Cub Scout Picture Night, Smoking A Turkey, Fancy Deviled Eggs

Cub Scout Picture Night

Our first picture and achievement night of the year. Our Webelos earned their first three required adventure pins and are making great progress for earning their rank in March. This was also a night that we took Pack and Den photos. This was part of my Wood Badge achievement and wanted to get this done for the parents as well. I figured my son’s been in multiple team pictures for 8 week seasons, why not have a picture night where we go year round?

We also unveiled two American flags that we received from Senator Rand Paul’s office which will become our new pack flags. They were both flown at the US Capitol so they have amazing history as well!

Smoking A Turkey

I hosted my family’s Thanksgiving this year and wanted to make a really delicious turkey. I took a 21 pound bird and spatchcocked it, which means I cut out the neck. I went a step further and cut the back out as well, which freed up the thighs. I removed the thighs and wings and then cracked as best I could the breasts. I gave a generous slathering of butter underneath the skin and seasoned with lemon pepper. I smoked it in the charcoal smoker to temperature using apple wood chips. Overall the cook was incredibly fast and was done in about 2.5 hours.

The results were tremendous. The turkey had an amazing taste and was perfectly juicy. The one thing I did different this year was load up the charcoal smoker. I typically only do one chimney full but I loaded up the rest. I did this initially because I’ve struggled in the past getting it up to temperature and I’d end up finishing it in the oven. The extra charcoal helped keep it at temp and it actually burned for about 8 hours although I needed much less than that to get the bird done.

Fancy Deviled Eggs

Every year for my wife’s family get together I make deviled eggs, or FDEs as I call them (Fancy Deviled Eggs). I always feel weird going to a party or get together empty handed so I negotiated my role in bringing the deviled eggs to Thanksgiving. It is something I can’t take lightly either and given I’ve been tasked with it the last few years means I am doing something right at least.

This year’s batch proved useful when a glass dish exploded on food and people needed to rely on something they could eat. Luckily my dishes were on the other side of the buffet when that happened. Overall they were greatly received. I updated the yolk batter a little with Red Hot sauce, so that makes it mayo, yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, and black pepper. I did not add any salt as I feel the condiments I put in are salty enough. Flavors started with traditional, where I added a fresh sprig of dill on top for presentation. Then from clockwise I made bacon and bleu cheese, pickled (sweet relish and Gherkin pickle slices), Trailer Trash (spam with crushed barbecue chips), and El Fuego (chili oil, habanero, and diced fresh jalapeno).