JSMcdowell
TVWBB All-Star
A local pub has cook offs about every 2 months. Usually about 20 people show up with entries. They do wings, jerk, pork, chowder, bacon and maybe some others I can’t remember. Before this weekend I had done 3 of them and taken 2nd once (wings, did OMS) and 3rd once (pork).
So this past week was the Jerk (cook) Off. For me, it’s really about the fun of it and talking to the people who try the entries after the judging. I have a Caribbean friend (Charles) who I asked what he thought I should cook. He said definitely do pork, since most of the Jamaican places around us do not cook it. I guess the non-swine eaters do not like their chicken cooked on the same grill/smoker as pork. He told me how they used to make it in Jamaica and I tried to get as close as possible for him. He was so excited about it I decided to make an extra one for him and really cared more about him getting what he wanted than the cook off.
So here is what I started with. A picnic shoulder, skin on, to be chopped in chunks, not pulled, using an injection jerk marinade and smoked with pimento. And on to my concerns.
1 – I have always cooked butts, never a picnic and never skin on
2 – I have always cooked to pull, not slice/chop.
3 – I have never injected a butt
4 – I have used pimento berries on jerk chicken with wonderful results, but because it was chicken it was a short smoke in which I tossed a handful of berries on the coals every so often.
So enlisted the advice of Kevin on here for some guidance on which I had not done. Kevin of course was more than willing to give a few (great) pointers. Kevin suggested scoring the skin and taking off at 180. Also very helpful was Kevin suggested making foil packs for the berries with a 1 hole stabbed in there. This with the packs placed throughout the charcoal bowl gave me a great smoke that last long time. I never had to add more.
What I did – Picking up an injector in a rush from the local stores was a bad idea. I ended up going through 2 of them and neither ever worked. I tried blending the jerk marinade, but did not help. I am not someone who uses an injector, but I am going to pickup one off Amazon as I want to make this again. Since I couldn’t inject the marinade I took Charles’ original suggestion of stabbing the picnic with a knife to get the marinade down in there. This worked okay, but not great in the final product. An injector would have got the flavors down in there much better. I scored the skin and left the 2 picnics in the marinade for 24 hours before washing it off Friday night and rubbing with a jerk seasoning. I used Walkerswood jerk marinade and seasoning and was happy with both. I wasn’t up for making my own quite yet. I put the picnics on Friday night at 11 PM. Had the 18” going at about 230 until 1 AM and went to bed. I woke up at 7 and it was at 250. The picnic on the bottom rack (I don’t use water) was done around 10 am and I moved the top to the bottom. The 2nd one came off around 11:15 or so. Both came off at 181. I wrapped them in foil ( I think this killed my skin) and put them in the cooler. I took the one to Charles around 1230 and then went to the cook off at 3 PM. About 4 PM I chopped the butt into large chunks. I could not get a jerk bbq sauce made that I was happy with, so I brought some walkerswood jerk bbq sauce with me. I, along with my table, tasted it and really didn’t care for it. I just served my pork dry instead.
Results – I ended up getting 3rd, which I was extremely happy with since I have never made this dish before. But it was pork, and I cook it a lot, so I am sure that helped! I spoke with one of the judges afterwards and she loved it, just said the flavors needed to be deeper into the pork. If I had a good sauce to present with it or had the injector I think I could have done better. All in all, a success with a very happy friend and a 3rd place.
Learned for next time – I’m going to do butts instead of a picnic. Charles said it was traditional, so I went with that. Also, skin came out tough, but it was tender when it came off the smoker. I think the foil killed it, and rarely can I plan well enough to not have to foil a shoulder. I am considering boneless butts because I could really get the seasoning on a lot of surface area. Also, need a finishing sauce.
Thanks for reading, I will post some pics up in the photo gallery.
So this past week was the Jerk (cook) Off. For me, it’s really about the fun of it and talking to the people who try the entries after the judging. I have a Caribbean friend (Charles) who I asked what he thought I should cook. He said definitely do pork, since most of the Jamaican places around us do not cook it. I guess the non-swine eaters do not like their chicken cooked on the same grill/smoker as pork. He told me how they used to make it in Jamaica and I tried to get as close as possible for him. He was so excited about it I decided to make an extra one for him and really cared more about him getting what he wanted than the cook off.
So here is what I started with. A picnic shoulder, skin on, to be chopped in chunks, not pulled, using an injection jerk marinade and smoked with pimento. And on to my concerns.
1 – I have always cooked butts, never a picnic and never skin on
2 – I have always cooked to pull, not slice/chop.
3 – I have never injected a butt
4 – I have used pimento berries on jerk chicken with wonderful results, but because it was chicken it was a short smoke in which I tossed a handful of berries on the coals every so often.
So enlisted the advice of Kevin on here for some guidance on which I had not done. Kevin of course was more than willing to give a few (great) pointers. Kevin suggested scoring the skin and taking off at 180. Also very helpful was Kevin suggested making foil packs for the berries with a 1 hole stabbed in there. This with the packs placed throughout the charcoal bowl gave me a great smoke that last long time. I never had to add more.
What I did – Picking up an injector in a rush from the local stores was a bad idea. I ended up going through 2 of them and neither ever worked. I tried blending the jerk marinade, but did not help. I am not someone who uses an injector, but I am going to pickup one off Amazon as I want to make this again. Since I couldn’t inject the marinade I took Charles’ original suggestion of stabbing the picnic with a knife to get the marinade down in there. This worked okay, but not great in the final product. An injector would have got the flavors down in there much better. I scored the skin and left the 2 picnics in the marinade for 24 hours before washing it off Friday night and rubbing with a jerk seasoning. I used Walkerswood jerk marinade and seasoning and was happy with both. I wasn’t up for making my own quite yet. I put the picnics on Friday night at 11 PM. Had the 18” going at about 230 until 1 AM and went to bed. I woke up at 7 and it was at 250. The picnic on the bottom rack (I don’t use water) was done around 10 am and I moved the top to the bottom. The 2nd one came off around 11:15 or so. Both came off at 181. I wrapped them in foil ( I think this killed my skin) and put them in the cooler. I took the one to Charles around 1230 and then went to the cook off at 3 PM. About 4 PM I chopped the butt into large chunks. I could not get a jerk bbq sauce made that I was happy with, so I brought some walkerswood jerk bbq sauce with me. I, along with my table, tasted it and really didn’t care for it. I just served my pork dry instead.
Results – I ended up getting 3rd, which I was extremely happy with since I have never made this dish before. But it was pork, and I cook it a lot, so I am sure that helped! I spoke with one of the judges afterwards and she loved it, just said the flavors needed to be deeper into the pork. If I had a good sauce to present with it or had the injector I think I could have done better. All in all, a success with a very happy friend and a 3rd place.
Learned for next time – I’m going to do butts instead of a picnic. Charles said it was traditional, so I went with that. Also, skin came out tough, but it was tender when it came off the smoker. I think the foil killed it, and rarely can I plan well enough to not have to foil a shoulder. I am considering boneless butts because I could really get the seasoning on a lot of surface area. Also, need a finishing sauce.
Thanks for reading, I will post some pics up in the photo gallery.
