The brisket talk over in the January audio lovefest thread got me to share a few pics of some of the things I made last weekend. Photos were taken by a friend, and I just received them now, so here are a few for you. I cooked my very first whole tenderloin, and this was somewhere on the list of "100 things to do before I die", hehe. It was oh so tender, very consistent pink starting at skin deep. I am a huge fan of the reverse sear method which was first explained to me here at AH by itschris, for larger and/or more expensive meats (with other cheaper/smaller cuts, sometimes I can't be bothered, and will just start with a sear, if I even care to, maybe oven finish on cast iron or something). This was reverse seared for 2.5 minutes at +500F. I let the oven get to temp, and then let it hold it for a while, before I throw the meat back in. I was lucky enough to have some 2 gallon bags on hand to do my marinade- I wonder how the heck people marinade such a huge piece of meat otherwise? It was 6.88 lbs before trimming. Tenderloin tapers down to be more thin on one end, so I fold the end back for a more consistent cook; the twine does that as well as make it more round/plump for the same reason.
I also made my pickled pork and beans dish over rice, yet again. (There were 11 people, had to go big.) I make this all the time, it's so convenient to have a 2 week window on using the meat, and that's before freezing. I usually pick up the pork butt at $5/lb or so at WF, and they do the cubing for me (I also ask them to cut my chickens sometimes, whether 6 piece or 8 piece; they're much better at it than I am). This is an Alton Brown recipe.
Roasted butternut squash. Not so cooked to be carmelized and overly sweet, but enough where you can still taste the squash. This time I ground up some cinnamon, but I don't think I'll repeat that the next time. People liked it, but I thought it had somewhat of a numbing effect, it was a bit powerful, and maybe unnecessary I think. Whatever squash you pick up, keep the seeds!! Remove the stringy stuff in a colander, let air dry (won't take long). Toss in oil and kosher salt, throw in at ~225F for ~20 minutes, and you have an awesome snack that will be destroyed by guests in a few minutes. I roasted some other things too, but I've taken enough liberty with non-meat photos already.
