Weather has broken! Temperature was 22°F at the start of the cook and had dropped only 2 degrees by the time the meat came off. The sky was cloudy and wind light at less than 6 mph.
The first step was to smoke the neck bones. Yes, I had to figure out some way to get a Weber in the act. :D I recall that some recipes for beef stock start with roasting the bones to utilize the Maillard reaction to develop more flavor. In addition to that, I added some smoke to the mix. I rubbed the bones with Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper before they went on the fire.
time | temp | comment |
4:00 PM | Meat on! | |
5:10 | 400° | Thermometer is almost over the coals. Nevertheless, closed the top vent to about half. |
5:30 | 300° | Meat off! Looks good! Trimmed a bit of meat off and it is tough but very tasty! |
Results - A little of the meat trimmed from one bone was tough but tasted great! The smoked bones made a great stock with smoky overtones. I will do this again.
What to do differently next time: I could watch the fire a little more carefully but 400°F measured near the coals is not at all unreasonable for what I was doing. I just wanted to brown the bones before boiling.
I went on and boiled/simmered the bones that day and the next until the meat was falling off. After removing the bones, I added some carrots and celery since they were called for in the Liver Dumpling Soup recipe. The liver dumplings came out rather substantial. Very tasty but not exactly fall off the bone. I will try a different recipe next time (Mom's recipe acquired from little sister.) I will definitely make this again!
I could probably make them a little smaller too. ;)
I went on and boiled/simmered the bones that day and the next until the meat was falling off. After removing the bones, I added some carrots and celery since they were called for in the Liver Dumpling Soup recipe. The liver dumplings came out rather substantial. Very tasty but not exactly fall off the bone. I will try a different recipe next time (Mom's recipe acquired from little sister.) I will definitely make this again!
I could probably make them a little smaller too. ;)
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