Today was just about perfect: it snowed in the morning, later my son declared on his own "Daddy, i'd like to shovel the rink," the smoker was fired up at noon, we went for a road trip to get a kitten from a shelter, then I went for a night-time skate with the fresh smell of the final hour of a pork shoulder melting away in the smoker, and finally a barbecue feast of chopped pork sandwiches w/ coleslaw, vinegar sauce, baked beans, and my wife's canned pickles form the summer. Now that's a damn fine day. 

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There are a few summer holidays where I just can't survive if I don't barbecue: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. So this Fourth I decided to smoke the first pork shoulder of the summer. It's the first time I've tried my final rub on a shoulder and I was super happy with the results. In this run I've also confirmed that 1.5 hrs per pound at 210-240 is my sweet spot in terms of cooking time. Want to geek out with me on specifics? Read on for a full run down. 

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I currently find myself in southern illinois, learning the business of barbecue from "the legend" Mike Mills and his daughter Amy Mills. After a 10-hr day of full-on barbecue love-making, topped off with pork steaks, st louis ribs, and what must be the finest 23-yr old rum ever created, I got in the car to head back to the hotel. As I'm 5 minutes into the drive, I start thinking of the original 17th street bar still in operation I'm leaving in my taillights, and figure I'm a fool to not slip inside for a drink and a little more 'cue. Every once and a while I make the right decision... and tonight was one of those rare instances. I turned the car around, walked inside to find Amy, Mike, Chris, and the crew from Brother's Jimmy (in NYC) in there sampling half the menu. Here's my take on their chopped pork sandwich.  

Price: $8 

Appearance: The pic doesn't do it justice because I smashed the whole thing flat with my palm and then thought I should take a picture. But the meat here is chopped, not pulled. Lots of "smoke ring" coloring throughout, and just a few hits of bark. They serve with the slaw on the side, which I quickly dumped right on top. 

Pork solo: Perhaps the best smoke flavor I've had. Not overpowering, but fully infused. I learned today they smoke over wild cherry and/or apple depending on supply. The meat is very moist, and incredibly easy to eat in its chopped nature. Really good stuff. 

Bun: A big, flat, doughy, hamburger bun. Hard to complain on this one. 

Cole Slaw: Also chopped, with a serious vinegar hit. Tasty stuff, and cuts the richnes of the pork perfectly. 

Sauce: They tossed a little sauce on themselves, and I saw no reason to add any more. Honestly I couldn't discern it from the entire package, but based on the ribs i had the other night I'd presume the strong vinegar hit takes the heart attack out of the pork. 

Total package: A really great combination all around. Like serisouly REALLY great. I'm partial to a bit more crusty bark, but I'm grasping at straws to be critical here. This is one hell of a pork sandwich. Likely the best I've reviewed in this Pork-a-thon thread. Serisouly killer stuff. Get some. Now! 

 

I've been meaning to hit up Smoke Joint in Fort Greene for a good 6 months, and I happened to find myself in the area today for lunch so gave it a shot. They've done a bang-up job on the space... huge counter for takeout orders, and a killer bar area with untreated wood walls and tons of bourbon. Its a really great vibe inside and out. They even have a little outdoor smoker on the corner to lure passer-bys in for a taste:

That's gotta be illegal, but I love the idea! Ok then, onto my pork-a-thon review:

 

Price: $9

Appearance: A little smooshed and grey, but some nice looking bark. 

Pork solo: Tasty in an "i love any pork" kind of way, but very little smoke flavor. I saw the smoker there, so I know they smoke it... but the smoke flavor was incredibly subtle. Especially for a place that has a smoker out front to attract customers in! I think that little joint was generating more smoke than their actual cooker. Bummer. 

Bun: A nice buttery hard roll. Not quite a brioche bun, but definitely not your average hamburger bun. The bun was solid. 

Cole Slaw: An oddly yellow-ish slaw, turned out to be quite tasty. A nice tang/cream combo that was right at home in my belly. But the bigger story was the pickles next to the slaw. They've managed to make a sweet/sour pickle that's really great. Not too sweet, tons of sour kick, and even a little heat. I loved the pickles! 

Sauce: They packed up my to-go order with two sauce options. I loved that they didn't smother the sandwich itself and let me decide. But one sauce was a super sweet maple/tomato thing that was really out of place. And while the other was closer to my vinegar vibe, it had a really heavy spice level. Not heat really, but just actual spice. Almost like you could feel the texture of cayenne in the sauce. It didn't kill the sandwich, but it wasn't a huge help. 

Total package: Better than your average pulled pork sandwich, but from a place with "smoke" in its name I was left wishing for more smoked flavor. I thought the slaw and pickles were great, loved the bun, and the meat was juicy.... it just was missing that key smokiness.  

 

A full Pork-a-thon review is included below, but I'll start this post by noting the end of the summer! This was in all likelihood my last Pulled Pork smoke fest of summer 2010, which is always a sad realization. I combined this pulled pork with a beef chuck roast smoke for some more beef chili (more on that later), and it was a long, sunny, smoke-filled day. This pork shoulder smoked for a good 14 hours and coming in at just under 10 lbs that was the right amount of time. I did almost zero preparation aside from my typical brine and rub, which was refreshing but proved significant when it came to the end product. Just H20 in the water container, and weak apple wood chips combined to give this pork a subtle flavor, which was a disappointment. Though the cole slaw was amazing, the sauce is always a favorite, and the hot dog roll were all a huge success. Still a great event, just not my best yet. 

A few shots of the prep and smoking results:

A few shots of the final pulled pork: And of course the assembly: I think the cole slaw on the bottom of the roll is absolutely key to the total package here. A solid sandwich (or do i need to call it a "roll" now?) that's insanely easy to eat. I threw back two, and easily could have done three. Mmmm... OK, onto the Pork-a-thon review: 

Price: Homemade again, but likely a $4 single / $8 double considering the hot dog bun "roll" approach. 

Appearance: This shoulder was huge (10lbs) so proportionality there wasn't as much crust to interior as I typically like. that said, the smoke color penetration was solid, and the whole thing was super moist. 

Pork solo: Crust was great as in recent renditions, though overall this pork had a noticeably more subtle smoke flavor. I was using apple wood "chips" this time as opposed to chunks, and I think it made a big difference in a lack of substantial smoke. I also had the water pan filled with, uh, water this time, instead of my usual cider/beer/vingar combo and I think there was some definite missing of flavor. It still had some solid flavor, but not my usual richness.  

Sauce: Still loving that carolina red! 

Bun: Ah yes, the pulled pork roll! I loved the top-split hot dog roll as the vehicle here. Its a perfect vessel for a layer of slaw, a heap of pork, and a good splashing of sauce. This is the future pf pulled pork for me. 

Cole Slaw: Lori's slaw kills it every time. 

Total package: I'm officially a fan of the hot dog roll for a pulled pork sandwich. Its soft, not too bready, can fit in a single hand, and is generally just easier to eat, and better yet, easier to actually taste the contents. Its sort of like that old Ortega taco shell commercial where the actor (same guy who use to say "Corinthian Leather" i think.... Fantasy Island maybe? I digress), anyway that guy used to ask a kid how his taco shell tasted. Then the kid would try to take a bite, and the whole thing would fall apart. So he couldn't actually taste it. This is how i feel about many pulled pork sandwiches... though no longer for BBQ Billys! Hot dog buns all the way from now on.  The pork itself was a bit more subtle than I've done recently, and I think it ended up lacking some key flavor. A good dousing of that sauce helped a ton, and if you packed a roll with a bunch of the crust you were good to go. I'm giving presentation a 10 of 10, but pork flavor a 7 of 10. 

This fourth of july pulled pork was somewhat overshadowed by some fantastic beef ribs, but i think some of the adjustments i made from the memorial day pork shoulder resulted in one of the better pulled pork meals i've made to date. I made two modifications to my standard rub: 1) removed the curry powder, and 2) substituted freshly ground dried chipotle peppers for half of the chili powder. I also opted for applewood as a flavor boost in the hardwood charcoal mix and its such an improvement over hickory. I knew this from past attempts, but applewood is not the easiest to find last minute so for memorial day i couldn't get it.... this time around it was so much better with applewood and I'm now vowing to always use it on pork shoulder. Process-wise I did the same prep of removing skin and brining for about 16 hours in a salt/molasses/water mix:

I smoked the shoulder over a very consistant 220-240 degree smoker (loving that smokey mountain!), and i was able to smoke for 1.5 hrs per pound which i think is the right calculation. Here's a gallery of the smoking, pulling, and final sandwich making:

And now for my pork-a-thon review:

Price: I picked up two smaller shoulders from Pigasso Farms again with the same price per pound, so I'd assume this would be a $10-12 sandwich as before.

Appearance: Another good crusty exterior with some deeper pink smoke penetration this time. Nothing to complain about in this one, it looked about as good as it gets in my opinion. 

Pork Solo: The rub was not nearly as rich without the curry which was a welcomed result. Plus I really liked the smokey/spice addition of the chipotle pepper (and thanks to my big sister Pam for making the rub late night on the eve of the party!). Overall it had a solid yet mild smoked flavor which i attribute to the apple wood smoke... that's definitely what i like on a pork shoulder. Bites with the crust were incredibly flavorful, though perhaps a bit on the salty side. Maybe next time I'll cut down the salt in the rub by a tablespoon. 

Sauce: I didn't change a thing from last time and I'm still as happy with my carolina red as ever. Woohoo! 

Cole Slaw: Lori made a slight modification to her slaw using a bit of fresh red pepper in the mix and I thought it was a really nice addition. We both agreed the next time we (and by "we" i mean "Lori") make this we'll go back to using some green cabbage as well. There is something about the mix of red and green that is missing with red only. But once again this was a fine slaw, and thanks to my brother in law David - Pam's hubby - for chopping all that cabbage! 

Bun: We couldn't find brioche rolls upstate, and opted for some grocery store (price chopper!) kaiser rolls. That was a mistake. It was a dry and bland roll that somehow actually detracted from the pork. I later had another sandwich on a left over egg/butter bun and it was much better. Brioche will certainly be my ultimate roll... so next time I'm committing to searching it out. 

Total Package: I'm getting closer! This was a very tender and moist pull, and the bark was flavor packed without an overwhelming richness from previous rubs. I'm convinced applewood is the right smoke flavor, and i think 1.5 hours per pound is officially the right amount of time in the smoker. We served with my grandmother's recipe for potato salad (as modified by my sister Pam), a white bean salad from Lori, and those sara foster fridge pickles. I was really happy with this meal... probably giving myself a personal rating of 8 out of 10 for the pork. I think with the adjusted slaw, removing a bit of salt from the rub, and serving on a brioche roll I'll be as close to a 10 as I can get. So there you have it... until next time!