Smoking (and transporting) smoked pork steaks?


 
C

Chris Mason

TVWBB Fan
I bought some 1" thick pork blade steaks for me and my buddy to eat while watching the NFL draft this Thursday. I plan to marinate or rub them, sear them and then smoke them at 200-225. The catch: I need to transport them to my friend's house (I don't have cable).

Two questions:

1) What internal temp should I cook the steaks to?

2) What's the best way to transport them/keep them warm? Can I treat them like I would a butt (i.e. wrap tightly foil and put in cooler with towels) even though they're so much thinner? He's got a gasser so I could do a sear after I get there instead of before smoking if that would help.

Thanks.
 
I'd stack them and wrap them as a unit so there's less surface area and the would rest/retain heat similar to a butt.

I'm not familiar with cooking pork steak, but I think they are intended for a short cook and not so much l/s. I would suspect they'd be pretty barky by the time they got to tender.

If tender is your goal, I might first sear them, and then smoke/braise them in an open pan with some kind of liquid (beer?). Haul them in the pan, chuck them on the gasser with a glaze.
 
We eat a lot of pork steak, and I do them high heat and fairly fast. Good sear to start, then indirect on the kettle for about 30 mins and they are delicious. Mine usually aren't 1" thick, so you may wanty to braise for a bit to get them to tender.
 
Blade steaks are cut from the butt. They can be cooked high or low. I like low better, with a finishing sear, and I prefer them marinated. Reduce some of the marinade and/or turn it into a glaze and paint on during the sear. Braising is not necessary but you certainly can - and I like that way too myself.

Skip the internal. Cook till tender.
 
Thanks for the replies, guys.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by j biesinger:
I'd stack them and wrap them as a unit so there's less surface area and the would rest/retain heat similar to a butt. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yeah, good idea.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Skip the internal. Cook till tender. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Always good advice. OK then...any suggestions on a time or temp at which to start checking for tenderness?

So right now, I'm thinking that when the steaks are tender and ready to come off the WSM, I will wrap them together in foil like j biesinger suggested and then give them a finishing sear once I get to my friends.
 
Follow up:

I marinated the steaks overnight in a Hawaiian teriyaki-like sauce and then smoked them at ~215 (grate temp) for about 2.5 hours until tender. I then stacked them, wrapped them tightly in foil and put them in a cooler full of towels for transport. We ended up eating a lot later than I thought we would so the steaks stayed wrapped for about 4 hours. They were still quite hot when I pulled them out so I just did a quick sear on my friend's gasser to heat them up a little more and give them a nice finish.

They came out fantastic, no worse the wear for the travelling and wait. I served them with a chunky pineapple salsa (sweet and spicy) and it went really well with the marinaded pork.

Anyway, thanks for the help/thoughts as always!
 
Do them the St. Louis way. Buy a bottle of Maulls. Season your steaks, grill over direct heat to get a nice char, then put in a disposable foil pan filled with Maulls. Braise until tender.

This will also allow you to transport.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top