Fathers day butt prep

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damon555

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jun 26, 2010
464
35
Middle Tennessee
Time to start the prep work for my fathers day smoke. This will be a very similar version of my previously posted brined , no rub butt experiment (http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/188274/experiment). Last time the butt was brined for 24 hours....this time they are going to get 30+ hours in the brine.

Here's the run down.....

2 beautiful pork butts....The bottom is a frozen 6.5 pounder from save-a-lot that was 99 cents a pound.....the top one is a fresh 10.5 pounder that I just picked up at Food lion for $1.29/lb.


My brine concoction is OJ, Apple Juice, Lemonade, 2 cups of salt, 2 gallons of water and 1 gallon of ice


This process is very simple and it works wonderfully......Here they are in their ice cold bath


Tomorrow night they will go on the 22.5" WSM naked as can be.....there will be no rub, no foil, no spritzing, no mopping......the charcoal, pecan chunks and perhaps a little oak will be all the extra flavor these bad boys need after the brine gets done with them......

Updates to follow......
 
I have also assigned myself the task of making homemade french fries......10 pounds worth!


I'm going to par boil them and par fry them tonight. Then it's into the freezer to break open the cells for that light, fluffy texture. Come Sunday they'll be all ready for their final dip in the fryer....French fries are the perfect side dish to pulled pork if I do say so myself. 

I was going to buy a 10 pound bag of Russets but they were too small....Luckily they had the large Russet baking potatoes on sale for 69 cents a pound at Food lion....I cleaned them out 
biggrin.gif
 
and we're off.....here's the pasty white, nasty lookin' butts destined for the WSM


Never fear....the finished product will look much better!

And to top it all off here's what I accomplished last night with my french fries........


Par boiled, par fried and sitting in the freezer getting ready for the final finishing fry at tomorrows cookout. Why did I freeze them you ask? Well as it turns out that's how McDonalds does their fries and the only thing I actually like from Mickey D's happens to be the fries.....I found this article online and followed the recipe to a tee (except I cut the fries 1/2"x1/2" vs the 1/4" cut that he used) http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives...ake-perfect-mcdonalds-style-french-fries.html  ..... Initial test were delicious! My family raved about the test batch that I made last night. I don't expect them to last long tomorrow......

More to come in the A.M.......
 
The 6.5 pounder was done in 12 hours....The 10.5 pounder is at 185ish......I ran @ 215 all night and just bumped it up to 225. The timing is going to be perfect. Everything should be done by 12:30.

No pics of the smaller one but here is the big one in the final stretch....the color is just fantastic. Not rubbing really shows off what smoke alone can do for appearance. 


In a few hours there will be very little left......then it'll be time to do it all over again!
 
Dang! That butt looks amazing! Since you didn't rub or inject did you make any dipping or finishing sauces for them or, the brining and smoke were all they needed?
 
 
Dang! That butt looks amazing! Since you didn't rub or inject did you make any dipping or finishing sauces for them or, the brining and smoke were all they needed?
No sauce what so ever....What I did do after I scraped the fat off (I leave all the fat on for flavor then get rid of it after it rests) was pull the butts in the foil that they were wrapped and rested in......doing it like that mixes all the juices that pooled up in the foil back in with the meat. I set a bottle of sauce on the table next to the BBQ for anyone that wanted it.....Not one single person used it. Some folks that had no idea how it was prepared were able to pick out some of the brine flavors in the bark......and I heard many say they've never tasted bark that delicious. My butt rubbing days are probably over.

I've recommended recipes before but I gotta tell you guys....Give this a shot....You will not be sorry.
 
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