@philrmcknight's Journal, 27 January 2017

Pork butt at under a $1/pound is increasingly hard to find at Sams/Costco or Publix, so I've been buying more chicken on sale. But I so miss my pork! Aldi has good prices at times and when in LA, are usually go to Smart & Final and get pork in Cryovacs when on sale, but cheapest I found is $1.49 per pound. It just seems meats prices have gone up this past year, wondering what the reasons are? 

I've noticed meat goes up in winter, for some reason, I'm not a rancher, but could probably ask some of my neighbors. I was reading somewhere recently, maybe on here I can't remember, someone was saying they buy local whole hog and price per pound is significantly less, that's something I might look into.  

Phil, you nailed it. We got an 8-pound pork shoulder. Rubbed a full 3.5oz bottle of McCormick's Smokehouse Maple seasoning into it. I put a mix of water and apple cider vinegar in the drip pan and then every hour I'd open the door, baste it with the vinegar and water, close the door and add more pecan chips. Took about 4 hours for the internal temperature to come up to about 165. Removed it and wrapped it in foil to rest for 30 minutes while we made some veggie side dishes. Everyone loved it. We will definitely be doing that again. 

That made my day, Sean, and I've been having a pretty good one!  

I'm going to shop for a pork shoulder; this sounds too good. 

pork shoulder makes great breakfast sausage if yu have a grinder...way better than Jimmy dean corporate sausage. 

Pork is versatile, it carries other flavors extremely well and there's so many ways to cook it. Low carb doesn't have to be high price.  

Gonna have to try that, Phil! I tend to lean towards Asian flavors, anyway. I made a simple Japanese style stir-fry last night with a pork butt steak marinated in soy sauce, mirin and sake, with garlic and ginger, stir-fried with mushrooms an broccoli. It was really good! 

I suggest you slow cook (either by smoker or the oven, both set at about 225 to 250 degrees) your pork butt (which is also called a shoulder) it to about 203 degrees. You will notice a major difference in taste. You don't want to do this for beef but for this you do. All the major pulled pork competition smokers and restaurants do this. => This is a quote from AmazingRibs.com (http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/perfect_pulled_pork.html), my go to site for all meat cooking: "When it hits about 170°F, collagens, which are part the connective tissues, begin to melt and turn to gelatin. That's magic baby. The meat gets much more tender when this happens. And juicy. When it hits 195°F, it may be ready, and it may not be ready. But it's time to check. The exterior should be dark brown. Some rubs and cookers will make the meat look black like a meteorite, but it is not burnt and it doesn't taste burnt. There may be glistening bits of melted fat. On a gas cooker it may look shiny pink. If there is a bone, use a glove or paper towel to protect your fingers and wiggle the bone. If it turns easily and comes out of the meat, the collagens have melted and you are done. If there is no bone, use the "stick a fork in it method". Insert a fork and try to rotate it 90 degrees. If it turns with only a little torque, you're done. If it's not done, close the lid and go drink a mint julep for 30 minutes. If the internal temp hits 195°F but the meat is still not tender, push on up to 203°F, my favorite target. At this number the meat seems to soften significantly. If it is still not soft, you've just got a tough butt. Wrap tough butts in aluminum foil and let them go for another hour. If you can't control the temp on your cooker, wrap the meat in heavy duty foil and move it indoors into a 225°F oven. Do not add sauce while it is on the cooker. That comes after you pull it." 

Heard, Snikso, I always go slow and low and I often do them in the oven, I'll roast @ 350° for an hour, drop the heat to 225° for two hours, then let it coast @ 200° for another four to six hours. If I start them on the grill outside I'll follow pretty much the same method, except for the hour @ 350 I smoke them for an hour, sometimes two then transfer them inside to the oven. My St. Louis cut spareribs would make Johnny Trigg blush. *I usually use Pecan wood for smoking, sometimes White Oak, but usually Pecan.  

Sounds great Phil. St Louis are the best. Smoke only enters the meat in the first couple hours so it doesn't really matter where you finish it off. Sometimes it's really a hassle to continue them in the smoker for hours and hours, so the oven is a great place to continue them. It's also what I do for ribs, brisket and butt. Let me know when you're in the Austin area. 

Here's a question for you, Snikso; ribs, membrane or no? I keep the membrane, helps keep the moisture in. What's your preference? 

I prefer to leave the membrane on myself. For a twist on a boston butt, slice it into "pork steaks" and grill hot and fast. I've been wanting to do that myself but we end up smoking all the butts we get. Last time it was 40 lbs at once. 

thanks for the suggestion. One of my favorite spices is cumin. 

oh we use a crock pot for pulled pork. 

Sometimes I put my cast iron skillet on high and sear slices of the already cooked roast, double cooked, double delicious!  

Yeah, I could like that. Garlic and Ginger. Thanks for the idea. 

I have refried pulled pork on cast iron until it is crispy like chips or bacon  

My all time favorite pork and chicken marinade...garlic, ginger, pepper, low salt soy sauce and a big spoonful of frozen orange juice concentrate. Even my kids loved this...and you can bake the meat with some of the sauce, and more of that flavor simmers in. So much like what you just made, and your roast looks SOOOOO good! 

@Yendor72: I like to take the membrane off the ribs. It's just the way I learned from the master smokers in my area of Central Texas. It's also what is suggested in AmazingRibs.com.This site is so full of meat science and recipes, I never get tired of it. I use only salt and pepper on my ribs too, called the Texas rub. I know other areas use several other spices but I love letting the meat and smoke come through. FYI, I NEVER sauce my ribs or brisket. I do dry brine my briskets and butt though, by liberally sprinkling kosher (rock salt) all over it the night before. The rub I make doesn't have any salt in it because of that. the salt brining ensures the moisture stays in the meat...a major difference between dry brining and not doing it.