Duroc Pork?


 
Rusty James

Rusty James

TVWBB Emerald Member
I'm smoking three butts tomorrow, and one of them is something called a Duroc. After doing some research, I see that this is a breed of pig with excellent tasting meat. The store where I bought it from told me they sell a lot of these for competition BBQ settings.

Are these butts available in local supermarket chains? I found this one at a meat wholesaler for $1.79 a pound. Be interesting to see how it tastes.
 
Just had some it for dinner, and it seems a lot moister than your regular commodity pig meat. Yesterday, I had two regular butts on the top grate, and the Duroc on the bottom. All butts registered at 205° before removing them, but the Duroc began to fall apart after I gripped it with meat gloves, and I had to dump the meat in a container by removing the grid itself.

Honestly, I thought the meat tasted OK, but at this point, I am not sure if I am going to justify the extra cost. As for my overall cook, I thought everything came out well with no creosote at all, but the meat is still lacking some hickory flavor. I buried three chunks of the wood before piling on the charcoal, so I may try five chunks next time. I don't know why, but every time I place chunks of wood on top of the heap (like I've seen Steve Raichlen, and others, do), creosote smoke usually follows sooner or later.
 
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A question Rusty, did you only cook to temp or at some point did you probe for tender? If you probed for tender, at what temp did you start probing?
 
Bob Ivey said:
A question Rusty, did you only cook to temp or at some point did you probe for tender? If you probed for tender, at what temp did you start probing?
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I only cooked to temp. However, the 6" thermometer shaft (I have no electronic thermometer) went in easy enough around 195° or so. I never probed the Duroc meat since it was on the lower rack, but it registered around 205° to 210° when I finally removed the top rack. Judging by the way the Duroc pork fell apart, I'm assuming it has more fatty tissue than commodity pork.
 
The Duroc should also have less connective tissue than commodity pork. Less 'physical activity' should equal less connective tissue development.
 
Yes. That is why the shoulder area has historically been a low priced cut of meat, and excellent for BBQ.
The shoulder is one of the muscles of transportation (locomotion), unlike the belly area...
 
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Bob Bass said:
The Duroc should also have less connective tissue than commodity pork. Less 'physical activity' should equal less connective tissue development.
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Not sure if I follow you.

Are you saying Duroc pigs don't get the same exercise that commodity pigs do?
 
Not being a farmer, so no first hand information. Maybe someone else on here can verify. I would expect heritage breeds to be cared for / treated differently than everyday, commodity pigs. Stress also plays a big hand in the muscle makeup.

Certainly is true for the high end beef cattle.
 
I raised pigs in 4-H, and several of mine were Durocs. They are the red ones.

We also raised Hampshires, Spotted Poland Chinas, Yorkshires, and cross breeds.

Various breeds and body types fell in and out of favor, like bikini fashions, over the years. It was fairly random and unpredictable.

Durocs were nothing special. They were a solid breed, but so were many others. Some marketing dude got onto the Duroc thing, just like Angus Beef (the black cows!), and convinced people it was something better than the rest. And they made a mint.

Congrats to the marketers.
 
Chris in Louisiana said:
I raised pigs in 4-H, and several of mine were Durocs. They are the red ones.

We also raised Hampshires, Spotted Poland Chinas, Yorkshires, and cross breeds.

Various breeds and body types fell in and out of favor, like bikini fashions, over the years. It was fairly random and unpredictable.

Durocs were nothing special. They were a solid breed, but so were many others. Some marketing dude got onto the Duroc thing, just like Angus Beef (the black cows!), and convinced people it was something better than the rest. And they made a mint.

Congrats to the marketers.
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I did the 4-H thing too and totally agree with Chris. When I first got into 4-H Yorkshires, Hampshires and mixed breeds were king and toward the end of my 4-H days the pork industry was pushing more leaner pork and Durocs were king and as for showing steers the ones that showed Blank Angus ones were always last or pretty close to it. Granted I haven't lived in a farming community or raised anything in a few decades and breedind techniques have changed quite a bit but like Chris said I still believe it is just marketing tactics.
 
I might try another Duroc shoulder one day, but I am well satisfied with Smithfield commodity pork for now.

Is the Smithfield brand available outside of the South?
 
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