What's in your smoker?

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by T.G

Just picked up a fresh (it was still squealing on Thursday) small pork butt from the local pig farmer - not quite true heritage pork, but mostly a heritage bloodline and seed fed to boot. Going to make some mojo later and marinade it overnight for lechon asado roasted in the weber tomorrow.

OMG! That sounds fantastic. Any chance you can post your mojo recipe?

[OLS]

Originally Posted by T.G

I just heard about this new invention, it's called a saw. I'm not sure where to get them though. Pretty hard to find from what I hear.

I heard of em, too, somehwere....but I think they are for people who aren't complete POS, out of shape
bastards like me. Too much back and forth motion. I got that COPD thing from all my years of smoking.
Pretty sad.

HAHAHA, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I freaking cut up those racks into halves and didn't take a single pic, lol.
Now they are in the fridge, haha....oh that's sweet, haha.

[mosesbotbol]

Just took off a half shoulder of pork from the butt end (5 lb) off the WSM. Was out there for 9 hours with lots of mexican cinamon sticks and pecan shells for smoke via Kingsford Comp. Going to cube it tomorrow for chili.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

OMG! That sounds fantastic. Any chance you can post your mojo recipe?

Sure, I use the recipe from "3 Guys From Miami Cook Cuban" with some additional ingredients.


Mojo With Oil
(my additions/notes are in italics)

INGREDIENTS:
3 heads garlic (Yes, heads. The whole bulb. All cloves peeled)
2 teaspoons salt (I think they were using table salt, for kosher salt, add one additional teaspoon)
1 teaspoon black peppercorns (I prefer fresh ground pepper)
1 1/2 cups sour orange juice
(In a pinch, use two parts orange to one part lemon and one part lime)
1 cup minced onion
2 teaspoons oregano
1 cup Spanish olive oil (I use what I have - sometimes it's Spanish, sometimes it's not)
1 teaspoon ground cumin (from
2 bay leaves, diced/crumbled fine

The mojo with oil marinade is best for chicken, duck, fish, and so on. The oil prevents the meat from losing fat and moisture.

Mash garlic, salt, and peppercorns into a paste, using a mortar and pestle. Stir in sour orange juice, onion, oregano, cumin and bay leaf. (Screw that, dump it all in a food processor or blender and let rip) Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes or longer.

In a saucepan, heat olive oil to medium hot (approximately 220 degrees F) and remove from heat. Carefully whisk in the garlic-orange juice mixture (prepared above) until well blended. (Immersion blender works great here)


Marinade overnight, put pork on smoker with just briquettes or lump, no smoke wood. Do not discard marinade - place in sauepan, bring to boil for a moment, stirring constantly. Use this to spoon over the roast as it cooks. Rest of cooking directions are here
http://icuban.com/food/lechon_asado.html

Their recipe is for a ham but it works well with a shoulder/butt too.

[Chainsaw13]

Thanks Adam. I've had something similar when down in Arizona. Fantastic stuff. I'll be trying this soon, maybe with a suckling pig.

[mosesbotbol]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

Thanks Adam. I've had something similar when down in Arizona. Fantastic stuff. I'll be trying this soon, maybe with a suckling pig.

I inject it on the the pork bone like a cortisone shot.

[T.G]

You're welcome Bob.



Moses, as prepared, this one might be a bit too thick with too many solids to inject with the typical meat syringe, If you can get it flow through the meat syringe, then yeah, shooting it down the side of the bone is always an option, depending on the thickness of the cut, and so long as you don't intend to cook to a lower temp and carve directly off the bone, as the injection affecting the tissue between the meat and bone can make that style of carving a bit tough. For a shredded/pulled pork texture though, no problems.

For injection into tissue, La Caja China has a good recipe:
http://www.lacajachina.com/recipes/m...ing-sauce.html

[688sonarmen]

Pork shoulder came out great, the best I have done so far. What I changed this time was 6 hours in the cooler instead of <1. Even after 6 hours the meat was still at 190f. After that it fell apart, no real pulling needed. I just put the hunks in a big bowl and mixed with a fork. I used the drippings and what was left in the foil to make an N.C style sauce with apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and red pepper.

[T.G]

In an effort to make up for Brad's lack of pictures, here's the Lechón Asado from the other day w/ some cook times for reference.


3.6 LB seed fed heritage (almost) pork butt from Bledsoe Meats (local farm)


After about 16 hours marinating in mojo (recipe a few posts back)


After about 2:25 at barely 220F


After 3:30, rotated it a bit to put the skin toward the fire to render the fat out and get the far edges to cook as the bricked weber does suffer from a slight temp drop as you get further from the coals, and at low temps like this, it's very noticeable. Also started to apply some additional mojo paste (left side - I applied to the whole cut, just stopped for a moment to shoot the photo)


I could go for a snack now...

[T.G]

Tostones time!


About 6:30 in and hitting 175F IT, time to pull it off, wrap it up and put it in a warmed cooler.


One of the chunks sliced up for serving. Smoke ring is just from the briquettes, no additional smoke wood was used.


Can't have lechon asado without rice and black beans...


The End.

[Chainsaw13]

[T.G]

And the best part... Making a Cuban sandwich with the leftovers the next day...





BTW, after tasting this pork from Bledsoe, I am done with supermarket pork for good. The flavor difference is immense and well worth the extra cost.

[ucla695]

Looks incredible!

[Smokin Gator]

Adam... you had me at the marinade. The finished product has me wanting to lick my monitor!!!

[pnoon]

Put two 7 pound pork shoulders on the smoker this morning before leaving for work.
Pulled pork sammiches for the SH!T herf tomorrow.
Posted via Mobile Device

[T.G]

Thanks guys. This one came out better than I expected, the leanness of the pork had me concerned a bit at the onset.

[cort]

Originally Posted by pnoon

Put two 7 pound pork shoulders on the smoker this morning before leaving for work.
Pulled pork sammiches for the SH!T herf tomorrow.
Posted via Mobile Device

Feed me Seymour

[markem]

Did rib eyes yesterday and put a 5lb pork butt in this morning. Going the wet route and basting all day.

[Scothew]

Brined a turkey breast for about 14hr, then smoked over pecan for about 5 hours. Ended up finishing it off in the oven at 350 for about an hour to get it up to temp. May not look the best, but it was dayum good. Me and the wife couldnt stop picking the whole time I was cutting it up and pulling from bone.

[Smokin Gator]

Originally Posted by Scothew

Brined a turkey breast for about 14hr, then smoked over pecan for about 5 hours. Ended up finishing it off in the oven at 350 for about an hour to get it up to temp. May not look the best, but it was dayum good. Me and the wife couldnt stop picking the whole time I was cutting it up and pulling from bone.

Looks great Scott!!! I love the color pecan gives to poultry and I love me some smoked tit