Well, in anticipation of the only American Holiday that regularly falls on a Sunday I decided to make PULLED PORK NACHOS!!!!!! (queue the confetti)
There is really nothing fancy about these. Smoked pulled pork using Mad Raccoon seasoning (I usually make my own, but wanted to try something new). I know that most of you are really here for the pictures, so here you go.
Three pork shoulder roasts crosshatched a a roughly 45 degree angle, just deep enough to hit the meat.
Seasoned with Mad Raccoon OG, and Smokin Hawt (on the far left side)
Started a fire in my Bell Fab (No, it does not require this big of a fire, but I'm finding that if I get a good coal bed that it makes longer smokes more manageable, once its going I usually just have two splits in the fire)
As you can see, it was a little rainy on Saturday when I smoked these.
And here they are after sitting in the rub for about 6 hours in the fridge, ready to go in for the cook.
I knew they were going to be lonely, so I let them bring their cousin Pork Belly along for the trip.
I love this stage of the cook when they are just starting to look good. I did spritz them with apple juice periodically throughout the cook.
But here is the fun part of this story, I was cooking these on Saturday so that I could go to church on Sunday. For other reasons I got a late start, but I figured I would be done by midnight or 1 at the latest. This is what they looked like at 1AM
They are looking good, but IT is reading about 170-175 at this point. No where near where it needs to be for pulled pork. At this point I got tired and I stopped taking pictures. This is when I start to think the Pellet Guys might be on to something.
The Pork Belly came off about an hour later, but the Pork Shoulders took until a little after 3AM. By far the longest that a 5 lbs pork roast has ever taken to cook in any of my smokes. My temps were good and consistent, about 230 for the first few hours and then 250, and bumped up to about 275-300 when give a crap gave out at about 1:30. I will tell you what though, they were nicely marbled pieces of meat, and the juiciness and tenderness was worth the long cook. I put them in a cooler to rest for an hour, then pulled them at about 4AM. Needless to say I did not make it to church.
On to the Nacho part!
First, I heated up the pulled pork in a pan with a little apple juice and a little more Mad Raccoon Seasoning
Then:
Nachos were pretty simple, I started with a layer of Juanitas Tortilla Chips, then liberally added a Mexican 4 cheese blend and some Pepper Jack, then a layer of the Pulled Pork, and then some black beans.
Then another layer of chips, more of the 4 cheese and pepper jack, more pulled pork and some Juanita's Nacho Cheese out of the can.
I threw them in an oven at 350 for about 10 minutes to heat through and melt the cheese
Then I topped with diced Tomato, Jalapeno, and green onions
Here are the final results:
If I was going to do anything different: I would probably mix the nacho cheese with RoTel (kind of a staple at my house, but we were out), and I would have pre-heated the nacho cheese and limited the oven time to 8 minutes (you can see the Pulled Pork on top dried out a little bit)
Overall, they were a hit and disappeared quickly (until the pulled pork burnt ends made their appearance)
As always, let me know if you have any questions
As always, if you have questions, let me know
There is really nothing fancy about these. Smoked pulled pork using Mad Raccoon seasoning (I usually make my own, but wanted to try something new). I know that most of you are really here for the pictures, so here you go.
Three pork shoulder roasts crosshatched a a roughly 45 degree angle, just deep enough to hit the meat.
Seasoned with Mad Raccoon OG, and Smokin Hawt (on the far left side)
Started a fire in my Bell Fab (No, it does not require this big of a fire, but I'm finding that if I get a good coal bed that it makes longer smokes more manageable, once its going I usually just have two splits in the fire)
As you can see, it was a little rainy on Saturday when I smoked these.
And here they are after sitting in the rub for about 6 hours in the fridge, ready to go in for the cook.
I knew they were going to be lonely, so I let them bring their cousin Pork Belly along for the trip.
I love this stage of the cook when they are just starting to look good. I did spritz them with apple juice periodically throughout the cook.
But here is the fun part of this story, I was cooking these on Saturday so that I could go to church on Sunday. For other reasons I got a late start, but I figured I would be done by midnight or 1 at the latest. This is what they looked like at 1AM
They are looking good, but IT is reading about 170-175 at this point. No where near where it needs to be for pulled pork. At this point I got tired and I stopped taking pictures. This is when I start to think the Pellet Guys might be on to something.
The Pork Belly came off about an hour later, but the Pork Shoulders took until a little after 3AM. By far the longest that a 5 lbs pork roast has ever taken to cook in any of my smokes. My temps were good and consistent, about 230 for the first few hours and then 250, and bumped up to about 275-300 when give a crap gave out at about 1:30. I will tell you what though, they were nicely marbled pieces of meat, and the juiciness and tenderness was worth the long cook. I put them in a cooler to rest for an hour, then pulled them at about 4AM. Needless to say I did not make it to church.
On to the Nacho part!
First, I heated up the pulled pork in a pan with a little apple juice and a little more Mad Raccoon Seasoning
Then:
Nachos were pretty simple, I started with a layer of Juanitas Tortilla Chips, then liberally added a Mexican 4 cheese blend and some Pepper Jack, then a layer of the Pulled Pork, and then some black beans.
Then another layer of chips, more of the 4 cheese and pepper jack, more pulled pork and some Juanita's Nacho Cheese out of the can.
I threw them in an oven at 350 for about 10 minutes to heat through and melt the cheese
Then I topped with diced Tomato, Jalapeno, and green onions
Here are the final results:
If I was going to do anything different: I would probably mix the nacho cheese with RoTel (kind of a staple at my house, but we were out), and I would have pre-heated the nacho cheese and limited the oven time to 8 minutes (you can see the Pulled Pork on top dried out a little bit)
Overall, they were a hit and disappeared quickly (until the pulled pork burnt ends made their appearance)
As always, let me know if you have any questions
As always, if you have questions, let me know
