Grilling

Boot_Scraper · March 31, 2019

19 hours ago, ARTrooper said:

It's maple syrup season. 🙂 First time tapping my trees.

That's awesome! Do you have to refine it or can you drink it from the tap?<--- disregard, I'ma dumb-ass

Edited March 31, 2019 by Boot_Scraper

ARTrooper · March 31, 2019

4 hours ago, Boot_Scraper said:

That's awesome! Do you have to refine it or can you drink it from the tap?<--- disregard, I'ma dumb-ass

It's like drinking sweet water from the tree basically. tastes pretty good, but there is still the chance of having some bacteria in it, especially if it sits because of the sugar content. but to get the maple syrup you have to boil it down. anywhere from 40-50 gallons of sap will make 1 gallon of syrup. Its a lot of work.

I did have a little bit pool on the top of one of my lids and the water from the sap evaporated in the sun, leaving a thick sap in a similar consistency you often find on the outside of pine trees. definitely the chance of bacteria in that, but I still had to try it. It tasted really good, more like honey than syrup from a store I would say.

Those crawfish look amazing!

jtallen83 · March 31, 2019

My little brother tapped a bunch of trees on the farm last year. He had about 80 gallons in the tank to start and had been using a wood fire to heat it. Had to go somewhere and put just a little too much wood under it, too much heat and lack of stirring gave him a burnt mess. Bummer because it had been tasting good, ruined the tank as well, now everything he does with it taste like burnt sugar.

ARTrooper · March 31, 2019

yup, got to keep it under 220, it takes a lot of attention

unforgiven · March 31, 2019

That is very cool 👍

ARTrooper · March 31, 2019

you can also use the sap as a substitute for water in anything you make and it will naturally make it sweeter. we are gonna try some sweet tea with it. 😉

mrmackc · April 1, 2019

Does the raw sap have a mild maple flavor if you zap it in the microwave, to purify it? Do sugar maple trees only. grow in cold climates?

ARTrooper · April 1, 2019

1 hour ago, mrmackc said:

Does the raw sap have a mild maple flavor if you zap it in the microwave, to purify it? Do sugar maple trees only. grow in cold climates?

idk about mild maple flavor raw, but it is like sweet water right out of the tree. I have never purified it or microwaved it. we just boil it down to syrup. idk where maples grow elsewhere in the continent, but you can get maple syrup from all types of maple trees, not just sugar maples. also you can get syrup from some pines and other trees, it just tastes different. like hickory tree sap I hear has a smokey, slightly bitter taste.

you do need cold weather for the sap though. we tap the trees when temperatures start to get above freezing. but freezing at night helps create this pressure in the tree that pushes out the sap. so freezing at night, above freezing in the day.

edgecrusher · April 1, 2019

It’s big up here. Lots of maple houses around

unforgiven · April 1, 2019

They have it here also 40F is when the magic happens. Enzimes stop converting at 45F.

Boot_Scraper · April 1, 2019

In @ARTrooper 's honor, my next batch of ribs are getting basted in maple syrup. The sky just might fall.

ARTrooper · April 2, 2019

5 hours ago, Boot_Scraper said:

In @ARTrooper 's honor, my next batch of ribs are getting basted in maple syrup. The sky just might fall.

I'll have to see about sending you out a jar of some real stuff. I didn't realize how much crap is really in the stuff you buy at the store until we started doing this. A lot of it isn't even real maple syrup, it just has "maple flavoring" in it. real maple syrup is 100% from the tree, no need to add any sugar or anything else. I'm sure it is a lot healthier too. lol.

mrmackc · April 2, 2019

19 hours ago, ARTrooper said:

idk about mild maple flavor raw, but it is like sweet water right out of the tree. I have never purified it or microwaved it. we just boil it down to syrup. idk where maples grow elsewhere in the continent, but you can get maple syrup from all types of maple trees, not just sugar maples. also you can get syrup from some pines and other trees, it just tastes different. like hickory tree sap I hear has a smokey, slightly bitter taste.

you do need cold weather for the sap though. we tap the trees when temperatures start to get above freezing. but freezing at night helps create this pressure in the tree that pushes out the sap. so freezing at night, above freezing in the day.

Thanks for the good information.

ARTrooper · April 2, 2019

I should add, we do not "purify" it. we do run it through a basic cooking strainer. some people run it through coffee filters, but that takes a lot more time and I don't think it is necessary. there are some small particulates that settle on the bottom, but the way I see it, it is no difference to what settles at the bottom of a coffee cup or tea cup.

edgecrusher · April 2, 2019

18 hours ago, ARTrooper said:

I'll have to see about sending you out a jar of some real stuff. I didn't realize how much crap is really in the stuff you buy at the store until we started doing this. A lot of it isn't even real maple syrup, it just has "maple flavoring" in it. real maple syrup is 100% from the tree, no need to add any sugar or anything else. I'm sure it is a lot healthier too. lol.

Truth. Feel sorry for people who think mrs butterworth is syrup...

DNP · April 20, 2019

Got a 9.5 lb butt to do tomorrow. Need to eat it at 2. Trying to figure out when I want to start it. I'm gonna cook a little higher temp than normal. Need to pull it by one to have time to rest and start shredding about 2. Thinking of trying to get it done in 8 hours....any thoughts from the gurus? Doable...or do I need to get up at 2am?

98Z5V · April 20, 2019

18 minutes ago, DNP said:

Doable...or do I need to get up at 2am?

If that's the case - you might not be going to sleep, brother!...

unforgiven · April 20, 2019

Get up early 😴

DNP · April 20, 2019

Went on grill at 4AM. Fingers crossed.

shepp · April 20, 2019

11 hours ago, DNP said:

Got a 9.5 lb butt to do tomorrow. Need to eat it at 2. Trying to figure out when I want to start it. I'm gonna cook a little higher temp than normal. Need to pull it by one to have time to rest and start shredding about 2. Thinking of trying to get it done in 8 hours....any thoughts from the gurus? Doable...or do I need to get up at 2am?

My last one took 14 hours at 250

DNP · April 20, 2019

Well...I have hotdogs for the guests...and dinner will be good. 1 put it in a foil pan with a can of coke and sealed her up at 4 1/2 hrs in. Was already upper 160's. I don't like wrapping them, but they do cook faster that way.

washguy · April 20, 2019

Shepp Just went and looked at my recipes we do 6.5 pounders cause theres only 2 of us.....so at 250 we put it on at 10am and pull it off at 200 and that's at 5:50 pm....so theres no way around it brother...its always an hour plus a pound on the butts.... :thumbup: Wash

I think I remember where I smoked with a higher temp and tried to hurry the butt like you are wanting to do...I ended up with a pork roast in the trash and us eating a frozen pizza

Edited April 20, 2019 by washguy

DNP · April 21, 2019

Pulled it at 12:45. Over 200. It was good. Sacrifice the bark, but it worked out. About 8 hours on a 9.6lb butt. Secret weapon and Dominator. 4.5 hours into the tin pan with a can of Coke (substituted because I didn't have apple juice) and wrapped up tight. Moist all the way through and delicious. Was extremely easy to shred. Got lucky all the way around.

98Z5V · April 21, 2019

This is for @RobPLSCA - you'll see in a minute... :laffs:

This was last night, and why I promptly fell into a Food Coma afterwards... Found a HUGE rib eye at the meat counter, asked the guy to weigh that slab. It was 2.38lbs. I told him to wrap it up.

I did the heavy-salt treatment on it, with LaRue Dillo Dust. Bring it up to room temp, then hit it with the salt for 1hr 20 minutes per side. Sits with the salt for 1:20, flip it, salt it, let it sit for another 1:20. About 20 minutes before it was finished on the second side, I went with the Dillo Dust to finish it out. The Dillo Dust side goes down first on the flame, then Dillo Dust the up-side as soon as it goes on.

Brought the grill up to 475 and let it settle. When the slap went on,the temp dipped to 400, but came back up to 425. Because of how thick this slap was, I let it go for 6:30 per side and pulled it - that kept it a little over Rare, but under Medium Rare.

Now, this thing was a slab. I pulled out the tape on it to check it - the tape says it was 1.5" thick:

I didn't trust that tape measure for an accurate measurement, so I broke out the digital Vernier caliper to see what was up... :lmao: I KNEW THAT TAPE WAS OFF!!! It was 1.4475" thick!!!... :banana: