New from Shanghai. Question about pork cut

daiflu · Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Shanghai, PRC

Hi guys I'm new to barbeque, at least in the true sense of the word. Growing up in New Zealand and Australia, I've cooked countless barbies, although all have been on gas grill.
Like all red blooded males, I think I'm a good driver and a good griller!
I've always been a fan of ribs, and have recently fallen in love with pulled pork, which led me to investigate how to make it. Thus I discovered smoking and this web site.
After reading countless threads, although it seems like a lot of work, I want to give it a shot.

The first obstacle was finding a smoker. I wanted something that I can smoke and grill on. Living in China, the range of (quality) barbeque equipment is very limited and seriously overpriced! Anyway I ended up getting a Brinkmann Smoke'n'Pit, which seemed to suit my needs and budget.
So far I've given it a test burn, to get the nasty fumes out and had my first grill on charcoal the other night.

We have a 5 day holiday this week, so I thought it would be the perfect chance to try my first smoke.

Which brings me to my second obstacle; the meat. I went to several butchers and meat markets. As I've not had any experience, I didn't know what a 'Boston Butt' looked like. All of the cuts only have Chinese characters on the label, so I have no idea. Finally, I printed out a diagram of a pig showing the different cuts of meat and gave it to a butcher. He came back with a whole leg (shoulder to toe) of pig and asked me where to cut it. Of course having no idea, I pointed to the top of the shoulder. After looking at my cut and the ones posted on here, it looks quite different.

Can some one tell me if this is OK, or where I've gone wrong to ensure I get the right one next time.

I figured I'd smoke it anyway and see what happens. I gave it a very simple dry rub and it's now waiting in the fridge for tomorrow morning.

I'll let you know how it goes![img][/img]

roscoe1960 · Posted: Oct 03 2010 Post subject:

Welcome to the smoke ring daiflu Very Happy

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BluzQue · Posted: Oct 03 2010 Post subject:

Welcome aboard daiflu Very Happy

Keep us posted on the finished cook!

Cool

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k.a.m. · Posted: Oct 03 2010 Post subject:

Welcome to the ring daiflu, looking forward to seeing some pics of your cooks. Smile

Looking at the cut it looks like your butcher cut lateral instead of perpendicular to the leg bones. I looks like you still have part of the chest cavity in one of the pics. That is why I think he cut the wrong way.
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Rayzer · Posted: Oct 04 2010 Post subject:

Welcome to the Ring! How about googling an image of Boston Butt and showing it to your butcher? Here's a link to pork cuts, showing where the butt comes from.

http://culinary-arts.wikispaces.com/Pork+Cuts

Good luck with your cook!
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PaulOinMA · Posted: Oct 04 2010 Post subject:

foodsubs.com is also another good site.

As posted, you can print out a picture of a pig with the shoulder area highlighted, and show your butcher a picture of the cut of meat you would like.

http://foodsubs.com/MeatPorkShoulder.html
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daiflu · Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Shanghai, PRC

Cheers for the welcomes guys, and the advice. The first link posted (Culinary Arts) is the exact picture I showed to him. He asked me where to cut and I didn't know, so he pulled out a big cleaver and hacked into it!

Finished the cook last night. All went pretty good for my first cook I think. I learnt a lot about my cooker and how to hold constant temperature. I fell into a few newbie traps, but I have a few ideas on how to improve for the next one.
I definately need a good thermometer that I can read with the lid closed, as I lost too much heat when sticking the meat and waiting to read the temp.

I took a photo just before it was pulled (will post later), but didn't get one after pulling, as I literally had to run out the door and get to the neighbours dinner party. The pulled pork was a big hit, with most people not having tried it before (so they didn't have a good one to compare too).

All in all I'm pretty pleased and definately looking forward to the next one!

I did forget to close the windows though, and now my whole house has a smokey smell.

stringbender128 · Posted: Oct 05 2010 Post subject:

Welcome to the Ring!
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Mr Tony's BBQ · Posted: Oct 05 2010 Post subject:

Welcome to The Ring - most any part of the pig will make fine Pulled Pork in a pinch, in my experience - toot to snoot is what they say!
Oh, and that "smokey smell" in your house - that will hopefully never go away - you will just stop noticing it! Your friends and neighbors will look forward to it! Laughing

So long as you keep bringing samples! Very Happy

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rodneymeatsnsweets · Posted: Oct 05 2010 Post subject:

Welcome to the Ring!

dmike25 · Posted: Oct 07 2010 Post subject:

Welcome to the Ring daiflu, and congrats on your first smoke, can't wait to see the pics! About that smell in the house, enjoy! My wife loves it when I fire up the uds on the back porch, it always fills the house with the smell of apple wood smoke coming in the kitchen window! You didn't mention how you served the pp. Last time I smoked a shoulder I made some of Roxy's mustard sauce. WOW! That is one great tasting combination. Good luck on all your future cooks, I'd bet that your hooked on it now!
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Tim_Abrahamson · Posted: Oct 08 2010 Post subject:

Welcome...looking forward to the pics of your cooks!
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daiflu · Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Shanghai, PRC

Hey guys, I finally got around to uploading some pics.
First is the pork shoulder, before pulling, unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the pulled stuff, but it looked pretty good.

I made some creamy coleslaw and severed it with burger buns. I also had a go at mixing up a fairly simple sauce, which I think tasted pretty good. I asked my wife to try it while she was in the kitchen, she calls out "it's a bit sweet and quite sour" which is when I realized that she was sampling the lemon juice I had squeezed into a bowl and had left over, haha!
The next is of my first rack of ribs I did last weekend. They were pretty good, but once again, there's several areas I need to improve on. One of the things I find difficult is getting spices for the rub. The 'usual' spices are either hard to find, or very expensive here. I tried some random Chinese spices, but the flavour didn't really cut it for me. The meat was very moist though.

I'm definately hooked though, I plan to smoke something else this weekend, just need to decide on what.

Gtown · Posted: Oct 12 2010 Post subject:

The look of the meat is spectacular. I hope you get a good tasting rub to complement your obvious ability to turn out good smoked meat. Good luck on the future cooks!

daiflu · Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Shanghai, PRC

Did my third smoke tonight. I Didn't have a lot of time once I finished work, so I picked up some burgers and chicken wings. My plan was to grill them, but I decided to try smoking them.
The result was good and bad. I killed the burgers! I tried to have everything finish the same time and in the end, the burgers were wayyy overcooked. Had a great smokey flavour, but were dry as a nuns' nasty!
A shame because they were imported Australian beef.
The wings on the other hand were killer!! I picked up some wings that they have marinating in buckets at the market, not sure of the original flavour as it was written in Chinese, it didn't matter though, because after smoking with hickory and basting with the sauce I made, their original intended flavour was a distant memory. It's hard to describe the flavour, but man they were good! Possibly the best wings I've tasted and a HUGE hit with the family!
Anyway, good and bad, but I learnt a lot!

Beertooth · Posted: Oct 18 2010 Post subject:

Daiflu welcome to the Ring!

Some good looking grub you made there. Smile

Keep experimenting!
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daiflu · Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Shanghai, PRC

Smoked a rack of baby back ribs on Sunday. Again, it was bitter sweet. No problem with the food, the ribs were beautiful! I used the 2-1-1 method and the meat was falling of the bone and very moist. My best cook to date for sure.
I did however burn a big patch in the wooden deck when using the starter to light the charcoal. Don't think the land lady will be too impressed!
Here's a pic of the ribs right before I pulled then off.

yossarian · Posted: Oct 21 2010 Post subject:

Welcome Daiflu. How long have you been in Shanghai? I was there for a week in preparation for the Olympics. (I preferred Beijing).

I did have a most tasty piece of pork in Shanghai. It was a at a restaurant called, "Shanghai Uncle", it is right across the street from a shopping mall, and I think it is in the Bund Center. I cannot remember what it was called, but it seemed to be a roasted pork belly, with a fantastic ratio of meat, fat and skin. Their cow stomach was pretty good too. I did not care for drunken shrimp or jellyfish.
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daiflu · Joined: 02 Oct 2010 Posts: 9 Location: Shanghai, PRC

yossarian · Posted: Oct 22 2010 Post subject:

Cold it can be. I was in Beijing during the great blizzard of 2008, when damn near the whole country, except Beijing was under several feet of snow. Walking across Tiananmen Square was brutal.
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