BBQs and Birthdays

Alright so I guess I jinx'd myself proclaiming "update Monday" to be a recurring thing. I guess I've just been too preoccupied to post these past few days. So here we go...

This past weekend had all the makings of greatness. The weather was AWESOME and made me long for Summer (granted, not last summer...an actually warm Summer). It was also my sister Jenna's fiancée's birthday weekend. I broke my Sunday BBQ tradition and decided to go for it on Saturday. Partially because I was inspired by the beautiful day and wanted to hang out in my backyard and also because I knew that my girlfriend Jenny would only be around Saturday night and Sunday morning and wanted her to enjoy a little bit of the obsession that she ultimately created.

Grizzly the Helper

The beer of the day was Corona, with the weather it was an obvious choice. I decided I wanted to BBQ a pork shoulder and make pulled pork sandwiches out of it. Stater Bros. was having a sale on pork shoulders so I took the opportunity. What I failed to realize at first was how long it was actually going to take. At first glance I read 3.5 hours...but that was just the first HALF of the smoking. I was going for fruity but spicy flavor and the apricot glazed pork shoulder recipe was going to be perfect. I started off injecting the meat with apricot nectar, water, and apple cider vinegar and let it marinate for about an hour. Then went with the wet rub of standard mustard, worcestershire, apple cider vinegar and then generously sprinkled the dry rub consisting of black pepper, chili powder, dry mustard, paprika, old bay seasoning, kosher salt, and garlic salt. I sealed all that in with a light amount of canola oil that I brushed on with a BBQ brush. I preheated the smoker to about 250 degrees and put the pork shoulder in for about 4.5 hours (In hind sight I let it go a little long) while periodically spraying it with apricot nectar juice. At around this time I read further along in the recipe and realized I had a long way to go. Now it was time for the wrapping technique. I drizzled honey, brown sugar, and butter over the shoulder and wrapped it in tinfoil and let it cook for another 2 hours. I should have probably let it go for another 3 hours but now I was pressed for time. I took it out, re-wrapped it in foil and clear plastic wrap then bundled in a big beach towel and let it rest for about 30 mins (again rushed, should have been an hour). Then finally unwrapped it and put it back in the smoker unwrapped. By now it was dark out and I was getting really hungry and Jenny had just arrived and we were supposed to leave to Nic's (Jenna's Fiancée) birthday party in downtown San Diego very shortly. The last cooking step was to coat the entire shoulder with the homemade apple BBQ sauce I had made earlier (that will have to be a separate post I think). Let that cook for another 20 minutes then took it out finally. So about 7.5 hours later I finally had a pretty delicious looking pork shoulder sitting in front of me...take a look.

Pre-cut Pork Shoulder (object larger than appears on camera)

The final product

The final step was to "Pull" the pork and add the homemade apple BBQ sauce to the mix and slap all that delicious meat on a toasted bun and call it done (See left). Overall I was very pleased with how it turned out but as usual I saw some room for improvement (I'm my own biggest critic). I definitely rushed it at the end and wondered how much better it could have been if I took my time and let it cook for the times recommended in the recipe. The pork wasn't quite "fall off the bone" as I had hoped but definitely maintained the tenderness I was going for. Definitely made for some delicious pulled pork sandwiches and lots of leftovers which I will probably be finishing off tonight actually!

After the long day of BBQing it was time to party at the Andaz hotel in downtown San Diego and celebrate Nic's 30th birthday and his brother's 40th. It was quite the family affair in their beautiful suites and rooftop cabana. We ate, we drank, we danced, and had a great time. It actually took me a day or so to recover but at least I had the spoils of my sweet sweet BBQ creation to keep me feeling alright.

One thing I didn't go into detail about was the homemade BBQ sauce. I'll save that for another post as it was a pretty involved process but I had a lot of fun making it.

Cheers!