To celebrate Independence Day, we served pulled pork–as tacos.

Here are the recipes, and some notes…

Meat

Pork Shoulder

This was a much smaller piece of meat than I’ve cooked in the past–about 4.5 pounds and boneless. I followed the same instructions from past cooks, for the most part. I didn’t inject, and I forgot to add more rub before cooking. It was tasty, but I think the larger, bone-in ones were slightly moister and more flavorful. Not sure if this is because they are larger, or they have the bone, or both. The cooking temperature was very steady around 250º for the entire time, and it took about 9 hours to get to 195º internal temperature. I’m going to up my timing calculation to 2 hours per pound next time, to be safe.

Sides etc.

Roberto Santibañez’s Truly Mexican is the go-to book for Mexican cooking around here, and provided these delicous recipes

• Fresh Corn Tortillas
• Pico de Gallo go easy on the salt next time
• Classic Guacamole the chili/onion paste method here is great, could up the spice level next time
• Chipotle and Roasted Garlic Salsa

The Smashed Potato Salad with Chorizo, Aioli, and Scallions was a winner.

I also over grilled some zucchini, not a winner.

Dessert

Nectarine and Blackberry Cobbler

Reverse searing steaks produces great results. I think they are superior to sous vide when it comes to flavor, especially when cooking indirectly with charcoal.

With Kenji’s reverse sear method as a (very detailed) guideline, here is what I do on the Green Egg:

• Get the butcher to cut a steak at about 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 inches (most of the precut ones seem to be an inch or less, these tend to overcook before developing a good char)
• Set up for an indirect cook and preheat to a relatively stable temperature between 200 – 250º
• Put a thermometer in the center of the steak and place on the grate
• Cook to 115º internal temperature (for medium rare, see Kenji’s guide for other temperatures), keep the dome temperature under 250º. This will take around 20 to 30 minutes.
• When steak reaches desired temperature, remove steak and the plate setter. Put the grate back in the egg and get the dome temperature up to about 600º. Getting the egg to temperature might take 10 minutes or so.
• Once the fire is blazing, cook the steak for 45 seconds on each side to develop a nice crust. Check the internal temperature, I’m looking for 125 – 130º (for medium rare)
• Cut, if needed, and serve

This process take a bit more time than just grilling the steak, but it’s worth it.

This weekend is Eggiversary here–one year since the Green Egg arrived! To celebrate, we are cooking delicious foods. Last night was Thai-Style Grilled Chicken.

We used Milk Street’s Chiang Mai Chicken recipe for the marinade together with Serious Eats Thai-Style Sweet Chili Dipping Sauce. There were a couple minor modifications to the dipping sauce. We substituted serrano peppers as there were no red Thai bird chilies available, and we reduced the sugar to 1/4 cup. Do not over marinate this one, 1 1/2 hours was great, more than 2 hours would be overpowering.

The last time we cooked this, it was directly over the coals. The skin side was cooked for about 15 minutes, then the bird was flipped and cooked until done. This time, we decided to cook it the more (traditional?) way with indirect heat. It was skin side up, indirect at a temperature of between 425º and 450º. Initially the legs were closer to the hot spot, but I turned it around towards the end since the breasts needed a bit more cooking.

The verdict? Delicious.

Notes for next time: Use the same indirect cooking method, but keep the temperature closer to 400º, especially if it’s a larger bird. This should give it some more time to cook through without over-browning the skin.

Photo by Angela Lin

This year’s Thanksgiving was pretty low key. I only made meat, and one pie. Our friends brought the rest–a bunch of tasty salads courtesy of the local CSA with inspiration from Plenty.

I cooked a small, boneless rib roast on the egg. I followed the guidelines from Playing with Smoke and Fire. The roast was a bit under 4 pounds. I cooked it at 250° for about 2.5 hours. When the meat was at 220° I took it off and fired the egg up to 500° and put the roast back in for a couple minutes to get more color. After a rest of about 30 minutes, I carved thinnish slices and served with a horseradish sauce.

The roast received high ratings all around. I debated on whether or not to use hardwood and opted to go without. There was an slight hint of smoke from the charcoal. Next time, I might try a bit of wood to get some more smoke flavor.

The pie was Magpie’s Bourbon Butterscotch–a favorite around here. The crust was quite homely, so no pictures. The flavor, however, was right on. I let it cook at least 8 minutes longer than the 45 called for in the recipe, but the middle of the crust was still undercooked. Next time, I think I’ll let it go even longer.