Good Que!

So what was your procedure? You can't come here and crow about your success without letting us know the hows and whens and whys

quote:

So what was your procedure?

Gpflepsen, if I answer truthfully, I'll go to jail, and Smokin will throw away the key.

All pretty basic. I put the rub on the butt and refrigerated overnight. Fired up the pit at 0700. Dusted on a bit more rub, and threw it in the pit. About 250-220*, all day long.

Now here's the dangerous part. It was a Brinkman offset smoker with a small log of live oak and a load of lump charcoal.

I've never seen a smoke ring that pronounced. Maybe the lump charcoal? Or was it the paprika in the rub? Never heard anybody talk about a paprika stain to the meat. Paprika stains everything else in the kitchen, why not the butt? And I nailed the bark. Nice and crusty. The slices were spectacular: almost black crust; pastrami-red smoke ring; pale center. Oozing juice. I wonder if the very dry winter air helped with that bark. Rare low humidity here right now.

Okay, I see Smokin Okie coming. I better run.

Might be the paprika. It's not allowed in certain raw sausage products because it colors the sausage such that people might mistakenly think it's cooked.

Some paprikas are much more colorful than others - I recently got some California paprika that makes food much brighter than Hungarian stuff. Not anywhere near the flavor, though.

You could always just try again to see if it's the recipe or just luck...

About that bark......The stove was over 300* when I put the butt on....then I damped it down to 220 or so

I think the high heat helped caramalize the crust. Does that make sense to readers of this awesome forum? Zap the sugars, and you are on first base.

Mornin',i2.

You probably cooled it down enough,but I think even turbinado sugar will burn above about 275�.

Since we are discussing paprikas,they also may be burn sensitive at higher temps.

In taking cooking courses over the years in New Orleans,virtually all the instructors say paprika will burn and should be added late in any cooking process involving direct heat.

Just a couple of thoughts.

If there was nitrate in the rub that would cause a smoke ring and high temps will carmalize the sugar giving a good bark I allways use brown sugar in my rubs just for that.

In a normal smoke, briskets, butts and such, I've never seen a smoke ring go 2 inches on straight smoke. I have seen it when there was a lot of nitrities, nitrates added via rubs, etc. And the paprika info is classic...good to have it.

I2, whatever you did, I hope you took good notes. Sounds like you're happy with the results...hope you can repeat them.

Appreciate the inputs!

I agree with Smokin...I have never seen a 2" deep smokering. That is huge and must have been artificially induced.

Also, I wrote to Sugar in the Raw and asked about the burn temp of their sugar. Here is the response...

Dear Mr. Taylor,
Thank you for your inquiry. Sugar In The Raw begins charring at a
temperature of
between 160 and 186 degrees Centigrade.
Best regards,
Michael Drinkard
Consumer Relations


That is 320� - 366�. I have not had a reply from anyone on the burn temp of granulated or brown sugars.

That is one of the myths of smoking...adding your sauce in the last 10-20 minutes to avoid burning. You can add a very sweet sauce for 6 hours and it will not burn if you keep your temps below 250�. I have done the Carson's Ribs technique a few times and it works great.

What is that, you ask...apply sauce BEFORE placing in smoker, then apply sauce every hour until finished. No burning and VERY moist meat. A great way to promote a sauce.

Stogie,thanks for the input on sugar in the raw.

I know that the wife has done butts in the oven, when visiting up north with the family in winter.

She has started them even higher ,for 20 mins. or so,before reducing them.

She takes our rubs with her and hasn't reported any burning,so I guess it works.

Interesting comments! I thought everything you could say about a butt had already been said...

The notion of running the cooking temp up brieflyto help the crust form is intriguing. Zap it. Hadn't heard it mentioned before, but I sure think that had something to do with the bark on the above mentioned butt.

Will crusting a butt to soon prevent smoke from getting in the meat?

You guys are sleuths! Que sleuths. I checked with my wife. She bought that butt at Kash n'Karry. (Normally it's Publix) I dropped in at Kash n' Karry and guess what: All their pork is Smithfield "Lean Generation" Pork. It's brined, by golly, by George. I read the fine print. 10% solution including pork broth, Potassium lactate, salt, sodium phosphate.

Dang! That almost certainly affected color, taste, tenderness.

The result was good, but I don't like being blindsided.

Smithfield