Cooking in an aluminum pan to reserve juices?


 
Chris Lynch

Chris Lynch

TVWBB All-Star
Worth it or not? I just did my first cook last weekend and it was a huge success. The pictures were posted and thanks for all the compliments. In an effort to reserve juices I put a pan on the rack below but they cooked away before I could do anything with them. Now, the only reason why I did this is because I smoked a butt a few years ago on a kettle and did it in a pan and it ended up sitting in its own juices for the whole cook. It tasted amazing but it missed the bark on the bottom. So I rotated and let the bark form on the other side, sort of. So I guess my theory is that in a pan you sacrifice bark but get added juices.

What do you say veterans? Do you or don't you and why? I have people coming over next weekend and I am going to have pulled pork on the menu and I am thinking of going in a pan this time for S&G
 
Chris, had some butts I had to finish in the oven on my last cook. Put them in foil pans. I had more juice than I knew what to do with. Strained the fat out now I have great pork collagen to add to my other recipes. I wouldn't have had this if I had been able to finish in the smoker. I don't think I sacrificed anything as far as flavor was concerned by using the pans. Yeah, like you said maybe a little bark but I think it turned out ok. I'd do it again.
 
You can use the dripping to make gravy, if you like. It goes something like this:

Melt butter, preferably unsalted, and add flour to the butter . This should give your a thick mixture. If you want, you can heat the mixture until the colour looks like caramel.
Take your drippings and filter through a colander, add a small amount in the casserole at first, stir vigorously, and the add more and more, until you have got a thick smooth gravy. To mellow the gravy, add some heavy cream. Let it simmer for a while to get rid of the taste of flour. Do not burn! Taste. Add pepper, salt, maybe vinegar or lemon juice as needed.

To make let's say two pints of gravy, start with one stick of butter and five tablespoons of white wheat flour.
 
I regularly smoke a butt and at 160 degrees put in a throw-a-way pan, foil and return to the smoker. I start checking for tenderness at 200 degrees. I often have to go to 205 degrees for pullable pork. I reserve the juice, degrease it and use a portion of it to mix with the pulled pork. Um-m-m, GOOD!!

Dale53
 
Chris..... I usually put my pork butt onto a roasting rack set inside an alum disposable pan. My goal is to collect that "liquid gold" juice while still getting bark by keeping the meat up out of the juice. If you've never added the de-fatted juice to your pulled product, do yourself a favor and try it!

(This is ANOTHER trick I picked up on this terrific site...Thank-you all!) :eek:
 
I smoked a chuck roast in a pan. Used the dripping in the gravy which turned out good. And when my wife made stroganoff with the leftovers she used the dripping. Best stroganoff she ever made.
 
Chris, like Sandee I use a pan and put a rack over it to hold the butt up and out of the pan. You need to add a small amount of liquid of choice to the pan (water, juice, beer, etc.) to keep the drippings from burning or evaporating.
 
If I am smoking only one or two butts, I will usually finish them in the oven in an aluminum half pan, mixing defatted pan drippings with some dry rub & homemade NC style thin vinegar sauce and mix this in with pulled pork. This helps keep the pulled pork from drying out and adds a nice layer of flavor. I did this on Saturday for a couple of friends and they said the sliders I made them "absolutely did not need any sauce at all." :cool:
 
SANDEE MCKINIVAN said:
Chris..... I usually put my pork butt onto a roasting rack set inside an alum disposable pan. My goal is to collect that "liquid gold" juice while still getting bark by keeping the meat up out of the juice. If you've never added the de-fatted juice to your pulled product, do yourself a favor and try it!

(This is ANOTHER trick I picked up on this terrific site...Thank-you all!) :eek:
Click to expand...
Thanks. I am going to try this.
 
Mike Willis said:
Chris, like Sandee I use a pan and put a rack over it to hold the butt up and out of the pan. You need to add a small amount of liquid of choice to the pan (water, juice, beer, etc.) to keep the drippings from burning or evaporating.
Click to expand...

Thanks. How much liquid are you using? Just enough to cover the bottom I am guessing?
 
Hi Chris, When I do Butt (I know HaHa) I wrap in foil when Meat gets to 150*. I pour some apple juice in and put it back on till 190*. Than take it out of the foil and put it back on for awhile to firm up the bark. I save the juice from the foil and pour it in a small dish and put it in the refridgerator. As the juice cools the fats solidify on top. Scrape the fats off warm the remaining juice in microwave a bit and pour it over pork after it is pulled. It is wonderful, adds moisture and all the goodness of drippings.
 
Yeah Chris, I just pour just enough liquid so it's about 1/8" deep at the start of the cook. You definitely want the entire bottom of the pan covered. You can add more liquid if needed during the cook, but I haven't had to when starting with that amount. I've only used water and apple juice so far... the beer is usually reserved for me during the cook...:D
 
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Ryan N. said:
I save the juice from the foil and pour it in a small dish and put it in the refridgerator. As the juice cools the fats solidify on top. Scrape the fats off warm the remaining juice in microwave a bit and pour it over pork after it is pulled.
Click to expand...
I'm going to do this too.
 
Maybe my rub and injections are a bit on the salty side, but I've ended up with salty pork more than once by pouring too much salty drippings back in after pulling. The thing is though, more times than not I end up forgetting the drippings in the freezer and nobody seems to miss it.
 
Last friday I experimented with 3 racks of cheapo thin spares. I de-fatted and saved the juice from the foil using the 3-2-1 method. The next day I took the ribs to a party, adding the juice to the ribs in a crock-pot. WOW! The ribs were super-moist and tender.... got lots of those raves that we pitmasters live for. :cool:
Moral of the story: This juice trick is not just for BUTTS anymore.
 
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