Today we all sat around and enjoyed an episode of The American Barbecue Showdown on Netflix for the morning. After the episode was finished, Matt and Molly had to prep some vegetables for the collard greens. Matt cut onions, and Molly prepared the garlic. Then Mr. Sussman realized that we didn’t have a saucepan, which we needed in order to simmer homemade BBQ sauce for tomorrow’s pulled pork. After searching fruitlessly around campus, we took a trip to a member of the group’s home to retrieve a saucepan in order to make the sauce later that day.
When we got back, we began preparing our biscuits; the dry flour mix and bits of grated butter had sat in the freezer overnight. The process was very interesting and thorough. Mr. Sussman taught us the technique that he uses on his biscuits: he started by prepping his workspace. He sprinkled flour on his hands, the table, the dough, and the rolling pin. He added buttermilk to the dry flour/butter mixture until it came together into a dough; then he kneaded the dough as little as possible for it to come together into a huge ball before rolling it out completely flat with the rolling pin. After it was flat, he taught us that layering was an important step in making your biscuits so that they would turn out fluffy. He cut the slab of dough into four separate sections and stacked them up before rolling them again. He repeated this process a couple of times and various students took turns rolling the dough flat each time. Alexa and Molly then took circular-shaped cookie cutters and began cutting out each biscuit. The cut biscuits went back into the freezer on cookie trays, and a few hours later, once they were frozen solid, were put into ziploc bags to store overnight.
While the biscuits were being made, Jack and Ted started to use the saucepan that we had just got to make our sauce for the meat tomorrow. It, for real, stunk up the whole room. The room reeked of vinegar. We were all complaining. [Most of them are not used to a vinegar-based Carolina-style sauce compared to a sweet, thick Memphis-style sauce like we had on our ribs. I am quite sure they will change their tune once it is mixed into a large pile of freshly-pulled pork shoulder. –Mr. S] Matt and Jaiwant also parboiled the macaroni so it would be all ready for tomorrow’s mac ‘n cheese.
After lunch, we took some time to relax and straighten up the room. We then went outside and started the fire for the pork butts during tonight’s sleepover. It’s very interesting to see how Mr. Sussman operates the smoker. It’s very clear how much thought needs to be put into the coals and the temperatures. We head back to school between 8 and 9 pm tonight to tend the smoker for the next 12+ hours!