Year of the Pig

This past weekend I made my first ever trip to Maine, to attend a wedding in Belfast. Alissa and I jumped at the excuse to get up to Maine, and we had a fantastic weekend enjoying the beautiful Maine coast in mid-June. We were early enough to avoid collision with the Maine tourist hordes, yet we had a beautiful weekend of long, sunny 80 degree days filled with dramatic New England light. Being so close to a National Park, we pushed on a little farther up the coast early on a Friday morning to visit Acadia, and just a couple of miles outside the park, I smelled the smell of burning wood, and turned my head to see an enormous barbecue rig parked on the side of Route 3, in the parking lot of some kind of Church or Tabernacle, right next to the Super Shoes. The sandwich board out front read, “CZY D P1t BBQ” and I knew I couldn’t pass this up. I got a quick OK from Alissa and did a 180, pulling up right next to CZY D’s montrosity of a BBQ pit.

I walked up to CZY D himself and announced that I would be interested in some Ribs. I complimented his rig, and he gave me a quick tour of the smoking chambers loaded with pork shoulders, brisket, ribs, chickens, sausages and BBQ beans. I was kind of in awe of the rig, which was apparently brand new, custom made from somewhere in Texas. He was obviously pretty proud of it. As his first Rib customer of the day, he announced that I would be getting a large (half) rack, which he packed up in a styrofoam box. I was on my way.

It was just before noon and we were again on our way to Acadia, this time with a delicious smell of smoke and ribs filling the cab of the truck. We sped along, headed for the first picnic area of the park, just over the bridge to Mount Desert Island. We got there and pulled into a parking spot. The day was gorgeous with a bright blue sky and we strolled down to the picnic tables looking out toward Frenchman Bay, carrying our box of ribs.

The ribs tasted good, but mainly because we were sitting out at picnic tables in a gorgeous place enjoying the great view and the very pleasant New England weather. The ribs themselves were nothing to write home about. In fact, in other situations, I would call them bad. The meat would barely stay on the bone so that you could hardly seperate the rack into individual ribs without it falling apart into a big meat pile. It was a large meaty rack of spare ribs, including the rib tips. I am fine with the boney and cartilagey rib tips, but these large ribs would probably be difficult to get tender from just smoking. In fact, the very large bones were soft from the cooking like they were boiled forever or pressure cooked. If you weren’t overly careful when biting meat off the bone your teeth could sink right into and through the bone, which when you aren’t expecting the taste of bone in your mouth, is pretty nasty. I would say that the meat itself was actually pretty flavorful, but that didn’t matter much cause the whole rack was drowning in a mass of sweet, sticky barbecue sauce, which was absolutely overwhelming. CZY D has him one fancy rig, but needs some lessons in cooking ribs!

Anyway, I still enjoyed my ribs, sitting there in the sun and planning our day ahead at Acadia, which is a really beautiful National Park. I ate 3 ribs then and one later, watching the sun set from the awesome vantage of Mount Cadillac, making for a total of 86 ribs in the year of the pig. Or, about 2 pigs 26, if you prefer.

Comments(2)

This weekend was the 5th year for the Big Apple Barbecue, and the first time I have been able to attend. The event was Saturday and Sunday in Madison Square Park and takes on the task of educating New Yorkers about real Southern Barbecue (and also benefiting the Madison Square Park Conservancy).

I had heard of this event in years past as being more pain than pleasure to attend because of the mobs of hungry, hot New Yorkers waiting “on line” for their plates of Barbecue. I have to say that I think the event planners worked out their past problems this year. There were certainly still mobs of New Yorkers to deal with, but the lines were manageable, and you could easily get around and sample your barbecue of all varieties to your little arteries’ content. The weather was beautiful and mild to boot.

I regret that I did not get to sample as much barbecue as I would have liked and that I only stayed for an hour or so, but I was thoroughly impressed with the event. For either a barbecue lover or novice, there was a wide spectrum of American barbecue to see and sample, a chance that you rarely get in one place. The Pitmasters hailed from a wide range of the BBQ-belt (Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina) as well as from several of the real New York BBQ restaurants (Blue Smoke, Hill Country, Rack-n-Soul, Dinosaur) and each had a tent set up around Madison Square Park where each group prepared and sold one $8 plate of barbecue. For the most part, each plate consisted of one main item such as beef brisket, pulled pork, or ribs, and one side such as beans or coleslaw.

As for me, I sampled some pork, of course, and, believe it or not, not the ribs. I know. The pulled pork at Charleston, South Carolina’s Black Jack BBQ looked good to me. It didn’t hurt that the line was short, and I was hungry. As I went through the line, they had just taken out some pork shoulders and were picking them apart as I waited. They looked great, and the Blackjack pork-puller offered me the bone for my dog as it slid easily out of the shoulder. I don’t have a dog. I was served my sandwich and was happy to see an open spot at a picnic table right there in front of the tent. The sandwich was good, the pork was juicy and flavorful. Certainly it hit the spot. I sampled their mustard sauce, which was tart and spicy, and also good.

With my hunger sated, I walked around for a while and checked out the rest of the festival. I wanted to try it all, but alas, I did not have the stomach for it. I passed up some great looking tents, including the beef ribs from Hill Country (I figured there was no reason to sample one of the local joints) and the one that everyone wanted to see and sample, the whole hog from Mitchell’s BBQ of Wilson, NC. Certainly, it is always a sight to see whole hogs on the on their own custom smokers:

And how about them cracklins:

And this dude from Mitchell’s was possibly the most photogenic fellow at the festival:

I walked by the Blue Smoke tent and felt bad. Not a single person was in line for their apple brined and apple wood smoked chicken, which I am sure was delicious:

Now I love smoked chicken, and I appreciate that they were doing something besides beef and pork, but I bet they learned their lesson about chicken this year if it went like this all weekend.

Lastly, I tasted the Brisket and Sausage from Baker’s Ribs of Dallas, Texas. For the record, I thought the brisket was good, although not my favorite, and the BBQ sauce that they had was tangy and sweet, but kind of awful. Definitely not my favorite. I did like the sausage, though. It had a soft hotdog-like consistency with a wonderful maple and smoke flavor.

If you want more info and good pictures from this event, definitely check out this great blog, “Off The Broiler”, which has very good coverage of this event including two podcasts featuring interviews with many of the pitmasters and participants of the Big Apple Block Party.

Overall, it was a great event. Seems like the bugs have been worked out, and I can only imagine it will get better. Next year I will be there with more time and a Bubba Fast Pass!

Comments(2)

Yesterday, Squidocto, Alissa and myself were up for grabbing some pork-infused lunch and we decided to head over to try the long awaited Fette Sau in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We were all very hungry and excited, and we drove up alongside of their chain link fence to see that is was locked, razor wired and closed, as usual. I think this is about the fourth time I have tried to eat there. I don’t think it is ever open, which makes me sad. We are going to start calling it Geschlossene Sau, a much more fitting name.

But this story has a very happy ending, cause lucky for us there was another place in Williamsburg that I had been wanting to try: Pies and Thighs, on South Fifth and Kent Street, right in the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge. We had enough energy left to get over there, and as soon as we drove by the place, I knew I was gonna love it.

Pies and Thighs is a tiny kitchen tacked onto the back of the Rock Star bar, a dark, stale-beer smelling dive bar with a typically colorful Brooklyn men’s room:

The kitchen itself is hardly more than a closet, full of activity and great looking food. A delicious looking rhubarb pie was being assembled as we looked over the menu, spelled out with moveable letters on an old board:

The dining room of Pies and Thighs is a concrete yard, sporting red and white plaid cloths covering the tables, a nice looking smoker, razor wire and graphitti, against the dramatic backdrop of the Williamsburg bridge. It’s a great looking place, Brooklyn charm at its best.

We placed our order in the kitchen and the staff were very friendly. Everything looked good, and we ordered up a nice sampling.

It was damn hot (90 degrees) out back so we opted for the stale indoors of the bar, sipping on our sweet, refreshing and delicious Lemonade Iced Tea drinks. I anxiously awaited our food, and when it came I was not disappointed. I, of course, opted for the pulled pork sandwich, with a side of Okra Pie. Squidocto tried the Fried Chicken with Mac and Cheese, and Alissa ordered the Catfish and Cornbread, with Collards.

No one hesitated to dig in and we all sampled everything.

I thought the pulled pork was top notch. Smokey and moist and full of flavor, not drowned in BBQ sauce. The other side of the open bun was loaded with a minced coleslaw, that I found quite good. The pork and slaw mixed with the bun as you ate, merging into one fully enjoyable, but messy, porky treat. The okra pie was delicious–kind of like a quiche made from Okra, hominy, and cheese. A hit, even with Okra-naysayer, Squidocto. As for the other dishes, both the chicken and the catfish came out smoking hot and fried to perfection. I especially liked the Catfish which was sweet and rich with a nice cornmeal crust. The Cornbread itself was good,and definitely not Yankee-style-yellow-cake cornbread. The browned edge from heating it up on the griddle was a nice touch as well. The other sides were good too. The mac and cheese was good and no frills, dripped with tobasco sauce. The Collards were excellent, savory with leaves tender like butter. I made sure to help Alissa finish those off.

The one thing we regrettably did not try were the pies. I have to say they looked absolutely wonderful, but we were all just too full. I can guarantee they should not be missed, and warrant a trip to Pies and Thighs on their own. We will be back for pie, I am certain.

All I have to say is that Pies and Thighs is a great place. It is simple, well-executed, comfort food at its best, just like it should be and rarely is. If you find yourself in the area you owe it to yourself to stop in. Hell, if you are nowhere near there, you owe it to yourself to stop in.

Comments(2)

Question: Other than remembering all of our brave military folks of past and present, what is better to do on Memorial Day than barbecue?
Answer: Nothing.

It was going to be my first day home all day for a couple weeks, so it seemed like a good idea to smoke some ribs. That morning, I got out the electric smoker while Alissa prepared the ribs and pulled off the boneside membrane.

She is getting good at that! We again used the mustard slather I had saved from a couple weeks ago (see the Barons Special Sauce from The Ribulator, Entry #17) and coated the ribs liberally with it using a brush. Then I sprinkled the ribs generously on both sides with the spicy Baron’s Cajun Rub (see the recipe in The Ribulator, Entry#18) since last time I made ribs, we all thought the rub could use a little more kick. The smoker was going and I dropped the ribs into the rib rack, again over a bowlful of beans–Pinto and black beans mixed with onion, the rest of the mustard slather, some ketchup and BBQ sauce. I pretty much left them alone for 3 hours, and then took a look, flipped the ribs over in the rack and let them go for another couple hours.

After about 5 hours, they looked pretty done, but I basted them a couple times with some leftover Memphis Basting Sauce (see recipe in The Ribulator, Entry #17) and let them go for another hour. Then, at the end I gave the ribs a light brushing with some left over BBQ sauce, and let that set up for about 15 or 20 minutes. Then, I took the ribs off the smoker and let them rest on the cutting board for about 10 or 15 minutes before slicing them up and taking them in the back yard for dinner.

These ribs were damn good. They were not as smokey as I would ultimately like, but were full of flavor and the rub added a nice assertive kick. I didn’t think that they were that spicy, but by neighbor Pete, who tried a couple, thought they were quite hot. I liked the light BBQ sauce that was only barely present but added a juicy outside and a little sweetness to combat the cajun spice. Overall, very good, I was happy. I had 4. And 2 more for lunch the next day, making my count 80 for the Year of the Pig. Thank you pigs, one and all.

Comments(2)

This was a great weekend for pigs and fun. It was Memorial Day weekend, and the M Shanghai String Band headed up to Cape Cod, for some fun, sun, music, and even ribs. We arrived on Friday afternoon and set up camp at Maurice’s campground, which was perfectly pleasant and also the most expensive campground I have ever stayed in, at $80-92 per night (for 2 adjacent tent sites). Oh well, this is Cape Cod, right? If you don’t got money get lost!

Anyway, some of us left the campsite and headed to the nearest beach to check out the surf and skip some rocks, and just down the road my nostrils were greated with the unmistakably delicious smell of hickory smoke. My stomach rumbled as my head turned to the sight of a nice looking smoker right there on the side of the road, a column of rich smoke rolling down the road from Russ and Marie’s Marconi Beach BBQ Restaurant. Marconi Beach, by the way, is the site of one of Guglielmo Marconi’s wireless radio stations. I was excited and knew that BBQ joint was gonna be on my list of tourist attractions while there on Cape Cod.

The next day, several of us showed up hungry for some Barbecue. Squidocto, Glendon and myself split a full rack of ribs, and I can promise you I was excited after seeing that great looking smoker and smelling that hickory smoke up and down the road. The food arrived on a nice lookin platter, served with small sides of BBQ beans, cole slaw, grilled bread and a baked sweet potato with maple cinnamon butter.

I have to say as soon as the ribs were in front of me, the disappointment was already setting in. They were completely slathered and dripping in sauce. Sometimes I am ok with that, but I wasn’t expecting it here. Then I took my first bite, and was disappointed again by the taste and texture. The ribs themselves were quite bland, the sauce sweet and overpowering. The membrane on the boneside of the ribs was still intact, and although it wasn’t that tough, it looked bad and could have led to some of the blandness by preventing the smoke from penetrating into the ribs. The ribs were overly tender and falling off the bone like they had been boiled, however they did show a smoke ring, but had very little smoke flavor. Lastly, one more criticism was that at least half of the rack were “shiners,” meaning that there was no meat on the bottom of the bone. Not a great cut of ribs. As you can tell I was disappointed. Sometimes its just not smart to expect too much, and set yourself up for such disappointment. That said, I like ribs and it was still a nice lunch. I had 3, making my Year of the Pig count 74.

After lunch we headed to Provincetown, which is a beautiful little New England beach town. We played an afternoon set on the local radio station, WOMR, and then headed to the venue we were playing in that night which interestingly was called THE SQUEALING PIG, or THE PIG for short. I thought that was a good sign. We got a free meal there, and I ordered the “Hog Burger” which was described as “Thick-Cut Smoked Bacon, served with Gorgonzola Cheese and Chipoltle Mayo.” I thought that sounded pretty great, but when it came it was just a beef patty with one sad shrunken piece of weenie bacon. Certainly no hog burger. Again with the disappointment. I forgave them quickly though, cause playing the PIG that night was a great. The show was a blast and we couldn’t have asked for a better night. The staff was great to us, and the audience even better. I can’t wait to go back to the Provincetown PIG. Thanks to all that made it happen!

Comments(2)

I read a review last week from someone’s blog about Northeastern barbecue joints. He went a little ga-ga in his review of the Manhattan restaurant RUB, (see the Ribulator, Entry #15) and as I left work that night, I thought, I am pretty damn lucky to walk by this place everyday on my way home from work. So, I called in a takeout order for some smoked chicken and burnt ends of brisket, which I know (sorry) is not pork. It was so good, that the very next night, I decided to get some takeout ribs, and again I was not disappointed, they are so damn fine. That’s all I have to say.

Those were 4 superb ribs. That makes the current ribulation 71.

(They went great with Fiddleheads too. Get ‘em while you can!)

Comments Off

I had bought a 1/2 a pork picnic at the supermarket and I decided to smoke that and make pulled pork for dinner on Sunday. I had invited over Corin (Crushinator) and Renee and Matt (our own Squidocto) for a relaxing Sunday evening dinner in the back yard and also found out that my housemate Kat and her friend Matt were planning to make a bunch of food too, including some ribs that they had made before and told me about. Sounded promising!

Neither Alissa nor I had ever cooked a Pork Picnic before, and the night before we had trimmed off the thick layer of skin. Wow that pig skin is a pain. This was a half picnic, weighing in at about 3 pounds. I figured I would just smoke it like a Boston Butt, and it would be fine. I read that it was less fatty than a Boston Butt, so I planned to baste it frequently. We used the same Mustard Slather from the day before, and put together a new rub from the Paul Kirk Book, called the “The Baron’s Cajun Rub” (see below for recipe) because we wanted something a little spicier. We tossed it on the smoker around 10 am. I let the rub set in for a few hours, and then started basting the picnic every 30-45 minutes, with the Memphis Basting Sauce from the previous post.

Meanwhile, Kat and Matt prepared their Ribs (see Ribs-a-la-Kat):

To make a long story short, I smoked that picnic for a good 7 hours and it did not appear to have gotten tender yet. I got out the left over ribs from the day before and heated them up so that we would have dinner, and just let the Picnic smoke on, thinking that my smoker was just too low of a temperature (around 200) and that it was gonna take a long time. We had a fine dinner with swiss chard, bbq beans, coleslaw, corn and ribs. And soon after, Kat and Matt were down with the 2nd course, finishing off their Stout-boiled ribs on the grill and then grilling up some seriously delicious red bell peppers stuffed with hominy and jack cheese and avacado. Nice job Matt! As for the ribs, I thought they were very good. Very tender, but not of the falling off the bone stew meat variety. The sauce was tangy and spicy. It was a good method, definitely worth experimenting with, although I must add, smoking is definitely my favorite way to go so far.

As for the picnic, we continued to smoke it and baste it. It ended up being quite dried out. We still pulled the meat apart and mixed it with the a BBQ sauce from the Paul Kirk book and a little apple sauce. It ended up being good for lunches during the week, but definitely not worth showing off to your friends.

Anyway, another 4 ribs brought me up to 67 ribs. Thanks to all the piggies, near and far!

**The Baron’s Cajun Rub
1/4 cup Cayenne Pepper
1/4 Sweet Hungarian Paprika
2 Tbs Chili Seasoning
2 Tbs Fresh Ground Black Pepper
1 Tsp White Pepper
1 Tsp Dry Mustard (I used Coleman’s)
1 Tsp Ground Thyme
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Onion Powder
1/2 Tsp Rubbed Sage

Comments(3)

WOW. I feel that I have a lot to report on from this weekend, as there was a lot of Pig action. Let me start by mentioning that for the past couple weeks I have been reading Paul Kirk’s book “Championship Barbecue” which I got shortly after my review of his restaurant, R.U.B. (see the Ribulator, Entry #15). It’s a pretty great book with a lot of good information about barbecue, and a ton of recipes. It will make you dream about delicious smoked meat. Last week, I had busted out the smoker to try some of his suggestions for chicken and I was not disappointed, but this weekend it was time to smoke the real deal: RIBS.

***A BASIC WORD ABOUT MY SMOKER: First off, I have THIS SMOKER which is an electric “bullet” or “water” smoker. I think that review is pretty accurate. This smoker is ok, but definitely not awesome, so I wouldn’t run out and buy it. I may have to try some of the modifications that guy suggests, or just go for a Weber Smokey Mountain. That said, the advantage of this smoker is that it is damn easy and low maintenance. Turn it on and it basically keeps a constant temperature, and you can walk away and not worry about it. It certainly has its limitations, including the fact that it seems barely able to get up to the temperature it needs to be at. Also, I don’t think that it generates quite as much smoke as a a charcoal smoker would, but that said, it does a pretty nice job and is a good way to get started smoking. For those of you that don’t know, the electric “bullet” or “water” smoker is basically a little cylindrical tower that looks a little like R2-D2. Inside, it has a heating element in the bottom, around which you put your wood chips or chunks. This provides the heat and the smoke. Above that is a water pan, which helps to stabilze the temperature, and keeps the smoker moist. Above that are 2 18-inch racks, where the smokables go.

Anywho, I got up early on Saturday morning and got out the ribs I had bought the day before from the local supermarket. The ribs looked pretty good to me, trimmed St. Louis Style. Alissa and I did our best to remove the membrane from the bone side of the rack. It definitely takes a little skill and is annoying, but it’s a must. Once done, I followed a basic technique from the Paul Kirk book, coating the rack in a Mustard Slather (recipe below) and then sprinkling them with a basic leftover rub I had from last summer. After that, it was into the smoker. I put the ribs on the top rack, and under them I put a big bowl of pinto and kidney beans (mixed with onion, garlic, bell pepper, leftover mustard slather, and ketchup) to catch all the porky drippings. I put a mix of hickory, apple and oak chips in the smoker pan, and let it smoke.

It seemed like that temperature stayed around 210 or so, and I smoked it for a total of about 5 1/2 hours. For the last half of that time I basted the ribs with the “Memphis Basting Sauce” (see below).

We took the ribs out and I thought they were pretty damn good. They were tender and tasty. This is definitely on the track to my ideal cooking method for ribs. I mean, you just can’t beat smoking.

I think the rub could have been set a little more, and maybe been a little more assertive, but the actual meat was nice and tender, smokey and flavorful. We ate some for dinner–I had 4, bringing me up to 63 ribs–and wrapped the rest, about a half rack, in the plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. I would like to add the that beans were delicious. I think that smoking under pork is about the best way known to man to cook beans.

But that is just about half the story cause there was more to come on Sunday…stay tuned for part 2.

RECIPES
The Baron’s Special Sauce (aka Mustard Slather):
1 Generous Cup firmly packed light brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 Teaspoon White Pepper
1 12-ounce can beer, flat
1 32-ounce jar prepared yellow mustard
2 tablespoons Louisianna hot sauce

Memphis Basting Sauce
3 cups water
1 1/2 Cups red wine vinegar
3/4 cup Heinz 57 (I substituted KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce)
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1/4 prepared yellow mustard
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon Seasoned Salt
2 Teaspoons Liquid Smoke (optional)
***Combine and simmer over medium heat for 15 min. Use Baste warm.

Comments(2)

I was chatting this morning with Ben, a nice fellow I work with, and as in all good conversations, the topic of Barbecue eventually came up. You see, Ben here is from San Antonio, and claims to know of the best Barbecue spot in the world. I was immediately skeptical. He described a little town in central Texas, called Llano. He said as you drive in towards Llano, the first thing you see is a rising pillar of smoke in the distance, leading directly to a place called Coopers. The image in my mind was compelling, so I had to investigate. I quickly found the place on the internets, Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. Hmm. Does look pretty good. I looked a little more, and found this great review from dallasfood.org of a trip to Llano to visit Cooper’s and some other places. Wow, it sounds REALLY good. I wish I could go! Just a quick trip to Llano please!

READ IT HERE

Comments Off

I have been back home in Louisville for my Grandmother’s funeral this weekend, and despite the unfortunate circumstances, it has been a real nice time seeing all the friends and family. I always love spending time with my cousins Brian and Robyn when I am home. They are great people, and I must say Brian is an excellent cook, and that even extends to Barbeque. Robyn and Brian know of my recent addiction to pigs and graciously invited me and Alissa and some other friends over for a night of good barbeque, sitting in the backyard enjoying the nice Kentucky spring.

Brian busted out the well-used charcoal “bullet” water smoker, and loaded it with a rubbed pork shoulder, getting it started around 9 am. For those of you unfamiliar with this type of smoker, there is a lower pan behind the hatch in the front that is where you build your charcoal fire. Above that is a water pan that blocks the direct heat from the charcoal, helps stabilize the temperature, and keeps the smoking chamber a little wet. Above the water pan are 2 racks, where the meat goes. These smokers are simple, effective, and a great bargain at about $35.

Alissa and I came over at about 5 or so. I checked out the butt, which was looking and smelling great. Brian used some water soaked hickory and mesquite chunks on charcoal fire for the smoke. In case you don’t know, Brian was cooking a “Boston Butt” which is actually a cheap cut of pork from the shoulder, more appropriately called a Pork Shoulder. Apparently the name Boston Butt comes from the way less desirable cuts of pork were packed in barrels called “Butts” in pre-revolutionary New England. The cut is tough and loaded with fat and must be slow cooked to break it down and make it tender, hence making it popular for barbeque. It is the cut that is used for “pulled pork.”

After we got there, Brian had us prepare the mop sauce, which we applied a couple times during the last hour or so of smoking.

We brought the butt in, and Brian finished it off in the oven at 300 F for about an hour. In the meantime we hung out and had a fine time. There was a cute baby, Anna, to play with. She obviously takes after me in her fashion sense:

My cousin Robyn is a vet, and does not hide her love of animals. In addition to her 4 cats, they have a Redbone Coonhound with more than a little energy. Some of their friends brought over their dogs as well, including a Golden Retriever and last but certainly not least, a Great Dane named Zeus.

But you aren’t really here to read about dogs and babies, right? This is about Pigs! So, while the Pig was in oven, we whipped up a nice simple coleslaw, and some delicious potato salad (small golden potatoes with mayo, olive oil, scallions, and the bacon makes all the difference)

Soon the Butt was done, and we let it sit for awhile to cool. We removed the fat cap and Alissa and I picked it apart into nice chunks, getting rid of any chunks of fat. The butt had a nice deep red smoke ring, was moist and smokey, melting in your mouth with smokey intensity. Love it! I could still smell it on my fingers this morning, and it made me suck on my fingers like a baby. Brian added the pulled pork to a little bit of bottled bourbon BBQ sauce, and some chicken stock, and kept it warm in a crock pot.

Brian thought that it could have smoked longer, and been a little more tender and easier to pull apart. I thought it was just fine. You just can’t beat the smoked butt. Yum, yum, and more yum. Thanks again Brian for smoking!

Comments Off