Voodoo Chicken

Please keep reading to learn why I chose this name.

I have seen in movies how people use voodoo dolls and I wanted to "use voodoo" in order to cook a chicken. The Internet is filled with chicken recipes, grilled and otherwise, but I wanted to give it a different spin, and I chose voodoo.

This is a 7.5 lb chicken and let me tell you that it is big and huge! I bought it on Monday from ShopRite taking advantage of the special they run every week for senior citizens. Yes. I am proud to state that I do have a ShopRite senior discount card. When I qualified for it I went to the counter to ask for it and the person just processed it. When  asked him if he wanted to see proof of age he said that no one asks for this card except...senior citizens.

I took the chicken out of the package, removed the bag with the miscellaneous chicken parts and gave it a good wash. Look at this chicken. look at it, I tell ya. She is a beauty.

Here are the ingredients I will mix together to make my rub. I used a teaspoon of each with the exception of the oregano which is behind the paprika and mustard. I used three tablespoons of oregano.

I placed these ingredients in a bowl and mixed them a little.

I Want my Baby Back, Baby Back, Baby Back Ribs

This past weekend I decided to bbq baby back ribs. So, I went to Adams Fair Acre Farms in Newburgh and immediately I was drawn to their wonderful meat department where I found the baby back ribs. They were on sale, lucky me, but I had to scrutinize the quality of them and the only way to do this was by carefully examining the contents of each package. I want the ribs to be in the full rack and not cut in small chunks. Also, baby back ribs must weigh less than 1-3/4 pounds per slab.

I picked up each package and made sure each slab was intact, the meat on ribs in not bruised and, generally speaking, the ribs look healthy.

I bought four slabs and here they are at home on the counter top still in the shopping bag. 

I took them out of the shopping bag and the packages. Gave them a quick wash in the sink, dried them and got ready to process them.

First I had to remove the membrane that is found under the rack. It is almost invisible but you can pull it away from the rack if use a kitchen paper towel and begin by pinching it. Here I show you the membrane after I've pulled it a little.

After pulling each membrane I placed the four racks in a bowl. As you can see I have my trusted knife sharpener ready.

Boston Pork Butt 101

A couple of weeks ago I made arrangements with my son Alexander to cook a Boston Pork Butt but the weather did not cooperate and we had to reschedule it. The request was puzzling to me but I think he was intrigued and drawn to it by the uniqueness of the name. Please view my blog entry titled Planning time! to read important introductory information.

Today, February 23, 2013, 4:11am, I am beginning to write this new post because Alexander is coming today to visit and have lunch here with us. As I write this entry I will be checking the grill and report here the progress. Look at the time. It is 3:04am, Saturday and I am up and ready to begin the process.

There was a lot of preparation that took place because this is a major cooking event and there were several purchases that had to be made. For this reason I went to ShopRite and purchased the following:

• 8 1/3 lb Boston pork butt, 
• a variety of canned, cooked beans
• anchovies, 
• romaine lettuce, 
• bread,
• a spray bottle,
• heavy duty aluminum foil,
• and apple cider.

I also want to cook bbq beans to go with the pork butt. Since the Boston pork butt takes about nine to ten hours to cook I will use my cast-iron pan to slow cook the beans. The can to the right with the butter beans is for an appetizer that I am planning for.

I purchased the bread to make melba toast. Be on the lookout for this recipe too.

Anchovies. Yum! I will use them to make a modified Caesar salad. I will exclude the croutons and egg from it but I do like the taste of the salt in the anchovies.

I will use this heavy duty foil to wrap the Boston pork butt after it's cooked. You need to let it sit for about one hour for the juices to redistribute and allow the meat to be nice and moist. If you cut is immediately you'll end up with dry meat.

I use apple cider vinegar for the mopping sauce and for wet rubs. Be on the lookout for a recent bbq recipe where I used apple cider vinegar on chicken.

Here is the Boston pork butt, at the supermarket shelf waiting to be purchased by Evan. There were several decent looking Boston pork butts but this one was the right weight and had the cutest, nicest fat on its side. The butchers at the supermarket probably see me coming and they roll their eyes because I usually have a lot of weird questions to ask them. In this case I was asking about the amount of time this particular Boston pork butt was on the shelf, if the meat was butchered locally or if it was shipped from New Jersey, and if the meat had any type of special handling done to it. So, I chose this Boston pork butt and gently placed it in my shopping cart.