9th Cook on new WSM 22.5": Pulled Pork from Boneless Pork Neck + Sweet & Tangy Ribs on Lump [pr0n inside]

Featured products:

• 6 slabs of Danish Back Ribs with a total weight of 6.88 lbs
• Pulled Pork from an European Style "Pork Neck without Bone without Speck" with a weight of 7.45 lbs
• Self made Rub
• Self made Sauce
• Injection of Fresh Pear Juice & Canola Emulsion
• Some Foil-Baked Potatoes (for the kids)
• Blueberry Muffins made from home grown Blueberries

Setup:

• WSM 22.5"
• Tarrington House Lump Charcoal (a brand name owned by a Germany based wholesale supermarket chain)
• Charcoal Ring completely filled for Minion Method without depression and 15 lit pieces of lump charcoal spread evenly on top
• Six fist-sized Apple Wood Chunks
• Cooking Scheme: 3-2-1 @ 225°F for Ribs, and Pork Neck till done / pulled at IT 210°F + resting in cooler for several hours
• Actual cooking temp zone 220-300°F
• Maverick ET-732
• Foiled 18" Clay Saucer in foiled Water Pan without Water

Clearly our favorite: Danish Back Ribs


European style pork butt named "pork neck without bone without speck"


First time self made vinegar based sauce for pulled pork (thanks to Boshizzle)


Unpacked pork neck side A


Unpacked pork neck side B


That pork clearly needed some injections of Fresh Pear Juice & Canola Emulsion! :biggrin1:


Charcoal ring partly filled with lump charcoal and six small pieces of apple wood


Then filled up with lump and packed tightly for Minion Method without depression


15 slightly larger pieces of lump went into the chimney


So far the preparations on Saturday evening. Because the ribs were expected Sunday at noon, the pitmaster (= me) had to get up at 4 a.m. to light the fire with the lit lump from the chimney spread evenly onto the prepped charcoal ring


Pork neck & sauce with the Maverick probes on the lower cooking grate


Ribs on the upper grate


Overview of cooking area including the new pavilion early on Sunday morning


Ribs ready for foiling after 3 hours


Pork neck & sauce after 3 hours


Ribs foiled in apple juice


Ribs sauced & ready after 6 hours


Pork neck after 6 hours - I could not resist to do a little unnecessary spritzing with apple juice :biggrin1:


Ready for lunch - ribs on plate


Ribs closeup (unfortunately out of focus, most likely due to shaking hands caused by extreme excitement)


This time no picture of the finished charcoal ring, because the cleanup crew (= me) was too fast :biggrin1:


The pork neck got foiled once the Maverick reported an IT of 200°F at the initial probe spot; I did some probing with the grill fork and came to the conclusion that it was not quite done yet, so I stuck the probe into another spot, and let it on foiled till an IT of 210°F was reached at that second spot, then it was put into the cooler for resting till the evening; the total cooking time was about 9 hours, and this is how it looked like after unfoiling:


When my wife started pulling the meat, the money muscle fell right off


The following should be part of the neck muscle


Closeup of the neck muscle showing the smoke ring


Another closeup of the neck muscle


We tried to slice the money and neck muscles, but they crumbled away, which is no downside at all, since the initial plan was to pull it all anyway.

We ditched the idea of making pulled pork sandwiches and wraps, and just ate it pure with the featured vinegar based sauce


Pull pork closeup


As if there wasn't enough food involved already, of course there had to be a dessert. I had to reschedule my next batch of white chocolate pies, and made blueberry muffins instead, because the blueberries from our own garden were ripe and had to be harvested; there were 12 muffins, only 2 survived and only 1 made it to the picture :biggrin1:


Result:

Again some outstanding food and an amazing overall experience. These have got to be the best ribs I have made so far (but there comes always a higher level), the pulled pork with the vinegar based sauce was so extraordinary, it had to be eaten pure without any side dishes, and the muffins with home grown blueberries would have left you speechless. :grin:

Remarks:

• This was my first all lump cook, which means I also used lump in the chimney to start Minion Style. It worked out very well, so once my remaining stock of briquettes is finished, I'll stick to lump only.
• The pear juice & canola emulsion definitely helped keeping the meat moist throughout the entire piece, but the pear juice did not leave any distinguishable flavor.
• So this was my 9th cook. When will I stop counting?
• Looks like I am a Full Fledged Farker now! :becky:

Any comments / thoughts are highly appreciated. Thanks for looking.

Moose said:

I've been thinking about making that sauce - can you describe the flavor profile?

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Vinegary with a slight hotness afterwards, which gives a really nice feeling on lips and tongue, but as seen in my posting in the Shack Attack thread, I made some adjustments to the recipe.

Moose said:

Did you notice any discernible taste difference between using lump vs. briquets?

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Not really, but this may have to do using quality charcoal. I once used a cheap noname brand of briquettes on my African Cow Dung Charcoal Grill, and it led to an unpleasant taste in the product, which is why I was skeptical using briquettes on the WSM in the first place. Going all lump is a more natural way, so as long as I don't really need an extra long runtime without refueling (> 9-14 hours).

Yes, it was such a success, that my plan for brisket next weekend is already obsolete, more pork it will be. :mrgreen:

This time I'll try the mentioned "Pork Shoulder Roast without Bone without Skin", which should yield in more meat, because those packages had a higher weight on average. I am already very excited, but first we'll eat the pulled pork from last cook (today noon I ate the rest of the Danish Back Ribs, and in the evening it will be pulled pork sandwiches with emperor buns again). Pork all the way. :grin:

NorCalQue said:

Food looks fantastic! I like the Pavilion too. I might have to look into one of those for the rainy season.

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Yes, that one is a clear must-have, my cooks were way too weather depending before. That pavilion is a rather cheap easy-up one, it was a special offer here at a local home depot. It came with the cords to fix the upper corners to the ground, which is a necessary stabilization since the whole construction is pretty light. The cement block at the legs were extra, and their purchase was a good idea because it can be very windy on our hillside. This way it already survived several storms with heavy rain without any problem. I wonder if it will enable me to cook in winter as well, we'll see.

mwmac said:

Great looking grub! Now stop calling your WSM new as it has clearly moved into veteran status:biggrin1:

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Point taken, and I was wondering when I will stop counting, although I may keep on counting cooks, since it gives me a better picture of time passing with one cook a week. And wow, 10 weeks already with the upcoming weekend. :grin:

mwmac said:

If you are only using it once a week you're not really trying...

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Yes, as much as I would do more 'Q'ing, it not really fits into our schedule, only leaving Sundays.

It's funny, when we had the meat (7.45 lbs of pork neck in this case) laying on the cutting board, we thought it would last at least one week (two adults + two little kids + one baby + one dog), and now two days after I had to leave it at just one pulled pork sandwich this evening, to save the last portion for tomorrow... :-o

So as one does not seem to be enough, the plan is to make two butts this weekend, still wondering how this is going to work out with just one Maverick and no Thermapen, but two different cuts and sizes of pork.

twinsfan said:

This dude is crazy! Great, great food, but how small are those danish back ribs? To me they look like about a 1/2 kg (1.1 LB or so), small little ribs.

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:grin:

Those ribs are a little strange indeed, they are not curved enough to be BBs, but they most likely are about the same size, definitely a lot smaller than Spares.

A package comes with six slabs, and as seen on my pictures all six fit exactly on the upper cooking grate of my WSM 22.5" laying side by side. The package for that cook had 6.88 lbs, so the average slab comes at 1.15 lbs as you already assumed.

For one meal a slab per adult should be enough, which means I always eat too much of it. :biggrin1: