I have kept you in suspense long enough. I know you are all on pins and needles wanting to know the best wood for the fireplace. I am not going to give a shameless plug here. Instead, I am going to refer you to an ARTICLE I wrote a while back. Since this was written, Mugs has upped his score to two. (You will have to read the article all the way through to understand this last comment.) Check the poem at the bottom, for determining the best wood for your fireplace.
After the deluge of the last couple of days in the Pacific Northwest, I thought I could at least warm you up with some pictures, if I can’t do it with firewood.
Last evening, I finally had some quality time with my animals. They love a good fire as much as I do. For the first hour, we just sat and watched the flames. And yes, dogs and cats watch a fire just like humans do. There was nothing on TV, so I chose a DVD just to get some noise in the house. I love the Eagles and this song in particular. Enjoy!
Some great deals this year on turkeys. My sources tell me there was an over production of birds this year and even the higher than average feed costs did not affect retail prices to the extent that was first feared.
That’s the good news…
The bad news is that a lot more of the birds are coming with those plastic pop up timers. I ran across this and thought I would share for any of you not aware of what they do and how they could contribute to a dry turkey on a day when you really want to shine in the kitchen for family and friends.
From Cooks Illustrated…
Published March 1, 2001. Can I rely on the pop-up timer in my bird? Almost 20 years ago, some poultry suppliers began inserting automatic pop-up timers in their birds. The technology behind this device is quite simple. A harmless compound with a known melting temperature is liquefied in the bottom of the timer device. A spring is compressed into the molten material as it cools and hardens. The timer is then inserted into the thickest part of the breast. When the material at the bottom of the timer melts again during cooking, the spring is free to expand, and the plastic stem pops up.
The largest supplier of the devices, Volk Enterprises in Turlok, Calif., calibrates its timers to “pop” at 178 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature chosen to make sure that the legs, which take more time to cook than the breast, will be completely cooked through. Unfortunately, this also guarantees that the breast meat will be thoroughly overcooked. Since we recommend that you remove the bird from the oven when the breast temperature reaches 165 degrees, the popper in your bird will never got hot enough to pop, so don’t rely on them for an accurate reading.
I have someone I would like to introduce you to…his name is Josh. You will be seeing a lot of him “around the ranch” in the next few months….
I met Josh through his dad…who attended one of our BBQ classes last spring. He recently told me of a senior project Josh was working on. I am proud to say he has selected BBQ for his research. After spending a minimum of 20 hours of lab work with his chosen mentor (yours truly), Josh has to write a paper, and give a presentation on his chosen subject.
We had our first face-to-face meeting yesterday and it was obvious he had been studying already. I was impressed with the questions he asked…he was well prepared. He struck a chord with me when he asked repeatedly, about traditional vs. “new wave” BBQ.
I explained as best I could, the differences, as I perceive them. It’s refreshing to see the young man interested in traditional or “old school” ways of doing things. “If you don’t learn from your history, you are condemned to repeat it”….to quote an old saying.
I gave Josh his first homework assignment and the next step is for us to do some actual cooking on various pits. I will be doing some homework of my own, just to keep up with his inquisitive mind, and enthusiasm.
So, you see, the off-season is an opportunity to further my education, as well as his. Look for a few articles in the future on our progress. Stay tuned…
Article ID : 410
