Football Sunday Decisions

[sawhorseray]

Up at 3:15 and hungry, bacon, eggs slathered in salsa, and some oatnut toast.

Yesterday I whipped up a batch of mac & cheese, baked, using Alton Browns recipe

Baked it at 350º for 40 minutes then let in cool om the counter for an hour

I wrapped it and tossed it into the fridge. The plan is to put it back into a 250º oven for about 90 minutes today while smoking up a mini-prime.

Got it coated with SPOG and in the fridge for the night

I have a load of time to decide how I want to smoke it. Cousin Kurt is coming over for the afternoon game and the plan is to eat before the all-important Niner game at six. I like the idea of wood-smoking the little prime on the SQ36 but don't know if I want to babysit the fire that much today. There's the Pro 100, but I have to wheel it out of the garage into the backyard. Then there's the Weber kettle, just sitting there feeling neglected. Some lump coals indirect, a couple of chunks of hickory, plug in the TP20 and not have to do very much. That sounds kind of appealing to me. Now it's 4:30, maybe I'll go back to bed and sleep on things. More to come. RAY

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like a fun day ahead!
Al

 

[crazymoon]

SHR, I'm in !

 

[Bearcarver]

MMMmmm---My Kind of Breakfast!!!
Be Back for the PR !!
Like.

Bear

 

[Steve H]

Nice breakfast, and you're gearing up for a awesome dinner.

 

[sandyut]

Now that is a game day for a king! off to a good start.

 

[sawhorseray]

Man, another three hours of sleep and a shower and shave, I feel great! With all this new found energy now I'm thinking I should fire up the SQ36 for this smoke. It's pretty cool out now and the high today is supposed to be 52º here today, perfect for my stick burner and a nice opportunity to implement some of what I read in Aaron Franklin's book the last couple of days. What to do, what to do. More coffee! RAY

 

[Smokin' in AZ]

Ray, just got back from visiting all the snow in the mountains yesterday and today feels like a summer day in comparison....

Enjoy the football, food and family my friend!

John

 

[sawhorseray]

Thanks John, I'm having a real nice time today! What I learned from reading the Franklin book the last couple of days is really paying off. I now have heat control dialed in like a watch, no big spikes in temp when adding more splits. I never knew guys smoked on offsets with the door open, Aaron always has the door open at least a crack. I've been + / - five degrees of 250º for a hour and a half, able to work larger splits for longer periods of time, and the smoke coming out of the stack is invisible unless I look at under the right circumstances. It's a wonderful life! RAY

 

[smokerjim]

that's a good looking breakfast I think I'd be sleeping after that to, good luck with the rib no matter which way you do it, bets are it will be great

 

[Hawging It]

Breakfast of champions!

 

[sawhorseray]

What a smoke, what a dinner, what a game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for looking! RAY

 

[Brokenhandle]

I could go for a plate of that! Right after a blood pressure pill for that game! Do they have to keep waiting till the last seconds of the game? Should have seen the looks we were getting from our dogs with all the excitement!

Ryan

 

[Smokin' in AZ]

Great looking plate there Ray!

Just how I like my meat

LIKE!

John

 

[sandyut]

WOW! Nice work!

 

[chopsaw]

Nice plate of food there . Good work .

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Food looks great Ray. Hell of a game last night!

 

[sawhorseray]

Thanks you all so much! This was a ground-breaking smoke for me, once set at halfway open I never had to touch the vents or stack on my SQ36, all heat control was done with the firebox door. I might have had the firebox door completely closed once or twice for a few minutes during the three hours it took for that little four pound prime to reach a IT of 124º when it was wrapped. foiled, and cooler'd up for a half hour. I stared my fire with just a little RO lump and added hickory splits until I had a nice bed of coals, took about ah hour. My fire never got lower than 240º, or higher than 257º and I was dialed in +/- five degrees with perfect smoke. I never even open the cook chamber door till it was time to pull. I learned a ton of valuable information the last couple of days reading Aaron Franklin's book, I haven't even gotten to the part where meat goes on the grill yet. I really got to know my smoker yesterday, the best is yet to come. Dinner was fantastic! The prime was cooked to perfection with a great smoky flavor, tho not over-powering. The mac & cheese recipe turned out to be a real keeper, I brushed the bread crumbs with some melted butter right before the second bake, came out with a beautiful golden brown color, cousin Kurt and I went back for seconds on everything. The game? It was another classic, seems to be the new norm each week, this time we came out on top and are on our way to the SB. If it weren't for a last second TD and two last second field goals we'd be undefeated. What a great day! RAY