Pulled Pork taco’s and smoked wings

[Darryl - swazies]

Had a 7 pound pork shoulder hanging around in my Covid lockdown supply and I was inspired by our own Michael Richards. We are having friends over tonight for food so I wanted to take the opportunity. I purchased Malcom's Grande gringo rub a while back and am going to make pulled pork taco’s tonight with smoked wings. Added about 1 part to 3 of killer hog’s hot bbq to grande gringo. Put the pork on about an hour ago.
SNS with water separator, and drip pan.
Holding a strong 230, plan on hotter a bit later.
Using equal parts hickory to pecan for smoke.
Wings, I have some jumbo sized split wings, looks like 2 to 3 pounds worth.
Going to add salt now and refrigerate for about 6 hours uncovered.
Using Oakridge Smokey chilli lime rub for those, just to get a different flavour over the grande gringo. I love these guys, I have some carne crosta that everyone seems to like currently in delivery to my house. This Smokey chilli lime is an outstanding rub, but I have only tried it on chicken so far.

 

[Steve Madden]

Lookin good! Can I ask where you picked up jumbo wings?

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

Looks good so far Darryl. Can't go wrong with Killer Hogs products.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Jumbo wings are from the local poultry store, not a brand name store.
Also making fresh toppings, going to try to keep it fairly traditional, I would like them to not look look like North American taco’s too much.
Here is what you can put on the taco’s.
Hopefully really good pulled pork.
Corn and bean salsa - corn, beans, green onion, garlic, premium olive oil, juice of 4 limes, salt and pepper.
Pico de Gallo - white onion, red ripe tomatoes, jalapeño, lime juice, salt and cilantro...coriander for you US folks.
The curveball in here is thin sliced semi ripe mango......it’s surprisingly tasty in taco’s.
Pico gets made after the pork comes off, super fresh is best, the corn and bean salsa requires some marinating.
Nothing goes soft in there.
I may shred some cheese, you know how people are.
And of course I have lots of hot sauces.

 

[Ron De Hoogh]

Sounds like a solid plan so far!

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Misting with apple cider, apple cider vinegar and water mix.
Got this handy pump mister, works good a really fast, it cools fast when I take the lid off

 

[Darryl - swazies]

3 hours in or so...133 meat probe temp.

 

[Bruno]

That’s going to be a hell of a dinner!!
How does the gringo compare the Oakridge Chili Lime?
I The Oakridge Chile Lime.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

I love that chili lime too.
They are not the same in any way, gringo honesty tastes like powdered enchilada sauce lol.
Chili lime is so good on smoked wings...it’s my go to now.
Micheal Richards made a post about the gringo on a pulled pork and it sounded like I had to try it.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Still rocking, taking forever, in the stall I think, holding 158 for a while now.
I don’t really want to wrap, I worked pretty hard for this bark.

 

[Rich G]

Looking good, Darryl, looking really good!!

R

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Well we’ve made it to 180, trying not to wrap, lots of bark. I will have pics, hopefully tonight, I have guests so we we I’ll see.

Looking good, Darryl, looking really good!!

R

thanks rich, it’s going to be a good show

 

[Michael Richards]

That looks great, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I am feeling a little pressure... I had a little 4 lb half shoulder and thought go for it, do something different and it was great. Your cook looks incredible, I can't wait to see your final results.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

I was able to snap a few at the but not many.
I didn’t end up wrapping, used the oven at about 185 just to bring it to the end a little faster, and clear the smoker off to get it hot for the wings. So that made it a bit dryer than wha5 I am used to but the bark held up and was amazing. It’s hard to decide on the wrap. Everyone loved dinner though, it was a tad later than we were expecting.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

That looks great, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. I am feeling a little pressure... I had a little 4 lb half shoulder and thought go for it, do something different and it was great. Your cook looks incredible, I can't wait to see your final results.

Thanks for the inspiration, the rub was good and everyone enjoyed dinner, lots of fresh ingredients. Going to try the gringo on some wings next time I think.

 

[Bruno]

Now I want to do pulled pork for tacos. Maybe use the Oakridge chili lime.

 

[Michael Richards]

Now I want to do pulled pork for tacos. Maybe use the Oakridge chili lime.

It's alway hard for me to not just go traditional when I do bbq, especially pulled pork, but when I picked up a reduced price half pork shoulder just over 4 lbs and my son was asking for pulled pork tacos, I thought go for it something different, so I rubbed it with MALCOM'S GRANDE GRINGO, then about 4 hours later I made up some of this fajita paste and used a silicone brush and "painted" it on. Put that back in the fridge and 2 hours later I started the WSM 14 and sprinkled some more Grande Grindo on top before I put it on the smoker with pecan and hickory. Sprayed it with mostly water and a little bit acv, I was worried that the acv would be to strong and change the flavor but it was great.

I highly recommend making up some of the "fajita paste" to go with the Oak Ridge Chili Lime. That is the next rub I am going to try.

 

[Michael Richards]

I was able to snap a few at the but not many.
I didn’t end up wrapping, used the oven at about 185 just to bring it to the end a little faster, and clear the smoker off to get it hot for the wings. So that made it a bit dryer than wha5 I am used to but the bark held up and was amazing. It’s hard to decide on the wrap. Everyone loved dinner though, it was a tad later than we were expecting.

Darryl,
That is a great looking pork shoulder and great looking tacos. I always love the dark color of the bark that is on the shoulder that come off the kettle.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Darryl,
That is a great looking pork shoulder and great looking tacos. I always love the dark color of the bark that is on the shoulder that come off the kettle.

Thanks a lot, the pork was good, a bit drier than I thought they would be, I have been used to wrapping and using the cooler for hours. This time no wrap, I did put it in a tin foil pan and cover it and put it in the cooler still while the wings cooked. Bark still held up good. When wrapping closer to the 160 there is a lot more fat that stays with the meat, you can use some in the meat and the pork is much more moist. I kind of liked it a bit drier because the bark was outstanding, usually its soft, very soft.....
The wings were good too but the taco's were the star of the show, 2 fresh salsa and the mango's you can see in the pics is really what tied it all together. Corn, beans, onions and tomatoes.....I had to make a second pico with jalapeno and cilantro, this was for me and had all the flavour, my guest don't eat hot things.....it really wasn't that hot.

The left overs was used for nachos last night......this was just as good, chips, pork and cheese to melt in the oven then all the fresh toppings on top with some jar salsa and sour creme.......the MRS's favourite.....
And Pork again for lunch here at work lol, just pork and bbq sauce in a bowl with the rest of the left over salsa's
might freeze the rest, there is still an easy couple of pounds left. Nice to have ready to go you have some buns and just need an easy meal during the week......

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Now I want to do pulled pork for tacos. Maybe use the Oakridge chili lime.

Sounds good too but that Oakridge stuff is pretty expensive, I used a bunch of rub on that butt, and if it was Oakridge it would of been about $8.00 worth. Not the end of the world I guess but I find all of them to be a pretty " intense " rub.....they seem overly powerful, which might be a really good thing. I caked the shoulder to take as much gringo as it could handle and it was just right. The Oakridge for the wings is more of a sprinkle. I am like Michael in the sense I have a hard time not going traditional, it really is a good way to make it......I just went this way this time due to the meal being taco's and the gringo being a straight up mexican seasoning.