I was just in Central America. A Maya lady served me a sparkling chicken soup. Spicy. Made my nose run. She said she put jalapeno in the soup, along with allspice and cilantro. Very nice results. I thought it might work with pork.
In the forum, I read about injectable marinades. Sounds foreign and invasive to me, and a step away from the cave man/cave woman aura we seek to achieve as masters of fire and smoke. But, Smokin says to try new things, so I went down to a fishing tackle store (go figure!) and found a Chef William's Cajun marinade injector syringe. About a 10-bore needle; big enough to embalm a steer. I purchased two 5.5 # Boston butts. Instructions said you need 1-2 oz of marinade per pound of flesh. 100% difference, but who am I to question. I decided I needed about 2 cups of finished product. I made my new marinade, as follows:
Chuck's Injectable Tarantula Marinade.
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water (I used water simply to get the volume up to 2 cups)
1 cup papaya chunked up (for mashing later; about a cup of juice)
1 jalapeno pepper
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon lemon grass, minced as best you can
1 tablespoon Mexican cilantro, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt to taste
black pepper to taste.
Mash up the papaya, mix all these items together, bring to a simmer, but not a rolling boil (in my humble opinion). Let cool to room temp. Put the whole brew in a blender. There will still be solids left that might clog a syringe, so strain the marinade into a suitable container. Taste and adjust as you see fit.
The result thus far was just great. A vinegar sauce with mild, sweet overtones from the papaya. And a bight from the pepper and a pleasant contribution from the allspice.
I then injected the pork butt. That phase went well. I saved maybe a half a cup of marinade as a mop sauce. I did not rub this butt, hoping to better determine the effects of my marinade.
As a control, I rubbed the second butt with a Wild Willy mixture, and injected that one with Chef William's Cajun injectable marinade (Mild), that came in a bottle from the tackle store.
It took ten hours to get the internal temp up to the 180* mark, but it was father's day, so I was cut some slack.
Results: Both butts were cooked just right. Pullable to perfection. (After 10 hrs, I hope so!) The Cajun injected butt tasted great. The marinade added a good flavor all through the usually bland pork meat.
My Tarantula Marinade did nothing much at all. The bland stayed bland.
Some fundamental flaw in the process, but, as I have said, I am no chef, so I remain mystified. Before injecting, the flavor of the marinade was exactly what I had hoped for, but it vanished in cooking. Well, perhaps a hint was left behind, but not much.
So, how do you make a marinade that stands up to 10 hours of smoking? Are marinades super concentrated from the git go? Are some ingredients doomed to become denatured after prolonged heat?
Thanks for any guidance. ACARRIII
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