Fork and Flame is a cooking blog from PdCToday founder Tino Kaltsas.  Spending time in the kitchen is one of his favorite hobbies, and although he rarely makes the same meal twice, he will be posting some of his better meals here on PdCToday.com.

Today I will be bringing you my Memorial Day weekend meal consisting of smoked pulled pork, smoked beans, and a Memphis style slaw.  We did have a good breakfast that day as well and I will post a few pictures of that in the photo gallery.

Smoked Pulled Pork:

I picked up an 8.5lb bone-in pork butt from Hi-Vee, I thought they only had boneless left @ $1.99/lb which I was not thrilled about but a lady pointed me to the bone-in for $0.99/lb.  I rubbed it the night before with the yellow and brown mustard and then the rub listed below.

2 TBSP Seasoned Salt
2 TBSP Coarse Ground Black Pepper
1 TBSP Paprika
1 TBSP Red Pepper Flakes
1 TBSP Oregano Flakes
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

I got up around 6am to prepare the smoker and get the meat on by 7am. I used hickory because that is what I had, but I would have liked to try apple with this.  We need to preheat to around 220F which in this smoker takes about 20 minutes.

A couple of tips I have found with my electric smoker is it helps to put a couple charcoal briquettes in with the wood chips for smoke.  It also is best to set the element to maximum until it starts to smoke then dial it back down to the desired temp.  Your mileage may vary.

I spritzed every 90 minutes or so with a mix of 1part brandy and 3 parts grape juice.  Normally I would suggest using spiced rum and apple juice, but this is what I had on hand.  This helps form the bark and keep things extra moist.

After about 6 hours, the meat temperature reached 160F.  At this point, I pulled the meat and put it in an oven bag with some of the spritz.  Most folks would double foil here, but I found this to be easier and worked just as well.  It goes back in the smoker and will stay on until it hits 200F.  It will plateau in the 160-180 range, but that is when all the goodness is happening.  Do not try to crank up the heat to move things along.  Slow is the way to go.  Every smoke is different but you can plan on 1.5 hours per pound roughly.

One other thing the smoking experts say to use with pulled pork is a finishing sauce.  Here is what I used.  It is based of a recipe from a smoking meat forum but I skipped the salt and swapped in Schlitz for Killian’s Red.

Finishing Sauce:
3 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Bottle Schlitz
2 TBSP Red Pepper Flakes
1 TSP Ground Black Pepper
1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

Mix all sauce ingredients in saucepan, bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer and simmer 30 minutes, uncovered.

Once the meat hit 200 I pulled it, wrapped it in a towel and let it rest for about half an hour. If you needed to keep it longer you can wrap it in a towel and put it in a cooler for up to a few hours and it will stay in a safe (hot) temperature range.

The bone will pull out with two fingers and no effort at all. Pull the pork then mix with finishing sauce.  I just used two forks.  It is so tender it will take no effort at all.

Smoked Baked Beans:

6-8 strips of bacon cut into 1/2 inch squares
1/2 Medium onion, diced
1/2 Bell pepper, diced
1 – 2 Jalapeno Peppers, diced
1 – 55 ounce can Bush’s Baked Beans
1-8 ounce can of pineapple chunks, drained
1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 Cup ketchup

Saute bacon pieces in fry pan until crispy and remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Saute onion, bell pepper and jalapeno pepper until tender.

In a large mixing bowl combine beans, pineapple, brown sugar, ketchup and dry mustard. Stir in bacon pieces and vegetables. Pour into a 12X9 or a deep 9X9 aluminum baking pan. (While mixing if things look dry, add additional ketchup 1/4 -1/2 cup at a time)

Place in smoker for 2 1/2-3 hours (make sure temperature of the baked beans reaches 160F) or place in a 350F oven and bake for 1 hour.

I used sliced jar jalapenos because I had some on hand, and used two 28oz cans of beans instead of a BIG can.

Memphis-Style Slaw:

I pretty much followed the recipe here except again I skipped the salt, and it turned out real real tasty.  Also I used two 1lb bags of shredded cabbage instead of doing that myself.

1 head cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and finely diced
2 tablespoons onions, grated
2 cups mayonnaise
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tablespoons celery seed
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Place cabbage, carrots, green pepper and onion in bowl. In another bowl mix all ingredients. Pour over the vegetables and toss well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to meld the flavors.

The final plate and some satisfied diners.  This was well worth the work and the wait!

Original recipe references:

• Smoked Pork culled from Smoking Meat Forums
• Dutch’s Wicked Baked Beans
• Slaw recipe was from a private forum.  This is close to the recipe I was provided.