The Best Stuff I Ever Smoked

Outside of some cold smoking in culinary school and few salmons here and there, I have to admit, I haven't smoked much meat at home or professionally. On Tuesday, the artist that I work for asked me to come up with an idea for a luncheon that he wanted to treat his staff to on Wednesday.

I don't know why my brain went from individual little lobster pot pies and a fussy salad to BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, but it did, and the BBQ won. The full meal plan was to serve the sandwiches Carolina style; with slaw and pickles on a soft bun. I made the slaw and two dipping sauces from scratch, and decided to do some home made french fries too. All could be prepped a day in advance, so this worked out great. Oh, I almost forgot the blackberry cobbler with lemon poppy topping.

There I am at the grocery store, where I will shamefully admit that I picked up some liquid smoke flavoring just in case. I chose the best piece of the pig that they had for my purposes, which in this case was a Boston Butt. It's kind of silly to me that they call it a butt when it comes from no where near the pigs ass, but actually from its shoulder.

I was nearly finished shopping when I spotted something that I had never seen before and did not know even existed. It was called The Smoking Bag. It was simply a heavy duty foil bag that had an inner layer of wood chips. The inside of the bag was perforated to allow the flavor inside with what ever you put in the bag. The instructions said you could use it on the grill or in the oven.

I did not follow the instructions that said to start off on high heat if using in the oven (which I was) because I wanted to do this low and slow. All I did was use a standard rub on the meat before I put it in the bag, and then once inside (fat side up) it went in to the oven at 185 degrees. I put it in at 6:30 Tuesday night and did not open the oven door to take it out until 7:30 the next morning.

The results of using this bag completely impressed me! I never needed the liquid smoke and the meat was the juiciest most flavorful I have ever had. The amount of smokiness was just right; neither overpowering nor undetectable. Some of the staff didn't even use any of the two sauces I made, which if you're interested to know, were sweet cilantro BBQ, and spicy peppery BBQ.

The most challenging part of this meal was the french fries that had to be hand cut, soaked over night, then blanched in 250 degree oil, then rested, before you can actually fry them at 375. Not to mention the mess I made when I nearly started a grease fire in the kitchen at the corporate offices. My job would have gone up in smoke along with building and the art work, so I won't be doing the fries again any time soon.

I will, however, be doing the pig again, and doing it very soon. We are having some people over this Sunday and minus the french fries, I can't think of a better pool side meal!