Yes, nothing says Christmas like 18 pounds of smoked meat. Carol's parents are coming over for Christmas eve dinner, and so I'm making BBQ.
Got up around 7 AM today to start up the smoker. The long cooking meats were on before 8. I'm making a beef brisket, a pork shoulder, and 4 racks of baby back ribs (these won't go on until later, they only take 4-5 hours). I used my basic BBQ rub, which is
- salt
- pepper
- chili pepper
- oregano
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- paprika
- cumin
I'm running the BBQ at around 225-250 degrees today, so I should be able to leave the meat on until the guests arrive around 7 PM.
I've also got a pot of beans in the smoker and I'm trying something new with them. This time, I soaked the beans but didn't cook them before putting them into the smoker (in a huge cast iron dutch oven I use for this and only this purpose). We'll see how they come out -- it would be cool if this One Less Step approach works out. I'm cooking them covered for at least the first 6 hours or so. Towards the end I'll uncover them to let them soak up the smoke and drippings from the meat.
Later, I'm making Real (tm) Caesar Salad, and corn muffins with cillantro and cheese. Just so you all know it isn't 100% meat. Oh yeah, and the BBQ sauce is bubbling away on the stove as well.
Posted by dowdy at December 24, 2002 10:17 AM