...A momentous occasion, to be sure.
When: Saturday, the 26th of July
Where: Jeremy and Ambers house
What: A group of meat enthusiasts stressing out over every minor detail concerning a slow-smoking, fatty, delicious, 6.71 lb slab of pork butt.
This is how it all went down:
We bought the shoulder, choosing a butt over a picnic. Our cut was heavily marbled, and had a thick layer of fat. We prepped it by coating it entirely in plain yellow mustard, and then Stew and I threw together a very basic dry rub consisting of brown sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper. Our measurements weren't precise, so if you attempt it your self, just keep adding to your mix dash by dash until it smells good to you. We applied the dry rub to the mustard by patting it (slapping, really) into the meat. We are pork slappers. There, I said it.
We used a regular propane grill, with two burners and separate burner controls. Stew had prepped some perforated foil packets containing pre-soaked mesquite chips. I was concerned about using mesquite, as I'd read that with a large cut of meat, which requires a long time to cook, the smoke flavor of the mesquite can overpower. It didn't this time, but next time we plan on experimenting with a different wood. We prepped the grill by firing up only one of the burners, and placing a couple of our wood packets on that same side.
Now, it is important to get the woodsmoking before you put your meat in. Also, you should test the temperature of your grill, and see if you can't manage to maintain around 200-235 degrees farenheit. If your wood is smoking and your temp is right, you're ready to shove the baby in. Poor choice of words perhaps, but Stew did point out when we were smothering the butt with mustard, that our cut was roughly the same weight and size of a newborn infant.
Yes, it did make the whole thing a little disturbing.
We placed our shoulder on the off burner side, or the indirect heat, placing a disposable aluminum pan underneath the meat to catch the drippings. We closed the lid, and left it alone for 45 minutes to 1 hour. That is when we applied the first "mop", or baste.
As far as sauces go, we were working with a couple:
- Eastern North Carolina BBQ Sauce -
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco™), or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Combine the white vinegar, cider vinegar, brown sugar, cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper in a jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 days before using so that the flavors will blend. Shake occasionally, and store for up to 2 months in the refrigerator.
This one is pretty good, but be warned, it is hot. If you like hot, you won't think it's that bad, but if you don't like ze spicy it'll probably be too much.
- Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce -
1-1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of your favorite ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons of white sugar
1 teaspoon of Liquid Smoke flavoring
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder.
Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan, and over medium-high heat stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Lower the heat to medium. Continue boiling uncovered, stirring often, until the barbecue sauce thickens.
We opted not to add the liquid smoke flavor to the Kansas City, which may have been a mistake. In general, we think liquid smoke is pretty nasty. Stew and I thought the flavor of this one was great, but the consensus from everyone else seemed to be that it was a really great pasta sauce, but not bbq.
For our mop, we actually combined equal parts of both sauces. Basically, on the hour, you open the grill back up, checking on your smoke, replacing wood packets with new ones if your smoke is dying out, and you use a brush to slop your baste on. Close it back up and wait another hour.
General rule of thumb amongst bbq competitors seems to be to smoke for roughly 1 - 1.5 hours per pound of meat, or until the internal temp of the meat is around 185-195 degrees. We got started at a little after 2pm, and we pulled the pork out at just before 9pm. The internal temp was smack dab at 185. I wanted to go a little longer but at that point we had a house full of hungry people and it was time to just do the damn thing. We let it sit for about 20 minutes.
The actual pulling part of pulled pork, is harder than you might imagine. I've seen it done on tv where it looks as if the butcher is just ever so lightly scraping the meat with a fork and it's falling completely off the bone. Ours did not do this. At first, I was actually worried that we had screwed something up because it took quite a bit of muscle to fork in and rip it apart. Our meat was really tender though, so ultimately I think it was just a matter of technique.
We served it on potato buns, with the two different sauces available, corn on the cob, watermelon, and potato salad.
Everything was pretty gosh darn delicious. We learned a lot, and next time will be even better. For one thing, we plan on building a proper smoker with a large enough chamber to do some ribs, and maybe some chicken along with another pork butt. Our sauces were pretty good, but could use some tweaking. Everyone agreed that they were a little too thin. We aren't looking for molasses consistency, but ours were very loose. Over all, it was a surprisingly successful first super event. RING THE BELL!
