Early this morning when I started the coals and injected the pig, I put this hat on.
And I have kept it on all day so far.
Somehow it seems I MUST keep this hat on for the duration of the smoking process.
Perhaps it will keep my head on straight.
Perhaps it will keep me focused…eye on the ball, so to speak, and I will not become distracted and allow the temperature (which is supposed to stay at or close to 220 F inside the smoker) to soar to 400 because I added in two pieces of apple wood instead of one. Oh, wait, never mind that.
I did, however, help the temperature drop back down pretty quickly by opening the smoker and the little smoke box AND by removing one of the chunks of wood.
It made a lovely hissing sound when I dropped in the snow. You don’t get THAT when you smoke pig butt in the summertime!
And here’s how my hands have been looking today:
There must be some sort of oily component to charcoal, because this stuff really doesn’t like to come off. (Yes, I used soap.)
And, the last bit of my requisite garb for today (besides clothes and an apron, which is my daily look anyway), I have had to cover my otherwise bare feet with these:
Sure, I could walk barefoot across the snow in the back yard, but I figure that would just be showing off, and who needs that, right?
So I clomp around in these boots. They feel enormous on me. I think my entire persona undergoes a brief transformation when I slip these boats on. I walk differently. Actually, I don’t walk.
I stride across the snow, hat permanently affixed to my skull, apron fluttering in the breeze.
I make quite the pretty picture.
You might want to get that stuff the mechanics use to get off tough stains from their hands. I think it's called "Goop" or something like that.
Posted by: Dianne | January 28, 2011 at 01:57 PM