Mississippi 44"

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Cleared the dome at 5:30 pm. About 30 minutes later, the fire had burned down to just coals, and I closed the insulated door. Went inside and kneaded six sourdough boules for their second rise.

Tomorrow is going to come early. It is forecasted to be 21 degrees tonight . Thanksgiving is supposed to be "short sleeved" weather in Mississippi ....... Bread, two large hens, and a ham. I am glad, for sure, that the rest of the meal is being prepared inside..............by the womenfolk

[cobblerdave]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Cleared the dome at 5:30 pm. About 30 minutes later, the fire had burned down to just coals, and I closed the insulated door. Went inside and kneaded six sourdough boules for their second rise.

Tomorrow is going to come early. It is forecasted to be 21 degrees tonight . Thanksgiving is supposed to be "short sleeved" weather in Mississippi ....... Bread, two large hens, and a ham. I am glad, for sure, that the rest of the meal is being prepared inside..............by the womenfolk

Gudday
Got down to 19 last night ..... But that C not F. Converts to 66 F.
I think 21 F converts to about -7 C ,a temp we just never see. I can see that extra insulation is a plus at this time of year for you
Regards dave

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Got a late start this morning. It took longer for me to get going this morning, than I expected. 24 degrees . The oven was cleaned out and the 1st batch of bread was in by 8:15. The side walls were @ 435.



Left them in there 30 minutes. The bread in the thin pots were done but, the bread in the cast iron had not browned. I did not preheat it, so it had to back in for about 15 more minutes.



Not exactly pretty, I should have left them in the garage last night to retard the rise. They kind of fell like a cake. Oh well. The second batch of bread is in the oven, and the hens are waiting their turn.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

The rest of the sourdough is out. The hens and the ham went in about 10.





When a southerner says, "Hey ya'll, watch this!" something stupid usually is about to happen .

[Tscarborough]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I'll be over after while.

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Hey Gulf,

Your attempts at bread are much more successful than my attempts. So bad were mine I would not even post a pic. Happy T day to y' all and to all the others on the forum.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

That little contraption in the middle in the above post is a home-made sawdust smoker. It is loaded with saw dust and a few medalions that I cut from a seasoned apple limb.





But, I only left in there, for about 30 minutes before I.............. "chickened out" . I'll be trying it again, someday (probably on some baby backs). But, (remembering a warning that Dave mentioned on KB's thread: It might not be wise to experiment too much today .

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

I thought for sure that I had ruined the birds. I should have checked them earlier. They probed 175 when I decided to check them after about 2 hours. I mistakenly thought that the huge chunk of cold ham right by them would suck the temperature out of the oven.



The skin was nice and crisp, but the even the white meat was moist. I did not like white meat,.......... until today .

Everybody liked the ham too! But, it was fully cooked and hickory smoked. I just reheated it.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Hey Gulf,........... Happy T day to y' all and to all the others on the forum.

Thanks Russell,
The same to you and everybody from me!


Tom,
Ya'll back "home" for Thanksgiving?

[Bec1208]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Gulf, everything looks pretty good. The WFO's seem to good a bit faster the pan us newbies expect. My turkey was up to temp at least 30 minutes before I thought was even possible. Wishing you a happy holiday. Thanks for sharing your experience. Bruce

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Gulf, everything looks pretty good. The WFO's seem to good a bit faster the pan us newbies expect. My turkey was up to temp at least 30 minutes before I thought was even possible. Wishing you a happy holiday. Thanks for sharing your experience. Bruce

Thanks Bruce,

You are right about trying to use grill or conventional oven times as a base for cooking in these things. Though, I have noticed on several cooks: pork, beef and poultry, that the WFO is very forgiving when it comes to over cooking .

That has saved me several times .

Happy holidays to you and yours,

Joe

[Bec1208]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Gulf, we have politely waited for you to recover from your turkey day excess. Inquiring minds want to know your critique of the food and changes (if any) you would make for the next occasion. Look forward to hearing from you. Bruce

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Gulf, we have politely waited for you to recover from your turkey day excess. Inquiring minds want to know your critique of the food and changes (if any) you would make for the next occasion. Look forward to hearing from you. Bruce

I think that I covered what I am sure went wrong with the bread, even though it was still good. It was the first time that I have tried baking sourdough in the covered roasting pans or the dutch oven. I'll definately be trying that again. I have done it a few times on greased cookie sheets. I still haven't tried putting the loaves straight on the floor of the oven, though. But, I will eventually.

As for as the dry-brining; I think that I am hooked on it! I don't think that I would change anything about that. I think that the dry-brine and the plastic bags are the way to go. I got to see first hand how the salt pulled the moisture from the birds. It's kind of crazy, but on the 3rd day of dry-brining, most of the liquid is not rolling around in the plastic bag. It has been pulled back in to the bird. No extra water, just what was pulled out of the meat in the first couple of days.

Next time, I'll be checking the temps earlier, and will be leaving the meat thermometers in for a quick reference. Even with over shooting the internal temps, the meat was still juicy and the flavor was all the way to the bone. I've read where these ovens are forgiving on missing the finishing temps. I have also read that brining (in general) is also. I'm not sure which had the most effect on the birds still turning out great. But, I'll be staying with the dry-brining.............And, the WFO of course

As for as the smoke: I'm not advising that just yet. I only left the smoke in for about 30 minutes. The ovens might run a little too hot for it to be effective for much more time than this. There was only a slight hint of smoke in the flavor of the birds. But, it was just enough for everyone who commented on it. I'll be playing with the smoker some more in the near future.

[Gulf]

Re: Mississippi 44"

16 to zip at the half


DJ,
How about going ahead and pming me with your address . I moved things over here. I feel bad about hijacking Bruce's thread. But, two pages dedicated to chitlins has got to be a record for this forum .

[UtahBeehiver]

Re: Mississippi 44"

Gulf,

Auburn lead Florida all the way until the 4th quarter then folded. Maybe a little of divine intervention is possible with the Saints!