Made some ribs, St. Louis and baby backs along with some pulled pork. Getting back in the swing of things.

I needed to refill the freezer, made 20lbs breakfast sausage, Holly and H110-C and 10 lbs of brats Blue Ribbon and Hatch Green Chili. Besides I needed to break in the new knife.

I was going to fire up the grill for the first time this year, rain started, no problem. Well that changed to snow and it is sticking. So back to CI and the stove. Cooked up a T-bone and a cowboy ribeye and added some sides, life is good.

Well my wife wasn’t sure what she wanted so I just wanted to cover my bases. T-bone, a couple of venison tenderloins and back straps wrapped in bacon and a pair of Hatch green chili and cheese. A couple of accoutrements, sauteed mushrooms and onions and corn. Popsicles for dessert.

Okay so here are some pics of the two day marathon. My brother was happy to get his Romanian sausage and our dog was waiting for him to make one mistake. Our son and his wife came over so I could work the smoker. It was too cold to bring out the non insulated smoker, new project is on the list. I prefer to hang most meat/sausage then put it on a grate. Another project.

Last night at the Ranch dinner. Pretty simple, marinaded bacon wrapped back straps with fried onions, roasted jalapenos and jalapeno, cheddar bratwurst wrapped in foil with some Shiner, onions and butter. Washed down with some Shiner, Yuengling and some quality whiskey. Added to the greenhouse gasses with some hot burning mesquite and hand rolled cigars.

No radio, internet, news or sirens, but nature for 2+ weeks. Only when we needed to go to town was there a useful signal. Boy did my BP go down and sleep go up.

Something pretty simple. I slow cooker a venison neck roast, shredded the meat and made hot Italian sandwiches for dinner.

Finally after a two year hiatus I made a batch of chili. Found a few pounds of brisket from the fall when pulling meat for grinding. I think I found my favorite meat to make chili; the wife wanted beans in it. Gotta pick your battles.

Tried out the Chicken On the Run marinade and coating. Baked the chicken and it turned out good, I bet it would have been even better deep fried. I like the coating because it is light and crunchy and has a nice flavor, the marinade kept the bird moist and tasty even after a 24 hr soak.

Making more room in the freezer. Pulled out a butt and got a couple of jowls from my favorite processor. Used EQ method on all. Buckboard bacon and jowls were coated in medium grind black pepper and a lighter coating of red pepper flakes and smoked with apple. What’s not to love?

Well this was a heck of a weekend. My brother was supposed to come up and we were to spend four days making sausage. It all started falling apart the day he was to head up. Proteins all pulled and seasonings set up. His four days shrank to two. We still cranked out 90+lbs of sausage, 10+lbs each fresh Polish, smoked Romanian, green hatch Chile, jalapeno poppers, five types of snack sticks. I will post some more pics a bit later, house is empty and I am cleaning up one more time and I am beat. Here is a pic of gigawatt snack sticks. About 50 lbs of venison snack sticks. My wife is sleeping now and she was taking the pictures with her phone.

I have been smoking, grinding and stuffing for about a week. Finished off a pork belly followed by 20# of two breakfasts, 10# of chorizo, and 20# of Texas Hot Links. I start tapping tomorrow so I will be a bit busy for the next couple of weeks. Easter is coming and it is time for Biały Kielbasa and smoked.

Cheers

Home for a couple of days before we hit the road again. Used the slow cooker to make some jambalaya with rice on the side.

Been looking forward to this all winter, beef short ribs on a bed of mashed Yukon potatoes.

Been busier than a one arm paper hanger these last three months. Just cooked up a 22+lb turkey a couple of days ago. No pics. That is a lot of for two folks so I decided to cook up some turkey pot pies and give them away. I still have enough filling left for another. Egg wash glaze with with a sprinkle of flaked sea salt.

Just replenished my Canadian bacon larder. Started with close to 20lbs, maybe 15lb after trimming and cooking. I will need to do one more and just keep it plain, these are coated on coarse black pepper. I also add a pint of maple syrup to the pickle, brought a nice hint of sweetness forward.

I had two 24 lb birds taking up room in the freezer, needed to cook them up and break them down. Roasted one, nothing to see there, cured and smoked the other with Walton’s Turkey Cure. I think that is the best tasting smoked turkey I have made yet. I let it sit in the cure for eight days, I got stuck out of town.

Finally had opportunity to use the BGE this year. First grilling day of the year. A couple of bone in strips with some mushrooms and onions along with a side of grilled asparagus rafts.

badfire2625 I understand where you are coming from. We lost three dogs over three years and it wasn’t any easier to get over the first to the last. We went almost two years trying to decide whether we wanted to get another. Well fate is a fickle suka (Polish word rhymes with itch). This is my new hunting buddy, 14 week old Spinone.

GWG8541 my heart is heavy for the loss of our BIA. I am in agreement with with you and have vented and sat in silence to try to understand and make peace. Unfortunately right now I think that it is going to be a long journey to get there. Instead, right now I broke open a bottle I was saving for something special. I will tip my glass and salute to those troops who were KIA and WIA and their families because the majority of us will never have to bear that burden. My prayers and thoughts are with them.