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Sunday lunch also a major success- pork butt rubbed with 5 Monkeys rub, cooked at 250F for 11.5hrs, pork ribs for 5 hours (including 1hr in foil). Vinegar based and also espresso BBQ sauces, pickles, coleslaw, white buns and habanero hot sauce. My brothers were feeling a little ‘dusty’ this morning after last night’s fun; suffice to say lunch made them feel a whole lot better.

Pizza night for a college football Saturday. 24 hour poolish dough @ 65% hydration. The new twist was a bbq pizza with sweet baby rays sauce, caramelized onion and pulled pork w sharp cheddar. We will do that again. The kids love the bacon pizza best.

So for my birthday this year I received the “Masa” book by Jorge Gaviria of Masienda. I must say there is a lot of great information here should you also be climbing down this rabbit hole. Also at the suggestion of @Syzygies I upgraded my premier grinder which the new Stainless steel stone holder. I made masa twice this past week. On Tuesday (for Dia De Muertos) I made a batch of Pozole with Nixtamal that was not ground into masa and then I also made masa for tortillas to go with the Pozole. For the tortillas I ended up using the original grinder as I didn’t realize there was some assembly required that had me taking apart the grinder more than expected. So with the original set up the grinding process ended up being somewhat difficult. I wasn’t sure if this was related to the nixtamal I used? From the book I learned that in many cases it is desirable to leave some of the pericarp in tact as it acts as a binder and provides some elasticity (similar to gluten in pasta) which helps in certain masa end applications. Previous to this, my experience was mostly washing off most if not all of the pericarp. In any event Tuesdays masa experience was a challenge at the least. On Thursday after speaking with technical assistance at Melangers (distributor and upgrade manufacturer for grinder) I was able to get the new stone placement in place. On Friday with a new batch of nixtamal with an approximate 50% of pericarp left in place (same as Tuesday) the grinding went very smoothly (pun intended). Tomorrow for the Sunday football game I plan to make freshly cooked tortilllas served with overnight brisket that I just made. I hope that I can achieve the famed “Tortilla Puff” when cooking!!! In the book they talk about in old Mexico that when a woman has achieved “Tortilla Puff” she was worthy of marriage. I still have not achieve this so my wife may be divorcing me soon!!!! All the best, Paul

Both of my brothers and their wives are staying with us this weekend- given restrictions in Australia over the last 2 years this is the first time any of them have had a KK experience. A large bag of meat was picked up today… Bistecca Fiorentina was on the menu tonight, with a spicy green apple (papaya) style salad. Ribs and pork butt coming up for Sunday lunch, I may never need to eat again.

Well they do, with dividends. Today I removed 12 barrels from the back and was so disappointed to see their return within 1/2 hour. Have no fear the end of the world isn't over quite yet, that small set back will soon be forgotten because tomorrow is brisket day. Trimmed out the brisket this morning and applied the seasoning for a dry brine of 24 hrs, I had wanted a wet brine but the Harry Soo method looked good for this 15.75lb full packer of choice quality. On for tomorrow, with hopes of a tasty moist brisket dancing in my head for kick off on Sunday. Now I did take a few shots of the brisket, where they went upon download I haven't a clue. I will try again in the morning, but heres a few of a beautiful Indian summer day in the northeast. I wonder, do the leaves fall from the trees in Bali or Florida or Tahiti?

I ordered their Santa Maria rub, as it was the one that I don't have another substitute for. I like their Competitions and Secret Weapon as well and ordered some Secret Weapon and Dominator Rib Rub. Black Ops and Carne Crosta are nice coffee rubs, but I have similar stuff from others that I like equally well (Lanes BBQ and Dizzy Pig). I prefer Jerk wet pastes from other folks better than dry rubs, but Oakridge's dry is decent. Their crazy hot ones are some of the hottest things around, if you like heat. I was intrigued by the Saigon one and threw it into the order for grins.

I put the meat on at 10:00 am, 7 and 1/2 hrs later it was off and in the cooler. The meat came off all jiggly/wiggly and the prospect of leaving it in the cooler until 1:00 pm the following day wasn't a consideration. I was hoping and expecting for a longer cook, it wasn't in the cards because the meat probed tender early, when it's done it's done. Three hours in cooler and pulled and placed in the frig overnight. I felt it this morning, praytell I really don't know what I was looking for, but it has to be warmed to serve at half time so it will be warmed slowly on the KK at a low temp. Well, that's that, I once did a brisket for some guests and it didn't cooperate at all, this one pops out early. This is one reason I don't do alot of briskets, they have a mind of their own, so we'll see, not what I was expecting.

4 hours is the most I have ever gone too but I have a good cooler so it was still too hot to handle without gloves so I don’t see why a couple more hours would be an issue. Maybe my next one.

24 hrs later, with these two rubs. Will have some water in the cooking chamber of the offset and as you see pictured some tallow remaining will also go into the chamber to melt and be used as a basting agent, also cooking fat side up. I hope the cooking Gods are with me today, choice briskets have a tendenacy to be dry and this one I fear is somewhat thin on the flat. Anyhow, once complete it will go into the cooler wrapped until tomorrow. I've never rested the brisket more than 4hrs, some say it's ok, how do you feel?

Did a pork belly last week, cured it then smoked on the KK Sunday and sliced it Mon. Today was the taste test. The morning of the smoke was perfect. I have 20 of these piles, 7 strips per pile. Taste test. Double espresso coming up.

Made some duck for a special occasion today, once rested I like to slice it thin then wrap it in prosciutto di Parma with a hard cheese and olive tampenade. Served with more olives and grapes. Lunch was followed by pumpkin carving, I like Halloween 🎃