A Very Cherry Smoke...Chery Rub, Cherry Smoked, Cherry Glazed Spares & Cherry Chops w/o Glaze: Q-vie

[forluvofsmoke]

Cherry based dry rub, cold/warm/hot cherry smoke and the Smoke Vault 24 will be my tools of trade for today's main dinner course.

My wife picked up a slab of spares and some chops yesterday, and it justy so happens I was wanting to try out my Cherry Mediterranean Pork Rub on another good smoke with spares. I had already tried the rub on grilled chops, but found it doesn't handle the heat very well and charrs too easily. I also tried a cherry based rub on bone-in skin-on grilled chicken thighs last night, and found the same issue was a repeat, so this could very well be a rub that's a no-go for the grill, but it's great for the low & slow cooking in a smoker.

That said, let's get to some pork, rub and smoke, shall we?

I made up another fresh batch of rub for this smoke, while I was doing some tending on another smoke in my ECB (modded Gourmet) and uploading pics, so I measured everything quickly and got started preparing the rub per my instructions in the Wiki for Cherry Rub, and about 10 minutes later the grind was complete and ready for some meat.

Whole dried tart cherries, and, in clockwise orientation from the left, minced garlic, peppercorn, sweet basil leaves, oregano, rosemary, paprika, kosher salt:

Bone-side of untrimmed spares...flap meat was already removed when I opened the package (?), so no chef snackin' later at mid smoke...( 

 )...(

 ):

1st rub application:

Meat-side of spares:

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Into the Smoke Vault 24, with a small handful of cherry smoke wood slivers, burner on high, and the door open awaiting the smoke to begin:

After the smoke started I closed the door and turned the burner to low. Temps came up to 130* for the first 20 minutes and when that lovely cherry smoke aroma begin to diminish, I opened the door back up and cranked the flame to high again for a couple minutes until the cast iron smoke tray was hot enough to generate some smoke again. I Close it up for last time and adjusted the chamber temp to 150* for the next 15 minutes, then pulled it up to 225* to drive it all home. At 1-hr, 20-min, I added another small handful of cherry slivers, as a quick peek indicated the remains were fully charred, but no ashes in the pan, so a nice smoke has been permeating my ribs.

Just into the SV24:

More to follow, including my glaze recipe. I must either be crazy, or shooting from the hip again, 'cause the galaze recipe isn't not even in writing yet...I just now thought of the idea about 1-hr, 45-min into this smoke...I began to wonder what else I could do to top of the ribs for a total cherry flavored explosion, and now, I know!

OK, I had some time to think about the glaze...I'll keep it simple:

1 cup water

3 Tbls minced and ground tart cherries

2 Tbls light brown sugar

Heat on low until pot is hot to touch after wisking the ingredients to mix well.

Simmer uncovered while wisking occassionally until reduced to desired thickness.

Here ya go:

This will likely be a warm/hot/foiled/hot smoke of 0.75/3.5/1/1,  and I'm just touching the 4-hr mark right now, so hold on to yer ponies!

I'm posting this q-view in progress due to pic upload issues with both threads I'm trying to feed today, so, the chops and finish will be later.

Thanks for peeking at my very cherry rib & chop smoke! Back with more ASAP, my computer willing.

Eric

 

[smokinstevo27]

You are a mad rub scientist! I'll be waiting to see those puppies when they are finished.

 

[beer-b-q]

Cherry'O Old Chap, Looks Good...

 

[mballi3011]

Yes sir rea there Eric that looks cherrilious for sure.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Ribs are panned/tented, chops are in and glaze is ready!

 

You are a mad rub scientist! I'll be waiting to see those puppies when they are finished.

Yeah, Steve, I have been leaning a bit towards the wild side of smoking lately.
 

Cherry'O Old Chap, Looks Good...

Thanks Paul, already know that this rubs a great match for milder cuts of pork, but I couldn't resist the spares and chop smoke to try it on. And the glaze, well, that just seemed a killer idea not long after I got the smoke started.
 

Yes sir rea there Eric that looks cherrilious for sure.

Thanks Mark, I think I've flipped over the cherry thing lately...too darn good to not just let it roll! LOL!!!
 

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I kinda lost track of time with all the uploading and basically a triple-smoke going today, but I think it was a 3.5 hr hot smoke @ 225* after 0.75 cold/warm smoke, then into the pan for tenting with a cup of water.

Chops went in shortly after and the glaze was reduced nicely by then as well.

8 chops for a head count of 7, plus a slab of ribs? Yeah, I'll kill 'em all with this smoke! Ha-ha!!:

None other than the remains of the cherry mediterranean rub from this mornings batch for this smoke, and I still have enough for about 2 more chops:

OK, ribs are glazed and finishing as I type. Just checked 'em out a minute ago and the glaze is almost set-up, so chow's coming very soon!

Pics glaze on the ribs and the finish to follow!

Eric

 

[raptor700]

Bring it on home Eric,

You always do a great job 

 

[nwdave]

Uh, you must be a juggler in your free time  (you do have free time, right?).  3 projects going at once.   You really need to get a dehydrator.  I ran the fresh sweet  cherries thru a blender, got a nice smooth paste.  Into the dehydrator for about 8 hours.  Just like a fruit roll.  Much easier to chop into bitty pieces.  Still kinda sticky, but......After years of heavy lifting, the forearms and wrists can't hack the itybity chopping routine.  Now, on your dried cherries, I'm thinking a pizza roller cutter might just be the trick.  (Don't tell anyone until I check it out as a functional action and resolution to your task).

 

[forluvofsmoke]

'Puter took a dump on me, but I'm back with the final prep and FINALE'

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Bring it on home Eric,

You always do a great job 

Thanks, and home it came! As in home run!

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OK, the ribs were very moist and tender as expected, but for unknown reasons didn't want to show much smoke reaction, even with the cold/warm start-up, which is really puzzling. They still have a pretty decent smoke ring as you'll see...nothing to complain about.

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Had a heck of a time trying to get pics right out off the tented pan from the 35* weather...beauty of a January smokin' day, btw...bits of rain/snow here and there, but great mid-winter weather...serious pull-back showing though...before the pan/tent it was minimal, but these ribs are done...cherry glaze and open smoking grate to finish it up now:

 

Just after a good heavy brushing on with the cherry glaze...This is gonna be great!:

I love smoked pork chops, and I love cherry dry rub...I can't ask for much more than this.........:

...but wait, yes I can ask for more!!! (30 minutes @ 250*, then another 30 minutes @ 200*, all with a dry water pan):

BTW, no, that's not charred cherry glaze...it's just a bit more concentrated from the drying/heating on open grate...it's still sticky and gooey to the touch:

These were so tender, I had a difficult time slicing them just with a slight lift of the tongs, and without a cutting board, but the bark was just firm enough to hold 'em together:

 

Now this? Well, these are some primo chops...if you look closely, you can find a bit of grey pork in the middle...yep, I had to look twice just to be sure they were actually cooked all the way through myself...and, yep, melt in your mouth goodness:

I only needed one rib to go with this thich cut chop...jus enough to savor the flavors...but, this chop...oh my:

My wife said the ribs were among the best I've ever doen...yeah...maybe. I've turned out alot of killer ribs in the past  few years...OK, I'd rank 'em in my top 2 or anyway...that glaze kind of sets 'em in a class of their own, I think, being wet/sticky vs dry ribs.

The chops were likely my best from a smoker...the doneness was perfect @ 164-168* when I pulled 'em, and, well, you saw the rest of the story above. That cherry rub...man, just like my red bell pepper rub awhile back...I'm still looking for something it doesn't go well with...someday maybe...LOL!!!

The cherry smoke aroma and flavor was still there in the background of the flavor profile in these ribs, even with all the natural cherry flavors it had to compete with from the dry rub and glaze. The rub is great with pork ribs, btw. Now, the glaze? OMG!!!!!!!!!! Simpicity has met it's finest hour yet again!

I'm not much into the sticky-rib thing as I've only used sauces a couple times, and a I tried a new recipe I concocted about 18 months ago for a citrus/maple glaze...pretty good stuff, I just never really got into it much. This cherry glaze, for the added flavor, man...that tangy/tart cherry with a hint of sweet from the brown sugar...oh yeah! I'd do it again...and again!

Well, it's midnight, and my Smoke Vault got shut-down about 3.5 hours ago.

Hope you enjoyed lookin' as much as I enjoyed cookin'...

...been a pleasure sharing as always!

I'll try to catch up with everyone along the way...been a nightmare uploading this past week, so I miss a ton of replies in the process.

Thanks all!

Eric

 

[les3176]

Awesome looking ribs and chops eric!!!! had me lickin the computer screen!!! very nice!!!

 

[scarbelly]

I will take me a plate or 5 of that - great job

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Uh, you must be a juggler in your free time  (you do have free time, right?).  3 projects going at once.   You really need to get a dehydrator.  I ran the fresh sweet  cherries thru a blender, got a nice smooth paste.  Into the dehydrator for about 8 hours.  Just like a fruit roll.  Much easier to chop into bitty pieces.  Still kinda sticky, but......After years of heavy lifting, the forearms and wrists can't hack the itybity chopping routine.  Now, on your dried cherries, I'm thinking a pizza roller cutter might just be the trick.  (Don't tell anyone until I check it out as a functional action and resolution to your task).

Ha-ha, yeah, I have free time,  but that's only when I'm not working on something new to cook, or when I'm actually cooking...oh, wait a minute...maybe I don't! 3 different items smoking at once isn't bad...just a matter of timing and space management if you really start cwording things. I almost had 3 smokers fired up one weekend a while back, as the two I had running were getting crowded, and then, I started thinking about what else I could smoke that day...

...like I needed more food in the smoker...hah! Most it it went to the freezer for later enjoyment. I have backed away from that extreme for the most part.
 

Sounds like your really working out some bugs for the cherry processing. I'll wait and see what trick you have up your sleeve, Dave. I am pretty set on getting a dehydrator...that will expand my abillities somewhat.

Quote:

Awesome looking ribs and chops eric!!!! had me lickin the computer screen!!! very nice!!!

Thanks Les, I've done many slabs of spares, but these were truely an eating experience for all us. Hmm, I'm still thinking back on the chops, too...that dry rub is really something different. 

Quote:

I will take me a plate or 5 of that - great job

Thanks, wish we could send some your way!
 

Thanks again everyone! Glad I could share fun day and great eats with you!

Eric

 

[rio_grande]

I love cooking with cherrys

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I love cooking with cherrys

My recent use of dried cherries in rubs, brine/cures, and now as a glaze/sauce has really sparked my interest. I already have a few other flavor ideas which I'll likely be bringing to the table in the near future...so many smokes, so little time.

NWDave has been working on dehydrating fresh cherries for some of these recipes, and I think he's onto some great ideas for processing them for rubs, etc. Good stuff for sure. I find it interesting how you can incorporate natural fruit flavors into spice/herb blends and make such a huge impact on the flavor profile.

Eric