Suzanne Calling

One of the many axioms Alton Brown used in his excellent cooking show Good Eats is "Your patience will be rewarded." Not only is the man a cooking genius, he is absolutely right. Witness the Boston Butt. I grill these fairly regularly for pulled pork, and until about six months ago, I'd cook them at about 350 for 4 hours. They were good, pretty good in fact, but I finally opted to try the low and slow method that many grill masters prefer. Oh my, they weren't kidding that my patience would be rewarded, for the smoky flavor is deeper, the rub caramelizes nicely and the meat is easy to pull apart, something that I need with a shoulder that is still somewhat wonky post-op. Rather than write about it, I'll show you pictures of why low and slow is the best way to go when grilling. This stayed on the grill for nine hours: The 'stalagmites' as Chef called them are the result of me flipping the butt over, then back an hour late...

Gone. All but the carcass and the dark meat, that is. Two meals and enough to eke out a soup tomorrow or Monday, that's all that I have of the turkey. Contrast this to last year, when I had a smaller bird and got five days worth of meals from the bird. I'm barely getting three, and one will consist of mostly dark meat in that soup. One child actually ate about 2 pounds of the turkey during our dinner Thursday night, which I chalk up to a winning brine. Even Ed, never a big fan of turkey, and even less of a fan of chicken on the bone, really enjoyed it. Today, he raved about the brine/grill combo. Heck, we went grocery shopping, he saw the oven stuffers and suggested getting one to grill. Score another winner.

I know I've posted pictures of the meals I've prepared on the grill, but until a friend mentioned purchasing a Weber Spirit grill the other day, I hadn't realized that I never did an in-depth review of my grill. As our anniversary present to each other in August, 2010, Ed and I both agreed that we wanted a good grill.  We'd purchased a gas grill when we built our house in Maryland, and it gave us a good 8 or 9 years until it crapped out.  So, the desire for one set in.\ I had a budget in mind, no more than $500.  I didn't want to cheap out this time, nor did Ed.  We visited the various retailers and weren't wowed by what we saw.  Ed mentioned going to the Outdoor store on the north end of town.  They didn't have grills, but the salesperson told us we should check out Grills Plus More on the other side of town.   We're glad he did.  When we walked in the door, the smell of 'que hung in the air and told us we'd come to the right place. ...