The Carnitas Experiment and Jerk Thighs (con pr0n, mon!)

[peeps]

I have been bad about eating lunches out since we haven't been making excess food to take leftovers for lunch so I cooked up some boneless skinless thighs coated with EVOO and jerk rub. Smoked them to 165F on Colt with Stubbs and Mesquite chunks while I was tackling my carnitas experiment.

The start:

The heat:

The finish:

For dinner tonight, we are having carnitas tacos, so I took my first try at carnitas. We didn't have a bunch of time, so I cubed up a 5 lb butt into lage chunks to make the cook go faster and rubbed the chunks with some kosher salt, cumin, coriander, garlic, and chili powder and threw them on Colt, also.

Enjoyed some Negro Modelo during the cook...

Pulled them off and they are resting now for dinner in a bit. I'll get some pics of the tacos (con cilantro, onions, and avocado on corn tortillas) when we assemble them.

For now, I'll just leave y'all with this...

 

[jbuntingsr]

Looks grear

 

[Fwismoker]

Looks great Peeps...just did some thighs on the mini today myself. I wish i would have used my jerk but i went with something else to break up the monotony. I realized i should i should have went with the jerk rub i have because they are soooooo good that way.

Are you going high heat with the thighs? How hot can Colt get? I had the mini going maybe 400* for them and the skin was sooo nice.

 

[landarc]

Looks like a great start, hand me a tortilla and some salsa, where are the avocado slices

 

[peeps]

Looks great Peeps...just did some thighs on the mini today myself. I wish i would have used my jerk but i went with something else to break up the monotony. I realized i should i should have went with the jerk rub i have because they are soooooo good that way.

Are you going high heat with the thighs? How hot can Colt get? I had the mini going maybe 400* for them and the skin was sooo nice.

They were skinless, so I just did them at 250-275F. I tried one small one and it was great!

I have seen Colt up to 400F when I was breaking him in.

 

[ssv3]

Looking great peeps. Cant wait to see the money shot(s)

 

[chicagokp]

op2: Looks good, waiting for the shot!

 

[HOGIE]

I love me some carnitas taco!

 

[castlepines]

Nailed it! Awesome!

 

[sliding_billy]

Looking real good.

 

[peeps]

Fixin's...Mickey Mouse Style

Construction begins...hand shredded the pork pieces.

Tasha whipped up some Mexican rice but we were out of some our normal ingredients so we made some subs...it was decent for not having the right stuff. Served it up with the fully constructed tacos.

And the money shot!

 

[Shagdog]

Dang, That looks delicious Peeps!

 

[bbqgeekess]

Love your smoker! The food is great! But I can't take my eyes off those shelves!

EDIT: okay saw your second post.. OH MY GAWD, you're making me so hungry.. you sure know how to make a taco! :drool:

 

[Fwismoker]

Nice plate! I'll skip the melon but everything else....Oh yea

 

[bbqgeekess]

This is such a great idea. I've only ever made carnitas in a frying pan. I like the idea of cutting them into small pieces like that then smoking. Lots of smoke flavor, maillard reaction, caramelization, bark. I'm definitely going to try this.

 

[peeps]

Nice plate! I'll skip the melon but everything else....Oh yea

Melon????

 

[peeps]

Love your smoker! The food is great! But I can't take my eyes off those shelves!

That is Colt, my $60 Superior SS2 :wink:

 

[Fwismoker]

Melon????

Oh never mind...lol. I wasn't paying attention and it looked like a slice of melon in it. I didn't look at all the pictures and didn't see it was avacado. I'm laying off the IPA's now.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

Really nice looking cooks Great looking meal

 

[ssv3]

Doesn't get any better than those fixin's brother! Great job!