Baby Got Blog

I am on stacation (vacation time where you don't actually go anywhere) this week. Instead of travelling, I am researching lump charcoal for a baking contest at work this Friday. Grilling and baking are the same, except grilling involves beer and an occasional cigar. I am preparing pulled pork for the good folks at work and will provide the details of what goes into a pork butt over the course of the week.

Saturday and Sunday were spent looking at research performed by an independent body (http://www.nakedwhiz.com/) on various lump charcoals that other BBQ enthusiast have used. While I would love me some Real Montana Maple Lump Charcoal, I have located some Wicked Good Charcoal - Weekend Warrior Blend about 30 minutes from house as well as Wegmans Brand lump charcoal. Traditionally I have used the Big Green Egg brand lump and have been very pleased. As a test for the butt, I used the Wegmans brand lump on some cedar planked salmon. The results - terrible lump, great fish. I was so pleased with the fish, I made it again the next night, but this time I brined the salmon for about 4 hours in water, kosher salt, and brown sugar. I then cooked the salmon on a maple plank that had been soaking for 4 hours in water at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. If there are two things I learned during this test they are:
1. Brine salmon because the taste is so much better
2. Wegmans brand lump is terrible

Butt Update (Day 1)
Picked up the butts today. That's right - two 8.5 pound pork butts with the bone left in. Let me take a moment to explain the butt. A pork butt is not the butt of a pig - for pulled pork you actually use a shoulder, and the shoulder is often referred to as a butt. There is also a pork picnic that you can use which is the shoulder with a little piece of the leg left on it. Example: Look at your shoulder and then imagine cutting it off and leaving a little piece of your arm on - that's a picnic. Next steps will include: injecting, rubbing, and pulling the butt.