Food is half art and half science!
Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies outside of TTRPGs. I made some pulled pork tonight - thought I’d share.
I also paint miniatures. I’ll upload some photos of those another day.
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Oh man that looks good. So uh… shipping cost on some of that pork? 
Looking forward to your miniature posts! I’m just getting started in the mini hobby.
Ha! Let me know next time you’re in Atlanta, I’ll save you a plate!
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This is beautiful. Do you have a recipe you can share? I’m starting again to cook and I’d love to make some pulled pork.
Sure!
Get a bone-in pork butt (shoulder). Should be about 6-8lbs or so.
I dry brine all my meats with a 1/2tsp. of kosher salt per lb of meat for 24 hours, so start with that step. Really, I use more salt (I just sprinkle salt on it until coated) but 1/2tsp. is sufficient.
Make a vinegar BBQ sauce the night before as well. That’s 1 and 1/2 cups of distilled white vinegar, 2 tablespoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and then a heavy pinch of red pepper flakes, a heavy dash of hot sauce, and a heavy pinch of black pepper (all 3 to taste). Put all the ingredients in a mason jar and shake it up and let it sit. The longer it sits the more you get out of the red pepper flakes, so if you make it a week in advance it’ll be stronger than if you make it the night before. You can also make a sweet Kansas City style sauce instead (my girlfriend prefers this sauce).
Get smoker going at 220 degrees F, while that’s coming up to temp rub down your pork butt with a rub. Rubs are really to taste (and what you have!) but if you start with 2/3s of a cup of paprika, then add 1/4 cup each of onion powder and garlic powder, then add a few tablespoons of black pepper that’s a good start. Throw in a few tablespoons of whatever else you have that looks good (ground mustard, tomato powder, chipotle powder, chili powder, whatever). Take this mixture and mix 1 part of it with 1 part brown sugar and 1 part granulated white sugar. Pork loves sugar, so don’t skip this step. You can repurpose the rest of the rub you made with other BBQ things by adjusting it from this point. For example, mix 1 part of the rub with 1 part black pepper for brisket.
Smoke for a long time, like 10 hours or so. Meat should be at 203 degrees Fahrenheit. Pull it from the smoker and start shredding it immediately, then serve on a bun with pickles, coleslaw, and smother it in your sauce of choice.
Enjoy!
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As promised, here are some miniatures I’ve painted:
First is a dice tower that I 3d printed and then painted
Next is an Owlbear I did
These are all some Reaper Bones minis from my “learn how to paint” boxes
Next up is a young green dragon, I was practicing with a technique called “wet blending” on the wings, which resulted in a gradient that turned out pretty well I think
Finally is this badass who looks like he’s gonna straight murder someone
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Now these are some legit minis! The armor on those Reaper Bones guys are blowing my mind - how did you do the chain mail effect on the back of this guy?!
Thanks man!
So the mini is already textured, so the trick is highlighting it. I started with a black basecoat to get the recesses really dark which will accentuate the texture. Then, I did a black wash to make sure every little cranny in there was filled along with the sides. Then, I used a steel drybrush to accentuate the rings, followed by another drybrush of pure silver to highlight it a bit more.
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Damn, it looks even better up close! Thanks for laying out the steps, helps give me the confidence to give this a shot after some practice. Very inspiring!
You’re welcome! I’d highly recommend the reaper bones learn to paint kits if you can get your hands on them. They come with paint, brushes, minis, and instructions so you’re off to the races right away. I learned a lot from them.
https://www.reapermini.com/paints/learn-to-paint-kits
The green one has the Orc you like.
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That’s very convenient - I’m gunna pick up the Core Skills one, looks like a perfect start. I’ve been messing with random minis and paints I’ve stumbled upon but an all-in-one package like this seems ideal to really sit down and take it step by step. Excited to order this!
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@LF_OSR @thekernelinyellow I’m making ribs this weekend and I decided to live stream the process. Saturday at 11:30am Eastern I’ll prepare the meat, rub, and sauce, then on Sunday at 8am Eastern I’ll apply the rub and put it in the smoker.
You can watch the stream at https://mixer.com/sh0time if you’re interested. It should be available for a few days after as well. I’ll also post the results here.
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Awesome! Great idea to stream it. I’ll drop by on Saturday! I’ll have to catch the VOD of the Sunday one.
EDIT: Ahh I overslept! Catching the VOD right now - and now I’m going nuts shopping for spices online hahah.
Made some beautiful ribs today, here’s the end result:
If you’re interested in the process, check my stream or YouTube VoDs.
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