Christmas Day Butt - ENC-Style

[OklaDustDevil]

Decided to forego turkey this Christmas, and the family voted for east North Carolina-style BBQ.

So, after the kids opened presents this morning, I wetted a butt all over with Red Rooster hot sauce, made up a quick rub with kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin, and New Mexico chili powder, and rubbed it down well. Onto the Mak a little after 9 am.

I am trying something different this time — I separated the money muscle and am cooking that separately (you can see it on the left). Should cook quicker and provide a little early snack before the main course. I have seen comp cooks almost separate it, but they must leave it attached to meet the rules. This is even more different, so I’m lookin forward to seein how it works out.

Set the Mak at “Smoke” to maximize smoke output initially. Supposed to be 180-200, and the Thermo Smoke shows 182 now. After 3 hours or so I’ll crank it up to 250 or 275 to finish out.

Stay tuned and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

 

[HankB]

Outside the box. I did a couple fresh hams (from county fair pigs, I think) for Thanksgiving and everyone was pretty happy.

i usually trim excess fat off the butt and smoke that next to it for an early snack but you're probably better off with the money muscle. :mrgreen:

 

[OklaDustDevil]

Three hours in things are lookin good.

Time to raise the temp — I only raised it to 225 because, heck, I’ve always been a low and slow guy and I have all day anyway. Plus, I’m not feedin the fire every 30-40 min.

Also time to make some Jalapeach Sauce:

It’s a sauce recipe from my old Smoke & Spice book from 25+ years ago. I’ve used it with smoked turkey for years and everyone absolutely loves it — I guess it’s unusual to eat something both sweet and spicy. But this past Thanksgiving my kids crossed it over onto some pulled pork my brother-in-law smoked, so they asked for it today.

 

[OklaDustDevil]

Sorry for the delayed conclusion — things got hectic late on Christmas Day!

The jalapeach sauce turned out great:

Also mixed up a batch of ENC bbq sauce — I Like to use 50-50 ACV and white vinegar:

The butt turned out great:

I had separated the money muscle and cooked it separately, so was debating whether to cook it more like a pork tenderloin, which would be to a much lower IT, or like a butt, to a higher IT. I chose the latter, and it was good, but I think the MM could have been much better had I cooked it less.

In any event, it was a fun and successful Christmas Day cook; Happy Holidays to all!!

 

[Stingerhook]

Very nice looking cook.

 

[cowgirl]

It all looks great, Ray! Happy New Year to you and family!

 

[SMetroHawkeye]

Any chance you might be willing to share the Jalapeach Sauce recipe? That really looks delicious!

 

[16Adams]

Excellent

 

[NC Native]

Chop some up with some of the vinegar sauce, then it'll be ENC style.

 

[kevinstaggs]

That looks like a Santa-quality Christmas dinner to me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[OklaDustDevil]

It all looks great, Ray! Happy New Year to you and family!

Thanks, Jeanie! I hope you’re enjoying a great holiday in Okla, and that it isn’t too cold there!!

 

[OklaDustDevil]

Chop some up with some of the vinegar sauce, then it'll be ENC style.

That’s exactly how it went down, I just didn’t take that pic — or the slaw, either!

 

[OklaDustDevil]

Very nice looking cook.

Excellent

That looks like a Santa-quality Christmas dinner to me.

Thanks, guys, and Happy New Year!!

 

[OklaDustDevil]

Any chance you might be willing to share the Jalapeach Sauce recipe? That really looks delicious!

A can of sliced peaches in heavy syrup and some chopped onion in a saucepan, with a bit of brown sugar, Worcestershire, cumin, salt, and peach chutney. Add some chopped pickled jalapeños and a bit of the jalapeño pickling liquid, then simmer till it all breaks down. I use a whisk to help break up the peaches and onions.

 

[Rocky Branch BBQ]

Looks/sounds delicious!