Neighbor pig. Merica

Grilling right now. Nothing pic worthy though. Just hot dogs and chicken thighs. 

I am a total amateur compared to some of you guys.

Keep the pics of delicious food coming.

Did my first practice run for competition chicken thighs today. Turned out good but I'm still working on getting the skins right. At least I've got a whole year to figure out out....

Wings too

 

38 minutes ago, BFit said:

Did my first practice run for competition chicken thighs today. Turned out good but I'm still working on getting the skins right. At least I've got a whole year to figure out out....

Wings too

 

Gotta finish the chicken thighs on higher heat to prevent rubber skin.

7 hours ago, rambo said:

Gotta finish the chicken thighs on higher heat to prevent rubber skin.

Yeah I can get the skin good if I finish them right over charcoal, but apparently for competition you don't want the skin to shrink or get too dark. Seen a bunch of people taking the skin off and trimming the fat from underneath. Need to get a fillet knife and try that next time. 

saucy wings is a win!

10 hours ago, BFit said:

Yeah I can get the skin good if I finish them right over charcoal, but apparently for competition you don't want the skin to shrink or get too dark. Seen a bunch of people taking the skin off and trimming the fat from underneath. Need to get a fillet knife and try that next time. 

I sometimes a small amount of baking powder to my rub. Then put on a wire rack in the fridge for a few hours uncovered. Really helps with the crisp.

Smashed potatoes, seasoning & shredded cheese. 

 

15 minutes ago, NOTW said:

Smashed potatoes, seasoning & shredded cheese. 

 

Those look banging. What's the procedure here?

7 minutes ago, BFit said:

Those look banging. What's the procedure here?

Thanks, they were great. Wife & son loved them.

I used petite potatoes tri-color from Costco. Rinsed in water, microwaved in a bowl for 6 minutes to steam & soften up. Then coated in olive oil.

On the griddle, put butter down first. Dumped the potatoes then used my burger press that I use for smash burgers (which are delicious btw). I pressed the potatoes to smash them. Then seasoned with salt, garlic powder, black pepper & oregano. Cooked about 5 minutes, flipped. Drizzled with olive oil & seasoning. About 5 more minutes. Sprinkled with shredded cheese.

 

Giant has Australian Grass Fed Tenderloin on sale… just picked up a full tenderloin.  Will give it a try… 

Bfit - what smoker do you have?  I’ve got a Weber Bullet, which I love… but may be looking to switch to something a little more convenient. 

On 6/17/2022 at 11:13 AM, Boogyman said:

I made two boneless butts last weekend for a party (the costco two pack).  Came out great.

 

I do prefer bone in, but I bought and cooked a TON of food for that party and these were cheap lol.

It kills me that they don’t sell bone-in. 

15 minutes ago, B3 said:

Bfit - what smoker do you have?  I’ve got a Weber Bullet, which I love… but may be looking to switch to something a little more convenient. 

mine is a chargriller grandchamp XD. i think they discontinued it though, which is a shame because its a great offset smoker for the price

Paging Dr. @BFit....

 

So, I'm slightly disappointed in what I got here. It's not from my preferred butcher, since they burnt down over a year ago and I have no idea if they'll ever return. This is from the same I got the last two pork butts, though, and they looked fine to me. So, I ordered a 7-8 lb. Boston butt and told them to call me if they had trouble getting that size. I'm not cooking for a lot of people this time. I go in to pick it up, and not only did what they had for me weigh 9.77 lbs., it also looked like they trimmed the hell out of it, even though the order slip clearly said "not trimmed." I mean, this thing had some patches that where the muscle was clearly visible. So, the lady at the counter said she had a couple in the case. They looked smaller and actually had more fat coverage than the one did that they had waiting for me. This one also weighed out to 8.41 lbs., so I took it. This one also was clearly trimmed, though not as much as the one they were gonna give me. I'm back home now ready to season it and kinda regretting that I didn't push them more to either take a few bucks off or now that I think about it, told them I'd come back tomorrow and to give me one with zero fat cut off. I'm not smoking til Saturday and was happy to have the extra time for the rub to penetrate, but it might've been worth it for a better far cap. The woman said something to the extent of "They normally trim them up when they get them." But they were specifically told not to. I mean I'm no master, but these guys must he used to dealing with amateurs.

 

 

Anyway, here I am, slightly broken-hearted. My thoughts are that this will still smoke nicely, but I might have to adjust the approach so it doesn't dry out. I'm thinking that I should probably lower the smoking temp pretty dramatically to like 200-225 and spray it down more regularly, like every 20 mins are so. I'm wondering what kind of advice a pitmaster would offer in this situation. Thanks in advance!

1 hour ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Paging Dr. @BFit....

 

So, I'm slightly disappointed in what I got here. It's not from my preferred butcher, since they burnt down over a year ago and I have no idea if they'll ever return. This is from the same I got the last two pork butts, though, and they looked fine to me. So, I ordered a 7-8 lb. Boston butt and told them to call me if they had trouble getting that size. I'm not cooking for a lot of people this time. I go in to pick it up, and not only did what they had for me weigh 9.77 lbs., it also looked like they trimmed the hell out of it, even though the order slip clearly said "not trimmed." I mean, this thing had some patches that where the muscle was clearly visible. So, the lady at the counter said she had a couple in the case. They looked smaller and actually had more fat coverage than the one did that they had waiting for me. This one also weighed out to 8.41 lbs., so I took it. This one also was clearly trimmed, though not as much as the one they were gonna give me. I'm back home now ready to season it and kinda regretting that I didn't push them more to either take a few bucks off or now that I think about it, told them I'd come back tomorrow and to give me one with zero fat cut off. I'm not smoking til Saturday and was happy to have the extra time for the rub to penetrate, but it might've been worth it for a better far cap. The woman said something to the extent of "They normally trim them up when they get them." But they were specifically told not to. I mean I'm no master, but these guys must he used to dealing with amateurs.

 

 

Anyway, here I am, slightly broken-hearted. My thoughts are that this will still smoke nicely, but I might have to adjust the approach so it doesn't dry out. I'm thinking that I should probably lower the smoking temp pretty dramatically to like 200-225 and spray it down more regularly, like every 20 mins are so. I'm wondering what kind of advice a pitmaster would offer in this situation. Thanks in advance!

Honestly I wouldn't be that worried about it. There's still enough fat cap there to protect the meat, and pork butts has plenty of fat marbled in that will render and keep it from drying out. I will say, though, that if you want to trim something there's a gland in that last picture. You can probably cut down from the red line I drew if you don't want to try and dig it out. 

I made short rib tacos tonight. Marinaded them in a roasted red and chille pepper sauce. Holy crap they were good. Could have just eaten the short ribs by themselves. 

38 minutes ago, BFit said:

Honestly I wouldn't be that worried about it. There's still enough fat cap there to protect the meat, and pork butts has plenty of fat marbled in that will render and keep it from drying out. I will say, though, that if you want to trim something there's a gland in that last picture. You can probably cut down from the red line I drew if you don't want to try and dig it out. 

 

You've talked about this before, what's the appeal/cooking process there? By this point, she's already rubbed, sealed, and refrigerating, so that ship may have already sailed. Definitely interested in messing with it in the future, though.

20 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

You've talked about this before, what's the appeal/cooking process there? By this point, she's already rubbed, sealed, and refrigerating, so that ship may have already sailed. Definitely interested in messing with it in the future, though.

Honestly the only appeal beyond making it cook quicker (which is really only a plus if you're on a hard deadline like a competition) is cutting out and slicing the money muscle. It's not big, but it's definitely worth trying once. Like a delicacy inside your pork butt. But the part that I tried to highlight is a gland that usually gets trimmed by the butcher. Sometimes they miss it, and you might not notice it after you cook and shred it, but if I see it I try to take it out. 

22 minutes ago, BFit said:

Honestly the only appeal beyond making it cook quicker (which is really only a plus if you're on a hard deadline like a competition) is cutting out and slicing the money muscle. It's not big, but it's definitely worth trying once. Like a delicacy inside your pork butt. But the part that I tried to highlight is a gland that usually gets trimmed by the butcher. Sometimes they miss it, and you might not notice it after you cook and shred it, but if I see it I try to take it out. 

 

You've got a good eye, lol. Actually, I'm psyched that I have zero deadline for this, so I can go as low and slow as I want and give it a long rest. Gonna warm it up in the juices the next day for my fantasy draft, but the day I'm smoking it, it's just me, drinks, and fantasy research until she's done. Once it's off the grill and rested, I'll try to get my parents and girlfriend in the mix to try it with me, whenever that is. I plan to start early enough, though, so I hopefully have awhile to make it into a late dinner.

48 minutes ago, BFit said:

Sometimes they miss it, and you might not notice it after you cook and shred it, but if I see it I try to take it out. 

 

When you say they "miss it" sometimes, I'm wondering why they normally take it out? Is it considered undesirable by normal folks? Is it such a delicacy that the butcher wants to save it for themselves or sell it separately?

But, back to another point...they missed it, and then they cut a bunch of fat off...

 

23 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

When you say they "miss it" sometimes, I'm wondering why they normally take it out? Is it considered undesirable by normal folks? Is it such a delicacy that the butcher wants to save it for themselves or sell it separately?

But, back to another point...they missed it, and then they cut a bunch of fat off...

 

I think it's just very close to where they cut it away from another muscle, so sometimes it gets cut out and sometimes it doesn't. It's not a delicacy, and a good butcher will take it out, but if someone's doing in hurry they might not look for it. 

12 hours ago, BFit said:

It's not a delicacy, and a good butcher will take it out, but if someone's doing in hurry they might not look for it. 

 

So, earlier you did say it's "like a delicacy...," so, which is it? It's not technically a delicacy, but it's a particularly good part? What's it taste like?

1 hour ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

So, earlier you did say it's "like a delicacy...," so, which is it? It's not technically a delicacy, but it's a particularly good part? What's it taste like?

Ahh I see. So the gland is just an undesirable thing to have in the finished product. That's what I was highlighting. The money muscle is part of the pork butt. It's on the side opposite the bone and has fat veins running vertically through it. That's what I was talking about when I said delicacy. It's really the only reason to trim a butt like I was in other posts. 

I'd say to Google it, but googling money muscle might not be the best idea

2 hours ago, BFit said:

I'd say to Google it, but googling money muscle might not be the best idea

 

I made sure to use very specific search terms, lol.

 

Quote

What is the money muscle?

The money muscle is a very specific muscle that is known to be the holy grail of pork boxes.

It comes from the opposite end of the bone, from the bottom part of the pork shoulder. It resembles somewhat of a smaller pork loin, filled with stripes of fat running deep within. This is what makes it special as pork is usually known to have extra muscular fat rather than any significant marbling.

This fat slowly renders as you cook your pork butt, giving the money muscle a rich and deep buttery flavor.

 

Why haven’t I heard of it before?

Truth be told, it’s a competition thing.

A perfectly cooked money muscle will always be the highlight of a turn-in pork box. On the flip side, it takes a lot of sacrifices and even if your pork butt has a decent one, it’s never to be taken for granted.

Money muscles require a lot of care and can quickly become troublesome for many reasons:

1- Being located on the outer edge of the pork butt, it will cook much faster than the rest of the muscles. In most cases, pit masters will start their cook with the money muscle attached to the shoulder but will trim it away halfway through and cook it on its own to finish the process.

2- As it’s very fatty, it will shrink a lot. And this is where things can go south in a competition. A lot of pit masters will fail to make the smart decision and choose to turn in parts of the money muscle no matter what.

You must understand that, per competition rules, your box must have any meat for 6 bites. In a lot of situations, the final product of a money muscle will have shrunk so much that by the end, there isn’t enough for 6 bites or if there is, the bites are nothing close to symmetrical. Aesthetic points may be deduced for that so it’s sometimes best to just hold back and keep it out of the box even though it would be your best bite out of the whole pork butt.

3- Pulled pork is usually cooked all the way up to 203-205F. Money muscles don’t do well in such high temperatures, so they need to be removed at 185-188F. 

You can now see why you never heard about this muscle if you’re an average barbecue aficionados. The money muscle would not be worth the trouble, or at least be underappreciated, if you were to go through such lengths for a Sunday backyard barbecue.

This does not mean you should not give it a shot now and then though! 

https://www.bbq-experts.com/recipes/know-your-butts-the-legendary-money-muscle/

 

Cooking it and then cutting it out during the smoking process sounds like a good idea, I'm just worried about messing up the whole shoulder or it falling apart while trying to do that since i've never done it before. It'd be a bummer to have a dried-out section, but it maybe it won't matter so much once it's all mixed together and the fat mingles.