4 Course Memorial Diner

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bauchjw

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Aug 3, 2015
4,792
4,234
Alexandria, VA
Greetings all, I’ve been crushed for a bit with work and doing some travel, so a bit scarce here. This weekend things slowed a bit and we had some great friends over for a Memorial Day diner. They are all military families we’ve known for years, deployed together, and have been stationed together in San Diego and now DC. Two are changing station this summer and moving back to San Diego or Hawaii, so this was also a farewell. Following the bitter sweetness of Memorial Day we had some memories of those we’ve lost, but also shared a lot of good memories together too.. So, I went big and it turned into a 4 course meal with lots of bourbon, beer and wine. Lots of Pictures:
Started Friday Night:
Smoked Gary’s beans, a SMF staple for me in BBQs. I think they are better smoked the day before to set and then reheat.
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Then made a big batch made a batch of my reduced red wine sauce…. This is liquid gold with red meat! I’ve posted the recipe a few times, but if anyone is curious let me know and I’ll send it.
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Then got the pork butt ready using Memphis Dust modified a bit with Sazon Goya. I’ve become a fan of using Wagyu beef tallow as a binder lately and used a Baking Powder sifter for the rub. Very cool trick for even coating.
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At about 2300 Friday night the butt went onto the smoker at 255 using blended pellets.
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At the same time I took Gary’s beans off to cook in the fridge for a Saturday reheat.
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Still Friday night, after butt was on I seasoned the red meat. I went with a Rosemary and Thyme garlic paste.
5 garlic cloves minced, two teaspoons Kosher Salt. Sprinkle salt on mince garlic, then mash up with a knife (flat & sharp edge) to make paste. Put in bowl and add 3 tablespoons EVOO a tablespoon of fresh minced rosemary and a tablespoon fresh minced thyme. Mix into paste for rub.
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Went with 3 beautiful tri tips, rubbed late Friday night, wrapped in plastic, then placed in fridge.
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I decided on Surf N Turf Lumpia too. So went with a S&P rub the night before as the turf addition to the rolls.
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Checked on the butt at about 3 am. Great color bark. Addition of Sazon Goya gives a good red pop.
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After a few hour nap, had a cup of coffee and checked on the butt in a stall. Looking good!
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Onto the soup. I went with a smoked asparagus and porcini cream soup. This is delicious and great balance with heavy meals.
2 bunches of asparagus
2 tablespoons butter
2 small onions diced
2 garlic cloves minced
5 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
S&P to taste
8 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
Parm cheese fresh grated
Directions: I smoked the asparagus for a bit, a quick char would be nice too. Then cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
-Heat butter in pan and add the onion, cook until tender.
-Add asparagus and garlic, cook for about 5 more minutes.
- stir in Broth, dried mushrooms, bring to simmer and cover about 15 minutes until Asp is soft.
-Purée till smooth, add some S&P to taste.
- Stir in cream and lemon juice. Check for S&P taste.
-Add parm on top when serving.

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Then I prepped some garlic herb potatoes Brokenhandle Brokenhandle shared from GR a while ago. Riced 4 pounds russet after boiling.
4 garlic cloves
4 tablespoon Rosemary & Thyme
4 tablespoons parsley & chives
-Heated 8 tablespoons of butter in pan then added garlic, rosemary & thyme for 2-3 min
- poured in Cup of whole milk and cup of heavy cream and brought to simmer.
- added parsley and chives. Simmered a few additional minutes.
- Pour cream sauce over riced paradors and stir. S&P to taste.

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Sorry, forgot a shot of finished potato dish, but will have potato’s on dish pic soon.
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Around this time the butt was done to probe, wrapped and in a cooler. I also put the Tri tip and NY strip on the smoker using tx smoker tx smoker method at 240.

The friends started arriving as I was prepping shrimp for the Surf N Turf rolls and when the meat was 1/2 way there. So, we had a shot of bourbon and I ladled them some Asparagus soup.
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The shrimp were marinated in butter milk. Then rested a cornstarch, planko, mixed with smoked ancho S&P. Heated up a few tablespoons of beef tallow in a pan and went with a pan fry.
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I set aside 10 shrimp for the lumpia, but served the rest with a Remoulade made before I saw indaswamp indaswamp recipe. I’ll try it next time!
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While they finished the shrimp we had more bourbon, I pulled the Tri tip at 132 IT to give a long rest. The NY was done while the shrimp were going and had a good rest too.
Prepping the Surf N Turf lumpia… this is another recipe I’ve posted before, but let me know if you want details and I’ll happily share!
Sliced up the NY, it was beautiful and tasty!
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Put down lumpia paper, slice of smoked Gouda, then steak, topped with red wine sauce and parsley. Followed by shrimp topped with bang bang sauce.
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Wrapped snug then rubbed down with duck fat. I did 10 of these and baked at 400 for ten minutes, turning once.

When they were crispy done, plated with those garlic herb potatoes from earlier and drizzled with more red wine sauce.
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By this point the bourbon and wine was mixing well with the company and we were all having a good time. These rolls were a big hit! Shout out to clifish clifish for contributing some Long Island wine to the event! They were enjoyed and complimented, a very thoughtful gift put to good use and company.

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By this point I switched over to sipping beer to make sure I was coherent. The Tri tip had a good rest, then seared in CI before slicing. Roberts technique was perfect. These were awesome too! Also served with herb potatoes, forgot a plate shot!
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Finally, onto the pulled pork. Instead of buffet style on this meal I went with how I thought people should eat it and plated each myself. Not something I’ll always do, but I liked it because a lot of time and effort into pairing meat with sides, so I wanted to have them eat it the right way🤣 I made some sweet corn truffled polenta earlier that was warmed on the smoker.
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Then topped with some pan fried honey butter corn, Gary’s beans, pulled pork and some fresh slaw.. also made from scratch.
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Wow. This was a long post. It was also a long prep and cook with a great payoff. Shared a lot of stories with long time Marine friends and their wives who also endure a lot. Great buzz, music, food, and people. Thank you for your time!
 

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Last edited:
Simply epic meal JW! Not else much to say but thank you for your (and friends) service!

PS glad you had a GR element.....it will envelope you now!
 
Awesome looking food Jed! Great details and a great time had by you and your friends and families!
Thankful to you and your buddies and their families for everything they did and went through for our freedoms that we have!

Ryan
 
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That is one post full of excellent chow. Nicely done Jed I bet your friends were happy.

Point for sure
Chris
 
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Wow Jed that's a fine looking spread right there ! I'm sure it tasted even better shared with friends and beverages.
A special thanks to you and your group for the sacrifices made for our freedom!

Keith
 
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Jed not to overuse the word but man you went EPIC! Everything looks fantastic and the post was enjoyable to read the details on. I use the Sazon Goya achioto y cilantro in many things myself.
 
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Wow Jed!!!! What a cook and great time! Had to find that wine sauce:

 
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Absolutely incredible Jed. A truly stunning array of food and a monumental effort. I would have been honored to be in your company and sit down to a plate (or 6) of that. What an amazing feast. You have some very lucky friends.

Robert
 
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WOW!! What a meal, Jed. It's all simply amazing and what an effort for your friends, I'm sure that they all enjoyed it immensely...
 
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