It was a little overcast when I went out to get the fire going around 7am. Thunder was rolling in the distance. Then the sun came out. We got the fire off to a great start. Just as I was moving it to one side in the kettle the skies darkened and the thunder rolled our way.
Did we let that stop us? Nah. The fire was ready and we covered it up to throttle the temperature back and incorporate the hickory wood. Good timing too because the gloomy sky did open up on us. We didn’t miss a beat however as the showers lasted just long enough to bring the temperature down to get the butt on.
She’s on now, just 20 minutes into her day.
The butt looks smaller this morning. Perhaps some moisture left the meat overnight per our dry-age method we are experimenting with. The butt was in the fridge about 18 hours. I took it out this morning to bring it up to room temperature before going in the smoke (about two hours out of the fridge).
Come to think of it, I haven’t found a butt or picnic larger than 7-8lbs here in St. Louis. In Virginia, we were buying picnics 12lbs+. The butts we got periodically from the butcher were always 9lbs+. I’m not sure of the weight of today’s butt but I’m guessing around 6-7lbs.
After she settles in and we’re confident the fire is stable at around 220-250 degrees, we have house work to do. With the moisture in the air and the threat of rain still looming I plan to power wash the deck, patio, and maybe get around to the front facade of the house. The pollen has left a nice yellow hue over everything.
The Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 will remain on in the bar for those refreshment breaks required for Memorial Day weekend. I hope to get an opportunity to get some of the races in, particularly the starts.
Last night’s tenderloin turned out great. Hale didn’t care for the heat from the red pepper flakes but everyone else gave it a thumbs up. I probably cooked it more than I would like to have but it was still a nice medium to medium-rare (I prefer mine to lean more on the rare side).
We’ll check back in through the weekend to share the pig.
Enjoy the races and the meats…
