Advanced methods

longhorn59

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Jan 11, 2016

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• Feb 18, 2016

• #1

Just wondering if freezing a pork butt and then thawing it completely prior to cooking is a way to break down the meat fibers more ahead of time? Also, what about double-barking...not double-parking.  Smoke the butt until you get a nice bark, then quickly slap on some more rub and smoke it further. Any experience with either method?  

 

SmokinAl

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• Feb 18, 2016

• #2

I'm not a food scientist but I'm pretty sure that freezing a butt won't break down the fibers. I see nothing wrong with adding rub to a butt after it has cooked for a while. I always smoke my butts in an aluminum pan sitting in their own juices. After about 12 hours I baste them with the pan juice every hour or so. I get incredible bark that way.

Al

 

daveomak

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• Feb 18, 2016

• #3

Freezing in anything other than a blast freezer causes ice crystals to form inside the meat tissue...   thus cutting the cell walls...  moisture loss, flavor loss etc.... 

My understanding on bark....  it is the outside layer of meat that has dehydrated and hardened...   casehardening if you will....  It can only happen once.....

 

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