Long New Years Eve Day

[smokerpa]

Since getting my mega cooker a couple of months ago, I have been asked to cook for a lot more people around the holidays and other festive situations. Not like Doog though, who has a mega-mega cooker for his fatties. :boxing:

Usually I buy the meat, store the meat, process the meat and cook the meat. This time I was unable to store one of the briskets. I was with my buddy when we bought it last week. I told him to just store in it in the fridge for four days and it will be fine. Instead, his wife told him to freeze it. He then decided to unfreeze it, he would leave it sit out all day, and when he thought it was getting a little warm, he decided to put it in a cooler outside. Normally in December, it would just fine this time of the year, but with unseasonable warm weather, it made the problem even worse.

I noticed a discoloration when it was dropped off tonight and saw my wife put it in our fridge to store for a couple of hours. When I just went to open the bag, the color was now something a paid attention to and when I opened it, well.....it was bad. I called my buddy and said is there any possible way that this was left out or somehow got warm. After a long pause, he explained to me the above situation.

Now I have to go to RD at six in the morning to save his day, because we did a secret squirrel bro code promise me you will never tell my wife about this pinky swear.

I cycled my sleep to process my meat tonight and sleep in a little. I guess that is over.

I was getting an extra fridge anyway so I can cure more bacon at once, so I guess this will expedite that now so I don't have to worry about friends doing this again.

Anyone else run into problems like this before? I don't mind doing the friends, family and work situation, but since the new cooker, a lot more people are making request and I don't have the space available like I use to when I was buying the product and it never left my sight. Starting to make me rethink this.

For those that are wondering, I am not making a profit off of this. They simply buy the meats and I cook them.

 

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

....um....Wow!

 

[ebijack]

I cook a lot for family, neighbors, friends etc. And like you found. When letting others purchase, store what they wanted cooked. The results can be really bad and no where close to the product I'm known for. I let the requesters decide if they want my quality product that is what they have become to know and request. Or they can do the buying and storing, but I won't give any guarantee on out come if they are the purchaser. Had a few so-so cooks and unhappy folks when there product doesn't come out how they expected/wanted. If the product is old/bad I won't cook it. But that is me.
Here RD doesn't open till 7 am.

 

[smokerpa]

I'm sitting in the parking lot now at RD. They open at 7 here as well. I'm not sure why I thought 6, but so the day begins with my wife asking what the hell I am up for already.

I like the way you think about them getting mixed results if you don't handle it from start to finish. I just don't people truly know how to handle food.

 

[pjtexas1]

I do the you buy, I cook thing a lot. I have learned that nobody knows how to safely handle meat. Just educate them when they ask you to cook and warn them if you suspect it wasn't handled right that you won't cook it. I'm also getting a 2nd fridge to fix this.

 

[Stingerhook]

I hate to say it but I know who would have been @ RD at 6:00 am.

 

[Jason TQ]

I do the you buy, I cook thing a lot. I have learned that nobody knows how to safely handle meat. Just educate them when they ask you to cook and warn them if you suspect it wasn't handled right that you won't cook it. I'm also getting a 2nd fridge to fix this.

Go ahead and get a 3rd fridge then the options are pretty nuts :clap2:! And add a dedicated freezer too if you haven't. Was perfect for me. There was only one time where a 4th fridge would have been nice, but got through it.

 

[Doog]

Smoker you think you got problems...Try figuring out where to place just 2 fatties on a Lang 84...bottom rack or top rack, middle or end of bottom or top rack. :wink:

That's why when dealing with food I just do it myself.That way I know it will be done right.
Still sucks you had to waste the early morning dealing with it.
Hope everything else goes smooth with your cook. Happy New Year!!

 

[smokerpa]

I have a freezer already. My wife gave my an ultimatum about two weeks ago with the fridge situation, so it isn't completely a shock that I'm going to get one for various reasons.

I did actually educate this guy. I think the problem is that people think big piece of meat so they have a bigger window. I don't know, but I was shocked when I opened it up. When I was trimming the brisket this morning, I was having flashbacks. I had my wife come over and smell it. She said it was all in my mind.

PJ, I'm with you on you buy it thing. That is how I always operated. This is the first of it's kind and I don't want to repeat it. My buddy still gets what he wants, but I slept three hours less for the result.

I'm just going to call that Doog problems. I was waiting for you to chime in. You must have been asleep early last night. I think if you put two fatties on that beast, you should probably put one on each side so it doesn't tip over. :razz:

 

[Rusty Kettle]

Your a good friend. He owes you big time for saving his arse. Just saying.

 

[FireChief]

I have cooked for family members a few times and I always insist I buy the meat and control the process from start to finish. I just give them the receipt for the meat and they pay me back. I don't mind fronting the money myself as i know I'll get it back.

I've never considered myself a big control freak but as I've gotten older I've come to realize that I am SO a control freak when it comes to things that matter the most to me. And if someone is stoked enough to want my food I want to knock their socks off.

And yeah, there's no way to prove that bad food came from what they gave you versus how you cooked it. Just my $.02.

 

[smokerpa]

So here is the truth of the matter. His wife called me and wanted to know about something.

She asks me about wet aging and how it works. I give her some basic comprehension on the subject matter.

She says to me, so sitting a piece of meat on the counter for two days isn't wet aging. I said absolutely not. She says that would be bad right, and I said of course.

She says to me, then please don't cook that brisket. So I finally told her what happened and that a brisket has been on the cooker since 9 this morning and it wasn't the same one.

I'm going to bust his balls for a long time to come. I would like to know the website that he read this on, and see how bad he misunderstood it.

HAHAHAHAHA.

 

[smokerpa]

I hate to say it but I know who would have been @ RD at 6:00 am.

Yeah, if he went, I would have a clod or bottom round right now. That's why I went. This way I didn't have to rush to make up for lost time.