It’s been a long time since I cooked a pork butt – longer than should be legally allowed. But after I attended – yes, I know, here we go again – Myron Mixon’s BBQ Cooking School, I got bitten by the pulled pork bug and decided when I got home, that would be one of the first things I did.
As a reminder, the Myron Mixon style is competition barbecue. It also employs the “hot and fast” method of cooking. So we’re talking sweeter, more tangy flavor profiles with the meat cooked at high heat for a shorter period of time.
Butt Out
Before anything else, I felt around the meat for any bone slivers, then cut off the fat cap over the money muscle. I injected it with a mixture created for a whole hog. That was one of the first things demonstrated during the class. While I wasn’t doing a whole hog this day (and probably won’t have the opportunity in my life), the injection is good for all pork cuts.
While I can’t divulge the exact recipe, it consists of white vinegar, apple juice, peach grape juice, clear hot sauce, Kosher salt, and white sugar (for which I substituted Stevia).
After the butt was injected, I scored the fat cap and applied the rub, which was a commercial sweet rub I thought would complement the injection.
As the meat rested on the counter, I fired up the smoker to 300 degrees and used apple and cherry wood in my fuel. Once it got up to temperature, the pork butt met the smoker.
After two hours, I took off the butt and placed it on a rack inside an aluminum pan. At the bottom of the pan, I poured apple juice, then covered the meat with butcher paper followed by aluminum foil.
A few more hours passed when the internal temperature climbed to 205, after which I uncovered the meat, drizzled it with the tangy sauce we learned how to make during the class (Light corn syrup – I used agave syrup – Myron’s vinegar sauce, and peach preserves), then put it back on the smoker for about 15 more minutes to let the sauce glaze.
The whole shebang came off, and I let the meat rest for about 20 minutes. After that, I got to do what any pitmaster loves to do when he/she makes pork butt – mash it up into pulled pork.
It was pulled pork sandwiches on the menu that night, of course. Some kosher dill pickle spears cut up and more of the tangy sauce poured on the meat made for a fantastic, satisfying sandwich.
Like I said, it’s been way too long since I treated myself to this barbecue staple, and I don’t intend to put myself through such a moratorium again.
The Wine: 2018 Survivor Pinotage
At first, I had a hard time deciding what to pair with this night’s dish. I knew the profile flavors – tangy and sweet. So initially I thought it had to be white but maybe a younger red with high acidity and lighter flavors.
Talk about not doing something for a long time, I was eyeing over my wine rack to see if anything jumped out at me. And it did – the 2018 Survivor Pinotage. I was kind of going from memory, and I recalled a more medium-bodied, lighter wine profile.
Swing and a miss.
When I opened, the bottle, the aromas were pleasing – dark fruit, a touch of spice and leather. I thought that there was a chance that maybe it was lighter on the palate. Not so much. Very similar to the nose – rich dark fruit and earthy flavors.
Life is about learning from our mistakes, so I decided since I had the bottle open anyway and it’s been a long time since I indulged in a Pinotage, I just said f*ck it.
It wasn’t a good pairing, so at least this gives me the opportunity to put a little more thought into it the next time I make pulled pork, which as I said before, will hopefully be more often.
But since we’re on the subject, let’s talk a little about Pinotage – a wine you probably don’t see on the menu or on the shelves of your wine shop very often.
About the varietal itself from Wine-Searcher.com:
Pinotage is South Africa’s signature grape variety. It is grown almost exclusively there, making everything from low-quality table wines to rich, concentrated wines with flavors of black and red fruits, spice, leather and chocolate…
The variety, a crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut, was first bred by scientist Abraham Perold in 1925, although the few seeds the crossing yielded were planted in his garden and consequently forgotten. The vines were found by another researcher some years later, grafted onto disease-resistant rootstocks and the first commercial plantings were made in 1943. The name Pinotage is a portmanteau of its two parents, as Cinsaut was then known in South Africa as Hermitage.
This particular wine comes from the Swartland region of South Africa, which the Survivor website describes as:
Hot and dry climate. Dominant soil is shale with pockets of granite. While these soils are well drained, they also hold enough water in their lower reaches to support the irrigation-free farming technique that is used extensively throughout the region. Bush vines will dig especially deep to get to the water reserves in the soil, resulting in stronger vines and particularly concentrated flavors in the grapes.
While the pairing wasn’t a homerun, you have to admit, the bottle is cool and intriguing. What’s the story behind the steer on the label? They explain:
One fine day, as a truck laden with cattle rattled past our Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard, one of the passengers decided: The Cow Stops Here. She jumped. Not only did she survive, but she has thrived, and even produced several offspring. Because she embodies the free spirit of the Swartland, these wines pay tribute to our noble Nguni cow, Survivor.
Cool bottle. Nice wine. Not a good match with tangy and sweet pulled pork. Oh well. Next time, I’ll put a little more thought into my pairing instead of just grabbing the wine that jumped out at me based on curiosity and novelty.
Continuing with the pork theme, my next cook will be spareribs. Be sure to look out for the next post to see what I did and which wine I selected for it.
Cheers!