A Labor Day Late Lunch

We planned on firing up the smoker on Labor Day and doing something new for us - Chuck Roast Burnt Ends.  It all started with a trip to a local slaughterhouse that cuts meat to order, and Tricia purchased a 4 pound chuck roast.  I stabbed the roast repeatedly and then made a rub of salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, dried oregano, cumin and coffee.  I rubbed that all over the roast and put it in a plastic container and poured a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce all over it.  I put the lid on and gave it a good shake and then put it in the ice box to marinate overnight.  First thing in the morning, I lit the chimney with charcoal until they were burning.

Here is our chuck roast, marinated and ready to be smoked.

The roast was placed on the lower grille of the smoker.

I was looking to get the temperature in our smoker to 240 degrees and then hold it there for eight hours.  During the smoke, I added pecan sticks to the charcoal to keep the temperature where I wanted it.  I repeatedly opened and closed the vents to regulate the temperature.

After eight hours, the center of the roast was 190 degrees and ready to come off the smoker.  There is a nice black crust on the roast.  It smells great, but we're not done yet.

I sliced up the roast and it was nice looking.  Tasty fat with a deep red smoke ring.

I sliced the roast into cubes for the next step.

I put the cubed roast in a roasting pan and dusted the meat liberally with the remaining rub and some Baby Ray's BBQ sauce was poured over it and all stirred up.

Money shot!

You have several options here.  You can put it back on the smoker for 2 more hours OR you can put in the oven on broil OR you can put the roaster on the stovetop and cook until the coating on the meat is caramelized.  The last option is the one we went with for expedience.  We were hungry by this point!

Mom and Dad came over and Benjamin and Russ also joined Tricia and I for the "Roast Beast Feast."  It turned out really good and tasty, but if I'm honest, visiting and spending time with family was the highlight of Labor Day.

I trust you enjoyed your Labor Day as well.  Tomorrow, it's back to work!

An Afternoon Out at the Farm

Last Saturday I got to thinking that before long it will be hot and humid.  The mosquitoes would be attacking and summer would be on.  We'd better enjoy the nice weather while we could.  I loaded up my smoker and all the accoutrements for a picnic and headed to Oberlin.  Dad and Mom agreed to meet Tricia, me and Benjamin at the farm on the old homeplace.  We got the smoker going and we sat out in lawn chairs and visited.  The weather was nice, but it was a little windy. 

The menu for the day was smoked meatloaf, smoked macaroni 'n cheese, and salad with strawberries and walnuts.  Here is the meatloaf right when it is going on the smoker.

I must admit, we were ready to eat when it came off so I didn't get an 'after' shot.  However, I've linked the recipe from a previous post in 2021:  Recipe for smoked meatloaf  I like it.

The old live oak tree could tell a lot of stories I'm sure.  I remember 50 years ago climbing up in its branches covered in resurrection fern.  It was huge back then.  No telling how old it is.  It has had a big hole in the middle of it for as long as I can remember.  When I was younger, we watched a mama red fox raise her babies in the hole of the live oak.

Right behind the old oak was where the old homeplace was.  That's where my grandpa was raised.  There was a water well off to the side of the house and a big persimmon tree that made big orange persimmons we'd eat.

Here is the macaroni and cheese about to go in the smoker.  The mac 'n cheese only needs to go on the smoker for an hour or so.

Here it is coming out of the smoker.  Delicious!  We gobbled it down. 

With everything off the smoker, it was time to eat.  Dad moved his truck to block off the wind and we set up the table right next to it and began to eat.

We visited until the sun went down.  By then the smoker had cooled down and we could load it in the back of the car and drive back to Jennings.  What a peaceful, relaxing, and enjoyable day spent with people you love and good food.

A New Twist on Meatloaf and Mac 'n Cheese

I was fortunate enough to get a Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker for Christmas.  We've been playing around with different recipes.  I am a novice at smoking meat, and it is a learning experience (and experiment), but we're enjoying it.  After smoking a brisket, we decided to try something different - Smoked Meatloaf and Smoked Macaroni and Cheese.  I have been learning and getting recipes from Smoking-Meat.com.

The meatloaf was different from the start in that you laid out all the ground meat, seasonings, cheese, onions, and peppers flat on a pan and then proceeded to roll the meatloaf up.

Then you mold it into a loaf comme ça.

I got a charcoal fire going in the base of the smoker and earlier, I had gathered a bunch of pecan wood that had fallen from our trees.  I cut that into chunks and used pecan as the wood for smoking.  The meatloaf smokes for longer and goes on the bottom rack.  All you have to do is keep the temperature between 200 and 250, by checking the thermometer on the lid regularly and adjusting the vents, adding wood as needed. 

It started smelling good!  I had the cows eating in the yard.  I felt badly.  I think Rosie smelled it, too.  This was not soy or vegetable protein.  No sir, 100% beef - raised on that pasture right there.

The macaroni and cheese goes on the top rack.  It doesn't smoke for as long as the meatloaf.

Time to put the lid on and smoke.

After three hours and 45 minutes the meatloaf was looking real nice.

We cut into the meatloaf and observed a nice smoke ring.  The smoked macaroni and cheese was smoky and cheesy!

It was delicious.  I enjoyed it with a cold glass of smoked milk.  Just joking, of course.  We can't wait to try out some other recipes on the smoker.

Six Months Later...

A little more than six months after the hurricanes, we still have reminders of the carnage around us.  Our son, Russ, is about to move back into his home as the contractors will finish up shortly, remodeling his home following a large tree falling through his roof.  We still look around at broken branches ("widow makers") high up in our live oak trees - reminders of the storm.  We are blessed, though.  Many people lost their homes and livelihoods.  

This weekend we wanted to incinerate a big reminder of Laura and Delta that we walk by every single day on the way to the barn.  The "burn pile."  After the storm, we hauled all the branches, limbs, and assorted sticks to the pasture and stacked them in a big, long windrow.  This weekend we started the fire to bid farewell to the one of the last remaining vestiges of tropical wrath still on our property.

Buckwheat the billy goat with his long goatee looks on, as does Belle, our livestock guardian dog.  We separated the long windrow into an individual pile.  Lighting the whole thing up would burn our pecan trees to the east and our newly planted tomatoes to the west.  As the fire consumed the branches, we would toss more on, being careful not to let it get too high.

It didn't take long until the entire pile was burned down to a mere fraction of its original size.  In the photo below, the pile originally stretched almost to the t-post in the foreground.  Now there is lots more room to walk, roll out hay bales, and much less hiding places for hens to lay their eggs.  These new hens are crafty.  We'll discover 'hidden nests' after searching around when we don't collect as many eggs in the nest boxes.

We weren't done with fires or smoke just yet.  As the fire smoldered and smoked, we were about to start another fire.  First, we seasoned up one of the briskets from one of our Jersey bulls with a rub we like.

I started my charcoal chimney fire starter (an easy way to start charcoal without lighter fluid).

Put the brisket on the smoker...

And watched and patiently waited for 6 hours while the brisket smoked at around 250 degrees.  Our Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker does a great job.  It requires monitoring, though, to ensure your temperature stays somewhere between 210 - 250 degrees.  This is easily accomplished by opening or closing the air vents and tossing a few more chunks of pecan or live oak wood in on occasion.

We used cut up chunks of pecan branches and live oak branches we lost in the storms to flavor the brisket.  It turned out delicious.