Pulled Pork Tamales with Southwestern Béarnaise Sauce

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pperkins

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jul 28, 2010
55
10
Oregon
This idea just popped into my head a few weeks ago, and I haven’t been able to shake it.

Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore and went shopping. I smoked my pork shoulder the day before in my La Caja China #3, using apple wood.

Turned out…very nice.
[h2]Slow Smoked Pork Shoulder[/h2]
7 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup smoked paprika
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

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Combine all dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

Finish butterflying the shoulder (along the sut the butcher made while removing the bone) and rub all surfaces of the pork with the dry rub.

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Roll the pork back up tie with kitchen string.



In a typical smoker, pork shoulder cook time can be figured at approximately 1.5 hours per pound, so an 8 pound shoulder will require about 12 hours in the smoker at 225. (The Caja will require significantly less time, see La Caja China website for the pork shoulder worksheet, and follow it to the letter, or let me know and I'll post the LCC instructions below.)

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I like to smoke mine to an internal temp of around 140 (about half the cook time), baste with a mixture of 1/2 barbeque sauce and 1/2 cider vinegar, wrap in foil, and slip it into a 225 degree oven to finish. Pull it from the oven when them internal meat temp reached 200 degrees, not a minute earlier.

Allow the roast to rest, tented loosely in foil for about an hour, pull or chop the meat, and toss with another cup of bbq sauce/vinegar mixture and salt, to taste. You may use it to assemble your tamales now, or refrigerate in up to 3 days.

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To assemble the tamales, you’ll need:

4 C MaSeCa Instant Corn Masa Mix
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 C corn oil
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 package of corn husks
2 cups pulled pork, cooled

You can follow this simple video…


[h2]Southwestern Béarnaise Sauce[/h2]
Béarnaise is a sauce made of clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks and flavored with herbs. It is considered to be a ‘child’ of the mother Hollandaise sauce, one of the five sauces in the French haute cuisine mother sauce repertoire. The difference is only in their flavoring: Béarnaise uses shallot, chervil, peppercorn, and tarragon, while Hollandaise uses lemon juice.

1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon leaves
2 shallots, minced
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1/4 cup dry white wine
3 egg yolks
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp dry rub
1 sm can diced green chilies

In a small saucepan, combine the tarragon, shallots, vinegar and wine over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove this reduction from heat and set aside to cool.

Blend yolks and béarnaise reduction together. With the blender running, add 1/3 of the butter in a slow steady stream. Once it emulsifies, turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter. Season with dry rub, fold in the green chilies, and set aside in a warm spot until ready to spoon over the finished (and peeled) tamales.

We also made a yellow sriracha sauce recipe that my friend Patti shared with me.

Sriracha is the name for a Thai hot sauce named after the coastal city of Si Racha, in the Chonburi Province of central Thailand, where it was first produced for dishes served at local seafood restaurants. It is a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt. Sriracha is a common condiment in many Asian restaurants and increasingly found in American and European homes.

It is also known as rooster sauce because of the rooster featured on its label. Typically a very hot red sauce, this is a milder version using yellow peppers.

Personally, I liked it even better with the tamales that the Southwester Béarnaise…unfortunately, I was too busy eating to get pictures of the two together.

Here’s the recipe, tho’…

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[h2]Yellow Sriracha Sauce[/h2]
3 1/2 cups yellow bell
1/2 cup chopped hot yellow peppers
10 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
2 Tbs light brown sugar

Chop the chilies and place in a bowl. Add garlic, salt & vinegar. Cover and let set on the counter overnight or 8 hours.

In the morning, remove peppers & garlic from bowl and place in saucepan. Add 1 cup of the vinegar mixture, 1/2 cup of water and the 2 Tbs of sugar.

You can add more vinegar if you want it more tart and a thin sauce. Bring to a boil and then simmer  for 5 min. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

Puree until smooth.

My work being inspected…

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[h1]Enjoy![/h1]
 
Last edited:
I'm lost, why would you use your product to take something to 140 and then finish in the oven? 
th_dunno-1%5B1%5D.gif
 I am still trying to figure out how the smoke and meat tango? I'm just asking so don't bash to hard. 
 
Because the meat has take all the smoke it's going to at that point, so why continue to burn up charcoal and babysit it, when I have a perfectly good oven in my kitchen, lol? I don't understand the second question...tango?
 
Smoke...Meat... Tango..... How they dance together? Why not finish in the unit? I'm just asking. I would rather burn charcoal outside than heat up the house and dirty an oven. These are legitimate questions? LOL ! Now that we are conversing How does the smoke part work? 
 
I live in Oregon so my house doesn't get that hot. Electricity is cheaper than charcoal here, so when it;s no longer effecting the flavor, I move to the over to the oven. Do it however you want, I was posting how "I" do it. Do it however you want, I was posting how "I" do it.

I've done dozens of pork shoulders like this and they've never 'dirtied" my oven. Make sure you put the pork shoulder a pan of some sort, I guess, lol

As for smoke, I either use a smoke pistol, or I I just put pellets in a disposable pan and place that on top of the meat rack inside the La Caja China. Take a look at my brisket post in the "Beef" forum for example pictures.

- Perry

Perry P. Perkins
Author
“La Caja China Cooking”
“La Caja China World”
 
 
Why would you say it won't take any more smoke after 140? The smoke ring won't get any thicker, but the meat will still take on smoke.
 
You know Perry - this post reminded me that I copied this recipe a long time ago and forgot to make it.  I am with the guys - I love my smoke but to each his own .

Thanks for posting and sharing your recipes
 
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