This is not your pork!
is one Smokin' Farker
We just had to know, commercial or self-made rub, Plowboy's Yardbird vs. Lemon-Pepper.
Two about equally sized pork shoulder roasts without bone without speck with a total weight of 20.23 lbs to begin with
A full charcoal ring with lemon lump and five small apple wood chunks for an overnighter
The lemon peppered pork went onto the lower grate
The Yardbird pork went onto the upper grate
Together with a new batch of our Essence of Q Sauce
Ready to go on Saturday evening at about 10 p.m.
It was a cold night and a start with grate temp below 200°F in the first hours, this is what it looked like 14 hours later with a grate temp of about 250°F and IT 175°F
Since I was not in the mood to refill charcoal, I put the two roasts into the oven at 225°F. I probed at IT 196°F, the Thermapen went in like butter in some spots, but still a little tough in other spots, so I took it to IT 203°, which was reached after a total of about 19 hours.
The result:
The self-made pita bread for our pulled pork sandwiches
The very best pulled pork sandwiches I ever had so far, with all components made to perfection: the crispy pulled pork sauced with our 'Essence of Q' with yogurt based coleslaw without mayonnaise and the pita bread => heavenly dinner to die for! :smile:
And of course the low carb variation for the wife: pure pulled pork with coleslaw on a plate
So how was the comparison of Yardbird vs. Lemon-Pepper?
The self-made lemon-pepper rub won big time no questions asked! The commercial Yardbird rub is nice, but we just don't get the hang of it, maybe it really is just best used on poultry, I don't know. We made our own rubs right from the very beginning, and they cover the flavor profiles we like just fine. The self-made lemon-pepper is the uber-winner hands down, the smell and taste of fresh lemon zest on four-peppers-blend can drive you :crazy:!
The overall result of such a 19 hours L&S cook without foiling compared to H&F with foiling nevertheless is in favor of H&F. On one hand L&S produced the best bark we ever had, with unbelievably good pieces of fatty pork candy crunch, on the other hand most of the meat was just not juicy enough.
Is it really impossible to have it both, juicy meat and crunchy bark???
Considering my experience with L&S so far the results just always get too dry.
Should I try again H&F with foiling and finishing unfoiled over high heat for re-crisping?
Two about equally sized pork shoulder roasts without bone without speck with a total weight of 20.23 lbs to begin with
A full charcoal ring with lemon lump and five small apple wood chunks for an overnighter
The lemon peppered pork went onto the lower grate
The Yardbird pork went onto the upper grate
Together with a new batch of our Essence of Q Sauce
Ready to go on Saturday evening at about 10 p.m.
It was a cold night and a start with grate temp below 200°F in the first hours, this is what it looked like 14 hours later with a grate temp of about 250°F and IT 175°F
Since I was not in the mood to refill charcoal, I put the two roasts into the oven at 225°F. I probed at IT 196°F, the Thermapen went in like butter in some spots, but still a little tough in other spots, so I took it to IT 203°, which was reached after a total of about 19 hours.
The result:
The self-made pita bread for our pulled pork sandwiches
The very best pulled pork sandwiches I ever had so far, with all components made to perfection: the crispy pulled pork sauced with our 'Essence of Q' with yogurt based coleslaw without mayonnaise and the pita bread => heavenly dinner to die for! :smile:
And of course the low carb variation for the wife: pure pulled pork with coleslaw on a plate
So how was the comparison of Yardbird vs. Lemon-Pepper?
The self-made lemon-pepper rub won big time no questions asked! The commercial Yardbird rub is nice, but we just don't get the hang of it, maybe it really is just best used on poultry, I don't know. We made our own rubs right from the very beginning, and they cover the flavor profiles we like just fine. The self-made lemon-pepper is the uber-winner hands down, the smell and taste of fresh lemon zest on four-peppers-blend can drive you :crazy:!
The overall result of such a 19 hours L&S cook without foiling compared to H&F with foiling nevertheless is in favor of H&F. On one hand L&S produced the best bark we ever had, with unbelievably good pieces of fatty pork candy crunch, on the other hand most of the meat was just not juicy enough.
Is it really impossible to have it both, juicy meat and crunchy bark???
Considering my experience with L&S so far the results just always get too dry.
Should I try again H&F with foiling and finishing unfoiled over high heat for re-crisping?