Pork and Cabbage


 
Dwain Pannell

Dwain Pannell

TVWBB Hall of Fame
It's a beautiful morning and tonight's supper is on the cooker.

It all started last night when I concocted a brine of Agave Nectar, Jim Beam, Pickling salt, Apple cider vinegar, Red pepper flakes, Bad Byron's Butt Rub, Candied Ginger diced, enough water to completely submerge the meat and an ice pack to hold it under.

This AM I rubbed the butt with some spicy brown mustard and Bad Byron's Butt Rub

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The head of cabbage was cored and stuffed with half a stick of butter and a cube of chicken bouillon.

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I have a clean burning lump fire with one fist size piece of hickory for TBS. Here's a video of the birds singing and the TBS rolling into the Alabama hills (click to play):

 
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Yes, I've done it before. I've eaten cabbage all my life and I especially love smoked cabbage. I left out one detail: I wrapped the cabbage with heavy duty alum foil. I like to let it cook about 3 hours until tender and serve. I cook it early in the cook to get the smoke then place back on the cooker to heat it up while the pork rests.
 
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The butt was at 198*, the meat was pulled back from the bone, and a fork pierced the meat very easily so I declared the butt done at 4:30 for a total cook time of 8.5 hours (~ 1.5 hrs per lb) with a 2 hr stall at 185* (I did not use the TX crutch). I used one 8.8 lb bag of unlit lump in the ring and another chimney full of lit lump from another bag to get things going. As said earlier, I added one fist sized hickory chunk once the fire was burning clean to get my TBS. I used a full water pan (with water) and did not have to refill the pan or add fuel for the cook while maintaining a very steady temp averaging 270*. I did have one upward trend at the 5 hour mark to 285* so I closed all three lower vent to ~75% open and then opened them back to 100% 1 hour later when I was back at 270*. When I pulled the butt the cooker was still at 267*. I am interested to see how long it will go without futzing with it.

Here, I removed grate with the butt on it, and placed an extra grill on the cooker and placed the cabbage back on to reheat:

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...and the butt resting:

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And finally, I pulled the butt by hand and sliced part of the money muscle and the cabbage for a nice Sunday meal.

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I served it with some wickles and a small pool of dipping sauce (that I barely used) and ribbon of Bourbon BBQ sauce.

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Dwayne, the meal looks great. I love the idea of the cabbage. Do you foil it right from the beginning? I'm not clear on that.

Thanks
 
I am really beginning to love this place. I haven't even got my 1st smoker yet (waiting for Santa) and I am so psyched to get going. What great ideas and recipes. That meal looks awesome. I've seen so many good looking meals I can't decide what my very 1st smoke should be. I want to do all the different meats at once lol.
 
Gary S said:
Dwayne, the meal looks great. I love the idea of the cabbage. Do you foil it right from the beginning? I'm not clear on that.

Thanks
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I like to wrap the cabbage in foil at the beginning of the cook to get some smoke and remove it from the cooker when done (~3 hours or until soft feel). Once the pork is done, as I am letting the pork cool I place the cabbage back on the heat up (about 30 min). Once I pull the pork I open the foil and cut the cabbage. I hope this answers your questions and I hope you enjoy it -- I love it.

Brian Quintal said:
I am really beginning to love this place. I haven't even got my 1st smoker yet (waiting for Santa) and I am so psyched to get going. What great ideas and recipes. That meal looks awesome. I've seen so many good looking meals I can't decide what my very 1st smoke should be. I want to do all the different meats at once lol.
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I recommend learning with chicken. If you mess up its only a few bucks and temp control is not so criticle IMHO. Plus smoked chicken is GREAT. Ask plenty of questions here, read Chris' articles, and you'll be all set. I also recommend reading Low and Slow by Gary Wiviott. Do what he says and you'll do great.
 
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