Austin and Jonathon a couple of up and coming Team Orange dudes are working the new 50 Lb mixer that arrived today. They say they’re making hot dogs. But in reality, that will come in the next few days.

I realize that I’m a bit late for a Happy Hanukkah and maybe for whatever version of what I call Christmas you may observe. But I want to wish all of you the Merriest of Christmas seasons and Happiest of New Years! I’m hoping that the New year brings each of you everything you need and then a little more! Cheers to our community and to Austin, Jonathon and the whole crew at @Walton-s and Meatgistics for all they do to bring us together. May all your Christmases be Orange!

So, overnight I cooked a 16 lb whole packer brisket, a point off of a different 16 lb packer for burnt ends, 2 pork butts for pulled and I threw a little curveball at myself by impulse buying a pork belly and making those nuggets of bbq goodness that some people call bacon burnt ends.

Brisket seasoned with salt and pepper. Ramped the smoker from 225 to 275 over the first 3 hours. Finished at 275. Amazingly everything finished at about the same time.

Trimming a Brisket

Fat Guy Rubbing His Meat

Brisket Burnt Ends

The Flat

The Point

Pulled

Bacon Nuggets

I ordered my leather Meatgistics apron and it arrived today! Loving it! Gotta get some Team-Orange accents on it. Austin and Jonathon, this thing is great! I can’t believe how quickly the order was filled. The rest of you, I suggest you order one!!

Working at the firehouse today and it was my turn to cook. Made a flank steak roulade marinated in a bottle-2 glasses of some home made Merlot and stuffed with prosciutto, fontina cheese and basil sauced with a Merlot reduction, sides were bacon wrapped asparagus and lemon risotto with some of the left over bacon and basil from the meal in the risotto.

Re: What did everyone cook today? I realize it’s a shoulder and not a “butt” however if you look closely with a twelve year old’s mind…

Pardon the messy countertop. Between shifts at the fire department and I need to get this started before the Oranges go bad.
Last year I made a mango wine after they went on sale and I had this idea to make a mango and blood orange blended wine. Of course, the blood orange season had already come and gone, so here I am. I used a 4-1 mix of blood oranges to Cara Cara oranges with the boys contributing one of their clementines that I couldn’t turn down even if I wanted to. It’s fermenting in my kitchen for the next 4 days, sitting on all the pulp from the juice and the zest from about 1/3 of them. It should finish out at close to 20% ABV which will officially be my highest alcohol content wine so far. In fact, I am starting to worry that because of the high alcohol content it might not be as good as I envision it. But I might not care either… Maybe I’ll post updates if it doesn’t suck…

In 2007 we planted an oak tree in our back yard to celebrate buying our house and starting our family. We’ve called it the Family Tree ever since. Now, as my former softball player wife (who would kill me if I posted a picture of her on here so shhhhhh) works with the boys on their batting, underneath the Family Tree, I’m cooking dinner for the family using a fire made entirely of wood taken from the very same family tree. It feels kinda cool to me. Sorry if my stories bug anyone. To me the story is important and kinda defines the food…

Hey Whopper! That’s flame broiled!

We finally arrived. The relaxation can begin. In Virginia Beach with the family and no work to be found.

OK. so it isn’t what I cooked “today” but, yesterday was my twins birthday so I smoked a brisket and a pork butt all night.

caterjay I love the community and the banter here. It’s nothing like Republicans and Democrats. This is all in good fun. I’ve not seen one bad egg in this whole community. Hopefully my joking is seen as it is intended. Just harmless fun.

I had a pretty bad experience with whiskey when I was 14. Today the term is alcohol poisoning. 41 years later, I’m trying to get through the whiskey sickness that still lingers. I actually have started off with several on the rocks and on Super Bowl Sunday made a couple of Whiskey Sours with Maker’s Mark (The regular stuff. I’m not there yet…) I decided to garnish with a slice of blood orange that I bought to make some blood orange wine with.

Jonathon, I’m echoing what kyle said and so many of us feel. Thank you and Austin for developing this community. For giving those of us who are newer in this journey a place to learn both from you and from each other. I’ve literally been working almost every day so I haven’t been around much (although I did make some pastrami on one of my few days off) but I’m still scanning the posts between calls and the occasional nap. You are all awesome!

I’m a career firefighter from Pittsburgh, PA and am only about a year into this journey. I’ve always liked cooking and creating. I rarely follow a recipe to the tee. At some point I decided that I would like to make my own bacon. I got a recipe and a Masterbuilt smoker to add to my Dad’s home built grill and a gas grill and poof. Here I am. Along the way, I’ve picked up a 5 lb stuffer and a #12 grinder. I’ve made some not so awesome kielbasa that seems to have gotten way too much bad smoke. I’ve tried some recipes for sweet and hot sausages. Now I’ve found this site and this addiction seems to be picking up steam. I saw a video on making summer sausage and it reminded me of buying the “Mall” summer sausages as a gift for my father, and the time we spent eating it, so I made my first orders from Walton’s which included the H Summer Sausage seasoning and ECA which I had never heard of until Meatgistics. So, I’ve and have been sitting around eating the summer sausage reminiscing about Dad. I love the sentimental value food can have. I have some kielbasa seasonings on the way, so not screwing it up again is my next priority.

So I went back and re-read this whole thread. I started on a few occasions to post a serious reply only to be side-tracked by my little kid side wanting to pick on Team-Blue because you know… SQUIRREL! As someone who once ran a business, I agree 100% with the decision to keep @Walton-s social media pages alive to the extent that they benefit the company. I’d have to venture a guess that a large percentage of Team-Orange, Team-Grey and Team-Blue found this community via some form of social. When I had my photo studio, I begrudgingly added to my Social Media to promote my business. Thankfully, I never gave any of them any money, but I was able to stay connected with potential customers. I’m glad you are all doing whatever it takes to keep Meatgistics alive, well and growing. Austin, Jonathon, @The-Fridge-Raider and the rest of those of you who keep this train rollin’ THANK YOU! I get here in little cycles because of my job and family life. When I do, I always learn something and get some entertainment. What I don’t do is leave angry or frustrated. No one here except Jon tells me I’m wrong… But seriously, everyone here is great and I hope the social media funnel keeps bringing many more fine people who share our passion.

So as I’ve said, I’m still recovering from a bad experience with whiskey when I was 14. Today I picked up a couple of small bottles to expand on my Maker’s Mark endeavor. I grabbed a Bulleit Bourbon and a Elijah Craig Small Batch. I’m not sure if I’m headed in the right direction or not but I’m trying new drinks. Today, while smoking some bacon, I made a Manhattan using my Maker’s Mark. Actually I made several…

jhouse5848 Same here. But with twin 4 year olds, I gotta pretend that I’m getting permission…

calldoctoday I cut a belly in half and did it two ways. On the left is wet cured and on the right is dry cured. The overall preference in the house is dry cured for the win. That said, I think I’m going back to my original recipes. I used the EQ method and the wife actually agreed with me (before I said anything, but hey a win is a win, right?) that the flavor wasn’t there like with the original recipes.

The bellies were smoked for “a few” hours on my offset over a combination of two woods. I used oak splits to keep the fire burnin’ (an REO Speedwagon ear worm for you…) with hickory chunks doing the bulk of the work to Keep Pushin’ on… (Notice what I did there?)

At any rate, I Can’t Fight This Feelin’ any longer… it’s Time for me to Fly… I gotta get Back on the Road Again tomorrow. Gonna jump on our REO Speedwagon (actually it’s a Spencer Fire Apparatus) and … Oh never mind. (Take it on the Run)

Even you Team Blue people can probably guess what my playlist was while I was Smokin’ (Was that just a Boston ear worm)

Fat_Bob I’m just gonna leave this right here. Jonathon knows what time it is.

In all seriousness, though, Thanks for this video Austin and Jonathon. My last ham didn’t turn out very juicy, so I’m really looking forward to making my next ham the @Walton-s way.

Back at you Jonathon and everyone else in this great community. I’m not cooking today but I am enjoying a Bulleit and a fire. Hope everyone stays safe and enjoys the freedoms that this Country has to offer. You all mean a lot to me.