First, some history (since I know y'all really want to know, lol):
I've made heavy use of sous-vide through most of my foray into barbecue primarily due to convenience and ease and I was already onboard the sous-vide train before I started smoking anything. I also think I had it in my head that sous-vide was just "better" due to the precise control. Up until recently, the best steaks I made were always sous-vide. They wowed party guests. I loved them. I don't eat steak out anymore because it's not worth it.
Last November, however, after a couple "meh" tries I nailed smoked steaks using the reverse sear technique coupled with the cold grate—and I did it in a Jumbo Joe while on vacation! I still use sous-vide now and then for convenience. I have a butchered cow that's frozen and bagged. It's not generally recommended, but I can go from freezer to water bath in the same bag (I've never had a bag break on smaller packages and shorter cooks). This is very convenient on weeknights. However, if I am hosting a party, smoke and reverse sear, period.
The point of this is that despite the precise control, sous-vide has a lot of limitations. I use it a lot but far less than I did a couple years ago. The only "traditional" long cooks I have ever done to date are pork ribs and lemme just say, I love me some smoked pork ribs.
I've just moved into a new house with a backyard that whispers, "Sit out back, soak up the sun, enjoy the shade, and smoke some meats." This is a huge contrast from where I just moved from. I did steaks on Saturday, smoked chickens on Sunday, and since I was still off yesterday I opted to do a pair of pork butts the "real" way for the first time—or close anyway. I say "close" because I did it a little on the hot and fast side, meaning I ran the cook at 275ºF. I did not have a strong desire to start the cook too early in the morning after moving all week.
Long story short (yes, the intro is longer than the cook info):
With all that said, the pork was delicious. I was able to pull it apart with my hands so that seems like I got it tender enough.
The long and short is that I am looking forward to more traditional cooks. As neat as sous-vide is, I liked this pork better than any I have made prior.
I've made heavy use of sous-vide through most of my foray into barbecue primarily due to convenience and ease and I was already onboard the sous-vide train before I started smoking anything. I also think I had it in my head that sous-vide was just "better" due to the precise control. Up until recently, the best steaks I made were always sous-vide. They wowed party guests. I loved them. I don't eat steak out anymore because it's not worth it.
Last November, however, after a couple "meh" tries I nailed smoked steaks using the reverse sear technique coupled with the cold grate—and I did it in a Jumbo Joe while on vacation! I still use sous-vide now and then for convenience. I have a butchered cow that's frozen and bagged. It's not generally recommended, but I can go from freezer to water bath in the same bag (I've never had a bag break on smaller packages and shorter cooks). This is very convenient on weeknights. However, if I am hosting a party, smoke and reverse sear, period.
The point of this is that despite the precise control, sous-vide has a lot of limitations. I use it a lot but far less than I did a couple years ago. The only "traditional" long cooks I have ever done to date are pork ribs and lemme just say, I love me some smoked pork ribs.
I've just moved into a new house with a backyard that whispers, "Sit out back, soak up the sun, enjoy the shade, and smoke some meats." This is a huge contrast from where I just moved from. I did steaks on Saturday, smoked chickens on Sunday, and since I was still off yesterday I opted to do a pair of pork butts the "real" way for the first time—or close anyway. I say "close" because I did it a little on the hot and fast side, meaning I ran the cook at 275ºF. I did not have a strong desire to start the cook too early in the morning after moving all week.
Long story short (yes, the intro is longer than the cook info):
- After trimming, I had a pair of boneless butts from Costco weighing in at about 6 lbs each.
- Dry-brined for about 24 hours.
- Rubbed with Meathead's Memphis Rub.
- Fired up the a 22" Weber Kettle with an SNS to 275ºF and held temperature with my Flame Boss 300.
- Meat went in around 8:45am.
- No crutch. No wrap. No nothing. Just let it cook for for about 10 and a half hours. Internal temperatures hit about 197ºF before I pulled them. (Plus, I was hungry.)
- Let them rest on the counter until they were cool enough to pull apart by hand.
- Put the shreds on top of slaw and topped that with Colombia Gold. (Might be my new favorite pork sauce.)
- I cut out a custom piece of expanded metal for my SNS to keep charcoal from falling through. This turns out to be a bad idea. I had to clean out ash way too much during the cook. I'm gonna get rid of that.
- If I do boneless again, I'm going to tress. Some of the smaller chunks turned into hunks of bark and that's too much bark. I did like the results of salting the inside.
- On the topic of bark, maybe I'm some kind of wuss, but I think I prefer my bark softened up a bit. I'm going to try something with a faux cambro next time to soften it up.
With all that said, the pork was delicious. I was able to pull it apart with my hands so that seems like I got it tender enough.
The long and short is that I am looking forward to more traditional cooks. As neat as sous-vide is, I liked this pork better than any I have made prior.
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