i Love Grilling Meat August 2018

i Love Grilling Meat August 2018

MEAT Insider

August 2018

PORK BUTT Challenge

The Secrets Behind the Best Smoked Pork Butts

t all starts with the cut of meat you pick up from the store or from your favorite butcher. I like to take a good look at my pork butts before I buy. I look for 9- to 10-pound butts with nice marbling—a nice money muscle. The money muscle is a segment of marbled meat that’s tender. When it’s cooked right, it practically melts in your mouth. Having a butcher that you trust can go a long way when you’re looking for this cut of meat. They’ll point you in the right direction. I have two butchers in the St. Louis area that have yet to steer me wrong. Once you do find the perfect pork butt, there are a few steps you can take to end up with crowd-pleasing results. The first thing you’re going to want to do is consider your smoking time. The amount of time the pork butt spends in the smoker is important. You’re going to want about 1 hour per pound at 235 to 240 degrees. As for building your smoke, when I smoke my pork butts, I normally go for maple wood, but you can use whatever you want —pecan, apple, hickory. It’s all about bringing together your favorite flavors. The next thing you’ll want to think about is the marinade. Because I’m a fan of maple, I use a maple-basedmarinade. You canmix maple syrup with vinegar for an easy marinade. You can alsomake a maple dry rub. I usually get my dry maple flavoring from a spice seller. Depending on where you live, it might take a little investigating. But if you do try it, you’ll be impressed with the results. I

After that, you’re going to want to consider your sauce. Once my butts hit about 175 degrees, I tend to take themoff, sauce them, wrap them in foil, and put themback in until they hit 195 degrees. This creates an intense steam and a whole lot of flavor. When they do hit 195 degrees, I open up the foil just enough to let out some of the steam and addmore sauce. Then, I ease everything back into the foil and put it back in the smoker for an hour. At the end of smoking, you can add evenmore flavor with a glaze. It’s completely optional. For a lot of people, the sauce is enough, but I do love a good glaze. I typically make my glaze out of any fruit I have on hand: peaches, apples, cherries, strawberries—you name it. My go-to tends to be peaches. The sugars and juices in peaches make for an ideal glaze, but cherries come in a close second. Something you always want to have on hand is a spray bottle. You want to spritz the butt throughout the entire process because that moisture is important. And, on the topic of moisture, you want to keep inmind that bigger cuts of meat tend to holdmore internal moisture. Because of this, it can create a bit of a stall during smoking. People often overlook this internal moisture. For smaller cuts of meat, it’s usually not something you need to worry about. But for bigger cuts, it’s a whole different story. It can seem like the meat is taking forever to cook—or that nothing is happening at all. The moisture and the internal

makeup of the meat has to reach a balance before the stall will dissipate and the inside of the meat will continue to cook. That’s just the way the bigger cuts of meat are. They retain a lot of water, and it can be intimidating when you hit a stall —especially when you’ve got people to feed! If you do run into a stall, the best thing you can do is give yourself an extra hour to an hour and a half of cooking time. If you end up buying a larger butt, you can just assume you’ll need that extra cooking time, so you can plan accordingly. I’ve been smoking pork butts since I was about 17. In that time, I have yet to have a complaint. These methods have servedme well —and they can serve you well too! Give them a try!

–Danny McTurnan 1 grillingandsmokingassociation.org

with a possible subheader right underneath How to Clean and Preserve Y ur Cast-Iron Skill t

Cast-iron skillets have been utilized almost religiously for a long time, but they became especially popular at the beginning of the 20th century. In some families, a cast-iron skillet is passed down from parents to children to grandchildren— and for good reason: When properly cared for, a good cast-iron skillet can last for generations. There’s nothing quite like a classic breakfast of bacon and eggs right out of the iron skillet. The problem is, once breakfast is over, you’re left with grease and other stuck-on food. But if you follow these steps, you’ll be left with a cast-iron skillet that’s good as new and ready for its next use. The best way to clean cast iron is to use heat. If you’ve let the skillet cool after cooking, start by heating it back up until you get a touch of smoke coming off the grease or stuck-on food. As the skillet heats up, turn on the tap and let it run as hot as possible. (Warning: Never run cold water over hot iron. You’ll crack the metal and ruin the skillet.) Rinse the hot skillet under GRILL Giveaway

about a tablespoon of coarse salt and one tablespoon of water. With a soft sponge, scrub away the leftover debris. Once the remaining particles are gone, rinse and dry thoroughly. To make sure your skillet is completely dry, set it back on a hot burner for a few minutes so that all leftover water drops evaporate. To maintain the nonstick surface of the skillet, you’ll need to complete a few more steps. Remove it from heat and use a lint-free rag to gently rub a tablespoon of vegetable oil (coconut and peanut oil work too) into the surface of the skillet. Cover all parts of the skillet, including the bottom and handle, with a thin layer of oil, and when you see that dull shine, it’s good to go! Every time you use your cast-iron skillet, follow these steps. It may sound like a bit of extra work, but your skillet will reward you with decades of delicious meals!

the hot water. There will be a lot of steam, so be sure to lean back a little! Then, using a wood or silicone spatula (never metal — this will scratch the iron), remove all excess grease and food particles. They should come off like a breeze.

If any food particles remain, it’s time to break out the salt. Once the skillet is cool, add

PORK BUTT Challenge

Upcoming Ask A Pro Sessions

Are you ready to put your grilling and smoking skills to the test? Take the Pork Butt Challenge and you could WIN up to $500 in grilling and meat-smoking prizes! Wanna knowmore? Head over to gsa.life/2018august for all the details on how to enter. Good luck, and we look forward to seeing what you cook up!

• Sunday 8/5/18, 5 p.m. Central PanMethod vs. Grate Method for Pork Butts • Sunday 8/19/18, 5 p.m. Central Different Muscles That Make Up a Butt + Q&A Go to gsa.life/2018august for instructions on how to access these LIVE sessions.

Win a FREE Char-Broil Offset Smoker. Details at gsa.life/2018august .

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Give Your Butt a Spicy Kick Dan ’ s Butt Rub

When you’re looking for a great rub for your pork butt, there are a lot of options out there. This month, we wanted to make it easy, so I thought I’d share one of my favorite rub recipes. It’s packed with several different spices, giving the flavor a complex, but oh-so-delicious edge.

Ingredients

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1 teaspoon ground cloves 2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

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1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 tablespoon ground dill

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

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1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

Pinch of ground ginger

Instructions Mix the ingredients well, then apply to the pork butt as generously as desired. For larger cuts of meat, feel free to double, triple, or quadruple these measurements — just be sure to keep the proportions consistent! The results will speak for themselves!

Any support questions? Email us at [email protected] If you are not in the Facebook forum yet, go to gsa.life/2018august to learn how!

–Danny McTurnan

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The Secrets to the Best Smoked Pork Butts

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Get Decades out of Your Cast-Iron Skillet Are You Ready for a Challenge? Dan’s Butt Rub

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Understanding the Pork Butt

What’s in a Pork Butt? Don’t let the name fool you. The pork butt, also known as the Boston butt, is a cut of meat that comes from the upper shoulder and is closely related to the pork shoulder. In fact, the butt rests right above the shoulder and can occasionally be purchased with the shoulder blade still attached (though this isn’t a common practice). The second major difference is size. Typically, the butt is a heftier cut of meat than the shoulder, in both overall size and weight. This makes it great for when you have a larger crowd to feed, but it can take a little longer to cook.

On cooking times, both the butt and the shoulder require longer cooking times. This makes these cuts ideal for smoking and barbecuing. Slow is the way to go. You can easily make an all-day event out of smoking a pork butt, depending on its size. The butt is also the perfect cut to add your favorite flavors to, whether you add these flavors in the form of a rub, marinade, sauce, or glaze — or all of the above!

What is the difference between the butt and the shoulder? Because they are so close together on the animal, you might not think there would be much difference — but there is! The first difference is the fat content. There is more fat content in the pork butt than the shoulder. When you look for a good butt, you want to look for fairly even marbling. This fat equals flavor. A lot of people will tell you after cooking that the butt has more flavor than the shoulder, but we’ll leave that debate for another day.

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