Despite the snow, my Weston Smoker has been pretty busy in the past few months.
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A Weston smoker…in a bunch of snow!
Evidently needed a place to put my beer while I was taking the picture. |
Back in November, we smoked chickens, pork loins, briskett, and — well, just a ton of meat at a sendoff party, held in my mancave, for my good friend Tom Organ. He is (was) our local foodie and was quite instrumental in getting some of us into smoking meat and pickling stuff. He makes jerky out of almost anything including the geese I shot! Pickles anything and everything (eggs, kimchi, hot cabbage, garlic, asparagus, green beans, etc.)
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| Whole chickens my brother seasoned with a lemon chicken seasoning we got from Murray Miller |
Why the sendoff party? I moved Tom and his wife, Sue, to Ashland, OR before I was hired at Weston. They were on their way moving home and visited their daughter in Southern California to see their new grandbaby. Well, guess what: They ended up moving to Modesto, CA., to be closer.
To say Tom is a free spirit is an understatement. Tom & I think very alike, which is scary unto itself: “We live on the edge of the edge …living on the edge is just too crowded.”
We talk frequently…they are missed. But anyhow, a really good time was had by all at the sendoff party.
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| Our smoked chicken, taken off the bone to get ready to put onto serving platters…or in our mouth…depends if we had a beer in our hand or not. |
I put my Weston Smoker (and grinder and stuffer) to work again when my gang processed the deer we harvested late last fall. 50 lbs of venison, 30
lbs of fresh ground pork, 10 lbs of hi temp cheddar cheese, seasonings from
Miller Enterprises of Ft Wayne, IN (the owner, Murray Miller, is a friend of
mine). Smoked for about 10 hours to a temp of +/-165 degrees. The best venison
sausage I’ve had in a long time!
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The bearded guy is Costas Genos, “The Greek” and the other guy is Steve Rickman. I hunt with both of these guys on the same farm. We share all of our harvest, regardless of who takes the shot.
Ken 2, Costus 0, Steve 1, Mac (the landowner) 0, Rosey 0 ...but who is keeping score. |
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| This is my Aunt Gene, my Mom’s baby sister: 100 lbs of blue twisted steel. She and my cousins live in South Lyons, MI. They came down for the processing weekend. We are very close. |
So friends, that's what I've been up to. How about you?
