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Old 10-07-2009, 10:57 PM   #44
T.G
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First Name: The Other Adam
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Default Re: What's in your smoker?

Quote:
Originally Posted by tuxpuff View Post
That's a hella bark there brother! Let us know how it turned out. I've never used mustard before...would love to hear what you think.
It came out really well.

Here's what I did - mind you, this was a first time for me, so I just kind of made it up as I went along.

Last night, I coated the shoulder cut with rub (basically equal parts seasoned salt, granulated garlic and black pepper, and a half-part chili powder) then wrapped it up tightly in saran wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Right before cooking, I brushed a generous coat of French's yellow mustard over the shoulder right over the top of the rub that I applied last night (all but the fat cap - no reason to coat that), then just loaded the shoulder up with more rub, this time adding an additional half part of coriander, mustard powder (I read that yellow mustard loses it's flavor during a long cook, so that's why I added the mustard powder) and cumin to the rub above. When I say loaded it up, I mean it; I coated that thing, probably used 6 TBS of rub. Not sure if it was the right thing to do or not, but I was aiming for a solid garlic/salt/black pepper crust when this came out of the smoker.

The mustard / rub combo was like clay, which promptly turned to a plaster-like bark in the smoker. No BS, it was over an 1/8 of an inch thick, probably closer to 1/4" in some spots. It really trapped the juices, but it also kept the smoke from penetrating. I smoked with two 1-1/2""x2" chunks of each of the following: hickory, cherry and apple - and they only moderately penetrated the coating. That much smoke wood would have seriously oversmoked that little cut of pork without the mustard coat.

In retrospect, next time I'm going to cut back on the salts in the rub, don't get me wrong, the bark is delicious, but getting a big chunk of it with a forkful of pork is like licking a block of salt. I'm also thinking about using something like a pecan or oak for smoke.

Last edited by T.G; 10-07-2009 at 11:09 PM.
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