C, with predictable results. The margins of the turkey were very dry, and only the interior was still juicy. The flavor was outstanding though. You can just see it here as my lovely bride did the carving.


I tore off a hunk from the edge, couldn't wait to know what was up... and that bite was really bad.

Carving:

And plated. The gravy from last night was delicious but I should have thinned it out some with water, it was a bit too thick. Them Taters were outstanding as always, and the broccoli came out great.


So lesson learned for next time: Pull it off at IT no higher than 155F/68C, these suckers carry over way more than I'd expected. My lovely bride went back for seconds though, so it's not like it was a fail - and I learned what I need to know in order for the next time to be much better.

[Redwng]

Looks really good to me Dave. An FYI from my chef brother, when cutting a chicken or turkey breast remove the meat from the bone and make slices perpendicular to the breast which is cutting across the grain. Slicing off the side is slicing with grain and may make for not as tender poultry. He claims (laughingly) this is why folks started making gravy for Thanksgiving because the breast was dry and stringy. Let me know if you try it.

[DaveD]

Redwng that is great input, thanks!

[STEbbq]

Chef JP (one of my favorites) has the slicing instructions here. It is a huge difference!

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/recipes-technique-food-cooking/poultry-chicken-turkey-and-duck-recipes/1126689-chef-jean-pierre-s-traditional-turkey

[DaveD]

The other action today involved the brisket point meat and prepping the mondo pork chops for tomorrow's cook.

The point chunks got to 145-150F/63-65C when I pulled them off. Popped 'em in the fridge to cool down, and then vac sealed them up after dinner. It'll go into the sous vide tomorrow night as described above.

Also, vac sealed up the two pork chops, seasoning them with a mix of thyme, sage (both homegrown), granulated garlic, and coarse ground black pepper and adding a glug of EVOO and some bay leaves to the bag. Those will go into the sous vide while the coffee is brewing tomorrow morning...



And with that, I am done for this very long, very busy day... damn I'm tired!

[rlozinak]

This is fun to follow. Happy cooking

[WayneT]

I say we forget the Smackdown and just follow this! Well played sir..

[smokenoob]

I’m full just watching! 😂