Jamaican Jerk Pulled Pork, Peameal Bacon And Tri-Pork Baked Beans.

[OldHoss]

Ok I did a Butt a couple weeks ago and it was great.  I have tried to do Jerk Pork in the past and never had it turn out very good - this was done on my converted barbecue to smoker setup.  So I figure I have a handle on how to cook one of these butts to finish so toss in the Jamaican spices instead of the Southern US ones.  I know the consistency of the meat done at the pits in Jamaica is not that of pulled pork - not even close to that shredded.  I want something I will like though and am not into taking a huge risk of this turning out bad at this point.

So here is what I have done so far........

Pork butt just shy of 8 pounds:



Grace Scotch Bonnet Sweet N' Spicy sauce for a outside layer (this sauce is rated a 1 out of 3 on the heat scale by Grace......their yellow scotch bonnet sauce rates a 3 out of 3):



Got a question about that fatcap.  The first butt I did had a fatcap that was not nearly as thick or big.  If I cook this butt the way it is, in the Bradley at set at 210-220f with the fat side up.....Will I be able to shred the finished product leaving the cooked fatcap in???  Or will I have to trim it off before shredding as it will be too much fat as well as too thick?   The reason I ask is I want to leave as much bark in the end mix as possible.  Maybe I could unwrap the butt and trim off some of the fat if I have to.  I am going to be leaving the dry rub on for the next 2.5 days.



Mix spices..no real ratio or measurement here...lots of allspice, not too much salt and taste taste taste is what I do.  In my opinion the marriage of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice is what jerk is.  I use the chipolte/mango powder from la grille (which is primarily chiplote powder in makeup) and love the smoky barbeque taste it gives.  I also use whole peppr, cloves and allspice and grind it up in the mortar and pestle to provide freshness.  I also put more than one thing in at a time when grinding to blend flavours more forcefully:

garlic powder
black pepper
lowry's
chipolte/mango powder from la grille
allspice
cloves
nutmeg
cinnamon
paprika
dehydrated oinion
smoked salt





Rub....



....and wrap.....



I will be leaving this for 2 to 3 days before I smoke it.  I was thinking of adding 6 hours of pecan smoke.  The last time I did a butt it was not quite as big as this one and I hit it with 5 hours of Hickory smoke.  The meat was not too smoky at all - in fact I could have lived with more.

I am going to do an injection about 12 hours before I start cooking this butt.  I am thinking of using mango juice, rum and some of the dry rub mixed in.  Probably about a cup and a half total volume.  I would love some feedback on my injection idea as I can find nobody injecting with mango juice.  Is this a good idea???

[Ka Honu]

The only time I smoked jerk pork butt I trimmed the fat cap as close as I could without fully exposing the meat and added the rub for a two-day stay in the fridge.  I used oak for 4 hours of smoke, then continued to 200^o, chopped, and added jerk sauce as a side when serving.  Came out great.

[Habanero Smoker]

Do a search and learn about how "authentic" jerk meats are made. The term jerk is the method they use to season the meat, especially for large cuts of meat. Many slits are made into the meat and the marinade and spices are forced into the slits. Then more marinade is use to cover the meat and it is allowed to marinate longer.

[KyNola]

My opinion is if you want to retain as much bark as possible and make it pronounced, follow Ka Honu's advice and cut the fat cap off.

I do that with all of my butts.

One other thing, I noted you said that Jamaican jerk pork is not a pulled pork type texture.  You could always just take the IT to around 160 and slice or coarse chop it, chunky like..

[OldHoss]

Do a search and learn about how "authentic" jerk meats are made

I know what they do I just can't replicate it yet.  I can do the chicken just fine but the pork is my achilies heel.

EDIT:

Let me explain.....I have been to Jamaica....recently.  I pain attention and asked questions.  I have prepared the pork as close to the way they do it as I can.  Thing is when I smoke it - either in the Bradley or on my converted barbeque - it does not come out the way it does for them.  The chicken I can do...and do well.  But so far that pork has me stumped.  To pull it out before the 195f mark would be the thing to do....they cook theirs at the best place I ate at for 3.5 hours ONLY.  The temperature is higher, the pig is cut in half, all bones are removed, the skin is left on, the meat is cut into strips and inch or so wide...and the meat is turned regularly.  I cannot turn regularly as to open the door or the lid on the barbeque is to lose heat and smoke.  This is not an issue with the chicken but has been with the pork.  I have used the same flippin rub and smoke for both the chicken and pork to exactly opposite results. So considering all that I am going with what I got correct last time....which is pulled pork.

I took the fatcap off of the butt.  Scraped the rub/sauce combination off of the butt first and then reused it after cutting off the fat.  The meat smelled sweet from the sauce and the rub seemed to be working it's magic already.

[Habanero Smoker]

I know what you mean. I have been to Jamaica a couple of times; once in the 70's and again in the 80's; and I do know what you mean about the taste. The chicken and goat I have seen them prepare, but pork I haven't never seen it done over an open pit. A friend use to throw a Caribbean Cookout each year, and he would hire a Jamaican caterer. They would build a pit, and cover the hog with banana leaves.

It's going to be difficult to replicate, but you can get pretty close to the flavor. Besides the spices and using the jerk method, they cook the meat over open fires fuel by pimento wood. Pimento is milder then hickory, and pecan may be a better choice. I'll send you a PM.

[squirtthecat]

I've heard (from a pellet manufacturer) than you can duplicate the pimento wood smoke flavor with a 50/50 mix of Hickory and Cherry..

Might be some of the magic you are missing.

[OldHoss]

@ Habanero Smoker - I was down to Jamaica this past summer.  Found a place called Scotchies in Montego Bay - they also have a location in Kingston and Ocho Rios.  This Scotchies was the best I found and from what I read is amongst the best on the island.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I5rLi476Mk

I can replicate the taste and texture of their chicken but the pork is something I cannot do....either taste or texture.  I should be able to get the taste as you would think the rub or marinade is the same......no???  I have failed to get even close on the pork about 6 or 7 times....makes me wanna cry it does.  The chicken however I have outright failed never....and nailed absolutely many times over.  Folks....and my wife who was with me in Jamaica..........love my chicken.

@ squitthecat  -  I basically came to that conclusion myself in a roundabout way.  When I was using my barbeque as a smoker I started with Hickory on the coals then started mixing in some Cherry when I read the Jamaicans toss in some fruit wood with the pimento as well.  I had also read somewheres's that Cherry lends a 'rosy' colour to the meat being smoked.....I liked the idea and have found it appears to be true.  Hickory alone is very worthy but with a little Cherry is more worthy I think.  I wish I could lay my hands on some Cherry bisquetes or figure out a way to introduce smoke from the Cherry chips I already have onhand into the Bradley. 

I have no Cherry in the bisqettes right now and cannot source any in my area.  The only Cherry I have is in chips - I soaked some and made a tinfoil pack last time I did chicken in the Bradley.  I put the tinfoil on the heat deflecter right above the heating element at the back of the unit.  I did a 4 hour smoke and all the chips did was dry out.

So I am going to use Pecan when I do this butt and see how it melds with the Jerk Rub I have made.  I used Pecan once before on chicken (not Jerk chicken) and it was very good.....and then some.

Right now I have just one question left about this butt I am going to do............

I am thinking of doing a injection about 12 hours before I start cooking the butt.   I was thinking of using mango juice in the injection recipie - mango jucie, some dark rum, some butter and some of rub mixed in.  Is this a good idea?  Is mango juice in the mix a good idea?  I can find no other references to folks using mango juice as an injection.

EDIT:

Here is where the plan is for this butt. 

Mix:

1 cup mango juice ... not from concentrate
1 or 2 tblsp dark rum
1 or 2 tblsp butter
1or 2 tblsp rub mix
a little extra smoked sea salt

inject this about 12 hours befor I toss it in the smoker.  I am a little concerned about the mango juice having negative implications for the texture of the pork.  I may cut down the time from 12 hours to only a few before I do the smoke.  Not sure on this one.

[Consooger]

i wanna see how this comes out

[OldHoss]

I cannot wait.  This is going in the smoker in the next few minutes.  I did the injection a couple hours ago:



The mango juice and the spices for the rub were too thick and the needle for the injector kept getting clogged so I added apple juice to the mix.

1 cup mango juice (not from concentrate)
1/3 cup apple juice
1.5 tblsp dark rum
1 tblsp rub mix
2.5 tblsp liqified butter

I only used about 60% of the fluid as the butt seemed plenty full at that.

I have read a number of places how brushing a butt before smoking with molasses is a good idea.  I smelled the butt (can't believe I wrote that and am leaving it as is).....smelled the spices and thought how it would combine with molasses......I brushed a small section with molasses and smelled it......and thinking to myself, "this smells like victory".......came to a conclusion.........



The combined smells of the rub, the Grace Sweet and Spicey and the molasses is a wonderful thing.   This should be tasting amazing tommorrrow night.  I am going to add 6 hours of Pecan smoke to this right now......

Edit:

After 60 minutes:



I was reading the posts here about winter and the smoker and came across this post:

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=30246.msg358270#msg358270

and a few others I cannot locate right now.  Bloody great idea fellas.

So I got a new product to help with the Canadian Fall weather.....



comes in a roll from Rona....



and this is what I did:



All that room in the smoker and only one piece of meat?  I live close to a grocery store.   I was thinking about a corned beef cured brisket or perhaps sausages from the folks at Johnsonville but I settled on a piece of back bacon/peameal bacon/Canadian Bacon....it's all the same. 



I coated it in a mix of smoked paprika and chiplote powder.....I also mixed in some of the la grille chipolte/mango seasoning as well....that last one has more than just the 2 powders.  The primary powder - about 85% or so is the smoked paprika.  I have had baked bacon from a local Polish delicatesan that has paprika on it.  Their bacon has much more fat than this does.  I have never done anything with peameal bacon besides grill it and fry it.  I need something to eat tonight though and this will fill the bill.

EDIT 2:

I added a thin coating of Tiger Sauce about 60% of the way through cooking:



I pulled it out at 140f.  I know the government says to go to 160f but you know what this baby was firm and the juices from the prod hole were running clear.  The wife likes it like this.  I tossed it in a hot fry pan for about 45 seconds then into a hot chabata but with some real Hungarian fresh paprika from the jar to top it off.  This stuff is juicy, smoky, charred and reheatable without the fear of drying out:



The smoke finished some time ago and it is time for bed soon so I am gonna do this for the first time.....

move inside and oven cook at 225.....



this baby ought to be done in the morning.......or early afternoon.  Oh yeah, it tastes wonderful.  The lower corner shows evidence of my knife. The Jamaican spices shine through, it is moist inside, the bark is hard and it does not taste too molassesy at all.

[OldHoss]

This whole "using the smoker to do the smoking and using another vessel to finish idea" is one I could get used to.....

This morning:



theoretically the smoke chamber would be better to finish this off in but my bed sure was comfortable last night.  I saw the shot of the grease fire in the Bradley....my unit is on the front porch as it was due to rain overnight.....so I would have been on the couch with the front window cracked overnight.  One of those temperature gauges with a remote alarm would be handy but grease fires happen fast so even then I could not really sleep sound.  What I really need to do is build a box for the Bradley so it can sit out in the yard far enough so that if a fire does happen it would be removed from my house by space....it would then be on a extension cord but I could acquire a heavy duty one to compensate.

Edit:

This baby is sittin' at 194f in the spot I have the probe.  It was was at 195f already but I moved it and it droped to191f.  I have to work this afternoon for 4 hours so I am gonna let it go till 30 minutes or so before I gotta leave - so I am letting it go for another 2 hours.  The butt is sweating fat in a few streams at this point, it has a crust but is "jiggly" if poked firmly with a finger.  The smell of cinnamon and smoke are strong in the oven at this point - very strong.  I have read where some folks let the product go to 200f or even 205f and 210f.  I think I understand why....that crust is gonna get firmer and the fat would sweat more I do believe.

Edit 2:

Out of the oven:



Meat foiled, wrapped in a towel and in the pre-heated cooler.  Juice (a combo of beef stock, a little garlic, a few oinion pieces, some water and a little apple juice and time - it was put in about 30 minutes before the smoke was done and kept underneath since) in a pitcher and into the fridge to separate the fat out:

[KyNola]

I have some good news for ya on the Govt and pork doneness.  They recently lowered their safely "done" temp from 160 to 140 so you hit it just right.

[Habanero Smoker]

I'm interested in the final outcome.

A slight correction in the USDA's recommended internal temperature for pork. It is 145°F plus a three minute rest. The USDA will not go below 145°F for any meat, or fish or below 165° for fowl.

[KyNola]

A slight correction in the USDA's recommended internal temperature for pork. It is 145°F plus a three minute rest. The USDA will not go below 145°F for any meat, or fish or below 165° for fowl.

I stand corrected.

[OldHoss]

After a 6 hour sit FTC'd.....



it was like Christmas......



first dual fork twist......



initial shred done and bone to the side.......



I mixed in about a cup of the juices after the fat was removed.  The juices did not taste too smoky and in fact could have used more smoke.  I took enough pork for a couple sandwiches and mixed in some juice and a dose of Tiger Sauce.  Heated 2 chibata buns up and topped with a little Grace Jerk BBQ Sauce, some of that Grace Sweet and Spicy and some Grace Green Scotch Bonnet.  I had one and split the other - giving half each to a couple males of our species.  I needed a "guys"opinion.  I was told my pork is very fine.  I already knew it but this was verification.  The molasses was most definately a good idea with the Jamaican spices....super glad I did it.  I also think the slightly higher finishing temp has given me a great bark....I will send along a shot of some of this stuff.....it is strong stringy chewy stuff.  It got high grades from the boys who I fed it to.  The juice got 30 minutes or so exposure to the smoke but I now think it should have had 1.5 hours.  Gonna take a little of this and mix it up with some of that Grace Jerk BBQ sauce - it has alot of allspice and is very reminiscent of Kraft Original BBQ Sauce ( a good thing in my book).