Right Wing Nation

I was at Wally World, and they had these little Brinkman charcoal smokers for 28 bucks. I owned one of these before, and they do give you great results, and barbecuing on my grill is expensive (it takes more charcoal and wood), so I bit the bullet. Putting it together was fun, especially since all the nuts and bolts weren’t there (that’s why we have all kinds of screws, nuts, and bolts in the garage) . Oh, and I picked up this one piece and it looked like there was a hair on it, so I grabbed it and yanked on it. It wasn’t a hair, and it didn’t come off. It was a thin, razor-sharp, piece of steel, and I got a nice cut and bled like a stuck pig.

Speaking of pigs, Rory the South Carolinian belongs to the Church of Carolina Gold. If you want barbecue wars, head to South Carolina. In the east, they swear by a simple, vinegar baste. In the center of the state, they prefer a mustard-based sauce (Carolina Gold), and in the west, a tomato-based sauce (Carolina Red). Anyway, I found a recipe for a Carolina Gold sauce that looked good, and I had that pork butt from Giant (I put the rub on it, wrapped it up in plastic wrap, and let it sit all day and night in the refrigerator), so I thought I’d try it in the new smoker. I know I rarely post food pics (cause I usually start picking at it as soon as it’s done, if I wait that long), but I want you to see this. Moist. Falling apart (I had to stick it back together — I think I did a pretty good job of hiding where it fell apart). When I pull it apart, it will be all pink around the edges. The pork butt is dedicated to PETA, of course, since they’ve had not one, but two traumatic incidents this week.

I used the same rub I always do. I used mesquite, partly because I prefer it to hickory, and partly because Wally World was out of hickory chunks (and nobody here I’ve found carries pear or apple wood chunks). It’s a 2.5 pound roast (more or less). I put it on, over water, at 9:00 am. I took it off around 2:00 pm. I want it a bit more done, so I tossed it in the oven with a foil tent (the fire was about gone, and I didn’t want to open another bag of mesquite chunks to feed it, plus it’s been over the smoke five hours). I turned and basted it with the Carolina Gold about every 30 minutes after the first hour. I’ll tell you how it tastes after I eat some (I’m going to let it go in the oven about 45 minutes), and if Rory’s converted me from vinegar to mustard (this sauce doesn’t look, er, icky like the mustard sauces I’ve had — course, it calls for “yellow mustard” and we only have Gulden’s brown and Hengstenberg yellow, and there is no way I’m using Hengstenberg in a sauce I haven’t tried yet, so I used the Gulden’s. That may have made it less “yellow” and more “gold.”)

For more detailed directions, see here (and follow the link).

Rub:

2 T. paprika
2 T. salt
1 T. black pepper, ground
2 t. cayenne, ground

Carolina Gold Sauce

2 c. cider vinegar
2 T. honey or molasses
2 T. prepared mustard
2 T. brown sugar
2 T. salt
2 T. crushed red pepper
1 T. black pepper

Mix and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Oh. I went back to the Asian grocery today and they were open. Curry tomorrow.