In celebration of a eureka moment I chose to cook something I haven’t yet done. Last night I dry brined a 2 pound Picanha for my Sunday evening treat. Today turned out to be a busy day. After picking up 6 x 3 pound pork bellies and a 20 pound bone in chuck, I trimmed the bellies and deboned the chuck.
I smoked 3 of the bellies that only had about 2 hours of salting and rubbed with MMD before cooking.
When the bellies were done I prepared a new fire for the Picanha and settled the kettle @275F. Added a chunk of citrus wood to the lump and let the meat ride till I hit an IT of 125 and over to the hot coals for a sear to 130F.
The Picanha
These are their cooking instructions that you can see from above I did not follow.
Things are going good and the wife makes herself a roll with some pork belly on. I’m sorry I asked how it was because she said it was sweet compared with how it usually tastes and the bark a sugary crunchy.
Now those comments mess with the dark matter between my ears and when I sampled it, it did taste sweetish and the bark was sugar crunchy. She said it still tasted good. I sense she noticed I’d become a bit grumpy. I’m deliberating whether she gets anymore of my BBQ.
One of the 3 bellies I delivered to an old acquaintance while the Picanha was cooking. Got a WhatsApp from him complementing me on the cook. I asked him if it was sweet and he said it was but not overly. I then proceeded to explain what could have been the cause and this and that and next time it will be better. He answered saying he didn’t think it could get any better.
Now about the Picanha that I moved over to sear at 125F and after turning a couple times I removed when it reached 130F. I was really disappointed with the inside redness it didn’t look like medium rare. It was however tender moist and very tasty. I suspect it may have overshot the reading I was getting from my leave in probe. I definitely need to get an Instant read thermometer.
At 125F ready for sear
The sear
The result
The moral of the story is you’re on a kind of high one moment then life kicks you up the jack and you back down to reality. Nevertheless we march forward.
PS. I did score a nice cover for my kettle today on the markdown table was R298.00 paid R90.00 so not all is bad.
I smoked 3 of the bellies that only had about 2 hours of salting and rubbed with MMD before cooking.
When the bellies were done I prepared a new fire for the Picanha and settled the kettle @275F. Added a chunk of citrus wood to the lump and let the meat ride till I hit an IT of 125 and over to the hot coals for a sear to 130F.
The Picanha
These are their cooking instructions that you can see from above I did not follow.
Things are going good and the wife makes herself a roll with some pork belly on. I’m sorry I asked how it was because she said it was sweet compared with how it usually tastes and the bark a sugary crunchy.
Now those comments mess with the dark matter between my ears and when I sampled it, it did taste sweetish and the bark was sugar crunchy. She said it still tasted good. I sense she noticed I’d become a bit grumpy. I’m deliberating whether she gets anymore of my BBQ.
One of the 3 bellies I delivered to an old acquaintance while the Picanha was cooking. Got a WhatsApp from him complementing me on the cook. I asked him if it was sweet and he said it was but not overly. I then proceeded to explain what could have been the cause and this and that and next time it will be better. He answered saying he didn’t think it could get any better.
Now about the Picanha that I moved over to sear at 125F and after turning a couple times I removed when it reached 130F. I was really disappointed with the inside redness it didn’t look like medium rare. It was however tender moist and very tasty. I suspect it may have overshot the reading I was getting from my leave in probe. I definitely need to get an Instant read thermometer.
At 125F ready for sear
The sear
The result
The moral of the story is you’re on a kind of high one moment then life kicks you up the jack and you back down to reality. Nevertheless we march forward.
PS. I did score a nice cover for my kettle today on the markdown table was R298.00 paid R90.00 so not all is bad.
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