I rarely if ever sous vide pork, especially chops and ribs. I've done ribs as an experiment but missed the deep flavor profile afforded by a long cook. I'd lean toward smoking in this case, but that's one man's opinion.
So, I'd cut the butt section into two even pieces and marinated them both for about 24 hours. I'm smoking one now and it's at 107F. Will let it ride to 145-150 and then baste and stick it under the broiler I think.
I might SV and then grill the other one just as an experiment.
Last edited by rickgregory; July 6, 2020, 05:56 PM.
Love the experiment idea. I recently did 4 prime ribeye steaks. Two I SV and then seared, and the other two I did the reverse sear on my Yoder YS-640. I had some friends over and did a taste test (it wasn't blind). SV were to 131 then seared off in CI. The Yoder steaks were pulled at 120-125 then seared off on CI. Universally the Yoder steaks were preferred. That said, all the food was eaten, however, the smoking seemed to be a preference. Exicted about your experiment results.
OK, coming back and... one disappointment, one... good. But neither SV.
Here's the scoop. I think I left the smoked version too thick and what I had was something that neither developed bark like regular smoked pork butt nor had enough glazed area to elevate that. it was OK, but not great. I marinated for 24 hours, smoked and then finished in a 450F oven after brushing some of the marinade that I'd reduced by half over high heat.
AS I thought about it, I realized that what I like about char siu is the outer areas where the marinade has penetrated and where the surface was brushed with the glazed and finished. The interior is just... cooked pork. So I took the other hunk of pork butt, cubed it up and tossed it back in the marinade. Then I grilled the chunks at ~325F for an hour, pulled them out, put them in a 450F oven to finish.
That's right I pretty much did char siu burnt ends. These were yummy. Very very yummy.
Final thought - char siu pork doesn't need to be fatty. In fact, there was a balance for me of wanting the tasty bits and then having meat that was just really too high in fat. Next time I'm trying a pork tenderloin done entirely in high heat.
Some pics of the first hunk of pork....
1) off the smoker
out of the hot oven:
3) Marinade does not penetrate, example #348:
Last edited by rickgregory; July 11, 2020, 01:20 PM.
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