Cuban-style pulled pork

This cook started with some great expectations. Chris Lilly's Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book has a section on whole hog recipes. I've never done a whole hog, but one recipe jumped out to me recently. And I thought I might be able to apply it to a pork shoulder.

Everything lined up for a good cook. Boston butts were on sale. Lump charcoal was on sale.

Things were smelling great. This Cuban-style recipe involved injecting the meat with a cocktail of orange juice, lime juice, dark rum, soy sauce, salt, garlic salt and onion powder.

Rum. Yum.

The recommended sauce to go with the finished product was Caribbean Mojo Sauce--a combo of lime juice, olive oil, minced garlic, oregano and cumin. Smelled really fresh. I was imagining that the citrus flavors were going to be a new take on the sour, acidic flavors that vinegar usually gives me. 

Caribbean Mojo Sauce

Now talk about smelling good. The rub was a fragrant blend of garlic, finely chopped green onions, dried oregano, fresh-ground pepper and salt. This was a radical detour from the traditional BBQ. I was excited. I cooked it in the usual way with a little bit of hickory, but I took it easy for fear of covering up the injected flavors.

Shoulder as it went on.

Shoulder after a couple of hours

Fourteen hours later it was ready. In the photo below you can see a little of the juice (I think). It all looks great, right?

I pulled the meat using the gloves my wife bought me. (similar to the ones advertised here) They're great for protecting your hands from the piping hot pork as you pull it. I don't know what you think, but I think my BBQ looks way better than that pitiful stuff the hand model is messing with.

Of course my partner in crime, Labon showed up to try this new recipe. So I've got this general attitude that all barbecue is amazing. Different cultures and regions put their stamp on it and it's up to me to find what makes it great. An example of this is the Alabama White Sauce Chicken recipe from the same cookbook. So I was prepared to be amazed by this Cuban take on pork. 

The verdict? Meh. I thought the rub wound up being too salty. The injection didn't really do much to enhance the flavor. The sauce was WAY too sour from the lime juice. The best move of the evening was when I grabbed a bottle of Eastern NC BBQ sauce and liberally doused the pulled pork. Then it started to taste pretty good. So as it turns out I do have pretty strong opinions about different barbecue styles. Cuban barbecue (as I executed this particular take on it)? No thanks. If somebody has pointers on what I might do differently or try next time, I am all ears.

A Chat with James Hogan

This was great fun. My friend, co-worker and fellow blogger, James Hogan (www.jamesdhogan.com), sat down with me to talk about food, grilling and fellowship. I had a chance to discuss what goes on when you fire up the coals and the importance of eating with friends and family. James has a wonderful blog that I encourage you to bookmark and check out often. I admire his writing; the overall visual aesthetic of his blog and the devotion he brings to his work.

You can read our conversation here: http://www.forum.jamesdhogan.com/2013/04/11-questions-gray-dyer-grill-master.html 

Cheyenne Burger

This is another great recipe from Steven Raichlen's Planet Barbecue!. In particular this is dubbed "Bobby Flay's Cheyenne Burger." It sounded simple enough, but I was almost completely unprepared for exactly how delicious this was going to be--especially when you consider that this is a turkey burger recipe.

Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. When you start with big ol strips of lovely bacon, you're going to win. Am I right? I tried Wright Brand Bacon for the first time. This was apple smoked, thick cut and very, very tasty--even by bacon standards.

The part of this recipe that really piqued my attention wast the homemade onion rings to serve on top of the burger. I'd never tried this before. 

The instructions in the book were not all that specific so I winged it a little. It did specify heating peanut oil to 360f in a heavy pot. I used my cast iron Dutch oven. It also said you dredge the cut onions through flour seasoned with pepper, salt and cayenne pepper (amounts were not specified). Then you dunk the rings in salt and pepper seasoned buttermilk. Lastly before dropping them in the oil you dredge them back through the flour. 

I had ambitions of making up a whole mess of onion rings, but it all got really messy, goopy and frustrating after a while. I had some lovely specimens and decided that about a dozen or so were plenty for our burgers.

As the burgers cooked, I brushed the buns with olive oil and gave 'em a quick toast.

So to bring it all together, you slap cheddar on the turkey burgers as they come to 165f. Then you set them on the bun in a little puddle of BBQ sauce (I used Stubb's Spicy). Top them with bacon, onion rings and pickle chips and you're ready to eat a real treat.

I set up the photo of the burger shown at the top of the page. My four-year-old was licking his lips and called dibs on that one. He's not always the biggest eater in the world, but he put away nearly the whole thing.

My six-year-old DID eat the whole thing and made quite a fuss over its deliciousness.

I love this shot. My daughter is happy and my son is ripping at the bacon like a feral dog.

This was easy and really darned good. Thanks for reading.