Christmas was nice

I hope that everyone's Christmas was good, and the one here was fantastic! Me and brother Greg cooked enough food to feed an army - and of course everything was prepared outdoors. Although it was certainly a long day of cooking, we had a good time doing it for the family. There was brisket, turkey, chicken, homemade scalloped potatoes, homemade baked beans, homemade apple pie, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and dutch oven cobbler....Oh, it was good stuff! The only problem was - there was way too much food for us to eat.
Anyway, I want you to see the brisket and scalloped potatoes that Greg made......

 

In other news, I constructed a couple of new planters on the property that are on posts, and the hope is to have some type of vining plants in them next spring to flow over the side and hang down. That's the idea, at least...Daddy told me that we had enough planters on the property now, so I guess my building is finished. Lol. Anyway, here's one by the road....

Also, the compost bins are pretty full now, but there's still room for quite a bit more in one of the 6 bins. I'll be on the lookout for more bagged leaves after this weekend, and hope to locate a few. Speaking of the compost - here's Jude "helping" me empty the bags into the bins today. :)

I sure do love that dog.......

Jeff

Muscadine grape wine

I've certainly been waiting for this day - the one where I finally put the homemade muscadine grape wine into jars for storage. Me and a buddy of mine put it together 6 or 7 weeks ago in large glass carboys, then divided the wine up after letting it ferment until finished.With 5 gallons and 1 quart ready for the pantry, all of the hard work involved has certainly paid off. Oh, it's really good too - not too sweet, and the alcohol content is pretty high. Hiccup! Lol. Anyway, here's some photos...

 

I've also been doing some gardening of course, and the broccoli is finally ready to harvest. In all, there are 5 plants - with this one performing the best. I'll most likely add it to salads or something, because that's about all I eat these days - salads....

I'm also constructing a couple of new planters on the property, and here's Jude sitting all pretty next to one of the posts that has been concreted into the ground...

In other news, my brother has deleted his gardening blog - just in case anyone is wondering. He might make another one in the future, but not anytime soon, apparently.
We both are gearing up for the big Christmas meal that he and I are cooking outdoors, and preparations have been made for quite a feast. No dressing this year, because it'll be homemade baked beans, brisket, ribs, turkey breast, chicken, cobbler in the camp dutch oven, and stuff like that....Yeehaw!!!! I'm gonna get my redneck on.......
Anyway, that's what is happening here...

Jeff

Trying out the smoker

With 4 whole chickens brined throughout the previous night and a pretty slow day planned for Saturday, it was time to try this little homemade electric smoker out. It had been seasoned earlier in the week with a pound of bacon - so was ready for the real deal, finally.
As it was coming up to temperature that morning, 2 problems arose:
1.The thermostat had to be bypassed - as Emily referred to in the comments of the previous post
2. Once that had been done, the small inline fuse inside the hot plate blew - causing me to have to bypass it as well.
However, life was good after those issues had been addressed. My little onboard thermometer mounted to the top lid read about 210 degrees throughout the entire cooking cycle, and I removed the chicken after leaving it in their for 3 hours. A quick probe of the meat with a meat thermometer registered 190 - which was far higher than it needed to be. Oops....Yeah, I overcooked it, but it still was very moist - due to the brining that took place the night before. Anyway, here's my "not so perfect" plate of chicken halves that were gladly shared with my parents.

It was good to get the problems worked out before the big event later in the month, and also get a feel for cooking times with everything. I'll check the internal temperature of chicken at the 2-hour mark next time, because that'll probably be about right, I bet.

Jeff

A new smoker for the Christmas feast

Smoking meat has been a longtime hobby of mine, and these hands have built countless homemade smokers over the past 20 years....Since my brother Greg has an unbelievable passion for grilling and smoking meat these days too, I volunteered our services for preparing the upcoming Christmas feast - with every bit of it being cooked outdoors. He's got all kinds of deluxe model charcoal grills and smokers - whereas my old electric Brinkman smoker has seen better days. So, I decided to do some research on various models - then construct my own. What I discovered was an easy one to make from a metal garbage can - although there sure wasn't a shortage of critics concerning it's safe use with food contamination from zinc poisoning.....
However, most people forming their opinions on the matter have never worked in a maintenance environment for the past 26 years, and also with the privilege of welding or cutting galvanized metal on numerous occasions. That's where I come in - True, hands-on experience and with more metallurgical intelligence than the average Alabama redneck....Lol. The claim is that the zinc coating from the metal garbage can is released in vapor form when subjected to the moderate temperature inside the homemade smoker which is generated by an electric heating element - therefore subjecting meat cooked in it to harmful zinc exposure which is bad for humans consuming it. Sigh...........This is the point where I seriously have to tell myself not to scream.
Fact: Zinc coating is easily removed from metal by applying the flame from a torch or welding electrode. I've  done it tons of times, and what happens is a white, fluffy substance is released from the zinc - as well as some white/yellow smoke. Have I inhaled it? Of course. Everyone that works with cutting or welding galvanized steel does. If exposed by alot, you simply drink a glass of milk afterwards to keep from getting sick from it. Period. Keep in mind - these tasks are being performed at temperatures well above 800 degrees. This little heat source in the smoker? Sheesh. A person would shout with joy if they could somehow build a temperature of 250 degrees inside the can. So, is there a possibilty that meat cooked inside it under these circumstances could become exposed to zinc poisoning? Um, definitely not.....
So, with all of that said - I have built one. For about $60, I made this garbage can smoker in no time at all. Sure, I could purchase another Brinkman for another $15-$20, but what fun would that be? Plus - this one will hold more meat, and also use less electricity. :)

It's pretty simple - just sit a single element electric cooking thingy in the can with the cord ran out the side, and place a smoker box on top with wood chips inside it that have been saturated with water, plug it in, and you have smoke.

I placed 2 cooking racks at strategic locations inside the can - which of course are supported by 1/4" bolts fastened to the sides. Because of the sheer weight of a turkey, I would definitely place it on the bottom rack if cooking one. However, chickens and ribs would be placed on the top rack.

Anyway, I'll season the entire inside this coming weekend with a test run on a pound of bacon, then this little dude will be ready for some action at Christmas. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Jeff