Citrus pulled pork

[SmokinEdge]

Trying something new (to me at least) a citrus marinated pork butt. Inspired by carne asada, but usually I use blood orange juice in the mix and my mother is coming over for supper (she does this two nights a week since my dad passed in 2010) and is allergic to oranges. All other citrus is fine, but no orange. Soo, I decided to mix up grapefruit, lime juice fresh squeeze, with salt, sugar, and fresh garlic blended, then marinated for over night and smoked. I’m still working on making a finishing sauce out of the mix I separated from the marinade. We will see what I come up with. The sweet/tart of the citrus tastes amazing. Stay tuned.

 

[chilerelleno]

Watching

 

[thirdeye]

Great color on that! I make a Cuban Mojo marinade with sour orange juice, plus spices. I'll be watching to see how the flavors turn out.

 

[SmokinEdge]

145* IT that’s when I pull wrap and finish when I’m in a hurry. This will go into a roasting pan covered with foil and finished in the oven at 300* until probe tender.
Here in western Colorado we have much different woods available to us in this forest/desert area. This meat was first smoked for two hours on mesquite lump and broadleaf cottonwood bark. This bark is very woody very thick. The smoke is very mild and has a “hammy” taste on pork. Back in the old west days when all meat was driven by trail to Dodge City or later Kansas City Kansas to be put on the rail, most of the meat was processed there and shipped as such to points East. In those days the smoke tenders used cottonwood bark for their smoke houses. They said that it was the only smoke that did not make their eyes tear from tending the meat in the smoke houses, so the preferred this smoke.
The cottonwood was plentiful along the rivers and could be locally sourced. I use it still and imparts a very unique but mild flavor to meats.

 

[Blues1]

Cool. Sounds delicious! Waiting too...

 

[texomakid]

Cottonwood? I never knew. The things we learn hanging around here.
Watching

 

[SmokinEdge]

Cottonwood? I never knew. The things we learn hanging around here.
Watching

The bark, specifically, from dead dried out “grey wood” trees.
The wood itself, is fine, but very ashy to the point of flying ash that lands on the meat. Also the wood is soft and does not cook well heat wise. The bark is used primarily as a smoke producer, not a heat source. The smoke is blue, and yummy.

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Looking good !

 

[RichGTS]

Following

 

[HalfSmoked]

Sounds good waiting for the finish.

Warren

 

[yankee2bbq]

Looks good so far! Can’t wait!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Pinto beans.

 

[jcam222]

Very cool spin on pulled pork!’ Love it.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Avocado pico.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The pork.

The finish as tacos.

 

[Fueling Around]

Nice looking butt. Never tried the citrus profile.
145° internal temp means the exterior is a lot warmer and stopped taking in flavor so why waste the smoke (wood or bark).
I used to finish off most of my pulled pork in the oven in a foil wrapped foil pan to seal in the flavor.

Now cottonwood. Hmm. Never thought about separating the bark and using it. Using the whole log doesn't emit a good scent and burns up very quickly.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Nice looking butt. Never tried the citrus profile.
145° internal temp means the exterior is a lot warmer and stopped taking in flavor so why waste the smoke (wood or bark).
I used to finish off most of my pulled pork in the oven in a foil wrapped foil pan to seal in the flavor.

Now cottonwood. Hmm. Never thought about separating the bark and using it. Using the whole log doesn't emit a good scent and burns up very quickly.

Correct, Sir.
Now as to cottonwood. Here there are two types. A narrow leaf, and a broad leaf. The narrow leaf is more like a poplar in looks, is stinky, and has thin bark. These are no good at all, for anything.
Then there is the broadleaf cottonwood. Massive tree that produces some mighty bark. Maybe 1 1/2” to 2” thick. This tree is useful for cooking, if dried a couple years. I’m no expert, but I know what works, and this tree served as smoke wood for the native American, Utes here, and for the early pioneers west. It’s good, well the bark is anyway. Mild but Smokey. We have only one hardwood here, gamble oak, besides fruit trees. Every other tree is evergreen. Aspen grows here, and works ok, but super mild, good for fish.

 

[SmokinEdge]

So I made a finishing sauce with 1 cup of grapefruit and lime juice blended with a couple cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, add 1 cup chicken broth, 1/2 tsp dill, 2 tsp worshestershire, 1 cup of Riesling white wine. Reduced slightly.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Man well worth the wait.

Warren

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks real good!
That is a delicious looking meal!
Nicely done!
Al