Steve Cutchen
TVWBB Super Fan
Has anyone every made broth using the bones and other parts segregated from a BBQ pork butt after pulling?
When I pulled my first pork butts from my new WSM, I ended up with close to 2 lbs of bone, fat, and various other bits, including some meat that came along for the purge. I was looking at that pile of stuff, all slathered as it was in seasonings, porky goodness, bark and smoke flavor, and I just couldn't bear tossing it in the trash. Especially with those two bones just staring at me. So I decided to treat it like I would a turkey carcass and make a broth.
I sautéed an onion, a couple of carrots and three stalks of celery, all chopped, in olive oil until they just began to caramelize. Then I dumped in the butt bits, bones and all, and just enough cold water to basically cover it all; though the bones were poking out just a bit. Then it's bring to boil, reduce to simmer and let it go covered for an hour or so. I didn't add any other seasonings since the pork had so much seasoning from the BBQ process... and that was a lot of what I was trying to salvage anyway.
After about 90 minutes or so, I strained the broth from the detritus and then defatted it. I was surprised how little fat there was. It tasted really nice!
I ended up with about 3 cups of broth. It's now in the freezer, and I'm trying to decide what to do with it.
So have any of y'all ever done this? What to you use it for?
I've thought of using it as an injection liquid for ribs or the next butts. But the butts really don't seem to need it.
I could use it in BBQ sauce, but I'm worried about how it would affect shelf life.
I thought about using it to moisten the pulled pork, but jeepers, that just doesn't seem necessary.
Maybe as a base for cooking pinto beans? I have a wonderful pinto bean recipe that uses water, with seasonings... I could use this as a partial water replacement... I'm leaning against this one.
Maybe some type of soup base?
Any other ideas? Recipes?
When I pulled my first pork butts from my new WSM, I ended up with close to 2 lbs of bone, fat, and various other bits, including some meat that came along for the purge. I was looking at that pile of stuff, all slathered as it was in seasonings, porky goodness, bark and smoke flavor, and I just couldn't bear tossing it in the trash. Especially with those two bones just staring at me. So I decided to treat it like I would a turkey carcass and make a broth.
I sautéed an onion, a couple of carrots and three stalks of celery, all chopped, in olive oil until they just began to caramelize. Then I dumped in the butt bits, bones and all, and just enough cold water to basically cover it all; though the bones were poking out just a bit. Then it's bring to boil, reduce to simmer and let it go covered for an hour or so. I didn't add any other seasonings since the pork had so much seasoning from the BBQ process... and that was a lot of what I was trying to salvage anyway.
After about 90 minutes or so, I strained the broth from the detritus and then defatted it. I was surprised how little fat there was. It tasted really nice!
I ended up with about 3 cups of broth. It's now in the freezer, and I'm trying to decide what to do with it.
So have any of y'all ever done this? What to you use it for?
I've thought of using it as an injection liquid for ribs or the next butts. But the butts really don't seem to need it.
I could use it in BBQ sauce, but I'm worried about how it would affect shelf life.
I thought about using it to moisten the pulled pork, but jeepers, that just doesn't seem necessary.
Maybe as a base for cooking pinto beans? I have a wonderful pinto bean recipe that uses water, with seasonings... I could use this as a partial water replacement... I'm leaning against this one.
Maybe some type of soup base?
Any other ideas? Recipes?
