Pork Butt Suggestions

[WayneT]

My wife is the Executive Director of the Hispanic League here in Forsyth County NC and the organization is having its big fundraising event, Fiesta, in Winston-Salem this Saturday. One of our close friends helping with the event is from Mexico, but of Mayan, not Spanish, descent and has purchased two pork butts to cook and serve for a post-Fiesta Sunday brunch. She's going to make a traditional Mayan marinade for her conchinita pibil and is giving me one butt to cook however I choose.



I am looking for contemporaneous, out-of-the-box suggestions for cooking this 10# butt; something other than pulled pork in all its variations. I'm leaning strongly toward pork butt burnt ends using the following recipe.

https://gimmesomegrilling.com/pork-butt-burnt-ends/

I've got from now until 11:00 am Sunday to prep, cook and serve the pork butt. A SV step is an option. Please, let me hear from you if you have ideas. Thanks!

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Carnitas.

Corn tortillas. Pickled onions (or plain white raw onions). Cilantro. Queso fresco or cotija cheese.

Done.


Best way to do pork butt every, IMO.

[Purc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FVOyp9Pmws

Here is a Mexican style pork butt from Meat Church BBQ in Texas

I have also done a butt on the roti and then sliced for roast pork.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Right, if your plan is carnitas, I would definitely change the rub - I honestly don't like to use our BBQ-style pulled pork leftovers too much for carnitas because it 'should' have a Mexican seasoning blend, not the regular BBQ blend like the MMD+ I use most often. But you pull it and then crisp it up in an oven spread out on a sheet pan or something. Plenty of options for that. Love me some carnitas...

[Santamarina]

+1 for Carnitas! When I smoke a butt for carnitas I skip MMD and use a blend of chili powder, paprika, onion, cumin, and coriander for the rub. It’s always a hit at parties!

[ofelles]

It's hard to beat Posolé Rojo

[Jim White]

Or a posole verde.

Extra-special if you have some Rancho Gordo white corn posole/prepared hominy on hand to cook up for it.

[clb239]

I have used Malcolm Reed's Carnitas recipe several times with positive results from everyone...

https://howtobbqright.com/2015/05/28/pork-carnitas-recipe-with-mexican-style-pulled-pork/

[Steve R.]

You said you wanted to avoid pulled pork and all its variations, so I won't suggest carnitas. Here is one of the best things I know to do with a pork butt.

Here is the recipe, if you don't want to hassle with the New York Times site: https://imgur.com/1Ou61to

[Donw]

Luckily I have an NYT-Food subscription so the recipe is now in Paprika. Thanks for the idea and link.

[CaptainMike]

Chile verde is nice, and pretty easy. I like to cut to size and lay the chunks out on a smoker for a couple of hours then prepare per recipe. Make thin like a soup or thicken to a stew.

[CaptainMike]

shify Truth be told I assemble it all in a CI DO and cook it the smoker as well.

[shify]

CaptainMike - and you’ll have to pry my Instant Pot out my cold dead hands to have me give it up for any chili! So smoke in large chunks, cube, put in Instant Pot… profit!

[CaptainMike]

shify Nuthin' wrong with the 'Pot! We use ours regularly.

[bbqLuv]

Pork belly burnt ends are fantastic. But 10lbs for butt burnt ends has to be great also too.

[tbob4]

I do something similar to what Purc posted. I rub the pork with one of my spicier rubs. After you start to get some bark forming (4-6 hrs depending), I cut the pork into thirds and put in a Dutch oven with 2-3 diced chilis (jalepenos or a bit hotter), 1 diced red onion, a couple of tablespoons of oregano, one tablespoon of cumin about 1/2 beer and 1/2 cup of a good green or red sauce (I like Herdez Chipotle Cremosa). You can use an aluminum pan and cover instead of the Dutch ovens.

[tbob4]

Ooops - forgot garlic! How could I forget that? 3-4 cloves, minced

[WayneT]

Thanks y'all for the great suggestions. This morning I de-boned and cut the butt into two pieces of 4 lb 7 oz and 4 lb 6 oz, along with just a little bit of trimmings and the bone.


Since there's enough meat here to do two recipes, I'm going with the burnt ends and chili verde. (It seems I've drawn inspiration once again from DaveD )

If I gave anyone the impression that I'm literate in Mexican cuisine, then I sorely misled you. Therefore, CaptainMike, shify, & Hulagn1971 , let me pick your brains, if I may, regarding the chili verde.

I'm planning on using this recipe: https://wskg.org/americas-test-kitch...cerdo-ep-2101/

It was highly recommended by WillTravelForFood on another topic.

1) Do you have a favorite recipe to share that deviates significantly from this one?
2) Would you smoke the whole piece of pork or cut up then smoke?
3) I'm thinking Mesquite in the pellet pooper for the smoke. Thoughts?
4) Low and slow at first to get some smoke then crank it to 350F to finish to IT of 160F. OK?
5) Will Chipotle Morita chilies work as a substitute for the jalapeno chilies or would this become too smoky in the final dish? I just happen to have some of the latter.
6) Any other pearls of widsom?

I'm off to gather some ingredients. When I come back I hope to make you all complicit in either a roaring success or dismal failure.

[WillTravelForFood]

Others will have better opinions. One concern about doing a full smoke beforehand is whether or not you'd get any fond during the in-pan searing. or whether the in-pan searing is even necessary if you go the smoking route.

We like CaptainMike suggestion of prepping as normal in the dutch oven, then smoking the stew later.

Curious if using any reserved smoke pork broth from previous cooks would be worthwhile vs chicken stock. Or if that would be a bad idea.

[CaptainMike]

That recipe is fine, chile verde is a pretty standardized Mexican dish. I've never used cinnamon or cloves, but I'm sure it works. I like to cut the pork into 2" chunks, smoke with a fruitwood for an hour or so, then proceed with the recipe, including searing.

Stick with the jalapenos as their tanginess goes well with the tomatillos and other vegetables. Chile verde is a tart and tangy dish. You're feeding folks from the Hispanic League and they'll know what CV is supposed to taste like. I like CV on the "stew-y" side with a nice kiss of smoke so I prep mine in a Dutch oven then pop it uncovered into the pellet pooper running 300 and cook it down a bit (2 - 3 hrs), stirring and adding chicken broth when needed. I did a CV last week just like this and it was pretty dang good!

This is a recipe and website I like to use and like what the lime adds: https://www.isabeleats.com/mexican-p...container-9269

Good luck, and I'm looking forward to your cook and feedback.

[HotSun]

Thanks for sharing CaptainMike. I will be adding this to my cook list.

[Porkies]

Sounds tasty! I will have to give this a try. I love CV.

[WillTravelForFood]

Reminds us that we've been authorized to purchase an inexpensive cast iron dutch oven specifically for use on the grill vs using one of the nice indoor models.

[shify]

I agree with CaptainMike that the recipe seems pretty typical but for the cinnamon and cloves which I haven't seen before and do not use (side note - i'm not a fan of clove at all). I use Kenji's recipe on serious eats as my starting point (https://www.seriouseats.com/chile-ve...th-pork-recipe for the standard recipe and https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-pre...e-verde-recipe for an Instant pot version)

When I make a smoked chile verde, I leave the pork butt in fairly large chunks and/or whole and smoke for a few hours (~1-3 hours would be the range I typically use). I don't bother monitoring temps as I'm only interested in getting smoke and some color. Then I cube/chunk it up and continue with the recipe - but don't sear it any further.

[WayneT]

Thanks again for the feedback and guidance.


I’m smoking the half butt as I sit here drinking beer and typing. It will take a bit longer this way but this is a rookie cook.


Prepped veggies.


I cooked the veggies on the griddle just for kicks. Didn’t really produce much liquid to add in so I got lucky


I’ve got the verde to the halfway point awaiting the pork. I ended up re-doing the poblanos because after they turned black and crispy they tasted like charcoal. Is that normal? My second time produced a milder char taste which was acceptable.



Meanwhile, cooking down the trimmings to produce fond and fat. Kept the bone in there for added flavor.



Just cranked grill temp up to 350F to move things along. Shooting for IT of 160F.

[CaptainMike]

pssst, you need to use fresh poblano peppers......

[WayneT]

LMAO! Yessir.

[WillTravelForFood]

the fond is niice crispy crunchies for later snacking.

did you peel the poblanos after roasting?

[WayneT]

Ummmm, ask me another question. 🙄 Rookie mistake. I thinks that is why it is brown and not green in color. But, it smells and tastes amazing. Definitely going to cook this again and pay closer attention to the details.

[WayneT]

Pork butt after smoking.


Finished product after mixing verde and pork, cooking in DO at 325F for 1.5 hours and adding cilantro. The smoky smell and taste is otherworldly. I’ll do this again soon.

[CaptainMike]

Uh, that ain't no chile VERDE I've ever seen, but I would most definitely dig well and truly into that!!!! You might have just invented Chile WayneT!

[WayneT]

No, it ain’t. The taste is amazing but the color and look is off. Redo!!

[CaptainMike]

Rock on, Wayne!!! You are one cool cat!