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If you still haven’t bought your husband something for Father’s Day, how about an outdoor smoker? We have one similar to this Brinkmann All-In-One Gas Outdoor Cooker. My husband bought this for ME as a Christmas present (ha!) but he tends to use it most of the time. It’s a great thing to do a crawfish boil or BBQ the Thanksgiving turkey. (Not that we’ve ever tried. I’m too scared of burning the deck down - I personally know people who have.)

Honestly, there’s nothing better than homemade barbeque. You can get the kids involved writing the shopping list, and making the brine and rub.

Pulled Pork
(recipe courtesy of Alton Brown at Good Eats)
Difficulty: Easy      
Prep Time: 20 minutes  Inactive Prep Time: 13 hours  Cook Time: 11 hours
Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Brine:

1. 8 ounces or 3/4 cup molasses
2. 12 ounces pickling salt (we used Kosher salt)
3. 2 quarts bottled water
4. 6 to 8 pound Boston butt

Rub:

1. 1 teaspoon whole cumin seed
2. 1 teaspoon whole fennel seed
3. 1 teaspoon whole coriander
4. 1 tablespoon chili powder
5. 1 tablespoon onion powder
6. 1 tablespoon paprika

Directions:

1. Combine molasses, pickling salt, and water in 6 quart Lexan (we used a very clean big plastic laundry detergent bucket).
2. Add Boston butt (also called pork shoulder or pork butt) making sure it is completely submerged in brine, cover, and let sit in refrigerator for a minimum of 8 hours. 12 hours is ideal.
3. Place cumin seed, fennel seed, and coriander in food grinder (I used a mini-chopper) and grind fine.
4. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in chili powder, onion powder, and paprika.
5. Remove Boston butt from brine and pat dry.
6. Sift the rub evenly over the shoulder and then pat onto the meat making sure as much of the rub as possible adheres. More rub will adhere to the meat if you are wearing latex gloves during the application.
7. Preheat smoker to 210 degrees F.
8. Place butt in smoker and cook for 10 to12 hours, maintaining a temperature of 210 degrees F.
9. Begin checking meat for doneness after 10 hours of cooking time. Use fork to check for doneness. Meat is done when it falls apart easily when pulling with a fork.
10. Once done, remove from pot and set aside to rest for at least 1 hour.
11. Pull meat apart with 2 forks and serve as sandwich with coleslaw and dressing or barbeque sauce as desired.

This type of pulled pork sandwich is commonly referred to as “Pig Pile Elvis Style” as this was a favorite of the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll. (The picture is courtesy of The Commerical Appeal’s Bar-B-Q Blog, a great source of information on barbeque contests and recipes.)

Since you’re be home all day to babysit the smoker (and to make sure you aren’t burning the pork up or your house down), take a time out and read some books! Here are a couple of Father’s Day book selections.

Daddy Goes to Work by Jabari Asim is a rhyming story of a young African-American girl going to work with her father. While it’s a nice portrayal of “Take Our Daughters to Work Day” the illustrations are a bit sloppy and the rhyming is slightly forced. Still it’s a good selection about dads and daughters and kids won’t be too critical of the text or artwork.

My Pop Pop and Me by Irene Smalls is another rhyming story about a little African-American boy and his grandfather cooking in the kitchen. The illustrations by Cathy Ann Johnson are gorgeous and the text is cleverly laid out to match the artwork. This is a great book for discussing gender rolls (not only moms cook, you know) and friendships between the generations.

Best of all My Pop Pop and Me features a recipe for lemon bars, which would be wonderful to serve along with your pulled pork.

Lemon Bar Cake Bake

Ingredients:

1. 4 tablespoons lemon oil (or lemon extract)
2. 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3. 2 cups cake flour
4. 2 teaspoons baking powder
5. 1/8 teaspoon salt
6. 1 cup milk
7. 1/2 cup lemon juice
8. 1 1/2 sticked softened or melted butter
9. 2 cups sugar
10. 3 beaten eggs

Directions:

1. Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, and salt together. Set aside.
2. Stire together lemon juice, milk, lemon oil (or extract), beaten eggs, and butter.
3. Mix ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Add sugar gradually, beating it thoroughly with added ingredients.
5. Beat well until batter is smooth and blended thoroughly.
6. Coat cake pan with oil and flour. Shake loose any excess flour and discard.
7. Pour batter into cake pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes. Insert cake tester in center of cake. When tester comes out without any batter sticking to it, the cake is done. Cool cake on a wire rack.

While the book illustrations show the lemon bar cake frosted, there is no frosting recipe in the book. My guess is that this would go with a nice cream cheese or vanilla frosting. If you want to make frosting from scratch, see my other cooking blog, This Mama Cooks!, for some great cream cheese frosting recipes. Otherwise, Duncan Hines makes excellent frostings in both vanilla and cream cheese flavors.

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