Ok…first post in almost three years. A lot has happened since and I promise to do better about updating things from now on. Promise.

Since we last spoke, we have moved from Jacksonville to the beautifully entropic and mystically fecund city of New Orleans. Our barbeque meanderings in the past 1,095 days have covered much ground as our styles evolve. Before we dip into the world of duck fat, oyster liqueur, sazeracs, and tasso, we close the chapter of “Jax”.

The last post leaves us in Spring 2006 where our new pot smoker was given a “baptism by fire”. A couple of friends from north of the Mason-Dixon wanted to see what the big deal was about this thing called BBQ. So we had a very hands-on lesson one Saturday; much meat was consumed.

Fast-forward to Memorial Day weekend 2006. Out-of-town friends as well as 73 of our closest local friends descend on our house to sample the most succulent of treats (more detail on recipes below):
Whisky-marinated brisket, slow smoked with a cracked pepper crust
Kumquat and ginger stuffed ducks
Sticky glazed bbq chicken
Fresh boudin blanc
Something we found at an Asian market
Dry-rubbed, 15-hour roasted wild boar

Several regular charcoal grills were converted and shade tree-engineered to cook all this. The boar was hung inside a metal trash can which had been incorporated into the pot smoker. Pictures here.

Whisky-marinated brisket:
This one is fairly simple. Coat a brisket with freshly, coarsely cracked black pepper and kosher flake salt. Rub it in; do it again. Keep doing this until no more red meat is showing, then place in ceramic or Pyrex pan. Gently pour a drier Tennessee whisky in the pan so as not to disturb the “crust”. Remove from dish eight to twelve hours later and place on a 250 degree grill. Cook at this constant temperature for about an hour per pound of meat, and very hour or so, pour a little of the marinade over the brisket. Remove from grill when internal temperature is about 160, and place on cutting board to rest for 15 minutes. Thinly slice and serve au jus or with an awesome dipping sauce.

Kumquat and ginger stuffed ducks:
Remove internal organ pouches from duck and cut off head, and feet (if bought Peking style). Remove extra pieces of fat around cavity orifice—use this later to render duck lard. Prepare kumquats by removing flesh from skins and thinly slicing them. Peel and thinly slice fresh ginger root. Liberally salt and pepper cavity and skin. Place kumquat skins and ginger in a bowl; add some diced shallot, minced, fresh chopped herb d’Provence, and a splash of white wine. Very carefully, using your fingers and working from cavity orifice forward, create a pocket between skin and meat. Spoon kumquat et al mixture in this pocket and massage forward all over the bird. Then place on grill with indirect heat and cook like you normally would a duck.

The remainder of dishes did not have any elaborate preparations. When a pig is wild, or feral, it’s free-range and organic by default. It’s been living off the land eating muscadines, scuppernongs, wild onions, dew berries, dandelions, etc—almost like it’s self-marinating just for us. So we restrained the use of seasoning in this case to let the natural flavors of the pork shine. A simple dry rub of salt, black pepper, white pepper, granulated onion, and granulated garlic was used. Every hour of cooking (15+ in all), we sprayed it with a mixture of white wine vinegar, apple cider, and sorghum molasses.