Duroc cuts of pork prove to be better!
By National Barbecue News Cooking Crew
We all know that great barbecue has to start with a really great cut of meat. I believe this statement to be truer than ever as barbecue is growing by leaps and bounds in every avenue, and the quality of those finished products has started to separate themselves as well. If you look at the really successful barbecue joints in America, then you will find that they spare no cost on quality meat. They will make their profits from cutting corners on other things, but never on quality of with what they start.
 We had to opportunity to try some of this “high end” pork that has been the focus of many barbecuers over the past several months, and we were astounded by the difference in the end product! Our samples came to us from Compart Family Farms located in Nicollet, MN. The samples we received were both spare and loin back ribs, Boston butt, whole shoulder, and one of their famed boneless pork chops. We prepared all of the samples given just as we would any other product so the end results would not be varied by a different rub or smoke amount.
 Our comparison started as soon as we opened the box of meat that was shipped to us. We noticed the meat was dark pink and almost looked like a fresh cut a beef. Once we started opening the the packages, we also noticed that there was not tons of liquid left in the packs. This is because Compart DurocTM pork is packaged in an all-natural state without any added water or preservatives. Once we had the meat out and ready to be seasoned, we noticed the amount of marbling was tremendous compared to other cuts we had qued up before.
 Once we had our meat on the smoker, we kept a pretty close eye to see if it would cook up differently, and we found some interesting things there as well. The ribs and pork chop cooked up about the same as other pork, but the Boston butt and shoulder never hit that “stall point.” (Stall point is where butts and shoulders hit an internal temperature of about 160 degrees and take an hour or longer to continue on climbing.) These things never stalled and actually got to our 190 internal temperature mark about an hour sooner than other products we had cooked, and this all happened without increasing the pit temperature of 225 degrees.
 After our samples were done and had rested in a warming box for about an hour, we started to really enjoy what this hype is all about! Ribs were amazing in color and had juice flowing everywhere while cutting them up. The butt and shoulder pulled with ease as they also had juice to spare, as the moisture levels in both were way above normal. The real surprise was how pink and tender all the meat seemed, regardless which muscle it was coming from. They all still had their characteristics, like the thick baby back versus the long slim spare rib or the money muscles on the pork butt versus the picnic part of the shoulderr. Rgardless, they were all a vast improvement when compared to normal cuts of pork products we had cooked in the past!
Regardless where you fit into the barbecue world as a cook, I can say that if you start with a product like this, then your finished product will be better. You can find more about Compart DurocTM pork products from their website at www.compartduroc.com.
All photo's Curtesy of NBBQN |
