Here Piggy-Piggy Brine, Hawg Heaven Rub: 2 Butts, Recipes, Q-view (#1 sliced, #2 pulled)

[SmokinAl]

Awesome Eric, I'll be curious to see if you like the sliced or pulled better. One things for sure I bet that bark tastes unbelievably good!

 

[Bearcarver]

Just got done reading all of this---You must be a speed typer!

That bark is totally over the top!

And your close-ups are Awesome---And then they're even zoomable!

I hate when I left click on somebody's Qview, to zoom in, and the picture that shows up is the same size. Don't know what they do, but it defeats the whole purpose of being able to zoom in!!!!

I'll take a bark sammie, please!

Now I'm ready for that pulled pork!

Bear

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Here ya go, fellas...just a couple pics in good faith. Man, my wife and kids are saying I'm the Bbq chef, and all sorts of other nice stuff this morning...they really like the sliced and pulled pork...well, I do too. I know one thing, it would be a crying shame to not make these recipes again. If you guys and gals can get the apple/cherry/rpb thing goin' on? Man, it's like getting your first dutch oven...it opens up new horizons that you didn't even know existed. And, it's not just for this brine & dry rub, I've done tons of stuff with the rbp, the cherry has been great to work with since I started with it, and the apple is a fairly new thing for me (just a few months), but the eats I've created with these are just ROCKIN'!!!

I didn't get a pic of the foil, but it just had maybe a tablespoon of rendered fat and that was it...didn't looser much of anything while resting, so that was pretty neat to see. The bowl of PP has no added liquids of any kind...just tossed pork.

That's a BIG bowl, at 12 qts, so it dwarfs the amount of PP. I pulled this with nothing but my long handled stainless tongs...seriously. No forks, no hot-hands gloves...1 set of tongs. This butt rested for 7 hours and was still pretty hot. Not hot enough to burn my hands on the foil as soon as you touched it, but inside was steaming when I peeled it open. Between the long rest and the brine, I think they both had a bit of influence on the pulling.

My wife says I haven't made any this good yet...I've done some mighty good eating pulled pork, but yea, this is topping my list at this point. Another "must redo"...heck, what do I mean? I don't have a list, I just go with the flow. Anyway, two more butts are thawing since yesterday evening, and I know exactly what their fate will be...I'm thinkin' 5-6 days thawing like these two had and 3-4 days brining for another round.

OH CRAP!!! I just had a very humbling thought: if I keep going like this, I won't have any way to top my last smokes! What the heck will I have to look forward to then? Well, I will admit, I'd hve tons of great smoked/grilled meats to chow-down on, but is that where it ends? OK, I guess it'll come to me...I'm always looking for ways to make my food even better than it already is, so I guess if I started thinking that what I have may be as good as it gets, well, that would be like turning off my creativity circuit...flipping the switch...can't let that happen! I'll just keep on rolling with what ever feels good at the time...

---

Awesome Eric, I'll be curious to see if you like the sliced or pulled better. One things for sure I bet that bark tastes unbelievably good!

Thanks, you know, I find it difficult to choose which I like best...they're both really fine eating. The sliced gives some varying flavors throughout the meat due to the brine penetration, which is really cool to experience those layers of flavor. The PP is so tender with good moisture and the flavors of the brine, meat and bark are all sort of mixed together to some extent. There's still alot of intact bark to chew on as well. Dang, that's a tough one to answer, brother...OK, I think for me it's the sliced...maybe just because I've had alot of pulled and not sliced shoulder from the smoker...hmm...yep, tough to answer.

I will say that with the sliced there is a nicer bark due to not being in the foil for as long as the PP. The PP bark got really soft after the long rest, but either way, the flavors of the smoke and rub just come out screaming...in a good way. I think the tart cherry has its role in this because I taste that zestiness...very nice. The overall flavor profile is really a kick in the pants for me. Not a spicy-heat, even with all that cayenne in the brine, it seems to have smoothed over and melded together so well.

Just got done reading all of this---You must be a speed typer!

That bark is totally over the top!

And your close-ups are Awesome---And then they're even zoomable!

I hate when I left click on somebody's Qview, to zoom in, and the picture that shows up is the same size. Don't know what they do, but it defeats the whole purpose of being able to zoom in!!!!

I'll take a bark sammie, please!

Now I'm ready for that pulled pork!

Bear

Ha-ha! I get a bit too fast on the keys at times, though, and make a ton of typos. Gotta pace myself sometimes if I get too excited about what I want to say.

Yea, that bark? Man, it's so dark, especially on the pulled shoulder due to being in the heat for so much longer. But, a charred taste? I didn't find it at all...just a really deep carmelized flavor from those natural sugars and oils.

The pics? I have noticed that on some posts myself. I think they may be zooming in with the camera, or something else with pic sizing when they upload...not sure. I don't mess with mine at all. And I find that if I zoom with the camera, the pics get grainy and coarse, so I like to bring it in as close as I can get it to focus and watch the angles so the flash doesn't make a shadow in the foreground.

Oh, the sliced bark was phenominal...still had some crunchy chewy goodness after the short foiled resting. Pulled was pretty good too, just softened up quite a bit.

---

Wheew! What a smoke! Get yourselves some dried rbp, apple and cherry. If you can't locate these from a local source and have to go online to order, the shipping will likely be a bit spendy, but it would be worth it just for the experience of something like we just had here with this smoke. If you like, PM me, and I'll help you find a source. I don't have a dehydrator, so I buy all three of them ready to hit the grinder.

Good eats and great smokes, everyone!

Eric

 

[SmokinAl]

OK Eric that settles it. The next butt I do I'm going to brine it & slice it. Two things I have never done before.

 

[nwdave]

Oh great, now I'm 3 or 4 Wyoming smokes behind. 

For our lovely NorthWest weather, I've found that vac sealing in jars (since I have that capability) is the best trick for me.  Bell Peppers, Apples, whatever.  Eric started out with Apple Chips.  For whatever reason, I couldn't find any.  Made my own by super dehydrating some apples from last year, Fuji's in this attempt.  There's still some clumping after being fine ground, but it's not a real problem, just hit it with another quick grind and we're in business.  Still trying to come up with an easier way to do cherries, especially since we can go to eastern Washington and buy them by the case from the growers.  Gotta be a way......

Eric, running out of projects??????......  Not in this lifetime pal.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

OK Eric that settles it. The next butt I do I'm going to brine it & slice it. Two things I have never done before.

I think you'll enjoy the sliced butt. I took mine to a pretty high temp of 181* for two reasons: easy bone removal, and a really tender slice. If you went to a much lower temp, then you'll be boning it out to slice have a much firmer slice with a few chewier spots. That's the thing with shoulder cuts though...a bit of compromise for good eating...nice to experience it though, IMO. If you've got a highly spiced brine, you will notice it in the pork as long (as it's not already enhanced).
 

Have fun, Al!
 

Oh great, now I'm 3 or 4 Wyoming smokes behind. 

For our lovely NorthWest weather, I've found that vac sealing in jars (since I have that capability) is the best trick for me.  Bell Peppers, Apples, whatever.  Eric started out with Apple Chips.  For whatever reason, I couldn't find any.  Made my own by super dehydrating some apples from last year, Fuji's in this attempt.  There's still some clumping after being fine ground, but it's not a real problem, just hit it with another quick grind and we're in business.  Still trying to come up with an easier way to do cherries, especially since we can go to eastern Washington and buy them by the case from the growers.  Gotta be a way......

Eric, running out of projects??????......  Not in this lifetime pal.

Yea, Dave, I keep thinking I'll slow down one of these days. But it seems that I find myself looking into situations like what happened with these two butts, just trying to see all the angles and looking for possible ways to keep everything on the straight and narrow. Next thing I know, I have this brine recipe taking shape, so I can't just let it float away without trying it, of course. Well, now, I have this brine going with two butts, and the flavor profile doesn't quite seem to fit any dry rubs in my arsenal, so it's time to get really crazy, now. It's funny how it snow-balled into what turned out to be a great smoke before it was all over.

Good grief, you know, me running out of projects? That does sound rather unlikely, doesn't it? You see into this as good as me or anybody else would. I don't have to look for challenges or new ideas...they always seem to find me. I guess that's part of why I don't have alot of redo's, and tend to hit the uncharted territory (for me), so to speak. I guess if I see the opportunity and am willing to step forward, then the rest becomes history. That may seem like a strange analogy, but I really am not looking for new ideas lately...used to be I had to search a little...not anymore. It just happens.

I'd actually like to have some slow-down time to just chill out...take tonight, for example: I'm char-grilling 6 petite sirloin and 3 t-bone steaks...I decided early on that I would not marinate them, after the initial thought of doing it. That would likely mean another recipe, and of course that means another thread here on the forums. Not to say I don't like to share...I do, that's obvious. I think I'm probably just in need of a break...slow-down before the flame burns itself out.

Hang in there, Dave. Don't sweat the lagging on smokes...heck, I don't know how I do so many myself. Like you asked me a couple times already: you work a full-time job? Yep...

Eric

 

[Bearcarver]

Good grief, you know, me running out of projects? That does sound rather unlikely, doesn't it? You see into this as good as me or anybody else would. I don't have to look for challenges or new ideas...they always seem to find me. I guess that's part of why I don't have alot of redo's, and tend to hit the uncharted territory (for me), so to speak. I guess if I see the opportunity and am willing to step forward, then the rest becomes history. That may seem like a strange analogy, but I really am not looking for new ideas lately...used to be I had to search a little...not anymore. It just happens.

Eric

Eric,
Other than finding new challenges, I would think it would also be a challenge for you to repeat some of your past smokes with the same perfection you did before, so I don't think you have to worry about being bored in the field of creativity.

Bear

 

[sqwib]

I'm with Al.

Eric awesome post and thanks for the inspiration.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I'm with Al.

Eric awesome post and thanks for the inspiration.

Thanks, and you're welcome!
 

Eric,
Other than finding new challenges, I would think it would also be a challenge for you to repeat some of your past smokes with the same perfection you did before, so I don't think you have to worry about being bored in the field of creativity.

Bear

That is a good point, Bear. It does take some effort to do some of the smokes I've done, then, many others just come so easy to me. I'm a tinkerer by nature, so anything I haven't done before really attracts my interest, and I find it easy to focus my energy on those things, as well.

I do have my next pair of butts almost thawed out in the fridge, so I'll probably be mixing up another brine the same as the above after work in about 2-3 more days. That would give 'em about 6 days in the brine, which would be more than enough to get the results I'm shooting for...I think I'll slice one and pull the other just like this first batch, too. Man, that sliced butt was wicked-good eating!

Eric

 

[hardslicer]

awesome.......simply awesome....thank you for spreading your experience......I certainly enjoyed it and learned somethings.....congrats!

 

[meateater]

Looks great Eric. 

 

[seanf]

so my wife comes home from the farmer's market yesterday with a fresh 17.5-lb. shoulder.  what to do, what to do...I did a search, found this thread, dropped it in the brine last night (double batch), left it on the deck overnight, scored the skin and put the dry rub on this morning, and dropped it on the Big Green Egg.  Kept it about 250 degrees all day...9.5 hours later, I've got internal temp of 180...omg.  like butter.  The bones pulled out with no persuasion.  The kids were eating the skin off the bottom like it was candy.  I pulled it apart into several big sections (literally, I stood it up on end and it fell open), sending about half of it home with my stepson, keeping the rest for lunch this week.

it was a good day  

thanks for the recipe, man.

 

[mountainhawg]

Using the brine and rub as my first used from the site. The only things different is I left the cap on and will inject around and under that plus used a bit of apple juice. I'm so use to cooking with the cap, (in fact cap on top which I won't do anymore) I just hated to cut it off. Another thing is I'm using a Kingsford grill vice a good smoker and my grate will get quite hot so the cap will be protection from searing.

 

[tdssmoke]

Hello,

Where do you put the five gallon bucket while it's brining? Do you have an extra refrigerator? Do you know another way?

Thanks

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Hello,

Where do you put the five gallon bucket while it's brining? Do you have an extra refrigerator? Do you know another way?

Thanks

Hey, fellow smoker,

I do have a small fridge for projects like this (4.2 cu ft), but if fridge space is an issue, you might consider putting it into a larger cooler and ice it down...I think one of those wheeled cube coolers would be just about the right height to fit the bucket and still hold 10-20lbs of ice.

Eric

 

[blat]

just prowling around and came up with a question after reading this thread and also had a problem wanted to see if ever happened to anyone else.

firstly on this thread noticed 4los wraps his sensor wires in aluminum foil, obviously expecting to get more accurate readings. Do most of you guys do this? unnecessary in your opinions?

now this is a little embarrassing, so I had a spog rub mixed up and needed a shaker to apply the rub. in the back of the cabinet I found about 1/2 of bottle of Willinghams hot and dumped it in and mixed it with my spog. well the salt pepper onion and garlic being large grain and the Willingham s being a small grain caused a problem when I applied the rub the smaller granules had a tendency to stick to the meat better.
It was fine for me, in fact thought was one of the best I ever made, my wife could not eat it, way to hot for her. Anyway, in future guess if I am going to mix up a rub m ay need to run it though the spice grinder first.

 

[forluvofsmoke]

just prowling around and came up with a question after reading this thread and also had a problem wanted to see if ever happened to anyone else.

firstly on this thread noticed 4los wraps his sensor wires in aluminum foil, obviously expecting to get more accurate readings. Do most of you guys do this? unnecessary in your opinions?

now this is a little embarrassing, so I had a spog rub mixed up and needed a shaker to apply the rub. in the back of the cabinet I found about 1/2 of bottle of Willinghams hot and dumped it in and mixed it with my spog. well the salt pepper onion and garlic being large grain and the Willingham s being a small grain caused a problem when I applied the rub the smaller granules had a tendency to stick to the meat better.
It was fine for me, in fact thought was one of the best I ever made, my wife could not eat it, way to hot for her. Anyway, in future guess if I am going to mix up a rub m ay need to run it though the spice grinder first.

I foil-wrap my probe leads for additional protection against heat (shiny-side out), and to keep them clean from drippings...don't think it would effect accuracy at all, being it's a low voltage signal...unless you had some type of higher powered RF transmitter close-by like a HAM radio, then, the foil would help to shield the sensor lead from RF signals and reduce erroneous readings.

Smaller particles in a dry rub blend will generally stick to meat easier. If you pat the rub onto the meat sometimes helps the larger particles stick better. Some use mustard or cooking oil to pre-treat the meat before rub application...I rarely do that, just occasionally using olive oil or canola oil for skin-on yard birds...helps a little for browning and crisping the skin, as well.

I keep empty 1lb spice containers for dry rubs I blend, or take it straight from the mix container by hand...no messing up my recipe that way...and I mix smaller batches so I have less leftover in storage...I'm using a fresh blend most of the time.

Eric

 

[smokinvegasbaby]

 
25.5 hours and we're into the foil at last...

I preheated a large bath towel in the oven on a pan @ 170* while the butt was creeping over 199* (therm reads decimals), double foiled, wrapped it nice a snug and tossed in the "O" and turned it off. Should be good for at leat 6 hours, so we'll both take a nap now, as it's creeping up on 1:00 am now.

Until pork-pulling time, I bid you all good-night...craving some right now, but I already know it's gonna be some great eats, so time to go count piggy's playing in the mud (or something)...ha-ha!

Eric

Eric,

oh my word that pork looks amazing.....email a piece of the bark would ya!  to me that is the BEST part of the pulled pork.  I just smoked a pork loin with cherry wood and I agree with you cherry wood is my NEW favorite.  The flavor it imparts to the meat is amazing.  Again your pork looks amazing - I think we all should have "scratch-sniff-and taste" on our computers lol....Keep on Smoking!

Josie aka SmokinVegasBaby

 

[forluvofsmoke]

 
Eric,

oh my word that pork looks amazing.....email a piece of the bark would ya!  to me that is the BEST part of the pulled pork.  I just smoked a pork loin with cherry wood and I agree with you cherry wood is my NEW favorite.  The flavor it imparts to the meat is amazing.  Again your pork looks amazing - I think we all should have "scratch-sniff-and taste" on our computers lol....Keep on Smoking!

Josie aka SmokinVegasBaby

Ha-ha-ha!!! Thank you. Oh, I do enjoy my bark!!! This is an older thread, and I have learned a few things about creating and preserving bark since then...if you want to find out what I do differently now, here's some info you may find rather useful...not just about bark, but a whole new outlook on hot-smoking meats while retaining more natural moisture, achieving great bark and preserving it's crisp texture while resting, with tips on softening the bark (if you desire)...from butts and picnics, to ribs, brisket and more...it's been my main method for smoking for the past 18 months:

Wet-to-Dry No-Foil Smoke Chamber Method for Smoking Meats - SmokingMeatForums.com Community

Eric

 

[blat]

thanks 4los,

also stole your wet dry approach to this smoke and turned out great.