May in Maine

Above portrays my annual Memorial Day attempt to slow roast a big slab of meat. It invariably turns out too smoky for Alison, but I love it.

This year I brined a boneless pork shoulder (from Olde Sow Farm, the pork vendor that sets up next to me at the Farmers’ Market in Belfast) overnight, then dry rubbed it with red pepper (last of our stash from last year’s harvest), black pepper, coriander (also from our garden), and a bit of Szechuan peppercorns. It’s been in the smoker at about 200 deg F since noon.

I’ll serve it with a Eastern Carolina vinegar sauce, and some braised greens.

You can see that the smoker is hiding behind our pickup truck because it is so windy, and the space between the barn and the house can become a wind tunnel, so the truck is there to shelter it a bit.

The crab apple is just past it’s bloom peak, a bit earlier than usual. And *so far* the black flies haven’t been too bad this year.