Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Pork butt is "cooked" long before it is tender. There is no reasonable way to rotate an insert fork in under cooked pork butt. It wouldn't rotate in pork butt at 170f which is cooked, just not tender. My worry would be that deeper down the butt is not tender if you are sticking a fork in an inch deep and rotating.

Do you probe your ribs or use the bend test?

 

I don't cook ribs often enough to worry about it. Obviously you're not going to probe the ribs as the reading would be wrong all the time... and before I posted I knew there'd be some naysayers etc... but there is still no excuse for lack of food safety

 

Not a food safety naysayer. I also use probes, since I don't like poking at food to see if it is done. Fish is done when it flakes easily, but I would rather do a quick temp test instead of repeatedly trying to flake it every few minutes. But if I didn't have temp probes, I feel confident that when the pork butt pulls easily or the bones slides right out, that it is done.

 

And I can tell you that the pork is way better at 203F than 190F and the bone would slide out at 190F -

My point is there are a LOT of beginners in this forum and putting proper information out there is the right thing to do.

 

Heritage Berkshire Kurobuta Pork Chop, Garlic Compound Butter, Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onion Cider Gravy










Backstory:

There is an amazing Steakhouse & Grille know as Perry's. Every Friday, they run a Pork Chop Special. A 7 Finger Pork Chop... This pork chop is just outstanding! They have a lunch special of a half sized portion too. I have had it a few times and it is just so good! I finally got around to doing some research and decided to give it a go myself. I watched multiple videos and read various interviews and came up with a plan of action. The gist of the pork chop is this:

• 5 day dry salt cure
• 1 day wet brine
• Smoked over Pecan for 6-8 hours
• Broiled for crust at the end

The Journey:

I figured if I was going to attempt this, I would need a good starting point. And I am always looking for excuses to try new things so I ended up ordering a really nice Rack of Pork from The Wagyu Shop. It was an 8 bone rack, weighing in around 6 pounds. Most I found were already frenched and I wanted all the meat I could get and The Wagyu Shop delivered.










Absolutely pleased with the initial quality of this Pork! Well Marbled and looking good!






Split into half






First up was the Dry Cure. I made up a mix of;

• 3 Tbsp Salt
• 1 Tsp Pepper
• 1/2 Tsp Cayenne

The pork was coated in the rub, placed on a wire rack, and placed into the garage fridge to rest for 5 days. After 5 days, this was what I was greeted with:






I rinsed off the pork and made up a wet brine of the following:

• ¼ cup salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 Cup Apple Juice
• 4 Tbsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbsp Dry Thyme
• Water to cover

I put the pork into the brine and back into the fridge for another 24 hours






I made up a quick pork rub of equal parts of (1 Tsp each):

• Paprika
• Sugar
• Brown sugar
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder
• Ginger powder
• Onion powder
• Rosemary powder
• Ground Mustard
• Cayenne to preference

This was really great! I will be making more of this!






Since Perry's does their Chop for 6-8 hours over pecan, I knew I would have to go low and slow for this one. I set up the Glen Blue 26" Weber with a small 3 briquette snake with small pieces of pecan. I was aiming for 175°F-185°F pit temp to get me to 145°F internal temp. I set up the Vortex as a nice heat shield and got the smoke rolling!






Few Hours in and had to peek...






The kettle held great right about 185°F and after 5 hours I was at 145°F Internal so I pulled it to hold/rest. I put it into the Alto Shaam at 145°F while I was finishing the sides.






I made a pot of mashed potatoes (skin included) which consisted of:

• Russet Potatoes, small cubed, boiled til tender, then mashed
• 6 Tbsp Butter
• 1/2 Cup - 3/4 Cup Half and Half
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Gravy Time! I know Pork Chops and Applesauce go together, but I wanted to try something different... I started out with a good sized sweet onion, sliced up and into some butter!






I cooked these over medium heat until nice and caramelized, about 30 mins, then added in the flour







Next up I added:

• 1 Cup Apple Cider
• 1 Cup Chicken Broth
• Salt and Pepper to taste

I let this simmer for a few minutes to thicken up. This stuff is... WOW! The sweetness, the depth of flavor from the caramelized onion... Just wow... It's not an everyday gravy but I highly recommend trying this once!








And time to play with my food... One last step was to lightly coat the pork in some granulated sugar and then hit it with a torch for a really nice exterior crunch and sweetness! I had some leftover Vampire rub, so I decided to make a compound butter from it for the topping as well.











Final Thoughts:

I had built this up in my head a lot over the last few days. The bar I was chasing was really high.

I'll start out by saying that it was really really good. The rub on the pork was complex, but cohesive. The torched sugar on the outside took it to another level. The Pecan Smoke was noticeable, but subtle. The meat was just flowing with juice. No dry grey pork here! The potatoes were creamy with a bit of texture and the gravy was just one of the best things. It made for a really great pairing.

The knock I have to give myself is the texture of the pork. The total curing process was too much in my book. It had just started to turn a bit "hammy" or "Canadian Bacon" in texture. Not a lot, but just enough that it made me stop and think.

If I do this again, which I will , I will reduce the cure time and brine time to the following:

• 24 hours Salt Cure in Fridge
• 12 Hours Brine
• Smoke at 225°F until 145°F internal for a slightly quicker cook

This was a fun test and a new area for me to play around in. I took lots of notes and am looking forward to another go at it in the future. I'll have to order another one from Perry's someday so I can compare again.

 

Oh man. You just won the internet.............for like a decade.........

 

This


Absolutely freaking AMAZING !!

 

But there was no bacon!... well... there may have been a bit on the rib meat section that was cured enough to be considered bacon...

Tried to find the limits of what I could post

 

It was good eating for sure! and a fun way to mix it up trying some new recipes!

 

195-200 for a pork butt is to get the fat and ligaments to give out so you can "pull" the pork apart.
Pork is cooked at 165. If you were doing a pork roast, that is what you would cook it to in order to slice it. Same with chops, ribs, etc.
Between 165-195/200+, you are just trying to melt the ligaments and fat so it'll let you do your thing.

 

TL;DR

You should have put a summary at the top,,, "I make good chit, try it if you have a few days"

 

Great Job HamHead. Looks great.

 

definitely TL;DR worthy

 

collagen.

Fair point, 180 degree pork is safe but brutal.

 

Now I know why it turned out a touch Hammy...

 

I did lie though, I did read it...

I thought Perry's was a Houston area only thing though?

 

I wonder how a whole pork loin would be? hmmm

 

More widespread than I thought too...

 

I'd just shorten the cure times but It should be pretty darn good too!

 

Me too...used to go to the one in the Woodlands when I lived there.

Theres one near where I am now, in Raleigh! Sweet!

JB