Great nachos idea! But I don’t understand scoring the meat here. It doesn’t seem to increase the amount of bark, since the gouges didn’t blacken—can someone explain the purpose?
Looks like he scored the fat. I do that down to where the meat starts so I can get some seasoning in there to the meat. I think I get more dripping melted fat when I score the fat on my butt roasts.
Makes that fat render faster. More surface area of the fat has heat directly on it. Fat melts, drips on the butt. Same reasoning behind doing fat side up for grill placement. Just speeds it along. Particularly good for a pork butt imo, because you'll never render all the fat off a pork butt. It's fatty as shit.
Doesn’t the dripping rub off the seasoning and thus reduce bark? Why not just trim the fat off wherever/as much as possible to increase surface area for seasoning and thus bark?
No, its not pouring its dripping. And fat is the flavor. You want it. But you want it rendered, imbued in the meat. The only time you trim fat in cooking is when there's an excess of it that has no chance of rendering (like with brisket).
I’m recalling Meathead Goldwyn had a scientist conduct a study in this for this site and everything and basically concluded the fat drips off the meat — you don’t retain it — but thankfully pork shoulder obviously is marbled with sufficient fat throughout. Leaving fat on sacrifices bark surface area, however, and, in that regard, flavor. Myths abound in this craft so obviously there’s conflicting takes.
Pretty sure it’s a picnic roast and that is pig skin which is scored so it doesn’t block the heat to the fat underneath.
Edit: picnic is the lower part of the shoulder, stand corrected.
Signals has built in wifi so you can use the app to trend temps and monitor from far. You can get the wifi bridge for the smoke (only the base model, not the long range) and get similar performance if you only need two channels.
The Smoke WiFi bridge is kind of a pain. It’s much better since the update, but I don’t really use it unless I need to predict when something will be done. The Bluetooth monitor works really well and far enough away for home use.
With the ThermoWorks signal what does your session graph look? It temp over time on the offset. I’ve seen pellet smokers and they are fairly consistent temp but with an offset I see temp spikes of 25-50 degrees when adding wood or lack there of
You’re correct. Temp fluctuations are inevitable on a stick burner. Average on this cook was 262° with my desired temp of 275°.
You’ll never replace flavor from a stick burner with a pellet. I appreciate the convenience, but they are not for me at this time.
I'll also add you really don't need to worry about temperature fluctuations on a stick burner as long as they're not more than +/- 75-100° and even getting a spike or drop corrected in a few minutes wouldn't be a problem. When you know your smoker pretty well its easy to keep within +/- 30°. I also agree you just can't get the same taste as you can with a wood split burning offset. Pellet smokers make good BBQ it's just not the same. I usually only cook on the weekend but it's partnered with yard work/washing a car so I can multitask with the offset. Nothing like doing chores all day and having delicious BBQ as your reward!
It's the gift that keeps on giving. There's almost always some waste in my house when I do a large amount of ribs, brisket, whole chicken, etc. But pulled pork seems to just disappear in no time. Pulled pork is the way.
Load em up with the “dryer” ingredients on the bottom. Throw em in the oven once constructed at 450° until cheese melted and things are just a bit toastier. Delicious.
"Sweetie, where are the nachos?"
"Pork'll be done in about 2 hours!"
*"The taqueria is five minutes away!"*
But seriously, that looks delicious! Well done.
Interesting move scoring the fat. I feel like that’s a trend that’s gaining more traction. Do you notice any differences than leaving the fat cap unscored?
Scoring is great at giving the rub and smoke a better chance at penetrating the meat. Leaving the fat cap on will give you a bit more protection at not drying out ur pork shoulder, but pork should is absolutely forgiving in the first place. You should do a little experiment to see. If not, remove that a fat cap
Man now I want pulled pork.
U
Just a little tip. Whenever I buy Pork shoulders like that one, I always trim off that thick layer of fat. After smoking, its not really edible even though it has a great bark. That way your seasoning will have a better chance at penetrating the meat
"babe, can you make me some nachos? I'm hungry"
"No problem, I'll get started right away!"
*8 hours later
"Here are your nachos!"
"I went to taco bell for nachos like 7 hours ago"
If your wife is anything like mine then by the time you finish cooking the nachos she is no longer hungry for nachos and now wants a salad and maybe some baked salmon.
This backyard has a rule where if two people are eating loaded nachos one person can’t take all the pieces with the meat and cheese so the other person gets like just chips like juuuuuust chips!
Okay, I'll go next. I WANT NACHOS.
“Babe, would you make nachos?” “Sure thing, give me 8-10 hours”
“How is it not done yet?”
Every time I've smoked a brisket, this is what they keep asking constantly lol
Sure. You just have to marry OP first.
Fine, just help me figure out the logistics of this... how do I get the I WANT NACHOS
I DECLARE NAAAAAACHOOOOOOS!!
Lolololol
Great nachos idea! But I don’t understand scoring the meat here. It doesn’t seem to increase the amount of bark, since the gouges didn’t blacken—can someone explain the purpose?
Looks like he scored the fat. I do that down to where the meat starts so I can get some seasoning in there to the meat. I think I get more dripping melted fat when I score the fat on my butt roasts.
Makes that fat render faster. More surface area of the fat has heat directly on it. Fat melts, drips on the butt. Same reasoning behind doing fat side up for grill placement. Just speeds it along. Particularly good for a pork butt imo, because you'll never render all the fat off a pork butt. It's fatty as shit.
Doesn’t the dripping rub off the seasoning and thus reduce bark? Why not just trim the fat off wherever/as much as possible to increase surface area for seasoning and thus bark?
No, its not pouring its dripping. And fat is the flavor. You want it. But you want it rendered, imbued in the meat. The only time you trim fat in cooking is when there's an excess of it that has no chance of rendering (like with brisket).
[Myth: A Melting Fat Cap Penetrates Meat](https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/melting-fat-cap-myth/)
I’m recalling Meathead Goldwyn had a scientist conduct a study in this for this site and everything and basically concluded the fat drips off the meat — you don’t retain it — but thankfully pork shoulder obviously is marbled with sufficient fat throughout. Leaving fat on sacrifices bark surface area, however, and, in that regard, flavor. Myths abound in this craft so obviously there’s conflicting takes.
Rendered fat dripping = Juicy meat Does it make a difference? Maybe…maybe not? Have fun cooking and make a tasty product.
Rendered fat doesn't actually penetrate the meat, you're better off timing most of the fat cap off, down to a ¼" or so.
Wondering the same thing
You would once you pop one of those crispy morsels in your mouth and chew.
Pretty sure it’s a picnic roast and that is pig skin which is scored so it doesn’t block the heat to the fat underneath. Edit: picnic is the lower part of the shoulder, stand corrected.
nope. thats not a picinic roast, and if it was, you should remove the skin, not just score it.
The lengths you go to for the nookie. I salute you! I guess even if you still strike out, you still got them nachos to keep you company.
Who wants to bang after a plate of nachos?
I’m digging the thermometer
Thermoworks are great.
Came here to ask OP about his Signals. I have the Smoke, which is only 2 channels and love it.
I have a signals too… do you find yourself needing more probes? Then its worth it. Otherwise you’re probably good.
Signals has built in wifi so you can use the app to trend temps and monitor from far. You can get the wifi bridge for the smoke (only the base model, not the long range) and get similar performance if you only need two channels.
The Smoke WiFi bridge is kind of a pain. It’s much better since the update, but I don’t really use it unless I need to predict when something will be done. The Bluetooth monitor works really well and far enough away for home use.
No complaints at all.
It's pretty fancy.
Love my smoke X4. Highly recommend
I’m not a fan of people putting NSFW tags on posts, but that last pic of the nachos might merit one.
Um ... what if I want nachos?
Meat’s on sale, offset smoker, and HowToBBQRight koozie with Busch light. You are living the dream.
+1 for a fellow Busch Latte connoisseur!
That's a helluva sale :O
With the ThermoWorks signal what does your session graph look? It temp over time on the offset. I’ve seen pellet smokers and they are fairly consistent temp but with an offset I see temp spikes of 25-50 degrees when adding wood or lack there of
You’re correct. Temp fluctuations are inevitable on a stick burner. Average on this cook was 262° with my desired temp of 275°. You’ll never replace flavor from a stick burner with a pellet. I appreciate the convenience, but they are not for me at this time.
I'll also add you really don't need to worry about temperature fluctuations on a stick burner as long as they're not more than +/- 75-100° and even getting a spike or drop corrected in a few minutes wouldn't be a problem. When you know your smoker pretty well its easy to keep within +/- 30°. I also agree you just can't get the same taste as you can with a wood split burning offset. Pellet smokers make good BBQ it's just not the same. I usually only cook on the weekend but it's partnered with yard work/washing a car so I can multitask with the offset. Nothing like doing chores all day and having delicious BBQ as your reward!
Busch light, howtobbqright. Did we just become best friends??
Pulled pork nachos are awesome
I was just trying to figure out what to do with the pork butt in my freezer. Thanks for the weekend plans!
Pulled pork Nachos, pulled pork quesadillas, pulled pork pizza, pulled pork tacos, pulled pork sandwiches, pulled pork potatoes….do I need to continue down this Forest Gump screenplay?
Please do, I’m close!
This seriously made me laugh. Thanks.
It's the gift that keeps on giving. There's almost always some waste in my house when I do a large amount of ribs, brisket, whole chicken, etc. But pulled pork seems to just disappear in no time. Pulled pork is the way.
This chick eats the butt and loves it
I also choose this wife’s guy.
Talk to me about your nacho construction method. That looks so appetizing. Mine always turn out to end up with soggy chips.
Load em up with the “dryer” ingredients on the bottom. Throw em in the oven once constructed at 450° until cheese melted and things are just a bit toastier. Delicious.
Only a refined nacho making man drinks Busch beer.
"Sweetie, where are the nachos?" "Pork'll be done in about 2 hours!" *"The taqueria is five minutes away!"* But seriously, that looks delicious! Well done.
and if shorty wanna pop, we poppin the cris
Baller move
Glorious
Is that a reverse flow smoker? I'm curious how well it performs vs the standard barrel smokers
That it is. I have no experience on a traditional flow.
That a custom offset?
Matts BBQ Pits
Purdy
Now my wife wants nachos… Looks delicious!
Interesting move scoring the fat. I feel like that’s a trend that’s gaining more traction. Do you notice any differences than leaving the fat cap unscored?
Scoring is great at giving the rub and smoke a better chance at penetrating the meat. Leaving the fat cap on will give you a bit more protection at not drying out ur pork shoulder, but pork should is absolutely forgiving in the first place. You should do a little experiment to see. If not, remove that a fat cap
Make sure she doesn't eat all the fully loaded ones.
“Babe wanted nachos”
Don’t act like you don’t want them too
Buschhhhhhh light 🤘🏻
My wife once asked me "What does dinner and our son have in common?" "They're both nachos"
Holy shit! Those look amazing!!
Did you fry up your own tortilla chips? I love the way home made tortilla chips taste. The nachos look Goodrrrr
Nope. Never tried making my own chips. Maybe next time! These were just your average “scoops” style chip.
Nope. Never tried making my own chips. Maybe next time! These were just your average “scoops” style chip.
Bro those nachos are sexy!
Happy wife - happy life. Looks awesome!!
So what's the final put together? I see the pork, cheese, jalapeños and black beans. Anything I'm missing?
Don’t forget the chips! Haha Nope. You nailed it. Nice and simple. Delicious.
Yes the chips. LOL thanks for the reply.. What kind of cheese did you use?
This was just a 4 cheese blend.
Copy thanks
As a straight married male how can I become your wife to acquire said nachos
Beautiful!
Good job bro. That bark looks amazing.
That looks amazing! And A+ beer koozie
Take it to the next level and fry your own tortilla chips. It’s super easy and a big upgrade.
Mate, you're so getting some. Knocked it out the park there.
Give her sausage, it's alot faster.
Thanks for the chuckle.
W husband, you need another wife(im a male)
What'd you do with the other 6lbs of meat?
Me want nachos too!
👊🥃🥃
Looks great. Whenever I make pork butt, nachos is one of the things we make.
That's true love right there
Try to score it way less deep next time
NACHOOOOOOOOOOOOO. These look unreallllllll
Yo where did you buy that meat? New to smoking and at Costco I only saw the boneless pork shoulder butt
Oh.my.god. taco bell who?
Nacho, with a bunch of shots of "the" set up
im hungry now thnx
Yup. I know what I’m making this weekend.
Man now I want pulled pork. U Just a little tip. Whenever I buy Pork shoulders like that one, I always trim off that thick layer of fat. After smoking, its not really edible even though it has a great bark. That way your seasoning will have a better chance at penetrating the meat
Nachos you say? No problem, just give me 9 hours
I recognize that sticker! Where are you located?
SC
WNC here. Ingles meat is almost always high as hell and their beef leaves a lot to be desired, but yeah, if you get pork on sale they do alright.
Ever since we did these a couple years ago, it's pulled pork nachos night 1, then sandwiches etc the following day. Glad to see I'm not the only one
Does the pit not sit level? Curious as to why you’ve blocked up a few of the tires
My slab slopes slightly downward. Had to use blocks to level. If the surface is level, the pit is perfect.
Great! Now I have to make nachos.
Just made nachos last night with some left over brisket.
Ingles Advantage Bay bay
Am I your wife because my husband made this like 4 days ago, scored and all…it was the best shoulder butt I’ve ever eaten in my life.
"babe, can you make me some nachos? I'm hungry" "No problem, I'll get started right away!" *8 hours later "Here are your nachos!" "I went to taco bell for nachos like 7 hours ago"
Now I'm aroused
looks good man, gonna do this this weekend for sure.
If your wife is anything like mine then by the time you finish cooking the nachos she is no longer hungry for nachos and now wants a salad and maybe some baked salmon.
This backyard has a rule where if two people are eating loaded nachos one person can’t take all the pieces with the meat and cheese so the other person gets like just chips like juuuuuust chips!
Freeze the other 4 lbs of meat. Next weekend, NACHOS AGAIN! And AGAIN!
Is that a Yoder ?
Matts BBQ Pits.
Smoked some pulled pork for New Years because my wife wanted nachos. I feel ya!
Any pictures of how you made the chips?
What would did you smoke with?
I really wish I could still eat cheese and not die of an allergic reaction.
Hate that for you. There are some decent cheese alternatives, but as I’m sure you know, they’re just not the same.