This is not your pork!
is one Smokin' Farker
After last weeks not so overwhelming L&S pork it had to be done again, but this time H&F and pork necks instead of pork shoulders.
So here we are again for the Yardbird vs. lemon peppered pork necks showdown, starting with two equally sized boneless pork necks without speck with a weight of 6.28 lbs each:
I pretty much left them completely untrimmed, and removed only a little of the hard fat.
Firing up on a cold Sunday morning
Five small pieces of apple wood buried in a full charcoal ring with lemon tree lump, a full chimney dumped on top for starting Minion style with the intention of giving it all the WSM can do with all intakes fully opened at all times.
Lemon peppered pork on the left, Yardbird rubbed pork on the right.
Ready for foiling in apple juice at IT 165°F after 3 hours and 10 minutes.
At an outside temp of 33.8°F the WSM could get as high as ~385°F, but it remained below for most of the time. The pork hit IT 203°F after a total of 4 hours and 52 minutes, was put in the cooler for resting, and this is what it looked like when unfoiling:
The Lemon Peppered
and the Yardbird
Now the trick was to put both in the oven at max grill for a short time to re-crisp the bark, which worked out very nicely.
The result: Some juicy pork with spicy crispy bark! The best pork we ever had, and what I definitely would call PERFECTION. It can not get any better, it just can't!
The lemon peppered
The Yardbird
Honestly, the following was a huge mistake! It could have been perfect, if the wife hadn't forgotten to make the self-made pita bread, so my pulled pork sandwiches were made with emperor bun, the yogurt-based coleslaw without mayonnaise, vinegar based hot sauce in the one, and sweet 'Essence of Q' sauce in the other. Of course it was heavenly, but that pork should have been eaten pure (which I did afterwards in addition to the sandwiches, resulting in way too much pork intake).
This is what I mean: Pure spicy crispy fatty bark!
Each pork got pulled and put in a separate box for this week's pork feasting.
So how did the showdown of Yardbird vs. Lemon Pepper end up this week?
Again, the lemon pepper was a clear winner! Honestly, the Yardbird didn't even have a chance. Exactly what I said last week, the Yardbird just doesn't feel right on pork. Sorry Plowboys, we are definitely not in the target audience of yours, but we'll try the Yardbird on some poultry next.
Amazingly the lemon pepper produced a much better and crispier bark than the Yardbird, although the Yardbird contains sugar, and the lemon pepper not.
What else can I tell you, we are totally hooked on self-made lemon pepper, which must be the very best overall rub we have tried so far.
Greetings to all other pork lovers, I hope I gave you something to dream about. :biggrin:
So here we are again for the Yardbird vs. lemon peppered pork necks showdown, starting with two equally sized boneless pork necks without speck with a weight of 6.28 lbs each:
I pretty much left them completely untrimmed, and removed only a little of the hard fat.
Firing up on a cold Sunday morning
Five small pieces of apple wood buried in a full charcoal ring with lemon tree lump, a full chimney dumped on top for starting Minion style with the intention of giving it all the WSM can do with all intakes fully opened at all times.
Lemon peppered pork on the left, Yardbird rubbed pork on the right.
Ready for foiling in apple juice at IT 165°F after 3 hours and 10 minutes.
At an outside temp of 33.8°F the WSM could get as high as ~385°F, but it remained below for most of the time. The pork hit IT 203°F after a total of 4 hours and 52 minutes, was put in the cooler for resting, and this is what it looked like when unfoiling:
The Lemon Peppered
and the Yardbird
Now the trick was to put both in the oven at max grill for a short time to re-crisp the bark, which worked out very nicely.
The result: Some juicy pork with spicy crispy bark! The best pork we ever had, and what I definitely would call PERFECTION. It can not get any better, it just can't!
The lemon peppered
The Yardbird
Honestly, the following was a huge mistake! It could have been perfect, if the wife hadn't forgotten to make the self-made pita bread, so my pulled pork sandwiches were made with emperor bun, the yogurt-based coleslaw without mayonnaise, vinegar based hot sauce in the one, and sweet 'Essence of Q' sauce in the other. Of course it was heavenly, but that pork should have been eaten pure (which I did afterwards in addition to the sandwiches, resulting in way too much pork intake).
This is what I mean: Pure spicy crispy fatty bark!
Each pork got pulled and put in a separate box for this week's pork feasting.
So how did the showdown of Yardbird vs. Lemon Pepper end up this week?
Again, the lemon pepper was a clear winner! Honestly, the Yardbird didn't even have a chance. Exactly what I said last week, the Yardbird just doesn't feel right on pork. Sorry Plowboys, we are definitely not in the target audience of yours, but we'll try the Yardbird on some poultry next.
Amazingly the lemon pepper produced a much better and crispier bark than the Yardbird, although the Yardbird contains sugar, and the lemon pepper not.
What else can I tell you, we are totally hooked on self-made lemon pepper, which must be the very best overall rub we have tried so far.
Greetings to all other pork lovers, I hope I gave you something to dream about. :biggrin:
