With Independence Day tomorrow, grills will be out in force around the country. I'll be doing more smoking than grilling, since I have to cook for a friend's wedding this Saturday and he wanted some of my 'Q (Not much ... just enough to feed 70 people). I love summer but, even more, I love BBQ.
For those of you serious about your BBQ, you know there's only one way to do it: low and slow. Every pitmaster has their own rules, but generally:
- Smoke at temperatures below 300° F and closer to 225° F (I personally aim for 215-235° F). This is often referred to as cold smoking.
- Pork shoulder (also called Boston Butt) should be cooked to an internal temperature of 180° F, so the meat is tender yet still juicy and ready for pulling or chopping (depending on the kind of sandwich you like). This translates to around 1.5 hours/pound of smoking time (roughly).
Everything boils down to the amount of heat applied (focus on temp not time, and you'll always have great 'Q), so monitoring the temperature is critical. Many BBQ fanatics recommend 2 probe thermometers when smoking:
- One stuck in a wine cork and wedged into the grill grates of the smoker to measure ambient temperature. Make sure you push the probe all the way through so the end is exposed. Also make sure the end does not touch the grates (or your readings will be way off).
- One stuck in the meat itself. Aim for the center of the thickest piece of meat, avoiding any bones.
If you get probes with alarms, so much the better. Set the temperatures you're looking for and go do something else. In the case of the ambient monitor, set the alarm to a temperature 5-10 degrees below what you want not to exceed. You may even wish to use 2 ambient probes: one for the upper and one for the lower limit of your optimal smoking range (if you do that, you are truly a BBQ geek). However you do it, the smoker will then alert you when it needs tending. As an added benefit, this keeps you from continuously opening the lid and peeking at your creation in the making which, while good for the ego, slows down the cooking time as the heat (and smoke) escape.
But what if you find yourself in a time and coordination crunch. You want to throw a party, but can't afford to sit and watch a smoker for 8-10 hours (or more). How can you possibly BBQ when you've got a smaller grill and still have fun at the party? It's easy, as long as you're willing to bend the rules a bit and braise your meat before you smoke it:
Braised, Smoked, Chopped Pork Sandwiches
Ingredients
- A boneless pork shoulder (boston butt), sized to how many people you're feeding (# people / 3 = lbs of pork)
- Your favorite BBQ rub
- A can of your favorite beer
The Braise
Preheat oven to 275° F.
Rinse the pork to get rid of the excess blood. Pat dry with paper towels, and place in an aluminum half-sheet pan (like those used for disposable buffets).
Sprinkle BBQ rub liberally over the pork, getting all sides and into the folds. If there's a large fat "cap" on the pork, position it in the pan so the cap is on top (to baste the meat as it cooks). Pour about 1/3-1/3 of the beer over the pork (you don't need much, as the meat already has a good deal of liquid in it).
Cover the pan with aluminum foil tightly (no cracks or leaks), place in the oven, and braise for about 6 hours. Remove from oven, leave covered while preparing the grill/smoker.
The Smoke
Put some hickory chunks in another pan and pour the rest of the beer over them. Add enough water so the chunks can soak and let them soak for at least 30 minutes before you need them.
After the chunks have soaked for 15 minutes or so, fire up a chimney of coals (or start the coals in your grill), and let them burn for 15 minutes until they get nicely covered with fine white ash. Rake the coals to one side of the grill (creating hot and cold zones), toss a couple of the soaked chunks on the coals, cover the grill and let it sit for a couple minutes and start smoking. Position the lid so the lid vent is over the cold side of the grill.
Once smoke is coming through the vent, take the foil off the pan, drain off the liquid that's accumulated, and place the pork pan and all on the cold side of the smoker (you may wish to put a few more wood chunks on the coals). Put the lid back on and let it sit for at least 30 minutes to an hour. At this point, you're not cooking the pork (you don't need to), you're imparting smoky goodness into the exposed meat ("building a bark" as they say).
After an hour, the meat should have a crusty mahogany color to it. Take off the grill, cover, and let it rest for 15 minutes, then chop it up (or pull it apart with a couple forks). Be sure to mix it up so you combine the smokey exterior meat with the juicy interior meat.
Serve with sauce, slaw, pickles, whatever trips your trigger.
You can do the braising overnight in your oven, and the meat will be ready to finish in the morning for you. The purists will argue that "it's not true BBQ". Whatever. It still tastes darned good.
