Connor's Not So Famous...Butt Delicious...BBQ

Happy Memorial Day!

For Memorial day I am grilling a Boston Butt Roast.

Its a 5.75lb roast.  Harris Teeter runs great deals on meat during most holidays. 
I got this roast for less than $6!

Everything you need!

First the Brine.  Lots of what I have read about a Boston Butt says that you don't need a brine.  I think you ALWAYS need a brine.  It helps to break down the fats, cook the meat faster, and adds internal flavor to the meat.  For more information see this great link of Brine.

Here is the brine solution I am using
1 Gallon Water
1 Cup Kosher Salt
3/4 Cup White Sugar
1/4 Cup Black Pepper
1 T Onion Powder
1 T Garlic Salt
1/2 tsp Cayenne
1/4 tsp Marjoram
1/4 tsp Thyme
1/4 tsp Cumin

Mix all in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Move to the side and let cool.

In a large container (I use a Cooler) add 1 Gallon of water and Lots of ice
Once the contents from the stove have cooled, add to the cooler along with the Meat.

Do not add meat if the liquid in the cooler is warm.

It will start to cook the meat and that is BAD!

After 6-8 hrs or so in the brine, its time to make The Rub!

1/4 Cup Salt

1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar

4 T Black Pepper

2 T Sugar

2 T Garlic

2 T Paprika (hot or sweet)

2 T Chili Powder

2 T Cumin

1 T Cinnamon

1 T Celery Salt

1 T White Pepper

1 T Dried Thyme (ground)

1 T Dried Oregano

Mix all in a bowl by hand

Remove the Roast from the Brine and pat dry.

Now rub both sides with the Rub.  Coat it as think as you can.

Place in a glass pan and cover with foil.  Let sit in the fridge for 8-12 hrs at 225-250 degrees.

When the temperature reaches 165 degrees, wrap the butt in foil and let cook 2 (or more hours)

I put the Butt in last night at 11:00.   I just took it off at 4:45.

Now let the butt stand for about an hour and pull with a couple of forks:

The Sauce

1 slice Bacon

1 bunch FRESH Thyme

EVOO

1 onion (diced)

2 garlic cloves

2 Cups Ketchup

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Molasses

2 Tbls Red Wine Vinegar

1 Tbls dry mustard

1 Tbls ground Cumin

1 Tsp paprika

Black pepper to taste.

Wrap Thyme in Bacon and tie with twine.

Heat 2T EVOO and cook bacon slowly over medium heat until bacon renders fat.

Add onion and garlic and cook slowly for 5 min.

Add all other ingredients and stir

Cook over medium heat for 20min.

Happy Fist Pump - 4 Day Weekend - Friday!

WoW!  This FPF came very quickly.  It was a nice week.  Got the yard cut on Wednesday, but need to cut the ditch and do some weed-eating this Memorial Day Weekend.  But...

For FPF I had a much larger project to tackle.  This will be an ongoing project as time (and money) allow.

The big picture is to connect the garage onto the house and have it as the master bedroom.  This area will become a garden with  French Doors leading out onto a Trex patio.  Beautiful perennials and flowering shrubs, and a fountain.  So today I started work on a long overdo clean up of the area.  This are is where the dogs have spent the last 2 years, so it needed A LOT of work.

Entrance into "The Gardens"

Future Plans:  Flagstone on gravel base

Remove gate and add a decorative structure

Private Patio

Future Plans:  French doors from Master bedroom

Trex Patio on a stone base

Swing From Arbor

Future:  Rework Stone border.

Install Bermuda or Zoysia Sod

Install Flowering Shrubs, Evergreens, and Perennials

Future:  Rework Stone

Fill with River rock

Get Fountain in working condition

So...For Fist Pump Friday...

I dug up the buried stone. Killed the ants.

Regraded the bed edges.

Reinstalled the stone border!

Happy Fist Pump Friday! 

Enjoy the long Memorial Day Weekend. 

And please don't forget to tell everyone you know who has fought for our freedom,

THANK YOU!

Campfire Hobo's!

While watching the fire burn down last weekend, I started reminiscing about my days as a Boy Scout and them...BAM!  It hit me....I MUST MAKE HOBO'S!

With the help of my wife, I have made some modifications to the original recipe from my youth.

I picked up from the store:
(serves 1)
1/2 lbs ground chuck
1 Vadalia Onions (or Spanish if Vadalia are not available) cut  into large pieces
1 pack baby carrots
1 Sweet Potato's (this is the key ingredient) cut into large pieces
S&P to taste
Worcestershire Sauce
Creole Seasoning
Lots of Aluminum foil.

Make your Hobo!

Divide meat and form patties.  Season with with Worcestershire Sauce, Creole Seasoning, and S&P

Add potatoes on top of 2 layers of Foil (about 18" in length)

Season with S&P and Creole Seasoning

Add Onions.  Season again
Add Meat.
Add Carrots.  Season again.
Sprinkle with Worcestershire Sauce

Add foil on top and wrap tightly to form a pouch with dinner inside (like a Hobo's sack!)

Let the fire burn down to hot coals and then lay the sack on top of the coals and cover with more.

Cook for 45min.

If you do not have a fire, you can cook in the oven (on a cookie sheet) at 375 for about 1-1.5 hrs.

ENJOY!

Fist Pump Friday!

Where to start? 
I have so much yard work to catch up on it is hard to know where to begin.

I could remove the dead Azalea's that were so beautiful last year.

Last year, I added Cast Iron Plant and Columbine to accent the beautiful white Azalea's.

OR

I could plant some more Vinca in my recently renovated garden window area. 

Here I added a Nellie Stevens Holly to anchor the corner of the house.

I removed some weedy looking Nandina and replaced them with Weigela and installed a Korean Spice Viburnum near the edge of the walk for some color and fragrance.

OR

\

I could weed my half started perennial garden.

The White Flowering Dogwood is from my Mom's front yard.  It got to much sun there, but it is very happy where it is now!  You can kind of see the other one I planted in the top left corner in full shade.

*If you happen to have any perennials to donate to the other half, I will

happily accept any when splitting time comes!

OR

I could build a gate to finish the fence I have been working on for the last 4 weeks to give the dogs more room but more importantly get them out of my next project area :P

OR

The raised planters for the garden need to be fixed because the flood washed away a lot of the soil.

OR

I have a whole pile of wood that needs to be burned from trees that I cut down to build the fence. There are also trees that fell during the flood that need to be cut up and hauled off.

So for Fist Pump Friday I decided to...

BURN STUFF! (and build a gate :P)

 HAPPY FIST PUMP FRIDAY!

Equator Coffee

I am by no means a coffee connoisseur, but I do know a good coffee when I try one. My wife's uncle from California gave us a bag of Equator Coffee. for Christmas last year. Lindsey and I loved it so much we started buying it online and having it mailed to us. Well, Lindsey's mom just so happened to be visiting her brother in Pasadena and look what showed up at my house last night! So far we have tried over 8 of the blends and I can honestly say I would recommend everyone of them!

Panini - Prosciutto and Mozzarella

2 servings (15min)
The Spread:
1/4 Cup EVOO
1 TSP: Balsamic Vinegar, Minced Garlic, dried oregano
S&P to taist
The Bun: 4 1/2" slices of Ciabatta Bead
The Filling: 4 med mozzarella cheese slices 4 oz thinly sliced prosciutto 1 Red Onion Sliced
The Spread: 1. Whisk all. 2. Spread spread on each side of all 4 slices of bread. (heat grill pan over med. heat.)
Fill It:
1. Add cheese to bread.
2. Add prosciutto and onion ontop of cheese
3. Add Cheese on top of onion.
4. Cover with bread.
5. Add sandwiches and cook, pressing them occasionally with spatula.
6. Cook until bread is golden brown and cheese has melted (4min per side)

Arroz Con Pollo

Arroz Con Pollo - Rice With Chicken and Chorizo
The Rub: 1 TSP: Ground Cumin, Dried Oregano, Cayenne, Cinnamon 2 TSP: Paprika
S&P to taste, Canola Oil
The Meat:
1 whole Chicken (3lbs) cut into 10 pieces and rinsed Chorizo (1lbs) cut into 1" chunks
The Rice:
1 Spanish Onion, diced 2 garlic cloves (diced) 1 Red Bell Pepper, Chopped 2 bay leaves 2 cups long grain white Rice 1 28oz Can Whole Tomatoes (Hand crush) 1 Quart Chicken Stock
The Rub:
1. Mix dry ingredients.
2. Add enough Oil to moisten
3. Mash everything together and create a smooth Paste.
4. Rub the chicken with paste until covered and let stand for 20min.
The Meat:
Begin other steps while Chicken stands: *preheat oven to 350 (in a dutch oven)
1. Fry Chorizo in 1/2 count oil until fat renders and gets crispy.
2. Remove to paper towels leaving grease in pan.
3. Brown Chicken in chorizo fat skin side down.
4. Brown other side when skin no longer sticks to pan. (whole time cooking chicken +/- 15min.)
5. Remove chicken and let rest.
The Rice:
6. Add onion, garlic, bell pepper and bay leaves to pot. Saute until soft and almost dissolved (10min)
7. Add Rice and coat with vegie mix.
8. Add tomatoes and chicken stock
9. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 min.
10. Cover and transfer to the oven.
11. Bake for 25 min or until Chicken is fully cooked and rice has absorbed all liquid.