Dave's Labor Day Weekend Cook-A-Thon

[fzxdoc]

You really put the Pit Boss through its paces today, DaveD . You've had a busy day indeed, with lots to show for it. I'm curious to see how that point turns out. Too bad about the turkey breast, but at least the center was good eating. Your gravy sounded and looked tasty too.

Will you plan on making Aaron Franklin's espresso sauce for his turkey breast recipe one day too? To me, Franklin's sauce is the best part.

Hope you're feeling better and that your energy level as has returned to normal.

Kathryn

[DaveD]

Have not heard of that espresso gravy Kathryn... I shall look it up!

Energy levels still low... cratered during the late afternoon again, bit of a struggle to get it all on the table, but it all worked out. But damn I'm knackered! Today is the heaviest activity of the weekend, it'll be easier the rest of the way

The point meat is destined for the chili pot on Sunday, but I'll taste a piece and report back...

[fzxdoc]

Sorry, I wrote gravy when I meant sauce. I'll correct that.

In his book, Aaron Franklin wrote the smoked turkey as a combo with the espresso sauce. The sauce is the clear star of that combo. Here's a link.

https://www.today.com/recipes/espresso-barbecue-sauce-t9966

I'm sorry to hear that you're still dragging. Hope your wife has rebounded at least. It's a tough virus.

Kathryn

[DaveD]

Good morning Pitmaestros & -maestras, boy is my butt draggin' this morning! Feel like I got hit by a bus. Lotsa work yesterday, plus had a couple glasses of zinfandel with dinner on top of the several beers I had through the afternoon and evening... fortunately it's a lot easier day today!

fzxdoc Kathryn, thanks for the good wishes, my lovely bride never did test positive and had only a day of any symptoms. She worked all week as normal, and is doing just fine, thanks for the thoughts

Glad I took the time to vac seal up the chops last night. Got 'em in the meat jacuzzi by 7:30am. Only other task today will be to roast up the Hatch chile that arrived a couple of days ago. Hope everyone has a good one - another spectacular day on tap here, it will be a few degrees warmer for a high in the afternoon but still low humidity with dew points below 60F/15C.

[WayneT]

Hopefully, your Joule had the energy you lacked. Several beers topped off with a Zin? That’s a heavy hitter as a chaser. Can’t wait to see the final pix of the chops.

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Nice Cook Man!!

[DaveD]

OK, update time! Here's my report-out on the double-thick pork chops.

Bottom line up front: OMFG!!!!!! Absolutely incredible, stupendous, total porknography. Jfrosty27 and anyone else thinking about it, run, don't walk, to get you some of these Wild Fork double-bone chops!

The chops were in the meat jacuzzi for ten full hours. The first half of that time was at 133F/56C, but then I bumped it up to 135F/57C for the remainder, wanting to make sure I had enough IT to get to the final 140+F/60+C without having a tough rind from the sear.

It's been a gorgeous day, and a beautiful evening for searing meat on fire.



Here they are after the SV, patted dry and ready to go.


Flipped 'em about every 60 seconds or so.




A little chunk tore off the one chop on the left, which I had to eat. I mean, what else could I do???


Ready to serve.


Plated with corn on the cob and cauliflower tossed in EVOO, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and roasted in a 400F/205C oven. Not a ton of color on the plate, I realize. You'll have to sue me.


Gnawing on those bones was splendid.


Just spectacular. Everything was perfect. I'll tellya, a long-ass sous vide and hot sear is the way for these great big 'ol chops. I will never do them any other way, and I'll be keeping these in stock on a constant basis going forward.

[Jfrosty27]

Thanks Dave. I’m placing my order with WF today and these will be included!!

[Spinaker]

Feed the flame worthy pics!

[DaveD]

Spinaker As you've already seen, I made a beeline for there right after I posted here!

[DaveD]

Final step for today's work was to bump up the SV temp from 135F/57C to 155F/68C and drop in the vac-sealed brisket point meat that I put some smoke on yesterday when doing the turkey cook. Did that just before plating the pork chop dinner, and it will run overnight until about midday tomorrow when I start the final cook of the weekend, another pot of chili-beans with the point as the meat component. Steady as she goes...

[fzxdoc]

OK, update time! Here's my report-out on the double-thick pork chops.

Bottom line up front: OMFG!!!!!! Absolutely incredible, stupendous, total porknography. Jfrosty27 and anyone else thinking about it, run, don't walk, to get you some of these Wild Fork double-bone chops!
...
Just spectacular. Everything was perfect. I'll tellya, a long-ass sous vide and hot sear is the way for these great big 'ol chops. I will never do them any other way, and I'll be keeping these in stock on a constant basis going forward.

Wow, what a delicious feast, with the double cut pork chops as the star. It's like having your own private pork roast on a plate. What's really nice is that you have the luxury of doing a hard sear without drying the thick hunk of meat out. Kudos to you, Dave. You really outdid yourself with this cook.

What did you rub/slather the chops with?

Kathryn

[DaveD]

Thanks Kathryn! Totally agree, the SVQ is absolutely the way to go on these. And from a few posts back, here's the rub: "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." I'm glad I didn't use a sugar-containing rub for these.

[DaveD]

Alrighty, the third and final cook of this holiday weekend's extravaganza - brisket chili-beans.
The chunks were in the sous vide at 155F/68C for a full 18 hours, following Kenji's suggestion, and Richard Chrz 's suggestion of smoke + sous vide was very successful. Took 'em out and chunked 'em up; the larger piece included some flat, but all the rest was point. Picked up some fine smoke from the few hours in the pellet rig on Friday, and we nibbled a piece of each chunk - strictly for Science, you understand, it's important to fully characterize one's starting materials in every experiment. The texture was firmish, flavor really wonderful (recall it got a hit of Hank's Bona Fide after dry brining).
Also got a little over 3 tbsp (~50ml) of purge from the bag.

Quite decent smoke ring on the pieces IMO. Smokiness is very evident in the flavor too.


Into the dutch oven heated with some EVOO, then stirred in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and the purge juice.

Then the Carroll Shelby packet of spices, about 1.75 cups/400ml water, 1/4 cup of chopped green chile that I roasted yesterday, and 1/2 tsp of Hatch red chile powder that I included in our second order. Using that instead of the cayenne that comes with the Carroll Shelby mix.



After simmering for fifteen min on stovetop:

Then moved it into the oven set to 265F/130C where it will cruise all afternoon. Here it is after the first half hour, and the color is already noticeably darkening. Smells fantastic!


My other activity today was processing those green chiles I roasted yesterday - peeled, de-seeded, chopped, and packed up in 1/4 cup/60ml portions for freezing. We're now holding 26 such portions, which ought to last us a little while... No photos of that job, I had my hands full of chile slime and my lovely bride was otherwise occupied

More later!

[Richard Chrz]

So tip on the brisket point into the chili, and please take this or leave it, just my experience. Cut your chunks, get a pot going for chili, and start cooking the brisket point chunks, to loosen them up and finish the render a bit more, then add your onions, smoked peppers, and other seasonings with the beef rendering, oil, a bit of butter. Can be a tasty base to a chili.

It’s been fun following along.

[DaveD]

Richard Chrz I'll file that away for next time It's been nine months since I did my last brisket, probably time to start planning one...! I always trim aggressively, so am likely to have another chance to try it in chili. I'm really liking this Shelby chili mix though, sure makes things easy!

[DaveD]

Looking and smelling fantastic, but I haven't tasted it yet - that will wait til after the beans go in.

[Richard Chrz]

As always, fun to follow along.

[DaveD]

After-action report! The chili was freakin great! Rich flavors, perfect heat levels for my lovely bride and me, from the New Mexico green and red chile. We got the characteristic head sweats (for me, eyebrows, mustache, and the very top of my head), something we get only with the real-deal chile. The brisket remained chunk-intensive, it didn't shred up or fall apart for the most part, so the texture with the beans was wonderful. Once again, enough remaining for only one leftover meal, but that's fine.

Added a can of Bush's Best reduced sodium dark red kidneys:


Let them equilibrate for about 20 minutes, then served it up. Before the cheese & sour cream:



Loaded and ready to go:


And as always, our preferred delivery system:


(Raising the pinky for SheilaAnn )

I ain't doing jack tomorrow, it's leftovers for sure!

[fzxdoc]

You deserve a day of leftovers and beer!

K.

[SheilaAnn]

DaveD indubitably

[Jfrosty27]

Damn Dave. You just keep turning out the hits! How about me pitching a tent in your back yard? I promise you won’t see me except at meal times. 😊🤣

[rlozinak]

Looked like great chilli!

[radiodome21]

I saved the gravy recipe. Looks really good. As does everything else. Been too long since I shopped at Wild Fork. This pork chops look amazing.

[DaveD]

radiodome21 , the gravy was outstanding right after it was made. I put it in a snap-lid glass container overnight for use the next day, and it had thickened considerably. I should have thinned it with some water as I was heating it up to serve. So if you serve it right after you make it, you should be fine, but do keep that in mind for after it's been refrigerated.