Gas Pains

Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.

Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.

Schuetzenfest!

Firearms, Friends, Just For Fun, Life Is Good, Terrific Cooking, Refreshing Adult Beverage, Verrückter Deutscher Campingplatz

Do you smell what I smell?

Smell what?

The smell of testosterone and gun powder in the air. Smoked pork too.

Uh-oh.  Now what?

It is Schuetzenfest 2009!

The tradition of a Schützenfest came to America with German immigrants in the 1800s. It consisted of a gathering of marksmen in an exhibition of their shooting prowess. Traditionally there were parades, religious ceremonies, awards, feasting and singing.

The deer camp boys and I convened this past weekend for a schuetzenfest of our own – sans the parades and the singing - but cutting no shortcuts on the feasting part of the tradition. There was a pile of good eats and a pile of weaponry as well. 

And a profligate expenditure of ammunition.

There was the pistol competition – semi-auto and revolver.

The patterning of turkey guns – followed by rifled shotguns.

The capstone was the deer rifle event with the following classes of calibers – 30-06 Springfield, .270 Winchester and 7mm Remington Mag.

In the picture above there is a smoker. In the smoker is a seven pound pork butt which is cooking for an entire day – low and slow - over apple wood. The food competition figures significantly in a properly conducted fest – and the pork butt is the featured event for dinner. It is going to be tough to beat the previous evening’s dinner of perch, walleye and crappie - delicately breaded with Panko breadcrumbs and flash fried in the turkey fryer. 

Maybe this should be called Essenfest.

With the ammo spent and sore shoulders to stretch – horseshoes and beers are the prescribed therapy.

Followed by Bloody Marys and an appetizer of grilled side pork on the porch. 

The smoked butt sure seems to be taking its time – so spinach from the garden with that yummy hot bacon dressing is served.

Pork butt still not finished.

What next?

Homemade onion rings! 

Served hot from the turkey fryer. And just in time for the Packer pre-season game against the Browns.

At long-last. The pork is ready. Sliced thin and slathered in Rudy’s BBQ sauce. Served on a Kaiser roll and topped with fresh slaw.

Yum!

Would someone please pass the Pepcid.

More over at the other blog too.

Want to do this at home?  (That would be the cooking part).  Here are the recipes- 

Breaded Onion Rings

2 large sweet onions sliced cross-ways into thick slices

1 ¼ c flour

1 t salt

1 t baking powder

1 large egg

1 c milk

Fine dry bread crumbs

Vegetable oil

Separate slices into rings. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl whisk together the egg and milk. Spread bread crumbs on a plate.

Coat the rings in flour mixture. Dip in egg wash and dredge in crumbs.  Pile onto a cookie sheet. Can be kept for a spell in the fridge until ready to fry.

Heat oil in fryer to 360. Fry rings in manageable batches until golden brown and crispy. Drain on newspaper. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot.

For a tasty variation - substitute Italian bread crumbs that have the Romano cheese.

Rule of thumb – one onion per hungry person.

Barbecued Pork

The recipe can be found here.   If you are doing this in a smoker and not an oven allow plenty of time.  This also has some zip.  We went heavy on the dry rub but topping the sandwich with coleslaw reduced the burn. For less heat – go lighter on the rub.

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