What do I do with this heavenly gelatin?

[Philotius]

Hello, smoked a couple of butts for pulled pork yesterday - probably the best I've done so far - 16 lbs of butt, gone in one afternoon, so I'll take the W on that score!!


Anyway..I pan/wrapped them with some Dr. Pepper to finish them. I saved the braising juices and got this beautiful, smokey "pork jelly" is what I'm calling it. The fat all skimmed off after a bit in the fridge. I put the jelly in a jar and froze it to use later. Thinking some beans or chili....gravy base??


I've been poking thru the forum looking for anything related to this, nothing so far. Would this be more of a general cooking thing rather that a BBQ specific quandary?

My question is what else could I do with this stuff? it doesn't seem fatty enough to use like an oil, it breaks down (liquefies) under a bit of heat. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Rob whatever]

I would have added back to the pulled pork. It could be used as a sauce base for a leaner pork cut like chops, as it really is just a flavored stock. So, I would use just like you would chicken stock, but only for dishes where the dr. Pepper flavor works well.

rob

[Texas Larry]

That stuff is culinary gold. I’ve used it as a gravy base, mixed it with bbq sauce for dipping or basting on leaner cuts. Cook it in with beans or even stews or a pork chili. So much flavor there would be a shame to waste. Freezing in smaller portions works for me.

[Philotius]

Ohh! Cutting into bbq sauce, thats a fine idea. Thanks

[IowaGirl]

I would have mixed the juices back into the pulled pork, to be honest. That can really add a lot to the final flavor of pulled pork.

Sometimes this kind of stock can be overly smoky and overly seasoned to use in large amounts in other dishes. I'd probably use it more as a flavoring than as a main ingredient in a sauce, etc. I'd freeze it in an ice cube tray to divide it down into manageable pieces.

[Philotius]

Yes, putting it back in the pulled pork was my intention. These came out so moist and tender though, I was leery of having it too wet for sammies. I should portion it out though. Ice cube tray sounds like the trick! Thanks

[bbqLuv]

There is always this, if you're in the mind to.
How to Make Homemade Ballistic Gelatin for Testing Bullet Impact (ammoland.com)

[Philotius]

Now this……has my interest!! Haha!! Love it

[mrteddyprincess]

I'm a big fan of cooking with ingredients from previous cooks, and this is one of my key ingredients that people notice in my baked beans. When I'm asked for my recipe it starts out something like this: "Well, first you slow cook five pork shoulders and save the juice and then two weeks later you cook the beans and add the flavs to the beans..." Previous cooks make current cooks better!

Addendum: I messed around with a fat separator for years. It looks like a two cup measuring cup and had a hole in the bottom you could use to separate the water soluble stuff from the fat. It was a mess to clean up. My favorite method for separating the fat now involves putting it all in a gallon zip lock and letting it sit in the fridge over night. The fat goes to the top and become solid, and then you just snip the corner of the bag to get the water soluble flavors out. The fat stays behind and I just throw that away with the bag.

[Draznnl]

I had one of those fat separators years ago. I’ll simply echo that it was a PITA to get clean.