Shortly after I posted the blog I went outside to check on the pork. I knew it was done but I was disappointed to wait on the briskets. So - I took my trusty instant thermometer out there and the pork was indeed done. The magic number of 200 degrees. I went ahead and poked the brisket to ensure the temp on both was roughly 180 and to my utter disappointment I found that they both were 200. I was so frustrated. A bad probe caused my brisket to overcook. It just reminds me how important the quality of the feedback loop is. All this means for the brisket is it will be very very soft. Anyway - I got up this morning about 7am only to see that Dylan sent me a txt at 2am warning me that the temp on the smoker was low. He wasn't home when I took the meat off so he thought it was still on there. I shot him a reply, got up, and got the ribs going. I am a bit disappointed in the quality of smoke from an apricot tree. That wood really pushes some dark smoke. I came back in and finished getting the turkey prepped. I decided to smoke a turkey that had been in our freezer for a long time. Samantha was saying to just throw it out but I figured I would just give it a try and if it was bad we could throw it out. Yesterday I spent time getting it thawed. I ran out of room in the fridge and so I emptied a vegetable drawer and lined it with foil and made a nice little bed for the bird. This morning I pulled the turkey out and spatchcocked the bird, seasoned it, and put it back in the fridge in the spot where the ribs were. I'm trying to juggle the room in the fridge but it is tight!
So - how about that for 1.5 hours of being awake.
More later -
