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Pulled Pork on the Big Green Egg

05 Wednesday Jul 2017

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I smoke a Pork Butt on the Big Green Egg at least once a month.  All my boys love it and my youngest son will fry up leftovers in the mornings with some Taco seasoning sprinkled for an added twist.  It’s delicious with eggs and salsa too!

I started this cook with two 6 pound Boston Butts, they were on sale for $0.99 per pound- literally a steal.  The Egg was preheated to about 250F and the Pork was prepared with a slathering of plain old yellow mustard and liberally coated with BBQ Bros Carolina rub.  This is the second style of their rub that I have used.

A liberal coating of Carolina style BBQ Bros rub

Pork is so easy, it doesn’t really care about the temperature that much and is pretty much ready when the internal temp is between 195-205F.  I like to let mine go to the 205 mark as the meat, fat and tendons are fully rendered at that point.  It makes the meat literally fall apart.  I use meat shredders now as I cook this cut so often, but if you are just getting started you can cheat and use two spaghetti spoons, or two large forks.  You will eventually buy the shredders.

Shredders, you will thank me later

 

My two hunks took 12 hours with the average temperature at 250F.  The outside was dark in color, the smoke ring evident and the internal meat was succulent with a hint of smoke.  The tasty rub added a nice zing. Bang for the buck this is the best way to get to know your Big Green Egg or other Kamado style smoker.  Try different rubs, different mustards, different hardwood chunks ( I do not soak mine BTW).  I tend to buy a big bag of Mesquite chunks for my smoker and the flavors I get from 4-5 chunks per cook are exactly the level of smoke I like.  I ended up drinking red wine with my dinner, but beer works great too.  Some people get all fancy with foil baths, injections of spice-  the simpler the better in this case.  Salut….

Ready to go!

Turkey Breast on the Big Green Egg

27 Tuesday Jun 2017

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Some of you may know that my youngest son is a competitive Ice Dancer, as in he trains 6 hours per day right now.  This makes him a very hungry boy, so he asked for and got a smoked Turkey, albeit just the breast as June is not really Turkey season.

I looked up some recipes and thought about how I did them at Thanksgiving time.  Opting for a more smoked dish, I did somethings different this time.  The breast was basically the whole bird, minus the drums and wings, but was pretty hefty at 9 pounds.  The directions on the package said to roast at 350F for 3 1/2 hours.  I covered the bird in a light coating of avocado oil so the skin would crisp, then I rubbed some BBQ Bros California rub that I just got onto the bird.  The Egg had been preheating to 350F and I made sure to add lots of wood chunks before placing the heat diffuser in.

After barely 2 hours, the internal temps indicated the bird was cooked at 180 degrees, which surprised me somewhat.  Next time, I will go for a lower internal temp of 170 at the most.  I removed it from the grill, tented it and left it in the cool oven.  At dinner time, I split the breasts off the carcass and sliced the meat across the grain.  This method makes sure each piece has a section of skin, which was delicious, smoky and crisp all at the same time.  I recommend this technique and will be doing it that way from now on.  Overall a very satisfying dinner that had my older kids clamoring for leftovers in the middle of the night!

Covered in rub, 350 degrees

California Rub

The finished bird

Across the grain!

 

Beef Brisket on the Big Green Egg

16 Friday Jun 2017

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I have made several Briskets since I first wrote about it in my 2014 Brisket on the Big Green Egg post.  I have come a long way since then.  I just re-read the post and cringed, thinking of the mistakes I made then versus now.  One thing is still true and is of the utmost importance- constant temperature control.  I used to go with 250, that has changed.  225 is the average I shoot for now.  210-235 is the limit for me.  It seems to take about 12 hours for a medium sized slab of brisket.  I cook till 195 internal temperature and do nothing fancy with foils, baths or flipping.  I simply rub the meat with yellow mustard and cover in dry rub.  Fat side down seems to work best as it protects the meat.  That’s all there is to it.  The dry rubs I have tried and mixed at home are all very good, so I bought a whole bunch of new ones to try out, today we are going with the Butt Rub.

One thing that still freaks me out is “The Stall’.  I usually get the charcoal started early in the morning, say 6:30 am and have the meat on the rack by 7.  The internal temps rise rapidly to about 155 or so, which always makes me wonder if dinner is going to be ready by 11 am!  Well, the meat stalls at that temperature for a few hours.  The basic physics of this phenomenon is Evaporative Cooling, otherwise known as Sweating.  Once it stalls, the meat stays at that  temperature for what seems an eternity, perhaps  4 hours or longer.  Past the stall, it continues to cook and the internals get to between 195-203 before I pull the meat, tent it in foil for at least 10 minutes and then slice it across the grain in thin strips.

The dreaded STALL

Lately I have not even been using BBQ sauce, the meat is so tender, smoky and flavorful that it is best served up in a simple manner.  Tonight we are going with a salad, some Seasoned Field Peas with Snaps and perhaps a cold beer or two….

Spring cleaning the garage

The Dry Rub shipment just arrived!

Baby Back Ribs on the Big Green Egg

21 Thursday Jul 2016

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I know, this is a wine blog.  But I also love cooking on the Big Green Egg ceramic grill. I have done chicken, turkey, steaks, legs of lamb, brisket but never ribs.  Today is the trial.  I am using a slow cook of 5 hours with a portion of that time spent in a tin foil bath of apple juice.

I started off with two racks of baby back ribs, to which I slathered a thin coating of mustard.  I do this with all my slow cooks as it gives the meat a moist base for the rub to stick to without overpowering the flavors.  For the actual rub, I bought some Pork Barrel BBQ rub from Costco to try out.  I normally mix my own, but rubs are generally pretty standard and this brand happens to have some good sauces:

  • Salt
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion Powder
  • Chili
  • Paprika
  • Cilantro
  • Pepper
  • Anything else in the cupboard

IMG_0932

Once the meat was rubbed and the coals set to about 230F I put the diffuser in the Egg, placed a water bath on top of it and laid the meat on to the grate so there was no direct heating.

 

Mustard and Dry Rub

Mustard and Dry Rub

Indirect 230F heat/smoke

Indirect 230F heat/smoke

The meat was cooked for 2 hours of indirect heat followed by two hours wrapped up in foil with some apple juice. The juice adds moisture and allows the meat to fall off the bone. The final hour of the 5 hour cook will be spent without the foil, ensuring the crust gets a little crispy.  I really enjoyed these ribs and will tinker some more with rubs, cooking times and sauces.  All you need is some cold beer or perhaps a glass of Shiraz!  Salut….

The ribs, in all their glory.

The ribs, in all their glory.