Fork Tender Porksteaks

[petehalsted]

Being from St. Louis I have had a lot of "backyard porksteaks", it's a stable of the St. Louis summer diet.

But there is very little standard beyond that. You will find guys doing them hot and fast on the grill, others low and slow in the cooker, yet others charing them on the grill and then basically boiling them in sauce.

None of those methods give the exact results I want. I want fork tender, sauced but not drowning, with fat completely renders where there is no "chewy fat left". Note this is one of the few things that I do eat sauced.

I have tried a few different methods of "smoking" them but never got it right. One of the challenges with Porksteaks is all those different densities of meat that make up the shoulder.

So today I set out to try again, and I think I just about nailed it.

These were 100% fork tender, and there was 0 fat left that wasn't edible and delicious.

FYI, the rub, sauce, and glaze are mine. The sauce is pretty close to Sweet Baby Rays, just a touch sweeter, and the glaze is that sauce with some honey and blackberry jelly added.

The smoker temp may surprise you, but I ran it at 300, kind of compromising between the low and slow and the hot and fast methods. The basics of the method is just like ribs except 1.5/1/.5

Here are the detail steps:

1. Apply Rub
2. 1.5 Hours on Grates
3. In Covered Foil Pan with few pats of butter, brown sugar, and about 1/4 cup of pineapple juice, for 1 hour
4. Remove Cover, drain Liquid, Apply Sauce to both sides, and back in for 30 minutes (25 next time)
5. Remove from pans, place on grates, glaze the tops, and in the smoker for 20 minutes (15 next time)

These might have been just a touch dry, the wife said they were not. But next time I will do 25 minutes for step 4. And the sauce was starting to char a bit too much, so I will be doing step 5 for 15 minutes next time.

And what you have all been waiting for, the money shot (Note steps above were done 3 steaks to a pan, I just combined them to bring in the house):

Just killing some time on a Sunday. Tomorrow night is my first opportunity to prepare a meal for our new daughter-in-law.

This bad boy (3 bone 7.25 lbs) is all prepped and ready to go:

 

[meatallica]

Those pork steaks look awesome!!

 

[chilerelleno]

Wow! I'd like to be breaking bread with y'all tonight.
Those pork steaks look divine.
Nice cook.
Like!

275°-300° is considered by most to be Hot-n-Fast temps, not middle of the road between it and Low-n-Slow.
375° and up is what I'm calling Extreme Hot-n-Fast.

 

[mike243]

Love them ,they look great but i'm diabetic and shy away from sugar for the most part,got a big pack in the fridge that will be divided into a couple of dinners,1/2" thick is my preference and done on the weber with some hickory shag bark, A little rub of your choice thrown on and grilled til done and not dried out. not much better eating in a short amount of time

 

[chef jimmyj]

Nice work. We cook and eat ours like Beef Steak. They get Grilled or Pan Fried, with SPOG. We cook them to 145, medium, and serve with a pile of Caramelized Onions and mashed Potatoes. Not fork tender but as tender as any NY Strip Beef Steak...JJ

 

[chopsaw]

Those look good . Nice shrink at the bone .

 

[petehalsted]

275°-300° is considered by most to be Hot-n-Fast temps, not middle of the road between it and Low-n-Slow.

Thanks Chile, you are welcome at my table anytime!

I wasn't referring to the Hot-and-fast smoker method. I was referring to way a lot of St. Louisans grill them. Let's just say you better be wearing a turnout coat when you open the lid to the grill, I have seen 6-foot flames shot out. I will say that method sure makes for tasty crispy fat, just not a fan of what it does for the lean parts. But once they dunk it in the boiling pot of sauce for an hour, it's hard to tell. LOL.

 

[petehalsted]

1/2" thick is my preference

I forgot to mention, my method requires at least a 1 inch porksteak. I do have a pack of thin cut ones in the freezer that I will either grill or "pan fry" on the griddle.

Sorry to hear about the diabetes, my wife also suffers. I am sure her number won't be great tonight.

 

[petehalsted]

They get Grilled or Pan Fried, with SPOG. We cook them to 145, medium, and serve with a pile of Caramelized Onions and mashed Potatoes.

You are going to have a hardtime getting me to turn down any meal that includes caramelized onions and mashed potatoes!

 

[chilerelleno]

LMAO... You Northern boys be getting crazy on the grill.

I love pork steaks too, but mine usually get cooked up on the grill as Al pastor.
Marinated and cooked over a blazing hot grill to get some nice char.

 

[petehalsted]

Those look good . Nice shrink at the bone .

Thanks Chopsaw, I am sure you know what I mean about that boiling pot of sauce and charred pork steaks :-)

 

[jac63]

Awesome looking pork steaks. There is almost no way to fix them that I don't like as long as they ain't overcooked and dried up. Pan fried, grilled, smoked, sauced, bare, you just can't pick one "best" way here in MO.

 

[chopsaw]

Thanks Chopsaw, I am sure you know what I mean about that boiling pot of sauce and charred pork steaks :-)

Yes I do . You forgot the Falstaff in the boiling pot of sauce .
I have a indirect method I do on the weber if your're interested , but looks like you're all over it .

Edit ,,, GO BLUES !

 

[There it is]

Yeah i have tried on my mes smoker before with various results. They were tasty and edible but not fork tender

 

[chef jimmyj]

You want to change things up. Smoke or Brown well and simmer until fork tender in Tomato Gravy aka Spaghetti Sauce. Takes 2 to 3 hours depending on how cooked they are going in and thickness. When ready, top your Fav pasta and dig in...JJ

 

[gmc2003]

When I was in St. Louis a few years back visiting the wifes grandmother I thought the staple summertime diet was White Castle. I sure wish we were offered pork steaks instead. Because yours looks fantastic.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[petehalsted]

I thought the staple summertime diet was White Castle.

LOL. Nope, White Castle is the northern version of Waffle House. We always finished a night of "being a teenager" with a stop at White Castle.