Pork Butt Adventures: Steaks, Cracklins, & Fat Cap Bacon! (Long Pr0n)

BigButzBBQ · 03-30-2011, 04:07 PM

Shopping at the butcher always manages to put me in a good mood. Recently I made a trip to one of the local meat markets and it was supposed to be a glorious trip. Not only was I to purchase meat but, I had a $50.00 gift certificate to spend! How could this not be a good trip? Thoughts of acquiring a double packer of pork buts, a tri-tip, and other goodies danced through my head. I skipped up to the counter with a large giddy smile upon my face and requested the Pork Butts. They went into the back and got me one. I was practically dancing around the store as they printed out the sticker and slapped it on the package and set it on the counter. Now, before I go any further, I should make it known that I do understand that the price of pork has gone up but, when I looked at the sticker...

OMG!

Just like that, most of my gift certificate vanished. After that, all I had left was enough to pick up a couple pounds of ground meats. Depression set in immediately upon leaving the store. All my dreaming was for not. I was now left with the decision, do I keep the butts as they were, or do something diabolical with one of them?

Feeling the need for meat therapy, I chose the latter. One was wrapped up and tossed in the freezer for proper use later while the other was left out for some cutting.

I started by removing the Fat Cap but, I went a little deeper than normal to take some meat along with it. This was then bagged up and put away until later.

Any remaining little bits of fat were trimmed off and I was left with a butt light.

As far as the rest of the fat went, I wasn't about to just throw it away, so I chopped it up and threw it in a pan.

While those little bits were cooking down. I took my butt light and sliced off some pork steaks until I hit a bone. What was left I saved for a mini smoked butt later.

After I got all these bagged up, I returned back to the bits of fat that were slowly cooking away on the stove, and after a bit, I had a fresh batch of cracklins!

These little gems were delicious and melted in the mouth.
After I finished up my cracklin snack. I took out some kosher salt, brown sugar, and black pepper and mixed them up.

I have been wanting to make some bacon for awhile so, I figured I would take this opportunity to do some experimenting with it. I took the Fat Cap out and slathered it up with something special.

Then it got rubbed down with the curing mix.

From there it went into a plastic bag to sit in the fridge for about a week.

During this week, the pork steaks came out to play and got cooked up on my indoor cast iron propane powered grill.

These were extremely tender and absolutely delicious! Love me some pork steaks!
After the week or so, the fat cap was ready for smoking.

The Fat Cap was given a quick rinse and then onto the UDS it went, set as low as possible.

"low as possible" was not nearly low enough to smoke the bacon. It wouldn't get any lower than 200 and after 2 hours, the fat had obviously started to cook, I quick probed it and it was at 150 so I yanked it off.

From there I hand sliced it up.

The only thing to do was fry up a couple of pieces to test it out.

The results were not all that disappointing. It obviously does not have enough smoke flavor but, the saltiness and general profile were pretty close to being right on. Some more testing shall be required though. Although one thing I know for sure. I will be attempting Fat Cap Bacon again in the future!
Thanks for looking!

bigabyte · 03-30-2011, 04:15 PM

Excellent work fellow Porker!

You have done us all proud, all that looks Porkalicious!

Always heed those pork suggestions in your mind.

My work here is now complete.

Pork and Away!!!

gtr · 03-30-2011, 04:26 PM

Now that is what I call an excellent post!

Looks delicious, great info, fantastic ideas that I will soon claim are my own

- thanks for putting that up!

Maybe a bowl of ice in the uds for low temp? Or rig some way to pipe smoke in through one of the intakes?

jestridge · 03-30-2011, 04:26 PM

Wow, did you save the grease?? All you need now is corn bread and mustard greens

jestridge · 03-30-2011, 04:28 PM

BTW green onions or loose leaf lettuce to pour hot grease over

Big George's BBQ · 03-30-2011, 04:30 PM

That all looks really good I would like to try cracklins sometime

deepsouth · 03-30-2011, 04:46 PM

great. that's all banGin!

chambersuac · 03-30-2011, 05:02 PM

man oh man, I'm hungry now....

Phubar · 03-30-2011, 05:15 PM

LOL @ Mr.Big!

Thanks for the reportage Butsz!
...I'm gonna need me a snack right now!

Cook · 03-30-2011, 05:36 PM

There isn't a thing about this post I don't like.

I too love pork steaks cooked over a very hot fire. They make the best "pork chops" you've ever had.

landarc · 03-30-2011, 07:14 PM

That looks pretty close Tom, just a little tweaking with the UDS and you will have it. Nice steak and cracklins there.

Lion Bout The Q · 03-30-2011, 08:03 PM

I love the fat cap bacon idea..

vhram · 03-30-2011, 09:02 PM

that looks really good.

Arlin_MacRae · 03-30-2011, 09:10 PM

You are an evil farker! Now I gotta make those cracklins!

Mister Bob · 03-30-2011, 09:26 PM

Great stuff, I'll have to try a couple of those ideas. Nice job!

03-30-2011, 04:07 PM	#1
BigButzBBQ is One Chatty Farker Join Date: 03-16-10 Location: Northwestern Wisconsin	Pork Butt Adventures: Steaks, Cracklins, & Fat Cap Bacon! (Long Pr0n) Shopping at the butcher always manages to put me in a good mood. Recently I made a trip to one of the local meat markets and it was supposed to be a glorious trip. Not only was I to purchase meat but, I had a $50.00 gift certificate to spend! How could this not be a good trip? Thoughts of acquiring a double packer of pork buts, a tri-tip, and other goodies danced through my head. I skipped up to the counter with a large giddy smile upon my face and requested the Pork Butts. They went into the back and got me one. I was practically dancing around the store as they printed out the sticker and slapped it on the package and set it on the counter. Now, before I go any further, I should make it known that I do understand that the price of pork has gone up but, when I looked at the sticker... OMG! Just like that, most of my gift certificate vanished. After that, all I had left was enough to pick up a couple pounds of ground meats. Depression set in immediately upon leaving the store. All my dreaming was for not. I was now left with the decision, do I keep the butts as they were, or do something diabolical with one of them? Feeling the need for meat therapy, I chose the latter. One was wrapped up and tossed in the freezer for proper use later while the other was left out for some cutting. I started by removing the Fat Cap but, I went a little deeper than normal to take some meat along with it. This was then bagged up and put away until later. Any remaining little bits of fat were trimmed off and I was left with a butt light. As far as the rest of the fat went, I wasn't about to just throw it away, so I chopped it up and threw it in a pan. While those little bits were cooking down. I took my butt light and sliced off some pork steaks until I hit a bone. What was left I saved for a mini smoked butt later. After I got all these bagged up, I returned back to the bits of fat that were slowly cooking away on the stove, and after a bit, I had a fresh batch of cracklins! These little gems were delicious and melted in the mouth. After I finished up my cracklin snack. I took out some kosher salt, brown sugar, and black pepper and mixed them up. I have been wanting to make some bacon for awhile so, I figured I would take this opportunity to do some experimenting with it. I took the Fat Cap out and slathered it up with something special. Then it got rubbed down with the curing mix. From there it went into a plastic bag to sit in the fridge for about a week. During this week, the pork steaks came out to play and got cooked up on my indoor cast iron propane powered grill. These were extremely tender and absolutely delicious! Love me some pork steaks! After the week or so, the fat cap was ready for smoking. The Fat Cap was given a quick rinse and then onto the UDS it went, set as low as possible. "low as possible" was not nearly low enough to smoke the bacon. It wouldn't get any lower than 200 and after 2 hours, the fat had obviously started to cook, I quick probed it and it was at 150 so I yanked it off. From there I hand sliced it up. The only thing to do was fry up a couple of pieces to test it out. The results were not all that disappointing. It obviously does not have enough smoke flavor but, the saltiness and general profile were pretty close to being right on. Some more testing shall be required though. Although one thing I know for sure. I will be attempting Fat Cap Bacon again in the future! Thanks for looking! __________________ Some call me... Tom...? 12" Charbroil, SJS, WGA:becky:, 22.5 OTG:thumb:, mUDS:drama:, 2 UDS:cool: w/AML Wood Art Custom Handles, 2 pull behind rigs The Beast :twisted:, & the new White Shadow :hail: :twisted: Inventor of[B]:[/B][COLOR=black] [URL="http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1273411&postcount=1"][B]3BGB![/B][/URL][B] , [/B][URL="http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1284334&postcount=1"][B]Shigen![/B][/URL][B] , & [/B][URL="http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1387858&postcount=1"][B]Bacone Scotch Egg Sundae![/B][/URL][/COLOR] :hail:Avatar by Zydecopaws:hail: [B][URL="http://BigButzBBQSauce.net"]Big Butz BBQ Products [/URL][/B]

03-30-2011, 04:15 PM	#2
bigabyte somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 05-10-06 Location: Overland Fark, KS	Excellent work fellow Porker! You have done us all proud, all that looks Porkalicious! Always heed those pork suggestions in your mind. My work here is now complete. Pork and Away!!! __________________ Asshattatron Farkanaut, CGCFO Chief Galactic Crockpot Foil Officer *Certified MOINK Baller & IMBAS Certified MOINK Ball Judge #0003 - Are you MOINK Certified?* *Sole recipient of the Silverfinger and fingerlickin Awards!* Don't forget about the Throwdown Thingies! The Secret Squirrel Society doesn't exist - Zero Club Duh.

03-30-2011, 04:26 PM	#3
gtr somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 10-16-10 Location: Culver City, CA	Now that is what I call an excellent post! Looks delicious, great info, fantastic ideas that I will soon claim are my own - thanks for putting that up! Maybe a bowl of ice in the uds for low temp? Or rig some way to pipe smoke in through one of the intakes? __________________ 50" Klose BYC, Spitjack XB85, 22.5 WSM, Backwoods Chubby, UDS, WRK, 26" & 22.5" Weber Kettles, Jumbo Joe, WGA, WSJ/MUDS, Kanka Grill, a piece of expanded metal I throw over the fire pit sometimes, Stealthy Black & Vol Orange Thermapens Displaced East Tennesseean Proud recipient of a Tick Former outlaw MOINK baller, now IMBAS Certified, but still lookin' over my shoulder. "Relax, it's only BBQ." - Bigmista, 2013 "Don't worry about playing a lot of notes. Just find one pretty one." - Miles Davis Avatar by my son! WTFWGALD?

03-30-2011, 04:46 PM	#7
deepsouth somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 04-21-10 Location: Biloxi, MS	great. that's all banGin! __________________ Out. Again.

03-30-2011, 05:02 PM	#8
chambersuac somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 04-02-09 Location: San Antonio, TX	man oh man, I'm hungry now.... __________________ Dan IMBAS Certified MOINK Ball maker and IMBAS Sgt. At Arms. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. [Acts 20:32 KJV]

03-30-2011, 04:26 PM	#4
jestridge somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 12-28-07 Location: annville ky	Wow, did you save the grease?? All you need now is corn bread and mustard greens

03-30-2011, 04:28 PM	#5
jestridge somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 12-28-07 Location: annville ky	BTW green onions or loose leaf lettuce to pour hot grease over

03-30-2011, 04:30 PM	#6
Big George's BBQ somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 02-07-08 Location: Framingham, MA Name/Nickname : George	That all looks really good I would like to try cracklins sometime

03-30-2011, 05:15 PM	#9
Phubar somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 04-24-09 Location: Utrecht,TheNetherPharkinglands	LOL @ Mr.Big! Thanks for the reportage Butsz! ...I'm gonna need me a snack right now! __________________ -TG -WGA (3) -UDS (S,M,L) All fueled by [COLOR=lime]Ecobrasa[/COLOR] Coco Briquettes [URL="http://lowlandsmokers.blogspot.com/2011/06/lowland-smokers-workshop-hei-en-boeicop.html"]Lowland Smokers[/URL] Dutch BBQ Champion 2011 - 2012 [URL="http://lowlandsmokers.blogspot.com/2011/06/lowland-smokers-workshop-hei-en-boeicop.html"]Lowland Smokers[/URL] Dutch BBQ Champion 2013 Low 'n Slow WGA Ambassador

03-30-2011, 05:36 PM	#10
Cook Babbling Farker Join Date: 12-23-10 Location: Mount Pleasant, SC & Harkers Island, NC Name/Nickname : Jay	There isn't a thing about this post I don't like. I too love pork steaks cooked over a very hot fire. They make the best "pork chops" you've ever had.

03-30-2011, 07:14 PM	#11
landarc somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 06-26-09 Location: sAn leAnDRo, CA	That looks pretty close Tom, just a little tweaking with the UDS and you will have it. Nice steak and cracklins there. __________________ [COLOR=DarkGreen][COLOR=DarkRed][SIZE=1]me: I don't drink anymore Yelonutz: me either, but, then again, I don't drink any less [/SIZE][/COLOR][/COLOR][SIZE=1][COLOR=DarkRed] [COLOR=Pink]SSS[/COLOR] [/COLOR][/SIZE]

03-30-2011, 08:03 PM	#12
Lion Bout The Q Full Fledged Farker Join Date: 09-02-08 Location: Pittsfield Il	I love the fat cap bacon idea..

03-30-2011, 09:02 PM	#13
vhram Full Fledged Farker Join Date: 03-02-11 Location: california	that looks really good.

03-30-2011, 09:10 PM	#14
Arlin_MacRae somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 04-14-04 Location: Choctaw, OK	You are an evil farker! Now I gotta make those cracklins! __________________ Arlin MacRae Primo Oval Junior, Traeger Model 075 Pellet Pooper, Big Chief, Kingfisher Kooker 14" gas/wood combo, PBC Brethren Edition, Pit Boss NASCAR Tailgater Home Brewer, Murderer of Squirrels, Armadillo Inspector Flaming Pig Head Mod Certified KCBS Master BBQ Judge

03-30-2011, 09:26 PM	#15
Mister Bob Babbling Farker Join Date: 06-15-09 Location: Scituate, RI	Great stuff, I'll have to try a couple of those ideas. Nice job! __________________ Mister Bob, Pitmaster - Smokestack Lightning, Bad Ass Barbecue. KCBS CBJ #31759 - IMBAS Certified MOINK Baller

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