2011 SELA gathering Oct 28,29 and 30

[bamafan]

Bob, Al do I need to throw a propane tank in the truck? Thinking about them fried po-boys allready. If I can't drink. I'm gonna eat!

 

[alblancher]

We'll have lots of gas!  No need for additional propane.

I'm looking forward to the first oyster poboy of the season to, 

 

[eman]

Did our early birds make it ok???

 

[shooterrick]

Packed up most tonight and will finish tomorrow night.  Loading up and leaving about 9 am so should be there for lunch friday.  Al I assume you still have split or small round pecan for the lang so unless you tell me I won't haul wood.  Tomorrow last work day of the week for me.  Yahoooooooo.

 

[alblancher]

Desertlites and Boykjo both made it in alright and we are calling it a night. Got the bacon going in the smokehouse  and the sausage curing in the fridge.  Had a couple of cold ones and some boiled shrimp for dinner.  Really nice getting to touch base with these guys again, had a great evening sitting under the shed and talking about smoking meat.

I guess I'll sleep on the couch tonight, so I can check the fire in the smokehouse a bit later.

Rick, I should have enough wood but if you can bring a half a basket of splits to get you started that would be a help.  I'll know better after firing up the Lang Thursday for the Gator, the sausage, chicken wings and Chickens and getting into the bacon smoke a bit more.  I just don't know how much wood this 36 is going to burn but I do know it is a bit of a fuel hog.  If you don't have room we can probably get by with what I have.,

I'll touch base with everyone in the morning,

 

[chef jimmyj]

Have Fun Y'all...Maybe next year, sounds like a BLAST!...JJ

 

[raymo76]

Hey gents ya'll have a great time!!

 

[bobdog46]

I plan on being there tomorrow morning with a few different varieties of gator sausage. Unfortunatly i will only be able to stay a few ours and meet the people that are there during the day on friday. I was asked to work this weekend and cannot pass up 700.00 a day for three days. I am glad I will be able to show up tomorrow and meet some of you and give some gator sausage for folks to try.   Plan on leaving Ponchatoula about 7 in the AM. Will call Al if I I get lost along the way !! 

 

[pineywoods]

Bob sorry you won't be there this weekend would have liked to meet you. We are loaded up and will be pulling out about 6 in the morning. Looking forward to seeing a bunch of friends and making some new ones

 

[shooterrick]

Packed and loaded.  Plan on leaving at 9 am .  Baby Lang is in tow with a basket full of Pecan.  Sandy is getting ready to make Cinnimon Roll dough and I have the briskets and butts in the fridge till morning.   I have a small surprise for the other hosts and dont get too excited it isnt that big a deal but useful for all smokers and sausage makers.  I believe Ruby will be down friday night or early Sat. morning and we have her gear in the truck.  My employer and his wife plan on attending Sat. afternoon and they are good folk. 

See ya all tomorrow.

Shooter 

 

[alblancher]

Putting together a lunch menu for Friday.  Looks like Chicken wings 4 different ways, smoked ham sandwiches and Joe's Jalapeno Cheddar sausage.  Dinner is fried oyster poboys, onion rings, hushpuppies, alligator rabbit sauce picante and smoke chicken. 

Wish you could all be here, nice weather and friends sitting around talking about smoking food.

 

[pineywoods]

Al we have tomatoes, corn on the cob, okra, cucumbers, jalapenos, sweet banana peppers, scotch bonnet peppers, bell peppers, habanero jelly, jalapeno jelly, cane syrup and a few other things packed and ready to go

 

[raymo76]

Damn I'm just imagining all the fun you guys are going to have!

 

[alblancher]

Bamafan, Pineywoods and Shooterrick all made it in this afternoon.  Spent the day smoking chicken wings and chickens.  Eman made a great meal of oyster poboys, fried onion rings and hushpuppies.  We're all sitting around watching the series and trying to recover from all the good food.   We'll post more in the morning

 

[shoneyboy]

I will be their in the morning with the family..... I'm excited to meet everyone !!!!

 

[alblancher]

The rest of the crew showed up, Shoneyboy with his family, So Miss Smoker, Ruby, Melissa and Greg.  Still windy but nice and warm in the low 80s.  So far we have had rabbit wrapped in bacon, smoked oysters, buffalo Kabobs, Bob Dog's gator sausage, Boykjo's jalapeno cheddar sausage, bacon, Sandy's sweet rolls, garbage grits, ShooterRicks breakfast sausage, Boykjo's cured breakfast sausage, and Kielbasa.  

We made ABTs with jalapeno and banana peppers.  We made ABTs with breakfast sausage, bacon and cream cheese.  Ran out of cream cheese so we ground up some left over fried oysters and onion rings so we ran them in the food processor and made ABTs with a bit of cheddar cheese.  A real surprise at just how good they where.

The rabbit was a big hit but everything coming out of the kitchen or coming off the smoker has been absolutely Delicious. 

Right now Rick's butts and brisket are resting in the ice chest.   Pineywoods in addition to bringing ice chests full of fresh vegetable brought a case of fresh corn.  The corn is currently soaking in sugar water wating to go on the hot grill. 

Desertlites is smoking nuts, I'll ask him to post his procedure but the smell coming out of the ECB is crazy good.   Eman is boiling corn in crab boil and has put baked beans on the smoker.

Looks like desert is Ruby's crumb cake, my wife's coconut cake and Eman's corn flake treats with chipolte chocolate.

Everyone is taking lots of pics so I'm sure there will be lots to share once we get to a faster Internet connection   

 

[bobdog46]

Hey Al,

                That slab of bacon you cut off for me before I left yesterday was wonderful !!! I cooked up some for the kids and they loved it !!! I will have to try and cold smoke which I havent done yet. Pork bellies will be by first try.  I enjoyed spending a few hours w/ you guys yesterday.  Let me know how everbody liked the gator sausage i left with you. Wish i could have stayed longer !!!  

 

[DanMcG]

Sounds like a great time and awesome food. I'll be looking forward to the pic's

 

[shooterrick]

Ok we have a ton of pics.  I will be posting them over the next several days but here are just a few to get ya started.  Sandy and I had a great time and it was wonderful to put some faces with the names and meet new and old friends. 

To start of with:  This is desertlites(highway hippie) giving thanks to the BBQ gods and Karen was moved by the invocation.

   We forgot to tell Boudreaux that the costume event was cancelled.

What a real man dreams of:

Neither wind rain snow or storm is gonna keep Tim(Bamafan from watching the game:

Ok Al I understand but what are the rest of the guests eating?

 

[shooterrick]

Just some more pics.