BBQXperiment: Porkstrami

[bhambrewer]

What do you get if you make corned pork, soak it in a change of water, rub it down with mustard and copious amounts of ground black pepper, smoke it, then finish it off in an oven to internal temp 200F?

Porkstrami.

What are the results and conclusions? Well, it dances backwards and forwards between "corned beef" and "ham". I think that's because it could do with hitting an internal temp of 205 instead of 200 - there was still a bit of texture that said "ham". It could possibly also do with a change of soak water to help pull out more of the salt which might help with the "ham" sensation.

The other thing to do is reduce the black pepper a bit - I used ground instead of cracked, so it's pretty spicy. The black pepper heat could do with turning down a smidge, so probably 1 tablespoon ground instead of about 1.5tbsp which I used here.

But overall... yeah, so doing this again! Yum.

 

[Hamdrew]

This was ~3wk cured, wish I'd have taken a bit of the butt chunk's specifics marbling, but alas..

That said, porks neutral slightly sweet taste will always have it be "hammier". You could try to up the umami with anything from worstercheshire to maybe brining with mushroom extract. Even just injecting it with mushroom broth im sure would make a huge difference

 

[bhambrewer]

That said, porks neutral slightly sweet taste will always have it be "hammier". You could try to up the umami with anything from worstercheshire to maybe brining with mushroom extract. Even just injecting it with mushroom broth im sure would make a huge difference

I could add some MSG to the brine.....

 

[Hamdrew]

I could add some MSG to the brine.....

i did on mine and it was very hammy, u want more of a rich mushroomy umami. that said, msg couldnt hurt.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Pretty cool ham. Looks tasty.

 

[bhambrewer]

i did on mine and it was very hammy, u want more of a rich mushroomy umami. that said, msg couldnt hurt.

I made some mushroom ketchup. Hmm....!

 

[bhambrewer]

Pretty cool ham. Looks tasty.

It is indeed!

 

[SmokinAl]

What cut of pork are you using in one photo it looks like a loin, aka Canadian bacon, and in the other it looks like a butt, aka buckboard bacon. Both are good, but if it was a loin I would have pulled it out at 140-145. Still it looks incredible! Edit, after reading it over again I see it was a butt. I think I need to eat lunch & take a nap!
Al

 

[bhambrewer]

What cut of pork are you using in one photo it looks like a loin, aka Canadian bacon, and in the other it looks like a butt, aka buckboard bacon. Both are good, but if it was a loin I would have pulled it out at 140-145. Still it looks incredible! Edit, after reading it over again I see it was a butt. I think I need to eat lunch & take a nap!
Al

Wrong! It's pork cushion meat :)

I buy the cushion meat because, culinarily, it's the same as butt, but the packets have 4 different chunks of meat in them. This allows me to do my BBQXperiments a lot cheaper!

 

[SmokinAl]

Wrong! It's pork cushion meat :)

I buy the cushion meat because, culinarily, it's the same as butt, but the packets have 4 different chunks of meat in them. This allows me to do my BBQXperiments a lot cheaper!

Thank you for clarifying that!
Al

 

[bhambrewer]

Thank you for clarifying that!
Al

I love me some pulled pork, and while the butt is cheaper per pound, the cushion meat is fewer pounds to buy, so the final cost is less.

I save the butt for other uses than just pulled pork. Goan pork vindaloo, Thai curry, sausage making....