We got some dang good cooks here...

fw707

New member
Hey y'all,
I've been posting more threads and pictures of stuff here the last couple of weeks and a bunch of good cooks have been showing up with some killer food!!
I was hoping that would happen, and I hope it will continue.
This forum is for folks that like to cook. There are a bunch of those folks on here that have stayed hidden for a long time and y'all know who you are!
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I don't care if it's a gourmet chef's meal, or just good old country po' folks cooking, I sure would like to see more folks posting their good stuff in this forum.
 
So here's my fancy chef effort for this evening...

A small skillet of cornbread:



And a great big pot of vegetable soup:



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I was a teacher for many years and started outdoor education programs in my school. One of our major activities in class was cooking outdoors. I would often have 100-200 students cooking on the sidewalk in front of school. The students formed small groups and planned and carried out their meals. I usually cooked something separately as a demo. My demo was sampled by student and staff and sometimes served to bus driver as a reward for getting the kids to and from school safely.
The most requested thing that I cooked (smoked) was pulled pork. Even after retirement I still get requests for pulled pork for the bus drivers end of the year party. Here is how I do it.
Use a smoker or several for a large group. I normally use water smokers that are electric, but any smoker that allows you to control the amount of heat will work.
Enough pork shoulders for your group size. I usually have 2-3 shoulders in each smoker. For parties that have 15-20 guests 3 shoulders in one smoker is enough to serve and leaves enough that many guests take some home with them.
Set up starts about 8 am. The smoker is set up. Wood chips that were in a pail of water over night are placed around the heating coils in the bottom of the smoker. (I usually use hickory chips available in most stores in small bags. Use the large chips that are about 1/2 the size of your hand.)
I usually line the water dish with foil to make clean up easier. Various things can be added to the water for flavor but I usually just use water. Beer is often added by some people but since I served students and bus drivers beer wasn't something I wanted flavoring their food.

I bone out the pork shoulders and season them inside (where the shoulder blade was removed) and on the outside. I then use string to tie the shoulder together. I use lots of string and wet the string before using it to hold the pork together.
I have used various brands of pork rub for seasoning, some stores don't carry many different brands. I usually use atleast 2 different brands of seasoning, I use lots of seasoning it is hard to use too much.
I try to have the pork in the smoker by 10 am. As long as smoke is coming out of the smoker I try not to open the smoker. I do check the water level in the water dish mid afternoon. I add water if the level is low. If smoke slows down I check if more chips are needed. If chips are needed I add a lot so I don't have to open the smoker any time soon.
When I taught school I would either remove the pork from the smoker about an hour after school was out or stay after school until 9-10 pm and continue the smoking. Either way, I would put the hot pork in empty ice chests and take it home. At home, the pork would be put on oven racks with drip pans on the rack below. The oven would be set about 250 degrees F.
The pork needs to be at 190 degrees F or more before it can be pulled apart with your hands. BE AWARE THAT IF YOU BRING THE PORK INDOORS AND PUT IT IN YOUR OVEN OVER NIGHT YOUR ENTIRE HOUSE WILL SMELL LIKE THE SEASONING AND SMOKE. IT IS A GOOD SMELL BUT VERY STRONG.
Pull the pork apart with your hands (new jersey gloves will protect your hands from the hot meat) and separate the dark outside meat from the lighter interior meat. The dark meat is usually hard and used sparingly. The lighter meat is bagged up until it is used. The meat can be frozen for later use. At school the meat went in a roaster, mixed with Sweet Baby Ray bbq sauce, then served on hamburger buns.
I use a large bottle of Sweet Baby Ray for each pork shoulder.
I have removed the pork from the oven and put it in ice chests and returned it to school and smoked the meat for several more hours. That way the pork comes out of the smoker closer to the afternoon bus run. However, I don't think the meat takes on more smoke because the dark outside meat forms a seal against the second round of smoke.
Thats the way I do it, different bbq sauces,woods and ways of serving could be used but what I do works for me, your mileage may differ.
 
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