Castle & Cairn

While chicken thighs weren't a staple at my house growing up, I've found them to be one of the best meats for delicious consistency when smoked. Compared to other options, they have a lot going for them: Higher Fat Content - The dark meat of the chicken thigh renders well over the course of a smoke session, lubricating and basting the meat within to keep it nice and juice rich. This moisture also works well as a smoke attractant, harvesting that woody goodness from the egg. Collagen & Connective Tissue - Along with the higher fat content, the connective tissue and collagen within the thigh require a higher temperature than plain white meat to break down. While a chicken breast easily dries out around 160 degrees, chicken thighs really need to get up to 175-185°F (79-85°C) in order to properly break down all of that tissue into tasty jelly.  Not too Big - While briskets and pork shoulders get a lot of fanfare, they take a looooong time to smoke. Chicken thighs are very sm...

I've always wanted to do a Pork Butt (also known as a Boston Butt). Pulled Pork is probably my favorite type of barbeque, so the idea of having a massive amount on hand is very appealing. It is a pretty long cook; my total time was right around 11 hours, but the results were well worth it. Meat : 12.6lb Boneless Pork Butt from Costco @$2.29/pound - $29 plus tax total. Yielded about 7lbs of pulled pork which is about 55% of the mass.  Preparation: Since the rough rule for a Pork Butt is around 1.5 hours smoking time per pound, I cut my butt into two 6.3lb sections. Coated with yellow mustard the night before and covered with McCormick Grill Mates Smokehouse Maple Seasoning (basically had everything I would put in a rub and I have a lot of it on hand). I do think it is value added to have a giant metal bowl to put the rub in the bottom and then rotate meat to the rub rather than trying to actually apply the rub directly to the meat with your hands. It helps to create a more uniform d...

It has been about six months cooking with the egg, but I have not done that much smoking/indirect cooking since transitioning from the Weber. For my first longer cook of the year, I selected pork loin as my meat of choice. Pork Loins are relatively inexpensive while being one of the leaner and more tender parts of the pig. Many will direct cook pork loins, but I find that they dry out very easily if overcooked while they blossom with smoke and mild pork flavor when cooked indirect. Smoked Pork Loin Recipe Total cook time is between 1.75 and 2.5 hours depending on how tightly you watch the temps and how thick your pork loin is. Serves around 10.  Ingredients ~5lb Pork Loin - We're targeting around a 2-2.5 hour cook time, more meat will take longer Olive Oil - Enough to coat the loin in a thin layer. Alternatively, you can use cheap yellow mustard (it helps hold the rub well and the mustard flavor largely disappears during the cook) Rub of Choice - I like to whip up a Brown Sugar ...

Every year since 1998, grilling enthusiasts converge on an Atlanta, GA area venue to celebrate life, liberty, and the pursuit of food prepared in ceramic cookers. This year, the 50th anniversary of the Big Green Egg was celebrated at Coolray Field outside of Lawrenceville. After getting my first big green friend this past June, I was keen to go check out the action. What all is EGGtoberfest about? Ticketing & Before you Go Tickets have been around $80 and include: Parking Admission to unlimited food tastings Two Drink Tickets - to be redeemed for either alcohol or soft-drinks Event Programming Commemorative T-Shirt and Gift Bag (Clear Drawstring bag, Dasani Water, Sticker, and Pin) Kids under 12 can get in for free, though their admission will not include free drinks, shirt, or giftbag. There were a good number of kids around, though you'll want to keep a close eye out as it is a very busy space.  Tickets do typically sell out! Make sure you and any other people in your party r...

For my 30th birthday, my wife got me a Big Green Egg , thus starting me on a wholistic reevaluation of my grilling process and techniques. After we moved to our current house from the sweet little condo, I had purchased a  Weber Master Touch  charcoal grill. I loved using that grill and will be very sad to part with it. Charcoal grills add so much to the flavor experience to the extent that I would simply cook in the cast iron skillet on the stove instead of using a gas grill. Starting and cooking over a live fire is also an excuse for me to slow down and live a bit more in the moment. That being said, lighting that flame takes extra effort! In college I had gotten used to using shredded cardboard and lighter fluid to start coals in a chimney starter.  Chimney Starter:  While the chimney starter does a great job of taking a small amount of input paper/cardboard and turning it into a roaring column of hot coals, I was still dependent on the liquid kiss of lighter flui...