First of all, I had one of the nicest weekends of my life.The rain stopped for 2 days, with beautiful temperatures. My parents were in for a visit on Saturday and the OL's parents and one of her brothers were in from Florida for the whole weekend.
The OL's youngest graduated from high school yesterday so we had a family get together for her the day before.
We were planning on 15 people (small and nice), but for some reason when I went to the grocery store the day before, I went nuts and loaded the hell out of the cooker.
The original thought was some chicken parts and maybe a few brats. I ended up buying about 25 drumsticks and 25 thighs to brine. While I was at it I thought maybe some wings that I could do for people to eat early so I grabbed some of them. I got home and thought, hell I might as well thaw out some baby backs and show them off to the family so out of the freezer come 3 slabs of those. Then the OL came home from the store with 20 Johnsonville cheddar brats. OK, now I know for a fact I will be freezering plenty of left overs to get me by for a while. Oops, my parents are on a very strict diet. They can have chicken but won't eat it with the skin. I bought about 12 breasts for grilling. Oh yeah, I pulled out of the freezer 2 2 pound fatties, and a 2 pound hamburger fatty to try.
Fired up "smokey" at about 7 in the morning. Was ready to start cooking at about quarter til 8. That gave a little more than 5 hours for the ribs. They went on right off the bat. Foiled at 3 hours for another 2 hours and they were perfect. Put the chicken parts and wings in at 9:30 along with the brats. The wings and brats went in the far vertical section. I wanted to get some smoke to them without cooking them first. After awhile, I moved the wings to a hot spot right over the firebox and cooked em up to a nice golden brown, then into a crockpot with some dreamland. I never ended up trying them, but They pretty much dissappeared.
Fatties all went on about 8:30 and took 3 hours. Burger fatty was sliced and went into the fridge. Haven't even tried them yet. Sausage fatties got passed around and dissappeared.
Once the wings were gone from the hotspot, I moved the brats over to it. If no one has done this I highly recomend it. They were the best brats I or anyone at the party had ever had. They had a pin hole of brown in the middle, with the rest all smoke ring.
Brats came off and the chicken breasts that were sliced into fingers and seasoned with some southern flavor went on. About this time all the chicken parts came off and the ribs were ready too. Rang the dinner bell, and the feeding began. Everybody out on the porch groaning in about 20 minutes.
Packed up a good bit of the left overs and shipped em off to the OL's place. Next morning, I go over there about 8 in the morning and there is her brother eating ribs. Her dad comes out and says to him, what are you doing eating ribs for breakfast? grumph, grunt, garble was his response.
Sorry for the long ass post, just had a great time and wanted to share.
The OL's youngest graduated from high school yesterday so we had a family get together for her the day before.
We were planning on 15 people (small and nice), but for some reason when I went to the grocery store the day before, I went nuts and loaded the hell out of the cooker.
The original thought was some chicken parts and maybe a few brats. I ended up buying about 25 drumsticks and 25 thighs to brine. While I was at it I thought maybe some wings that I could do for people to eat early so I grabbed some of them. I got home and thought, hell I might as well thaw out some baby backs and show them off to the family so out of the freezer come 3 slabs of those. Then the OL came home from the store with 20 Johnsonville cheddar brats. OK, now I know for a fact I will be freezering plenty of left overs to get me by for a while. Oops, my parents are on a very strict diet. They can have chicken but won't eat it with the skin. I bought about 12 breasts for grilling. Oh yeah, I pulled out of the freezer 2 2 pound fatties, and a 2 pound hamburger fatty to try.
Fired up "smokey" at about 7 in the morning. Was ready to start cooking at about quarter til 8. That gave a little more than 5 hours for the ribs. They went on right off the bat. Foiled at 3 hours for another 2 hours and they were perfect. Put the chicken parts and wings in at 9:30 along with the brats. The wings and brats went in the far vertical section. I wanted to get some smoke to them without cooking them first. After awhile, I moved the wings to a hot spot right over the firebox and cooked em up to a nice golden brown, then into a crockpot with some dreamland. I never ended up trying them, but They pretty much dissappeared.
Fatties all went on about 8:30 and took 3 hours. Burger fatty was sliced and went into the fridge. Haven't even tried them yet. Sausage fatties got passed around and dissappeared.
Once the wings were gone from the hotspot, I moved the brats over to it. If no one has done this I highly recomend it. They were the best brats I or anyone at the party had ever had. They had a pin hole of brown in the middle, with the rest all smoke ring.
Brats came off and the chicken breasts that were sliced into fingers and seasoned with some southern flavor went on. About this time all the chicken parts came off and the ribs were ready too. Rang the dinner bell, and the feeding began. Everybody out on the porch groaning in about 20 minutes.
Packed up a good bit of the left overs and shipped em off to the OL's place. Next morning, I go over there about 8 in the morning and there is her brother eating ribs. Her dad comes out and says to him, what are you doing eating ribs for breakfast? grumph, grunt, garble was his response.
Sorry for the long ass post, just had a great time and wanted to share.