Decided to do an Apple Bourbon Brined pork loin then smoke it in Apple Wood. Figured those would be some good flavors for this cold weather finally reaching us. Of course I had to add a little spice & garlic to kick it up a notch or two.

Got a hankering for some homemade Calzones. What the stomach asks for, the stomach gets. As much as they do not look very professional, they always taste better than professional. Andrew made the dough as he really likes doing that & I made the Calzones along with the homemade marinara sauce to dip them in.

Here is that Canadian Bacon, finally ready for slicing & frying up a bit for breakfast. I got a good solid jar of lemon zest dehydrated in the oven from some of the lemons too. I brined the bacon for 10 days in a mix of Walton’s Maple Bacon Brine deuced up with Apple Cider, Bourbon, & a few other herbs & spices. Rinsed it well & peppered it lightly. Smoked with applewood chips at a smoke schedule starting at 120° in 30 minute increments increasing to 185° until the internal meat temperature reached 145° for 30 minutes, then racked it & in the refer overnight open & exposed to air. Sliced it the next morning & fried up a bit. It was good.

Did not go for the highest quality beef on this one, but we were extremely satisfied with the outcome & quality on this particular pick, especially these days at $3.99 pound for the beef & 2 apx. 4 oz tails for $5.99. You just do not get that very often, even if I could not produce the perfect looking tails. The taste was great though. Reverse Seared with Cherry this time. Margaret was very satisfied & I suppose, that is what counts.

Here are a few little slow smoked Country Style Ribs that are left, after everyone chomped away on them something quick. They were real good with some last years corn on the cob & this really nice Country Boule Andrew made. Got lucky on a few of the ribs & they had a little back rib in them.

Andrew made his first attempt at Whole Wheat French Baguettes & they turned out really nice & delicious too. Just look at that!

Well, ere is a we bit of pastrami. It was a wee bit as it ended up being the smallest I had ever ended up with. I cooled it over night, sliced a little bit off, steamed it, & put it on that wee bit of Jewish Rye. Of all the times I was looking for some nice good stuff for Reubens, I could not find it. But, the taste was not wee, it was big & bold. Included with home fermented kraut & homemade Russian dressing. So that is what matters I suppose, taste . So now, I will have to have a wee dram of dew & a bit of Guinness to wash it all down.

Had to have some hot grilled Bif, so here we are. But, had to keep it healthy too & get those veggies. Now you have Red Potatoes, sweet corn, & green beans from the garden plus hot grilled crooked necked squash too. The squash & taters are seasoned with Walton’s Beer & Sriracha seasoning & it is good!

Here are a few little “Andrewchello’s” pizzas my youngest son & I put together. Man were they good. He really did most of the work, I did most of the grading!

Andrew calls this Blackberry Forest Ham I just call it Blackberry/Dewberry Bourbon Boston Butt Ham. The brine-injection has strong hints of Freshly picked Blackberry & Dewberry juice with Bourbon. After the ham is smoked, I put a nice Blackberry/Dewberry Bourbon glaze on it for about the last hour & sit it on the pan to not loose any of the glazing. We had it with fresh sauteed Red Cabbage from the garden & roasted sweet taters. This stuff is not only good, but addicting. It is like having deesert for dinner.

PapaSop I’ll take a package of that deliciousness!

Dave in AZ Amazing, but not surprising… In the modern day computer world, a little tiny detail like that can have major implications as there is no real Human Being there to think it through, until after the fact.

Tex_77 Usually, they never really do.

Tex_77 I sure do hope so.

Tex_77 Just meatless lasagna with Kale from the garden & leftover ricotta from the calzones the other day. Then making up for it all with cherry brined, twice smoked ham with Mediterranean salad of sorts, steamed & seared Brussel sprouts, & tater salad with cherry pie, um, um…

Craig Rice Hind Site 20/20, I probably would have just put in an underground propane tank & brought it on in, had I realized we would be so dissatisfied with this electric range. The good thing it, I could have got a 40" propane range for much less $$$ than this electric one & it likely would have performed much better, especially if I could get all gas (oven & stove) like we have always had previously, but is now harder to find. The down side is like Tex_77 said, better get a side gig just for the propane, especially here recently.

Craig Rice I agree, 110%. When we bought this place to restore, we were assured gas was available right across the street. We had the same experience before when we were in Texas, but I was still able to bring it in & could afford to even add the neighbors as a show of good will. Here, we could only afford ourselves, but they would not bring it in, so we were stuck with all electric. Then I set out to find a decent 40" range similar to what we used to have & sold the gas dryer. The range we ended up with is the biggest overpriced hunk of junk I have ever seen. I am shocked there was not some sort of recall on it, but that is what you get from the, sadly to say, Modern Day Sears & Roebuck, Kenmore Elite. I am tempted to sell the place & build another smaller, more like what we used to have, place, but either way, it would like mean bringing in Propane & Margaret is tired of moving, etc. We have been hear 20 years now pretty much. I did not like propane compared to natural gas & figured we would be ok with the electric, even though we preferred gas. Hand site is 20/20 & I’m nearly going blind.

Jonathon What was the problem & why?

Tex_77 That could get someone in trouble, legal or not! It is just too easy, barely have to lift the glass, much less the bottle.

Tex_77 Now, that’s a meal!