The Cruise

Our across the street neighbors live in Pennsylvania most of the time. When they come to Burlington, usually about one weekend a month, the whole turns out to socialize. We say it is like being on a cruise--there is a constant, roving party. Brunch is in the starboard lounge; dinner is on the B-deck; there will be group walk on shore after lunch, etc. Tonight the group activity is at our house.

For the occasion we are trying out a few new recipes on the smoker. We are smoking two chickens a pork shoulder (the traditional cut for pulled pork barbecue.) I rubbed the chickens with a mixture of salt, thyme, cardamom, red pepper, garlic and fennel moistened with some Natty's Old Town brown ale and mustard. The should smoke for about 4 hours to come up to 165 internal temp in the breast. I coated the pork with red pepper, mustard seed, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and black pepper. It should take about 6 hours and reach about 140 degrees internal. So far they look fantastic.

Sebastian set up the smoker with some charcoal briquettes and hickory chips. It is running at about 100 degrees Celsius give or take a little. The smoker we bought (a few years ago to smoke a turkey on Thanksgiving) is really a beauty. It has an external firebox, so it is really easy to maintain a reasonably steady temperature, and it has a big smoker box, so it is easy to fit a bunch of meat in there at the same time. We are still exploring its uses. We smoked some fish in it a few weeks ago and came out with rubber. But hey, we keep trying.

I am also doing some quick Vietnamese-style pickled carrots for dinner. These are really delicious, crunchy and a bit spicy, but super easy to make. They are right on the border between a pickle and a simple slaw. But since they are salted and drained, I guess you can rightfully call them a pickle.

We'll see how it all turns out. Hopefully there is enough food for the cruise crowd.

The Morning After:

Amazing. I guess I understand why everyone doesn't have a smoker. I mean, it took us 6 hours to cook dinner. But it was no trouble, we just checked on the coals about twice an hour, and man did it turn out well.

I think my temp on the chicken was a touch low. The breast was perfect, but we put the legs and thighs under the broiler for a minute after I carved the birds because they still looked a little pink. I know that the smoke turns the meat pink, so it is possible that they were cooked through, but with all our guests we were not willing to risk it. Nevertheless, I was delighted with the product. The meat just stays so soft. And this time i put my dry rub under the skin, so the meat had this fabulous fennel, cardamom, garlic, smoke thing--so good. I made the rub from very strong flavors in order to balance out the smoke, and that worked out very well. The only problem I have with smoked chicken is that the skin gets very, very smoky.

Even so, the pork trumped the chicken. I am not the first to discover the joys of smoked pork shoulder. It is more or less the staple food of the Carolinas. Still I was particularly pleased with this version--smoky, tender, a little bit sweet, and just spicy enough to cut the fat. Sebastian put barbecue sauce on the table, but in the end it was better without.

The pickled carrots are quickly becoming one of my favorite recipes. People are always surprised by them, they brighten up the plate with their color and their tangy spice. They are just awesome. Every time I serve them people ask for the recipe. (Julienne carrots--salted for an hour and then rinsed and drained--plus some white vinegar, brown sugar, and hot sauce. Let them sit for an hour at least before serving.)

By 8:00 pm we had 13 people there, and we had plenty left over. We rounded out the menu with some sour cream and scallion mashed potatoes and some baked beans. Sebastian served a Sierra Nevada, fresh hop beer that they are making from hops grown right around the brewery. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.