It started with this:
I made it for annual gift giving day, reducing the salt a bit because my wife has high blood pressure and I've had some misadventures with salt in 2016. I did not take pictures of the final result, because it wasn't pretty, like Chef Steps. It was okay.
Benefits: The texture of the meat was INCREDIBLE.
Cons: The flavor of the meat was meh (due to salt). The glaze did not work as described. Probably due to the salt. I had some ugly shanks that I got from the butcher.
I made shanks again, modifying the Chef Steps process a bit. I brined in a modified Blonder Brine (straight Blonder, plus liquid smoke, plus a sprinkle of prague. It sat in the brine for two days, and on day two, I had a bit of a panic, as Blonder is 6.6%, and adding the prague, might've pushed in to 6.7 or 6.8%. The ChefSteps brine is in the 4% levels, so I wigged, and soaked em in plain water for a day. Instead of the oven, I put them on my newly cleaned grill (does anyone else notice that the first thing they cook after doing a thorough grill clean is always something really fatty/drippy/sticky that will return your grill to what it was before the cleaning... or is that just me), 250-300 (I messed up the smoke... I know how I messed it up, won't do it again), until IT got somewhere between 149 and 165. I glazed at 145, with honey, ACV and tabasco. then seared. I got this:
Pros: Texture of the meat was INCREDIBLE. In places, the skin was nice a crisp. Berkshire pork incredible fat.
Cons: Undersalted again (next time, going 4-5% brine, 2 days, hell or high water), some skin didn't crisp at all, sloppy scoring.
This pulled from the bone with a fork and no pressure.
I have two more Berkshire shanks in the freezer, so:
Next time: Brine 2 days, Blonder Brine reduced to 4.5%, plus liquid smoke. Same time temp (149FX48H), make bigger scores so I can make them neater, roast on the grill, smoke one hour, standing on bone end, glaze that thing with straight honey or grade B maple, crank to roast at 450 until skin is crisp, possibly rotating every five minutes. I will nail this dish. The meat texture is too amazing to not get this done.
I made it for annual gift giving day, reducing the salt a bit because my wife has high blood pressure and I've had some misadventures with salt in 2016. I did not take pictures of the final result, because it wasn't pretty, like Chef Steps. It was okay.
Benefits: The texture of the meat was INCREDIBLE.
Cons: The flavor of the meat was meh (due to salt). The glaze did not work as described. Probably due to the salt. I had some ugly shanks that I got from the butcher.
I made shanks again, modifying the Chef Steps process a bit. I brined in a modified Blonder Brine (straight Blonder, plus liquid smoke, plus a sprinkle of prague. It sat in the brine for two days, and on day two, I had a bit of a panic, as Blonder is 6.6%, and adding the prague, might've pushed in to 6.7 or 6.8%. The ChefSteps brine is in the 4% levels, so I wigged, and soaked em in plain water for a day. Instead of the oven, I put them on my newly cleaned grill (does anyone else notice that the first thing they cook after doing a thorough grill clean is always something really fatty/drippy/sticky that will return your grill to what it was before the cleaning... or is that just me), 250-300 (I messed up the smoke... I know how I messed it up, won't do it again), until IT got somewhere between 149 and 165. I glazed at 145, with honey, ACV and tabasco. then seared. I got this:
Pros: Texture of the meat was INCREDIBLE. In places, the skin was nice a crisp. Berkshire pork incredible fat.
Cons: Undersalted again (next time, going 4-5% brine, 2 days, hell or high water), some skin didn't crisp at all, sloppy scoring.
This pulled from the bone with a fork and no pressure.
I have two more Berkshire shanks in the freezer, so:
Next time: Brine 2 days, Blonder Brine reduced to 4.5%, plus liquid smoke. Same time temp (149FX48H), make bigger scores so I can make them neater, roast on the grill, smoke one hour, standing on bone end, glaze that thing with straight honey or grade B maple, crank to roast at 450 until skin is crisp, possibly rotating every five minutes. I will nail this dish. The meat texture is too amazing to not get this done.
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