plonq | Iced coffee and other sundries

To battle!

Sometimes I forget that I have toys on my desk at work. For having sworn that I would not decorate this desk, it seems to have collected quite an assortment of ponies and other little toys. Here are two of them joining forces to fight for good - or at least to speak sternly in its defense.

I am sure that when this chicken first hatched from its egg, it never envisioned ending up like this. I would almost feel guilty, but it's the chicken's own fault for being born so delicious.

I brined this overnight in a standard salt/sugar/soy sauce mixture before putting it in the smoker on Sunday afternoon. It got two and a half hours of apple wood smoke and another two hours of 240F heat. Although the skin looks nice and crispy, it was actually more leathery. Next time I will know to either finish it on the grill, or with a torch (or I suppose the broiler would work too) if I want crispy skin. Crispness (or lack thereof) aside, it was delicious. We stuffed a bit of rosemary and thyme from our herb garden under the skin, and then finished it with a brushing of olive oil and mixed, fresh-ground pepper before putting it in the smoker.

I have never been a big fan of iced coffee. I like a lot of the derivative drinks like Frappuccino, iced mocha and their ilk, but black coffee served over ice was never my thing. Then I learned of cold brewing and the world changed. I had heard of cold brewing, but had always filed it under things to try on a rainy day and never got around to it. I don't know why I hadn't tried it before, because it's not like it is time consuming or fiddly.

Even though this turned out good, I think that I can make it better so I am going to tweak the recipe a bit for the next batch