The Party

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pops6927

Gone but not forgotten. RIP
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Jul 23, 2008
7,245
1,225
Fort Worth, Tx.
After the success of The Picnic (http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/161782/the-picnic), at September's meeting of our stroke survivors group (our stroke group with Texas Health Rehab Hospital) my wife and I offered to do the same for The Party, our annual Christmas Cup Party where we all bring dishes to pass and do a Chinese Christmas with decorated coffee cups, where you get to vote on the best decorated, then are given numbers and when called, you can choose a cup or steal one already chosen from another, 3rd time it is frozen.  Good food, good fellowship, good fun.  And at the start we recognize whoever has a birthday this month with a loud cheer, YAY BIRTHDAYS!!!   After a stroke or strokes, it is very very important to have as many more as possible!!

So, the day before Thanksgiving, we got a great deal on turkeys, 3 - 20+ lb. turkeys at WinCo for 38¢/lb, total $24, just amazing!  Took home, put in back fridge to thaw out, then the following weekend brought them out, unwrapped and pulled the gizzard packs and necks (ohhh wow... love those simmering on the stove!) and we wheeled them to the back fridge:(I need to state, giving credit where credit is due, my wife, my caregiver, Linda, did most the work that I could not from my strokes every step of the way - we are a team!):


The previous weekend I'd already done some smoked cheese (Longhorn Cheddar) with the FANTASTIC A-Maze-N pellet smoke unit:


The fantastic A-Maze-N Pellet-Smoking unit, AMNPS - www.amazenproducts.com



Huge bucket for the turkeys, just fits in the fridge:


with turkeys:


in the curing brine and weighted down:


for a soak in the spa!  Then, removed after 10 days:


sacked up and hung in the smokehouse!


add a handful of chunks to the burner pan:


and let the magic begin at 240°!


I'd have to add more chunks every 30 - 45 minutes, and progress, at 10 am:


1 pm:


4 pm:


9pm - done!


Turned off the gas and let hang and cool until 10:30 pm, brought out and unsacked, put back into the buckets:


Then into the fridge for a nap for 2 days.


Then, brought out and cut up into parts:


take off the wing and leg, split the leg into thigh and drum, then dissection the wing into wingette, drumette and tip:  (PJ the wonderdog impatiently waiting for me to remove the wing tip for her benefit!0:


Then remove the half of the breast from that side:


and repeat 5 more times (a couple of the carcasses):


put everything back into the fridge to await the morning's prep: deboning the thighs, removing the skin, chunking up, then slicing all the breasts, doing a smoked cheese platter, laying out the drums, wingettes and drummettes, etc.):

At the Party:


The Cheese Platter:


People started digging in, had to wait in line just to get a quick photo!  Here's the cups:


(guess I missed a whole row or two on the left side, lol!  But, you get the idea!)  Everybody enjoying the food and conversations!  The club president and his wife, the (real!) president, lol!


Every table of folks:


my wife in front, with the silver hair!








me and another member goofing around each snapping photos of each other at the same time!


My wife's cup (later stolen by someone else, lol!)


It was a great time, everyone loved the smoked turkeys and smoked cheese, what was left we left for others to take home with them!  Thank you for allowing me to share!
 
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Also, got to visit with a dear friend who was admitted into the rehab facility just the night before after having several mini strokes on his left side.  Strokes can happen to anyone, from in vitro to your last day.

 
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 That all looks GREAT! Looks like everyone had a good time.

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for sharing the joy of smoke for the season.

Happy smoken.

David 
 
Great job Pops! Thanks for sharing with us and for your contributions to the smoking community. So many great things that wouldn't have been done without pioneers like you. Stay well and merry Christmas to you and yours!

77.gif
 
Looks awesome Pop's! A lot of smiling faces and great food. A group with a common

bond enjoying life. Here's hoping you have many more such luncheons!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
 
That was awesome that you took the time and effort to make such a great meal for all those folks!!!  Your a good man Pops!!! Your wife also!!!  Everything looks wonderful.  Reinhard
 
Totally awesome Pop's. Its great to make food that actually tastes good and share. I have oft times wondered why people like you couldn't help clinical dietians to set up a cardiac care menu which included smoked and cured meats instead of boiled chicken breasts and cardboard. LOL.. they have to beg and threaten me every time in the hospital to just eat something so they can discharge me. Which usually ends up with a slice of bread a boiled breast and MUSTARD to kill the taste.

Great job Pops! You are always leading the way.
 
Great job Pop's!!! Nice post and great that you could do this for them - outstanding!!!! 
xmas_snowman.gif


Merry Christmas and happy New Years

DS
 
 
Very nice thing to do for the folks Pops.... Ever think about signing a 20 year contract to do a few more, and not get muscled out....
 
Nice birds, pictures and party.  Good job, nothing like doing for others

Gary
 
Funny !!   We all need a little laugh    Did all your snow and ice melt ? about 95 % of ours was gone yesterday

Gary
 
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http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/pops6927s-curing-brines-regular-and-lo-salt
[h1]Pops6927's Curing Brines - Regular and Lo-Salt[/h1]

By: Pops6927

Posted 10/27/14 • Last updated 10/27/14 • 848 views • 0 comments

These are my Curing brines for pork, beef (corned and dried), poultry, and so on.

Regular Curing Brine:

1 gallon of clean water

1 cup plain, regular non-iodized table salt

1 cup sugar or sucrolose

1 cup brown sugar or sucrolose equiv.

1 tablespoon of Cure#1

Lo-Salt Curing Brine:

1 gallon of clean water

½ cup plain, regular non-iodized rable salt

½ cup sugar or sucrolose 

½ cup brown sugar or sucrolose equiv.

1 tablespoon of Cure #1

mix in food-safe container, stir until clear.

Add meat.  Do not add different species of meats, but you can add pieces of the same species.

Refrigerate 1 to 21 days, depending on thickness of meat. 

Up to 2 inches, 1-10 days.

2 - 4 inches, 5 - 15 days, may require injecting to cure from the inside-out as well as from the outside-in.

4 inches and larger.  15 - 21 days, requires injecting.

Injecting - use a Morton's injection 4 oz. manual injection pump with the Broadcast needle.



or equivalent.

Brine can become frothy (ropy).  It has both salt and sugar in it.  It also is inputting curing ingredients into the meat and oozing out blood and plasma.  Just dump the brine and make up fresh and continue curing should that happen.  Make sure you keep it at 38° - 40°.  

Weigh down meat into curing brine with half-filled ziploc bags of water on top.

No further mixing or stirring required, let it cure until done.  Meats will come out of the brine wish a distinct grayish look.  This is normal.

Cure #1:

I use this as reference:


Computing equivalency, for 100 gallons of curing brine, you add 24 lbs. of curing salt to 100 gallons of water and mix.

That is .24 lbs, or 3.84 oz. of curing salt to 1 gallon of water maximum.

My recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of curing salt to 1 gallon of water.  A level tablespoon is .88 of an ounce.  Heaping is approx. 1 ounce.  Either is fine.  Neither comes close to the maximum amount allowed, but just enough to do the job.  Curing at Maximum, plus with injection, requires 48 hours of cure time maximum.  This process uses less than one third the curing salt and a longer curing time to tenderize and flavor the meat.

You must cover the product until it floats off the bottom of the container, then weight it down to stay submersed in the brine, leaving no area to be exposed to air.  You must keep at 38° to 40° until curing time is over.  Remove from brine, put or hang in smokehouse or smoker.  I personally go from refrigeration to heat with no wait time myself.  There is different thoughts, whether to allow a pellicle to form or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellicle_(cooking)

A pellicle is mainly, to my knowledge, allowed to form on fish prior to smoking.  We were only 30 miles from Salmon River in Pulaski, NY, a very well known salmon run.  We had many bring us their salmon to process and usually allowed a pellicle to form  But, pork and beef are not tender like fish.

Anything I have left out or any questions, be sure to PM me!  Don't hesitate!
 
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