26 April 2010

Smoker 2010

Smoked a pork shoulder this weekend. Second one of my relatively short Minnesota smoking season. Got up early Sunday morning and had the meat on the rack by 6am. Added a few coals before heading off to church, as did my wife as she was leaving a little while behind me. I got my work taken care of before the rain started while she was dressed for church juggling an umbrella and a tin bucket of charcoal.

We had some peaches down in the freezer left over from last year. I pureed them and marinated the shoulder in it overnight. Just another experiment in search of the perfect barbecue. It was OK, but the sugar in the juice almost did some damage to the outer bark on the roast. It carmelized and then started to blacken. While a little sweetness can be good on a shoulder, or ribs, etc. I think it's best that it come at the end. The front of the train is all about simplicity. Salt, pepper, maybe a paint job of yellow mustard if you're trying to impress the neighbors. Not much else.

For all of my barbecue the real test comes on day two, after it's been in the leftovers category for at least 24 hours. Last night I tried some when I got home and it passed the test of good, but not great, barbecue. I used cherry wood this time which I think imparts a milder smoky taste than hickory, for example. Very good, but i've done better. It's still early in the season.

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