Hey folks, tomorrow I'll be smoking up this here pork butt, which we got at our local Harris Teeter not long ago. I had not seen this brand before: Villari Duroc pork.
It was only 50 cents per pound more expensive than the regular butts from Smithfield that HT stocks. Looks like a pretty nice piece o'meat.
Trimmed off about 30oz/850g of fat cap and got it dry brining now. It'll go on the SnS kettle in the morning.
I'll post updates here tomorrow and let y'all know how it turns out
Retired, living in Western Mass. Enjoy music, cooking and my family.
Current cookers Weber Spirit 3 burner with a full insert griddle added. A 22" Kettle with vortex, SnS and a Smokey Joe. The most recent addition is a Pit Barrel Jr with bird hanger, 4 hooks and cover. ThermoWorks Smoke 2 probe, DOT, 2 ThermoPops and a Thermapen MK4. A Thermoworks RFX Gateway 2 probe meat thermometer.
I've had Duroc and Berkshire pork plenty, and definitely agree, it's excellent. If this turns out as good as it looks, and our local grocery keeps stocking it, I'll be like a pig in... well, I'll be happy
That IS an interesting looking pork butt. Looks like a nice deep red color to the meat and good fat marbling and distribution. I'm a little skeptical how much difference you can taste in a pork butt you use for pulled pork, but it would be worth a shot, at just $0.50/lb more than regular, I think. I've only had Duroc once, and it was a cured ham - didn't notice much difference in that.
I've wanted to get ahold of some heritage breed pork cuts, but funding lately has not been in support of my prospects.
I have done a ton of butts and have never had one short on marbling, but that butt’s marbling looks like it is on steroids. Let us hear how it turns out.
Last edited by LA Pork Butt; August 31, 2024, 06:58 AM.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
Hi folks, as usual going to use this thread to document today's cook for your vicarious pleasure.
Somehow I managed to sleep all the way until 8am this morning, pretty much unheard of for us, our eyes usually bink open no later than 6:30 or 7 no matter how late we stay up. And then when I went out to get the SnS kettle set up (it was way too soggy yesterday to do it the day before as I usually do), the ash-sweep thing fell apart again - the two metal tabs through which the post of the handle must pass have gotten tweaked and bent from heavy use. Had to bend the tabs back into shape and get it put back together, right out of bed and before any coffee -- talk about a first-world problem!
But I got the kettle fired up using the B&B oak+hickory charcoal that I posted about the other day and stabilized around 235/115, and the butt went on at 9:15, not too terrible. I aim to keep it around 250/120, which seems to be the temp this kettle loves to run at.
Rubbed it up with Jenni In A Bottle rub, courtesy of my music & foodie pal Jenni in Austin - what a cool cat she is to keep me supplied with her secret recipe rub! Two temp probes, one in the "money muscle" and the other at right angles.
Liftoff!
It went on fat-cap side down (although the fat cap is almost all gone after trimming), resulting in the upside of the butt being on a pronounced slope owing to the shape of the cut:
I'm hopeful that this will reduce the amount of juice pooling, leading to a long stall, that it might have had were it flipped over the other way, that surface would have been a lot more horizontal. Ostensibly the juice should be able to run off rather than pool - we shall see.
All systems are nominal, but it took almost an hour on the grate before we had full liftoff - the core of the butt was clearly still frozen. The money-muscle area lifted off well before the other.
That temperature bump a little while ago resulted, I am guessing, from the second of the three apple chunks catching fire when the fire front migrating across the SnS insert reached it. Pure guess (but that's never stopped me before)!
DaveD I am very interested in your results. I have one of the same currently dry brining that goes on tomorrow for Monday dinner.
I live about 35 miles west of you, down US-50 and I shop at Harris Teeter all the time. Wife and I have eaten the Villari Duroc pork chops and ribeyes several times and like them. Every once in a while they are on sale. I think that Duroc is excellent tasting. I use to get Heritage pork from Lothar's Butcher in Purcellville VA, now out of business. I think his Heritage pork was Duroc. Both Butts I had from him were far superior to the Smithfield brand I normally get and worth $6/lb. I miss the selection and prices at Lothar's! I have also smoked Berkshire Butts from Wine'ing Butcher, Ashburn VA. While the Berkshire from Wine'ing Butcher is better than Smithfield's, I do not like the taste enough to pay $7/lb. We do enjoy the Berkshire Baby Back Ribs from them, just not the butts. I am hoping the Villari is better than Smithfield.
Well howdy neighbor! There is exactly one decent butcher shop within a reasonable drive, Springfield Butcher, and it is decidedly meh from my limited experience. Went two or three times, but then bailed, I can get better quality for less money delivered to the house for free from online. Would love to patronize a local biz but it's hard to pass up that contrast...
Be sure you call me in time for dinner. I'm the official AmazingRibs taste tester ya know...besides gotta get up early to dove hunt in the morning, gonna need my strength.
Everything is cruising right along, although it's clear dinner will be a little later than usual owing to my late start this morning. I put the butt in a foil boat at about 3pm, and I've opened the vents a bit to aim for grate temps in the 300/150 range to move things along. At least this time I didn't get a noticeable temp drop when I boated the cut, as happens most times. Those drops can cost another hour of cooking time by the time they catch up. ITs have picked up speed and are just hitting 190/88.
The lid was off the kettle long enough while boating the butt that one of the wood chunks caught on fire...
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